The Epic Tale of Chaos vs Order

Chapter 268 : White Heat Breath

Shura, Surin, and the rest of the Blood Champions were talking calmly when their eyes widened, and they looked to the back of the Wave Beast. Shock appeared on their faces when they felt the burst of Blood Energy coming from inside Cainʼs body.

Cain did not want to draw attention, but the generation of the Blood Rune generated a qualitative change in the Blood Energy running through his body, and he could not avoid its radiation from being noticed by the others since they were so close to each other.

The Blood Champions focused on Cain, as they could not believe what they just saw. All of them trained in the Body Refinement Art and were familiarized with the change in their Blood Energy upon the generation of Blood Runes.

Still, reaching the Blood Refinement Artʼs Third Level while being a Wave Warrior was someone only one of them managed to achieve.

Surin remembered just how hard it was for him to develop the Blood Rune, and unlike Cain, the Lineage running through his veins was tailored to improve the skills based on blood. Despite having that advantage over the other, Cain still managed to equal his feat.

Cain noticed the eyes of all the Blood Champions but did not care and carried on with his training, taking the blood orb that Bloodless #1 gave him from his space ring. He had generated the Prima Blood Rune, which contained the totality of his Blood Energy, and now it was time to create Secondary Blood Runes to increase his energy pool.

The blood orb contained a massive amount of vitality and blood essence, helping Cain generate Secondary Blood Runes much faster. The first Secondary Blood Rune emerged in just ten minutes, and the second came even quicker. After creating five of them, Cain felt that he reached his limit.

ʼI need to improve my cultivation and the strength of my body to continue generating more Secondary Blood Runes. System, show me my Blood Energy.ʼ

A second after that command, a virtual screen appeared in Cainʼs sight.

[Blood Energy: 12.9 -->15.1]

Such a massive improvement made Cain smile. An energy pool of fifteen points was something usually reserved for Wave Champions. Yet, he managed to get it while being a Level 9 Wave Warrior, meaning it would only grow larger upon his breakthrough!

Focus returned to Cainʼs eyes as he calmed the excitement in his heart. He had indeed grown stronger, but the assassins that would come for Shura would not be weak, and if he grew complacent, they might take his life.

ʼMy cultivation has already stabilized, and I can increase it again.ʼ

Cain sent several corpses of Wave Champion Beasts and Silver Artifacts to the [Devourer Dimension] so the [Earth Fiend Flame] could generate a stream of energy and vitality to his body while at the same time taking wave crystals from his space ring.

He adopted a meditative position and closed his eyes while making the Wave run through his meridians, ignoring everything else.

The expansion of his meridians through his brain was complete, so Cain now had to focus on the next step.

Level 9 was quite straightforward. You need to reforge your meridians, increasing their thickness, flexibility, durability, and the number of branches emerging from them.

Ultimately, you needed to expand your meridians to the point they could extend into every corner of your body, directly nurturing all the muscle fibers and the entire nervous system and coating all the bones in the skeletal system.

While this level was not as complex as the previous ones since the meridians did not need guidance and would extend on their own, it did require an overwhelming amount of energy. If someone with a low Wave Talent were to reach this level, it might take them decades to finish it, but that was undoubtedly not Cainʼs case.

Shura and the Blood Champions had yet to recover from the shock of Cainʼs Blood Runes when they saw the speed at which he devoured the Wave from those wave crystals.

None of them could accurately measure Cainʼs Wave Talent, but it was clear it did not fall behind that of Surin or Shura, two of the greatest young geniuses of Blood Sea.

It was not easy for the Blood Champions to accept that the talent of someone they had a bad impression of could be so high. Their previous behavior had been rude to Cain, so approaching him now would be awkward, and they decided to keep things as they were.

Shura, on the other hand, only stared at Cain. She had not directly ostracized the young man, but neither did she attempt to establish a relationship since she remembered very well his words during the meeting with the Blood Duke.

Since Cain did not really care about her life or the Ascendance of the Blood Moon and was here just to pay a debt, she would treat him as the mercenary he was. Cainʼs impressive talent would not change the way she behaved around him.

Cain was happy with how things turned out with Shura and the Blood Champions since he was not in the mood to make friends and wanted to use every second he had to improve his strength. He only opened his eyes when a cold wind crashed into his body, and he knew they had reached their first destination.

The first of the Four Trials of Purity was the Purity of Body, which involved Shuraʼs journey into an extraordinary geyser to help her body attain a pristine state. Many of those special bodies of water could be found across the Gaia Continent, and the one that the Integrationist Path chose was one deep inside a frozen mountain range named Ice Crown.

Ice Crown earned its name due to the large mountain peaks that adopted a circular formation, generating a cold force field on top of them that could freeze Wave Kings. The only way to get into the core of the mountain range would be by making their way through the snow in the ground.

Shura tapped the Wave Beastʼs head, indicating that this one should go down. If it kept flying forward, it would freeze along with all of them.

After reaching the ground, everybody jumped out of the Wave Beast, and this one immediately rose into the sky and flew away to a warmer zone. They would call it back after they finished their mission in this place, and it was time to move to the next destination.

Despite all of them having strong constitutions, the cold affected their bodies harshly, especially for Shura since she was an Essence Early Wave Champion. She and the Blood Champions immediately activated their armor.

Wave Artifacts had thermoregulatory properties, so they could keep them warm even in such dangerous terrains, but there was a downside. The artifacts needed to consume their Wave to work so that it would drain a small portion of their energy pool during their journey.

Of course, a slight decrease in their energy pool was much better than having their bodies react slower due to the freezing cold, so they all did it.

All except for one.

Cain became the center of attention of the group again, and just as they wondered what he was trying to do, he took a golden capsule from his space ring and injected it into his neck.

Shura and the Blood Champions saw Cainʼs body tremble for a moment before his skin gained a shining glow, and they noticed his sparkling white breath.

”Was that a Grand Wave Virus?”

Unlike the Blood Champions, who felt awkward interacting with Cain, Shura did not have those problems and asked the man directly.

Cain had noticed Shuraʼs objective attitude and silently nodded since that would make protecting her much easier.

”Its name is White Heat Breath. It is a 3-Star Grand Wave Virus that generates a thick layer of brown fat beneath my skin, acting as a natural thermoregulator. That will protect me from the cold.

The virus also generates an enzyme that acts at the level of my lungs, improving my ability to separate oxygen from carbon dioxide in the air I take in, keeping the first inside my lungs and exuding the second.”

Surin and the rest of the Blood Champion were amazed by the effect of the Wave Virus, especially the last part. They understand that high places with cold air affect your breathing and drain your stamina.

Cain considered things momentarily before focusing on Shura and throwing a golden capsule at her. If she could respond better to threats, it would be easier for him to keep her alive.

Shura caught the Wave Virust and stared at this one for a moment before frowning. She had used her A.I. Chip to scan it, but there was no information in it.

All the goods sold through the empireʼs network had a certification since there were people in charge of analyzing the products, making sure they were legit. That was especially true for Wave Virus and drugs.

Cain did not get angry at Shura for her words; after all, only an idiot would inject something inside their bodies that a complete stranger gave to them.

”I made it.”