Starting from Zero

After considering for a long time, I still decided for a go at it.

"Can this be digested?" I did not want to consume it to realize that it was indigestible, and if that were to happen, I would constantly feel something bouncing back and forth inside my stomach everytime i ran!

Loong\'er replied with a tone of uncertainty: "It should be digestible! I have never heard of a Dragon swallowing a Dragon Pearl that was indigestible! But a Dragon\'s digestive system is better, I do not know if a Divine Demon Werewolf Hybrid can be able to digest it!"

"Forget it! We will know once I try it out, it is just a game anyway, at most, I\'ll just lose two levels!" I tried to swallow the Dragon Pearl, but it was simply too large, and even after forcing and exerting strength, I could not swallow it. I had initially thought to ask Lucky to help, but afraid that he would exert too much force, I decided against that and got Aldeina to help instead.

I took off my Helmet, then handed the Dragon Pearl over to Aldeina. She looked at it: "Can this still be used after breaking it into smaller pieces?"

Loong\'er explained: "If a Dragon Pearl is shattered, it becomes useless. Furthermore, a Dragon Pearl is not so easily broken!"

Rendered helpless, I held the Dragon Pearl right by my mouth and gestured. "It seems to be a little too big….urghh…..ahh…..cough…..coughhh….Aldeina….are you trying to kill me! …..cough cough cough cough…" Right when I was gesturing on how to swallow the Pearl, Aldeina suddenly kicked the Pearl and forced the entire Pearl into my mouth! It almost choked me to death!

"Are you trying to murder me?!"

"Isn\'t down your throat now?"

"Huh?"

I looked at my empty hands.

"It seems to be in already!"

"That\'s right! I\'ve succeeded in helping you!"

Loong\'er rushed up to me: "How\'re you feeling?"

"My mouth hurts!"

"I mean, any other sensations!"

"My stomach feels hot like it\'s filled with spice!"

"Something\'s wrong! After consuming a Dragon Pearl, one should feel extremely cool!" Loong\'er muttered by the side.

"Wait, wait, it\'s beginning to be cool!"

"That\'s right, there should be a cool sensation." Loong\'er exclaimed happily: "Cooling means that it has started to digest. Wait for a little while longer, after you have digested the entire Pearl, you will receive the information recorded inside it."

"Alright, I got it!" I unsummoned Aldeina and Loong\'er, then continued to wait for Hope and Felix.

The cool sensation in my stomach disappeared quickly. I suddenly heard a deep and resounding voice, which sounded like Loong\'er\'s Father, the Shinryuu (Ao Guang). I looked around, but did not see anything that could speak, furthermore, Lucky was still sprawled on the ground without any reaction. The sound was meant only for me.

"Fated man, you have obtained the Dragon Pearl, an Inheritance bestowed by my Dragon Race - Dragon Strike Skill. This is a profound set of battle technique, with its content split mainly into two parts."

"The first part, an offensive set of techniques through Qi Gathering - Shinryuu Absolute Strike. The second part is a defensive technique - Matchless Dragon Dispel Forms."

"For the Shinryuu Absolute Strike, it mainly focuses on condensing the True Qi drawn from the body, to be quickly unleashed to wound the enemy. The Absolute Strike consists of 3 Melee techniques and 3 ranged techniques."

"Why are there even range techniques?" I questioned the voice, but the Shinryuu did not pause for me, apparently, the voice was like a recording that did not possess any response capability!

"The melee techniques include the [Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike], the [Dragon Glide Strike], and the strongest combo technique - [Heavenly Dragon Successive Strike]. Now, we will begin learning these three techniques."

My body suddenly moved without my control.

"The [Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike] requires the Left hand to wield the Heaven (Yang) and the Right as Earth (Yin) and by combining both hands together, you can unleash the most damage!"

My body suddenly bent down into a Horse Stance while my hands moved in the shape of a Tai Chi circle. Furthermore, the path that my palms took in the sky had a faint blue light trace, after completing the Tai Chi Circle, both my arms retracted back and pushed the Tai Chi formation exactly on the two dots.

With a \'Bang\', the giant stones ahead that blocked our path formed by the hailstones exploded into many pieces and flew all over, which struck my head. I had removed my Helmet when consuming the Dragon Pearl. If I had it on, being struck by the stones would not have been too terrible, but it was a pity my body was still being controlled, and I was unable to even dodge!

After the rain of stones, the Shinryuu\'s voice came out inside my ears again. "You have gained the [Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike], if you wish to use it in the future, simply recite its name and repeat the corresponding movements, as with the other techniques in the future. Now, I will impart the [Dragon Glide Strike] to you, the [Dragon Glide Strike] is a technique that uses the leg to strike the enemy."

I suddenly broke into a sprint uncontrollably, and at the peak of my sprint, I suddenly leapt into the air, where I faced a faint shadow that suddenly appeared before me, clearly an illusionary target. With my legs tilted further back, I felt like Superman, and when i flew over the shadow\'s head, both of my legs suddenly wedged his head between them while my body lowered down, where my hands pushed his abdomen region and hauling out forward. The shadow was instantly flung far into the distance.

"This technique derives its power from the speed of your run and can be greatly improved by wearing Heavy Armor."

Oh my god, this technique is just acrobatics, I doubt I can use it by myself!

"The third technique is [Heavenly Dragon Successive Strike], the first step to it is to use [Dragon Glide Strike] to launch the enemy out, not at a low angle but as high up as possible and not forward."

The Shadow suddenly walked back to his original position and prepared to be a target once again. My body once again broke out into a sprint uncontrollably, I rushed to his front, and immediately unleashed the [Dragon Glide Strike] and tossed him upwards. But this time, I did not stand in my original position like previously, but borrowed the inertia of the force and rolled forward to follow up with the shadow, who at that moment had not fallen yet. My arms started moving again, and with one look, I recognized the move to be [Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike]. I then realized that the [Heavenly Dragon Successive Strike] is joining the [Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike] and [Dragon Glide Strike]. The Shadow figure was struck by the [Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike], but did not shatter like the rocks, but was instead shot further away.

I thought it had ended, but my body moved by itself once more and rushed forward. The speed of the sprint was something I doubted I could achieve by myself!

Miraculously, I appeared below where the Shadow was dropping and suddenly stood still as my body began to bend backward with my left leg lifted up high, to the point that my legs formed a straight line parallel to the ground. Luckily, I was in the Game and no in real life, otherwise, I would definitely be unable to walk for a month! My left leg struck the Shadow accurately, but this time, he was not kicked outwards but up. After kicking the Shadow upwards, my body flipped backward with my hands supporting my entire body, and I stood upright once again. At that moment, the Shadow had exhausted the inertia and reached his peak height. My arms drew the Tai Chi circle again. As expected, It was another [Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike]. As the shadow was flung straight upwards and I had performed a backflip when I performed the last Fusion Strike, the Shadow had landed right in front of me, and my Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike struck him outwards.

Although I did not know how much damage this series of attacks would add up to, with my damage output, I could already unleash devastating damage with my ordinary attacks, but this technique had not ended yet. I continued to run forward, and upon arriving at the Shadow, I performed the same gestures and unleashed the [Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike] again, after which it repeated for another five to six times before the voice came out again.

"The [Heavenly Dragon Successive Strike] is classified as a Sure Kill Attack, the series of attacks can be repeated endlessly as what you have experienced until your target dies or your MP reaches 0. Of course, you can choose to stop after the first series of Successive strikes. TO break your technique, your opponent\'s speed has to at least twice of yours, otherwise, he can only receive your attacks until death."

What a formidable unbounded technique, if I were to use it continuously, even if Japan\'s Sun Goddess, the Amaterasu Omikami were to descend down, I believe I could chain it to death. My MP was close to 8000, the chain that the Dragon Pearl made me unleash only used up 300 MP, for me to completely exhaust my MP, I would need to unleash over a 100 of those techniques! By that time, I believe no one can continue standing!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

"Now, I will impart to you the ranged attack, which includes: [Shinryuu Dark Missile], [Shinryuu Lightning Missile], [Shinryuu Flame Bomb]. All of them are used in the same fashion, by reciting their names their respective names, you will be able to cast them."

I suddenly extended my right hand out with my palm facing forward, my five fingers extended out while my left hand held onto my right wrist, and my mouth started to recite the name of the spell.

"Shinryuu Dark Missile!"

My palm suddenly formed countless of small black dots that converged together. These black dots formed into an apple-sized black ball of light that flew out suddenly. I was forced backward from the recoil, as though my hand was a cannon. My left hand was used to reduce the backlash and force transferred to my right hand. The black ball of light flew out in a straight line until it struck a huge boulder that suddenly rose out from the ground. The boulder instantly exploded, while the things around it immediately started to deform, as though they had become soft. The Dark Missile wielded an extremely strong corrosive property!

I maintained my posture and chanted: "Shinryuu Lightning Missile."

A blue ball of light that looked like it was made from compressed lightning quickly converged until it reached the same size as the Dark Missile before suddenly shooting out, but this time the backlash was not as strong. Lightning Arcs flashed across the surface of the Lightning Missile, and the path where the missile flew past were all burnt to a crisp. Finally, it struck the same surface.This time, the Lightning Missile silently entered the boulder and no explosions could be heard. But one second later, the ground suddenly flashed with lightning, and I reckoned that anyone standing within its area of effect would definitely be electrocuted!

The last one was the Fire Bomb, it was the exact same method, but what came out was a fiery ball of fire, and upon descending, it razed the entire land, one could only imagine the intensity of the fireball!

After comprehending the three techniques, the voice came out again.

"Now, I will begin imparting the [Matchless Dragon Dispel Forms], this is a unique set of Dao techniques, and is easier to employ. As long as you recite out the name and perform the corresponding hand seals, you will be able to use it. The Dragon Dispel Forms\' defense techniques are split into: Dispel Wind Technique, Dispel Water Technique, Dispel Earth Technique, Dispel Lightning Technique, Dispel God Technique*, Dispel Fire Technique."

The Shadow that was beaten far away returned and stood in front of me. The Shinryuu started to guide me again: "The Matchless Dragon Dispel Forms is specially used to defend against the strongest spells of the Western Mages, God\'s Embodiments** and the Eastern Onmyoji\'s and spellcasters. Its effectiveness lies in the user\'s ability to discern the type of element the enemy plans to use. The Western Mages\' Elemental Magic are usually easily recognizable, you should practice against them first."

The Shadow opposite me suddenly had a staff in his hands and started to chant: "Fire curse!"

Hey hey! Do you think I\'m an idiot! Shouting out the name Fire Curse means it\'s definitely a fire spell, I just have to use Dispel Fire Technique!

"Dispel Fire!" I shouted out, with my hands automatically forming the corresponding Hand Seals, then a cutting motion from top down. But the Shadow\'s staff suddenly released a blue light, and a lightning bolt descended down on the ground beneath my feet, instantly exploding me out a few meters.

"The enemy will most probably employ tricks to puzzle and confuse you after he shouted for the Fire Curse, he released a Lightning Spell at the end. You have to watch the enemy\'s staff, lightning type Magic will usually be pale blue with dazzling white lines, wind type magic will be milky white, water type will reveal a gentle and deep blue light while fire type will have red lines…."

After differentiating the different colors, I was tested again and again, ultimately I was fooled by the Shadow utilizing the similar colored yet different type magic spells, but I managed to successfully dispel a few other spells. All in all, I had a 20% success rate! In fact, recognizing spells was rather easy, the main factor was the mental state. I was always afraid that I could not dispel the magic in time, resulting in me initiating a Dispel right after the Shadow revealed a move, but in the end, it was a completely different spell. As long as I could overcome this impatience and wait for the enemy to complete their spell before using the corresponding Dispel, it would not be as difficult. The [Matchless Dragon Dispel Forms]\' Hand Seals were extremely easy and fast to form, which could still be formed after the enemy had completed his spell!

After practicing for a period of time, the Shinryuu spoke up again: "You have now learned all of the Dragon Strike Skill, the power of the Dragon Pearl will now dissipate!" The voice became softer and softer. It seemed like the use of the Dragon Pearl was especially convenient, just that the swallowing needs some effort!

"Save me….!"

Right when I was in thought, I suddenly heard a voice from above and got a shock of my life when I looked up.

Felix and Hope were falling from the sky, which meant that [Zero] log in system accurately records the location of the Player, including the height at which he or she was at!

After logging back in, Hope and Felix appeared above the clouds, where they were previously seated on my Companions, but my Companions were no longer there.

At that moment, I realized that I had shifted from my original position from practicing [Heavenly Dragon Successive Strike], Felix and Hope were dropping at where I was previously at. I anxiously shouted for Lucky to grab them.

Lucky suddenly opened his eyes and saw that it was already too late to save Hope and Felix who were already on the verge of landing on the ground, and used his gigantic wings to unleash a powerful gale that decreased the speed at which they fell.

Bang! Bang!

The two unlucky people finally landed. I quickly ran over to check on them.

The flat grassland had two pairs of limbs struggling in midair, both of them had plunged straight into the soil head first, and their upper bodies were already plunged into the ground! In shock, I tried to rescue them, but they were in too deep and I had no strength to lift them up, and could only rely on Lucky! Lucky held onto their legs and pulled them out of the soil.

The first thing that Felix said was: "I will never ever try Bungee Jumping!"

Hope started to remove the armor on her body: "Luckily you had me wear this armor right from the beginning.Otherwise, I would have been smashed flat!"

I helped her to remove the armor: "It was the wind produced by Lucky that saved you guys. You two fell from such a high altitude, don\'t talk about being smashed flat, even with that armor, you would have died from that fall!"

Felix looked around and asked: "Where\'s that Jap dude?"

"I killed him!"

"You really won against him?" Hope looked at me with disbelief.

"Yes, I won! He\'s just another average player, how could he have been my opponent!"

"Then what do we do now?" Felix looked at me and questioned me.

I pondered for a moment: "Masayoshi Matsumoto have gathered the experts from Japan, do you know what his quest is?"

"I don\'t!" Felix shook his head: "I only heard that they are doing an important quest to transport something, but I don\'t really know the details or what the quest is!"

"I know!" Hope suddenly cut in: "I know what they\'re doing! It has already been spread throughout Japan, but you guys aren\'t Japanese Players and thus can\'t receive it!"

"What exactly are they supposed to do?" I asked.

"It is an extremely troublesome quest." Hope shared with us her map of Japan: "This is a Player City called Heavenly Sovereign City, built by Kyoei Organisation. Kyoei Organisation is filled with Far-right members of Japan, and they have even established a Shrine in Heavenly Sovereign City called the Keigo Shrine."

"Keigo Shrine? You can even build such structures?"

"Just treat it as a large building complex, its name is Keigo Shrine. Its capabilities is similar to that of the Church, and it is said that there are many Spirits there, all of which are Japanese people who had died contributing to Japan. Firstly, Kyoei Organisation received a quest, one of the spirit hinted that Japan\'s soil has six Treasures that belongs to other countries, as long as they find the Mountain God on Mt. Fuji, they will be able to obtain one of the Treasure."

"Then what are we waiting for? We should grab it first before they do. Wouldn\'t it be more troublesome to seize it from the Japs?" Felix suggested excitedly.

"That\'s impossible!" Hope interrupted Felix. "When they received the Quest from the spirit, they obtained a Spirit Stone, without that, the Mountain God will not appear!"

"Do you know where the Spirit stone is at the moment?" I asked Hope.

"I don\'t know about that! But, I do know that important things are either on Masayoshi Matsumoto or on the Chairman of Kyoei Organisation!"

"Are we going to snatch it from them?" Felix was not willing to give up.

"Stop it!" I ended his fantasies. "Masayoshi Matsumoto has more than one or two subordinates, we can\'t possibly fight against all of them. Furthermore, what can you do even if you\'re close to him? Even if you kill him, he might not drop the Stone, furthermore, the majority of the quest items are nontransferable or droppable!"

"That means that the stone is still in the hands of the President?"

"Even if it is, we can\'t kill him. Killing him 10 thousand times won\'t make him drop the item."

"Then we can only continue to follow them?"

"But when will they continue to look for the treasure?" Hope looked at the mountain filled with snow in a daze.

"Hope, can you help us by entering the city to ask around?"

"Of course, I\'ll get to it right now." Hope said and took a Teleport Scroll and disappeared.

"What do we do now?" Felix asked.

"I was thinking of practicing my skills first, do you know of any locations that might have more Japs?" I had just learned the Absolute Strike techniques and needed live practice. Beating my own people was out of the question, luckily, we were in Japan, there were Japs all around, killing or injuring them would not be a problem!

"At the foot of the mountain is Ban Rai City, there will definitely be people there, but don\'t get surrounded!

"No matter, I have Lucky with me, opening a path won\'t be a problem!" I patted Lucky\'s claws and he coordinated with a Dragon Roar. Fortunately, it did not attract any Japs!

"Then you be careful, I won\'t go down with you, I\'ll grind some levels here while we wait for Hope!"

"Alright! I\'ll head off first, if you have any news, just private message me." With that, I summoned Night Shade and rushed down the mountain.

While rushing down, I felt that Japan\'s mountains were boring, Mt Fuji was flat like a mound, and one could oversee the entire place with one look. The mountains in China are truly mountains, the endless majestic mountain ranges that were intermittently visible in the sea of clouds. It was a pity that the Japs viewed Mt Fuji so highly, their land was too small and did not have many things, and I reckoned that in a few years time, they would have to flatten Mt Fuji for land reclamation. Otherwise, why would the Japs keep thinking about China\'s land! Their country was simply too small!

I rushed down the mountain in deep thoughts and arrived at the place where Masayoshi Matsumoto and the rest had run away from. Further out was the small forest, and once I passed through the forest, I would arrive in Ban Rai City.

Hey hey, my target practices, here I come!

The dense forest was filled with obnoxious crooked trees. On Night Shade\'s back, my head had actually reached the canopy, I truly did not know if it was Night Shade being too tall or the Japan trees too short, but the trees that I were trampling on were short and resembled more like shrubs! I directed Night Shade through "Shrubs Forest", and had no choice but to stick my head closely to Night Shade\'s back, otherwise my head would reach the Canopy, and I would not be able to see a thing!

(*) The Dispel God Technique is Vague right now, but when the further chapter talks more about it, I might change it. It can also be written as Dispel Spirits. But as they emphasized on God\'s Embodiments, I\'ll stick it to that for now.

(**) God\'s Embodiment or Kannushi.