The God Virus

Normally, the cultivators were not expected to create their personal technique in their lifetime since technique-creation was an absolutely disparate field of ability compared to simply learning, grasping, and using an already developed one. 

The difference between the two was like that of an automotive engineer and a driver. While the driver could drive the car with no issues whatsoever, he was totally incapable of designing or inventing new car models since that was normally the job of a genius engineer and not a driver.

Notwithstanding, as hours went by, Virus triumphantly achieved the fresh foundation of seven liberated meridians plus the upgraded electrical pulse before moving on to the procedure of redesigning and going over every part of his anatomy once more while recalculating the risks and errors that may have popped up after increasing the overall input and output of energy.

Subsequently, fixing a couple more issues here and there, at last, Virus was finished with everything!

The Third Form was complete!

'Now, it's time for the fourth form.' Since Virus was already into the ninth level and therefore had access to 'eight' liberated pathways rather than 'seven' alone, he wanted to upgrade the second form to that of the fourth one as well.

However, doing that was easier said than done since the difficulty level was much higher than the third form.

If the difficulty percentage of associating seven meridians was one, then for the eighth passage, it experienced a sharp jump to a full one hundred!

'Hmm, now…' Just as he was about to spark the following procedure inside his mindscape, the repetitive bangs on the door brought him out of his reverie.

"Who is it?" Hence, opening his eyes, Virus questioned. The violent manner of knocking on his door immediately forced a crease on Virus' forehead.

"I-It's Luca, boss! Sob…" 

Listening to Luca's muffled and nasal sound, Virus noticed something was probably wrong with Luca, thus, he allowed him to enter at once. "Come on in!"

Next, perceiving his bloody face and red eyes filled with tears and snot, Virus was now certain something bad had happened. As a result, he interrogated calmly, "Why are you crying? Where is Luna?"

"B-Boss… sob… L-Luna, they…" Albeit, unable to restore his composure, Luca seemed to be in a state of shock.

"Calm down first. Take a deep breath. Yes, that's great." Watching Luca do as he was told, Virus complimented him a little before urging him again, "Now, tell me everything in detail."

"Boss, per your orders, we were outside trying to uncover that drunkard's daily schedule, we even came to know that his name is Blaze Detox." Clenching both fists hard, Luca elaborated. From the nonstop movement of his hands and head, it was clear he was extremely restless right now.

"But?" Pressing his index finger against his cheek and propping his chin on the rest of clenched fingers, Virus questioned. It was at emergency moments like these when Virus was the calmest and most concentrated.

"B-but then when we were just about to return and call it a day, a particular cultivator of the Poison Deity clan blocked our path! He was the one who had delivered us to the colosseum earlier." Ashen white, Luca unconsciously tilted his head down before picking up the rest of his explanations.

"After recognizing us, he r-respectfully notified the person he was following, some guy called Gander Toxison, about our identities while also announcing the fact about you representing and saving us at the Recreation Training Center before, hence, saying we must also be a-aware of your whereabouts." Due to him grinding his teeth so hard, Luca's face was contorting now.

Every second that passed felt like pure torment to the current Luca who was standing alone in front of Virus without Luna to be found anywhere. "Anyway, the instant that guy  Gander l-learned about us, he started beating and cursing at both of us… and he just wouldn't stop."

"In the end, refusing to let Luna go, he decided to keep him hostage and told me to bring you to him if I want to see Luna alive ever again. If I don't do per his orders, he vowed to torture Luna to death!" Biting his lips at the mere thought of his little brother's death, his lips began to bleed.

"B-Boss, what do I do?" As tears flowed down his face, Luca's only hope now was Virus' next words and possible solution. Of course, he had not even considered the idea of betraying Virus since he knew both he and Luna owed Virus their lives. If they did indeed betray the trust of their benefactor and savior, then he assumed death to be a better option rather than living such disgraceful lives. That is also why he had not hesitated to describe everything so detailedly.

At this point, however, furrowing his brows, many deliberations were passing through Virus' hyperactive brain.

Virus was aware that due to him accomplishing something unheard of, he was extremely well-known in Ricando right now, therefore, the common people presumed Virus to be like a being that had made something that had been an impossible feat so far a tangible reality.

'I knew the clan would retaliate against me one way or another, but I didn't expect it to be so fast.' 

Since the immovable authority and control of the clan over the city and the common citizens had been brought under question by the indirect result of Virus' act of slaughter, Virus had already predicted some retaliative measures of action to be taken against him!

More accurately, by winning against the disciples of the Poison Deity clan, many of the common citizens of Outer Ricando who were originally dissatisfied with the cruel Poison Deity clan earlier now had some hope burning in their hearts, a hope that had been inflamed as a consequence of them personally verifying and witnessing that the clan was not truly unbeatable.

Unfortunately, the clan absolutely would not permit such rebellious thoughts to fester or grow within the mind of its citizens, and that meant retribution was bound to hit Virus, hence making an unforgettable example out of him for everyone to see and learn!

However, Virus also understood the clan could not act against him in broad daylight since it was one of the clan's rules for the monthly competition to be completely fair as they even encouraged the chosen ones to kill and win the event without any worries of the clan taking offense.

And that's exactly why Virus didn't anticipate such a quick reaction from the clan.

'No, it is not the clan that is retaliating, rather it's probably an independent course of action taken by one of the disciples alone.' Indeed, just as Virus was concluding, as of yet, the clan had not come up with any steps to deal with Virus at all and the so-called Gander Toxison was perhaps just a disciple who felt offended on his own after hearing about everything.

And yet, the clan was most likely already knowledgeable about this playful act of Gander Toxison, however, according to Virus' analysis, they were probably not going to interfere. 'In fact, the figures of authority in the clan may even be encouraging such strikes against me from behind the shadows.'

All the Poison Deity clan promised was that they were not going to take offense or publicly act against the chosen one who wins, which meant only the top figures of authority in the clan would not pursue the matter or prosecute the winner publicly using the clan itself.

However, although the clan would probably not act against him, it did not mean the solitary disciples who had their own free will would not feel displeased or insulted. So, if a disciple stepped up to make a move, the clan would most likely pretend as if the grudges of their disciples had nothing to do with them.

Suddenly patting Luca's head gently, Virus beamed a smile that reached his ears and started comforting the anxious teenager, "Don't worry, kid, just leave everything to me. Now, let's go save your little brother. Take me there." 

Subsequently, the second Luca turned around and was on the move to guide him, with his eyes half-lidded, a chilly glint went past his pupils.  'What great timing.. Just when I was thinking I lack a training dummy to test my new power, this dude shows us.'