When Kai finally limped back to their secure base, his body was aching all over from the combination of poison, exertion, and injury. The manticore was surprisingly fast, and very determined whenever it got his scent, so it required full use of Thunderbird's Wings to escape. He stepped inside and let out an expressive grunt.
"Still having trouble with the poison, huh?" Omilaena walked up to stand in front of him with a friendly smile.
"It's rough." Kai tugged out a quill and grimaced. "Surely you're not telling me this poison is no worse than others."
"No, it's definitely potent. Let me handle those." She removed one of the quills from his chest, surprisingly gently until she tugged it out. Then she extended her pendant to the injury, absorbing the remaining venom into the Prana Jewels.
That was ordinary enough, since they were both working on this manticore venom. What wasn't usual was that Omilaena bent down to the injury and sucked on it.
"The fuck?" Kai pulled her head back. "You can't actually suck out venom, that doesn't work."
"Who said anything about that?" Omilaena smirked, his blood shockingly bright against her blue lipstick. "What, you're not feeling playful after getting pumped full of poison?"
"Ugh, please just get the quills out."
She cooperated without any more teasing, removing all the quills that had been embedded in him. Kai could take on the manticore in terms of strength or speed, but it was shockingly good at choosing the right time to unleash its quills, always a moment when he would struggle to dodge. Even though he could power through the poison now, he wouldn't be satisfied until he could completely overcome the sacred beast.
"Come on, don't call it a baby."
"The innocent infant manticore, which you brutally murdered in its mother's arm-"
Kai flicked her in the forehead. "If anything, they were teaching the younger one to hunt prey. But what were you saying?"
"Just that I think these might be useful." Omilaena flipped around the quill and gestured to the tip. "These would make a moderately good arrow or dart, and if we could get ones with a full load of poison, that would be even better."
"Would they actually be effective? Everyone uses such explosive techniques here, they might just blow away anything like that."
"You can reinforce projectiles, like the elves on Rosemount. It probably wouldn't be an overwhelming weapon, but given how lethal the venom is, it could make a difference. I'll build some test weapons for the Manticore tribesmen, so we have more junk to impress them with."
"Speaking as if I'll win." Kai groaned and leaned back - his body was recovering rapidly, but he still felt heavy. "I mean, I probably will. But I don't want to just crush this thing with overwhelming force, like the tribe recommended. I feel like I get more out of a monster, or a beast, if I understand it first. At minimum it helps me understand how to use its essence."
"Oh, I thought you were just increasing your monstrous power to catch up to your human growth." Omilaena peered in his direction, then shook her head. "I still can't see it. But since your cultivation advanced, your monstrous abilities have more room to grow, right?"
"That's true, but it's not the main reason I'm doing this. Zae Zin Nim is waiting for us, and that woman in the Pureflower sect is dying. I wouldn't spend more time here unless it was important, but manticore essence seems incredibly rare."
"Well, if you want to get better, instead of merely stronger, you should look into specialization. Zae Zin Nim showed you her new mana-using attack?"
Kai chuckled. "The Coldfire Palm, yes. She was very proud of it."
"The key thing was that it was a specific, precise combination of abilities. Cultivators here can make all kinds of attacks with qi, from those little bursts to the fancy ones." Omilaena rolled her eyes. "Personally, I'm not convinced that the Crashing Divine Thunder Horses are any better than just blasting someone, but whatever. The point is that conscious, refined uses of power are better."
"You're saying that a specific balance of mana and qi in her technique is better than just forming qi into a giant hand and smacking someone with it."
"Exactly. Now, your monstrous essence is highly differentiated, but to be honest, your other power is mixed. You seem to draw on chakra, qi, and mana in equal measure to fuel all those. Same with your Physique, which just runs on all three."
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"That's worked best so far, though." Kai frowned as he thought back. "I thought Physique was strengthened by absorbing new kinds of power."
"Physique, yes, but that's a general characteristic. Techniques are more specialized by nature." Omilaena flicked her hand to reveal a syringe of intense blue qi. "This isn't me lecturing you, it's something I'm still figuring out myself. If I just ate a bunch of the 'ice qi' they have in the Pureflower sect, it would probably just form a small, weak part of my soul. I intend to fuse it into something better."
"Really?" Kai leaned forward, examining the syringe. "Is that what you've been working on?"
"Among other things. Here, let me show you..."
Omilaena explained all her ideas about theory, one form of energy trapping another. He still wasn't entirely familiar with the seven "aspects" of power she spoke about, but the principle was easy enough. It sounded like she was planning to create a specialized tattoo that would strengthen her Lethal Artisan techniques.
"But I'm still figuring out details," Omilaena concluded after explaining at length. "I don't think the tattoo's picture matters, but I want to be sure. And I haven't quite decided on the location."
"Isn't that obvious?" Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, how naughty of you! I admit, having the tattoo somewhere private might be a nice surprise, but-"
"I wasn't flirting." Kai reached out to take her hand and ran his fingers over her skin. "You always create objects via Lethal Artisan in your hands, so I assumed you would form the tattoo across your fingers or wrist. Combine the power right at the source so it doesn't have to run through your whole body. Or does it not work that way?"
She blinked, then nodded. "That's an obvious approach, but maybe obvious is best. Yes, perhaps I could even choose just one arm, so I retain flexibility..." With that, Omilaena pulled away from him, retreating into her own world to consider everything.
For his part, Kai had work to do and an entirely new approach. He had been planning to ask her more questions, but since she was so preoccupied, he could figure it out for himself. Basically, instead of merging all his mana, qi, and chakra together, he needed to use it more selectively. There was a lot of that with advanced cultivation, specific meridians and other details, so he could try to expand the concept.
For a start, he considered all of his monstrous essence that produced what he considered a discrete skill.
Behemoth's Heart - IX (iota)
Thunderbird's Wings - VII (eta)
Direboar's Strength - XIII (nu)
Baleful Breath - V (epsilon)
Tyrant's Claw - XI (iota)
Void Gaze - VI (zeta)
Isulfr's Bite - VIII (theta)
Sahagin's Soul - X (kappa)
Mutefang's Stealth - X (kappa)
Some, like Sahagin's Soul or Mutefang's Stealth, he dismissed as utilities. Others like Direboar's Strength or Thunderbird's Wings passively formed the core of his strength. But there were some that were very much techniques: Tyrant's Claw, Baleful Breath, Void Gaze, and Isulfr's Bite.
Could he somehow specialize one of them? That seemed difficult to impossible, given how they arose from within him. When he used something like Baleful Breath, it felt like he exhaled every sort of power that he possessed and he wasn't sure he should change that if he could. Some of the others, maybe, but it was hard to be sure...
Abruptly Kai sat up straighter as he realized that he had another option entirely. Behemoth's Heart primarily strengthened his body, and the Savage Heart also caused his body to transform - they even had similar names. They were so similar, could he have something to gain by specialization? It felt like it might just weaken him, but he decided it was worth a try.
When he closed his eyes, Kai focused on the two powers, trying to align them. His body had shifted slightly toward a monstrous form even before he gained either ability, then the Savage Heart directly transformed him. Perhaps Behemoth's Heart could be his physical heart, without losing its spiritual components. Would it be strengthened if it was physically rooted inside him?
Kai wasn't sure how long his eyes were closed as he struggled with the details, but it felt like hours. Eventually he began to feel his heart beating, as powerful as usual, and it seemed to be swelling, as if there wasn't enough space in his chest. Yet he felt stronger, even a bit healthier.
Could it be that easy? Kai opened his eyes and looked down, though he didn't see any changes. He might have to open up his chest to know for sure, and even with his healing he wasn't inclined to tear out his heart for a look. Most likely what he'd done was only the beginning, an attempted habit that he would have to strengthen over time for it to take root. Still, he felt as though he'd made some real progress.
When he looked up, he saw that Omilaena was looking over at him with a fond expression on her face. Unlike usual, she didn't try to hide it.
"It's been a long time since we were together ," she said softly. "Makes me think back to when we were hunting the Thunderbird."
"Yeah, that was an even more dangerous one." Despite all the confusion and frustration he'd felt at that time, Kai found himself smiling at the memory. "Well, I suppose the main difference is that we're stronger now."
"I don't know if I agree that's the main difference." Omilaena was on him in a second, straddling his hips and pressing herself against him. "Back then, you were so stiff about it all, I had no choice but to tease you. But it all worked out in the end, didn't it?"
"You tell me." Kai caught her lips with his, and when his heartbeat sped up it had nothing to do with training.
It took another week, but eventually they had extracted all the value they could from the manticore. The last several times Kai had encountered it, their battles had a desperate savagery. Omilaena's leg had healed and she didn't need any more poison, so it was time.
Before Kai went out to end things, he focused on the Savage Heart within him. Let his body start to shift, but not all the way. Behemoth's Heart beat within his soul, and he was fairly certain that the heart in his chest had changed as well. In theory, this would be the test of whether or not he actually had control of the power, whether or not he could fight on the razor's edge.
So it was time to go out against the manticore, one last time.