Nameless sovereign 1 a c.., p.1
Nameless Sovereign 1: A Cultivation Progression Fantasy, page 1
Nameless Sovereign
BOOK 1
A CULTIVATION EPIC
NAMELESS AUTHOR
First published by Timeless Wind Publishing LLC 2024
Copyright © 2024 by Nameless Author.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Nameless Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
First edition
Editing by J. Massat and Silas Sontag.
Beta read by Sol and Morcant.
Cover art by Macarious. Typography by Lorne Ryburn.
Contents
1. Wake Up
2. Spiritual Veins
3. Mentor
4. Hunting
5. Centipede Attacks
6. Finishing Blow
7. The Truth
8. Training Begins
9. Acupoints
10. Talent
11. True Nature
12. Hollow
13. Unrest
14. Insect Battle
15. Scythes
16. New Weapon
17. The Enemy Revealed
18. Insectoid
19. Life or Death
20. Power Explosion
21. Closing Moments
22. Departure
23. Gamble
24. Forceful Breakthrough
25. Offer
26. Into the Depths
27. Discovered
28. Collision
29. Centipede Nest
30. Distraction
31. Reprieve
32. Spider Territory
33. Scouting
34. Bait
35. Approaching Doom
36. Impassable
37. Valley of Death
38. Last Stand
39. Crimson
40. Kingdom
41. Azure
42. Final Stretch
43. Tired
44. Infection
45. Freedom
46. Encounter
47. People
48. Forest
49. Skinning
50. Age Limit
51. Illusionary Barrier
52. Wounds
53. Arrival
54. News at the Gate
55. The Town
56. The Sect
57. Meeting
58. Elder’s Council
59. Joining the Sect
60. Fiend
61. Disciple
62. Blacksmith
63. Spirit Key
64. Demonification
65. Obstacles
66. Forging
67. Arcane Script
68. Preacher
69. Uniform
70. Breaking and Entering
71. Town Guard
72. Loot
73. Imitation
74. Debt
75. Promotion
76. Writing
77. Cultivation Realms
78. Consuming the Pill
79. Bow and Arrow
80. Boar
81. Ambush
82. Skill
83. Research
84. Map
85. The Moon
86. Aftermath
87. Moonlight
88. Reincarnation
89. Favor
90. Preparations
91. Setting Off
92. Discovery
93. Investigating
94. Reanimation
95. Trail
96. Dead Plants
97. The Undead Revealed
98. Crimson World
99. Merging
100. Coalition
101. Reuniting
102. Encircled
103. The Forest Problem
104. Necromancer
105. Reforging
Afterword
Groups
Chapter 1
Wake Up
“Protect the grove! Don’t let a single one of them through!” a grave voice rumbled over the battlefield, overwhelming even the deafening sounds of conflict.
The screams woke Red from his stupor. Sensation gradually returned to his body, and his eyes took in his surroundings. What had once been a beautiful palace had been leveled to fine powder by all the explosions, the sole exception being a white temple. His vision was blurry, but even then, he could still make out the motionless figures around him. Countless bodies lay on the ground, clad in shining armor.
My allies.
He knew they were trying to hold off an invader, but a sudden pain in his stomach made recalling the details difficult. Red looked down. There was a large hole going through his belly, large enough to see out the other side. He was surprised and rather glad that he was still alive.
Loud thumps followed. He turned his attention away from his injury and looked up just in time to see more bodies falling from the sky. These men were dead before they even hit the ground. He followed the path they had taken, looking up above. Far above in the sky was a sight his mind could hardly wrap around.
An enormous vortex spanned the heavenly horizon as far as the eye could see, rotating as more and more golden beings poured out from it. Each had an additional eye on their forehead, wings on their back, and two sets of arms. The invaders. They rushed down and soon clashed against the defending human forces, blinding spells and huge explosions bombarding the senses without end. Though Red’s allies outnumbered the invaders, he saw more and more of his comrades pushed back and killed as the seconds ticked by.
Amongst them, one figure held firm against the swarming tide of enemies. Wielding a single glowing blade in his hand, this single man clashed against multiple invaders, holding the line almost on his own. Red instinctively recognized the man as his leader, whose voice had rumbled through the battlefield. He didn’t know why, but the sight lit a burning spark within his spirit and forced him to his feet. Despite his wound, he was ready to rejoin the battle.
However, a flash of light came from the vortex, blinding everyone on the battlefield and bringing the fight to a momentary stop. When everyone’s eyes could see again, they noticed that in the place where that human warrior once stood was only a figure wrapped in burning white flames.
“Don’t… let them…”
The general struggled to let any words out. The flames burned his body until nothing was left. It was as if the man had never been there.
The invaders roared, seeing their biggest obstacle reduced to ashes, and pushed the defenders back with renewed vigor. Casualties mounting, Red’s allies began to flee and scatter into a rout.
Red looked up as a gigantic, rune-covered golden arm emerged from the vortex. It pointed down with its index finger at the last standing temple down below, and a beam of condensed white flames shot towards it at dizzying speed. A cloud of fire expanded from where it hit, slowly consuming everything in its path until it reached the very heavens itself, with no sign of stopping. It was the end of the world.
How bright…
That was the last thing Red thought before the flames consumed him, too.
“Red.”
A loud voice woke him up.
“Wake up, your food is here,” it said.
Just as suddenly as the dream had started, it ended. When Red opened his eyes, what greeted him wasn’t the sky lit up by a war between gods, but the rock ceiling of a cave dimly lit by torches.
“Had another dream?” the same voice asked.
Red sat up and saw a middle-aged man staring at him while holding up a piece of bread in his direction. A bushy graying beard covered his battle-worn face, where a scar crossed over his nose.
Red nodded before grabbing the bread from the man’s hand and unceremoniously taking a bite.
“What was it about?” the man asked.
“White fire…” Red said.
All around him he could see other slaves in ragged clothing, eating their own pieces of bread just as eagerly, while a handful of the burlier slaves distributed the food from a basket.
“Is that so...”
After seeing that Red wasn’t interested in elaborating, the man let the matter go. He sat down nearby and started eating his bread too, a far larger piece than the one he had given to Red.
His name was Viran, and he was the self-designated leader of the slaves in the cave. A former soldier, his strength became evident soon after his arrival, as he had beat everyone who questioned his authority, setting his own rules in this almost lawless land.
All the slaves down here were assigned to gathering precious ores. At the end of every three days, they could exchange what they had gathered for food and some other goods with the guards near the cave’s entrance.
The overseers of the mine really didn’t care about how the guards handled things, as long as they got what they wanted. The exchange rates were horrible and there was barely enough food to live on. Before Viran arrived, slaves would backstab each othe r over a piece of bread, and sometimes even resort to cannibalism. Now, Viran had made the gathering of slaves into a semi-functioning society that mined the ores more efficiently to exchange all at once. He distributed the food according to each person’s contribution, all while outlawing murder and fighting.
Even if in the end their new leader got a bigger portion of the food than he deserved, the situation was beneficial to the barely ten-year-old Red. He didn’t have the strength to contend with the older slaves. Before Viran arrived, he had often given a big part of his food to other people, even if he gathered more ores, just so they wouldn’t beat him to death. Now, instead of living in a perpetually starving state, he was full enough to get by in the cave tunnels.
That would have been ideal if it weren’t for another thing he now had to worry about.
“How many acupoints have you opened since the last time?”
Viran interrupted his meal once again with a question.
“... One,” Red said before stuffing what was left of the bread in an improvised pants pocket.
Viran frowned. “That’s not enough.”
“I’m doing my best,” Red insisted.
“It’s still not enough.” Viran went silent for a few seconds. “I’ve been speaking with the guards… I might get a Vein Opening Pill from them soon enough, but you’ll have to have reached the third vein by then—”
Suddenly, a scream interrupted their conversation.
Not far away from them, the slaves had formed a circle around two men. One of them bled profusely from his head, where a large rock had made a clear indentation. His skull was fractured. The other one stood above him, with the rock in hand, ready to deal the final blow. Before the man could act, he was tackled to the ground by the slave that had been distributing the food. He tried to fight back, but another two slaves piled on and immobilized him.
Red barely had the time to register what was happening before Viran took off. He looked furious. He crouched down and examined the other slave’s wound before shaking his head. His skull was already crushed, and his gaze wandered aimlessly while his mouth babbled incomprehensible words. It made for a rather disturbing scene, but Red was already accustomed to the mine’s brutality.
With practiced movements, Viran put his hands around the man’s neck before twisting it with a crack, putting him out of his misery. All the slaves watched in fear as their leader stood up and walked towards the aggressor. Suddenly, the bloodlust-filled state left the killer. As two other slaves put him on his knees, he stared at Viran with fear.
“He lied to me! He went into our stash and ate everything—”
Before he could finish, another crack sounded as Viran twisted the man’s neck as he had the neck of his victim. Complete silence filled the large cave chamber.
The slaves stared at the two bodies, too afraid to speak.
“Put both of them near the hunting room. It seems we finally have some new bait,” Viran said. “What are you staring for? If you’re done eating, go do your job!”
The rest of them started spreading out and leaving the chamber like startled ants.
Viran shook his head and turned to where he had been talking to Red. The boy, however, was nowhere to be seen.
He sighed. “Goddamn rat.”
Red retraced his steps, as he did so often, through a narrow tunnel. The twisting corridors and passages of the caves seemed endless. Some slaves said they went miles deep into the ground, but of course, none of them were stupid enough to see for themselves. It was extremely easy for anyone to get lost in a place like this.
The red-haired boy, however, was already used to wandering these tunnels from an early age. He’d made his own markings to recognize the paths, as well as his preferred routes to search for minerals and avoid other slaves. Remaining inconspicuous and unnoticed was critical for someone as young as him to survive.
So, like a ghost, he walked barefoot across the rocky ground, the only source of illumination being a bright-green rock he held in his hand. It was a moonstone, one of the more common ores down in the cave that the slaves were tasked with gathering. It was abundant enough that it was one of the major materials they used as a makeshift currency. The stone glowed relatively brightly in the dark, making it easy to find and offering illumination when torches were in short order.
With the green stone brightening the way forward, Red finally arrived at a small intersection. This path led deeper into the less explored areas of the caves, areas full of danger. He looked around and found a small mound of rocks that blended in with the cave wall.
He threw the rocks out of the way, revealing a narrow path, one that no adult could ever fit through. Thankfully, if there was any advantage to being a young kid in such an inhospitable environment, it was that he could get into places no one else could.
Without hesitation, Red got on all fours and started crawling through the small passage. His arms and knees scraped against the rough ground, but he barely registered the pain.
Soon the passage narrowed and even Red had to lie prone on the ground to continue. This was the longest part of the journey. It took him twenty minutes of breathing rarefied air and scraping his chest against pebbles and rocks before the passage started widening enough to crawl again.
Soon it broadened enough to allow him to stand up. Ahead, he could see faint purple light from around the corner. Red walked further in and finally arrived at his destination.
The passage grew into an enormous chamber, far bigger than the one the slaves gathered in to eat. Huge black-purple tentacles sprawled across the walls, thicker than several humans placed side-by-side before tapering off at their ends. They emitted a purple light just bright enough that one could distinguish their shapes.
If you followed the tentacles to their root, you would find a strange and bulbous circular shape near the ground. Roughly the size of a grown adult, it was riddled with veins and pulsated a purple glow which spread into its tentacles, feeding them with its light like a heart.
As Red approached, an oversized human mouth formed on the “heart’s” surface.
“Human, is that you?”
He heard a voice that seemed to belong to a child. Although the mouth formed the words, the voice sounded only inside Red’s head.
“Yeah…” Red said, unfazed by the situation. He fiddled around with his pouch and pulled out a piece of bread. “Here, I brought you food.”
Chapter 2
Spiritual Veins
“Is it meat?” the strange blob asked, its voice full of expectation.
“No, it’s bread.”
“Oh…”
Without standing on ceremony, Red threw the piece of bread in the blob’s general direction. Even after they’d spent so much time together, he still didn’t dare to get close to it.
A pink lizard-like tongue emerged from the mouth, flicking through the air and snatching the piece of bread with such speed that it was hard to follow with the naked eye. Quiet chewing sounds were heard as the being ate the food with undisguised excitement, despite how disappointed it had seemed before.
At that point, Red had already stopped paying attention to it. Turning around, he headed to the center of the room and took on a sort of combat stance, his legs slightly bent and his fists by his waist.
Soon enough, Red started punching the air in front of him in a slow and deliberate manner, alternating his hands, taking care to time it with his breathing. After repeating the same slow motions for thirty seconds, he changed his movements slightly, bringing his feet forward along with his punches. Then low kicks got mixed in. Slowly but surely, the speed of his repetitions grew faster, moves chaining into each other to form a complex routine.
The force in Red’s punches left much to be desired, even for someone of his age, but his form was still good. At least, that was what Viran had told him when he taught him these specific moves. All he could do was exert his body as the old soldier had instructed him to, and sure enough, after less than two minutes of the high-intensity training routine, Red felt his muscles ache as sweat gathered on his body.
He never considered himself to be strong, much less so down in these caves where one barely found enough food to stay alive. However, the exercises seemed to take more out of his body than seemed logical. This was the intent, Red had learned. The routine was meant to push the body to near-exhaustion, the optimal state to absorb Spiritual Energy.
