Cthulhu Gonfalon

“I really don’t understand why you insist on letting that pig head join the team. It’s really unnecessary in my opinion,” Clito perched against a tree and commented to Sui Xiong with furrowed brows after watching the unpleasant exchange.

“That’s fellow’s luck is constantly increasing. After a while, it will plateau.”

“What’s that got to do with mining? He’s not an explorer.”

“With a lucky charm in the group, it’ll be helpful.”

Clito shook his head in disagreement.

To speak about luck, he had seen several examples of “good luck” but had never seen someone who could complete tasks on luck alone.

If Fira were an explorer, he could use his good luck to explore the mine and reduce or speed up the workload of the team. However, he was merely a chef—Clito could not understand how a chef’s good luck could influence the whole team.

Clito was a liberal person, and he did not care to overthink matters that he could not comprehend. Instead, he sat down and watched the happenings in the camp until he fell asleep.

This was a talent that he had acquired over the recent years. He was able to maintain his observational skills while sleeping, and this was learned from his warrior training. It could be said that powerful monks could sit within flames or in water and sleep as they could separate their body’s energy and use “qi” to protect themselves. Clito was not at such a level yet, but he was able to carry out observations while sleeping at the same time. This was a common level among the monks and could be done as long as they concentrated hard.

However, Clito was not really a monk; what he trained in was warrior energy and not the qi of monks. While they sounded similar, they were actually extremely different. Qi came from life energy, but fighting energy came from one’s fighting spirit. If described by attributes, one was by constitution while the latter was based on will. As a legendary mid-level swordsman, Clito had a high level of vindictiveness, and he had almost endless power. However, for him to train his qi, his expertise in fighting energy did little for him and would even disadvantage him.

The two forces were completely different. While vindictiveness was changeable and could be violent, qi was pure and gentle. When Clito was practicing, he had confused them several times. At those moments, not only did he not succeed, but he also had sustained injuries. However, in the process of healing, he better understood the idea of qi and how to master that special strength.

Thus, strictly speaking, he could be regarded as a swordsman and part-time monk, but at a low level for the latter, maybe mid-level at best.

The reason why Clito chose to study qi was to study the essence of life. This was the test that Leon had given him, and also a pointer. Generally speaking, when one wanted to convert from the level of legendary to the legendary peak, it was necessary to train other methods of strength. Leon himself had upgraded through training under priests, yet he knew Clito’s faith was not pure enough to do so. Thus, Leon pointed out this path to Clito. This was the benefit of having a mentor. Many legendary powerhouses without teachers did not know how to improve themselves and would be stuck in the Legendary Realm for thousands of years. Even if they aware of some shortcuts, not all would be able to find the path that was most suitable for them. For example, if a legendary high-ranking warrior decided to practice ranger skills, it would be a waste of time as rangers followed the path of vindictiveness.

Unlike Clito, his wife, Asner was a transformation mage. This was naturally due to her intelligence. To cast spells, real transformation mages only required their brains and not natural talent—of course, those smart enough to say “talent is not necessary” were rare, and Clito was a part of this majority.

The couple progressed at around the same speed, though, and this shocked everyone. It was clear that Clito trained much harder than Asner, so why were they at the same stage? However, when one considered their age, it was easy to see the balance between genius and diligence.

However, Sui Xiong knew that the reason for their similar speeds was because he used a special Famen spell to transfer part of the power he trained to Asner. That method allowed power from both sides to flow like water, from the stronger side to the weaker side, creating a balance of power overall. It was used not for personal gain or to sacrifice others but a way for two people who mutually trusted each other to support each other and improve together. Through this flow of power, they would also become more compatible and could connect better in battle. The effect of “one plus one” was more than two individuals. Furthermore, as they were now in sync, it created an auxiliary effect, where the energy lost by the stronger individual would be compensated back, benefitting both sides.

However, it was rather restrictive as it required absolute trust between both parties as well as an excellent tacit understanding. It also required that both persons involved to have roughly the same amount of strength, and only a small power gap could be accommodated. One of the participants also had to be a monk to create this match. When two individuals combined, it was often impossible to create a suitable pair for a few hundred years. According to monk records, the last time such a Famen spell worked was more than seven hundred years ago, when a pair of martial art brothers used it. They had wonderfully managed to integrate each other’s’ strengths. When they worked together, they were almost like one and had immense power. When they first tried to enter the higher ranks as a duo, they managed to kill a legendary strongman who had been injured at that time. However, it was a pity that they did not enter the legendary peak realm in the end. While they were at the legendary level, they were killed as a pair in an intense battle. The monk tribe was thus weakened, and eventually, even their secretive esoteric classics were lost. Over time, they landed in the hands of a faithful scholar follower, the Hart family from Grey Tower City of the Mifata Federation. Following the teachings, Grey Tower City changed to believe in the God of Knowledge. Wall made a copy of these precious classics and placed them in the Void City’s library’s storeroom. When Clito was bored, he would browse the shelves at the library and eventually found the classics which allowed him to harness his skills. Of course, he also received hidden guidance and many teachings from Wall, although he did not know it. Watching as Clito entered a warm, peaceful and mystical state, Sui Xiong smiled and nodded.

With the help of the secrets from the monks, he believed that Clito and his wife would eventually be able to reach the legendary peak.

Even before Leon became a god, it was possible that two more powerful individuals would emerge…