Immortal Ki Technique

[Lingua]

The inscription for language. Often, a master craftsman would inscribe this inscription into a magic tool, that way communication between different humanoid races as well as other species could occur. Even the different dialects and languages between people would become much easier, were they to have a magic tool inscribe with [Lingua]. Lowen, however, wasn't skillful enough to inscribe a Lingua inscription. Not because he couldn't physically inscribe one, he was confident that he could make one after several attempts. No, the problem instead laid with the Lingua inscription he needed to inscribe. There were hundreds of different languages in the world and each one needed a specific Lingua inscription for that specific language. Lowen though, no matter how hard he tried to understand the ghoul in front of him, just couldn't understand the language it spoke. To him, every click and growl emitted from its vocal cords only sounded like that, clicks and growls. To this though, Lowen had found his solution.

Looking at the hundreds of Lingua inscriptions, Lowen studied the different shapes and patterns repeatedly, until he was confident he memorized them all. Putting the [Divine Blacksmith] away, Lowen crossed his legs and sat in a meditative position. Closing his eyes, he began to breathe deeply and feel the inside of his mind, searching for the small purple stone which would help him.

The ghoul could only stare at Lowen in curiosity. To it, it seemed that Lowen had completely lowered his guard against an unknown factor. Did this mean that Lowen had already started trusting this ghoul in front of him or maybe that he was foolish?

Lowen didn't know the ghoul's thoughts right now nor did he really care. Lowen instead focused himself trying to feel the purple stone within.

It wasn't because Lowen had suddenly become so trusting or that he had suddenly become dumb but instead he was simply confident. Lowen was confident in his senses as well as the toughness of his body. Were the ghoul to make any strange movements, hell, even if he struck out at Lowen like lightning, It wouldn't matter. This ghoul's strength was equivalent to 2-3 average a.d.u.l.t males, so not only would it not harm Lowen in the slightest, it instead would be the one to receive damage. Like a tree branch being swung against a boulder, the results were obvious to all who had eyes.

The ghoul, although it was curious, decided to remain as still as a corpse, for it still did not completely understand the human child in front of it and had no clue what would happen if it angered the little monster.

After only a moment or two, Lowen had once more discovered the purple chunks presence within his mind. Circulating his ki, Lowen stretched a feeler on energy to the stone and just like the previous time before, the purple fragment began absorbing his energy at an incredible rate. As it did, the stone lit up with at least 10,000 inscriptions and a purple drop of liquid began to condense on top of it. As the inscriptions moved about chaotically, Lowen focused and searched for the inscription he needed and sure enough there it was. Controlling his energy, Lowen moved that purple drop over a complicated looking Lingua inscription before hesitating for a moment. This Lingua inscription didn't look like any of the other Lingua inscriptions Lowen had seen in his Divine Blacksmith. At first it had but as soon as Lowen guided that drop of purple liquid over it, it had suddenly changed, becoming increasingly more complex. The patterns that made up this Lingua inscription were continuously changing shape and overlapping each other.

Lowen suddenly became unsure of this inscription and wondered if he had made some type of mistake and thought about cutting his connection. Before he could though, the inscription glowed bright white and the purple drop of liquid fully condensed. Just as the inscription looked as though it would dull, Lowen's energy ran out and the drop fell silently into the recesses of his mind.

That single drop of purple energy had completely disappeared into Lowen's mind and extreme feeling of hot and cold attacked at him, seemingly numbing and burning him all at once before a strange comforting calm enveloped him completely.

*BOOOOOOOM*

An explosion resounded inside of Lowen's mind and a flood of information streamed in. The first thought that appeared within his mind were two words, [World Lingua]. After only a few seconds, that feeling had abruptly stopped and Lowen's eyes shot open. Lowen began to hear a strange buzzing inside his ears as though there was a swarm of bees circling around his head. That wasn't all though. Lowen's throat began to burn like he had swallowed the flames of a torch. His vocal cords began to twist and warp, fold and stretch and then nothing. The buzzing had settled into a low hum before dissipating entirely and his throat like a cat comfortably stretching in the sun soothed itself. The information Lowen had just received left him doubtful.

(Did I really receive the languages of the world. Hundreds and hundreds of languages I know them.)

Thinking over the information though, Lowen shook his head.

(No, I didn't have enough energy to absorb the entire inscription from the purple fragment, instead, it seems I've gained a few languages entirely but only bits and pieces of others.)

Lowen stared at the ghoul for a moment before he shut his eyes once more. Circulating his energy, Lowen began to absorb ki quickly filling his ki seed once more. After 10 minutes Lowen's energy was back. Locating the stone, again Lowen allowed it to absorb his energy and found that same inscription, unfortunately, there was a snag. After allowing his energy to be absorbed Lowen guided that purple drop to the inscription but nothing happened, it didn't light up and glow white nor did it move about chaotically. It was as though it were completely dormant, lifeless. Lowen wondered why when he thought about Rize's notes.

(Could it be, my energy is lacking.)

Lowen decided to try something and allowed his earth energy to be absorbed as well and his thoughts were correct. As soon as he did this, the inscription began to flutter slightly and glowed faintly. The purple drop condensed fully but its size wasn't even a hundredth of what it formally was. As the drop fell into Lowen's mind, this time there was no explosion nor the intense feeling of hot or cold, instead only a flicker of information. With this fraction of a drop, Lowen had only gained a dozen or so new words surprising him, to say the least.

(Interesting, it seems I need an incredibly large amount of energy if I ever want to fully gain all the information.)

Lowen thinking over this was not upset in the least. In order to gain something so valuable, there was a price. Lowen understood this and accepted it. If he wanted more, then he would need to offer more. Lowen opened his eyes and a smile crept onto his face. Clenching his fist he thought.

(If I want more then I'll either need to gain wealth or strength. With wealth, I could buy magic crystals and simply allow the stone to absorb the crystals energy and with more strength, it can absorb my ki or earth energy.)

Lowen now had another goal. Besides living a carefree life, he would also grow stronger so he could gain more abilities from this mysterious stone. To simply give it energy and receive an ability in return, Lowen felt more and more greed well up within him. The possibilities now seemed endless.

(Hehehe, I can't wait.)

"Ghoul, say something."

The ghoul seeing a creepy smile stretch across Lowen's face began to grow worried but what happened next truly left it stunned. Following Lowen's command, it spoke casually.

"How many times do I have to do this until this boy recognizes that we cannot exchange words."

Lowen's smile grew some more, although he couldn't understand all of these ghouls words, he had actually managed to understand just enough and replied back slowly.

"I... c... understan some o yu words."

The ghoul heard Lowen's voice and stared wide-eyed. It could understand Lowen's human tongue but Lowen had somehow managed a few words in its language.

"You, you can understand me human? Is...how is this possible?"

Lowen shook his head and returned to speaking his own language.

"Only a little bit and how it's possible, that doesn't really matter."

The ghoul, after who knows how long, could finally communicate with another and was now left completely speechless. With its wrinkled hand, it pinched at its cheeks to make sure this was all really happening.

Lowen didn't care about that, instead, he wanted an answer to his question.

"You, why is your aura so different from other creatures? Why does it feel so odd.?"

(Odd, aura, what is this kid talking about?)

The ghoul remained silent for a moment before it asked back.

"What is an aura?"

Hearing this Lowen slapped his forehead.

(Of course this creature doesn't know what it is. Only someone that has an aura-sensing ability like mine would know.)

Lowen had for a moment, forgotten that this world was not his own. Ki manipulators at the aura body stage and above could sense auras but in this world, Lowen was unsure if anyone else had an ability like his. His ability worked off ki, so technically only those with ki should have this ability but Lowen was introduced to magic, so he could never be sure if there was or wasn't an ability similar to his that used magical energy.

Lowen rubbed his chin for a moment before giving a basic explanation about auras, without mentioning ki of course. The ghoul though only seemed more confused until it suddenly had a thought.

"Do you mean my lifespan?"

"Lifespan?"

"Yes, you know, how long I can live. If it's about that, well, I can't technically die."

Before Lowen could say anything, the ghoul quickly waved its hands.

"Well it's not that I can't die, I just won't die...from natural causes, so technically I'm sort of...immortal."

There was a brief silence in the room before Lowen let out a soft.

"Huh."

The ghoul then added.

"Yep, Once that vampire bit me I found out right away it wasn't a normal one and after I was cursed well I ended up like this trying to find a cure and so...."

Lowen quickly put his hand over the ghoul's mouth and stopped it from talking before he spoke almost frantically.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa, stop, rewind, what the hell are you talking about. Vampires, curses, cures, go back to the beginning so I can understand."

The ghoul was so excited to finally have someone to talk to, that it had gotten caught up with emotion and began to blabber on mindlessly.

The ghoul nodded its head repeatedly and settled down. Lowen removed his hand and the ghoul started from the beginning, telling a story that was almost unbelievable.

After nearly 2 hours, Lowen had heard it all.

"So, you were a professor and an archaeologist and you discovered a temple of some sorts under Dizhen and after you and your team entered it, you found an ancient tomb."

The ghoul nodded its head and Lowen continued.

"Then an accident occurred and a vampire attacked you and your team and when you awoke you found yourself already transformed into a ghoul. Afterward, you tried to find a cure searching for a long time until you found your way back here and that's when I caught you in town."

The ghoul again nodded but something wasn't quite adding up.

"Just how long have you been searching for a cure?"

The ghoul's wrinkled face drooped a bit in sadness before it held up 3 fingers and whispered.

"3 hundred years."

Lowen couldn't help but suck in a cold breath after hearing this. Again though something caught his attention.

(It became a ghoul in Dizhen and its been looking for a cure for hundreds of years. Why then is it here in Jizhen so close to Dizhen after all this time, not only that right around the time this Mantha suddenly came out of hibernation.)

Lowen looked suspiciously at the ghoul before he spoke calmly.

"When we were in commander Tolm's office, you seemed to be very nervous. At first, I had assumed it was because you were in a tight spot and you didn't know if you were gonna be killed or not but it was after Tolm mentioned the Mantha that your expression seemed to have changed. It was almost as though you weren't surprised to hear about it."

The ghoul's expression suddenly paled and cold sweat began to pour from its wrinkled withered skin and just as it feared, Lowen seemed to put two and two together. Pointing at the ghoul almost accusingly he asked.

"Did you have something to do with the Mantha?"