Devouring the Heavens (ATG)

Chapter 5: Status of Surprises

A/N: So if you guys aren't aware, Webnovel has been 'shadowbanning' comments recently. This means that any comment that contains profanities in any form, will be automatically deleted.

So words like: Fuck, Shit, Bitch, Bastard, Cock, Bollocks are all nonos. Even words such as: Sex, Hell, and Damn are out too. Basically, if you want to comment using forms of those words, you will need to get creative.

Well, Enjoy the chapter...

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<Status>

[Name: Shan Long (Shane)]

[Race: Human/Profound Beast (v. weak)]

[Bloodline: Primordial Shadow Panther (extremely weak) - Greatly enhanced Profound Senses]

[Cultivation]

[Abilities]

[Map/Mini-map (expand or toggle on/off)]

[Quests (n/a until [Elementary Profound 10])

[Companions...]

[Messages]

This was it! The fabled system for reincarnated and Isekai'd kids everywhere! 'Holy Moly! It feels like I'm some sort of Main Character here. Okay, breathe Shane breathe. I need to calm down. If I want to meet Qingyue for real, I first need to do something about that maniac, preferably before he reincarnates on his wedding day In fact, I need to find out just when and where I am first and start to cultivate ASAP! So many things, so little time.' As usual, Shane's thoughts were buzzing around at a million miles an hour as he inspected the transparent blue window floating in front of his eyes.

He noticed that some of the brackets had little flashing ellipsis on them and so he tried to expand upon them by tapping with his finger "Eh" only for it to pass right through and leave him standing there with an outstretched arm.

Shane retracted his arm and shamelessly cupped his chin in a thinking pose as if that's what he meant to do all along. 'Perhaps I need to use voice commands, *shivers* what if people think I'm crazy? Actually, I really hope I can just think about opening the Cultivation tab and Oh, oh, ohohoho'

[Cultivation: n/a]

{Profound Veins: TreasureBody Profound Veins}

{Characteristics:

1) All of Creation - All bloodlines and Physiques can be assimilated into host to further enhance the profound veins (benefits gained are directly linked to the host's cultivation)

2) Bottle-never - 54 profound entrances are naturally opened. This makes all bottlenecks practically nonexistent and all realms inherently stable but each realm will also need more profound energy to advance

3) War-Flair - Allows for an intrinsic understanding of combat arts and skills during battle (host will still need to train but advancement and understanding will naturally improve at a rapid pace whilst using them)

4) Multi-finity - Gives host an affinity to all types of profound energy, works along with Devour to enable host to absorb and cultivate every type of profound energy in existence (with varying degrees of effectiveness)

"This Isn't this simply a cheat!?" Shane nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the explanation for his profound veins. They were incredibly OP!! He then realized something extremely important which was that his cultivation would not need to be reset if/when he acquired the Heretic God's blood from Jasmine.

"Aiya! Truly, those boons from the Will of the Universe are not to be looked down upon"

After mentally fumbling for a few seconds, he managed to return to the status screen, and now with much more vigor, he delved into the abilities tab. He crossed his fingers and hoped for something even better. Was he being greedy? Maybe. Did he care? Not in the slightest.

This world he found himself in was fucking dangerous! People here can and will kill you with a slap for looking at them funny and without strength, you would just end up as somebody's dog.

Shane knocked his own head for luck 'Heh touch wood. Let's see what we got. Abilities!'

[Abilities:]

{Appraisal: (basic)}

{TreasureBody: Tier D (0%)}

{Characteristics

Organic Material (Profound Beasts, Corpses and Flora):

1) Devour - Can directly convert and refine organic matter into their most basic forms of energy before assimilating with the host. The benefits gained are directly related to differences in profound realm and physiology between target and host.

2) ???

3) ???

Inorganic Material: (Weapons, Armour, Metals, Crystals etc)

1) ???

2) ???

3) ???

He gained an instantaneous and intrinsic understanding of his abilities, what he could do with them and how they worked with his profound veins and he only had one thing to say about it "BULLSHIT!"

Appraisal did exactly what it said on the tin but TreasureBody TreasureBody was insanely broken! Sure he would have to work hard to kill his own profound beasts or find his own precious herbs but each kill or successful find would directly benefit his cultivation! And this was only the ability at Tier D!! There were five other Tiers ahead and they each unlocked a separate ability!

That wasn't even the best thing, He would unlock the first ability for Inorganic at

[Nascent Profound 1] and the second ability for Organic at [True Profound 1]. After that, he wasn't sure it would be so simple as just advancing realms but if the other abilities were anywhere near as good as Devour it would be worth doing whatever it took to unlock them.

Simply from analyzing Devour, he instinctively understood the implications of the term physiology and that it meant he could absorb a beast's affinity and ability to manipulate their elements and make the element his own through the link between Devour and Multi-Finity.

Although his own veins had the affinities for all types of Elemental Profound Qi, it didn't mean he could use them just like that as he had absolutely no understanding or experience in how they worked yet. This however could change in an instant if he were to Devour a profound beast with an elemental affinity.

He also kind of glossed over the fact that Organic Material included corpses but now that he had finished with the rest of it he sighed out loud. "*Sigh*" With the type of world that he now found himself in, he knew that he would have to kill people eventually and he knew that hesitation would be his undoing.

That didn't really change the fact that he'd never killed anyone before. He would absolutely have to get used to it at some point but it didn't mean he had to immediately be ok with it.

Well the part of him that was Shan Long had absolutely no problem with it, but the Shane part was having some small scruples... until he remembered all the tragedies that happened to Yun Che's family and friends in the novel.

'Being kind to your enemies is being Cruel to yourself. It seems as if I need to find some bandits or criminals first where the threat is minimal and ease myself into it' A rather disturbing line of thought and one that could be left for later after he could actually cultivate.

Shane returned back to his status once again and noticed that both [Quests:] and [Companions:] were greyed out and unselectable whereas the [Map] and [Messages] were the only two left that Shane hadn't explored yet. He mentally called out 'Map' and some information appeared in front of him.

[System: Warning, using Map function will scan the entire region (requires 24h. Map function will be unavailable for duration of scan). Scan Region Y/N]

'Extremely useful, Do it.'

[System: Minimap function available, toggle on Y/N]

'Toggle on'

Almost immediately after he formed that thought, the world turned white and Shane felt a searing pain in the middle of his forehead for just a split second, before it receded without a trace. Then as if an old television were tuning in through static in his head, an image started to form.

Shane marveled at this phenomenon, it was as if he suddenly had a third eye above the other two except this 'third eye' did not have any semblance of vision. No, it had manifested a circular birds-eye view map of the area he was in, directly inside his brain.

The mini-map was extremely informative and he had an instinctive understanding of its functions. There were markers for distance, gradients for altitude, little lifelike symbols for rocks, trees, and plants, a slightly shaded area to show that he was underground, and a transparent white cone that aligned with his range of vision.

The range right now was only 20M but that would also grow as his cultivation did. He could also customize colors for markers of living things and use appraisal through the range of the mini-map but he left that for later.

'System, doesn't that mean that I can never be sneak attacked if I keep the mini-map up at all times?'

[System: If an enemy is actively hiding from you and is above your cultivation, you may not notice them through the mini-map. The mini-map will also toggle to off while you sleep unless you practice with it to keep it toggled on.]

'Dammit! I knew it was too good to be true! Why can't I have a map cheat like Satou!?' Shane ranted to himself, forgetting for a moment that the system wouldn't answer him unless he actually asked it a question and the fact that he just received the most cheat like Profound Veins and ability ever seen in the Primal Chaos.

He then touched his nose, nodded to himself, and muttered "En, it seems that just being in a cultivation world has made me quite shameless."

Shane sent a mental command and returned back to the status board to select the last available option, [Messages]. What greeted him was a single message from a blank sender. 'Suspicious, hmmm well fortune favors the bold. System, open the message'

["It would seem there has been a short oversight. You are now in a rather dangerous world and due to the issues with both bodies, you have little to no combat experience. This is the last thing I will be able to do for you so make the most of it. Good luck child.]

'Wow just wow. Even her intent conveyed over text made my soul tremble, just how much power does she have?' The sender was of course the Ancestral Goddess and it seems like she had sent over something to help with what Shane now realized was a VERY serious issue.

[System: Fuse Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery (Tier F) with host Y/N]

'Definitely yes!'

Aaaaand there it was again, another extremely uncomfortable feeling of something tampering with his brain, except this time it was as if something was using a quill pen to scratch words through his consciousness and onto his very soul. It wasn't painful per se but more like a sharp itch that you absolutely cannot scratch.

After just a moment, he stopped spacing out and it was done. He now felt like he had a pretty basic understanding of hand-to-hand combat, basic in a sense of how high he now knew he could reach with practice but to his previous self on Earth, psshhh.

He may as well be a martial arts master! Of course, theory and practice were two very different things, though his War-Flair talent would ensure that those two became seamless in a short amount of time with the only downside being, he had to be fighting for his life 'Ughh, that thought really put a downer on the excitement of doing real Kung Fu.'

By this point, Shane was getting antsy. He wanted to go outside the cave and explore a bit and also take a look at himself in the reflection of the nearby pool he had spotted on the edge of his minimap earlier. So with renewed determination, he about-faced and took his first step towards being the greatest "*Bleuuuurrrrgh!*" only to fall to his knees and empty the contents of his stomach all over the cave floor. 'Oh god, so gross!! How embarrassing! And why was there no warning about how nauseating the minimap would be when taking sharp turns!? Gotta get used to this fast!'

With extreme difficulty, he ignored the attempts of his weaker side to get him to toggle the minimap to off and started to crawl towards the exit of the cave in an entirely undignified manner. Surprisingly, the farther he managed to get, the quicker the nausea seemed to subside. It wasn't enough for him to stand yet but it was getting better at a noticeable rate.

He finally made it to the entrance of the cave and found that there was an almost incorporeal shadow barrier covering the whole opening and blocking virtually all of the sun's rays from entering. 'Hmm, so that's why the cave is so dark, figures'

Deciding not to think too much about this, he phased through the shadowy curtain and squinted his eyes into slits as a bright light did its best to blind him. Not getting discouraged this easily, he got to his feet and took slow shaky steps towards the pool of water.

He was thirsty! He had just thrown up, his mouth tasted awful and his tongue felt like a piece of dried jerky! Chuckling to himself, he thought 'of course I'm thirsty, I haven't had a drink in this lifetime!' A shame there was nobody around to appreciate his poor sense of humor.

He took several deep breaths of the incredibly fresh, clean, and surprisingly sweet? Forest air on his way to the pool. He was feeling pretty great, his nausea was subsiding by the second, his vision was adjusting and everything about being here just felt... right.

He finally reached the edge of the pool, bare toes digging into the soft soil of the shallow bank and eyes on swivels as they took in the new yet familiar surroundings. He then crouched to the edge of the water and finally looked down

"Ayo! Who the fuck is that?!" Shane jumped back in shock, then raised his hand and shrunk his neck in embarrassment as he realized the person looking back at him was in fact himself.

What he saw was: Wild, thick, neck-length dark brown hair with obsidian black streaks swept back across his brow. Dark and thin, sword-shaped eyebrows, a straight and sharp nose, as if it was sculpted to perfection just for his face, two big and piercingly bright red irises with deep black pupils, high cheekbones, and a chiseled jawline. On top of that, he had naturally olive-like skin, a very respectable height estimated at around 1.9M, and muscle structure, so perfect it would put Adonis to shame!

Shane touched his nose, once again highlighting that the perfection, made reality that was reflected back into his eyes was undoubtedly himself and thought aloud. "Aren't I a little too handsome now? I almost went down the wrong path myself!"

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