Chapter 23 - A Free Cheat Code
"Who are you?!" Cassius yelled, eyes wide.
Without warning, the impostor in front of him bolted to the side. Five seconds later, Cassius had him in a chokehold, forcefully dragging him into a street corner. The imposter wheezed.
"Talk! What exactly are you?!" Although Cassius had subdued the impostor, he couldn't suppress his horror. He just noticed his shadow was missing!
"Hehehe…" The impostor laughed coldly.
Cassius felt the other self in his grip grow taller and more muscular. The imposter struggled violently before fiercely jabbing its elbow straight into Cassius's stomach. He grunted.
A vicious glint flashed in his eyes. He tightened his right hand, the muscles in his arm, honed through months of training, turning as hard as steel. His left hand wrenched in the same direction. Hard.
"Ugh!" The impostor's eyes widened. He abandoned his attack in an instant and focused on desperately trying to pry off the arm locked around his neck. Fingernails broke through skin and sunk deep into Cassius's flesh, as blood mixed with rainwater dripped onto the street.
"Never thought I'd end up killing myself!"
Cassius viciously yanked his arm up. The impostor's body kicked twice before going limp.
Still not reassured, Cassius held on for another minute until he was certain the impostor wouldn't revive.
"Huff! Huff! Ha…"
In the corner of the alley, a man and a corpse slumped against the wall. Rain fell like spider webs on his dark hair.
Cassius lifted his head, staring blankly at the dark gray sky above.
He had killed someone, albeit it had been another version of himself, but it was still a person! Panic rose within him, but it subsided a few moments later, fierce determination quickly replacing it.
He was far from safe. Cassius needed to get stronger! Anyone who tried to harm him would pay the price, human or otherwise.
Cassius came back to his senses after coming to a clear decision in his head. He quickly scanned his surroundings and discovered that the street was empty due to the rain.
"I need to get rid of the body quickly!"
He looked down and saw that the body was eerily melting, turning into a writhing black shadow. In a flash, the shadow reattached itself to Cassius and information instantly flooded his mind.
He had been parasitized! It had happened in that ancient ruin, right when he had been forced to break the stone pillar.
The parasite was called a Shadow Demon. Cassius didn't know where it came from. Nor did he know why or how the parasite came to be. The only thing he did know was that the Shadow Demon had some strange rules and strange uses.
A Shadow Demon, as the name implied, was a monster that resided in the shadows. Every once in a while, it would copy the host from the previous day—their physical strength, trained muscle memory, and combat techniques. The one advantage the host had was an extra day of combat experience and techniques.
When the Shadow Demon appeared, the two would engage in a deadly battle. If the host died, the Shadow Demon would take over the body, but if the Shadow Demon was killed, the host would gain everything the Shadow Demon copied, including their combat skills, experience, and even a stronger physical body, essentially doubling their effort.
It sounded fantastic on paper, but losing meant certain death with the Shadow Demon taking over the host's body, memory, and personality.
Most importantly, a Shadow Demon wouldn’t die after being killed once; it had nine lives. And it was only by defeating it nine times in a row could they get rid of its parasitism once and for all. Assuming that the host had a 50% chance of winning each time, the probability of winning 9 times in a row was 1 in 512.
In fact, it was lower. Most people wouldn't realize they had been parasitized by a Shadow Demon and by the time they did, the Shadow Demon would have ambushed and killed them in its first manifestation. The Shadow Demon's ferocity and cunning made it better suited for combat than normal people.
If he thought about it on a larger scale, only one in five thousand or even ten thousand people would be able to escape the parasitism of a Shadow Demon. An utterly despairing probability.
However…
Cassius touched the Wind Elephant Tusk Pendant, a strange expression crossing his face.
If he remembered correctly, when he entered the mysterious era, time in the outside world would freeze. When he returned to reality, his body reflected all of the months and years of training he did. Just like what happened in the ruins.
In that case…could he be considered the Shadow Demon's natural nemesis?
From the moment the Shadow Demon first manifested, the times for the next few occurrences had already been fixed; the second manifestation would take place a month later, the third two months later, and so on.
In total, the manifestations would happen over the course of thirty-six months. Three years.
For example, Cassius's next Shadow Demon manifestation would be at 6 p.m. on the fourth of July. He could choose a point between 6 p.m. on the third of July and 6 p.m. on the fourth of July—not too early and not too late—and time travel.
That way, when the Shadow Demon manifested at 6 p.m. on the fourth of July, it would be facing a completely different Cassius; one with several months or even years of additional training!
Using his new strength to overpower an overall weaker version of himself… The Shadow Demon didn't have a chance in hell against him.
Cassius blinked gently as he arrived at this thought. Didn't it seem as though he gained a free cheat code out of nowhere?
Cassius took a deep breath, feeling cautious again. That was only if everything went well, but there were still some glaring holes.
First of all, the time-travel ability he had just awakened could absorb the lingering attachment from the legendary antiques and reverse time. However, the time-travel ability consumed solely lingering attachment energy and could only be used once.
The lingering attachment energy in the Wind Elephant Tusk Pendant was already gone which meant Cassius needed to find new antiques containing this kind of energy!
Secondly, when entering the memory of the owner, Cassius had to resolve the original owner's lingering attachment, or he wouldn’t be able to bring the fruits of his labor back. If he failed, he would have to face off against the Shadow Demon with only a fifty-fifty chance of winning.
The future was not all bright, and there were many pitfalls and falling rocks along his way. He couldn't be complacent.
While he needed to steel himself against what was to come, he still wanted to able to appreciate life.
In the rainy alley, Cassius looked at his arm. The scratches from before were completely gone. "It's healed."
Moreover, he could feel his skin becoming tougher, his muscles growing stronger and more powerful than before. He also seemed to have grown a few centimeters taller.
He calmed himself down, and a stream of combat techniques flooded into his brain. It was from someone identical to him, with six months of training memories. In that moment, he gained everything.
[Elephant Soul Incomplete: Prickling 27.6% (Stage Three)]
[Wind Elephant Fist Incomplete: Gale 9.9% (Stage Three)]
[Wind Elephant Basic Combat Technique: …]
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