Trope World 15 The Golden Calf

I heard the pounding of claws just as a bear shot out of the tree line. It blurred past us running full speed north. The trees cracked as a large creature with multiple heads stomped its way through the woods. It paid us no attention as its many serpentine heads weaved through the wind as they fled north. From the trail made by the hydra many strange and powerful monsters fled north their furs, scales, and skin all different colors. Some gave off the taint of demons, while other seemed almost holy. It didn't matter what the monster's disposition or ideology was they fled like rats on a sinking s.h.i.+p. I saw a ma.s.sive deer with horns bright as stars and fur blue in color. It felt like heaven itself and was of the early core formation level. Something came from the grotto and the mightiest beast of the woods fled in terror of it.

I saw a golden calf at second stage of qi condensation. It was motherless by the looks of the heifer alone. Something wrenched at me when it tumbled from a kick by one of the wild horses. The calf sat on its haunches in a daze. Taking pity on the poor creature, I approached it.

A powerful hand clasped my shoulder. "It's on its own now. The mother is probably dead. Don't go near it. The predatory monsters will see that it doesn't suffer for long." Hertha said.

"I won't leave it behind. Besides, I want to try something." We could not afford to care for a calf on our way to the city. That was true. But I wanted it. I couldn't cultivate myself, so I needed a proxy. My feet were silent even on the crunchiest of leaves. The calf never heard me. It called for its mother to no answer. I wrapped a hand on it and lifted the calf up. To my arms it weighed about as much as a gallon of milk. Though skinny from a few days of malnutrition. The calf weighed a good half ton. It was obviously no ordinary animal. It was gold. The calf struggled against me, so I met its eyes.

My mind lurched forward and invaded the calf's. This wasn't something I'd done before. No, I'd never entered the mind of an animal. When my mind was inside the calf's I felt the calf struggle to push me out. It channeled all its cultivation base to do so and even used up some of its lifeforce. Instead of crus.h.i.+ng the calf's mind I gently planted myself in it. When it resisted, I caused it discomfort but when it stopped struggling, I sent signals of happiness through the calf.

I couldn't fully alter the calf's thought process in a single encounter. All I did was give it an impression. I was safety, when its mother wasn't around, I would keep the predators from eating it. When it was hungry, I would feed it.

Dominate lv10; active cost 10,000MP; +100INT

"Hertha, you ride Thunder, I'll follow along with the calf." I said.

"I'm stronger than you. Aren't I supposed to be the boss?" She continued to stare at me. "How do you? How can you? Why does it look happy?" Her mouth closed and she nodded her head. Thunder snorted.

I took out a bottle of the spirit plant paste. It wasn't milk and who knows how much protein was in it, but it should help at leave. With the calf in my arms, I ran following Thunder. I held the calf like a human baby while it drank ground up plant matter. It clearly wasn't ready to stray from its mother, it needed milk. The paste raised its lost spiritual energy and raised cultivation base a little. The calf's stomachs didn't gurgle as much, and it only spat up green slime on me a few times.

My quiet steps technique was almost like a march designed to jostle the calf as little as possible. The calf didn't complain as we made our way to a desolated farm. The animals continued in a single direction, while we changed lanes following the signs toward Low Port.

The mur of cows was loud but the calf in my arms didn't move. The cows were clearly not her mother. We arrived at a deserted homestead. Whole rice fields were left half harvested. There was an a.s.sortment of fruit trees with ripe fruit there for the taking. Most of the livestock were gone. It seemed that some cows were left because of how heavy their udders were. A few dragged the ground. I directed the calf and used dominate on one of the cows heavy with milk. She looked like a jersey but ma.s.sive and her udders touched the dirt.

I moved in and lifted the udder the calf immediately went to suckling. As it loudly drank down the milk the cow let out a long pleasant mur. The sound was just loud enough to obscure the sound of hooves behind me. "Welcome to Chu Delta farm or what's left of it." I turned to see a big minotaur. He stood around 8ft tall and was a ma.s.s of muscle. His fur was red like a red angus, but his horns were spread out like a longhorn. The bull wore a dirty brown robe covered in dirt. His hands were long, and his fingers were thick. On his back was a heavy battle axe.

Worse than his intimidating appearance was his cultivation base. Third rank palace formation. Technically there were dozens of different names for the cultivation base he currently had. It could be called tower formation, pillar formation, or spire formation. Each was different in some way. Truthfully there was an entire step of cultivation that most skip. Foundation formation is supposed to be the step after qi condensation but most skip it. It isn't impossible to build a palace with a strong enough qi condensation base. This minotaur wasn't one of the ones who took the shortcut.

Minotaur BP 399m

Qi radiated off this minotaur in waves like I'd never seen before. It felt I was suddenly under a lot of pressure. Its funny as powerful as this guy was, he was nothing compared to a core formation cultivator. Any of those chu brothers could put this guy in his place.

"h.e.l.lo Elder," I said and bowed as Od showed me. I didn't dare to look this guy in the face. His intimidating aura was pa.s.sive for now, but a simple glance in our direction could destroy us.

"You're too stressed for you own good. Relax I'm not going to kill the two of you for relieving a few cows of their burden. Its not like your taking it for yourselves. You're feeding a calf with it. A lovely heifer if I ever saw one. I'm sure with delicate treatment she will reach qi foundation and transform into a minotaur like me." The minotaur continued to observe the calf. "She doesn't seem bothered at all by your presence. You must have made a good impression on her." I nodded. "What's the cuties name?" The giant bull asked. His breath was hot enough to steam the air. This being looked like a killing machine.

"Zarina," I said. The name was Persian, I thought it would fit. "What is your name Elder?" I asked hastily. I needed to get this collar off and cultivate. Despite my gamer power cultivators were just too powerful.

"Zarina is a nice name. A golden calf is a rare treasure indeed. Most feral golden monsters abandon their young in the wild. Fortune seems to have smiled upon this one. My name is Lazarus Chu the bull that gained enlightenment and became an adopted son of the Chu." Soon the cows utter went dry and Zarina stopped suckling. She turned to me and murred. I pointed to the next cow and picked up her udder. The angry cow tried to quick Zarina away, but I caught her hoof. Zarina happily went to suckling.

Lazarus watched me work as Hertha edged away from the giant Minotaur. "Ah, are you with this hero for my kind." I looked up at the minotaur. Hero was stretching it wasn't it.

"I'm no hero, I just stopped to help her." A wave of purple qi swept through the area throwing the spiritual energy into disarray. Lazarus turned towards the disturbance.

"I hoped there would be more time. It has only been hours since my brother and the farm hands left." He looked at me then at Hertha. "You, orc if you value your life then make your way to the farmhouse. It's the safest place and the spirit formation is still active. I don't know what's coming but there should be a single air s.h.i.+p in the attic. If we can't hold whatever is approaching back, then use it to fly to Low Port. Tell my brothers goodbye for me." Lazarus said. He smiled to me grimly.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked. The qi was slowly being pulled out of everything around us. The rice paddy fields were drying up, swarms of plague Locusts descended spreading purple miasma wherever they went. The plants were becoming tainted. One of the cows, bit into a locust and began to mutate. I closed my eyes trying to return to reality.

"This is only the beginning of what has emerged. Do you know what was sealed in the grotto south of here?" I shook my head.

Lazarus closed his eyes before opening them again. "They were a sect of terrifying humans called monster lords. It did not matter what kind of monster it was, this sect specialized in sealing it and turning the monster's power towards the sect's purpose. Of the ten elders that survived the destruction of the sect and their sealing one was a master of undead."

The cow rose up purple lines of qi ran across its body. It ran to the nearest cow and bit into it with newly grown canines. A blood bath began as the diary cows devoured each other. An oppressive aura arose, and ancient skeletal hands burst from the ground.

"Usurper," was yelled out by a thousand rotting throats. The spiritual energy in the air was sucked dry by the undead rising from the ground. They continued to yell, "Usurper." Repeatedly they yelled it, as their attention was focused on him. A feeling of resentment fell upon him as the undead began to move toward him. One of the diary cows ran out of the barn while the one Zarina was sucking on couldn't get away. I kept my hand on it. It was still needed for the next few days at least. Zarina looked up at me even as the oppressive aura appeared, I flexed my own mana to s.h.i.+eld the calf from it.

"An interesting power you have to dispel their resentment so easily. Who is this usurper they are in a frenzy about?" Not a single undead had a battle power under 50k. As more undead gathered their individual BP increased more. They moved through like a tidal wave. The barn doors were closed, and they didn't seem to care about what was inside. They had another goal, Low Port.