Chapter 339: Cheating Capitalism
Jack sat on his bed, letting three threads of life circulate his body through his bloodstream. His breath was even and deep, his brows relaxed. His perception was focused inward, capturing every change in a threads trajectory.
By now, he knew his body in and out, every nook and cranny and tiny blood vessel. He could draw his entire blood system on paper if he wanted to. It had been two weeks since he started training, and it was going splendid. His almost-PhD was finally coming in handy.
Yet, it was far from enough. Moving energy through his own body was only the most elementary foundation. It didnt even have practical applicationsif he wanted to heal himself, he could just move the energy through his flesh. This was just training for the much harder task of moving his energy through the bloodstream of other humans, which he hadnt even started on yet.
If just his own body took two weeks, the next step would take even more. He would never make it in time. Cranxiao would come to beat up Dorman in two weeks, and Jack needed to have something by then so he could convince high-rankers to help. Otherwise, he would need to use his battle results in the Ceaseless Murder Globe to beg for favors, which was best avoided.
Luckily, Jack was a smart man with smart ideas.
He did not have expertise in healing, but he did have an ocean of life energy.
Opening his eyes, he grinned. An empty Dao stone was in his hands. These things were easy to come by as they were basically worthlesstheir value came from the Dao inside them, not the stone itself.
Taking a deep breath, Jack activated the Life Drop. A flood of energy rushed into his body, filling him up to the brim. His bones creaked as they expanded, his skin shivered as it grew, and the further excess of energy gathered into two new arms that wanted to burst out of Jacks armpits.
Before that could happen, he passed a tight harness over the energy. He forced it with his will. The life energy resisted, too great to be controlled, but his indomitable will and Dao Tree bore down on it at the same time, forcing it to obey.
The two new arms did not appear. The excess energy was like a pulsing bomb in his chest.
Jack was sweating. One mistake now could end with his body exploding. Maintaining concentration, he guided the energy through his body, through his bones and blood and flesh, and into his arms. He pushed it down until it reached his hands, then forced it to surface through his palms. The skin bubbled like boiling water. A couple extra fingers sprouted. The sight was grotesque, so Jack averted his gaze and used his willpower to force the life energy out of his body and into the empty Dao stone he held.
As it met the surface of his skin, it resisted fiercely, unwilling to go. Jack almost lost his grip. With a final effort, he pushed a corner of the energy into the empty Dao stone, and it was like hed opened the floodgates. The energy moved from high to low density. It dove into the Dao stone and filled it up completely, swirling inside like a thick green snake. It was so potent that it was even visible to the naked eye.
Jacks eyes widened. Success!
That was the idea. If Dao stones could hold ambient Dao, why not life Dao as well? Now, as soon as someone absorbed the energy contained in this stone, it would flood their body and heal their wounds. While it couldnt create the same effects as Jacks four-armed battle form, and it would quickly dissipate through the users pores with over ninety percent of the efficacy wasted, there would be at least some healing!
In Jacks knowledge, there wasnt any device like this. Even if there was, it wasnt wide-spread or easily available. If you wanted healing, you needed a healer. It made sense, toothe amount of energy hed poured into the Dao stone was gargantuan. For a normal C-Grade healer, it was equivalent to a months work. Nobody in their right mind would use their energy like this.
Unless, of course, they had the Life Drop in their body.
Jack laughed out loud, even disturbing Brock and Dorman who were meditating nearby. Whats going on? Dorman asked, jumping to his feet.
Youre friends with a genius, thats what, Jack replied, pushing out the Dao stone with a wide smile. I present to you, the life stone! Quick and easy healing at the tips of your fingers. Buy one now and get another for free.
Brock raised a brow in amusement. Bro?
Jack laughed. Dont worry. I have it all figured out. These babies will make us rich!
Dorman and Brock exchanged a glance. What exactly is that? Dorman asked.
I call it Jacks Life Stone, patent pending. Its use is simple; if you are wounded in battle and need healing, just take a life stone out of your pocket and absorb the energy within. It will flood your body, healing you, then harmlessly dissipate. You no longer need to depend on your teams healer. Doesnt it sound extremely sellable?
Dorman hesitated. I guess But if it was so easy, wouldnt it exist already? I mean, you made this in a few seconds.
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Im special. Jack didnt explain further. While his Life Drop was no longer a secret, it also wasnt the matter at hand.
Okay... But, are you sure it works?
Not really. Thats why youll help me test it.
Dormans eyes widened. Youre kidding. Look at me! Im wide like Mount Tai, and its all because I ate a Life Treasure! Come on, man!
Jack blinked in surprise. Hed forgotten about that.
Will people get fat if they use my Life stone? he wondered. Would Dorman explode?
Okay, change of plans. Brock, its your lucky day.
The brorilla laughed, then caught the life stone that Jack threw over.
Careful! Dorman exclaimed. If you recklessly absorb that thing, you could turn fat like me!
Even if that happens, the energy still comes from me. I have confidence in forcefully dissipating it, Jack said. Brock, Im ninety percent certain, but I need someone to test it out. The choice is yours.
I trust Big Bro, Brock said without the slightest hesitation. He held the Dao stone with both hands, concentrated, and gently tugged on a bit of energy. He pulled out the barest trickle, intending to start slow.
The moment that happened, the entire green snake burst out. It swam through space as if looking for prey, then dug into Brocks body before he could respond. Brocks eyes widened. Green flashes traveled up and down his limbs. Green smoke escaped his pores and orifices. He resembled a living pot for a moment, and then the energy abruptly calmed down.
Everyone held still. Are you okay? Jack asked.
Brock thought about it, then nodded. Nothing seemed different. He patted his belly and said, Full.
Dorman and Jack both heaved a huge sigh of relief. After that, however, Jack revealed a disappointed expression. The life stone was nowhere near as efficient as hed hoped.
Half the energy dissipated right as it entered Brocks body. Even after that, the vast majority rushed to exit through his pores like it refused to stay inside him.
Only a tiny portion of the energy was forced to circulate through Brock, as it just couldnt exit quickly enough. It would be enough to heal minor wounds, but nothing serious.
With a few quick calculations, Jack estimated that the efficacy of his life stone was only a sad two percent. This sort of thing would be almost useless to C-Grades. He couldnt trade it for Dao stones.
I can make it work, he consoled himself. This was just a prototype. If I can condense the energy further, the efficacy should rise. Also, if Brock uses his own Dao to keep the life energy from exiting his body, a larger portion of it will have no choice but to be absorbed.
Should I include an instruction manual with my life stones?
Hmm. Also, if there is some material that stops life energy from passing, I could use it to cover the life stone so the energy doesnt dissipate before entering the users body.
The easiest idea to test was Brocks control over the energy exiting his body. Jack returned to meditation, resting himself until he could draw on the Life Drops energy againcontrolling such a huge amount of energy overtaxed his mental reserves, so he needed time to rest between creating life stones.
An hour later, he repeated the process to create a second life stone. He even used the same empty Dao stone as before, since it was reusable.
Environmentally friendly. This goes a long way for patents!
After hed created a nearly identical life stone, he once again passed it to Brock. This time, he instructed Brock to slice his foot a bit before using the life stone, so the energy had somewhere to go. He also had Brock use his own Dao to block his pores so it couldnt easily dissipate.
Brock obliged. The energy escaped the stone, half of it dissipating in the process as before, while Brock absorbed the remaining half. Green smoke still escaped his body from everywhere, but it was slightly less than before. The green flashes rampaged on him. The small wound on his foot closed instantly, and Brocks belly bulged out almost imperceptibly.
Finally, all of the energy was absorbed, and Brock burped.
Success! Jack shouted again. Just with Brock keeping the energy in, the efficacy had risen to a whopping five percent! It couldnt heal grievous wounds, but even shallow sword slashes should disappear. To someone who did not possess self-regeneration, this could be the difference between life and death.
The minor side effect was that the user could gain weight if their injuries werent heavy enough. But, for saving ones life, this was a small price to pay. Besides, they just had to be careful.
Please never give me one of those, Dorman said tearfully, but Jack was too busy making business plans.
Don Cranxiao would arrive in two weeks. Until then, Jack needed to either break through himself or hire someone to help him protect Dorman. With these life stones, he could easily gather enough Dao stones!
Perhaps a life stone wasnt worth a Dao stone, but even if the ratio was three or five to one, what did Jack care? He had infinite. The Life Drop was a bottomless ocean of energy. The two life stones he had created werent even enough to scratch the surface.
Who would have expected that this priceless treasure would be relegated to a money-making scheme by Jack?
I beat capitalism in two weeks. Woohoo!
Ah, life is so easy when youre smart. With all the Dao stones I can gather, my strength will increase by leaps and bounds!
Giggling to himself, he set to creating more life stones. The downtime was used to keep practicing the bloodstream guidance technique as described in the introductory healing manual.
Throughout the next day, Jack produced twenty life stones. If a normal C-Grade healer wanted to achieve the same result, they would need a year and a half! As for the Life Drop, its energy had only fallen by an imperceptible trickle. He could easily create thousands of life stones.
Jack was very proud of himself. This was easy.
Too easy.
The world around him zoomed out like he was falling backward into a well. He felt himself sinking. Suddenly, he was in an endlessly deep, dark space filled with piercing cold and green mist. A green sphere hovered in the distance. Most importantly, a large turtle floated right before Jack, its beady eyes shining with anger.
Kid! it shouted with enough force to rupture his eardrums. What the hell do you think youre doing!?
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