Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 210: Batches of Dream Meth

Chapter 210: Batches of Dream Meth

Upon returning to his lab, he got back to work. Production of Dream Meth was of highest priority, next to cultivation and then dissection. Dasha wrote multiple magic circles and filled up multiple bottles in seconds. To the side, he was already cooking up another batch of twelve. His full concentration at this moment was for wide-spread distribution.

Seeing that woman did not change anything. Dasha required power in the form money and influence, nothing more, nothing less. As for physical might, that would come naturally.

The heart of the Chi, of the hornless dragon, was set aside. From what he read, the hornless dragon was said to be yellow in colour and able to swim like fish. The heart of a Chi was its weakness and tiny in comparison to its size, so locating it required experience. The Chi were not particularly violent either, keeping to themselves in their mountains. Parties of players and hunters had to actively seek it out to kill it.

At the bars he frequented, there was a group that specialized in such hunting, befittingly called the Monster Hunters. They were not elites. From the brief mentions of them in the history books and what he saw and heard from their leader Raoul, they were a ragtag group of hunters in the Dark Sector that were — for reasons unknown to Dasha — close to the Great Noble Clans. What they lacked in quality, they made up with numbers, tactics, and experience.

So what would Dasha do with the heart of the Chi? At the end of the day, it was monster meat. A rare steak to be consumed and used to gain power. In other words, for the next week, this was his dinner.

"Ah."

’Hm?’

Dasha saw something in his shadow. Once again, however, Dasha was too late. Xavier was not only here but he had avoided detection for minutes.

"Impressive," Xavier commented, referring to the production of Dream Meth. Dasha was a one-man laboratory, capable of thinking up theories and increasing efficiency while cooking several men’s worth of meth.

"I met the Imperial Consort."

"Oh?" More emotion rose from Xavier in that one word than in anything else he had ever said or told him. "I am surprised to see you live, Jack. From my understanding, she is quite like you. She takes a keen interest in corpses that intrigue her."

Probably because he wasn’t Jack the Ripper. To her, someone a part of the Imperial Sect, he was just another, if not slightly dark, Foundation Establishment cultivator. Nothing special.

Or...perhaps he was spared on a whim. The latter he refused to accept.

"She killed a man at the Moon Club," Dasha stated while working.

"I pity those that have to do the clean-up."

"The blood was still," Dasha noted.

"...hm. Did you not interact much with the Dark Sector in your old life?" Xavier asked.

"My time was in the sun with the Templars," Dasha replied.

"I see. You will have to ask Daughter regarding her magic type. Information on the Imperial Noble Consort is restricted. I presume we have a deal of some kind with them," Xavier said. Dasha was a moderately surprised. From his observation so far, Xavier swung around authority second only to Daughter. "However, I would wager she’s stronger than you at your prime."

"What makes you say that?"

"A hunch," Xavier said.

"Your hunches are never wrong?"

"Was I wrong about you?" There was a smile on him, the brim of his hat hiding away the rest of his face, and for a second Dasha wondered if he knew that he wasn’t in fact Jack the Ripper.

’An Imperial Consort stronger than a Champion? Then how strong is the Kangxi Emperor?’

Dasha had seen the Emperor battle but it was hard to grasp his power since he witnessed it through what was effectively a television screen; the same way normal people wouldn’t be able to understand the skill level of an athlete unless they saw them in-person. Dasha wondered how he would feel if he was in the presence of the Kangxi Emperor. Would he feel that same foreboding sensation? Would death scream at his senses?

’No, likely not,’ Dasha thought. ’Otherwise, his servants could never interact with him, much less serve him. The Imperial Consort’s reputation must have been earned from an unusual blood lust.’

"Are you afraid?" Xavier asked, his smile widening.

Dasha stopped working and turned to him. "No. I feel relieved. It means there is something to look forward to. It means the White Abyss still has worthy foes to defeat."

"I see."

’That’s right, it’s thrilling.’

The goosebumps were a sign that the White Abyss was worth conquering. Defeating a bunch of nobodies would have been uninteresting. He had known there were individuals far, far stronger than him. He was aware of the disparity in classes and what it signified in the wider world of the Heavenly Games. To simply listen meant nothing, however. Mere words to slot into the endless library that was his mind. To see and experience the death they could bestow was like an awakening. Perhaps it was the mask’s influence seeping through, but that was how he felt right now. His desire for victory and power was growing

"I have continued observation on Charles Mackley," Xavier said. "He is a bit too happy."

"The withdrawal symptoms are kicking in," Dasha said. "I will go visit him in a few hours. Get ready for widespread distribution by next week."

"Understood."

******

"Entry #274: The Chi – The Hornless Dragon

Date: November 2, 171 HE

Location: Gate 55 - Chu Ci, The Taihang Mountains, at the base of the Silent Peak

Subject: Chi - The Hornless Dragon

Physical Description:

The Chi’s most distinct feature is its lack of horns, a rarity among dragonkin. Instead, its elongated body is covered in smooth, yellow scales, each one the size of a man’s palm, overlapping like the petals of a flower. These scales glisten in the light, giving the Chi an almost golden hue that camouflages it perfectly against the sunlit peaks and the autumn foliage of its habitat.

Despite its size, the Chi moves with an effortless fluidity, both on land and in water. Its body, typically measuring between 60 to 80 feet in length, is serpentine, allowing it to navigate the narrow, winding paths of its mountainous home with ease. Its limbs are short, more vestigial than functional, suggesting that it relies primarily on its powerful body and tail for movement. *Full sketch on page 712-715.*

The Chi is an amphibious creature, equally at home in the deep, cold mountain lakes as it is on the rocky terrain. The Chi’s eyes, a pale amber, possess an eerie, reflective quality, aiding its vision in the dim light of the mountain’s dense fogs and shadowed ravines. *Sketches of the eyes are laid out on page 716.*

The largest Chi was said to be over two hundred feet long. However, much of the eyewitness regarding this particular Chi appears lost to time and centered around water. After examining the lands and the history of this era, my theory is that the sighting was in fact a horned dragon, which are known to be of this size. Whether through a trick of the eye or a genuine loss of its horns, it was mistaken as its weaker, smaller hornless counterpart. Taking this into account, do not expect the size of the Chi to exceed a hundred feet."

- Excerpt from the Monster Missgeburt written by the leader of the Monster Hunts, Raoul