Slumbering Sloth

Vikram swiped his wooden axe at Kayala, and Kayala easily deflected it with minimal ease. But with each swipe of his axe, Kayala was getting more and more impressed. 

"What did you do before everything went to shit for you?" 

Vikram grunted as he lunged and tried to swipe at her lower legs, but she just dodged it with minimal ease. 

"I was a gamer," 

"Heh," 

Vikram smiled and stood and did a flurry of slashes to catch Kayala off-guard. But Vikram knew that it was all futile. After a good amount of sparring... more like getting his ass handed to him, she called for a break. 

Kayala and Brunus were very kind, and Vikram didn't know what he would do if they were not kind. He was at his lowest, and they were mighty people kind enough to care about an ant. 

When he, Brunus, or Kayala was sparring, they would be in a separate private room, which lent him privacy to be himself. Vikram was sure that if he was in a room full of hormonal bags having abilities that could kill an ordinary human with just a mere flick of a finger. He would be in for some sort of bullying. Vikram could deal with that. He was no stranger to bullying, but he could not bear the sight of multiple people looking a him with pity because he didn't have an ability. 

Vikram was exhausted by the stares he had endured his entire life. After barely escaping a chasm he once believed he could never overcome, he now found himself stepping into yet another—one that could never be filled in his entire supernatural existence.

Kayala and Brunus were kind enough to make an exception for him and personally trained him in weapon arts. 

'More like torturing me by showing me how far the gap between you and me is...'

"You brute, why didn't you leave some for me!" Kayla's aura changed as she looked at Brunus sneakily eating something chocolatey. Brunus shivered and tried to run away, but Kayala caught Brunus like ine would catch a chicken's head. 

Vikram left them to their devices, and he browsed through the library of the Empirical Tower, which was the name of the tower he was currently living in. 

Vikram was trying to find the missing piece that was in his cultivation. There were a lot of books that were filled with knowledge of cultivation, and it was open to all his peers. 

Vikram took each book that was related to Barbarian cultivation. Vikram always thought that Barbarian cultivation would be focused on physical enhancements. But the books that he pursued made his narrow perspective broader. 

He found that there was a cultivation that was related to shamanism which was the Way of Barbarian Cultivation. It was a way to harness spiritual spirits to do your bidding. 

He also found that there were Totem Warriors that harnessed the power of enchanted dolls or statues. But most of Way of Barbarianism were heavily relied on their brute muscle power. 

Blood to increase brute muscle power, Mana to increase brute muscle power, Qi to increase brute muscle power, and devouring flesh to increase brute muscle power. 

Vikram paused and squinted as he looked at a particular page. 

Even though Kayala and Brunus were fighting a great war to take that cup of chocolatey thing that looked appetizing , Kayala's focus was always on him. 

"If you are so focused on Barbarian Cultivation, take my Cultivation Scripture, and cultivate it." Vikram shook his head as he heard Kayala comment and continued to focus on what the page had written. 

Kayala raised his head to see what Vikram was reading, and Brunus took this chance to eat the thing they both were vying for but a swift punch to his face reminded him that the woman in front of him would not give him what he wanted the easy way. 

"Leave that method... It is one of the most ancient and sacred Barbarian cultivation methods. But it has been lost in time." Kayala shook his head as she choked Brunus with a hold. Brunus's face was getting more and more red. 

After a swift retribution from Brunus put the tiny Kayala in a triangle chokehold and Brunus continued the explanation. "But that Cultivation is one of the most accurate and powerful Cultivation in Barbarian History." 

Vikram's eyes twinkled, "What is this Cultivation called?" 

"Blood Beast Tattoo Scripture," Kayala said with a grunt, as they both struggled to keep and change the status quo. 

"The cultivation allows the blood and the spirit of any beast to be absorbed, and imprint a tattoo on your body. Your physical parameters would be similar to the beast's blood you have absorbed, and you could even ignite the spirit of the beast in the tattoo, and blast off people that are in a higher realm than you." 

Kayala sighed sadly as she held Brunus in a guillotine choke, "They were eradicated as a whole, and the people who did that made sure that their methods remained forever forgotten from history."

Vikram's heartbeat raised a notch, and he pushed the book onto the shelf and directly went towards his room. Brunus tapped on the arm of Kayala, and Kayala smiled and went towards the cup of chocolate thing, but all of a sudden Kayala's smile paused. 

"Where the hell is the new Relgate chocolate?!" Kayala shouted, and Brunus coughed a couple of times and shouted at her. 

"That little twerp stole it!" 

Brunus and Kayala looked at each other, fuming, and after making sure that he had gone out, they smiled at each other.

**********************

Vikram tried to integrate what he learned from Kayala into the axe arts. He felt that he was touching on Level 4 axe arts. Vikram knew that each breakthrough in his axe arts was based on what he learned new and tried to integrate it into his axe arts. 

He threw his axe on his left hand to the back side as he slashed on his front with his right axe. The mage that was brewing his spell was hit with the axe, which interrupted his spell casting, and the 2 [Neurotic Imps] died in the front. 

But the next moment, he was pierced with a dark arrow that spread something very painful in his body.

[You have been slain.]