Zhen Liu stared as a dark blue ball of light materialized from the palm of his left hand. While he wasn't sure what the difference was between this one and the [Heroic Core] was in terms of power level, he could feel a difference on a fundamental level.
'Bleh...just looking at this thing is making me remember some things I'd rather not...maybe I should've just ditched this core and gone home with Jin Fang. Hell, why don't I just go and ki...wait, no, that's the [Core of Regret] talking. That dude must have crazy deep regrets in him,' Zhen Liu thought as he shook himself free of his depressing thoughts of regret both mundane and extreme.
Now that he was in a better headspace, he now had to address the problem of dealing with the core. As he began to muse in how to store or hide the glowing ball of energy, that same voice from before made another announcement.
'What do you mean by sto-whoa!'
Ribbons of dark energy suddenly flourished from the palm of his hand and engulfed the glowing blue core. The ribbons began to wrap themselves around the core, layer by layer until eventually stopping after at least four layers had been added. In the blink of an eye,the kaijin core had transformed from a conspicuous ball of light into a much more manageable looking cloth ball...that looked vaguely familiar to Zhen Liu.
'Think about it later, you have people to talk to and things to do,' Zhen Liu told himself as he pocketed the ball. With the kaijin core secured, Zhen Liu proceeded to make himself scarce before Sullivan noticed him.
'Wait...did I specify where outside the quarry I'd meet Jin Fang?"
_________________________________________________
Back in the Zhen Clan's Dungeon, Zhen Jin and Zhen Long had finished yet another round of interrogating their father's treacherous former assistant Moka.
The two of them have been trying all manner of "confession aids" in order to get him to confess on who is true master was and where they were, so that the Zhen Clan could repay his master's "kindness" in full and with interest.
The Roaring Tide way: Like how the tide can wear away a mountain with each successive blow, repay any action with increasing measure. Repay a cup of sake with a bottle of your own and take their throats if they take your eye.
"FUCK YOU, YOU FISH EYED PISS DRINKERS!"
Unfortunately, they still hadn't gotten anything useful out of him other than racial slurs and insults about their parentage, their appearances or their "lack of spines". Either way, the two brothers weren't amused.
"Damnit! Not the co-AHHHHHHHHH!"
And the sweet sweet octaves that can only be reached when someone gets electrocuted in the testicles by a Rumbling Rattlesnake. It was funny the first three times, now it was just sad.
As Zhen Long and Zhen Jin watched Moka get electrocuted for the umpteenth time, the former let out a deep sigh.
"Well this is getting us nowhere," Zhen Long said while palming his face, "Knock him out, detox him and we can try again later."
Zhen Jin gave a curt nod before removing the Rumbling Rattlesnake from Moka's lower region. Moka let out a low groan as his source of pain had been removed, but that was quickly silenced as Zhen Jin knocked him out with a quick chop to the neck. Once Moka was knocked out, Zhen Jin set about on removing the venom from his bloodstream. Zhen Jin began to channel aether into his hands and produce a small seal that began to extract the venom from Moka's blood.
Zhen Long let out another sigh before reaching into his coat and pulling out an ornate looking pipe. Using a bit of aether, Zhen Long produced a small flame on his thumb and lit the contents of the pipe.
"Huh? I thought you gave up smoking years ago, big brother," Zhen Jin asked when he noticed the smell.
Zhen Long took a long drag of the pipe before blowing out several rings of smoke. Zhen Long took a deep breath before answering his little brother.
"I did, but after recent events...I found it prudent to relax my mind with something a bit more potent than tea or a hot spring. Besides, my formula needs to be stimulated every now and then."
"Whatever you say man," Zhen Jin replied as he finished removing the last of the venom. He had condensed the dangerous liquid into a little sphere and moved it into a jade bottle for storage. Once it was done, he kept the bottle in his coat for safekeeping.
"Hey, I just thought of something," Zhen Long began.
"Ain't the annual Prospecting Challenge a few weeks from now?"
"Yeah," Zhen Jin answered after thinking for a bit, "Why?"
"You think whoever set Moka up to do all this is going to be there?"
"Well," Zhen Long began to explain after putting his pipe away, "Remember when Zhen Yan showed up with those letters from Moka's room? After we had been given them, I couldn't help but notice a weird smell coming off of them."
Out of sight of both Zhen Jin and Zhen Long, Moka suddenly twitched at the mention of the letter's scent.
"You mean the scent of dried ink?," Zhen Jin asked sarcastically.
"Haha, no. I mean, I smelled something... metallic on the paper."
"The scent of iron? That ain't too weird, he did keep the letters next to a bunch of weapons."
"Yeah, but most of our stuff is made of beast bones with only a little bit of iron or bronze mixed in. This smell was was way stronger and had a scent of soot and ash mixed in. Now who do we know that works with metals in such a way?"
Zhen Jin paused and scratches his chin in thought before his eyes went wide with realization.
"You're not implying-"
"I'm just guessing," Zhen Long said as he threw his hands up, "But...I'd be on guard about this upcoming competition. I got the feeling something is about to come to surface and it ain't gonna be good."