Ki Horizons - [Litrpg, Adventure, Power Levels]

Last time on Ki Horizons!

Mutai awakens from his dream three years after the destruction and death of his island and people at the hands of King Vega, Power Level [9999]. The Smile Company strips his lands and forces him to relocate to Vega City. A location of countless species and races, a city built around power, and under the direct ownership of Vega himself!

Mutai stumbles drunk and with a hangover, the dream lighting up his dead passion. Three years of effort, and yet never once could he break through the wall of power, permanently stuck at Power Level [1]!

Gangsters soon find him and threaten him, trying to press him to join them. He refuses and his life becomes forfeit, if not for an old Master taking him in. Yet not is all as it seems. The Master is no kind old man but a fierce instructor, putting Mutai through hell itself to break through his wall and finally grow in strength!

And his true colors are revealed for the Master has a simple Philosophy. Anything for your goals. He sees Mutai's growing weakness of heart and mind, his lack of true ambition, his own goal doomed and his student becoming middling at best. Never able to beat Vega. So he corrects him.

By teleporting him deep into the sewers, where the chances of coming out alive are slim to none.

Mutai must fight for his life against rats with over twice his power level, hordes of hundreds of them, and many more. Just when he finds a source of water, he runs into a Toad man. The beating is sharp and short, shattering Mutai, leaving him on the verge of death.

Yet he prevails, overcomes, and strives ever forward! Disease, a broken body, infection, and so much more, and yet he survives. He survives for months and months on end and grows strong. And cocky. Daring to search the sewers and fight whatever lies in wait, he finds the leftovers from the Smile Company's experiments. Undead tumor filled zombies. Horrific creatures with no soul left in them, being eaten by the rats below. He vows to right this wrong when next he is able, if only he can find a way.

He continues to venture and his cockyness gets the better of him, stirring up the entire section of the sewers as Chain Wraiths begin to chase him down! He flees, heading to the only area he can, the area with the Toad man. He stands there, as if waiting for him, and their duel is legendary!

Mutai wins, stealing his opponent's previous move, only for a Water Elemental in the triple digits to begin to coalesce. Mutai hesitates for only a moment, before doing everything in his power to save his defeated opponent. Barely successful, they are knocked deep and far away from the fighting.

The toad man stands above and offers Mutai his hand, and a friendship is forged!

He takes Mutai back to his village, a village of frog people living in one of the few clean and sanitary places in the sewers, on a massive lake. They make merry and heal them both up and each name each other. A croak Mutai learns to recognize and Ragual for Mutai to call his new friend. They communicate through their own methods and Ragual catches on quickly that Mutai wishes to leave the sewers.

Endeavoring to help his new friend, they attempt to leave, only to be met with a gang of Ninja Turtles! A deadly fight and ambush ensues, multiple escapes are necessary, and it ends in a deadly moment where only a Ki blast from Mutai that destroys his arm and reduces his power level, can save Ragual.

After a long round of healing for both of them by the Village's best medics, they leave once more, finally accomplishing Mutai's goal of escaping the sewers. They say goodbye and Mutai leaves to confront his master for putting him through so much intense danger.

He arrives at the Dojo and to Mutai's anger, he can not say the Master is wrong. It worked, but the risks were great, and the guarantee near zero. His foundation for further growth has been set, his mind fully keyed to survival forevermore, but all respect has been lost for what was once seen as a kind but casual old man. Now, he sees him for the monster within, a man who will do anything to justify the ends of his own and others' paths. His saying clear, always.

All you have to do, is do your best.

Anything less, and he will refuse to train you.

A deeper healing is necessary and Mutai is forcefully put into a coma for three months, a risky procedure forced upon him to heal his body. He awakens to find his body back in one piece and his power level increased.

Thus a new round of training begins, at a proper gym this time in Vega City! Machines galore are available and yet, the training is harsh in entirely new ways! Cardio! Weightlifting! Stairmasters! And a hundred more, all to put Mutai in the best form he can be.

Until one day, a man bursts into the Gym, nothing but young rage and fire and hatred in his eyes! And from Gossip, Mutai learns. A new survivor of a civilization destroyed by Vega. While Mutai trains, Vega's vendetta against the world continues, culling people and leaving only a few survivors to purposefully seek revenge.

The man's name? Vincent Valorious, of clan Valorious. Blacksmiths and warriors, or at least, they were.

Now Vincent struggles with rage, endeavoring to grow stronger. Mutai sees in him a kindred spirit and reaches his hand out, telling him the words he would've wanted to hear all those long years ago, to save this man from self destruction.

Mutai declares he will be the one to kill Vega.

Anger and hatred rise up within Vincent and yet he sees in Mutai a mirror counterpart. A true brother in arms. And so a brotherhood is formed that day.

The Master watches and decides that fire is exactly what Mutai needs. He declares that he will only take one of them as his disciple and forces them to compete to see which one he will train onwards and which one will be left to find their own way in the world.

Both can not miss this opportunity and so a rivalry is born.

Training unlike any other, competition to the utmost degree, each pushing each other every step of the way, never backing down, never letting go. And yet, respect still remains in their eyes for one another! After all, how could one hate one who pushes so hard? How could one hate the living twin of themselves?! They each need what the other is trying to take, but to say they don't understand each other? Nonsensical. Their thoughts and hearts are the same.

Soon, a new method of strength begins, the required prerequisites being met.

Fighting.

Their bodies honed, the Master takes them down to an awkwardly placed ring beneath the dojo. For the first battle, he merely has them fight each other. It is a brief fight and one Mutai does not win, though it is far from anything considered deadly. A friendly spar, even if Vincent's emotions took him over.

And during which, they both begin to learn just how far their bodies have come!

But then the true challenge begins.

They will be fighting the Master himself, learning his style. And while he holds back his strength and speed to only double their own power level, a single blow is nearly enough to kill each of them. And thus a new round of torture begins! Often lasting mere seconds before being put back in the healing tank, they must learn the Master's style with their bodies! Not a style able to be learned through simply talking or practice, it is a lethal, evil style meant for killing. Only by facing it head on and desperately trying to survive can one gleam even the bare basics of such a path.

And yet…

Mutai learns. And learns and learns. His fights last longer and longer, while Vincent still can only last at most a blow or two. The Master has suspicions and they only harden into conviction. He gets angrier and angrier, until Mutai is nearly torn in half with a single blow!

Mutai, fearing for his life, demands to know why!

The Master looks ready to explode and then… deflates! He tells Mutai that his Talent is… otherworldly! The best he had seen in his five hundred years! His rate of learning is simply, inconceivable! He'd already learned year's worth of incredibly hard martial arts in nothing but a few weeks! Hundreds of years worth of developing his own style, learned by a novice in what could be only a handful of years. Anger and pain rises up to the point he could spit blood!

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Mutai is stunned, having never expected himself to have such a talent for fighting! After all, all along, he had never gotten the chance to! For all his life, he'd been stuck with a power level of [1].

His true talents unearthed and Master's rising anger nearly causing him an aneurysm, he tells Mutai to take a break for a week. That he refuses to train or fight him for that long, enough time to calm down.

Mutai is stunned. Before his training, he was nothing but a worthless weak bum, homeless, drinking what he could. He had nothing to his name, no activities to do, his life was his training. What was he supposed to do with free time?!

He decides that a life without that answer is not worth living! He decides he is going to live this break to the fullest!

He spends the first day walking around Vega City, enjoying the sights, enjoying himself. He stops by a park, only for the greeting from a few of the parkgoers to shock him! It's Rabahgahdan! The Winter Solstice. Vegamas. Many names but the holiday is the same and shared by most races and species! The time of the year where you make merry, give gifts, and enjoy your family's company. A time and day of joy!

So knowing, Mutai heads towards the mall, endeavoring to get some shopping done on this wonderful day. An amazing trip later, with a woman showing him something called a 'Capsule', he returns to the Dojo. But not before getting gifts for both Vincent and Master.

He gives Vincent a blacksmith's hammer, to remind him of home.

And for Master… a robot cat. The fully real mind of a cat and the body of a robot!

Master names it Sparky.

The next day, Mutai leaves, his spirits high. He decides he wants one of those Capsules, despite them being a Smile Company invention. A Company is a difficult foe. Not every person a part of it is evil and it produces things that makes other people want them. He does not know how to fight it now but puts it at the back of his mind, merely focusing on getting his capsule.

As he heads there, he gets roped into watching a product demonstration and is amazed all over again as he sees the small item able to store even a car! Just as he wishes to leave, having learned that magic is real from the Demons enhanced hypnotics sales pitch, a ki blast nearly kills him!

Suddenly, a man crashes into the stage, the police behind him! And all… have triple digit power levels!

Mutai realizes he'll be destroyed just by their fighting and has little hope of surviving! Desperate, he leaps into the hole the previous Ki blast caused, falling down a maintenance shaft. Shockingly, he's mostly unharmed and begins to explore the underground, only to find the two Smile Company workers that forced him to go to Vega City to begin with!

Murder in his mind, he prepares to fight them… only for them to whip out guns and begin to shoot him!

Shocked, hurt, and more than a little concerned, Mutai flees, chased by them. They are not weak and in the end, Mutai barely manages to escape. Wandering around the facilities, he eventually finds his way out, only for the Kitsune from before to smash through the floors, bringing Mutai with him!

A brief but tense exchange later and they begin to explore together. Mutai is told of the Kitsune's past, how he was born here. Him and many others. Nothing more than experiments for The Smile Company. Mutai asks for his name, and he tells Mutai to give him one. Straining for something to call him, Mutai blurts out Cooler. He regrets it, tries to go back, but the one now known as Cooler likes the name and refuses to part with it.

Their exploration continues, passing by row after row of cells with Cooler's dead allies in each of them. Overcome with grief, he destroys the whole tunnel! Finally putting them to rest, Mutai grabs the now unconscious Cooler, destroying anything he can find along the way. He makes his way through an airlocked room, only to find something utterly shocking!

He stares in horror as Cooler slowly awakens, at a clone of himself! Many clones of himself. How?! WHY?! What is going on?

Cooler accesses personal research logs, finding the answers.

The Mutagen that increased Cooler's power and killed all his people… came from the clones of Mutai. As for the clones, they had been cloning Mutai for years, grabbing his DNA from when he had first arrived, as they did to all survivors they pick up. Their goal? Finding the secret to Vega's power, learning why he had such an interest in these specific survivors without touching them overtly, and finally? The secret to eternal life.

Mutai, the clones being known as Series S, were found to be the perfect control. Their innate, inborn weakness allowing for great strides in their research. Even better for them and even more horrifying for Mutai, a breakthrough showed that the clones were better dead than alive. Over a thousand Mutai's were sacrificed over the years, to this horrible place.

The deep chill of ice cold death in his veins, Mutai hears a voice behind him. Turning around, he sees The Director. The one who started this all! The one who headed up everything, who'd cloned him, who'd left these research logs. And he had returned to clean up loose ends.

A fierce fight between Cooler and The Director begins as Mutai is forced to run! Just when he thinks he's made it out, the Director throws a metal ball that unleashes a Mecha-Rex! Seeing the power level over 50% higher than his own, Mutai runs for his life. Only to be bathed in flames as the Mecha-Rex torches him!

Running, burning, fighting, and many more, Mutai finally finds himself with a moment of peace, only for a crisis of mind to hit him. He's afraid, deathly afraid! He wants to escape, to leave. But… that would mean leaving Cooler behind to die.

He can't do it. He refuses to do it. He'd rather die.

Confidence and anger fueling him, he attacks the Mecha-Rex! The fight is difficult and at a standstill, every moment on the tightrope of death, before Mutai has an idea!

All the while, the fight between Cooler and the Director rage, destroying everything around as far as the eye can see. Despite doing his best, Cooler begins to lose, his Ki slowly going out of control. The Mutagen took longer to kill him but killing him all the same it is.

Mutai, running for his life, has a plan. If only he can grab the ball it came out of and shove it back in somehow, then he might be able to store it in a capsule! He doesn't need to kill it, merely get rid of it!

He runs to do just that, the Mecha-Rex hot on his trail, only to be eaten!

Cooler, beaten and nearly about to die, sees this. The only person he'd known from the outside world that had ever showed him true kindness, that had bestowed his name, that hadn't been terrified of him.

He erupts in a cold rage, going all out in a fierce beam struggle against The Director!

Mutai, however, is eaten but not dead! Capsule and ball in hand he- The metal ball falls to pieces. Capsule in hand he endeavors to defeat and survive this monster! Doing the only thing he can think to do as it prepares to barbeque him from inside its mouth, he breaks the Capsule.

And then things go wrong.

The dimensions twist and shift, up is inward, diagonal is left, right is both ways at once, nothing makes sense anymore! And then, they go somewhere other. Mutai, protected only by the metal surrounding him, feels blessed at that moment.

As things turn back to normal and he finds himself out of the Mecha-Rex's mouth, he can only shiver in fear, seeing its head separated from its body and its eyes eroded black from the inside out.

He goes to help Cooler, only to see him blast the Director with the full might of his beam! Mutai cheers… only to see Cooler fall like a rock. Rushing towards him, Cooler is out of it, not even able to move, but overjoyed to see Mutai alive.

All is well until… The Director speaks from behind!

The Director lives, wounded but not dead. Weak, but still more than strong enough to kill both of them with his bare hands.

Not knowing what to do, Mutai raises both palms, using Ki his only hope!

He tries and tries and with every step The Director takes, fear lodges its way inside his mind.

Finally, in a trance of realization on the meaning of power and how one should use it correctly, he connects to the Ki Horizon.

Blue beams shoot out of his hand! They smash into the Director's chest… doing nothing!

Mutai panics but doesn't give in! He keeps trying but soon, he realizes it's hopeless! He endeavors to go out with a bang, somehow hurting him even at the cost of his life, only for Cooler to join him!

He looks over to Cooler, feeling his arm on his own, and then-

The corrupting Ki in Cooler's body flows into Mutai! From the clones to Cooler back to him! It nearly causes his soul to explode, his body and mind straining to deal with it all, as The Director is suddenly bombarded by a power he can't escape! The Director fights back with all his might but he's trapped beneath the Ki now, as if a mountain is striking him!

Mutai refuses to give in and Cooler saying he needs him is finally the tipping point. Mutai grabs control of the Ki and a fierce golden blast erupts!

The Director is vaporized and as Mutai falls back, the golden blasts destroys the ceiling, revealing the sun upon them!

Hurt but more than happy to just be alive, let alone to have defeated such a fierce foe, they begin to make their way back to Mutai's Dojo. Cooler's wounds are light, but his Ki exhausted, while Mutai is more than half dead but barely able to walk after landing.

Arriving at the Dojo, Cooler says he must go. That he'll be chased to the ends of Vega by The Smile Company and that Mutai isn't able to go with. That he's too weak and the enemies are too strong. That they won't look or try to hunt for him nearly as much.

The words hurt, but Mutai understands. He'll just have to grow stronger.

Just before he leaves, Cooler asks for something 'untowards' as he feels this may very well be the last time they see each other, his death at the hands of The Smile Company a real threat. Mutai, trusting his ally, doesn't see what the possible harm could be or what he would say no that Cooler would ask.

Cooler kisses him, before practically fleeing.

Mutai stands there, dazed and confused and lost, mind reeling, as he heads inside and goes to the healing tank.

And then there's a time skip where The Master says it's time for them to learn how to use Ki for real!