Poor Cultivation (The Slayer of Heaven Book 1): A LitRPG Wuxia Series

by Alan Bard

  What if we try to get away from Victoria’s influence and go over to the enemy side? Beta suggested. I didn’t say anything.

  “Here, right by the lake. Ours was here.” Joseph drew a line from the lake to the center of the Arena. “A nice place with a lot of fish and without dangerous predators. Here, we have wolves prowling at night... Well, they just look like wolves... They’re huge creatures with red eyes and long fangs! And they don’t howl, they just kinda laugh.”

  “What’s in the center of the island?” I asked. “It’s circled. Why?”

  “No one knows. We’ve never been there. We’ve never met anyone who has either. All we heard were rumors and speculations. They say that it’s a separate zone, surrounded by either another circle of rocks, or geysers.”

  “I think it’s geysers,” Rio said, his voice excited. “I’m sure of that. I was wondering what the hell was going on over there. Geysers could, technically, throw something like that into the atmosphere.”

  Ksandra came into the hut, hand on her hip.

  “What the hell are you still doing here? It’s noon. There’s about seven hours left until dusk. You can chat later, girls.”

  She put a canvas bag on top of the map, holding it with her stump. With her good hand, she took out a dagger and handed it to me. Eli got a large club. Rio got a stare.

  “What would you like?”

  “A crossbow,” he said with a smile. “Or a bow. Do you have those?”

  “We have one, actually. I’ll ask Victoria about it.”

  A minute later, she returned and handed him a simple homemade crossbow.

  “Be careful with it. Mark, our past gunsmith, crafted it. I doubt that you’ll be able to do anything similar in the near future.”

  I stared at the crossbow and saw what looked like faint colorful lights pulsating within it. I tried to see the details, but nothing came up.

  Rio took the weapon with some hesitation; the moment he touched its wooden surface something awoke in him, and he grew bolder. He checked the built-in and trigger mechanisms, attached a bag of homemade bolts to his belt, and then slapped it with a wide smile on his face.

  “I’ll need another one, this one’s pretty useless in a fight. But it’s amazing! I somehow know how to handle it!”

  “Well, that’s because you’re a gunsmith,” Ksandra explained. She wasn’t a very articulate speaker. It took her time to choose her words, and she often had to pause between sentences. “You’ve a program installed that teaches you. And when you practice your skill, it—”

  “Develops?” Rio said, coming to the rescue.

  “Right. So, here’s the deal. Victoria and I have some business to do. Rio, Nick, Joe, and, uh, Eli—you’re in charge of food. Also, take Jelena with you.”

  “Do we really need her?” was Joseph’s indignant answer. “She’s dead weight.”

  “Don’t be a dick, Joe.” Ksandra sighed. “But I do hear you. However, that’s an order. Our healer needs to get stronger and develop her skills. If any of you get injured, she’ll get to practice.”

  “If something happens to her, I won’t carry her,” Joe said under his breath, but didn’t argue anymore.

  “Don’t worry, Jelena.” Eli’s eyes sparkled and he grinned from ear to ear. “If anything happens, I’ll carry you.”

  Ksandra elbowed him in the back.

  “Don’t relax. If you don’t get us food, we’ll starve to death.”

  Rio’s stomach rumbled like an engine of an old car. Ksandra let out a long sigh and took something brown from her bag. She divided it into five parts and only then did I realize that it was a flatbread made out of roots. It tasted disgusting, like damp grass, but it satisfied my hunger.

  We changed our clothes before going out. Rio and Jelena were wearing camouflage suits (they only had them in women’s sizes) with a hood. I got a swamp-colored shirt and matching pants. Eli just barely fit in his pants, but they were still too short for him.

  We’re poorly armed, poorly dressed, and underfed. We’ll climb our way up from the very bottom, a voice said.

  I gave it a thought and grinned. Life was good.

  “Hey, Joe. Is this really all the weapons you have?” I asked.

  “There used to be a lot more,” he said with an almost imperceptible shrug. “Now we have only what we had hid in the cache. So, we’re kinda starting from scratch. Let’s go. You remember what to do, right?”

  “Keep our mouths shut and don’t lag behind,” Eli muttered.

  “That’s right.”

  Joseph went to the gate and pulled the huge latch. Looking at him, it always seemed that the whole world was languid. I was wondering if his vibe was some kind of depressed resignation.

  “Joe, one question, what are we hunting?”

  He just merely chuckled.

  “We hunt everything we see,” he said. “We don’t really have a choice. It’d be nice to go fishing, but we can’t... Not yet. So, goats. Hogs. Birds. Hares. Come on, we’ll grab some grub and get back. I bet you’ll find out a lot of interesting things on this hunt.”

  Chapter 16

  HUNTING

  I had no idea what it was like to go hunting. My whole life I had been around humans, though some of them lived like animals. However, my brain now helped me to recall the long-forgotten information from books, TV shows, articles, blogs... A hunter should... creep up against the wind... not hesitate before cutting the throat of an animal... lie in wait... fish in the shallows.

  I wish I had proper shoes for stalking, army boots suck.

  After a while, we passed the small clearing where we met Victoria. I was in no mood to explore the neighborhood then, but now I was aware of the smallest details. The ground was damp, stones small and sharp, and every blade of grass visible. But as I closed my eyes, the feeling was gone. Two hawks were circling overhead, or maybe it was some other bird—it was hard to say.

  “The animals here are strange.” I shared my thoughts with the others, hoping for an explanation from Joe.

  “They say that there was a laboratory somewhere underground. And that animals mutated after the experiments they conducted during the Cold War.”

  “It’s bullshit,” Rio remarked dryly. “Nature doesn’t work like that. A living being can’t mutate like a Ninja Turtle.”

  “Yeah? What about those Totems? Blue ice falling from the sky? Damn, there are freaking rifts here... And the neutral network... Can any of that be explained by science?”

  “Neural network, sure. As for everything else... Well, all of this had to have had some consequences,” Rio mumbled.

  “Oh, screw you, it’s all a bunch of sci-fi mumbo-jumbo,” Eli continued.

  “Try to take everything for granted,” Rio said in a low voice. “It’s easier that way.”

  “Take it easy? That’s your advice? There are mages out there, freaking mages...”

  “It’s just a codename. Would you feel better had they called them psychics?”

  “Well, I guess... And what about the artifacts?”

  Jelena and I, walking beside them, were listening to their argument. Rio was surprisingly calm and reasonable.

  “I think that they are ordinary items that the neural network has included in its system. That is, it seems to have given them a special meaning, strengthening something in the bodies of the players who have them. It’s all very interesting! Don’t you get it? We’re pioneers! We’re one of the first to see all this and learn of things that others consider unimaginable!”

  There was a sparkle in Rio’s eyes; he was looking forward to finding answers to all those mysteries. I suddenly realized what was driving him forward. He wanted to challenge his mind and satisfy his curiosity. Despite being stuck in this deadly place, he was still a nerd, hungry for new knowledge.

  There was a moment of dead silence, disturbed only by the whistling of the wind and pebbles crunching under our feet. Wolf Moor was a grim, dark place. It was flat—as flat as a table surface—with a wani
ng growth of brown grass, low trees, and no bump or dent to hide behind or in. I didn’t want to linger—we were easy targets here.

  In the distance, there was a long, sloping hill.

  “Look at this thing!” Eli picked up a fanged skull, the size of a wolf’s, and started studying it as he continued on. “These creatures are huge. Big as wolfhounds.”

  “More like a panther,” Joe said, slapping a mosquito on his forehead. “But gray and shaggy. They’re flexible like cats, but they can’t release their claws. However, with those fangs, they don’t need them.”

  We were silent for a while. I glanced at Jelena, who gave me a thin smile and winked. She seemed to have started returning to normal. Her cheeks were rosy, as though something had delighted her. A spark of interest was dancing in her eyes. Looking at her, I felt good. I was glad to see that she had broken free of the apathy that had overtook her. I was afraid that she had turned into a lifeless husk.

  “Are you sure they hunt only at night?” she asked cautiously.

  Joe nodded and looked up at the birds flying in the sky. As for me, I was more interested in burrows like those that we had seen in the ruined city.

  “Are there Mutants?”

  “Yes, tame ones. Victoria put a few of them under her control. They guard the area from intruders. They’re like some kind of an alarm system.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty cool.” Rio grinned. “How many Mutants do we have?”

  “Eleven. There were twelve until recently, but one escaped, or the wolves ate him.”

  “Hey, Joe, what do we really know about these Mutants? How do they become like that?” Rio tried to keep his eagerness under control. “We heard that they are people who have lost control over their neural network. Is that true?”

  “I don’t know.” Joe shrugged. “They say that if the neural network degenerates, it, uh, absorbs your brain cells.”

  “Ha, bullshit! That can’t be true.”

  “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.”

  “The neural network is just software.” Rio scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Like programs on your hard drive. How can it absorb anything?”

  “Why are you bothering me with such questions?” Joe seemed to be getting angry. “I don’t know these things. But, like, some programs can cause your hard drive to burn out, right? That can cause it to malfunction... A mage from my last cohort told me that when the neural network fails, brain cells degenerate, stuff builds up until it explodes, and your brain fights against itself. And this leads to all sorts of failures throughout the body, not just in the psyche. Some Mutants don’t have enough protein or some amino acids, so they start to eat each other. Others have problems with hemoglobin, that is, with blood, and they become like vampires. Normally these creatures are of, uh, various classes, and sometimes they even turn into very powerful monsters.”

  You know, it’s kinda funny. If some brainless Mutant managed to get away from Victoria, what are the chances that our dear Nicky will do the same? Alpha sneered.

  Did you notice that Jelena got better once she got outside? It’s nice, Beta remarked. I think it was stupid of Nick to take that oath. Not only do we know nothing about its features, but we seem to be stuck with this girl, unlike that pitiful Mutant.

  Their comments were anything but pleasant to listen to.

  Naturally, it takes some force to mentally control sentient beings. The more of them there are, the harder it is to control them. Our cutthroat bitch relies too heavily on this oath of hers. We just need to find out more about it, Alpha said, and the voices fell silent.

  “What’s the point of this whole thing?” Rio kept asking questions.

  “No idea, I think even Victoria doesn’t know. They’ll probably tell us after the third Rite.”

  Rio raised his finger didactically. “The water lily doesn’t know where the river goes, I see. I bet the military can answer such questions. You know, it’d be nice to have a talk with them... Imagine handing them over to Victoria.” He grinned, eyeing me mischievously. As for me, I wasn’t sure whom I hated more—the military or the manipulative bitch.

  “Who are the ‘commoners,’ or to be more precise, who are the ‘uncommon’ ones?”

  Good question, Rio, I’d almost forgotten about that...

  Joe froze and opened his mouth, then shook his head.

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “What if you write it?” I asked. Perhaps someone had forbade him to talk about that.

  “There’s info that I can’t share with you.”

  Shit, that sounds bad.

  “Enough chit-chat!” he said and pointed ahead. “We’ll soon reach the hills. That’s where the real danger lies.”

  Oddly enough, Rio was the first to complain.

  “My mouth is so dry. Some water would be nice.”

  “You’ll have to wait,” Joe muttered.

  We stood on the plateau of a mountain range that towered over a green valley that looked as if had been pulled out of another world and placed here. Far below us were tiny, brown circles. Tents. A faint grin grew on my lips as I noticed movement—after everything that had happened, seeing other humans was both exciting and scary at the same time.

  “Who’s that?” Rio asked in a low voice.

  “That’s the Alliance. The cohort led by shamans Simon Grimtotem and Nick Earthfury. We have to be extra careful.”

  The four of us, abreast, started going down the slope. Joe walked swiftly, both relaxed and confident in his descent, as if he had suckers on his fingers with which he could stick himself to any surface.

  My throat was parched and sore, and I would’ve killed for a drop of water. However, I decided not to bitch about it.

  The scenery changed. Rocks and wasteland were replaced by woods. Blue veils hung in the trees. The fronds swayed gently, and the foliage stirred above our head.

  “Look,” Jelena said and smiled. Leaning down, she plucked a patch of dead grass, and examined it. “Lucky us. It’s Siderítis. It heals wounds and infections, gives strength...”

  “How come you know that?” Rio asked. He didn’t seem to be surprised; he kept very quiet for a second, as if thinking about something.

  “Well—” She, too, fell silent for a moment. She then waved away her doubts and continued gathering herbs. “What does it matter? I just do.”

  Joe continued alone. He moved silently, like a shadow among the trees, following something like a tracking dog. I had a strange feeling that there were no animals here, only small rodents, but I decided to keep that to myself. Joe seemed pretty good at scouting, being much more experienced in it than I was.

  Eli walked over to Jelena, who was picking more herbs.

  “Is it— Does it taste good? If we boil it, will it be like tea?”

  The girl rubbed the dried leaf with her fingers and handed it to him.

  “Here, try it.”

  Eli hesitated but put it in his mouth. He grimaced.

  “Bitter and sweet at the same time. Ugh, I’m now even more thirsty.”

  Rio put a blade of grass in his mouth. “You know, I prefer tea leaves steeped in boiling water in a proper pot. It’s not quite the same, is it?”

  Jelena tied Siderítis into a bundle and fastened it to her belt.

  Joe spent ten minutes sniffing around and then came up with a plan.

  “We must go on. We’ll try fishing.”

  We continued on our way and soon heard the distant roll of drums. The ominous sound continued for about half an hour, but eventually halted. However, every noise we heard made us grab a crossbow and clench our fists. Joe always kept his hand on his breast pocket—I was wondering what secret weapon he had hidden there.

  After a while, we heard the sound of a stream and I hastened my step. However, my ears had failed me—we came to a steep, high bank of a wide river. Without giving it a second thought, I slid down the slope, dropped to my knees, and scooped up a handful of water. The taste was divine. I heard the others rising
to their feet behind my back.

  As I stood, I observed the water, thinking about fishing.

  Solution: [Killing Lance, Harpoon]

  Components: stick, string

  Once upon a time, there was a guy whose lance was known as Luke.

  Reeds that grew along the stream flashed blue. Rio must’ve gotten a similar tip, as we touched a reed at the same time. He looked at me, and I noticed a sly glint in his eye.

  “We need something else,” he said, and went upstream.

  “Eli, help him,” I said. “It might be dangerous out there, especially alone.”

  I didn’t exactly mean to take command, but it just came so naturally to me. I glanced at Joe; he didn’t seem to care. He even seemed to enjoy having someone make decisions for him. On the other hand, Joe and joy didn’t mix.

  “Just be quick about it,” he said in a flat tone. “We don’t have much time.”

  “If you see anything, holler. The water will drown voices,” Rio said over his shoulder in a low, calm voice.

  It took them a while—I was worried about both of them—but they exceeded my expectations. Thirty minutes later, Rio came down the slope, brandishing a wooden lance that looked a lot better than what we had made before. As I took a look at it I understood why Victoria was so happy about Rio’s specialization. There was no way he would’ve done it without the network’s help.

  [Wooden Lance]

  Fishing Gear

  Crafted by gunsmith [Rio].

  Combat Characteristics: Low as fuck. To be more precise, none.

  “See that? Low as fuck. You know, that’s kinda offensive.” He grinned broadly, as if he didn’t give a damn about anyone’s opinion.

  It was surprising to see such a comment from the system, considering that the lance looked pretty cool. I was also wondering how the system could consider a stick and shoelaces a combat item.

  Joe snapped out of his deep, meditative state—he didn’t even blink while we were waiting for the guys. Strangely enough, his calmness was reassuring, and it even brought the confidence out in me. He took Rio’s lance, examined it, grunted, then took his shoes off and stepped into the icy water.