Now all he had to do was close his eyes to see a perfect replica of the timepiece in his mind’s eye on his abbreviated character sheet. He frowned at the time after briefly admiring how he had grown, just in the last couple of days. It was already past noon.
___________________________________________________________________
Alex Hammer
Class – Cultivator: Disciple of the Dual Path (Unlimited potential. This is a Divine path.)
Rank 6 Basic Cultivation Achieved
Physical Characteristics
Strength 15
Vitality 16
Quickness 15
Finesse 15
Spiritual Characteristics
Scholarship 11
Perception 13
Willpower 14
Qi pool 14
Health Points: 225
Skill Advancements
White Crane Kung Fu – Rank 3 (Now synergizes with Rank 5 Golden Realms Kung Fu for a +8 modifier.)
Soul Sight – Rank 3 (4)
White Crane Cycling Technique – 25% Efficiency
Cleansing Breath Purification Technique – 50% Efficiency
_________________________________________________________________________________
He winced, knowing he’d be missing lunch, just determined to get to his first period without being late, because if the ice he was skating with Fu Shen was any thinner, the man would probably try to strike Alex dead himself.
And when he quietly slipped into class just minutes before it started, he was chilled by the stares of his classmates, the angry whispers of half the class hissing at his daring, the other half responding with soft susurrations that Alex’s exquisite hearing could make out all too well.
“That fool Ruidian dared return? Master Fu Shen will strike him dead!”
“Not so. He and Sheng Jie dueled over the matter. Sheng Jie is a noble, and the Ruidian was actually victorious. Anyone who’s not an idiot knows what that means.”
“Wait, that he was right? The fox god and his daughter were vindicated through him?”
“Either that, or it was a warning. Anger the god of chaos and mischief, and the storm of battle might just sweep you away forever.”
And the entire class fell dead silent when Fu Shen looked up from the tome he was studying, fixing them all with his intent gaze. “Today we will be studying the socio-political ramifications for Yidushi, now that Cuijing Principality has formally claimed two lost members of their clan, one of them a scion and former legion commander who has just ascended to Gold.”
The class was filled with sudden excited whispers and murmurs and Alex felt a frisson at those words. Somehow, it didn’t even seem odd that the professor said not a word about Alex’s return to his class, as if yesterday hadn’t even happened.
If anything, the man’s gaze flowed over Alex so fluidly it was like he wasn’t even there.
“Our principality has a new Gold? Fantastic!” said one enthusiastic student.
The girl beside him nodded, before turning back to the teacher. “What’s his name? What are his affinities? Do we know?”
And for the first time that Alex could recall, he witnessed Fu Shen smile with pride. “Liu Jian. Former alchemist of this very academy! Of course, now that he has been formally recognized by the Sovereign Princess herself with his ascension, he has taken the name Cui Jian. Which just goes to show that the seeds of greatness, the potential to actually ascend to Gold, could lie within any of you.”
“But the odds of that are only one in ten million!” said one softly groaning student.
“One in a hundred million, my father says,” muttered another. “I’ll just be happy if I can ascend to Bronze.”
“Incredible!” declared one awed girl. “So, Master Fu Shen, do you think he’ll come back and teach at our school?”
To this Fu Shen gave a sad shake of his head. “Any cultivator who ascends to Gold is given the highest of honors, elevated beyond all lesser men, feted by the Crown Princess herself! But he must leave his past life behind. All his wealth is converted to spirit pearls, and only immediate family may join him as he is reborn into greatness and nobility. Doubly so, if he was born into royalty. But fear not. Even if he will never again set foot into our school, Dragon Academy cannot help but be elevated by our former relationship, and I am given to understand that the Headmaster himself will be feted with honors from Administrator Ruizhi for having forged a nest even Golds can blossom forth from!”
The class was in a state of excitement for the rest of the period, Master Fu Shen seeming to delight in the gossip and speculation just as much as the students, everyone ignoring Alex utterly.
Which he hardly even registered, finding himself in a state of complete and utter shock.
Liu Jian, his mentor, was actually a prince, and had blossomed into a Gold?
His mind flashed to those terrible, wondrous moments when he had seen his former master in all his deadly glory, mask finally ripped free, revealing a cultivator of such deadly power as to take on an entire compound filled with infernalists. And, much to Alex’s incredible relief, survive to tell the tale. He could only pray with all his heart that Liu Li, though he supposed her name was Cui Li now, had also made it to the capital safely.
Even now, the thought of her winsome fragile smile pulled at his heartstrings. He desperately missed her company, her sharp wit, and piercing green gaze so clear in his mind’s eye it was like she was gazing down at him even now. “Try harder, Alex.” How many times had she said that phrase to him alone? And how close they had grown in those weeks he had trained and she had healed.
He could only hope she was safe and happy, her meridians healing as she learned from the sacred prizes he had gifted her with. His heart went out to her. He wished her a lifetime of health and happiness, knowing he would probably never see her again. Even WiFu had said as much.
That’s when he blinked, realizing the class was rapidly emptying, and soon it was just him and Fu Shen, who was now radiating a dark killing aura, even as he refused to acknowledge Alex’s very existence.
Heart hammering, Alex raced out the classroom as fast as his legs could carry him, feeling an incredible wave of relief when he made it to Master Liang’s class, desperate to lose himself in tapping into that swirling storm of Qi he was getting better at visualizing all around him, leaving his mind mercifully blank of the beautiful girl, now perhaps a princess, living an exalted life he could scarce imagine.
White Crane cycling technique is now at 26% efficiency!
His mind felt wonderfully refreshed after two hours of disciplined cultivation, and the bittersweet nostalgic pain in his heart had already faded, as if it was a pain he had come to terms with weeks ago. It still stung, but he could think beyond it, wishing his friends well, accepting that their lives were forever on separate paths from his own.
If anything, he was grateful. Far from perishing, the people who had first shown him kindness in this life had found the sweetest of outcomes, and hopefully would enjoy centuries of happiness with the continuing tale of their lives.
They were embracing life’s potential to the fullest.
Now it was his turn to master all the obstacles placed before him, and forge a tale with his life that he too could be proud of.
A couple people frowned at his odd smile, though thankfully, former hot hostility had died down to a cold tolerance. Yet at least one classmate was grinning impishly at him, a girl he realized he should have recognized was in more than one of his classes.
“Are you ready for me to crush you in the ring, Alex?” asked none other than Qie Qie as they all prepared to leave for third period, over half the students taking both Master Liang and Master Pan’s classes.
Alex blinked. “Sorry?”
She frowned. “You were going to accept my challenge today, remember?”
“Oh, that’s right! Yes, I look forward to it,” he said as they jogged to their class, before he turned her way with a wry sm
ile. “But we’re fighting with armor, and it’s to touch, not submission. Three solid touches determines the winner. After-blows cancel any touches, so it has to be a clean shot, and throws and pins are allowed, whatever weapon we use, as long as we follow the five second rule in the ring.” He frowned. “What I mean is a joint-lock will count as a point for me or you. We won’t actually try to break each other’s joints, or deliberately hit with killing force. Is that agreeable?”
Qie Qie frowned at his careful conditions, but Master Pan gave a bemused chuckle, Alex having deliberately raised his voice as he stated his conditions the second they entered their professor’s demesne, the training ring and the area just around it.
“Not a bad set of rules,” said Master Pan. “It doesn’t quite promise the risk of a true submission match, so your killing edge won’t be honed quite as finely, but an excellent set of conditions for a pair of fighters sparring for the first time.”
Qie Qie sighed, rolling her expressive brown eyes. “Fine. But you can’t deliberately pull my ribbons, or try to rip off my attire which already counts as armor.”
Alex blinked, taking in her ruby lips, kohl-lined eyes, and the pink ribbons she had entwined in her buns that day, and the kung fu uniform that hugged her frame so very… tightly. As if she was wearing skin-tight battle leathers. Come to think of it, that’s exactly what they were.
Which blew Alex away. Not only because she was absolutely striking and looked like the lead in a steamy kung fu drama… but it seemed to run contrary to all of Master Pan’s earlier advice the first day Alex had nearly gotten himself killed.
“Um… may I ask… why are you all dolled up?” Alex managed.
Half the class gasped, as if outraged Alex would even dare to ask. Qie Qie just grinned. “Because I like to look cute! And who knows? If I play my cards right, I might just win the heart of a Silver hungry for more than just arena matches.” She chuckled throatily at Alex’s blush. “But if you think that means I’m a soft pushover...” Her eyes glinted as dangerously as her smile. “You’ll find you’re sadly mistaken.”
She then went over to the spear rack, showing her surprising strength, offhandedly tossing Alex a polearm so short it was more a bladed staff than a spear by kung fu standards. Alex spent a few moments getting a feel for it, finding it extremely nimble in the hand, but still deadly in the thrust. Blunt, thank goodness for that.
“You ready, Alex? Good. Show me what you got!”
Insight check made!
Alex blinked, then grinned, catching her evil smile. “Sorry, Qie Qie. Beautiful as you are, you’re not going to leave me so flustered I forget to put on armor.”
She chuckled ruefully. “I almost thought I had you, Ruidian boy. I would have loved to bruise that delicious white flesh with every hit. It makes me wonder what your blood tastes like.”
Alex flashed a cold grin several minutes later, now fully kitted in armor reminiscent of what he had worn fighting by Liu Jian’s side. “Why don’t you try to find out?”
Qie Qie laughed and tried to do just that.
Soul Sight skill check made! You sense your opponent’s Qi cycling with her attacks! You have a bonus to counter all offensive maneuvers!
Short Spear skill check failed! Your opponent has successfully trapped your spear. ‘Touch’ strike has dented armor! You have taken 15 Damage and 1 Light Wound!
You have been knocked off balance!
Alex chuckled ruefully at the spear point now just inches away from his face. He had started cautiously enough, getting a measure of his opponent, feeling a quiet sense of exultation when he could feel her flow of Qi, her killing intent. But it did little to help him, only prolonging the inevitable. Where he was a rank four competent spearman, he was not yet trained in harnessing White Crane kung fu techniques with it, and with the short spear, Qie Qie was a master, spinning it about her body and using both the point and the butt to force his weapon off-line and trap it before smacking her weapon against temple, midriff and shin, in a blitzkrieg series of attacks.
The three-point match had been lost long ago, they both knew that, both in silent accord to let it continue, Alex chilled and impressed by her masterful control and chilling speed.
And the fifth time she effortlessly gained control of the bind before slipping her weapon under his guard and smacking him so hard he crashed to the ground, he finally got it. And now that he knew what he should be looking for, he could see her forged meridian channel cycling a thick current of Water Qi, so much more potent than the scraps he or any other basic cultivator could manage with their peripheral meridians.
“You’re Bronze,” he coughed, meeting her chillingly intent gaze. “Right?”
She blinked and stepped back, slowly smiling, before nodding back at a beaming Master Pan. “Even without his epiphany, he isn’t half bad. For a Ruidian, anyway. He actually got two hits on me.”
“But you got over a dozen on him!” said one of the students who had been watching the match with awe.
Qie Qie nodded. “I’m Water, and I flow where I need to go. Water slides past all resistance and strikes with the speed of a hurricane where we’re least expected.”
Alex frowned. “So you boosted Quickness and Finesse beyond mortal levels?”
He received more than a few strange looks at that. “Err… sorry. Gamer terminology, never mind.”
Master Pan snorted. “I fear you hit him in the head a bit too hard, Qie Qie.”
And before Alex could do more than blink, Qie Qie was darting forward like an adder, razor sharp dagger in hand.
Perception check made!
It was all Alex could do not to blink into his ring at that very moment, and give up all his dreams then and there, knowing he would forever after be a hunted man.
Dagger pricks flesh. Flesh Wound suffered. No significant damage taken.
And a heartbeat later, Qie Qie flowed back to her feet, the tip of her pink tongue caressing the tip of her razor-sharp stiletto upon which a single drop of ruby crimson coalesced. Lush red lips curved in a smile. “He tastes sweet, for a Ruidian.”
“Good!” declared Master Pan. “No infernal taint, so we won’t have to kill him. Now push that boy for all he’s worth, Qie Qie. I want him worthy of that spear by the end of the week!”
Alex gulped, Qie Qie glaring angry daggers at Alex almost as sharp as the one in her hand. “I don’t mind messing with him, but now you want me to tutor him?”
Master Pan’s gaze hardened. “You come to my class hoping for sport with the new-bloods and sparring with me, always seeking to catch my gaze. Very well, girl, you have earned my regard. Now forge that boy into someone worthy of a legionnaire’s weapon!”
She frowned. “Fine. But you test him in two weeks, not one. I get to beat him into a pulp, and I’m earning credits!”
Her master nodded, flashing Alex an evil smile. “Two credits a period, doing what you love to do anyway, and it’s coming out of his pocket!”
Alex blinked at this. “But I...”
He swallowed when Qie Qie and Master Pan turned to glare at him. “Do you have a problem with that, Alex?”
Alex adamantly shook his head. “No. Not at all.”
Master Pan grinned. “Excellent! Don’t worry, I’m sure Qie Qie won’t mind you running up a tab.”
Qie Qie chuckled throatily. “Not at all. It gives me another excuse to punish him on days he can’t pay up.” Her hard smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’d get back in basic guard if I were you, Alex, or this next hour is going to be the most painful of your life.”
“Shit,” Alex hissed in English, quickly returning to guard before being desperately forced to parry the flurry of high, low, and midrange strikes she assaulted him with, using her weapon just like a quarterstaff to stun, wound, and cripple, before lashing out with her point for what would be a fatal blow, had the weapon been sharp.
And after a harrowing handful of minutes, an aching Alex found himself on the ground once more, Qie Qie
’s impish smile becoming a scolding glare.
“Try harder, Alex. I know you’re capable of more.”
Alex couldn’t help shivering under the weight of those soft brown eyes. He jerked a nod. “Sure. Let’s go again.”
It didn’t matter that his body was sore and throbbing, and that all he wanted was time to rest and meditate, to cultivate all his injuries away. All that mattered right then was earning the respect of the most challenging spearwoman he had ever met, Alex losing himself in the dance of staves as he sought to become one with action and intent, one with his opponent, striking when and where Qie Qie least expected it.
Earning nothing save mocking laughter and an impish smile.
As occurred the next day, and the next, a bruised Alex looking so pitiful that Qie Qie had actually walked him back to his compound both days, going over all of his failings with relish. He couldn’t help nodding ruefully at all her keen observations. His stance was a tiny bit off, he shifted to long spear or fangtian ji stances at times, adopting grips poorly suited to the nimble short spear, and he couldn’t help but agree.
But he was learning. He knew it, he could feel it, so many things almost clicking together.
And his Soul Sight was pinging the subtle flow of aquamarine Qi through her meridians with ever greater clarity.
But as much as he was grateful for the friendly escort, he knew it wasn’t about him. He could tell she liked the excuse for a peaceful stroll through what was one of the most exclusive areas of Dragon Academy, the cliffside retreats of those Silvers who had apparently fought for and won their current spots. And whether it was due to tradition or their fierce prowess, no one had challenged anyone for a spot in years.
Insight check made!
Alex noted the way she wistfully gazed at the silver gate leading to Elder Panheu’s residence, kohl-lined eyes filled with an odd sort of disappointed longing, before turning to Alex with a bright smile. “Well, here you are, Alex, Sheng Jie nowhere to be found.”
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Forsworn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 3 Page 14
