For what else could it be? The brush glowed a faint golden hue. And for all that Alex was left speechless by the speed and grace of her painting, the entire landscape coming alive upon the parchment, no paint pots or dyes did she use. The brush alone held a seemingly endless supply of pigment, and when she gave a satisfied nod sometime later, grinning up at Alex, he couldn’t decide which was more captivating to look at. The wondrous landscape all around them, the painting that captured it all so exquisitely, or the fox-eared girl piercing his heart with her smile, raising her hand for him to help her to her feet.
Which he did with a flush in his cheeks, delighting in her satisfied grin.
“Well, what do you think?”
“Striking,” he said, not looking at the painting at all.
She flushed and looked away. “Come on, Alex, grab your ji. We got a long way to go before we’re well and truly away from that cockatrice’s territory. After that? We’re going to get you blooded.”
Alex blinked. “Blooded?”
She flashed a cheeky grin. “You’ll see,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze before helping her father with the camp, Alex taking the time to practice with his weapon, so he wouldn’t be completely worthless when it was finally time to hunt.
“Think fast!” cried a soft, feminine voice, as one of the apples lying at the foot of a nearby tree went flying through the air.
Finesse check made! Pivot, turn, and strike!
Cleanly chopped in half by Alex’s ji as he stepped to the side and lashed out with his weapon, effectively dodging and striking in one motion. Had it been a charging spearman, his foe would have crashed to the ground, missing Alex completely. As it was, his ji was coated with the remains of a smeared apple.
Liu Li furrowed he brow. “This isn't a training weapon, Alex. Your ji should have sliced cleanly through it! You need to keep it hunting-sharp with the whetstone, using smooth angled strokes, just like I taught you back home. And we’re hunting boar and other beasts, not soldiers covered in lamellar and bronze. Beasts that charge, Alex.”
Alex flushed. “I should have thrust. Sorry. But I thought my technique—”
She flashed a forgiving smile. “Has definitely improved. Now shut up and try again.”
Alex winced as his weapon just missed the apple, tossed like a fast-ball, only to smack him on his presently unarmored forehead.
His embarrassment far exceeded the sudden headache as his friend doubled over with laughter.
Alex chuckled himself, wiping away the mushed apple now trickling down his face. “I can’t believe I just took damage from an apple.”
Her father was frowning. “And I can’t believe we’re sharing our family secrets with a fool. This isn’t a game, Alex. If you can’t spear more than half of the apples my daughter tosses your way, you’re skipping lunch.”
Alex winced but gamely nodded, and though his belly was grumbling and Liu Li was flashing a cruel smile by the time the exercise was over, slowly sucking juicy meat fat from each of her fingers, he found himself not feeling quite as bad as he otherwise might. He was careful not to grin too widely, suddenly hungry for far different fare.
You have achieved improved accuracy with all polearm thrusts. Fangtian Ji is now Rank 3. Short Spear is now Rank 3.
“He wasn’t that bad, Father. And he’s finally fighting as if he and his ji are one. Look how well he now flows with his weapon. By the end, he was spearing almost all of them, and I was tossing them with speed.” She grinned. “I knew he was close to a breakthrough when we were training so intently back at home. Who knew hiking hundreds of miles into the wilderness and pegging him with a hundred apples was all that it took to bring out the best in him?”
“Well and good, but he’s still not getting lunch.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re also counting the ones you pegged him with, when you flanked him.”
Her father grinned. “A good soldier learns to expect the unexpected.”
Alex chuckled. “Fair enough, Master Liu. I hope that dinner is a given, however. It’s a poor tactician that weakens his soldiers right when he needs them at their strongest.”
The older man just grinned. “I think you’ll like tomorrow’s training, Alex. It will be a hell of a lot more intense than apples, and by the end of it, I promise you we will all be feasting to our heart’s content.”
Alex nodded, sharing a smile with Liu Li, eager for the hunt to begin in earnest.
And when they finally made their camp, Alex dropped to the ground, drifting off to sleep before dinner had even been served, left in peace until the screaming howls of nearby predators forced him from his stupor.
The air was alive with the stench of animal musk when he jolted awake the next morning.
Liu Li’s brilliant eyes met his own. “Ready yourself, Alex! There’s an entire heard of spirit boar glaring at us from the other side of Father’s wards!”
Alex’s eyes widened, peering into the darkness, spotting countless yellow eyes glowing in the dim moonlight as their countenances slowly came into focus.
Liu Li was right. A dozen massive boar were pawing the ground and snorting, wicked tusks shining like obsidian daggers in the dark.
He could sense their hostility, and worse, their alien intelligence, as one after the other poked and prodded at Liu Jian’s wards, leaping back and snorting when streams of fire would scorch their tusks or set their coarse hair ablaze.
Alex’s heart was in his throat. “What do we do?” he cried.
Liu Li glared. “First thing we do is quit acting the coward. They can’t break through Father’s wards.” She frowned at the largest beast, glaring so intently at her. “Except maybe that guy. But still.”
She glared intently at the shrieking mass of milling spirit beasts charging the ward before sent flying back in showers of flame.
“This is what Father was talking about, yesterday. Normally we take our time, stalking them, but Father thought this would be a good training lesson for you. Father and I set up several vials of compulsion while you were asleep. One more reason why we made sure we were far, far away from the nests of any larger spirit beasts. The odor’s specifically designed to attract only lower-ranked spirit beasts.”
She flashed an evil smile, readying her boar spear. “And though they have difficulty piercing the ward, our weapons do not! Now put on your helm, grab your ji, and show me you can spear these creatures without getting tusked yourself!”
Alex swallowed, grateful that his armor actually allowed for a decent night’s sleep without having to take it off, making it much harder to slaughter soldiers on campaign, even if they were ambushed in the dead of night. The padded lamellar would heat up that much more on a hot summer’s day, but under the forest canopy in any other season, it just kept one comfortably warm, even after marching all day.
And Alex forced the extraneous thoughts away as he met the gaze of a particularly hateful looking boar, red eyes glaring into Alex’s own as it squealed and charged.
And before fear could freeze Alex completely, ingrained reflexes had him pivoting his wait and stomping forward, his ji jerking out of his hands as it slammed into toughened hide at a less than perfect angle, Alex knocked back as the squealing pig smashed against the barrier.
“Alex, get your ji!”
Alex, slightly stunned, lurched to his feet, forcing himself to grab the wildly waving ji stuck six inches in the bristly hide of the boar as it squeezed and tore at the barrier.
His guts clenched as he twisted and yanked the weapon free, stumbling to one knee before finally leaping back. His limbs were shaking with sudden adrenaline, embarrassment, and fury.
He snarled at the beast before pivoting his hips as he brought his ji down in a fierce, cleaving strike, just as he had done dozens of times before in practice. This time he was ready for the jolt of resistance as his weapon cleaved into the spirit beast's back, biting clean through its spine, outraged squeals forever stopped as it toppled to the ground.
>
Alex’s momentary rush of triumph became a frantic struggle to lever his polearm free of the boar and jump back inside the protective ward, just heartbeats before another three squealing boars smashed into the protective field, the air crackling as fearsome tusks tore at the air, desperate to taste his flesh.
Spirit Boar defeated. Its potency is now your own!
Liu Li gave an angry shake of her head. "You're an idiot, Alex. You could have lost your weapon, and you actually had to step out of safety to lever it free!" She wasted no more words on him, turning her focus to the largest of the three spirit beasts squealing and tearing at the field.
Alex frowned, both relieved and worried that the most monstrous looking of the boars was now nowhere to be found. Its strangely intelligent, hostile eyes had given him the chills. Maybe it was smart enough to know it had no chance to pierce the ward. Alex grimaced, knowing that was one monster whose meat he had no desire to taste.
Liu Li barked a sharp cry as one particularly ferocious-looking boar slammed against the barrier that Alex swore he could feel vibrate, before squealing in sudden pain as Liu Li blasted off her back foot, impaling the boar with her wide leaf-shaped blade before the weapon jolted to a halt at the quillon, two feet below the tip of the weapon, designed to prevent a wild spirit beast from charging completely up the pole.
And the way the beast shuddered and collapsed despite its ferocious size made it clear that Liu Li had lanced its very heart. She then wrenched her spear free of the beast with a grin, smirking at Alex. “See? That’s how it’s done.”
“Liu Li! Alex! A demon beast has broken through! Run! Run!”
Alex’s eyes widened. He didn’t think he’d ever forget how triumphant and beautiful the girl he secretly adored looked, jade green eyes sparkling with pride and mirth, exotic ears hidden for shame under her helmet that might have warned her of death fast approaching long before her father’s words, sadly tied away.
Her expression as Alex swiped his ji blade with his finger as he screamed and charged was curiously puzzled, before her mouth widened in a surprised O as blood spurted from her chest.
A dire shadow of death glared down upon them.
Alex caught sight of a monstrous spirit beast radiating fearsome waves of Dark Qi that had shattered the alchemist’s pristine wards, seemingly determined to wreak vengeance upon the humans who dared invade its territory.
Before lurching back with a roar as a tiny human dared strike its flesh with an ichor-covered ji that hissed and smoked as it seared into its flesh.
Furious red eyes promised dire vengeance as it tore at the vulnerable human with its massive tusks, utterly ignoring the arcane darts of poisonous Qi shot into it by a howling man screaming his daughter’s name.
Before blinking in sudden puzzlement as the human before it seemed to disappear.
A heartbeat later, the still charging beast stumbled to a halt, legs collapsing, gazing about the world in stunned wonder before it fell to the ground, blood gushing from its maw.
Insight check made! If flipping from pocket dimension back to the world around you isn’t perforating you with branches, twigs, and air molecules, you must be displacing your target!
If castling back into existence will displace half a branch, why not several cubic feet of spirit boar innards?
The messages blinking across Alex’s brain meant nothing. All that mattered was Liu Li. The thought that he might be too late… it was only sheer desperation that compelled him to take that gamble, desperately hoping that the heartbeats needed to disappear then reappear would be just long enough for the Spirit Boar to tread through his location, and that he would pop up in time to stop it.
The possibility that he might very well kill himself hadn’t even factored into the equation.
Liu Li's desperate cry haunted him even now, having appeared in an awful high-pressure cage of caustic liquid blackness, searing his very skin, sharp bones spearing him as he was jerked forward.
Breathing reflex successfully halted.
You have suffered 10 damage and 1 Light Wound from Caustic Spirit Beast Blood and sharpened bone fragments.
You are now 20% immune to all adverse effects from Tainted Spirit Beast Blood.
Saving throw versus disorientation made.
And a heartbeat later he was back in his ring, crying out, gasping, desperately wiping away the caustic slime now covering him, feeling it eat into his skin. He barely had the presence of mind to visualize the considerable water stores spraying pressurized water at him, quickly washing him free of the caustic slime, though his lamellar had certainly seen better days, and it was some minutes before he dared open his still stinging eyes.
8 additional points of damage taken.
4 additional points of damage taken.
You are now 60% immune to Tainted Spirit Beast Blood.
He took great heaving gasps, striving for control. It took longer to properly visualize cleaning and storing the awful stinking puddle now pooling in the center of his library, staining the fine hardwood floors, to say nothing of the two hundred or so pounds of Spirit Boar organs and innards splashed across the ground, hissing as it ate into the floor.
“Liu Li!” he cried, girding himself to step into that awful caustic mass once more.
And he would dare it, as many times as he had to, if the creature hadn’t stumbled past Alex already.
You have suffered 4 damage form Tainted Spirit Beast Blood. You are temporarily impaired.
“Alex!” Desperate surprised words from none other than Liu Jian himself, cradling a painfully still Liu Li, gazing at Alex, who had emerged half in and half out of the carcass, with both horror and wonder.
"Hold on!" Alex desperately cried, finally struggling free of the carcass he had reappeared in up to his hips, its near-indestructible hide ruptured by Alex’s displacement.
He quickly struggled free, racing to their side, relieved to see that the other Spirit Boars seemed to have fled, but terrified to see Liu Li looking so close to death.
Alex swallowed, gazing into Liu Jian’s stunned features.
The old man might be a brilliant alchemist, but his daughter’s peril had frozen him to inaction.
If Liu Li was to have any hope of surviving, it was up to Alex.
"I'll be right back!" he cried, popping back into his ring, ignoring the fresh mess in the library, spraying himself clean of gore for what he hoped was the last time, before summoning forth his imagined container of compresses, liniments, and healing ointments, which he had made in considerable quantities using his visualized lab within his ring, just to prove to himself that he could.
He had almost forgotten how carefully he had kept the organized and finished products, humble and grateful once more for WiFu’s incredible gift, and the diligence that had made him so keen to perfect his skills as a compounder, using his own ring as both manufacturing center and storage.
Liu Jian's eyes widened as Alex emerged seconds later with all the various healing supplies he had learned to make under the older man's guidance.
“Whatever you need, sir, it’s here. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”
The old man swallowed. “I’m such a fool. Such a fool! I brought only the barest fraction of what I would need, should such a nightmare as this occur, and here you have so much...” Tears streamed down his face. He forced himself to focus, shaking away his stupor, directing Alex to assist him and apply ointment and liniments exactly as he directed.
And for all that he had condemned himself for not bringing more mundane healing supplies, the elixirs Master Liu had brought radiated a sublime mystical potency, and he didn’t stint in using every last one in a desperate bid to save his daughter.
He swallowed, gazing intently at Alex. “My affinities being what they are… as powerful as my potions may be, I am no healer.” Desperate eyes locked upon Alex’s own. “She’s dying, Alex. All my arts… they can only speed her body’s ability to repair the organs ruptured by that thri
ce-cursed demon-boar! But her body lacks the energy to push itself any further than it already has.”
Tears streamed down the shattered man’s cheeks. “She doesn’t have the strength to fight much longer, Alex. I don’t… I don’t know what to do.”
Alex was filled with terror, furious euphoria at having defeated a greater spirit beast a blinking message he loathed even to look at. Time seemed to race terribly fast, every moment lasting an eternity.
He didn’t know how many seconds he let slip away, gazing at Liu Li’s increasingly shallow breathing, before everything hit him at once, and he realized what an utter fool he was being.
“Master Liu, you said she needs energy, right? Could she make use of my energy? Can you… can you give her mine?”
The older man's eyes widened. He swallowed, paling, before finally jerking a nod. "These are forbidden arts. Their very knowledge is grounds for censure, but… yes, Alex, I know them." He swallowed, gazing at Alex with naked hope. "Are you truly willing to give my daughter a portion of your life force, without reservation? Without regret?"
Alex braved a smile. “I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t regret losing out on juicy experience points, but that means absolutely nothing compared to how I’d feel if Liu Li died and I could never see her smile again...” he flushed at his own words, but her father just jerked a grateful nod.
“Bless you, boy. Should this work… I would treat you as my own son!”
Alex swallowed, moved beyond words. He closed his eyes, envisioning his inner matrix, reading that message blinking in the corner of his mind's eye.
Greater Spirit Boar defeated. Spirit Boar Essence absorbed. Do you wish to quantize growth?
Alex swallowed, forcing himself to address his interface for the first time in a thousand years.
“Ali… are you still there?”
An endless pause.
“Alex, please! If you’re going to help me, it must be now!” Liu Jian’s desperate voice pierced his concentration.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1 Page 28
