And several days later, shins still bruised and throbbing with constant low-level pain, when he was glorying in finally mastering the use of Adderstrike with both hands, a soft, husky voice caressed his ears from a short distance away.
“Father, he’s pushing himself so hard. Why are you doing this to him?”
"It is not I that am doing anything to him, daughter. He and I both know that the minute he says he can endure it no longer, he may eat his fill every day, and I will be the gentlest of alchemist mentors."
"Yes, Father. But that is also the day you will stop taking him seriously, at least as a cultivator. A warrior. He will be a beloved nephew in your eyes, and you will never expect him to be anyone of consequence. Do you really think he can't feel the weight of that burden upon his soul, even now?"
Her father harrumphed. "It is a hard, bitter world, Daughter. And I would blame him not at all, should he walk the gentler path, forever welcome to work beside us. The path of a true cultivator, especially one who would even think of daring Silver or have the arrogance to dream of Gold, necessitates forging oneself in the crucible of battle, or spending a lifetime forging the most exacting masterworks of alchemy or mystical artifact enchanting.”
Liu Li sighed. “I know, Father. I know it would take him a century to accomplish what you have by dint of walking the alchemist’s path. And even I can see how eager he is to excel.”
Even as their words washed over him, Alex was lost in the moment, his mind, body, and Qi acting as one.
The euphoria rushing through him as his shin hammered into the clay target with a resounding thud, actually knocking it over, made him want to howl with joy.
But he did not.
He strove only to keep his focus, his intensity so great he did not even flinch to face the main wood-backed target once more, lashing out with one roundhouse kick after another that cracked against the target.
When he was hit with the sudden inspiration to mirror the strike with his left shin, he did not dare hesitate, pivoting and lashing out, summoning forth Adderstrike just as his balance had shifted, his shin cracking against the target with the force of a warhammer, not fragile flesh and bone.
And with that sixth kick, his Qi was fully depleted, and he stumbled to the ground and immediately started cultivating.
"Five strikes, Alex! Five! To sacrifice all your Qi at once is tantamount to suicide, if your foe is not brought down with the last of your reserves!"
Alex cracked a bitter grin. No matter how hard he tried, his master would always find a flaw.
Of course, the old man was right. He had six Qi points. Each Adderstrike effectively used one up, and he could fight just fine, embracing all his Cultivation-enhanced strength and finesse with even one measly Qi point left. But once he tapped the last one, he was effectively as weak and vulnerable as if he had no more strength than a non-cultivator until he could recover, which would take exactly six minutes to regain all six points with his advanced technique.
Which gave him an edge. He already realized it took even Master Liu considerably longer to recover his Qi. Of course, he probably had far more. But still, Alex sensed he could lash out with his Qi far more times per day, on average, than the typical student Cultivator of his rank.
Liu Li, still looking wan, was gazing at him with nothing short of awe. "Father, you saw that! He gained enlightenment, finally breaking through with just those last handful of Qi-enhanced kicks! And then he intuitively flipped it, doing it with his left shin on the first try! That's, that's… who's ever heard of such a thing?"
Her father harrumphed. “I’m eager to see him repeat the performance when the foolish boy recovers his strength.”
“Father, I can’t use Qi strikes with my hands or my feet at all!”
Her father sighed. “And the fault is entirely mine. When I heard how you cried out when you first dared walk that path, when I saw the damage you were doing to your precious hands, I just couldn't bear it. What father could?" He gathered her in his arms. "It isn't yours to fight our lord's wars, my beloved daughter." He smiled warmly into her eyes. "You already know your destiny is to be far sweeter than that."
She swallowed and nodded. “But even so...”
“Yes. Your battle will be decided by your grace, your charm, and how well you fight with our traditional weapons. Should you ever be disarmed, you won’t be fighting for survival, but status, and the battle will already be lost, so that is when you bow out of the contest.”
But Alex had already tuned out their words, having taken Master Liu’s half-goading statement as a challenge. And the rush he felt, finding that he was still very much in the zone, his Qi, Mind, and body all striking as one, was so intense it almost pulled him out of it, but five minutes of meditation later and he was striking the bag with all four of his limbs with effortless grace.
Powerful blows that could dent armor and shatter bone. And though he was limited to only the most basic roundhouse kicks, his shins hit with the force of sledgehammers.
And his fists, designed specifically for forward strikes and motion, he could lash out with straight blows like jabs or crosses anywhere he aimed on the target.
When weapons were in play, Adderstrike was basically a deadly, powerful lunge. A lunge he could now perform with all the thrusting weapons he had gained proficiency with, rendering the weapon momentarily invulnerable to breakage or shattering as well. Whether that weapon was his gladius, fangtian ji, long spear, or his fist.
Congratulations! You have learned your first Qi Technique!
You have gained Tier 2 proficiency with Adderstrike. You have achieved extended proficiency with Adderstrike! may now use Adderstrike with all edged thrusting weapons you have gained Tier 3 proficiency with or better.
Additional Feat Mastered – Full proficiency! You may now use Adderstrike with any thrusting attack using any weapon you have gained Tier 3 or better proficiency with! You may now use Adderstrike with all straight punches and shin kicks!
Master Liu was grinning like a fox himself when a panting Alex declared his basic mastery of the technique. “If I didn’t see it with my own eyes...”
Alex furrowed his brow. “What do you mean, sir?”
Liu Li smirked. “He means he was expecting the impossible of you, just to see if you could do it.”
Alex frowned. “What are you saying?”
“No one below the rank of Bronze Ogre can use Adderstrike barehanded. And Alex? Your shin Adderstrike? Should be impossible.”
Alex blinked. “What?”
She nodded. "It's not exactly a thrust, is it? A thrusting kick is the only thing that should work with Adderstrike, but that technique always leaves the attacker thrown wildly off balance, no matter what. They'll go down just like their foe, even if they can quickly get back up, and if they miss… Not even Silver Giants use it. But you're kicking with it, with roundhouse strikes hitting harder than even your fists.”
Alex winced. “Okay, here’s to hoping you don’t psyche me out of my own ability to use it...”
“Which would be stupid, since you’ve already done it. Only a fool lets a declared principle trump their observation of reality.”
Alex nodded. “Anyway, I don’t see the shin kick as a circular blow, even though it’s technically a roundhouse. But not completely. I just sort of, well, see it straight from the shin’s perspective.”
Liu Li frowned. “That makes no sense.”
“Well, the shin is at a different angle, so it’s not exactly facing the same angle as we are, and the instant I summon the Qi, it’s in position to smash into its target, so I’m not really hooking with it, if that makes sense.”
Liu Li smirked. “I think you’re cheating, somehow, but as a disciple of the fox, I shouldn’t be surprised that you can do that.” Her gaze grew solemn. “Just like you somehow cheated death and brought me back to life with more power at your disposal than anyone at your rank should have.”
Alex winced. “Yeah, well, I had to fork ove
r all the juicy experience that greater boar was going to give me. Who knows what rank disciple I might be right now, if things had gone differently?”
He gently clasped her hand with his own when her features paled. “But if I had to do it over again, I would, a hundred times over.” He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “A thousand times over. As long as I knew that you would be safe in the end.”
Liu Li’s cheeks turned crimson. Hopeful green eyes peered into his own, as if searching desperately for something. Then she lowered her gaze. “I’m sorry, there’s something...” she fled back to their underground home.
Alex swallowed. Speechless. “Liu Li… Master Liu?”
But even her father had turned around, going back the way he came, after fixing Alex with a look he couldn’t hope to decipher.
“What the hell just happened?”
He shook his head, realizing it was completely beyond him, before gazing down at his ring.
Suddenly struck with the realization that he was being a complete idiot.
He might not have a clue as to how to handle, or even how he felt about, Liu Li. But hadn’t they both just admitted that he had a knack for bending the rules?
He smiled, despite his exhaustion and pain, suddenly thinking that maybe the path of the alchemist might not be completely beyond his grasp after all.
18
He closed his eyes, accessing his matrix, visualizing the massive glowing disk of pure Qi that the major beast crystal he had absorbed represented, a double-helix of ivory light and obsidian darkness that he sensed would be more than enough to help him clear his fourth gate, effectively leveling him up.
Yet he couldn’t help wondering what else he could do with that power. Gazing at the orb of power, strands of carefully ordered darkness and light entwined like a double helix, he took a deep breath and imagined separating the strands and storing the Dark Qi, just like he would with the Dual Path Purification Technique.
He then visualized sending the strands of darkness into his Dark Qi orb of power within the library, which proceeded even faster than it would while cultivating. Within minutes, he was gazing thoughtfully at the potent mass of perfectly distilled Light Qi spinning its lonely existence in the darkness of his mind.
He then sent streams of Light Qi spiraling into the apothecary he had mentally constructed within his Divine Artifact, now enhanced with all the alchemical tools he had learned how to use during the time they had been sheltering within Liu Jian's bunker, hidden within the vast, untamed wilderness.
He could barely contain his excitement when the Light Qi obeyed his will just as gracefully as the Dark Qi did. Perhaps even more so.
When he manifested himself within the alchemy lab, he was awed anew at the sparkling marvel that was the crackling circle of Light Qi spinning in the air around an invisible axis. He then peered carefully at the Qi, following a hunch, realizing that if this were to work…
His eyes widened with wonder and delight.
There.
He had just seen the barest flicker of color.
And there it was again.
Then his perception changed forever.
He no longer saw a spiraling mass of brilliant white Qi, but a rainbow-like assortment of elemental colors all rapidly spinning around one another.
Heart hammering with excitement, he left the chamber the moment his intuition told him everything was just as stable as it ever was for him, here inside his artifact.
Only then did he go to his greenhouse, gazing with awe and wonder at the beautiful sight before him, his secret project he spent exactly one hour upon every night before falling to exhausted slumber for more brutal training the next day.
One hour at 1000 times normal speed meant his garden aged 41 days and 16 hours each night, and he had centuries worth of Dark Qi in storage. Altogether, he had spent a total of 40 or so hours on his project so far, which mean his garden had been ripening in power and potency for almost four and a half years.
And the greatest marvel wasn’t just the 16-fold increase in both mundane and Qi rich plants, but that his handful of Silverbells had enjoyed a similar boon. Where before there had been 8, there were now exactly 128 Silverbell blossoms.
The entire greenhouse was awash in brilliant Qi energy that flooded his entire garden with divine light, in the perfect elemental proportions necessary to inspire ever more fecund growth of all vegetative life.
Of course, that meant his Dark Qi wouldn't last the equivalent of centuries, still had no idea of how much he would need once he ascended to the Bronze. But with everyone's talk of waste, and the Dark Qi taint being so heavy in the Greater Spirit Boar he had fought, he thought it quite likely that it wasn't quite as scarce as he had once feared, so he was willing to take a gamble now, even if he did risk folly later.
The important thing was what his experiments meant for the one skill he could seek to master right now. That being alchemy.
He solemnly and carefully plucked exactly the ratio of ingredients he would need to make a batch of ten Lesser Cultivation Pills before heading back to his alchemy chamber, splitting the ingredients into ten equal portions, and beginning his series of experiments, talking himself through each set.
“Alright. The Lotus Blossom finally infused into the Golden Berry tincture. Now’s the time to add Earth Qi, quickly followed by Fire Qi… I need the flame to hit a golden hue… no wait, it’s turning black… shit!”
Alex hissed in frustration when the first cauldron erupted in caustic flame, glad that he truly had full control over this realm, immediately visualizing an indestructible container catching the blast, then imagining all the elements within turning back to their basic components and reducing the heat before turning the container opaque, examining the now ice-cold ash within, explosive power neutralized.
He sensed it would make good fertilizer, at least, adding further nutrients to his ever-expanding garden, in addition to all the excellent black soil he had claimed from the forest already.
“Alright… what did I do wrong there? Hmm… Nothing in terms of Art. Master Liu’s just mastered the technique of flipping from those two elements over decades.” He couldn’t help furrowing his brow, sensing how delicate a process it was, and for some reason he found himself thinking of cooking shows, of bakers making frothy peaks of whipped cream, but first adding gelatin as a stabilizing agent, to make things easier.
He couldn’t help but suddenly wonder if maybe incorporating other elements to the formula would serve as a sort of stabilizing agent for his Lesser Cultivation Elixir.
Of course, Master Liu's instructions made no note of such whatsoever, but Alex had access to 8 elements, not 3, and he couldn't help but wonder if Water Qi might help…
And this time he was actually hit by the explosion, wincing with pain, mild as the burn to his hand was before he wished the failed experiment away. "I'm being an idiot again. I can't just put in Water Qi. I have to consider how it affects the other elements in this strange universe, and water extinguishes fire in both Western and Eastern paradigms." Oddly, Earth Qi also adversely effected Water Qi. If he could incorporate Metal, somehow, perhaps as an anti-flocculant… but there would still be antagonistic reactions between Fire and Metal despite the extra stabilization.
Then he realized what should have been obvious. Just use all five basic elements in tandem. He might be able to conceptualize 8, but for Alchemy, he was happy to limit himself to the paradigm understood by all the alchemists that had come before him. And if he incorporated all five elements into the elixir, then that should immediately bring stability to the structure, as both Creation and Destructive cycles would be in balance, the slightest exertion of will sufficient to catalyze a positive reaction with all five elemental portions flowing in a way complementary to the whole.
And as for his Wood Qi focus, what better than to pour all his energy into enhancing the efficacy of the Silverbell blossom itself? As well as every other active ingredient plucked from the garden.<
br />
Qi Cultivation Elixir successfully formulated.
Note: Atypical variant created. This variant requires alchemical use of five different elements. All horticultural elements must undergo additional refinement.
Alex could understand this, though he thought he had used Wood to reinforce his tincture, he wasn’t sure how he used any countering element to further refine it, yet that aside, he was absolutely ecstatic with his creation.
You have discovered Unorthodox Qi Cultivation Elixir. - Median Market Potency relative to similarly made Cultivation elixirs cannot be determined. Your Elixir is Unique.
He allowed himself to savor a few moments of exquisite triumph before hardening his focus once more, knowing if this were to have any experimental validity, he had to be able to replicate it perfectly, and he could really use a notebook.
Then he gazed at one of the blank walls in his imagined lab, struck by a sudden crazy idea. Since it seemed anything he dreamed up here stayed consistent, it should work, though he could only take out what he originally brought in, even if the ingredients themselves had been transformed. Which was why he was careful to bring plenty of soil inside, so the plants he grew he would be free to take out in their entirety.
Then he closed his eyes and visualized a top-of-the-line laptop, just like the one he would use as a kid.
He opened his eyes and frowned.
Instead of a laptop, he saw before him a children’s spiral notebook covered in grinning foxes racing up a tree. Even his pencil, complete with eraser, featured a winking, silver fox.
He rolled his eyes and got to writing, carefully listing the steps to the original Qi Cultivation Elixir experiment, then listing his own alterations. Proving the validity of his observations and conclusions when each of the remaining batches, 7 in all, were transformed into the same Unorthodox Qi Cultivation Elixir, each one just a bit more potent than the one made before it.
With a satisfied grin, he left the ring, deciding to call it a night after making a note to acquire some flasks, and slept so deeply he didn't even waken when Liu Jian tossed him out of bed. Not until he landed on the floor, at least.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1 Page 31
