What the fuck? Was he trying to rob me at knife point?
Then the man lunged forward at Ash with a knife in his other hand.
Grabbing the knife-wielding hand, Ash cranked it backward. The sound of the man’s forearm breaking was loud.
Shrieking in pain, the man dropped to his knees.
Holy fuck, he’s trying to kill me, not rob me.
Before Ash could do anything more, the man ducked low and slipped free of Ash’s hold. He then darted off, vanishing into the crowd. He was completely obscured and lost to Ash’s sight less than a heartbeat later.
Ok, new plan. We’ll leave some spirit stones for Mother and Father, and a note. Then we’ll buy food and the like for a month of living out in the wilderness. We’ll also need to get the owl and everything she might need.
Camping materials as well. Anything we’d need to survive in the wild. Maybe a weapon? Yeah, a weapon would be handy.
Then we’ll go train in the valley.
Unable to process anything beyond his plan, Ash immediately started jogging. If people were out to kill him, for reasons he couldn’t even begin to deduce, then he didn’t want to be in the city at all.
He’d just bring trouble and possibly danger to his adoptive mother and father.
He had to hurry, though. Once the sun started to set, the gates would all be closed for the day.
Speaking of, we’ll need camping gear, too.
Good thing we can store things in the ring.
Wait, how much can I store? Shit.
***
Setting the one-hundredth spirit stone down on the dining board, Ash smiled to himself.
If everything turned out the way he wanted it to, and Far and Duyi heeded what he’d written on the note, they’d never work another day in their lives.
They could retire, relax, and live freely.
Checking over the note once more, he made sure it contained all the pertinent information without giving anything away.
“Going to train on my own… sent stones to Jing and Yan too… stop working and retire, maybe buy a new house… will see you at the examination and after,” Ash muttered as he read it over.
Nodding his head, he set the note down and moved to the door. Picking up his pack, he slung it over his shoulder.
Glancing over his shoulder, he had a strange feeling he might not be returning to this place ever again.
It wasn’t a great home, or a big one, but it was a home.
A home when no one else had wanted to take him in. When everyone else had ignored him as a bad omen.
Duyi had found him out in the wilderness outside the city and taken him in immediately. Far had immediately accepted him and started modifying some of Yan’s clothes for him to wear.
Ash only now realized it wasn’t the place that had made this building a home. It had been Duyi and Far themselves, along with Jing and Yan once they’d gotten used to him.
It’d been a family that took him in when they’d had no reason to do so and every reason not to.
Nodding, Ash left the home.
Putting his feet to the road, he made for the outlander stables and to finish his tasks.
Then leave.
Thankfully, the stables weren’t on the other side of town. In fact, they weren’t too far from the eastern gates.
Which worked out pretty well, since he could get to his valley from the eastern or southern gates.
It wasn’t until he stepped into the stables that he realized how out of place this structure was.
Ash really wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find here, either. Most certainly not something like a farm mixed with an inn.
And a jail.
Looking around, he was able to identify several buildings that were clearly in use. As well as roaming patrols of personal guards, and city guards.
He wasn’t quite sure which way to go, however. There were clear foot paths that went to each and every building, but there were no signs anywhere that listed what each building was.
A man in a working smock went by carrying a sack over one shoulder.
“Ah, excuse me, sir. I’m looking for where to pick up an auction purchase. She’s an outlander. A winged-beast-tribe type,” Ash said respectfully, pressing his fists together in front of himself.
The dirt-stained and straining man flicked a glance at him.
“Bird, you say?” The man turned his head to one direction and pointed his chin at a large, vertically styled building. “That one. Tip the registrar if you want it to go fast. Silver’ll get it done without a paper signed.”
Ash didn’t even get the chance to say thank you before the man was on his way.
To think that Mother Far and Father Duyi might be laboring in such a way all day, every day.
“Except they won’t be after today,” Ash said to no one. Unable to keep from grinning he stepped in through the entryway that led to his destination.
“Welcome to the aviary,” said an elderly man at a counter. “You here to pick up? If so, you can hand me your token or place it in the Qi viewer.”
Looking from the man to the small hinged box facing Ash, he realized this was an extension of the auction house.
It was where all the slaves for sale came from, and where they went when they weren’t actively on stage at the auction.
Palming his marker, he slipped it into the box and closed it.
“Ah, the owl,” said the man, looking at something on his side of the counter. “I’ll go fetch her and the paperwork.”
Ash pulled a silver square from his ring and laid it down on the counter.
“I appreciate your time, and discretion,” Ash said, leaving the “tip” there.
The older man eyed the coin, took it, and then left.
Taking back the auction house marker, Ash slipped it into his ring. With nothing else to do but wait, he started to cultivate and look around.
All around him, he saw a number of purchasable items. They were on every shelf and hanging from every wall.
Collars, chains, chokers, whips, feed, files for claws, and a whole slew of medical items with specific purposes.
“Won’t need none of that,” said the man as he returned. “Owls can eat whatever we eat, though they tend to prefer live feed like rodents, rabbits, cats, small deer.
“I also already put a fine black leather choker in your kit-bag as a service. In case you get tired of the iron collar.”
As he turned to face the man, Ash found himself looking into the huge eyes of the owl woman.
Up close and in person, her yellow eyes almost seemed impossibly large. Her face was sharp and delicate. She had extremely fair skin with a perfect complexion.
She was athletically built with an average-sized waist, though she did seem to weigh in above average in the chest area.
Her black and white hair fell just to her jawline. She was also very pretty, even if her eyes didn’t seem to fit.
“Here you are, then. Owl-type humanoid. She seems healthy and fit. Doesn’t talk much. No problems we’ve seen,” the man said. He reached over and placed the leather leash into Ash’s hand. “No paperwork needed.
“Good luck with her. Her wings aren’t clipped, so be sure to bind her seal before you leave the aviary.”
The man held out a knife to Ash.
Taking it quickly, he poked his ring finger with the tip. A drop of blood immediately welled up.
“It’s on her forehead,” the man said, then went back to his counter.
Reaching up, Ash carefully brushed his finger across her brow.
A pattern he couldn’t see sprang to life and absorbed the blood, then vanished beneath the skin again.
The woman flinched as it happened, but said nothing.
Wiping the blade against his clothes to make sure there was no blood on the tip, Ash dropped the knife on the counter and left.
Moving as quickly as he was able, Ash set off for the valley. He wanted to get there and get situated as soon as h
e could.
There was a lot of work to be done.
***
Ash groaned and stood upright, pushing his hands against his back. A satisfying pop later and he let his body go limp.
“Fuck. That was a chore and a half,” Ash grumbled. He’d spent the last several hours setting up his campsite.
He would be here for a while, so he wanted it to be comfortable.
“The Chosen One should have had the slave do the work,” Locke said.
“Maybe. I don’t know, though. I’m not even sure if she understands the language,” Ash said, glancing over at the owl woman.
She was perched in a tree, eyes closed, her taloned feet clutched to a branch.
Other than the wings, eyes, and her clawed feet, she looked perfectly human.
“We could create a transference sheet for the language.”
“Not a terrible idea. I’ll think on it. So far, she seems just… fine.
“Anyways. I wanted to use an Essence Attractor pill tonight. What do you think of me condensing my Qi Sea before I do it?”
“Based on the amount of Qi you should have afterward, it’ll take some time to get back up to your current amount.”
“Ok, but… if I wanted to be a third-level body refiner with a fully condensed Qi Sea by the time of the tournament, could I make it?”
“It’s doable, but the number of spirit stones you will have to consume is considerable.”
“How considerable?”
“All of them.”
Ash blinked at the statement. Then he sighed and rubbed at his temples.
He could do it, though. He could also just sell more Transference papers as well.
He wasn’t as poor as he once had been.
“If I absorbed or consumed—or whatever you want to call it—a hundred thousand spirit stones, what rank would I hit?”
“Each rank seems to be roughly double the previous. If you were to take in one hundred thousand stones currently, you would probably be a mid-grade rank six.
“My understanding is the overwhelming majority of those in the examination will be little better than a rank three.”
“So… overkill. Alright. No point in wasting stones, then, if we don’t have to,” Ash said. “Alright. Condense the Qi, take the pill, and then probably figure out our abilities.”
“The Chosen One seems as if he’s prepared.”
“Yes. Yes, I am. Before I go through with this… are there any abilities or techniques good for me that would be useful in the fourth, fifth, or sixth ranks? Is there a reason I should take the stones now?”
“None that cannot be learned later, none that would have a more significant impact now.”
“Great. Ok. Yes. I need abilities that match my cultivation, and the Spring Step. I want abilities I can… toggle. Trigger.
“I want them available for me when I want to use them, but not constantly draining me.
“If possible, I also want an ability that will let me passively gather Qi no matter what situation I’m in. It doesn’t have to be a cultivation type of ability, so long as it gathers Qi without a need for me to do anything.”
“Request received. I’ll begin processing it now while you work on your Qi condensing.”
Ash nodded, then sat down right there in the grass in front of his tent.
Closing his eyes, he immediately fell into his Dantian.
Qi sloshed and flowed back and forth. It wasn’t very deep, but it was enough to cover the area fully. The density of the Qi looked to be considerably thicker than the original Qi he’d gathered.
Sighing, Ash gathered up his Qi and began feeding it through itself once again. Pushing and stacking it atop itself. Folding it over and over.
In what felt like no time at all, he was left with a small pool of Qi. It was incredibly thick. So much that he wondered if he’d be able to condense it further.
How thick can we make it? Can we get it to the point where it might as well be cement?
With a thought, he opened his ring, then the card with his spirit stones within.
In the blink of an eye, a pile of ten spirit stones appeared in his lap, gathered haphazardly.
Picking one up, Ash set his cultivation method to it. He wanted to drain it dry and see what would happen.
He had quite a few, after all, so experimenting with one or two wouldn’t be a loss of any significance.
Before he realized it’d happened, the spirit stone was emptied out. Its entire contents dumped into his Qi Sea.
Opening his eyes, Ash looked at the spirit stone.
It looked just as it had previously; it just no longer had any Qi in it.
“I wonder if I can refill it,” Ash said quietly.
“Yes,” said the owl woman. She was squatting down in front of him, only a few feet away. “They look just like magic stones. Different magic in them, though.
“Recharging them is done by leaving them in a place where that magic is plentiful.”
Reaching out, the owl woman picked up a spirit stone from his lap. Then immediately dropped it back down. Her mouth turned down in a frown as she shook her hand lightly.
“How can you touch them? They burn.”
“Ah…?” Ash asked. He wasn’t quite sure when she’d approached him. Or decided to start talking to him. “They’re just stones filled with Qi. That’s all.”
The owl woman’s eyes moved from the stones to him. Her pupils were wide. Wide and deep.
She clicked her tongue as if unsatisfied with that.
“I want to go hunt. Do I have your permission to do so?” she asked.
“Sure… if you tell me your name,” Ash said.
Tilting her head to one side, she watched him.
“My name is Moira.”
“Then feel free to hunt, Moira. Please be back by the time full night settles, though. The area in this valley is free of predators for some reason, but beyond… it gets a bit dicey,” Ash said. “And my name is Ash, Moira.”
Moira blinked slowly, then bobbed her head. “Ash.”
Her wings slid out from behind her, and she took off to the sky with a single powerful flap.
Watching as she went upward, Ash couldn’t help but feel rather confused about the whole situation.
Looking back to his lap, he picked up the stone she’d touched.
It felt normal to him. Full of Qi and ready to be emptied.
Setting aside the empty stone, Ash drained the one in his hand in a flash.
Turning his senses inward, he inspected his Qi Sea. It was rapidly filling up. The spirit stones must be quite a boost, if even his condensed Qi was noticeably fuller.
Ash drained the remaining stones quickly.
“Locke, what level am I right now?” Ash asked.
“Peak two.”
“Do you think I can condense my Qi much further?”
“You could probably condense it a single time further. But as you surmised earlier, it’ll take that much more Qi to level back up.”
“Yeah… except this is something that if done at the earliest possible period… it’d give the best returns.”
Taking his Qi Sea once more in hand, Ash folded it over and then ran it through the Snowflake cultivation.
After several more folds, the Qi simply resisted his efforts.
It could go no further.
Sighing, Ash released his Qi Sea back into his Dantian.
Once more, it was little more than a puddle.
But it was a very thick puddle that moved more like a wet cement.
“Going to take the pill now, if you want to gather the loose Essence I can’t collect.”
Locke didn’t respond. Ash swallowed his last Essence Attractor pill and then began to cultivate.
His Qi puddle hovered just above his head. Ash still chafed at the way Qi was gathered in this phase of his cultivator’s journey, but there was no other way available.
It just felt too passive to him.
Twenty seconds i
n, he could feel the pill starting to work.
Thank god they dissolve fast.
Qi from every direction started to rush toward him. Gathering around him. Practically glomping onto his very skin.
Focusing his entire being on the task, Ash began to gather the Qi around him as fast as he could.
He didn’t want to leave any of it for Locke.
The more Locke got, the more it meant Ash wasn’t being as efficient as he could be.
Eight
Ash let out a slow breath as he felt the pill lose its effectiveness. The Qi around him was only what was normally available, and he could no longer feel it rushing toward him.
“Suppose that’s the end. You ended up in the peak third level,” Locke said.
Frowning, Ash opened his eyes and looked around. It was early morning.
He’d apparently been cultivating all night long.
“That seems like significant progress for a single pill and a lone night.”
“About that. I think you’ll find that you ended up draining a good portion of your spirit stones.
“I didn’t want to stop you because we can always get more.”
“Uh… how many… exactly?”
“All of them. I opened the card in storage so the Qi could flow.”
“Oh… all of them. That’s… yeah, why didn’t you say anything before you did that?”
“I’m so sorry, Chosen One,” Locke said, his tone acidic enough to etch a blade. “I’m sure we’ll never be able to generate more spirit stones. Never, ever.”
Ash opened his mouth, then closed it.
Locke wasn’t wrong. Spirit stones weren’t exactly hard for him to acquire anymore.
Moving to get to his feet, Ash suddenly realized he couldn’t.
He felt sick.
Absolutely wretched, in fact. Like his entire body was simply ill. Poisoned, even.
“Locke, am… am I peak… peak third rank? Meaning I’m on the precipice of the fourth?” Ash asked.
“Yes, why?”
“It’s my black day,” Ash said, licking his lips. “Oh god, I feel awful.”
“Black day?”
“I have to circulate… circulate my Qi into my meridians. I’m at fourth rank, but my Dantian isn’t big enough to hold it. So I have… have to circulate everything through my meridians for… for room,” Ash panted out.
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