Hao sat up, close to knocking his head on the bed above.

He had to turn with a flop to see the door hurrying to stand, sliding his bag behind him, and pulling the cover over everything he owned.

Standing at the door holding his hips was a man a dozen years older than Hao, well into the age of having children on the Island.

“I heard there is a newbie in our team!” He said.

All his words were loud, unwelcome by Hao and everyone else in the other cabin nearby.

You are not food, spirit stones, or silver coins. Why are you bothering me?

Hao stood, wearing a mask to hide his tired, displeased face. The shake in his steps was far harder to hide.

Hands cupped without the bow, Hao looked into the eyes of the man at the door. Grasping at the etiquette of this place.

“Newcomer Hao greets brother,” Hao said, returning his hands to his sides.

The man remained still, his back to the outside. He was as big as the door frame. He fit like a puzzle piece, just narrow enough to let Hao see a hand holding a torch outside. The light from the torch wrapped around his face, making visible the bit of patchy stubble on the big man’s baby face.

The man started his sentence with a grunt. “Just call me Leader Axe and bring me spirit stones,”.

He walked towards Hao, revealing the donkey-faced man behind him with the torch, two bags slung over his shoulder. Acting as a carrier for this ‘Axe’ with a smile.

As Axe approached, Hao wished he had brought the tool from the mines with him. Not sure what he would do with it.

If he thought he would kill with it, that would be raving. He had never taken the life of anything larger than washed up blue-jelly, that was prohibited as he was not a full man on the Islands.

“Team-Leader Axe,” Hao said, his teeth grinding, “I’ve already received my mission from Hall Leader Ya.”

Axe put his hand on Hao’s shoulder, getting closer. He was two Haos tall yet pressed down, trying to change their height difference even more.

Hao did not move, straining as he looked up.

Axe smiled, his teeth like wilted grass. “Haha, you know of the team mission? Every five days, we aim to get an extra twenty. Oh, don’t forget my daily five either.” Axe said.

He had no shame or hesitation in his voice, taking a step back.

Looking around for just a moment, the other two present got the hint.

The donkey-faced man walked in, taking a bottle of food pills out of one bag.

He dropped the bottle on the eyes of the absent eye person, who threw a few stones out from under his cover. He handed over a few blue slivers in kind.

Hao saw a hand like a branch reaching from below the blanket.

The donkey-faced man held them up to Axe, along with some of his own he got about.

Fingernail-like chips of blue stone, nothing like the one Senior Ya showed.

Hao wanted to gloat about the fist-sized stone in his bag just to see the big guy’s sour face, but held his tongue. He was not a complete fool.

“Don’t take too long getting used to the place,” Axe said. Walking over to Hao again. He brought his free hand up and down on Hao’s shoulder, the sound alone saying it was not a friendly gesture.

“I won’t give you long to start taking a share of their burden. Perhaps I’ll be promoted to Outer Sect before that time,” Axe said. Not pausing before his loud laugh of triumph.

He turned and took the chips, dropping them in the bag his carrier had.

Without a thought, he climbed into the bed above Hao like nothing happened

The next few hours for Hao were just half-sleep. He was hungry before, but now the bed felt worn. The smell was not too great either, not sure who was the source. Am I contributing?

The worst of it was welling in his chest, that powerlessness being fed by the pain in his shoulder.

Hao didn’t care to toss any turn again, walking out of the door.

The night was lit by the three moons. It gave him just enough light to navigate.

He did not have to go far opposite to the direction of the mines to find a drop. Only a blurry dark below, nothing beyond his arm’s reach.

Hao didn’t even know how high he was.

At least the clouds are still above me. If I had been awake during all my time on the carriage, then I would know the direction home was.

It was hard to find anything on the ground of the mining area other than dirt and dust and a few stones. Hao managed to find a patch of grass untouched by feet.

Their Hao sat, first a food pill. He couldn’t wait any longer. The only thing he could taste as it dissolved was ‘wheat porridge’.

At the very least, at home, there would be fish soup and, if he was lucky, berries picked from the platform behind the houses.

Hao could have cried in the mine, spending hours tapping on the wall, but he imagined himself walking across the sea back to his village with bags of silver and chicken meat.

It felt like his wind had no sail, that it was being torn apart, but if he had to, he would just force a wind stronger than a Breaktide storm.

He ignored the pain in his arm, taking out the book, reading “Water Breaking Fist,” using the stone he found in the mine as a light.

Following the technique as it was written was easier said than done.

The first part was not too hard, mostly stretching postures. It took him a few tries, and falls to all of them right.

The next part was a drastic jump in difficulty.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

An exercise, moving from one posture to the next in a specific order, all while breathing in a rhythm.

He practiced the postures again first, but added the breathing made it much harder.

Requiring perfect focus, he had to take a break from reading the first pages again.

Mind, Whole. Ignore the winds, seek the winds. What is around you?

Hao tried again and again, restarting after each mistake.

He was finding comfort in it. His breath soon led the movements. Losing himself in each breath and step… breath and step. Not noticing the encroaching light.

What shook him from his state was something more refreshing than the clearest water, but much, much more.

It brushed his skin, touching his bones, swimming into place in his flesh he never knew, even further beyond the flesh, a place he had no knowledge of.

He couldn’t tell where it came from. It was everywhere at once. It danced and stood near him and far away.

From dewed grass and dirt, it traveled up his feet and legs. In the air, it bounced off his skins and rolled down to his hands, trying to wiggle into his palms.

Each breath from his nose was heavy with it, still light as air had always been.

How have I never noticed?

Then he was back in the dark. His stomach growling.

The sun shone on him, the world as it had always been since before he could remember.

He looked down at his hands. Was that world energy? Hao gulped. He was not wrong. He eagerly picked up the ‘Water Break Fist’.

He had always touched it, but now a good small amount of it entered his body. Gathering near his center of gravity, a place untapped, unformed.

Absorbing the world energy had already changed Hao permanently, in ways too minor to notice.

His body did feel better, his shoulder hurt less.

But now his mind was conflicted; he desperately wanted to feel that again.

Is that why people are half-mad here?

Hao was half-wrong. He had yet to know the strength World Energy provided. Having long till he realized the possibility of Cultivation outside of flight.

Hao’s eyes flicked and tried to flip through the book, putting it away when he saw the sun. He had many things to do, with his hunger did not let him think beyond his stomach.

He caught the eyes of many as he walked to mine, having yet to change into his robes. He hoped he would get a few spirit stones this morning before returning to the Mining Hall for at least a drink from the well.

Before leaving the rows of cabins, Hao looked back at the last one, the tree inside presumably yet to move. He wondered if they had some type of spirit stone stockpile somewhere.

How many does he have hidden away? Do you plan to take all of mine once I have them?

Three weeks passed, time moved, and the three moons with it, more evident as the first moon reached the edge of the sky. Soon it would disappear, followed by the others. Being the first one to show again when summer reaches its end.

Hao had taken steps towards being a master miner. He could find at least one deposit a day.

Some deposits had one, others had many.

The largest one Hao found had seven.

The competition in the mine was ruthless, often leading to violence.

He watched large groups fight over blue fragments, it was not uncommon to see blood over tiny chips.

Some teams form alliances, working together to take over whole sections.

Hao was affected more than once, often being pushed away from the place where luck was to be had.

Being shoved further down the tunnel away from the pillar. A place no one else bothered looking at.

Hao found his first stone down there, it was a place that caught his curiosity but provided no stones.

His strange sleep schedule ended up staying the same, so he just showed up at night to find spirit stones. When the teams came in, he moved down the tunnel using the white spirit stone to look around, often practicing the technique in the narrow opening.

He managed to keep Axe off his back as well. Throwing a little chip to the man at the start of every five days. Neither in the exchange was happy about it. Axe was never shy with his threats. “ten days” he repeated to Hao. Only to go missing for two days after his threats.

Hao noticed it immediately. He had been using Axe as a timer. Axe would show up every night, make some noise, then leave or crawl into bed.

In the past five days, he had been more aggressive. Hao’s team was growing bruises like dirt grows grass. The odd part was Axe had just as many bruises, if not more.

He might be preparing for the outer sect trial.

Hao was planning on not receiving any bruises, but if Axe was planning to join the trial, that would mean he finished the beginning section of ‘Water Breaking Fist’. Touching on the reclamation realm.

With such a difference between them, Hao wouldn’t stand a chance if he were attacked.

Hao’s progress with the technique had stalled, his eagerness to improve his cultivation proving not enough.

He practiced everywhere whenever he could since the first time. He was able to replicate everything he did that night and go further into the book. He only had a few pages of the technique to finish before he was done with the first half of the technique.

He had yet to feel world energy again. It was tugging at the back of his mind along with the hunger.

Reading the book over a dozen times, even skipping to the part he wasn’t ready to read, going from cover to cover.

Much like today, Hao had the book out, even during his times of relaxation. In the mess hall connected to the Mining Hall, a place he was only recently able to visit daily. He had his hemp bag nearly empty, strapped around his shoulder, his extra spirit stones were buried under the patch of grass where he first practiced.

Except for the large one he used for light, which was still wrapped in his robe in his bag.

Hao was eating today, enjoying the sound of people enjoying themselves, rare to come by unless you were in this hall. That joy did not stop him from eating, he placed a piece of flesh, the meat of a bird he did recognize or know the life of, sacrilege on the Island.

Why am I so hungry, too much work? Whenever Hao was not thinking of the technique, he was thinking of food.

Food pills no longer help either. They stalled his hunger for a few minutes, making him hungrier once the effects were gone.

I even stopped sending silver home to feed myself. Focus, focus!

He was starting to feel guilty about eating his points. The amount he could earn was limited by the day. They were food before he left the hall.

Hao flipped the cover of the now worn book, scuffed, scratched, and stained. Then a few pages, passing the first few reading jus the caption as he passed them. The cloud gathers: After sensing the energy once a practitioner has already taken a step from mortals.

“Yes, I know,” Hao said. Placing more food in his mouth before flipping more.

Relatively fresh hand-painted images of postures, stretches and stances. The cloud flows: World Energy has permeated the body. The ending of the section read Hao paid little mind to anything but what was written.

Hao slowed for the next few pages. Each page had multiple paintings of sudden movements. Palm strikes, punches, kicks, and stomps are entirely different from the slow flow of the last section.

This section had a caption on the first and last page. The water should dare to burst forth, the world will push back.

Hao scanned the paintings one last time before going to the last page in the section. “I’m doing them right.” Hao said. Mumbling reaching the end. Clouds cleanse, opening the gate: blood and flesh return to one, the clouds seek the open, Reclamation begins.

The page had a little note at the bottom that read “Sect examination”.

Leaving the book open, he finished his food, it was gone before he could enjoy it.

Esoteric poems, word play. It’s of no help. Hao out a long sigh.

He didn’t fully understand each caption, doubting many yet to reach Reclamation did.

Even if he did, he knew looking at the paintings and reading the words again wasn’t going to help.

Hao reached out to grab the book when a finger came down, pointing at the words, “You don’t fully understand it?”.

Senior Ya a man Hao was finding more enigmatic the longer he knew him. It was hard to tell whether the man was a wealth of wisdom or a fool for anything under a skirt.

Still, he was a rare case of someone smiling in the Mining Hall.

“Yes, I don’t, not fully,” Hao said.

“I guess it’s a good thing you don’t need to… Have you tired practicing with a dummy?” Senior Ya said. Flipping backward through the book.

Hao watching thick finger point at each attack. Finally stopping at the first words of the section, “You should feel the energy rush, pushing to the edges of you body. You need intent, trying making contact with something instead of air.” Senior Ya said, closing the book.

“Raw speed and strength are the key to all things Reclamation,” Ya said, looking thoughtful.

He turned to start walking, then stopped himself.

“Ah! Everyone in mine Five Eight will be moved soon. You should change into your robes before then.” Senior Ya said. Turning and speaking to a young lady with brown dust in her black hair.

Hao went to the small yard just outside. It was afternoon, far later in the day than Hao had seen in a while.

The yard was full, those leaving the mine coming to visit the Mining Hall for the well.

Large groups were a line around the dummy as well, now whittled down to wooden posts. More people gathered like they were going to interrogate it.

Hao was not eager to wait, and competition between teams was just as bad outside of the mines. He had no team behind him.

He watched for just a moment, thinking of the silver he did not send, as his stomach just fed, began to rumble. Silver exchange was up to the hall leader and though Ya was generous, it was hard to buy food and silver unless points were saved up.

The other option was to get the silver and food pills. Food pills are the cheapest and for a reason, but helped with nothing.

Hao launched up, tired of hearing grumbling from both the crowd and his stomach. There was one place he knew he could practice with no one, or his stomach could distract him.

He enjoyed the tunnel. No one in mine paid him attention as he walked by. Entering deeper into the cave. There his stomach did not roar, there he could place down his bag for a moment, knowing no one would come down.

It was never part of the mine, just an area that collapsed. A few large spirit stones spilled out, gathering interest. White like the one Hao found near here.

People dug to find more clearing out the tunnel to find nothing. Wasting their labors for no reward, they returned to the area around the pillar.

Hao liked it here, the earthly smell, cold air. If I close my eyes, it’s like I’m on the mudflats. He could feel the salty winds blasting by. His toes sinking into the soft mud.

His hunger disappeared while he was in memory.

He took a stance the moment his eyes opened, starting from the beginning of the “Water Breaking Fist” taking time with each step, breathing in rhythm, mind empty.

The first steps were done with ease, then his breathing hastened, and reaching the last steps, he refocused.

He replanted his feet, steps heavy like stomps, knees and hips bent. His body reached a soft state like water, then he placed his target. The soft water turned to a rush wave as Hao launched his fist. Speeding at the end of the tunnel, the stone of the mountain.

In his ears he could hear the rushing water rising up from his feet to his stomach, then head, going back down to his shoulder, finally his fist.

His fingers tingled with the thrumming of the wave.

Contact.