Chapter 3
A Fortuitous Encounter
Waking up to the sound and smell of breakfast cooking was the most delightful way to wake up, Ling Mai decided.
Picking up her robe, she skipped out of the bedroom and greeted Grandma Tang while sporting a happy smile.
Grandma Tang turned from the stove and returned her smile then instructed, “Go change your clothes and wash your hands. Breakfast will be ready shortly.”
“Thank you, Grandma Tang!”
Ling Mai beamed with happiness at the prospect of having breakfast. Previously she often only had one meal a day, though occasionally her scanty meals were supplemented by berries and fruit she found when collecting firewood.
Ling Mai skipped into the bathroom and quickly completed her ablutions and changed into her robes.
Rushing back out into the main room she asked Grandma Tang, “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes, once a certain weird child stopped experimenting in my home.”
Bowing, Ling Mai spoke respectfully, “My apologies, but it is so incredibly interesting! Plus, think of all the ways I can make our lives easier! I have lots of great ideas.”
“That may be all well and good but just do your experimenting well outside of town, and out of my house! You nearly blinded me when you turned off the light last night.”
“Ah, yes. That didn’t quite work the way I had hoped,” she frowned in thought, “but I think I have the hang of it now.”
“I’m glad to hear that I’m not going to be a blind old woman that you have to look after. But enough of that, time for breakfast as I have to get to the market soon.”
“I will clean the leather bag after breakfast and bring it to you when I return with the firewood.”
“Thank you. Now here is my spare house key. That way you can come home whenever you want and not get into the same situation as last night.”
Tears suddenly started streaming down Ling Mai’s cheeks. “Really?” She sobbed.
“Yes.”
“I can stay here every night?”
“Yes, you are now part of this household. And remember you have to do your share of the housework!” Grandma Tang told her sternly.
Ling Mai rushed to Grandma Tang and hugged her fiercely. Grandma Tang looked down at Ling Mai’s face burrowed into her and smiled fondly as she stroked Ling Mai’s hair. “Together we will find out how to progress your cultivation so you can protect yourself.”
Looking up, Ling Mai smiled and informed her, “I have the rest of the cultivation jade slip. Even though it is somewhat vague in its explanations, I should be able to advance quickly. I also have not yet learnt all of the attack technique’s levels. Or actually learnt any levels properly.”
Seeing Grandma Tang’s curious expression she continued, “Let’s just say that accidentally destroying half the town is actually quite possible, especially if I was pushed into a fight-or-die situation. I think I know how to reduce the damage but I haven’t experimented yet.”
“Definitely well away from town!” Emphasised Grandma Tang.
Ling Mai sat down and wolfed down her breakfast, earning another look from Grandma Tang, “It looks like I need to teach you some table manners.”
“What are they? Do they make the food taste better?” Ling Mai had her priorities right; eat good food fast before someone stole it from you.
Grandma Tang just gave her a melancholic smile.
Jumping up she took her bowl to the sink and washed it out, then went and got the leather bag to wash it.
“Take it and wash it in the river on your way out of town.”
“Good idea. Thanks for breakfast,” Ling Mai stopped as she didn’t know how to express the depth of her gratitude, waved her hands at the room, “and for everything else.”
Grandma Tang smiled and nodded, “Off you go.”
Ling Mai swiftly made her way back to her lean-to to get her travois and rope. She felt full of energy this morning. A sound sleep in a soft bed, a filling and delicious breakfast, and her new strength from her cultivation made her feel on top of the world.
Making her way out of town she turned down the path that led to the river upstream of the town. The water below the town was polluted from the town’s effluent. She stopped at the washing area. Women were already here washing clothes. Some were for their families but most were for washing clothes and linen for the more affluent townspeople.
Going slightly downriver she started rinsing the bag to loosen the blood stains then scrubbed the leather bag with some soap Grandma Tang had given her. Finishing, she walked back to her travois and tied the bag to it in a position so it could drain and dry out while she walked.
A splash came from upstream, causing her to look up. A large fish had leapt out of the water to catch an insect. She was interested in examining the fish with her energy-sense, so she walked over to the river bank.
“Will the water block my energy-sense?” Focusing on the river she explored the water and the bottom of the river. Apparently not, as she could make out details through the blue energy of the water. There were the usual shades of brown of rocks and mud, but here and there were other colours. Of most interest to her were silver coloured objects ranging in size from a small pebble to a long sword shaped object!
The sword shaped object was made of steel; a mix of iron, some other metals and the usual brown alloying materials. At the tip of the hilt was a brightly glowing red crystal like object. She could not see the exact details but it looked similar to the beast core she had found! A closer, knife-shaped object was nearby.
Looking upstream she saw some bushes had been trampled on. Closing the short distance she spied dried blood on the grass near the river. “There must have been a fight!” She realised.
Looking nervously around she did a deep scan of the area including the river. She could now see fish as she was further away from the washing area. One fish in particular had a glowing ring shaped object in its stomach. “It shouldn’t be a beast core as they are normally in the head for beasts, unless fish were different? It is also a circular ring shape and not a sphere. Has it swallowed something from the fight?”
“I must catch it and see what it is. I also need to retrieve the sword and knife before they get washed away.” she prudently thought. Looking downstream she could see the women were almost finished washing. They were wringing the water out of the last few items of clothing.
“I’ll catch the fish while I wait and then retrieve the sword and knife.” She was ecstatic at the thought of having her very own sword!
Scanning the area she saw some young saplings growing nearby. Going over, she selected the straightest sapling of the right size for a spear. With her new strength it was easy to cut the sapling down and trim it to length. Sharpening the tip was mere seconds of work. All her firewood gathering had made her an expert at cutting and trimming branches with her knife.
She did a few practice throws, then went back and got her travois. Returning upstream she first notched the end of the spear with her knife, so the rope would have a better chance of staying attached. She then tied the thin rope to the end of the spear. She tested it by throwing it a few more times to get the balance and how to deploy the rope.
“Hmm, the fish are too far away. I need to attract them somehow,” she pondered, “maybe some earthworms?” She used her energy-sense to look into the ground. Multiple signs of life were everywhere, ranging from earthworms to beetles.
Using the blunt end of her spear, she started digging. She very quickly unearthed a number of earthworms and other creepy-crawlies. Getting her spear ready, she started throwing the bugs and worms into the river near the bank. Soon the fish noticed this bountiful supply of tasty food and quickly swam over. Due to the large number of fish darting back and forth in search of any remaining food, it was now a challenge to spear the correct fish with the ring inside!
Looking at the fish with her energy-sense she realised her eyes depicted the fish’s location differently to her energy-sense. The light reaching her eyes was deflected by the surface of the water. “I think I’ll just close my eyes to fish. Less confusing and less distracting, but I guess it will look mighty weird if anyone sees me!”
Her first try was a bust as she hit the tail of a fish which deflected the spear just enough to make her miss her target. The second throw was better though still not successful as she accidentally skewered another fish which swam in front of the target fish. She carefully pulled the rope and successfully retrieved the spear, complete with the wriggling fish. She smiled, “At least I can eat my mistakes.”
She was distracted by a large fish appearing which was three times the size of the next biggest fish. She automatically threw her spear at it; food was important! The next moment she was being dragged into the river! Setting herself she started having a tug-of-war with the fish. She could not believe how strong it was. The fish rapidly tired as it was worsening the injury the spear had caused as it tore open its flesh. Ling Mai worried about the spear coming out of the fish but fortunately as the fish tired she was able to pull it closer until she could hook her hands into the gills. Dragging the heavy fish out of the river was made more difficult by the slippery mud on the riverbank. She admired the fish before dragging it over to her leather bag and away from the river. She didn’t want the fish to escape!
Catching her breath she removed the spear from the wriggling fish. The fish flipped and bit her big toe. “Ow!” Shaking her foot to try to get the fish to let go, she started hopping around, bleating in pain. Finally she managed to free her toe. “Just who is eating whom!” She complained to the fish.
Five fish later she finally caught the fish containing the ring. “Yes!” She quietly celebrated.
Looking downstream she saw the last of the washerwomen still chatting and packing away the wet washing onto small carts and into bags. Feeling a bit frustrated that she couldn’t yet retrieve the sword and knife, she started to gut the fish and washed them in the river. She had carefully put aside the entrails which contained the ring. She packed the fish into the leather bag. “So much for having a clean bag, but I’m sure Grandma Tang will be pleased by all these large fresh fish.”
An unexpected sound came from further up the river. Ling Mai turned and extended her energy-sense upstream. The sound grew in volume and she soon recognised the sound of hooves.
“People are coming!” She thought and frowned as she didn't know who they could be. From the rapid hoof beats and the volume, it sounded like numerous horses were rapidly approaching.
Ling Mai started panicking, but soon calmed as she realised she didn’t have anything to worry about except for the ring, and her cultivation! She quickly shielded her core. She had let it lapse as she was outside of the town and didn't expect to see strangers by the river.
She picked up the entrails which still contained the ring and put them partially under the bag of fish. She didn’t want to make it too obvious that she was trying to hide them.
A huge white stallion appeared between the trees. Sitting astride the stallion was a young man. To say he was ostentatiously dressed would be downplaying his grandeur. Jewels covered his sword, boots and gloves. Gold filigree adorned his armour, and his helmet sported a large eagle with its wings spread.
Ling Mai looked jealously at his jeweled sword. The sheath was encrusted with gems. She only hoped the sword in the river was at least a quarter as good in quality though she wanted a fighting sword, not a showpiece.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Trailing the young man were two elderly men. Following at a small distance a formation of troops rode two abreast. The young man was scouring the riverbank. “Is he looking for the site of the fight?”
Looking up, the young man spied Ling Mai. He kicked his horse into a gallop and charged over to her. Ling Mai stumbled backwards to avoid being trampled!
“What happened here?” Shouted the young man. “Kneel peasant, and answer quickly.” He continued imperially.
Deciding subservance was the wisest course of action, Ling Mai reluctantly knelt and answered with her head bowed, but with ire in her heart, “I only just arrived twenty minutes ago. I washed my leather bag and caught some fish. I was just gutting them so I could take them back to town.”
The young man glared at her, but fortunately the two elders rode up to them at that moment. “What town is this?” Asked the older of the two elders.
“Dragon Town, Senior. Though I have never seen a dragon here.”
“Are there any cultivators in town?”
“I believe the mayor is a cultivator.”
“What level is he?”
“I don’t know anything about levels, Senior.”
At this moment the sound of feminine laughter could be heard in the distance. Three young and pretty women came into view. At the sight of them the young man’s eyes lit up. Without looking away from the approaching young women, he instructed Ling Mai, “Give the fish to my retainers. It looks like this journey isn’t going to be as boring as I thought!”
He promptly spurred his horse into a gallop and rode over to accost the three young women. The women let out shrill cries as they were scared out of their wits.
The two old men looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly. The eldest commanded, “Here is ten silver. Hand over the bag of fish. The young lord has taken a fancy to them.” Turning to the other elderly man he continued, “It is your turn to keep him under control.”
This caused the other old man to look at the heavens as though asking, “Why me?” He then reluctantly guided his horse over to the young lord and the terrified young women.
Ling Mai jumped to her feet and picked up the leather bag. She walked closer and waited for the promised payment. The elderly man raised his eyebrows in surprise but ended up just reaching into his money bag and extracting the promised amount. Handing it over to Ling Mai, he reached for the bag of fish but She stepped back a pace. Ling Mai carefully counted the silver coins and only then did she give the bag of fish to the Elder.
“A nice profit today,” she thought, then her eyes opened in amazement as the man made the bag of fish disappear! She noticed an energy surge which engulfed the bag and the old man’s ring. “Is this one of the fabled storage rings? Should I buy one? I wonder how expensive they are? Or maybe I can make one?”
It was hard to examine the ring on the old man’s finger with her energy sense. It glowed similarly to the ring in the fish’s stomach but not quite so brightly. “Does this mean the ring I found is a storage ring? I wonder why it’s glow is brighter.”
With the distraction of the young women, the rest of the group of horsemen rode over to the young man. There seemed to be ongoing heated negotiations.
The older man smiled at her and said with a twinkle in his eyes, “You have a nice shield to hide your cultivation.” Seeing the alarmed look on Ling Mai’s face, he reassured her, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Do you have a master or teacher?”
For some unknown reason she had a feeling she could trust him so she honestly informed him, “No, I only started cultivating yesterday.” This astonished the man.
“Really?”, he looked serous for a few seconds while he did some quick thinking. Pulling out a jade badge with the words ‘Destiny Sect - platinum badge’, he handed it over to Ling Mai.
“What is this used for?” Inquired Ling Mai, stroking the smooth surface.
“Use it to gain entrance to the sect and it will also permit you to ask to see me. You have an extremely high talent for the manipulation and sensing of energy.”
Seeing that Ling Mai was not looking very enthusiastic he continued, “Don’t worry about young Lord Jai. I don’t expect him to last more than six months at the rate he is making enemies in the sect. Come to the sect in a year’s time.”
“What is the benefit for me in coming to the sect and visiting you?”
The Elder looked a little bemused. “You will become my personal disciple which includes instruction, and additionally you will receive techniques and resources. My name is Elder Xing. What is your name?”
“Ling Mai”
“How old are you?”
“Almost nine years old.”
“And already so advanced in your understanding of energy. Amazing!”
He stopped speaking at the look of puzzlement on her face. “I can sense you when you probe me and my storage ring.”
This worried Ling Mai a little as she didn't know cultivators could sense her probes. “Thank you for letting me know.”
“What techniques do you know so far?”
“I’m learning light manipulation.”
“Unusual but depending on the class of the technique it can be very useful.”
“How did you detect my cultivation?” She asked worriedly.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t sense your core, I simply detected your puzzling lack of a core when I scanned you whilst you still have cultivation energy in your body and that you have the physical changes to your body’s organs, muscles and bones that can only be caused by cultivating.” Seeing her looking even more anxious he explained further, “I have a very high level of scanning skills. Very very few cultivators possess this ability.”
Ling Mai felt a little less fearful. Looking downstream she saw the young lord had one of the young women mounted behind him. She was desperately clutching onto him to keep from falling off. “What is your group going to do now, and what were you searching for?”
Turning serious Elder Xing looked around at the blood stained grass and bushes, “The young Lord’s elder sister was chasing an enemy. His sister is a decent woman unlike her spoilt brat of a brother. She wielded a spear. This spear is a Legendary weapon and so she should have made short work of her enemy. It seems she may have perished here as she didn’t return last night after chasing the enemy cultivator.”
Ever thinking of ways to earn money, Ling Mai eagerly asked, “How much money would I receive if I found this spear?”
Elder Xing smiled at this, but then explained, “First you need to find it. Second, you need to be able to hide it so no one robs you. Third, you would need to travel to a large city, the larger the better, to auction it off at a reputable trading house, and lastly, you need to not let anyone know you sold it as the imperial family would search for you to get an explanation on how you got the spear!”
“But how much?” Ling Mai asked again, brushing off the difficulties Elder Xing had outlined. She wanted to know if it was worth the effort.
Elder Xing thought for a minute. “I expect the minimum price would be around a million high grade mana stones, though the price could be much higher if you sold it through the Heavenly Trading House. Even the imperial family can’t offend them so selling the spear through them would grant you immunity from investigation as the Heavenly Trading House is trustworthy, though they do charge ten percent of the proceeds of auctions. Fang Moe is an up and coming branch manager in Three Rivers city to the north of here. Mention my name to him, and he will then help you as he owes me a favour. He is also trustworthy.”
He then gave her a cheeky smile, “Though you have to find the Legendary Spear first!”
Ling Mai thought it was unusual that Elder Xing would be this expressive as she imagined Elders of sects to be stuck-up or at least, very serious. It was a pleasant surprise to meet such an engaging cultivator. She supposed that all sorts of people could become cultivators and not all would be warped by their positions of power, unlike the young lord. She felt she could trust him as he had been very candid in his detailed explanations. She realised he really wanted her to have a good impression of him as he wanted her to come and join the sect. She thought, “Does he think I am cute, and therefore wants to protect me?”
If Elder Xing knew what she was thinking he probably would have choked!
Elder Xing continued unhappily, “I must chase after the young lord. I can’t let him be hurt under my watch. I can’t keep him from getting into trouble but I’ll try, mostly so as to avoid having to clean up after him.”
“I understand. He looks as though he has a death-wish. Even I could probably kill him.” Seeing the sharp look Elder Xing gave her, she continued, “I have no plans to do so, but if pushed into a dangerous position by him then killing him is an option, though the last option as I don’t kill unless absolutely necessary, such as when hunting for food.”
Elder Xing smiled in understanding, and nodded his head to her as he bid her farewell, “It was a pleasure meeting you. Take care of yourself. Hopefully I will see you again.”
Ling Mai watched him gallop off after the young lord, “He seems to be a very nice man. I think I might go find him in the future. Now to examine the ring and then retrieve the sword and knife!” She thought excitedly.
Checking that no one was in sight, she squatted down and picked up the offal containing the ring and used her knife to cut the stomach open. A plain grey ring was revealed. Picking it up she examined it but nothing seemed out of the ordinary except that her energy-sense was screaming at her that this ring was extraordinary.
Washing the ring in the river, she placed the ring on her thumb but it was too big, so she took off her silver flute that hung on a cord around her neck. She untied the cord and looped it around the ring to hold it firmly in place then retied the cord before hanging it once again around her neck. Her robe hid both the ring and the flute. If she was careful, no one should be able to discover the ring’s presence.
Remembering the energy flows when Elder Xing had stored away the bag of fish, she tried to imitate this. A feeling of a large space into which she could suddenly fall impinged onto her mind’s eye. She rapidly withdrew her energy-sense and gasped a breath of air in relief. “That was scary! I wonder what I did wrong, or is the ring different to his ring?” Thinking for a minute she decided it didn’t feel right. “Could it be a trap? A protection of sorts placed on the ring in case someone stole it? I think that feels correct. They would end up trapped in the ring! Now let’s see if I can disable this.”
After much prodding and poking she discovered a very thin layer of energy arranged in a structure around the ring. Extremely tiny runes were engraved on the ring. Probing further she found the active part of the rune that activated when she tried to use her energy sense to examine the ring. “It looks like this part of the runes moves objects into the ring. Now I just need to find out the trigger runes when someone examines the ring.”
Ling Mai was excited. “This is fun!” She said with glee. She started to get a feel for how the runes worked. She could now insert energy selectively to activate parts of the rune structure. It didn’t take her long to rule out most of the runes. Two more rune sections later she found the triggering rune. It looked complicated!
“This must sense the energy of someone attempting to examine the ring,” she decided.
“Can I modify the trigger rune? The rune is made of metal so can I use my energy sense to delete this section?”
She tried to withdraw metal energy from the surface of the ring in only this section. It was hard to do this in such as small area on the ring. After a shaky start she started to get a handle on the method needed. It was simply a process of easing into it by gradually letting her energy-sense gently touch the appropriate area and then gradually increase the energy withdrawal until it covered the area. She couldn’t work too quickly as any increase in energy withdrawal threatened to destabilise the whole process.
After considerable time, she opened her eyes and took a deep breath of air. “Finally!” She happily smiled in relief. She definitely didn’t want to destroy the ring, or get sucked inside! A smooth section on the surface of the ring had replaced the trigger rune.
Carefully trying to examine the whole ring again, she now could see inside. Amazingly a large space about the size of Grandma Tang’s house was revealed! Stored in this space were numerous items: Coins, jewellery, armour, clothing, and many other items including weapons; even swords! “It is going to take me some considerable amount of time to catalogue all this!” She thought very happily. She couldn’t wipe the grin off of her face.
“I think this could be the young lord’s sister’s storage ring. It has women’s clothes and jewellery inside.” Ling Mai wondered where the sister was? “Could she have fallen into the river? Was she dead? Why was there a sword and knife in the river? Maybe she and the enemy killed each other and fell in the river? Where was the Legendary spear?” Ling Mai had so many unanswered questions but they could wait for further speculation and investigation as she want to retrieve the sword and knife before anyone else arrived.
Throwing the fish entrails into the river, she made her way back downriver with her travois and her newly fashioned spear. Scanning her surroundings she made an extra effort to confirm she was unobserved. Rapidly stripping to her underclothes and under shirt she then jumped into the river. She gasped at the sudden feeling of cold water. “Thank the goddess it is not winter yet!”
Wading out as far as she could and still have her head above water, she stopped and took at deep breath. Ducking under the water she dove down to pick up the knife as it was the closest to the riverbank. Surfacing, she gave the knife a quick look and briefly admired the fine quality of the blade before throwing the knife up onto the riverbank.
Diving again, she swarm underwater a short distance and took hold of the sword by its hilt. A tingle went through her fingers and up her arm! “What was that?” Deciding to ignore the feeling for now as it didn’t seem inimical, she tried swimming to the surface but was stopped by the weight of the sword. Dropping the sword she made her way back up to the surface.
“How can I retrieve the sword?” She was feeling slightly frustrated by her lack of size. A full grown woman would be tall enough to be able to walk on the bottom of the river with her head above water. “I guess there is no other option. I’ll just have to move it bit by bit.”
Diving once again she quickly grabbed the sword and started half swimming and half walking whilst dragging the heavy sword along the riverbed. Dropping the sword she surfaced and quickly gained her breath. Another two dives brought her to shallower water where she could stand. Rapidly exiting the river she checked her surroundings to see if she was still alone. Seeing no one she examined her booty. The sword was a magnificent testament to the blacksmith who had forged it. The hilt of the sword was a mixture of a work of art and fine craftsmanship. A large single glowing red jewel, to her energy-sense a beast core, adorned the tip of the hilt. All this craftsmanship and exotic materials was only to be surpassed by the perfect ripples in the metal of the master blacksmith forged blade. The town’s blacksmith had once shown her a butchers knife forged by a master blacksmith. This blade had similar markings.
“How am I going to keep this hidden? Maybe I can learn how to use the storage ring?” She was feeling very excited at having such a beautiful sword but at the same time nervous of someone stealing it from her.
She decided to test storing and retrieving items by using a river stone instead of anything more valuable such as the sword. She picked up a stone the size and shape of her favourite stone which she used for ammunition for her sling. Trying to emulate Elder Xing, she applied energy to the stone and linked it to the storage ring. Soundlessly the stone disappeared into the ring. Observing the storage ring she was pleased to see the stone. It seemed to be unharmed.
“Now how do I retrieve items?” Examining the runes on the ring she tried comparing the rune she had just used to others that looked similar. Finding a rune that had an exact half the form of the original rune and the other half almost completely different she realised the other half was just flipped to be a mirror image of the original rune.
“This must be the retrieval rune,” she gleefully decided, “Okay, here goes nothing!”
She linked the stone to the rune with energy and pop, the stone hit her in the forehead. “Ouch!” She cried out more at the unexpected result than feeling any great pain. “That wasn’t what I expected, but at least it worked!” she thought.
She realised she hadn’t considered the exact location she wanted the retrieved item to appear. She immediately had an idea. What if she did the same as when using the light energy attack technique whereby she created a clear image of the wanted destination location in her mind? Then another inspired idea occurred to her: what if she linked that location to the item with energy?
“Only one way to find out!” she excitedly said.
She decided to retrieve one of the items she had seen in the storage ring. It was a plain looking spear which was obviously utilitarian instead of flashy or high quality. She decided it would suit her both for basic protection and for not arousing avarice in others who saw it.
She did as she had planned, paying particular attention to the location she wanted the spear to appear.
Whump! The spear embedded itself into the soil. Ling Mai stared at the quivering shaft of the spear, “That was way more powerful than I expected. I think I need to ease back on the energy used to focus on the location, but that could be a great attack technique; a spear from nowhere!” She decided she needed to practice more but not here and now. She needed to get going to collect firewood. She then had an unsettling thought, “I’m so glad I didn’t first try retrieving the spear, the stone was bad enough!”
Donning her robes she then decided to put everything, including her travois into her storage ring. Trotting down the road towards her firewood gathering area, she thought, “This is the life! Never carrying things ever again; unless I’m in town.” She then silently grumbled to herself.
Along the way she noticed the purple flashes which indicated animals hidden from sight in the forest beside the road. “My new energy-sense is going to make fishing and hunting so much easier.” She cheerfully thought.
Reaching her destination she retrieved the travois and rope from the storage ring, then set about collecting firewood. Noticing a flash of purple with her energy-sense she retrieved her sling and crept towards the animal. The energy signature was similar in nature though slightly larger than her previous encounters with animals in this area. Catching sight of the animal, she was pleased to note it was the same species of animal that she had killed the day before which confirmed her energy-sense was accurate enough to differentiate between animals.
Checking her surroundings for threats, she then used her sling to down her prey. As she walked towards the animal another purple flash came from behind a large bush. Ling Mai retrieved the stone she had stored in the ring this morning and aimed towards where the animal was going to appear.
Thump!
Another successful kill! She was getting used to her newfound strength. Another purple flash, but this time much larger came from behind her. She swiftly turned to see a large feline leap into sight. It had huge blood-red eyes and large fangs. Black spots on a green background coloured its fur making it extremely effective for camouflage in the forest. It let out a loud annoyed roar when it saw her standing over her kill.
“It must have been hunting these animals when I just jumped in here and started stealing its prey. No wonder it is so furious!” Ling Mai was scared but not frozen. She quickly bent and picked up her just used favourite stone then loaded it into her sling and threw the stone in one smooth motion. The stone missed the feline as it leapt to the side. It glared at her, then it crouched, getting ready to spring.
“Should I kill it with the spear? I don't really want to hurt it as it is not its fault I stole it's prey.” She wondered. “No, I’ve got it!”
As the large cat leapt at her with its jaws wide open to bite her, the freshly killed animal disappeared from the ground, as Ling Mai had transferred it into her storage ring. She then quickly transferred it out of the storage ring and into the large cat’s mouth. Ling Mai meanwhile dodged to the side and thus avoided being clawed, more due to the distraction of the sudden appearance of the animal in its mouth than her dodging ability. She was hoping the food being shoved into its mouth would distract it and calm it down. She could think of many other ways to protect herself with this new technique.
“I like this new ability! I will call it ‘blink’ as it can almost instantaneously move objects where I want within my energy sense range. No more spear fishing or hunting with my sling!” She thought with joy. She was rapturous about the possibilities.
The large cat landed and dropped the animal from its mouth and then turned to look at Ling Mai. It didn’t look quite so angry, more surprised than anything. To improve its disposition further, she ‘blinked’ the other animal to the ground just under the big cat’s mouth. The cat jumped back in surprise but then gracefully paced over to give it a sniff.
Ling Mai retrieved her two sling-stones into her storage ring using her new ability . She slowly backed away saying, “Nice pussy cat, please don’t eat me. If you want more I can get them for you.”
The big cat just gave her a look of curiosity and sat down. It cocked its head to the side and watched her retreat.
As Ling Mai continued to back away she thought, “It seems to be a nice pussy-cat but to make friends with it, I need to learn to speak ‘cat’.”
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