Chapter Eight: Real Combat

The instructors didn’t just lead them randomly into the forest. They followed a dirt path marched on by many generations of recruits before them that they said was also frequently used by active guards when hunting. However, despite the path’s supposed frequent use, Instructor Kong was still forced to use a machete to chop up the bushes, ferns, grasses, vines, and branches that blocked their way.

Either this path wasn’t actually used that often, or plants grew fast in this world.

The first scare to the recruits came when one such plant that blocked their way sprang to life with thick vines covered in barbs that tried latching onto Instructor Kong, before being neatly dodged and efficiently cut down.

“Sometimes the plants are threats, too, but I’m sure you were all already aware. They do not pose much threat to anything except small animals, but still keep a wary out eye,” the man said before marching on, and Shu relaxed. She and Lacy marched close to the front and Shu had instinctively taken up a defensive position in front of Lacy, which was sweet.

After about an hour or so of marching through the wilderness the spirit beasts became more numerous. Most of them were herbivorous—kinds of grazing ungulates like deer, arboreal and ground rodents like rats and squirrels, and a napping boar that fled as soon as it awoke. Eventually, however, the group encountered their first carnivore.

“Halt!” Jery called again while raising his right arm in a closed fist. “Predator, this time.” The recruits shifted uncomfortably and Lacy caught Shu doing a fist pump. “Close to ground, bushes, some thirty paces to the right. Ferret, perhaps. Size three.”

All the recruits turned to search for it, and Lacy caught sight of an eyeball’s gleam. It was well camouflaged, though, so she couldn’t tell if it was really a size three. Poko taught them early in the wilderness trip that spirit beasts were most often separated into certain categories when information needed to be passed efficiently. Size one meant it was smaller than a dog. Size two was about the size of a large dog. Since Jery called the ferret size three it was potentially as large as a Great Dane, though that could mean something different for a ferret, which had most of its size in its length.

“Listen up,” Jery said, now facing the recruits. “While they are often stronger, our greatest advantages over spirit beasts are always our intelligence and combat prowess. I will demonstrate the intelligence portion. Despite all of us stopping to look in its direction it still does not think it has been sighted. It is waiting for an opportunity to ambush. I’m going to pretend to sneak past it, it will pounce on me, and I will kill it.”

The other instructors said nothing as Jery lowered into a crouch and crept forward, facing straight ahead, his spear at the ready. Sure enough, exactly as Jery predicted, when he got closer the ferret pounced. Its body became a blur, and Lacy’s limbs grew cold.

Jery simply turned 90 degrees and supported the spear with all of his body weight. The ferret impaled itself through the chest and the spear tip poked out its back.

Lacy gulped, knowing that even had she been prepared, the ferret simply moved too quickly for her to react like Jery had. The ferret released a number of dying throes and pathetic whimpers before anyone moved a muscle, at which point Jeinai stepped forward to help Jery finish it off and take the body off his weapon.

“The spear’s main weakness is that it’s too good,” Jeinai spoke up as he returned to the recruits. “Jery’s spear found no difficulty in passing through the beast, but taking it out is a separate problem. Sometimes one is beset by multiple foes and their primary weapon is stuck in one of them, allowing the others to succeed where the first failed.”

……

After three hours of marching straight into the wilderness’ depths it was time to head back so that there would be enough day left for muscle building. By this point Lacy was sure that the instructors had accomplished their goals of imparting the dangers of spirit beasts, the importance of being prepared and cautious, and the security that came with only hunting as a group.

As Jery explained it, each of the instructors had roles in the party that corresponded with what “techniques” they’d learned. Jery had a technique that sharpened his vision and allowed him to spot danger while Jeinai was a damage dealer with a technique that made his attacks stronger. Instructor Kong was also a damage dealer and Instructor Poko had a movement ability that she showcased twice in order to save recruits from spirit beast ambushes.

If any one of them were alone they would have died. In fact, Jery had spotted an aggressive boar but didn’t have the power to kill it quickly, for which he needed Instructor Kong’s help. The trip was probably considered a success if only for that real-life lesson.

Unfortunately, despite achieving their goals, they were still in the wilderness. On their way back Jery suddenly shouted, “FAST!” and the cultivators immediately dropped into waiting crouches. The next instant, Instructor Poko became a blur, and blood painted the recruits before a furry body dropped to the forest floor, split in two.

“Any others, Jery?” Instructor Poko asked.

But Lacy never heard Jery’s response.

Everything went dark and all sound died. Even Lacy’s sense of touch went numb. She couldn’t feel the spear that was supposed to be in her hands.

The panic took a while to set in. With no sight, sound, or touch, it was as though she had fallen asleep. She wasn’t even uncomfortable, really. Just…dizzy. Discombobulated.

But then her circumstances really set in. Had she died? Maybe. Having her soul awakened by the Deity had felt kind of like this. Definitely not the same, though.

So was she barely conscious?

‘2076 minus 826 equals… Um, 2000 minus 800 is 1200. 1276 minus 26 equals 1250. No, I seem to be able to think straight, unless in my barely conscious state I’m convincing myself I’m fully conscious.’

Lacy abandoned that train of thought in favor of looking inwards. Since she seemed to be fully conscious and the issue was physical…maybe she had unlocked this world’s muscle magic??? Perhaps the instructors had taken the recruits out into the wilderness because that was how people became cultivators? Like, they needed to immerse themselves in nature and be in danger?

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Hoping that her wild hypothesis was true, Lacy searched inwards for signs of magic like she’d seen characters do in fantasy stories. She calmed her mind as much as she could and imagined her insides, but not the physical ones. She searched for something spiritual, something magical. Energy traveling through her body, for example. Or a fountain of willpower, or the beginnings of a magical spirit.

She found nothing. She had not awakened a spiritual eye of any kind.

‘I’ve been kidnapped,’ she decided eventually. ‘I was drugged, or magically incapacitated, or something. Someone figured out I’m the protagonist.’

Unable to even feel her body, Lacy gave up. It was like she was under anesthesia at the hospital. There was nothing to do but wait.

……

Lacy’s senses returned to her, and she definitively figured out what was going on. With her sight’s return she realized the world had not gone entirely dark, there was just a burlap sack over her head, and sunlight filtered through it. With the function of her ears restored she heard air rushing past her and vegetation rustling. With proprioception it was obvious that she was slung over someone’s shoulder, bouncing up and down slightly in pace with their long steps. It was very uncomfortable and her ribs ached like hell.

Still, Lacy did nothing. She wasn’t stupid! The person who took her did so while she was being somewhat watched by several cultivators and a very protective friend. Whoever she was being carried by was far too powerful for her to beat up or even escape from without at least awakening some cool magical powers. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, neither arcane magics nor her supposed boon Studious Aura made themselves useful.

The running eventually stopped and Lacy was rudely dropped to the ground, but not hard enough to really hurt outside of maybe a bruise and all of her sore muscles. Now laying on the ground she still did not move.

“Your wakefulness did not escape me, spirit cultivator. Rise,” a man’s slightly strange voice commanded, and Lacy saw no reason not to obey.

‘But, spirit cultivator? The fuck?’

Lacy carefully stood up without a word.

A hand suddenly yanked the sack off Lacy’s head and she struggled not to fall over as her sight was restored and she was blinded by sunlight, since her pupils had dilated during the trip.

“You have done well in not retaliating, human. You have earned some mercy.”

When her pupils adjusted Lacy looked up to memorize the face of her assaulter, and she inhaled sharply through her nose. Deep blue, almost black, leathery skin. Black hair that was tied up in a ponytail. Unique combat robes in dark patterns she hadn’t seen before. A tall, slender frame that towered over hers by at least two feet. Two cat eyes that reflected green. A pair of hand-sized bat ears.

“Vampire,” she whispered.

The huge man tilted his head curiously.

“Koroth,” he corrected. “Never have I heard a human refer to as us…vaa-uhm-pires, before. Evil spirits. Fiends of the night. Demons. Blood monsters. What is a vaa-uhm-pire?”

Lacy gulped before slowly taking in her surroundings. Unremarkable forests, and three other vampires. Great. Her only hope of survival was a series of insanely high charisma checks.

“Beautiful people of the night who drink human blood,” Lacy said with as straight a face as she could manage, not wanting to seem like she was sucking up to him. “That’s the gist of the stories. Vampires would kidnap unsuspecting woodsmen, fishermen, and hunters and feast on their blood. However, the stories also claimed you could not survive under sunlight without burning like you were on fire, so they must not be entirely true.”

The vampire laughed.

“At least the beauty and blood feasting are correct,” he said with a devious, toothy grin. Yep, sharp teeth. “You have earned a bit more mercy due largely to your impressive calm and intelligent response to abduction.”

A younger male voice chimed in from a dozen paces behind Lacy.

“Mercy, Father? But it has been too long since our last!”

The apparent vampire dad chuckled softly, his eyes still locked on Lacy, though his reply was not.

“Patience, young one. Seeing as I managed to snatch a spirit cultivator, we may have better use for her.”

Lacy waited to hear more but she got the sense that the vampire dad was waiting on her to say something. She settled on voicing her most pressing question.

“Uhhh, spirit cultivator?”

After all, if she was actually a kind of cultivator this whole time then she was going to kick herself! How had she not discovered how to wield her magic yet???

The vampire man frowned deeply, though instead of anger, Lacy saw notes of confusion. Apparently, he hadn’t expected that to be what interested her.

After a moment he snorted and said, “Do not play the fool. Did the stories of us koroths not describe our unsurpassed noses? I can smell the spirit root within you more clearly than you could smell a pile of succulent meats presented to you on a platter.” He leaned forward and took a gnarly whiff with his big nose. “In fact, you have the most…flavorful spirit root I have ever had the pleasure of sensing. How could you be anything less than a talented spirit cultivator in body cultivation training, or instructing the body cultivators?”

He didn’t even wait for Lacy to respond before waving over the other vampires, saying, “Come, savor her scent! Understanding what I describe with words does not compare to the experience itself.”

And they obeyed, crowding over her like she was a dog they wanted to pet. The other tallest vampire—a woman, it turned out—even put a hand on Lacy’s head as though she really was their pet!

“Incredible,” the woman said.

“Delightful!” one of the other vampires, also female, said.

“I stand by my argument that we eat her,” the boy from earlier said. “We stand to lose such a potent spirit cultivator if your plan goes awry.”

The vampire dad shook his head again.

“Nonsense! Why settle for one, albeit delicious, spirit cultivator when we might be able to enjoy a host of prey?”

By this point the vampires stopped crowding around Lacy and she felt more comfortable getting answers.

“If I’m a cultivator, then I didn’t know it,” she began, but before the vampire dad could reply she added, “I only recently signed up to be trained as a body cultivator! You kidnapped me during an outing with the other recruits who are also training for—”

“Your lies irritate me,” the vampire man interrupted sternly, before his eyes narrowed. “However, despite your spirit root, I do not smell lies. Strange. A talented actor, too?”

Lacy hurriedly shook her head.

“No! It’s possible I have magical talent, but I’ve never been tested—”

Again, he interrupted Lacy with a snort.

“Spirit cultivators are the darlings of all human empires. Sweeps are conducted constantly for anyone with your talents. It is impossible you lived your entire life without a Sapling discovering you.”

“I don’t know what most of that means!” Lacy insisted as a chill ran down her spine. “Really, if I have a whatever root then nobody told me! I promise…”

Nobody interrupted her this time. The seven-foot-tall vampire’s glare seized her tongue all by itself.

‘This isn’t working. They know something about human society that I don’t. Many things, probably. Even though I’m telling the truth, reality makes them question it. The reality…that I’m new to.’

Lacy’s heart raced as she realized what she had to do.

“I promise that while I believe I have magical talent of some kind, I’m not a spirit cultivator. The reason I was never discovered is that I’m not…a human from around here. I was only brought here recently. Like, a month ago.”

“And where did you come from?” the vampire asked with a hint of a threat in his voice, as if to say that she would pay for lying.

“Really far away,” she replied simply, hoping he wouldn’t dig further.

“Where?” he asked again, his voice flinty.

“Earth…”

“Give me an idea of its location. What direction is Earth from Ten-Jan? Did you cross rivers? Mountains? Deserts?”

Lacy found herself hesitating until the vampire’s stare became too much to bare.

“None of that, actually,” she squeaked as her hands grew clammy. “Earth is…a different world entirely. A world without cultivation, spirit beasts, or monsters of any kind. A world with only humans. Where vampires are just myths, and cultivation is fiction.”