Altura-MC

The darkness of the night growled at me as I walked through the streets. I’d let my aura lose as I walked, letting the Clans know that the City Lord wasn’t the only one breaking through. And that I was already one step ahead.

Faces turned my way as I let out my own Qi pulses. Being in this state was, frankly, a pain. It attracted the attention of everyone in the vicinity that could sense Qi, and likely served as a beacon for any enemy—Enemy here ranking up! Kill now! Stupid Xianxia with too many obvious loopholes just so they could show off. The dark made me think that every ghost would soon find me, time to run...gracefuly of course.

Reaching the City Hall was easy, getting in was not. The clans had gone all out trying to make me feel unwelcome. Apparently I was not invited to the meeting I called. Too bad I didn’t care about invitations. And in I go, It's not as if any of the guards would dare to stop me.

Using the City Lord’s Qi pulses as navigation I found the room in question, it wasn’t particularly easy but oh well, it wasn’t time to complain. Yet. The hall, if it could be called that, was a heavily furnished room.

Not in the ‘too much furniture’ way but in a ‘heavy mood furniture’ the entire thing was all dark wood. Dark toned curtains. Dark everywhere. Talk about bad fashion sense. As soon as I stepped in, all conservation stopped, the room’s occupants turning to look at me. All three Clan Heads, Dorien, Welters and the City Lord were here.

The City Lord was the first to respond. Standing up and bowing, he said, “Archduchess Altura, let me extend a belated welcome to you. And congratulations on your breakthrough and, it would seem, the imminent one.”

“Thank you, City Lord, it was truly a fortuitous encounter that I gained such a valuable retainer here. I must thank Clan Head Welters for being so willing to part with such a talented member. “ I replied, rubbing in the fact that it was Kerrin that had helped me level up. It was, by Xianxia rules, quite an insult on Clan Qunaris’ face after all.

The only insult an enemy can give that is greater than growing stronger is growing stronger using resources taken from the Clan. Xianxia logic was hilarious sometimes.

“I see… Since you were the one that called this meeting, Archduchess, I shall hand it over to you. I hope we can have a civil discussion about the future of the valley.” the City Lord said.

“Very well. Then I will put forth my plan for the future.” I began.

“I have no wish to exterminate the clans, but if it comes down to it, I will.” I said, trying to sound intimidating. The others did not seem particularly intimidated, “That being said, I am willing to let the situation continue as long as the Clans allow for some laws to be passed.”

“And what would those laws be, your grace?” Welters interrupted. That guy was really getting on my nerves.

“There are three laws,”- I looked pointedly at Welters who simply stared back- “First, the Clans must repeal the resource law. Any cultivation resource, including but not limited to Qi, will be the property of the person that finds it. The Clans may however buy it from them if they do not need it. So may I” I said.

“This cannot be allowed to stand! It would stress the Clans’ finances to a great degree that”- Welters began before I interrupted his overblown reaction, “This is not a request Welters, you will abide by this, or I will have Aswelth kill the lot of you and rule the duchy uncontested.” I had no idea if I could actually give the order to kill what would be thousands of people, but if the sharp intakes of breath were any indication, it was the right thing to say.

“Then there is the tax. It goes without saying that all of it now goes to me, but the Clan businesses shall also no longer be exempt from tax. The City has a horribly low taxation on anything even remotely Clan related, and the things not are overtaxed. That will be remedied.” I said.

“Archduchess, you say that you do not wish to”- the City Lord began before I interrupted him

“Please, wait for me to finish City Lord, you can speak later”

“Finally, there will be rule of Law in the city, the Elders may not cripple or kill anyone for any random offense anymore.” I finished.

“These… Archduchess, I had hoped that you would be reasonable, but these terms would bankrupt the Clans…” Dorien said.

“No, it would not be so Clan Head Dorien, what it would do is force the majority of the Clan, which at the moment lives off the contributions of others, to work. The shops can be manned by the members of the Clans. There is land that can be opened for farming. There are jobs like teaching and beasts to hunt. If all goes well, there will be several breakthroughs by this time next year. “ I said.

“Archduchess, perhaps you could at least relent on the cultivation resources? With the Clan’s sources of income being lowered”- The City Lord began before I interrupted him.

“No.” I said, “I do not believe that even one of you has any connection to reality. Income this, income that, what you really want to happen is the Status Quo to stay the same. That is not going to happen. I will kill you if I have to, but I will not have this valley be stuck in this bottleneck. That would bottleneck me too, after all.” I said.

Clan Head Welters suddenly stood up and yelled, “And I think you are not understanding what I am talking about your grace, I will not have my clan ruined because a ten-year-old girl refuses to accept reality. This is the way the world is run, it is time you accept that, Altura Selrin.”

Welters then threw out a talisman before I could react, but thankfully it was not before Aswelth, who I hadn’t even noticed enter the room, could. A burst of Qi later, Welters lay spasming on the floor and the two other Clan Heads lay crouching on the floor as Aswelth intimidated them with his aura.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“If you want to use Talismans to harm someone then perhaps learn to do it properly” Aswelth growled out.

“This meeting is over, the laws are final. I expect the taxes to come in from tomorrow.” I said as I turned on my heels and ran, no, walked away. Just at a faster speed than usual.

I walked out, quickening my steps until I was running at full speeds, fast enough that the surroundings blurred as I arrived at the Treehouse. Somehow, knowing that I could do it, I caused snowflakes to appear below my feet, using them as stairs as I ran right into the house.

When the wolves had attacked I had the time to climb the tree, out think them, try out what magic worked. I thought that it was intense but no. It was nothing before this one. There was no warning, no time to think as that talisman, that I was sure would have killed me, headed my way.

At that moment, my life may not have passed before my eyes, but I sure felt my first brush with death. And I did not like it. It once more brought forth a part of me that I had hoped I had left in my last life. My anxiety.

It wasn’t diagnosed, or even very serious, but it was there, and while it remained silent, often forgotten when things were good, it came rushing back when things took the wrong turn. And then left me the shaking mess I was now.

“Excuse me, your grace” Viona’s voice said from behind me as I suddenly froze.

“What is it, Viona?” I asked, trying to act as if nothing was wrong.

“I find that taking a deep breath and just breathing for a few minutes helps with the...shaking.” Viona said. “Now, if you will excuse me, I shall make dinner.”

“Yes, please do” I said, gasping for breath.

I took a deep breath, remembering that, as Viona had said, deep breaths helped. One shaky breath after another, my shivers calming down slowly as I breathed in again and again. I let my muscles relax as I went to sit on the cot.

Then I used a technique that I had found useful before, expelling the bad. Not the anger, the hatred, or the pain, the bad. It was a broad term, and that was exactly what I wanted it to be.

Deep breath in. out. In. out. I let it happen for a few minutes until I felt something leave me, my body becoming lighter as it calmed, now merely tired. I let it sag. Opening my eyes, I found myself sitting in a formation of snow that looked suspiciously like a snowflake.

In a few seconds that was gone, turning into a bunch of glowing lights that faded away, making way to a notification.

Congratulations! Altura Selrin, you have passed the mental barrier: Death.

This does not mean that you no longer fear death, or that you have conquered said fear. It means that you have felt its brush and survived the trauma. This is a world of death. And now you know it. Or do you?

Qi gained

I felt Qi flow through me, pushing the sapling closer to breakthrough but not quite there. I wished I had some concrete numbers, so I could stop guessing.

Numeration system activated

Seedling(Mid Stage-149.95/150)

Sigh, was there a tutorial option too System?

For those that want the extra Aswelth POV of the near death experience.

Aswelth

Aswelth was trying his best to be alert. The Archduchess might have decided to not guard against foul play in the meeting, but he was not so naive. Greed was a very powerful motivator and these people had plenty of it to go around.

And he was proven true, Clan Head Westers had decided to attack the Archduchess, using some form of talisman to cross the power gap. Aswelth knew that there was no way for the Archduchess to react in time, she was too low-leveled and too new to the game.

So he acted, summoning a thread of Qi to incinerate the talisman, he set a protective shield before the Archduchess. The talisman, instead of incinerating, activated on Welters’ face. The stupid thing was poorly made, either that or someone didn’t care about Welters at all. Perhaps it was both, poorly made talismans were cheaper after all.

This one was a piece of paper with characters on it, a tell-tale sign of a poorly made one. Stone was the best for talismans, not paper.

But the result was the same. Welters collapsed, helpless. But it was the Archduchess’ reaction that he did not expect.

Name

Altura Selrin

Title

Archduchess (In name) (landed)

Element

Dragon Fire, Snowflake ice

Age

10 years

Seeds

Military (ungerminated), Royalty (Seedling-Mid(149.95/150)), Energy (ungerminated)

Stats

Strength[The amount of brute force one can use]

9

Endurance[The amount of time one can work continuously]

13

Flexibility[The range of movement of the body]

11

Precision[The accuracy of one’s movements]

13

Perception[The ability to notice nuances and advanced concepts]

9

Intelligence[The ability to comprehend the advanced concepts]

12

Wisdom[The ability to effectively use the concepts]

13

Aura Force[The ability to force your will on your surroundings]

14

Combat[The speed of one’s reactions, ability to process situations and other general combat abilities]

13

Retainers

Kerrin

No cultivation. Nascent Unknown Constitution