“It has been said, Mistress Lung, that your skin has the quality of finest jade. I cannot say if this is so, for I can find no jade as pale and white as your flesh, but I can say that your wisdom transcends your beauty tenfold. It is your fellow master’s earnest hope that he may rely upon it.”

Tex was speaking in Chinese, or something. The translator seemed to be running, as he bowed to Mistress Lung Jia Li at the entrance to her chambers.

Mistress Lung was the woman who accepted Mao Lin as an apprentice, back at the neophyte duels. Her hair was down now though, perfectly white tresses only a little brighter than her bloodless, ivory skin. She seemed young, though. Younger than Tex.

“Master Lio. You are as generous with your words as you are with your wealth.” She smiled, thinly. “Please, enter.” She gestured to her handservant, however. Hissed to the sullen looking youth, “Ensure our privacy, Wuyan.”

“Of course, Mistress Lung.” Her handservant bowed and stepped out a door on the other side of Lung’s chambers. He gracefully closed it behind himself, and then began shuttering windows from the outside, blocking the view out to a small private courtyard.

Tex gestured behind his back at Sendai, and stepped in. Sendai held his bow longer than Tex had, then followed onto lush wooden floors, pausing only to close the chamber door behind himself with as much deference and care as Wuyan had.

Mistress Lung took a seat on an ornate wooden armchair, more like a throne with an open fretworked design. Gestured at another set of armchairs.

Sendai waited for Tex to sit, then carefully took a seat on a nearby stool against the wall. Like a servant. It felt a little weird, but Tex had given him a brief run-down of the etiquette. Only the grown-ups – the seniors in the room – got the nice chairs. The children, like Sendai, did not, and shouldn’t speak until spoken to.

“May I speak frankly without causing offense, Master Lio?”

Tex bobbed his head. “By all means.”

Mistress Lung grinned. “I had expected you to fill this poor boy with cultivation pills until his head exploded. Is he why you’re here?”

“I and Young Sendai have a long and entertaining history together. Giving him too much money would lessen his respect for me.”

“Mmmh. I wish I had such spendthrift apprentices that they would graciously refuse my gifts, rather than hungrily beg for more, more, more.” She continued to smile at Tex. “So what is it you want, Niuzai?”

That must’ve been Tex’s first name, in the Eight Kingdoms. His common name? She said it in a familiar way.

“Senior sect-sister, we both know that my strongest abilities are not in teaching, or the cultivation of the self, but in the cultivation of the sect’s wealth.”

She gestured dismissively. “Forget the insults that you’re more merchant than sage, Niuzai.”

Tex bowed his head briefly. “The boy has had difficulties I cannot help teach him to overcome. I would throw some taels at the problem, but he would refuse, and likely needs training. I was hoping to prevail upon you for advice as to what to do.”

Mistress Lung nodded, and put all her attention on Sendai. Her gaze was piercing, almost chilling.

“Sendai, is it? No family name, nickname?”

Sendai cleared his throat. “Just Sendai, Mistress Lung.”

“And you and Niuzai got up to mischief beyond-the-wall, before he arrived here?”

“Yes, Mistress Lung. Before the collapse of BlackStar Galaxy, I and some of my friends would provide useful services for Master Lio.”

Mistress Lung idly stroked her hair, drawing it over her shoulder. “Mmmh. Stand up,” she said, standing up herself and stepping out into an open part of her personal chambers.

Sendai stood, and approached her. Nervously he bowed, but she gestured him back up with a slight wave of the hand. “Let me inspect you. What difficulty have you encountered?”

“Before entering the Eight Kingdoms I did read a guide, but...” Sendai licked the gap, where he’d previously had a tooth. “Uh. I apologize, but, can I speak a little less flowery?”

“Certainly. Speak earthily.” She grinned again, before walking around him. Looking him up and down, like a slab of meat.

“Well. Ever since I got here people keep telling me I’m fast, but I got my ass handed to me at the neophyte trials, and again in a lei tai duel. Knocked aside with one good hit.” He released a tense breath. “I know at the lei tai duel the one guy was using a qi weapon or something, and at the neophyte duel, well... I got in a hit on Black Hound early, but it didn’t do much.”

“You also swayed away from one of his better punches. And made a good attempt at blocking Hound’s hook kick,” Mistress Lung observed.

Sendai shrugged. “I don’t understand what’s going on. I’m better in a fight than this.”

“Where did you learn to fight?”

“The Rust Pit of New Idaho. Beyond-the-wall.”

“Barbaric and improvised?”

He bowed his head. “You might say so.”

Tex leaned over the back of his chair, watching. “This boy was a terror, Jia Li. He had great gear and the numeric statistics, but he’d take down opponents who a flat reading of the stats would say were far superior.”

“Mmmh.” She stepped back, rubbed her hands together and swept her draped robes out neatly. “Give me a demonstration, Sendai of New Idaho. Attack.”

He wrung his hands in front of himself nervously. “For show, or for serious?”

“For seri—”

She couldn’t finish the word before Sendai had crossed the gap between them. He caught her eyes widen, as he did the old snake feint – starting to strike out at face level one step too soon, then pivoting on the final step of the charge. Whipping his body and shoulders in a twist, rolling into an uppercut that hit nothing.

Almost nothing. His fist skimmed the silk of her robes and she yelped as his knuckles brushed her lip. She took two steps back before they reached her nose. She got her guard up, circling him with a mantis-like stalking. “Very fast,” she commented. “And no killing intent, but that is to be expected.” She gestured for him to try again.

Sendai advanced on her, side-on. Bringing up the hind foot, pushing out the forefoot, without crossing his limbs. He snapped forward at the last with a simple punch – she brushed it aside if not dismissively, then with a surgical interest in everything but the fact she was knocking his fists aside with the edge of her hand as if waving away flies.

He didn’t know how she found her way past his guard, but she did – shoving at him with her palm out flat. If physics was the only thing going on, it wouldn’t have stopped him from throwing another hit. But her shove took him off his feet, flung him skidding on his ass backward over the polished wood floor.

He coughed, spluttered. Struggled to his feet, panting, and returned her ornate bow.

“You have no jing,” she announced.

“What?”

She blinked at him. “Have you even tried to cultivate your qi?”

He shook his head.

“You mentioned reading a guide. The starter guide, in English?”

“Yes,” Sendai said, taking hard, deep breaths to avoid panting at her.

Mistress Lung arched an eyebrow. “All of it?”

He hesitated. “I skipped some.”

“Do you remember what you skipped?”

“The, uh. The wizard stuff.”

“The wizard stuff?”

“The, uh. Qi and magic and all that.” He stood uncomfortably. “I figured I’d just be a basic warrior while I get to grips with the kingdoms, I’ve never been good with magic systems in games.”

She started grinning. Laughing. Covered her mouth while giggling, drifting back to her chair. “Oh this is unrivalled under Heaven. Niuzai, what have you brought me?” Her laughter turned to a shriek of delight.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Tex was pale. Very pale. “You don’t know what jing is?”

Sendai showed his hands in a helpless shrug, standing before their dismay uncomfortably.

Tex clutched his face. “Oh my gawwwd. No wonder you were more useless than tits on a boar hog out there.”

Mistress Lung took a breath to steady herself, holding her chest for a moment, then turned her smile on Sendai. “This isn’t Europe, Little Fire Arrow. Everyone here is a ‘wizard’. Tell me, do you know what a cultivation bottleneck is?”

“I am afraid not,” he said, past an almost painful blush of embarrassment and shame.

“When one who is cultivating themselves with the arts of internal alchemy – neidan – finds that their progress has ceased? This is a bottleneck. There are many reasons their progress might halt. Sometimes I am asked for advice. It may be that they are unable to manipulate or hold enough qi, perhaps the season is inauspicious. They may have offended a god, failed to venerate an ancestor, find the correct mood, or,” Mistress Lung said with a mischievous smile, “Perhaps they lack a critical enlightenment. You, Little Fire Arrow, whether or not you know it, have reached your first bottleneck.”

“And what do I do about it?”

“Thank her for her insight,” Tex said, sharply.

Sendai bowed, quickly. “Uhm. Of course. I do thank you for your insight, Mistress Lung. But, please, tell me. What do I do?”

“In brief. Let go of this idea that neidan is ‘wizard stuff’. Do you know what a dantian is?”

“I am afraid I do not, mistress.” He wished he could sit down, but etiquette seemed to mean he was pinned to the spot.

“Put simply, they are the wells of energy within you. Furnaces, if you like. There are three.”

Mistress Lung gestured to her forehead. “The upper dantian, your mind, in which shen – the energy of your soul and higher faculties – is converted into wu wei, which we might call effortless action. It’s important for spells and incantations – the actual wizard stuff you must study to learn, but also for higher use of martial arts. Do you follow?”

Only a little, but he nodded for her to go on anyway.

She gestured to her chest. “The middle dantian, your heart, in which qi, the force of a living spirit, is consumed to produce shen. Also, it is here that you may gather and convert elemental qi. Very important for what beyond-the-wall we would call ‘wire-fu’. And,” she said, gesturing to her hips, “The lower dantian, your guts and all that earthy stuff, in which jing is digested into qi.”

“And what’s jing?”

Tex shook his head sadly. “It’s the force of life. Literal energy for living. It’s what keeps your avatar breathing and its heart beating.”

Mistress Lung smiled, with teeth. “It’s not measured in hitpoints here, but. You’re walking around with two or three hitpoints, Little Fire Arrow. And your punches may be fast, but without any jing – which is also your physical strength – your strikes do very little.”

Sendai covered his face with his hands, taking slow, deep breaths. “Fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck,” he hissed under his breath, voicing it not at all.

Mistress Lung laughed again. “Get your prodigy some first rank manuals, Niuzai. And have him study them in private.”

“Thank you for your wisdom, Mistress Lung,” Sendai got out past his shame.

It was funny. He knew it was funny. He would’ve laughed too, but he wasn’t usually the fool in these situations.

“Oh, you’re very welcome.” She flashed a far more friendly grin. “I’ve never had a simpler bottleneck to solve.”

Outside, after a string of polite exchanges, bows, and Tex providing a bottle of something fancy looking and probably very alcoholic out of his storage rings as a parting gift, Tex walked down the sect manor’s corridors shaking his head.

“Can’t believe this,” he kept muttering.

“So do I need to go into remedial first rank classes or something?” Sendai asked, after getting far enough there was no way Mistress Lung or her servants were in earshot.

“No,” Tex said, turning on him with eyes wide. “No, no no, no. That would look bad. Bad for face. My face.”

Sendai rocked on his heels. “Worse than you already look for me getting my ass handed to me?”

“It won’t fucking help,” Tex grumbled. “I’ll get you some manuals. Study them in private.”

Sendai didn’t have much time before he needed to break off to meet with the girls, but he took one of the basic manuals from Tex and found an empty dojo – daochang, here. Sometimes guan, but it seemed like people worked out in daochangs, took classes in guans.

There were exercises that emphasized breathing, stretching. The flow of qi and jing along meridians... he didn’t get too far into trying one of the exercises before Mao Lin arrived with two first ranks in tow, smiling to herself almost as mischievously as Mistress Lung had.

“Brother Sendai,” she announced, meeting him with a bow. “Mistress Lung sends thanks to Master Lio for lending your assistance. These two junior brothers need practice in blocking, and would make good use of your fast hand.”

“Uh. Of course, sister Mao Lin.” Sendai stopped his breathing stretches – which he probably wasn’t doing right – and bowed in turn.

She leaned in and whispered, voice low, “Mistress Lung sends her regards, and her humble suggestion to inquire as to the state of their cultivation training.”

Sendai smiled tightly. “Thank you,” he murmured back.

“You’re welcome.”

Thirty minutes of mock-duelling with wooden swords provided no insights, but without getting his ass knocked out, Sendai really was doing well. The first ranks couldn’t get past his guard, and every second exchange of blows with the wooden weapons had him slipping past theirs.

It was good for his morale. But while finishing up, explaining he had other business, he took the suggestion to heart.

“So, uh. How are you guys’ cultivation studies progressing?”

Bao glanced side to side shiftily. “They are going well, senior brother Sendai.”

Wei didn’t answer, just racking up the wooden swords.

“What’s wrong?” Sendai asked Wei.

Wei released a tense breath. “Nothing, senior brother.”

Sendai looked from one to the other and read it right off their faces.

They hadn’t done their homework either. But Bao and Wei were getting lessons and he wasn’t.

“Have you had lessons today?”

“Of course, senior brother,” said Wei.

Sendai gestured with one hanj for him to go on. “And what were you taught?”

“The three primary sources of Jing, senior brother.”

“Recite them.”

Bao sucked in a breath, and sighed. “Prenatal, consumed, and stimulated.”

Wei glanced nervously at his comrade and added, quickly, “That which is given by our ancestors, by eating food, and by life experience and exercise.”

Sendai stared at them both, then covered his mouth as he murmured, quietly, “Motherfucker.” He cleared his throat. “Do you two take your meals while you’re online?”

Both nodded.

Since entering the Eight Kingdoms, Sendai had gotten boozed up with Tex, and he’d had a couple of herbs...

“And you’re eating well?”

“A dozen bowls of rice, at least.” Wei smiled, nodding.

... but he’d eaten almost nothing. Sendai sucked down a breath and nodded. “Good. That’s very good. I, uh. Need to get to my other appointment, but you were very helpful.”

“Thank you for your assistance, senior brother,” the pair said in unison, bowing.

Kibble rattled into Mancini’s feeding bowl, and the cat just glared at it. Then at Sendai. Then back at the bowl, and he put one slate grey paw down on the bowl’s rim and gave it a flick, scattering pebbles of food across Sendai’s real-world bedroom floor.

“Aw come on, Mancini. I’ll get you the good stuff next week, I promise.”

“Mrraahr.” The cat put his foot down, or his paw. Looked up distrustfully at Sendai, then over at the kitchenette.

The cupboard was bare, except for a few bricks of soy based meal replacements.

“You had your last can of cat food yesterday. There’ll be more on Monday, promise.” He crouched down, picking up kibble piece by piece and tossing it back into the bowl.

It wasn’t enough for Mancini, though. He turned around with a flick of his tail, hopped up onto the open windowsill, and casually strutted off along the balcony. A quick hop over to the neighbour’s, and no doubt he’d go find a meal with some other resident of the block.

Sendai got up and leaned against the window, watching his cat walk away. “Mancini! Aw, come on. Don’t be a dick.”

The cat responded by dropping down onto someone else’s balcony, several doors down, and vanishing.

“Fuck.”

He dipped back online, getting into an armchair before fully focussing on the house with Arel and Uchi.

At least his social avatar didn’t show the damage, still had all its teeth. He’d have to change his W8K settings if he wanted to display as anything but pristine.

“Mancini walked out on me,” he said. “Didn’t want kibble.”

Arel’s expression tightened up. “I’ll send him something in the next care package. First thing tomorrow. It should only take a day. Might even be there tomorrow night.”

Sendai sighed, got off the couch as the colouring of his avatar returned to full strength, and paced around their living room. The plywood covering the gaps was still unsightly, at least to him, but at least the three of them were together. “I feel bad for not feeding him.”

“He’ll come back. Kitties always do.” Uchi’s avatar re-coloured, before dipping back to ghost white as she took a bite of her breakfast in real life. “How’s it going in the Eight Kingdoms?”

Sendai lifted a hand, wobbled it non-commitally while pacing. “I made myself look stupid, but it’s going okay. Get paid in a couple days, not much, but at least chores around the sect beat full time mining.”

“Yeah,” Uchi agreed.

“You wanna try it out? Or are you having more luck in JourneyFleet?”

Uchi grimaced, before dipping out for another spoonful of cereal, or whatever she was having. “It sucks. All the guild leaders are nakedly sociopathic assholes,” she said, before pulling up a window. Navigating to the Wind of the Eight Kingdoms guide.

Arel yawned, before looking up to check their video screen – displaying all three of their disparate time zones. “I need to get to bed, but. But. The alchemy systems in 8K look fascinating, but I can’t quite my head around them...”

Sendai paused in his pacing to lean over and kiss the top of Arel’s head. “Straight to bed?”

“Mhm,” she agreed.

Uchi reached out to briefly squeeze Arel’s ankle. “G’night.”

Arel smiled back. “See you two in the morning,” she said, and she logged out right there – her avatar’s colours losing their vibrancy until her avatar was grey-white, then fading into the shadows.

Uchi returned her attention to the screen and lifted her eyebrows. “One of the Kingdoms is like Japan?”

“Mhm. The Kingdom of Eight Islands, although I think they only control seven right now. The Territory Of Azure Hills – Korea – took one over.”

She perked up immediately, eyes almost glowing at the window hovering in front of her. “I’m signing up right now. Gotta check that out.”

Sendai came around, leaning on the back of her chair. He squinted. “You’re signing up to start in the Eight Islands.”

“Of course.”

He pointed at the map. “I’m over there, in the border kingdoms.”

“In pretend-China. Come on, Sen. I need my Katanas.” Uchi waved her hands, like slicing and dicing with a sword.

“I can’t take this and Mancini walking off on me,” he groaned, and slumped back onto the couch.

“Oh come on, it’s not so bad. You could reroll and join me?” she offered, biting her lip.

“I already got a position. One that pays. Over in the Eight Islands it’s purely feudal. You have to sign on with one of the daimyo, and they only pay you in rice and stuff. It’s tricky to cash back out into N-bux.” He sighed. “That’s why I went to the border kingdoms.”

She got up and moved closer, depositing herself in his lap. Blinked at him sweetly. “Is there quick travel?”

“It’s expensive. Takes awhile to get, and the skills for it are... esoteric.”

“We can meet up in private instances, right?” She gently prodded him in the chest, rhythmically, as if locked in deadly battle. “They got that? For private duels? Play dates?”

“Yeah. Pretty affordable for temporary ones. There’s also floating houses, but... We won’t see much of each other if you’re that far away.”

“We’ll still have our house here.” Uchi smiled at him.

“We will,” Sendai agreed.

“And if Arel likes the Alchemy, she’ll come along too.”

Sendai nodded slowly. “Also true.”

“And then you’ll have me, and Arel, and you’ll only need one more thing, Sen.” She grinned, fiercely.

“And what’s that?”

She grabbed his flat crotch and squeezed. “A dick.”

Anticipation welled up in him, but so did a little worry.

If Mancini was walking out because Sendai couldn’t give him tuna, what would Arel and Uchi do if he couldn’t give them... him?