“What are you?” Leon asked the little panther cub.

Pete didn’t say anything for obvious reasons, choosing to sniff his fingers instead as he half climbed up the log they were all sitting on. Leon had recently eaten a stick of biltong so the scent of dried meat was probably lingering on him. It was around noon, meaning that all three of them were resting on a golden log before they went back to hiking until night fell again.

Pulling out another stick of biltong from his storage ring, Leon handed the dried meat to the little panther cub.

He was getting bigger now, closer to a small dog than a kitten. His fur was also turning a bit more red. There were very few differences between him and an adult panther, but if he had to pick the most obvious one, it would be that Pete was more elegant and slender. Of course, that could change a lot as he matured.

A human baby looked very different to an adult man.

Leon tried to use True Sight again. The skill activated as Pete went to town on the dried meat, but it failed just like it always did. Somehow, Pete had complete immunity to scanning abilities. It definitely wasn’t some universal ability that all panthers had because Leon had never failed to scan one before, and neither had Sophia.

She had a rare identifying skill that only worked with dream Qi. It was far better than Leon’s, and while he couldn’t learn it due to his lack of dream aspected Qi, he didn’t need to. Sophia could identify things for him and then share the information by sharing the notification. And yet, her skill also came up with nothing, the System completely blocked from sharing any information about the little guy.

It wasn’t a problem of knowledge. If Leon didn’t know what he was scanning, the System would usually put what he knew into words and then add on a few more details for him to look into. A red mushroom with white spots? It’s obviously a [Spotted Mushroom].

Pete rubbed his face into Leon’s knee, his purring so loud that it woke him from his thoughts. Leon held out another stick of biltong for him to gently take with his mouth.

He’d accidentally trained him to go hunting. Not for squirrels or anything like that, but something much better. In one alchemy session, Pete had tried to eat one of the Bloodroot Berries. Leon scolded him, of course, and then he gave him a piece of biltong to distract him before telling the cub that the berries were special. He understood and didn’t try to eat one a second time.

The next thing he knew, Pete had one in his mouth again. Leon was about to scold him when Claire said that he hadn’t touched his stuff. The cub made a few strange gestures so they followed him until they came upon a bushel of Bloodroot Berries. Showered with praise, biltong, and cuddles, Pete became the official gatherer of the group.

It was good that they were collecting a lot of berries now, Leon’s storage ring filling up faster than he could use the berries up. Their time in the outer realms was coming to a close as they got closer and closer to doing a complete loop around the Central Plane. Sadly, it looked like there was going to be no escape. They would have to go to the mountain and search there. The journey would be dangerous according to the girls, which was part of the reason why they were all hesitant to go, but at least he would get a chance to absorb the power in the mountain.

Just walking to it would change him in ways he couldn’t imagine, so he was quite excited despite the danger.

Leon sipped on his water and put it away, ready to keep moving. The girls were still eating though so he took the chance to go over the changes to his status.

Status

Name: Leon Hartwell

Stage: Middle Foundation Forging

Race: [Mortal] Human | Blood Fiend

Level: 8

Titles: First Step, Prodigy III, Inspired III, Executioner IV, Refined, Disciple of Fire, Ascended IV, Transmuted, Disciple of Will, Lesser Spiritual Tribulation, Tempered.

Mind: 7.98

Body: 9.48

Spirit: 15.85

Skills

Reactive Strike (R), True Sight (Un), Flame Control (Un), Sundering Strike (R), Strengthen (R), Alchemical Purification, Essence Infusion, Fortify, Sharpen, Celerity.

Bloodline of the Crimson Fiend (Lesser)

Devour

His Spirit stat had skyrocketed, rising by over ten points thanks to the Boundless Spirit Nectar. It had gone from his worst stat to his best, but while it was the highest for now, it wasn’t growing as quickly as Mind or Body. His Body stat was rising the fastest while his Mind was a close second. The numbers would eventually return to some kind of equilibrium when his Body and Mind overtook his spirit.

If the situation was the opposite, and his stats were only getting further apart, he wondered if the imbalance would cause problems. Perhaps his Spirit could become so potent that if he channelled some Qi into his flesh, it would tear him apart from the inside? He was feeling a touch of strain already. It wasn’t anything more than a slight pressure when he pulled Qi out of his channels and into his body, but it would be there until his stats began to balance themselves out.

His Body stat was rising the fastest due to his Devouring, but the panthers were becoming less effective for him. He was likely approaching some kind of limit. The human body could only get so strong, after all. And while cultivation raised that limit, he was realistically still a human being. There were likely similar limits to his Mind and Spirit. They were both growing from his alchemy and the puzzle cube with his mind a little bit faster due to the stat being lower.

It also didn’t help that as his body got stronger, the panthers became less effective. They were all very similar in level. Most of them were below level nine while all of them were of common rarity. True Sight didn’t pick up their level of course, but Sophia’s skill did.

He was making great progress in finding his Path as well. Qi Bullet had been changed to Reactive Strike, the new skill essentially the same as the original. The major difference was that it was channelled through his sword. He also couldn’t shoot it at a distance even though it was a skill based loosely on Palm Strike, which was now also gone.

But even with the changes, they weren’t actually that different. Palm Strike was a Qi projection of his palm while Sundering Strike was based on the same idea, only with a sword.

Leon hummed as the girls packed up, wondering if he could reorganise his status somehow. He had alchemy skills mixed in with his combat skills, making Flame Control look strange when it was nestled in the middle. Leon blinked as his status changed. As quickly as the thought came, his skills rearranged themselves.

Combat Skills

Reactive Strike (R), True Sight (Un), Sundering Strike (R), Strengthen (R), Fortify, Sharpen, Celerity, Sundering Strike (R).

Alchemy Skills

Flame Control (Un), Alchemical Purification, Essence Infusion.

Leon nodded, wondering if he would eventually change things back. He only had three alchemy skills, and for all he knew, he may never add another to his repertoire. It looked good for now so he would have to change things as he went. Besides, appearances weren’t that important. Efficiency was the stuff that could save lives.

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Finally, they moved on until night began to fall. Leon helped the girls set up camp before Claire dragged him away.

“So, what’s going on?”

Claire had grabbed onto his arm and was now pulling him through the forest, both details making him a little nervous.

“I have a problem,” Claire said, spinning around as she suddenly stopped, “and it’s kind of embarrassing. Honestly, you’re the only one who can help me.”

Leon blinked. “Okay…”

“Alright, I’m just going to come out and say it,” Claire said, heaving a sigh. “I can’t figure out how to make my Qi blow up!”

“Uh, didn’t you already learn how to do Qi Bullet? The mechanism is basically the same thing.”

“I did, but after the first time I did it, I couldn’t pull it off again. I can form the skill and compress my Qi, but it won’t go boom.”

“That’s very odd. I’ll obviously try to help you, but I can’t guarantee that my advice will fix things. It seems to be a mindset issue on your part so it’s really all up to you.”

“I already kind of knew that, but knowing the problem and how to fix it are two different things.”

Once Claire finished explaining her experiences in more detail, they moved deeper into the forest. While out of earshot, they were still close enough to smell Sophia’s cooking. Leon used Reactive Strike, stabbing his sword into the trunk of a tree. There was a small bang that reminded him of a firecracker going off followed by a shower of wood chips and bark.

The wood stung his skin, but it didn’t leave any damage so he ignored it.

“Figure it out yet?”

Claire glared at him, clearly not finding his joke funny.

“You’ve seen what my skill can do. I’ve explained my thought process and visualisations. All you need to do now is compress your Qi and force it to expand as rapidly as you can. Think you can give that a try?”

“Yes, boss.”

Claire hopped up and began cycling her Qi. It flowed around her body as she carefully funnelled it into the head of her spear. Once she was ready, her spear flew out and her Qi shifted. It was compressed into the tip of her spear like it was supposed to, but as her spear dug into the trunk, it simply flowed out in a breeze rather than erupt.

Leon asked her to relay what she experienced before he asked her to try again. There was no trick to making it ‘explode’. There was no genuine detonation, after all. At least not a chemical explosion like he was familiar with.

The first step to using the skill was to shove enough Qi into the tip without letting any of it leak out. Since the battles were usually fast, that meant pushing Qi in while he was thrusting his weapon at the enemy. As a result, the Qi would rapidly increase in pressure to the point that giving it a way to escape out of the tip would create a rather large explosion.

Simply launching the Qi out was a common skill while his previous description was equivalent to an uncommon skill. Leon’s rare variant of Reactive Strike was to apply even more pressure during the detonation, essentially forcing the Qi to stay on the tip of his weapon as more power flooded out into the makeshift cage. The energies would overlap and become extremely unstable, and thus the explosion was born.

“Did you follow all of that?”

Claire scratched her head. “I have a sound understanding of the theory. Although I call myself the dumb one, that’s only in comparison to my sister. My problem is applying the theory.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about it, and I think you just suck at what I do.”

Claire rolled her eyes. “Thanks, that’s really helpful. Got any more insight into my issues?”

“No, I mean that I seem to have a knack for condensing my Qi. In order to make shit explode you have to condense your Qi first and then condense it again so that it collapses into a wave of force. You pulled it off once in a high-stress situation, which means you can do it again, but maybe you’re not suited for that style of skill if it isn’t coming easily. As I’ve been saying, you need to find an area you excel in. Have you found any part of your skills particularly easy to learn and use?”

“Not that I can think of. I understand what you’re saying but it doesn’t seem to be as easy as ‘just figure it out’.”

Claire sat against the tree and looked up at the sky. “Maybe I should ask Sophia for help.”

“Wouldn’t hurt. The kid is full of surprises.”

“Both of you are. You’re like the moon and the sun while I’m just a twinkling little star, destined to have my light drowned out by simply hanging around you two.”

“Or maybe we’ll pull you up with us.”

Claire smiled. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me. Sophia wouldn’t allow you to fall too far behind her.”

“She’s a good kid. I know I’m better than most at this cultivator business, but man is she incredible. Back when the school noticed she was abnormally bright, they had her go off to a local university where they did brain research. It must’ve been fun because she always came home with the biggest smile. After a few weeks of doing the study, I asked her why she liked going there so much.”

“Did they reward her sweets or something?”

“No, it turned out she hated it. Everything smelled like disinfectant, the rooms were colourless and without decoration, the building didn’t have enough windows, and the scientists were really strict and mean. I’m sure she would tell you a million other details if you asked her now, but that’s all I can remember.”

“That sounds rough for a child,” Leon said, coming to sit against the trunk beside Claire, “especially one that isn’t dumb enough to forget that kind of stuff when they grow up.”

“You know, I actually resented her at one point, but I didn’t even really know what the feeling was since I was so young. My parents simply had to pay far more attention to her. They never had time to attend my own kickboxing matches or plays, or whatever was important to me as a kid.”

Leon frowned. “How did you get past that resentment?”

“It went away when I asked Sophia why she loved doing the study,” Claire said, her smile like a blooming flower. “Whenever she came home, she would charge straight into me for a hug, sometimes even bowling me over. When I eventually asked her why she was so happy at the study, she explained that it actually sucked. I was obviously surprised. She looked absolutely ecstatic whenever she came home. I asked her why, and then she looked up at me with a big smile and said that she was ‘so happy to see me that she forgot to be sad’.”

“That’s so sweet,” Leon said, unable to hold back a smile of his own. “You know, you’re really lucky to have such a cute sibling.”

“Aren’t I?” Claire said, sitting up. “When she looked up at me with those big blue eyes, I just melted. How could I hate someone who loved me that much? You know what I mean?”

“No. No, I don’t think I do.”

Claire awkwardly chuckled and went silent, clearly realising that she had struck a nerve.

“I think I understand her a little better now,” Leon said, breaking the tension. “But I still don’t get why she was so happy for me to steal her elixir. I know it’s not a perfect analogy, but wouldn’t any normal person be furious when they give someone their lottery ticket and they actually win the jackpot?”

“First of all, Sophia isn’t a normal person. Can you imagine having your whole life defined by something you can’t control? Sure, you’re attractive and good at martial arts, but those are all good things. No one’s ever going to bully you for being a nerd.”

Leon ignored the compliments and nodded along.

“I mean, just imagine it. No one around you can empathise because they can’t understand what it’s like to be you. She’s so different that very few of their struggles apply to her, and even though we all feel the same emotions, that can make people like her feel disconnected since they can’t relate. At least that’s what she told me.

“And now everything has changed. Her stable life with her little problems is destroyed, leaving her family and friends as potential corpses. But in all of that, she finally meets someone else who can keep up with her in something that matters. No, not just keep up, but someone that’s as good if not better than her.”

Leon swallowed. “I never thought about it like that. No wonder she was so friendly when we first met. I wasn’t some stranger but a peer and a challenge to overcome.”

“That’s also why she was happy to help you out. Just when she’s found someone who can keep up with her, a ghost appears and tells her that she’s going to rise to the very top. That obviously cemented her fears. With her epic skills, overwhelming mental talent, and unusually fast cultivation speed, it was only a matter of time before she outpaced us both.

“With that elixir, however, you’ve firmly planted yourself ahead of her in at least a few categories. You’re all but guaranteed to rise along with her and continue to be someone she can look up to rather than look down at.”

“Around you, she’s not a super genius to be gawked at. She’s just another person. Wouldn’t you be happy as well?”