Slam!

Slam!

Slam!

“I can almost do it.”

Slam!

Slam!

Slam!

My foot vibrated with a power that caused the Mars-like ground to crack as I hit it.

Tch.

I slammed my foot one last time, then sat down as I imagined the previous sensations of melding my vibrations into the sword. To move the vibrations with something tough was a challenge in itself. It was comparably easier to do it with my muscles.

I didn’t imagine that even harder than that was vibrating the soft dirt.

“I want to earth bend!” Memories from my childhood welled up inside me as I shouted out.

I had no interest in shooting fire from my fingertips or making water freeze with a touch. But what I really wanted to do was to terraform the earth around me.

Unfortunately, the earth was as stubborn as I was.

The broken sword was compact. All of its components were refined so that they were tightly packed together, making moving the thing more straightforward than when I sent the vibrations into the earth. When the vibrations travelled through the dirt, the little particles separated instead of clinging together.

“Am I approaching it wrong? What if I establish a base?”

I thought about how my muscles let the vibrations run along them. How the muscle attached to my shoulder vibrated from the muscles along my chest, and so forth. What if I made two contact points and then tried to raise the earth?

“Is that why they stomp instead of hit the ground?”

That train of thought led to the current moment, where I slammed my foot into the ground, causing a mini shockwave of rocks from my foot. It was only about a meter wide, but it was progress! Kind of. I could expand the vibrations out, but that wasn’t pushing the dirt up.

I tried to dig my fingers into the ground and vibrate it up in a table flip motion, but the dirt slipped through my fingers like sand.

Sigh.

“At least my control over the vibrations is improving,” I reassured myself.

I looked back at the cracks and divots I had made from beating up the earth and smiled with a brief joy. The damage I left behind meant I could track my way back to the violet pool cave whenever I needed.

“Though it is strange that the dirt is turning violet… am I cursed? Will everything I touch turn to violet?”

“Likely not.”

My eyebrows scrunched together for a moment. Was that a voice? Did I hear voices again? I was too far away for the skeleton’s voice to reach me…

“How interesting. Being near you makes my scar itch.”

I turned to the source of the voice, and my eyes widened with shock.

“I honestly thought it would just be more of the beasts down here causing a mess, but here you are, banging away for everyone to hear. Could you be more of an idiot? Once you’re found, everyone above will want to kill you.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The man that called me an idiot was dressed in crimson robes and had one of the odd masks that spewed out crimson particles to combat the violet mist.

He was a Bloodthorne Sect Cultivator.

And based on the embroidered vines along the edges of his robes, he was likely of a higher status than the weak outer disciples. My instincts warned me this man wasn’t as simple as the trio I had defeated.

“I won’t give them that honourable chance.”

Moreover, he was able to sneak up on me without noticing. Then again, it’d be hard to notice anything when I was banging away at the ground…

…Like an idiot.

“Damnit—”

My head dodged out of the way as a bullet of compressed water shot past it. I ducked and rolled as two more immediately headed my way, courtesy of the Bloodthorne Cultivator with a vengeful look in his scarred eye. I dodged two more water bullets and noticed how they blasted and crushed the rocks behind me into pieces.

Nice, good to know they do that.

“Die!”

The Bloodthorn Cultivator, let’s call him Scar since he had that terrible scar. Anyways, Scar punched the air a few times, blasting water spheres toward me that were – you know it – tinted red.

I don’t think I'll like violet or red after all this. Why couldn’t it have been blue? Isn’t water supposed to be blue?

“Quit running away!” Scar shouted at me.

“I’m not running away! I’m…”

I noticed how I hid behind the stray boulders, slipping farther and farther away from the comparably slower Scar. Despite seeming well-built underneath all that robe, he wasn’t as fast as the chubby me, which was strange.

“…Well, actually, I guess I am running away.” I felt a pang of guilt as I thought about how my first instinct was to run away.

I hadn’t run away against the horned bramble dog. In fact, that was a fight that I had willingly stepped into. But then, why was I instinctively running from this one?

“Get back here!” Scar yelled as he slipped further behind.

“I’ll be back! I have to figure out something first!” I yelled at Scar, who responded with a bucket list of profanities.

*****

I like to think of this as a tactical retreat.

I watched as Scar revelled in the bloodlust he caused. Or maybe, the bloodlust I caused, though I still didn’t know what caused him to pursue me with such intensity.

“WHERE ARE YOU, VIOLET BRAT!”

His water bullets put holes through the regular bramble dogs and were numerous enough to kill off swarms of the bramble bats due to his consecutive fast punches. How the water instantly condensed on his fists and shot off like a rocket was impressive. I could tell he had trained that move a lot.

“I’m not jealous…” I pouted a bit with my lip.

Thankfully, Scar skipped leg day.

He reminded me of a stationary gatling gun, not letting his enemies get too close and attacking them from afar with a storm of watery bullets.

There were only two things that his approach lacked: stealth and movement.

Grrrr.

For instance, he didn’t notice the horned bramble dog sneaking behind him. With a single pounce, the horned bramble dog flared its claws and pierced Scar’s back.

“DAMNIT!”

“Oh. So, he isn’t afraid of stealth.” I murmured.

I watched the claws that cut through my skin so quickly, scratch against his robes with little to no effect. It only resulted in a dull blow that sent Scar rolling a bit to deflect the blunt force.

Those robes were going to be a problem. Or maybe, they wouldn’t? I feel like my vibrations could pass through cloth armour. And the robe didn’t cover his entire body; it exposed his hands, feet and head.

…

I continued to follow Scar, listing down his weaknesses and strengths. Where his temper lay and how he reacted to certain things. One thing to note was the way he killed everything in his path.

Which meant I was getting a free farm to harvest donut mushrooms with. I gathered as many as possible, but the little guys occupied too much room in my robe’s pockets. If even one attack hit me, I’d look like a blueberry from the burst liquid.

“Heh.”

I imagined what I’d look like as a blue…

Am I going crazy?

“No, no, no. Let’s not go down that path.” I told myself. Instead, I focused back on Scar.

…

Scar fished a container from his pockets, and a smooth pop followed. With a lightning-fast motion, the yellow pill inside was quickly consumed, and Scar put his mask back on. Afterwards, he rattled the bottle in front of him and angrily spoke.

“Damned sect provisioner won’t give me enough Food Fasting Pills to last down here. I’ve got to hurry up and find that violet brat.”

My eyes squinted slightly from my nearby perch as a thought came to mind. Hmmm… I could use that to my advantage.

*****

Scar looked around the area with a burning vigilance. He had already been attacked by many bramble beasts, and even though he relished the chance to fight, he had a better opponent in mind.

“Where is that violet brat?”

Scar’s hand moved towards his face. His scar still ached from that day many moons ago when their fourth sect sister, Gou Jing, betrayed the Bloodthorne Sect and colluded with their eternal nemesis.

“How did a violet earth bastard even get down here? I thought we killed all the ones in our area alongside Gou Jing.” Scar murmured to himself and shook his head. It didn’t matter; he would kill the young cultivator and be rewarded by the sect for his brave efforts.

“He’s young and foolish, too. He’s probably cowering somewhere, ready to give up.” Scar spoke with a confidence that didn't match his skill.

“I wouldn’t count on it.”

Scar turned around on his heels and backpedalled as fast as he could, but it was too late. The roughened hands of an earthen cultivator grasped for his head.