Ace awoke clutching a fistful of his sleeping bag and his head buried into his pillow.

With a long groan, he squirmed out of the confines of his sleeping bag and stretched all the kinks out of his body, before tiredly opening his system to look at his system stats, curious if any of the descriptions had changed with his advancements.

Ace blinked rapidly at the blue screens, his eyes still adjusting to the bright light. His Soul attribute was just as insightful as ever, with only a minimal switch in wording:

Soul: Shows the strength of your Soul

The rest of his stats, though:

Strength: This stat shows the level of ability you have in performing acts of physical power

Agility: This stat shows the level of ability you have in actions requiring speed, dexterity, and other feats of litheness

Endurance: This stat shows your ability to maintain stamina over prolonged periods

Toughness: This stat shows the level of protection your external skin and internal organs naturally have against physical or magical damage

Overall, the new things he had learned from his stats becoming readable were few and far between. Frankly, strength, agility, and endurance weren’t telling him anything he didn’t understand, just from the definition of the attribute’s name. Toughness, he supposed, was a nice confirmation of what he had initially hypothesized, in that it was a stat that denoted both the physical and magical sides of things. Whether that held for all of his attributes remained yet to be seen. He could ask Bao Feng about it, but even then he wasn’t guaranteed a straight answer.

Moving on to his mental stats.

Perception: This stat shows the level of ability you have in noticing things in the physical or mental world that others with a lower stat might not be able to pick up on

Willpower: This stat shows the level of control you can exert to accomplish something, or your ability to resist and overcome challenges

Processing: This stat shows how quickly your mind and body can process new sensory details and information

Once more, the crossover of mental and physical was starkly apparent to Ace, but overall, nothing new was there. Maybe there were some interesting specifics about the section… body can process new sensory details and information. But, for now, he wasn't really in the mood to delve into the details of it all.

His other stats, Spirit, Soul, and Potency were all sadly not inclined to showcase their meanings to him.

He selected his Soul Imprint:

Identify: This ability allows the user to identify the uses name, level, and rarity of living matter and inanimate objects. Identify will not work on all of the stated things in certain cases.

That is…. Incredibly helpful, actually.

Immediately, he shot out an Identify at one of Bao’s spears he had kept standing against the entrance.

Drku Military Spear - Level 0 - Common

This spear was crafted and distributed by the military of the Drku Kingdom to common soldiers and low-ranking officers. It is non-magical and prone to breaking against magical forces.

Ace was fascinated by the information. Unlike how the System usually distributed knowledge via the blue screens, this time, it felt as if the information had been directly implanted into his brain as soon as he Identified the weapon.

Next, was his very own ability.

Darkness Cloud - Meridians Required - 1

This technique summons a cloud of elemental darkness that shrouds the user completely from sight. The spherical radius depends on the amount of Qi imputed into the technique. Additionally, the cloud can bend and adjust to varying environments if needed. The effects will be diminished in areas of great light concentration and instances of magical interference. Furthermore, magical abilities or racial traits might negate the cloud’s obscuring properties.

He was happy to see his efforts had not gone to waste. The ability was everything he wanted, which made sense considering he’d poured all his intentions into it. It was a little less exciting to see that certain magical abilities could negate the effects. If he could create an opaque sphere of darkness that could cover an entire battlefield with enough Qi, it would be pretty unfair for everyone fighting him.

“Well,” Ace sighed and yawned. “Time to get on with the day.”

It was a slow challenge to stand up, but eventually, he started getting dressed in the strange cultivator robes that Bao Feng had bought for him way back in town. After he’d learned all the nuances regarding how to put them on, Ace found that he didn’t mind how they felt. They were a lot less restrictive on his movements than he had expected. Plus, they looked really fucking cool.

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After he got situated and brushed his teeth, Ace wandered over to the main campsite where Bao Feng was already at work cooking breakfast. “Sup, Bao.”

The man didn’t even turn to look at him, preoccupied with stirring the pot he was making a hot stew. “Good morning. We have but another day or two worth of travel to make it to Dongyin, but before I get into the details of the trip, tell me about yesterday, any questions you might have?”

“What’s potency?” He asked unhesitatingly.

Ace saw Bao Feng’s cheeks crease slightly from behind him, indicating that the man was smiling. “Ah, I had a feeling you would unlock it. Not everyone can, you know,” No, I don’t, he thought, amused at Bao’s theatrics, but nonetheless pleased. “Potency, at its core, denotes the strength of your Qi. Most people don’t even acquire the stat in their lifetimes, causing the stat to stay at an unseeable zero. Not bad by any means, merely the average, but nothing exceptional either. I assume you have a one in the stat from the imprinting of a meridian achievement? People without the stat get a point in Spirit from the achievement, in case you were interested.”

Ace’s eyebrows rose. “Yeah, I do. Do you have the stat as well?”

“Yes, I do,” Bao Feng confirmed. “Now, unless you have any more surprises for me, let me tell you about the plans for the next two days. Oh, and keep the details of your skill to yourself, it’ll be more exciting for me when we do spars with magic.”

He snorted. “Nah, I don’t. Tell me about your plans.”

“Here’s what I’m thinking. You need some serious boosts in your strength as you do not nearly have enough meridians opened. So, until lunchtime today, we will both cultivate. I want you to focus on opening new meridians, and, if you can, try to unlock Wind Qi. It’s one of my specialties. After we move on from the basic meridian imprints, I can teach you true Qi control.”

Ace chimed in. “Wait, what’s after meridian imprints? I thought it was the primary way to use magic?”

Bao Feng concurred. “It is, indeed. But, there are other… more flexible ways to use Qi than having a set pattern. Don’t ever think of them as useless or not needed. I can’t tell you the amount of predicaments that I have been fortunate enough to survive due to quick-to-use meridian imprints.”

He nodded, taking what Bao said to heart. “Alright, I get what you’re saying. What about after lunch.”

Bao Feng simply stated. “We run to Dongyin until we can’t.”

Ace didn’t even respond, rigidly sitting down on the log by the fire and aggressively grabbing a few spoonfuls of stew, before chowing down on it. Okay… this is pretty fucking good. I just can't wait to run to Dongyin and burn ALL of the calories from it.

“Are we really going to make it to Dongyin today?” He absentmindedly asked.

“No, most likely we will arrive tomorrow evening, but it will be good conditioning for you,” Bao Feng’s demeanor turned grave, glancing at Ace. “And if you are recruited, you must be ready for what is to come, for if you aren’t, you shall pay with your life.”

Ace shivered, and he was mildly confident that it was not from the ever-present, gnawing chill of the tundra. I don’t think I’m cut out for this war shit, he uncomfortably admitted to himself. For a moment, he stewed in silence with his thoughts, as he ate his stew, which ordinarily he would have made an internal pun about, but he wasn’t in the right mental state as of now.

He took a breather, before posing a question to Bao Feng he had been thinking about. “Why can’t you shield me from all this,” Ace struggled to come up with a word. “War shittery?”

Bao Feng set down his bowl of delicious stew, staring deep into Ace’s eyes. “I could,” He simply said. “But, in my 250 years on this planet, I have learned that no matter what you do, the evils of Weida will find you. No matter what happens, Ace, if you live long enough to see the world, you will face dangers that you cannot even measure the magnitude of.”

Ace frowned, about to speak, but Bao Feng struck first. “I don’t think you understand. When I was a young boy, I lived in a village right by the Violet Sea. It was a peaceful life, a good life. I was naive, but happy, until, one day, in this seemingly innocent and tame village, I returned to the sight of my entire village destroyed and massacred. I was fifteen. My brother, mother, father, and everyone I grew up with was dead. I only survived because I had left that morning to hunt for my family. Did I deserve such a fate? No, but fate has a way to toy with me either way.”

“Did you find out who did it,” Ace whispered, on the verge of shock from the story. He had never realized just how fucked up the world he was in was. Xianxia isn't all butterflies and rainbows, that much he should have anticipated.

Bao Feng’s wide smile didn’t quite meet his eyes. “Yes. Yes, I did. Suffice to say that the witch has been… removed from the equation.”

Ace’s spine tingled. While it did terrify him, Bao Feng’s story about his life shed some light on his companion and his actions. The unrelenting training regiment of the man wasn’t an unnecessary cruelty on his part; instead, it was his way of saying: you gotta get your shit together, man. Also-

Bao Feng interrupted his thoughts. “Shall we cultivate now? I know it may be hard to focus, considering what I told you, but it will be good practice to clear your mind.”

He almost laughed. Of course, it will be good practice.

“Sure, let's cultivate,” Ace considered adding more for a second, before going ahead. “Also, I’m deeply sorry about what happened to you.”

Bao Feng waved him off. “Thank you. But it is something I came to terms with many moons ago. Worse has happened to me,” He settled down onto the snow, lotus position style. Ace followed suit, finally having adopted the meditation position. Worse, he pondered. How could it get worse?

With a drawn-out sigh, Ace got to it. In… out. In…. out. He settled further into his mind, and with practiced ease, went into the cultivation world.