Ace looked to the sky, unsure if he was seeing things correctly. If he was, he didn’t know how well it would bode for him.

“Is that a storm?” He said worriedly. “Cause’ if it is, it might be game over for me.”

Perring a little more deeply at the situation that was unfolding in front of him. He was able to spot the mast of gray that seemed to be slowly thickening on the horizon. Which, by the way, was in strange contrast to the clear blue surroundings around him. A contrast, which by and large, became particularly apparent when streaks of what reassembled golden lightning began raining down from that gray area, also accompanied by large tornados and claps of thunder even Ace was able to hear.

However, the freak incident soon passed and began dissipating into the environment, with the sky once again turning a nice vibrant blue, so he continued his journey onwards.

For Ace, it had only been two days since he left the security of the cave and in those two days had become accustomed to life on the mountain. He had managed to navigate down to the flatter grounds of the river, making travel much easier. During the days he would cover a ton of ground, occasionally stopping to find a place to rest or warm up if there was a fissure to seek refuge in. When thirsty, he would hack away at the thinner portions of ice on the river, before drinking the water deep inside, sometimes just munching down on the ice fragments.

Overall, yeah, it had been a shitty couple of days, but it wasn’t all doom and gloom. As of now, Ace could visibly tell he was nearing the edges of the mountain's domain. All the mountains weren’t stacked in clumped-up rows anymore, and there were more just stand-alone peaks than clusters. Hell, the mystical sky islands weren’t even taking up big parts of the sky anymore, only a few minuscule ones still floated overhead, and far in the distance, he couldn’t see any.

And today, the day had only just started, with good fortune, he might even make it out before sun fall. Time to head right towards the magic shitstorm, I suppose.

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Bao Feng, stirred from his slumber, clutching his spear in hand.

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Ace crested the hill, heaving heavily with exertion, he stared at the sight in front of him, eyebrows shooting up at breakneck speeds. “Oh dear,” Baffled, he continued. “Well… that's not what I was expecting.

Covering the entire left side of the riverbank in front of him, were the strewn-out corpses of thousands of soldiers, every single one of them was covered in devastating burns and snow. Weapons were sticking out of the ground like lost children’s toys and the potent smell of death and suffering hung rampant in the air. Not only that, but Ace could feel the Qi in the air practically buzzing with action, more so than anything he had ever felt before.

Ace shuffled uncertainty through the chaotic scene, apprehensively taking his sweet time navigating through the catastrophe. He wasn’t a hardened war veteran or anything like that, he had seen dead animals before, but there was nothing to prepare him for the sight of people. Real people who had had their lives taken away just like that. These were people he might have known someday, but he would never know them, not now, not ever. Queasy, Ace picked up the pace, rushing to escape the tragedy, before he was struck by a grim thought.

I’m going to need all the help I can get out here, sorry man. Ace leaned over to take a sword lying on the snow, still intact. Breathing in deeply, he grabbed the shaft of a well-constructed spear, embellished with blue and gray strips of cloth that a warrior was still gripping fiercely.

Ace tried to not pay attention to the person’s features, he really did, but he failed. He saw his midnight black hair, neatly shaven beard, hardened features, and stone-colored eyes that roved over his body, judging him, and deeming him lacking.

Wait a minute, he stared at his eyes, holy shit, that guy is still alive.

The stoney-faced man let out a weak cough and seemed to attempt to say something, before giving up and closing his eyes again. Okay, yeah, uh, alive for sure.

Ace frowned and inspected the person’s body, searching for any large wounds or blood. He seemed to be fine, so he spent the better part of thirty minutes dragging him out of the bloody war zone and into the less filthy snow. His eyes roved all over his plated armor, it had tufts of wooly fur jutting out of the chinks of his armor. His breastplate was adorned with various medals and badges, signifying to Ace that whoever he was dealing with, was definitely not a low-ranking grunt of whatever part of the army was sent here.

It was a nerve-racking long while he spent waiting for him to wake, but when the man did, he got to talking.

The gray-eyed individual sat up with a groan, exhausted and strained from the presumed battle. An assumption he made based on the variation in armor designs, some people were adorned with similar armor. Others wore more animal hide-based coverage. It indicated that this wasn’t some unexpected accident or anything of the like.

He felt the other individual’s eyes burning holes through his skull, so he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even get a word out, the warrior talked. “What is your name?”

Ace stumbled out the gate. “Uh, why do you want to know? Stranger.”

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The man’s eyebrows furrowed. “I would like to come to know the name of the person who helped me out of this mess.”

“Uhm, yep, that makes sense,” Ace mumbled, his face reddening. “My name’s Ace, what about yourself?” Wow, it is cold out, that’s totally why I’m bright red right now.

The man drew himself together, stating. “Thank you, Ace. And I am Colonel Bao Feng, leader," He cast a glance around himself, visibly deflating. “Former leader of this battalion.”

Fuck, what do I say. Ace said. “It’s alright man, you’re safe now at least.”

Bao gazed at him with eyes void of any form of joy. “You don’t understand half of it. Anyway, where are you from Ace?”

“I’m not from around here,” He said guardedly. Sure, he could be completely transparent and say he was from another world, but–

Bao interjected his thoughts. “Another world, may haps,” he smiled amusedly. “Don’t worry, it’s not anything to be concerned about sharing. I assume you were part of the most recent System Initiation, then?”

Ace, completely thrown off balance, asked in askance. “How the hell did you know that?”

Bao cocked an eyebrow. “Well, based on a few things: the way you talk, carry yourself, the fact you have no business being out here in that ridiculous outfit with your low stage of cultivation, you also keep staring at me like I couldn’t possibly exist, but mainly because I can see your Initiation title,” He rapidly listed.

“How can you see my stats? That’s unfair,” Ace added as an afterthought. “And my clothes are great. Thank you very much.”

Bao answered. “I can see parts of your status because my system is a tier higher than yours. At tier two you unlock the ability to Identify, which allows you to learn additional details about people, items, plants, and all sorts of matter as long as they have a lower system tier than yourself. I can only see your Name, Level, Sub-Level, Titles, and Race, excluding any bloodline shenanigans.”

Ace nodded. “I see, yeah, no bloodlines here,” Race: Human / ??? (T1). Hey, I really had no idea what the question marks were for… until now.

He inquired. “What stage of cultivation are you? What stages are there? Why are you here? How far are we from civilization?”

Bao Feng blinked slowly. “You should know something. It is considered incredibly rude to ask such personal questions, young Ace.” He bore holes into his eyes as if waiting for him to apologize.

“Uh-huh, right, and I bet it’s also considered incredibly rude to look at someone's status without permission. So, what stage are you at?”

Bao Feng sat in silence for a moment, before snorting. “I was at the Body Attunement stage, only recently advanced. And before you ask me again, the stages past Qi Gathering are as follows: Core Compaction, Body Attunement, and the Affinity Transcendence stage. What comes after is unnecessary for you to know and might do more harm than good if you did.”

That is not what I’m used to reading about in those Xianxia books. What the fuck does Affinity Transcendence mean. I’m not even sure what to think of the other two.

Bao continued, halting Ace’s desire to ask follow-up questions. “We are about five li from the nearest Drku settlement,” He scowled. “I was supposed to be here for a routine survey of the mountains to verify no Northmen or people belonging to any warlords were encroaching on our lands. But clearly, it didn’t pan out that way,” he gestured toward the ruined valley.

Ace finally got a word in edgewise. “It’s good that we’re not too far from a village or town, but you said you were at the Body Attunement stage. Past tense. Did something happen? Or….”

“Yes, I used to be. The reasons why I am not now are complex, to say the least, but know that you should not rely on me to be your saving grace in a life-or-death situation as I am now,” Bao Feng’s mouth set in a hard line. “And no, I will not talk about how I fell from Body Attunement. As, frankly, it isn’t a story I want to tell.”

Out of the blue, Bao Feng asked him something personal. “Ace, do you miss your family… from the other world?”

He almost declined to answer, chiefly because of the sudden well of emotions that had come up from inside him. It was always easier to take the easier route out and bottle it up, but he manned up. “Of course, not a day goes by where I don’t,” He sighed. “Here, though, between almost starving and trying to adapt to this new shitshow I found myself in; there’s not much time to think about family that couldn’t be spent trying to become strong enough to make ends meet.”

“Right, you miss them dearly,” Bao Feng waved at the battlefield. “And so do I. However, unlike you, I hope, my loss brings out the uncomfortable emotion of guilt from within me, deservedly so. My loss does this because I could have done something about it. If only I had not been a foolish leader. Always remember Ace, it wasn’t your fault that you were separated from your loved ones and that it isn’t your duty to dwell on it all of eternity; but instead, you must make do with your life here and grow strong enough, so that one day you might yet reunite.”

Ace looked numbly at the older man. “Ah, uhm, thank you man. That means a lot.” Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, fucking hell, settle down Ace.

Bao Feng nodded, rising to his feet, and twirling his long spear. “So, shall we resume your journey? All we need to do is go with the river and we might make it there by sundown. Ask me anything you so desire, I’m an open book,” He glanced at his attire. “Also, get rid of those stupid-looking clothes. Take these.” Out of thin air, an entire set of leathery, furry armor plopped into existence, equipped with a sword belt for his scavenged weapon. To go with it, was a simple cotton tunic, long pants, socks, leather gloves, and steel-tipped boots. All of this hovered in the air. Ace promptly snatched the new outfit up.

Oh boy, do I have questions for you, he analyzed the armor. How the fuck do I put this stuff on.

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A few minutes later and they were off.

Ace didn’t know everything about Bao Feng yet, far from it, but from what he did know, he seemed like a respectable guy. A worthy ally in this new world. Am I a worthy ally to him, he thought, peering at Bao out of the corner of his vision, probably not, but he’s gonna have to get used to it.