The two oxen noticed James and the others as it ran from the rodent. But instead of running from the cultivators the oxen charged straight to them. Sparks of electricity formed on the horns of both creatures, the ambient energy striking everything around them.

“Seok, soften the earth,” Nadia said.

The man nodded. He stomped and followed up by slamming the ground with both hands. The ground before him churned as if a plow ran through it. Nadia followed, spinning to douse the earth. The dirt changed to mud and the two oxen found their legs sinking into the earth.

“Fu, you’re next,” Nadia said.

The man nodded, twisting and expunging energy to grow thick vines that wrapped the oxen in place. Electricity sparked from the horns toward the vines, burning them away as the oxen tried to free themselves from the mud. Seok and Nadia continued to spread the muddy terrain, ensuring the two oxen would never escape.

The smarter of the two creatures saw this and tried to blast Seok with electricity, but the cultivator was too far away. The electricity arced into the ground and the oxen continued to struggle. Eventually, the two animals ran out of energy, their internal reserves petering out.

When they finally tired, Nadia stepped forward, stepping on the mud as if it were solid earth. The water around her hand swirled, thinning to the size of her finger as she came next to the oxen. She bowed to the creature and with one quick jab pierced the skull. The ox fell to the ground dead. The second followed shortly.

Nadia bowed to the animals after they perished. “May your spirits find peace,” she said.

James tilted his head curiously.

“She is showing respect to the animal,” Seok said on seeing James’s reaction.

“But, why?” James asked.

“Because, disciple, forgetting that we are taking life would lead one down a dangerous path,” Nadia said. “As such, we must respect and honor the dead. Now, come and learn how to dismantle this animal.”

James did so, moving to follow Seok as he came forward with a long knife. Fu raised the animals with his plants while Nadia removed several vials from her dimensional pouch. Seok sliced into the animal and Nadia used her water to direct the flowing blood for storage. The skin came next, cut with such precision James could believe a machine made the slices. Nadia and Fu helped, using their respective powers to separate flesh and bone until the entire animal had been taken apart.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to have a machine do this?” James asked.

“There are many who think as you do, disciple,” Nadia said. “The camps near the higher floors employ butcher servitors that dismantle beasts in seconds. However, the further you travel, the less you can rely on the technology of the cities.”

“Why?” James asked.

“Maintenance, mostly,” Seok explained. “Servitors have too many moving parts. The elements grind them down.”

After the last piece of animal was stored, Nadia stood. “Let us find the herd once more. There are still two more rodents.”

She looked at James. “Your paramour is a bright woman. I’m surprised she came up with this strategy.”

“It would take a mortal to notice,” Fu said.

“What’s that mean?” James asked.

“As cultivators we strive to better ourselves in all things. A herd of Electrum Oxen is a challenge. As a group they stampede lightning storms greater than three core metal practitioners. We see the herd and think of how to defeat the whole. It took your mortal lover to find they were afraid of Burrowing Rodents.”

“I’m still wondering how,” Seok said.

“Tsukiko says it was more luck than anything. She had to get a lot of different books to find the valuable beasts and came across the Burrowing Rodents. Then she noticed the oxen never went near the rodent’s dens,” James said.

Fu laughed merrily. “Luck, she says. Oh, if only she was younger and from SeeSee! I would apprentice her instantly with that kind of talent!”

“You could apprentice her now,” Nadia said. “There is nothing stopping you.”

“Alas, your difficulties have dissuaded me,” Fu said. “I was not born under a star of fortune such as yourself. No family would back me if I did as you.”

“Seems like a waste of talent,” James said as Seok picked him up again.

“A waste indeed,” Fu said. “But that is the way of things, and it is not my place to question.”

It sounded like an excuse to James, but he understood why Fu would want to keep his head down. Not everyone had the strength to stand against adversity like Nadia. At least he was willing to help her in the hunt.

A thought came to James. “Master, can I ask a possibly dangerous question?”

“Speak, disciple,” Nadia said.

“Why doesn’t everyone learn cultivation? Couldn’t the empire have daily practice to give everyone the Metastate?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Ah, a grand question indeed,” Fu said. “Your disciple enjoys asking the difficult questions doesn’t he?”

“Don’t make fun of him,” Seok said.

Fu opened his mouth in shock. “I was not making fun!”

“To answer your question, disciple,” Nadia started, “it is because of the difficulty in cultivation. Not all are as gifted as you, and not all are great teachers. The more students, the less time a teacher has for each one, increasing the time it would take for a disciple to learn. Add the inexperience of a master and it might take more than a lifetime of teaching.”

“It’s why we pick the talented,” Seok said.

“Or those with the money to extend their lives,” Fu said flippantly.

James nodded, but felt something was wrong about the argument. However, he wasn’t skilled enough to understand exactly what felt wrong about it.

“You are correct that the thought is dangerous,” Nadia said. “Not in wondering why there aren’t more cultivators, but in stating the empire would teach. Many of the families would see such an act from the empire as a play for power.”

“But the families are part of the empire,” James said.

“Yes, but they are also separate in a way. Cultivators can not be held to the same standards as mortals. Laws for cultivators are stricter, and at the same time looser. If the empire started training cultivators, they would see their laws in jeopardy and react.”

“Sounds petty,” James said. “They could just train more of their own cultivators.”

“Perhaps,” Nadia said. “But the current peace lasts because of it. No one wants to upset the proverbial apple cart.”

Conversation halted as the group again reached the herd. Work moved swiftly, the group collecting and dismantling four more Oxen.

“That should be enough,” Nadia said after the last was dismantled. “No reason to hunt the Oxen to extinction.”

“A shame,” Fu sighed. “The herd is enough credits to fund my lifestyle sixteen times over.”

James couldn’t help but ask. “Why sixteen?”

“It’s large enough to be surprising but small enough to not exaggerate,” Fu said with a wink.

“He uses it all the time,” Seok complained. “Sixteen times stronger, sixteen women at once, sixteen deadly techniques.”

“And all are true,” Fu said. “I know six—“

A soft grunt of surprise escaped Fu’s lips, and then there was a thump. Everyone turned. James recoiled.

Fu lay on the ground, his legs completely gone. Silver-red blood ran from each end, quickly mixing with the earth below. Fu, disbelieving, hesitantly brought a hand down to touch his stump. When he felt his fingers slick with blood, he whimpered.

“Oh, scrap.”

“Fu!” Seok shouted.

The earth cultivator stomped on the ground, sending vibrations down into the soil. His eyes widened as he caught a speeding missile clawing upward.

“Jump!” he shouted.

James obeyed, springing as high as he could into the air. He heard the soft sound of loose earth falling, and then felt a tug on his shoe. He landed, feeling the soft earth on his toes.

Surprised at the feeling, James looked down to see his right shoe torn at the bottom, the sole ripped completely away.

“James!” Nadia shouted.

“I’m alright,” James answered. He looked around. “What’s attacking us?”

“Terra Tiger!” Seok roared. “They burrow through the earth to stalk their prey. Jump!”

James entered the Metastate, using all his power to launch himself higher then he ever thought possible. A whiff of air tickled his exposed foot. He looked down to see a striped predator, front paws extended toward James. Each claw refracted the glowing light above, revealing their crystalline nature.

Nadia attempted to intercept the tiger as it fell. Torrents of water flew upward as she tried to hold the tiger aloft on water pressure alone. The tiger swiped at the fountain, slicing through it with its diamond-hard claws and landing back on the earth. It sank like a stone in water, vanishing below the ground.

“Get close,” Nadia instructed. James and Seok obeyed, rushing to Nadia as she moved toward Fu. The wounded cultivator was giggling like a madman, the shock of it all too much to bear.

“Heehee, I should of put roots down! Me, the wandering hunter!” The delirious man exclaimed.

The grass cultivator slammed the ground, shooting greenery upward to wrap around his legs to staunch the bleeding. More plants grew, wrapping around Fu’s torso and picking him off the ground.

“It’s coming again!” Seok shouted.

They were almost at Fu as Seok yelled. Nadia stopped, wrapping her, Seok, and James in a whirling dome of raging water. Nadia concentrated, using her powers to churn the waters until they sliced anything that got too close. James watched as the dome dug into the ground around them, creating a swift moat none could cross. Despite the collected earth, Nadia had enough power to clear some of the water around them, revealing the outside.

The tiger had appeared just as Seok shouted, but it seemed to instinctually understand Nadia’s dome would harm it. The animal didn’t jump, choosing instead to prowl around the dome. James caught diamond teeth to match the animal’s claws, not to mention the dark stripes that looked to be made of obsidian. Nadia grimaced as it flicked its tail back and forth, content to wait until Nadia tired.

Fu, however, wasn’t. The tiger had stopped paying attention to the wood cultivator after removing his legs, likely thinking the attack would remove the man from the fight. Gritting his teeth, the plant cultivator stabbed both hands into the blood-soaked earth around him. Sprouts grew, silvery red leaves appearing in droves. Fu pulled, lifting the plants out of their earthen prison and whipping them at the tiger.

The animal noticed the attack as Fu pulled, diving into the earth to avoid the incoming plants. Fu hissed in pain as he twisted, wrapping the plants around him until he resembled a tumbleweed. The tiger breached the earth, a missile on track to eliminate Fu completely. It flew over the bramble, swiping with its claws to shear the plants away. Fu simply regrew them.

Nadia released her shield of protection, moving forward while the tiger soared overhead. She reached Fu’s barrier as the tiger landed.

“Fu, we’re here!” she shouted.

The cultivator didn’t seem to hear. James caught pieces of incoherent babble from inside the plants.

“Seok, break the ground,” Nadia said.

“The tiger has more control than I,” Seok said. “Breaking won’t stop its journey.”

Nadia frowned and turned back to Fu’s barrier. “Fu! Let us in!”

The barrier refused to open. Cursing, Nadia turned to Seok.

“Get James out of here,” she said.

“What, no!” James shouted.

“You are no match for this animal and I cannot protect you like this,” Nadia said.

“It was going after me earlier,” James tried to argue. “If I run it follows.”

“Jump!” Seok shouted.

The trio dodged the incoming attack, Nadia conjuring a barrier of water below to blunt the attack. James watched as the tiger slowed just enough as it sliced through the simple protection. Again the claws fell short.

“This is not up for debate,” Nadia said as they landed. “I can distract it before it chases again. Seok.”

James felt the intent and stepped out of Seok’s reach.

“This is not the time to be stubborn,” Nadia argued.

“I have an idea,” James said. “Hear me out first.”

They jumped once more, James explaining his plan as they landed.

“Absolutely not,” Nadia said.

“Master, I know you have the control for this,” James said.

“You are my disciple, I am to protect you,” she said.

“Master, please. Just trust me,” James said.

He looked to Seok. The stony man looked to Nadia.

“You know it is better odds than you alone,” the man said.

Nadia stared at Seok icily, but he stood strong. Eventually, she melted.

“Fine. But I am punishing you for this later, disciple,” she said.

James nodded. “I can live with that.”