Pain or relief. Sorrow or joy. Boredom or Excitement. Nothing. She could feel nothing. Devoid of emotions. Almost inhuman. Observing everything dispassionately from afar as if what happened even to herself had nothing to do with her. Though her mother had a similar condition due to her alignment with ice and cold aspect Qi, for Cile it was worse. Much worse.

To make sure she would not be ostracized amongst other humans, her mother made sure she knew how human interactions worked and thus she knew how to act. She knew how to smile, her face blooming like a flower despite not knowing what happiness was. She knew what face to show when expressing sadness, her face wilting despite having no idea what sadness was. Excitement, boredom, everything. She was an actor capable of acting out any emotion as required despite not knowing what they actually were.

It was because of this that she was uncaring when she had been kidnapped, uncaring when she had been rescued, and uncaring even at this moment when her body was screaming in protest due to the intense physical and mental activity occurring at the same time. She carried on, knowing her body and mind could endure some more.

Ideas came and went, suddenly she grabbed a new one not letting it escape in the downpour of thoughts. ‘... So if I make them chaotic, matching the atmospheric Qi, it should be hidden completely?’ She quickly tested the idea and then tested it along with other improvements she had made over the course of this exhausting journey. A burst of satisfaction came, the only thing that she could feel, when she expanded her senses, sharpened her eyes, but could no longer sense her own Qi trail.

“Good, almost there,” the luminous thread twisted to display.

“Still not enough? I can no longer sense the trail,” she asked her guard.

“Not enough. The specters would sense it still.”

She stared intently at this Thread that was almost as thick as a hair, watching as it untwisted back to its original form. Then she looked around, everything was bright white but also pitch black at the same time. Qi, it was everywhere. Then she started at the luminous Threads numbering in multiple thousands, each moving individually, moving about in the air and through the frozen ground beneath them. ‘This must be an amazing sight,’ at least she guessed it would be. She could only rely on what she had learned and observed, incapable of feeling as she was.

She kept observing, just like she had been doing so in the past when mentally taking a rest. They were still moving through the mountains but with him guiding her, along with her own eyes and senses, she was not afraid to let her mind wander. Whenever he sensed any monsters approaching, he would usually inform her.

Threads were divided into groups, she had noticed, and each group worked separately, but individual Threads within the groups moved separately. The level of control needed to achieve this task was something she could not fathom.

‘How do I do that?’ This was a thought that had stuck inside her mind. ‘His cultivation is not much different from my own. Both of us can Shed. Can my core endure this much stress?’ Just the immaculate movements of Threads would put stress on the core not to mention the actual work that these Threads did. ‘I want to know, how can his core endure such stress? How can he use them constantly without repercussions? Will he tell me though?’

Knowledge was the most valuable commodity in all settlements, whether they were controlled by her family or other great families. It was even more so for what she was staring at. None had even tried what he had achieved so what he possessed was priceless. ‘Maybe he will not reject. After all, he said nothing even though I copied Melding.’

Silently, she followed him, blind but able to see, deaf but able to sense the frozen world around her. She stepped on his footprints and followed his advice, advancing through the treacherous mountains whilst honing her skills at the same time, trying her best to learn what he taught.

It was physically exhausting. While she was used to mental exertion, the same could not be said for physical activity. Even though the cultivation made her stronger, that strength was nothing compared to his seemingly endless journey through unforgiving mountains.

'I can endure for an hour or two more,' the detached mind thought, observing the body like they were separate and not one single being.

Though she had ventured out of the settlement before, Sline usually prepared for everything and their travels were never this long. All they had needed to do was pilot the armor suits, reducing physical exhaustion to minimum. Same should be the case for the one who led her through these mountains but he showed no signs of exhaustion. 'I want to learn that… but not now,' her body was unable to endure any further load.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Are Specters really that dangerous?"

The only times she had come across them was in external laboratories when some captured specimens would be brought back to the Core Barrier. Their appearances at those moments would be what she had read being described as pitiful. Locked up, stripped of their countless appendages that rivaled metals in strength, she had only seen their spherical cores. It was the exact opposite of the information she had read about them that described them as stealthy, with massive sensory ranges, acute sensory abilities capable of bypassing every type of stealth technologies that had been developed until now.

"Very. If you ever sense them, immediately Meld and dive deep down. Don't come out for at least a month or two."

***

Cile was, once again, intently staring at one of the Threads in front of her. Eyes squinting, allowing her vision to penetrate through the outer film and allowing her to peer inside to see what allowed these Qi constructs ability to mimic human senses. A dense cluster of formations just looking at which caused her pain appeared before her once again. Tears dropped down her eyes only to be cleared by the mask she was wearing. She kept on going, trying to find a way to solve the puzzle but all of these Threads were small, to make matters worse, each was made up of hundreds of formations at the very least.

As the headache was worsening, the thicker Thread twisted, forming the following words: "Let's rest." She had tried to peer inside this jumble of Threads before but it was even more confusing. With it being weaved of so many Threads, the pain had been even greater.

Her attention turned to one of the largest spikes near them which was manipulated to create a hollow space which was surprisingly comfortable despite being a hard surface. Just like before, she laid there while her guard, the man filled with black and white Qi settled onto the frozen ground nearby.

The moment she laid down, her body escaped her control, even though she was a detached observer, it did not remove the exhaustion from her body. While the sleep tried to take over, in her drowsy state, she counted what she should feel now: 'Pain. Tiredness.… what.. more?'

Eyes on the verge of closing, this strange man came into her mind. Harvesters, in general, tended to be strange, it was almost a requirement because normal humans could very rarely endure the stress from just the bleak environment outside. Her interactions and what she had read about them further reinforced her notion but she struggled to recall anyone as strange as him.

He should be able to feel but his face was like frozen ice that covered this world, never thawing. She had never seen his face show any hint of emotions.

The sleep overcame her and thoughts came to a halt, at least conscious thoughts did.

***

Sitting back up, she circulated the Qi throughout the body, clearing the last bits of sleepiness. Slowly, as the numbers of circulations increased, the Qi absorbed from the refined core entered the exhausted parts of her body, revitalizing them. Slowly, the pain went away.

"Princess, have you recovered?"

She nodded in confirmation and then began organizing the things she wanted to ask.

"How can the Specters still sense my Qi? I can no longer distinguish it from the atmospheric Qi," Cile questioned.

"What are the properties of atmospheric Qi, princess?" Her question was answered with another.

"Atmospheric Qi is chaotic, malevolent and one risks death just by attempting to absorb it. That's why we use the refined cores that have been purified to make Qi safe for absorption. So, you mean the Specters can distinguish my Qi from the atmospheric Qi?"

"Yes, they can sense the difference. To them it is as apparent as a light shining in darkness is to our eyes, extremely conspicuous."

"Fascinating. But how do they sense it from longer distances? Can it Threads extend over such large distances?"

"No. Specters perceive the world in two ways, first is the Threads that you would no of, second you can think of like the sensors of armor suits, allowing them to sense for many kilometers though much less clearly than Threads."

"How do you know that?"

"I have observed them for many cycles."

"Will you teach me? If you do, I will compensate you accordingly when we return."

"Though I can teach you, it will be futile. You will not be able to use them at least until you have undergone the first Shedding."

"Reason?"

"To use them to their full potential, you will need at least a few hundred Threads but the amount of stress that will place on your core will shatter it. I can endure because my Path gives me resilience."

"In that case, I can just use it after undergoing the first Shedding."