The mild heat of the mountain in mid-summer gave way to a wet chilly fall while I spent my days cultivating with determination bordering on obsession. I’d never been a hard worker in my last life. Web design had been something I could make money at with little commitment and overhead. I’d started doing it in college to make money on the side but after majoring in communications, like an idiot,  my job options after graduation had been limited. So I’d just kept doing what I’d always done. I wasn’t particularly talented but I could suck-up well enough to get clients and it payed the rent if only barely.

However, finally discovering what my silver-colored cultivation path actually did had lit a fire in me. It had managed to do what years of teachers, angry parents, and a constant lack of money never had. It had motivated me.  

Shimak thought I was being an idiot and we’d had more than one argument over my refusal to stop ‘wasting my time’ but she didn’t understand, or didn’t want to understand. She seemed to think my cultivation of my second path was some attempt to cop out of proper training, but it wasn’t. I was training harder than I ever had, but Shimak and I had stopped sparring in the mornings.

I’d never been her match, even on my best day, and she’d made her first breakthrough into the Blood Class of Body Rank around the beginning of fall. I was happy for her. It was an awesome achievement and from my understanding that was above average speed even for the elite families. Her success had caused other issues though.

Her breakthrough had shot her shot her physical abilities way ahead of mine and the gap between us had widened to comical levels. Our morning training had became all but useless as Shimak could now totally crush me with only the smallest effort. Shimak seemed more than willing to switch to a purely educational role but I’d asked her to stop. It wasn’t fair to suck up her own training time while I was still learning the basics . Besides, spending time for something that wasn’t doing me any good was pointless when that extra hour a day would give me 25% more time to cultivate.

That decision had resulted in the first real fight of our friendship. I hadn’t understood why she’d been so upset which had only added fuel to the flames. Regardless of her reasons, after our row we’d both been a bit cautious around the other and we weren't as close as we had been. Which was a loss for both of us. Since we were each other’s only real friends.

The rains of fall had eventually turned into winter, coating the village, the mountain, and the forest in a thick white blanket of snow. The weather, combined with Shimak’s reticence, had made the last three months into hell. I spent all my time working the pins, cultivating near the freezing river, and solo-training every second I could spare. It had been the hardest, most brutal, and most lonely time I’d ever spent in either life and I still had my angsty teenage years to look forward to.

Yet here I was in blowing snow and freezing wind setting on the bank of the river cultivating. The shallows had frozen over and I’d had to break the ice just to get Rupert in the water. For his part he seemed as indifferent to the freezing water as he was to anything else. However, he’d changed some over the long months. He was nearly a foot longer now and his emotions came to me more clearly. He’d occasionally even go for a swim instead of just sitting around. I was interested to see how he’d behave when he grew more.

Still, all my hard work was bearing fruit. It was slow, agonizing really, but both my cultivation paths had improved remarkably over the past six months. I wouldn’t be considered a top talent or even an average talent, but I felt secure In my promotion from ‘useless trash’ to ‘cannon fodder’.  

I was frustrated with my slow progress. All the hours of back-breaking exercise followed by even more hours of boredom was taking it’s mental toll. Adding to that frustration was that I knew that I could save myself weeks of work if I just had more money. I’d tasted the forbidden fruit and seen the results of what a proper training session could do. Which made my daily slog up and down the mountain though the snow an ever more bitter pill to swallow. My poker competition had improved markedly and although I still didn’t have too much trouble winning some money, I hadn’t gotten another pay-out big enough to buy another elixir. I could only keep struggling, watching as my cultivation improved at a snail's pace.

What I needed was someway to intensify my training. I exercised and ran, which helped but only marginally. I needed someway to really push myself. To come up with some crazy way to train that would nearly kill me but not quite. I’d been tinkering with the idea of heading into the forest to fight something but I’d been able to reason myself out of it. The only beasts I had a chance to kill were ones below soldier rank. Then again, having a steady supply of meat would help my development and if I could manage to sell some of it without the clan finding out……..

I sighed. It was the same old argument. The choice was a simple one. I could risk death to gain strength or wait and gain strength anyway but slower. The upsides were high but the downside was death and death was a bit too permanent for my taste. After all what was the point of all my training if I got killed by another thunder-boar on my first hunt.

I opened my eyes and looked out at the river. The shallows had frozen over but the middle channel was mostly clear. As wide as the river was I didn’t think it would ever freeze over completely but I could only imagine how cold the water would be. I’d probably freeze to death in about a minute as the water sucked all the heat out of every inch of my body. I’d probably have to use my essence just to stay alive for a few minutes…….

I looked at the water again. This time with a flicker of an idea coagulating in the back of my mind. Way back there where all the really bad ideas come from. The ones that start with things like….”I’m sure just one more wont hurt…….” or “I’m sure she won't be too mad if I…..”

Skimak had always told me that using the essence in my body would be the best way to build it up, but I didn’t really have anything to use it on. I wasn’t at a level where I could use it for attacks and hurting myself for the sole purpose of building my cultivation had been a bit too masochistic for my taste. But if I was too say…. leap into a freezing cold river, it would force me to use essence to keep myself alive and I was bound to a water beast. It shouldn’t be too dangerous. Besides, it would probably be fun. It would be like all those fat guys jumping into Lake Michigan in the middle of January.

I stood up and looked around me suspiciously, as if I was a child about to do something his parents would disapprove of, which I suppose I was. It was a ridiculous action. The village was  miles up the mountain and only the insane or the dedicated would be out in this weather.

Then without giving myself time to come to my senses I shucked off my clothes and jumped into the river. Wild elation pumped through my veins and I hung suspended into the air for one moment of sheer mad glee then I plunged into the water and immediately regretted my decision.

The freezing water clawed at me like a million tiny beasts and I nearly gasped in shock. Which would have caused me to drown. The water rushed over my body robbing it of heat and life as the current tugged me down stream. I sent a command to Rupert through our bond and thankfully he obeyed me for once, dislodging himself and swimming over to me. I clung to him while he anchored me in place then sent my focus inward and tried to keep myself from going into shock.

I hadn’t had much practice actually using my essence. All the lessons Shimak had given me had been basic martial arts or general information on cultivation. I knew how one went about using essence but I’d never actually done it myself. The theory was simple.

The world’s essence was basically a cure all. It could heal wounds, strengthen muscle and bone, improve a human’s senses and keep a body in prime health for hundreds of years. A sufficiently skilled cultivator could push the essence out of their body, using it to attack and defend directly, control the elements, or even fly but I was a long way from those levels. What I wanted to do was much simpler. I just wanted to not freeze to death. So I pushed my thoughts down into my daintain where the cloud of essence I’d been accumulating for the last eight months was stored then started pushing it around my body.

Essence wasn’t like fuel. You didn’t burn it until it was consumed. Instead your body would sort of borrow it for awhile to do whatever crazy super-human maneuver you were doing, Like running up a wall, or trying to shatter a boulder with a karate-chop, or trying to keep yourself from going hypothermic. Then your body would release the power and it would slowly re-accumulate back in your dantain. You didn’t lose anything for spending it, infact by pushing your body beyond it’s limits you sped up your cultivation. Which is why I was doing this in the first place.

As the world’s essence started to move around my body I started to stabilize. It wasn’t that I felt less cold, because I didn’t, but I could tell my body wasn’t shutting itself down anymore. The cold was still attacking my muscles and organs but the essence was keeping my circulation going and stabilizing my body temperature. It was awful but sort of exhilarating at the same time. I could feel my muscles and tissues going into collective apoplexy but for the moment I was safe. As long as I didn’t burn through all my essence I should be alright.

I sat like that in the water while my body shivered and my essence slowly depleted. I was happy with how things were going and I didn’t want to push myself too far. So I figured I’d stay here for for another minute or so then have Rupert push me back to shore.  I could use essance in place of breathing to stay under longer but doing that would use a lot of juice and I didn’t want to take any more risks. I’d no sooner had the though when a strong sense of danger came through my bond to Rupert.  

That was odd. I’d never known him to be particularly concerned with anything. I turned my head and started to look around. The water here was crystal clear and I could see for hundreds of meters both upriver and down. Which is why I noticed the black shape swimming towards us.

My eyes went wide as saucers and I started to panic as the sleek shadow closed the distance with what was a patently unfair amount of speed. My panic disrupted my concentration and my essence faltered causing the cold to start seeping into my muscles and bones.

I watched in fascinated horror as the charging shadow resolved into distinct shape and color. The fish had a long lean body, not serpentine, but more like a barracuda or a gar. Long and lethal, like a knife slicing through the freezing water. It’s had an elongated snout with a large underbite and it’s body was covered in dark green scales. The scales weren’t  small and smooth like normal fish scales would be. They were large and didn’t overlap properly making the fish's body have a rough jagged look that added to is fierce visage.

The fish flashed closer and I started trying to swim towards the bank. This was bad luck on the most epic scale I could imagine. Sure jumping in the water had been dangerous, but It had been a danger I felt fully prepared I could deal with. However, never in my most paranoid calculations had I foreseen a fish showing up and attacking me. It’s not that there weren’t any fish in the river, but aside from very small ones, water beasts big enough to endanger people were very rarely seen.

The fish darted forward like an arrow, it’s long mouth opening to reveal a maw filled with long needle-like teeth. It came in swiftly snapping at me while I was still trying to swim towards the bank. I wasn’t too far away, but with the cold my limbs weren’t cooperating very well. I managed to interpose an arm to protect my vitals and the things needle teeth bit deep. It ripped out a large chunk of my forearm, clouding the once clear water with scarlet blood.

The pain actually damped my panic. Letting me clear my mind and take stock of the situation. I started circling my essence again driving out the cold and sharpening my perception. Rupert had taken the opportunity granted by the fish attacking me and used it to strike at the beast's flanks. His attack kicked off a mad duel of circling bodies and gnashing teeth between the two water creatures and more blood clouded the water blocking my vision.

I didn’t think Rupert had a real chance of victory. He was nimble and vicious but the fish was significantly larger and probably had a higher cultivation. So instead of heading towards the bank like a sane person I headed back into the fight. If Rupert died or ended up severely injured my cultivation would basically end until I bound a new beast, not to mention the spiritual backlash I would suffer would be enormous and dangerous. We shared a deeper bound that that. He was part of me now, literally, our souls had melded together. I couldn’t just feed him to the proverbial wolves to cover my own escape. I swam back towards the dueling creatures, not sure of what help I could possibly be but knowing I had to do something. Even If I was just a distraction, that could make the difference in the right circumstances.  

I’d no sooner approached to within striking range when the crazy fish monster struck at me with it’s gnashing jaws. This time I was ready though and my reflexes, honed by dodging crazed beasts in the pins, showed their colors and let me evade. I twisted my torso away from his bite causing the fish to slip between my body and my arm. Although his teeth missed me the scales of his body were rough and hard and my skin proved little barrier as my flesh tore away like someone had run a cheese grater over it.

I winced in pain but kept my head as the creature darted out of my reach again before twisting around to strike again. My fight or flight response had done a 180o and I no longer wanted to escape. I wanted to kill this thing more than I’d ever wanted to kill something in my life. So I spread my arms wide as it charged in and waited for my chance.

The fish opened its maw again and tried to take a bite out of my thigh but this time I used all the coordination in my body and as I slithered out of it’s path I struck out finally attempting some offence of my own. I used both of my open hands to control it’s head and slapped one hand down on the top of it’s mouth while the other came up from the bottom. My plan succeeded and I forced the creature's mouth closed as I pulled it into my body and hugged it under one armpit. This left its tail sticking out behind it and Rupter struck like a snake opening his own ghastly maw and biting a good six inches of the beast completely off. The wound sent it into a frenzy and it’s scales ripped huge chunks out of my skin off but without it’s mouth it couldn’t do any mortal damage to me. I swung to the side pointing the creature toward the shallows. Now that I had it’s head it could only swim in the direction I wanted it to and as it flailed frantically it’s motion pushed both of us toward bank.

I crashed through the thin ice as my knees hit bottom and I finally got the leverage I needed. I heaved with all my might. Strength wasn’t my specialty but for a 12 year old I was no slouch. Here in the shallows it’s movements were limited while mine were only growing stronger. I muscled the fish up into shallower and shallower water until with a heave I managed to roll it’s frantically struggling body up onto the river bank.

It started flopping around frantically but I rose from the river like some vengeful water god and kicked it farther and farther up on land. Then I grabbed the nearest rock and started bashing it over the head. It was strong and it took a lot of punishment but finally it stopped moving. I collapsed into the snow while I gasped for breath. That was when my essence finally ran out and the cold, my exhaustion and all the blood loss hit me like a hammer.  I crashed down into the void of unconsciousness.

*************************************************************************

Someone shook my shoulder and my eyes blinked opened to see a frowning face framed by wild orange hair hovering above me. I blinked a few times then panicked slightly as I realised I wasn’t out on the snow covered bank anymore. Instead I was laying next to a roaring fire in our hut. My body was a limp noodle and I hurt absolutely everywhere.

“What… happened?” I managed to get out as chills wracked my body. I was wrapped tightly in a blanket but I noticed I was still naked.  Shimak looked at me incredulously and her face darkened in a way I knew prefaced a blow-up.

“I find you freezing to death naked  next on the river bank next to a dead beast with half your skin ripped off and blood everywhere and you have the guts to ask ME WHAT HAPPENED?!” She screamed so loudly i’m sure the neighbors could hear.

“Went for a swim…. Ran into some trouble.” I said vaguely as I huddled up beneath the blanket. Her face purpled with indignation and I winced as she started yelling again.

“YOU WENT FOR A SWIM! IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER!” She yelled before she took a deep shuddering breath. Then she continued in a calmer voice. “What in all beneath the sky could you have possibly been thinking?!”

“Seemed like a good way to train using my essence. I haven't had much practice and I figured the cold would be a good test.” I said defensively. Honestly, everything has been going fine until that… whatever it was showed up.

She looked at me as if I was an idiot then, much to my surprise, she slumped down beside me. “You’ve never had any practice and you thought your first try should be in a freezing river. Only you would think that was a good idea.”

“Did you carry all the way the back up here?” I asked curiously. I was sure she had… I couldn’t think of anyone else who could have done it.  Shimak looked down and blushed charmingly and I thought, not for the first time, that things were going to get complicated between us in the next few years. Assuming she didn’t strangle me first.

“Did you grab the fish?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. Now that I was alive I needed to worry about the important things…. Like money. That fish had to be worth at least 80 tokens. Skimak rolled her eyes skyward.

Stolen story; please report.

“You do realise that you almost died.” Shimak said disgustedly. “Rupert covered you in some sort of slime that kept you from freezing to death or bleeding out, but you were still blue when I found you.

“Well thank you for saving me…. But did you get my fish?” I asked again. I sat up with a wince and summoned rupert. My body was completely wrung out which meant I needed to start cultivating before I recovered.

Rupert appeared next to and I saw he was in as bad of a state as I was. He had a couple of vicious bite wounds along with some less serious scrapes, he seemed rather listless but I could feel satisfaction coming through our bond. Lazy he may be, but he was a vicious little creature when push came to shove.

“Yes I got your fish. After I realized you weren’t going to die I went down and got it. It’s buried out back in the snow.” She said with a head shake. “Ingrate.” She said sullenly.

I met her dark eyes and said in a more serious voice. “Thank you Shimak, you saved my life. ” She blushed even more furiously and I smiled. “I promise to buy you something nice when I sell the fish.” I said with a grin.

I was hesitant to sell a land-beast because you had to go on the other-side of the river in order to get one and that would raise a bunch of questions I didn’t want to answer. However, with the fish I could claim it had attacked me while I was down by the water. Which, although suspicious, was much less odd than someone going over into the forest. Which no-one ever had any reason to do except to look for herbs or beats.  This way I could say I’d just been attacked and managed to defend myself. The clan would probably try to rip me off on the price but they shouldn't be too suspicious about how I’d killed it.  

I made the hand seal for cultivation and started to pull in essance while Shimak stirred the fire. My body drank like a man who’d spent a two weeks in a desert. Shimak had always told me that cultivating after hard exercise was training was a necessity but the best time to cultivate was after a hard struggle where your life had been on the line. Today definitely qualified and the results didn’t disappoint.

I could feel the essence soaking into my cells like a soothing balm easing the pain of my injuries and warming my body from within. It was like dipping myself into a hot tub and I nearly groaned from how good it felt. My cells gorged themselves for nearly an hour, absorbing weeks worth of essence as the energy flowed from my bond to Rupert at it’s normal sluggish speed. Finally my body gave up the ghost and I slumped over where I was setting. I was asleep before I realized what was happening.  

***************************************************************

I trailed along after Shimak as she pushed my father's wheelbarrow up the mountain through six inches of snow. I’d tried to do the gentlemanly thing initially, but between my bum arm and the fact that pushing a wheelbarrow uphill through snow isn’t easy in prime condition, Shimak had simply pushed me out of the way and taken over.

My wounds were healing surprisingly well considering it had only been a day since my little mishap. My skin already had that itchy healing sensation where It had been scraped off from the beast's scales. My arm wouldn’t be right for a week or so. The fish hadn’t hit any tendons but He’d taken a big chunk out of the muscle. It was a remarkable rate of recovery.  Earth’s essence really was cheating.

I’d woken up early and dug the fish out of the snow-bank where Shimak had stored it. Then we’d liberated dad’s wheelbarrow and put the fish on the bottom and packed a good amount of snow over-top of it. I was confident we could sell the beast without issue but letting the entire village see while we paraded my kill though the streets wouldn’t do.

The clan quartermaster was up on the middle-caste section of the city near the village warehouse. It was where all the villagers had to go to exchange their tokens for food or to bring in whatever products they produced. It was run by a grizzled old warrior named Grenk. His daughter had been married by one of the upper-caste and she’d gotten him the job when he was too told to fight anymore. He was an mean old bastard and he took a great deal of pleasure from screwing over the rest of the village for his masters.

There was a decent line this morning and people were chatting as the line crawled slowly forward. Soon Shimak and I were in front of the Grenk’s desk and he looked down at us with a heavy sigh.

“Name and business” He said automatically, as if he’d said it a hundred times already today and planned to say it a hundred more.

“Chok son of Jical.” I said formally. “And we’re here for fresh meat.” I said cheerfully. There quartermaster looked at me disgustedly.

“Brat, there’s people waiting. There is no fresh meat, there hasn’t been for weeks and even if there was there’s no way you could afford it. The hunters have been struggling for months, and the prices have gone through the roof. Even cured meat is going for twenty tokens a jin.” (about half a KG or a touch over a pound.”

“Now tell me what you really want or leave.” He said snidely.

“Well, that’s excellent news. Because I’m not here to buy I’m here to sell.” I waved to Shimak and she dutifully pulled the fish out of the snow-filled wheelbarrow. It looked a bit worse for wear with it’s tail missing and it’s smashed head but it was definitely fresh, it was even still bleeding a little.

“One fish, not sure what type, killed yesterday and packed in snow all night.” I said theatrically as I waved toward the fish in question. “It’s core hasn’t formed yet, but it does have a seed which is intact.” A beast seed is an underdeveloped beast core. They didn’t usually have much essence but they did have some. And while it would be worth much less than a fully formed core it should still get me another 50 tokens.

There were a few murmurs behind me and people started to crowd around. Fresh meat was an incredable luxury and villagers would pay exorbitant amounts of money to give their children even smell amounts. After all what parent didn’t what their child to grow up big and strong.

Grenk’s face flashed through a bunch of different emotions as he stared slack-jawed. Then his face took an a calculating air. I sighed inwardly. I’d known that this was going to be a battle but I was hoping it wouldn’t start this early.

“You call that a beast? Look at it. Half of it’s missing, and it’s been stuck in snow all night. There’s no way I can give you fresh prices for that.” He said loudly his face taking on the cast of someone who’s patience was being tried to the limit. “The clan thanks for for your service but I can't offer you more than 20 tokens for it. “

“Twenty tokens….” I said incredulously. It was worth at least 5 times that… At least. The fish weighed over 20 jin and at least half that was good meat, but even the organs and other bits that people back on old earth would have thrown out were valuable here.

“Last time I checked a monster seed didn’t go bad, and even if you want to rip me off on the meat the seed is worth at least 50 by itself.” I said with my arms crossed.

“This isn’t a negotiation. All beasts meat and beast cores have to be sold to the clan. Now take your twenty tokens and be happy with that.” He said, his own face now reddening with anger.

“Only partially correct.” I said with in my most condescending voice. “All beast cores are technically property of the clan so you’ve got me there. However, the beasts body isn’t. So although I can’t sell it to anyone besides the clan. I can not sell it to anyone.” I turned back to Shimak and held out my hand. I’d had to ask around to find out the exact rules but I’d wanted to make sure I knew all my rights before I came to bargain.

“Lemme borrow your knife.” I said and Shimak placed the blade obediently into my palm. With a few clumsy cuts I managed to extract the beast seed and slapped it down on the counter. Then picked up the fish laid it back in the wheelbarrow and  turned away.

I’d only made it a few steps with Grenk called after me in an even angrier voice. “And what the hell are you gonna do with all that meat. You think the clan will let you off after this?”

I turned back to him and shrugged nonchalantly. “I already work the pins. Unless they hang me they can’t really put me any lower. The real question is what is the clan gonna do to you when they find out you let a low caste family have an entire beast to themselves because you were too greedy to give a twelve year-old kid a decent price.”  I turned my back on him and started to walk away again.

“Lets go Shimak. Looks like we’re having fish tonight.” I said loud enough to carry.

“A hundred!” Grenk shouted from behind me. I turned slowly trying to surpress my smile.

“One twenty...” I countered shamelessly. Even at 150 I was still getting screwed but I needed the money way more than the fish and both Grenk and I knew it.

“One-ten and I won't tell the clan who brought it in.” The old man lied smoothly. I knew he would tell. Hell, that would be the first question they asked him. It didn’t really matter though the die had been cast.

“Sold. I said hosting the fish up on a shoulder before flopping it down on his desk.” It made a satisfying thump as I did and the old man dug under his desk for a while before handing me eleven large tokens. I touched my forehead as if it was a cap brim then nodded and walked away.

“You do realize he’s going to make trouble for you.” Shiak said as we headed back to the hut.

“Of course he is. What’s the point of being in power if you can even oppress a twelve year-old boy.” I muttered darkly. “The only real question is how will he do it, and what am I going to do about it.”

Shimak gave me a sharp elbow. “You mean what are we going to do about it?” She said with a scowl.

“I didn’t know you were talking to me again.” I said with a grin. It felt good to banter again. Seemed almost dieing is a good way to earn sympathy.

“We’re not. As long as you insist on your idiotic training, but just because I’m not talking to you doesn’t mean I won’t help.” She said sourly. I thought about pointing out that she was talking to me right now but thought better of it.

We chatted more as we headed back to the hut. I pushed the wheelbarrow back down the mountain. The familiar banter was a relief. I’d missed her and hadn’t realized how much.

It was still mid-morning when we made it back and the bright sunshine glinting off the snow had me squinting as we arrived.

My boss at the pins had given me a few days off because of my bad wing and I intended to take full advantage of the extra cultivation time but I’d promised Shimak a gift. Not to mention I hadn’t gotten her anything for her birthday which was a couple months ago. She was 13 now.  What did you buy for a crazy adolescent ninja girl anyway…?

Probably something sharp……

******************************************************************

I was headed towards the blacksmith debating on the relative merits between a short-blade and a long one. I thought a long blade strapped across her tiny back would be hilarious and awesome, but a short one would be more useful for her. Then again she could use a long blade from deer-back like a cavalry saber when her beast grew. The thought made me chuckle.  

I was in the middle-caste part of town with most of the shops. The streets were narrower here than they were in the lower and upper caste areas. So the large figure that stepped out in front of me was easily able to block my path.

He was taller than I remembered and his baby face had leaned out a bit in the last six months. Kalar was fourteen now was starting to hit his growth spurt, not that he needed to grow more. He already towered above my small frame and his bulk was intimidating. I looked around for a path to avoid him but my hopes sank as more people stepped from the allies around me. They hemmed me in, surrounding me and leaving me without an espace.

“I heard you killed a beast.” Kalar said in his normal thuggish tones. He wore a malicious smile and he took a casual step forward, shortening the distance between us. “Heard they paid you a hundred tokens for it. Quite the windfall for a little low-cate trash like you.”

Ahhhh….. A shakedown then…..

That bastard Grenk had outdone himself. He’d kept his word and hadn’t told the clan. Instead he’d probably told Kalar’s father so the bastard could have his son beat me up and take all my money. Fortunately, I didn’t have it on me. The low-caste didn’t have anything like rights and the only reason no-one stole everything we owned was usually because we didn’t have anything they wanted. Carrying around a hundred plus tokens would be foolishness bordering on madness. So I’d buried the money down by the river, which had been hard work in the frozen ground.  

“That’s true, but I got lucky. The fish jumped out of the water to attack me and landed on the bank. Couldn’t do much after that.” I said casually as I watched the thugs close in around me. Things were not going to go well here. Secret cultivator I may be but I wasn’t much of one. Sure I was better than a normal person, especially a normal human my own age, but it was only fractionally better. Only Kalar and one of the girls in the mob had a visible tattoo, but six on one that would hardly matter.  Even if none of them were cultivators they’d likely still win with my abilities.

“ A low caste like you shouldn’t need all those tokens. Why don’t you hand them over to us?. We’ll take good care of them for you.” He said as he cracked his knuckles to add dramatic effect.

“Sorry, don’t have them on me. The village is dangerous for us low-caste, and common thugs could just walk up and rob me and no-one could do anything about it.  Can never be too careful ya know.” I said lazily.

“Is… that…. So.” Kalar said, drawing out the words as he took another step forward. He was well within striking range now and I shifted my balance ready to move at a moment's notice.

“I suppose I’ll just have to find out for myself them.” He said as he swung a large fist at me. It came in like a meaty freight-train, it’s power more than enough to cause serious internal injuries. His physical abilities were head and shoulders above mine in almost every aspect, but defense cultivators weren’t known for their speed and I was was an coordination and flexibility cultivator.

My body twisted like a snake, dipping so that the punch whistled by my left ear. I stepped back and away, knowing that getting into grapple range would spell my doom.  I countered with my own punch sending a left jab into his jaw. Which was a very silly thing to do against a defense cultivator. Against a normal person that kind of weak strike would distract and rattle them. Against Kalar I should have known better. My fist connected clean but I may as well have punched a steel girder. The force of the blow rebounded back into my fist doing nothing to him. Luckily, I hadn’t hit him harder or I would have broken my damn hand.

Kalar snorted as I stepped back out of range. “I see that little red-haired slut has been teaching you something, but I’ve been cultivating for months since then. You couldn’t hurt me even If I let you hit me.”

He was right. My fists were useless against him. Even with a weapon I likely couldn’t do much unless I hit him in the eye or something. Even if our cultivation bases were similar our talents made me a very poor matchup. Neither of us would be able to hurt the other until I was too tired to dodge. Then he’d have me and that was in a one on one.

“Get him.” Kalar said with a sneer and the fight began. The people closed from all sides and I did surprisingly well for a few moments. I dodged a wild grapple from behind smashing my foot down on a his arch while at the same time twisting to dodge a kick from the left. I slapped down on the kicking leg borrowing the momentum to spin me back to the right where I struck out with a knife-hand aimed for the gangly boy at that side.. The blow struck home in his neck, sending him reeling backwards and opening gap in the encirclement. I dashed that direction trying to seize upon the faint hope of freedom but It wasn’t meant to be.

A hand caught the back of my tunic and yanked me backwards into the mob. Then the fists came down like rain and an curled myself into a ball as I took my beating. I wasn’t sure how long it lasted but I was barely conscious when they finally had enough. My essence hadn’t fully recovered from my last fight and I could only use a small portion of it to blunt the worst damage. I was only vaguely aware of someone searching me but I hadn’t lied to them. I really didn’t have the money on me.  My minor victory earned me a last vicious kick before they left in the street to die.