Alex sunk into the lotus position on the desert sands and just let his thoughts drift for awhile. Ya Ling had just impressed the hell out of him, the fierce intensity of her gaze while they were sparring, the way she knew just when and how to parry or weave aside his blows, closing the line and getting inside his guard in the impossibly brief moments he had been vulnerable had reminded him of no one but himself when riding on a storm of inspiration. True, he had deliberately held off from using advanced techniques, lest Water or Wind risking washing his beautiful desert princess away. But in terms of raw skill? Even with his basic martial arts skills at Rank 10, Even with Bronze Tier Finesse and Quickness… he had been soundly bested.

Perhaps it was because she had just achieved a second breakthrough, normally unheard of, outside of Alex’s ecclectic circle of friends, and he couldn’t credit Spiritual Teacher alone, even at Rank 8. It was the unique confluence of fortuitous events that both imperiled her and pushed her beyond her limits. But more than proving her own competence, their final match had proven how untenable their current position was. A fragile equilibrium, shattered with a single undeniable kiss.

He sighed, crossed his arms behind his back and allowed his psyche to sink into the desert sands.

It would be so easy to just let go.

To take the trade road back to Qianshi, because as far as anyone was concerned, he was just an unaffiliated Ruidian, or head to Liushi days separate from Ya Ling and the others. To start his new life free of complications, even if not completely free of regret. Because even if it took him time to establish himself and somehow earn his way into even the humblest sect, even if it was nothing more than a feeder academy for Silver Sands, time was one thing he had in spades.

Of course, should he walk that path, he would always wonder at the ultimate fate of Ya Ling, Qing Wu, Reny, and everyone else he had befriended during his time with the caravan. A worry that would eventually force confrontation that would be strained at best, or even worse, no confrontation at all, if they had perished along the road.

All because he couldn’t keep his shit together for the duration of a single kiss.

He shook his head, chuckling softly as he began jogging for the caravan, effortless use of Desert Fox rejuvenating muscles almost as fast as his most prized technique once had, a lifetime ago.

Because he couldn’t imagine Hao Chan demanding that he put his feelings for her above the innocent lives that made up that caravan. If he couldn’t last for the duration of a single caravan ride without falling into another girl’s arms, then maybe he and Chan were never meant to be. At least this way, he would have proven his worth as a cultivator by keeping the caravanners safe, even if he had failed her personally.

Besides, he thought, as his loping stride turned to a jog fast enough to provide him with something of a burn as he laughed with sheer delight at the feel of the wind whipping his face, Reny owed him an ascension potion. And if she could concoct formulae strong enough to bring Ya Ling from the brink of ruin to a second ascension in less than a handful of days, while radiating a foundation so strong it blinded his Soul Sight… then Reny could probably whip him up a wonder as well.

It was only when the caravan was in sight, a few guards giving him goodnatured waves as the afternoon light took on an amber hue, that he recalled that Ya Ling hadn’t imbibed Reny’s potion at all.

The potion she had bet her cultivation foundation upon had been his own.

“Alex, where the hell were you, boy?” snarked none other than a scowling Qing Wu when Alex finally reached the wagon and leaped upon the rope ladder lowered down for him.

Alex gave his best reassuring smile, pretending he didn’t hear the genuine anxiety in the man’s voice. “Just a bit of training, Master Wu. Sorry I didn’t hear the call to muster.”

This earned a bemused glare. “Dare I ask what you and my niece were practicing, Alex?”

Alex ignored the heat in his cheeks. “Just a bit of sword versus spear.” Alex solemnly bowed his head. “And she thoroughly trounced me.”

This earned a bemused chuckle. “You’re challenging a daughter of the desert in her home environment with a weapon of steel enhanced by her element, after she just had a second breakthrough. I’d be truly surprised were it otherwise. But good. If she can best an up-and-comer of your caliber, then I have high hopes that her foundation truly is strong enough to support Peril’s insights, a path anyone can benefit from, and very few embrace by choice.”

“Because not everyone survives it,” Alex noted with a smile. “And only a fool would underestimate a girl who can melt into desert sands in the blink of an eye.”

“Precisely.” Qing Wu sighed, giving Alex a companionable pat on his shoulder. “And now my niece sleeps so deeply I’d be a fool to wake her and deny her the absolute maximum benefit from her breakthrough, even if her foundation is now thankfully as sturdy as granite, for all that her element is sand.” He flashed Alex an approving nod. “It’s good that you delayed no longer. Reny, who had no reason to believe that you and her niece had slipped completely free of the caravan, has just completed her masterwork. It would be best if you went and saw her now.”

Alex froze, heart lurching in his chest under the man’s suddenly heavy gaze, filled with excitement and trepidation in equal measure.

“So she did it,” he half-whispered, a part of him utterly disbelieving it. Assuming that somehow, somewhere along the line, he would be sabotaged and denied. That something would go wrong. Because hadn’t that almost been the case? A cowardly part of him ready to forsake the caravan entirely, all because of a few awkward moments and a lost flame perhaps a thousand years extinguished, yet he still refused to let hope die?

He shook his head. At least he had passed that test, refusing to sabotage his own potential success and the well-being of his newfound friends and companions, just because he had a crush. It was for him to act on it, or not, as he chose.

And now he chose to act. To dare whatever Reny had in store. Because he was fine with disappointment if it somehow didn’t work, considering all the ways he had been reforged and altered beyond the norm. But one thing he wouldn’t accept was his own cowardice getting in the way of embracing all of life’s potential.

All those thoughts and more flashed through his mind in the time it took Qing Wu to dip his head.

“She did, Alex. Now go. The tincture should be at the absolute peak of potency within a few minutes time, assuming it hasn’t already passed. And Alex?”

“Yes?”

The man swallowed, momentarily choked up. “Thank you for rescuing us from certain peril.” His eyes flashed. “It’s a debt of karma I will honor as soundly as my own cultivation base.”

Alex bowed his head, humbled by the sincerity he sensed in the man’s voice.

“Now go.”

Alex dared waste no more time, quickly slipping through the hatch, within moments finding himself seated before an intent-looking Reny in the middle of her tiny little apothecary garden, sensing the subtle influence of all eight major elements, and a handful of others he didn’t recognize surrounding him.

What mattered was that it all felt balanced. In harmony.

So why was his heart racing so fast as Reny gave him a look that was both judge, jury, and executioner?

He winced at the way she glanced back at the bed where Ya Ling was clearly sleeping the sleep of the utterly exhausted. Had she made any accusations, he would have immediately defended himself. Assuming he could get his tongue to even move, under the weight of her regard.

But all she said was “Drink.”

And suddenly before him was a miraculous vial containing a rainbow tincture of so many scintillating shades of Qi that he was left utterly speechless, sensing a power surpassed only by its exquisite complexity, making his own Biochemical Mastery potions seem like first year art school drawing compared to a Rembrandt. He felt utterly humbled to be before such a master of her craft, even if she would never ascend to Silver. Apparently, with Alchemy, you didn’t have to. So long as you could direct the flows of spiritual energy, so long as you devised Bronze Tier techniques that emphasized finesse over power… there was a hell of a lot you could do at any Tier. And this was a lesson that was itself worthy of endless contemplation. But before he could say a word, Reny’s gentle, yet implacable hand had already tilted back his head and poured the entire contents down his throat.

It tasted of mist and dream.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

He furrowed his brow.

It hardly tasted of anything at all.

Did it spill? Turn to mist? Did he get any benefit at all?

He sighed in disappointment, about to give Reny the bad news right before it hit him.

His went wide with shock. The entire caravan that he now noticed was deliberatly dimly lit suddenly blazed to life. But it wasn’t from the slats or the presently extinguished oil lamp… but from the fierce blazing spiritual energy that absolutely everyone and everything within that chamber was giving off.

Ya Ling, sleeping so soundly, had meridian channels blazing with so much spiritual energy that he could actually sense the exquisite series of seven-strand cords she was forging. Cords that would never stand the sight of Jade, but might one day form cables capable of supporting so much more than just Silver.

Alex’s eyes widened with awe, a smile curving his lips when he saw the tiny shimmering golden scar to her foundation, now somehow stronger than it had ever been before. And though a Royal Jade demanded pristine perfection, the very noble element of its mending assured that the desert would see at least one girl forging a golden core within a few centuries, should the fates be kind, and fortuitous encounters continue to occur.

He then turned to Reny, and was struck numb.

Everything he thought he knew about power was redefined in that instant, gazing before another soul who had embraced the unorthodox, her long graceful cords unable to form any of the cables that would become a latticework capable of holding a Golden Core.

So instead she had turned it into a basket of sorts, holding the potential for what would one day be a Silver seed. A seed that even now was so attuned with Wood and Life that Alex suspected that no one short of a Gold ranked healer would be able to match the potency of her potions and tinctures, once she ascended in her own way, along a path that was nearly as unorthodox, if not quite so potent as his own or as contrary as Hao Chan and Yinzi’s Paths of Pearlescence. It certainly allowed for a hell of a lot more Bronze tier and one day Silver tier abilities to be intertwined within its structure, abilities that would only serve to reinforce the mesh-work of lesser cords securing that sacred Silver Seed that might one day blossom to wondrous effect.

There were so many things he wanted to say then, basking in the spiritual energies now radiating so harmoniously from each and every one of Reny’s plants, but all that came out of his mouth was light and streamers of spiritual energy. At least he didn’t understand his own utterances, only shutting his trap when Reny blanched and paled before him.

Yet her words made no sense as he felt his connection to the desert wagon, then the caravan, then the desert beyond grow and grow and expand to encompass countless miles of glorious desert sands, trade roads, raiding parties and secret oasises, just touching upon the sense of grand desert cities with populations in the tens of thousands. Humble compared to Sacred Cities, but as big and vast as almost any ancient Terran cities, save for Rome, Chang’an and Luoyang, which might have had between a quarter and half a million inhabitants in antiquity. And unlike those ancient marvels with entire nations to help support them, these desert cities Alex could sense as being solely supported by the exquisitely fertile oasises they rested beside, and trade caravans much like their own.

Alex was lost as his psyche was absolutely flooded with information and insights that left him speechless before it all faded to a blinding white light that overwhelmed him over an eternity… or the blink of an eye, before the sweet caress of oblivion claimeid him at last.

You have embraced the Masterwork Tincture: Insights of the Oasis.

Qi Pool has increased by 3 points!

Qi Pool is now 19! You are 1 point away from Bronze Tier ascension and reclaiming your birthright!

Qi Perception is now Rank 8

Soul Sight is now Rank 7

Find Weakness is now Rank 7

Forest Sense is nor Rank 7

You have gained the Qi Perception skill: Desert Sense. Thanks to Masterwork Potion, desert exposure, and a sparring partner who is one with her environment, you’re now able to attune yourself to the whispering sands all around you and glimpse their secrets!

Desert Sense is now Rank 2!

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Alex Hammer

Class – Cultivator: Disciple of the Boundless Path

Rank 6 Basic Cultivation Achieved!

Physical Characteristics

Strength – Bronze Rank 3 (30)

Vitality – Bronze Rank 3 (30)

Quickness – Bronze Rank 1 (20)

Finesse – Bronze Rank 1 (20)

Spiritual Characteristics

Scholarship - 14 (Exceeds 84% of Population.)

Perception - 18 (Exceeds 99% of population.)

Willpower – 25 (Rank 2 Bronze achieved the hard way! - You have the resolve to walk in the Valley of Death and slip free of the River of Souls.)

Qi Pool – 19** (Bronze Tier threshold must be reached to unlock Silver Rank 5 (165!)

Health Points: 390

Perks

Insightful – Rank 2

Charismatic – Rank 3

Lesser Shadow Affinity

Increased chance of cultivation breakthroughs.

Draconic Ancestry.

Favored Skills

Golden Realms Kung Fu – Rank 10

Wind Crane Kung Fu – Rank 4

Poison Spitting – Rank 5

Stealth – Rank 4

Qi Disciplines

Water Shield – Rank 6 – Enhanced Salt Water Variant Learned.

Water Strike – Rank 8 – Enhanced Water Strike may now be used in conjunction with Wind Strike and may pierce Silver tier or lower wards with a skill check. (**most definitely not Black Swan!)

Thorn Shield – Rank 5

Oak Strike – Rank 5

Fire Shield – Rank 4

Flame Fist – Rank 4

Earthern Shield – Rank 4

Stone Fist – Rank 5

Wind Strike – Rank 4 (May now be used in conjunction with Enhanced Water Strike with a skill check!)

Forest Flight – Rank 5

Prismatic Shield – Rank 3

Qi Perception-linked Disciplines

Artificer – Rank 7

Find Weakness – Rank 7

Qi Perception – Rank 8

Soul Sight – Rank 7

Spiritual Teacher (Student) – Rank 8

Forest Sense – Rank 7

Alchemy – Rank 3 (Foundation Restoration Tincture)

Desert Sense – Rank 2

Additional Abilities & Techniques

Full Regenerative Capacity

Gift of Tongues

Biochemical Mastery – Rank 7

Desert Fox Cultivation Technique – Rank 4

Prismatic Fox Restoration Technique – Rank 2. You now have a base passive regeneration rate of: (2) health point per minute. Your focus on mastering the interplay between heat and entropy has unlocked the Ageless Perk. - You enjoy your Prismatic Fox Restoration Technique Rank as a bonus in saving versus all poisons, toxins, mental ailments, curses, taints, and all other areas where another UNDEFINED art had once reigned supreme! Continue to master your body and yourself to expand this art and it’s capabilities!

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