“You have a Thirty Vitality? That’s incredible!” Linnea squealed, eyes twinkling with admiration and not a little bit of envy. “Mine’s only twelve, and that’s with exercise and training, since I’ve been putting all my level-up points into advancing my spells and Fire Mastery.” She turned to her cousin. “He actually knows what we’re talking about! That mean’s he levels up, just like we do, even without a jewel in his head!”
Hanz gazed at Alex for long moments. “Seriously? You put that many points in Vitality? Skewed build much?”
Alex snorted. “Balanced as hell, actually. Strength to match, and Finesse and Quickness are at twenty. Which is Bronze Ranks 3,3,1 and 1, in Cultivator terms.”
Hanz eyes widened with disbelief when the significance of what Alex had said finally sunk in. “Wait… are you saying you’re actually leveling up, with an interface and progression sheets and everything… as a cultivator? We can actually do that? And so many points! How the hell did you get so many points?”
Alex chuckled. “That’s not the question you should be asking.”
This earned a cynical smirk. “Then what question should I be asking?”
“Why aren’t we grabbing several of those excellent looking meat-stuffed barley buns at the stall across the street? And you’re treating, by the way. Because if we’re going to make it in time for your delve, I’m guessing that we don’t want to be any later than we already are.”
This earned a panicked nod from Hanz. “Damn, you’re right. Alright, meat-bun run and then back the way we came!” The thin, almost delicate-looking man quickly dashed across the street, switching to the local dialect as he swapped several piping hot meat buns for copper coins and then they were dashing back for the same entrance they had left from, which worked perfectly, to Alex’s mind.
When the same guardsman who had handed the tokens raised his eyebrow as they knocked for admittance, a hurried declaration that they were running late for a delve was all it took for the guard to immediately let them back in.
“Have a safe hunt,” the man murmured respectfully, earning several hurried nods and a barely concealed smirk from Alex, happily devouring his meat bun filled with savory mutton and deciding that, all in all, this was working out perfectly. Because with 30 Vitality he really could function at 100% and miss a couple night’s sleep, especially if his heart was hammering and adrenaline flowing while on the hunt. Better than any shot of espresso, even if he’d probably be sleeping in all of tomorrow morning.
Of course, that was only part of it, Alex thought to himself as they quickly made their way around the lip of the caldera, his two companions already breathing heavily, Alex at a comfortable jog he could maintain as easily as anyone else walking. Because as much as he had enjoyed what felt like another slice-of-life fresh start promising days filled with life lessons and cultivation insights, he remembered as well the horrific tragedy the last time he dared enter a cultivation sect with a pair of Ruidians in tow. And despite the grace and politeness he had enjoyed at first, it had very quickly become apparent that thing were just as ruthless, bloodthirsty, and vindictive as they had been at Dragon Academy. Worse, both his acquaintances had been killed.
So on the off-chance that he was being a blind, delusional fool, and that of course things here were ultimately just as ruthless here as they had been at Morning Dew Temple, he sure as hell wanted to find that out as soon as he could, before he invested himself any further in this school.
His life could very well depend upon it.
And recalling full well Elder Win’s words about oaths being given, he couldn’t think of a better time than joining his unexpected companions under the guise of impulsiveness, for a quick look into the very heart of the academy’s greatest resource, secret, and prize. Even better, he had managed to slip back inside for a late night mission without being bound by any oath at all, thanks to the familiarity already established with the guard just moments ago, still recognizing Alex and sensing the urgency of their Ruidian guests. And if the man did furrow his brow for a second, wondering what Alex’s place exactly was, the three of them were already long gone.
***
“So… where exactly are we going?” Alex politely asked, enjoying the magnificent view of the valley below as the waning rays of a beautiful sunset caressed the forests and fields below in glorious shades of crimson, just minutes before the escarpment’s shadow cloaked it all in night’s embrace.
And then it was night in truth, the desert’s skies lit with a glorious panoply of brilliant stars and silvery moons that always brought an undefinable ache to Alex’s chest, the night skies looking just as it had the final night he had clasped hands with the women who he would have given his life to protect beyond all others.
Women whom he had, in fact, given his life to protect, from the machinations of gods and madmen both.
Alex shook away bittersweet reverie as a panting Hanz raised his arm while they raced around the lip of the caldera. He was presently pointing to what was rapidly becoming the outskirts of the long strip of land claimed by the academy, and their target immediately became obvious, a row of stairs chiseled right into the rock, complete with copper guard rails and a steady white light from a Qi globe Alex sensed was powered by a beast core, making it clear that the school wasn’t stinting on safety or expenses when it came to their delves, which made sense, considering the importance Silver Sands placed on what they were doing.
“There. See that light?”
Alex nodded in the affirmative.
“Good. We’re now heading there. But you sort of, um, want to keep a low profile while we’re heading there, okay?”
Alex glared at his newfound companions. “Is that why you guys are skirting the lip of the escarpment with one hand on the extended railing, to avoid line-of-sight from the occasional cultivators going to and fro evening classes?”
“Exactly!” Linnea flashed a cheerful smile, even as she slammed her hand against Alex’s head. Not budging it an inch as Alex caught a good look at a pair of statuesque female cultivators gossiping quietly as they left a well lit pagoda, the pair paying absolutely no mind at all to the furtive figures at the far end of the property, crouching down way too close to the lip of the caldera for Alex’s piece of mind. And not for his own sake, either.
Surprisingly, neither protested when a grim-faced Alex pulled a tent rope from storage, casually looping it under the arms of both of his Ruidian companions before securing it around himself.
“I appreciate the thought, but we have no pitons. So what happens if one of us actually slips?” Hanz tentatively asked a hard-eyed Alex, presently holding on to the thick stone blocks demarcating the end of the property and the beginning of the caldera's perilous slope.
“Then I keep that fool from falling to a tragic death,” Alex said.
Hanz sighed. “As if a surprise drop wouldn’t cause all of us to fall. You’re going to have to trust us, Alex. If we lacked the grace to even walk to our contracted sight, we’d be fools to even dare this Delve.”
Alex took a deep breath, resisting the urge to just leave. “You mean the Delve we went from boldly declaring to the world we were undertaking to one where we’re furtively sneaking to our destination, hoping no one sees us? A delve we’re actually risking bodily harm just to arrive at?”
“I think you’re overreacting just a bit,” Hanz hastily assured, before giving a gentle smile. “Though I appreciate you securing us with your rope. It’s nice to know that you care.”
Linnea animatedly nodded. “This isn’t the first time we’ve dared one of the forbidden delves, Alex. As long as we get out there with a modicum of discretion, everyone pretends they didn’t see us, and we pretend we did everything by the book!”
Alex smirked. “Alright, I’ll bite. If things are this much of a farce… why bother with this cloak and dagger crap at all?”
Hanz sighed, though Alex was happy to see that despite his slender frame, the youth had no problem navigating the slope, one hand always on the copper guard rail or one of the weighted stones firmly settled in flat ground. “So that should we die a gruesome death, lost in the city’s most perilous rift, the academy can honestly say to our tribe that we dared that which we were forbidden. No penalty will be enacted by either party.”
Alex grimaced. “So you guys roped me into not just a delve out of the blue, but a forbidden high risk delve the school will happily wash its hands of, should we die in its depths.”
Linnea had the cheek to smile. “Actually it’s you who roped us in, Alex. And do you really think you could hang on without proper pitons if we actually lost our grip?”
Alex held her gaze and smiled. “What were my stats again, Linnea?”
Her eyes flashed with brilliant embers for a quick heartbeat. “You’re so fucking broken I can’t stand you.” Her glare then turned to a cheeky grin. “Which is why I recruited you! Who cares if you’re broken if you’re on my team?”
Alex chuckled and shook his head, choosing to pay more attention to what was actually a fairly well tended footpath than to any late-night student or cultivator radiating Deep Bronze or even Silver, who seemed to go out of their way to pay no attention at all to the Ruidians conversing far too loudly in a Germanic-sounding tongue. As if this were all a choreographed performance, and everyone knew their roles, Alex’s bright blue eyes making his role as distinct as everyone else’s, no matter how much he tried to blend in.
Fortunately, the distance to the glowing orb wasn’t too far, because Alex’s companions were so bad at miming stealth that their supposed sneakiness stretched the bounds of credibility.
Of course, the white light wasn’t the only thing waiting for them by the steps, as a pair of powerfully built men fully kitted up in steel lamellar radiating the potency of Bronze quickly came into view, each of them holding six-foot long guandao and glaring at the three of them with less than pleased expressions. And the tension they radiated, that of men daring the forbidden, was clearly that of cultivators who enjoyed no cloak of immunity from consequence or censure.
It was clear as day to Alex that whatever game his Ruidian associates were playing, the stakes were much higher for the pair of Bronze glaring their way even now.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“You’re late. You know what happens if anyone actually catches us here at nightfall, when we have no pretext of class or training this close to the rift,” snapped the closer Bronze in a roughened voice quite at odds with a cultivator’s idealized perfection. Which fit his appearance to a T, the man managing to look both like a world-weary middle-aged soldier, and as solid and resilient as weather-worn granite. He could have been a grizzled veteran nearing the end of his years that he’d meet with a body far less decrepit than most ex-soldiers, or he could be centuries old with centuries more to go.
“Not technically,” Hanz corrected with a hard smile, raising his finger just in time to catch the final rays of the setting sun. “It’s still dusk. Plenty of student are still leaving the various assembly halls and pagodas, and we’re here, so it’s all irrelevant. Best of all, we brought someone with us.”
“Hanz, Linnea, what the hell took you two so long?” Snapped none other than the middle-aged Ruidian Alex had seen accompanying the pair before, now slipping free of the shadows behind the two Bronze to glare and point his finger at the pair of them. “And why the hell is he here?”
Granite voice furrowed his brow while his partner snorted. “That’s a good question. We normally do this in groups of five. Two to defend, with room to maneuver our polearms, and three of your kind, or a Wujen or two to strike from behind.” The cultivator frowned, tilting his head curiously. “And you’re built like a body cultivator, but you’re clearly Ruidian. Name’s Lu Gang, by the way. And this is Su Rin,” he said, gesturing to the Bronze behind him, who grunted and dipped his head.
“Alex,” Alex offered with a smile, not hesitating to pull off the white cultivator’s robe he had worn to fit in, covering the armor he wore underneath, his changshan serving as padding under that.
Lu Gang frowned. “You were wearing that all day before you came here? You didn’t overheat?”
Alex winked. “Let’s just say I have an affinity for flame.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re here!” Linnea’s uncle hissed.
Alex raised his brow. “I’m sorry, I never did catch your name.”
“Lieberman, not that it’s any concern of yours!” The man snapped. “Now, why are you here?”
“He’s here because I asked him to be here!” Linnea hissed. Before biting her lip and sneaking a worried glance an increasingly displeased-looking Lu Gang’s way. “Here’s here because he can fight! He’s really, really good at um… bashing things. Aren’t you, Alex?”
Alex snorted. Before bowing his head Lieberman’s way as he summoned a whirling disk of water. “I’m happy to act as a shield, or blade, or whatever you need,” he continued, patting the dao on his hip, deciding to go sword and shield route this time, and not show off his polearm skills which would also mean showing off the fact that he had a storage ring, which he was not about to do.
His Enhanced Water Shield earned little more than a disparaging scowl from Su Rin. “This is the fool that would claim a share of our haul? His shield’s made of water, Lu Gang. And a dao won’t do shit in the tunnels.”
Lu Gang furrowed his brow, giving a slow nod. “You have a point, brother.” He turned to Alex. “I’m sorry… Alex? But I don’t think we need...”
“Try me,” Alex said, earning a blink from the pair of men, and a snort from Su Rin.
“Does this fool think we’re going to waste time and energy testing him? Or good coin and credits getting him patched up if we manage to injure him?”
Alex flashed a humorless smile. “Ah. Words instead of action. The mark of a coward. Very well, you’re afraid of my puny blade and too weak water shield. I’m guessing the leader of our expedition is made of sterner stuff?” Alex turned, ignoring Su Rin’s startled splutter, locking gazes with Lu Gang.
“Try me. Any injury I incur is mine to tend to without any debt to you, for the duration of a single match between us. My cultivator’s oath upon it.”
His last words brought the pair of Bronze’s to a startled halt, both glaring intently Alex’s way.
“Did this Ruidian half-blood just claim to be a cultivator?” Su Rin asked incredulously.
“Well, he certainly isn’t a Jewel Master, I can promise you that,” a smirking Lieberman declared. “The foolish boy has no jewel at all.”
Alex sighed, gazing at the spinning disk of water he had generated. “You can tell that’s a spiritual Water technique, right? Ergo, the obvious answer is… yes. I can cultivate. Clearly.”
Yet the pair of frowns his declaration earned him made it clear that the duo could sense no such thing.
Lu Gang gave a bemused chuckle. “Alright, Ruidian. If your swirly shield can actually stop my polearm, you’re welcome to join us. If not? We’ll have to ask you to leave. Fair enough?”
“Yes, it’s fair,” Linnea declared, much to the surprise of the Bronzes and the relieved smirk of her uncle. “But I’ll be leaving with him.”
Lieberman’s eyes widened with outrage. “You’ll do no such thing!” Her uncle hissed furiously. “You’re stubborn recalcitrance ends now!”
“Or what, you’ll drag me kicking and screaming back to the clan and try to force me to marry your friend’s imbred monstrosity of a son?” She gave a cold shake of her head as her palm lit with a ball of flame that Alex was both awed and excited to sense radiating no spiritual energy at all.
You have successfully spotted mana manifestation outside of Cultivation Paradigm!
“You two will stop this foolishness now!” Lu Gang snapped. “You both know damn well that you settle your conflicts before you form up with any of us! Whether you’re a Ruidian or a proper cultivator, bad blood in a delve can get us all killed. Especially this delve!”
His glare, much to Alex’s relief, instantly quenched both Lieberman’s ire and Linnea’s flame.
“Sorry,” she softly said.
“You may expect nothing but professionalism from both of us, I assure you,” Lieberman haughtily declared.
Lu Gang sighed. “Sure. As long as you all can do your job and take down whatever we encounter, we’ll have a profitable run where we all come out ahead.” He then turned to Alex. “You ready to show me what your shield can do?”
Alex grinned, eyes taking in far more than his would-be opponent’s smirk.
You have successfully infused Enhanced Water shield with metallic salts.
Find Weakness skill check made!
“Of course.”
Lu Gang grunted in approval, before his bemused smile turned to a murderous scowl as he roared and struck out, lashing out with a fearsome chop.
Alex would at least give him credit that the blow wasn’t intending to kill, only maim. If the tip penetrated the shield, it would cleave a good inch into Alex’s forearm, no doubt as both an example of his exquisite control and as a lesson to an over-confident fool.
Assuming Alex allowed it to penetrate at all.
Contest of skills in effect: Critical Success!
Alex kept his face carefully neutral when he weaved to the side, allowing his shield to effortlessly deflect the deadly sharp steel at an angle, and that itself would have proven that Alex’s Water Shield was far from worthless. But no one was deaf to the loud screech of the metallic grains in Alex’s swirling shield of water chewing into the guandao, and spinning far faster than most could detect in the less than perfect lighting as the weapon was abruptly wrenched right out of the Bronze’s hands to be sent windmilling in the air.
It was only because Alex had been careful to ensure a clockwise spin that it didn’t go sailing down into the caldera, far below.
Lu Gang gazed at Alex for several long moments, before cracking a smile. “Nice shield.”
Alex grinned. “I certainly like to think so.”
The man’s gaze hardened. “Have you ever fought spirit beasts before?”
Alex nodded, feeling no need to elaborate.
The man’s gaze furrowed. “I don’t mean out on the desert sands. I mean in rifts like the one we’re about to face.”
Alex shrugged. “Let’s say I haven’t?”
The man snorted. “Fair enough. Then we’ll do this the smart way. I’m guessing you’re right-handed, so you can use your Water Shield to guard our left flank. We won’t ask you to use your dao, me and my partner will use our guandao to take out any spirit beasts that slip past the jewel-master’s attacks. You’ll keep them from flanking around our left side. Su Rin will be hugging the right tunnel wall. We keep them boxed in while our friends behind us take them out. All you gotta do is keep your shield active while we’re fighting. Think you can manage that?”
Alex smiled and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Alright then. With four Ruidians and two Deep Bronze, this delve should be no problem for us, no matter what it’s designation. So let’s get going.” He turned to Su Rin, presently handing him back his guandao. “Blondie here might be walking an odd path, but his shield could prove useful. I say we let him join on a provisionary basis.” He smirked. “Because honestly, we’d be fools not to take every edge we can get, for this run at least.”
His partner scowled before jerking a nod. “Alright. Even cut. But if he botches with the first encounter, he’s out, no share.”
“Fair enough.” Lu Gang turned back to Alex. “That fair with you, Ruidian?”
“Sounds plenty fair, and please, just call me Alex.”
“Ashamed of your own race, Ruidian?” Sneered Lieberman.
Alex turned and held the man’s gaze for long moments, features perfectly calm, even when the older man flinched and paled. “We got a delve to do, Lieberman. You want to throw down afterwords? I’m game. But until then, we watch each other’s backs and we do the job we’re being paid to do. Agreed?”
The syntax sounded slightly strange, perhaps, Alex using Ruidian terminology surprisingly close to American standard while making sure to use words his fellow cultivators could fully understand… and be comfortable with. Because the last thing he wanted to do was alienate the tanks, right before what was effectively a dungeon run, and one he was increasingly worried that they just might be under-leveled for. It was also the first one he recalled doing without spite and sabotage making a mockery of the whole damn process, so he was both hesitant, and eager to see it through.
Lieberman sneered. “Agreed. You ward and I’ll strike, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure you pull through… so I can put you in your place when this is done and Linnea’s challenge will be at an end.”
Linnea’s eyes widened at this, but Hanz dipped his head. “It’s fair, cousin. You know it is.”
Her glare would have singed a lesser man, before she lowered her gaze and jerked a nod. Alex was surprised to feel her squeeze his hand so tightly. “Please don’t let me down… my champion.”
A nonplussed Alex blinked in disbelief. “All I said was...”
Linnea blanched, desperately shaking her head. “Please don’t say it!”
“Are you declining the challenge, pale-blood?” Lieberman asked a bit too eagerly.
Alex clenched his jaw. “I’m not declining anything. But I’ve been up for almost two days straight, so I’m accepting no duels until I get a good night’s sleep.”
“It’s only fair, Father,” Hanz quickly said, coming to Alex’s defense.
Lieberman glared, before dipping his head. “So be it. One full day after our successful delve, the fates willing, we will meet and spar for the right to claim or decide the fate of my niece’s hand.”
A relieved Hanz and anxious-looking looking Linnea bowed their heads.
“So mote it be,” they both said in eerie concert.
Lu Gang shared a smile with Su Rin. “Ruidian marriage customs are quite strange.”
“Truly,” the other said, before turning back to Alex and the Ruidians. “Are you done proposing? We have a delve to run.”