“Silver Beast attacking, ready yourselves!”
Alex’s words earned only confused looks until the monstrous mantis made of inky darkness blazed a blinking red to all of their eyes, three of them immediately understanding, though the pair of Bronze cultivators were as alarmed by the intrusion in their mind as by the threat itself.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving your asses!” Alex screamed. “Stop! Stop right now! You’re about to fall into a mantis pit!”
Su Rin had time to scowl Alex’s way before a massive stinger tore through the air, aimed right for the doomed cultivator’s heart. The man's horrified last-second gaze made it clear he understood his doom as Lu Gang’s furious roar rang through the cavern, the man’s Guandao now radiating fearsome sharpness, though far too late to stop the fatal sting.
Yet the crack they heard was the farthest thing from Su Rin’s death cry.
Fortunately, the shattering crunch of ruptured chitin and shredded flesh was all they could have hoped for when the stinger was stopped cold by a prismatic disk of elemental fury, crackling with Fire, Lightning, and all the other swirling elements, Alex’s greatest defensive art now all that stood between Su Rin and certain death.
You have dared to reveal one of your secrets!
Prismatic Shield successfully counters Greater Scorpion Sting!
1 Qi expended countering Silver Tier attack.
Your Dantian shifts ever closer to its ideal form!
For a heartbeat, multiple eyes gazed Alex’s way in disbelief.
“Kill it! Kill it now!” he roared, then the air was suddenly filled with sprays of bitter cold ice, blasts of fire, and the ring of steel.
In short order the weaving Bronze tier cultivators had the monstrous scorpion crippled, darting and striking for the leg joints while the jewel masters melted the creatures eyes or froze its antennae to crackling brittleness. Multiple times Alex endured blows to his Prismatic Shield from both pincer and stomping leg, dodging back from the last attack as the stumbling arachnid crashed to the ground with the majority of its limbs obliterated, and then it was kiting it at range as Linnea and Lieberman, wearing the furious scowls Alex would expect from berserking vikings, obliterated it to a smoking crisp.
“Stop, stop, you idiots! Don’t risk the beast core!” Lu Gang urged. And it was those words alone, evoking the soothing siren call of greed, that pulled them all out of their killing fury.
Lieberman looked shaken, gazing at the Silver-tier horror that was now a massive smoking mass of charred meat stinking as only burned insects could, peering dumbly down at his own trembling hands. Linnea, on the other hand, was bouncing on her feet, eyes wide with exhilaration. “I just leveled up! Can you believe that? Alex! Hanz! I just leveled up!”
Alex shook himself out of his stupor, doing his best not to meet the gazes of the cultivators gazing at him a bit too intently. Instead, he put all his focus on Linnea, gently clasping her hand. “That’s awesome. Do you mind telling me how many points you get to play with?”
“Six!” She cheerfully declared, earning an envious sigh from her uncle and a rueful chuckle from Hanz.
“You are a gifted one, cousin,” Hanz declared. “No one can doubt that.”
Alex smiled. “Then please listen closely. I’m sure you have all sorts of ‘leet min-maxing builds in mind… but if you want advice from your good friend Alex… you’ll immediately put two or three points in Quickness, Two or three points in Perception, and whatever you have left over in Vitality.”
Linnea flashed Alex a brilliant smile. “That has to be the absolute stupidest advice I ever heard.”
Alex clenched his teeth but said nothing, merely stepping back and putting his eyes to the sharp inclines once more, paying absolutely no attention to Linnea’s angry muttering about spoiled body cultivating idiots having no idea what they were talking about, and Lu Gang and Su Rin eyeing him a bit too intently.
“She’s right, Alex,” Hanz agreed softly. “None of us have access to the strange body enhancing class that you somehow manage to get ahold of, as a Ruidian claiming a body cultivation path. Linnea won’t get a fraction of the value that you clearly do for each point you invest in your physical stats. It would take us multiple levels to get anywhere near thirty, and that’s a huge opportunity cost at what we’re truly good at. Do you understand what I’m saying, Alex? Jewel cultivation strategies are best left to jewel masters.”
Alex smirked. “Sure, that’s one way of looking at it, but there’s another way too.”
Hanz sighed. “And what’s that?”
“Elite character builds don’t mean shit if you don’t catch sight of the Bronze-tier beasts stalking your back, or the Silver-tier critters lashing out with stingers you’re far too slow to even spot, let alone counter. But a couple levels spent shoring up your weaknesses so you can actually survive a single mistake just might give you time to advance your nice shiny jewel stat.”
Alex sighed and shook his head. “Do you three even understand what I’m saying? No matter how good you mecha’s blaster cannons are, it doesn’t mean shit if the forcefields are so weak, and the neutron mesh so thin, that a single proton missile will send all your systems off-line.”
Alex blinked as the air stilled, Hanz looking at him a bit too intently. “There’s no way you could know about that,” he softly said.
Alex flashed a bleak smile. “Of course I can. It’s part of your vocabulary, the words shining so brightly in your mind. Ergo you clearly know them, so the metaphor works just fine.”
Lieberman, however, was gazing at Alex with something frightfully close to horror. “No. There’s no way you could… I’m one of the lore-keepers of my tribe. It’s forbidden for anyone not of our class to know about what came before!”
Alex snorted. “Sure. Keep telling yourself that. Let’s just all remember the golden rule.”
“And what rule would that be?” Lu Gang asked, pointedly gazing at the spinning disk of prismatic colors whirling at a gloriously fast pace upon Alex’s arm, presently costing him no spiritual energy at all, now that he wasn’t actively blocking a Silver Tier attack as a Bronze or perhaps Basic tier cultivator, linked as his ability now was with Desert Fox, happily drinking in the potent spiritual energy all around them.
“There is no fight club.”
This earned him near half a dozen confused stares.
Alex smirked. “What goes on in the deeps, stays in the deeps. Because were it otherwise, no one would ever show their secrets when lives were on the line, and people would die because other people had to fear repercussions from extending themselves far more than any prudent self-serving cultivator would ever dare.”
Lu Gang and Su Rin exchanged glances before bowing their heads. “So be it. I care not what secrets any of you clever mixed-bloods care to share. So long as we get through this alive, you’re no more than your jewels or the size of your thews, and we’ll leave it at that.” Lu Gang paused, as if for emphasis. “My cultivator’s oath upon it.”
Su Rin’s eyes widened, before he hurriedly dipped his head. “Mine as well.” He glared furiously Alex’s way. “And you’re getting my share of the beast core for this monstrosity,” he snapped. “And the life debt I owe you is one you’ll never bring up again.”
Alex grinned, dipping his head. “What happens in the deeps stays in the deeps.”
He then turned to the three Ruidians, still staring at him a bit too intently.
“Well it’s not like we’re stupid enough to reveal your secrets, Alex,” Linnea said a bit too breathlessly, her expression one Alex couldn’t for the life of him figure out, especially when she squeezed his hand. “And I put my points exactly where you said I should.”
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And the only thing more troubling than the quick darting kiss she gave him, showcasing a Quickness now far closer to an athlete’s 14 than a skilled amateur’s 12, was the tug Alex felt upon his Dantian… even though she had no spiritual pool at all.
“Fuck,” Alex whispered under his breath.
“Only if you ask really nice,” Linnea teased, giving him a wink before tossing her hair, pretending she hadn’t said anything at all.
***
“Ten o'clock high!” Alex roared, prismatic shield crackling to life just in time to counter liquid ropes of malevolent darkness shooting from a pulsating abomination rippling with venom and hate that caused Linnea to scream and lurch away even as Lu Gang and Su Rin lashed out with cleaving guandao, shredding slime-covered limbs while Alex put his all into extending his Prismatic Shield as liquid black tendrils slammed into his defenses repeatedly, desperately trying to defend his companions from writhing tentacles radiating potent toxicity that could so easily kill his companions.
He didn’t even bother to attack, only defend, leaving long ranged killing to his Ruidian companions.
Regrettably, the black, rubbery material seemed utterly resistant to fire. Yet Hanz’s sonorous chant that Alex fought and bled to give him enough time to finish resulted in a swirling cascade of frigid cold that froze the surprised-looking creature of darkness to a sickly grey hue.
After that it took only moments for it to shatter before Su Rin and Lu Gang’s furious blows.
Alex crumpled to his knees, taking deep lurching breaths, having pushed himself to his absolute limit, channeling Desert Fox with Prismatic Shield to the point that his knees had been trembling and blood coming out of his nose. And even if the glorious messages flickering across his mind made it clear that he had profited mightily with multiple skill-ups after the fifth encounter they had faced that night, he wanted nothing so much as a warm bed and a hot shower and to call an end to their delve.
Congratulations!
You have achieved Rank 6 in Prismatic Shield.
You have achieved Rank 6 is Desert Fox Cultivation!
Though Lu Gang’s furious cursing and the desperate look in his eyes made it clear that things might not end quite as smoothly as Alex had hoped.
“What’s wrong?” Alex quietly asked.
“What’s wrong is that this thing’s core is an abomination, just like the one before! The deeper we go, the worst it gets.” He shook his head in dazed disbelief. “That’s our fifth encounter. The tenth creature whose core we claimed. Eight Bronze, two Silver, daring Liushi’s elite rift, normally the province of Silver tier wujen who gaze at the rest of us as if we were dirt! And not only did we not find any cores of Water or Ice, which would have been worth a small fortune, but the last three abominations have had nothing but cores of darkness useful to no one!”
Alex smirked. “Yeah, I’ve met a few of your wujen. I wasn’t impressed.” He frowned thoughtfully. “So, how much are the Dark Qi cores we collected worth to the school?”
His words earned bitter laughter. “A handful of credits at best, and not a copper feather more. No one’s successfully used them without utterly tainting their potions and tinctures.” He snarled and spat on sands covered in smoking ichor. “It’s good for nothing more than nourishing the soil in careful arrays balancing the five core elements around it. Which means that they’re worth only a tiny fraction of what our other gems are worth!”
Alex frowned thoughtfully. “Would the waste cores even be worth a Silver Eagle?”
This earned him a furrowed brow.
“I mean the larger silver coins,” he added hastily.
Lu Gang shrugged. “Possibly you could sell it to an unwitting apothecary for a handful of silver. But it would taint their goods and cause you far more trouble than it was worth, down the line.”
To Lu Gang’s surprise, Alex flashed five pieces of silver the size of a quarter. “So we’re saying that those three waste qi cores are worth a fat silver for each of you?”
Lu Gang gazed intently at the coin.
Su Rin snorted. “Why the hell do you want to waste your money and risk your health claiming solidified waste?”
Alex winked. “Let’s just say spirit herb gardens might be in my future.”
Lu Gang furrowed his brow, before blinking in surprise. “You’re an alchemist?”
Alex emphatically shook his head. “I won’t accept any title that has me cooped up all day making tinctures and using pill furnaces when I could be honing my skills here in the rifts, or learning to master the elements. But that being said… nothing says I can’t buy some property and start a rooftop spirit garden of my own, right?”
The pair of cultivators exchanged a long look, before breaking out in smiles. “Two fat silvers per, and we’ll call it fair,” Su Rin declared.
Alex smirked, seeming to surprise them all when he dipped his head. “Agreed. And I’m still getting a fair cut of the other cores when we cash out.”
“Deal.”
Alex couldn’t help but smile in pity at the too relieved looks everyone gave him when he claimed the three spirit pearls radiating such delicious energies of Dark Qi and Shadow, already envisioning the braided beast-hide choker to which he would secure them and other future prizes within, assuming he could find a way to use it in tandem with his newest skills from this incarnation, most especially Prismatic Fox Restoration. It was a gamble at this point, but more than worth half a score of silver pieces.
“So what’s the plan at this point?” He queried, pretending people weren’t looking a bit too intently at the pouch he had mimed putting the cores in.
Su Rin gave a tired snort. “Now we get the hell out of here and cash out what we can.”
Lu Gang nodded. “The bad news is we didn’t get any Water cores, which are worth over half a dozen times what any other other type is, Ice just behind in value. Still, we managed to claim at least one Silver-tier beast core free of any taint, and that will still see us in very good standing with the school.” He gave a tired chuckle. “Too bad the spirit beast meat is so tainted with waste Qi in this rift, or we could have earned a pretty penny selling at least one corpse right to the Silver Sands dining hall. They would have happily paid us not in credits but actual silver, no questions asked.” He gave a pale-faced Su Rin a concerned look. “As it stands, my kung-fu brother and I dare go no further than we have already.”
“Why is that?” Linnea asked, despite the glare her uncle gave her.
“Because, girl, we’ve already pushed ourselves too damn hard,” Su Rin explained, only now revealing the exhaustion hiding behind the tough Bronze exterior. “It will take us at least a month of desert purification techniques before the waste buildup has left our systems, and we’d be a fool if we dared this delve again for at least twice as long as it takes a healer to declare our toxic buildup purged.” He chuckled bitterly. “And perhaps I played a bit of the fool myself, not expelling every last remnant of waste from my last journey into these rifts. But I’m not so stupid as to push myself any further than I already have.”
Alex grimaced. “Sounds as bad as taking too many cultivation pills.”
“Not that bad,” Lu Gang assured. “But bad enough.” He sighed. “Were the pay not as good as it is...” He shook his head. “Enough. Come, let’s head back to the exit.”
His words earned tired nods from everyone save Alex and Linnea, who was clearly still feeling the ebullient rush that came with a level-up.
“How do you feel?” Alex gently asked her, while keeping a very sharp eye overhead, refusing to let fatigue or overconfidence leave them easy prey for yet another ambush predator.
Linnea practically beamed. “Honestly, I’ve never felt so vibrant, so alive! Able to think and react faster than ever before, with so much energy I...” she gave a delighted shiver. “I think pouring those points into those stats might have been the best move I ever made, no matter how foolish it looks on parchment.”
Alex smirked. “I think you’re right. And if you were to focus on personal improvement next level… I’d put a point in Strength as well.”
He smiled at her instant skepticism.
“Or sure, maybe just do some hard core weight training and calisthenics for a few weeks. Those first points are easiest to get when your stats are near baseline mortal average. So why not lock in a free point? But either way, little extra muscle will let you make better use of your speed without straining your muscles. It’s when your physical stats are in harmony that you’re best off. But if your goal is to avoid getting devoured by overlarge beasties like those we faced here… then the allotment I showed you is best.”
Linnea flashed a strained smile. “As grateful as I am for your help, Alex, as wonderful as I feel? Yeah… I owe it to myself to get back on track. The benefits I’ll accrue if I can eventually Rank up to ten in my chosen art are hard to describe, but they’re worth all the dedication and effort such entails, and I don’t have forever to do it. I mean, just look at my uncle. He’s been doing this for years, and he’s now just one level above me. He’s close to Rank 8 in his element, especially after this last run. But look how long it’s taking him.”
Alex dipped his head, before cracking a smile. “And no doubt daring ridiculously difficult delves like this one, full of Bronze and Silver tier monstrosities, is a great way to level up.”
“Oh you know it! Why do you think we were willing to dare a rift clearly reserved for this school’s elite?” She enthused, before her expression grew pained. “Even though if you, Lu Gang and Su Rin hadn’t been here… if any of you had declined the delve, my uncle would probably be dead, and maybe me and my cousin as well.”
Alex nodded as they approached the swirling vortex of inky darkness and blinding white light that was their exit point. “All in all, it was kind of fun. But let’s choose a saner delve for our next run, okay?”
Her eyes positively twinkled. “Can’t get enough of me, can you, Alex? You’re damn right we’ll be doing more runs together. Just maybe an easier one where I don’t have to worry so much about dying.” She furrowed her brow. “Or maybe that will be my goal after earning at least one more sweet, sweet level. Who knows? Maybe next run we’ll get a half dozen Water pearls and be set for life!”
Alex smirked. “One can hope,” he said, far less concerned with what loot might drop than he was with his ability to spot and counter whatever spirit beasts or monstrosities they might encounter. Critters that would be doing their best to cut any invading Ruidian or cultivator’s future visits permanently short.