Alex could barely hear the man’s words over the frantic pounding of his heart. But he let nothing show in his expression, eyes locked upon Elder Win’s own as the man turned his gaze to the trio of cultivators making their appearance. And if Win’s offhand comment that clearly hadn't been anything more than an expression had thrown him for a loop, the sight of the trio of fresh instructors had him near reeling.
The largest of the three, stepping forward with proud strides, free of all armaments save for subtly enchanted cultivator’s robes, was a man he didn’t recognize, for all that the six and a half-foot tall stature and potency of Deep Bronze made it clear that he was no one to mess with. But that didn’t really phase Eric. It was the pair of cultivators by his side, one armed with jian, the other with spear that Alex recognized all too well that had thrown him for a loop.
Ya Ling and Caravan Master Dui Zhong, acting as martial instructors for the newbloods? Really?
For a moment Alex wondered if he had somehow hopped forward in lives once more or was dreaming… but the barely suppressed flinch Ya Ling gave him, her perfect almond eyes gazing so intently into his own for long moments that he was sure anyone with half a brain could pick up on, even knowing it was his own paranoia… he still forced himself to break his gaze.
No matter how much he wanted to catch up with her.
“Greetings, newest disciples of Silver Sands Academy! I am armsmaster Rah, and these are my assistants, Ya Ling and Dui Zhong. Masters of jian and spear respectively. We’ll be testing your martial acumen today, and formally marking your skills. This will be compiled with your cultivation competencies in your personal chart which you will be expected to have on you all times when you engage in individualized training or cultivation sessions. Is this clear?”
The entire class nodded, and Alex couldn’t help feeling like he was a kid struggling to play catch-up after missing the first half of class, having absolutely no idea what Rah was talking about. Or just not wanting to. Because charts? Really? couldn’t bureaucracy and paperwork have been happily left forever behind in his first life?”
Alex let his thoughts wander as the students were tested one by one… his brooding slowly giving away to worry when it became obvious that the instructor and his cohorts, Alex’s acquaintances, were, for some reason, saving him for last.
“Ruidian, come up here!”
Alex dipped his head, slowly making his way to a frowning Rah who tilted his head curiously. “Are you sure you’re in the right place, Ruidian? If you’re looking for sparring partners to test your abilities against, Senior Cultivator Te Chang would happily arrange that for you after your first delve.”
Alex forced a smile, ignoring the wince Ya Ling gave him. “That won’t be necessary, honored instructor Rah. I’m attending Silver Stands not as a rift-hunting Ruidian but as a student of The Way.”
The man snorted. “So you’re claiming to harness spiritual energy and not some magical variant?”
“That is correct,” Alex said.
The man frowned thoughtfully, before his face relaxed in a smile. “Well, you’re a physically fit specimen, if nothing else. Taller than most of your kind. And looking far less… frail.”
Alex flashed a humorless smile. “I understand your concern. I feel much the same.”
The man chuckled in approval. “Excellent! Then I’ll be the one to test your prowess. Your chart, please.”
Alex bowed his head. “Sadly, I don’t have a chart as I managed to sleep until noon on our first full day, giving our sensei an absolutely glorious impression of me, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
Surprisingly, the man gave a goodnatured laugh. “Oh, I can imagine that damn well, in fact.” He winked. “Did you catch the interest of a girl enamored of those sparkling jewels for eyes of yours? With the build of a cultivator and your exotic golden hair… how could she resist? And after so long in a cramped commune, how could you?”
Alex snorted. “More like I was rifting until two glasses before sunrise and hadn’t slept the night before.”
The man’s smile faded, assessing eyes suddenly locking with his own.
Alex felt the flush in his cheeks, cursing himself for seven kinds of fool.
“So, you were the odd duck who saved Lu Gang and Su Rin’s hides, and a trio of foolish gem masters who should never have goaded them to dare the eastern rift.”
Alex swallowed, not quite sure what to say, but not wanting to cause trouble for his acquaintances, so saturated with waste Qi that they couldn’t afford to antagonize anyone with lies. But he wasn’t going to throw his Ruidian friends under the bus either.
“To be fair, I don’t think my companions had to entice anyone to do anything.” He admitted. “Every one of us was hungry for the glory of the rifts, and none of us gave a fig for risks that were only rumors. Not until death was staring us right in the face, or leaping at our throats from behind.”
The man nodded thoughtfully before smirking at the youths already being formed up into groups to practice basic forms and demonstrate their mostly fledgling skills, Ya Ling and Dui Zhong showing themselves to be competent instructors as they slowly went over the basics, firmly correcting the half dozen bold enough to emulate their forms while the rest just diligently watched.
He then turned back to Alex, hard smile in place. “You look like a lad who’s experienced more than most. I’m guessing I don’t have to tell you what this is all about at all, do I?”
Alex grinned. “Nope, I get it. We dare the rifts for fresh spirit beast meat or beast cores. Regular hunts help prevent anything like a beast surge. Most importantly, no matter how some of your associates try to hide it, it’s all about getting as many Water and Ice cores as you can.” Alex ignored the man’s tightening gaze, the suddenly controlled look about him as he strove to give nothing away at all. Instead, Alex gazed out at the magnificent sight of the caldera basin, a lush green valley filled to the bursting with fruit groves, spiritual herbs, fresh vegetables, and grain crops. Food and plenitude that could no doubt feed an entire city. No doubt did feed an entire city. And the cool dampness and crystal clear streams, the bounty of life itself, was all dependent on the multiple waterfalls spraying the valley below with a constant shimmering mist of pristine water in its purest form.
He then turned back to Rah. “No speeches needed. Because you don’t need to be a master artificer or geologist to know that those four waterfalls feeding the basin and the million plus people making their homes around it comes from the interaction of rifts and cleverly placed beast cores, and has absolutely nothing to do with underground rivers in this part of the desert.”
Alex had kept his voice soft, of course, his words for Rah alone to hear. And the way the man looked at him made him wonder if he had just misstepped one time to many. A no doubt fatal miscalculation.
Instead the man cracked a jaded smile. “And you earned five hundred credits for doing your part, daring those rifts last night.”
Alex grinned. “Indeed I did. And I refused to take anyone else’s cut either, no matter how much they said they owed me. Win win, no motivational speeches needed.”
Rah tilted his head thoughtfully. “Is that why you’re here? To dare the rifts?”
Alex swallowed. In for a penny… “That, sure. But let’s be honest, I can do that for fun and profit anywhere. What I’m really here for is access to whatever tomes… or instructors… will let me learn a wujen’s arts.”
This earned a bemused eyebrow. “A wujen’s arts, is it? Well, maybe we can find a way to help you with that. But first, how about you show me again how you managed to play point man in a Silver-tier rift?”
Alex forced a smile. “Gladly. But we’re using the PG version of things,” he said, summoning his enhanced Water Shield to maximum volume and intensity, earning an impressed nod from Rah.
“PG version?”
Alex rolled his eyes at the now solemn class of students who were now staring their way far more than at their supposed instructors. “Fit to be seen by those around us without totally going ‘off script’”
Rah snorted. “It’s a pretty shield. Now show me you have the reflexes to go with it! But let’s keep it interesting. Live steel, boy! You draw even a drop of my blood, the match is yours.”
Alex chuckled. “And how many credits is our match worth?”
The man blinked in surprise, before breaking out in a mercenary smile. “Ten credits if you beat me… and five if I beat you. Agreed?”
Alex didn’t hesitate to nod. “So long as we’re not fighting to maim, cripple, or kill… your on.”
Not hiding the exhileration he felt, Alex allowed an excited smile to grace his features. Before turning into a grimace when a swirling disk of stinging sand formed in front of his opponent. “Show me what you can do, aspirant.”
And Alex did.
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Skill check made! Rank 10 Golden Realms vs Rank 5 Desert Sand kung fu!
You have suffered two Light Wounds! Damage mitigated to superficial injury.
Alex’s bemused confidence soon turned into serious focus, then fierce intensity as pure technique gave way to a warrior whose shield crashed against his own with the force and fury of the entire desert, forcing Alex to constantly step back, the man’s dao, no more enchanted than Alex’s own, nonetheless wound against his blade like a serpent’s coils, inexorable pressure that wouldn’t be denied, an alarmed Alex forced to dart away, lest his blade go flying as effortlessly as he had made countless others fly free of too many overconfident fools.
Much like he himself was clearly being when the gleam in his opponent’s eye was the only tell Alex sensed when the hot sting of steel against flesh sizzled against his skin.
He hissed and leaped back, feeling yet another stinging slash on his shin, earning a bemused chuckle from his opponent. “Nice form there, kid. Nothing compared to the desert’s might, but damn fine for a Ruidian.”
Alex forced a rueful chuckle, more than a little bit dismayed by how easily his opponent’s swirling maelstrom of stand had forced his own disk of water back, despite the odd half-step element having seemed weaker, not stronger versus water, when he had sparred with Ya Ling. But somehow his coolly smiling opponent with the thousand yard veteran’s stare had incorporated just enough hot desert wind to his sand so that not a drop of moisture tainted his shield. Where Alex’s Water Shield, on the other hand, had seemed to visibly diminish. His opponent might not be any stronger than him, but he was clearly well versed in using his Qi Discipline, with years of experience versus the mere weeks that Alex had intermittently practiced with it, and never pressure testing it against an opponent like this.
Of course, it was true that his sparring partner was using a Bronze tier martial technique, incorporating an element in plentiful supply beyond the caldera, and Alex was relying on technique alone.
Because he thought countless hours of experience and honing his craft was enough to master someone just as in tune with his elements as Alex was.
Clearly, he was wrong.
“I do believe the first match is mine.”
Alex smirked. “No shame in the student losing to the master.”
“True. And a damn good thing you realize that. Do you want to know what you were doing wrong?”
Alex dipped his head. “Please, enlighten me.”
“When you found that hot sand was a perfect counter to lone Water, you played to defensively, letting me control the bind. And if there’s one thing that years of crushing bandits has taught me, it’s how to master any fool whose shield fails to match my own. Sometimes you have to be aggressive, boy. Even when your shield if suffering for it. Who cares if it gives out in a minute, if you best your foe in half that time?”
Alex chuckled. “Fair point. Shall we try again?”
The instructor smirked. “Double or nothing?”
Alex laughed. “Have you no shame? There’s no real challenge in beating a student, is there? How about you be a teacher eager to instruct and inspire? Your tip was excellent, by the way. What’s say you inspire me with 20 credits if I actually manage to beat you?”
Rah’s grin hardened. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, with half the class having been caught up in their furious exchange of blows and use of elemental shields to foil each other’s attacks, though Alex could taste the bloodlust just beneath the surface. As graceful, elegant, and he was sure, righteous as most of the students no doubt were, their inner wolves also savored the sight of fresh bright drops of crimson spraying across the desert sands as victory was claimed in the most primal sense imaginable.
Even if Alex’s flesh wound had closed up just seconds later… the blood was still there.
But his leg was the last thing his fellow students were focusing on when his shield began to whirl faster than ever, Alex suppressing his smile as best he could when his opponent’s confident grin faltered. For the grit of sand wasn’t simply wicking away water… now it had an ocean’s worth of salts to contend with… some crystallizing to the actual size of steel shavings, as the shield whirled beyond anyone’s ability to make out the details of Alex’s manipulation of the elements.
And even if it was cheating just a bit… perhaps there were some shavings of wood as well.
Skillcheck made! You have successfully enhanced your Water Shield to incorporate Wood as well as Metal! For what is stretching boundaries to one who forged a Gold-tier discipline in a life lived long ago?
Alex ignored the interface message, all his focus on wrapping multiple layers of swirling Water and Steel and Wood… resisting the impulse to flow right into Prismatic Shield, treating this as just another exercise in discipline and focus. He refused to be distracted by ancient memories of women who had once fought so fiercely by his side, smiling so brilliantly when they ascended past what everyone had thought possible… the blissful life they had been on the cusp of sharing what felt like just a month ago.
However many centuries back it had been.
Alex squeezed back the sting in his eyes, Qi Perception all that kept his blade aligned with his opponent’s desperate attempt to bind and yank free his own.
And steel did indeed flash as it went cartwheeling through the air.
Only it was Rah’s scimitar-like dao slipping free of numb fingers as a whirlwind so like swirling Light Qi tore the blade free. Alex embracing the mirror of countless techniques his former mentor Panheu had mastered over countless decades, before making those techniques his own.
You have successfully incorporated Wind Crane Kung Fu with Golden Realms techniques.
You have mastered your opponent in the bind!
The entire class went silent, a frozen tableau of countless wide-eyed students, even a nonplussed Elder Win, gazing at the sight of a disarmed Rah, shield of sand smashed against his chest as howling Steel and Water shredded gambeson and the skin it came into contact with, Alex’s dao resting against his opponent’s armpit, so expertly held that not a drop of blood was spilled.
An endless heartbeat later, Alex’s shrieking vortex of water became nothing more than a memory as he step-slid back and bowed before his opponent at a perfect 30 degree angle, his eyes never leaving Rah’s own.
“Thank you for the instruction, Master Rah. I will do my utmost to master the technique as demonstrated.”
The larger cultivator stared at Alex for several long moments before tilting back his head and giving a proud chuckle. “Wonderful! I have never had a student pick up a technique so fast! You do your former master proud, boy.”
Alex smiled. “I only hope I can be just as worthy of my present instructors.”
“Oh I have no doubt you will, lad.” Rah immediately took the mantel of instructor, patting Alex on the shoulder before turning to the still speechless class. “Now, let’s go over what you should have learned from our demonstration, aspirants.”
In very short order, a bemused Alex found himself acting as Master Rah’s teaching assistant, his elemental shield replaced with one of wood and steel, slowly going over techniques for mastering both forearm-strapped round shields and single edged daos in the bind.
“So that’s what I was doing wrong!” Declared a young aspirant glaring down at his hand holding his blunted training weapon as if his weak grip was the culprit. Which it was, but only partly. “I’m not following through correctly, and I’m not guarding with my shield after my cut.”
Alex nodded. “Correct. The dao, at least those with the balance weighted closer to the guard, can be used much alike a saber, striking and countering in a single beat, when you lead with a high or mid hanging guard. But when you have a shield on hand, you should make full use of it, using it to skew your opponent’s strikes or better yet, trap his blade against his body or shield, before ending the match with your own sword rammed right underneath their hauberks, if it were a real fight. Other good strike points include under the armpit, or in the neck. Whatever the angle allows and where your opponent’s armor is weakest.”
Faster than the kid could blink, Alex’s dao danced, caressing both the youth’s legs so fast he yelped and stumbled back after the fact. “But the bottom line is, wherever you can draw blood, you should, so long as you can guard your line while doing so. Few things are more demoralizing to your opponent than the burst of pain and fear that comes from being cut open by your blade. Your foe will then fight much more defensively, and sloppily, when he tastes his own mortality. He’ll also be much more likely to flee or plead for quarter, regardless of how serious or mild the injury is.”
Ma Guo quickly nodded, eyes bright with the effervescence of youth getting their first taste of power, that wonderful sense of growing stronger with dedication and focus. And few things were more important to the youth now looking up to Alex as if he were some sort of instructor, than learning to master the weapons of war.
“I think I understand, Sifu Alex. Thank you for the lesson.”
Those words were repeated by the other pair of boys he soon found himself watching over, doing his best to teach the most basic lessons his first friends in this world, Liu Jian and Liu Li, had taught him. Even if long spear had come first for lessons, sword and shield certainly had their place.
Instructor Rah gave Alex an approving smile by the time the class drew to a close. Still, Alex was surprised when Rah chuckled and clapped his shoulder as Elder Win began organizing the young men and women both smiling and crestfallen, into various groups.
“I’ll take this one, Win. I think he’ll fit in fine with my morning session.”
Elder Win raised one curious eyebrow. “You would have the Ruidian train with your elite Bronze?”
Alex stilled the surge of surprised excitement he felt at the pronouncement.
“Indeed,” Rah declared. “The boy has a sense of the spear and dao both, and by the look of his stance, the way he moves, he will be no slouch with the guandao either, especially if he’s hiding as much of his strength as I think he is.”
Win chuckled softly, before giving a thoughtful nod. “That might be ideal for the boy.” He then locked gazes with Alex, face growing solemn. “Are you truly ready for that, Alex? Sparring with a Duo Yi lackey, more thug than cultivator, is one thing. But Master Rah teaches the true hybrid elites within this school. Those who blend the arts of body cultivation with the visible manifestation of spiritual energy. Quite similar to your own style, in fact. It might not quite be a Wujen’s storms, but considering how few body cultivators can manifest their spiritual energy beyond an incredibly resilient physique… it is still an excellent opportunity.”
Alex didn’t hesitate to flow into the deepest of bows. “This one would be honored for the opportunity to learn from my fellow disciples and betters, Master Win. I will strive to prove worthy of this opportunity.”
Win’s hooded gaze locked with Alex’s own for a long drawn out moment, before he gave a slow, satisfied nod. “I believe you will, at that, having already learned the importance of timeliness and the tragedy of unnecessary hardship and folly.”
Alex, cheeks flushing, bowed once more. “It is as you say, Master Win. I will do my utmost never to shame my mentors by being late again.”
“Exactly what I wanted to hear.” Win gave an approving nod. “So long as our young Ruidian holds tight to that resolve, I think he will make a fine disciple, Master Rah. Should he, however, surrender to tardiness or sloth… I expect you to show him just how steep a price any caravan guard would be forced to pay for a similar offense.”
Alex winced as Rah chuckled good-naturedly, squeezing Alex’s shoulder so hard he actually felt it. Which meant he was Deep Bronze indeed. “Damn right I will, Win.”
“Good. I’ll make sure he knows where your training hall is.” He then turned to the class, clapping once. “The martial tests are over. You have all been assigned a mentor and the training hall which you will attend on the morrow.”