“Alex!” Linnea shouted in his mind, no matter Hanz’s glare, for outside assistance was clearly frowned upon, but it didn’t matter.
He already sensed the peril ahead.
In the few seconds that Alex had to analyze the terrain, he saw that it had already been prepped by his opponent with barriers of frigid ice designed to keep Alex at bay, and what Qi Perception made clear were traps of another sort in seeming breaks in his opponent’s icy bulwarks, so he immediately understood what he had to do.
There was no point in staying in the periphery, fruitlessly dodging the storm of icy shrapnel even now coming toward him in a deadly wave, looking for a clear passage that he wouldn’t find.
And why the hell had Lieberman been allowed to prep the field? When had he had the time? Was this whole thing a setup hours in the making?
Alex gave a curt mental shake of his head. Because none of that mattered, he thought, as he forced himself to dive under a massive ice spear now streaking through the air, and right into what would be a full score of icy caltrops he could sense just under the inviting looking patch of grass his dive was forcing him into, projecting his shield over his head as he did so.
Greater Ice Spear pierces enhanced Water Shield! Ice is one with water! Metal and Wood elements fail to counter!
Quickness check made! You have successfully avoided Icy death!
You have knowingly dived into Icy Caltrops!
A part of Alex was wide-eyed with desperate alarm. He knew Ice would be a tough element to counter. But he hadn’t thought Lieberman’s attack so deadly as to pierce it like it was nothing!
He quickly reigned in his alarm as he braced for impact, glad that at least some things were working out just as he had hoped.
All he needed was to have faith, recalling how well his gifts had snapped back into focus when he had dared the first rift within this world… and how in tune he had felt with the jungles of the last.
Even so, it was everything Alex could do not to form a desperate shield and position himself for a hard landing where he’d be stationary for long seconds as Alex sensed his foe readying another storm of deadly ice his way.
Instead he slid into a leaping roll, tumbling right through the opening so invitingly provided, allowing himself only a moment’s fierce satisfaction when Lieberman’s eyes opened in wide-eyed surprise.
“You should have been impaled!”
Alex smirked, because it was true. Those caltrops had been carefully placed in a dip filled with lush grass. Grass that effortlessly supported his weight, as springy and easy to leap from as any forest branch, as Alex felt old gifts he had tread so carefully around using blossom to full life once more.
If anything, his renewed connection felt stronger than it ever had before.
Because maybe he had unleashed a cataclysmic quark bomb of destruction that might or might not have obliterated a thousand miles worth of woodlands.
But he had also gifted an entire world with a primal forest as vast as the continents themselves.
He was hoping for at least a wash.
As it stood…
You have embraced an echo of Forest Flight!
Veil has been maintained.
Forest Flight has transferred to Effortless Spring!
You may now maneuver effortlessly within all sources of foliage, whether soaring elder trees, grassy fields, or the lichen upon rocks!
Skillcheck made!
You have managed to avoid Icy Shrapnel!
You have successfully leaped over Frigid Barricade! Pristine grass has aided your leap!
Alex held back a breathless laugh as fierce exhilaration flashed through him as fast as countless welcome system messages as he leaped through the air with nearly the same power as he had once enjoyed while leaping between the trees. Soaring up and over the barrier and locking gazes with the momentarily stunned Lieberman.
And how easy it would be to charge forward once more. Yet Alex felt like he was on the cusp of an odd epiphany, a sage’s insight as a new skill that was an echo of so much that had come before sprung into existence within his mind. He shivered with wonder, suddenly tasting the potential to make it so much more.
So instead of racing to a far closer Lieberman and immediately engaging, he sprung to the left.
“Ready to concede, old man?” Alex goaded. “I wouldn’t want to break you too badly for your son to have to drag you home all alone, because your niece sure as hell won’t be joining you!”
His mockery had the intended effect, Lieberman’s alarmed features blotching with sudden fury. “Die, wild-blood!” The man roared, unleashing a wave of deadly frigid shrapnel, and Alex could help but wonder if maybe he had tugged the tiger’s tale a bit too hard there, but that didn’t matter.
All that mattered was weaving and darting past the onslaught at speeds he wouldn’t have thought possible just the day before with his lowered Quickness… a feat he just barely managed even if he had to twist his neck painfully to the side while diving as low as he could.
His head was suddenly ringing with the shocking bright red flare of pain as his left ear was sheered off… before springing back to his feet and dashing in a zig zag portion once more.
“Uncle, you’re going to kill him!” Linnea screamed, but Lieberman didn’t flinch from his chosen course.
Neither did Alex, his grin widening as he embraced his own peril, never feeling so alive as when he was embracing the Path of Peril… already knowing what Lieberman’s next move would be.
“Die, scum,” the man snarled, tossing one of his icy grenades that would cut through most shields, or the feet of anyone who didn’t dart completely behind their force ward… which was why he tossed another, hoping to tear through both of Alex’s flanks, guaranteeing his loss, one way or the other.
But Alex had already darted back, leaping behind the nearest icy barrier as the air cracked with a double explosion of icy shrapnel that would have been devastating… had Alex not darted back so fast it had seemed near instantaneous, earning wide-eyed looks from the entire crowd.
“Did you see how fast Alex moved?”
“Impossible!”
“That fool nearly killed us!” Snarled one observer, glaring past the pair of wujen shielding the audience from an unapologetic Lieberman.
But a madly grinning Alex paid no heed to any of them as the mad rush of epiphanies flooded through his soul. The entire battlefield suddenly became an extension of his interface even as it fused with Effortless Spring.
A skill that was now coming so naturally to a laughing Alex, darting about so effortlessly from one patch of lush green grass to another that it was almost an extension of himself.
As if the entire field were an extension of himself.
A field within which he could spring not just with the force of a sapling snapping him forward like an arrow from a bow, the metaphor he sensed from Linnea as a roaring Lieberman hurtled a good half-dozen balls of icy explosive death his way, but rather at the speed of the breeze now brushing through the grass, each tip bending and caressing the other, flowing as one.
Flowing as Alex did, Lieberman’s eyes widened in disbelief when Alex seemed to disappear in the gust of air washing over the grassy field… before reappearing right before Lieberman in the blink of an eye.
Spring Step is now Rank 2!
Spring step is now Rank 3!
Spring Step is now Rank 4!
You have had a MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH!
You may move as fast as hurricane winds blowing through a grassy field! As fast as forest’s rustling leaves inform the entire grove of pacts made or peril endured.
Previous mastery of Internal Techniques allows for Unorthodox Adept Tier Perk!
You have chosen the Perk: Instantaneous Movement.
You may now move through any forest or grassy field just as fast as you once Bullrushed through the Battlefield!
Spring Step is now Rank 5!
Sprint Step will now be referred to as Bullrush and now mirrors Bullrush in all things, save for reduced Qi drain and the need to make us of vegetative terrain. Higher skill ranks will have decreasing vegetative requirements!
Lieberman stumbled back, though the wild panic in his eyes was replaced by a feral smile Alex could only partially see through the whirlwind of icy shrapnel now surrounding the man. “Your luck ends here, failed half-blood! No matter how clever your feet, it pales before the might of true elemental mastery! You can’t touch me, no matter how close you get!” The man snarled. Though his eyes widened when a thoughtful-looking Alex took a bold step forward, right into the icy field.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Lieberman’s eyes lit with furious mocking triumph. “Suicide? I’ll gladly help you… no!” The Ruidian blanched and stumbled away in disbelief when he found Alex still upright, none the worse for ware than a single scratch along his temple.
Alex flashed a too bright smile. “I’m finally realizing what an idiot I was, not to understand all the pieces of the puzzle before me.”
“You’re damn right you’re an idiot, interfering in affairs that are none of your concern!” Lieberman spat.
Alex smirked and shook his head. “I’m not talking about that,” he said, eyes still wide with the flood of insights still shivering through his soul, his Sage’s Epiphany not abating a bit, at least not yet.
Instead it grew.
As if eager to unveil so many secrets far too long suppressed.
“I mean, let’s take Wind Qi, for example. So like White Qi that I managed to forge an entire Martial Discipline around manipulating it just like White Crane that I even got it up to Rank 7!” He gave a rueful chuckle, eyes crinkling sadly. “And I never once thought to manipulate it like White Qi where it really counted,” he said, slowly pushing forward with his palm
Lieberman’s eyes widened in alarm as his own protective icy whirlwind of shrapnel slowly bent under the pressure.
The jewel master trembled, frozen in horrified disbelief, the tension of the moment allowing Alex to savor pressure testing himself in absolute peril, and oddly, safety. At least for that singular heartbeat of time between the two of them, subduing the man with cordial explanations as he embraced arts he had thought forever lost.
“So why the hell can’t I use Qi Deflection, just like I used to? Even if Qi Absorption’s off the table, at least for now, it should work just as well as White Qi for deflecting any element that uses air as a medium. And let’s be honest, even your own use of mana isn’t quite as pristine as you like to pretend. You’re clearly manipulating both air and ice. And why not? Expand your horizons! Goodness knows I am. And if Ice bends before my Wind Crane Kung Fu, then Fire, which flickers so violently in any draft, should do so effortlessly as well. Hell, I’ll bet Wind Qi Deflection will work just fine against all mana spells and most spiritual disciplines that have any sort of physical interaction with the air! Save for Spirit, which terrifies your kind, and Lightning, which is the province of imperial bloodlines… I’ll bet Wind Qi Deflection will work just as well as my former master’s trump card!”
Alex flashed a cold smile, looking straight at the man. “I wonder if Piercing Strike will work the same? Maybe not against most physical counters, but tell me, Lieberman, do you think I can blast my fist right through your Ice Ward and tear free your heart without taking a single scratch? We could find that out together, right now!”
Alex roared the last, the entire speech in the clan dialect his opponent knew so well, as did Hanz and Linnea, both screaming desperately in his mind.
“Please, mercy for my father! I beg of you!”
“Please don’t kill him, Alex. I couldn’t live with that!”
Desperate thoughts, clawing at his conscience, for all that the two youths were too frozen with awe and fear to say a world aloud.
So Alex sneered and struck, howling with fierce vindication when countless hours of desperate training synergized with the insights he could only glean on the cusp of death solidified into one glorious, deadly whole.
You have successfully Pierce your opponent’s dual element Mana ward!
You have successfully quantized Wind Piercer Strike at Rank 1!
Previous experience with similar techniques will result in accelerated learning curve!
You have avoided being shredded by icy shrapnel.
You have successfully quantized Wind Qi Deflection at Rank 1!
Previous experience with similar techniques will result in accelerated learning curve.
You have critically struck your opponent!
The crowd gazed down in momentary silence at Lieberman’s crumpled form.
“Father!” Hanz cried, racing out into the field.
“No, don’t!” Alex roared. “He booby trapped the entire field! You could get killed crossing it, Hanz!”
The youth froze. He was no fool. As talented as he might be in the rifts… with his near mortal build, he knew as well as anyone that the icy caltrops would instantly sheer open his feet. And if the six deadly-looking icy balls that Lieberman had thrown actually went off like the ticking time bombs Alex saw them as… multiple people could perish.
Alex furrowed his brow, catching the gazes of Master’s Rah and Win. “Those six ice balls on the ground could erupt at any minute, and the Deep Bronze Wujen playing shielders won’t be able to protect the students. I recommend we evacuate to avoid any further tragedy.”
Elder Win gazed at Alex for long moments, gaze unreadable, before he chuckled softly. “What a most fascinating student you are turning out to be, Alex.” He then turned to the class. “You all heard your Ruidian classmate. The grounds have become perilous, and I can tell that at least some of you are on the cusp of fresh epiphanies, with the glorious demonstration of arcane and spiritual powers we have seen on display this morning. Come, children. Let’s return to our designated pagoda.”
Alex blinked. “We have a pagoda?”
Win snorted. “We do indeed, which you would know if you weren’t constantly missing class, Alex.”
Alex felt his cheeks flush. “Fair point.”
Win nodded. “I will leave you in Master Rah’s care for the remainder of the day.” The bemused twinkle in his eyes hardened into a warning glint. “Though I expect to see you bright and early at our pagoda on the morrow, Alex.”
Alex immediately bowed, before falling over to his own consternation and a few mocking chuckles.
“What a fool,” Lan Yi sneered.
Quing and Lilly turned to glare at him like he was dirt. “Seriously, Tan Yi? You would say such a thing after that incredible display? He’s tired, clearly. And he deserves your respect.”
Tan Yi glared at the girl. “Sold out so quickly to the nearest man to show you a bit of affection, Lilly? You’re an insult to your family,” he sneered, stalking past the pair of them.
Lilly’s cheeks blazed hot. Quing looked ready to kill the boy, before Elder Win, with a gentle touch on the boy’s shoulder and cool shake of his head, instantly froze the youth in place, even as Lilly claimed his hand.
“He’s not worth it, Quing. I… had the misfortune of being betrothed to his brother. A family alliance I had to pay dearly to break.” She trembled and shook her head. “A chapter of my life I’d rather forget, if it’s all the same to you.”
Alex tuned out the words that were no real concern of his as a panicked Hanz who this time had the prudence to race around the arena and approach from the near side, was now hovering over his father’s crumpled form.
“Father!”
Alex winced, rubbing his head that felt increasingly stuffy, his thoughts moving at a drunken pace, as if he had drunk far too much wine, and had no skill to account for the toxicity.
“It’s fine. I just gave him a smack because he’s such an overbearing twat. I might have broken his nose, but no worse than that.”
Hanz’s eyes lit with desperate hope. “Truly? He lives?” He sobbed, hugging Alex as tightly as Linnea had before the fight. “Thank you for sparing him, Alex. I know he’s a bit domineering, but he is my father!”
Alex chuckled, giving a wry shake of his head. “I know. It’s fine.” He then furrowed his brow. “But the fight’s over, right? We won? Linnea’s now a free woman?”
“We did indeed win! Right Elder Rah?” A jubilant Linnea excitedly squealed, wrapping Alex up in a fierce hug, tears streaming down her cheeks as she kissed Alex with a desperate passion he hadn’t expected and couldn’t believe his Dantian was taking a nap for once, not bothering him at all.
“You did indeed win, Alex.” Elder Rah happily declared. “You’re now free to marry your chosen and make a proper woman out of her.”
Alex’s smile stiffened, but sensing the sudden fresh panic from the girl he was still party-linked to, knew better than to say certain things aloud. “Well, at the moment what I am is dizzy and exhausted. I had something of a battlefield insight, there...”
“I know. We all saw. Quite remarkable!” Elder Rah said with an admiring glint in his eye. “You broke at least three rules of cultivation that I can think of off hand, but who knows what gifts a hybrid Ruidian who can both cultivate and use magic can do?”
Alex smirked. “Who knows indeed.” He then cracked a yawn, cheeks flushing at how out of sorts and tired he now truly felt.
Elder Rah gave Alex a knowing look. “Come, let me escort both of you back to your suite. How nice it must feel for you to be permitted to enjoy a full month’s on campus living in accommodations so luxurious that even a Deep Bronze would envy you. Well done, Alex, Linnea. May you both savor rest well-earned.” He gave them both a too knowing wink by the time they got back to the fancy dining hall that also included suites fancier than anything he had seen in his last two lives, save for his own palace, of course.
Elder Rah gave them some final words of assurance. “I’ll be having words with certain parties. You are all free to delve and make use of the school facilities as you see fit. I’ll enter into our own records that your challenge was won, as witnessed by two score observers, so by the very laws of your own clan, you should face no further challenge, Linnea. Though I wouldn’t put off the wedding for too much longer, for obvious reasons.”
Alex blinked at this, but very carefully held his counsel until after he had freshened up and returned to his quarters, about to sink into the depths of slumber.
“Linnea?”
“Yes, Alex?” asked the girl who now insisted on sharing his bed… no matter what strictures he was under.
“Why the rush on you know what?”
Linnea stiffened. “You really don’t know?”
Alex shook his head, then yawned and spoke. “Nope. Not a clue.”
“I’m still not truly safe from the would-be guardianship of others… I can only truly be free when I’m an adult. Until then… other interested parties can challenge for my hand.”
Alex blinked at this. “But you’re twenty-two, right? How are you not an adult?”
This earned a bitter laugh. “Clearly our tribes have different customs, Alex.”
“Well yeah, clearly. So why aren’t you an adult?”
“Because I’m not married.”
Alex froze, eyes widening in consternation. “But Fitz is.”
“Of course. He’s a boy. They’re considered adult with an adult’s rights when they first manifest any ability at all with their jewel.”
“But if you’re a girl, or unable to use a jewel...”
“You’re considered a child, under your clan’s care, and expected to heed the counsel of your elders in all things.”
Alex choked out a bitter laugh. “So what you’re saying is that a girl only wins the freedom to make choices in her life after her relatives have already chosen her husband who she must accept, no matter how deformed and inbred he might be, and she’s already stuck with him?”
“Exactly.”
“So even if a girl wants to escape the nightmare of sickly children or a beastly husband or being tied to someone she doesn’t like for whatever reason… she can’t. She’s a powerless child and her future is utterly in the hands of people using her as, what, a broodmare?”
Linnea choked back a sob. “I never wanted to see it that way before, Alex. Most girls have parents who love them. Who want the best for them. Most parents let them choose whoever they want for a husband. Some are even permitted to marry an outsider. Sometimes. But the bottom line is… yes. Should their fates be tied to a power-mad asshole of an uncle who never was this bad before I met you, and suddenly he’s worried about all his plans going up in smoke… then yes. Those girls are basically completely screwed. Both figuratively and literally.”
For long moments Alex did nothing but hold her, seeking to comfort her in the dim quiet light of their chilled quarters, very much as their kind supposedly preferred. Soon Alex’s breathing steadied and he felt as if he were slipping into a dream as Linnea’s tears dried, her eyes now bright with newfound hope for the future, for all that he sensed both her tingling excitement, and her fear.
“Alex? I know you said you couldn’t do certain things, but do you want to… um… see what maybe we can do?”
Alex would have chuckled at that, sounding just like he had as a teenager eager to explore various possibilities with a girl who had caught his heart in his very first life… and he so wanted to tell Linnea just that, but the last of his Spirit Qi connection left him as he finally fell into the soothing embrace of deepest sleep.