Alex jolted awake and looked around in a panic, but he didn't notice any immediate danger. He winced in pain, and he could tell instantly that his lip and cheek were swollen.
What woke me up?
He had his back to the stone wall and was facing the metal bars of the cell, his knees pulled up in front of him, and his legs felt like they were asleep from sitting in the position on the hard stone floor. His eyes naturally drifted to Val’s cage.
Panic filled him, and he froze.
Val?
The cage was open, and Val wasn’t within. Alex reached out through his bond, only to find that Val was very close.
Alex looked down and saw the small wyrm curled up in his own lap.
How did you get out?
The small blue head lifted, and the fish-like eyes closed, and Val opened his mouth. It reminded Alex of a dog panting happily.
“Me, Mana. Open small bag.”
It took him a minute to realize what the proud companion was saying.
You ate the mana from the cage, and it opened?
Alex stifled a laugh as Valtherion didn’t know what a crate or cage was but compared the container to a bag, which he’d only learned because the spatial bag was where the Mana Stones were kept.
I guess they did say it was a mana cage. Little do they know that they basically just gave you a free meal.
The small act of defiance made Alex smile and pat Val on the head.
Alex took some of their time in quiet to observe the stone cell. Now that his eye was uncovered, he was able to look around and inspect the cell with the Heavenly Eye. There were carefully cut square stone tiles that lined the floor, walls, and ceiling of the cell. The tiles around the outer edge of each surface had inscriptions on them that glowed with the faint blue.
He debated crawling to the closest wall to inspect them, but even as he shifted his weight, he knew that it would be painful, and he wasn’t likely to glean anything from them.
I wonder if those are runes that people can use for enchanting. They seem to be charged with mana.
He looked around the room and saw that there was an empty cell across from his own. There were two sets of manacles in his own and the opposing cell, though he was the only one there.
The area was relatively clean, and other than the small wooden puck that had fallen from his mask, there wasn’t anything else in the cell.
Alex entertained himself with thoughts on how he could get out of his current situation. While the start had been rocky, things had largely gone according to plan.
Minus the whole- feeling helpless and thinking they might hurt Val…
Letting out a sigh, he had to acknowledge that things really hadn’t gone to plan. He hadn’t thought that the sect would be so hostile or belligerent. In the end, he’d been able to tell them that he knew Eura, and based on the senior brother’s reaction, he was sure that things would begin to fall into place.
He let his thoughts drift to more satisfying thoughts of a revenge fantasy. Surprised at how easily his thoughts turned to physical violence, he thought back to just a few weeks before when he’d been hesitant to stand up for himself at work. Compared to that, he was contemplating how best to trap or subdue a small group of snobby-robed individuals and beat them senseless.
After a short time, Alex heard someone descending the wooden stairs into the holding area.
Val, someone is coming. Fly out of the cell and stay near the ceiling. Use your [Create Lesser Illusion] skill to hide. Don’t move, okay?
Val flew out of the confined space and used his skill just as the person came into view. Alex reached over to pick up the small piece of wood that he’d used to cover his eye before.
As the man stepped into view, Alex tried to use the active function of his Heavenly Eye to inspect the man. He hoped that since it didn’t use mana and wasn’t a skill, it would still work inside of the enchanted space. He felt a pulse from behind his eyes before the information appeared in the air over the younger man's head.
Lin Xue - Level 19
Class: Lotus Disciple
Primary Stat: Strength
Secondary Stat: Constitution
Most Used Ability: (Passive) Qi Cultivation
He got a lot more information than he was expecting to. The mana that Alex could see from the man was the same yellow-gold of Eura’s skin.
“Hello. This one apologizes for any inconvenience my brothers have caused to you.” The young man bowed deeply before opening the metal door.
Inconvenience?
Alex watched as the disciple walked into the cell and smoothly moved to place a set of clothes in front of Alex before unlocking the manacles that kept him chained to the wall.
The disciple looked at the now open mana cage. "Was there not a beast companion of yours in there?"
Hesitantly, Alex nodded. "He broke out and I told him to fly out of the city." He decided to give no further context and let the silence hang in the air.
The disciple uncomfortably cleared his throat. “My name is Lin Xue. I am but a lowly disciple, but I’ve been sent with instructions to prepare you for a meeting with the Sect Head.”
To Alex, he looked to be a child. His face was slightly round and his eyes were wide. He had short-cut black hair, and his cream-colored robes lacked the yellow-gold stitching of the others Alex had seen so far.
Alex sighed and got to his feet. He knew that this wasn’t the person he needed to get angry at or lash out at.
What a dirty move to send this innocent kid. None of those bastards even came back, probably too guilty to look me in the eye after they found out my story was true.
“Where are my clothes?” Alex asked. He bent to pick up the new set on the ground. There were dark brown pants, a white shirt with a loose neck, and a robe. The robe was cream-colored like the disciples with the edition of a large lotus on the chest that became whole when the robe was tied. Alex found them to be softer and more loose-fitting than the clothes he’d taken from the Shadow Serpent Sect member.
Alex dressed, and the man retrieved his spatial bag and the larger mundane bag he’d used to hold the other four spatial pouches. He held them out in two hands while bowing again.
“The weapons within were removed and await you in the Elder’s armory. Otherwise, you will find everything as you left it.” Xue said.
“Where are the others who brought me here?” Alex stepped out from the cell and reached down to access his Core. The mana answered his will without issues, and he was relieved. He used [Mana Thread] just to feel the sensation of his mana being used.
“Some of the sect’s warriors have been sent back out on patrol and will regrettably not be here to greet the Honored Guest.” The young man bowed again.
Alex took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His face was swollen, and his lips cracked from being hit multiple times the day before. After taking a few deep breaths and making sure that he remembered the pulsing sensation of pain in his cheeks and brow, he reached into the pouch for a health potion and drank it down.
Xue just watched him quietly while fidgeting with the belt that tied his robes.
It was clear to Alex that they should be moving somewhere, but he didn’t mind making these assholes wait a bit. Even if it was Eura. Alex knew Eura was significantly stronger than anything he could handle, but Eura’s people had done this to him.
Something about the thought triggered a memory in Alex’s mind. He hadn’t thought about it since his first day in the Rift because his quests had changed so quickly, but three weeks ago, when he’d entered the Rift, he’d been given a quest.
There is a spy here, in the Celestial Lotus Sect. Maybe none of this was Eura’s doing… I should mention this to him when I can.
“Alright, what are you supposed to do to prepare me for meeting with your Sect Head?”
“If you’ll follow me this way, Honored Guest. I’ve been instructed to give you access to one of our private residences and time to bathe. Afterward, we will take a walk to the Grand Pagoda, where the Sect Head is working.”
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“Alright, lead the way,” Alex said.
Val, follow behind us, but move way above us and keep your skill going. You’ll look like a blur, but in the air, no one should see you. At least stay hidden until we make sure everything is safe.
The two walked through the village, which turned out to be more of a city than he’d originally realized. The streets are wide and paved, with cherry trees lining both sides. Pedestrians walked calmly down the street and he was surprised to note that most did not wear the sect’s robes.
Maybe the sect is just a smaller part of the city?
“What is the name of this city?” Alex asked.
“Tianluo, which means Heaven’s Fall,” Xue answered calmly while continuing to walk.
Alex noted how different the culture was in this city compared to the city he lived in. While the people here were mostly quiet and disciplined, the people of New Jersey were naturally loud and crass. He loved the chaos and movement that came with the city. It was a large part of the reason he had stayed after college.
Many of the buildings that they passed were made from white-washed stone. The architecture was full of sweeping, curved rooftops with gold or jade accents. It was odd how both sides of the street shared a certain amount of symmetry with each other. If one side had a building with an addition, so did the one mirroring it.
They walked for some time and could see over the tops of the short buildings, a multileveled structure toward the center of the city that rose above all others. They walked toward it for a time, before turning and heading to the outer edge of a nice area. Just before they arrived at his accommodations, Alex noted a large field and staging area.
“What is that?”
“Those are the training yards, Honored Guest. The sect trains there each morning and for certain classes during the day.”
Alex just nodded and kept following after Xue.
When they arrived at the house, Alex was impressed. It was a small building, but it was completely enclosed in a fence with a small grassy front yard. A path lead up to the house and he could see a small garden around the side of the house.
Xue opened the wooden sliding door and guided him inside. The house had polished bamboo floors and two other rooms. One was clearly a bedroom, where he could see a low wooden bed with some sheets on it. The other had an eating area with a wall that opened to the small garden. To the back of the house, Xue showed him where they could exit.
Though there wasn’t much room between the back exit and the fence, what was in between made Alex’s eyebrows rise. There was a large stone setting and an indent filled with steaming hot water.
“Any water placed within the bath will heat up on its own and they have an enchantment worked into the base of the stone that will increase your recovery while you soak in the waters.”
Alex whistled, and despite using a healing potion, he felt how sore his jaw was from the movement.
Xue left Alex alone and told him to inject Qi into a stone left on the bed when he was ready. A finer version of his clothes was in the wooden cabinet opposite the bed, which the younger man instructed him to wear after bathing.
While the bath was certainly a luxury, Alex noted the lack of particular accommodations he wouldn’t want to live without. There didn’t appear to be any plumbing or technology in the house, though with what he knew about Rifts, that made sense.
A short time later, Alex let himself sink into the hot water.
Man, it would be awesome to have my phone. I hope Mark and Sarah aren’t too worried… I’ve been here for just over three weeks. That means it’s almost been four whole days out there. They’d definitely notice something is wrong by now.
He sighed and tried not to think about it too much. Alex reached out to his bond with Val and felt that the mana wyrm had found an interest in the plants that were growing in the garden.
Please don’t eat anything, buddy. I’ll give you Mana later, okay?
“Mana?”
Alex felt Val fly over and stop an inch from his face. Alex's eyes were closed, but he could picture the creature's large eyes staring at him with the intensity that only came with the possibility of food.
Later.
“Mana, now?”
Alex cracked open his right eye and stared at the wyrm. He couldn’t help but remember the sheer terror that had been projected through their bond as they’d shoved Val into the mana cage.
Fine. Mana now. Go bring me the bag.
Valtherion left quickly, eager to receive his treat.
I always wanted a dog. Now I’ve got a talking and flying snake? Close enough.
Alex allowed himself to soak a bit longer and decided that he needed to check all of his notifications from the last ambush in more detail. Everything had been so hectic since his encounter with Hong Xui, he hadn’t had a moment to himself to read all of the blue windows.
He laid his head back on the stone siding of the bath and mentally called forth the notifications in the order he’d received them. There were a sickening number of kill notifications for humans. He also gained three levels and a new title.
Level 24, huh. I’ve almost gained twenty levels since coming here.
Since he didn’t get any variety with his Free Points, he threw all six of the points into Willpower before pulling up the description for the new title.
Title: One Against Many
Fight against ten or more opponents by yourself and win.
+5 to all stats
Alex shrugged, welcoming the new blanket increase to his stats.
Even including the three levels, Alex couldn’t help but feel that his greatest achievement so far was evolving his [Mana Shaping] skill to [Mana Thread]. He decided to practice with it as he got dressed and waited for Xue to return.
After getting out of the bath, he stretched and noted that he felt better than he had in weeks despite some minor aches and pains.
Maybe even better than before I entered the Rift.
He flexed his muscles and stretched his back. When he entered the bedroom to get dressed, he scanned the area. He found the clothes similar to those he’d put on before. The new ones seemed to be made of better materials, though.
After putting on the trousers, he turned to the polished metal in the corner of the room that created the hazier effect of a mirror.
Good God.
The image of the person in the mirror was not what Alex expected to see. While he was still the same height, almost everything else about him had gone through drastic changes. His muscles were more defined, and barely any fat was left on his body. For the first time in his life, he had six-pack abs. His shoulder and face were scarred. His hair was longer on his head than it had been for some time, and he even had the makings of a beard growing on his face.
If I saw a picture of this person a few weeks ago, I would have said that there was no way it was me.
He stepped closer to the mirror and got a better look at his face. While the healing potion had done quick work on the cut across his nose and cheeks, it was far from perfect. The fresh pink skin stood out from his normal skin tone and as he touched it, he could feel the area where the skin was slightly puckered on the topside of the scar.
Even with the large scar, his eyes were drawn to the Heavenly eye. From a distance, it looked like he had heterochromia, but up close, it was much more obvious how unnatural the eye was. Instead of his natural brown, the eye was colored a light yellow with the outer edge teetering on golden-orange. There were flecks of white in it that, in Eura’s larger size, he’d thought looked like stars.
Fuuuuuck.
The changes weren’t just physical, either. Alex could tell, just by the way he was standing in front of the mirror, that he was more confident and self-assured than he ever had been.
Is that from the stats? Or because I’ve actually fought for my life and come out on the other side?
He stopped admiring himself and continued getting dressed. Alex debated pulling out the recovered mask and putting it on his face before the meeting but figured that this was going to be a time when he could not care about his appearance.
I’m sure I’ll be wearing a mask a lot when I get home. At least until I can explain what happened to me in here.
Instead of the mask, he tied a small ribbon of the mana silk around his head to hold the wooden puck in place. While the walk to the house hadn’t been too bad, he did close his eyes several times in the livelier areas, worried about getting a sensory headache again. With his improvised eye patch, he would be able to avoid that in his meeting with Eura.
Oooh- I wonder what he looks like in the mana sight from the Heavenly Eye now that I actually understand what I’m seeing. Wait, or I wonder if I could see his level now?
He remembered his panicked and accidental attempt to scan Eura just after he was released. At the time, Alex had been so overwhelmed with running for his life and the searing pain in his left eye that he hadn’t even realized what he’d done.
He sighed before pulsing his mana through the stone to signal Xue. It was only a few minutes before Xue arrived and guided him from the fenced yard. Once back on the streets, the younger man was willing to answer some questions for Alex as they walked.
He said that the senior brothers' behavior was indeed out of line. Xue told Alex that much had changed regarding discipline and values in the last decade.
Alex remembered that Eura said he’d been imprisoned for that long, and he asked if the Sect Head’s absence was part of the reason for the change in culture.
The disciple hesitantly nodded in agreement. It was clear that he felt uncomfortable talking about anything that could be construed as negative toward his sect members, so Alex decided to drop the topic until he could speak with Eura about it.
I guess I shouldn’t judge the whole group based on the actions of a few, right? I just need to calm down. My original plan is still probably the best option. Getting help from Eura is probably my shot to get out of here.
The pair walked on and came to a busier section of town. The quiet discipline was replaced with excited merchants selling their wares. Many people lined the streets and stopped at stalls along the way. The main street that they were on traveled in a straight path to the Grand Pagoda, which he could see so clearly above the other buildings.
Several branching side streets held more stalls and vendors. To his left, there was a street that had a growing crowd and raised voices.
Despite Xue’s insistence on continuing to the Pagoda, Alex let himself wander to the crowd.
“Let’s just see what’s going on,” Alex said, craning his neck to see.
Alex hoped to see some feat of magic or celestial artifacts. Ever since he’d met Eura and felt the six-armed man’s presence, he realized that there was still so much more out there that he had yet to experience.
While Alex hadn’t been able to relax in weeks, the bath had worked wonders for him, and he desperately wanted to take a moment to unwind and hopefully see something amazing.
His hopes were dashed as he politely made his way through the crowd.
There, on a blanket next to a stall, was a teenager sprawled on the ground. There was blood streaming down his forehead, and he covered his head with one arm weakly. A portly yet muscular man stood over him with a thick leather strap that looked like a blackjack.
Alex took an instinctive step forward to intervene, but Xue grabbed his arm firmly.
“Please, do not step in. This is not a matter that concerns you. You are an Honored Guest but still an outsider.”
Hesitantly, Alex stopped. He looked back in concern at the boy, wondering what could be the cause of a grown man’s need to beat someone who looked to be in their early teens.
He can’t be more than 15 or 16.
Something didn’t sit right with Alex as he looked closer at the boy. Alex’s skin was the lightest of those he’d seen in Tianluo and even though the boy was more tan than Alex, his base complexion was still too light to be a native. The largest difference was his hair color. While almost everyone around had black hair grown out to a length, the boy was sandy blonde and messily cut around his ears.
On impulse, Alex lifted the cloth covering his eye to use his Eye.
Samuel Grant - Level 29
Class: Verdant Healer
Primary Stat: Wisdom
Secondary Stat: Vitality
Most Used Ability: Minor Heal
Alex stared at the words above his head for several long heartbeats. The name didn’t make sense. That was an American name.
Is he from Earth? How the hell is he here?
He read the Status readout again and noted the lack of a “Hostile” or “Non-Hostile” tag. His brain continued to lag, and the urgent whispers from Xue were drowned out by the slowly building rage that flooded Alex’s mind. He watched the boy sit up and lower his guard, and then the portly man grinned viciously and raised the small weapon for another strike.
Alex didn’t think or hesitate any further. Before the strike could land, he activated [Empowered Step] and crossed the distance in a single movement.