Meat chunks and shards of bone whizzed past Samantha with deadly speed, a few hitting home as sizzling wounds were opened across her body. She reflexively shut her eyes and held her breath as the explosive green cloud rapidly expanded outwards from the snake carcass, but it didn’t help much. The noxious mist began to dissolve whatever it touched, and her mundane robes served as a poor defense against the attack.
Spitting Viper venom has activated [As One]. Fatal damage to lungs (Silas) have been transformed into serious damage for Silas and Samantha.
Samantha was sent to her knees as her lungs spasmed in agony and her body forced her to take a shuddering breath. She coughed up globules of blood as each involuntary intake of air only served to make her breathe in more poison.
Spitting Viper venom has activated [As One]. Serious damage to skin (Samantha) has been transformed into moderate damage for Silas and Samantha.
All but one thought fled her mind as overwhelming pain and shock consumed her: “Escape”.
Spitting Viper venom has activated [As One]. Serious damage to eyes (Silas) have been transformed into moderate damage for Silas and Samantha.
She went completely blind as her eyelids partially melted and her corneas started taking damage from the mist.
Spitting Viper venom has activated [As One]. Moderate damage to…
Escape!
Running off instinct, she reached forward in the direction of the binding thread towards Silas’s qi signature. As soon as she grabbed hold of him, she leapt backward and scrambled away until the mist no longer surrounded her and she unceremoniously fell into the well she had dug out.
She found brief respite as the cool water and mud splashed against her injured body and washed away some of the poison that clung to her. Remembering how the River Deer had rolled in the dirt to try and remove the venom, she began to haphazardly smear the water and mud over herself and Silas. The strategy helped somewhat to lessen the burning sensation, and the countless [As One] notifications she had been ignoring blessedly started to slow.
Regaining some of her wits now that she and Silas were no longer within the toxic cloud, she resisted the powerful urge to dump the entirety of her qi pool into [Flawless Regeneration]. Despite her desperation for instant relief, she didn’t want to risk the diminishing return on her qi investment leaving her without enough healing energy to outlast the poison. She put 1 of her remaining 8 qi points into the combat art, trying to first concentrate the healing on her eyes so she could assess the damage they had both taken. The effects were half as powerful now with the investment into [As One], since Silas received half the healing energy, but it was enough for her immediate needs.
The constant regeneration and damage cycle over the next 60 seconds gave the impression that Samantha was blinking incredibly fast, the healing going to her eyes bringing back her sight only for it to be stolen away by the lingering acid again a split second later. Utilizing her minute spurts of vision to the best of her ability–and checking the system messages to see where the worst of the damage was happening–she took more care to cleanse her and Silas of the green goo.
Despite the slowing notifications and the occasional refresh of [Flawless Regeneration] Samantha couldn’t help but notice that she was continuing to feel worse by the minute. She felt weak and sickly, and was on the verge of passing out, vomiting, or both. Her cough had also gotten worse, and she was having a hard time breathing. The next set of notifications clued her in as to exactly why.
Spitting Viper venom has activated [As One]. Moderate damage to circulatory system (Samantha) has been transformed into minor damage for Silas and Samantha.
Spitting Viper venom has activated [As One]. Moderate damage to lungs (Samantha) have been transformed into minor damage for Silas and Samantha.
Spitting Viper venom has activated [As One]. Minor damage to heart (Samantha) has been transformed into negligible damage for Silas. Effects for Samantha negated due to increased fortification from open Heart Meridian.
Spitting Viper venom has activated [As One]. Minor damage to liver (Samantha) has been transformed into negligible damage for Silas and Samantha.
Spitting Viper venom has activated [As One]. Minor damage to kidneys (Samantha)…
The poison had entered her bloodstream and was starting to affect her major organs–apart from her heart which was benefitting from the open meridian. She also noted that there was a growing disparity in how damage was being transferred from her to Silas by [As One], and the notifications showed he seemed to be handling the poison much better than she was.
Then, her addled mind made the connection: [Poison Connoisseur].
She pulled up Silas’s profile and quickly read through the description of the bond ability.
Poison Connoisseur [1 BP]
Inherit the toxin processing abilities of your bond. You will more easily gain resistances to any poisons you encounter.
Seeing as how she only had 3 qi left in her pool now and her condition was only worsening–meaning both of them were in danger of dying–she made a snap decision and spent her remaining bond ability point.
Bond ability selected! Changes have been made to your status page.
Corrosive poison has activated [Poison Connoisseur]. Current corrosive poison resistance at Rank 0 - 0%.
Over the course of a minute–and with the expenditure of another qi point–her corrosive poison resistance only increased to Rank 0 - 5%. At this rate, she would run out of qi without even being a quarter of the way to Rank 1. There was an emergency measure she had been avoiding that could fuel her healing art… but she grimaced at the thought of it. Still, it was better than dying.
The remainder of the poison mist had fully settled on the ground now, and seemed to be slowly absorbing into the rock without further effect. She didn’t know exactly why, but she was glad that she would be able to easily avoid the dangerous toxin now.
Rushing over to where her supplies were stashed towards the back of the cave, she was relieved to see that a protruding rock protected them from the damaging attack. She tore through her equipment, stuffing a few pieces of Steel Boar jerky in her mouth while fetching the two remaining beast cores she had.
You have consumed qi-enriched meat (Rank 3-Mid)!
Effect: +2 Resilience
Duration: 1 hour
Immediately, some of her nausea vanished and the [As One] messages slowed further. The general pain she felt throughout her body also lessened to a point that was almost bearable. She spent another qi point on healing, leaving a singular point in her pool, then ran back over to Silas to practically force feed him. His own poor condition left him–for once–not wanting to eat, but she convinced him to consume enough of the meat to gain the bonus to Resilience.
She spent the final qi point in her pool and felt her strength leave her. Weakly, she crawled out of the well so she would have enough space to sit in the lotus position. Holding both cores in her left hand, she began to pull small amounts of energy from the pearls to fuel [Flawless Regeneration]. Her strained dantian and heart meridian made their protests known, and searing pain nearly as potent as the corrosive poison scoured her spiritual pathways. Fear twisted her insides as she forced herself to push her cultivation channels to their limit–close as she was already to having permanent damage–but she felt she was left with no good alternatives.
And so, a careful balancing act began. If she pushed too far, she’d likely no longer be able to use [Flawless Regeneration] due to the damaged pathways; however taking too little energy from the pearls would allow the poison to outpace the healing. In either case, she and Silas would likely not survive.
She did her best to push everything from her mind except monitoring her own condition. Since [As One] equalized the damage and healing between her and Silas, as long as she kept herself alive, Silas would theoretically be in the same state as herself.
There was only one, small, silver lining in this awful scenario. This experience—tortuous as it was—gave her unique insights into some of the techniques connected to [Sage’s Rumination] that were previously beyond her understanding. In enduring formerly unimaginable levels of pain for an extended period, her only alternative to going mad was to partially retreat into her mind–though never too far lest she lose her ability to maintain the precarious balance. Whereas before she couldn’t conceptualize partitioning off sections of her mind, now the pain had forced her to manage the feat.
The grueling, agonizing minutes felt like hours as she fought to survive, but eventually she received the notifications she had been waiting for.
Corrosive poison resistance has increased to Rank 1 - 0%.
You have reached Rank 1 of corrosive poison resistance! Future encounters with corrosive poisons will have their effects and duration decreased by half. Changes have been made to your status page.
The uphill battle slowly leveled out, and with time, the poison in her body and on her skin fully dissipated. When she felt her condition had stabilized, she put away the partially used spirit pearls and relied solely on her natural qi regeneration to recover.
Wanting to distract herself from the discomfort as she waited to heal, she started going through the deluge of notifications she had been ignoring up until this point. Unsurprisingly, most were from [As One], but about 3/4ths of the way through the message queue she found one that caught her attention.
Your efforts to improve yourself have borne fruit! Your gains to Resilience (+1) will now be reflected in your status page.
When her damaged eyes recovered enough so that she could see out of them, she fetched Silas out from the nearby well. The caustic mist had robbed both of them of any hair, fur, or clothing, and they were both left shivering–though from the cold or pain she couldn’t say. Gingerly, she limped her way over to the Steel Boar pelt and flipped it over. A few sections near the very edge had come in contact with the venom cloud, but the high durability of the material left it mostly unscathed. She laid down in the fur and pulled the other side of it over them like a blanket, finding the stiff bristles slightly rough but suitably warm. Craving some form of comfort, she wrapped herself around Silas and hugged him close.
“Thank you.” He said, the thought coming across a bit muffled like he was trying not to fall asleep.
“You’re welcome.” she replied tiredly, “Feel free to rest if you’d like. I don’t think I could even if I wanted to.”
Samantha smiled weakly to herself when she felt his shivering stop and his breathing even out shortly after.
Exhausted as she was, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of excitement at the prospect of finally learning [Sage’s Rumination], and now was the perfect time for it. She desperately needed the extra regeneration to heal, but didn’t dare enter a meditative trance and leave herself and Silas unaware of danger in their current condition. So, using the insight she had gained earlier on how to partition her mind, she got to work.
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Over the next several hours, Samantha began forming a peaceful space in a distant corner of her mind that would be unaffected by any external turmoil she was experiencing. As the new space formed, she felt her awareness of the ambient qi increase, similar to how it felt to be in a meditative trance. Recalling the instructions listed in the Granvich manual, this signaled that she was now just one step away from activating [Sage’s Rumination]. All she needed to do now was leave a part of her unconscious mind behind in this space to maintain the placid, meditative state in lieu of her conscious mind.
Carefully extricating herself from the space so as not to disturb anything, she returned her full awareness to her body.
Congratulations! You’ve learned a new mindset.
Sage’s Rumination (Rare)
Embodies unshakable tranquility and allows one to maintain a meditative state without entering a trance.
She opened her and Silas’s status pages to see the recent changes.
Name: Samantha Cray
Age: 17
Attributes:
Aptitude (Approximate Max Value):
Strength: 5
Low (9)
Agility: 8
High (16)
Endurance: 7
Average (13)
Resilience: 5 => 6
Low (9)
Cultivation Rank: Mid Copper
Pattern: Vital Wellspring (Low Copper - Rare)
Qi Pool: 0 / 12
Base: 9, Meridian(s): +3
Qi Regeneration: +1 / hour
Base: +0.5, Sage’s Rumination: (x2)
Cleared Meridians:
Heart: +1 Endurance, +3 Qi pool
Passive Arts:
Prey’s Perception (Bond Ability)
Qi Cost: N/A
Gain increased awareness of your surroundings. Affects all senses.
As One (Bond Ability)
Qi Cost: N/A
You and your bond share vitality. If one is wounded or healed, the effect is split between the two parties. You will rise or fall as one.
Poison Connoisseur (Bond Ability)
Qi Cost: N/A
Inherit the toxin processing abilities of your bond. You will more easily gain resistances to any poisons you encounter.
Current Resistances:
Corrosive Poison: Rank 1 - 13% (-½ effectiveness and duration)
Combat Arts:
Inspect (Common)
Qi Cost: Variable
By focusing your spiritual senses on a target and expending qi, you can either retrieve basic information or gain useful insights that can be used in combat.
Swift - Rank 1 (Bond Ability)
Qi Cost: 1 qi/second
For every 1 qi point spent per second, gain +1 Agility. While active, your steps gain perfect traction.
Flawless Regeneration (Rare)
Meridians Required: Heart
Qi Cost: Variable
By cycling qi through your heart meridian and circulatory system, you can regenerate flesh to heal your body to flawless condition. 1 qi invested will restore approximately 1 ounce of flesh per minute, with additional qi invested resulting in diminishing effects.
Mindsets:
Sage’s Rumination (Rare)
Qi Cost: N/A
Embodies unshakable tranquility and allows one to maintain a meditative state without entering a trance.
Spirit Bonds:
Lunar Hare (Rank 4 - Low) [ View More ]
Silas - Lunar Hare
Rank 4 - Low
Attributes:
Aptitude (Approximate Max Value):
Strength: 2
Abysmal (4)
Agility: 12
Exceptional (16)
Endurance: 5
Average (10)
Resilience: 3 => 4
Low (8)
Active Abilities:
Passive Abilities:
Thump
Cooldown: 30 Seconds
Herb Hunter
Leap
Cooldown: 10 Seconds
Poison Connoisseur
Swift
Cooldown: Variable
Prey’s Perception
Translucence
Cooldown: Variable
Iron Gut
As One
Offered Bond Abilities:
Bond Ability Points (BP) Remaining: 0
Swift (Rank 2)
[2 BP]
For every 1 qi point spent per second, gain +2 Agility. After ability ends, effects will linger for a short time before returning to original levels. While active, your steps gain perfect traction.
Herb Hunter
[1 BP]
Like the Lunar Hare, you have the uncanny ability for finding the best quality herbs around.
Translucence (Rank 1)
[1 BP]
For every 1 qi point spent, you will become partially transparent for 30 seconds. Remaining motionless while translucent will make you exceedingly difficult to spot.
As One (Special - Rank 2)
[2 BP]
You and Silas will shore up each other’s weaknesses by inheriting some of the other’s strengths.
Samantha looked over the changes with bittersweet satisfaction. She had two more bond abilities, gained a rank 1 poison resistance, learned a mindset, and she gained +1 Resilience from the ordeal. She was pleased to see that Silas had also apparently increased his Resilience, though she had not received a system message for it.
Resilience was an attribute that represented a combination of physical toughness and mental fortitude. It was essential for any cultivator, but notoriously difficult to train unless you were a masochist. Though she was glad she had increased the stat, she also couldn’t believe that being continuously dissolved and healed only resulted in a single point increase. Granted, she had a low aptitude for the attribute, but still! She hoped that she was actually close to a second point increase, but it just hadn’t crossed the threshold to be reflected in her profile yet, otherwise she didn’t know if she had the courage to train the stat further.
Another change she noted was the addition of the second rank of [As One]. The puzzling description could mean any number of things, and she had no idea what the effects would be. The most she could tell was that it would definitely be beneficial to both parties somehow.
Closing the profiles, she turned up [Prey’s Perception] to the max and was surprised to feel that it no longer mentally strained her to do so. It seemed her higher Resilience was already paying off. She settled in for a tense night of watching the cave entrance, ready to wake Silas at the first sign of any new intruders.
----------------------------------------
Silas slept for almost a full day, his near-death experience obviously taking a lot out of him. Samantha didn’t mind, taking full advantage of the time in order to restore their health as much as she could. She was able to get up and take care of a few things like seeing if the deadfall trap was salvageable (it was) or if there were any remains from the Spitting Viper (there weren’t), but otherwise rested as much as she could.
When Silas awoke, she encouraged him to drink from the well so he wouldn’t get further dehydrated. Samantha had already checked the water supply to make sure their frantic mud bath earlier hadn’t tainted it with corrosive venom, and it appeared the poison had lost enough of its potency by now for the liquid to be consumable.
One problem she hadn’t managed to solve yet was the issue of clothing. Her good set of robes and undergarments had been completely dissolved by the poison cloud. All she had left now were a spare set of underwear and the robes she had accidentally torn in half–part of which were also gone because she had been cutting strips off of them for scrap fabric. Luckily, temperatures inside caves stayed a constant, cool temperature. While the chill was mildly uncomfortable, her cultivator’s physique could easily handle much colder without risking hypothermia. It was more a matter of maintaining her dignity. She refused to walk back to Yivesh in only her small-clothes.
Remembering that she wrapped cubes of meat in fabric cut from those secondary robes, she got up to check how her pack preservation experiment was going. It had now been a full two days, so if the bag had any preservation enchantments it should be obvious at this point. Lifting up the cloth-wrapped meat cube that was outside the pack, she raised it to her nose and took a sniff.
Her head jerked back and her nose scrunched. She had forgotten how potent her sense of smell was with [Prey’s Perception] maximized. It was definitely beginning to rot, though it was probably still edible if it was thoroughly cooked.
Digging the other cube out of the bottom of the pack, she took a sniff of that as well–holding it further away from her nose this time.
It smelled perfectly fine–as fresh and rot-free as when she had placed it in the bag.
Well, that confirms there’s a preservation enchantment on this bag…
When she no longer had to spend all of her qi on healing herself, she would consider [Inspect]ing the bag to see if she could confirm a durability enchantment as well.
She took stock of her situation. On the positive side she had meat, a decent sized stack of firewood, a tanned pelt she could use for warmth, a water source, and a manual she could try and decode for entertainment. On the negative side, she and Silas were injured, she didn’t have a weapon, the deadfall trap still needed to be repaired and set up, and they both needed food other than jerky to eat.
The negatives were significant, but not insurmountable. Healing would come with time, so she put it out of her mind. The weapon was trickier. She would get one eventually once she was able to travel back to the site where she fought the Steel Boar and made a spearhead from its tusks, but that didn’t solve her immediate needs. Maybe she could just make a wooden spear for now? For the deadfall trap, she’d need to recover a bit more before she was able to reset it, and she needed a new trigger branch since the old one had been destroyed. As for the alternate food source…
“Hey, Silas. Before the Spitting Viper found you, did you manage to find any good harvesting areas?” she inquired.
“Some. I could show you?”
“Tomorrow would be good, I think, when we’re in better shape. Are you going to be okay without your fur? You were cold the other day, and it’s only going to continue to get colder.” Samantha inquired.
“I’m tougher. Cold not as bad now.” He informed, Samantha interpreting ‘tougher’ as him recognizing his Resilience increase. “You okay without head fur?”
Samantha’s hand automatically went up and touched her completely bald scalp and the place where her eyebrows should have been. She guffawed. She had been so caught up in everything that she’d momentarily forgotten all her hair was gone too. The past Samantha would have been devastated, but the current one couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, the relief that they really pulled through finally hitting her. She imagined the look on her family’s faces when they saw her and laughed even harder.
“I’ll be fine,” she said between breaths, the pent-up tension leaving her little by little. “At least I don’t look like a freshly plucked chicken.”
Silas’s mouth dropped open in mock outrage at her comparison before a merry twinkle sparkled in his eyes.
“You look like… ” he began, then tilted his head. “Like…” he started again, his ears flattening as he struggled to come up with a suitable retort. “A plucked forest howler!” he settled on, his ears perking back up.
“Ha! Silly… you can’t pluck a forest howler because it doesn’t have feathers. Here, try naked or shaved instead…”
Silas nodded enthusiastically as Samantha taught him the fine art of razzing your friends, and before long both were wheezing with laughter.
The next several days flew by in relative peace as they healed, foraged, and shored up the cave defenses.