Samantha began her tale with when she first discovered the fount, figuring she might as well give him the full picture of her situation. How far she had advanced, how she and Silas bonded, her encounter with the Steel boar and the loss of her arm, hiding in a cave to regrow it and her discovery of Eduin’s corpse, the battle with the Spitting Viper and brush with death, culminating in the encounter that currently most concerned her: the conflict with the three cultivator brothers from House Braxand.
“…and then this huge beam of light shot into the sky, there was a bright flash, and the three had vanished!” Samantha concluded, somewhat out of breath for speaking so long uninterrupted.
Thomas had been uncharacteristically quiet throughout her retelling, only cutting in occasionally to ask clarifying questions. She had been watching him the entire time to try and gauge his reactions, but his expressions and body-language gave little away.
Currently, his tall frame was leaned over the sitting table, resting on his elbows as he folded his hands in front of his face. Like her, Thomas was more focused on Agility and was covered in cables of lean muscle. Unlike her, however, he was above-average in height and was classically handsome. His strong features, gentle hazel eyes, and shoulder-length locks that reminded her of dark, rich honey left him with no shortage of love interests. Put side-by-side, few would guess that they were related.
Thomas suddenly broke out into a mischievous grin, “So, you’re the one who’s got those snooty nobles doing reputation damage control?”
She frowned, “Can you be a little more serious, please? I could be in a lot of trouble here!”
He leaned against the back of his chair and shrugged, “Hey–I’m just trying to lighten the mood a bit. This probably isn’t as serious as you think.”
“Isn’t it? If I killed one of them–”
He held up a hand to forestall her, “Doubtful. Braxand cultivators being ‘attacked’ just outside the city and one of them dying? That’s big news–and I would’ve heard about it by now.” He paused and tapped his chin a few times, “Although… maybe you’re not totally in the clear either.”
“Great.” she said flatly.
“Everyone’s been speculating about what happened with the Braxand’s yesterday. Their estate lit up from one of their quick-travel talismans being used, and that only happens for one of two reasons…” he trailed off.
She leaned in closer, gesturing for him to continue.
“...something really good, or really bad.” he finished anticlimactically, giving her a smug smile.
She groaned in frustration, “I thought you were going to take this more seriously!”
“I never actually promised that,” he teased. Upon seeing her seething glare, he sighed, “Fine. I’ll quit joking around if you loosen up a bit and calm down.”
Samantha took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Deal.”
Thomas continued, “Let’s look at this logically. There have been all sorts of rumors going around about why the Braxand’s used the talisman, some theories much less flattering than others. In spite of this, no one has made a formal statement yet. That’s good for you.”
She looked at him blankly, “How?”
“To make a credible accusation against someone–especially in a case like this where it would be your word against theirs–making a statement as soon as possible is important. The longer they hold off on saying anything, the less reliable their story will seem. It’s common sense that an extended delay probably means at least part of their narrative is fabricated.”
Still confused, she asked, “Why wouldn’t they just come forward immediately with some version of the truth and give out my description, then?”
“How could they tell this story in a way that wouldn’t horribly embarrass the family? If they admit that proud cultivators of their house failed to rob a newbie coming back from their first quest, that would bring great shame to the Braxand name. If they lie and say that a higher ranked cultivator attacked them without provocation, they still might lose face because not many would believe such a tale. I definitely wouldn’t–it sounds too much like a convenient cover story and doesn’t hold up to deeper scrutiny.”
She mulled over his words, then replied, “You’ve got a good point. In that case, what do you think would be the worst case scenario for me?”
Thomas responded almost immediately, “Probably if they said they saw your face clearly but didn’t recognize you, and that you ran off before the fight concluded. That way, they could leave the door open for accusing you later if they found you and felt it was worth the trouble. However, they would still need to say something in a timely manner for this story to come off as believable.”
“In that case, I think I’ll stay in the slums for at least two weeks. By then I’ll know one way or the other how to proceed. Is it alright if I send another courier back to you in a week’s time for an update?”
He nodded, “That works for me, good thinking. You’ll be able to move relatively freely there. You might even be able to find something useful in the night market–they sometimes have good deals hidden amongst the trash.”
Samantha lifted her eyebrows at that last sentence.
Thomas frowned at her, “What?”
“Do you know much about the night market?” she questioned.
“Not enough to be helpful to you. You’re better off asking a local more about it.”
“Okay, but can you tell me what it’s like? And what kind of things they sell?” she asked.
He smiled wryly at her, “And ruin the fun of discovering it for yourself? I don’t think so.”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
He held his hands up, “Look, visiting the night market is practically a rite of passage for new cultivators. Wear a mask like everyone else does, don’t act weird or suspicious, and you’ll be fine. There are special guards hired by the market, so things stay relatively safe. Hire a local as a guide for extra help, if you really need it.”
“Fine, I guess I’ll figure it out for myself then.” she sighed, a bit disappointed. Not wanting to linger on the feeling and seem ungrateful, she stood and pointed to her bags, “Before I go, can you help me offload some of this gear? Carrying around the two heavy bags is pretty cumbersome.”
“Sure, show me what you’ve got.”
Samantha proceeded to fully unpack her bags and lay out each item on the table or the floor. She pointed to each item in turn as she spoke about it.
“I was hoping to get this Steel Boar Pelt made into leather armor and these tusks made into a new spear. I’m willing to trade any excess materials for the labor involved in crafting. Then, there’s the matter of the things I got from Eduin. This tome is odd, and seems to contain some sort of puzzle that I can’t figure out. I’m hoping you’ll have better luck than me. Also, this enchanted pack is too distinct for the slums. I’ll put all the unnecessary camping supplies in it and leave it with you, if that’s alright. Lastly, all I have for food at the moment are these last strips of boar jerky. I’ll give you the remaining spirit pearl I have as payment, but I’d appreciate it if you could stock me with some basic rations.”
“All of your requests sound reasonable,” Thomas said, examining the quality of the pelt and tusks, “I’ll take these down to one of our family’s shops to get a discount on the work, and I think the excess material will be more than enough to cover costs of labor. Everything is in fantastic condition, and the high rank makes it even more valuable. You’ll probably even get a few gold pieces back after everything. As for the tome…”
Thomas lifted the book gingerly and skimmed the first few pages. His grin turned greedy, “I’d be honored to study the secret cultivation techniques of the Granvich family! This one though,” he said seriously, pointing to Eduin’s journal, “what were you wanting to do with this?”
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“First, I considered returning it to the Granvich estate to give them some closure–”
“And then you very wisely reconsidered because that’s an objectively terrible idea, right?” he pressed.
“I admit I’ve been having some doubts since then, but what do you think I should do with it?”
“Personally, I’d burn it and never tell anyone you found this or the manual. The ‘Big Three’ are very touchy about their techniques, and if you give them even the slightest reason to suspect that you may have seen something that you shouldn’t have? You may just find out what’s on the second floor even if that Braxand boy didn’t keel over.”
“High risk, high reward. It seems that’s a theme with cultivators. I’ll trust you to get rid of it then.”
They spent the next few minutes loading up her original, plain backpack with the supplies she’d need to survive in the slums for the next two weeks. He also gave her a handful of coins in case she needed to buy something, but not so much that it would draw attention or be a great loss if it were somehow stolen.
“One last thing. It’s been a few years since we’ve sparred–let’s remedy that.” he said with a mischievous grin, “As a consolation prize for losing to me, I’ll also teach you how to suppress your cultivator’s aura since clearly you haven’t figured it out for yourself yet. I have a sparring ring out back that we can use.”
Samantha jokingly rolled her eyes at his teasing, but inwardly brightened up at the prospect of a friendly duel and learning a new skill. She followed Thomas out back and took up a position opposite him in the training circle. They both bowed to each other and took up loose fighting stances while Silas watched them from outside the ring.
“What’s happening?” Silas asked, a hint of concern in his words, “Fighting for dominance?”
“No, nothing like that. We’re practicing fighting so we can improve our abilities without risking death.” she answered, keeping her attention firmly on a circling Thomas. “Thomas and I used to spar all the time when we were mortal, but I almost never beat him. He thinks that’ll still be the case. I, on the other hand, think he’ll be surprised by how much I’ve improved.”
“Oh! This should be interesting then.” Silas commented happily.
As Samantha and Thomas continued to circle one another, he raised his eyebrow and dropped his fists slightly, “Are you even using [Inspect] right now?”
“Sorry, I’ll use it right now.” she said, then invested three points into the art to ensure it would break through his higher natural qi defenses.
Thomas Cray - High Copper
Highest Attribute: Agility (14)
Lowest Attribute: Endurance (???)
???
“Hmm. I didn’t get much, even after spending three qi on it. I’ve got your name, rank, highest stat is 14 Agility, and Endurance is your lowest stat.”
Thomas completely dropped his fighting stance and held up a hand, signaling a truce. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath, “Please tell me you haven’t been using [Inspect] this way the entire time.”
“I’ve been using it the way the manual instructed!” she explained defensively, “ I invest some qi to get background info on the target, which helps me plan how I’m going to approach the fight.”
“You mean, you haven’t been keeping [Inspect] up through the duration of the battle? That’s the whole reason I recommended it to you!”
“I did try! I tested out all the different ways the manual said to use the art while fighting spirit beasts, and it didn’t seem to do much. At least this way I get some definite information to work with.”
“It didn’t work well with spirit beasts because most fight like any other animal–simply, and by instinct.” he retorted.
She crossed her arms, “...the manual didn’t mention that.”
“Figures. A lot of manuals skimp on the most important details–otherwise how would trainers stay in business?” he griped, “Listen closely. [Inspect] was originally made to help scrutinize an opponent’s movements in battle.”
He raised his fists again and gestured for her to do the same. Once she was back in a fighting stance, he walked slowly around the edge of the circle towards her. She moved away from him to continue keeping the distance.
“Releasing the qi at once while focusing your spiritual senses on a target gives you results of varying helpfulness. While not a utility art, it can function as one with enough qi investment, though it’s incredibly inefficient and wasteful. You would be better off learning an actual utility art for such things, like [Analyze]. The right way to use [Inspect] is to release the invested qi slowly over a period of time while observing your opponent. It will draw your eyes to unusual movements or inconsistencies that can be exploited in combat, from limps remaining from old injuries, to weaknesses in armor. The low cost of the skill is necessary because it should be activated continuously throughout the fight, as the conditions of your enemy will be ever changing and there will be new things to find.”
Unexpectedly, Thomas shot forward towards her at blurring speeds, and before she could move her leading leg back it was swept out from under her and she tumbled into the dirt.
Silas tilted his head to the side, “Oooh. He’s faster than you!”
Samantha looked up at Silas, “He just caught me by surprise, is all.”
“For instance, I noticed with [Inspect] that while strafing to the right you lean too much on your dominant leg. As soon as I took it out from under you, you didn’t have enough traction on your back leg to keep you upright, causing you to fall.” Thomas explained, now without even the slightest trace of mockery or irritation. He wordlessly held out a hand to help her up, and once she was on her feet again, they began circling one another once more and he resumed speaking.
“One of the reasons that duels between cultivators often look so spectacular is because usually, both cultivators are constantly trying to capitalize on the weaknesses of the other using information from this skill. [Inspect] can even help you predict what kind of movements your opponent will make based on any physical tells they’ve revealed in the fight to this point, such as foot positioning before a weapon swing. In short, the more familiar you become with your target over time, the more helpful [Inspect] can be.”
As Thomas was speaking, Samantha was trying to use [Inspect] on him in the way that he had been describing. At first–similar to when she had first tried using the art this way–nothing happened. She feared she was somehow doing it wrong. However, when a miniscule pause in his stride stood out like a red flag in her vision she trusted her gut and jumped. Like before Thomas’s shape blurred with speed and he executed a low sweep for her dominant leg. Instead of getting tripped up by his attack this time, she preemptively dodged. Unfortunately, Thomas just used the momentum of the kick to transition into a palm strike. He hit in such a way that he tilted her body in the air and she couldn’t get her feet back under her in order to land well, and again she ate dirt.
Silas snickered in her mind as Thomas extended a helping hand up, “Caught off guard again?”
“Shut up.” she sent back.
“That time,” Thomas started, “you got too distracted by the excitement of successfully executing the technique that you didn’t defend properly. If you twisted towards my strike and made a guard with your arms, you would’ve been pushed back, but not so unbalanced that you fell.”
Samantha let out a small huff as she stood up, “To be fair, my specialty is spear fighting! I’ve never been especially good at hand to hand like you.”
Thomas’s previously stoic expression transformed into something so roguish that even a trickster god might tremble before it. “Oh? Would you prefer working with some training weapons then? I have a blunted spear on the rack over there, and I’ll even stay unarmed if you like.”
And, just like that, Samantha found herself being further humbled over the next hour as she tried to hone her usage of the [Inspect] skill. The spear didn’t help at all.
“Phew! You got tough in the forest Sam! I’m quite tired after all that, to be honest,” her tormentor complimented as she lay heaving and sweating on the ground.
He wasn’t wrong. Though she had been knocked over and lightly pummeled repeatedly, there were only a handful of times when [As One] activated and turned any light wound such as a shallow cut into nothing more than a scrape or a bruise. She was tired, but not much worse for wear.
“Thanks,” Samantha said, deadpan.
“I think you’ve got the hang of it, for the most part! You’ll have to practice more, but at least you will know how to do it correctly now. Since you’re out of qi, it’s the perfect time to show you how to suppress your aura for when you go back to the slums. Your bond will need to learn how as well. Can he understand me, or is it only you that he can talk to?”
“I have talked with him out loud a few times. It’s possible he’s picked something up? Let me check.” She turned to Silas and spoke aloud without mentally sending him anything, “Hey Silas, can you understand me?”
In response, he squeaked and chirped at her.
“What?” she sent, confused.
“I don’t know. You made sounds at me. I made sounds at you.” he replied.
“No, he can’t understand you. I’ll translate though.” she said, turning back to Thomas.
“That’s fine. First, let’s deal with your aura. I can feel it right now because it is unrestrained. As your cultivation increases and your soul gains potency, your aura grows in size and strength. Right now, I’d say it extends 10 or so feet from your body. ‘Killing intent’ is the action of pushing your aura outwards and increasing its intensity. ‘Stealthing’ is the opposite. You must compress your aura and decrease its intensity so that it continuously sits within the boundaries of your body–undetectable by others. In either case, altering your aura’s natural position and strength is similar to flexing a muscle. If you train it, it gets easier to perform the task, but starting out you will tire quickly.”
With guidance from Thomas, Samantha quickly became proficient in compressing her aura. After she became comfortable with the practice, she passed on the teachings to Silas. He was a natural and picked it up after only a single explanation. She figured his aptitude for it had something to do with the fact that as a prey animal he frequently had to hide his presence from stronger predators.
Once she was satisfied with both of their progress, she said her goodbyes and placed Silas in her pack. She really wished that the next week would be uneventful for her, but with her track record she didn’t dare get her hopes up.