By the time she returned to the fount it was late in the afternoon. She dropped the Forest Howler’s carcass on the ground, grimacing at the stickiness that clung to her upper back and the lingering soreness throughout her body. She swore to herself that she would take a bath as soon as she was finished cleaning the kill, but there was no sense washing up right now just to get covered in blood all over again.
Retrieving the supplies that she had stashed earlier, Samantha pulled out her skinning tools and got to work on processing the four-armed ape. Occasionally she would look up to the sky, judging how much daylight she had left before dusk arrived and, by extension, how long the window of opportunity remained open for a dip in a nearby stream. By her reckoning she had about three hours left before sunset, which if she hurried would be just enough time to finish up everything.
Her practiced hands flayed fur from flesh, removed viscera, set aside prime cuts of meat, and sorted bones into various piles. Many people would find being elbow deep in the chest cavity of any animal to be revolting, but oddly, Samantha found a sort of familiar comfort in the grim task. The expertise gained through years of helping her parents around the shop allowed her mind to wander while the quality of her work remained high.
She mulled over the latest chain of the quest she had received and which meridian she could possibly open. She had not anticipated trying to clear a meridian this soon, so she hadn’t done much research beyond the basics prior to leaving Yivesh.
She knew that meridians were spiritual pathways that connected the dantian to various parts of the body, and that opening them had two main advantages. First, clearing meridians would often increase the base value of corresponding Attributes, and increasing Attributes this way wouldn’t take away from the amount she could gain through training. For example, opening the skin meridian would allow more qi to permeate her skin, empowering it and increasing her overall Resilience. Her estimated max value of 8 Resilience would also be increased along with the base value. Another advantage to opening meridians was that they increased a cultivator’s access to qi arts. Some qi arts required certain meridians to be cleared in order to function, while other arts became more efficient and had their qi cost reduced after opening the appropriate meridians.
As tempting as it was to just pick something she knew would generally be useful and complete the quest, she needed to be cautious with what meridians she opened. If she chose to follow the popular ‘Golden Ratio’ of opening one meridian per cultivation rank, then making a bad choice now could mean she would miss out on a valuable art and would need to wait until her next rank to open a new meridian to use it. She decided to hold off on using the spirit pearls until after she got home and browsed through the combat manual shops. Thankfully, she could take her time in making a decision since this chain of the quest didn’t have a time limit.
After two hours of labor, she finished her task of dismantling the Forest Howler and began cleaning and putting away her tools. She briefly considered using the expensive tanning solution that she had brought with her to preserve the hide, but the Forest Howler was not a spirit beast known for its Resilience and it would probably make for poor armor. Instead, she set the pelt aside and would use more traditional tanning methods on it later.
That done, she turned her attention to her spear and sighed. The weapon looked significantly worse for wear. The spearhead tip was entirely gone–likely broken off on or in the carapace of the Rock Beetle. In addition, the blade’s edge had acquired several chips, and the wooden shaft that the spearhead was attached to had cracked just below the mounting point. In short, it was now entirely unsuitable for combat. If she went out again without doing some repairs first, she’d be asking for trouble.
Making a snap decision on how to quickly fix up the weapon, she removed the blunted spearhead and whittled off the broken section of the wood, losing a couple of feet from the overall length of the shaft. She then pried a wickedly sharp canine free from the jaw bone of the Howler. The tooth was longer than her hand, but shorter than the original spearhead had been. This, combined with the slight curve of the fang, made it less than ideal, but it would still make a serviceable replacement until she found something better. Carving a couple notches into the tooth so that she could easily fasten it to the remaining 5 feet of unblemished wood, she tied it to the shaft with some simple cording she had bought for the trip. Lastly, she removed the tassel from the old spearhead and reattached it beneath the new one.
As the tassel was secured she looked over her new spear, uncertain whether to be embarrassed or proud of the somewhat grisly result. It definitely was one of the ugliest weapons she had ever created, rivaling some of the items she had crafted in her childhood. Still, if it worked, she wouldn’t complain. Just for fun, she used one point of qi to [Inspect] the spear.
Primitive Bone Spear (Poor)
This five-foot-long spear was hastily constructed from the remains of a Basic Spear (Common) and a Forest Howler (Rank 1 - Mid) fang. The result could best be described as ‘crude but effective’.
Samantha read the message and shrugged, “Yeah… that’s fair.”
Freshly armed, she proceeded to bury the offal a safe distance away from the meadow so it wouldn’t attract predators. Then, she once again secured her supplies–along with the Howler materials–up in a tree. She checked to see if she still had enough time left to make it to the creek and back, holding her left hand up horizontally so that the sun appeared to hover just above her index finger. Looking at how many fingers were between the sun and the mountain tops in the distance, she estimated that she had about 30 minutes before the sun set. She could make it work.
Having spent the last two weeks repeatedly traveling to the same nearby stream to gather water, she was able to easily navigate the area and quickly reach her destination. Without ceremony she stripped and briskly washed the blood from her body and her robes in the frigid water.
As she bathed, she noted with some unhappiness that she had lost weight over the last few weeks and her slight frame was now devoid of any excess fat–not that she had much to lose in the first place. While she couldn’t complain about the aesthetics of her leaner, toned physique, it wasn’t ideal to lack fat stores in a survival situation. She reached up with calloused hands and felt her cheekbones and jawline, which had also sharpened with the weightloss. She wondered if she would recognize herself upon returning home without the familiar softness of her features. Looking down into the running stream, she tried to catch a glimpse of her reflection without success. While she could make out vague details such as her long, black hair, lightly tanned skin, and brown eyes, everything else was lost in the rippling surface of the water.
She went through the familiar routine of wringing out the excess water from the fabric of her robes, and absentmindedly observed that a lot more water was coming out than she could normally manage. As she twisted the clothes one last time, getting a firm grip upon both ends, the robe unexpectedly tore completely in half in her hands.
She looked dumbly at the two scraps of fabric, belatedly realizing that she hadn’t properly accounted for her increased Strength. She frowned at the pile of gear she had set down at the edge of the stream bank, wondering if the other set of clothes she had brought along on this journey would last her until she returned home. She could understand a bit better now why cultivators invested in enhanced clothing–yet another thing she would need to add to the list of items to purchase.
Storing the pieces of her ripped clothes to deal with later, Samantha donned her secondary set of travel robes and set off towards the nexus. She arrived back to the safety of the fount just as the sun was setting, and her stomach grumbled loudly. It was time to enjoy the spoils of her victory.
She retrieved her supplies and set a choice cut of Forest Howler meat over a small cooking fire. Knowing that the thick slab of meat would take a while to fully cook, she took some time to explore the meadow a bit more. As she explored the rapidly darkening clearing, she occasionally used [Inspect] on odd looking plants and returned to her campsite every few minutes to flip her steak.
Once night truly fell, Samantha saw something unusual in an otherwise inconspicuous patch of tall grass. Upon closer inspection, she realized that she had found a flower that glowed purple.
She knelt to get a closer look and noticed that it wasn’t in the best shape, as far as her untrained eye could tell. The purple plant stood about three inches tall and had a handful of thumbnail sized leaves sprouting from its stem. Some of its leaves had bites taken out of them from bugs or some other small spirit beast, and it looked to be slightly wilted. Curious, she used [Inspect] on the mysterious herb and her eyes widened at what she saw
Starfire Sprig (Legendary => Due to poor condition, downgraded to Epic)
This herb requires unusually high concentrations of qi, moderate temperatures, and exposure to starlight to properly grow. It has many useful applications, but is primarily sought after for the benefits it can provide to lower ranked cultivators when specially prepared and processed.
Samantha couldn’t move for a moment, wholly shocked into stillness. With shaking hands, she dug the plant from the ground and returned to her campsite to store it in her pack beside the beast cores. She never thought she’d personally encounter an item of Epic quality. What would something like this be worth? She could probably buy a dozen of the highest-grade qi forged spears with the money she’d get from a find like this, but she didn’t dare sell it. She didn’t know what kind of benefits she’d get once she got an alchemist to refine this into a pill or elixir, but it was sure to be amazing. She mentally added the task of saving money to commission work from an alchemist to her rapidly growing list of expenses.
She took the now-grilled steak off the fire and set it on a nearby rock so it wouldn’t burn, then immediately set back out to scour the meadow for more glowing herbs. If she could find even one more, she could keep the one in the best condition for herself, and sell the other for an immense amount of gold to solve all of her money problems.
A few times she caught sight of the familiar glow, but all she discovered was disappointment. Every plant she checked had only broken and munched on stems remaining. By the 5th chewed stalk she found, she decided to call it a night and eat dinner. It didn’t look like she was going to find anything else, and she felt like she was starving.
She turned to start walking back to her campsite, but saw that something was off. Her perfectly grilled steak was nowhere to be seen, and her backpack was knocked over onto its side.
She approached the area cautiously, fearing that the smell of cooking meat or light from her fire had allowed a spirit beast to find her nexus. When her pack suddenly shook and she heard a concerning, muffled crunching coming from within it, her sense of urgency increased.
She grabbed her pack by the bottom corners and dumped out the entire contents, a very plump green and brown hare tumbling out alongside her supplies. In the light of the campfire she saw what remained of her Epic quality herb rapidly vanishing inside the animals mouth, one nibbling bite at a time.
Utter disbelief caused her mind to go blank on what to do next. This creature was looking up at her, completely unfazed by being dumped out onto the ground while it nonchalantly ate the most valuable item she had ever found. And, by the looks of its overfull stomach, it had also polished off her Howler steak… she didn’t even know hares were interested in meat!
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
With a final gulp the last of the Starfire Sprig was consumed, and she watched in horror as the little thief turned its attention towards a shining blue orb that had settled not far from it.
Samantha pointed accusingly, “Don’t you even–”
In a flash the hare leapt atop the beast core and took it into its mouth, Samantha throwing her entire body after it in an attempt to save the precious resource. She grasped at the creature with fumbling hands, a frustrated growl escaping from her lips as she felt its soft fur slip away from her fingertips. She popped up from her prone position as quickly as her 8 Agility permitted, and rushed after the escaping hare determined to reclaim her hard-won reward.
I’m going to turn you into a scarf!
She relentlessly pursued the nimble hare through the meadow, following the trails that it left behind as the speed with which it fled from her caused grass and flowers to blow over. A few times she lost sight of it entirely, but by taking a quick moment to center herself she was able to use her sphere of perception and locate its position time and time again. Her relatively higher Endurance kept her energy up while the hare began to flag and hide more often to try and recuperate. For some reason it refused to leave the boundaries of the nexus, but that suited Samantha just fine. One way or another, she was going to win.
After about an hour of continuous pursuit, the hare’s diminishing energy stores finally ran dry. It laid panting in a patch of grass when Samantha gleefully pounced on it and pinned it to the ground, the beast core still in its jaws. The core–to her dismay–was nearly spent, only the barest glimmer of light remaining in its center. This wasn’t enough to completely dissuade her from her goal of retrieving it though, so she pinched the spirit pearl between her thumb and index finger and tried to pull it free.
The Lunar Hare redoubled its efforts to keep hold of it.
She pulled harder and the beast stubbornly squealed and attempted to thump her with its back legs, only managing to kick clods of dirt onto her previously-clean clothing. She yanked with even greater force and could swear that she felt its spine groaning under the strain, but still it refused to let go. Just as she was about to try to tug the pearl free again, a notification interrupted her.
A spirit beast has offered to bond with you
The Lunar Hare that made its home within the Nexus has been observing your progress. You have impressed it with your speed, tracking abilities, and determination, and it believes that you will be a worthy ally now and in the future.
To accept and finalize this bond, fulfill the following requirements:
1. Catch the Lunar Hare without inflicting serious injury [COMPLETE]
2. Gift 1 herb of Rare or higher quality to the Lunar Hare [COMPLETE]
3. Gift 2 beast cores of any rank to the Lunar Hare [IN-PROGRESS]
“Gifts, huh?” Samantha chuckled cynically as she read.
Spirit Bonds were somewhat uncommon in Yivesh since usually only the aristocracy was able to afford them. The requirements for bonding with spirit beasts were drastically different depending on a variety of factors. There were some families who were well known for breeding spirit beasts and researching a bonding method that would work for most people, but purchasing ‘raised’ Bonds was incredibly expensive. Naturally offered bonds–such as this one–were unusual. Most cultivators were more interested in killing wild spirit beasts than trying to bond with them, and most wild spirit beasts were too aggressive or independent to offer a bond willingly.
Samantha was torn on how to proceed. Accepting a Spirit Bond was no small matter. As long as the binding thread was intact a portion of her cultivation would be siphoned off to extend her spirit beast’s natural lifespan and increase its strength. This would also slow her personal advancement. Not only that, but she could only bond with one spirit beast at a time and she didn’t know of a way to safely dissolve a bond. If her bond died, she would suffer a severe backlash that would damage her cultivation base and could even knock her down in rank. Because of these downsides, most people waited to bond with a beast until they had at least reached Mid or High Copper. However, alongside the many drawbacks of a Spirit Bond were equally impressive benefits.
The primary benefit was access to Bond Abilities, which were similar to qi arts but unlearnable outside of the connection between a cultivator and their bonded beast. The abilities that could be learned were dependent upon the beast, and could range from attack to utility arts. Higher ranked beasts typically had more abilities to choose from, and they were generally more powerful than what was offered by a lower ranked beast.
She looked skeptically at the 15 pound hare, wondering what abilities it could possibly offer her. She decided to use [Inspect] on the creature again, and after spending 5 qi points–nearly bottoming out her pool–she got the information she was looking for.
Lunar Hare (Rank 4 - Low)
Strength: 2
Agility:12
Endurance: 5
Resilience: 3
The Lunar Hare’s quick, agile movements make them difficult to catch, and their love for feasting on the best herbs and alchemical ingredients has gifted them with resistances to various poisons and toxins. With senses specialized for detecting danger and fur well-camouflaged for their environments, you’ll rarely see one while it’s in its natural habitat.
Samantha raised her eyebrows when seeing the unexpectedly high rank, then felt a wave of nervousness pass through her. Sure, its Attributes weren’t the most impressive, but with a rank that high it must have some strong abilities. Was it really safe to keep holding it down like this?
She looked down at the significantly more intimidating Lunar Hare, and she could’ve sworn that the furball winked at her. Her eye twitched. Lifting it carefully by the scruff of its neck, she carried its limp, relaxed body over to where the second spirit pearl had fallen earlier. She picked it up and offered it to the hare, and as soon as the core was within reach, the spirit beast’s head snapped forward to snatch it from her palm. However, instead of draining the spirit pearl again as she expected, the hare bit down on the orb and shattered it, releasing a cloud of blue, glittering mist around them. Tendrils formed in the vapor and wrapped around her and the hare, sinking into their skin and joining their souls with a thin thread of qi.
Congratulations, you have successfully bonded with a Lunar Hare (Rank 4 – Low)!
You are the first human in over 500 years to bond with this species and have been rewarded one additional Bond Ability Point for this feat. Select your starting Bond Abilities on your Lunar Hare’s status page.
Samantha promptly opened her status page to see the new updates
Name: Samantha Cray
Age: 17
Attributes:
Aptitude (Approximate Max Value):
Strength: 5
Low (8)
Agility: 8
High (13)
Endurance: 6
Average (10)
Resilience: 5
Low (8)
Cultivation Rank: Low Copper
Pattern: Entwined Circlet (Low Copper - Common)
Qi Pool: 1 / 10
Qi Regeneration: +0.5 / hour
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.
Spirit Bonds:
Lunar Hare (Rank 4 - Low) [ View More ]
She mentally selected [ View More ] in the Spirit Bonds section, and the Lunar Hare’s profile replaced her own.
Lunar Hare
Rank 4 - Low
Attributes:
Aptitude (Approximate Max Value):
Strength: 2
Abysmal (4)
Agility: 12
Exceptional (16)
Endurance: 5
Average (10)
Resilience: 3
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
Offered Bond Abilities:
Bond Ability Points (BP) Remaining: 2
Swift (Rank 1)
[1 BP]
For every 1 qi point spent per second, gain +1 Agility. After ability ends, Agility returns to original levels. While active, your steps gain perfect traction.
Prey’s Perception
[1 BP]
Gain increased awareness of your surroundings. Affects all senses.
Herb Hunter
[1 BP]
Like the Lunar Hare, you have the uncanny ability for finding the best quality herbs around.
Poison Connoisseur
[1 BP]
Inherit the toxin processing abilities of your bond. You will more easily gain resistances to any poisons you encounter.
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.