Even exhausted as she was, Samantha couldn’t help but smile. As excited as she was to choose what Bond Abilities she’d invest in first, she was bone tired after the long day. She wanted to consider her options with a clear head, so she closed the status page and gently set the Lunar Hare down on the ground.
“I’ve got a lot of thinking to do and questions to consider, but I’m too tired to deal with it right now. Do what you want, I guess? I’m going to cook a new dinner.”
It looked up at her as she spoke, then seemingly bobbed its head once in response. Afterwards, it promptly bounded away into the nearest patch of flowers. Deciding not to question if the spirit beast had actually understood her or not, she pulled out and cooked another slab of Forest Howler meat.
The steak was one of the most delicious things she had ever eaten, and the taste was unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. While the familiar savory flavors of meat were present, there was also a sort of warmth that she could only describe as tangy. With each bite her hunger pangs were replaced with a sort of comforting energy that slowly spread throughout her body. After she had only gotten about a third of the way through the meal, a notification popped up.
You have consumed qi-enriched meat (Rank 1-Mid)!
Effect: +0.5 qi regeneration/hour.
Duration: 1 hour
Spirit beast meat was an expensive commodity in Yivesh. Cultivators thrived off of consuming the qi-enriched meals, while mortals treated spirit beast meats as a luxury–the richest families serving small amounts at meals as a sign of prestige–though they could not actually consume much of it without becoming ill. She felt fortunate that she had finally gotten the chance to try some for herself. While her frugal side probably wouldn’t allow her to splurge on purchasing such meats, she could easily see herself going out on hunting trips to keep herself stocked in the future.
Feeling warm from the campfire and full from dinner, Samantha finally laid down on her sleeping mat to get some well-earned rest.
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She awoke just after the sun crested the forest treetops. Despite the early hour and the relatively short time she had spent asleep, Samantha felt rested and ready for the day. She rose up from the ground with a cultivator’s unnatural ease and grace, then performed her morning exercises and stretches.
She briefly contemplated searching the meadow for her new companion, but as soon as the desire came to her she found that she already knew where he–or she–was. She was pleased to find that the binding thread that connected her to the Lunar Hare apparently also informed her both the general direction her bond was in and the distance between them. At the end of this thread was a small bundle of energy she could only describe as the hare’s ‘qi signature’. It had a sort of personality to it that regular ambient qi didn’t possess, and she was curious if she gave off a similar signature when the hare sensed her in turn.
Wondering about the best way to tell if her spirit beast was male or female, she questioned if it would be safe to just flip the hare over and take a look for herself. Granted, she was bonded to it now, but that didn’t mean that it couldn’t cause her injury. After pondering the issue for a minute or two, she suddenly felt an unfamiliar tingling in her mind. It felt similar to when there was something just outside of the bounds of her hearing, or like there was a concept she was on the brink of understanding. Focusing on that foreign sensation, she got an indistinct impression of masculinity. She realized at once that this was not a thought that she had formed herself, rather, her bond was communicating with her and had answered her unspoken inquiry.
A boy, then?
Samantha received an affirmative feeling in reply, and she couldn’t help but feel a touch of wariness. Could the Lunar Hare hear every thought that she had?
She received no response this time.
She would need to experiment and find the limitations of this new form of communication later. For now, she really wanted to go through her potential Bond Abilities and see what would best suit her needs. She mentally pulled up the available abilities and considered how to proceed.
[Prey’s Perception] was a must-have passive ability, in her opinion. Enhanced senses would undoubtedly save her life, and she thought that an art that improved her senses without depleting her qi pool was too good to pass up. The question was what to do with her second bond ability point.
[Herb Hunter] also appeared to be a useful passive, but this did not appeal to her as much as [Prey’s Perception] did. The Lunar Hare’s profile showed that he already possessed the [Herb Hunter] skill, and once she could figure out how to better speak with her bond, maybe she could get him to find herbs for her.
The final passive, [Poison Connoisseur], was definitely an ability she wanted, but didn’t know if it was the best choice for her right now. What really interested her were the two active arts that were listed as ‘Rank 1’: [Swift] and [Translucence]. This indicated to her that they could be improved either through training or perhaps more bond ability points, and a skill that became more powerful with time was most beneficial when it was invested in early.
Noting that the Lunar Hare possessed both of these skills, she tried to call him over to demonstrate them to her. Not sure exactly how to make this work, she spoke aloud since that was easiest for her.
“Hey! Could you come here for a minute?”
The Lunar Hare hopped over to her location from a patch of flowers nearby, and Samantha marveled at how well his camouflaged fur really worked to hide him in this environment. If she did not have a thread of qi pointing to him, she would have had a hard time finding him.
He stopped in front of her and tilted his head curiously, and she felt the sensation of a question in her mind–like he was asking why she had called for him. At least, that was how she had translated his thoughts. Realizing that this process of sifting through concepts and translating them was both mentally cumbersome and somewhat time consuming, she considered how to make their ‘conversations’ more fluid. Eventually, she settled on assigning him the voice of a young man in her mind, and giving her interpretations of his thoughts that ‘voice’. She hoped that this would help her adjust to this strange new form of communication.
“Could you show me what the [Swift] and [Translucence] skills do?” she asked uncertainly.
“Yes. Watching?” he replied.
“Uh… yeah.”
The Lunar Hare moved a short distance away, then started running through the meadow. He moved incredibly quickly, and his many arcing turns made smooth, curving paths in the grass.
“Swift.” he said, and then his movement drastically changed.
His speed increased so that he was but a blur of motion, and his turns became impossibly instantaneous and jagged. There was no way he should’ve been able to make such sharp turns at the rate he was moving. She understood better now what the ‘perfect traction’ given by the ability could do.
Once his circuit was completed, he rushed towards her and pulled up just before plowing into her. She couldn’t help but instinctively jump back and away from the charging creature, and was rewarded with a rhythmic snuffling that she could only interpret as laughter. It seemed her new companion had a mischievous streak.
“Translucence!” he declared, then seemed to disappear before her eyes.
Samantha’s jaw dropped open slightly as she knelt down to get a closer look at the spot where the Lunar Hare had been. At first, it seemed that he had turned invisible, but as she moved around the dented patch of grass she saw a slight warping around where the hare’s body should be. It was as if his body had become a lens that mildly distorted whatever was viewed through it. She slowly reached out her hand to pat the space, but drew her hand back quickly once she felt his soft fur and witnessed the discomforting sight of her fingertips also vanishing.
“Wow! That’s…” she paused, then pinched her now-visible fingertips to make sure that they were still intact, “...amazing!”
The Lunar Hare reappeared and puffed out his chest with pride, “Sneaky.”
She chuckled, “Yes, very. Thanks for this–it really helps.”
“Sure.”
Seeing the two abilities in action, Samantha decided that [Swift] was the way to go. While being able to make herself near-invisible would be useful in a variety of situations, her speed was her greatest asset in combat. With the ability to improve her speed in a pinch, or increase the traction of her steps to move more unexpectedly, she could greatly enhance her fighting prowess at crucial moments. She had seen more than one duel won by the faster combatant taking advantage of an opening their opponent was too slow to defend. Admittedly, with her currently low qi pool the ability would only give her an edge for a handful of seconds, but this problem would be mitigated once her qi pool size increased.
Her selections now decided, Samantha purchased [Prey’s Perception] and [Swift].
Bond abilities selected! Changes have been made to your status page.
Samantha opened her profile to see the changes.
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: 10 / 10
Qi Regeneration: +0.5 / hour
Passive Arts:
Prey’s Perception (Bond Ability)
Qi Cost: N/A
Gain increased awareness of your surroundings. Affects all senses.
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)
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Qi Cost: 1 qi/second
For every 1 qi point spent per second, gain +1 Agility. While active, your steps gain perfect traction.
Spirit Bonds:
Lunar Hare (Rank 4 - Low) [ View More ]
After she noted that the bond abilities she purchased had been moved into the appropriate sections on her profile, she skipped to the Offered Bond Abilities section in the Lunar Hare’s status sheet to see what Rank 2 of [Swift] would be.
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.
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.
The second rank of [Swift] would double the Agility she gained per point of qi invested, as well as would essentially give her some free Agility at the end of her usage due to the lingering effect. The cost to purchase rank two had also gone up from 1 BP to 2. These changes weren’t too surprising, but Samantha was excited by the improvements to the ability all the same.
As she pondered this new information, she felt the thread that connected her and the hare begin to thrum with potency. Before she had much time to process the change, a jet of qi slammed into her from the bond, flooding her with power and insight that recalled the scent of old blood in the dark of night, the sound of soft footfalls of a stalking predator, and a diving bird of prey backlit by the dim glow of celestial bodies.
The flow quickly tapered off into nothing and suddenly Samantha felt. She felt everything.
The sensations were overwhelming. Sounds seemed to amplify several times over and she heard more than she could have thought possible. Leaves falling from trees dozens of yards away, the flapping of a bird's wings flying overhead, she heard it all. Her sight sharpened to the point where she could pick out every individual blade of grass in the meadow, and she could somehow see entirely behind herself. Only a small area directly behind her head was not visible to her extended vision.
She could smell the decay of animals long dead and being returned to earth by fungi and insects, she could practically taste the forest on the breeze with each breath, and she had never been more aware of the semi-rough fabrics of her combat robes as she was in this instant. She slapped her hands to her ears and shut her eyes in an attempt to ground herself, but closing off two of her most prominent senses only served to further highlight her perceptions of smell, touch, and taste.
Somehow sensing her sudden panic, the Lunar Hare rushed over to her crouched position. It stopped in front of her, sniffing tentatively before nudging her knee with its head.
“Ignore,” he instructed.
Samantha opened her eyes to look at her bonded, but quickly closed them again once the dizziness of being overloaded with sensory input threatened to cause her to faint.
The hare huffed slightly, speaking into her mind again, “Block. Mute.”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me,” Samantha bit out in irritation, falling to the ground in the fetal position. Her attempts to focus on only one thing at a time were not helping to ease her disorientation.
With yet another huff, the hare moved closer and pressed his nose against her forehead. Disjointed segments of knowledge and snippets of the spirit beast’s memory began to flow into her, and she realized what it was he was trying to explain to her.
She imagined [Prey’s Perception] as a strong breeze on the other side of an open window and, with a flex of her will, closed the window as much as she could until only a fraction of the wind blew through the gap and the sensations became tolerable to her. Her perception was still much more sensitive than before, but she was at least able to take some calming breaths and keep her eyes open. The hare snuggled up to her side, keeping her company as she wound down.
“Thanks, that’s the second time today you’ve helped me out. Do you have a name?”
“Name?”
“I can’t just think of you as ‘hare’ or ‘spirit beast’ forever.”
He thought about it for a moment, then his ears drooped slightly, “No.”
“I’m not particularly good at naming things… but don’t worry. I’ll find you a good name. It just might take me a while to decide, okay?” she offered, hoping to cheer him up.
“Name!” he replied, his ears perking up again.
Now that she was back to somewhat-normal, Samantha refocused herself on the training that she had originally been planning on today. This rare nexus was a goldmine for advancement, and there was no way she was going to leave it before she’d gained all she could.
Conveying her intention to her companion to do intensive training for however long the fount remained, she got to work.
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The days passed in a blur, though exactly how long Samantha spent cultivating she was unsure of. As much as she wanted to take full advantage of the fount and do nothing but eat, sleep, and cultivate, her body required periods of rest to consolidate her gains. And, if she was being honest, her mind needed a break from the monotonous task as well.
Whenever she felt herself becoming overly strained mentally or physically, she would seek the Lunar Hare out for some company. While she had been able to partially ignore her growing loneliness before finding the nexus, cultivation left her feeling isolated and stuck in her own head for most of the day. Conversations with her new companion–as strange as they were–helped ease this loneliness.
As the two became more comfortable with each other, Samantha was surprised to find that spirit beasts–at least the one she had bonded with–were more intelligent than she had initially given them credit for. Despite his straightforward approach to life and its problems, he was far from a simple animal.
The more they conversed, the more he integrated new concepts and ideas into his way of thinking. Samantha discussed her home city of Yivesh, the societal hierarchies there, the differences between mortals and cultivators, and a wide variety of other topics. He understood most everything they talked about with relative ease, the one notable exception being the idea of personal property. In his experience, a spirit beast ‘owned’ whatever they could take, and whether another owned it previously or not was of no concern. It took many long conversations before Samantha got him to agree not to take any of her things without her permission.
Her advancement was noticeably slowed due to a portion of the qi she cultivated being siphoned off to the Lunar Hare, but she accepted this reality without bitterness. She considered their budding relationship to be a partnership–not an ownership–and the implicit promise in any partnership was that they would grow in strength together. She also made the decision to split the beast cores received from her hunts with the Lunar Hare after learning from him that he could increase his rank independently by ingesting spirit pearls. Samantha stored her share of the cores for later use, and was pleased to find that her earlier conversations about personal property had stuck. While she caught the hare often staring longingly at the cores in her pack, he didn’t try to take anything.
After weeks of cultivation, Samantha noted the thin, wispy qi circulating in her dantian began to thicken. It seemed to be reaching a critical stage, and the denser it became the more difficult it was to continue packing energy into her dantian. She knew she was getting close to condensing her qi into vapor, which meant she was about to break through to the next rank.
It was then, nearing the cusp of Mid Copper, that the nexus ran dry and disappeared.
Samantha couldn’t hold back the groan that escaped her lips at this development, “Really? Right now of all times?”. She grunted in frustration, standing from the lotus position.
“You’re close.” her companion encouraged, “The cores might help.”
In the last week especially, Samantha’s ability to interpret the Lunar Hare’s communications had greatly improved, and they had both gotten better at conveying longer and more detailed thoughts to each other. While still relatively simple, their conversations now were a far cry from when they had first bonded. Samantha didn’t even need to speak aloud anymore, instead favoring mental messages due to the beneficial nature of silence while hunting.
“Yes, but I wish I had more time all the same.” Samantha griped, fetching her bag from beside her. “Can you keep watch while I absorb these? I feel nervous about carrying around so many unused cores, and I’d feel really stupid if I ended up losing any of them.”
In response, he staked out a hidden spot near a tree, “Don’t worry. I’ll guard you.”
Samantha sat with her back to a shaded boulder, and fetched the lowest ranked core in her collection–a Rank 1 - Low spirit pearl from a Wind Fox.
“This will be a first for me, any advice?” she asked hopefully.
“Strong will is needed. Don’t get lost in memories.”
“Thanks… I’ll keep that in mind.”
Not wanting to dwell on the somewhat ominous warning too much, Samantha braced herself and began slowly pulling the energy from the core into her own dantian. As she did, the world around her faded into the background.
Scenes of the creature’s life flashed before her eyes with increasing speed and intensity. Birth, the death of her mother, finding a mate, a territory fight–one by one the memories flashed past. Samantha felt relieved–this was nothing compared to when her third eye had opened. With a flex of her will she pushed the memories down to be less distracting, and once she had fully consumed the core and it vanished from her hand, so too did the recollections of the animal cease.
She paused briefly to check her cultivation base and see if there were any signs of strain from absorbing the spirit pearl, but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Then, she pulled the next core out and began the process anew.
Samantha consumed an additional two cores before she felt her dantian begin to ache: another Rank 1 – Low core and a one Rank 1 - Mid core. It had become easier with practice to suppress the memories, to the point where she hardly noticed them with the final core, but sadly it had not been enough to push her over the threshold to Mid Copper. There was a Rank 1 - High core still in her possession, but she didn’t want to risk permanently damaging herself trying to consume it now. She stored it for later, determined to use it after the mild pain in her dantian completely went away.
She tried not to let frustration get the better of her. Her progress was already significant, especially considering a bonded beast constantly siphoned away a portion of her cultivation. With how close she was to going up a cultivation rank, she might even achieve it before she made it back to the city.
She stood up and dusted herself off, and looked back once at the meadow that had been her safe haven for the last month. In that short period of time the weather had gotten colder and many of the more fragile wildflowers had died, but she believed that she would always remember this place as the lush, beautiful meadow she had first found.
Feeling sentimental, she bowed her head once in gratitude to no one in particular, “Thank you.”
Then, she set off Westwards towards Yivesh, her bonded companion not far behind.
----------------------------------------
As Samantha jogged through the forest alongside the Lunar Hare, she took some time to practice with [Swift]. This ability increased her Agility by 1 point for every 1 qi invested per second, as well as gave her steps perfect traction. On the surface this didn’t seem like a significant change, but even after spending several weeks experimenting with the ability, it still didn’t feel completely natural to use.
While it was difficult to define exactly what Agility affected, it was generally known to increase movement speed, precision, and improve reaction time. One of the easiest measured effects of Agility was that each point added roughly 5 miles per hour to a person’s top running speed.
After keeping [Swift] active for a second or two with the minimum qi invested, Samantha would cancel the ability to give her pool some time to recharge. The boost to speed and perception was subtle, but noticeable. Her steps became lighter and came faster without any extra effort on her part, and despite the various trip hazards scattered across the forest floor her footsteps had never been more stable.
The best way that she could describe how the perfect traction felt was that her foot became ‘glued’ to whatever surface she stepped on, but without restricting her foot’s range of motion in any way. She could still turn and shift her step however she pleased, but it became impossible for her to slip on anything. It even seemed to somewhat defy the laws of inertia, allowing her to instantly change directions with much less strain on her body than she would’ve expected. This made it all the more difficult when the ability ran out, and the contrast made her feel like she was trying to run across a slick, icy surface while stumbling to regain her footing.
“Stop. Grunters ahead.” the hare warned.
Samantha activated [Swift] and immediately came to a halt, then turned up her [Prey’s Perception] sensitivity to the maximum. Samantha had gotten much better at using the passive ability over the last weeks with the Lunar Hare’s guidance, to the point where she was able to maintain it at about 75% sensitivity at all times. For moments like this, however, she was able to maximize the ability for short periods to get a better grasp of her surroundings. Sure enough, as soon as she did this, she could hear quiet snorts and grunts coming from a few hundred yards ahead.
She quietly set down her spear and pack, scooped the Lunar Hare up under her arm, then used [Swift] to climb a nearby tree and get a better vantage spot for both of them. She had to admit, the ability to somewhat resist gravity was her favorite application of [Swift] so far. As she ran up the side of the tree trunk, her feet found stable purchase as surely as if she were on the ground. It was difficult not to indulge in a bit of childlike play while using the ability in this way, but given the potential threat nearby she managed it.
As she settled on a branch about 20 feet in the air, the Lunar Hare’s body tensed so much it felt like she was holding a rock, rather than a living creature.
“High is dangerous.”
His reluctance made sense, she supposed, since normally hares would have no good reason to be high up off the ground. If anything, it would mean some predator had caught them and was carrying them off to be dinner.
“I promise I will not fall or drop you. Once we get a better look at what we’re dealing with, I’ll head back down.”
No reply came from her bond, so she considered the matter settled for now.
Looking ahead towards where she had heard the sound, she saw the ‘Grunters’ were, in fact, Iron Boars. There was a larger boar that she presumed was the Alpha of the passel, and a handful of smaller boars that were partially obscured by foliage. Based on her knowledge of Iron Boar behavior, it was likely that this was the same group that she had run into right before she found the qi nexus. Iron Boars were territorial animals and tended to graze the same large area, so it wouldn’t make sense to find another herd so close to where she had seen the last group.
Feeling a headache coming on from the maximized [Prey’s Perception], Samantha turned the sensitivity back down to 75% and rubbed at her eyes for a moment.
The question now was, what was she going to do in this situation? Going around the group was certainly an option, but she wasn’t confident she could get far enough away to camp safely with night falling soon. The safest bet would be to go back the way she came and make a tree stand to sleep in until morning, but a part of her loathed the idea of losing time and forward progress. Then, she remembered something. She didn’t need to hide at all–she was a cultivator now.
A third, more stupid option presented itself. She could try and pick off the herd.