“Curse this desert!” Harold wheezed. The older man pressed his body tightly against the side of a butte, desperate to take advantage of the small scrap of shade it provided. The rock formation was around 1000 feet high and half that in diameter. The tall, pillar-like stone was one of many in the area, though the next closest was still several thousand feet away.
Samantha rolled her eyes at his antics. He’d done nothing but complain since they’d ascended to the second floor and arrived in the Shattered Lands. She found brief reprieve from his protestations when she climbed a nearby mesa to scan their surroundings earlier, but he picked right back up again as soon as she was within earshot. She suspected he was attempting to annoy her enough so that she’d actually consider his earlier request to carry him around–if only to shut him up.
“So, are you going to tell me what you really found up there? Or are we going to wait around in this heat until one of us dies from exposure?” he asked.
If one of us dies from exposure, it certainly won’t be me…
Though Samantha did find the intense heat to be uncomfortable, her 15 Resilience helped to take the edge off. She imagined that for a new cultivator like Harold this environment would feel like he was being cooked in an oven. Even Silas was faring better than the man despite being covered in thick fur.
“I did tell you, Harold. A whole lot of nothing.” she responded matter-of-factly.
His eyes widened, “You were actually being serious?”
“Why would I lie about that?”
“Because a sane person would be concerned if that were true!” he said desperately, gesturing vaguely to her, “Not standing around like an idiot with a… creature on her head!”
Currently, her bonded Lunar Wolpertinger was using her shoulders as a perch and was shading them both by extending his wings overhead like an umbrella. He was also slightly waving them up and down to give them both a bit of a ‘breeze’--a clever idea Silas had come up with all on his own. It probably looked odd, but it was unexpectedly effective. Silas’s wings actually gave her more shade than Harold was getting from the butte. Maybe that was why the man was being so hostile right now–jealousy brought out the worst in people.
She was being extraordinarily patient with the man because she felt partly responsible for him ending up here, and knew that he would almost certainly die if she abandoned him. She wasn’t callous enough to let someone perish because they were a bit rude to her; however, she still didn’t want to let Harold get accustomed to disrespecting her and Silas.
Doing her best to keep her growing frustration out of her voice, she spoke calmly and softly, “Harold, I understand that you’re very stressed, but I’m going out of my way right now to try and help you survive, remember? There’s no need to be so combative and rude.”
“So I’m just supposed to bow and scrape to you if I want to survive, is that it?” he accused.
She let out a deep sigh, “Now you’re just twisting my words. All I’m saying is that it’s better to get along. If it’s too hard for you to call Silas and I by our actual names and not insult us, then that’s your prerogative. Just don’t be surprised when I stop being as nice and accommodating as I am now.”
Harold scowled at her words, but took a few moments before responding. After a couple deep breaths, he relaxed his posture slightly and nodded, “You’re right. I apologize. My personal discomfort has made me act as unpleasantly as I feel, and I will work to remedy my behavior immediately.”
She gave him a grateful smile, “Thank you. As for your question earlier, I’m not panicking because I have an idea for scouting our surroundings a bit more. I’m reserving my worries for if that also comes back with nothing.” As she spoke, she mentally pulled up Silas’s profile and found the available bond ability that could help her.
Offered Bond Abilities:
Bond Ability Points (BP) Remaining: 1
Jackalope of all Trades (Rank 3)
*Mongrel Bloodline
(0/3 Bond Ability Points Invested):
Always Close [1 BP] - You and your bond will gain the ability to instantly swap places or transport to the other’s location so long as movement to the other party is not impeded (qi cost increases with distance).
Moonlight Step [2 BP] - You gain the ability to set two waypoints (5 qi reserved per waypoint). So long as you stand under the light of a true or artificial celestial body, you can spend half of your overall qi pool to instantly transport yourself and your bond (as long as you are within 5 feet of each other) to a waypoint.
Spectral Projection [1 BP] - You gain the ability to temporarily project your consciousness outside of your body. You can maintain the projection for the cost of 1 qi per minute, and upon canceling the ability or running out of qi your consciousness will be returned to your body.
Duplicate [1 BP] - Your bond gains the ability to manifest and control a second body formed from qi, which can be dispersed at will. Each body can use their abilities independently, but cooldowns take twice as long.
Abundant Spring [2 BP] - You and your bond’s qi pool and regeneration combine into one (40 + 50 = 90 base + 24 from meridians = 114 * 2 * 1.2 = 273.6 qi pool, 10 + 10 = 20 base * 2 * 1.2 = 48 qi regen/hour). Your bond’s cooldowns will be significantly reduced in exchange for a small consumption of qi per ability use.
After speaking with her ascension representative and figuring out that projection arts could be used to speak with beings on lower floors in the World Spire, [Spectral Projection] had become a must-have ability. Even if she could never see her parents in person again, at least she could perhaps speak with them through her projection. In this scenario, however, the ability would serve a more practical purpose. It would allow her to scout the area without risk of excessive harm or exhaustion to her physical body.
She spent her final remaining bond ability point on [Spectral Projection] and she felt her binding thread swell with potency. The energy struck her dantian and flowed through her, and she was suddenly granted the knowledge of how to use the ability.
Bond abilities selected! Changes have been made to your status page.
“I see. And I suppose I’m just going to be waiting here for your return? That doesn’t seem incredibly safe.” Harold questioned.
Samantha didn’t trust Harold with full knowledge about what abilities she possessed yet, so she kept her response vague, “I will be using a scrying art to look around, but I’ll be right here if anything dangerous happens.”
She started to move over to a different semi-shaded spot beneath the butte to sit, but before she could even set her belongings down Harold asked, “Scrying typically puts people in a trance-like state. How can I communicate with you in case I see something coming that you don’t?”
She felt her own irritation start to bubble up, but she quashed it as best as she could. Pointing to Silas, she instructed, “Get Silas’s attention and he will inform me.”
She set her bag off to the side and sat in the lotus position. She closed her eyes and began to center herself in preparation for activating the art. Just when she was about to start funneling qi into the skill, Harold piped up with yet another question.
“Is there anything in particular I should do to get his attention? Or…?”
She resisted the urge to grind her teeth. The heat was really starting to get to her too. “Just… clap or something! He’ll probably see whatever it is that’s coming long before you do anyway.”
“Hmph. Fine–I see how it is. I’ll just sit here quietly then.” he grunted, then sulked away to another nearby patch of shade.
Ignoring the outburst of passive aggressiveness, she activated [Spectral Projection].
----------------------------------------
Samantha peered down at her physical body with curiosity. She sat cross-legged with her eyes closed, much like she would if she were meditating or cultivating. Contrary to when she was in her body and sensed her binding thread’s presence with her spirit, in this form she could see it as if it was a physical object. A thick blue thread came out of her body’s torso and went into Silas’s. Interestingly, there was a second thread now as well–one that connected her spectral body to her physical one. It was gossamer thin, but she got the odd sense that the spider web-like line was impossibly strong.
Looking at her spectral body, she noted that it looked almost identical to her physical one. The main difference was that she lacked any armor as a specter. Instead, she wore a long, flowing set of white robes which smoothly followed her movements.
She quickly ran through a series of movement tests to see what this new form was capable of. With a flex of her will, she flew upwards as quickly as she could. The world blurred around her as she zipped past the top of the 1000 foot high rock butte in moments, then came to an immediate stop.
That’s a bit too fast.
She turned around to start heading back towards the ground, and was shocked to see that she was nearly a mile above where she started. Even though she knew that her current form was incorporeal and was unable to take damage from falling, it didn’t stop the sudden queasiness she experienced. Trying to move at a more measured pace, she quickly descended until she was floating near her body again.
Better.
The next test was to see if she could pass through solid objects or not. She reached her hand out and pushed it against a nearby rock. As if nothing was there at all, her entire arm disappeared into the solid stone. Curious, she stuck her head into the rock as well. She expected to lose her vision while her head was inside, but that was only partly true. She could see the various grains and granules that made up the stone within about a foot of her head, but beyond that was pitch blackness. As soon as she removed her head from the rock she regained her full range of sight.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
The last two tests involved her interaction with people. First, she wanted to see what would happen if she tried to touch someone. Moving over to Harold, she placed a hand on his shoulder. Unlike the rock earlier, her spectral hand felt resistance as it landed on him–though she felt she could easily push through it if she wanted. Her best guess was that she was interacting with his natural qi defenses somehow.
She tried using [Inspect] on Harold while she touched his shoulder. This was the one skill she was almost positive would work in this form–but it didn’t do anything. Getting an idea, she pushed the tip of her pointer finger past the thin barrier of resistance around Harold’s body. She paused to make sure that this was not hurting him or having any other adverse effect, but he didn’t seem to notice her at all. Again, she tried using [Inspect].
Harold Greene - Low Copper
Highest Attribute: Endurance (7)
Lowest Attribute: Resilience (5)
Humans are one of the most adaptable and versatile species. Neutrally attuned beings at a baseline, they are able to convert any type of qi into usable energy. Unlike spirit beasts this stored energy does not coagulate into a core at the time of death, but is released into the surrounding area.
Yes! Success!
She pulled her hand away from Harold and the small hole she had made in his defensive shell immediately closed up as if she had never penetrated it.
She was extremely happy with the purchase of this ability. She could see many useful applications and had many other ideas of how she could use the skill, but set more testing aside for a later time. As keen as she was on trying out new things, it wasn’t wise to use up more qi unnecessarily until they were in a safer situation.
She checked her qi pool and saw that she had 175.6 qi remaining. Since she had [Sage’s Rumination] as her active mindset and regained 48 qi per hour, she would only lose a net value of 12 qi per hour while using [Spectral Projection]. In other words, she could maintain her projection for about 14.5 hours if she was willing to use her entire qi pool and didn’t use any arts. This should be more than enough time to get a better idea of their surroundings–especially with how fast she could move if she really pushed herself.
At some point, a few of the vultures that she had seen circling something off in the distance had made their way over to them. These birds now flew lazily a couple miles overhead, and Samantha figured [Inspect]ing one of them was as good of a place to start as any. As the only other living creatures she’d seen around so far, at least she could get an idea for how dangerous they were and if they were mundane or not.
Trying to fly at a moderate pace, she moved upwards until reaching about the same altitude as the vultures. It was far from a perfect execution since Samantha had difficulty telling exactly how fast she was moving, but once she reached the correct height it was easy enough to home in on one of the birds. It took her another minute or two to figure out how to keep pace with the flying creatures in order to be able to touch one of them.
Upon reaching her targeted vulture, she noted with concern that a blue thread extended from its chest and towards a distant dune. Quickly checking the other two birds flying nearby, she realized they also were bonded beasts. Just like the binding thread between her and Silas the connections coming off of the birds seemed thicker than normal, which meant the bonded cultivators could probably share senses with their spirit beasts as well. Afraid of what she might find, she touched a vulture, pushed through the qi defenses she felt around its body, and then used [Inspect]. After five points had been spent she cut off the flow of energy and looked at the notification.
Bonded Desert Vulture (Rank 2 - High)
Highest Attribute: Endurance (16)
Lowest Attribute: Strength (4)
Desert Vultures are excellent flyers, often able to reach heights exceeding five miles and able to stay aloft for days at a time. Their eyesight is honed to detect small creatures and movement even from great distances.
She was glad to see that the beast itself was not absurdly high ranked and that its highest stat was only a 16. That wasn’t to say it wouldn’t be a dangerous opponent, but at least she didn’t feel that there would be an insurmountable power difference.
“Silas, these birds flying above us are bonded like you. We’re being watched. Can you keep an eye on them to make sure we aren’t unexpectedly attacked? I’m going to investigate where their binding threads lead and see what we’re up against.” she warned.
“Yet another bird enemy! I will watch them. They should fear me now. I have wings, like them. Once I learn how to fly, none will escape.” he promised.
“I’ll be relying on you then.” she replied with a smile.
Closing the notification, she belatedly realized that it took more qi than she would’ve expected to get this amount of information from the low-ranked beast. Even when she was Low Copper and [Inspect]ing similarly ranked creatures it had only cost her three points–not five. It was possible that using arts through her spectral form cost more qi the further she was from her body, or alternatively, maybe channeling the arts through her spectral form in general made the qi cost less efficient. Regardless, she’d need to be careful about her qi expenditure while using [Spectral Projection].
Taking advantage of her increased height before setting off, Samantha scanned her surroundings once again. It was difficult to make things out clearly due to the heat haze coming up from the sands, but it seemed like there was some sort of new geographical feature several miles away. The coloring was different from the surrounding sands, and she could’ve sworn she saw a hint of green around the edges of it. Every other direction seemed to lack anything notable–aside from the long line of plateaus, mesas, and buttes which she realized were oddly regular in their placement. The dune where the binding threads led was equally nondescript, and she never would’ve guessed anyone hid there if not for her newest bond ability.
As intrigued as she was by the potential water source in the distance, she was much more concerned about the cultivators sending their bonded companions to watch them. She followed the long binding threads down to their origin until she found the culprits.
A group of seven cultivators were huddled together under the shade of a tan-colored canvas stretched over tent poles. Three of them sat with their legs crossed and their eyes closed as they shared senses with their bonded vultures. The other four did a variety of activities, from eating to cleaning armor and weapons to snacking on jerky.
“Any movement from the group yet?” one man asked.
“Nothing yet Cain. The girl is meditating or something though.”
The man named Cain laughed, “She got a death wish? Who cultivates first thing after ascending before even checking if the area’s safe?” The men around him laughed at his words. Encouraged by the reaction, he continued, “We’ll be doing them a favor, really. Better to die early and quickly than letting them get torn apart by Scorps or Biters once night falls.”
“You think they have any new arts on ‘em? I’ve been waiting ages to learn my first one! Ooh–or enchanted goods?”
Cain nodded, “Ascendants always do. Can any of you tell what rank they are?”
“My vulture is thinking the girl is out of the Copper tier, but the man isn’t. The strange beast is higher ranked than any of ours, though.”
Cain tsked, “Bronze? Might need to be careful then. If their defensive arts are too good the casters might have trouble penetrating. Well, yours will, anyway.” He looked down at the weapon he had been polishing and stroked it affectionately, “Nethershot cuts through anything.”
Samantha looked down at the foreign object with curiosity. The metal contraption looked very similar to a crutch or a cane, and was about four feet long in total. At one end was a wooden ‘Y’ shaped ‘handle’, and the other end was a long, straight, metal pole. All around the pole were enchantments etched into the silver material, and the entire weapon had been polished to a shine. The man pushed the wood into the crook of his shoulder and held the pole parallel to the ground while looking down its length.
“They won’t even see us coming. Rest up boys and get your gear in order! We’ll wait until the sun is at our backs and it’s nearing night. Then, we ride.”
The men clapped and cheered for Cain–who Samantha was assuming was the group’s leader–and went to fetch their own ‘casters’. The strange weapons weren’t as impressive as Cain’s, but it seemed everyone possessed at least one of the objects. Looking a bit closer at the group and their equipment, she noticed that one of the men had a binding thread that went down into the sand nearby. Nervous about what she might find, she slowly followed the thread through the sand.
It was incredibly nerve wracking to move towards an unknown creature when only able to see a foot ahead of herself at any given time. Even though she understood that she was unable to come to physical harm while in this form, it was still challenging to fight against her instincts that screamed she was rushing headlong towards danger.
Suddenly, an enormous set of hairy fangs jumped into her sphere of vision. She screamed and scrambled backwards, shooting out of the sands and back into the open air before she even had time to regain her composure. Gathering her courage, she reentered the sands and located the fearsome beast once more. She had to know what it was.
Five points of qi later, she had her answer.
Bonded Alpha Sand Spider (Rank 3 - High)
Highest Attribute: Endurance (20)
Lowest Attribute: Resilience (7)
Sand Spiders travel in packs that are led by a singular, strong alpha. Although not venomous, their pincer-like fangs are strong enough to dismember prey. Primarily ambush predators who favor dragging unsuspecting victims into the sand, they can also track prey over long distances and run at high speeds for extended periods of time.
“Gods above.” Samantha uttered in mild horror. She had never been terribly bothered by mundane spiders, but something about one that was larger than she was sent a shiver of disgust through her. Then, an awful realization hit her. If this was the alpha… how many more were around?
She moved through the area with her limbs fully outstretched in the hopes she would feel the qi resistance of nearby spiders even if she couldn’t see them. After stumbling across four more of the creatures over the next half hour she called it quits and re-emerged from the sands. She was almost certain there were more of them around, but it was taking her too long to locate them when none of the others appeared to be bonded. Things weren’t looking good.
Wanting to know the general cultivation ranks of the raider group, she quickly went around and inspected a few at random.
??? - Low Copper
Highest Attribute: Endurance (9)
Lowest Attribute: Strength (5)
Humans are one of the most adaptable and versatile species. Neutrally attuned beings at a baseline, they are able to convert any type of qi into usable energy. Unlike spirit beasts this stored energy does not coagulate into a core at the time of death, but is released into the surrounding area.
??? - High Copper
Highest Attribute: Strength (???)
Lowest Attribute: Agility (5)
Humans are one of the most adaptable and versatile species. Neutrally attuned beings at a baseline, they are able to convert any type of qi into usable energy. Unlike spirit beasts this stored energy does not coagulate into a core at the time of death, but is released into the surrounding area.
??? - Low Bronze
Highest Attribute: Resilience (???)
Lowest Attribute: ??? (???)
Humans are one of the most adaptable and versatile species. Neutrally attuned beings at a baseline, they are able to convert any type of qi into usable energy. Unlike spirit beasts this stored energy does not coagulate into a core at the time of death, but is released into the surrounding area.
It seemed like the group had a good spread of cultivator’s from Low Copper up into the Bronze tier. She tried to [Inspect] Cain as well, but could not penetrate his natural qi defenses at all. She had to guess that he was at least a High Bronze–maybe even Peak.
The odds of her and Silas beating seven cultivators–at least one of which was higher ranked than her–and at least seven spirit beasts were terrible. If they wanted a chance at survival they would need to flee somewhere, but even that wasn’t a great option considering how slow Harold was. She only hoped that when she checked out the discolored area she’d seen earlier that it would be a viable place to hide out. If not…
Samantha shook her spectral head to clear out the negative thoughts. Unlike her enemies, she had a good idea of their future plans and strengths. Now it was time to make some plans of her own.