In another life, Nate believed his mother might have been a prophet. Many months ago, as soon as she heard they would be moving to create a city, she had foretold it would be chaotic, and that conflict would only become more frequent than when they were still in a tribe. She might not be the only one, but from what Nate heard around him, most other people were more optimistic about their Exodus, believing the words from their chieftain and other leader-like figures about the opportunities for a better lifestyle.

It turned out she was right. When the horde had stopped, no one wanted to start building on the spot. It was on the periphery of the city. They all knew it was the area which would face attacks most often. As such, each clan and family sent a spokesperson to the forefront of the horde to inquire how things would go.

Yet they were forced to establish their camp, as the only news they received was to provide as many people as possible to help with the city’s construction. Men or women didn’t matter. There would be work for everyone. Their incentive was that the sooner the city was built, the safer they would be. It made sense, sort of.

Additionally, based on their contribution, they would be granted a better location in the city for their family and clan. Or at least food, materials and even knowledge on how to improve their lives. There were even rumours of rewards for the most efficient workers, promising a way to increase their strength further than the strongest of their warriors or even how to heal wounds to the point of removing scars.

Diane’s worries about conflict couldn’t be more spot on. A pyramidal system which gave craps as rewards, with the possibility to become extraordinary if you could work to death. Then as a middle ground, a way to help the people you care about. Nate had no idea how it could work without issues arising. Then there was the problem of corruption. With so many people in the same place, many of whom were there weeks or months ago, Nate doubted they wouldn’t take advantage of their seniority over the other. Or use any other reason to get more benefits for their own family.

And for that, Nate was glad his mother was heavily pregnant, as it meant she stayed behind among those who either couldn’t go to the budding city or decided to stay to ensure the safety of their kin. Nate didn’t have a way to convince his father to stay behind. He and his brother, Pierce, and many others believed it more important to work for the betterment of the many than the few, which made sense unless all you wanted was to avoid getting embroiled in this chaotic mess of conflicting interests. At least the boy found solace in knowing his aunties were too young to leave, which meant Emerlia, Heartherly, and Lianna stayed behind, as well as his uncle Emerson. Bianca and Flint also stayed, their first child soon to come.

Another consequence of this recruitment was the conflict that arose between the clans and the families. Indeed, with the lure of a way to get away from the border city -which Nate already referred to as the slums in his mind- it seemed more efficient to expand the family and have as many families as possible in a single clan. Fortunately, it was tame and consisted more of verbal disputes than fighting. Everyone was too worried about the threat of the outside world to dare draw blood among themselves.

Nate’s only interest in all of this was this rumoured reward about inhuman physique and healing methods. If this wasn’t a hint for cultivation and alchemy, he wasn’t called Nate. At least he knew some people knew how to advance on this path. Not that he would seek their aid any time soon. Still, to have a confirmation, no matter how faint, that his speculations on Qi and cultivation weren’t wrong was a relief.

He might be confident to tread this path alone, but this didn’t mean he wouldn’t welcome any support.

Ever since he discovered the existence of meridians a month and a half ago, he had kept observing his body, that of his mother and unborn sister, to understand how Qi influenced its functions and growth.

He regularly tried to scan someone else with his senses, but the air and other people’s skin were challenging barriers to cross. Too much to make it a viable way of spending his time. He still tried, once in a while, to train himself, but progress was absurdly slow.

The best he could do was to expand his spiritual senses, a hand span away from himself through the air and to cover someone with his senses so long as he touched a part of them. It gave him a silhouette of the person. It was weird and more intrusive than seeing a person’s insides.

As for his observation of Qi, he had made some progress. In addition to the ten meridians he had felt before, he could now visualize four others. From the twelve primary meridians, all were accounted for, mapping out the body with six vessels going through each limb (6 for arms and 6 for legs), of which all those yang attributed (half of them) had their starting or ending point in the head.

Then, the two other meridians he could see belonged to the eight extraordinary vessels. It was also the only two Nate had any confidence about their name and function, as they were the Conception and Governing vessel. Both were energy storage for Qi.

They were the main cause leading to Nate noticing the anomaly with his energy flows. He only understood this from scanning his sister’s forming body with his senses, as both meridians were the first to take shape. Most of the energy flowing through the baby was channelled by those two vessels. One to convert the Qi provided by the mother into Qi compatible with its host, the other to act as a guide, dividing the supplied essence into the body’s different parts.

In Nate’s case, both vessels still contained Qi from his birth (Yuan Qi—natal Qi), which he could feel was slowly trickling through his other meridians and then to his body. It assisted his growth, as the Qi that could be absorbed through breathing or eating was far from enough at his age (Ying Qi—worldly Qi—acquired Qi). Now that he could feel the Qi in his body, he could tell there was barely any present in the air or his food. Thus the one goal he set for himself was to find a way that wouldn’t affect his health to reduce or even stop the draining of his Yuan Qi, which was much purer. Nate couldn’t tell the exact ratio of how effective Yuan Qi was compared to Ying Qi, but it was more than a hundredfold.

It would be a fantastic advantage for his cultivation if he could retain even a smidgen more of Yuan Qi by the time his growth had stopped.

To reach that goal, Nate could see a few ways to go about it. He could either cut off the flow of Yuan Qi being provided to the primary meridians while relying on his improved body wasting fewer resources not to cripple his growth.

Or to improve the flow of Qi along his meridians, both to make it more efficient and to absorb more Ying Qi from the world. It implied eventually developing a cultivation technique for breathing and Qi’s internal flow.

Another path was to find an outside source of Qi, maybe even to create one. The cultivation of plants nourished with Qi was one such method.

In any of those cases, it required Nate to have a way to manipulate Qi or at least influence its flow. The method that seemed the more realistic was to improve how efficient his meridians were. Not necessarily inventing a cultivation technique as it was imagined in xianxia stories. But using his Body Manipulation ability to induce a change in which meridians were solicited for Qi. Since each meridian had an associated organ and clear pathways, it should be possible to stimulate his body to influence his Qi.

As he was still struggling to figure out how to attach his spiritual senses to Qi, if it was at all possible, an indirect method was the only one available for now. Hence he spent his time doing tests, taking into account the different properties of each meridian. Their extremity – hand or feet – their element – wood, fire, Earth, metal, water – their polarity – yin, yang – their quality – bright (yang only), greater, lesser, faint (yin only), and their time of the day – each meridian having a 2 hour period during which it was said stimulating it would prove most effective.

Although Nate had the mental image of a chart he once read, he didn’t want to trust it too much. He was in another world, maybe composed of different elements. The world size might not be the same, and the magnetic field around the world was most likely unlike Earth’s. Too many unknowns could change how his body worked such that his knowledge should only be used as a guide, as a frame to establish new rules.

But not as a method by itself.

For example, he hadn’t ever experienced a winter since birth, even if he could not tell if it was due to the world or the local climate.

To apply the rules from Earth to his experiments would only harm him.

Meanwhile, as Nate kept his routine of being a hyperactive kid for a couple of hours a day, only to use his sleep as training time, the world around him kept spinning.

The most noticeable event was to see the arrival of a horde. Or rather the sandstorm that followed their steps. It was an impressive sight. Sometimes, as those clouds arose in the sky, they would take shapes mistakable with an animal. It gave the impression of enormous beasts appearing suddenly above their head, only to vanish abruptly, erased by the flying sand. Many stayed staring for a long time at the arriving horde. Some children even needed time before they could be convinced the sand wouldn’t attack them.

Another uproar quickly spread through the whole city when the horde got closer. Part of the people among this horde were survivors from another. Part of a horde that beasts had wiped out during their journey. It wasn’t that surprising considering the manner of monsters which roam the wilderness. Still, to hear of it was a shock for everyone. No matter their number, they might not be safer than before.

It also meant all hordes had arrived, an occasion used by the group at the head of the city to finally show themselves. Their appearance immediately quelled the rising panic.

Four men showed up in the sky, stepping on air as if it was the most natural thing to do. It should’ve been hard to see them from so far away, yet they were just as discernible as someone a hundred feet away. They wore long, colourful robes; red, blue, white and black from left to right. The fabric looked better than anything used by the hordes. To Nate, they had the same look as Cultivators. All four were old men, having white hair, both those on the left also having a long beard. Despite that, they all looked healthy. The one on the right was even quite muscular.

Then the tallest of them, the second on the left, who wore blue robes, started talking. His voice could be heard everywhere as he spoke, despite the city spanning several miles.

“You’re all reunited here for one purpose. To grow. Be it in strength, number or skills. It matters not.

For that, we will help you. We already have. We’ve provided you with a safe place. So long as you aren’t too far away from the core of the city, no beast will attack you.

Then, the more you contribute to the growth of this city, the better your opportunities either for yourself or your respective family.

Finally, events will take place to guide you, to give you a path. The first of those is a tournament for you to prove yourself. To earn our trust.

If we find you worthy, you will be granted a chance to receive our teaching, to join our Sect. Blaze – Sky – Fang – Scale

Should we find you wanting, you might still fight for your worth. To ensure your family, your clan is the only one bearing its name. To ensure your place in the city is the one you want, the one you deserve.

Any warrior will be judged individually and as a member of their family and clan.

This won’t be definitive either, as other tournaments will take place in the future.

Growth is Salvation, Stagnation is Death.”