Time slowed to a crawl.

Multiple possible courses of action ran through his mind, each considered briefly, then discarded. Eventually, a possible response was chosen, simulated and approved.

All in the span of milliseconds.

Empowered by lightning qi, Xiao Lee sidestepped, leaving the woman struggling to arrest her fall, nearly crashing into a tree in the process.

“Who are you?” the woman asked immediately after, her body language more cautious now.

He felt relief internally at that. Her willingness to talk meant she was much smarter than the Young Masters he always tried to avoid on Xenus. Though that was always an exercise in futility.

“I am Xiao Lee.” he introduced himself. He briefly considered creating a false identity but discarded it after giving it some thought.

The entire Union of Five controlled information flow within the country very strictly and did not allow access to the internet. Neural processors were generally reserved for their elite.

That meant his name was unlikely to be recognised, though anybody could easily see he was a foreigner. On the off chance that someone did recognise him, faking his identity would likely be met with hostility.

“How are you here, foreigner,”

He wasn’t sure if it was a feature of his processor’s translation, but he had a feeling ‘foreigner’ was meant as an insult.

“I came in through an entrance,” he said honestly. “Just like you did.”

“You know what I mean,” she glared at him. “Foreigners cannot enter our Havens.”

He found her anger amusing, truth be told, and he was relishing in the fact that he was dealing with someone who was an equal.

Lasvania had taken its toll.

“I am touched by the Fifth. Just as you are.”

“Impossible,” she exclaimed in denial.

“I am not dead, so I would think it is quite possible indeed.”

“If I may, Lady Sumihal,” the man who had been standing passively in the background spoke up suddenly. “I sense the touch of the Great Lady on him indeed.”

Lee ignored the look of outrage on the woman’s face and instead focused on the important information the man just revealed.

That the woman came from nobility was hardly a surprise. People touched by the Fifth were almost always nobles. What struck him was the name.

For all that they were painfully uncreative when it came to naming things, they at least were consistent.

The highest-ranking families were always named after something that had to do with the Fifth. The more middling families were named after concepts the Republic valued. He originally didn’t think it was possible to have worse names than Fifthtouched and Fifthchosen, but he now knew to never underestimate the terror of Fifth naming.

Since the woman in front of him was not from a family named after a concept, it was safe to assume she was from a mostly insignificant noble family. That explained why she was so weak, at least.

“Foreigners should not carry the blessing of our goddess,” the woman exclaimed, her anger finally exploding. “We should kill him for his offense.”

He frowned at that. How did she arrive at that conclusion?

“I understand he should not exist, my Lady,” the man said, trying to be diplomatic again. “But perhaps we should not question the wisdom of the Fifth. She has never blessed a foreigner before. To kill the first one she has touched would surely invite her wrath.”

The woman stood undecided for a while, likely trying to find a counter to the man’s words. She settled on just glaring at Lee when it became obvious she had none.

“I don’t like this, Pateh,” she whined. “Foreigners shouldn’t be able to use our Havens.”

“They’re the Fifth’s Havens, my lady. You know she works in mysterious ways,” he turned to Lee. “Where might you be from, sir.”

“I’m from the up North,” he said, not willing to mention Lasvania.

He was far too weak to be Lasvanian, and he had no intention of revealing he was an Ascendant.

They watched him expectantly for a moment before realising that was all he was going to say.

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He noticed the lady about to open her mouth, likely to complain about him again, and interrupted.

“I understand you aren’t comfortable with my presence for reasons neither of us can control. I think it’s best we go our separate ways.”

“You won’t even say were you came from,” she accused.

“Look, Miss, I honestly do not care about you or whatever minor family you’re from,” he spoke honestly. “So please, let us go our separate ways and not bother each other anymore.”

Living with the daughter of a Lone Power had dulled whatever edge some small family might have in his mind.

“Perhaps we should listen, my lady,” the man advised, ever the voice of reason. “Fighting a foreigner like this is beneath your attention.”

The woman was obviously still unhappy but thankfully, she listened to the man, albeit grudgingly.

He continued his search after that, putting them put of his mind. He planned to spend two days in the Haven, ideally. At least he’d hopefully get some decent rewards when he was done.

The hours ticked by as he explored, finding a few fruits with middling value. He was starting to wonder if perhaps the entrance he went through was simply not lucrative, or the Firth was somehow taking away anything of value from his path.

Just as he was beginning to consider changing paths , he saw something that caught his attention. There was a clearing ahead of him.

Within the clearing was what looked like a panther resting. Though the big cat was not particularly large, he knew underestimating it would be stupid when he sensed it’s realm.

It was close to the peak of mid Neophyte, something he was still far from achieving. He contemplated simply passing it by when he saw something.

A few metres from the panther, hanging enticingly from a tree, was a fruit that was packed with so much qi, he wondered how it hadn’t been eaten.

Though he wanted to get the fruit, no doubt, he would also prefer to avoid fighting the panther if he could.

The beginnings of a plan started to form in his mind as he stared at the fruit.

He snapped the neck of the moose he had found. It was a low Neophyte, so killing it had been very easy. It was the fifth beast he’d killed so far, and it was perfect for his plans.

Arrayed in front of him were smooth round crystal balls the size of his head. They shone with dormant qi meant to be the life blood of some now dead animals.

Beast cores.

He opened five holes at the different points in the body of the moose. Each point a meeting place for multiple meridians, he placed the beast cores carefully and spoke.

“Heal.”

A not insignificant portion of his qi flowed out of him to enforce his will upon reality. Even then, he knew it would have been far more if the animal wasn’t dead.

He passed just a sliver of his attuned lightning into the primary beast core of the moose, and just like he suspected, it became active.

It would only last for a few minutes, but as he saw the amount of QI produced by the five, now awakened beast cores, he knew it would be enough.

When he got back to where the panther remained sleeping, he carefully planted the moose on the ground a few kilometres away and gave the core another spark.

Once again, he was thankful that beasts still needed sleep even as Neophytes. His plan wouldn’t have had a chance if it was awake.

He felt the moment the panther woke up and focused it’s attention on the dead moose. Just as he predicted, it was on the beast in moments.

Using the short window he had, he ran to the tree and plucked the fruit, putting it in his storage ring immediately after. Unfortunately for him though, there was an important factor he hadn’t considered.

The tree.

He had come across trees that had some level of thought even on Xenus, though fully sentient trees was something he had only seen in Lasvania.

That said, even the most conscious tree on Xenus wasn’t much of a threat and couldn’t really affect the world around them.

Which was why he was caught unaware when it released a pulse of QI that froze him in place and whined loud enough to be heard by everyone for kilometres around.

He broke free from the tree’s hold a few seconds later. Unfortunately for him, that was just enough time for the panther to return, alerted as it was by the whine.

Though the panther was not fully sentient, he could sense that it had formed enough of a mind to seduce what had happened to some extent.

Xiao Lee resigned himself to a fight. Not that he should have been surprised. He had almost never gone to a hidden realm or something similar where his plans were not derailed to some extent at the very least.

The panther pounced without hesitation, snarling at him. He shot a thick bolt of lightning at it, sending it crashing to the floor.

The panther stood immediately after, looking no worse for wear.

He didn’t allow it time to do anything and instead took initiative.

Xiao Lee had no interest in fighting a prolonged battle against an opponent with more qi and higher cultivation than his own. So he opened with a devastating technique.

Path of Power: Obliterate.

He Potent lightning, infused with the might of his intent and a hint of a High Concept, coated his right hand as he threw a punch. It was a simple punch, lacking any fancy technique or overwhelming speed. It was not meant to jab at the enemy but to obliterate.

It did not fulfil his purpose.

Not only was the beast still alive, it was barely harmed with just a few splotches of singed fur on its otherwise unruffled body.

He started at it with wide eyes for a brief moment, replaying the memory in his head

He realised what happened immediately he did that. He felt the same force that had infused the aggressive lady’s hits coat the panther with a protective barrier.

Unlike Sumihal, though, the power of the Fifth was not some intangible force but something solid enough to form barriers. He wasn’t completely sure, but he would guess the panther had tapped into the power far more than she had.

His chances of victory suddenly plummeted in his mind.

Still, he didn’t give up just yet. He threw everything from empowered punches to the Hand of the Lightning God. Everything he threw, the panther shrugged off.

He was fast enough that the panther rarely hit, but each hit drew blood and left wounds he couldn’t easily close. It was very obvious he was going to lose at this rate.

He searched himself for anything he could do to turn the fight around. He was getting desperate now. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in an actual life or death battle and he could remember exactly why he avoided them.

Out of options, retreat was the only thing he could do. For the second time that day, he spoke his will into reality.

“Move.”

The world listened and he ran away from the panther far faster than he normally could. Eventually, his command lost steam and he had to stop. What he saw sank his heart.

Beaten, low on qi and mentally strained as a result of speaking into reality twice in one day, he stared at the small house cat in front of him that was most definitely not a Student.

He felt the weight of what he assumed was a Master slam into his soul, a blur of flying orange taking up his vision.

And then the world turned dark.