Fonta and Yang had left the city that morning and had ridden until the mid-afternoon with no issue. The road was bumpy but due to the suddenness of their departure. Monsters hadn't been very active. This was due to a sixth sense they had. The days after attacks were days to stay far far away from civilizations. Sure the injured would be easy pickings but the strong still alive would turn their bones into houses and their flesh into trinkets and furniture.
Thus anything with a brain knew to avoid areas that had been attacked by powerful people until things died down. Sadly brigands were the same everywhere.
“Stop we have you surrounded! You need to pay the toll to cross these roads.”
“So you know I’m a cultivator along with every passenger aboard. We belong to a sect and are on sect business.” The driver said in a monotonous tone
“Then you better cough up some coin then.”
“Did you not hear? We have 3 cultivators aboard, one is a master do you have a death wish?”
“We have a studied mage and an army of two hundred. You won’t best us.”As the bandit said that, quite a few torches lit themselves in a circle around the carriage to show unity.
“If you had that many then you could qualify as a mercenary band, and get paid more to patrol than you would from robbing carriages. However, if you are harboring demons then we’ll be forced to execute you. That is treason after all.”
“Oi! What's goin' on?” Fonta hopped out of the carriage with the only weapons he could find, a spare wheel and a small hammer.
As soon as Fonta was seen by the bandits they began to laugh. The fires winked out however which told the driver that the supposed mage either knew Fonta or fought him previously as they knew to run if he had anything resembling a weapon.
“I asked a question. Whatcha want?” Fonta said his left eye twitching in insanity.
“We want gold?” The bandit said in confusion.
“Then go work for it somewhere else? Like most other people!”
“You can’t talk to us like that. We're adults.”
“How much money do you want?” Fonta pulled out a bag of jingling nails in the same hand as his hammer.
“Gimmie that.” The brigand moved to grab them from bellow and cut his hand open in the process only for the light hammer to hit him in the temple, the blow nearly killing the human instantly. Had Fonta not pulled back at the last second. The young man knew cultivators were strong but he hadn’t known his power would grow so much so fast. He had planned two follow-up attacks to take the leader down and yet he didn’t get the chance to do one. The bandit did however have a decent Jian.
Picking up the sword Fonta spun throwing the wheel at a second and third bandit causing them to fall back, their heads bumping together on the way down as gravity did the rest.
“Boss! Help us!” A bandit yelled as if firing an arrow from a bow.
The arrow sailed towards Fonta who caught the arrow with his left hand like one would catch a tossed apple then jammed it between another bandit's shoulder blade ripping out the barbed arrow and leaving behind a ravaged bleeding wound.
The archer threw their bow to the ground and began to flee. “I’m not dying here!”
Fonta was behind the fleeing bandit and a sheath of the Jian was placed in front of his throat. “So ya want to live. Know this. Next time I see ya do’in this sort of thing it won’t be a scabbard. Also, leave your arrows too. You can keep the bow.”
The bandit dropped their quiver and the scabbard was removed. Fonta then thrust his sword right behind him checking to see if there was anyone invisible. No one was there. “Abandoned then? How many demons did I scare off? It couldn’t have been many I was mostly running. Ah, is she the one? Guess I’ll out later.”
Fonta then looted the muggers taking them for all they were worth leaving them their clothes and a few days' rations. All their weapons belonged to him now.
Fonta got back into the carriage watching as the driver and Yang stared at him.
“What?”
“Did they try to mug you or did you mug them?” Yang asked in confusion.
"Don't do to others what you don't want done to you. Because Karma is a debt collector and she knows where you sleep. Or something. Listen, you do what you can to survive. For me, it's done by taking in weapons and the like.
“How did you make it look like you killed all of them when they were only unconscious.” The driver asked.
“It’s called bluffing. Get in enough fights and you can tell how much others can take before giving up. The archer had a weak will and was cowed when he saw me catch that arrow. Though I will admit I’ve never done that before. Have arrows always been so slow?”
“Have you been hit with an arrow?”
Fonta raised his pants leg revealing an arrow wound above his calf there were a few wounds that passed through his legs as well. Looking closely the amount of scar tissue on his legs was bizarre. Though it seemed as if they had begun to fade rapidly.
“How are you not the one in this chair?” Yang asked.
“These are separate injuries, I got hurt often before I got to this point.”
“Yeah, but it looks like you lost pounds off of your legs. It that…” Yang wasn’t the brightest knife in the sock drawer but he did recall the words that set Fonta off previously. Runt, kid, brat, short, and midget were all off-limits and any variation would set him off.
“Maybe if I can go a while without my legs getting injured they’ll finally grow!”
Both the driver and Yang exchanged a look that many shared when dancing around a touchy subject with his grandfather.
“Anyhow, do you think you can teach people how to fight like you?”
“No. Not for lack of trying.” Fonta recalled the failed attempts at training his siblings in the past. There had been deaths in that place prior. Ted was the only one capable of keeping up for a while, but even he had fallen behind towards the end.
As Fonta sat in the carriage he realized that he could have questioned the demon that fled. The wasted opportunity ate away at him. “Maybe I should have given chase.”
“They were far off. It wouldn’t have been worth the risk. You would have ended up in an ambush. When fighting mages, don’t let them control or choose the battlefield.”
“Alright. Tell me about cultivation?”
“What do you want to know?” Fonta decided to change the subject.
“The stage we’re in is called the Elpmeta. I was at Elpmeta stage 8, meaning eight of my meridians had been opened. In my current state, eight of those meridians have had their pathways severed, meaning I can’t properly cycle chi through my body.”
“Ah, I don’t think I have those mandarins.”
“Meridians and you have at least opened two.”
“So what do they do?”
“Each one raises your base abilities by 10%. As well as improves a sense, or innate ability based on where it flows.”
“Gotcha, so the reason why I don’t tire easily unless I use Chi, is because of that.”
“And the reason why you haven't had to use some bushes as often. When you open the large intestinal meridian you won’t have to go at all. Though you should also notice that your hearing ability has grown quite a bit as well.”
“Really? I haven’t noticed.” Fonta scratched his head.
“When was the last time you cleaned out your ears?”
“I’m supposed to do that?”
“When was the last time you bathed.” Yang squinted.
“It’s been a while. One, maybe two.”
“What color is your hair supposed to be?”
“That hardly matters.”
“You’re sister has blue hair. Which means, for yours to be orange…”
“It hardly matters.”
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“Listen, if you go into the city like that. They’ll run you out. You’re getting washed and you’re going to like it.”
“Is it really that important?”
“Look you don’t have to be super clean, it's just you never washed after the second meridian opening. You can get a chi sickness if you don’t, it’s odd that the smell is so controlled.”
Fonta wondered if he could… a green wind flowed from his underarms like a concentrated stream of stench. “Oh, it counts as a weapon. I assume that’s bad.”
“Maybe you don’t need to wash if you can control it.”
Fonta sniffed the wind and his consciousness faded, the wind got out and Yang fainted as well.
The driver had already taken off but the horses, enraged picked up speed as they were brought to the nearest stream.
Fonta awoke somewhere very wet his clothes gone as a bar of soap and a few scrubbing brushes were placed about.
The driver had nose plugs and was standing a good 60 feet away. “Use that to clean yourself, the blue is for your hair the white your body. Use the towel when done and feel free to use the young master’s extra clothes!”
Fonta looked at his pile of clothes and watched as an insect ecosystem lived its life inside. Fonta decided that he’d buy a change of clothes on store credit. Though everything seemed expensive, two thousand for a shirt, four thousand for blue pants, and 1000 for shorts with a hole in them. Fonta figured out while it was there and decided to buy those for convince they also came in a pack of six.
“Don’t worry about it wait by the carriage.”
After washing his hair, face, ears, and body. Fonta got dressed. Putting on the shorts, finding that they weren't actually pants, then the blue jeans, which seemed quite durable, followed by a black shirt that seemed flexible and unrestricted. He put on his washed beanie, the only thing that wasn’t surrounded by bugs. Then noticed he didn’t have socks or shoes.
Fonta knew socks were a luxury item, yet a pack of 12 pairs cost 600 Ducks, though shoes were 9k+. He paid for both and, then bought some extra stuff that he would sell to market at a drastically raised price. Now armed with athletic shoes and a new lease on life Fonta observed his reflection in the black river.
“Fonta saw his long deep purple hair fall to his shoulders. His golden yellow eyes shone with life, his face resembled a slightly younger though more masculine version of his sister’s. Which he hadn’t noticed. Maybe all those morning rituals she did had a point. Though he could see why all her money vanished so fast. His body still had scars, however, and his breath was still bad, making his next few purchases painful. He’d need to learn how to read soon, as he bought a toothbrush paired with toothpaste. The brush existed but usually one would use soap and mint to scrub it on making the paste a curious thing.
His credit balance ended at 24 Ducks after his purchase spree. And after he looked somewhat civilized and he could use the toothbrush as a weapon if he sharpened the bottom a bit. Almost as good as a piton with better reach.
Fonta was still short with a bad attitude but now he looked more like a cultivator than roadkill. He eventually found the driver and Yang by the carriage. Oddly enough he could hear them very well from a distance much further than he could before though doing that continuously gave him a headache.
“I finished. Geez, I don’t look like me anymore.”
“No that’s how you’re supposed to look. Though your clothes look odd. Are they from Chi-town?”
“No idea what that means.”
“They are a city to the Faer West.”
“Huh, now I know of three cities.”
“There are a lot more than three. Have you never left the city?”
“I honestly wouldn’t know. Everything from before I arrived in the city is a bit hazy. The only thing I do remember is that I was the older brother.”
“I think I get it.” Yang leaned against his seat and winced as phantom pains shot through him. The episodes occurred regularly and tended to last a while. The young man had medicine for the pain but it was limited.
Fonta understood the sentiment, anesthesia was evil. If one couldn’t feel how hurt they were, how would they know how hurt they were?
“Yang, under what situation can one grow back a limb that was destroyed?”
“What do you mean?”
“Limbs can be regrown, I’ve seen it happen but I don’t know how it works.”
“Where were you when it happened?”
“Precursor ruins.”
“Well, there you go. Miracles happen in precursor dungeons when you are the first to complete one.”
“Oh. Is that so.”
“It is, and we should drop the subject for now. Like my grandfather said precursor relics are expensive, and researching them is a lucrative profession. New relics, are rare items.” Yang said as his eyes told Fonta that someone was listening.
Fonta first thought it was the driver, as the horses came to a stop. Getting to his feet Fonta had already drawn his new Jian. Ready to hop at the next target when he heard yelling.
“Why did you stop? What’s wrong with you.” The driver yanked at the reins to no avail and scowled as if nothing happened. The horses stayed frozen.
“Something wrong?”
“The horses stopped moving. The driver placed a bare hand on one of them and scowled.
“What do you sense.”
“No heartbeat, these horses are dead. But when? How?”
Fonta thought back and came up blank as his danger sense activated, jumping to the side as a red snake sprung at him from behind.
Fonta cut the snake in half, covering his Jian in its venom as he turned towards a familiar woman.
“There you are. I owe you one for trying to drown me in the sewer brat.”
“I’d have forgiven you for that, had you not called me a brat. What are you a demon?”
“I am no demon. I am the Mistress of poison. La’Mia.”
“So...Did you come here to die?”
“Fonta, she’s a dark cultivator in the Awakened Realm!”
“Oh… Mia, why don’t you turn around and let bygones be bygones? If not I’ll be forced to fight. And It’s difficult not to kill people stronger than me.” Fonta lied, it was quite easy, all he had to do was outrun them. Sadly he wasn't the type to leave his friends to die.
“What are you on about?” La’Mia asked in confusion.
“If you don’t run away now, you will likely die. I’m already much stronger now than I was before.” Fonta bluffed. Part of the reason the attack worked last time was because he got the upper hand. In a fair fight, he’d likely lose. If she was who she said she was.
Fonta decided to go with a bluff fueled by intuition. “You aren’t the mistress of poison. If you were I’d be dead already. I doubt the beautiful and illustrious Mistress of Poison would dare attack someone who wasn’t even a cultivator a week ago. I imagine such a thing would be beneath her, which leaves me with a conclusion, you are a fraud!”
“What?”
“A fraud, charlatan, clone. Liar. Deceiver. Among other things.”
“That's what a dark cultivator does.” The enraged Lamia began to move when a portal of green shadow opened up under her and caused her to vanish.
“I don’t feel her presence anymore.”
Yang confirmed, “How are the horses?”
“Dead, looks like the rest of the trip will be on foot.” The rider started.
“Ugh… I think I have women problems. Is this what I get for sparing them? Massively inconvenienced?”
“It could be worse, there could be more than one demoness.”
“Two. I believe there are two.”
“Oh great. Do you forgive everyone?”
“Depends on what they do. I like to give everyone at least one mistake.”
“So that you can fight them again when they’re stronger?”
“Exactly...I mean, because I’m a good person. Also, we only get the one life, killing isn’t to be done likely.”
“Lightly.”
“Yes. That.” Fonta nodded.
“How far out are we?”
“Thirteen days by carriage, but there is an inn two day’s walk north.” The driver withdrew a war hammer from the saddlebag and let out a sigh as he strapped it to his back. He then tapped a symbol on his ring and the entire carriage disappeared leaving the deceased horses alone on the trail.
“You didn’t use that in your fight against me,” Fonta stated.
“It’s enchanted to disperse mana where it hits. Meaning it can break through monsters and demon defenses. It does little to a cultivator unless they have a mana meridian. As far as we know you aren’t a demon.”
“Fair enough.” Fonta nodded though his eyes didn’t leave the warhammer. It was a new weapon to try out… His mouth moved faster than his willpower. “Can I hold that?”
“It’s enchanted to burn people who try to steal it. If you don’t believe me.” The driver held out the handle and dropped the weapon on the ground.
Fonta grabbed the hilt and purple lightning enveloped him. He was wracked with pain as he picked up the weapon and swung it a few times causing lightning to disperse outward as he swung before his hand went numb and it began to fall back on the ground.
The driver caught the weapon curiously and swung it a few times noticing the lightning shot off when he used it, but it didn’t harm him. The weapon crackled as it was placed on his back. “So will you do that again?”
“I feel like I can now manipulate that purple stuff a bit.” Fonta held his hand upward as a single spark of purple lighting shot from his hand and he felt lightheaded.
“Don’t use chi attacks!” Yang yelped.
“Why?” Fonta asked with a tired expression.
“You need to enter the Awakened stage to use chi more freely. That is your life force and until your meridians are connected properly the chi gets stuck on your blockages and rebounds.” Yang instructed.
“Oh. Well, that sucks.” Fonta fell to a knee and sighed.
“Try to keep from doing it again.” Yang nodded.
The driver scowled for a long moment as pointed forward. “We will be traveling in this direction, follow behind me. We must not get separated while on the road.”
The two others nodded. While he wasn’t the strongest in terms of fighting people he was the deadliest if anything not rat-shaped showed up. Thus the driver led them down the trail.
By nightfall, the trio made camp, where the three decided on watch schedules. As cultivators, the three of them could continue forward but due to Fonta’s low rank, he’d hit his physical limit first despite his combat ability he didn’t have the stamina to waste.
“Alright. Since you have two open meridians and are likely to accidentally kill yourself with no direction I’ll give you some advice. When you meditate chip away at the bounds around the inside of your meridians, doing so will clear out the lingering blockages and expand. The wider you expand the faster chi will flow. This will be your foundation, and when you finish with one, move on to the next. When you open a meridian there is more to it than just rushing through each one. At this stage, we can easily fall in rank if our meridians get clogged again. Doing so is painful and can lead to sickness, being crippled, or even death.” Yang stated.
“I appreciate the help. But so you know. I don’t exactly trust you. You’re after something and it’s not like I know where I’m going.” Fonta squinted as he knew Yang was after something.
“You saved my brother's life. Consider that a favor for me. Getting you to the city is paying you back. That’s all. No politics, and you don’t need to actually help me find a healer.” Yang seemed more tired than surprised by the accusation.
Fonta entered an open-eyed sleep as he began to rest. Not all of Fonta’s siblings were amiable. Some time ago he learned how to sleep with an eye open for detecting danger and reacting when things moved either too fast or too close to him. As it turned out meditating and keeping watch was easier in some ways while limiting in others.
While meditating, Fonta used the chi in his center to chip away at what appeared to be mud on the inside of his meridian. It was not as pliable as mud however and required a bit of force to scrape small bits out. Near the end of it, he felt as though he had slightly more energy. The process was one he’d need to practice daily.
After his meditation, the driver came by with Yang. “You should get some actual rest before we start moving. Rest is important when you first start cultivating and when you get much stronger.”
“Meh, I’m filled with energy actually.”
“That’s the high you get from cultivating. When that fades you’ll be tired and hungry.”
“Fine.” Fonta moved to his bedroll and began his semi-active rest.
Hours passed and the trio packed up with no issue. Moving down the road proved easy that morning as monsters avoided the area. Eventually, the trio arrived near a settlement with a few somewhat large inns, various restaurants, and shops. The settlement appeared to be one that acted as a node for land trade. Oddly enough there was an auction house chain owned by the scarlet magpie. A worldwide trade organization that allegedly held territory on the demon home world as well as on the human one.
Various carriages met near a large warehouse where various goods were unloaded and then loaded onto other wagons as money changed hands. Different stalls sold all kinds of goods and services as Fonta looked as he entered the town. While he appeared distracted a kid bumped into him and seemed to keep running.
By seemed, the apt wording would be tried as Fonta held the kid by the scruff of his neck and took back his coin pouch. “I know every trick in that book, you shouldn’t steal, that was one of the more basic techniques and you chose the wrong mark.”
Fonta dropped the brat and watched them run off panicking as Yang shook his head. “Was that favoritism?”
“What are you going on about?”
“You just forgave that kid for running into you with the intent to steal from you.”
“You hit on my sister.” Fonta accused.
“No, I didn’t.”
“I’m pretty sure you did.”
“I did compliment her while I apologized.”
“She was red-faced. That was anger at you for doing something you shouldn’t.”
“I apologized to her then tried to leave.”
“Then you called me a brat. Oh...that’s when everything went red and the drum solo began.”
“Durm solo?”
“Now I’m more suspicious.”
“More than settled as far as I’m concerned.”
“Was I the bad guy?”
“I mean, you may have a berserk trigger and I jumped on it so I say that’s what I get for not choosing my words carefully.”
The words sounded nice, but Fonta upon realizing he might have been a bit too much of a battle maniac back then. If back then was four days ago. Oddly enough a clarity washed over him as two meridians in his head shot open simultaneously. Causing both euphoria and a migraine as the new connections flooded his system. He passed out as his brain reset and chi flooded through those meridians like a dam that had been burst open.
Yang scowled, “Was that enlightenment?”
“That or he broke through a powerful charm effect and it opened his mind.”
“So likely enlightenment.”
“Hopefully, because if it was the latter, then he likely only broke a piece of the enthrallment, though to activate his mental core so early on in his journey, he’s got the luck of the weasels.”
“What are you up to? Feels like I opened two meridians in my head.” Fonta shot upward and looked about in confusion.
“No, but you should meditate on it. Let's get you to a room so you can rest.”
Fonta got to his feet. “I feel fi- The world is spinning.”
The driver caught the falling Fonta and led Yang toward a large inn.
“Put me down. I’m no kid.” Fonta complained but was too out of it to try anything.”
“We require two rooms, one with two beds.” The driver stated before placing a silver disc on the counter.
The worker nodded and waved a copper disc over it nodding as numbers appeared. She then wrote a few things down on a scroll and handed him two keys.
Fonta was then brought to his room and placed on a bed where he entered a deep meditation. Yang stayed in their room with their driver.