Benton listened to the discussion between the two kids and found himself somewhat surprised at how easily Yang Xiu acquiesced. The result was what he would have chosen, though, so he didn’t concern himself about it too much. He called them over to him.

“You’re both in agreement? Yang Ru will get the spear and Yang Xiu the bow?”

“Yes, Senior Brother Chao,” Yang Ru said.

Yang Xiu frowned instead of answering. “Senior Brother Chao, do you think we made a good decision?”

That question was a smart one. Benton approved.

“You made the best choice you could under the circumstances.”

They looked at him quizzically.

“I’ll explain.” He met Yang Ru’s eyes. “Your qi aspect is flowing lava. Are you familiar with that?”

“No, Senior Brother Chao.”

Right. These kids had grown up as peasants in feudal world without internet. Unless they happened to live near a volcano, why would they know anything about it?

“It’s related to fire, but it’s much more than that.” Benton paused to come up with a good way to explain it. “You know how ice is a solid and when it melts it turns into liquid water, correct?”

“Of course, Senior Brother Chao.”

Benton picked up one of the rocks he’d used to create the ring around his campfire. “Imagine that this rock melted and turned into a liquid.”

While Yang Xiu nodded thoughtfully, her brother looked confused.

“How would it compare to water, do you think?” Benton said.

He glanced at Yang Xiu when Yang Ru didn’t answer.

“It would be slow and heavy, right, Senior Brother Chao?”

“Correct. And it would be hot because unlike how water needs to be frozen to turn into ice, lava will turn back into rock as soon as it cools below a temperature that would burn your arm right off your body.”

Both kids’ faces took on far off looks.

“So Yang Ru, are you picturing that in your mind? A flowing stream of rock that glows orange and puts off so much heat you can barely get close to it?”

The kid nodded.

“Lava flowing down a mountain, a sight I’ve had the privilege to see, is an unstoppable force. It will roll right over anything in its path. It’s indomitable. Inevitable. As your qi is so will your fighting style be, so remember that well. You will find yourself wanting to go through enemies, careless of damage that you receive because you know you’ll deal more damage to them than they do to you.” Benton paused to make sure the kid was keeping up. “A spear may not be your natural weapon, but it will suffice. In contrast, a bow would be fundamentally at odds with who you are.”

“Yes, Senior Brother Chao,” Yang Ru said.

“That is not to say that you will be exempt from learning archery. Everyone in my sect will be required to have access to a ranged attack, but I understand that you will find learning it harder than most.”

“Yes, Senior Brother Chao.”

Benton turned to Yang Xiu, who gazed at him with expectant eyes. She might as well have been screaming, “What about me? What about me?”

“Your qi aspect is smooth, slippery ice. While your brother accepts damage as a matter of course, you use your speed and agility to evade blows. While your brother runs through an opponent, you dart in to stab. While your brother uses heat to directly burn his enemy, you use cold to slow yours down, controlling that enemy until you are ready to deliver the finishing blow. Had I two spears, I would have gladly handed one of them to you, but the bow is perfectly acceptable for you as well. Use your speed to create the distance you need. Control the flow of the battle with arrows from afar. Evade opponent’s strikes from range.”

“Thank you, Senior Brother Chao. I understand.”

There were stars in her eyes. She was surely imagining doing all those things he just told her.

Benton handed the bow to Yang Xiu. “This is not a gift; it’s a loan. If you want to keep it, you owe me one thousand contribution points.” He swiftly continued before either of the kids could ask the obvious questions. “You get points for performing missions for the sect. It’s not time to worry about that yet.”

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He gave the spear to Yang Ru. “Same thing. If you want to own it, you owe me. You both accept those terms?”

“Yes, Senior Brother Chao.”

Benton pulled two jade slips from his spatial ring and handed the correct technique to each of the siblings. “First, finish consolidating your breakthrough. Then cultivate two to four complete cycles until the qi you’re circling feels as natural as it did before you reached the second minor realm. Only after that point should you use the jade slip and began practicing the weapon technique. Got it?”

He met each of their sets of eyes to make sure they understood the importance of his instruction. Jumping from the first to the second minor realm wasn’t all that much of a big deal, but failing to fully and properly consolidate at higher realms could result in disaster. It was important to establish the right habits from the start.

“Yes, Senior Brother Chao,” the two chorused.

While they went off to comply with his instructions, Benton had work to do. Yang Xiu would need a target. While her arrows were tough enough to sink into a tree and suffer little damage, they would get more and more difficult for her to pull out as her draw strength improved.

He considered the issue. Both his memory and Su’s agreed that, since he lacked the ability to run down to the nearest sporting goods store for a block of Styrofoam, his best bet was to use straw.

Though Benton had a good idea what he wanted his final product to look like, he had no experience with crafting anything remotely like that. Su, fortunately or unfortunately, did.

The rest of that day and over the next three, Benton crafted. He gathered piles and piles of whatever fibrous material he could find, mainly grass and pine straw. Using strings from the spare clothes he’d gathered from Fang’s men, he tied small bundles together at the bottom and painstakingly twisted strands together to form rope, splicing in additional threads to make it the desired length. He then coiled all the rope, tying it with string to hold it together, into a round target. A cut piece of cloth was used to create the bullseye.

When he finished, he was proud of what he’d created. His new cultivator instincts must have lent him loads of patience because he’d never have been able to do anything like that back on Earth.

While he’d been waiting for the cut grass and pine straw to dry, he’d also crafted a couple dozen practice arrows, simple notched sticks with sharpened points and feathers tied to the end of the shaft, and as many long, sharpened sticks to use as spears.

The tasks had been tedious, but it had given him something useful to do besides cooking meals while the kids cultivated and practiced.

Nearly a full day after he’d finished, he got the notification he’d been waiting for.

Host’s Disciple, Yang Ru, has reached Small Success in the Foundational Spear Essentials Technique.

Host is awarded one Sect Point.

Host has 55 Sect Points available.

That night after dinner, Benton said to Yang Ru, “Congratulations on your success with the spear technique. Tomorrow I’ll start sparring with you for part of your practice.”

There was a retired drill sergeant who’d joined Benton’s company a number of years back. The guy would tell stories about how all his recruits thought he was a god who could do anything. He’d achieved that by showing them his skills when they’d first got to boot camp, beating all their best efforts at marksmanship, the obstacle course, running, everything. Of course, by the end of basic training, a lot of those soldiers would have surpassed his ability in one way or the other, but they wouldn’t know that. All they had to judge him by was how dominant he’d been when they first started learning.

Judging from the way things were going, Benton was pretty sure his disciples were going to worship him as a hero in the same way. While that thought upset his Earthborn sensibilities, it wasn’t exactly the worst thing ever for a sect leader.

“Senior Brother Chao,” Yang Xiu said, “should I be concerned that I haven’t achieved the same success as Yang Ru? I started practicing the bow hours before him and have spent more time working on my weapon skill each day than he has.”

Man. She was green with jealousy, wasn’t she? Good old sibling rivalry.

“The bow is a more difficult weapon to master in the early stages than the spear,” Benton said, “and your brother’s innate fighting style is more attuned to the spear than yours is to the bow. It is only to be expected that you will lag behind. When the two of you switch, he will have an even harder time picking up archery.”

“I understand, Senior Brother Chao. I will just have to practice harder.”

Benton opened his mouth to dissuade her but decided not to. Working harder wouldn’t hurt her any. He glanced over at Yang Ru. From the look on his face, he had no intention of letting her pass him.

Nothing like a little bit of competitive fire to keep them motivated.

Overall, Benton was pleased with how things were going. Both disciples should reach the third and then fourth minor realms in less than a week and, by then, should hopefully both be ready to fight weak rank one spirit beasts.

His leadership skills had translated well to the cultivation world.

Something tickled at his mind, though, and after some thought, he realized it was the memory of the drill sergeant. That guy would have hated how soft Benton was being on the kids. Being too friendly. Explaining all his actions.

But Benton wasn’t training soldiers.

Except that he kind of was. Spirit beasts, rival cultivators, demonic cultivators, the cultivation world was filled with threats. In a way, a sect was similar to an army.

A memory from Benton’s life bubbled up. He’d just been promoted to project manager. A powerful, important client objected to what Benton wanted to do, and his instincts told him he should sit down with the client and collaboratively come up with a mutually agreeable solution.

Benton, however, was unsure his method of resolution was the correct one as it might make him seem weak, so he asked advice from his mentor. The man, a literal cowboy who, of all things, performed in rodeos as a hobby, told Benton he should be forceful and push through his ideas over the client’s objections.

Benton followed the advice, and it turned out poorly. He almost lost his job. Though he was positive his mentor would have been able to make things work out just fine, Benton simply wasn’t well equipped to use that management style. From then on out, he stuck with what he thought would work for him.

He sighed. Best to go with what he knew than to try to be someone else. Besides, he was definitely overthinking things. It would be fine.