image [https://cdn.midjourney.com/f297eb4e-d4b4-4e67-9818-1a16234a430d/0_2.png]

----------------------------------------

"What now?" Jack asked, looking at the tied girl. The rope had been bought by Marius on Floor Six and was supposed to be able to hold even a Cultivator.

"We wake her up, ask some questions, and go from there."

"Are you going to… kill her?"

Peter shook his head. "I don't know… I have a strong aversion to killing women… A friend I know says it's a macho ancestral reflex, protecting the female of the species suff… I say it's just how I was raised… But this one did really bad stuff…"

Taking his gun out, he slapped the prisoner. She opened her eyes at the third attempt. "Scream, and you're dead," he warned her.

"Do it!" the girl said. "Shoot me."

"I don't want to," Peter said. "If you cooperate, you live. Just answer my questions.”

"Heeelp!" the girl screamed.

Peter almost pressed the trigger but opted for a gag at the last second. Jack looked over the ridge, and let out a deep breath of relief. "They didn't hear her. No reaction."

"Let's cut to the chase, Cobra," Peter said, making the girl jerk. "Yes, I know who you are. Remember this?" he put his phone in front of her eyes. "The family you killed?"

"What did she do?" Jack asked.

"Murdered a whole family, three kids included. She took photos to brag about it."

"Beurch!" Jack retched, vomiting the coffee drank in the town on the grass.

"I'm giving you a chance here. Give me intel, and you get to live." The girl began crying. Peter frowned, the reaction was not what he expected. "They threatened your family to make you do it?" She nodded. "But your file says: lack of empathy, can't make the difference between good or evil, likes to kill. To be recruited in a permanent position."

"Uhm…" she moaned through the gag, and Peter took it off. "I'll t-talk…" she said.

"Then talk."

"I'm not a student," she began. "I'm twenty-five. I was recruited by the Company after my army stage."

"Company like CIA?" Jack gasped.

"Gestapo," she snorted, her tears receding.

"What?"

"She's from a parallel Earth… it's a long story," Peter sighed. "Go on."

"You don't know how it is in Quebec. You have to be twice as enthusiastic and lick ten times the boots to be accepted in the army. Gestapo of SS? No chance. I was the first..."

"I don't like where this story goes," Jack said. "Did the Nazis win the—"

"I promise, you'll know everything before the sun sets. Let her talk."

"I was tasked to go undercover. There was this girl who looked like me… or I looked like her. Not the doppelganger, a student. They killed all her family and replaced it with me and lookalikes. I entered the College in her place. The Stapo uses me to spy on the Old Money faction."

"For that, I needed to…" she choked for a few seconds. "I played the role they told me to play… and murdered the doppelgangers of the family we replaced… or they would have killed my real family… I see their eyes every night… I had no choice…"

"Sure you had," Peter said. "Run to Mexico, go underground… Enlisting in the Gestapo was already treason."

"Oh my God!" Jack slapped his mouth, widening his eyes. "Am I a traitor of the human race, working for the Cultivators?"

"No, because until this morning you didn't know how bad Cultivators are. She knew the Nazis killed millions of her people."

"She's Jewish?"

"French. Not the same history. Look, Cobra," Peter squatted near the young woman. "If you give me good intel, I can either take you to a safe location, or let you be, but you'll work for me. When you will be ordered to kill someone, you tell me first, and I find a way to save them."

"My phone is in my back pocket. It has names on it. The identities of my bosses in the Gestapo, and some of the Old Money Cultivators."

"I copied the data, you can keep the phone," Peter waved his hand in the air, to make her believe he used some magic skill. "So, what will you be? Secret facility, or working undercover?"

"None. You have to kill me. If I go missing, or suicide, they'll kill my family."

"Then work for us," Jack said. "You can't bring back those you killed, but—"

"Have you ever been interrogated under qi-truth-serum?" the girl asked."I am every week. I'm scheduled for tomorrow. He's Impulse, the Bounty Hunter, a secret Rogue Cultivator. They say he's working for the Cartel, but has a slight Italian accent. Probably runs in the family. So, not Cartels… Mafia?

"And you," she looked at Jack, "you're from Dartmouth. Your badge is showing, and I saw your face. Tomorrow evening, the Gestapo will know who you are, and you and your family will be kidnapped. They'll torture them until you give them Impulse identity, then they'll kill you all."

"But… I d-don't k-know his i-identity," Jack said in a begging tone.

"You lie. When they'll cut your—"

"Enough!" Peter hissed. "Enough! I will give you an honorable death, making it look like you died in battle. I swear I will refrain from killing the ones from your list until your real family is safe. If you tell me their names, I'll make arrangements to give them fake IDs and take them to the First Floor."

He approached his ear to her lips, and she whispered a few words. Peter nodded. "I'll take you back to your previous location, and cut your ties."

"My info says all your teachers are rotten," Peter continued, ignoring the System. "I will kill them, and you along with them. There will be witnesses you died in battle."

"You can't," she said. "Have you not seen the pillars?"

"What are they?"

"Totems. They counter Rogue skills. No invisibility or Shadow Step. And they're also giant lightning rods. Our Headmaster is a rank eight Spirit with an affinity to lightning. He'll be here as soon as the alarm is done."

"Are everyone leaving the camp today?" he asked.

"No. Only the first three ranks. They leave soon. The teachers and the rest are staying for the night, and we're leaving in the morning."

Peter sighed, looking into nothingness. "I'll take my chances today, after the first group leaves. Win or lose, I'll make sure you die."

"T-thanks… If… it's not too much to ask…"

"I'll spare the students."

"I… was going to ask you to spare the oldest teacher… he was kind to me… everyone else despised me… But he treated me… like you do…"

"You cry too much," Peter said, his own eyes filling with tears. "Toughen up before I strike. I'll come half an hour after the rest leave."

Untying her, Peter activated Stealth and then left the girl in the same spot where she was captured. When he arrived back at Jack, the jock was looking at him like to an alien. "You're… Mafia?"

"I'm not. Had a grand grandfather who was a bootlegger. He worked with the Cosa but was not in it. Now listen to me. I will give you a sniper rifle. It's mana… qi-tech. The bullets are enchanted and will adjust their trajectory to hit the target, even at this distance, as long you keep the scope on it. When I raise my hand, you shoot the pillars, starting with the nearest."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"What if I miss?"

"Shooting the pillars is a diversion, my skills would work anyway. I'm not a Rogue, I'm exactly what I told you I am: a wild magic user who found an alien manual about secret techniques. If the fight goes wrong, shoot her, then run back to that town. I'll meet you there. I'll set an… automatic teleport if I'm incapacitated."

"Man… this is… crazy… Are you the real Peter or some doppelganger?"

"The real one. Now I have to rest, I need all the Mana I can. If I run out of it… well… you moped the floor with me when I didn’t use any skill, imagine what a rank eight can do."

Ignoring the System again, Peter took off his helmet and went to take a nap under a tree.

----------------------------------------

Jack shaking him made Peter dream a short nightmare about being on a sinking boat during a hurricane. It took just seconds, by it felt real.

"They left fifteen minutes ago," Jack said. "You looked like you could use more sleep."

"How long did I sleep?"

"An hour."

Peter equipped himself, checking everything twice. When the time came, he jumped a hundred yards in front of the camp, walking on slowly, the spear in his left hand. There was a path zig-zagging between the fortification, and he took his time. No one tried to stop him.

Arriving at the opened gate, he shouted: "I come in peace. Who's your leader?"

A thunder clapped in the distance, and four branches of a single lightning hit the pillars. A man appeared in the middle of the base, forty yards from Peter. The Cultivator was built like a bodybuilder, with black hair and a beard.

"I'm Master Wu. What do you want?"

"I'm Impulse, the Bounty Hunter."

"I know who you are. What do you want?" the Master repeated the question, his upper lip raised, snarling like a wolf.

"I noticed you have an Arena obelisk. I'm prepared to pay a thousand ounces of gold for it."

I know. Stop stating the obvious.

"You want to compete in the Arena?" Wu laughed.

"It did cross my mind, yes."

"Why? There will be only students. They're no match for you."

"Of course they are. The fights are non-lethal, and I'll be able to hone my non-magical skills. It might not be evident, but I rely too much on magic. My melee combat is subpar."

"And you admit your weaknesses in the open?"

"I'm not ashamed of what I am. I would be ashamed if I didn't try to get better with every day."

A rumor traveled among the students. His words were true, and at the same time Uncultivatoresques—admitting his weaknesses—and the epitome of what a Cultivator strived for every minute.

"Fight me, and if you win, you can take the obelisk. My subordinates will stay out of the fight"

"So be it," Peter said, flourishing his spear and stepping inside the camp. On the way, he inspected the 'public'. Seven teachers, and a dozen students. Cobra in the first row. He tried not to focus on her. "Is this duel supposed to be non le—"

Slamming the butt of his spear into the ground, Master Wu shot up four strands of lightning. They went each to a pillar, then joined in one sole beam, aimed at Peter. His True Aura activated instantly. For a few seconds, its exterior shone like a plasma globe. Thrusting his spear out of his protection, Peter gathered the electricity and threw it back at the Cultivator.

Your Electric Impulse has reached the Journeyman Tier.

"Hahaha!" Wu leaned his head back. His hair was standing straight up, but otherwise, he was unharmed. "A Rogue, and one with the 'Copy Skill' skill… You have to do better." He raised his spear again.

At the same time, Peter raised his hand. A loud whistling preceded the arrival of the bullet, and one of the pillars' tops exploded. Now, when Wu's spear hit the ground, only three beams of lightning appeared. The impact was lesser, but so was the reflected attack.

"There's a sniper!" one of the teachers screamed. He erupted in flight, a direct trajectory toward Jake's location, leaving behind a white trail like a fighter jet. Peter Warped a little ahead of the man, grabbed his midriff, and Warped again above the forest, letting the Cultivator go on a descending trajectory. Unable to arrest his momentum, the teacher crashed, leaving a trail of broken trees behind him, and a crater at the impact site. He was dead.

"He intervened," Peter explained, after Warping back to the camp.

"So did your friend," Wu said.

"I didn't pledge anything about that, you did," Peter shrugged. Another bullet arrived, and another pillar broke.

"Master, let us help you! If totems are destroyed, he'll snatch the obelisk and run!" Cobra yelled.

"If you move, you're dead!" Peter warned her, a shiver passing down his spine.

The girl pulled out a gun. If the bullets were silver, or whatever, it didn't matter. She took the time to aim because Peter was frozen in place, wishing he'd be elsewhere, waking up and discovering this was a nightmare. The next moment, the girl was leaning forward, her weight supported by his body. His hand was inside her ribcage.

"I'll give the money for the core to your family," he whispered to her and Warped back. The girl's body hit the ground, a hole in her chest. He was crying, but not fighting against it, knowing the helmet would hide it. Transferring the core into storage, he took a fighting stance. In front of him, no one moved. There were whispers, about the 'Fist of Death'. His Mana reserves were at seventy-five percent.

"Your move," Peter said.

"Get him!" Master Wu screamed.

Everyone in the camp rushed at Peter. It was bad because he wanted to spare the students, but it was good at the same time because they were in the way of the teachers. He unleashed a curtain of electricity, to knock out as many students as he could. Another bullet arrived, killing a teacher, and passing through his brain to crash into a pillar, without damaging it, though.

A teacher tried to slash Peter with a sword. He warped out of the swipe, grabbed the man's arm, and Warped straight up, as far as his eyes could see, holding his breath. How far he was, he had no idea, but it was at least in the outer atmosphere. It was cold, and the Cultivator's screams were faint. He let the body go and went back, adjusting his trajectory to intercept another Cultivator who was going after Jack. Same technique as for the first, and a crash later, he was in the base again. All pillars were down, and now he was free to stop pretending he couldn't use his moves.

Wu was throwing lightning all over the place. Another teacher hit the dust from a bullet. Only one to go, if Peter was to spare the old geezer who was throwing fireballs at him.

The next to last cultivator was moving fast in his direction, a Body-type middle-aged woman, armed with a greatsword. Peter pretended to dodge, his Dexterity Perk activated, and the Cultivator missed a step, the weapon passing inches from Peter's head. He pinned her foot to the ground with his spear, but before he went for the core kill, one of Wu's bolts of lightning killed her.

"Wow… Dude, you're blind or something?" Peter taunted.

"Enough!" Wu yelled. "You think you can come to my turf and mock me?"

Almost doubling in size instantly, Wu transformed into lightning and reappeared near Peter, grabbing the youngster by the throat and raising him in the air. Wu's enhanced strength was tremendous. At the same time, the Cultivator enveloped himself in a sphere of blue fire. It was incredibly hot, and Peter’s True Aura was overwhelmed. He tried to Warp away, but it was impossible.

Wu sneered. "How does it feel to have your qi-channels on fire?"

The qi-channels were not a problem because he didn't even have them; the burning, choking, and inability to escape were. He tried to hit Wu with the spear, but the position was the worst possible: close range. Letting the spear go, he took out his gun and discharged all his bullets into Wu's belly.

The choking continued. Peter slapped Wu’s ears, then tried to hit the inside of the Master’s elbows, for naughts. There were fifteen holes into the Master's body, oozing blood, but he was still as strong as before. A rifle bullet passed an inch from Peter's head, slamming into Wu's skull, making a line two inches deep. The brain showed, but the monster was still undeterred. Peter’s health was under five percent.

Strength in Low Numbers, Kinetic Impulse, Tectonic Impulse. Peter thrust two fingers inside Wu’s skull, trying to go as deep as possible. At the same time, a spike erupted out of the ground, impaling Wu through the groin, and then branching into several directions, to the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, everything available. With a spasm, the Master's hand lost its grip and his plasma field vanished. Peter fell backward, and Wu forward, which meant the same direction, trapping Peter under his body.

Fuck!

"Earth… Affinity… how?"

The Cultivator was yet breathing. "I'm no cultivator, nor a wild magician," Peter whispered in Wu's ear. "I have a System!" The jerk of surprise in Wu's body continued as he fell further down when Peter Warped up, pulling out Wu's core in the process.

There were several notifications, but the one that mattered was the last.

You have slain Master Wu, rank eight. Strength in Low Numbers has restored ten percent of your Health and Mana. Your Kinetic and Tectonic Impulse are now Journeyman tier. You have reached level 67.

Fuck… Everything ached, outside or inside. He threw a Health pill in his mouth, but it didn't make much difference. Panting, he looked around as he moved to loot the Cultivators' cores. Approaching the obelisk, he attempted to pick it up, but it was too heavy. He sent it into the spatial storage instead. It was done.

There was no student dead, as far he could see, their chests were moving. Two Teachers were still breathing, the old one and the one who was shot, the bullet had missed the main organs. To the latter, he gave the killing blow, extracting the core. To the first, he gave a Health Pill, opening his mouth forcefully.

"C'mon, grandpops, wake up," he patted the man's cheeks.

"I curse you, irreverent one!" the old Cultivator yelled, suddenly opening his eyes. "May one day be as old and weak as I, the laughing stock of children. Remember my words, then. Now, kill me and be done."

"I look forward to that, you old goat,” Peter sneered, pulling the elderly up. “That will mean I will get to grow old in a world freed from assholes like you and your pals. Now get your shit together and tend to your students."

The elder man rose slowly, holding a hand on his back and grimacing, then proceeded to cast heals. Peter Warped away, a single jump because his Mana was almost depleted. Jack welcomed him with open arms but stopped short of hugging his friend but took a step back when Peter took off his helmet.

"Petey, you look like fried shit!"

Checking on his phone's camera, Peter couldn't but confirm. His skin was burnt, reddish on some parts, or even blackened, on the throat. Close one… I need more Constitution.

Yeah... Warping was a dream too far for the moment, so Peter lay down, looking at the sky.

"Give me fifteen minutes, then I'll loot the two Cultivators I crashed and we'll be on our way."

"Sure. The teacher and the remaining students are abandoning the camp," Jack said, looking through the binoculars.

An hour later, they made a pit stop at the beach resort, for a beer, and a conversation about the other Earth, assorted with many ‘no way!’ exclamations from Jack. Then, once back to their camp, Peter took a long and well-deserved siesta. In the evening, Li arrived for a chat with Melinda. By happenstance, Peter was near the tent.

"He stroked again!" Li giddily said.

"Who, your boyfriend?" Melinda sneered.

"What a silly joke!" Li waved his hands.

"You speak like you admire him."

"But I do. He'd be a worthy opponent… He took out a Floor Two camp, from Quebec. Six Teachers, ranks six and seven, one student, ranks five, and Wu… the lightning master. Rank eight!"

"How?"

"He had an accomplice who shot a few, but he killed Wu himself. It seems he has the Copy Skill ability. He deflected Wu's attacks, and broke his innards with an Earth spike."

"A Rogue with an Earth affinity?"

"Or an artifact… Remember when I won that tournament, using a water field against that Fire Cultivator?"

"Why did he attack Quebec Two?" Alchemy asked the proper question.

"It's the most isolated camp… He stole the obelisk… saying he wanted to fight in the Arena. I'll allow it. I'll change the rules to include a pro division, and I'll register myself too, in disguise… Can't wait to fight him."

Fuck! Peter wailed on the inside.