Aaron stood on one of the highest branches of a fir tree and looked out over the clearing he had chosen as a meeting spot. It was almost directly to the east of the Town and he could even see some rooftops in the distance. There was a lone tree in the center of the clearing, an old oak, where he had tied the red armband of Mahast to one of the branches. The red fabric fluttered in the wind like a tassel and once Aaron had checked the vicinity he had started to prepare.
He had multiple escape routes that he had prepared with traps, mostly bringing down trees behind him that he had weakened by cutting into them with his enchanted dagger. One would think a dagger was not a suitable instrument to cut trees, but the enchantment on it turned it into an easy task. Although Aaron worried his useful tool would eventually run out of magic. He did not know or even remotely understand how the Tower’s mages enchanted items, if they recharged themselves or if the enchantments would vanish if not properly cared for.
Those escape routes prepared Aaron had settled down and had waited. His chest felt heavy from the spirit clinging to him. It was a fat ghost and it dragged down his mood as he waited for a response from the town. Hours passed as he slowly trained his senses and did regular sweeps of the whole area with his sense of smell, hearing and mana sense. But nothing happened on the first day and when dusk set Aaron vanished deeper into the forest to made camp. He searched around for a water and found a small spring he could use as a water source and he mentally prepared himself to absorb the spirit. As useful it would be to run around the town with a warriors spirit hiding him from abilities, it was also tiring and uncomfortable. With the district on high alert and the possibility of them spreading the information to the rest of the town, he was weary of an army coming to kill him. Infiltrating the town did have its upsides though, especially since nobody knew he could not be traced via identify abilities with the spirit stuck to him. But it was also a trump card he did not want to use yet. His face was known and if they found him, but identified him having the same class as Mahast they might figure out what he actually did to the spirit. In the end it was an unnecessary risk and he was more interested in Mars response than anything else. Cooperating with the red-light district would give Aaron a lot more options and would allow him to finally challenge himself by climbing the tower unobstructed. But yeah, he also yearned for the power the spirit could give him, for the easy progression, the feeling of jumping over the hurdles of cultivation.
So Aaron prepared his camp and decided to absorb the spirit tonight instead of sleeping. He was fairly sure even if they were sending an army they would not come for him during the night. First and foremost because he had always attacked them during the night. They would have picked up on that, he was sure. Second because he would still sense them if they came for him, even if they were planning a night time attack. His new camp was also a fair distance away from the meeting place. He had chosen the clearing himself and even if they found it he was sure this Mars would be wary. Taking the day to think about his offer and be informed by his underlings was to be expected.
Aaron was also really unhappy with his control over his own strength. He needed to fix that before any fight, or he would be at a significant disadvantage. If he did not know the limits of his power or how to control his strength, many of the more tactical decisions in a fight would disappear. But one thing after the other.
He settled down in a hidden spot at the small brook he had found, leaving his camp behind. He had not made a fire and his hunger was not as stinging anymore, even though he had not eaten anything today. The memory of his feast of street food made it unpalatable to hunt and cook for himself. Aaron cursed himself for not just buying himself some tools, a pan, some seasoning, some basic necessities for outdoor cooking. But back then Aaron did not want to stick around after he had sent his message. He did not know how territorial or angry this Mars was. Technically he had attacked one of his men after all. Most mob bosses were unreasonable and vengeful to a fault. But if they were successful they usually also were reasonable when it came to business. Well, more or less reasonable. There were always tyrants. But Mars had not made that impression on him. His district had been clean, orderly and even though there had been any illegal entertainment men could think of, it had been a business. A well lead business at that. So Aaron was fairly sure Mars would be reasonable and hear him out.
He did not expect him to show up himself, unless he was very, very sure of himself. Which in itself would be a sign not to underestimate the man. But honestly Aaron doubted it. People had not seemed especially scared of the red light district, respectful and if they were on their bad side fearful, yes, but this criminal organization did not reign with terror, like so many organizations he was used to.
Aaron checked his dantian and is was only about half full with Qi. The slowly roiling and boiling fog looked like a placid lake in the early morning. Foggy and its depths hidden. He had a long way to go to break through the fourth minor realm, but the ghost was fat and the man had been powerful. So he took precautions. He stripped out of his newly bought clothes that he was very satisfied with and did not want to sully and then stepped into the nearby brook.
It was sadly not as deep as he wanted and so he just sat to his waist in the shallow water. It would be enough, he hoped. Sitting naked in the dusk, surrounded by snow and ice, feeling the chill on his body and yet not fearing it, not being cold was a strange and very novel sensation to Aaron. He was not an exhibitionist. He was not used to walk or sit around naked. The cold he felt with his enhanced senses should have frozen him to the core, especially as the temperature dropped as night began. But he was not really cold. His body seemed more or less impervious to these temperatures, but Aaron was not comfortable either, especially while sitting in ice cold water.
Aaron closed his eyes, listened to the brook flow around him, its water making a calming sound even to his enhanced ears. He calmed down as he felt the chill of the night set in and slowed his breath. He felt the fog it created on his lips and as he inhaled the cold air, it felt like inhaling ice. He could almost taste the mana in the air as he absorbed it into his blood alongside with the oxygen. He sunk slowly into his meditation and cultivation cycle and only once he had acknowledged the thoughts in his head, did he let them go. His worries and plans mattered not for the moment and he felt much calmer and more relaxed once he made them future Aaron’s problem. Now it was time to fill his dantian and absorb the spirit. Aaron was used to the procedure by now, had done it a few times and it started to become easier with practice.
Slowly Aaron built Soul Catcher with his Qi, formed the technique with his mind, his internal technique as fragile as glass and yet as unbreakable as his will and concentration. Outside noise faded, smells faded, his mouth stopped tasting like anything and finally the cold on his bare skin vanished. His senses vanished as his concentration focused to a single razor sharp point. He did not waver, he did not falter, but he did check over the internal technique carefully before he reached out with it for the spirit.
Aaron had not been fishing many times, but the few times friends from college or army buddies of his own or his father’s had invited him out to fishing had been quite eye opening. Most of the times it had been just to socialize and drink outdoors, but on occasion they had caught something. Only once Aaron had caught a big one and when Soul Catcher latched on to the spirit, it felt exactly the same. Like he had caught a big one. The Spirit struggled, it bucked and tried to pull away as Aaron’s grip tightened. Then he started to pull, slowly, trying not to overburden the technique, because he felt it was possible for it to snap like a fishing line. But Aaron was patient and he kept at it. Slowly, carefully, meticulously. He pulled and tugged, stopped and then kept going. Inevitably the spirit got sucked into Aaron’s body and was soon surrounded by Qi, an energy magnitudes stronger than anything else in existence. The Spirit burned, it tried to defend itself, but soon it stilled.
Aaron’s body was filled to the brim with Qi, his flesh that of a fiend-god, a being feared for its toughness. A deluge of Qi poured through Aaron’s Qi veins into his dantian and the spirit had not even reached the dantian. The power surged and clashed with Aaron’s own power. So he paused in his pulling and wrapped his Qi around the new onslaught of Qi, pulled it into the right Qi veins as he cycled the Qi. He felt the fiend-god technique churn as the Qi flowed through it like a river and at the end of the path the Qi was his. His power, part of him like a limb. His dantian filled and slowly but inevitably he pulled the Spirit deeper until it reached his dantian.
It felt like pulling an island of Qi into his body, while the ocean of Qi churned around it, eroding it, eating away at it. The resistance had ceased and all that was left was power. Ethereal at first, but after cycling it turned into thick fog that filled his dantian rapidly. It was so much Qi, Aaron was not sure if he could have stopped this process to defend himself. It took all his focus to concentrate, to control this power and not let it slip from his grasp. But surrounded by his Qi, the spirit was sealed and consumed. The steady stream of new Qi flowing into the cycling technique rose and turned into a torrent. 60% of his dantian was filled, then 70%, 80% and Aaron knew from how much of the spirit was left that he would need to break through.
It felt like trying to surf on a tsunami of Qi, while also trying to tame the wave. It felt impossible. But Aaron only hesitated for a moment before he started to compress his Qi. It was difficult. So difficult. All his focus was on guiding the Qi into his cycling pattern, keeping it flowing and then assimilating the new Qi. But he soon found ways to keep this virtuous cycle going. He pulled the spirit deeper into the dantian, submerging it into his Qi entirely. The new Qi moved around its old shell and then contracted and solidified as Aaron pulled it together, compressing it. The core of his dantian was a star, a center of gravity and he pulled, he focused most of his efforts to pull all the Qi in his dantian into the center. The Spirit followed the pull and yet Aaron kept leading the Qi being extracted from it into the cycling pattern. It was multitasking at its finest. Doing two opposite things at the same time, concentrating Qi and leading it away.
Aaron streamlined the whole thing by forming a solid tube of Qi between the cycling technique and the spirit, letting the free Qi flow there like oil bubbling out of a well. He could feel how full his dantian was, feel it being filled to the top and yet never reaching it as the energy kept being concentrated. The center of his dantian already felt heavy and solid, packed to the brink and yet more and more Qi was focused into it.
Aaron knew what he had to do, it was instinctual. He could not activate Starburst until all of the Spirit’s Qi had been absorbed, until nothing was left but his Qi. But that meant going beyond the capacity of his dantian. He needed to compress the Qi either way, it was the only way and in his inner eye he felt like he was seeing the birth of a star. Nebula coalescing into a core, swirling like a whirlpool and being absorbed and held by forces of nature. His will was the force, the absolute command. There was nothing else. His mind split and yet determined, he kept at it, kept making space for more and more Qi. It took hours. Or it felt like it at least. The focus required gave him a headache that even hurt through his absolute focus of his senses. It was a metaphysical headache. A pressure in his psyche, in his mind that grew with the overfull dantian of his.
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Finally after an eternity the spirit was fully absorbed. The last vestiges of Qi entering the cycling pattern and suddenly the whole dantian contracted as Aaron’s focus narrowed into the only task left. His core felt solid and it had swelled to half the size of his dantian. He could barely hold the power, but he still fueled all free floating Qi into it and then pushed, squished the ball together in the vice of his mind until his mind hurt like hell. He sensed no more Qi being added and then gave it one last push, before releasing the starburst.
A Wave of energy rushed outwards like an explosion, his mind suddenly relaxed and only focused on burning away the threshold to the fourth realm. The Power was absurd. A wave of Qi so massive it washed away everything. At its peak, Aaron took control of it again and compressed it anew with a mental roar. So much energy spent and yet not barely enough. The first burst followed a second, then a third, each one more controllable, each one more concentrated. Like multiple tsunamis hitting a coast and demolishing everything.
Aaron felt terrible, his everything hurt, his senses bleeding into his concentration, but he kept going. After the 6th starburst he finally felt spent and let the Qi come to a rest in a new realm and a much, much bigger dantian.
He opened his eyes and blinked away blood. The distinct stink of a breakthrough clung to him and made him gag. But the coppery scent of blood was mixed in this time. He felt it. He had injured himself, had clenched his body so hard in his concentration he had actually ruptured some blood vessels. But his body, brimming with Qi repaired it just as fast as they had been destroyed, the blood the only evidence anything had happened. That and the leaden tiredness that overcame him. He stank and so he sank back into the ice cold water, let it wash away the gunk and blood as he cleaned himself. He turned around, made sure he was clean all over and then rubbed himself off with a piece of soap, over and over again until he finally did not smell like death incarnate.
Aaron stumbled over to his clothes, now for once actually feeling slightly cold as he slipped back into his pants and shirt. He moved back to his camp and his bedroll, slipped inside, his teeth chattering for a moment, before he sighed and closed his eyes. He was asleep within a few breaths and not even the fresh snow that fell on him woke him up through the night.
He awoke in the dark and blinked, before he realized there was a thick layer of snow over him. With a groan he sat up, the snow giving way to him as he blinked into a new morning. Aaron felt better, so much better and he stood up, rolled his shoulders and cocked his head to the side, stretching, feeling his body react. His senses woke up with his body and he heard the silence of snow, the last snow Aaron reckoned, because the fake sun was warm and he could hear the snow melting from everywhere. It was a soft tinkling sound as the snow melted and fell off the trees. It was beautiful and for a few minutes he just looked around, listened and marveled at beauty of the last snow, as the warmth of a new season took slowly hold and took the land from Winter’s grasp.
Aaron felt into himself, felt the power inside of him and the vast area of his dantian. To his pleasant surprise his dantian was already full to around 30% and the Qi that pooled around his core and the bottom of his dantian was thick and almost viscous. The power in his body felt like it had taken another step forward, his muscles brimmed with energy, his mind was clear and felt sharp. In short he felt fantastic.
He smiled to himself in contentment. He had never felt anything more satisfying than breaking through in Cultivation. With one leap he was more, more powerful more everything. His whole being had changed, had improved. It felt better than wealth or sex and it felt even better in this moment than the tingle of satisfaction he had chased his whole life. That feeling of pulling the trigger on a monster and watching him die. It was better even than that. It scared him a bit, because he felt like he was getting addicted to it. It was so easy to progress now with Soul Catcher, so much easier. There was no comparison. But there were not just positives.
Aaron took a deep breath, let the elation flow through him and started his training routine. He stretched slowly, meticulously, searched for the memory core and ensured he was doing everything correctly. He noticed the difference immediately. His body was more flexible, but also stronger. He had more muscle now, had bulked up a bit and so he had to adjust to that. The stretches became harder and harder, but he kept up with Mei’s image more easily. It was not perfect, but it was close and he felt his whole body stretch, felt his tendons and joints protest, his muscles hurt, but when the stretching was finally over he felt like he had grown wings he felt that light.
The katas followed. The familiar sensation changed slightly as well. His punches had more punch in them, the air snapping louder, his steps had gained some weight, but also were more nimble and light. His stretching ensured that. The relaxation after the first repetition of the Rejuvenating Fist was even more pronounced and his enhanced senses made him aware of how his whole body, every muscle relaxed and he groaned in pleasure. That was the good stuff.
He switched from simple repetitions to combat exercises, trying to get control over his vastly improved physique and power. Nothing beat a bit of fighting to do that. The shadows of the memory core’s illusion were a challenge like always. But fighting them felt incredible. He switched to the Unceasing Palm kata after ending the fight and trained his reaction time for a few rounds before switching back to the Rejuvenating fist for the instant relaxation and Rejuvenation. At the end of his martial training he felt even better than he had begun. It was fun, the different challenges, fights against beasts and men with different weapons. It was like the best game he had ever played, better even. Only the real thing, a real challenging fight, would come close, he knew. But he had a better understanding of his own power now.
He settled down for his meditation and cultivation session and it was easy to fall into the familiar mindset, although it felt slightly pointless. The trickle of Qi that came from the cultivation session was barely worth the hassle anymore. But he kept it up, sat and meditated, cultivated for that time, but he also experimented with his Qi to understand it better.
The thicker consistence of his Qi was strangely mimicked by any new Qi he added, which was why it felt even more like cultivating was barely a trickle of power. Qi would flow into his cycling technique and come out much diminished in quantity, but as thick and concentrated as the rest of his Qi. He was not sure how that worked or why it worked. But he put it on his list of questions for the great master for when he next visited. He ended his cultivation session slightly dissatisfied with the lack of progress, but he cautioned himself not to only rely on spirits.
There was one last thing he had to train, before he checked out the meeting spot. Wind Steps. Aaron bent his knees and activated the technique in less than a fraction of a second. He felt the cocoon of silk around him and then he jumped. Up and up and up, beyond the highest treetop and into the sky. Aaron let out a laugh and then anxiously listened and scanned the surroundings for anyone who could have seen or heard him. But he was alone. The meeting spot was still empty and Aaron soared through the sky. He remembered feeling Mei fly and his heart soared with him as he cleared the treetops and left them behind him underneath. He had not even jumped that hard. But he also felt he was far away from what Mei could do. He started falling way too son and landed gracefully on the top of a fir tree. Only the tips of his toes actually touching the tree. With Wind Steps activated he felt less like he had to balance himself. His body was more and more under his control, although the changes had left him shakier than he would have liked.
So Aaron ran on top of the tree tops, jumping from one to another. Small calculated jumps in perfect balance. He changed direction arbitrarily, jumping backwards, up and down, to the side. There was no rhythm, only control. Slowly but surely he acclimated to his newly improved powers to jump. He suspected his body contributed as much as his denser Qi to the technique and both together multiplied the effect. It felt still really good to move like this and he enjoyed the challenge of it.
But after an hour or two he jumped back to the meeting spot and settled down to wait. He reached out and scanned the area for anyone coming through with all of his senses and eventually started to check out some of the memories stored in the great masters core for sensory harmony.
Now the only thing he had to do was wait.
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Iris stood in her kitchen staring into the tea she had just brewed with bleary eyes. She had not gotten a wink of sleep last night. She knew she would accept the offer, but she could not help herself and go through all scenarios. Imagine what could happen to her. She had heard horror stories. Of a monster that stalked the night, killed out of shadows and ripped your heart out of your chest if you were alone. And those were stories told by Vessels to other Vessels in hushed tones, not to children. So she knew there was a kernel of truth in them. But she could not say no to Mars offer. Getting rid of her debt tonight would be a relief, more than she could say. Instead of working for barely enough to buy food for the next decade, until she was too old to be put in the nice brothels, she would be able to make real money tonight.
It was in equal measures terrifying and exhilarating. Mars had said she could say no, but could she really? Did she even have any choice in the matter? What if Mars decided to up her interest payments as punishment? He could do that and what could Iris do to stop him? Complain to who? She was a normal girl, she had no power and barely any connections. Yes, she knew a few decently powerful men who were her clients and would probably try to help her. Usually. But not against the red-light district. There was too much money, power and influence involved. No she was entirely at the man’s mercy and so she knew she had to do this, come what may.
But Iris was scared. Terrified. Not just for her, but her mother. She was old and sick and Iris had to take care of her. It was not really a burden. Her mother was fine on most days. Sitting in her armchair, rocking back and forth as she knitted something in a pretty pattern. She sold her work on the market with modest success. She was good and she had told proudly that it was the least she could do when she could not walk around much anymore. It broke Iris heart. She wanted nothing more than to take care of her mother. To care for her and ensure she would be alright.
To do that she would need better medicine though. Maybe some personalized potions. Those were hideously expensive, but worked wonders. She could afford them if she did what she was asked to do today.
Iris sighed and drank her tea. When she sat the cup down straightened and stood up. “You can do this.” she whispered to herself and then went and then prepared carefully. She took a bath, put on subtle makeup to hide her tired eyes and then picked out one of her work dresses. It was cold and she was going into the wilderness so she picked some thicker fabric. A blouse that made her breasts pop, a long skirt with a slit showcasing her legs and yet keeping her warm. On top of that she chose proper shoes made for mud and snow and a thick woolen cloak. Her work gave her plenty of outfits and clothes to work with. Which was why Iris had a big wardrobe and more than one pair of shoes. She had not paid for any of these clothes of course. But she had been allowed to take them home once she got a new outfit.
“I’m going ma, there is soup on the stove.” she called towards the living room.
“Have a nice day.” she heard her mother’s reply and Iris really hoped she would have.
She stepped out of her house into the cold morning and shuddered slightly. She wrapped the cloak tighter around herself and then looked around. Leaning against a wall was the tall assistant that had led her to Mars. Tex was it? He wore a very fine suit and bow tie and he scribbled in a notebook, before looking up and spotting her. Iris felt her throat tighten as the man put the notebook away and walked over to her with the stiff grace of someone who served the highest society without effort.
“What is your answer?” he asked short and right to the point.
“I’ll do it.” Iris answered and the man nodded as if he had expected that. He pulled a bundle of paper out of a folder he had kept inside of his suit jacket and handed it to her. The paper looked fresh and Iris half expected the ink to not have dried yet.
“Instructions are in there. Head out east and then follow the path until you find a red armband, or the Cultivator finds you.” Tex said and took a step back.
“Good luck.” he said and then walked away, his long legs carrying him down the run down muddy street with little effort.
Iris looked down at the papers and hesitated a moment before she read through them. There were a bunch of questions, offers and things she was allowed to concede and offer as well as three missions for the cultivator. The content of which made Iris throat tighten and her heart beat in her chest like a drum. If anyone saw this she would be in big trouble and it would most likely become a scandal. Slowly and with slightly shaking fingers she folded the papers into a more manageable shape and stuck them in one of her coat’s pockets. Then she turned towards the eastern gate of the Town of Beginnings.
She really hoped it would be a new Beginning for her and not the Beginning of the end.