A ripple passed over the space around the wall as Ethan passed, but he didn’t notice anything change. He stopped momentarily and looked around, but when nothing happened, he moved on.
Most of the building had collapsed, leaving only a few walls standing, so Ethan had to climb to get anywhere near the centre of the structure.
He climbed to the top of a large pile of rubble and looked around.
“Nothing but rubble,” Ethan frowned. “The quest isn’t giving me any more guidance. So, whatever I’m looking for is here, but where?”
Ethan closed his eyes and tried to feel for the Qi in the air. He took a breath and felt the Qi flow through him.
“There is a little Spatial Qi here,” Ethan noticed. “But, not much. I guess the mountain isn’t tall enough… Does that mean it’s useless?”
He couldn’t see or feel anything in the area, so he started walking around. The area behind the palace's rubble appeared to have been some backyard or garden space. Some remnants of buildings remained, but like the main structure, they were all reduced to stone piles.
As Ethan was moving past one such stone pile, he felt something.
“Wait,” Ethan stopped and took a few steps backwards. A trickle of Spatial and Void Qi came from the rubble. “Void and Spatial Qi! There’s something here.”
He immediately turned to the ruin but couldn’t see anything.
“Let’s clear some of this away,” Ethan said and got to work. It was dark, but the moon and stars lit the plateau above the cloud cover.
His strengthened body made removing the rocks and broken bricks easy. Still, it took several hours for him to move enough to find what he was looking for.
Hidden under the pile was a stone staircase leading into the mountain. It was filled with rocks, so he’d have to clear it as he moved.
Ethan started his descent with a spring in his step.
Clearing the steps took another hour, but Ethan soon descended into a large chamber. He was met with the musty scent of old books and stale air.
A few desks were placed around the room, and books littered every open space on those desks.
Ethan approached the nearest desk and reached out to leaf through a book, which dissolved into dust.
“Shit!” Ethan grimaced as he waved his hand to clear the dust cloud. “Alright, so no touching the books.”
He walked around the room, but every book was closed except one on the farthest desk. As he approached the last desk, he felt the concentration of Void and Spatial Qi increase, and the book provided some clues.
“So,” Ethan read and glanced at the square box next to the book. “Void Qi is impossible to discover naturally. A Void cultivator requires a Spatial cultivator or artefact to breach the fabric of reality and create a portal into the Void. Hmm. Oh, wow. The box contains an artefact that contains a vast amount of Void and Spatial Qi. The sect's leaders were a Void and Spatial cultivator, and their child had both affinities. They wanted to find a way for their child to cultivate without being dependent on others. It mentions an unfinished technique. Ehh. Fuck, I need this!”
Ethan grimaced as he reached out. His hand met the book and picked it up, and it didn’t turn to dust. The rest of the book contained notes on the technique.
“This makes no sense. How am I even reading this? Shouldn’t it be in some alien language? Is the System translating for me or something?” Ethan frowned as he tried to decipher the text. He shook his head, put the book back on the desk, and picked up the box. He opened it to a wave of Qi, revealing a crystal. “That’s an icosahedron, I think. Like a d20.”
Ethan felt the concentrated Qi within and saw the purple light of Spatial Qi interspersed with a strange, grey nothingness. Void and Spatial Qi.
“This is it!” he grinned as he touched the crystal and closed his eyes. Without thinking about it, he began cultivating, revelling in the feeling of his core space refilling with both types of Qi. For a few hours, he stood there until he was full and opened his eyes with a smile.
[Quest completed! Key to Cultivation.]
Ethan closed the lid, waved the notification away, and looked around some more. He’d first focused on the room and the desks, but now that he’d gotten what he came for, he decided to check the rest of the area some more.
He found the rotting remains of chests, shelves, and books turned to dust.
“How the hell did anything survive so long?” Ethan wondered. “Did someone enchant the book and the box?”
As he walked and looked around, Ethan suddenly sensed something. As he passed a spot of empty wall, he noticed the Qi in the area dimmed drastically. He walked back and forth for a while before he placed his hand on the wall. There was a flash of light, and the wall disappeared before his eyes.
Inside, Ethan saw a smaller room filled with intact shelves and chests. All the chests were open and empty, and there was only one thing on the shelves—another small box.
Ethan walked forward tentatively and picked the box up. It was smaller than the other one. He opened it, and inside was a note and a ring with a deep purple gem.
Ethan frowned as he read the note.
“If you’re reading this, our sect is gone. Our enemies are at our door, and this note will be sealed along with a ring containing what one may require to cultivate the Void and Space. I hope the seal has opened due to your affinities, not due to force. This ring contains the legacy of our sect. Cherish it and protect it. We failed, but you may succeed.”
Ethan stood still for a long time, blinking, and re-read the note.
“This-” Ethan frowned and looked around. “Why would this be sealed away here while the artefact and book were lying in the open, relatively at least? This is all too easy. Shouldn’t there be some kind of guardian beast or something?”
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Eventually, he turned his eyes to the ring. He gingerly picked it up and put it on.
“How does this work?” Ethan wondered. He tried but couldn’t make it work until he remembered. “Oh, right. It probably needs Qi to work, but I can’t channel it outside my body. At least, not under normal circumstances.”
Ethan nicked his finger on the edge of his sword, channelled Qi through his blood, and placed the bloodied finger on the ring. There was a soft flash of light, and Ethan felt something connect to him.
“Woah, that’s weird. Maybe I didn’t need to use Qi. Maybe it needed to form a bond, somehow, and the blood let that happen?”
Ethan shook his head and focused on the new connection.
“It feels like a thread of Qi that leads to the ring. What if I push some Qi through it?”
As he did, information poured into his mind. He instantly knew what the ring contained. There were scrolls and books, herbs and pills and potions. There were several kinds of weapons and strange crystals and countless other things he couldn’t name.
“Oh, wow,” Ethan stood still, frozen and wide-eyed before a grin split his face. “This is awesome!”
With newfound vigour, Ethan began making his way back to the surface. He stowed his basic sword in the ring and pulled out another one. It was a beautiful, single-edged sword with a slight curve. It was made from a pale grey blade with purple specks, and the small guard and handle were intricately engraved. Runes lit up the length of the sword.
“This is a katana,” Ethan smiled as he took a stance he’d seen in an old movie. “This is so cool!”
He spent a few minutes going through a few stances from the same movie before he stowed the sword and walked up the stairs, smiling.
The sun was rising when he made it up the stairs, bathing the ruins in gold.
“Huh, I was working the whole night,” Ethan mused and smirked. “And I don’t feel tired at all. Perks of being a cultivator, I guess.”
He took a moment to breathe in the crisp, clear air before moving.
“Let’s not waste any more time,” Ethan thought as he crossed the rubble. “Who knows what’s been going on with the other survivors? Not to mention that other group I saw.”
He picked up his pace and started jogging. Another ripple passed around him as he crossed the wall, but nothing happened this time either, so Ethan kept running. He activated Spatial Sense and kept watch over his surroundings.
As he ran through the cloud cover, he got soaked but ignored it. He stopped for a minute once he broke through it and took in the sights.
From his elevation, he could see for miles in every direction. Ethan saw the city in the distance, but another compound drew his attention in the other direction.
“Oh, the military base,” Ethan recognised it. “That’s got to be a good place for someone to hole up. I might want to check it out eventually. Well, I need to get back to my group first.”
He started running again, quickly reaching the bottom of the mountain and turned toward the city.
What took him hours before, since he wanted to preserve his strength, took far less since he felt safe running.
“I can use Void Step now,” Ethan smiled. “With a way to recover the Qi spent, I can take some more chances.”
Thanks to his Spatial Sense, he didn’t need to use it since he could avoid any creatures.
“This is the street, isn’t it?” Ethan looked around and recognised the buildings. “This is where that cultivator was hiding. Let’s see.”
He extended his Spatial Sense and quickly located the group huddling in the basement, but the suspected cultivator wasn’t there.
“Out getting supplies, maybe?” Ethan wondered. “Let’s wait around a bit.”
Ethan walked up to the lawn of the building and sat down to wait. He kept his Spatial Sense extended and pushed to its limits. He saw the people in the basement sitting around a table. They appeared calm but tense, so Ethan assumed they were fine.
“I think they would act more distressed if something bad had happened,” Ethan mused. “If I burst in there, they’ll freak out, and if that cultivator acts as their protector, then they won’t open up to me if he or she isn’t there.”
The sun climbed steadily through the sky as Ethan waited. Nothing approached for several hours as Ethan cycled unattuned Qi.
Movement at his periphery drew his attention, and Ethan saw a figure move quickly between houses in his direction. Ethan stood and tried to look unthreatening as the figure drew closer.
The figure rounded a final corner, and Ethan got a good look. It was a woman—a young woman with auburn hair and sharp features. She wore torn, patched-up clothes.
She froze when she saw Ethan standing by the lawn, and her eyes flitted to the cellar entrance worriedly. Ethan raised his hands, palms out.
“Don’t worry,” he said calmly. “I haven’t approached them. They’re fine. I just want to talk.”
“Talk, huh?” the woman frowned. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because I’m standing here, talking,” Ethan half-smiled.
“That doesn’t mean much,” the woman said. “The moment I get closer, you’ll rush at me.”
“Haah,” Ethan tilted his head back and glared at the sky before activating Void Step and appearing behind the woman. She yelped as she turned to face him. Fear had replaced the worry in her eyes. “Don’t worry. Had I wanted to, I could have appeared in the basement, just like this. I promise you; I mean no harm. Go check on your people if you don’t believe me.”
She hesitated for a second before she dashed toward the building. Ethan followed her with his Spatial Sense and saw her run down the back stairs. He saw her rush to the people down there, and after a few seconds, they hugged.
The woman gestured around and up toward him before raising her hands placatingly and returning to the surface.
She approached him slowly, frowning and tense.
“So, what do you want?” she asked.
“I’m looking for people,” Ethan said as he smiled. “I’ve got a group of survivors, mortals like them. I sensed your presence as I passed through here before and decided to check in on you when I returned. I think we’d be better off if we stuck together. You seem like you’re focusing on surviving, and from the looks of you-. Well, you don’t strike me as one who takes advantage of others.”
“Yeah,” the woman shook her head and grimaced. “I’ve met a few who think the apocalypse gives them the right to take anything that doesn’t belong to them. How do I know you’re not one of them?”
“Because I’m talking to you,” Ethan sighed. “I could have hurt your people before you came back. I could have stolen whatever you have, but I didn’t. I’m standing here and talking to you. If there are two cultivators, we’ll be far better at defending our group than before. Please, come with me.”
“Where are you holed up?” the woman asked as her shoulders slumped. “Do you have somewhere you can defend?”
“A supermarket,” Ethan nodded. The woman frowned.
“That place was emptied out early,” she argued. “And I’ve tried to break through the security doors, but I guess you could just teleport through, huh?”
“Well, yeah, I could,” Ethan smirked. “But, no. I worked there before the System came, so I’ve got a key.”
The woman took a minute to think before she sighed and nodded.
“Fine,” she said. “We’re running out of supplies here, anyway. I’ve been forced to travel further with every day. I’m going to trust you here, but any sign of a backstab, and I’ll kick your ass, you hear me?”
“Of course,” Ethan nodded. “I’ll help protect your people as we move, but let’s go. I’ve been away from my group and am anxious to check on them.”
The woman nodded and ran off to collect her people and their stuff. Ethan followed.