I dashed through winding tunnels, heat and smoke itching at my back as the various junk and saturated cloth caught fire in the cave behind me. The flickering light of the flame began to dim, and I was left in the silvery vision of my Moonlight Eye technique, forcing myself forward into the caves.

Here and there, I crashed into Kobolds either fleeing the fire and smoke, or fleeing the footsteps and screams that moved with me down the tunnel.

Kobolds crumpled under quick, efficient blows as I ran, taking a left and a right and another left— or was it a right? And then the air was breathable, and I was free of the smoke.

I could retrace my steps later.

I pressed with the wall at my side, a foot falling into the neck of a Kobold. The Kobold squealed until I felt the crack. The Kobold stiffened, and as I pulled my foot away, it fell to the ground.

Dead.

Qi burned inside of me, a veritable ocean of it, and I slowed as I moved down the hall. I had to focus to contain it now, to stop it from merely burning away into the air, forcing it down my meridians and towards my Dantian.

I moved meaningfully as I directed it, meditating while walking.

All I had to do was follow the tunnels until they looped back around while managing my Qi.

It circled in my Dantian, a metaphysical space that was bigger than the singularity of a spot it occupied in the physical world. The Qi that I had refined there was silver, and I could feel it brimming with the attunement and aspect of moonlight. The raw, unrefined Qi I was bringing it was diluting it, dimming down the Silver aspect of it. It was weak, pitiful Qi that I was rewarded with for every Kobold kill, but for now it was enough to make me stronger. Once my Dantian was full, I would fully attune it, officially entering the Second Realm. I would need stronger Qi to advance from there.

I began making my way back through the tunnels. If I took this left— yes, I would loop back in the direction of the exit.

I walked for ten minutes until I hear a noise like a whistle. It was distant, and a chill took over the air— more proof I was moving away from the flame. It was air rushing through the cave, probably from the gate as the blast door on the other side reopened. Was the team I entered with leaving so soon?

I rushed towards the exit, Qi still boiling inside of me.

The cave slanted upwards, which was odd, but I followed it anyway. I could smell the air now— it was fresh, unlike the moist dank air that filled the rest of the cave. A chill bit through it, and as my foot falls met the stone, I saw light ahead.

Dim light, filling a horizon. It felt familiar to me, close. The Moonlight Qi inside of me responded to it. I slowed as I approached a bend in the cave.

White covered the ground and fitfully the air as wind blew falling snow inside the mouth of a thin cavern. This… wasn’t the way I had came. I climbed over snow, getting a look outside.

Thin snowfalls filled the air of a white world. As far as I could see, mountains rose and fell, blurry in the snow. Wind skidded across the horizon, billowing huge clouds of white snow from the powdery top of the frozen world. I frowned, moving back inside the cave, and turning around.

I looked down into a cave that opened in several directions, some natural, but all hewn from the stone and expanded to be traveled by humanoids.

I was lost.

I sat with my back to the caverns exit. Nothing here was crossing that empty horizon and living, so I sat and pondered my situation.

It was dangerous.

But not too bad. I could simply explore the cavern while I searched for the exit, advancing my cultivation at the same time. In fact, it was exactly what I was looking for. An endless cultivation resource in a labyrinthine complex.

But first, I had to refine the Qi I had. I probably wouldn’t have another opportunity until after I left, so I focused internally, cycling the Qi inside me as the moonlight drifted through the clouds, and through the snow, and into my back.

I pulled my Qi out of my Dantian, like pulling a rope up and around and through my body, using my meridians themselves as conduits to absorb the essence of moonlight, the specific paths I took through my body helping influence the Qi to reach the desired state.

Moonlight passed into me, the concept changing the Qi on a fundamental level.

I sat and recovered as well, resting as my body converted the Qi to moonlight. Silver light pooled around me, flowing down the cave like liquid, lighting the stone tunnels.

After 2 hours, my core was glowing brightly Silver again. I would have to refine all of the core to a concept or essence to step into the second realm, as well as filling it, and this was the first step on that path. I rose with a groan, and a stretch.

The first step to escaping any maze was to keep a wall on your left.

Unless there was a magical formation which was redirecting your foot steps away.

I had spent a month in that particular labyrinth before learning that lesson. Always bring a formation master with you. Damn, I would have to find a formation master in this world. I bet they had something similar, here, considering their powers were so similar to Qi and Techniques, just applying it in different ways.

Formations that could trick the mind were valuable for all kinds of reasons— combat or security was one use, but they were especially useful for enemies you wanted to capture alive.

Or spirit beasts.

With one final shuddering breath, I drew the Qi circulating in my body back into my Dantian and started making my way down the hall. The Qi had kept my body warm as I moved, in spite of the frigid wind blowing into the cave mouth. Circulating my Qi had caused the technique of the Moonlight Eyes to dissipate, so I circled it once again, the caves inside glowing in my vision.

This time I didn’t jog. I didn’t encounter enemies. I stayed in one tunnel, the wall on my left, pushing in. This tunnel didn’t have exits to the left or right, which I found odd. It snaked around, and upwards, and then there was a wall in front of me. It wasn’t quite a wall.

It was a door, made of a fibrous material that could almost pass for wood. Two posts were buried in the earth on either side, blocking a gate that clearly could swing inwards.

It occurred to me then that none of these tunnels were completely natural. No, the oddly round shape of it and the tightness of the walls around me; these tunnels were bored. Some of them had clearly shown marks from Kobolds chipping away at the stone, widening them with tools, but others, like this one, were bored through the ground. What kind of worm crawled through stone like that?

I pressed on the door in front of me experimentally. It didn’t budge.

I leaned against it, listening. Distantly I could hear a great many things. Tapping noises that echoed through the halls. I heard the crackle of a distant fire, of running water close to it.

They were all far, far away. I pressed on the door a little harder.

It creaked, but didn’t break.

“Fuck it.”

My foot slammed into it, wood snapping at the impact, the doors bending half way in. I paused, waiting, but there was no noise on the other side, no sprinting footsteps rushing to respond.

I waited another minute, an entire sixty seconds waiting low to the ground, and then I kicked it again.

The wooden bar holding it closed caved in.