The ape leapt backwards with Kim’s spear impaled in its left, blood seeping out of the wound onto the silver shaft. It howled like a dying man, screaming for help, and I hoped none was coming, because this bastard was tough as a rock. As Kim stabbed into it, I spun around, kicking it in the neck, hoping to shatter bone.

It was like kicking a wall. It sent the monkey toppling over, the spear jerked out of Kim’s hands as it toppled away from both of us. The monkey howled louder.

Without talking, I spiraled around the monkey. I had to shut it up. I pivoted to the front of it with three steps through the forest, grabbing the haft of the spear. The monkey screeched. Rotting, putrid spit left its mouth, landing on my arms, and it tried to jump backwards.

I followed its movement, enhancing my arms with Qi and moving backwards with it.

I pushed it backwards and up—

And then the monkey was above my head, in the air for a ponderous second that lasted far too long. And then it was down as I slammed the spear’s metal haft into the ground, stunning the monkey, and I stepped on top of it, my foot falling in its chest and silencing its screeching for a moment. In the same motion, I ripped the spear free, and as it opened its mouth to scream again, I slammed it down into its face.

My arms burned and Qi from the kill tingled up my body. Lots and lots of Qi. It was still diffuse and not that all useful to me— after refining it, it would become a trickle— but this was far more than any Kobold rewarded. I looked to Kim, recovering my breath before I could speak again, panting.

“These will work fine.” I said, offering a smile. They would be a great source of Qi.

“Was this thing alone?” Kim asked, taking the spear from my hand and checking the body. She inspected the body, the canopy, and the forest around her for a solid two minutes before dutifully pulling out of her knife and getting to work on the body. “Alright.” She stood up.

“Are you having better luck holding onto your Qi?” I asked, starting to walk further into the forest.

“Its becoming easier to control— and sense— the more I work with it. But keeping it away from that hole above my heart— its a constant mental effort. The Qi wants to move. Its like liquid, but not.”

I nodded. “When you pull Qi inside of yourself, you create an imbalance between yourself and nature. The Qi naturally seeks to escape. If it wasn’t for your… complications, it would no doubt be easier to contain it. It seems as though your path will contain extra steps. Not only that, but if you have to consciously circle the Qi, then either you will have to practice until you maintain your cycling in your sleep… or we have to push you through the three stages in one step.”

“Jumping all the steps? Is that possible?” Kim asked.

“Normally? No. But you have me on your side, junior.” I smiled. “The first thing we have to do is reach Qi Saturation. Thats where there is so much Qi in your body you cant absorb any more. The higher amount you can contain, the stronger your Dantian will be, the better your foundation. Typically you would spend at least weeks slowly cultivating to reach the peak of this stage…”

“But I’ll be doing it tonight. Alright. So we just need to kill some monsters. Easy.”

“Here is an exercise.” I said, my eyes scanning the forest. “Find the monsters with your spirit sense. Use the same ability you use to sense Qi.”

She scrunched her face, nodding, then continued into the forest. This wasn’t something that would develop her cultivation early; rather, I wanted to see the limits of her spirit sense. Especially if all Awakened had it, it represented a threat. I wondered what other powers Awoken possessed similar to cultivators. There were many mysteries that I would need to solve.

We found and killed two more of the apes, Kim landing finishing blows while I ducked around and distracted them. I badly needed a weapon. Then we killed something else— a monster that was half cat and half beaver, living in a nest of topple trees. I processed the Qi I received from all the monsters, but it probably only put me 1% farther through the Qi Gathering stage of the Third Realm.

“T—Thats the limit.” Kim said, her teeth shaking. In fact, her whole body was shaking. She wasn’t even cutting the gem out of the cat. “Is— Is it supposed to— to burn?”

“That’s normal. Don’t worry, its not damaging or anything.” I sat opposite her, taking the spear from her hand again. “Alright, keep circling your Qi, but imagine a spinning point above your navel.”

“My n—navel.”

“Ah, your stomach. Above your belly button.” Kim nodded. “Now visualize all of the Qi inside of you collapsing into that single point. Direct the Qi there. Find the single point where all your meridians align” Kim nodded, but she was silent. I sat and waited as a guard in the forest. Kim slowly calmed, her breathing becoming longer and deeper as she managed the Qi swirling inside of her to a single point.

I heard a thump to my side and turned, seeing one of the horned apes staring menacingly at Kim. I stood slowly, so as not to disturb her focus. “Just keep up the good work Kim. Don’t worry.”

I stepped past her and instantly lunged with the spear, aiming to end the fight as quickly as possible.

The monkey stepped to the side. I twirled the weapon, matching its steps as it paced around me, its eyes darting between me and Kim. When it charged forward, I caught its arm with the spear haft, deflecting the monkey paces to the side. It stomped into the ground, huffing and staring at me, and then charged directly at me.

I slapped the spear’s butt into the ground, grabbing it with both hands and leaning forward so that the ape’s own charge slammed it into the spear.

It was like a car slamming into a concrete wall. The ape stopped inches from me with the spear piercing its body and exiting the other side. It howled and sputtered and grabbed at the metal haft, and I kicked it back as I pulled the spear free, before stabbing it forward to finish the monster. Qi circled inside me from the kills throughout the day.

I took one last look at the corpse before moving to sit behind Kim. We leaned back to back and I stared into the dark of the forest, listening for noise. There was little sound save for the constant noise of the vines unending creeping. It sounded like wind whispering over the beach, but the sound of crashing waves never came, just the ever present, quiet whisper of a million creeping vines suffocating the canopy above.

It was time to start my way inching towards the next realm. The divide between the two was really more of a half step. I wouldn’t truly reach the Third Realm until all the Qi inside of me was refined. With that in mind, I reached out to my Dantian, controlling it with my will. I began to pull a line of Qi into a meridian. It was foggy and diffuse, and I stopped pulling it forward after only a second.

Qi naturally wanted to move, to flow. Holding it still was against it’s nature, but I did so with a small effort of concentration, and then I began to twist it. It spiraled as I pulled it into my meridian, further and further, changing from a diffuse state to a solid state of Qi. At the same time, it was reduced to a tenth of the size. I pulled it until the Qi behind it spiraled naturally. Then I let go. The line of spiraling, refined Qi shot through my body, looping through the Meridian connected to my brain and back towards my Dantian. I felt a sharp gain of clarity, and then grit my teeth as the spiral of Qi slammed into my Dantian from the other side.

I breathed out a sigh. Since I stepped into the Dantian Ignition stage, I would be able to sustain a line of revolving Qi indefinitely without even having to focus on it. Additionally, this line would constantly be refining itself, pushing me slowly towards the Third Realm.

“It’s done.” Kim said behind me. I leaned on the spear to rise to my feet before turning around and offering her a hand. She looked between me and the monkey corpse.

“Ready to go?” I asked.

“Just a second.” Kim replied.

One beast core and a lot of blood later and we were headed for the exit.