The next morning, I woke up feeling a little bit better about life.

My body had healed completely and when I removed my bandages my skin was covered in a mosaic of wicked looking scars. I huffed out a laugh.

Guess I should thank that crazy bitch for helping me level up, I thought.

But it wasn’t just my own ability that had healed my wounds. Whatever medicine that old woman used on them must have helped a ton too. It made me wonder just how much assistance the likes of Hein and other rich cultivators had enjoyed in their cultivation journey by the use of expensive elixirs and pills.

It was the whole reason this planet even existed in the cultivator ecosystem after all. Rare materials from the monsters were used to make such items. Threja had said that I couldn’t use them to gain Qi like most cultivators did, but apparently they could still help me with stuff like healing faster. Which was a good thing as I’d probably need to do a lot of that from now on. While I was fairly confident Hein wouldn’t attack me here in the square, he now also knew I wasn’t just a mortal now either. That meant that if and when the next sneak attack came, it might be from someone much stronger than Zu Tien.

Which meant I needed to get skilled right away.

As I started a morning routine of push-ups and calisthenics, I mentally recalled what I had gleaned from the orb the night before. I had searched the verses for anything on fighting techniques or martial styles, but as with my search for cultivation fundamentals, there were none. The text was an advanced manual, assuming one already possess such skills. The best advice I could find was in the 321st Shura.

Shura 321

On weaponry…

We who follow the frenzied flame are not bound by sect nor tradition when it comes to our weapon of choice in combat. Be it a closed fist, a short blade or a mammoth hammer, all weapons can be used to channel one’s frenzy into the defeat of his foe. Yet take heed, kindled one, for some are more effective than others. For this reason, eschew the bow or any means of attacking from afar, for such will never satisfy the cravings of one’s bloodlust. Choose instead that which brings you close to your foe and that which can withstand the full might of your fury. And think not that every blade can withstand your might. In time, even the strongest of weapons will be brittle in your grasp. The metal from which you doth glean is essential, for it alone can withstand the forge of the frenzied flame. Choose then carefully your weapon of choice and when all is understood, forge your own totem of rage with it, and mold it in the image of your choice.

Although it was talking mostly about weapons choices and the last bit was a bit hard to understand, the basic concept was clear to me. The path of the frenzied flame was open to any style of combat. Unfortunately for me I knew none, but at least that left the options wide open. Not that I could use anything but the axe for now. Did they even have an axe fighting style? I wondered.

I wasn’t sure but I knew somebody who would know. As I dressed for work, a new sense of urgency filled me. I needed to catch Mu Lin before she left on her first excursion of the day.

* * *

The sight of the guard post was almost alien to me as I approached the eastern gateway. New buildings had been erected with amenities such as a storage and changing facility and even a small infirmary, it seemed. A number of enforcers were on duty and there was a line of patrons waiting to be served.

The bright morning sun was starting to bring on the heat of the day already and many of the cultivators took shelter under the barnyard-like roof of the pavilion for shade. There had to be at least a couple dozen or so of them and from off world it looked like, many of the cultivators wearing the robes of sects I didn’t recognize. Scrambling in between them were the more familiar uniforms of handlers, rushing back and forth under the orders of Sumatra who was barking them out over the general din of the crowd.

I took advantage of the chaos and slipped in unnoticed, joining my fellow handlers with prepping for the work for the day. As I stuffed my axe into a backpack, a sudden rush of excitement ran through me. I’d been so focused on my lack of fighting skill that I’d nearly forgotten my other path to progression. While I needed martial skill to fight cultivators and win the tournament, from my years of experience as a handler, I was pretty sure that when it came to fighting monsters, brute strength and power reigned supreme.

And for that I’d grown considerably since the last time I had ventured into the wilds. I had reached second stage in Muscle Strengthening, Reflex Sharpening and Internal Strengthening from all my log chopping, and thanks to my scuffed battled with Zu Tien had reached third level in Body hardening as well. All told I was in pretty good shape to tackle my first monster, I hoped.

Although I still needed to figure out a way to do that while also handling a client. Before any of that though, I needed to find who I was looking for. I feared that Mu Lin may have left already as I began scanning through the crowd, but finally I spotted her towards the rear of the prep area, stuffing provisions into several sets of backpacks.

“Hey!” I called to her and as she turned about, her eyes widened with shock and surprise.

“Shit! Chun!” She ran to me and gave me a hug, squeezing me hard, before stepping back and staring at me much the same way Yu Li had yesterday, like I was a dead man come back to life. “Man, it’s good to see you. Are you even okay? You were like in a coma or something when we came to see you. What happened to you?”

“Kind of a long story but I’m all good now. How about you? How are you feeling?”

“Feeling great,” she said with a smile. “I’m all healed up, but it’s been crazy around here as you can see.” She gestured to the line of cultivators waiting under the pavilion. “You should probably go see Sumatra about getting assigned, he’s been asking about you too.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Chun!” a voice came from behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Lee approaching with a big goofy grin on his face. He was in uniform and already attached to a group of cultivators it seemed, but he rushed over to quickly to give me a bro hug. “Damn man! What happened to you?”

“Hey, like I told her,” I said. “A long story. But I’m all good now.”

“You’re telling me,” he said with a laugh as he playfully squeezed one of my biceps. “When’d you get all this? You’re starting to catch up to me, bro.”

Both Mu Lin and I laughed at that. Lee was as skinny as a pole.

“And speaking of catching up, let’s do that later, yeah? I’ve got to head out now,” Lee said thumbing towards his group of cultivators. “You guys stay safe out there.”

As I waved to him, I noticed he joined up with another handler I didn’t recognize. In fact, there were a lot of new faces in uniforms that I didn’t know. “How many people are working here now?”

Mu Lin shrugged as she went back to distributing the provisions amongst the backpacks. “It’s like someone new shows up every day. Guess doubling the wage will do that.”

My eyes widened. “We’re getting double pay?”

“Oh yeah, you weren’t here. Sumatra announced it last week. Double pay leading up to the tournament. Oh, and other new rules too. No more solo handlers leading groups. We have a buddy system now. Think the Dynasty enforced that one after our little mishap.”

“Yeah, no doubt,” I said, marveling at all the new handlers. Maybe hooking up with a total noob could be a way for me to sneak away and kill monsters while I left them with the cultivators someplace relatively safe. “Hey speaking of tournaments. You know my friend I’ve been helping with cultivating, right?”

“Yeah?” she said, not looking away from her work.

“Well, they’re thinking about maybe trying it out. You wouldn’t happen to have any books on fighting styles that they could borrow, would you?”

Mu Lin stopped packing and looked at me like I’d just asked her how to use chopsticks. “Well of course I do, Chun,” she said sarcastically. “I just happen to have a sacred training manual lying around it my crappy apartment.”

“Okay, so how would I get one then?”

“You mean how would ‘your friend’ get one?” She shook her head at me. “Chun, is that what really happened to you? Did you try out for the tournament or something?”

“No,” I said, but then I felt a bit bad for lying to her while still asking for her help so I added, “But I might.”

She merely laughed. “Well, I suppose even you might have a shot in the wooden bracket, I guess.”

“Wooden bracket, what’s that?”

“It’s like the shit-tier league. Most sects pick up their initiates from there. It’s for people who kind of suck at cultivating but are physically pretty strong, so yeah, you might just have a shot, Chun.”

“Gee thanks,” I said, but couldn’t help but chuckle a little at her ribbing. “What are the other brackets?”

Mu Lin looked skyward squinting. “Think they go Wood for dummies, Iron for Foundation level, Gold for Core, Jade for Sacred Soul Realm and anything above that is considered the Diamond bracket, I think.”

“Damn,” I said, realizing just how low on the totem pole I was at the moment. “So anyway, if I want to learn how to fight to complete in this shit league or whatever, how would I get a manual?”

“You don’t, Chun.” Mu Lin paused, tapping her finger over each backpack, recounting something. “Why do you think so many people join the Wooden bracket in the first place? They’re all trying to get into a Sect just to learn how to fight. That’s the only place martial styles are taught and the texts are kept like supersecret. You’d probably have to be a high-level inner disciple or something to even glance the actual texts.”

“Come on, you’re telling me I have to join a Sect to learn kung fu?”

“Learn what?”

“Nevermind.” I huffed out a sigh of irritation. Gaining citizenship on my own terms through the tournament was one thing, but groveling before cultivators to join a sect? “I don’t know if I could stomach that.”

Mu Lin shrugged. “Well unless you want to try your luck in the Jianghu it’s the only way.”

“In the what?”

She gave me that chopstick look again. “Damn, Chun, were you like completely asleep in school? The Jianghu, the underworld. Like the blackmarket and gangs and stuff?”

That sounded a hell of a lot more appealing than joining a sect, and plus I needed to figure out how to offload the lightning core eventually anyway. “So how would I go about doing that?”

“What?” Now she looked at me like I was just plain crazy. “Like I would know? Why don’t you ask your pal Sumatra over there, he seems pretty shady. But it’s a bad idea all around, Chun. I was just using it as an example. I didn’t mean it literally.”

“So they don’t have blackmarket manuals then. They don’t exist?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well of course they do. But its not like something you can just go and buy.”

“So how do you get one?”

“I don’t know.”

“Come on, you’re a scholar. You know everything about everything.”

“I’m telling you,” she said again, sounding a bit irritated, “I don’t know.”

“Well, who would know then?”

“I—” Then she paused a moment, her mouth still open while she glanced to the side in thought. “Actually, Xi Xha might know.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah… she mentioned before that the university has contacts within the Jianghu. It’s how they get a lot of their rare texts and artifacts sometimes.”

“Think you can ask her for me then?”

“Me ask her?” She laughed. “I’ll do you one better. You can ask her yourself. I’m sure she’d jump at another chance to see you again.”

I raised a brow. “What do you mean?”

“You and that stupid beard of yours must have made quite the impression on her. She asks about you like every time we meet now. She even wanted to come and see you when you were laid out.”

“No shit?”

“Yeah, it’s really kind of bizarre if you asked me.”

I laughed. “Well, can you tell her to meet me after work then? Maybe in the central market?”

“What? I can’t just summon her like that. She’s not at my beck and call, you know?”

“Can you try please? It’s kind of urgent.”

Mu Lin sighed but finally nodded. “Okay I’ll send her a note. Like I said, for you she’d probably do it.”

I could only laugh. “Thanks, Mu Lin. I really appr—”

“Well, if it ain’t the damn miracle twins reunited again.”

I didn’t even need to look to know it was Sumatra, his big booming voice coming from behind me. As I turned to face him, I couldn’t help but flex a little [Fear the Flame] as I stared him in the eye. “Hey boss. Long time, no see.”

He jerked his head back slightly irritated, but other than that didn’t seem too affected by my technique. Not that I was pushing it with much frenzy anyway.

“I see it took you twice as long to heal up as her.” He jutted his chin towards Mu Lin. “Guess you’re made of weaker stuff.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said with [Indifference].

He squinted and I could sense more irritation coming from within him. “You’re damn lucky that I need all the help I can get right now, or I would have fired your ass.”

“Yeah, you know how I am when it comes to luck, boss.”

He flinched as I used [Fear the Flame] again. “Alright, enough with the bullshit. You two aren’t working together today. I got too many damn new people to get trained up. Mu Lin you’re heading out with the two new girls, Di Ling and Xian Shu. Make sure they know all the D class monsters in the book before they return today. If they don’t, tell them they’ll be fired.”

Mu Lin straightened and gave him a proper bow. “No problem. Will do, boss.”

“As for you, Chun, come with me.” He turned, giving me a shit-eating grin while looking back over his shoulder at me.

“I’ve got a special assignment for you today.”