Samantha and her family made their way upstairs to the living room on the second floor and spoke late into the night about what she had been through the past months. She recounted everything she could remember from when she had left home up until this point... with one notable omission.

Samantha had debated with herself about how exactly to break the news to her family about her situation with needing to leave the first floor. The fact that there was a system mandated time limit to leave the floor was not common knowledge. She couldn’t imagine that she was the first person to stumble across this hidden quest, so why had she never heard of it until it was already too late? The only answer she could think of was that the information was being actively suppressed by the city government. Whether this was to prevent an outbreak of murders and chaos, or something more subtle, she didn’t know. However, she was certain that without knowing exactly why this was being done, she didn’t want to risk her family’s safety by being the person to tell them. In her mind, she had already done enough questionable things in the past week to bring them unwanted attention.

Instead, Samantha openly confessed to the deaths she caused, but explained that her desire to leave the floor was to depart on her own terms. She feared that it was only a matter of time until what she had done came to light. She had taken Thomas’s advice and stopped hiding her identity, even going so far as to announce herself to start building a reputation, but this would likely be her downfall. Several people had faced her and fled, and she had chosen to spare them. It wouldn’t be hard for authorities to find her if someone gathered the courage to report her, if it hadn’t happened already.

Rather than be forcibly taken by enforcers at a time she was unprepared to leave, she wanted to request to be sent up on her own. At least then she could leave with the items she wanted, and with her dignity intact. Submitting herself to the law willingly might even spare her family from potential repercussions. As much as she hated to admit it, system mandated or not, she couldn’t reasonably stay here any longer.

“You expect either of us to accept that?” her father demanded, anger and grief warring in his tone. “We just got you back, and you’re going to be leaving us again? This is why we told you it was foolish to accept the cultivation quest in the first place! It would have been better for you to be happy as a mortal.”

Martha placed a calming hand on Aldon’s shoulder and shook her head, “You know she wouldn’t have been happy dear. That’s unfair of you.”

He looked to his wife in bewilderment, then scowled as his eyes glistened with unshed tears, “And she’s happier now, as a murderer and a fugitive? You want me to believe that this is better? A merchant’s life is a good life, Martha! We provide jobs for our peers, we never go hungry, we live comfortably enough.” His gaze shifted back to Samantha, and his expression contorted in anguish. “Why couldn’t you have just listened to us?” he pleaded, “Why--?”.

His voice faltered and he shut his eyes tight, the tears finally falling in slow rivers down his cheeks. He stood without another word and turned on his heels, stomping back to the master bedroom and slamming the door shut behind him. Martha gave Samantha and Thomas an apologetic look as she stood to follow him, promising to try and smooth things over with him.

Samantha’s enhanced hearing allowed her to clearly hear every word of her parent’s hushed argument through the closed door, and she heard that word again, “murderer”. Her heart ached. Yes, she had killed, but not without justification. Was that what she was now, though? It was such a harsh label, but maybe the label fit the deeds she committed. The third time she heard the accusation come up again in her parent’s conversation, and she shut down Prey’s Perception. They deserved privacy to process what she had told them, and she didn’t know if she wanted to hear their raw reactions to this new version of her.

After several uncomfortably long moments of silence, Thomas coughed into his hand politely, “So, you need to get your stats caught up with your cultivation as quickly as possible then, right?”

Appreciating his attempt to break the tension that had formed after her father’s outburst, Samantha quickly responded, “Yes, do you know a way to get the most out of my time here?”

“Yeah...I know a guy. I’ll warn you that he doesn’t offer normal stat training, Sam. It’s incredibly expensive, hellishly difficult, and I wouldn’t even wish some of the ‘services’ he offers on my enemies, but…” he trailed off, looking at her with a conflicted expression on his face.

“But this isn’t a normal situation, and I don’t have time to waste. Getting strong as quickly as possible could very well be a matter of life and death for me here. How much money will it take?” She finished for him, reaching for the coin pouch on her belt that she still hadn’t sorted through yet.

She overturned the bag onto a dining table nearby and started sorting out the coins in stacks of 10 by type. All in all she had 7 gold, 17 silvers, and 42 coppers. If she were to hazard a guess, she would suppose the gold came from the Rat King’s pockets while the silvers and coppers came from his ‘minions’. Taking into account the gold piece and 3 silvers she had pocketed from the Mid-Copper cultivator, the funds left over from her week fighting in the arena, the extra money Thomas estimated she’d get back from selling the excess Iron Boar Tusks and Hide, and her life’s savings stashed away under a floorboard in her bedroom, she predicted she’d be able to scrape together about 15 gold. She was more than willing to spend every last copper she owned if it meant it gave her a better chance of surviving whatever horrors the 2nd floor would throw at her.

“Will 15 gold be enough?” she asked, worrying that the amount would still fall short.

Thomas shook his head slowly, “His fee is about five gold a day, so you wouldn’t even make it through the week.”

“F-Five gold a day?! That’s nearly half a year's worth of wages!” Samantha gasped, her mouth falling open.

“For a mortal yes. For a cultivator? You could earn that much in a single day if you took the right job, or by challenging other cultivators for money. But yes... still quite pricey. On the bright side, this fee goes towards all aspects of your training, including getting you helpful elixirs and high quality spirit beast meat for meals.” he elaborated.

Samantha’s mind raced frantically, and she was at a loss as to how she could possibly afford such a hefty price tag. Before she totally spiraled into despair though, a crazy idea crossed her mind. It was a gamble, but if she could pull it off she would be making more than just monetary gains in her remaining time on this floor. She just needed to finish her registration quest first to make it all work, and then there was the matter of that gear commission that she wanted to get done for Silas, which could help immensely.

“I want to hire the trainer.” Samantha declared, “I have enough money for three days, and I’ll make as much progress as I can in that time. As for the rest of the month, I have a plan! And I was wondering if you could set up a fitting for a vest for Silas with one of our crafters?”

“What am I? Your servant?” He teased her, but obediently took down some specifications and general measurements of her bond to pass on to a leatherworker. When he was finished writing down the different details she wanted added to the equipment, he raised an eyebrow, “Interesting choices you’re making, but you know your bond best. I’ll deliver this for you in the morning, but until then should we give your parents some space, or…?”

Samantha reactivated her Prey’s Perception and heard that her parent’s arguing hadn’t lessened in the slightest. “Yeah, I think they have a lot to discuss. I’ll grab some things from my room and meet you out front. Have you made any progress with the Granvich tome I found during my cultivation quest, by the way?”

“Have I ever! I couldn’t put it down--there was so much knowledge to be gained. Ways of approaching cultivation that I hadn’t even considered!” he beamed, mischief gleaming in his eyes, “I’ll show you back at my place.”

Samantha found her own excitement building, the somber atmosphere being pushed back slightly at the thought of all the progress she’d be making soon. Grabbing a few sets of clothes and her stash of money from her room, she and Thomas returned to his home, now devoid of his previous female companion.

Thomas pulled an inconspicuous book from the bookshelf in his room titled, “Genealogy of the Three Houses, Vol III”. He opened the cover and removed the cultivation manual from inside of it, placing the empty cover sleeve back on the shelf.

Thomas explained that there were multiple ways to read and view the diagrams contained within the manual, each configuration becoming more complex to account for the increase in cultivation rank. He discovered that some of the pages were marked with a unique qi signature that resembled a puzzle. Through much trial and error, he found that while cycling the appropriate cultivation pattern to solve the puzzle, the pages could be removed from the book or put back in. These special pages could then be overlaid onto the existing diagrams, revealing the next ‘rank’ of the cultivation technique.

It was an ingenious method to store and hide knowledge, and required a well-developed sense for qi in order to both detect the presence of the signatures and solve them, essentially testing if the reader was ready for more knowledge or not.

Samantha couldn’t believe that Thomas had managed to figure it out in just a week, and she inquired how many puzzles he’d been able to solve so far.

Rather than simply tell her, Thomas demonstrated the different puzzle solutions and page configurations for the Mid and High Copper ranked versions of the Vital Wellspring Cultivation Technique. Both techniques were much more difficult to maintain than her current one, as well as needing to be uniquely aligned to open meridians. The Granvich manual appeared to take advantage of the ‘Golden Ratio’ of one new meridian per cultivation rank, two open meridians being required to use the Mid Copper version and three being required for High. It looked like that would need to be one of the first items on her ever growing to do list.

Over the past week, Samantha had been working to loosen the detritus in the meridians leading to her right hand and mind, purchasing and consuming elixirs to help with the process. Now though, with the addition of the new bond ability Flurry, she wondered if it would be worth it to open a foot meridian instead. Her goal with the hand meridian was to gain an art that could empower her spear to wound a tougher enemy, or her fists to give her an edge in an unarmed duel, but that was with the mindset that she would be remaining on the first floor.

On this floor, she had easy access to weapon repairs and replacements, but who knows if there was anything like that on the second? If her weapon broke, all she could rely on was her own body. The addition of Flurry to her arsenal would make kicking a lot more appealing to her than punching in a fight. The question was, would a foot meridian be the better choice to make her body more deadly, though she would miss out on the ability to channel arts through her spear for now? If she decided to go that route, then she would also need to forgo the next rank of Swift until she got her next bond ability point.

Frustrated by the difficulty of the decision, she asked for Thomas’s opinion. Surprisingly, his answer was near instantaneous.

“Go for the kicking ability and foot meridian. You said that sometimes those bond abilities get second ranks? Then this will be both the best short and long term option for you. You might have a bit of a tough time with armored enemies without a combat art in your hand to boost your spear, but the combination of Swift, Flurry, and a foot-based technique could have devastating results. Like you said, there’s no guarantee you’ll have a weapon on hand, so it’s best to enhance what you can do without one until you know more. Besides, you can always get the hand meridian later if you need to.”

Samantha mulled over his words, but eventually agreed with his reasoning. Unfortunately, this was no time to be indecisive, and every second she wasted could have grave consequences. She opened her profile and purchased “Flurry” for one bond ability point, leaving one unspent for later use. The next rank of the ability increased the time it lasted to 2 seconds, increased the Resilience of her feet and legs while active, and boosted the damage her kicks did from 50% to 75%.

“Shall we go out back and test my new skill?” Samantha asked with a grin, and Thomas excitedly led her out to the backyard.

Thomas brought over a wooden log wrapped in a coil of rough rope and placed it in the center of the training circle on a stand. It stood vertically at around Samantha’s new height of 5’ 6”, and she did a few practice kicks to get a feel both for the toughness of the material and her changed body. With the slightly longer reach on her legs, she needed to get used to the new striking range she possessed. In addition, her kicks were much snappier than she remembered, and it seemed easier to control her movements and keep her balance. Once she felt comfortable, she signaled to Thomas and he took up a position behind the log to hold it in place.

First, she tested a full powered kick without any abilities activated. She decided on a classic roundhouse kick, and swung her back leg around in an arc towards the target. She used her core and hips to try and drive the ball of her foot ‘through’ the wooden dummy, and was rewarded with a dull thud as she connected with the rope covering. The dummy rocked back and Thomas let out a grunt as he absorbed the force.

“Well, cousin. Your kick has definitely improved in both speed and power since last we sparred. I’d say you’d easily crack ribs if you landed a clean hit on someone in the Low and Mid Ranks of Copper, maybe High if they weren’t focused on training their Resilience. How many kicks can you land in a second?” Thomas said, gesturing for her to kick again.

Samantha readied herself and kicked again, this time sacrificing a bit of her power to increase her speed. After three full kicks and partway through her fourth, Thomas signaled that her time was up and told her to stop.

“About three in a second? Not bad at all. Even I can only do about 4, though I kick a bit harder than you just did. I’d say you wouldn’t be breaking any bones with this unless they were Low Copper or a low-Resilience Mid, but you would definitely cause some serious bruising. Can you activate your new skill? Go for a single powerful strike first, then speed.” he instructed.

Samantha obliged and activated Flurry. Her first kick whipped forward in a blur of motion, catching both her and Thomas off guard. The strike connected, and Thomas struggled to keep his footing as the wooden dummy slammed backwards with a sharp crack. The bottom of her foot stung from the impact, but she pressed on, striking the dummy with blindingly fast blows over the remaining second. She landed 5 kicks before the time on her ability ran out.

Thomas groaned slightly and shook out his hands as he stabilized the dummy. He looked over the wood and whistled, appreciating the noticeable dent that had formed beneath the force of her strikes.

“Dang! I’d say that the first kick would lay out even a High Copper with decent Resilience, and those rapid kicks were both faster and stronger than my usual ones. So long as your opponent wasn’t strongly armored, you’d almost certainly break their ribs. Now,” he paused, a playful smile spreading across his face, “show me what Flurry and Swift together feels like.”

“How high should I boost my Agility? I don’t want to accidentally kick you over the fence or anything.” she teased, returning his smile.

“I can handle whatever you throw at me, and this dummy is replaceable. So, just go for it, I guess? Might as well test your limits in the safety of my backyard instead of in a life or death fight.” he shrugged, turning the dummy so the non-dented side would be facing her.

“I’ll bring up my Agility to 20 then. The highest I’ve ever gone is 22, and that caused my body to break down as I moved, so I figure 20 is probably close to my limit at this point. You ready?” she confirmed, making sure that Thomas was appropriately braced. He nodded the affirmative and she took her position.

Samantha activated Flurry and Swift simultaneously, a rush of energy filling her body. With her full power she brought her leg forward with such speed that she could hear the wind whistle as her kick cut through the air. Too quickly for her eyes to accurately follow, her foot darted forward and connected with the dummy. She watched in fascination and amazement as the dummy appeared to crumple inwards and a spray of dust and wood shards burst out from the impact site in a cloud. Thomas was flung five feet backwards through the air and needed to catch himself with an agile roll as the dummy bounced several times across the ground.

She was smiling open mouthed at the damage she was just able to cause, that is… until she put her foot back down on the ground and tried to stand on it.

*Ding* Damage to right foot has activated “As One”. Serious wounds for Samantha have been transformed into moderate wounds for Silas and Samantha.

Samantha yelped in pain and fell to the ground holding the throbbing limb, immediately using Flawless Regeneration to fix the damage. She took off her shoe to get a better look and cringed as she saw two broken toes and an angry looking bruise forming across the entire front half of her foot.

Silas hissed at her through their bond, “Was that necessary? My feet are really important, you know!”

“Sorry, I didn’t know that would happen.” she sent back, and promised she’d give him a treat later to make it up to him.

Thomas was struggling to pick himself up off the ground, as the kick had knocked the wind out of him, but he was smiling like a madman. In between gasps he said, “Oh yeah… this was… the right… choice!”

It took him a moment to catch his breath, but once he made his way over to her he noticed her busted foot and grimaced, “Now, we just need to find you some Fortifying art to make your foot sturdier! You should definitely open a meridian to your main kicking foot.” He knelt down and nonchalantly reached down towards her toes, “You said your healing art makes bones and things good as new?”

“Yeah…” Samantha admitted reluctantly, tears of pain running down her cheek.

“Great! On the count of three! One…” Thomas began counting, grabbing hold of a broken toe in each hand.

“No! Thomas, I’m not mentally ready!” Samantha pleaded, “I just need a moment to--”

“Two…” he continued mercilessly, but unexpectedly pulled the bones straight with a sickening pop before reaching the ‘agreed upon’ number.

Samantha cried out, but devoted even more energy to Flawless Regeneration than before.

She snarled at him, “Next time I’m gonna make sure to break at least one of your bones too!”

He waved off her threats with a laugh, “Oh quit whining. This is easy compared to the training you’re about to be paying 5 gold a day for. You’re lucky I’m here to pull them straight for you!”

Samantha paled at his words. What the hell was she signing herself up for?