As Samantha expected, there was a bit more to this ‘game’ than the trainer had originally let on. There was one thing he’d conveniently forgotten to mention until his first victim, Leopold, already stood waiting behind a piece of rope that marked the start of the white route.

The rest of the group was going to do more than just watch his attempt to complete the route, they would be actively trying to sabotage it.

Expertly blending with where the branches connected to the trunk of the tree were small, wooden platforms that varied in shape from singular planks to 2x2 foot squares. Similarly to how the current player could only ascend using the branches marked with the appropriate color of the route, so too could their competitors only move around using these platforms.

Each of them was given a waist satchel that held around 20 palm-sized bean bags–each person having their own designated color of bean bag. The trainer explained that if they managed to strike Leopold with their bags, 1 second would be added to Leopold’s final route time while 1 second would be deducted from theirs. There was no penalty for missing a throw, however if Leopold caught one of their bags from the air before it struck him, it would deduct 2 seconds from his time and add 2 seconds to theirs.

This meant that in a best-case scenario where Samantha was able to hit every other trainee with all 20 of her bags during their turn up the Lattice, she could increase everyone’s time by 20 seconds and reduce her final time by 80 seconds. In a worst-case scenario where each bag she threw was caught, she’d give everyone 40 free seconds and have a whopping 160 seconds added to her time. This double-edged sword meant that she didn’t need to literally be the fastest to win a route, so long as she could hit her competitors with enough bean bags or catch enough to make up the difference. There was also the potential of landing a hit that would knock someone off the tree. While this wouldn’t necessarily give her more than the 1 free second, it would certainly add precious time to their ascension.

Each freshly-armed trainee took up their respective starting positions in the tree looking down on Leopold. Samantha placed herself near the bottom, about 10 feet off the ground. Others placed themselves higher up or across from her on the opposite side of the route, but she didn’t pay them much mind. Instead, she chose to spend this limited downtime plotting her own eventual path up the white route. Admittedly, it was difficult to see more than a few layers of branches above her, but she did have a few ideas in mind. Since there was essentially a platform at the base of every branch, you were equally vulnerable no matter where you ran, so it was only a matter of choosing whatever was most efficient.

As Samantha pulled out her first rounds of ammunition from the waist pouch and bobbed left and right to try and get a better view of the tree, a loud call of ‘begin’ from the sadist marked the start of the first round. Samantha centered herself and took aim.

Leopold sprinted forward towards the trunk of the tree as a shower of rainbow-colored bean bags pelted downwards at his head like arrows. He twisted and turned his body like a writhing snake to avoid the projectiles with some success but was unable to totally avoid the onslaught. He grunted as a purple bag clipped his shoulder and Samantha’s green bag struck him in the thigh, but he didn’t slow down.

He climbed and jumped up the old oak with expert grace, and only slightly paused as a high-pitched whistling came from above. Leopold extended his hand towards the approaching sound on reflex as he jumped to the next branch, catching something in his palm with a loud slap. He kept moving to avoid being an easy target, looking at the caught object briefly in curiosity as he dodged yet another flying bean bag.

To Samantha, the whistling ball looked to be slightly larger than the bags she had been given by the trainer. She was unable to determine the material from this distance as Leopold dropped it to the ground, but she could see that it was completely hollow, and the surface was covered with regularly spaced holes that led into the hollow center. It looked vaguely like a honeycomb to her, and her enhanced hearing picked up no small amount of cursing from the Low-Bronze Alex perched on a platform a few layers above her.

Samantha felt relieved for both herself and others seeing Alex’s handicap. She worried that being hit by one of his thrown bags would be equivalent to being smashed with a mace, but it seemed these whistling balls both announced they were incoming and would hurt significantly less because of their reduced mass. The only downside was that she could already tell how they sometimes curved unexpectedly in the air when Alex threw them, making it harder to predict where they would actually be aimed. This, however, was definitely the lesser of two evils in her mind.

As Leopold continued his climb, Alex’s whistling projectiles continued to stand out the most as all competitors did their best to score some extra seconds. Samantha threw almost all of her bags before Leopold finished the route, getting more accurate towards the end as she got more familiar with their light weight. Some of her throws missed or were unfortunately caught, but all in all she ended the first round ahead by 4 seconds.

Leopold had a few welts forming on his body as he crossed the branch marking the finish line, but he seemed pleased with his final time of 47 seconds.

The rest of them made their way through the route in a similar fashion, with Samantha trying to view her own run as an educational experience more than anything. Her primary goal was to make it through to the next round and to get a feel for what was best to prioritize–dodging, catching, or climbing.

She found that with Prey’s Perception and her natural Agility, dodging wasn’t overly difficult for her to manage. The problem was that if she wanted to dodge everything it would slow her down too much. Focusing purely on climbing quickly wasn’t ideal either, since it did hurt to be hit by the bags even with As One eating up half of the damage. The pain distracted her and could potentially slow her with a legitimate injury if she wasn’t careful. That left catching, which she was actually pretty good at. With the near 360 degree vision, enhanced hearing, and her sphere of perception from Sage’s Rumination, she very rarely was caught completely off guard by a thrown bag. It was a shame she only got a hang of it after she’d already made it through 2/3rds of the course, but she was confident she could apply the technique in the yellow route.

Alex was the last person to run, as well as the only trainee with a notably different experience. During his turn up the Lattice, the sadist took part personally in trying to sabotage Alex’s time with much larger, heavier looking bags–and boy, did he play dirty.

The trainer threw a near endless stream of missiles at varying speeds, making it so that it was not only difficult to predict when they would land, but so that clumps of bags often struck at different parts of the body simultaneously. Not to mention the speed and accuracy of the trainer’s throwing was uncanny. Both arms–and Samantha could’ve sworn she also saw him occasionally throwing bags with his feet–blurred with motion as they mercilessly filled the air with deadly rain. By the sound they made and the yelps of pain they elicited from the poor Low-Bronze, Samantha could only imagine that they were filled with rocks or balls of metal instead of rice and beans. For the first half of the run, the rest of the trainees were in such awe at the display that they forgot to throw their own bags–that is, until they realized that Alex cared much more about staying safe from the sadist than dodging or catching their throws. Still, even with all of these handicaps Alex finished with a respectable time of 39 seconds. Samantha shook her head inwardly in disbelief at his performance, but figured that was just the difference between a Copper and a Bronze.

Samantha ended up finishing with a final time of 41 seconds, putting her in the middle of the pack. The strength-based copper ended up having the worst time of 83 seconds, having been knocked from a branch in the middle of the route and needing to start from the beginning again. The winner of the route was surprisingly the other copper woman who had beaten Samantha in the morning jog–who she still didn’t know the name of. Her prize was a take-home box of the qi-infused lunch they had eaten earlier, including a small thermos of the refreshing tea.

Samantha’s stomach practically grumbled thinking about it, and for more than the obvious reason of great taste. Just as mortals needed to consume good quality food regularly to grow hale and hearty, cultivators benefited greatly from frequently eating spirit-rich meals. There weren’t any exact calculations done since everyone’s body was different, but it was generally accepted that eating more qi-infused foods would aid in increasing attributes faster in the long term. With such a useful prize as the lowest tier of reward, she wondered what the middle route would yield.

After the slowest competitor stepped off to the side–eliminated from the game–the remaining 4 trainees set up for the yellow route. Each person received a new waist satchel, this one containing bean bags with noticeably more heft than before.

Samantha was going last this round, so she did her best to observe the other trainees going before her and figure out a strategy. The main differences she pinpointed was that the white route had a very clearly painted path to follow with thick, solid branches throughout. The entire thing was also relatively low to the ground as it spiraled up the tree and ended somewhere around halfway up. The yellow route had thinner branches that were more sparse, and in some places there were vertical climbs and drops through layers that the white route just didn’t have. It also covered almost the entire height of the tree, so a fall or misstep would be much more devastating.

While observing her opponents, she also adjusted her throwing strategy somewhat since the last time. She learned from the white route that she should only throw her bean bag when she was positive that it wouldn’t be caught. Aiming for the lower body, blind spots, or timing her throws with others’ would ensure that she ended each turn with at least a few seconds gained. It was preferable to her to come out with 0 seconds gained or lost than to end up with a deficit.

As each of her competitors' turns came and went, she found a few common pain points in the route–places where she would be most vulnerable to being struck. A spot where she would need to jump and pull herself up to an upper layer, a steep drop onto a branch that was somewhat unstable… everyone else would be familiar with these areas as well when her turn came. If she played her cards right though, those spots could also be the most profitable for her, provided she was agile enough to pull it off.

She didn’t need to wait overly long before it was time to put her theory to the test.

Samantha crouched behind the sun-bleached strip of rope that acted as the starting line, ready to enter into a sprint as soon as the round started. The trainer still had possession of her shoes, so she dug her toes into the dirt for any extra traction she could eke out. She briefly checked her qi pool and smiled. She had a few points stored up coming back from her cliff-diving training, and drinking the energizing tea about an hour ago had further replenished her. She was sitting with a total of 10/18 points, and she resolved to use up to half of her pool to win this route and it’s mystery prize. The rest she’d use to go all-out for the red route.

In order to win, she’d need to beat Alex’s incredible time of 22 seconds, with the next closest time being 44 seconds. For some reason, he had decided to go all out on this run–using qi arts to progress faster through the route. Samantha didn’t think it was impossible though–after all, her beanbag strategy had worked nicely! Only two of her bags ended up being caught, and although Alex was very fast he was the easiest to score points off of since he was more focused on the sadist. She had already earned a deduction of -12 seconds off her final time, not to mention the further reductions she could manage if her plan worked. The downside is that the other two cultivators didn’t have much to lose this round, so long as they weren’t last. Even if they hit her with all 20 of their bags, neither of them could pass Alex’s time and win the route unless she caught several of his throws as well.

‘Begin!’ the trainer called.

Samantha eyed her three adversaries as she sprinted towards the tree trunk. All three held their fire until the first vulnerable portion of the run–the initial jump up into the branches. There was around 10 feet between the ground and the first yellow branch, and everyone (except for Alex, who could make the jump without assistance) needed to use a brightly painted knob on the trunk to vault up to it. Being exposed in the air for that jump was the perfect spot for a first volley.

As expected, as soon as her feet left the ground a signature whistling sounded off and she could see two more bags headed her way with Prey’s Perception. Alex’s whistling ball was much too low for her to attempt to catch and it appeared at first glance that it would miss her, but she knew better by this point. He was getting better and better at throwing curve balls that would turn at the last second to hit you unexpectedly.

Samantha gripped the sturdy branch above her with both hands and pulled, gritting her teeth for the impacts she knew would come.

This was arguably the most dangerous section of the run for multiple reasons: there was only one way up, everyone was ready for you, and both your hands would be occupied to help you climb. It wasn’t ideal, but she had planned for this.

Twisting her lower body to face what she deemed to be the easiest projectile to catch (which unfortunately, was not Alex’s), she snatched the bag out of the air with her left foot using her toes while letting the other two strike her. She gained two seconds for the catch, but lost two seconds from being hit twice–a net even exchange. Not the worst outcome, but she scowled that Alex’s time was now down to 21 seconds.

*Ding* Damage to left calf has activated “As One”. Minor Wounds for Samantha have been negated.

*Ding* Damage to ribs has activated “As One”. Moderate Wounds for Samantha have been transformed into Minor wounds for Silas and Samantha.

She grunted in pain as she pulled herself up and instantly ran towards the next branches, knowing that this was the time for speed. This beginning area was the most straightforward to navigate, so she activated Swift to get a little extra speed as the branches blurred beneath her. The somewhat shifting footing brought up bittersweet memories of running courier routes across rooftops with Aiden, and she couldn’t help but smile to herself as she wove and dodged through the wooden limbs.

The next dangerous area was just ahead, another jump up to a layer above her. She watched as the other trainees lined up their shots and prepared herself.

She leapt.

Alex had managed to get ahead of her and threw the ball in a corkscrew towards her hips while the other two cultivators aimed for her back and her left side. Deciding to make another equal trade, she caught Alex’s attack with her left hand while letting herself be hit by the others.

*Ding* Damage to ribs has activated “As One”. Moderate Wounds for Samantha have been transformed into Minor wounds for Silas and Samantha.

*Ding* Damage to left shoulder has activated “As One”. Moderate Wounds for Samantha have been transformed into Minor wounds for Silas and Samantha.

Samantha cursed to herself as she hoisted herself up yet again and resumed running, “Seriously? What did he put in these yellow-route bean bags? Certainly not beans...”

She wasn’t the only one cursing at least. She also caught some choice expletives from Alex as she dropped his whistling ball and noted that his time would now be up to 23 seconds.

She thought she was doing fairly well for herself until she crossed the halfway point in the route and the trainer informed her that her time was sitting at 19 seconds without any deductions counted. Her heart sank at this news. She would need to cross the finish at 34 seconds currently to beat Alex, and at this rate she wasn’t going to make it. She hoped she could make up the difference in the next leg of the route though.

The next section was a veritable maze of branches that was difficult to make progress through, slowing you enough to make you an easier target. This is where people got hit the most in previous runs, and Samantha was no exception. This also meant that she had ample opportunities to reduce her time with catches, which was what she was counting on.

The two Copper cultivators pummeled her with bags, but she caught just enough to keep ahead of the time penalties and even started winning deductions towards the end. She minimized the mounting damage notifications and pushed onwards, the distinct lack of whistling signaling to her that Alex had decided to play it safe after getting his last throw caught. He was in the lead, after all. There wasn’t much reason for him to risk giving her more points.

She emerged into the last quarter of the run 5 seconds ahead, bringing her total deductions to -17 seconds.

“30 seconds!” the trainer announced.

Samantha did some quick math and found that if she crossed the finish line in the next 9 seconds she would win. This last quarter of the route was deceptively short, but very challenging because it had a lot of room for mistakes. She didn’t think she’d manage if she held back, but if she used all of her remaining 7 qi points…?

She had come into this route limiting her qi usage so she’d have a better shot at the red prize, but something also had been nagging at her since she started–why did Alex go all out here? It was possible he had no need of the meridian elixir, but it was also likely that he knew something important about the prizes or game that she didn’t. Did she want to disadvantage her future self for a more definite benefit now? Normally she would say no, but something about Alex’s behavior really stood out as odd. She thought it over for a moment, but ultimately decided to go against her original plan. She would do everything she could to win right now even if it left her in a worse position for the red route. She hoped she wouldn’t regret the slight change of heart.

The final stretch of the route was a series of thin branches spread far apart. To make it through efficiently, the best strategy Samantha could come up with was to take long, precise, loping strides across the expanse. On the surface it didn’t seem difficult, but the limbs bent and bowed easily, making the footing treacherous and not as predictable as one would think. Even a strong breeze could shift their position under her feet.

Samantha began a count in her mind.

Nine.

Samantha put a qi point into Swift and started striding. The bean bags were shockingly few and far between now–they must have been running low after their all-out assault during the branch maze.

Eight.

“She’s going to beat you at this rate Alex! Are you going to keep sitting on your hands waiting?” the sadist mocked.

Seven.

Samantha saw Alex run up alongside her on the platforms near the trunk, scowling and cursing under his breath. This could be bad.

Six.

She was over halfway to the goal now, and she still had 4 qi points left.

Five.

Alex cocked back his arm, which she noticed started to glow ominously with yellow energy. She was only 20 feet from the finish line.

Four.

Faster than her eyes could follow, Alex’s arm snapped forward with the speed of a lightning strike. The ball no longer whistled, but thrummed with vibrations so powerful it made her chest rumble. She had no hope of dodging. The ball exploded on her left thigh on impact mid-step, interrupting her stride and causing her to stagger with pain.

*Ding* Damage to left thigh has activated “As One”. Major Wounds for Samantha have been transformed into Moderate wounds for Silas and Samantha.

The stumble cost her and she missed her next step onto the branch. Samantha briefly fell downwards towards the sea of tree limbs below before catching hold of the branch she was originally going to step on with both hands. She made use of her falling momentum, turning her tumble into a swing to launch herself up and over to the next stepping branch. She could see out of the corner of Prey’s Perception that Alex was collapsed on the platform, exhausted after having used the last of his qi for that attack. Unfortunately, he hadn’t given up yet. His eyes were still alight with determination and he wielded another whistling ball in his hand.

Three–no, two. I’ve just been hit. Wait–make that one… he just gained a second off of me.

She was only 10 feet away now and could literally cross the finish line in two long strides. Her leg wasn’t responding well and she only had two qi points left, but she would have to make due. It was all or nothing now.

Putting her last two points into Swift, she pushed through the pain as best she could and launched herself forward. Stepping on the final branch, she leapt with all her strength and flung her body in the direction of the finish line. As she soared through the air she saw Alex’s eyes widen in both disbelief and frustration–he must’ve expected her injury to be more severe–and he brought his arm back for one final throw.

Sounds of hooting and cheering rang through the area as the others were caught up in the excitement, and Samantha found herself in a strangely sublime moment. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she watched the whistling ball fly towards her lower legs at a breakneck pace. In the same instant she sensed something coming directly towards the back of her head in Prey’s Perception’s blind spot.

When she first became a cultivator, this sphere of perception was one of main ‘abilities’ she relied on. If she concentrated or was in the midst of cultivating, she could see clearly with her spirit what was within 15 or so feet of her. Outside of cultivating or intense concentration it worked more generally, picking up abnormal movements in her vicinity. This was a wonderful advantage in combat, but once she acquired Prey’s Perception she found that it often took a back seat to the Spirit Bond Ability.

She wondered though if she had been thinking about them both in the wrong way. They were so similar in function, why did she so often use them separately? Perhaps before it was because the concentration required was too challenging for her to manage, but with her practice using Sage’s Rumination, certainly that was no longer a barrier for her? If she worked to channel both at the same time, could she make something better?

She focused on this emerging epiphany and began twisting in midair to face the incoming projectiles. She tried to see with Prey’s Perception while also layering her sphere of perception on top of it, but was met with resistance. The two skills fought for dominance in her mind, her senses seeming to warp as Prey’s Perception was pushed to the background and then thrust back into the foreground repeatedly. Suddenly, something clicked. There needed to be perfect balance between the two, and once she had that figured out the disorienting feeling vanished and was replaced with a splitting headache. Time seemed to slow down even further when a shining notification popped up in her mind…

*Ding* Prey’s Perception has evolved into Prey’s Awareness.

Prey’s Awareness

Passive Effect: Gain increased perception of your surroundings that affects all senses.

Active Effect: Can enter a hyper-focused state that greatly enhances spatial awareness of immediate vicinity (Rank 1: 15 foot sphere)

Every slowed beat of her heart felt like someone was hammering nails through her skull, but Samantha knew it would be her loss if she got distracted now.

With Prey’s Perception she could see nearly 360 degrees, but vision was still limited in certain respects. Just like with her mortal vision, the places she wasn’t focusing on became blurry or indistinct. It was also easier to overlook things because there was so much visual data coming in at once. With Prey’s Awareness though this problem vanished–at least within 15 feet of herself.

Within this spherical domain Samantha was aware of everything. The moth flying beneath her, the texture of the branch behind her, and, of course, the speedily approaching missiles. While before she could only see that they were flying towards her back and leg, now she could sense their speed, could estimate with near certainty where they were aimed, and she could even tell what kind of curve the whistling ball would have after observing it’s path.

Her headache seemed to increase in intensity as she took this all in, the sheer amount of information flowing through her mind seeming impossible to process. But, she was determined. She only needed to last another fraction of a second to catch these projectiles and then she’d come out of this the victor of the yellow-route.

She extended her hands and feet towards the rapidly approaching objects, the pain in her head skyrocketing to near unbearable levels. She snatched the beanbags out of the air–one in each hand–and clapped her bare feet together around the whistling ball trapping it between her soles. The expression on Alex’s face was to die for. It looked like he’d been in the middle of eating a lemon when he stubbed his toe and slipped into a freezing river.

She felt such elation at the sweeping success that she let out a cry of joy, even feeling Silas rejoicing in her victory through her bond. As she flew past the finish line and was about to release the skill, she felt a sharp pop in her head and everything in her sight was painted blood red. Prey’s Perception completely deactivated for the first time since bonding with Silas, and she felt smothered by the limitations of her purely human senses.

*Ding* Mental Overload has activated “As One”. Fatal wounds for Samantha have been transformed into serious wounds for Silas and Samantha.

She felt her entire body weaken as her qi pool emptied itself yet again and she tumbled down the countless layers of branches of the old oak. While she was certain that the sight of her limp body hitting every branch on the way down was pitiful, she was almost grateful. Every time she struck against the tree, the fresh pain distracted her from the agony in her own mind. She got the sense that her face was wet as she fell… was she crying? Was her nose running? She wouldn’t be surprised. Every time she got badly injured she thought to herself that this surely must be the worst pain she would ever feel in her life, and somehow she kept proving herself wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.

She heard a male voice call out to her as someone caught her from the air, but she couldn’t see who it was through the red haze. She felt the unknown individual carry her down from the tree and set her against its trunk.

“You know, if you actually die while playing a game, you’re probably doing it wrong?” the somewhat familiar baritone of the sadist asked, amused.

“New ability. Didn’t know.” Samantha grunted out between gritted teeth, struggling to stay conscious.

“Ah. Well that does happen sometimes.” he consoled, placing a hand on her shoulder. “In any case, I think it’s safe to say you’re done for the day. I’ll send a message to your kin to come get you.”

“Wait! The prize… what is it?” Samantha asked, unable to help her curiosity.

“Your next training session with me is free of charge.” he replied, his voice growing quieter as he walked away, “I expect to be seeing you again back here soon, girl. Nice showing today as a first timer.”

Though it pained her to ‘waste’ the latter half of the training day, she couldn’t deny that she was in poor shape. She reached out to Silas to check his status, but the communication was unclear and painful at the moment. She didn’t even want to try seeing through his eyes, as she was sure that’d be even more of a headache.

Being unable to go to her bond and also not fully trusting anyone here with going to fetch him for her left her feeling powerless, but she was torn on how to proceed. Her concern and frustration with the situation was reaching its peak when she felt a small trickle of healing energy come through their bond. Her head cleared a bit, and she was able to focus well enough again to use the qi point she just regenerated to activate Flawless Regeneration on her mind.

“You’re welcome.” Silas said, his tone oozing arrogance.

“Thanks for the healing–you managed to find some herbs nearby?” she replied with genuine gratitude.

“Lots! I saved them up in case we needed them. Snacked on the non-healing ones.” he announced proudly.

Samantha had to admit that she was impressed with Silas’s foresight. Who would’ve thought the little glutton actually possessed some self-restraint.

“That’s amazing! Great job.” she praised, and felt his pride well up in response. “I’m just sorry that I got us so badly hurt… again.”

“You said this would happen. I want us both to be strong. And, it worked! I feel… tougher now.”

“Tougher?” Samantha asked, then pulled up his stat sheet.

Silas (Rank 4 Lunar Jackalope – Mid)

Strength: 4

Agility: 14

Endurance: 7

Resilience: 6

“You are tougher! Your resilience went up by a point.” she said, somewhat surprised by quick advancement. Maybe he was already close to the threshold before, and today’s training incident just tipped it over the edge. Whatever the reason, she wouldn’t question a great boon like this.

They talked for a bit more while healing each other until Thomas came for them. It was a rather comical sight–Thomas carried Samantha in his arms while Samantha held Silas in hers–but her cousin was far from amused. He gave her an earful about being irresponsible all the way back to his home, refusing to let her parents see her in such a ‘sorry state’.

The rest of the day passed in a blur as she ate, recovered, bathed, and eventually fell into a deep sleep in the comfort of her own bed, her parents none the wiser of her brush with death. As she drifted off she couldn’t help but think about how she had such big plans for the day when she set out this morning, but it looks like those would need to be put off until tomorrow.