A year and a few months had passed since I first left the house on my own. I was a little over five now, and my body was filled with qi. My skin held about twenty two times the concentration of ambient qi, with the rest of my body already far beyond that.

Thanks to my experiments with lots and lots of crabs I knew I needed about one hundred eighty seven point three one times the concentration of ambient qi to create liquid qi. Considering the way qi spread through my body that meant my brain wouldn't need much more qi for me to break through into the second realm without any effort of my own.

I lacked any real comparison, but thought I was pretty far ahead of the curve by now. And not just in cultivation too. My body was far stronger and tenacious than it had any right to be, reasonable, considering I still moved some qi when it was half bonded to my body every other week. Because of that I felt downright untiring. Add onto the ability to ‘burn’ qi for a temporary boost in strength at the cost of exhausting my qi meant I could defeat a weak adult at my peak. Qi really was absolutely ridiculous.

All that advancement naturally meant mom still thought I was struggling just to perceive qi for the first time.

The biggest reason for my fast cultivation was my qi’s aspect. Which wasn't an actual part of my qi, but my aura, the area I could perceive qi in. Any qi under my control instantly had my aura’s aspect, regardless what it was before.

Anyways. The whirlwind of qi just about tripled the ambient qi around me by now, as it grew more powerful together with my cultivation. By now my aura extended out by nearly metres, increasing my cultivation speed further.

Yet, as always when I thought about my experiments, my expression soured. Most were going really well - I had the creation of liquid qi down to an art for example , but others not so much. I wouldn't be so angry if some of my experiments went wrong - like adding new liquid qi to a crab, it simply wasn't possible to overwhelm the qualitative change liquid qi went through with quantity for example, but no.

Any crab I tried to find again a day after I experimented with it just vanished. Regardless of what I did. Bury it under a large stone? Gone. Hide it in a hole? Vanished. Use a string to hang it from a roof? Nothing. Even the string was gone!

Someone was playing tricks on me, and I didn't know why, or who. Or how to make them stop. They would get a really stern talking to if I ever found them though!

Still, my anger changed nothing. I still had no clue what the extended consequences of liquid qi may have on a body. Which really sucked, as I would naturally break through within the year, barring any intentional slowing down. Which I didn't plan, after all initial exposure didn't have any harmful effects on the test subjects, and sometimes you had to risk it, as seen by my stupid cultivation method of the first years of my life.

I snorted, bone marrow, what a stupid idea.

While the results and changes liquid qi did to a body changed depending on the location of initial creation of liquid qi, as well as the extent of changes depending on the initial amount, nothing ever harmed a crab. That I could see at least.

Not a single one of nearly one hundred and fifty crabs had shown any signs of short term harm.

All that meant I was about to take a risk. With a crab struggling in my hand, and several small, qi filled stones in my pocket - something a had mom add to my clothing on my request as it initially lacked any - I made my way towards the forest.

It was a really scary forest too, with tall, dark trees looming above. The sounds were normal for a forest though, mostly birds chatting, bugs chittering and the wind blowing through the forest's leaves and tree tops.

What I was about to do was honestly just stupid, but I didn't want to forge ahead without any knowledge, and the forest was forbidden. I really hoped who or whatever took my crabs wouldn't dare enter there.

Of course I was ready to flee, and even kill a monster should it become necessary - plasmatic qi didn't need to expand nearly as much as gaseous one needed to be compressed, so it'd be easy to do, even in a bind.

The amount of qi in my projectiles wasn't much, just enough to cause an inconvenience to myself really, but I hoped it would be enough to scare assilants away, allowing me to escape without any killing.

With a deep breath I took a step forwards, and another one until I entered the treeline. Crab clutched in one hand, and a small pebble in the other.

---

Alranutsu looked up from his perch. Someone just entered his domain. Qi swirled around them, obscuring them from casual inspection, as if ready for a fight. Damned humans, they didn't even know how to leave someone a little piece for more than single small a moment.

He growled in anger, he had just settled down comfortably, and now he'd have to move again! Alranutsu stood up, still angry as leaves of nearly a decade fell off him, and took a step.

He appeared at the edge of the forest, and looked at the human kit standing there, completely oblivious. If not for the qi swirling around her she'd appear completely harmless and would have been ignored, like all insignificant humans entering his domain.

He did a throughout inspection, searching for the reason qi near her behaved as it did, but found none. Apart from an odd second realm crab in her hand, a little qi in her body, and some strange, qi filled stones in a small ingenious pouch sewn into her clothes, she looked like a normal human kit. As far as he could tell anyways, he didn't really know humans after all.

"What are you doing in my forest human?" He boomed, allowing the human kit to see him.

She jumped up, obviously startled by the sudden voice and his majestic form. The human’s green eyes didn't take long to find him, taking in his glorious form. The human was really lucky, he didn't kill kits, and she most definitely counted as one.

"Excuse me if I intruded. I didn't know I entered your property." She answered finally. "I did not yet chose a name for myself, so I am seamstress's daughter."

"I am Alranutsu." He answered.

The human's eyes widened for a moment, before returning to her previous expression.

"Nice to meet you. Say, you wouldn't happen to know of a place I can keep this crab?" She asked.

Alranutsu looked at the human kit, astonishment filling him.

"What would you want to do with a lifeform as lowly as this? And why here, aren't your dwellings made to keep stuff?" He asked.

"I want to see the long term effects liquid qi has on a body. And someone or something always snatches my crabs in town, and I don't want them at my home, and have what- or whoever does that near my mother." She answered honestly.

“I don't have anything of the sort, the weaker beasts would be happy to consume such a small morsel.” He answered.

The human looked dejected for a moment, before her eyes focused upon him, intently.

---

I looked at the strange fox, who claimed to be an immortal. When he told me his name I had been scared for a moment, before deciding he would kill me if he wanted, and had as much power as he claimed, and there was nothing I could do about it.

So I handled him like I would any obviously intelligent person regardless of their looks, be they fox or human. Or something else. The fox actually looked so normal I needed a moment to process it could speak at first .

And apparently teleport.

Still, the sheer presence the fox excluded made me sweat just a little bit, and I had thought about breaking through right then and there, but luckily managed to stop that panic reaction. After all I already got some useful information here. My crabs were probably snatched up by some seagulls or cats. Great.

Now I just had to leave alive.

“So, what does a powerful beast such as you do every day?” I asked, only to regret my question immediately.

Somehow the fox managed to express disgust and sadness with a face that normally lacked the muscles needed to do those expressions.

“I really just want to relax for a few decades. But every time, EVERY SINGLE TIME I settle down some new human or beast comes into my home, disrupting my rest.” He complained. “And all attack when we meet, none seem to have the time for a chat.”

“Have you tried offering them something to drink?” I asked.

“Why would I?” The fox asked, astonishment on his face.

“It’s polite.” I explained. “If you have guests you will at least offer them something to drink. And you really need to work on your greeting, it's not polite to scare people as a greeting. It’s downright rude even.”

The fox looked at me like I was mad, and perhaps I was.

“What?” I asked. “It doesn't hurt to try.”

“That's not how the world works human kit.” He said.

“Anyone coming here wants to challenge me, otherwise they wouldn't be here.” He stated, slowly, as if speaking to an imbecile.

“Have you tried? I didn't even know this was your property. It’s not like you have a ‘Keep out!’ sign anywhere. How should I know?”

“You didn't know I was here? Didn't your sect or clan warn you?” He asked.

“I don't have a sect or clan. I only have my mom.” I explained. “And why would I want to join a bunch of religious fanatics.”

He fox laughed with a bark.

“Don't let any of those sects hear about that. But that does sound quite accurate to me.” He said.

“So, would you like something to drink?” He asked after a small pause.

“I would be delighted, but mom said I have to be back before sundown, so I won't have much time for anything else.” I answered.

“That's fine.” The fox said.

Qi shot out of him, and suddenly we were somewhere else, in the middle of the forest, with a small creek of water flowing in front of me. I looked around in wonder, wondering how any light came through the dense foliage.

The fox bowed down, and drank some of the creek’s water, before looking at me in anticipation. I looked between water and fox, and wondered if I should tell him.

“Humans don't drink like that, we use a cup.” I finally said.

“What's a cup?” He asked.

How to explain something like that? Wait, did I need to? The fox was a powerful cultivator, perhaps he could tell me how to store memories in my qi, just so I could just show him.

“How do I store memories with my qi?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s easy, just put some qi into an object. Then you just have to focus, and push those memories into the qi. If you stored enough qi the memories will be stored. If you add some kind of runes that you feel express the same you can reduce the qi needed significantly.” He explained, puzzled.

Well, I’d have never found that out by myself. As it was I pulled out one of my stones, added lots of my free qi into it, and added what was important about a cup, mainly its form and use.

“Here you go.” I said.

I yelped as the stone suddenly floated out of my hand, and landed on the fox’s head. He blinked for a moment, before vanishing for a moment, and appearing with a stone cup floating next to him when I after a single blink.

“There you go. Thank you for that gift.” He said. “Is that what you have those pebbles for?”

“No. They’re for self defense.” I answered. “Mainly running away to be honest.”

“Those pebbles wouldn't even help you distract a mortal wolf, let alone a beast.” He said.

“They do. Just watch!” I pouted, transforming one of the stone’s qi into plasmatic qi and throwing it from us with all my might. A weak wave of qi passed us moments later, and the fox’s head sharply turned towards me.

“How did you do that?” He asked, astonishment filling his voice.

I looked at him in confusion, what I just did was just a logical conclusion of reaching the second realm!

“I just transformed my qi into plasmatic qi.” I answered regardless.

“And how did you do it? Without killing yourself? Because what I just felt felt just like someone exploding their cultivation to kill their killer.” He answered.

“It’s just doing the reverse of creating liquid qi. You just have to expand normal qi by about a hundred times.” I explained.

This time the fox actually bowed towards me, before I found myself back at the forest’s edge, the cup in my hand. Nothing about it changed, apart from the qi now filling it. Hmm. What a strange creature. I turned around, bowed towards the spot he appeared in for the first time.

“Thank you for your gift, I will visit you again.” I said, before leaving the forest, dropping the crab as I went back home. I’d look into the cup back home, it probably held a message, as that meeting ended really abrupt.

I’d need to tell him that was rude too.

I smiled, the fox really was quite nice. It seemed I had my first friend.