“Alex?” Hao Chan gazed at the man who had claimed her heart with wide, anxious eyes.

It was all he could do not to caress those lips yet again, and claim her for all time, then and there.

And the way she blushed and smiled, lowering her head, reminded him of the fierce connection they shared, however ephemeral it might have been with the first golden lights of dawn, and how Hao Chan’s footsteps marked the sands of the amphitheater arena in the heart of the ruins balanced on a mountain slope that Jidihu had made into her neigh unbreachable sanctuary was a question Alex dared not think on too deeply.

For he could feel the grains of sand beneath his naked feet as well.

For all that he was simultaneously living the dream of a world’s birth, forging impossibly dense tri-state cords of degenerate matter, 1728 fibers of spiritual energy intertwined into cords so vast only a cultivator with meridians the size of WiFu’s own, encompassing all the potential of chaos and change in its most primal form, could hope to possess. Cords so utterly ordered that not a speck more of matter, quantized potential, or spiritual energy, could fit inside a single strand.

“Cords worthy of anyone who dares sit at our table!” Alex vaguely recalled a laughing WiFu loudly proclaiming in his dreams, for all that the answering thunder of gods eager for his destruction, a final end to the pawn that would dare to challenge the heavens, had felt as real as the air he breathed. Whether that conversation had occurred just seconds ago, or centuries had passed in the forging of his realm in the blink of an eye, hardly mattered at all.

All that mattered to him was the girl now gazing so intently at him, her brow trickling with a few nervous drops of sweat as her brilliant amber eyes locked with his own. He could smell the sweet musky aroma of a cultivator in her prime, and never had he hungered for her more than he did at that very moment.

As if he weren’t dreaming at all.

“Alex?”

Alex nodded. “Let’s do this.”

And a heartbeat later, their dance begun.

A dance of deadly kicks, spinning backfists, jabs, crosses, elbow slashes and knee bombs, a dance of graceful sweeps, weaving dodges, elegant parries, and bone-cracking flips and tosses, a dance of elegant death. Of power and control.

A dance they embraced just as they had on a carriage rooftop, what now felt like a lifetime ago, as Alex flooded them both with all the hideous potential even now blazing through his soul.

You have sent a Party invite to - Hao Chan.

Hao Chan has been marked with designation – SOULMATE.

Your soulmate has accepted your invite!

You have sent a Party invite to – ERROR

ERROR accepts your invite!

Reincarnated soul detected. Do you wish to pull up old files? You have chosen… NO.

ERROR has been earmarked with designation – YINZI.

Yinzi is pulling up laughing emoticon! Yinzi is pulling up fox emoticon.

Yinzi has left your party.

“Alex, I think I’m about to have another breakthrough!”

Alex grinned down at the girl he adored so fiercely, only smiling and nodding, lifting her back to her feet once more.

Their training had been fierce, intense, beyond anything they had experience even on the carriage ride. And most importantly, she was beginning to embrace the most fundamental lesson of all that he was trying to teach, as they wove their deadly dance night after night, all three of them, about the arena sands.

“Do you still feel the flow of Water and Steel?”

Hao Chan nodded. “I do. More strongly than ever!” her delicate brows furrowed in a slight frown as she straightened her tightly tied training gi, Alex pretending not to notice the way she adjusted the second and third straps, adjusting as well the tight linen shift underneath, securing her strikingly beautiful assets tightly enough that they could never be used against her, for all that her spinning kicks, twisting throws, and graceful dodges meant that her perceived vulnerability was a grand deception more often than not, straight line attacks almost never connecting with her ever-shifting center mass, even when wearing the sheerest dance qipao, and thank all the heavens she was not, Alex thought fervently.

Then she frowned, licking her lips thoughtfully.

“What is it?”

She smiled and shrugged. “It’s… it’s just the oddest feeling. Like there’s something I’m missing, but I know I’m not!” she hastily assured. “With every step in our dance, I feel the flow of my elements. And with your help, I now even feel the pressure of Qi as a whole! Strengthening my movements. Letting me strike with added power. I think… I think I’m almost at the point Yinzi is.”

At this she grinned at a clearly preoccupied Yinzi, who nonetheless stuck her tongue back at her.

“How are you doing, Yinzi?” Alex asked, understanding the look of awe upon the girls exquisite features, crimson eyes wide with enlightenment and wonder. And the air itself seemed to vibrate with Yinzi’s sudden increase in power and substance. Her soul far more real and vital than it had been, just moments before.

She positively beamed. “It’s finally clicking, just like you said it would! Dark, Shadow, and Fate Qi… When fused together, it all becomes a wondrous liquid sea of endless potential! I think I’m finally beginning to understand what you’re trying to teach, Alex.”

“I would think so! The way your combined Qi roared through you with that last spinning heel kick was just a breakthrough away from evolving into a Black Swan killing blow. If I hadn’t parried in time…”

“And I still broke your arm. I know, it was delightful! It gave me that same feeling I got whenever I see you practice that deliciously deadly attack!” she beamed. “I can twine it about both my Metal Qi and my Wood Qi, just like Water. And since Water buffers and strengthens both those elements, I can stack them together endlessly, just like Hao Chan does with Water and Metal alone!” Then her ears flattened and she frowned. “Of course, I think I might have strained my meridian channels just a little bit with that last attack, so I’m going to embrace my father’s art for a while.”

She immediately closed her eyes and took on a Lotus pose, before cracking one eye open. “And don’t go seducing Hao Chan and wrecking your cultivation base even if she does look absolutely delicious with her cheeks so flushed and sweat dripping down her smiling face, and a bust and backside that seem to ripen with every cleared meridian, because she was walking a seductress’s path long before you saved her, and she’s lucky Silver Swan takes advantage of those ridiculously powerful legs of hers. Because a strong strut means a strong kick, and the way she weaves around the battlefield means that no one’s hitting her chest like they would a pure strength cultivator who just stands there and takes it!”

Alex flashed a pained grin as his cracked forearm began fusing, thanks to his Eternal Fox power healing, deliberately using no more techniques than those he taught at the rate he taught it, feeling his own martial skills improve, for all that he paid a price in humility and pain.

Whatever got him stronger, he thought, even as the other half of his soul, the part of him not dreaming of actually being here, continued forging his seventh Bronze cord.

He closed his eyes, for a moment delighting in the sheer rapture of claiming and quantizing that incredible flood of spiritual potential that was now his own, countless shimmering fibers of absolute chaos and pristine white order forging a rainbow of color before fusing into another completed peace of his soul.

And the strength flooding his system filled him with a fierce sense of joy and accomplishment.

He opened his eyes to meet amber and crimson orbs smiling into his own.

“Show us?” Was all they said.

Smiling, he did so, before showing them the blueprint of his soul.

___________________________________________________________________

Alex Hammer

Class – Cultivator: Disciple of the Dual Path (Unlimited potential. This is a Divine path.)

Rank 7 Divine Bronze Cultivation Achieved!

Physical Characteristics

Strength - Silver Rank 1 (66) (Relentless Resolve and a dragon's might are now recognized as core elements of your path.)

Vitality - Silver Rank 1 (66) (Eternal Resilience and a dragon's fury are now recognized as core elements of your path.)

Quickness - Bronze Rank 5 (40) (Chaotic Unpredictability is now recognized as a core element of your path.)

Finesse - Bronze Rank 5 (40) (Mastery of Oneself is now recognized as a core element of your path.)

Spiritual Characteristics

Scholarship - 14 (Exceeds 90% of Population.)

Perception - 18 (Exceeds 99% of population.)

Willpower – 20 (Rank 1 Bronze achieved the hard way! - You have the resolve to walk in the Valley of Death and slip free of the River of Souls.)

Qi Pool – 165 (145) (Silver Rank 5 - 20 Points reserved: Divine Soul Stone anchored. Note: forged and peripheral channels now enjoy added resiliency!)

Health Points: 581

Perks

Insightful – Rank 2

Charismatic – Rank 3

Lesser Shadow Affinity - You can now see Shadow Qi! You have +5 to spot all those using Shadow to ambush or confuse you.

Draconic Ancestry. - The blood of golden dragons flows through your veins! You enjoy inhuman strength (+1 Silver Tier to Strength and Vitality once adulthood has been reached.)

You are Immune to all environmental temperature extremes. All damage from heat and flame, spiritual or mundane, are reduced in severity by 2 Damage Tiers. All cold based attacks are decreased in severity by 1 Damage Tier.

You have inherited Draconic resilience. All physical damage is reduced by 1 Tier! Note. basic regeneration enjoyed by all dragons has been superseded by Eternal Fox. Draconic Ancestry grants 20% bonus to Eternal Fox regeneration rate!

- Note. Aforementioned traits are now a part of your genetic heritage. Expect unusually strong and hot-tempered offspring when you finally marry your chosen one!

- Note! You have gained a divine enemy! The Lesser Deity Long Li now seeks your destruction for daring to fuse his blood with your own.

Fog of War is now in effect!

Neither Long Li nor any other deity hostile to your cause can detect your whereabouts within the Golden Realms, nor can any agent of any deity reveal your location.- Singular exception - Shui Jun (who may, or may not, be your enemy) who automatically senses your presence whenever you dare the River of Souls.

Golden Apple of Wisdom consumed: increased chance of cultivation breakthroughs.

Favored Skills

Golden Realms Kung Fu – Rank 7

White Crane Kung Fu – Rank 7: You may now freely channel Light Qi to aid your strikes at all times and sheathe your limbs in Dark Qi while doing so, even in the pits of Hell!

Silver Swan Kung Fu – Rank 7: You may now use this martial art in conjunction with White Crane and channel the force and fury of the sea in any and all circumstances! Reduced risk of straining meridians when using forbidden techniques!

Poison Spitting – Rank 5: This skill has evolved from knack to martial technique! You can now spit a stream of water (or caustic poison) with enough force and accuracy to knock jade hairpins free of scalps with ease!

Stealth – Rank 4

Qi Disciplines

Potency Mastery - Rank 4. (You may now safely channel a full 40% of the potency (experience) needed to gain any Bronze Rank into your skills before Vitality/Willpower checks are needed to avoid meridian strain or potential obliteration! - You may now recover an additional 4 Qi Points per second for the 4 minutes after achieving victory or a kill as you claim a portion of your foe's spiritual energy as your own!)

Dark Qi Projection – Rank 5: Adept status achieved! (You can now sheathe feet, shin, fists, and forearms in Dark Qi! You may now sheath the first foot of any weapon in Dark Qi effortlessly! With a skill check, you may sheath up to 3 feet of any weapon in Dark Qi! Dark Qi is resistant to all positive elemental Qi attacks! Dark Qi Projection can pierce all Light Qi Wards. Qi drain is in effect when used in the Mortal Realm! Adept status reduces this cost!

Adderstrike – Rank 8 (Expanded Comprehension / Efficient Strike. 0.5 Qi cost per strike. Internal Qi is undetectable and lightning fast. Extremely hard to counter. Temporary invulnerability at moment of impact.)

Bullrush – Rank 7 (Instantly move 5-70 feet in any direction. 1 Qi cost per blink. / Temporary weightlessness / Can be chained for what is effectively near instantaneous flight.)

Black Swan (Soul Cleave) – Rank 7 (You have discovered an advanced Silver Swan assassination technique! Strike with the fury of a tsunami behind your blow! This technique can shatter lesser wards. Water-Steel Qi elements involved. Cost to use: 3 Qi and risk of mild meridian strain, unless used after Silver breakthrough made, or in a storm.)

Straight Line attacks may now be incorporated into Silver Swan paradigm! Spear hand strikes may now be used with Black Swan with additional risk of Meridian Strain. You must save versus shattered bones at the moment of impact, until Silver Swan Rank 8 is achieved!

You have learned the advanced Black Swan variant Soul Cleave. You may pierce any ward or cultivation technique below Gold as you slice through your enemy’s spirit directly, channeling the River of Souls itself! Cost 5 Qi + mild meridian strain. Adept status achieved! Your repeated exposure to the River of Souls has boosted your deadliest attack to transcendent status! You may now modify Soul Cleave to pierce defenses beyond Silver! Each Rank of Gold or higher requires 5 additional Qi to pierce! You now have added resistance against being claimed by the River of Souls with repeated uses in the same day! Reaver’s Insight gained! Soul Cleave may now be executed at reduced cost! You have an additional +4 to all saving throws versus oblivion, and suffer significantly less meridian strain while channeling the River of Souls. Note: You have triangulated the River of Souls. You have increased spiritual affinity with The River of Souls. Additional survival bonuses are now in effect. Decreased cost and risk of Peripheral Meridian Strain with use of Soul Cleave.

Storm Strike – Rank 1 This Advanced Silver Swan Technique channels lightning through your blows! Water, Metal & Lightning elements involved. Cost to use: 9 Qi and risk of Lightning damage. Qi Absorption skill and increased rank will decrease this damage. Note. There is no cost penalty to multiple uses upon the same target during a single bout.

Qi Perception – Rank 7 (Sense all physical and Qi manifestations around you (like sonar!) within 70 feet with concentration. Sense spirit beasts and mystical herbs! +7 to Perception checks.)

Find Weakness – Rank 5: Adept status achieved! You enjoy an additional 100% penetration bonus against all physical defenses and body cultivation techniques when striking humanoid targets whose weaknesses you have found! (This bonus has no effect on Qi Wards.)

Soul Sight – Rank 5 (Sense the flow of Qi through any spirit beast (effortless) or cultivator (difficult)! This allows you to predict enemy cultivator or spirit beast movements and attacks. Success also allows Find Weakness to pierce Qi Wards as well as physical defenses. Adept status achieved! Specialization chosen! You may now automatically measure the karmic merit of any soul’s past (skill rank) lives with a basic skill check!

Spirit Crane Strike – Rank 6 (You can sense the specific potency of all eternal Soul Stones claimed! Adept Rank achieved! You may now pluck the eternal spirit cores of lesser deities or Jade opponents! You may now pluck even Divine Cards of Fate from the bosoms of your enemies’ souls! Your feat of triumph within the River of Souls has made the river leery of trying to claim your own! Reduced risk of being pulled into its depths with repeated uses of this technique. Note: You have triangulated the River of Souls. You have increased spiritual affinity with The River of Souls. Additional survival bonuses are now in effect.)

Water Walking (Soul Stride) – Rank 6 (Water Walking has evolved into Soul Stride! Whether a trickling stream or the River of Souls, you can stride them all with equal ease!)

Storm Flight – Rank 5 (You may now effortlessly race through the heavens during storms, over ley lines, or over wild forests 2+ miles from any major city.)

Forest Flight – Rank 5 (Move through the forest as fast and effortlessly as a flying squirrel or bird of prey! You have chosen the Diffuse Movement Perk! Your movement through the forest is as subtle as that of any jungle predator! The sounds of your passage blend in with the background noise, and your Qi signature is lost in the web of spiritual energy all around!)

Forest Sense - Rank 5 (You can now see the forest as a map in your mind’s eye that grows in exquisite detail the more ground you cover! This skill will allow you to sense landmarks of significance and see blinking red lights for known hostiles and green for friendlies up to the limits of your range in miles. Significant skill check penalty to spot those well-versed in Shadow. This skill is particularly useful for sensing predators nearby and gathering spiritual herbs. Only works in the forest.)

Artificer - Rank 6: Adept rank achieved! Specialization chosen. In moments of sublime inspiration or peril, transcendent insight may allow you to forge Cards of Fate. (This is a transcendent feat. You have no control over this feat. Limitation is in now play! No mentor or text can further increase your mastery of this skill as you have embraced an unorthodox paradigm and no mortal is capable of this specialization.)

Piercing Strike – Rank 5 (Successful use of this skill allows you to partially or completely bypass all elemental wards! Skill check modified by Rank of cultivator and strength of wards. – Note. This applies to defenses based on spiritual energy only. It has no effect on techniques naturally strengthening the resilience or durability of a Body Cultivator’s physique.)

Qi Deflection – Rank 3 (Successful use of this skill allows you to partially or completely deflect an opponent’s Qi attacks. The greater the distance between attacker and target, the easier it is to deflect the attack.)

Qi Absorption – Rank 5

Qi Flood – Rank 2

Spiritual Teacher – Rank 6

Water Shield – Rank 5

Water Strike – Rank 5 (Full compatibility achieved.)

Oak Strike – Rank 5 (Fully compatible with Silver Swan & White Crane Kung Fu.)

Thorn Shield – Rank 5

Shield of the Grove – Rank 2 (This Silver Ranked defense has all the strengths of Elemental Wood! Cost to use is 8 Qi points Per 10 minutes plus risk of Mild Meridian Strain. Shield can be maintained indefinitely without strain while cultivating. 15 seconds to summon shield, reduced by 5 seconds per each additional rank earned. – Note. Meridian strain and cost are significantly decreased with increasing Rank or ascending to Silver Giant cultivation status.)

Flame Fist – Rank 4

Fire Shield – Rank 4

Earthern Shield – Rank 4

Stone Fist – Rank 5 (Fully compatible with Silver Swan & White Crane Kung Fu.)

Avalanche – Rank 3 (This Silver ranked variant of Stone Fist can hit with force of a crashing boulder, or more! Cost to use: 8 Qi plus risk of Mild Meridian Strain. Note. Strike is Delayed due to buildup of spiritual energy. Delay, Qi expenditures, and Meridian Strain are reduced with increased Rank in skill or ascension to Silver Giant Body Cultivator.)

Summon Portal – Rank 4 (11) (Thanks to your Personal World Seed, you can now forge gates between worlds with an ease that would be the envy of most gods, if any save your patron actually bothered to talk to you! Note. Rapid summoning & boosted skill rank Perks are now in play!)

The Eternal Fox Unified Cultivation Technique – Rank 12

0.6 pounds of lost flesh will fully regenerate per hour. This is now automatic, whether meditating, sleeping, or in combat! Cuts will be healed in seconds. (Power Healing can boost this one-hundred-fold with the use of a beast core, spirit pearl, or unspent experience.) Additional breakthroughs include the following: Immune to Infernal Taint / Ageless / Pristine Form (120 Damage resisted from all caustic agents and poisons).

Metabolic Mastery Subskill is now at Adept Rank! (You can survive for a significant length of time without food, water, or oxygen! Dark Qi Metabolism will now automatically activate when needed, even when unconscious. Physiological strain from switching states and neural discomfort has been minimized!)

Note. You have successfully transcribed your Divine Technique within the Hall of Jade Emperors! Your Divine Cultivation manual and Jade Imprint has upgraded itself so as to be able to fully integrate 7 and 12 Meridian configurations into the lessons within. Additionally, Basic cultivators with imperfect meridian configurations will no longer perish, should they dare to make use of your tome!

A Path Cloaked in Mist

You have permanently gained 8 points of Impact Resistance, 4 points of Cutting Resistance, and 2 points of Piercing Resistance! Your peripheral meridian channels are now Extremely Resilient, and enjoy a total +5 modifier to all durability checks, +6 against all meridian-searing attacks based on Flame.

Biochemical Mastery – Rank 6

You are now able to near effortlessly synthesize hydrochloric acid, alcohol, and most other compounds naturally found in limited quantities within the body, as well as synthesize or cure any poison or alchemical formulae mastered, save those reliant upon silverbell or shadow blossoms. You may now effectively store said concoctions in your bladder in addition to your mouth, should other storage means prove limited. Eternal Fox synergism in effect. You no longer feel weak or dizzy synthesizing modest quantities of reagents using your own personal physical reserves! (Your body automatically regenerates depleted elements nearly effortlessly if you are otherwise in good health!)

You have 6+2+4=12 potency points remaining.

Enlightened Treasures

Unused Eternal Soul Stones

(1 Gold Rank = 7 Silver Ranks = 49 Bronze Ranks = 1 additional Divine Bronze Cord forged.)

1 Divine (Rank 1 Lesser God. 20 Qi Points reserved to anchor Pearl.)

1 Gold (Rank 5)

4 Silver (Rank 6, Rank 5, Rank 2, Rank 6)

Divine Boon: You have managed to best one Elder God and survive the ordeal! You have earned a boon (and saved a city)! A portion of his potency is now your own! Each Rank of Silver you might one day earn will cost no more experience or potency than it cost you to form your original Bronze cords!

Divine Promise: For successfully making it to Royal Phoenix Academy before the end of the month, there will be one Divine Tome of particular use to you somewhere within the stacks of the school’s libraries. Assuming you can find it, and earn access to it. – NOTE! Long Wang has played an additional Fate Card! This tome has been discovered in the stacks by one of the librarians and will now serve as the grand prize to be won in the annual competition! - Fate decrees only a chance to participate. Winning is by no means guaranteed!

Divine Fate Cards Possessed – Note! You have claimed a seat at the Table of the Gods! Your cards now rest upon the table of the gods! Cards are inviolate! Your patron is safeguarding your hand. Your cards no longer weigh down your soul! Zero Qi points reserved!

Jade Divine Fate Card: Nemesis.

You may pick one host (including yourself) and one target. Host will be permanently obsessed with killing target over all future lives. Host will automatically know where his target is at all times. Host has +8 to all stealth checks against his opponent. all body cultivation techniques, armor, and Qi Wards used by the target are nullified against host. All regeneration techniques are nullified against wounds cause by the host. Warning: once in effect, this card cannot be revoked.

Bronze Divine Fate Card: Soul Link. This card may be placed upon any target you choose. All damage taken by linked soul will instead be taken by yourself. This card may be removed any time after sunset, and may be placed upon a fresh soul after sunrise. You may surrender this card at will, so long as your words can be heard by all parties. Warning: Contenders are now in play who can channel the River of Souls! Saving throws versus oblivion must be made against all such attacks, regardless of ascension base.

Additional Divine Fate Cards that you have forged:

A Gift Freely Given: You may place your card upon the Board of Fate and claim all cards in play of this card’s rank or lower! (Rank of card – Unknown)

Seas of Titan

Category: Catastrophe.

Rank of Card – Unknown.

Specifics – Hidden by you! (You have triangulated the interface points Hall of the Gods + River of Souls! What do you think this card does?)

Divine Fate Cards Currently Affecting You

Cleaved Fates Card – You have been cleaved free of Karma’s wheel. No virtuous dead done in this or any past life will result in unexpected boons of luck, elevate your soul, or have any effect on others’ impressions of you. No ancestor of any soul you rescued in a previous life will show you unearned kindness in this one. No person you aid in this life will feel any obligation of gratitude beyond that which their temperament would normally allow. Additionally, no deed, no matter how vile, will affect your standing in any future life, risk sending your soul to hell, or have any effect on others’ impressions of you.

Note: Elder Forest takes exception, and will judge you according to your actions in the wilds, just as it has during all previous incarnations. Tree of Wisdom takes exception, and counts you as Friend and Ally. Golden fruit allowed to grow within your realm will share fruit infused with the essences of Longevity and Spiritual Potency with those deemed worthy, and will not seek to consume hapless mortals who become tangled within their roots.

Fog of War Card – You are completely invisible to all your divine enemies! All communications between them and their earthly allies will be fraught with miscommunication, effectively rendering you immune to direct retaliation! Note: your divine enemies can still attempt to strike at you indirectly through traps, enticements, or by targeting those of your race or group, though they will not be able to sense your location directly. Note: oaths are now in effect. Your enemies are no longer permitted to indiscriminately slaughter Ruidians, Kitsune, or natives for the express purpose of causing you harm. (Though they may do so as otherwise permitted by the rules of The Game.)

Transcendent locations successfully triangulated: Garden of Eve / River of Souls / Hall of The Gods

Note. These locations are now Soul-Linked. These locations are now Interface-Linked. These locations cannot be barred from you. You have added resilience and spiritual resonance at these locations.

Congratulations! Fate now recognizes you as a Rank 1 Contender!

Karma may no longer affect you, but The Game is still keeping score!

___________________________________________________________________