Since his mother’s passing, Chao’s teenage years had been far kinder to him and his father. The sense of loss was always present, but it became a gentle reminder of how sweet life could be. Chasing that feeling was no doubt a large reason why he was out so deep in the forest as evening approached. The time of year was early fall, when the leaves had only started to turn and sparsely decorated the ground. The clove mushroom could be found in good quantity when the base of a tree was sufficiently damp. Not only could they be used for food, but they had great blood cleaning properties when correctly cooked or refined into pills.

Father would usually use the first dozen he found for refinement purposes then they would eat the rest. It was a job his mother had done every season. The more he found, the tastier their meals would be for the next month or two.

Despite the danger of dire beasts and lingering spirits, he was now old enough that his father didn’t mind him exploring on his own. Even though he was only at the early stages of the nascent realm, this was his home. He knew the spirits and beasts so well that even if they eyed him as their next meal, he had his ways of sending them running with their tails between their legs before they could attack. He’d proved this to his father, so it was a freedom he now often enjoyed. It wasn’t because his strength was superior, but because he knew the creatures well and could distract or scare them off with little difficulty.

He scanned the base of an elder redwood and pushed some leaves away with the wave of his hand. The wind was steady enough that Borrowing from it was much easier than Creating it himself for such a simple job. No reason to waste his precious energy before cultivating the garden tonight. He’d have to return soon, for dusk would soon roll in.

As the leaves parted, they revealed a bunch of clover mushrooms that ranged from newly sprouted to mature. He happily helped himself. Bending down, he carefully harvested them without breaking their stems or their six rounded lips. They looked as if all the leaves of a three leaf clover had been pressed together and were joined at the base where their stems met. They had a reddish-green tint.

Before he had collected the last and smallest one, he heard the distant rustling of leaves before he pinpointed the two large concentrations of qi. It wasn’t heading right for him but would pass by in a few moments.

He didn’t hurry but hid behind the large tree before the disturbance arrived. Before it passed, he was already smelling the ice qi that proceeded it.

Besides a few dire beasts, few creatures in the forest had such a strong concentration of ice energy this early in fall. It was a puzzle that interested him, so he leaned his head out to try and catch a glimpse. The moment he did, he saw something he hadn’t in years. An ice fairy glided across the forest floor at a reckless speed.

Did mother and father’s friend return?

But the girl didn’t match the memory of the woman that had taken care of him in his youth.

Then, a second aura entered his senses, and it was much larger than the fairy’s. She was being chased. He immediately thought of the woman that had cared for him while his father had been trying to save his mother. She was a friend, and this girl might be associated with her. He couldn’t just let her get caught, but what could he do? She’d already passed and would soon be too far away for him to ever catch up.

Stepping out from behind the tree, he poured his energy into his voice as he used Borrow and Enhance laws to empower his words. He didn’t even yell but called out and directed his voice to her ears, “Lead it in this direction. I can help.”

As fast as the girl was going, she wasn’t outpacing the speed of sound. He placed himself behind the tree and called out again. “Follow my voice.”

This would be a bit of a gamble, but he was familiar with the snow fox. He’d never seen one chase a person, nor one as large or with such a powerful aura. But he knew that all he needed to do was give it the right push because they were naturally timid beasts.

He felt the girl’s aura changed directions and called out one more time to make sure she had his bearing. When she sped toward him, his first cause for concern had been answered. Now for the larger problem.

Stepping out as the girl neared, he waved his hand to make sure she saw him.

Not only did she see him, but her eyes narrowed in annoyance, and she screamed. “Are you dense? Nascent realm—you’re about to die. Run!”

Instead of fleeing behind him like he’d expected, she changed course and bound toward him as if she planned on plucking him off the ground.

“Move,” he said under his breath and suppressed his own irritation. Her unexpected reaction was forcing his hand when he’d just been gathering his energy to deal with the snow fox. He stepped forward and forcefully spun at the waist with his palms outstretched. The air between them pitched in the direction his palms waved, and a gale blew her off course where she’d land a few meters away and off to the side. He didn’t want to do this when she was so close, but it was her own fault and there was no other choice. The dire beast was already here.

Her expression didn’t change, nor did she rebuke him again, but instead of continuing to run, she turned to face the massive snow fox.

He wanted to yell at her, but he saw the injury on her back as she spun to face it. The only reason for her to stop was because of him, a random stranger, and she was going to fight this monster to protect him despite her injury. Even though she was ruining everything, it was impossible not to admire her audacity.

As the dire beast prepared its final lunge, the ice fairy lifted her hands, but he had the advantage that he’d already gathered his energy despite her disruption.

His eyes closed as his arms fell to his sides. In a gigantic blur, the outline of a dragon’s head sprang from his body to take up the space between them and the dire beast. It was traced in brilliant fire, with eyes glowing keen red.

He heard a gasp from the girl at his side as he commanded the fire dragon to open its maw. His eyes shot open. This was the hard part.

The fox was bent low and ready to attack, but the sudden appearance caused it to hesitate. As the image of a dragon opened its mouth, a blaze of sparely concentrated fire surged outward.

Chao released the real orb of fire that sped to join the mostly harmless one.

Even as the snow fox was engulfed in the flames, it didn’t flee, but the small ball of fire plunged onto its sensitive nose.

It was then that the illusion became real to the beast, but it still needed a finishing touch.

A mass of what looked like compressed air the size of the fox’s head flew in behind the fireball. It looked harmless, and to such a powerful dire beast, it likely was, but it was also something the snow fox had no chance of comprehending.

Throwing over half of his energy into Create and Enhance to generate an imitation dragon’s roar, Chao also used his small success fourth-level sound laws to Morph all of the roar’s energy into a confined space and compress it.

As it flew toward the dire fox, it was like a delicate bubble. Coming in contact with its lowered nose, the bubble popped, and all the energy that should have filled the surrounding forest erupted in the fox’s face.

Chao threw up a protective barrier to block to imitation roar, which was more proficient than any normal energy barrier, because of his sound laws. He even tried to shield the girl beside him, but she was too far away.

The entire forest ruptured in heart impeding bass as the sound blast was no longer confined. The leaves and branches in the immediate area, even though they were dozens of meters up, shot out as they were forced by the powerful blast.

Taking the full brunt of the dragon’s roar, the snow fox was rattled down to its blood and marrow as its whole body shook. Jets of blood spurt out of the multiple wounds on its back.

It had nearly fallen limp, but before the burst of sound had even ended, it yelped as its skittish nature resurfaced and it darted away.

Chao followed it with his perceptions and made sure it had left the immediate area before dropping the illusion of the fire dragon. “It should be gone now,” he said, turning to face the girl.

She’d collapsed.

Hurrying over to her side, he saw that the wound on her back was much larger than he’d suspected and had freshly opened. The stain of blood on her dress was slowly spreading.

Wincing to himself, he was pretty sure it was his sound blast that had reopened her injury. He didn’t hesitate to push her over onto her stomach and made sure her airway was clear before quickly Borrowing from the overturned ground nearby and mixing the dark earth with moisture he Created to form a thick, mud-like clay.

Quickly, he filled the wound to get the bleeding to stop. This was the most obvious step, but he didn’t know what to do next. He didn’t have any good recovery pills, and the mushrooms wouldn’t help. Remembering his thick overshirt he wore when the seasons got cooler, he retrieved it from his spatial ring.

He had the cheapest of spatial rings, with only a couple cupboards worth of storage space, but it came in handy for foraging and housework. He also had his short sword and practice spear inside, but they’d offer little help now and certainly would’ve been of no use against the snow fox.

He tied the shirt under her arm and around her wounded shoulder as best as he could. He’d have to carry her with his arm under the mud-covered wound so that the pressure would help to keep her wound from opening again.

With his current cultivation, hauling her wasn’t difficult, but it was a long hike and he had to be careful to not move his supporting arm as much as possible. He then rolled her back toward himself. His arm now lined up with her injury, and her wounded shoulder was snug against his forarm.

This should work…

Scooping his other arm under her legs, he pulled her to him and rose to his feet. The only choice was to take her home. It was likely she would recover in a few days on her own, but he didn’t know how much blood she’d lost or if she’d lost any blood essence that carried her lifeforce. There were treatments for such misfortune, but the sooner she was treated, the better the outcome.

He headed toward home at a steady trudge. Any faster and he was afraid it would jostle her wound.

Now that the excitement was over, he had a chance to really look at her and was startled at what he saw. She wasn’t the first fairy, or female cultivator of the nascent realm or higher, that he’d seen from one of the large sects and not even the first ice fairy. He’d been at the local town during recruitment season, but it was the first time seeing anyone like her. At first glance, she had the perfect complexion that yin-rich cultivation like that from the ice element provided, but it didn’t stop there. There wasn’t a blemish visible on her person. The pores of her skin weren’t even noticeable, as if she’d been smoothed out by a master sculptor. The symmetry of her face was just as flawless, and even her eye lashes seemed to be drawn with brush strokes from an artisan’s hand. It was almost creepy to see a face that neared such a level of perfection. It made Chao wonder if she was even human.

Despite his misgivings, he continued at as brisk a pace as he dared. Soon, he’d be home and father would be able to tell for sure if she’d be okay. As he examined himself, he realized he’d used far too much energy to go through his ritual of summoning the lingering spirits to cultivate his mother’s garden tonight. But that couldn’t be helped. Helping this girl who looked to be about his age, even if she were only a stranger, was something his mother would have insisted on.