Two hours later, I stumbled to the path leading into the city, where an officious gate guard stopped me. “Greetings, travelers to the blessed City of the Sunrise Moon,” the man bowed his head slightly. “Do you seek entrance into our grand city?”

“I do – uh, noble guardian,” I said tiredly. It had been a long trek around the borders of the city. The two wolf-creatures I’d faced were only the first of the beasts that attacked me as I struggled over boulder fields, through stands of trees, and across open fields of waist-high grass. I was wounded, exhausted, and despite constantly cultivating, my qi pool was down to about 25% of its maximum.

Even worse, Bai still hadn’t woken up, even when beasts attacked her or tried to drag her off – which happened with alarming frequency. It was as if the monsters knew that she was helpless and tried to take her while I was busy fighting other creatures. For all I knew, that was the case; I had no clue how intelligent monsters were on this world. They didn’t seem terribly intelligent, but then, wolves used tactics like that on Earth, and the beasts of Kuan were probably about that clever.

The guard examined the unmoving woman draped across my shoulder. Fortunately, she was no longer nude. My stolen robe had gotten too ripped up to be easily wearable anymore, so I took a few minutes to slip it onto her body. Honestly, it made me feel a lot less creepy carrying her, and I’m sure it looked less odd to the curious guard. “By what right do you claim entry into the City of the Sunrise Moon?”

“I’ve brought bounties,” I said, relying on Sara to translate my words into something less informal. Fortunately, I’d considered how I’d enter the city already, so I took the heads from every monster I killed and stored them in the ring Jing’s mother gave me. It was a messy job using only Banisher’s knife, but I got it done. “Also, I found this woman badly wounded by beasts. I gave her a restoration pill, but I’d like to get her examined by a physician.”

The man nodded. “I will bring the magistrate to check your bounties,” he said. “I fear that there are few physicians available this time of night, however. You may wish to take her directly to her school and let them see to her.”

“What school is she from?” I had a feeling my entry would be spread about as gossip, and my hope was that if I feigned ignorance of the school, the stories wouldn’t attach me to an possible intrusion into it.

“The School of Earthly Fires, judging from her robes,” the guard replied. “If you are granted entry, ask any citizens, and they can direct you to it.”

“Thanks,” I nodded to the man.

The magistrate I met was a different one from the first time I’d entered the city. He checked the dozen heads I dumped on the table quickly and without issue. “These are worth eight wood qi stones and four metal qi stones,” he told me at last, reaching into a pouch at his hip and producing the said stones. “This bounty is sufficient to gain entry into the great City of the Sunrise Moon.”

“Is there a minimum bounty I need to gain entry?” I asked curiously. No one had mentioned that last time, but then, I hadn’t asked, either. I couldn’t count on people to tell me everything I didn’t know; I needed to get better about asking.

“Five wood-ranked beasts if you are not a citizen of this great city,” the man said absently. “Two if you are.”

“Thanks,” I bowed my head to the guy, then walked past and slipped back into the city of the Sunrise Moon. I didn’t exactly remember where our travel house was in relation to the gates, but Sara did, and she led me through the streets unerringly. I got a few strange looks, probably because of the cargo I was carrying, but fortunately this late at night – or early in the morning by that point – there were very few people out and about, and no one tried to stop me. I’d half expected guards or police to come running, but after a moment’s thought, I realized I hadn’t seen anything like that in the entire city. I didn’t know if that meant they didn’t exist or were just so spread out I hadn’t noticed them, but it certainly worked in my favor.

As I neared the travel house, I paused, thinking. I was pretty sure that there was no way the house’s guard was going to let me bring an unknown, unconscious woman into the place, especially one wearing the robe of a known school. That would smack of trouble, and the man’s whole job was to keep trouble out of the travel house. I started looking down alleys until I found one with a pile of what looked like discarded timber in it. It took me a few minutes to quietly arrange the wooden slats over the girl’s slumbering body so that she wasn’t being crushed but also wasn’t easily visible. Once that was done, I headed into the travel house.

Guardian-at-the-Door eyed me suspiciously as I entered, looking up and down at my torn and ragged clothes. I simply gave him a nonchalant shrug, holding my hands out to the side. “Hunting bounties. I have to be able to keep affording this place, right?”

He grunted and opened the door for me, and I passed swiftly upstairs. I considered stopping at the baths to clean the blood, sweat, and grime from myself, but I decided that could wait. There was an unconscious, basically helpless woman waiting outside after all. It would suck if I brought her all that way only to have something terrible happen because I wanted to get clean.

Rather than head to my room, I went directly to Jing’s and called softly to her, not wanting to wake anyone else up. Her door slid open at once, and she looked at me with an expression of obvious relief.

“Xu Xing, you return,” she said with a sigh, her body visibly relaxing as she saw me. She glanced up and down at me, although I couldn’t tell how much she could see in the darkness of the hallway. “Are you well?”

“More or less. I need to get Shi Lo, though. Would you come with me to my room?”

“As you wish,” she nodded, stepping out into the hall.

Shi Lo was happier to see me when I slid open the door and stepped into the room. She rose from her bed and dropped to her knees before me, her head bowed low. “Master,” she said emotionally. “I am overjoyed that you return.”

“Missed me?” I grinned at the woman.

“Greatly, master. When your companion returned without you, I admit that I felt some concern, despite your prowess.”

I looked over at Jing. “You didn’t tell her I was okay?”

“How could I say such when I did not know it, Xu Xing? You descended into the depths alone. I did not know if you would survive, much less return to us. I would not give your servant a false hope.”

“That’s – very fair,” I admitted before turning back to Shi. “Can you come with me?” I asked her. “I need directions somewhere in the city.”

“Can it not wait for dawn?” Jing asked. “We have much to discuss, do we not?”

“If you come with us, we can talk on the way,” I replied. “It’s a bit urgent, though.” I looked around at the neighboring rooms. “It’s nothing I can talk about here. Just…please come with me, both of you.”

Guardian gave the three of us another odd look as we passed back out of the house, and both Jing and Shi gave me an even stranger look when I showed them Bai Ren’s slumbering body.

“Why did you bring this one with you, Xu Xing?” Jing asked curiously. “She is a student of the School of Earthly Fires; will they not miss her?”

“Not right away, no,” I shook my head. “Maybe not at all.”

“Do you seek another servant, master?” Shi asked me in an oddly neutral tone. “Do you believe she will agree to such?”

“No, nothing like that. She – remember the Chief back in the cursed quarry? Well, she had the same thing done to her that was done to him. I think she’s been drugged, and I need to get her to a physician to wake her up.”

“My mother might be able to help us,” Jing pointed out. “She is very skilled.”

“Absolutely. Do you know how to find her?” I asked.

Jing nodded. “She stays within the Amber Teardrop Society’s Inner Hall,” she said.

“Great,” I sighed. “Any idea how we get there? That’s probably in the Inner City, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but she gave me a token by which I might summon her through the Outer Hall.”

“I know of this place, master,” Shi bowed her head toward me. “I can guide you there.”

“Lead on, then, Shi Lo,” I said, hoisting the unconscious woman back to my shoulders.

Shi led us back to the main boulevard leading away from the gate, then turned toward the crystal spires that comprised the Inner City. As we moved deeper into the city, the buildings around us became larger and grander, most having three or more stories. Several buildings were set back from the road behind a wall or fence that blocked casual observation, and most had a sigil or emblem carved into the gates leading within. I assumed those were the symbols of whatever sect or society called the building home, but for all I knew, they were warnings written in some language that Sara hadn’t managed to translate, yet.

Shi guided us to a building that was larger than most. It was also unusual in that most of it was made of stone rather than wood or bamboo, as the surrounding structures tended to be. A stone wall blocked my view of anything but the highest parts of the building. Dark smoke rose from multiple chimneys that jutted from the roofline, and the air surrounding the building had an odd, medicinal smell. I couldn’t make out the building’s color in the darkness, but it looked to be a shade of yellow or orange.

Shi stopped before the closed wooden gates and picked up a leather-covered mallet that hung to one side. She struck the gate three times, the hammer booming hollowly on the wooden surface, then dropped the mallet and stood back. We waited in silence for a couple of minutes before I heard the sound of a wooden bar sliding to one side. The gate opened a tiny amount, and a man’s face peeked out from it. He was blinking rapidly, and I saw him suppress a tired yawn. Obviously, we’d woken the man up, and he didn’t look too happy about it.

“Who comes to the Society of the Amber Teardrop at such an accursed hour?” the man hissed quietly. “All proper citizens are deep in their beds at this time!”

“Forgive me, noble sir,” Shi Lo bowed to the man. “We have come seeking a member of your great society, a woman named…” She glanced back at us questioningly.

“Dancer-in-Flames,” Jing supplied helpfully.

The man’s eyes narrowed. “Dancer-in-Flames is a senior master of this society,” he said acidly. “She does not see random strangers from off the street. Goodbye.” The man made to close the gate, but Jing moved swiftly to stop him, slamming her hand into the gate and holding it open. The man’s eyes widened. “You dare!” he gasped. “The masters of the City of the Sunrise Moon will have you banished for this! When I report your actions…”

The man fell silent as Jing produced a simple, bronze medallion and held it up before his face. “Dancer-in-Flames is my mother,” she said quietly. “She gave me this token herself and said that should I need her, she would come. Do you still deny us entry?”

The man’s face took on a stunned expression as he stared at the medallion, and he shook his head emphatically. “N-no, practitioner,” he said hastily, stepping back and pulling the gate wide. “Please, be welcome in the Amber Teardrop Society.” He bowed low and stepped aside as the three of us entered.

I looked around once we were through the gate, but in the darkness, I couldn’t make out much. The man led us along a short, stone path toward the building that loomed above us. Grass grew on the sides of the path, and I could see what looked like low hedges or perhaps stone walls beyond that, but everything else was bathed in darkness. As we neared the building, I could see that it was amber colored; I couldn’t tell if that was the stone or paint, though.

We passed through a set of double doors and into what looked like a receiving hall. The floors and walls were stone, like the rest of the building. Glowing orbs hanging from the vaulted ceiling overhead dimly lit the space, revealing a simple corridor with multiple doors along it. A wooden desk rested on the floor to my right, beside the doors leading into the building, and I assumed that the man had been sitting there – no doubt sleeping at the desk – when Shi banged on the gate.

The man turned to us as he shut the door behind us. “Welcome to the Amber Teardrop Society’s Outer Hall,” he said, bowing to Jing once more. “I am Tamer-of-the-Crimson-Flame, and it will be my honor to guide you within these halls.”

Jing turned and gestured at Bai Ren’s slumbering form on my shoulders. “We seek care for this woman,” she said. “We believe that she has been forced into slumber by medicines, and I believe that my mother could easily rouse her.”

“If you would follow me this way, I will examine the young woman,” Tamer bowed his head. He led us down the hall, and I noticed a multitude of small brass plaques hanging from the walls. I glanced at one and saw that it was nothing more than a name; were these the members of the society? Probably, as that made the most sense.

We passed through a wooden door and followed Tamer down a series of hallways, until he led us into a room with a single bed in the center raised three feet off the ground. “Please, lay the woman here,” he said, indicating the bed. I gladly deposited Bai on the firm but yielding mattress, then stepped back as Tamer gently but firmly pushed me out of the way.

I watched as the man lifted Bai’s eyelids to peer beneath, felt her pulse, pressed on her chest and stomach, and kneaded her arms and legs. He leaned over and sniffed at her mouth before standing up and nodding decisively.

“Sleep without Dreams,” he declared. “A powerful medicine, but one that I can easily counter. However…” He hesitated. “I am uncertain if I should.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Sleep without Dreams is a potent medicine, not only because it produces a slumber that nearly resembles death, but also because it closes the meridians and halts all flow of qi within the body,” he explained. “There is something – strange about this woman’s qi. Should I release her from her sleep, it might do her great harm.”

I nodded; that made sense. Banisher had shut down the woman’s cultivation while he performed his grisly work; maybe, since she hadn’t started cultivating yet, it would be possible to remove the core from her safely. I didn’t know, but I had a feeling Tamer wouldn’t know, either.

“Could you please ask Dancer-in-Flames to come look at her, then?” I replied. “Maybe she’ll have more insight.”

“Most certainly, she would,” the man agreed. “I will send the message, but it may be some time before she arrives. I will show you where you may rest while you await her arrival.”

“Thank you, noble master of the Amber Teardrop,” Shi bowed to the man. “Your courtesy is a credit to your society and will certainly be remarked upon.”

“I but serve the Amber Teardrop Society as I am able,” the man replied humbly, although I caught the flash of pride on his face.

The room Tamer led us to was a simple one. It had two beds, a few cushions that I guessed acted as chairs, and no window. It was lit by one of the glowing globes overhead, but with that turned off, the room would be utterly dark. He bowed to Jing once more as he led us into the room.

“Please wait here while I contact Dancer-in-Flames,” he said respectfully. “I will return to you when she arrives.”

“Thank you,” Jing bowed her head to the man. He pulled the door shut, leaving us to some semblance of privacy, thanks to the stone walls and lack of window.

“Xu Xing, you must tell me how you came upon that woman,” Jing said, but I shook my head and held up a hand.

“I’ll tell you everything once your mother arrives,” I told her. “Until then, it’s safer not to say anything.”

Jing sighed. “Very well. I will attempt to meditate while we wait, but I fear it will be difficult.” She looked distastefully at the walls. “All this stone will certainly hamper my cultivation.”

“Yeah, I won’t be doing much without a window either,” I agreed. “Still, I don’t have anything better to do.” I looked at Shi Lo, noticing the dark circles beneath her eyes. “Do you want to try to sleep?”

“If it is possible, master,” the woman nodded. “I am quite tired, in truth.”

I gave the woman one of the beds, while Jing took the other. I settled down on the cushions and closed my eyes. Before I considered cultivating, though, I pulled up the notifications that had been blinking in the edge of my vision since Jing and I fought the first guardian in the school.

Skill: Weapon Focus (Unarmed) has gained a level.

Weapon Focus (Unarmed): Adept 1

You Have Gained a New Skill!

Skill: Disguise

Rank: Neophyte 1

Increases your chance of successfully hiding your identity.

Skill: Disguise has gained a level.

Disguise: Adept 3

Benefits: +1% chance per rank to fool another while disguised, +0.5 per rank to opposed checks versus Perception.

You have Gained a New Skill!

Skill: Stealth

Rank: Neophyte 1

Increase your chances of being unseen and unnoticed.

Skill: Stealth has gained a level.

Stealth: Initiate 4

Benefits: +1% per rank to chances to hide or move silently.

Unassigned XP: 2,300

Unassigned XP can be divided between the following Professions:

Pugilist, Celestial Guardian, Inquisitor (max 92 XP)

You have 24 hours to assign unused XP, or they will be randomly assigned.

I immediately assigned the 92 XP to Inquisitor and the rest – which amounted to 1,755 XP after losing some of it to Inquisitor – and was pleased to see the next notification.

Profession: Inquisitor has gained a level!

New Level: 2

For every level of Inquisitor, you gain:

Reason, Intuition, Perception, Charm +2

Prowess, Vigor, Celerity, and Skill +1

6 Skill Points

Profession: Celestial Guardian has gained a level!

New Level: 3

For every level of Celestial Guardian, you gain:

Reason, Intuition, Perception, Prowess, Celerity, and Skill +1

3 Skill Points

As I read the notifications, a tingling sensation spread through my body. I could feel my muscles growing and thickening, my body awareness growing more certain. All my senses sharpened slightly; I could smell the two women in the room – and my own unwashed self – more acutely, and could hear faint sounds coming from beyond the door. I hadn’t felt the changes when I leveled up previously, but then, I’d never gained that many points to my stats at once before, either.

I now had nine skill points to play with, and I opened up my sheet to determine where to put them. As I did, I frowned as I noticed something unusual.

Skills:

Unarmed Combat (Adept 7) Weapon Focus (Unarmed, Adept 1)

Qi Absorption (Adept 5) Qi Cycling (Adept 6)

Disguise (Adept 3) Stealth (Initiate 4)

“Hey, Sara, how is Unarmed Combat at Adept 7 and Qi Cycling at Adept 6? I thought each skill level was only five ranks?”

Her image appeared before me, even with my eyes closed. “Oh, no, sorry for the confusion. It’s true that the early levels – Neophyte and Initiate – both go have five ranks, but after that, each level has more. Adept has ten ranks, Savant has fifteen, and Master has twenty-five. Basically, as you go up, it’s harder to gain new ranks.”

I sighed as I did some quick mental math. I had nine skill points. I could bring Unarmed Combat and Qi Cycling both to the Savant level, or I could bring my two qi skills to the peak of the Adept ranks by using all nine. I didn’t know what would be better, in all honesty.

“Okay, help me out here, Sara,” I thought silently. “What will be better for me: moving Unarmed Combat to Savant, or getting both qi skills close to Savant?”

“Well, I can’t really tell you what you should do, here, John,” she shook her head. “Here’s what I can say. Getting Unarmed Combat to the Savant rank will have a lasting benefit, because you’ll be able to carry that skill from world to world. At the same time, you advance it pretty quickly, so it’ll get there on its own eventually.

“From what I’ve been able to work out, to advance your cultivation rank from Metal to Water, you need three things. First, you need to be Savant ranked in Qi Absorption and Qi Cycling. Second, you need an advanced cultivation spiral, one that can handle the extra energy you’ll be taking in. Third, you need to have your dantian filled as completely as possible. When all of those happen, you’ll spontaneously rank up to Water.”

I considered my options. “And what will that mean, ranking up to Water? What will that give me?”

“Each cultivation rank makes your qi denser and more potent. From what I’ve been able to work out by examining monsters and cultivators, though, when you reach Water rank, your qi permeates your entire body. It’s as if you’re constantly filled with your qi and never have to call it up; it will always be there to shield you and add to your attacks. At that point, you’ll probably do more damage without those brass knuckles than with them, in fact.”

“Okay. So, if I boost my qi skills to Adept 10, how long will it take to rank them to Savant 1?”

“It depends. I think that if you can be outside at sunrise, maybe high up where the false moon will touch you, you might be able to do it all at once.”

“That might be doable. When is sunrise?”

“About an hour.” She obviously sensed my surprise. “You took a lot longer than you expected to get into and out of that school, John.”

“I guess so.” I quickly added my skill points to Qi Absorption and Qi Cycling, bringing them both to Adept 10. When that was done, I rose to my feet. Shi didn’t move – from her slow breathing, she’d already fallen asleep – but Jing’s eyes snapped open immediately.

“What are you doing, Xu Xing?” she asked suspiciously.

“I’m going outside to cultivate,” I told her with a smile.

She rose as well. “Then I will join you. I cannot cultivate in this enclosed space.”

I shook my head. “I’m pretty sure Tamer will let me leave, but he won’t be happy if you do. You’re the reason he let us in, and I’ll bet he’s afraid of what your mother will say if she gets here, and you’re gone.”

Jing huffed in frustration. “Xu Xing, I have a debt to you,” she complained. “How can I repay it if you will not allow me to remain at your side?”

“I promise, I’m not going to do anything dangerous,” I chuckled. “I’m just going outside, where I can take advantage of the moon and the sun when it comes up. That’s it.”

Her face kept its frown. “It is unfair that you will be able to freely cultivate, and I will not,” she pointed out. “I should not be so restricted.”

I grinned as an idea popped into my head. “You know what? You’re right. Let’s go find Tamer and see if he can’t find you a better place to cultivate.”

I reluctantly woke poor Shi Lo and told her we were going to go cultivate; the exhausted woman merely nodded sleepily and dropped back into slumber. I felt bad for waking her, but I would have felt worse if she woke up alone in the room. Once she was back to sleep, I led Jing back through the hallways to the front entrance, where Tamer sat on his cushion, his eyes closed, faintly snoring.

“God, he’s my favorite type of security guard,” I thought with a sigh. “He doesn’t even try to do his job, does he?”

“I don’t know if he’s a guard or more of a receptionist,” Sara pointed out. “He’s not a strong cultivator; if someone tried to break in here, he wouldn’t be able to stop them. I’m guessing that the society relies on its name and reputation for security.”

“I hope so, because if he’s all that’s keeping the School of Earthly Fires from coming in here and reclaiming Bai – and maybe getting some vengeance on me – then maybe we should be back in the travel house.”

I reached out and gently shook the man. Tamer’s eyes fluttered awake, and he sputtered as he looked around frantically. When he saw us, a flash of irritation crossed his face, but he quickly stilled it.

“How may I assist you?” he asked.

“I require a better space for cultivation,” Jing said, her chin raised as if daring him to argue with her. “I am an air cultivator, and the stone box you placed us in is unfit for my cultivation.”

“Of course, practitioner,” he yawned, rising wearily to his feet. “Come with me, and I will show you to a place where you can cultivate freely.”

I stifled a grin as he led Jing back into the building; as I’d suspected, he didn’t give me a second glance. She was the important one of the group as far as he was concerned; I was just a hanger-on. I walked out the door and onto the stone path, intending to head out the gate, but I paused and looked up at the massive building behind me.

I allowed my grin to fully spread across my face as I channeled wood qi into my hands and feet. Immediately, short, sharp thorns grew out of my fingers and toes. I walked a bit awkwardly to the side of the building and slipped my thorny fingertips into a joint between two of the stone blocks. There didn’t appear to be mortar holding the bricks together; they were either interlocked or simply stacked atop one another, their weight holding them in place. I tested my grip by lifting my feet off the ground; the thorns held, and my newly upgraded strength was easily equal to the task of supporting my weight.

It took me ten minutes to scale the side of the building. I had to move slowly and carefully, slipping my toes into a joint and making sure they held before reaching up with my hand to grab the next one. I’d free-climbed rock faces before, but never a sheer wall like this. It was strangely exhilarating, and as I climbed, I caught myself humming the Spiderman theme song. I couldn’t help but laugh quietly; somehow, I’d become a superhero in this world.

Of course, I realized, there were also supervillains in this world, and at least one of them was far more powerful than me. That was the problem with superpowers; they were cool to have, but they were less cool when other people had them, too. It was even worse when those people wanted to use them against me – or would have if they knew I existed, I suppose.

The roof of the Outer Hall was steeply sloped, but I found a spot with my back to a chimney that let me face the crystal spires of the Inner City. I closed my eyes and began to cultivate. It wasn’t easy; the moon was dropping below the horizon, and the sun wasn’t up yet, so I really only had starlight to cultivate with. Still, I kept at it, gamely pulling in and cycling qi as quickly as I could.

I felt it the moment the sun crested the horizon. The blazing disc’s fire seemed to streak forth into me, pouring into my meridians and filling my cultivation spiral. The soothing warmth spread throughout my body, and I sighed in relief as my qi pool steadily rose. A moment later, that sense of relief vanished.

A massive wave of celestial energy slammed into me as the false moon rose in the sky. I took a deep breath, then pulled on it, actively drawing the power into my meridians and funneling it down into my spiral. For a moment, I thought that was a mistake. I was far closer to the energy than I’d ever been before, and with my clothing in tatters, a great deal more of my skin was exposed to it. The power roared into my body in a flood, searing my meridians and tearing into my spiral. I felt a surge of panic; if my spiral shattered, what would that do to me?

“It can handle it, John,” Sara appeared before me, her voice urgent. “You have to hold it. Funnel it down into your dantian and press it into your core. You need every drop of power the false moon will give you, trust me.”

I gritted my teeth and drew more of the power into myself. The energy raged in my meridians; there was too much of it to feed into my spiral at once, so I cycled it through my body, looping it around over and over until I could push it into my spiral. Purified energy spilled into my dantian in a flood, and I carefully layered it into the compressed pattern Sara had shown me. The golden energy thickened in my core, the flood of vaporous power condensing into drops of liquid power that slowly filled my center.

“Don’t let any of it escape,” Sara said. “You should have just enough if it, but if you lose any, you’ll have to wait and try again tomorrow morning.”

Later, I couldn’t recall how long the cultivation really lasted. It might have been seconds or minutes, but eventually, the flood of power pouring into me faded. It didn’t matter; my entire body overflowed with energy. Every meridian was filled to the brim with power. My spiral spun and churned, trying desperately to process the energy being fed to it. The excess qi tried to flee my body, but I held it tightly, constantly redirecting it back into my channels. The qi poured into my dantian like coffee filling a pot. My qi pool was full and overfull, and my body trembled with the excess of power roaring through me.

The energy surging in my meridians finally ebbed as the last of the power swirled into my spiral. My dantian felt tight as the energy trickled slowly but inexorably into it, pressing down into liquid form. It was a painful sensation, as if I had to vomit, and my instinct was to release some of that power back into my body to relieve the growing pressure.

“Hold onto it, John,” Sara urged. “You’re almost there!”

I resisted the temptation to purge the painful swelling in my dantian and watched as the last of my qi dribbled down from my spiral into my overfull core. The pain was incredible; it felt like I was about to explode. I clenched my jaw against the growing agony, though, and held the power within me. The pressure built intolerably, swelling as my dantian stretched beneath the influx of qi. I felt it shudder and tremble, building to a terrible climax…

Suddenly, my dantian collapsed as power surged out of it, flooding my body once more. Liquid qi raced into my meridians and soaked out into my flesh. Every cell in my body burned as the power seared through me. It filled my bones, saturated my muscles, and buzzed along my nerves. I bit back a scream of agony as my entire body seemed to liquefy beneath the heat of my qi. I shuddered uncontrollably, and I felt my vision darkening at the edges. I fought to stay conscious, pushing aside the pain.

As suddenly as it had flared within me, the pain winked out, and I found myself sprawled across the rooftop, panting in exertion. I pulled myself to a sitting position, expecting my body to be sore and pain-wracked, but to my surprise, I felt perfectly fine, if incredibly tired. Every muscle moved smoothly and effortlessly, and I felt both light and strangely solid at once. I glanced down at myself, but everything looked normal. My flesh was whole and unmarked, my muscles rippled beneath my skin, and nothing seemed burned or damaged despite the pain I’d undergone.

I sat back and leaned against the chimney, closing my eyes as exhaustion swept over me. A quick glance at my status explained why I felt so worn out; my qi pool was utterly empty. A few moments ago, it stood at almost 500 out of a maximum of 249; now, it rested securely at zero.

Despite all that, when I pulled up the notification blinking in my vision, I couldn’t help but grin.

Skill: Qi Absorption has gained a level.

Qi Absorption: Savant 1

Benefits: Qi regeneration +3% per rank

Skill: Qi Cycling has gained a level.

Qi Cycling: Savant 1

Benefits: +3% bonus per rank to all techniques

Your Cultivation Rank has Increased!

Cultivation Rank: Water

Your Maximum Qi Pool has increased. You are resistant to qi-based effects of the Metal and Wood Ranks. Your Qi-based attacks and techniques have improved effectiveness.

New Ability Unlocked: Qi Body

As a Water-ranked practitioner, you have a body that is saturated with qi. Your qi will now act to aid you in all actions. You also gain benefits based on your qi type.

Celestial Qi Benefits: You heal 50% faster than normal. Your attacks are 25% more effective against mortal-ranked defenses. Your defenses are 25% more effective against mortal-ranked attacks.

Liquid Qi Benefits: All Qi Body benefits are increased by 50%.

Now, that was a hell of an upgrade.