Jack didn’t really feel any significant changes in his body, but he wondered how those people that had injuries or other restrictions felt after being cured.

His new clothes were already drenched in his own sweat, as he scanned every direction for threats. There were only giant douglas-fir trees in every direction, and barring the trail he had used to arrive at his destination, Jack couldn’t identify any immediate landmarks he could use to map the area around him. What Jack’s panic-addled brain had missed earlier but now realised, was that the trees seemed a quarter taller than they should have been, and the foliage relatively denser.

Jack had already noticed the minimap in the corner of his vision, and found it slightly distracting. But all it gave him was further bad news: the citadel seemed to lead deeper into the forest, and not away from. He had to make a choice: return back to the base camp and hope other hikers got a similar idea, banding together with them, or push for the citadel without any support and most likely die a painful death.

How did these enemies he was supposed to face detect opponents? Was it a sight? Sound? Smell? All of the above? Would running expose him to every monster in the nearby vicinity? There just wasn’t enough information, and Jack could feel it in his bones: it was intentional.

Jack mentally asked Luna if she felt any direction was safe, in hopes that her predatory instincts might serve her better. She just stood there, but did not budge or mewl in response, not covering in fear either.

“Guess that’s a no,” he thought, figuring he’d never have been allowed to appoint Luna as her familiar in the first place if she could give him a definite edge over other ‘cultivators’.

Multiple thoughts flashed in Jack’s mind, until he decided that he could tarry no longer: He would make the three hour trek back to the campgrounds, and then assess the situation. Sword clenched in his right hand, force shield projected in his left, Jack slowly tread upon the grass, taking special care to avoid crushing any dead branches afoot, footsteps weaving from the cover of one douglas-fir tree to the next.

He ordered the system to make the minimap less visible, and it complied by reducing its size and opacity.

An eerie silence seemed to have engulfed the forest, with Jack only able to hear the sound of his own muffled footsteps and the sound of his breathing. His cat moved with a natural grace, trailing behind him by only a few metres.

The Qi shield consumed one point of qi every thirty minutes, and regenerated one point in every one hour so Jack wasn’t too worried about consumption right now. He just wanted to make sure he was fast enough to react when the time came.

Minutes passed in silence, and Jack and a sense of danger was assaulting him from every direction- he swerved his neck around, but all he saw was a dense forest that offered increasingly poor visibility. He could try to think from the perspective of a trained soldier, but that didn’t make him one, and for all he knew half his conjectures were completely wrong.

‘Shit, focus,’ Jack chided himself, not knowing when he’d fallen into a cycle of self doubt and cynicism.

The sound of rustling bushes broke him out of his reverie, snapping him to attention. His heart rate spiked, and he immediately tried to identify the source of the noise. He could hear the rhythmic thumping of a four legged animal or creature striking against the ground, and Jack decided to instantly make a break for the nearest douglas-fir tree, that was only a few metres away from him. He now knew that the sound came from his behind, and peered from behind the cover of the tree- sword and shield at the ready.

Jack almost froze at the sight of a red furred wild boar that easily cleared four feet, with unnatural looking leg muscles that resembled more of an oxen than a boar, with a sharp, protruding horn jutting out of its forehead that was easily fifteen inches long and extremely sharp, and eerie pitch black eyes that were fixated on him.

If that were not all, perhaps he would not have frozen. Seated on top of it was a shrivelled, green humanoid creature perhaps four feet two or three, with a long pointy nose, slightly oval shaped skull, murky brown eyes a necklace made of animal bones and a spear, that it held in its right hand alone, hoisted over his head. What did that stance mea-

His instincts screamed at him and he hurriedly dropped to his knees behind the cover of the tree. Jack felt the spear whizzing past by him, feeling a light breeze blow past his right ear. Before he had time to collect himself, a loud slam rocked the douglas fir tree that had just saved his life, startling him again.

From the looks of it, the boar had rammed itself into the tree. This was a chance as good as any, and Jack knew he wouldn’t get another one. Running away seemed like a monumentally poor decision, for he had no idea if that green creature had more projectile weapons at his disposal. Jack felt surprisingly little moral resistance towards killing an alien that had just tried to impale his head on a spear.

He stabilised himself on his two feet and flanked the tree from the right with resolve running through his veins. He moved with his qi shield guarding his chest, and the sword held in a lunging posture, to arrive at his destination seconds later.

“What the…,” thought Jack, as he saw the red wild boar collapsed next to the tree, its horn embedded in its centre, but the green humanoid was nowhere to be found. Something was off, but he realised too late.

Anger coursed through Jack, but it didn’t belong to him. It was coming from his familiar bond, and the next second a combative, sharp meow rang out from behind him. Jack’s eyes went wide, as he realised that Luna had not run away as he had instructed her to.

He turned around, only to see his cat leaping at the humanoid green creature who was almost successful in his attempt to sneak up on Jack.

“No!” Jack screamed, as the creature roared in frustration, swatting Luna aside with the pommel of a short sword.

Jack felt a primal rage awakening within him, staring at the creature with bloodshot eyes. He was angry, far angrier than he had ever been in his life. He wanted to scream and destroy, but he would not give into that impulse. Anger was no more than a source of motivation, a very effective one at that. Remember the objective. Channel the rage. Compress it. Harness it. And finally, use it. He exhaled, and he was eerily calm. He had fallen for one ambush, and he would not make that mistake twice.

Scan the ground for any irregularities. None. Then, move. Jack jogged towards his target, merely separated by six or seven metres, his sword raised and poised to strike. Jack got closer and closer to his target, but even knowing he had the reach advantage he did not take any action to strike. He just stared in those murky brown eyes with his own green pupils, waiting to see who would flinch first. Five metres, four metres, three metres, Jack still did not make any move to strike. Finally, the goblin flinched and moved forward to strike with its inferior reach, slashing downward.

Jack stopped at that exact moment, as this was the exact scenario he wanted to see- with his significant height and reach advantage, he could tell where the green humanoid would strike. He caught the blow on his qi shield, sparks flying as his shield rippled from the impact, but held- Jack exploded in a burst of motion, using his right leg to kick the green humanoid’s legs as hard as he could. The green humanoid lost its grip over its short sword as it fell sideways, face-first into the ground. It cried out in pain, screaming the sentence “Garubaltak Darulami,” as it was falling.

Jack repositioned his shield to guard his vitals again and thrust his sword from behind it, aimed at its exposed neck, leading to a large spurt of green blood oozing out from the wound.

Jack was still on guard, wondering if that was enough to kill it.

You have encountered a Dungeon Monster: Goblin ( Beast Initiate, Level 2).

You have slain Dungeon Monster: Goblin (Beast Initiate, Level 2). First kill bonus unlocked: Additional 50% cycle reward. Congratulations, you have reached Level 2.

You have now reached the Second Cycle of Qi Channeler- Initiate.

Following items have been deposited in your inventory: 20 TP (Tutorial Points), +1 Recovery Pill.

He once again saw blue flames, though these paled in intensity to the miracle he bore witness to earlier, flowing from the dead “goblin” and into his own body. The next moment the blue flames lit him ablaze, though he once again welcomed the feeling. Earth had many tales about the nectar of the divine, a heavenly liquid that could cleanse the mortal body of all impurities and tasted better than anything the mortal world had to offer. This, Jack figured, was even better. The longer the contact with the flames, the more he felt his bones strengthen, muscles tighten, senses expand and neurons firing off faster.

Physical, Sensory, Thought Processing and Qi have been Increased by +1.

But it only lasted an instant, and Jack was fine with that. Pulling out a recovery pill, he sprinted towards his cat without giving a damn about the system and its jargon. Her beautiful white coat of fur was marred with blood, and her side was marred by a bluish-red bruise that was swelling up like a golf ball. Jack’s heart ached as if nails were hammered into it, Luna had been given the gift of intelligence and used it to save his life. He pushed the small red pill into her mouth, hoping it would work on animals as well.

She was unconscious, but the pill went down her throat without resistance.

Familiar Status.

1/1

Luna: Unconscious, Wounded. Non-critical. Expected recovery time: 5 hours.

“Thank god,” Jack exhaled in relief, but his expression hardened the next instant. The goblin had screamed out something before dying, which was not good. And there was one more thing to be done before he left.

Jack got up with conflict in his eyes, but he would not hesitate. That monstrosity was not a creation of mother earth, but some aberration created by forcing the evolution process. Shield in front, sword gripped in thrusting stance, Jack broke out into a genuine sprint this time, generating momentum before slamming directly into the unconscious wild boar’s neck- slicing throw muscle, bone and sinew in one swift motion. A merciful death was the best Jack could do for now, his shield protecting him from the fountain of red blood that poured out all over the floor.

You have slain Twilight Boar (Earth), Beast Initiate, Level 3.

You have received 70% cycle experience.

Current Progress: Second Cycle of Qi Channeller- Initiate, 70%.

Following Items have been deposited in your inventory: 25 TP (Tutorial Points), Twilight Boar Fur (Unranked).

Jack was mentally, physically and emotionally drained, but he had to move. Pulling out the beast fur from his inventory, he circled around the goblin’s corpse once. He’d seen it happen the moment he’d killed it, but it was still irritating to see his short sword evaporating away like it never existed.

He then ran back to Luna, poking a few holes in the surprisingly rugged beast fur and then wrapping Luna within it, using his newfound strength to gently sling her over his shoulder, and then sprinted away to create as much distance as he could between himself and the goblin cry, in the direction of the camping grounds.

Thirty minutes later, Jack finally slowed down to a walking pace- finally feeling safer, if that were even possible in a forest full of monstrosities.

A part of him wanted to scream towards the skies and ask them what kind of trial was this supposed to be. It had not even been one hour. Not. even. one. damn. hour. And he would already be dead, if Luna hadn’t taken the blow in his place. This was hell, and all he had to fight off its army was an obsolete weapon and a puny shield.

Wait… why didn’t he feel tired yet? Half an hour of sprinting through the woods at a pace he wasn’t used to running at, and he wasn’t even winded? Jack thrusted his sword forward without much force and found himself surprised. Even a casual thrust was executed with enough speed and strength to likely go clean through the goblin he had fought earlier. Not only that, but his movements felt snappier, precise. It was hard to describe, but he now understood that there was a slight lag between his brain thinking of, finalising and then executing a command, and that had been slightly improved somehow.

STATUS

Name: Jack Smith

Affiliation: -

Age: 22 Years

Cultivation Cycle[?]/ Level: 2 (70%)

Race [?]: Human (F-)

Cultivation Stage [?]: Qi Channeler- Initiate (Current race limitation:???)

Innate Talent [?]: Not discovered.

Cultivation Manual[?]: -

Class: Basic Swordsman [Defensive]

Skills: Qi Shield (Basic), Inspect.

Primary weapon: F minus one handed sword.

Secondary weapon: -

Feats: -

.

.

.

[Not Unlocked]

Statistics:

Physical: 2 [?]

Sensory: 2 [?]

Thought Processing: 2.5 [?]

Qi (Pool) [?]: 8/11

--------------------------------------

Inventory (NEW)

45 TP

1 Recovery Pill

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[?]**- 1 point is considered the equalised average human Physical, Sensory and Thought Processing Capability.

Subsequent Points earned by increasing cycle level represent a fraction of the equalised base value (1).

After clicking on the question mark icon, one of Jack’s questions had been cleared. He was stronger, faster and well, not smarter, but able to think faster, but definitely didn’t have the strength of two humans.

Jack had taken a great risk earlier by making a run for it, but he figured any nearby monsters or aliens would rush towards the goblin cry. He wondered why the system’s gift of languages didn’t work on the goblin cry, but he supposed that a “help me” cry wouldn’t do his conscience any favours

He was maybe an hour and a half away from the base camp now, sprinting having shortened the time he’d have to spend reaching his destination. Once again slowing his progress to a slow walk, Jack sheathed his sword and channelled his Qi shield again. With one hand occupied with carrying Luna, he didn’t have much of an option.

He figured that as long as he moved from tree to tree like before, he should be able to guard himself against any ambushes long enough to set Luna down and draw his sword. It had saved his life once already, after all.

Jack thanked his lucky stars as the rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, as he spotted the end of the trail. He gently set Luna down behind a tree, drawing his sword and approaching the camping ground crouched with his head down, trying to get a clear field of view. He’d marked Luna’s location on his minimap, just in case things went south.

Finally, he had arrived at his destination with some hope in his heart….