Carefully Jack placed the small stone into the ground. A glimmering rune was sparkling in the light of the afternoon sun before it got covered under a thin layer of dirt.

“Hah, finally finished”

With a content sigh Jack pushed his sweat soaked black hair out of his face. Finally, after 5 days of hard work, he had finished securing his home. After the talk with Rin he had been deeply worried. Her behaviour was definitely not normal and she knew about his cultivation. Or at least she felt that he was more than a normal human. Either way, it left him feeling vulnerable.

And so he had decided to secure his home. A series of over a hundred small rocks, enchanted with a simple rune, that would create a single razor sharp blade of wind, were placed in a circle around the house. A last stone, the one he had just placed, would be used as the centrepiece to coordinate it. As soon as someone unauthorized stepped inside the house without any of his family nearby, the runes would get activated and wind blades would get shot at the intruders. It was a simple defence measure, but it had been annoying to set up. He did have to carve the hundreds of small attacking runes and the complicated controlling rune as perfect as possible. And that not only once but twice. On his first try he had forgotten to exclude animals from the list and the whole formation had started to fire at everything bigger than a mouse. All his work gone because of a single mistake and he had to set it up again. Luckily the cat hadn’t been there, otherwise the consequences would have been dreadful.

But now that the formation was ready he could finally feel safe inside his home again. While every wind blade alone would be weak, working together he was sure that he would be able to defend his home against anyone in the Qi gathering realm. At least if they didn’t have protective treasures or defensive techniques…

Sighing Jack shook his head. He wasn’t sure if that was enough. Rin’s strange reaction at his attempt to talk to her worried him. And her voice had been filled with so much aggression that he almost thought that he had harmed her personally somehow. Such a person could do anything. But the worst was that he didn’t know anything about her, neither why she reacted like she did nor if there were other people like her who would help her should she decide to act against him.

And so he had used the last few days to prepare the formation as a protection. Sadly that had impacted the other parts of his life much more than he liked. With his constant work on the formation he hadn’t managed to cultivate any further, as any new Qi he gained was immediately sacrificed to create more runes. He also hadn’t talked to Sam like he had planned before. That was partly because he didn’t have the time, but also because he was worried. Rin could feel his Qi, he was sure of it. So if Sam would start to cultivate now she would surely notice. And Jack didn’t want to endanger his sole friend like this, not until he knew who exactly he was going against.

Hell, he didn’t even know if Rin was really his enemy. All he knew she could have just a really bad day before they met… Okay, that was not very likely, but still, it showed how little he knew about her. That had to change soon. And luckily he knew just the right way to do that.

A faint smile on his lips Jack walked back inside the house. He had to make a few last preparations, then he could start.

---

The afternoon sun had long since sunk under the horizon. Darkness filled the empty streets. But there was still someone out there. Covered in black clothes Jack looked at the house on the other side of the road.

A short question to his new classmates had been all he needed to find out where Rin lived. As soon as it had gotten dark he had left his home and went to the address. Luckily his parents had already been asleep in front of the TV, like every day when they came home late from work, so his departure wasn’t noticed. And now he was in a district of the town he had never visited before, as it was on the opposite side of the town to where he lived. And that was the only reason why he hadn’t already noticed the house before.

The house- if you could call a large 3 storied mansion a house- was beautiful and looked very expensive. It was surrounded by a large garden and a nearly 4 metres tall brick wall. But for Jack, the most important was the feeling of Qi that filled the area. It was the same strange Qi that he had felt around Rin, just less concentrated.

Frowning Jack looked at the Qi. How wasn’t it already being dispersed by the void zone? He squinted his eyes as he tried to see more details. After a few moments he understood. The Qi wasn’t simply in the air, it was concentrated in small threads that spread through the whole area. Someone had enchanted all these threads and put them here.

It honestly made him nervous. If anything it told him that Rin definitely wasn’t a single person who just happened to find an artefact randomly lying around. No, there had to be someone behind her, an organisation of some sort. And a powerful one given the expensive looking mansion.

A moment Jack hesitated. Maybe he should stop here? The threads were probably part of some alarm system and a sophisticated one at that. If he made a mistake and got caught he would antagonise an entire group of people. Still, he needed to know more. Thinking carefully Jack looked at the wall that surrounded the garden. Climbing it would probably activate another alarm and simply jumping over it would be stupid. He would have no way to know if he would land near the threads or not. So he needed another way to get over it.

Jack started to walk around the large property, always looking for a way inside. Finally he found a small tree whose branches stretched over the wall that surrounded the garden.

Quickly Jack climbed the tree and followed the branch until he was right over the wall. Looking down into the garden he tried to find a spot that wasn’t near any of the enchanted threads. After a few moments he finally found what he looked for and jumped down.

The soft grass cushioned his landing and without a sound Jack had successfully reached the garden. But now came the hardest part. Carefully Jack started to walk towards the house, always avoiding the small threads that were in his way.

Most of the threads were on the ground or in the height of his ankle, but some were higher until chest height. Slowly Jack weaved his way through them, often crouching and crawling under the near invisible threads.

It took the better part of an hour, but in the end he managed to get through the threads and reached the area around the house. Here there weren’t any threads anymore and Jack could finally relax. Now he just had to get into the mansion unnoticed.

Jack was about to try opening one of the large doors, but then he stopped suddenly. The soft sound of footsteps could be heard. Hastily Jack turned his head and looked for a place to hide himself. A small bush came into his view and immediately he leapt into it.

Not a moment too soon, cause just as the rustling branches of the bush stopped moving two men came around the corner of the mansion. They were clothed in wide, dark clothes that failed to completely hide the pistols that were on their hips. Inwardly Jack cursed, it was a guard patrol and a well-armed one, though at least none of them had any Qi. Slowly the guards walked around the mansion, one of them lighting their surroundings with a bright flashlight. When the light of the flashlight passed by the bush Jack tensed.

It was in moments like this that Jack was envious at cultivators with the darkness element. If he could cover himself in shadows like they could, staying hidden would be easy. But as it were, all he could do was trying to stay as still as possible.

Luckily the light remained only for a moment on the bush, then it wandered of and the guards walked away. Jack waited until the guards had vanished from hi sight, then he relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. That had been way to close for his taste.

Jack left the bush. Silently he cursed as his clothes got torn by the small thorns. Who in his right mind placed a thorn bush inside a garden? When he was finally out he was covered in small scratches and small broken branches stuck to him. Luckily the bush itself didn’t look different from before, so no one should notice that he had hid inside.

After making sure that he was alone this time, Jack walked to the door. Obviously it was locked. But that could be changed easily. A small amount of Qi left Jack’s Dantian and floated towards the hand that was on the door’s lock. It seeped out of his skin and caused a small cloud of Qi to intrude inside the lock. For a moment Jack narrowed his eyes in concentration as he manipulated the cloud of Qi, then with a clicking sound the door unlocked.

Jack grimaced as the feeling of losing part of his Qi coursed through his body. He had become a bit more used to it after the work on the formation, but it was still unpleasant. He waited for a minute, then the feeling faded slowly. Breathing a sigh of relief he twisted the doorknob and opened the door.

Behind the door was a small stairway. Silently Jack walked inside. After following the stairway upwards he reached a dark hallway. The inside of the hallway was decorated with expensive looking wooden carvings and colourful carpets covered the floor. Sadly there weren’t any hints of Qi and so Jack continued his search.

Slowly Jack followed the hallway, always listening for the sound of footsteps or other signs that someone came closer. But the hallway stayed silent. Carefully Jack began to look through the doors that covered the sides of the hallway, always searching for more information about the owners of this mansion. But most rooms were either empty or simple storage rooms.

After several minutes of walking Jack finally found a more interesting room. A wooden door led inside a large library. Slowly Jack walked inside. Most of the books here looked ancient, their backs brown and unreadable. But a few ones were younger. Interestingly most of them were covering mysticism and legends, similar to the ones Jack had at home. His lips twitched for a moment as he read the title of one of the books.

‘ ‘The Karmasutra – how fate fucks you every day’ …seriously?’

Jack shook his head before he continued his way through the library. Searching his view wandered over the titles, but he started to worry about the time he had already wasted here. While the library was interesting, it didn’t help find him out more. And any moment he stayed here was…

Suddenly Jack stopped. A feeling of danger coursed through his body and instinctively he jumped to the side. With a swishing sound a blade passed by where just a moment before his neck had been. Quickly Jack turned around to face his enemy.

“I didn’t think you would be stupid enough to intrude in my home, demon”

Opposite of him stood Rin, glaring at Jack with her steel coloured eyes. A blue glowing sword was tightly grabbed in her left hand.

‘Well… Shit’

---

Frowning Jack looked at Rin. She glared back and tightened the grip around her sword. As always the Qi around her felt strange, but now he could clearly feel that it originated from the sword and not from herself. It was an artefact. And one that looked quite sharp.

Jack made a wry smile.

“Is there any chance that we can talk about this?”

*Swish*

The answer was another swing of the sword targeted at his neck. Jack evaded leaning backwards. His right hand reached down to his hip. He grabbed inside his pocket and pulled out a small knife. It was the same he had used to cut open the carpet floor inside his room a few days ago. Quickly Jack used his Qi to reinforce the weapon and the knife began to glow slightly.

Seeing that Rin swung her sword again, Jack lifted his knife to parry the strike. With the sound of metal hitting metal the two weapons met. A moment the two weapons stopped in this position, then Jack frowned and jumped back. He looked down on his knife and paled.

The blade of the knife had been cut through halfway. That was Qi infused steel, Jack didn’t want to imagine what the sword would have done to his body. He looked to Rin who readied herself for another attack. He couldn’t see any way to win this fight. Rin was as strong and fast as he was, so he couldn’t overwhelm her quickly. And the longer the fight would take, the higher the chance that the other residents of the mansion would notice it. On the other hand her weapon was incredible sharp and would make his useless within the next few hits. So, if he couldn’t win fair, he would have to fight dirty.

With a decisive moment he threw his knife at Rin. Effortlessly she evaded the flying blade. But she slowed down and that was all Jack needed. He infused a bit of energy into his legs and started running towards the door. His strengthened steps made him far faster than a normal human could match and even Rin wasn’t quick enough to catch him.

A few moments later Jack had reached the entrance to the library. But instead of a way outside, what greeted him were two guards standing in front of the door. He didn’t know if they came with Rin or had been attracted by the noise, but Jack didn’t have time to wonder about that. Already he could hear Rin coming closer behind him. He grimaced for a moment, bracing for the feeling of losing Qi, then he casted a small spell. A bright flash of light came from his risen hand. Blinded the two guards stumbled backwards. Quickly Jack used this chance and ran in between them towards the door.

Luckily the hallway outside was still empty. This time he didn’t care about the noise he made, so he decided to take the fastest way outside. As soon as he found a window that lead to the garden, Jack acted. With a shattering sound the window broke as Jack jumped through it, ignoring the countless small cuts he got in the process.

With a fluent roll Jack landed inside the garden. Behind him he could hear Rin starting to curse at him, but he ignored her and started to run inside the night. This infiltration hadn’t worked out like he had planned.