The sadist finished demonstrating the next hellish set of exercises to everyone, and the trainees looked on with mild horror, “See? Easy! Now, get moving to the lake and don’t let me catch you slacking. Samantha, hang back with me here for a moment.”

The trainees began tiredly jogging towards the nearby body of water with only a couple brave souls willing to verbally express their complaints. Because she had won the grand prize, Samantha was worried that he had some special torture in store for her. Thankfully, there was no devious glint in his eyes as he waved her over and she relaxed.

She tilted her head in curiosity, “You wanted to speak with me, sir?”

He looked down to the vial still clutched in her hand and nodded, “It’s regarding that elixir you’ve won. I would recommend that you consume it right now.”

“Now? Is there a particular reason why?”

“Several, but I’ll tell you the most important ones. The first is that this particular potion is quite old. I’ve been specially storing it so it can maintain its potency, but now that it is in your possession you don’t have long until the effects begin to degrade. Perhaps a few months at most. The real reason why you should take it now, though, is good old fashioned greed–or more specifically, avoiding the greed of that lot.” he jerked his head subtly towards the group of trainees who had just departed.

He continued, “I don’t want to brag about the quality of my prizes, but that potion is worth at least 100 gold. Word travels fast and jealousy brings out the worst in people. I’d be surprised if you made it back to your home intact while still carrying that on you. If it were me, I’d make a show of drinking it in front of the others so they don’t get any ideas.”

“What about the second half of today’s training?”

“Join when you’ve finished processing the elixir, of course. This will be much more impactful for you rather than spending a few hours crawling through the sand. Plus, no one would dare attack you while you are under my protection here. Go find a comfortable spot under the oak and take your time.”

Samantha bowed low to the trainer in gratitude, “Thank you, I will follow your advice.”

The sadist returned to his task of tormenting the trainees, and Samantha went to find a suitable spot to rest under the large tree. As she took up the lotus position in a spot relatively devoid of debris, Samantha quickly pulled up her bond abilities to check over what the next rank of Energizer offered before she forgot.

Bond Ability Points: 3 remaining

Swift (Rank 2 – 2 Points) - For every 0.5 qi point spent per second, you will gain +2 agility. After skill ends, effects will persist for 5 seconds, losing 1/5th of gained Agility per second until the original agility level is reached. Herb Hunter (1 Point) – Like the Lunar Hare, you have an uncanny ability for finding the best quality herbs around. Translucence (Rank 2 - 2 Points) – For every 1 qi point spent, you will become mostly transparent for 60 seconds. All other signs of your presence will be partially muted (sound, smell, aura, etc). Remaining motionless while translucent will make you exceedingly difficult to spot. As One [Special] (Rank 3 – Cost 3 Points) – ????? Energizer [Special] (Rank 3 - Cost 3 Points ) - ????? Antler Genesis (1 Point) - You can spend at least 1 qi point to grow an antler from any bone. Size and shape of the antler can be affected by increasing qi investment during creation. Once disconnected from the body, the antler will continue to exist for 1 minute or until consciously dismissed.

As she looked over the purchasable abilities listed, Hyperfocus caused a stream of observations and questions to flow through her mind. Rank 3 of Energizer was also listed as ‘?????’, just like As One. She thought back to how she had not met the requirements to purchase the third Rank of As One until after Energizer had appeared in her Bond Ability List. She also noted how the two Special skills were like two sides of one coin–with As One allowing her and Silas to share physicality, and Energizer allowing them to share energy. The two had to be connected, but she just didn’t know how.

Samantha looked at her 3 remaining Bond Ability points and wondered if she should take the chance to unlock one of the skills. Her sensible side told her to stay strong in her determination to save the points until the next floor in case of an emergency, but the young, ambitious side of her begged to risk it. She decided the best way to figure out the next course of action was to humor both sides of the argument and see where it took her.

Sensible Sam argued that the bond points were difficult to come by, and they had already spent one today in order to win the grand prize. Ambitious Sam retorted that the gamble had paid off, and now they were on the cusp of even greater power with the new meridian they were going to open.

Sensible Sam produced a long list of theoretical situations where they might need the various skills on the next floor, and keeping the points in reserve would allow them to address more problems reliably. To name a few: Herb Hunter could help them in finding food or medicine if resources are scarce, Swift and Translucence could give them an edge in evading enemies or predators, and Antler Genesis could ensure that she was never without weapons or defenses even if she was stripped of all equipment.

Ambitious Sam pointed out that they couldn’t possibly be prepared for everything, and there would always be reasons to scrounge and save the points for a rainy day. In fact, since points were hard to come by, that was even more of a reason to take the plunge and purchase a Special skill now while they had the resources available. Who knew how long it would take them to accumulate 3 points if they kept spending it on smaller skills?

Samantha let the argument play out in her mind for a few more seconds as she considered all of the pros, cons, and risks. In the end, with Hyperfocus speeding up her mental processes, the final decision only took her a total of 10.7 seconds. Ambitious Sam jumped with joy and cheered, while Sensible Sam sulked in the corner of her mind.

Both sides had valid points, but what really solidified the decision was the fact that most of the other abilities she could purchase were things she could already manage somewhat. She could already use Swift and Translucence to run away, Silas could use his own senses to lead them to herbs, and with the devastating power she could put into a kick with Flurry her body had become a weapon in its own right.

For all she knew, there would be enemies lying in wait on the second floor that would try and kill her outright before she had the opportunity to become concerned with any of these issues. Not to mention that if unlocking Rank 3 of As One was anything like Rank 2–when her Agility Aptitude increased and she was stunned with pain while her body was transformed–she wouldn’t want to risk being so vulnerable in an unfamiliar place when she didn’t even know what the ability would give her. At least if she purchased it now she could practice with the new ability and become proficient before she ascended.

She bolstered her resolve and purchased Rank 3 of As One without second guessing herself further–at least she tried to. As she mentally pushed the bond points into the skill, a notification unlike any she had seen before popped up in her vision.

*Congratulations! You’ve met the requirements to unlock an ancestral bloodline. By sacrificing two or more [Special] skills you will unlock at least one rare ability from a dormant bloodline, and continued advancement will unlock additional bloodline abilities. Effects from sacrificed skills may be lost or changed. Select a bloodline to confirm Bond Ability Point expenditure and the sacrifice of [Special] Abilities, or close this notification to cancel.*

Available Bloodlines from As One and Energizer:

Chimeric Bloodline - In ages past, archetypal beings known as Divine Beasts lorded over their territories as unkillable gods. In defiance of their rule, some cultivators forsook their humanity by stealing the sparks of divinity from the Beasts’ descendants. You can follow in their footsteps, should you so choose.

Amalgam - Rank 1 [Legendary]: By force or willing compliance, permanently absorb your bond and retain some of its abilities. Upon the assimilation of your bond your body will be fundamentally changed, your race will be changed to Chimera, and you will gain the option to conquer and absorb new spirit beasts. Bond ability points will now be granted based on the rank of spirit beast absorbed.

Infuse Flesh - Rank 1 [Unique]: You can graft a freshly dismembered part of a spirit beast onto your own body. Size and functionality of the stolen part will adapt to function with your anatomy over time, and new parts cannot be grafted until the previous is fully integrated. Fully integrated flesh can improve base attributes.

Celestial Hare Bloodline - Celestial hares were known as masters of stealth and camouflage. Legends say that these Divine Beasts could bend the light around them to become invisible, and dance across beams of moonlight to silently move from place to place.

Never Far - Rank 1 [Rare]: So long as there is nothing impeding movement to the other party, you and your bond both gain the ability to instantly transport to the other’s location (qi cost increases with distance) and the ability to instantly swap places while within 100 feet of each other (static qi cost).

Moonlight Gate [Legendary]: Your bond will gain the ability to set one waypoint per rank of their advancement (current: 4) with a cooldown of 1 week per active waypoint. So long as they stand under the light of a true or artificial celestial body, they can instantly transport themselves and anyone within a 5 foot radius to the desired waypoint.

Spectral Hare Bloodline - Spectral hares were mostly incorporeal Divine Beasts that often possessed mortals to interact with the physical plane, but could also form their own bodies out of energy. They were deeply feared, as they were not limited to one body at a time, and could form or inhabit multiple bodies at once to attack.

Always With Me - Rank 1 [Rare]: Your bond becomes a spiritual being, but can choose to manifest a physical body using qi. When in spiritual form, the bond resides in your dantian and can impart passive benefits through manipulation of your cultivation base. Your bond will not suffer from aging and will no longer require food, water, or rest. Your bond cannot be killed so long as your binding thread remains intact, but will need time to reconstitute a physical form if its body is destroyed in battle.

Replicate [Rare]: Your bond will gain the ability to control multiple qi-formed bodies simultaneously. The maximum number of bodies your bond can create at once is dependent on invested qi at the time of ability use. The cooldown of this ability is dependent on the number of bodies generated.

Empyrean Stag Bloodline - Empyrean Stags were Divine Beasts whose size was wholly dependent on the maximum amount of qi they could hold. The largest Empyrean Stag was said to create mountains with its body and swaths of forest with its antlers whenever it laid down to rest. There are tales of these beasts being able to cast different arts through each of the many prongs of their antlers, and some were even rumored to teach these arts to willing cultivators.

Artesian Spring - Rank 1 [Rare]: You and your bond’s qi pool and regeneration combine into one and gain an overall 25% increase (30 + 82 = 112 * 1.25 = 140 qi pool, 8/hour + 3/hour = 11 * 1.25 = 13.75 qi regen/hour). Your bond’s abilities will no longer have cooldowns and will instead be fueled by qi.

Forked Blast [Uncommon]: Your bond will gain a permanent set of pronged antlers which they can then use to shoot a bolt of qi at enemies. Bolt damage and qi cost varies based on antler size.

Mongrel Bloodline - As the years have passed and the descendants of Divine Beasts have intermingled, nearly all modern spirit beasts have multiple bloodlines dormant within them. This mixture of many lineages produces a unique–if less potent–bloodline. In exchange, the Mongrel bloodline has the benefit of maintaining a spark of power from multiple Divine Beasts.

Jackalope of All Trades - Rank 1 [Rare]: You and your bond will gain the ability to swap places while within 50 feet of each other so long as movement to the other party is not impeded (qi cost increases with distance and speed of transfer). If your bond suffers a killing blow and their body isn’t completely destroyed, their spirit will reside in your dantian for up to a week and their physical form will be put in stasis. If their body is not restored to a survivable condition within that time, your binding thread will be dissolved and your bond will truly die. You and your bond will gain a 10% overall increase to qi pool and regeneration.

Antler Shot [Common]: Your bond will gain the ability to grow and launch an antler projectile. Your bond will have increased control over antler growth and formation while using this ability. Cooldown is dependent on size and speed of the antler shot.

Samantha carefully studied each bloodline with wide eyes before closing the notification and canceling her ability purchase. She felt extremely fortunate that she had the option to back out of the selection. Ambitious Sam was onto something when she suggested getting Rank 3 of one of her Special skills, but Samantha was not quite reckless enough to make such an impactful decision before consulting others for advice.

The fact that she had to possibly lose the benefits of two of her most valuable skills was a hard pill to swallow, but the reward for that sacrifice would be amazing. Every bloodline option looked like it would grant her and Silas some immense powers–other than the disgusting Chimeric bloodline which she immediately discounted as an option.

After she spent a few more minutes using Hyperfocus to compare her choices, she began switching her passive mentality to Sage’s Rumination. She wasn’t going to make a decision right now anyway, and considering she only had 5 points left in her qi pool, replenishing as much as she could while in relative safety was never a bad idea. She needed to focus on the current task–opening another meridian–before getting caught up in anything else.

Changing from one mindset to the other was always a difficult process, but for vastly different reasons. On the one hand, switching from Sage’s Rumination to Hyperfocus had a sensation similar to trying to wake up and get excited for the day while climbing out of a warm, comfy bed. It was hard to let go of the peaceful tranquility and stir herself to action. On the other hand, switching from Hyperfocus to Sage’s Rumination felt oddly similar to becoming stupider by the second, or perhaps becoming inebriated. Every thought and decision noticeably slowed, and it was frustrating to feel the loss of capacity and realize she could be so much more. The weirdest part was that as soon as she was fully settled into one mindset she felt convinced that the current mindset was the superior one and didn’t want to switch again, though she logically understood that didn’t make sense. Fighting that irrationality repeatedly was yet another challenge to overcome.

She worked to suppress the feeling of bustling activity and buzzing energy flooding her mind, smoothing over the snappy thoughts with as much calm and patience as she could muster. 9 minutes later (a new personal record), she succeeded in her endeavors and felt the familiar sensation of oneness with the energy around her settle into her spirit.

Samantha then drank the elixir and began channeling the energies towards the clogged skin meridian. Immediately, the elixir began its work and the hardened impurities in the meridian significantly softened. She turned her focus inwards and continued to direct her pressurized qi into the blocked channel until she eventually received the notification she had been hoping for.

*Ding* Congratulations, you’ve opened your skin meridian! +2 Resilience gained, +3 to Qi pool.

*Ding* Qi Saturation has increased qi gains by x2. Additional +3 to Qi pool.

Samantha now had 9 Resilience and a maximum qi pool capacity of 88.

Satisfied with her accomplishment, she opened her eyes and began to stand up to return to training with the others but saw that it was already dark out. Furthermore, she was the only trainee remaining in the area–everyone else must’ve already gone home for the day.

“Took you long enough! I expected you to be done hours ago, considering your relatively low cultivation rank.” the sadist huffed from beside her.

Samantha squeaked in surprise and jumped back, completely having missed the unnaturally stealthy man.

He let out a chortle at her reaction. “Don’t worry. I kept watch over you and made sure no one messed with your things or your bond. I also let everyone know you were processing the elixir, so I don’t expect you’ll be ambushed on your way home by anyone trying to steal it from you. Still, I’d recommend being on guard just in case.”

Feeling Samantha’s sudden attention, a sleepy Silas perked up from snacking on a leaf pile nearby and hopped over to them. His stomach looked round–almost impossibly spherical–which told her that he had a very successful day finding herbs to snack on. She was surprised he was limber enough to move at all, and unconsciously scooped him up into her arms to carry him.

“Thank you, teacher. I appreciate your help today. I will head back immediately so as not to take anymore of your time.” Samantha bowed low to the man as she spoke as a sign of respect, Silas slightly squeaking in protest as he was tilted sideways with her movement.

The sadist only gave a nod of his head in response while Samantha quickly gathered her things and left the training area to return to Yivesh.

On the journey back, Samantha discussed the different bloodline options with Silas and what it could mean for them. Not wanting to hide anything important from her companion, she even mentioned the Chimeric bloodline but was clear and adamant that she was not even considering the possibility. Shockingly, Silas was not immediately repulsed by the option as she was. He was more practical in his evaluation that it would be a very potent path for her, but agreed that the other bloodlines were better.

Silas did not initially have a strong preference for choosing any one path in particular, but was very vocal about his dislike for the Spectral Hare bloodline. When pressed for a reason, he explained that he enjoyed eating delicious foods far too much to give up his physical body. Samantha explained that he’d probably still get to eat and drink whatever he wanted when he formed a body out of qi, he just wouldn’t be at risk of starvation or dehydration. Upon hearing this, Silas came to the hilarious conclusion that this meant there would be no upward limit to what he could consume since he could form multiple bodies, and the Spectral Hare path subsequently became his top choice.

As she and Silas laughed at the imagery of dozens of Jackalopes scouring the forest floor for any edible scrap of vegetation, or Silas dispersing and reforming his body repeatedly whenever he got full, Silas suddenly stilled and became alert. Samantha immediately stopped in her tracks and scanned her surroundings, but nothing stood out to her as out of the ordinary. However, she trusted Silas’s honed prey instincts and set him down on the ground so she could ready herself for a fight.

Her qi pool had only replenished to 35/88, which was a respectable amount for most cultivators her rank but uncomfortably low for her in this situation. She always came to training unarmed, unarmored, and barefoot since gearing up was counterproductive to improving her base attributes. This meant that, depending on her opponent, running away may be the best option.

“There! In the bushes.” Silas warned.

Samantha turned her attention towards the area Silas indicated and called out, “Show yourself! I know you’re there.”

After a short, silent pause, a familiar face emerged from the dark underbrush and stood directly between her and the path to the city. “I heard from your peers that you won the top prize of the red route today. I’d congratulate you, but I don’t like you much–especially since you keep taking what’s mine.”

Alex and his bonded Dire Wolf Torak stepped fully into the open, and Samantha resisted the urge to scowl as she tried to smooth over the situation as much as she could. “What brings you out this way Alex? If you heard I won the elixir, you must’ve also heard I’ve already processed it. I am forbidden from running the red route again for the next month though, and I’ve heard the next prize is supposed to be even better than the meridian cleanser. So, I’m sure you’ll win that one before I even get a chance at it.”

Alex scoffed at her words and gestured at Torak to circle around Samantha and Silas. Silas immediately grew a large pair of antlers and moved to intercept the approaching predator to prevent having an enemy coming from both sides.

Alex’s frown visibly deepened as he saw his proud Dire Wolf actually back away from the small Jackalope, “As if I would stoop so low as to try and steal from a Copper, but that’s not why I’m here anyway. I took a job to come and fetch you–someone wishes to speak with you right now.”

Samantha paused for a few moments, feigning that she was considering following him, before saying as politely as she could, “I’ll decline, thank you.” Then, she tried to subtly move past the Low Bronze. This attempt was unsuccessful, as he sidestepped into her new path to cut her off.

Even though she had bested the man in the Lattice several times, that was solely because the sadist imposed severe handicaps to give the rest of the trainees a fighting chance. In a real fight, it would be no contest. Even the weakest Bronze was still above the strongest Copper in terms of power, and Alex was no weakling.

“It was not a request, and as much as I’d enjoy you fighting back and giving me a good excuse to thrash you, I’m supposed to bring you in relatively intact. I know how low your Resilience is, so that would be challenging for me. Come along easy then, would you?”

“What does he want? Do we need to fight?” Silas asked somewhat anxiously, stuck in a standoff against the Dire Wolf and keeping his large antlers between them.

Samantha shifted her weight forward slightly in preparation to sprint, “He wants to capture me and take me to someone–I don’t know who. This isn’t a fight we can win, but I think we might be able to outrun them. They probably won’t chase after you, so I need you to go the opposite way from me and find somewhere safe to hide. We’ll be too easy a target if we stay together.”

She felt Silas’s conflicting emotions through their bond as he didn’t want to leave her behind to fight alone, but trusted her judgment enough to begin backing away from the snarling Wolf.

Samantha added, “I will do my best to get away, but if I can’t I’m going to try and buy as much time as I can for you to find a safe spot. Ready?”

Alex huffed out a laugh, “You’re going to do this the hard way–I can already tell. Fine. Let’s get this over with. Go on, get running! I’ll even give you a head start to make this more interesting for me.”

Not caring if the head start offer was genuine or not, Samantha spun towards the left and began using Swift to try and get around the duo blocking her way while Silas sprinted towards the right. As she had expected, they paid no mind to her bond at all.

Alex moved so quickly he seemed to practically teleport in front of her, “Why don’t you try a different way?”

Samantha instantly pivoted and tried another direction. Again, he appeared before her as if he had been standing there the entire time, “No. Not this way either.”

Frustrated, during the next pivot she kicked up a clod of dirt towards his face to distract him, but he batted it nonchalantly out of the air. He tsked and wagged his finger at her as he reappeared in front of her a third time, “Playing dirty now?”

Realizing she wasn’t going to get anywhere like this, Samantha decided to cloud step up to the nearest tree in hopes he wouldn’t be able to follow her upwards as quickly as he could while on the ground. She was elated when he didn’t bother trying to follow her this time, but was concerned when she noticed that he was now looking up at her with a bored expression and bent over to pick something up by his feet.

Before she even had the chance to land on a suitable branch, Alex snapped his arm forward and a pinecone flew through the air towards her at the speed of a crossbow bolt. She narrowly dodged the projectile by cloud stepping out of the way, but the pinecone burst into an explosion of shrapnel when it struck the tree next to her. She instinctively flinched away from the striking debris, but was pleasantly surprised when the shards of wood bounced harmlessly off her newly fortified skin even as it tore through her robes.

“Huh.” Alex said with mild surprise.

Samantha didn’t wait around to see what other things he’d try to throw at her, and began running through the tree canopy as quickly as she was able to.

The chase that followed over the next several minutes could hardly be called a chase at all. Samantha ran around and dodged like her life depended on it, trying her best to move towards Yivesh even as Alex intercepted her at every opportunity. Alex and Torak, in comparison, seemed to be taking a leisurely stroll through the forest. Alex would occasionally throw increasingly heavy things in her direction, but was otherwise just biding his time until she ran out of qi–which wouldn’t take long.

Samantha had tried several times to come down from the treeline to reduce her qi expenditure on cloud step, but Alex refused to give her the chance to do so. He simply would appear wherever she was trying to land and she would need to reascend to escape his grip. In a last ditch effort to get away when her qi stores were in the single digits, Samantha broke line of sight with the frustrating man, siphoned 15 points of qi from Silas, and activated Translucence.

This was the one and only time she had seen him look concerned, and she hoped that by staying perfectly still in the branches he would eventually move on and search elsewhere. Unfortunately, her success was short-lived. Torak had a very good sense of smell, apparently, and kept directing Alex back to her general vicinity even though they couldn’t visually pinpoint her location.

It was at this point she accepted that her flight was in vain and she would not be escaping from Alex tonight. At most, she could stay translucent for a few more minutes and then would be left exhausted from bottoming out her qi pool. In any case, it seemed Alex was being honest when he said he was instructed to bring her back intact, as he could have easily killed or maimed her multiple times already. She decided it was time to cut her losses, and she might need the qi later for whoever wanted to see her.

“Silas, I can’t get away. He’s too fast. I’m going to leave with them, and I want you to follow us at a distance. I’ll contact you if I see an opportunity to escape and need your help.” she sent, resigning herself to what was about to happen.

Samantha let Translucence expire as she felt the confirmation from her bond, and called out to Alex, “Fine! You win. I’m coming down and I’ll go with you.”

Alex looked at the rock he held in his hand, then back to her, and dropped it.

As Samantha landed on the ground and brushed off her hands on her robes, Alex approached her. She watched him warily, but stood her ground without backing up. There was nothing she could do if he truly wanted to hurt her anyway.

In a flash before she had even registered the movement, Alex had sucker-punched her in the gut. Hard.

All the wind left her lungs and he held a rag soaked with the familiar scent of sleeping poison tightly against her mouth and nose. “I’ll admit, that was really satisfying.” he mocked.

Samantha gasped for air as she tried to pull the cloth away from her face to no avail. He was too strong to even remotely move him. Due to her resistance training, she held out for several seconds as she clawed and kicked at him, even using Flurry once to try and do some damage, but he shrugged it all off.

The last thing she heard as the world faded around her was, “I thought this poison was supposed to be high quality. Weird.”