Chapter 95

Lykan

The Koi Pond

There were a few things that Lykan found out from his trials at flying. The first was that he could have multiple cores of the same type, and while the bonuses for the different size cores stacked. There was no bonus for having multiple types of the same exact core. He also found that there needed to be a balance. If he had one base Initiate Core, he needed two basic cores to balance the rotational speed of the vortex he created. He also found that the loose particles of Qi that were floating about his meridians served as a stabilizer for his flight.

Once he was off the ground flight came back naturally to him. In fact, the entire ability felt freeing. He breezed through the tests designed to test his aerial capabilities as both his Aerial Movement and Aerial Combat skills were both maxed out. That said he relished the chance to fly again, under his own power.

Yet now that he could once again fly on his own, his heart felt heavy. He realized that he held bitter resentment for Nayali, despite all the outward actions he had done for her. Inside his heart he knew he bore resentment for the woman, who by all accounts had done a lot for him. She never complained about his actions, where they were going, or what they would do in the future. Only now that he had the power that he had so craved for close to a year back, did he realize what he lost to get to this point again.

This was around the time that Lykan decided he would start re-prioritizing his life. The first tenant of his new way of thinking:

Power is meant to be a way to an end, not the end in and of itself.

With that thought, Lykan felt something click in his mind. A piece that he felt would be a fundamental building block for who he wanted to become. He realized he could complain about his lot in life, about the way he seemed to be a toy for the Gods’ amusement, but there was something deeper. He always had a choice. Every action he took was one he took.

He realized this and more as his Qi circled violently through his body, causing his body to fly about and move in ways men were supposed to only dream about. He could fly, and yet his soul felt like it was a weighted blanket that should be too powerful to overcome. That he should be stuck to the earth for his follies in life.

Yet he had been rewarded. Well not rewarded. This was not the Gods coming down and offering flight. No this was what he had spent his years and friendships to obtain. When the scenario was over, he remained looking around the empty room that had at first been changed to appear to be an open cloud filled sky, but was now revealed to be an empty open circle that offered nothing but protection from the outside. He didn’t realize when the mental change happened, when he went from being a prisoner inside these walls to being protected from his past choices and failures, but somewhere in his mind the change happened. That was when he came up with the second universal truth that he wanted to instill in his core.

Perception is everything. Whether you have a positive or negative outlook on the events of your past all depends on what you assign to your thoughts. Were the actions and failures of the past worth the cost? Only if you couldn’t have gotten to where you are today without such failures.

Looking back on his life Lykan realized he had been luckier than anything. For a moment he thought about leaving the vacant room. To go back to the surface to seek to reconcile his past wrongs, but just before he was going to commit to such an action, he was offered the reward for this training session.

Scenario Completed. Due to your receiving aid in your path to understanding rewards have been halved. Would you rather have a full [Intermediate Core] or half of an [Advanced Core]?

Reading the choices Lykan thought for a moment, then decided on the [Intermediate Core] realizing it was better to have a whole of one, than half of nothing.

The second [Intermediate Core] was just as intoxicating as the first, and with the denser particles of Qi Lykan once again was able to form a second Intermediate core within his own body. This was when he proved to himself that the bonuses for the cores while cumulative were not doubled, or even halved by a second core of the same type.

The second Intermediate Core also meant that Lykan had to walk once again, as his body had to adjust and produce two more basic cores to help balance out his body. This was of course if he wanted to continue flying. Realizing he still wanted to fly, he felt he was stuck once again by his own choices to remain down within the catacombs rather than going up to the surface to try to meet with people. He realized that this decision like so many others were his wanting Power over personal connections. A part of him realized that this was not the way he wished to advance in life.

He knew he was still young, and with a lifespan that was Immortal, at least as proclaimed by the gods’ blessings to him he had time. Yet, he wondered how he would be if he didn’t start changing his mindset now.

While it might seem like a bit of a slippery slope argument for him to say that his want to fly now could lead to him being an unageing monster of power in the future. The truth was this was a step in that direction. The fact that he was self-aware enough to realize that this was such a step only made matters worse. He could see that with his actions he was dictating how he would be in the future, the person he would eventually become.

Worse, he knew that it would be several days before he gained enough ambient Qi from the air to fill his body enough to create two basic cores so he could once again fly. He also knew that leaving these catacombs would effectively stop his growth in flight. He would be able to breath the air, but not fly in it. Worse he had a deep calling within his bones to go out to the surface, to breath in the fresh air. He had this thought, but then reality sank in, the outside air was filled with ash and sulfur, his home had been burnt to the ground. There was nothing there for him. Even his father had left long ago with no signs of where he was going or what he would do with his new future. He was alone, and a leader of his own destiny and he purposefully made it, so he was stuck in some deep long forgotten ruin.

When he put his life into such terms and actions it made him wince at himself. Still, he had made a choice, to continue chasing Power, the power of flight. Though to appease himself, he decided that he would at least leave the room and explore more of the catacombs. He realized that based on the floor above alone, the size of the underground complex must be vast, especially if each subsequent floor was roughly the same size as the one above. So, he decided to go out and explore.

As he moved his bare feet caused electrical ripples to pulse with each step. Each step he could feel the long halls of the labyrinth coming to life with freshly leeched Qi from his own body. These were still minor amounts, but enough to be noticed by Lykan’s ever improving Qi sense.

That was at the time when Lykan had gained enough ambient Qi to form his third Basic Qi core. At the time the third Basic Qi Core was completed he was hit with a message.

Skill Rating (4) Qi Cultivation Sage -> (Maximum)

New Skills Acquired:

(5) Qi Weaving Novice (5) Mental Mapping Notvice

The skills had a weird marker next to them. Lykan at first wondered what they meant, but quickly realized that the number was the skill echelon. He wondered why that was now a thing, but soon realized it was likely a helper designed to show his path on the third echelon. He realized that one of the requirements for his advancement to the third echelon was he needed a certain number of Skills at a certain tier ranking. It seemed that sometime during the progression to the third Echelon all his skills gained the rating. Taking a moment, he decided that now would be as good of a time as any to stop and review his progress since he entered these catacombs. He knew it had been a while of constant training, but he was not quite certain how long the time had been.

Name Lykan Vov'Vita Race Human Class Valiant Wanderer Age 18 (Unageing) Attribute Base Plus Modifier(s) Total Strength (9 + 12 + 6) 27 Awareness (9 + 14) 23 Mobility* (10 + 12 + 6) 28 Intelligence (9 + 18) 27 Power* (10 + 18 + 6) 34 Skill Recent Modifiers Total (1) Universal Linguist (Maximum) (2) Spear Mastery (Maximum) (3) Sword Mastery (Maximum) (4) Aerial Combat (Maximum)

(5) Stealth Mastery

Beginner + (Unknown)

Adept (5) Ambuscade Mastery Novice + (Unknown) Beginner (4) Bow Mastery Expert (3) Quick Step (Maximum) (4) Unarmed Mastery Adept + (Unknown) Expert (4) Qi Infusion: Expert + (Unknown) Sage Skill Recent Modifiers Total (1) Universal Literacy (Maximum) (2) Regeneration (Maximum) (3) Meditation (Maximum) (4) Qi Cultivation (Maximum)

(5) Qi Weaving

Novice (5) Mental Mapping Novice (4) Qi Resistance Sage (3) Focus (Maximum) (4) Aerial Movement (Maximum) (5) Survival Mastery Beginner + (Unknown) Adept (5) Surveillance Mastery Beginner + (Unknown) Adept (4) Master Crafting Expert Magical Abilities Recent Modifiers Total

(1) Energy Absorption

(Maximum) (2) Energy Sensing (Maximum) (3) Energy Control (Maximum) (4) Qi Absorption Beginner + (Unknown X2) (Maximum) (4) Qi Sensing Beginner + (Unknown X2) Expert (3) Energy Alter (Maximum) (4) Qi Control Beginner + (Unknown X2) Expert (4) Qi Alter Beginner + (Unknown X2) Expert

The Qi skills and abilities increasing made sense. Though he was surprised at the level of progress he had made. Some of the skill increases also made sense. He had used unarmed combat to take down the two invisible warriors. He also knew that he did infuse Qi into his strikes to land better strikes. He could also see how he used surveillance mastery to locate and track down the invisible opponents. Even when the scenario began, he had been able to identify the invisible warriors due to their distortions in the air. The survival mastery was an enigma, other than maybe it had something to deal with how long he had gone without food or water?

He had to say that overall, he was pleased with his gains. Though he then quickly realized that all these gains cost him was friends and human interactions. With that sobering thought he decided to continue walking and exploring.

His Surveillance Mastery and Mental Mapping seemed to be intrinsically linked as both seemed to reinforce the other. His mental Mapping seemed to help his mind assess the size of spaces ahead and the movement of Qi within each room. The Surveillance portion let him know about, or at least predict the cause of unnatural Qi currents. The most notable change in Qi came from a large pond that had been built into the labyrinth.

At first Lykan wondered how such a place existed, and almost feared the idea of algae infused water. Yet as Lykan approached the large pond, a pond that seemed to stretch well beyond the vast room he was in as the pond seemed to roll under a wall that separated the section, he was in from a distant section that Lykan could find no other way to get to. No other way, except to enter the pond and seemingly walk under the wall.

Lykan for his part was curious about such a place, as the water not only smelled clean, but it practically radiated with Qi. In fact, there seemed to be large koi fish filled with Qi that swam about contentedly on this side of the divide.

Lykan followed the pond that looked to be only a few feet deep on this side of the wall. As he moved, he saw that the water was fresh and clean of algae, it even gave off a fresh scent that only pure water can seem to offer. Just smelling the water caused Lykan’s mouth to water. He had food and water recently. While there wasn’t that much discomfort from eating and drinking as the training sessions would have had him believe, there was enough that he didn’t want to repeat the performance anytime soon.

That said, this water looked delicious. Finally, after a few seconds of hesitation Lykan first dipped his fingers into the water, only to feel ambient Qi get absorbed into his skin almost immediately. Also of note, the koi fish that had been near his side of the pond suddenly swam away as if a great predator stirred. This was both comforting and saddening. It was comforting as it meant the koi fish were not naturally hostile. It was saddening as Lykan had also been wondering just how such a Qi infused fish would taste. Still with his hand in the water his first question had been answered.

The water did not burn away his skin and felt cool and refreshing to the touch. Next, Lykan put in both hands in a scooping gesture and raised a tiny portion of the liquid to his lips, which he drank.

His mind flooded with the sweet taste of vibrant energy infused water pouring into him and filling him almost instantly to bursting. Almost instantly he could feel the Qi interacting with every part of his body that met the vibrant water. He could feel a change affecting his whole body as the ambient Qi within the water began being absorbed almost instantly into his muscles and body.

He found that he was soon panting and having to collapse to the meditation position to keep conscious during the process that was now threatening to overtake his whole body.

Breathe, Lykan told himself as he felt like he was at the epicenter of a hurricane of force and change that was now overtaking his body.