"WHAT DID YOU DO!?” Shimak yelled. I sighed as I accepted my scolding. Our hut was the same as ever but Shimak’s anger seemed to heat the place to a temperature only seen in mid-summer.

“I told you already. I didn’t DO anything. That idiot started a fight and then kicked over the bucket. Everything went to hell after that.” I said petulantly.

“Is it possible for you to get into any more trouble? First you made Kallar mad, then you got beaten up, and now they're throwing you out of the village. “ She said as she shook her head, causing her fiery mane to whip around.

“What can I say? I’m a man of many talents. And to be fair I’m pretty sure my beef with Kalar was YOUR fault. I recall a particular fight where you nearly knocked him out in front of all of his friends. ” I said with a grin.

“He definitely deserved it, and what about the fish that was 100% your idea?” She shot back. She sighed, reigning in her temper. “I suppose we’d better go dig up your money. We’re going to need supplies to survive out there”

“Just like that and you're coming with me?” I asked with a raised eye-brow. “I don’t think I invited you.”

She snorted derisively. “Yeah, like you’d survive a day out there. Besides it’s not like I want to spend my time washing clothes while you're out having an adventure.”

“Fine….. I guess you can come if you really want to.” I conceded. Then smiled as Shimak scowled.

We left the hut and dug up my tokens to trade for supplies. We didn’t need to spend too many of them. You could get quite a bit of basic equipment with only a few tokens. Only cultivation items were truly expensive, as long as you didn’t want anything too outlandish. In the end we spent about twenty tokens to get a pair of back-packs filled with everything from rope to flint and tinder. I picked up a small hunting knife. It wasn’t anything grand, just normal iron, but it would give me a weapon. It wouldn’t do much against a powerful beast, but if I could find a weak-spot I might be able to get a decent stab in. You never knew when you were going to need a knife.

After we collected the supplies I said goodbye to my parents. Mom was upset of course, but dad just looked at me with a proud expression. He’d always known the village wouldn’t hold me for long. Although, I most likely wouldn’t be gone too long since Shimak was with me. I was still planning on leaving the village once my cultivation had improved more.

Then Shimak and I just left. We’d been going across the river regularly for most of a year. This was basically like our other trips into the woods, except this time we planned to stay longer. I really was looking forward to testing myself against some beasts and looking for cultivation aids. I’d only just broken through and under normal circumstances it would be years to break-through again. I needed to be faster though. It was obvious that when I returned to the village I’d only be in even more danger.

It didn’t take us long to head down the mountain and cross the river. Our little boat bobbed in the current as the two of us stood on the bank and looked into the woods. It was a little after noon and the sun filtered through the massive trees overhead, casting dappled sunlight onto the grass covered ground. A cool spring breeze blew down the river valley.

“So now what do we do?” I asked as we stood looking into the forest. Honestly I didn’t know where to start. I suppose we needed somewhere to set up camp. Just hanging out in the forest would be a terrible idea. We’d get eaten for sure. We could probably fight a single soldier rank beast with the two of us but if we drew more than one or if a more powerful beast came we’d be finished.

“Shelter first. A cave or something would be best but if we find one we’ll probably have to battle whatever beast is already living there.” She said as she scanned the treeline.

“Well we were going to have to fight at some point anyway. It’ll be a good chance to work on our tactics. Besides I’m hungry and I haven't ever eaten a soldier ranked beast.” I said, rubbing my stomach.

Shimak rolled her eyes and we set off into the trees keeping our eyes peeled for danger. Our journey was surprisingly pleasant and soon my wariness turned into boredom. I fetched the herb book out of my pack and started to flip through it. It really was a great book. I couldn’t read most of the words but the bindings and illustrations were all top quality. In my old world it wouldn’t have been too impressive but here this book was all hand written and drawn. It must be worth a fortune.

I continued to scan through the book trying my best to read the descriptions of the various plants. I was just working my way through a page on a berry bush when Shimak slapped my shoulder.

“Would you get your nose out of that book. Some crazed bird is going to dive down on your head and peck out your eyes before you even know what happened.” She said angrily.

“Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine. Besides, what about those?” I said pointing to a thorny bush full of bright yellow berries. I opened my book and read aloud.

“Fruit… of… The…. Ear…. Eath. Fruit of the Earth. Let’s see… Infuzzed…. No infused with… Earth Element. Good for… chill… Children and adolumin… Adolessons… Adolescents. Helps make …. St…. Strong bones. Helps children and adolescents make strong bones.” I finished with a grin before walking over the the bush and popping a few berries into my mouth.

They were sweet but full of seeds. Sorta like a black berry. Still, I hadn’t had much in the way of fruit since I came into this world and these were quite a treat. I just wished grandma was still around to bake them into a cobbler for me.

Shimak came over and tried a few. Soon both of us were shoveling berries into our mouths as fast as we could eat them. After a few minutes both of us were covered in yellow juice and stuffed to the gills. I casually picked through the thorny vines looking for the last few ripe berries.

“These are so good. I think I’m going to keep a few of the seeds. Maybe I can grow them up on the mountain.” I said as I carefully moved aside some thorns and extracted another plump berry.

“Wouldn’t work. Not enough world’s essence up there. Not to mention how terrible the soil is. Why do you think they only grow a few grains up there.” She said. “Didn’t you ever wonder why the farmers are always growing normal grains instead of medical herbs or something more valuable?”

“I figured it was something like that.” I said. Still, I wondered why they put the village on the mountain to begin with. It seemed like such a waste. The land on the other side of the river was so much more fertile. Sure, the warriors would have had to fight off more monster attacks, but that would only lead to more beasts being killed. It would be more dangerous starting out, but eventually you’d have more cultivators, more food, and healthier people. Maybe it was more complicated than I was making it out to be but It just seemed so backwards.

I grabbed the last of the ripe berries and tossed them into my bag. I was hoping for some immediate reaction from the berries I’d eaten, but nothing really happened. I supposed they were too low grade to be some miraculous medicine. It was a “common” medical herb after all. It could probably be made into an elixir by an alchemist, but they likely weren’t very potent in their raw form.

Suddenly, a low growl came from the treeline. Shimak and I jumped to our feet in time to see three wolves stalk out of the nearby forest. The wolves were long and lean with spiked bristly hair covering their bodies, especially around their necks. Two were smaller, with shiny brown coats, while the largest beast had a dull gray coat. All three had an odd metallic luster to their fur, making it sparkle in the patchy sunlight.

“Soooo… What sort of beasts are these?” I asked as Shimak and I took fighting positions. She took the right flank while I took the left. The wolves circled and Shimak and I turned with them until we stood back to back.

“Blade Wolves I think; Two Copper Blade Wolves, those should be slightly below soldier rank. The gray one should be an Iron Blade Wolf. They have the metal element and their fur is extremely sharp, especially around their heads. The skulls are also very hard. Try to aim for their hind quarters.” I nodded, preparing to defend myself, but Shimak decided to take the initiative.

Ignoring her own advice completely, she dashed towards the nearest copper wolf and struck directly at its head. Her battle style was the exact opposite of mine. While I would rely on my agility to dance around my opponents, Shimak charged straight at them. Her small fist came down like the hammer of God.

GONG!

The impact sounded like she’d struck a metal cauldron, but the force of the blow smashed the wolf to the ground. While it laid there, momentarily stunned, Shimak took the opportunity to square off with the iron wolf. In that instant the other copper wolf attacked and I had to concentrate on my own fight. The labrador-sized wolf lunged forward, jaws snapping viciously. I stepped forward at an angle, closing the distance to throw off the timing of its attack, while trying to work my way around its head toward its more vulnerable areas.

My plan met with limited success. The wolf managed to turn itself much more quickly than I was anticipating. I was forced to leap sideways in a sort of ungainly pirouette to keep from having my leg mauled. Luckily, balance and agility are my specialties. I landed on my feet and managed to regain a solid stance before the wolf struck again.

This time I tried to parry the bite instead of evade it. As the wolf’s teeth flashed, I threw a palm-heel strike into its muzzle with my left hand. It was like hitting a chunk of iron, but it forced the beast's head away and gave me the opening I was looking for. I swept around its side with a lunge and unleashed my only real attack.

Bewitching Palm! The strike hit the wolf on its left foreleg, causing the limb to twitch spasmodically. The lamed leg gave out, throwing the wolf off balance and making it fall sideways. I wasted no time in capitalizing. I rounded it’s body and shoved, pushing the creature over onto its back and exposing its belly. I whipped the hunting knife off my belt and struck like a cobra. Stabbing three times into the soft fur of its belly, driving the knife deep into its vitals before it could regain its balance. I dashed back, retreating while the wolf stumbled back to its feet.

Get in and get out. Deflect, evade, never settle, never stand your ground, those were the keys to gentle wave style. After a few experimental steps, the wolf managed to shake off the spasms in its leg but Its stance was shaky now and red blood dripped steadily from the wounds I’d inflicted. Normally, I’d wait for it to strike again and continue to wear it down, but Shimak was still fighting two on one and I didn’t have time to draw this out.

I attacked, rushing forward with knife in hand. I feinted right and slid left, using the wolf’s slowed reactions to take its flank again. This time I didn’t bother getting fancy. I just dove for its back leg, hacking at the limb. The wolf’s bones were ridiculously hard, clearly a part of its talent with metal qi. Most of my strikes failed to do any damage, but eventually I managed to stab the knife into its knee joint. I twisted the knife sharply before wrenching it out, trying to cause as much damage as possible. The wolf whimpered piteously as I backed away again. Its remaining will to fight sapped, the wolf slumped down heavily. I left it on the ground bleeding and rushed over to Shimak. She had apparently killed the copper wolf already and was not fighting with the last opponent.

She was bleeding from a dozen small wounds but her eyes blazed with life and a small fighter’s smile sat on her lips. Shimak and the iron wolf circled each other slowly. As the wolf passed, I did the honorable thing and sneak attacked from behind. I channeled my Qi into my hand as I flew forward, palm extended.

Bewitching Palm! Unlike the copper wolves, the iron wolf was a true soldier ranked beast. Nearly four-feet at the shoulder, it was a monster but its size did not diminish its speed. The wolf’s back leg lashed out at me as I attacked. Its steel-hard claws scored me even as my blow landed and I drove my Qi into it’s hip.

Blood flew as the beast’s scratch landed, but my strike had done its work as well. The wolf’s leg went limp and Shimak took advantage immediately, circling to her right and forcing the beast onto its bum leg. The wolf stumbled and Shimak dashed forward, her speed at its maximum, throwing another of her mighty punches into the beast’s neck. Her strength was incredible. The wolf out massed her by four or five times, but her punch hammered into it like an avalanche, blasting the beast side-ways. As it fell, Shimak and I pounced, both of us raining blows onto the wolf while it struggled to rise.

The wolf howled in fury, thrashing and snapping at us wildly. Its bones and flesh were infused with elemental iron and It was much harder to damage than the smaller wolves. I reacted fast enough to dodge it’s berserk struggles, but Shimak wasn’t as quick. The steel-bristle fur of wolf’s head and neck tore into her flesh like a cheese-grater, leaving large shallow wounds. She cried out in pain, but it only heightened her fury and her next punch broke bones. What had started as a battle quickly turned into a brawl. Blood flew like rain as all of us gave up trying to dodge or defend, opting for all out attack. I threw bewitching palms until my essence was nearly spent, while Shimak just pummeled the wolf, hammering blow after blow onto its body.

I don’t know how long it continued, but as exhaustion began to set in and the fight slowed, I managed to find an opening. I struck out jamming my knife into one of its eyes and the wolf twitched once before finally going still.

Shimak, battered and bleeding profusely, took two shaky steps backwards and collapsed. I limped over to inspect her and gasped at the mess. Although she had higher cultivation and was a more skilled fighter than I was, she’d had to do most of the work. Consequently, her clothing was a torn, blood-soaked, mess and Large patches of her skin had been scraped off by the wolf’s fur.

None of her wounds seemed too deep. Losing skin wasn’t much of a problem for a cultivator, but she’d lost a lot of blood. I tore my own clothing into strips and did my best to bandage her. I had no idea what I was doing, but I figured the more blood I could keep inside her the better off she would be. It wasn’t like I was going to make it worse.

I watched over her for a few minutes, and though she didn’t stir, she did seem to be ok. If I was exhausted, she had to be completely drained. Sighing, I finally stood up and looked around. taking in the aftermath of the fight. The three wolves lay motionless, two of them in pools of blood, while the third had its neck twisted at an unnatural angle. The area reeked of blood, sweat, and emptied bowels. I gagged and retched as the smell hit me. I’d been in a few fights before, but this was my first time experiencing something like this. We’d just beaten three creatures to death.

It was something I was going to have to get used to. This world did not treat weakness kindly. I took a few short, fortifying breaths before taking out my knife again.

“And to the victor go the spoils.”

I said as I knelt next the the first wolf and started to hack at it. I quickly learned that trying to field dress an animal is neither pleasant or simple. The fight had worn me out, my knife could hardly cut the wolf’s tough flesh, and I had to saw viciously to get through its skin and tendons. The knife needed to be sharpened every five minutes and after nearly an hour of sweaty, back-breaking work, I hadn’t accomplished a damn thing. Aside from throwing up again and making a horrible mess.

“This is just depressing to watch.” Shimak said from over my shoulder. Startled, I dropped the knife and it landed in my “waste” pile.

“Goddamn it.” I said, breathing hard. I fished the gore-covered knife out of the slop before turning and holding it out to Shimak. “If you think you can do better then have at it.”

“Nope, too injured.” She said, backing away and turning slightly green.

“Oh ho….. It seems like you might be a girl after all. I was honestly starting to wonder a bit.” I said as I turned back to my work.

“If you're trying to get the core out, you’ll need to go in through the top of its mouth. Blade-wolf skulls are almost entirely metal and harder and more durable than their namesake ore. If you can manage to get their heads off, the skulls are very valuable to blacksmiths.

I took her advice and tried to go through the roof of the wolf’s mouth to get to the core. It didn’t really make the work any faster, but I did manage to get the seeds out of the smaller wolves. Though they weren't true beast cores, they were still valuable.

All in all, it took about three hours. When I finally finished I was filthy, but I had the seeds from the copper wolves and the core from the iron wolf. As well as the three heads to sell and two haunches we were planning on eating.

I washed off as much of the mess as I could with one of my waterskins before we packed up and left. Neither of us was in particularly good shape but we could both walk. It took us until sunset before we finally found a decent spot to rest.

Eventually we stumbled onto a sheer hillside that was slightly recessed. It wasn’t a prime spot but it did at least let us put our backs to a wall. There appeared to be a cave that might have gone down into the hill, but the entrance was overgrown with vines. The vines were too thick for us to penetrate, though that was probably for the best. Neither of us were in any condition for a fight if we needed to clear out a cave.

I gathered sticks and started a fire while Shimak cultivated to restore her strength. She tried to help at first, but I shoo’d her away. We needed her to be in fighting form if another beast showed up. She was the only one that was strong enough to really hurt them. Without a decent weapon, we had to rely on her brute strength.

Soon the fire was crackling merrily and I was roasting wolf haunch on an improvised spit.

“So why didn’t you bring your bow.” I asked Shimak, as I cut off a piece of the roasted wolf and handed it to her. She shoved the meat into her mouth, her eyes closing blissfully. She chewed slowly, savoring the meat, before finally opening her eyes to look at me.

“Do you know how to shoot a bow?” She asked as she reached for more meat.

“In theory.. but not well enough to fight with.” I said truthfully. I’d messed around with archery a few times in P.E. back when I was in high-school but never seriously.

“I’ve been practicing all my life to use hand-to-hand and axe techniques. I have no idea what I’m doing with a bow. It would takes months of practice to be competent enough to use it in a battle against beasts. And you gave me about five hours notice before we started this trip.” She explained, as she cut off another chunk of meat and shoved it into her mouth.

“Alright, fine.” I said, reaching over the fire and grabbing my own peice. I put it into my mouth and froze. The world fell away as delicious, succulent flavor washed over my tongue. I hadn’t eaten real meat in more than a year. This wasn’t stew. It wasn’t dried. It was honest to God, roasted over an open-flame meat. I’m not sure how long I was in my revery, but shimak was looking at me oddly when I opened my eyes again.

“Are you alright? You didn’t hit your head during the fight did you?” She asked, looking concerned.

Oh I’m good, but I feel like I need a cigarette…….

“No, I’m fine” I said, reaching over and grabbing more meat. It only took about a half hour for us to demolish the wolf haunch. Taking out the second one, I started to rub salt over it. I’d originally bought the salt to use as seasoning, but I realized my mistake once we got out here. I had no way to keep the meat. It wasn’t like earth where we had access to refrigerators and plastics. I didn’t even have the right stuff for a nitrate cure. I’d just have to use salt. It wasn’t the most effective method, but hopefully the meat would keep a few days until we were strong enough to hunt for more.

It didn’t take me long to finish and soon Shimak and I were relaxing around the fire again. A soft breeze blew through our little hide-away as the sun set. The sounds of animals and insects conspired with the popping of the fire and our full bellies to lull us slowly towards sleep.

“So how long are we going to stay out here?” Shimak asked from her spot against the side of the hill. I looked over at her, the firelight dancing on her lovely face and sleepy eyes with flickers of shadow. The sight made me oddly melancholy. Shimak really was beautiful, smart, funny, and brave but she wasn’t Allison. I’d planned to spend the rest of my life with her but now she was a world away. Maybe Shimak and I would have ended up as a couple if we were a few years older when I’d met her but she was my little sister now. Well, maybe a step-sister. I had to admit all of my feelings weren’t entirely brotherly but it wasn’t the same. I just wanted to take care of her, to banter with her. We’d have to part eventually anyway. She’d never leave her mother alone in the village and I would never stay.

“Planning to go back already? We haven’t even been out here for twelve hours.” I teased half-heartedly, my thoughts still troubled.

“Well, we’ve already got three blade wolf skulls and a beast core. Honestly, we could probably go back now and pass your trial.” She said, twisting her shoulders to get more comfortable.

“I don’t know. I say we just see how it goes for a little while. I feel like fighting beasts is a good way to practice my martial arts and speed up my cultivation. A long camping trip might be just what we need.” I said, summoning Rupert. “You sleep, I’ll cultivate and keep an eye out. You need your strength back or we’re not going to be able to fight anything.”

I closed my eyes and started to cultivate, listening to the sounds of the night woods and Shimak’s light snores.

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AN: I took a mini-vacation from work. I'm hoping to get some writing done and have another chapter out by this weekend.

Don't forget to vote on the poll. I don't want everyone just screaming out attack names every time they use them but I think they could use a little emphasis sometimes. I've seen it done a few ways and just want to see what the general consensus is.