“We need to stop,” Rowan said out of nowhere, voice heavy with exhaustion. “I’m starting to gain stamina debuffs. I’m sorry John, I tried to keep going.”

The warp-like field from the Seven League Stride faded, and the world turned back to normal, then Strider and Slate slowed their run down to a walk before coming to a complete stop.

“Are you okay, Rowan?” Cody asked.

“I-I’m okay. Riding seems to be more physically demanding than I had expected. My tired debuff just upgraded to exhausted.”

“Wait, when did you get the tired debuff?” Cody asked.

“Well, you can’t argue with a debuff,” Magnus said. “Especially that exhaustion one. It’s a right bitch. The only way to get rid of it seems to be a long, hard nap. Even a stamina potion won’t do shit to it.”

I felt a surge of impatience at the delay. We were less than thirty miles from Fort Collins. That meant that we were a mere hundred fifty miles, give or take, from home. A low growl rumbled in my chest, and my breathing grew faster. It wasn’t until I felt Rukia whimper slightly that I noticed my hands were clenched into tight fists, with her hair tangled between my fingers.

I loosened my grip and sent her a silent apology through our bond. Then I closed my eyes and slowly inhaled through my nose, held the breath, then gradually released through my mouth. I repeated the cycle until my heart rate slowed and my muscles relaxed.

“I’m really sorry, John. Maybe… maybe we can keep going. I’m sure I’ll be fine,” I heard Rowan say.

I opened my eyes and saw a mix of guilt and shame on his face. Cody was trying to comfort his brother, and Magnus and Kiara were both studying me.

After another deep breath, I spoke. “No, it’s okay. We can take a break. We’ve made amazing time already, and after you get enough rest, we can push on and get there in just a few more hours of travel.”

I opened my portable smithy against a large boulder I found nearby. We settled in and had a lunch of bear meat and a jar of pickled vegetables each. I wasn’t a fan of the vinegar used in the pickling process, but my body was craving something more than just meat, and it was better than nothing.

I had noticed that since I attained my elemental body, that my food needs had returned to the way it was before I cleared my Stomach Meridian, so the fifty percent increase from having a fire body balanced the fifty percent reduction instead of some more complicated math.

Shortly after Rowan finished his meal, he practically collapsed onto his bed and was out cold before his head hit the pillow. With the exhaustion debuff, I had a feeling he would be out for a while. Working on my smithing would be quite rude, given how loud it can get. Instead, I decided to take some time to cultivate and try to gain a better understanding of my new Ki.

I went outside of the forge and half leaped; half climbed to the top of the boulder. As I sat down with my legs crossed, I saw Rukia settled in at its base, laying down with her head resting on her paws.

Breathing in slowly, I started to replenish my Ki reserves. I hadn’t had the opportunity since the fight with the elementals to fill my Dantian. Creating basic Ki felt easier than it ever had before. In next to no time, my Dantian was full.

My elemental Ki floated in its center, taking up most of the space while the basic Ki surrounded it, filling in the remaining space. While each type of Ki felt similar in some ways, the differences between them wore more vast than a simple increase in potency. The basic Ki was not only weaker, but felt a lot simpler, more straightforward. I could tell that there was a lot I could do, mold it like clay shaping it to my vision.

I pushed my focus into the pale green energy, submerging my entire awareness into it. The Jade Flame Ki was far more potent and felt more alive. Warmth and a sense of protection surrounded me. I let myself truly feel the elemental Ki. there was so much more to it than the basic Ki I had used until recently. It’s explosive potential, while higher, was the least of it. It burned, wanting to consume, but even that wasn’t all. It wasn’t just a force of destruction, I could sense in it the need to consume impurities, burn away decay and revitalize life.

There was also something that resonated deeply with who and what I was all the way to my very core, the power to protect. When I imagine using my Ki while protecting someone else, it surges in my Dantian. I was certain that if my intention was to protect someone, it’s potency would be even greater. ’s going to take some experimentation to see what all I can really do with this power. But before I get into training, I really need to figure out how to make more Elemental Ki.

The first thing I tried was to churn my Ki like oil and water in a blender. I thought that if I mixed it all together, they would basically emulsify and maybe the elemental aspects of my new Ki would be added to my pure Ki.

I spun my Ki around in my Dantian like a blender. I changed directions repeatedly to mix it in all directions. It took a lot of focus and effort and felt extremely unnatural. After maintaining it for nearly a dozen minutes, I relaxed and allowed my Dantian to calm. Of course, it didn’t work. The two types of Ki separated almost immediately, with the pure Ki floating right back up to the top. I wasn’t too surprised. When you are conducting experiments, the first attempt rarely succeeds.

As I relaxed my control, my Ki flowed through my meridians slowly. This time I just watched the Ki naturally do its thing. As I sat there and observed, I noticed something interesting. The Ki in my Dantian had currents in it like one would find in the ocean. I picked one current randomly and followed the Ki in it as it left my Dantian and entered one of my Meridians.

It flowed through my Bone Meridian and back out into the Dantian. Some of the Ki mixed and intermingled with the other pure Ki in my Dantian, but most of it maintained the current, drawing more Ki into the current and passed into my Dermal Meridian. As I continued following this current, I noticed it wasn’t multiple currents, but one complicated stream that moved from one Meridian to the next, and oddly enough, in the same order as I had opened them. I didn’t know the significance of the Ki pattern following the same order I opened the Meridians, but I continued to observe.

After watching for a fairly significant time, I noticed something else that was interesting. As the pure Ki passed through my Stomach Meridian, it came out in with the same volume but had a higher viscosity than any other. It wasn’t as thick as the Elemental Ki, but it was thicker than my pure Ki. I examined the Ki that worked its way through that Meridian much closer, feeling out its composition. The Ki felt warmer, but nowhere near as hot as the Jade Flame Ki. It also had a faint tinge of red, barely noticeable, but the color was slightly off from the golden hue of my normal Ki.

Hmm, I wonder… instead of letting my Ki follow its normal path; I routed the Ki back into the Stomach Meridian. I didn’t let it mix with the rest of the Ki in my Dantian, just pushed it straight back into the opening. I maintained this closed cycle of Ki for nearly a dozen passes before I examined it again. It’s viscosity was definitely higher, had more red to it and seemed even hotter to my sense.

Focusing my sense in even deeper, I watched as the Ki made another pass. I effectively increased the magnification of my internal sight and studied closely. The tiniest red specks detached from the Meridian wall and combined with the Ki flowing past. It was kind of like reverse osmosis, but the opposite… reversed reverse osmosis? Just osmosis? What was osmosis again? I know reverse osmosis is something some home owners used to use to filter things out of their drinking water… eh, never mind.

It looked like fire Essence was exiting my Stomach Meridian and merging with my Ki. Is it just because I cultivated by body with fire essence? I turned to my other Meridians and examined the Ki as it passed through them. One by one, I checked each Meridian. I didn’t see any sign of the same thing happening until I reached the Muscle Meridian. In that one, something very similar was happening. Similar, but not the same. Instead of tiny specs of red fire essence, this one had miniscule brown motes coming out of the Meridian’s wall and combining with the Ki flowing through.

Instead of feeling warm, this Essence felt sturdy and carried a lot of weight, even with its smaller proportions. Of the eight basic Essence types, this one had to be earth. My soul element was ninety percent fire and ten percent earth. This has to be it. This is how I make the Jade Flame Ki. I cycle my pure Ki through my Muscle and Stomach Meridians. No other Meridian has this effect. Now that I think about it, there are eight basic elements and eight Body Meridians. It kind of makes sense that each meridian represents one of the element types.

I adjusted my focus and, using the same method I had when I created my movement technique, I drew the Ki from my Stomach Meridian and passed it directly into my Muscle Meridian. As soon as it exited the Muscle Meridian it went straight into my stomach Meridian.

Over the course of about thirty minutes, and countless passes through those two meridians in a closed loop, the golden pure Ki shifted to a bright red, then to a dark red, and close to the end of the thirty minutes it gradually shifted to a more green color. Once the shade of green matched that of my Jade Flame Ki, it had thickened to a honey-like consistency and in every aspect that I could detect; it was the same as my elemental Ki. I… I did it. I figured it out. Holy shit, I figured it out!

I leaped to my feet, nearly slipping on the rounded top of the boulder in my haste before I caught myself. I looked around, trying to find Magnus.

I spotted him and Kiara a few hundred feet away, playing with his bear, Koda. I jumped down from the boulder, barely having to flex my knees from the ten-foot drop. I sprinted over as fast as I could.

Magnus and Kiara looked up in alarm. In one motion, Magnus crouched down while drawing his Warhammer from his belt. He gripped it in both hands as he looked around for the threat. Kiara already had green lights flickering across her fingers as she, too, looked for the danger.

I skidded to a halt Infront of them, dirt and pebbles flying. “Magnus, I figured it ou-ouf” I was cut off as nearly a thousand pounds of husky crashed into me and sent me flying into some nearby bushes.

“Ow, what the fuck? Ugh, Rukia! Gah st-stop licking me.” I fought hard to fend my dog off as she covered every inch of my face with slobbering licks. I felt guilt and sorrow come from her through our bond ‘Sorry.’

“It’s ok, just ease off girl,” I said.

“What’s going on? What’s the danger?” Magnus called.

I extracted myself from the vegetation, brushed off the leaves and twigs from my clothes, and straightened myself out. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” I took a deep breath before continuing. “I found out how to create my elemental Ki.”

“No fucking way. How did you do it? No, better question, how do I do it?” he asked.

I settled in and explained my entire process and included my theory on how each Meridian corresponded with one of the base elements. “So, you will have to figure that part out for yourself. We don’t share any aspects in our elemental Ki. I only know it won’t be the stomach or the muscle meridians. So that will narrow it down a bit. ”

“Is Rowan still asleep?” Magnus asked.

“I’ll check,” Kiara said, and jogged over to the portable smithy. After she stuck her head in and looked around for a moment, she came back and let us know Rowan was still out cold.

“Well, that settles it. I’m going to figure it out right now.” Magnus went over to the boulder and sat down, with his back leaning against the huge rock.

I followed him over, and before I resumed my spot, on top of the stone I said, “It took me about half an hour to make my Ki, and I only managed to make about ten points’ worth.”

“Thanks for the info. Ill see how much I can make once I get the hang of it and we can compare notes later,” Magnus said with a smile and a thumbs up. He then closed his eyes, and I felt his focus shift from the external to the internal.

I nodded my head to him, even though I knew he wouldn’t see it. I leaped back up to my perch and sat down. It was time to refill my reserves and see if I could speed up the process.