Chapter 43 - Adapting

Alex woke with a start. He looked around his small room and only saw Sam’s sleeping form on the cot in the corner. His heart was beating as if he’d just gone for a run or been in a fight. Val, who had also been curled up on his chest while sleeping, made an alarmed sound in his mind.

“Danger!? Where?”

Taking a few deep breaths, he put a hand to his head and closed his eyes.

Nightmare? Damn, even if we kill that big black bastard, is it going to be slithering after me in my dreams?

Everything is okay, buddy. Come here.

Alex held out his hand, and Valtherion quickly came down from his flight and curled tightly around Alex’s lower arm.

What day is it? Day five?

It feels better to think of it as only 25 days left, at least then it feels like home is getting closer.

Alex got out of bed and stretched his aching muscles. He’d only gotten four hours of sleep, but that was more than the other nights of the training week. He’d been staying up later and later while working on his personal projects.

Thank you, Stats.

Sam shuffled on the other side of the room and sat up quickly, his eyes wide as he looked around the room. When they settled on Alex, he visibly calmed and gave a sheepish smile. The boy didn’t do well with loud sounds, similar to the Mana Spinners, so Alex just waved to him before moving to the kitchen.

The lessons of his first training week continued to pass, with all three lessons being held in Eura’s office. The two instructors had seemed put off that they were not able to use the annex for training any longer, grumbling about petty maneuvering and egos. Eura seemed unbothered, maintaining his calm and stoic exterior around the other Masters; then, while the offices were empty except for Alex and Sam, he would relax and show a more energetic and friendly version of himself.

Alex made progress quickly, and he wondered, at times, if the System was helping him learn. Eura assured him that it was due to his stats and the fact that Alex had never done any kind of learning or training while his body was being heightened as much as it was at the moment.

Master Li moved Alex from solo to half-speed drills under his guidance. The main exercise involved Master Li shifting between different fighting stances. If he was standing still or retreating, Alex would use Lotus Roots, focusing on his base and patience. When Master Li moved forward aggressively, Alex had to transition to Flowing Water, redirecting the attacks while trying to stay out of his range.

Alex found the half-speed drills to be fun. There was interaction, and Master Li’s expert movements, even at half speed, required him to focus his attention and constantly be thinking. At the same time, his life wasn’t in danger as if he were in a real fight, and he wasn’t stressed like in a live sparring match.

He made rapid progress in developing his [Empowered Step] skill. The largest push was made from him practicing out in front of Eura’s office as he waited for his evening training to begin with Master Shen. As the martial mater watched him practice, he made several small comments about the movement of Qi and how it was wrong. The older man gave Alex several tips on the flow of Qi, or mana as Alex thought of it, and how he could use it to enhance the Eight Petal Steps the two had been training.

Training had progressed well, and with just 23 days left until the assault, Alex felt that he was adjusting to the strenuous routine. It was unlike anything he’d experienced in his previous life. For a bit he tried to imagine being stuck at the ad agency, dawn to dusk, working on projects and his reporting skills. He would surely lose his sanity there, but the difference was that the training didn’t feel like work. Alex was enjoying his progression. He enjoyed developing his body and his skills, and after the harrowing experience of running and ambushing others to fight for his life, Alex felt that his life had truly changed. Wherever he went after the Rift, he was certain that these skills would aid him and give him an edge.

As those days of the first week passed, Alex found his fondness for Sam growing. The younger boy had a kind heart and while he certainly had his scars from everything he’d been through, Alex was pleased to see that Sam wasn’t broken. Sam cared for Valtherion while Alex was training and Alex could feel the boy watching him at different parts of the day. More than once, Alex had wondered if that was how it felt to be an older brother. Sam also didn’t sit idle through all of the sessions. True to his word, Eura found a master who would come and sit with Sam regularly. To Alex, it looked like the two barely spoke, just sitting in silence with the occasional clipped sentence from the Elder.

Val seemed to be enjoying the time more than either Alex or Sam, though. The little flying pest had free roam of the Grand Pagoda’s upper floor. Eura had mentioned to all of his staff that the intelligent creature was not a threat and was to be treated as an Honored Guest. This allowed the mana wyrm to fly full speed through the corridors, though he’d been asked to do so at the ceiling level after running headfirst into a servant carrying linens. Additionally, when Eura had learned that Val ate Mana Stones to sustain himself, he’d asked Alex about it. Alex mentioned that he had stones from his time hunting and fleeing the other side of the Rift but was beginning to run low on the E-grade stones to feed to Val; soon, he would need to start dipping into the D Rank Mana Stones.

To Alex’s surprise, Eura encouraged this. He said that bonded companions were common in the wider worlds, as the power that could be shared between bonds gave most people an edge. By feeding Val Mana Stones above his rank, he’d grow faster and get closer to reaching his advancement.

Seriously? How much are these things worth? How many people can even get D Rank Mana Stones on Earth? They’ve got to be 3-5 times more expensive than the other ones, right?

“Mana? Where?”

God damn it, Val. Read the room! I don’t want you eating $5,000 dollars and then floating around like a drunken sky-eel. Ugh, I guess there’s no helping it. If it’s what he needs to advance, then I’ve got to start forking some of them over.

Alex asked for more information on advancements after he’d talked himself down off of that ledge.

Eura explained that classes were reserved by the System for fully sentient races. Beasts and creatures were unable to get classes, at least not until they reached a certain level of sapience. The System's solution to this was that all beasts could advance their own race rather than advancing a class. This came from strengthening their soul and cultivating their own Qi. Eura explained that most of the time, this was done by the creature experiencing life-and-death situations, hunting, and just generally surviving. If the beast lived long enough, it would eventually advance.

A large part of this was based on what the creature ate. If a wild wolf came across a particularly enriched plant or prey, then the wolf would grow more quickly in proportion to what it consumed. This was why Eura recommended Alex feed the D Rank Mana Stones to the wyrm. The higher density of Mana meant that Val would grow and progress faster.

Eura must have seen the look of pain on Alex’s face and taken pity on him. The Sect Head offered to supply Val with one D Rank Mana Stone per day and two more E Rank Mana Stones. Alex was surprised, but he waved it away, stating that it was a small amount for the sect. He still encouraged Alex to give Val more of the D Rank stones but said that he could consider the amount from the sect a livable food wage for the young mana wyrm.

After the discussion on companion advancement, their conversation had turned to Alex’s own class advancement. Through the discussion, Eura made sure that Alex was devoting at least half of his attention to the [Mana Thread] shaping exercises that he’d been taught. Alex would sit on the large stone tile within Eura’s private garden while the sect head walked around the large open suite and explained concepts to him. Eura was just beginning to explain how classes worked within the System when they were interrupted.

Three people came through the sliding door with a surprising amount of speed. Alex was surprised at how quickly his mind had begun to adjust from the loud and fast movements he associated with the city to the more subtle and calm movements of the sect. This difference made the entry into the sect head office suite even more noticeable.

“Sect Head, this one presents Honored Elder Gu and his disciple.” A servant said. The words came out in a rush, presumably to finish the sentence before the pair barged past and into the open room.

“This is him, then?” The older of the two said. He was slightly overweight, which also stood out to Alex. While he’d seen people of various sizes, heights, and colors all of his life thanks to the melting pot that was the United States, this portly man seemed very out of place among the single nationality, martial experts that filled Tianluo.

Eura stood quietly for a moment, letting the silence that followed the abrupt statement hang in the air. He then smiled at the Elder and cupped his hands in a formal greeting.

Alex hid a smile as he recognized what Eura was doing. After his week of being in the sect, Alex knew that there were several different ways that people could greet each other. Almost every conversation began with some form of a greeting. He noticed that their tradition seemed to be very dependent on polite recognition of one’s station. It didn’t matter if that was above or below the one that was being addressed; what mattered was that the polite greeting was given.

Eura was greeting the Elder in an overly formal way, despite their difference in station, as a subtle reprimand to the other man.

It’s almost like he’s saying: I’m the strongest one here and you can see how even I will take the time to greet someone beneath me before beginning the conversation. Do you feel foolish for coming into my own offices and speaking before greeting me?

Alex only knew that this was how the Sect Head thought after spending several long days speaking with him without his normal stoic mysticism. Alex appreciated that he would drop the silent act when they were alone, becoming more amicable and willing to talk.

After proper greetings were exchanged, the Elder expressed his displeasure with more grace. It took a few back-and-forth comments for Alex to fully understand the purpose of the visit. It appeared that the Council Elders were upset that Alex, as an outsider, was getting special attention and training from Masters and the Sect Head.

They decided that if ‘such valuable resources were to be spent on an outsider,’ then surely the same treatment should be given to some of the sect’s brightest disciples.

Alex did have to admit that the argument was sound if poorly delivered. To Alex, it seemed like the Council was acting like children, upset that someone else was getting more time with a favorite toy than they were. He glanced over at Sam and Val at the outer edge of the garden. Val had moved into Sam’s robe and was comically poking his head out, eyes wide. Seeing Sam’s uncomfortable and scared look sobered Alex’s thoughts in an instant, however.

He sent out a thread of mana to the boy, and when his own clumsy tendril connected to communicate, Alex sent him feelings of comfort and confidence. It had been through observing Val that Alex had noted the two talking this way. It was exactly how Alex had learned to communicate with the Mana Spinners, but Sam seemed to feel a lot more comfortable with this mind-to-mind sort of communication rather than verbal exchanges. The same way that the spiders had been wary and skittish around loud noises, Sam was too. It had been a no-brainer for Alex then, and he demonstrated with his own mana how to allow them to connect and communicate so that they could send emotions and intent back and forth rather than normal words.

His attention was pulled back to the conversation between the Elder and Eura as the celestial being simply said no to the request. This caused the Elder to almost explode, his face red from restrained rage. Shortly after, the Elder and his quiet disciple left, which allowed Eura’s rigid demeanor to drop.

The golden man sighed and covered his two black and gold eyes.

“I don’t want to get tangled up in whatever this drama is, but what’s going on? I didn’t check him, but I’m sure that guy is probably only a bit stronger than me. Why are they trying to throw their weight around?” Alex asked.

“It would appear that the council has gotten used to my absence. They liked the power that came with my imprisonment and are torn between wanting to be happy that I’m back and upset that they need to return to following orders.”

Alex found this situation interesting and decided to press Eura for more information and his thoughts on the matter. The talk quickly returned to their debate of power and simply took what one could, if they could. Eura went into some more complex angles of the same discussion, talking about how easy it could be to abandon one’s ideals or morals when it suited them. Eura said that it was one of the easiest things to justify, and he believed it should only be done in the most dire of circumstances. A situation where one is forced to sacrifice their morals for the greater good rather than a personal desire or advancement.

Their lesson ran over normal time, as Alex told Eura about a few leaders from Earth who committed atrocities in the name of bettering the human race. Eura was a great listener and seemed genuinely interested in leaders and their people's experiences. The world that Eura came from, before it was split into the Rift, had tales of heroes and myth, but it didn’t have detailed and unbiased histories.

That answer had caused Alex to laugh and point out that their histories likely were only so accurate. Most of what was recorded was written by a person who had some sort of agenda, whether that be to paint their own country in a certain light or get their pockets lined by someone who had an agenda of their own.

“Stories of war are written by the victors,” Eura said while nodding.

Alex had to agree, feeling like Eura’s profound words reminded him of a saying he’d heard before on Earth.

The next several days progressed the same. Alex made quick progress on his martial foundation at the direction of Master Shen and Master Li while he made slower but steady progress in his magical training with Eura.

Soon, he began to work on evasion techniques with Master Li that were specifically made to work well with Flowing Water and continued to get advice from Master Shen on how to incorporate his movement abilities with the Eight Petal Steps.