Chapter 553 - Nighttime Explorations

“See you all later… I think tonight’s one of those nights where I could do with a nice long walk,” a freshly showered, changed, and downright spiffy-looking Eric declared with an upfront smile to a bemused-looking John. He saluted Eric in a fatherly sort of way with his bottle as he and the rest of the family watched an obvious comedy on the holo-center, filled with inside jokes, tongue twisters and social faux passes that Eric couldn’t make heads or tales of.

Ella and Maja had escaped by falling asleep on the comfy leather davenport, Hanna snuggly holding them both.

Louise who had been laughing a second ago, crossed her arms and scowled. “Tell me you weren’t just on the phone with Rachel, and now you’re heading into the city to meet up with her?”

Eric blinked, staring at Louise for long seconds. Her teasing smirk turned to a nervous glare back. “What?”

Hanna’s gentle smile turned to a worried frown. “Eric, you’re not actually going to… oh he is moving way too fast, dear,” she said, frowning at her husband.

John sighed, put down his bottle and looked up at Eric. “You sure about this, son?”

But a dazed Eric could only stare, head ringing with what his foster sister had said so offhandedly. So casually.

“Wait! Are you serious?”

“What are you talking about!?” A cross-looking Louise, who clearly didn’t like being flustered by her foster brother, snapped.

Eric turned his incredulous gaze to John. “We have phones? Why did no one tell me we have phones, here?”

John’s concerned fatherly stare turned to a bemused snort.

“Why of course we have phones, darling. Why wouldn’t we?” Hanna asked, genuinely curious as she kissed a sleeping Maja’s brow.

Louise rolled her eyes. “You’re such a goober.”

“No, seriously. How the hell do you even have satellites in geosynchronous orbit when people galaxy-side aren’t even sure if you live on a proper planet or some alternate plane of existence? With the Spiritual Energy gradient constantly shooting up, the higher you go, I don’t even understand how it’s possible. And just how massive is this world, anyway?”

Hanna’s gentle smile turned to a worried look. “Husband? What’s our Eric talking about?”

Louise scowled. “He’s talking netherrealm bullshit again.”

“Language, both of you!” John snapped. “And Eric, my wife means a land line. Copper wires. Vibrations with just a dash of well-shielded electromana current. No need to grapple with low-orbit anything, or the physical nature of our home.”

Eric blinked at that. “Land lines. Old fashioned phones… that actually makes sense! Why the hell didn’t I get that setup back in New York, along with my trains? We could have even used old-fashioned switch boards, or just magic!” He groaned, rubbing his temples. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Yes, you are,” Louise snapped. “Wait, what? What’s this about trains?”

Eric coughed, clearing his throat. “Anyway, I’m off for a walk. And since I had no idea that phones were even a thing here… no, I’m not planning on meeting up with any of my classmates. Laters!”

“Wait, Eric! Seriously? You built a train? Are you an engineer? Mom, does he have some cheating engineering class from the netherworld that will let him instantaneously build trains and show off? He’s so ridiculous.”

“Your guess is as good as mine, dear.”

Eric’s thoughts were racing as he took a deep breath of fresh nighttime air, smelling of forest loam and honeysuckle and countless blossoms open to the nighttime breeze. A smile graced his lips as he took in the tree-lined boulevard he was now walking along, seeing the lights emanating from the hearths and homes of other snug-looking manors no doubt owned by other well-to-do families enjoying nature’s beauty with all the comforts of a well appointed home and quick access to the heart of NanDushi. That beautiful city by the sea so reminiscent of New York, Tokyo, and Soul all at once.

He couldn’t help but gaze up at the star-filled night sky, glittering all the colors of the rainbow and blessed with the faintest tinge of fiery orange and gold. It was as if they were in the middle of the nebulae, though he couldn’t help but suspect it was actually something entirely different. That this beautiful neighborhood surrounded by strips of wild forest in between fruit groves and grain fields that was the tiniest part of a magnificent continent complete with a mystical cultivator-filled plateau the size of multiple Earths, was itself just one tiny island in a vast sea that might surround a world the size of Saturn… or it might actually be an entire plane of existence, following rules of creation and physics that truly were different from his own. At least on the macroscopic scale, even if physics and biology still worked just fine on the human-sized scale.

In truth, Eric had no idea. He only knew that he was itching to run, and finding the quiet rode empty, it was effortless for him to begin racing toward the distant mountain range that was really just the lip of an inconceivably vast plateau. His feet connected upon a perfect slope that only he could see as a light jog became a cheetah’s run… then racing as fast as a jet roaring through the air… without making a sound at all.

Save for his laughter, though he did pause long enough to glance down at the tiny pinpricks of light that was his home, doing his best to note it on his mental map that thanks to 42 Scholarship he could imagine being similar to the Dominion Interface Map he had depended on so utterly back on Earth, even if it now only included those areas he had been to. Still, not wanting to risk getting lost like an idiot, he anchored multiple points of interest, including his new home and the nearby train station, the elevated track just the anchor he needed. Even if he did get disoriented, somehow, he merely needed to head back in the general direction he had come and race back along the track until he recognized his home. Or at least NanDushi, a city that clearly never slept, visible even now, in the far off distance.

Relieved that he wouldn’t get completely lost, even if he lacked his trustworthy Interface map, save by faking it, Eric began racing toward the terrace-covered slopes making up the distant plateau, enjoying the gentle tingle in his legs that soon became the mildest of burns as he ran as hard as he could, as fast as he could for those terraced slopes. He soon found himself wondering if tonight would be the night that he leaped atop of it without any trial passed or boon granted. In that moment, he forgot about all his careful considerations, prudent groundwork, and long-term plans. All such concerns melted before the sheer power throbbing in his limbs, filling him with a furious confidence, a delicious exuberance he had last savored while furiously pounding his hated foes to oblivion in an underground bunker that had proven to be no sanctuary for his enemies at all.

The air rang with Eric’s unbridled laughter, filled as he was with fierce excitement at the thought of racing across that magnificent plateau of magic and wonder to claim the most magnificent of—

His thoughts ground to an instant halt as his mouth became an O of sheer surprise.

Because he was being pressed downward.

Some unseen force, some power, was actually keeping him from ascending!

“You’re fucking kidding me,” he exclaimed with more than a bit of awe, his internal sense making it clear that he had effortlessly ascended with only the faintest counterpressure to just a few dozen feet from the mile mark. Until he suddenly felt like he was fight against the heavens themselves.

And that thought alone caused him to halt his fierce attempts to ascend even higher, to test his Strength to no avail… with no leverage against the soles of his feet.

His stomach twisted with a spike of dismay, Eric immediately zipping down a good hundred feet… with no problem at all.

“Fuck, I do not want to be challenging the heavens at this stage!” He muttered to himself as the themes of a dozen cultivation novels popped in his head. Because he might not be challenging odd physics, but that actual will of whoever ruled this place.

Gold Tier monsters that even Eve respected.

Was he actually stupid enough to flaunt their rules, to burst in where he wasn’t wanted?

“NO, I sure as fuck am not,” he muttered to himself. Because the spike of fear he felt was just simple common-sense prudence. And absolutely nothing was stopping him from racing right towards the slope of the grand plateau coming into ever clearer focus as fifty miles blitzed by in less than a minute. And he sensed no adverse pressure at all.

No sense of toffy-like pressure slowing him to a crawl, no sense that Gold-Tier presences were glaring down at him with unmistakable disapproval. What he saw instead were rustic looking villages and pagodas of bamboo and wood surrounded by terraced fields of rice, everything radiating such potent Spiritual Energy that it brought tears to his eyes.

He took a deep breath of absolutely revitalizing air as he floated down to a winding road leading up to a wooden palisade right out of a shogun era epic. Eric blinked at the sight, eyes wandering to the mules contentedly munching the lush green grass outside of the fortification, presently unhitched from dozens of grain-filled wagons as a handful of farmers carefully filled the wagons with burlap bags filled nearly to bursting with what Eric suspected would be some of the tastiest rice of his life. Much like what Hanna served with every meal.

A sharp whistle rang from the keep. All the workers immediately lowered their hefty-looking bags of rice and fell to one knee as the gates creaked open and a half dozen cavalrymen kitted with lowered spears and lamellar armor burst free, all of them making a beeline for a quietly observing Eric, now walking along the road in an entirely normal fashion.

Of course it was nothing for him to make out the dozen panicked, shouting armsmen readying their bows behind the horsemen.

“You trespass upon Du lands, stranger!” Roared the closest cavalryman. “You will not be permitted to challenge our lord! You will leave at once, or we will run you through!”

“Our master is in deep meditation and will not be troubled by unworthy challengers!” Snapped another. “Now leave, or we will be well within our rights to strike dead any common thief or trespasser, which we judge you to be!”

Eric blinked at the bristling men. “Why don’t you put down those spears before your hurt yourselves? I’m just sightseeing. Nothing more.”

Nostrils flared. Eyes flashed with heat. “This Stomper thinks were fools. You were warned, outsider! Now you will—”

“Kneel before your master!” Eric roared as a half dozen startled-looking armsmen crashed off their suddenly prone mounts, all slamming to their knees and trembling as Eric flared his Killing Aura.

Your opponents have failed to save versus Dominion’s Command uttered by a Rank 37 Silver-equivalent Contender!

Your prey trembles before your might!

Eric’s lips crooked in a cold smile as he peered down into the blanched features of whimpering armsmen who now wouldn’t even meet his gaze.

“Please, great one. Don’t kill us. We didn’t know. How could we possibly have—”

“Silence.”

As one, the half dozen men froze in their crouched positions, the dozen bowmen beyond also gazing at Eric in dismay, not a one daring to raise their bows after he had flared his killing aura. It was then that the front gate leading to the grand pagoda at the heart of the fortified courtyard burst open, revealing a middle-aged man who had hastily kitted himself in armor reminiscent of a samurai’s armaments, wielding a nodachi in a wide, two handed grip.

“You wish to face me here and now, vermin?” Roared the man radiating a cultivator’s Spiritual Energy, at least as powerful as the first worthy cultivator that Eric had been forced to face in the depths of a delve, what now felt like a lifetime ago.

Of course, that battle had ended with his foe cleaved in twain… and Eric was over a magnitude stronger and faster now than he had been then.

Still, Eric had no problem embracing the moment, the clothes he had ran in replaced with bare feet and the jeans that had survived countless encounters that had obliterated even mithril armaments, so what was the point of anything else? Save of course, for the mithril dachi now sheathed at his hip.

“Sure, we can dance if you like” Eric said, enjoying the feel of loamy soil between his toes as he smiled at the wild-eyed man glaring his way with what seemed equal parts fury and dismay. “But I really did come here just to check out the plateau above… and maybe admire the terraced rice fields lining its edges while I was at it.”

Surprised hisses filled the air from the archers who hadn’t been utterly cowed. “He seeks to defy heavenly mandates!”

“How dare he!”

“Who does he think he is?”

Surprisingly, the middle-aged cultivator snorted, before lowering his blade. “You’re not here to challenge me.”

Eric shook his head, taking his hand off the sheath of his own blade. “Nope, that wasn’t part of this evening’s itinerary.” He glared down at the trembling cavalrymen, before mentally giving their horses permission to rise and gallop off, which they promptly did, leaving their riders behind.

“Not that these idiots would listen to a word I said.”

This earned a cool chuckle from the obvious master of the house. “You’re a Contender.”

It wasn’t a question.

Eric smirked. “Is it that obvious?”

The man shrugged, offhandedly handing his sword to a servant who quickly placed it its sheath before bowing and stepping away. “I see before me a youth with the physique of a devoted body cultivator who radiates a Core Formation elder’s killing intent that he fails to guard nearly as well as he thinks he does.”

His eyes twinkled with dark mirth as an evening breeze ruffled his salt and pepper hair. “Your eyes are sea-foam blue, your hair of spun gold, and you have no horns upon your brow. You’re clearly a faerie slipped free of the underworld, sensing that the Time of Transformation will soon be upon us… and now you seek to get a head start on the competition that will soon plague our realm as the gauntlet is thrown down and our home is thrust into chaos once more.”

Eric tilted his head thoughtfully. “Time of Transformation?”

“Of course. Were the gauntlet not soon to drop, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“I don’t suppose I could ask you a few questions?”

“Are you here to challenge me?”

“Of course not.”

“Then by all means, ask away.”

“Is it alright if climb up to the plateau’s surface?” Eric said, looking up at a slope just a few hundred yards above his current location.

This earned a snort. “Are you an academy disciple? Were you invited? Do you have a talisman permitting access?”

Eric slowly shook his head. “Nope.”

“Then you will be hunted for your daring.”

Eric winced, savvy enough to sense that such an outcome might be a very bad thing, no matter how strong he liked to think he was.

“I see.”

“Good. Once the gauntlet begins, you and your kind will be given the rules of the competition you need master if you would ascend and prove yourselves worthy of joining the exalted halls above.”

“Fair point. Is there any other way to get access to the highlands?”

“If you’re not invited to one of the academies or by a reclusive master… then no.”

Eric smirked. “No doubt the periphery is warded to set off alarms and let any guardian know that someone came visiting.”

This earned a nod. “Of course. Such has been the case for hundreds of years. Since long before my own clan accepted our duties to descend and help grow the rice needed to sustain families even more exalted than our own.”

Eric tilted his head. “Is there a reason for the strictures, save for a hatred of outsiders?”

“Were it otherwise, what’s to prevent enemy clans from sending storms of weaker cultivators to make full use of the lowlands to circle past any resistance and spy or strike opposing clans from behind?” The man gave an adamant shake of his head. “No. The Council of Gong declared over seven centuries ago that the barrier between highlands and lowlands must be maintained at all times for the safety and wellbeing of all.”

Eric huffed a frustrated breath, not that any of these complications was this man’s fault. “I see. You’ve been very helpful. Thank you for your time.”

Then, before the man could say anything further, or invite Eric to tea and no doubt grill him for secrets he wasn’t eager to surrender, he darted off so fast that he had all but disappeared to the man’s eyes.

The servant next his master lurched back. “Lord Gu! Where did the outsider go?”

The older man sighed, shaking his head as he stared off into the distance. “All that matters is that he wasn’t here to give challenge. Now summon the scribe. Best we make it known that Contenders have arrived. The world will be in flux once more, and sooner than we had hoped.”

Eric frowned at words he had no business hearing, zipping along at Mach 5. But somehow it didn’t seem to matter with his gifts, when thinking back upon people he had recently spoken to. Just one more of his quirks not worthy of stressing over as he savored the Spiritual Energy rich air currents that gave added challenge to his racing form, though he dared to ascend no higher. He kept his present altitude, savoring the growing burn in his quads as he admired the verdant, jewel green rice fields below.

He let himself slip into a soothing trance of motion and exertion, becoming one with his environment before catching sight of another unexpected marvel that pulled him right out of his trance. His blistering pace slowed down to a light jog as he beheld a thing of beauty embraced just beyond another fortified family palisade, much like the one he had visited just minutes before.

Already over a hundred miles away.

An artist weaved and spun and the night air sang with mountain crickets and the sound of perfection as rain drops were sliced in twain by spinning steel that never stopped its deadly dance as a pair of dao swirled around a graceful ballerina of martial perfection. Eric was able to see the actual rain drops pierced with blinding thrusts before the artist’s instruments were sent spinning once more in slashing parries that warded and cut in a single unifying motion, a half dozen invisible opponents only the dao master could see quickly disarmed, dismembered, and decapitated in less time than it took a single raindrop to splatter against the wet stone rocks by Eric’s seated form.

His eyes widened, humbled to find himself just a heartbeat away from an epiphany with his own sheathed weapon when the woman abruptly spun around, glaring at Eric from her open-faced helm, a hauberk of tightly fastened mail protecting her lithe figure without interfering with her grace and form.

“Who are you, and why do you trespass upon my family’s lands?”

“Name’s Eric. A pleasure to meet you…”

The girl stared coolly for long seconds.

Eric’s smile didn’t waver.

“Han Li,” she finally said.

“Han Li. Let me assure you that I am not here to challenge you or your family, and that I have absolutely no desire to imperil an exquisite artist such as yourself.” He chuckled softly in the rain. “Honestly, I was happy to be on my way after the last reception I received, but I found your swordplay captivating. And dare I say it… inspirational.”

This earned him a pointed look. “You say you were passing through my family’s lands, trespassing upon our property with no intention of challenging or greeting us?”

Eric shrugged. “When I said passing through…” He calmly stepped several feet through the air, such that he was several feet away from the steep slope of the plateau.

Han Li’s eyes widened, her mouth hanging in slack-jawed awe.

“I really mean I was just passing through. Like… you know… a bird. No one thinks of birds as trespassing, right? They’re just going from point A to point B.”

The girl blinked. “Are you saying you’re a bird?”

Eric smirked. “Actually… that’s kind of a hard question to answer. Sort of? But not right now. Now, I’m exactly what I appear to be.”

“A mythical golden-haired faerie escaped from the underrealm?”

Eric laughed. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

She smirked, her eyes boldly locking with his own. “And what is this mythical flying faerie I find myself confronting outside my family demesne in search of?”

Eric shrugged. “Inspiration, true love, a good workout, the secrets to cultivation… you know, standard stuff.”

“I see.” Her eyes locked on the mithril blade he still had secured to his hip. “And just how skilled are you with the dachi you carry?”

Eric bowed his head. “Skilled enough that I won’t dance with any fellow practitioner without making use of training blades.”

She gazed at him thoughtfully for long moments, silver grey eyes so unusual in this place and time locking with his own. “Would you care to break bread with me as my guest, honored faerie?”

Eric smirked. “As long as you’re not contemplating draconic trickery… then yes. I would be honored to.”

Before long, Eric found himself sharing sourdough bread and milk tea with a now kimono-wearing Han Li who had somehow managed to slip free of helm and mail, apply lipstick of crushed rose petals, and pin up her hair with jade pins in what seemed just a matter of seconds. Beside her sat a distinguished-looking robed gentleman who was clearly of her blood, radiating gravitas, presence, and a broken foundation.

Eric suppressed a wince, sensing both the considerable potency that the man had once claimed as his own, half-step Bronze at least… and the pain he presently endured. Perhaps the result of a failed ascension. Eric wasn’t sure, and was pretty sure it would have been extremely impolite to ask.

Yet the man gave no sign of any discomfort, merely raising his tea and saying. “Honor to our guest,” as they both took bites of surprisingly freshly-baked bread with the perfect crust, along with dipping sauce made of crushed olives, melted butter, and plenty of salt.

Truly delicious.

“Honor to your house,” Eric said, before smiling at Han Li. “And may I compliment grandfather on a remarkably gifted prodigy of the double dao fighting style.”

This earned a polite smile. “The way you carry yourself, honored guest…”

“Please, call me Eric.”

“Eric. I take you you’re also a student of the blade?”

“I would like to think so,” Eric conceded. “At least enough to find Han Li’s performance inspirational.”

The elder gave Eric a sad smile. “So gracious is our guest. And this is not a contest you would insist upon?”

Eric quickly shook his head. “Of course not. Han Li offered for us to spar and I’m flattered enough that I might actually accept.”

This earned a politely raised eyebrow. “Even if she refuses to fight with anything save live steel?”

Eric shrugged. “I mean, I do get it. You don’t truly understand a sword duel unless you use sharpened blades that can bite in the bind.” He tilted his head thoughtfully, before slowly nodding. “Yes, as a matter of fact I could accept… so long as we agree that the one who draws more than a drop of blood looses for lack of control.

Han Li smirked. “I won’t lose to you, outsider. No matter how like the tales you seem,” she said with a sip of her tea.

Eric blinked. “I’m sorry?”

The grandfather coughed abruptly.

His granddaughter flashed an enigmatic smile. “Shall we… Eric?”

Eric nodded. “Lets.”

He thought it fitting when the light drizzle turned to a downpour once more, captivated by the sight of Han Li’s abrupt transformation. The kimono-dressed tea maiden had once more been replaced by a furious dervish of swirling silk and flashing steel.

The air rang with the song of mithril and carbonized iron, the grunt and crush of spinning limbs and halfmoon kicks.

Eric couldn’t help but smile with sheerest pleasure as he weaved in time to Han Li’s dance, his body flowing in perfect sync to her own, his blade windmilling around to catch and deflect her own as he shin checked her angle kick, only for her to flow away like water, never challenging him in the bind. Merely step-sliding away with what he swore was a burst of Qi movement before she lashed out with a flurry of butterfly crosscuts and he was forced to weave under bisecting flashes or flow under spearing strikes and draw cuts, soon finding himself pushed to the absolute limits of his skill… while making use of Quickness well over mortal limits yet no greater than her own. For he refused to allow himself to move an iota faster than his partner.

Instead, he savored the added demands to balance, timing, and positioning to counter not just one but two blades. And as the shower of cleaved bamboo shafts behind him did attest, it wasn’t just steel he was slipping past, but an attack based on cleaving blows and killing intent. Sword Qi, he dared to think, just like in all his favorite xianxia.

Or perhaps it was something else entirely.

Either way, his gaze was locked on to his opponent even as their breaths matched, their bodies moving as—

“Enough!” Han Li hissed, leaping back as lightning flashed, panting in the rain as she glared at Eric with her blades crossed, steel dripping tears of frustration or mother nature’s currents. The look of serene transcendence that had graced her heart-shaped features just moments ago, the serene half smile that had seemed on the verge of sweetest revelation... was now gone as if it had never been.

“Is something wrong?”

“You’re mocking me!”

Eric quickly shook his head. “Not at all. Not in the least! You were embracing the flow, just seconds ago. Truly one with your blades. I could feel it. I’ve never seen anyone wield two swords at once and not look like a joke. But for you? It works beautifully. It was truly an honor to pit my blade against your own.”

The petite woman’s nostrils flared. “I see no trace of fear in your eyes. You dodge my Sword Qi like a laughing ghost!”

“It’s very impressive Sword Qi, I promise you. The best I’ve ever seen.”

Han Li stiffened at those words as the lightning flashed overhead. “There is no point to this. You mock me with your smile. It’s clear I’m no match for you.”

Eric sighed and shrugged, solemnly resheathing his blade. “I enjoyed our dance. I regret that you don’t feel the same.”

Silver grey eyes locked with his own. “Dance, was it?”

“You bet it was. I don’t know about you, but I definitely felt a connection. And whether I happen to have a better sense of Battletime or not… I definitely felt like I was learning from the experience. Growing as a swordsman.”

“I did as well,” she finally conceded with a bow of her head.

“Great!” Eric enthused. “So, we both felt ourselves being honed and inspired by the other. Now what do you say we see just how far we can take our revelations?”

“When I can’t even hit you?”

Eric smirked at her glare. “So, is now when your grandfather would counsel you to surrender? Or to train with such fierce dedication that even your flying faerie sword partner is forced to bow his head in respect to you?”

She blinked at this. “You would teach me your techniques?”

Eric chuckled. “I’ll happily teach you what little I can, if you’re willing to learn. Even if it’s just practicing against another opponent eager to better himself. So, how about another match tomorrow?”

Her glare softened into a thoughtful nod. “Yes. A rematch.” She blinked in momentary surprise, as if stunned to find herself actually considering his offer, before slowly dipping her head. “I would like that, I think. Same time as tonight?”

Eric winked. “It’s a date.”

She blanched, her cheeks flushing prettily. “I… I will await you at nine, tomorrow night.”

She curtseyed with flashing blades and elegant grace, her dao resheathed when she stood straight once more, favoring Eric with a curious smile. “I look forward to our rematch, Eric.”

“Me too. Enjoy your night, Han Li,” Eric took to the air and walked away from the terraced slope as if jogging along steps only he could see.

“Don’t think you will find me so easy to defeat tomorrow, Eric!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” He said with a farewell wave before disappearing so fast that all Han could do was stare at the sparkling night sky with a sigh of profound dismay.

“There’s no way I’m ever going to beat him.”

Her angry glare wasn’t eased at all by her grandfather’s soft chuckles behind her.