Wuxia -CH2-

The huge “library” as he’d begun calling it in his head didn’t change.

Though a large and vast section of the bookshelves misted over and became ethereal.

“Reconstruction has begun and will be complete momentarily. The Chosen one’s Qi sea will unfortunately be drained significantly.

“The Chosen one’s body refining would be ranked as level one if someone were to test it,” Locke said.

“What was it before?” Ash asked, not sure he really wanted to know.

“Before the reconstruction purchase it would have been ranked as a peak, or level ten.”

Ash sighed and pressed his hands to his face.

Peak? In other words, I could have graduated from a beginner to an intermediate body refiner? Ugh.

Though this is necessary. Yes.

We don’t have a cultivation technique, and this will provide me with one.

Even if we were a peak beginner body refiner, it wouldn’t have mattered. We wouldn’t have progressed.

Couldn’t have progressed!

“Reconstruction complete,” Locke said.

Blinking Ash looked around himself.

The rotten and broken down bookcases were gone.

Dark stained wooden book cases that looked rather expensive had replaced them. They were filled with books, scrolls, slim manuals, and even some that were simply single pages of parchment.

Picking up a manual, Ash flipped it open idly.

On the third page were instructions on how to utilize an attack that generated lightning and channeled it through the hands into a direct strike.

Raising his eyebrows, Ash closed the manual and set it back down.

“You said there were a number that were suitable to me?” Ash asked allowed.

“Please proceed to the antechamber set to the north-west of the library to proceed with ability selection. Attribute and ability determination can be determined in the evaluation chamber,” Locke said.

“Evaluation chamber?” Ash asked, moving to the dead center of the library.

At least so he thought, based on the way the ceiling seemed to be laid out.

“The evaluation chamber can determine attributes and assist in determination of the best available abilities,” Locke said.

Ash frowned, it was more or less the same information, just presented in a different way.

“Why is there an Evaluation room?” Ash asked.

“The Evaluation room is a function of the heirloom treasure the Chosen one has acquired, despite not having the correct bloodline to unlock it.”

Ash stopped in the middle of the room and looked around.

“Uhm, which way is north-west?” Ash asked, looking around at the various doorways around him.

A small golden arrow appeared in front of him and oriented on a doorway to his left.

Turning to face the direction of the arrow, he watched as it changed it’s heading.

“Oh, that’s handy. Like a compass for a quest completion,” Ash said, following the indicated direction.

“The option for directions has been enabled,” Locke responded.

Moving across the shattered library, Ash was struck with just how large the room was. It was deceiving with how big it was considering how much smaller it looked from outside.

Maybe the building had a dimensional space element to it.

Stepping into the indicated “evaluation chamber” Ash looked around. It was a simple and empty room with a circular plate in the dead center of it.

Moving over to the plate Ash stepped on it with one foot.

Nothing happened.

Putting both feet on the plate he heard a pop and a fizzle.

“The Cultivation chamber has now been modified to work with my current abilities,” Locke said.

The wall directly across from Ash flashed and a mirror image of himself appeared on it.

He saw his lanky self standing there looking like an unfed teenager. His height barely reached five foot seven and his frame was rather slim.

Though his green eyes and blond hair stood out immediately. 

Need to dye my hair again, it’s getting too light.

Floating beside his mirrored image were a series of numbers and stats.

“The Chosen one’s attributes and talent are all average,” Locke said. “Of the available abilities, the Chosen one has access to over ninety percent of them.”

“Guess it’s good to be average,” Ash muttered.

“Correct,” Locke said helpfully.

“How many can Jia use?” Ash asked. He was sure it’d be a higher number than his own. Jia was much more talented then him.

“Jia is limited to seventy percent of the available abilities,” Locke immediately responded.

“Huh? Why the big drop?”

“Jia is limited to seventy percent of the available abilities, as the library isn’t as comprehensive for a woman.”

A woman?

Uh.

Ash frowned and opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Well, that does explain quite a bit I suppose. He’s always been popular with the ladies, but he never did anything with it.

I’d have fallen dick first into all of them as quickly as I could have.

“Alright, uhm, let’s… let’s go to cultivation techniques. I’d like to focus on what’s not only available for me, but best for me.

“If you can do that.”

“The Chosen one is most suited for the following cultivation techniques with the following abbreviated descriptions:

“Way of Balance. All gains in cultivation must be gained in such a way that all elements are in harmony. The technique will have a slow growth but a deep Qi sea at the peak,” Locke said.

Ash looked to the ground in front of him.

Do I actually want to do this? I never stopped and considered if this was something I actually wanted to do.

Is it?

We can just become a citizen as soon as we fail the exam this year.

And we can get a job and … be normal.

But… what if they can sense that my dantian is no longer blocked? What if they know that I’m now a cultviator.

Would they force a cultivation technique on me that isn’t suitable to me?

How would I even explain it at that point?

If I did it now, I could claim I just… learned it… right?

Wait, that’s all assuming I want to do this.

“-ow amount of available Qi at the peak, but is significantly faster,” Locke droned on.

“Stop,” Ash said, coming to a neutral ground in his thought process. “Limit the list to what can provide me with the greatest benefit the fastest, as well as what would be ideal with my current… status. My possessions and what I own.”

The clear wall in front of himself began to rapidly flash through a series of texts.

Then it just stopped out of nowhere.

“One suitable cultivation technique.

“The Snowflake From The Mountain Top,” Locke said. “This cultivation technique isn’t rated very highly as the starting requirement is steep.

“However, due to the inherited Qi from the heirloom treasure, the Chosen one can bypass this and move straight to cultivating.

“The key component to the Snowflake From The Mountain Top, is momentum. With each gain, part of that gain is reinvested back into the ability to cultivate. In time, this method will end up providing the fastest growth at later stages, though slower growth at earlier ones.”

Ash was reading the text on the wall, which was more or less the same thing Locke was saying.

“In other words, I can invest whatever Qi I have leftover into the technique, and it can start providing more back to me much more quickly.

“I’m investing in my future, so to speak.”

“The Chosen one is correct. This cultivation method is ideal and the most suited given the parameters listed.”

“Great, we’ll take that. Is there any support abilities that go with this or would be suitable for it?” Ash asked. Sometimes cultivation techniques had sister abilities that would compliment it.

“No, there are no linked techniques. There are several techniques that could be joined to this technique however.”

“Oh? Great! What are they? The ones I can use, that is.”

“The first is Keep what you Kill,” Locke said.

“Sounds ominous,” Ash muttered.

“-and any opponent that you eliminate will grant you a portion of their personal Qi,” Locke continued on, ignoring Ash. “The greater the opponent in comparison to yourself, the more you will personally inherit.”

“And does it cost me anything to learn this?”

“There is no associated cost. This technique is part of the basic library.”

“Ok, add that in. What else?”

“Devourer, eating the hearts of your defeated enemies-”

“No, skip that one,” Ash said, interrupting Locke.

“Unstoppable Force, each time you defeat an opponent in a fair fight initiated by the challenger, your cultivation ability will temporarily rise by a factor of five percent. There is no upper limit to the multiplier.

“This modification ends with the loss of a fight, declining a challenge, or challenging someone weaker than yourself. If the modifier is lost, the Chosen one would suffer a penalty of one fourth of the modifier as a penalty to his cultivation for one week.

“The penalty is labeled ‘Taste of Defeat’ and is an expected eventuality at some point.”

That sounds neat, though also a concern. A loss would really set me back for a while.

“Any cost?” Ash asked once it was obvious Locke finished.

“In learning this technique, one would be unable to utilize any other Cultivation enhancement abilities.”

“Does it work with the first one? Snowflake whatever?”

“They are compatible.”

Frowning Ash scratched at his head.

It’d be a pretty quick way to the top, right? I mean, between the three. Everything would just become this… this train with no brakes.

A loss would set me back though. Any loss.

But that’s the risk, right? The risk and the reward.

“Add that one, too. Those three techniques. Let’s move on to abilities,” Ash said.

“It’s recommended the Chosen one utilize his first three techniques. This will help in identifying which abilities are best taken next.”

Ash thought on that and then nodded his head. It made sense. Up to now, all of this seemed like a strange culmination of functions between Locke and the ring.

There was no telling if they were one-hundred percent accurate.

“Alright. Give me those three techniques and we’ll go from there,” Ash said. “And we-”

A sudden burst of information racked his brain. It scattered his thoughts and he felt his body lock up as if he were made of steel rods rather than flesh and bone.

Gritting his teeth, Ash stared at the ceiling of the room. The three techniques were being directly transmitted to his mind. Straight into his memories.

To the very bottom of his Qi sea.

After what felt like hours, it ended as abruptly as it started.

Ash crumpled to the ground, falling to all fours.

Then the world faded to black around him. With a dizzying shift he suddenly found himself where he’d been previously.

In the ruined courtyard outside of the building.

Shivering, covered in sweat, and feeling as if his mind had been split apart, Ash felt awful.

Bile rose up in his throat and he began to retch violently, throwing up the contents of his stomach.

***

Opening the door Ash slipped into the home he’d spent most of his life here in.

The home of his adoptive family. The Sheng family.

“Ah? Is that you Ashley?” asked a female voice from inside.

“Yes, it’s me Far,” Ash said with a smile. Moving into what he’d call the kitchen. It was next to the entry way he found the mother of the family. Far Sheng.

She’d treated him as if he were one of her natural born children, even though he “looked like the strangest Outlander she’d ever seen”, or so she said.

Admittedly Ash looked very much an Outlander. He was Caucasian after all, and as far as he could tell, everyone in this world was of Asian descent.

“Oh, welcome home,” Far said standing over a hearth set in the wall. Sitting over a tri-pod was a beat-up cauldron that she was stirring with a long handled large spoon.

She was a small woman. She looked as if she were in her late forties with dark black hair and dark eyes. She was only a citizen, as was her husband.

Though both of their children had turned out to be cultivators, much to their great surprise.

“Duyi is working late tonight.”

He’s been doing that a lot lately. It’s not good for his health. He’s much too old to be working hard labor for so long each day.

“Mother Far, why?” Ash asked. Walking over to the smaller woman, Ash touched her gently on the back and kissed the top of her head.

“Aaaaah. Its nothing you need worry about,” Far said, shaking her head. “Sit, I’ll serve you a bowl. It’ll be ready later, but it should taste just fine now.”

“Thank you, Mother Far, but please. Tell me. What’s going on?” Ash asked, taking a seat at a flat board laid out on the ground that served as their table.

Sighing, Far reached over to a stack of bowls beside the cauldron and pulled one off the top.

“Jing and Yan have not done well in their sect. Father Deyui is working hard to help support them so that they can succeed,” Far said after she began pouring the stew into the bowl.

Ash felt his heart thump oddly in his chest.

They’re not doing well?

“What’s wrong, exactly?” Ash asked.

Taking the bowl from Far, he brought it up to his lips and took a hearty drink.

“Ahh, they didn’t really say. Just that they’re not able to succeed right now. They didn’t ask for anything, but Father and I think that if we send them a little extra, maybe that’ll change things,” Far said with a smile as she sat down in front of him.

“I see. They really didn’t say anything at all?”

“Nothing that I understood. Something about the cultivation techniques costing too much was about the only thing that made sense to me,” Far said.

“Which is why you want to send money, that makes sense.”

Far smiled and nodded her head at him. “Yes.”

“What if I worked? I could always skip out of the examination and get a job. Work with Father Duyi.”

Ash lifted the bowl to his mouth and took another drink, managing to capture several slivers of vegetables and a bit of meat.

I wonder where they got the meat? That’s a bit of a surprise.

“I don’t think… that is…” Far sighed and gave him a tired smile. “Ashley, Mother and Father worry that no one will hire you because you look so much like an Outlander.

“Father Duyi has already been asking around… even his friends… no one is willing to take you on.”

Ash nodded his head at that.

It wasn’t unsurprising. While people didn’t hate him for being an Outlander, or even disliked him, they treated him more as a bad omen and simply ignored him.

On the list of problems, it hadn’t been much of a concern since he wasn’t treated like an outsider.

People just didn’t like being around him for extended periods of time.

“I was wondering if you thought you might successfully pass the examination this year?” Far asked, looking at him intently now.

Ah. Yes. That’d be the one place I could excel based on my own merits, regardless of my looks.

My destiny would be my own. Fortune and fame entirely dependent on me, and maybe some luck.

Smiling at Far, Ash nodded his head.

“I do believe I’ll pass, yes. I wouldn’t be concerned. I’m actually fairly confident in myself this year,” Ash said.

Far didn’t move, then she smiled brightly at him.

“Truly, Ashley? You think you’ll pass?” she asked.

“Yes. I do. I can’t guarantee my results beyond passing, but I do believe I’ll pass without a concern.

“I’m almost certain of it,” Ash said, unable to smile back at her.

Her genuine joy at the possibility of him succeding had struck at the core of his being.

This is our path. We’ll move forward to protect our family.

The question becomes… how far can we go?

“Oh I’m so happy for you!” Far said, reaching over the table to pat his cheek.

Ash grinned, his cheeks turning a faint red at the attention.

“Thanks, mother Far.”

***

Sitting quietly by himself in his room, Ash focused inward on his Qi sea.

The energy there flowed gently back and forth. The waters nearly still and undisturbed.

So, first we have to condense all of this Qi into our ‘snowflake’ and then set it rolling, right?

As if the simple thought of the ability was enough, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

Siphoning his entire Qi sea into his dantian, he began to push it through. Pressing it down onto itself.

As if he were rolling aluminum foil into a ball he kept pressing in on it. From every angle, he pressed and pushed on his Qi.

Slowly, it began to shrink into itself, vanishing and becoming denser with every pass.

Then it was if suddenly could go no further. The Qi was as dense as it was going to become.

Pulling it from his dantian, he let it settle back into his inner sea.

It was little more than a puddle now.

Sighing to himself, Ash collected his thoughts, and then began to work through the steps to cultivate.

Taking hold of his puddle, Ash used it according to the ability. Letting it gather around him. To literally flow through his surroundings, gathering and trapping all the Qi that was in the waking world.

I can see how this truly can become a frightening skill later on, and why the introductory stages would be so complicated.

I cannot imagine doing this with something smaller than my puddle.

If I were just starting out, wouldn’t it be little more than a rain drop?

Ash could feel the puddle soaking up the Qi. Bring it into itself, and rapidly condensing it to the same level as the puddle.

And that the amount of Qi needed to be condensed was significantly less than what he’d spent to reach the same goal.

Which made sense when he thought about it. The whole point of this technique was that the further you invested into it, the more it could give back.

But with each investment, one would eternally shuffle themselves backwards.

Ash could already see the problem that he imagined many cultivators faced with this technique.

How much do I invest back into it, and at what point is it more a hindrance than a help to do so?

Than a strange thought struck him.

He needed to get his abilities tomorrow, and he had to begin training immediately.

The examination was only a month away.

It’s just not enough time.