Poor Cultivation (The Slayer of Heaven Book 1): A LitRPG Wuxia Series

by Alan Bard

  “Fuu-uck… this! I’d… rather… die…”

  Victoria clapped her hands and shouted, “Wimps, step aside! Everyone else, go on!”

  Rio also stopped. Panting, he bent over, resting on his knees. Giving up on life, he fell flat on his back.

  I continued fighting, not willing to lose. Being the last newbie standing, I wanted to beat the old-timers and prove to them that we weren’t useless. This was no longer just a way to prepare us for tomorrow’s fight. For a moment, it seemed like something more.

  Transformation Progress: +0,03%

  Will: +0,07%

  Everything went black. There was a lump stuck in my throat. Pain pierced my stomach, making me slow down. Spots and numbers were spinning in front of my eyes. My lungs felt like they were on fire.

  Attention!

  The current state of your body does not allow you to maintain this pace of physical activity. If you continue, your cardiovascular system and brain activity might suffer.

  Jelena had fainted. Ksandra gave up running, too, and was now walking in place like me. Victoria gave up soon, too. Nobody among us was a match for Joe.

  Victoria looked at Ksandra, who now sat in a lotus position. Taking her glare as a hint, she rose to her feet, picked up the stick, and started toward Eli.

  “Step forward and take your punishment with dignity,” Victoria ordered.

  Ksandra smacked Eli on the back.

  “Shit! What the hell?! That was—!”

  “Shut up!”

  Eli froze. By the look on his face I could tell that he wanted to bash Victoria and Ksandra’s heads together. The second blow struck his legs. He fell to his knees, mouth open in a silent scream, eyes wide, and tears running down his cheeks. The final blow struck his solar plexus, throwing him backward.

  The drone was buzzing somewhere in the sky, filming.

  Sweat was still streaming down my face, but breathing had become easier. I leaned over Jelena and patted her cheeks with my fingertips.

  She regained consciousness, opened her eyes, and held out her hands to me.

  “Boja-ane, why?” she mumbled.

  Realizing that it wasn’t her brother, she moved her hands and head away, hiding her face in her disheveled hair.

  Joe kept running; he seemed not to care about what was happening. He was panting, but he showed no signs of fatigue. I wondered how long he could carry on like that. Eli was trying to sit up. Victoria told Joe to stop and ordered all of us drop to down and give her some push-ups.

  Ten traditional ones, ten clap ones, and ten wide grip ones. She didn’t say how many sets, no. We were to go until she was satisfied.

  Jelena broke first. It was easy for Eli, who seemed to have spent a lot of time in the gym. After a while, my arms betrayed me, and I fell face first onto the ground. I wanted to keep going so I forced myself up. I did a few more before falling again. The system messages made me feel less shitty about myself. It was hard for Victoria, too, let alone for Ksandra who had to do push-ups with only one hand.

  This time, Eli and Joe were the last to go.

  Ksandra raised her stick and took a step toward Jelena, who tried to crawl away, shielding her head with her hands. However, that didn’t help her. I watched her scream and writhe in agony. Strangely enough, Ksandra didn’t look sorry for her. Rather, she looked like she was enjoying it.

  I felt strange. There were no voices in my head. My mind was blank.

  After the push-ups, we did squat jumps. Once that was done, the training was over. Weary and exhausted, we all threw ourselves onto the ground. Joe left and came back with a canvas bag from which he took a piece of meat for each of us, and a bunch of dried berries.

  “You’ve got to eat in order to put on some muscle mass.”

  Staring at the sky, I wondered how long we had been training. It seemed like forever. I didn’t like that fighting stirred the abyss within me. I liked the fact that I had no clue what to do about it even less. There wasn’t a bone in my body that didn’t hurt. Hell, even my eyelashes were in pain.

  The food helped get some of my stamina back, but it didn’t get rid of the ringing in my ears. Not caring about any of that, Victoria ordered us to continue training. It was time for sparring.

  Rio and I turned out to be more or less equal. I was good at taking punches, as well as throwing them, even though he fought with a stick and I with my bare hands. Fighting against Eli, I started to sense the abyss. I knew that it wanted to be released and used as a weapon, but I resisted. The eleven units of Deformation were calling out to me, telling me that it was dangerous to keep it inside, but I couldn’t make myself use it, afraid that I might end up killing Eli. Besides, I didn’t want Victoria to know about my abilities. I would deal with the abyss later. For now, I had to focus on practicing chaining attacks, both unique and regular. I didn’t have much success doing this, but I sure was getting better at dodging.

  Transformation Progress: +3,7%

  Will: +3,9%

  Strength: +5,1%

  Dexterity: +4,8%

  Endurance: +5,2%

  Intelligence: +0,005%

  I studied the stats, thinking how something seemed strange about intelligence. I didn’t notice it increase so I wondered what made the system think that I had gotten a little bit smarter, and what I should do to increase it faster. Man, I wished I had access to the Internet.

  Feeling better, I marched over to Victoria.

  “Look, Jelena recently lost her brother. I know you need a healer, but bulling her like that will break her. Even if she can’t kill herself, she will go mad.”

  “Maybe I’ll take it easy on her,” she said after a thoughtful pause. “Go get some rest now, you need to get your strength back. But don’t take too long… I’ll fill you in on the details tonight. Gang! Ksandra will go get some water. Try to get some rest.”

  I took Jelena to our hut and lay down beside her. She fell asleep with her head resting on my shoulder. Eli snored in his sleep. Rio curled up and slept at the entrance. My eyelids were heavy, but I couldn’t sleep. Each time I tried, today’s events kept replaying in my head.

  From time to time, Anna would visit me in my dreams.

  If Zeke was just a power driven maniac, then the shamans from the Alliance were fucking sadists. Who said they did it? I thought. And why is it so silent in my mind all of a sudden? Where are Alpha and Beta? Zeta? Where are you guys? Why am I finding it difficult to think without you three? Lost in thought, I went outside. Walking around, I searched for anything that could get my mind off these dark thoughts.

  But there was nothing but silence and howling.

  “Nick!”

  I jumped, startled by Ksandra’s sudden appearance.

  “Back already? Listen, when will Zeke and his gang arrive?”

  “I think they’ll meet us on the way to the Alliance. But I’m not sure about the details,” she said with a heavy sigh. I noticed how uncomfortably close I had gotten to her.

  “You don’t like Zeke either?”

  “Who could ever like that bastard? He’s a killer, and he’s obsessed with it. But he’s a useful asset—” She shivered suddenly and held her head high. “Victoria really wants to win.”

  Looking at me, she flashed me a smile.

  “Have you ever had a girlfriend, Nick?”

  I stared at her in confusion, taken aback by the sudden question. “I mean, have you had your cherry popped?”

  I felt even more uncomfortable by how close she was to me.

  “Yes. But I can’t say that I have a lot of experience…”

  “Don’t misunderstand…” She moved even closer. “Something’s telling me that we’ll all be dead by noon. Well, I surely will. So why not spend some time together?”

  I caressed her stiff locks. She took my hand and put it on her ass.

  “Everyone usually wants to grab here. Or here,” she said, lifting her shirt. “But you’re a shy boy, aren’t you?”

  We spent the next few hou
rs in her hut, right on the table. I left her only in the evening, still feeling her touch all over me. The island seemed to have driven her crazy. She even left me a hickey.

  I won’t lie, it felt kinda good.

  Once I was back at my place, I fell on the rags. Surprisingly, intercourse with another player had also brought me increase in Transformation. I wondered what would happen if it reached a hundred percent. Would I suddenly figure out the meaning of life? Would I reach the next stage of humankind’s evolution? Would I get new abilities? When I was a kid, I always thought how it’d be great to have superpowers. How it’d be great to be like Robin Hood, robbing the rich and giving to the poor. I cursed myself for not asking anyone about this. I wondered how far Joe and Victoria were on the Transformation scale. Perhaps I should ask them about it tomorrow.

  Lost in thought I didn’t immediately notice that the guys had started waking up. Jelena moved closer to me. She reached to touch the bandages on my chest, but stopped. She still wasn’t over my rejection.

  “Does it hurt?”

  Her pretty face was bruised and pale, and one eye was almost swollen shut. She was probably in pain herself, but she had put my well-being above hers. I wanted to embrace and pat her so bad, but I knew that it’d be wrong to give her false hope. She was like a sister to me, even though she wanted more than that.

  I had never been in love in my life. I did like some girls, but didn’t love them truly. I didn’t want Jelena to fall for me. I didn’t want to just use her. I didn’t want for her to be hurt like that.

  Her sympathy didn’t go unnoticed. Eli loudly cleared his throat.

  “Nick, bro, wanna for a walk?”

  I got up and we went out.

  Eli wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. I felt a little sorry for the poor fellow. Archie must’ve thought the same about me. However, that Nick was long gone.

  We walked in silence. We approached the Totem, and I sat down on the edge of the bowl. Eli’s face was even more swollen and bruised than mine; however, I could see the indignation on his face. I could imagine what was going on in that mind of his.

  “Listen… Keep your hands off her. She’s mine.”

  I sighed and shook my head.

  “I didn’t really do anything. In case you haven’t noticed, she made the move on me.”

  “I don’t care. She’s mine,” he said, annoyed. His fists were tightly clenched. There was anger in his eyes.

  I didn’t like his tone. I was relaxed though; I could handle him.

  “Look, you’re my friend, right? I consider you my friend, Eli. Jelena is a cool girl, but, uh, bros before hoes. So don’t worry…” I slapped him on the back. “You take her. No one will come between us, I promise.”

  Eli tried to smile, but all he could do was grimace.

  I continued, “Tell her that you’re in pain. Women like to take care of the sick. Have fun, just not too much.”

  “Hah, nice idea, bro!” he exclaimed, and walked away.

  I didn’t get any sleep that day. The meeting was about to begin. While everyone was still resting, I headed to the main hut to have another, perhaps final look at the map.

  Chapter 24

  THE PORTAL

  The map was still there, spread on the black stone table. I straightened the bent corners so that Wolf Moor was closest to me. The area was labeled with a white-yellow spot, in the middle of which was a drawing of a wolf-like creature. The neighboring location was the wasteland, followed by Ghost Valley, marked with red lines. In the center was a circle that indicated either rocks or geysers. My thoughts kept returning to Green, and I wondered where he had been betrayed before he had gotten stuck in that cave.

  “What’s on your mind, Nick?”

  Victoria’s voice almost startled me. I slowly raised my head, but said nothing.

  “Let’s wait until everyone gets here,” she said. “What kind of a team would we be if we kept information from each other, huh?”

  “A very good one.” I tried not to smile. “A team. Do you know what that word even means?”

  The corner of her lips twitched. She was mocking me.

  “Do you know what kind of a soldier is the most effective?” I asked. “The one that protects the besieged city where his wife and children live. He has nowhere to retreat; even if he loses his hands, he’ll fight with his teeth. Mercenaries who have to choose between money and life always opt for the latter. We’re not mercenaries; we’re slaves, a rabble treated like cattle.”

  “So, what do you suggest?”

  Ksandra and Joe came in and took their places on either side of Victoria. She fell silent; my words got her thinking. I was surprised to see that even the system appreciated my efforts.

  Be patient, and teach yourself while you teach others.

  Intelligence: +0,5%

  Learning is the eye of the mind.

  Eli, Rio, and Jelena came in together. A bandage made out of colorful fabric was covering half of Eli’s face.

  “Listen, you already know some of these things, but I have something new to tell you,” Victoria said, looking at us expressionlessly. “Originally, I didn’t want to share this with rookies, but I changed my mind. You should know that we’re at a war with the Alliance, a cohort led by Simon Grimtotem and Nick Earthfury. Nick is a powerful telekinetic, but he’s a moron. Simon is a pyrokinetic mage and, being Nick’s first deputy, he’s the one who’s really in charge. A couple of weeks ago, I defeated his squad. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to finish him off… What’s more, I humiliated him in public, and he’ll never forgive me for it. If Simon wins, we’re all dead. He’s too angry to include my fighters in his army. Recently, a cohort called The Anarchists joined them. I don’t know much about them. They’re strange. They go out of their shelter mostly at night, and they like to fight dirty.”

  “How many are there altogether?” Rio asked.

  “Somewhere around twenty. Against them are two cohorts: Zeke’s and ours. He has six fighters, two at the rank of Privates, and the rest are Corporals.”

  Jelena’s eyes narrowed and she hissed, “Zeke is a killer! He killed my brother and—!”

  “Shut up,” Victoria cut her off.

  “How good are our enemies?” Rio continued.

  “They’re as good as Joe, but they have developed different fighting styles.”

  “I don’t quite get it… Pyro… What?” Eli was confused.” That Simon guy, what is he?”

  “He’s a mage who can control fire.”

  “And what can he do? Make a fireball?” Rio asked cautiously.

  “He can make a human torch out of you. He can burn a small cohort to ashes. He can fire balls of lightning,” Ksandra explained, clutching her fingers. “At the beginning, mages have only one spell, but with time… well… they…”

  “They develop.” Having seen that Ksandra was having difficulties, Victoria finished the sentence for her. “The stronger the mage becomes, the better they can manipulate their element. He could only cast lightning before, but now he has advanced enough to be able to use fire. Motherfucker trains all day and then stuffs his face to recover his strength. His sidekicks are enabling him to achieve quite a lot.”

  “I bet the bastard’s eating Cat’s Tears all the time,” Joe put in. “Those are salt crystals that accelerate the organism, making it develop faster. But they give you lung issues and you can develop only in one direction. I guess that in the future, he might regret this decision, but considering that we might die at any time, I’m sure he thinks that it’s worth it.”

  “So how are we gonna deal with him?” I asked.

  “He has a strong defense, kick-ass powers, and Seals.”

  I remembered the purple balls that were still lying at the bottom of my Core. Unfortunately, at the rate we were developing, I wouldn’t reach the required rank any time soon.

  “Wait,” Rio said with a spark in his eyes. “Are these Seals some special artifacts?”

  I remained silent and l
et Joe explain.

  “Something like that. Typically, Seals are small spiritual sets of three to five elements with some common features. They can be used separately but the effect would weaken then. And if you equip the whole set on yourself or on some object, you’ll get a good buff.” He stopped talking and glanced at Eli whose face was saying that he understood absolutely nothing. “It’s an upgrade. An improvement. This way, you can create your own armor, invisible on the body, or improve your weapons, or strengthen your body.”

  “Let’s circle back to Simon,” Victoria said.

  “Yes. My point is that we can’t break through his defense with an arrow or a crossbow bolt. Blades and fists won’t do much good either. We need to attack from different sides. However, he’ll fight back and turn us into pieces of burnt meat. We don’t have any powerful artifacts to protect us. His buddy Nick is even more dangerous. He’s strong as a… well, as an ox. He’s dumb as a lamppost, but he’s fucking powerful.”

  “Maybe we should play smart and pit them against each other?” I suggested. “We’re all a bunch of disorganized bands. The only way for the weak to survive is to be cunning. Who else is angry at them?”

  “Many people don’t like them, but not enough to go against them…” Victoria crossed her arms over her chest. “They want to take revenge on me and show off their strength. I tried to do what you suggested, Nick, but all I achieved was an agreement with Zeke, who would welcome any ally if that meant getting rid of someone he hates.”

  “Is it really worth facing the Alliance though? What about a tactical retreat? That’ll buy us enough time to figure things out.” I thought aloud. “To negotiate with someone else. We’ll level up and obtain artifacts. Is there some special place where we could go?”

  “There’s no safe place to run to, Nick,” Victoria sneered. “The plan is to start collecting artifacts right after we’re done with the Alliance. We might not kill them all, but we’ll at least get to punch a couple of them in the face.”

  Rio vigorously shook his head.

  “Have you all gone crazy? Fighting such an enemy is like trying to fight a tank with your bare hands! I hope you have a very good plan.”