One day.
Perhaps thousands of years from this very moment as he gazed at his character sheet now visualized so clearly in his mind’s eye, for all that it was absent the terrible struggle and pain he had endured to get to that very moment, and he already knew exactly where the points would go. Where, between one heartbeat and the next, they had always been.
Two points for rank one Bronze in Strength, Finesse, and Vitality. For the strength he would need to overcome his foes, the coordination vital for channeling the flow of force and Qi to the utmost, and the resilience and fortitude that were paramount to seeing it all through. And though he had already boosted his mental fortitude and perception significantly with his final basic rank, he had earned every bloody point of that, as far as he was concerned.
And in that instant, he realized he had a choice, feeling the chaotic flood of Dark Qi tied to Light in one dichotomous strand of harmony and chaos, creation and destruction, blurring and flickering between states as fast as thought.
Dark Qi too had left its mark, holding the potential for the quick unexpected chaos of battle, or the finesse of mastery that comes with sensing all sides at once. One day he thought he might truly understand the terrible potential within his forbidden arts. But for now, with two paths to choose from, the choice was clear. He already had the potential for incredible finesse and control, understanding his body on what he would have once thought of as the cellular level, thanks to his Eternal Fox technique.
As numerous enemies and leaders throughout history had shown time and time again, what decided the outcome of battles was speed of thought and action. Seizing the initiative, striking killing blows and decimating one’s foes before they even knew what hit them. So he would embrace the chaos and madness of battle, its sheer unpredictability, and make it his own.
___________________________________________________________________
Alex Hammer
Class – Cultivator: Disciple of the Dual Path (Unlimited potential. This is a Divine path.)
Rank 1 Pristine Bronze Cultivation Achieved
Physical Characteristics
Strength - Bronze Rank 1 (20) (Relentless Resolve is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Vitality - Bronze Rank 1 (21) (Eternal Resilience is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Quickness - Bronze Rank 1 (20) (Chaotic Unpredictability is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Finesse - Bronze Rank 1 (20) (Mastery of Oneself is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Spiritual Characteristics
Scholarship 11 (Exceeds 62% of Population.)
Perception 15 (Exceeds 95% of Population.)
Willpower 16 (Exceeds 98% of Population.)
Qi pool 16 (All meridian gateways are open.)
Health Points: 310
Perks
Insightful – Rank 2
Charismatic – Rank 2
Favored Skills
Poison Spitting – Rank 4
Golden Realms Kung Fu – Rank 5: Adept status achieved! (This is a Tier 1 Basic martial art.)
Weapon forms incorporating Golden Realms Kung Fu:
Fangtian Ji – Rank 5 / Short Spear – Rank 5 / Long Spear – Rank 4 / Gladius – Rank 4 / Dao – Rank 5
White Crane Kung Fu – Rank 6: Adept status achieved! (This is a Tier 2 Bronze martial art.)
Weapon forms incorporating White Crane Kung Fu:
Fangtian Ji / Short Spear / Dao
Silver Swan Kung Fu – Rank 5: Adept status achieved! (This is a Tier 3 Silver martial art.)
Weapon forms incorporating Silver Swan Kung Fu:
Fangtian Ji / Short Spear / Dao
Qi Disciplines
Adderstrike – Rank 6 (Expanded Comprehension / Impact Invulnerability / Efficient Strike)
Bullrush – Rank 4 (6) (Instantly move 5-40 feet in any direction / Lightness / Maneuverability)
Wind Running – Rank 1 (Now you can race through the storm of Qi flowing all around you! Qi drain: significant, unless accessing a spirit pearl, beast core, or you are in the middle of an actual storm!)
Water Walking – Rank 1 (Now you can race upon waves, or ride the very raindrops in the air! Qi drain: minimal. Synergizes with Wind Running during stormy weather.)
Piercing Strike – Rank 0
Qi Deflection – Rank 0
Qi Absorption – Rank 3 (Breakthrough made! An additional 5 points of damage is absorbed from all Fire Qi or Poison-aspected attacks.)
Qi Flood – Rank 2 (Flood a grappled target (or artifact) with Dark Qi!)
Qi Perception-linked Disciplines
(Note: all of these abilities are Qi Perception-based. Their rank may not exceed Qi Perception rank. All specialization points invested in Qi Perception will boost all underlying skills!)
Qi Perception – Rank 4 (5) (Sense all physical and Qi manifestations around you within 50 feet with concentration. Sense spirit beasts and their flow of Qi. +5 to Perception checks.)
Artificer – Rank 3 (4) (Understand, manipulate, or destroy treasures and artifacts!)
Find Weakness – Rank 3 (4) (Works on artifacts, constructs, demons, spirit beasts, and cultivators! Basic check with Qi Perception lets you sense the weakest points in any opponent’s physical body and technique. Advanced skill rank and successful use of Soul Sight is needed to actually pierce a cultivator’s Qi defenses!)
Soul Sight – Rank 3 (4) (Sense the flow of Qi through any spirit beast (effortless) or cultivator (difficult)! If this skill is not successfully used, Find Weakness can only sense surface flaws in armaments or technique.)
Spiritual Teacher – Rank 4 (5) (You may now directly impart the knowledge of any and all cultivation disciplines upon suitable students with a skill check! Diligent focus is required over a period of days, weeks, or months. This skill allows suitable students to enjoy multiple breakthroughs up to Spiritual Teacher rank, or half of master’s rank in underlying skill, whichever is greater. Note: mystic Heaven and Earth carriage ride transcended all normal limitations.)
Qi Purification Techniques Learned:
Dual Path Purification Technique (96% Efficiency.)
Cleansing Breath Purification Technique (100% Efficiency.)
Qi Restoration Techniques Learned:
Golden Realms Meridian Restoration Technique (100% Efficiency.)
Qi Cycling Techniques Learned:
Dual Path Dark Qi Cycling Technique (1% Efficiency.)
White Crane Cycling Technique (100% Efficiency.)
Body Cultivation Techniques Learned:
The Eternal Fox Unified Cultivation Technique – Rank 9
- Multiple Breakthroughs achieved! This is a divine technique. Each breakthrough requires an additional Rank.
(Note: disciples have access to all breakthroughs their mentor or cultivation manual has already incorporated, once Adept Rank (5) is achieved.)
- Incorporates Golden Realms Meridian Restoration Technique (can regenerate damaged meridians), Cleansing Breath Purification Technique (can cleanse all meridian gates), and White Crane Cycling Technique (additional 5-fold increase in rate of healing) at 100% efficacy! Works with all elemental affinities at all levels of cultivation.
- Every 1000 hours of cultivation, will fully regenerate 1 pound of lost or damaged flesh per rank in Eternal Fox for even a basic cultivator. Scrapes can be healed in minutes! Even damaged organs and spinal cord injuries can be healed if cultivator is able to focus upon them! (Note: this base is increased 5-fold with full incorporation of White Crane Cycling Technique.)
- Saintly Aura (Can heal curses and infernal wounds.)
- Aspirants can use Dark (waste) Qi to speed their own healing. (Waste Qi no longer jeopardizes cultivation base.)
- Perfect Dark/Light Qi synergism. Dark Qi is so well-channeled that cells no longer age with successful skill checks!
- Power Healing (Requires beast core, spirit pearl, or Qi stores in a divine storage artifact.) Healing rate
will temporarily increase 100-fold until meditative trance broken or Qi source fully used up. Can safely be used for any length of time, cultivator is aware of environment!
- Pristine Light Cultivation. Any cultivator of any elemental affinity may use this technique to forge their meridian channels. Slower than all specialist techniques, it is free of all flaws, save those of the practitioner’s own soul.
- Pristine Dark Cultivation. Any cultivator with affinity for Dark, Shadow, or Fate Qi may use this technique to forge their meridian channels. Slower than all specialist techniques, it is free of all flaws, save those of the practitioner’s own soul.
- Pristine Form. Damage from all poisons, acids, and bases is neutralized at a rate of 10 Damage per Rank in Eternal Fox per second from all threat tiers: mortal, infernal, or ethereal. Cellular mastery achieved! All cells naturally revert to their ideal age. Eternal youth has been achieved!
Note: Tier 1 Bronze Ogre achieved! Additional 10-fold modifier in effect. Total personal modifier at Rank 9 Eternal Fox = 1*5*10*9 = 450 pounds per 1000 hours = 0.45 pounds of lost flesh will fully regenerate per hour of cultivation. Cuts can now be healed in seconds!
A Path Cloaked in Mist
Thanks to your constant training and the crucible of abuse you endured pushing yourself to Bronze, you have permanently gained 8 points of Impact Resistance, 4 points of Cutting Resistance, and 2 points of Piercing Resistance! You have taken your first step in forging a new body cultivation technique! Details: unknown.
Your peripheral meridian channels have expanded, and can handle significantly greater amounts of Qi than ever before. Your meridians have been forged in fire! Your peripheral meridian channels are now Extremely Resilient, and enjoy a total +5 modifier to all durability checks, +6 against all meridian-searing attacks based on Fire Qi.
Biochemical Mastery – Rank 5 (Now includes alchemy – usable in divine artifact only.)
You may now synthesize or cure any poison or formulae mastered. Limitations apply.
Botanical Formulae mastered: 28
Botanical Poisons mastered: 8 Ancient / 6 Modern
You have full immunity to Black Poppy Poison Technique. You are now immune to all secondary effects from all Qi attacks used by Purple Path Cultivators.
You have 50% Immunity to Viper Venom Qi attacks.
Biochemical Mastery and Qi Absorption synergism! You now enjoy an additional automatic 5-point reduction from all Poison-aspected Qi attacks, including Purple Path or Alchemical Venom Cultivation techniques.
Arcane Formula witnessed:
- Enhanced Cycling Pill. 95% comprehension achieved.
Arcane Formulae mastered:
- Meridian Rejuvenation Elixirs for all known combinations of Fire, Metal, Water, Wood, & Earth Affinities.
- Unorthodox Shadow Meridian Rejuvenation Elixir (Fire/Earth/Metal/Shadow)
- Meridian Purification Elixir (Will cleanse 1 clogged meridian channel. Use no more than 1 per month.)
(Note: divine treasure is needed to facilitate all alchemical elixirs. Silverbell blossom is needed for all known cultivation elixirs. Shadow blossom is needed for shadow meridian elixirs. All elixirs must be diluted to 1/12 potency for safety. Only elixirs that restore meridian channels or heal the body can benefit the creator.)
Full regenerative capacity (Heal rate based on Vitality. Injuries will be free of scarring. Missing limbs will require 1 day per pound of bio material lost to regenerate fully if Eternal Fox Unified Cultivation Technique is not used.)
23
Alex allowed himself a grim, satisfied smile as he took in the phenomenal growth he had enjoyed, the sweet sense of exultation washing over him serving as a soothing balm for the endless days of agony he had endured, transcending at an inconceivable pace, even when his very soul was slowly being devoured from within by the vilest of alchemical curses.
Had he not spent a thousand years lost in torment and rapture, caught between Heaven and Hell when he first strove to balance two divine techniques, there was no way he could have possibly endured. The almost inhuman drive that had compelled him to survive at all costs now felt more dreamlike than real, but he knew that furious resolve had been his own, and he would embrace it yet again, no matter how intense the trial was, if it got him even one step closer to his ultimate goal.
He couldn’t help chuckling and shaking his head, finding himself in his ring’s library in a heartbeat, now filled with countless cultivation manuals gifted to him by Lady Jidihu herself, the kitsune mastermind behind the Yidushian Jianghu sect, trusting him to see it safely to wherever it had to go, with the understanding that he could make use of it as much as he wished.
Endless tomes filled with knowledge, lore, and infinite possibility. He could only hope that they would aid him in his quest to forge an eight-element cycling technique worthy of the Dual Path he sought to master.
Then he closed his eyes and smiled, gazing with wonder and awe at the strand of flashing brilliance and darkness comprised of Dark and Light Qi in equal measure. A perfect, perhaps divine, meridian channel, forged in a crucible of pain and fire that had nearly spelled his end.
From now on, he would have to research, study, and work on forging his own eight-element cultivation technique, to balance the channels perfectly together. He didn’t see any other way forward. Not unless he wished to repeat the madness that had imperiled his very soul.
He shuddered at the thought before chuckling softly, knowing he would do just that, if he must, still awed to find himself possessing a divine strand that comprised all known elements, not just the eight inherent to Long Wang’s own cultivation path.
And how that wondrous technique had changed and evolved in those endless days and nights he had cultivated through enduring the most rigorous of martial trials, amazed despite himself to see that his own Eternal Fox technique had reached rank nine. He shook his head in amazement.
A miracle forged by his own insights, a divine body cultivation path unlike any other, that somehow synergized techniques for cleansing and healing both meridian gateways and the body itself, and now forging Bronze-ranked channels as well. And after his latest horrific ordeal, battling against a poison that demanded at least one soul, now in contest… the darkest of techniques no mortal should be able to master… had forged even his technique in ways beyond his wildest dreams, giving him near-immunity to any toxin. Or at least absorbing ninety damage per second from all physical or Qi-forged poisons or caustic agents at the ninth rank of mastery.
“Truly an impressive feat, young cub,” said an unexpected voice close by. “Now it remains to be seen what you will do with it.”
Alex froze, staring up at his patron deity, seated so comfortably upon a leather recliner in the heart of the library that was the mirror image of the one Alex had grown up with a world away. WiFu gazed back at him with that same sly half-smile he remembered from a lifetime ago.
“WiFu.” Alex blinked, more than a little confused. Had the visions blazed upon his mind’s eye of countless hours dueling with fangtian ji and dao been Qi-inspired inspiration transformed to visceral insight, or had they actually been real?
Silver Fox shrugged, tipping his hat. “Does it matter? Either way, you have turned the tables on your foes, and grown in ways striking and profound.” He flashed an almost-predatory grin. “It seems that conflict truly is the ideal whetstone for your soul, Alex. I’m glad you have a knack for finding endless opportunities to sharpen your resolve along the path you have chosen.”
Alex grimaced. “Believe me, I would absolutely love a break from constantly fleeing for my life or being forced to fight endless battles just for the right to take another breath, struggling to survive while bobbing upon a sea of enemy animosity.”
WiFu’s gaze hardened.
Alex instantly froze, an icy sense of dread flowing down his spine.
“Forgive me if I spoke out of turn, Master WiFu.”
His patron waved the words away, though his hard silver-jade eyes con
tinued to pierce Alex’s own. He tilted his head curiously. “But did you not get to savor just such a reprieve? Two months of meditative contemplation and peaceful training as idyllic as any soul could possibly hope for?”
Alex nodded. “And I am grateful for each and every one of those days. I actually had a chance to focus and absorb the basics of my mentor’s art.”
WiFu nodded. “And just how far did you progress during that months-long halcyon reprieve in the storm of your existence?”
Alex grinned. “Two entire ranks! I understood the fundamentals so well I was actually able to tap into the flow of Qi around me, sometimes. Elder Panheu’s other students struggle just to tap into anything at all, and they have been training far longer than I.”
WiFu gave a polite nod. “Two ranks in a discipline beyond what a basic cultivator should have been able to grasp, save for empty physical mimicry, in a mere two months is impressive. For a mortal. Now tell me, Alex, what is your White Crane kung fu rank after just a few weeks of constant struggle?”
Alex swallowed. “Rank five, Master WiFu.”
His patron flashed a wolf-like smile. “Rank five within the oddly precise crystalline interface of your soul, which is another way of saying what?”
“Adept status, sir.”
"And tell me, Alex, must you spend countless minutes struggling to a meditative state before you can even tap into that storm of Qi, like poor Peng Dan, who struggles even to feel a wisp of that power, and who will be lucky to ever forge more than three meridian channels with her weakened foundation when she finally repairs all the damage that too many cultivation pills too soon has caused?”
Alex shook his head. “No, sir. Now I sense it swirling around me at all times.” He blinked and corrected himself. “In the outer world, I mean. I don’t sense it at all in here.”
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Forsworn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 3 Page 38