Quantum Cultivation

by Jace Kang

  “No.” Siena let out an exasperated sigh. “She hacked into the gunship, and was attacked by its defenses.”

  Ryusuke’s eyes widened. “Are you all right?”

  Aya met his gaze. “I’m a little better now.”

  He took her wrists and pressed into her pulses. Then his gasped. “Your Qi is flowing more smoothly now.”

  “From getting hurt?”

  “Damage can dislodge impurities in your meridians. If you don’t cleanse them, it will anchor elsewhere; but if you Cultivate, you can flush some of them out. Sniff.” He held the finger out.

  She took a whiff of the oil and winced. It smelled like rot. “That was in me?”

  He nodded. “Once you are cleansed, it will be easier to advance to First Rank.”

  First Rank…interesting how the Cultivators used terminology similar to hackers in the EtherCloud.

  “Now, I want to introduce you to a new teacher, Teppin.” Ryusuke stood up and stepped to the side.

  She gasped.

  Behind him had been a squat, humanoid creature that came up no higher than his stomach. It had mottled green skin which matched with the turtle shell on its back. Following its yellowish beak up, she met its beady black eyes. A bowl of water balanced atop its mop of scraggly black hair.

  When it bowed, the bowl slid back so that it stayed level. “Master Ishihara saved my life, and has asked that I teach you my people’s fighting style.”

  “The Path of Swirling Limbs!” Kentaro bounced up to his feet and clapped.

  “You know it,” Teppin said, beady eyes narrowing.

  Ken nodded enthusiastically. “Master Ryu told us that’s the name of your style, but we don’t know what it looks like.”

  “Keep Cultivating through the morning,” Ryusuke said. “Aya needs to take advantage of the good luck she found in misfortune.”

  Her misfortune, indeed. As if on cue, Ai’s voice spoke in her head.

  Diagnosis complete.

  Aya didn’t want to know the results just yet, but it would only take a second to take a look at the footage from the shocktroopers. She dipped into her EtherSpace, where Ai had already assembled Ryusuke’s rescue of the Kappa.

  His stances and movements were a thing of beauty, and the way he was able to control water was beyond believability. She instructed Ai to embed the forms into her neural engrams—she might not be able to achieve such feats yet, but when she was ready, she’d at least be able to execute the motions correctly.

  Then she returned to the real world.

  And surprisingly, her lungs felt even clearer than earlier in the day.

  “I have footage of Ryusuke’s rescue of the Kappa,” Aya said.

  Teppin scratched the bowl on his head, and of course Kentaro bounced up and down.

  “Let’s see it.” Ryusuke nodded to her.

  With a bob of her head, she transferred the data from one of the shocktroopers to the projector. Its visual and audio feed came to life as it showed the soldier losing its fight to Ryusuke.

  “Wait.” Ryusuke pointed to the crosshairs in the projection. “What’s that?”

  “Targeting system in its cybernetic eye,” Aya said.

  Ryusuke gawked. “Cybernetic eye? How does that work?”

  “It’s linked to its minigun, but the algorithm can learn any weapon system a shocktrooper picks up. Usually, the AI would also warn the shocktrooper of an incoming attack and at what vector, and even automatically take control of simple neuromotor motions to avoid critical injuries. However, it didn’t recognize your water attack until it was too late.”

  As if to demonstrate, the 3D video showed Ryusuke waving his hands and controlling water. When ice darts sped toward the shocktrooper, red lines streaked across the visual feed, depicting the path of the darts before they struck. “Warning,” a disembodied female voice said.

  Too late, the view jolted to the left, and ice shattered on armor.

  “Incredible,” Ryusuke said. “So every time I’ve fought against the shocktroopers, they were equipped with this technology?”

  “Most likely. They were originally used in starfighter pilots three hundred years ago, and the original shocktroopers soon after. They can be easily recycled from user to user, since the AI’s nanotechnology can integrate it into anyone’s brain.”

  “Well, I will have to think about this,” Ryusuke said. “Now Cultivate. After we eat and rest, Teppin will start teaching you in the afternoon.”

  No sooner did she resume Cultivating than the newscast blared across the city.

  “Citizens in the Ginkakuji area are advised to shelter in place due to thick fog. In other news, we have a missing person to report. Miss Aya Oyama, age eighteen, was last seen in her home in Central yesterday morning.”

  Aya’s head jerked to the projected image.

  Her image.

  Everyone looked from it to her, and she swallowed hard.

  “If you have any news of her whereabouts, please contact the Peacekeepers.”

  Her stomach knotted. Was this just a coincidence? Or had the Ministry of Defense pieced together her identity through the fingerprints in her code already?

  Chapter 22:

  The Purebred

  F acing off against Master Ryusuke, Ken shot in, grabbed the back of his knees and wedged a shoulder into his chest. The master tumbled back, and Ken scrabbled up and sat on his chest. Snake Entwines Twin Trunks to Turtle Suns on Log, Teppin had called the techniques; but in his study of twentieth century films, Ken knew it as a Double Leg Takedown to the Mount.

  He looked over his shoulder to where Siena and Aya were practicing the same motion, both still in their Elestrae dresses, this time with Aya ending on top.

  He’d kept a close eye on the XHuman as they resumed Cultivating, ate lunch, then Cultivated yet again. She’d been on edge ever since the newscast reporting her missing. She’d hoped it was her parents discovering the holoprojection of her in the room and reporting it to the Peacekeepers, and not the Ministry of Defense tracking her down after her narrow escape from the gunship’s EtherSpace.

  Now, though, she’d regained her focus as she practiced, and like everything else that’d been taught over the last several days, she learned it quickly and perfectly. It just wasn’t fair.

  “What do you do from the Turtle Suns on Log position?” Teppin asked, voice croaking like a frog.

  “It depends on what my opponent does,” Ken answered.

  “Correct.” Teppin splayed his webbed fingers. “If they reach up and grab you?”

  Master Ryu’s hand shot forward and seized Ken’s collar. In response, Ken took hold of the master’s wrist with both hands, pivoted around and entrapped the arm between his legs. An arm bar, the ancients had called it, Boa Constricts Its Prey to Teppin. Leaning back, he looked over at Aya.

  She executed the technique to perfection, so much more smoothly than him. Was it because this was a Water Path? Or that as a XHuman, she was smarter? Or just that program in her head? A knot twisted in his gut.

  “Good.” Teppin clapped his palms together. “Now repeat Snake Entwines Twin Trunks.”

  Everyone popped up to their feet, and again, Ken took Master Ryu down to the ground. Teppin explained other possibilities from that position. Python Slithers Under Branch—known during the Age of Greed as the Americana. Reverse Snake Slithers Under Branch—the Kimura, named for a warrior who once lived in this region. Gecko Hooks a Worm—S-Mount Armbar. Becoming a Tortoise Shell—the Monoplata. They switched partners—Aya paired with the master, and Ken with Siena—and repeated the forms through the early afternoon.

  At first it was hard to concentrate, being in close contact with Siena. He’d never pressed or been pressed up against any woman before, let alone the impossibly beautiful Elestrae, whose dress left so much skin bared. To make matters worse, she didn’t take the practice very seriously, giving him little resistance. Still, Teppin correcting minute details helped him keep focus.

  When it was tim
e to switch again, he gave Aya a shy look. “Are you…all right with this?”

  “Why shouldn’t I be?”

  “Well, we’d be really close.” He drew a circle in the dirt with his toe.

  “Am I too unclean for your dainty hands?” She flashed him what looked like a seductive smile.

  He swallowed hard. “I—”

  She darted in, grabbed the back of his legs, and sent him sprawling on his back. Before he could react, she was sitting on his chest, panting.

  “Good,” Teppin croaked. “Use the element of surprise.”

  Two could play at that. He thrust his hips up in Lizard Whips Its Tail, which sent her falling forward. She planted her hands into the dirt to keep from crashing on top of him, and he hooked one of her arms, bucked his hips, and flipped her over.

  “Also good!” Teppin clapped.

  They continued through their drills. At their side, Siena clearly enjoyed the switch to Master Ryu as a partner. If she’d been unengaged with Ken, she lost all focus now. Or perhaps she was focusing, because she always ended up with her legs wrapped around the master’s hips.

  Teppin taught other techniques starting from what the ancients called the Guard, but what the Kappa referred to as the Sunbathing Position. By dusk, they must’ve learned two dozen different combinations.

  Or rather, been shown. All the movements jumbled together in Ken’s head.

  “Still awful.” Teppin shook his head. “But what would I expect from humans. And whatever you are.” He looked at Siena.

  “It’s like coding,” Aya said. “A, then B. If C, then D. A whole web of functions.”

  Maybe that’s why it came so easily for her. It was just like being in classes with the XHumans, who could absorb math so much faster.

  “It takes years to master this single art.” Master Ryu patted Ken on the head. “I just want you to learn the basics.”

  “Very basic.” Teppin made a croaking sound that probably passed for a snort.

  Master Ryu nodded. “At higher levels, Kappa can do some of the more amazing things that human Cultivators can.”

  “Like what?” Ken asked.

  “Hyperflexibility,” Teppin said. “None of the techniques I showed you would work on a First Rank practitioner of our Path. Our limbs turn in directions you can’t even imagine.”

  As if to prove his point, Teppin twisted his upper body around almost a full circle, while lifting his leg back with his knee going the wrong direction.

  “Which means elongation, too,” Master Ryu said.

  Teppin nodded and threw out a punch at Siena, which travelled two meters—despite the fact that its arms were less than a meter.

  Ken could only gawk. He’d dug up a 2D street-fighting video game where a yogi could do that with his limbs. Yoga was ancient even to the Age of Greed people.

  “Now let’s see how well you’ve learned.” Teppin motioned for Aya and Ken together. “Spar.”

  Just like that? With a shrug, Ken dropped to his knees into the starting position the Kappa had taught, facing Aya. Though matted with sweat, her gold hair sparkled in the late afternoon sun.

  Before he knew it, she lunged in, her slight weight pressing on him. When he resisted, she grabbed his sleeves, then yanked him back into her Sunbathing Position. He’d been too busy admiring her hair! He tried to pull back, but she locked her ankles together and jerked him forward onto her. At the last second, she slid to the side, wrapped an arm around his neck, and squeezed the breath out of him.

  He tapped furiously on her arm, indicating his surrender.

  “Very good,” Teppin said, tone begrudging. “I don’t think our children could execute that more perfectly. Then again, your opponent was stupid. Again.”

  Chastised, Ken paid more attention. Though he still got dragged down into her guard, he didn’t pull back this time, instead trying to pry her leg off. She swung around with a Lizard Whips Its Tail, and he ended up in a face-down armbar.

  How did she keep getting him in her Sunbathing Position?

  “Still using your wiring?” the master asked her.

  Though Ken couldn’t see her expression with his face in the dirt, he heard the pride in her voice. “I’ve always been a quick learner.”

  Master Ryu chuckled. “Now you just have to strengthen your body.”

  At least in this, Ken was better.

  “Again,” Teppin said.

  The master leaned in close to Ken’s ear and whispered, “Be like Earth.”

  Whatever did that mean? He looked up, askance.

  Master Ryu chuckled. “Water becomes its container. Become a container that is advantageous to you. Like an earthquake, give ground to take ground.”

  Give ground to take ground… Up to now, Aya had pushed him back, and when he resisted, she’d pulled him toward her. Maybe…

  Aya lunged in again.

  Instead of resisting her push like the first two times, he went with it, seizing her wrists and guiding her down on top of him. Her sparkling gold hair curtained their faces. Her eyes went wide. He pulled one of her arms across his body while turning his body over in the Turtle Rolls Over, and he was on top of her.

  She was gasping for air now, the phlegm rattling in her throat.

  “Good,” Teppin said.

  Ken rose and helped her to her feet. Looking at him with an inscrutable expression, she coughed up the mucous, the wet, sticky sounds quite disgusting. Then again, it was only the first time she’d coughed this afternoon. By absorbing the Tofu-Kozo’s Core, she’d already started to overcome her disease.

  “Would you demonstrate with Teppin?” Aya asked Master Ryu.

  He looked to the Kappa. “Would you be willing?”

  “I owe you my life, so I will do what you command.” Teppin bowed.

  Owed him his life? Ken scratched his head.

  The two faced off, and their exchanges ranged from fascinating to boring. There were times when one just lay on top of the other, doing nothing for a moment before shifting to some kind of submission. From the motions, it was evident the master was using something different than the Path of Swirling Limbs, even if the techniques were similar. He had said something earlier about Mongolian Wrestling resembling the Kappa fighting style. In the end, though, the Kappa usually gained the upper hand.

  “You are losing most of the time,” Aya said. “Is their style invincible?”

  “Yes,” Teppin said.

  “No.” Master Ryu shook his head. “The key is, don’t play their game.”

  “What do you mean?” Ken asked.

  “They excel at grappling. Don’t grapple. Use the Earth techniques we practiced earlier.”

  “That was little more than falling,” Aya muttered.

  Ken scratched his head. “Then why did we practice the Path of Swirling Limbs?”

  “Know your enemy, and you will win half your battles.” The master turned to Teppin. “Speaking of which, you’ve been spying on the Shirikodamanuki; how skilled are the ones that crossed over?”

  “Five are very low, not even First Rank—that’s why they are here to harvest human Cores, since it’s so easy—but they’re led by a Fourth Ranker.”

  Master Ryu whistled.

  Ken looked to the master. “Is that good?”

  “Bad. A blindfolded Fourth Ranker with its arms and feet bound could defeat you and Aya together, without any trouble. Its Core is ten thousand times more concentrated than yours.”

  Ken’s shoulders drooped. “So we can’t take them.”

  “Oh, we can,” the master said. “When higher-ranked individuals cross over into this world, they temporarily lose a rank.”

  Aya’s eyes widened. “Does that mean you were originally Fifth Rank?”

  “No. I took an elixir that protected me from that effect. Now, Kappa have a weakness on land: the bowl on their head.” The master gestured to Teppin’s head. “The water inside is their connection. If you spill it, or scoop it out, it will weaken them. We’ll practice
some counter techniques to their style, and plan some strategy to face them.”

  ***

  Huddled between two buildings overlooking the Kamo River, Ken picked out the dark shapes creeping along the banks. Their probable target was an unsuspecting man strolling across a Shijo Fourth Street bridge, illuminated by street lights.

  Master Ryu pointed at the figure skulking at the back of their line, a walking stick in hand. “That’s their leader,” he whispered.

  “How can you tell?” Siena asked.

  “I can sense the power of its Core.”

  “Can it sense yours?” Aya asked.

  “Possibly. If it were actively scanning, yes. But it thinks humans here are no threat. We have the element of surprise on our side.”

  Maybe one day, Ken could do all this, too. As for scanning… “Did you disable the cameras?”

  Aya held up a black cube with a blinking green light. “I’ve programmed this emitter to broadcast the same energy wavelengths as the Tofu-Kozo. It should have the same effect it had on nearby cameras. I just have to be careful with it, because they’re fragile. If you see the light turn red, we need to get out of here.”

  “Why don’t you do what you did before,” Siena asked, “when you retrieved the video files of the Tofu-Kozo?”

  “I would have to hack the Peacekeeper data hub that controls them. I don’t dare do that now, until I know how much damage the MoD Sentinels inflicted on my Avatar.” Licking her lips nervously, Aya looked at the emitter. “I feel safer with this. It will work, just like it worked for the Tofu-Kozo.”

  Ken looked to his master, who no doubt had a great strategy worthy of Sun Zi. “What is our plan?”

  Master Ryu pointed to the leader at the back. “I will attack it and seal it off from its friends. You and Aya will take the next one in line, while Siena and Teppin handle the four in front.”

  They didn’t sound like ingenious tactics from the Art of War, but Ken nodded all the same. Siena and Teppin joined in the chorus of agreement, though Aya flashed a dubious scowl.