Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior’s Path
Page 89
--- End of Book Six ---
The adventure will continue in Silver Fox & The Western Hero, Book 7, coming soon!
In the meantime, if you’re interested in checking out a high action LitRPG series about a young former soldier making his way in a world filled with blades, blasters, spells, spaceships, and level-ups, then check out Endless Online: Oblivion’s Blade. Five books out so far, more to come!
And because free is good, here is a link to my novel First Blood, a story about a girl with a talking cat and a knack for killing who ends up facing down dark gods by the end of the eight book series. It’s not Cultivation or LitRPG, but it is a fun high action fantasy series. Check it out and tell me what you think!
If you would like to sign up for my mailing list, I’ll let you know when my next book comes out. And if you have any feedback you’d like to share with me, you can always reach me at MHbooks@mail.com
Character Sheet
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Alex Hammer
Class – Cultivator: Disciple of the Dual Path (Unlimited potential. This is a Divine path.)
Rank 6 Divine Bronze Cultivation Achieved
Physical Characteristics
Strength - Silver Rank 1 (66) (Relentless Resolve and a dragon's might are now recognized as core elements of your path.)
Vitality - Silver Rank 1 (66) (Eternal Resilience and a dragon's fury are now recognized as core elements of your path.)
Quickness - Bronze Rank 4 (35) (Chaotic Unpredictability is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Finesse - Bronze Rank 4 (35) (Mastery of Oneself is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Spiritual Characteristics
Scholarship - 14 (Exceeds 90% of Population.)
Perception - 17 (Exceeds 99% of population.)
Willpower - 19 (You have the resolve to walk in the Valley of Death and slip free of the River of Souls.)
Qi Pool – Silver Rank 4 (140) (20 Points reserved: Divine Soul Stone anchored. Note: forged and peripheral channels now enjoy added resiliency!)
Health Points: 856
Perks
Insightful – Rank 2
Charismatic – Rank 2
Lesser Shadow Affinity - You can now see Shadow Qi! You have +5 to spot all those using Shadow to ambush or confuse you.
Golden Apple of Wisdom consumed. Increased chance of cultivation breakthroughs.
Draconic Ancestry. - The blood of golden dragons flows through your veins! You enjoy inhuman Strength (+1 Silver Tier to Strength and Vitality, once adulthood has been reached.) You may now purchase additional ranks in Strength and Vitality as if they were 1 tier lower than they actually are, in terms of cost and requirements!
You are Immune to all environmental temperature extremes. All damage from heat and flame, spiritual or mundane, is reduced in severity by 2 Damage tiers. All cold-based attacks are decreased in severity by 1 Damage tier.
You have inherited Draconic Resilience. All physical damage is reduced by 1 tier! Note: Basic regeneration enjoyed by all dragons has been superseded by Eternal Fox. Draconic Ancestry grants 20% bonus to Eternal Fox regeneration rate!
- Note: Aforementioned traits are now a part of your genetic heritage. Expect unusually strong and hot-tempered offspring when you finally marry your chosen one!
Favored Skills
Golden Realms Kung Fu – Rank 6
White Crane Kung Fu – Rank 7 (You may now freely channel Light Qi to aid your strikes at all times and sheathe your limbs in Dark Qi while doing so, even in the pits of Hell!)
Silver Swan Kung Fu – Rank 6 (You may now use Silver Swan in conjunction with White Crane and Dark Qi Projection, channeling the force and fury of the sea in any and all circumstances! Reduced risk of straining meridians when using forbidden techniques!)
Poison Spitting – Rank 5 (This skill has evolved from knack to martial technique! You can now spit a stream of water (or caustic poison) with enough force and accuracy to knock jade hairpins free of scalps with ease!)
Stealth – Rank 4 (At least you can be sneaky at night, or if you stay out of your opponent’s line of sight!)
Qi Disciplines
Adderstrike – Rank 8 (0.5 Qi cost per strike. Internal Qi is undetectable and extremely hard to counter. You now hit faster and harder than ever before, and are better able to harmonize your temporary invulnerability at the moment of impact with other abilities, such as Storm Flight!)
Blood Mastery – Rank 2 (You may now infuse your blood with Dark Qi and manipulate it at will, with a successful skill check!)
Black Swan (Soul Cleave) – Rank 7 (You have discovered an advanced Silver Swan assassination technique! Strike with the fury of a tsunami behind your blow! This technique can shatter lesser wards. Water-Steel Qi elements involved. Cost to use: 3 Qi and risk of mild meridian strain, unless used after Silver breakthrough made, or in a storm.)
You have learned the advanced Black Swan variant Soul Cleave. Your repeated exposure to the River of Souls has boosted your deadliest attack to transcendent status! For increasing cost, you may now modify Soul Cleave to pierce defenses of any rank. You now have added resistance against being claimed by the River of Souls with repeated uses in the same day. Reaver’s Insight gained! Soul Cleave may now be executed multiple times in the same day at reduced cost! You now have an additional +4 to all saving throws against oblivion, and suffer significantly less meridian strain while channeling the River of Souls. Note: You have triangulated the River of Souls. You have increased spiritual affinity with the River of Souls. Additional survival bonuses are now in effect. Decreased cost and risk of peripheral meridian strain with use of Soul Cleave.)
Bullrush – Rank 6 (Instantly move 5-80 feet in any direction. 1 Qi cost per blink. / Temporary weightlessness / Can be chained for what is effectively near instantaneous flight.)
Dark Qi Projection – Rank 6: Adept status achieved! (You can now sheathe feet, shin, fists, and forearms in Dark Qi! You may now sheathe the first foot of any weapon in Dark Qi effortlessly. With a skill check, you may sheathe up to three feet of any weapon in Dark Qi. Dark Qi is resistant to all positive elemental Qi attacks. Dark Qi Projection can pierce all Light Qi Wards. Qi drain is in effect when used in the Mortal Realm. Adept status reduces this cost! - Additional mastery achieved. Sheathe your limbs in oblivion's grace as you tear free your opponent's most precious prize! You may now combine Dark Qi Projection with Spirit Crane Strike!)
Forest Flight – Rank 5 (Move through the forest as fast and effortlessly as a flying squirrel or bird of prey! You have chosen the Diffuse Movement Perk. Your movement through the forest is as subtle as that of any jungle predator! The sounds of your passage blend in with the background noise, and your Qi signature is lost in the web of spiritual energy all around!)
Forest Sense - Rank 5 (You can now see the forest as a map in your mind’s eye that grows in exquisite detail the more ground you cover! This skill will allow you to sense landmarks of significance and see blinking red lights for known hostiles and green for friendlies up to the limits of your range in miles. Significant skill check penalty to spot those well-versed in Shadow. This skill is particularly useful for sensing predators nearby and gathering spiritual herbs. Only works in the forest.)
Piercing Strike – Rank 5 (Successful use of this skill allows you to partially or completely bypass all elemental wards! Skill check modified by Rank of cultivator and strength of wards. Note: This applies to defenses based on spiritual energy only. It has no effect on techniques naturally strengthening the resilience or durability of a Body Cultivator’s physique.)
Potency Mastery – Rank 4 (You may now safely channel a full 40% of the potency (experience) needed to gain any Bronze Rank into your skills during any 24-hour period before Vitality/Willpower checks are needed to avoid meridian strain or potential obliteration! – You may now recover an additional 4 Qi Points per second for the 4 minutes after achieving
victory or a kill as you claim a portion of your foe's spiritual energy as your own!)
Qi Absorption – Rank 5 (Successful use of this skill allows you to absorb a portion of the Qi used against you in any attack.)
Qi Deflection – Rank 3 (Successful use of this skill allows you to partially or completely deflect an opponent’s Qi attacks. The greater the distance between attacker and target, the easier it is to deflect the attack.)
Qi Flood – Rank 2 (Flood a grappled target (or artifact) with Dark Qi!)
Soul Sight – Rank 5 (Sense the flow of Qi through any spirit beast (effortless) or cultivator (difficult)! This allows you to predict enemy cultivator or spirit beast movements and attacks. Success also allows Find Weakness to pierce Qi Wards as well as physical defenses. You may now automatically measure the karmic merit of any soul’s past (skill rank) lives with a basic skill check!)
Spirit Crane Strike – Rank 7 (You may now pluck the eternal spirit cores of lesser deities or Jade opponents! You may now pluck even Divine Cards of Fate from the bosoms of your enemies’ souls! Your feat of triumph within the River of Souls has made the river leery of trying to claim your own! Reduced risk of being pulled into its depths with repeated uses of this technique. Note: You have triangulated the River of Souls. You have increased spiritual affinity with The River of Souls. Additional survival bonuses are now in effect.)
Storm Flight – Rank 5 (You may now effortlessly race through the heavens during storms, over ley lines, or over wild forests 2+ miles from any major city.)
Storm Strike – Rank 1 (This Advanced Silver Swan Technique channels lightning through your blows! Water, Metal & Lightning elements are involved. Cost to use: 9 Qi and risk of Lightning damage. Qi Absorption skill and increased rank will decrease this damage.)
Summon Portal – Rank 4 (11) (Thanks to your Personal World Seed, you can now forge gates between worlds with an ease that would be the envy of most gods, if any save your patron actually bothered to talk to you! Note: Rapid summoning and boosted skill rank Perks are now in play!)
Water Walking (Soul Stride) – Rank 6 (Water Walking has evolved into Soul Stride! Whether a trickling stream or the River of Souls, you can stride them all with equal ease!)
Qi Perception-linked Disciplines
Qi Perception – Rank 7 (Sense all physical and Qi manifestations around you within 70 feet with minimal concentration. Effortlessly sense spirit beasts and mystical herbs! +7 to Perception checks.)
Artificer – Rank 6 (Understand, manipulate, or destroy magical treasures, defensive wards, or cultivation artifacts! Specialization chosen. In moments of sublime inspiration or peril, transcendent insight may allow you to forge Cards of Fate. Note. This is a transcendent feat. You have no control over this feat. No mentor or text can further increase your mastery of this skill, as you have embraced an unorthodox paradigm and no mortal is capable of this specialization. )
Find Weakness – Rank 5 (This skill may be used against artifacts, constructs, demons, spirit beasts, and cultivators. A basic skill check with Qi Perception lets you sense the weakest points in any target’s physical form and technique. Advanced skill rank and successful use of Soul Sight is needed to spot the weaknesses in a cultivator’s Qi Wards. Adept Status Achieved! You now enjoy an additional 100% penetration bonus against all physical defenses and body cultivation techniques when striking humanoid targets whose weaknesses you have found!)
Soul Sight – Rank 5 (Sense the flow of Qi through any spirit beast (effortless) or cultivator (difficult)! This allows you to predict enemy cultivator or spirit beast movements and attacks. Success also allows Find Weakness to pierce Qi Wards as well as physical defenses. Adept status achieved! Specialization chosen! You may now automatically measure the karmic merit of any soul’s past (skill rank) lives with a basic skill check!)
Spiritual Teacher (Spiritual Student) – Rank 6 (You may now directly impart the knowledge of any and all Cultivation disciplines upon suitable students with a skill check! This skill allows suitable students to enjoy multiple breakthroughs up to Spiritual Teacher rank. Diligent focus is required over a period of days, weeks, or months, depending upon student-teacher compatibility and mystic connections being harnessed. Additionally, you may learn from any cultivation manual as if you were reliving the author’s own experiences, allowing for accelerated absorption of new Qi disciplines! Warning: attempting to learn incompatible techniques will result in Meridian strain!))
Elemental Strikes & Counters Learned at Royal Phoenix Academy.
Flame Fist – Rank 4
Fire Shield – Rank 4
Oak Strike – Rank 5
Thorn Shield – Rank 5
Shield of the Grove – Rank 2 (This Silver-ranked defense has all the strengths of Elemental Wood! Cost to use is 8 Qi points per ten minutes, plus risk of mild meridian strain. Shield can be maintained indefinitely without strain while cultivating. 15 seconds to summon shield, reduced by 5 seconds per each additional rank earned. – Note: Meridian strain and cost are significantly decreased with increasing rank or Silver ascension.)
Earthen Shield – Rank 4
Stone Fist – Rank 5
Avalanche – Rank 3 (This Silver-ranked variant of Stone Fist can hit with force of a crashing boulder! Cost to use: 7 Qi plus risk of mild meridian strain. Note: Strike is Delayed due to buildup of spiritual energy. Delay, Qi expenditure, and meridian strain are reduced with increased rank in skill or Silver ascension.)
Water Shield – Rank 5
Water Strike – Rank 5
Qi Purification Techniques
Dual Path Purification Technique (100% Efficiency.)
Cleansing Breath Purification Technique (100% Efficiency.)
Qi Restoration Techniques
Golden Realms Meridian Restoration Technique (100% Efficiency.)
Qi Cycling Techniques
Dual Path Dark Qi Cycling Technique (75% Efficiency.)
Dual Path Light Qi Cycling Technique (75% Efficiency.)
Divine Quantum State Cycling Technique (50% Efficiency.)
White Crane Cycling Technique. (100% Efficiency.)
Body Cultivation Techniques
The Eternal Fox Unified Cultivation Technique – Rank 13
This divine technique works with all elemental affinities at all levels of cultivation.
0.975 pounds of lost flesh will fully regenerate per hour. This is now automatic, whether meditating, sleeping, or in combat! Cuts will be healed in seconds. (Power Healing can boost this one-hundred-fold with the use of a beast core, spirit pearl, or unspent experience.)
Note. Tapping into experienced earned immediately after killing an opponent will allow for healing that transcends all normal limits with a successful skill check, depending upon the severity of the injuries suffered!
Breakthroughs currently in effect include Saintly Aura, Longevity, Regeneration, Power Healing, Dark Qi Recycling, Pristine Light Cultivation, Pristine Dark Cultivation, and Pristine Form.
You are effectively immune to all toxins and caustic agents that do less than 130 damage per second. You have achieved Cellular mastery. All cells naturally revert to their ideal age. Eternal youth has been achieved!
Metabolic Mastery Subskill is now at Adept Rank. (You can survive for extended periods of time without food, water, or oxygen. Dark Qi Metabolism will now automatically activate when needed, even when unconscious. Physiological strain from switching states and neural discomfort has been minimized!)
You may now use Eternal Fox in conjunction with your blood to neutralize all curses, mental ailments, and soul bindings suffered by another with a successful skill check! You have taken your first steps in evolving your divine technique to heal others, in addition to yourself.
The Path of the Healer is now open to any Adept of this skill!
Note: You have successfully transcribed your Divine Technique within the Hall of Jade Emperors! Your Divine Cultivation manual and Jade Imprint has upgraded itself so as to be able to fully integra
te both seven and twelve-meridian configurations. Additionally, Basic cultivators with imperfect meridian configurations will no longer perish, should they dare to make use of your tome!
A Path Cloaked in Mist
You have permanently gained 8 points of Impact Resistance, 4 points of Cutting Resistance, and 2 points of Piercing Resistance! 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 Flame.
Biochemical Mastery – Rank 7
You are now able to near effortlessly synthesize hydrochloric acid, alcohol, and most other compounds naturally found in limited quantities within the body, as well as synthesize or cure any poison or alchemical formulae mastered, save for those reliant upon silverbell or shadow blossoms.
Enlightened Treasures
Unused Eternal Soul Stones
1 Divine (Rank 1)
2 Gold (Rank 5, Rank 4)
4 Silver (Rank 6, Rank 5, Rank 2, Rank 6)
Divine Boon: You have managed to best one Elder God and survive the ordeal! You have earned a boon (and saved a city)! A portion of his potency is now your own! Each Rank of Silver will be seven times easier to achieve, as General Shalu himself is forced to foot the remainder of the bill!
Divine Promise: For successfully making it to Royal Phoenix Academy before the end of the month, there will be one divine cultivation manual of particular use to you somewhere within the stacks of the school’s libraries, assuming you can find it and earn access to it. – NOTE! Long Wang has manipulated his pawns to deny you any access to his tome. You have claimed his hammer as compensation!