And almost before Alex could orient himself, all three of them had dived into the thick forest at the lake’s edge, the cockatrice still just a speck in the crimson sky.
Yet for just a second Alex had felt the killing intensity of its presence, crushing down upon him, before letting up moments later.
Before the entire forest rang with a hideous, unearthly cry.
You have failed to save against fear! Strength and Finesse temporarily lowered to 10. Qi disciplines at significant penalty!
And Alex desperately struggled to pick up his pace, racing through the trees in outright panic more than tactical withdrawal, the terrified expression on Liu Li’s face a mirror of his own. Only Liu Jian looked like he was in any sort of control, and he was racing away faster than any of them.
For a time, Alex’s world was reduced to the agony of his panicked breaths, the stitch in his side, the hot burning in his lungs and thighs as he gasped for air, pushing himself to run faster, harder, longer than he ever had before, sensing even then that he was not alone.
Other spirit beasts were nearby, but none dared attack.
All were racing for their lives.
And then the ground shook.
The cockatrice had landed.
15
“Do you think it will find us?” a wheezing Alex whispered sometime later, all three of them sheltering under a pine surrounded on all sides by thorny thickets, a godsend of a find Alex hadn’t even spotted before being yanked off his feet and thrown under the bowers of their shelter, paying no attention to the cuts and scrapes on every inch of his exposed flesh.
Liu Jian glowered. “I did what I could, lad. The mustard seed and fire pepper extract I sprinkled wherever we had harvested should have covered our scent and made it impossible for our foe to smell anything for days, assuming it even understands what we did.”
He peered intently at Alex. “Yet another reason why we only harvest half the bounty under each tree. The rest will grow back, and enough remains that the cockatrice does not realize how much of its bounty we have plucked.” He shrugged. “At least, I hope it doesn’t.”
Yet the roaring only increased in pitch and frequency.
The ground was vibrating under pounding feet, visions of Jurassic-style amusement parks, and fierce toothy monsters hunting human-sized game with a terrible predatory intelligence in their beady eyes left Alex speechless with mounting dread.
The crashing sound of gigantic footsteps could be heard.
Liu Li paled. “We have to escape, now!”
Her father slapped his hand over her mouth. “Silence, daughter, lest your own fear doom you,” he said, his voice little more than a whisper.
He glared at Alex, who was too afraid even to speak.
Alex’s eyes caught Liu Li’s panicked gaze.
His sudden desire to protect her, comfort her, won over his terror.
He forced himself to move, for all that he still felt weak and dizzy, as if trapped in a horrific dream, the deadly miasma of the cockatrice approaching seemed to crush him down as if gravity had just doubled.
He gazed at the ring, realizing how many questions remained, wondering how safe it really was. He had a hunch. It was a mad one, might kill his companions, but if they were going to die anyway…
His voice was the softest whisper, far quieter than the howling, hooting spirit beasts racing away at all speed. “If it gets any closer...” He held out his ring.
Liu Jian glared. Making it clear Alex wasn’t even to whisper.
And then the cockatrice’s howl was followed by a sickening crunching sound and the hideous shrieks of what sounded like an elephant-sized beast.
Then the earth-shaking crashes slowly faded back the way they had come.
The relief Alex felt was so profound, he could barely move.
He felt Liu Li’s hand clasp his own. Her relieved smile was soothing like the dawn, for all that the forest was dark with night.
And none of them said a word. All three of them huddling quietly together as the night grew ever deeper. And save for the rustle of leaves, branches scraping in the wind, the forest was utterly still. As if every spirit beast and mortal equivalent had been just as spooked as Alex and his friends, none wanting to risk drawing the attention of the cockatrice that had hopefully retreated to its island for good.
When the first trickles of sunlight pierced the canopy, morning birds daring to chirp once more, only then did any of them break free of their strange reticence even to speak.
“So, how close did we come to dying back there?” Alex asked at last.
Liu Jian snorted. Liu Li paled.
“Close enough that only now do I appreciate what a fool I’ve been. It doesn’t matter how well I thought I could predict that sacred beast’s cycles. The chance of catastrophe with the slightest miscalculation…” he gazed at his daughter, apology clearly written all over his face.
Liu Li held her father close. “No, Father. I insisted you let me come this time, just like I had before. Nothing like this has ever happened before.” She flashed a cheeky grin. “Of course, we only dared to take two Silverbell blossoms every time before. Its divine magic is such that even Father’s storage container could only hold two.”
She squeezed Alex’s hand. “And that is what the killing aura of a Gold-ranked Spirit Beast feels like, Alex, in case you had any doubt about the vast chasm of power separating you and me from the cultivators of legends.”
Her father nodded. “Should it come to pass that I can properly cultivate Silverbell blossom and the other plants kept in your divine storage ring, this might be the last time I ever dare this part of the woods.”
Liu Li's gaze widened. "But, Father, your knowledge of this area is priceless! A heritage you’ve passed onto me. Would you have me forget it as well?”
Alex frowned. “Wait, is this land somehow deeded to you?”
Both of them gazed at Alex strangely before bursting out into laughter.
“Alex, there are hundreds of thousands of square miles between cities, all of them filled with dangerous spirit beasts. No one ‘owns’ these lands. Rather, whoever has the daring and gumption to carve out a community out here, with men and resources enough to repel spirit beasts, able to generate whatever produce or mined or finished goods are needed to facilitate the town’s upkeep, would be granted a charter automatically. No taxes demanded, only a tariff on goods or produce sold whenever those daring settlers made it back to a major city,” Liu Li explained.
Her father nodded. "Rather, it is the wealth of secrets, valuable resources that a wise harvester or cultivator may put to best effect, that are of true value. Such as the sacred grove of evergreens claimed by the cockatrice and the prizes hidden beneath their bowers. And of course, what times of the year are best to claim their harvest."
The older Alchemist shuddered. "And it shames me to see that my own research was flawed. Nonetheless, it is the priceless secrets daring explorers might find in the countless miles between cities that are of true value, and many a noble or powerful cultivator will pay you in gold, platinum, or even spirit pearls, upon proof of your claims.”
Alex swallowed. “If it’s really a thousand miles between all the major cities—”
“—at least,” Liu Li assured. “Our home city’s closest neighbor is actually several hundred miles beyond the thousand-mile mark.”
“I still can't get over how enormous this world is," Alex said. "This principality alone is as large as all of North America! Or close to it.”
Alex felt suddenly dizzy with the same sense of awe he had felt before as he tried to appreciate the vast areas involved, imagining his birth continent as only being home to ten major cities. Never mind the countless small towns he had seen, with their wooden palisades and carefully maintained croplands. For the most part, the entire world was wild, filled with who knew how many undiscovered wonders and mysteries. In a world like this, real estate was virtually limitless. Wherever you could set up a town an
d defend the area from predators became your property by virtue of your might alone, one more flickering candle against the endless wilderness.
In a place such as this, where magic was real, and this empire alone might encompass a surface area many times that of his entire home planet, the vast majority of this realm and all its secrets were ripe for plunder to this very day. It was as if this entire world were a magnificent Indy Jones movie, or a Skydragon mod far too vast for any one person to finish. Here, secret locations and maps leading to untold wonders and prizes really would have far more value than any nameless plot of land.
Alex had already seen hundreds of miles of snow-capped mountains and beautiful primeval woodlands, and he had just caught the tiniest glimpse of what this land had to offer. He could only imagine what the rest of the world looked like.
Liu Jian snorted. “I know nothing of this ‘North America,’ but best we get moving. It’s a good three days journey to our next stop, and if we’re lucky, we’ll find some choice game along the way.”
Alex’s eyes brightened at this, though their weapons they kept stored in Liu Jian’s pack for the moment, this first day seeking only to put as much distance between themselves and the cockatrice’s territory as possible, as all the larger predators had long since fled these lands.
That night as they set up another quiet camp, once more under the shelter of a great pine also surrounded by convenient thickets, their exact location perhaps being yet one more prize of knowledge that was to be Liu Li’s inheritance. Liu Li and Liu Jian both took advantage of the vital Heaven and Earth energy that now even Alex could sense to cultivate, and Alex knew he should do the same. But after yesterday’s incredible harvest, he was eager to check up on his garden and figure out just what the limitations of his ring really were.
He smiled in awe as he gazed at what was now an impressive collection of exotic blossoms, his crackling disk of Dark Qi now feeding its energy to seven Silverbell blossoms, each now functioning at 200% potency, according to his matrix.
He wondered how much Dark Qi had been absorbed since he had first put them in storage and was disturbed by the answer. None.
He frowned. He knew the plants were alive, and had been in love with the idea of having his own garden full of priceless cultivation herbs and other exotic components within his storage ring, fueled to abundant growth from the Wood, Water, and Earth Qi generated by the sacred Silverbells. He knew there would be a cost in Dark Qi, but he thought it worth it. At the very least, he could measure if the cost was worth the boon. Even if his supposedly massive meridian gates and superior technique meant that most cultivation pills would be of limited use to him, even now he could sense that the seven priceless blossoms present would only take a tiny fraction of the dark energy crackling from his spinning orb of midnight black Qi at the heart of the miniature garden.
Duration Silverbell Blossoms can maintain peak Qi processing efficiency with current Dark Qi supplies is 367 days.
Alex blinked. This tiny portion of the Dark Qi he had harvested from his meridians would last these seven sacred plants a full year, with a myriad number of potent Lotus blossoms, directly used in Qi manufacturing pills, presently feeding off the released energy among dozens of other valuable species of plant, lichen, and mushroom, all nourished by the Qi. And it was just the tiniest fraction of his Dark Qi reserves as a whole.
He didn’t want to be foolish, understanding he would need Dark Qi for his future meridian channels, Silver Fox’s cultivation manual instructing him on how to best cycle his Dark Qi in exacting detail. It was only his eight light elements that he needed to worry about, steep a hurdle as that was.
But right now he sensed a wondrous opportunity for experimentation and he was loathe to pass that up.
He took a deep breath, sensing the passage of time in his ring, at least while he was in it. So it seemed to come to a complete standstill when he left.
Did it have to be that way?
He quickly exited his ring and then meditated upon the garden, instructing his matrix to inform him how many seconds worth of Qi were used up by the end of his experiments.
First, he imagined his ring as it no doubt was, everything utterly frozen in the moment. Then he visualized it like a victim trapped in ice, like he had once been frozen in liquid nitrogen… before envisioning a gentle spring thawing out the visualized chambers of his ring, picturing his garden once more brilliant with light and life, time passing by within just as fast as it did without.
70 units worth of Dark Qi used. Time passage successfully stabilized.
Alex nodded in satisfaction. Ten seconds had passed, there were 7 plants feeding on that Qi, it made sense.
He frowned. For all that visualized constructs would hold once he envisioned them, the passage of time stopped the moment he stopped concentrating and started cultivating.
But wasting hours coaxing growth when he could be cultivating seemed like a major wasted opportunity to him. Far better he then just keep the plants in storage and transplant them when he got back, even if they couldn’t take advantage of all his stored Dark Qi to blossom.
Unless…
He frowned, then, visualizing the flow of time changing.
Within his library and storage areas, he envisioned time’s passage halving every second.
Yet within his greenroom, he visualized time’s passage doubling every second.
He kept this up for a double handful of breaths before a sudden stabbing headache came over him, and he quit pushing.
His headache faded, but as long as he concentrated, the acceleration already in place continued.
He had done it!
He grinned with satisfaction, gazing into the ring in his mind’s eye as everything played out in the garden at a thousandfold the normal rate of time, forty days flying past in a single hour.
For the entire night he focused, glorying in the fecund growth happening before his eyes, using up the entire tiny spiral of Qi. Only when it was used up and the first rays of sunlight speared through the forest canopy did he relax his will upon the ring, feeling a sense of immense satisfaction as he immediately drifted off into deepest slumber.
Before being kicked awake, rubbing his eyes with a bleary-eyed groan.
“Please tell me you weren’t cultivating all night, Alex. And even if you were, you should be more rested than you look now!”
“No, I didn’t cultivate at all,” Alex admitted, much to his shame.
Liu Li’s brow furrowed. “Then what were you doing?”
He grimaced. “I was, well, conducting experiments with my ring.”
“I hope it was worth it,” Liu Jian muttered. “We’ve a ten hour trek ahead of us, and you look spent already. It’s a good thing we’re not actively hunting today, Alex, or you’d be a risk to our entire party!”
Alex flushed. “I apologize, sir.”
He snorted. “Boys getting lost in their toys. Very well, but don’t let it happen again!”
Alex nodded, and spending only a quick moment to set up another miniature Dark Qi sun above his now impressive garden, still only using a few percentage points of his entire Dark Qi storage. He then flipped back to the outer world, donned his helm and lamellar, and was ready to go at the same time his companions were, exhausted as he felt.
Liu Li spent a long moment staring at Alex, gaze filled with odd concern.
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
Alex blinked, before his eyes went down to his ring. “The artifact? Yes. Absolutely.”
Liu Li then wordlessly handed Alex one of the springing branches he had been using as bedding.
His eyes widened as he noted how a portion of it looked like it had been sheared off by a razor-sharp blade.
Or perhaps, had fluffed back up when his weight had left it, and when he had flipped back to the outer world… crap, did he have pieces of wood incorporated within his flesh?
He closed his eyes, using his interface to scan his sheet, his sense of himself, but
sensed absolutely nothing wrong. “Hold on one moment!”
Before Liu Li could say anything, he had entered his ring once more, feeling a curious rush of elation and relief to find a handful of forest bedding upon the hardwood floor of his imagined library.
He popped back and gave Liu Li a thumb’s up. “No worries. Safety check passed with flying colors.”
She laughed at that. “Sometimes you come up with the oddest expressions, Alex,” she said, handing him his Ji. “From now on, we’re always armed. Dangerous spirit beasts could be anywhere, as eager to hunt us as we are them.”
She flashed a grim smile. “And since I aim to have them in my stewpot and not the other way around, I need you as alert and ready as your sleepy brain will allow. Understood?”
Alex gave a tired nod, grateful when their hike immediately perked him up, and their rapid pace, along with the awe he felt at the pristine beauty of the woodlands all around him, the way the earth smelled of ripest blossoms and rich fecund earth, the sharp scents of pine and honeysuckle enlivening his senses… all kept him almost as focused as he would have been if properly rested.
And when they stopped for a break to eat, Liu Li had put down her boar spear, pulling free from her father's enchanted bag a leather-bound tome and paintbrush, of all things. She quickly made herself comfortable against a mossy tree stump on top of the hill they had climbed up, offering a fantastic view of the rich, verdant countryside as distant trees swayed in the breeze.
Alex had a sudden yearning to put aside all worries and long-term plans, seeking only to explore and master this wild, beautiful, wondrous land, gazing hungrily at the far off snow-capped mountains shrouded in mist and dream, wondering what exotic secrets they might be holding within their mysterious depths.
And when he gazed down at an intently focused Liu Li, having for once taken off her helm, her hair freely flowing in the wind, the tip of her tongue licking the top of her rosebud lips, he felt as captivated by the sight her striking beauty as he was by the wondrous landscape she had painted with seemingly just a few swipes of her mystic brush.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1 Page 27