Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1

by M. H. Johnson

  Alex winced. “I know, Master, and I apologize.”

  “What happened?”

  Alex grimaced. “My garden. It sort of, well… ate it.”

  Liu Jian's eyes widened. "Ate it?"

  Alex nodded. “My garden’s been growing. A lot. The soil I’ve been supplying it hasn’t been enough. It took all my food and water reserves for its own use.”

  His mentor blinked. “Really.”

  Alex nodded.

  “Fascinating! I don’t suppose...”

  Alex nodded. “We now have five Shadow blossoms.”

  "Excellent! Now go eat, Alex. We'll talk more when you've achieved equilibrium with your new, improved body. Then, Alex, you and I will do everything we can to make your sacred tome's Meridian Rejuvenation Elixir a reality.”

  Alex nodded. “I look forward, Master Liu.”

  And before he knew it, Alex found himself seated at the grand dining table the three of them ate at every day, feasting upon flank steak, ribs, and cutlets with a myriad different seasonings and dipping sauces, all washed down with chilled well-water. It was the most delicious meal Alex could ever recall eating.

  He rubbed his full belly a good hour later, gazing contentedly at the ravages of his feast.

  “A meal fit for a king,” he declared to a grinning Liu Li who had hardly eaten a bite, though she had seemed to take inordinate pleasure in watching him eat.

  “I’m glad you think so. Father said you had actually managed to ascend another rank, so I knew you’d probably be famished, your frame even more powerful than before.”

  She flashed a teasing smile. “Now your arms are actually beginning to look worthy of a soldier. Or perhaps an enlisted boy, at least. Maybe a peasant farmer who actually worked for a living. Not quite the sad, scrawny noodle of a boy you were when I first laid eyes on you.”

  Alex winced. “I had been rather lean, I know, compared to most of you. But still, I was actually considered athletic, back home.”

  She arched her brow. “Then you must come from an unusually weak tribe. I’m surprised you weren’t all conquered long ago.”

  “Oh, we had tools to compensate for that,” he said, “but you’re right. We certainly weren’t as muscular as some of our ancestors, though we aren’t that bad, really.”

  She gave a satisfied nod. “Whatever the case may be, the cultivating life certainly agrees with you, Alex. You always had fine features, but now I wouldn’t be surprised if you get a lot more admiring looks than you used to.”

  Alex frowned. “Why, exactly? Just because my shoulders are a little bit larger?”

  “No, Alex. I mean, it’s more than that. It’s how you carry yourself. The confidence in your gaze. You used to look like a frightened boy. A cute boy, maybe, or cute for a foreigner, but you seemed more like a frightened animal than anything else.”

  Alex winced at those words.

  She grinned. “But now you look like a man who can take care of himself and protect the ones he loves. Now, Alex, you radiate strength. And in a world as dangerous as this one, a girl will instinctively find herself drawn to a man she thinks can protect her and the family they might one day share.”

  Alex felt his cheeks flush under her considering gaze. “I think all girls in all worlds want a man who can take care of them,” he said at last. “Just like I think any guy would want a girl who desires them and will be loyal to them. I mean, isn’t that what everyone wants?”

  She shrugged. “All I’m saying is don’t be surprised if you get a lot more appraising glances from Father’s customers when we get home. Once word gets out that you’re a cultivator, you might even find bolder women, or perhaps, more desperate women, who will make it clear that they are open to courting.”

  Alex blinked. “Really.”

  She grinned. "Of course, you'll earn any number of angry looks from men outraged that a Ruidian actually has the ability to cultivate. Better expect lots of challenges, and from men who want to maim or kill you more than they want to beat you."

  Alex paled as her grin turned to laughter.

  "But don't worry. Once you ascend to Bronze, the rabble won't dare to challenge you. Only the truly skilled and deadly. Of course, by that time you might just be cultivating at Dragon Temple and your life will be filled with trials and challenges just trying to survive, so you'll have little time for romance."

  Alex nodded. “I recall what your father said. The trials for new applicants start in a few months, right?”

  She nodded solemnly, serious once more. "All jokes aside, Alex, there is a wealth of knowledge and opportunity at Dragon Academy, and at any other cultivation school in the empire. Young cultivators fight with everything they have for a chance to benefit from the opportunities within. Father assures me the trials aren't easy, and only those with true potential are accepted. And to actually transcend the ranks of outer initiate and gain access to individual instructors, the library, and all the resources within, you have to ascend or be just a half-step away from Bronze, or earn your place by martial combat."

  Alex nodded, filled with a curious mixture of exhilaration and dread. He had no doubt that even seeking the right to participate in the trials would raise more than a few eyebrows and be very difficult, given his heritage. At the very least, he should expect having to prove himself in the arena of combat if he was to get any acknowledgment at all, let alone be accepted as a student at such a prestigious school. But failure was only guaranteed if he lacked the courage to try.

  “I already guessed it wouldn’t be easy.”

  She smiled. "I can tell you already have your heart set on going, for all that I wouldn't be caught dead there, so obvious is their contempt for my kind, after what they did to my mother..."

  Alex bowed his head, having the grace not to pry.

  “Anyway, it’s fine if you go, Alex. Pry all the secrets you can from those bastards.” Her jade eyes positively twinkled. “And share them with me.”

  He couldn’t help grinning back. “You know I will. But first, there’s something else I need to work on. Is your father in the lab?”

  She solemnly nodded, unable to hide the desperate hope in her eyes. "I pray this works, Alex. If it didn't torment me to watch, I'd be right there with you."

  Alex nodded, understanding already why she wasn't there, mastering the formula herself. Right now, with her very future on the line, it was way too personal. And since she wasn't a Bronze, yet, with no control over the elements an Alchemist must master, all she could do was watch, the pressure of her regard an added stressor they would do well to avoid.

  But her hopeful gaze was a weight he felt all the way to the apothecary in back, for all that he was filled with nervous energy when he met the gaze of his mentor, the man’s grateful, almost relieved smile when Alex handed him a single perfect Shadow blossom. A balm to his worried soul.

  “No, no, no!” Alex’s gut knotted with anxiety as Master Liu desperately sought to balance the Qi elements in the infusion. He could see the sweat dripping freely from the man’s brow as he tried for the fourth time to balance all the elements just so… knowing how vital it was to get everything right if his daughter was to have any hope of recovery…

  Only to abruptly shove Alex back from the marble table before leaping past the ward chiseled into the stone floor as the entire concoction began to boil and froth before suddenly exploding.

  Despairing eyes met Alex’s own.

  “I’ve been studying this formula since the day you handed it to me. I have perfected all the steps! But even with perfect control, pouring Fire, Earth, and even Metal Qi into the brew, it still refuses to stabilize. We have wasted an entire Shadow blossom on pure futility!"

  The old man gave an angry, frustrated shake of his head. "I can tell your formula is correct. I can feel the incredible potential of it! But only a Gold-ranked alchemist could possibly hope to stabilize this brew!"

  Alex swallowed, clenching his fists. “Please don’t tell me we’re giving up.”r />
  His mentor gave an angry shake of his head. “Of course not, Alex. But I need to rest. To meditate. To regain my equilibrium. Perhaps in a few days…” He sighed and shook his head, an invisible weight upon his shoulders as he went off to give his daughter the bad news.

  Alex could only imagine how devastated she would be.

  He gazed down at his ring, knowing what he had to do, and with water cisterns refilled once more, he was determined not to leave until he had accomplished his goal.

  He would take all the insights he had gained, watching Master Liu’s careful failures, and see if he could pull success from the jaws of defeat.

  First, he gazed at the instructions he had copied, going over the entire procedure in his head.

  But something was wrong.

  He could tell that already, without even using ingredients from his Qi-infused garden.

  He scratched his head, entering his ring to study WiFu’s tomes once more.

  Eyes widening as he saw the discrepancies, how the tomes accounted for hyper-stable five elemental formulations, and how Alex’s copy, covered with his mentor’s notes, was trying to adapt the formula in a way other alchemists could use it, those who had affinities to Fire, Metal, and Earth if they were truly gifted.

  It was as if Alex’s copy was limited to Liu Jian’s capacity. He shivered, wondering if he had been mistaken in his translation, or if the diacritical marks had somehow shifted crucial meanings around.

  He frowned, making a second copy of the directions, one he intended to use himself.

  He blinked.

  Now they were a perfect copy.

  Alex rubbed his brow, not quite sure what to make of it all, but determined to do what he could for the girl whose cheerful, carefree smile he would do anything to see again.

  Within minutes he had all his ingredients ready, his spiral of elementally sorted Qi shimmering rainbow lights that skittered across the magnificent lab he had been steadily improving upon in the heart of his ring, and with steady hands and a racing heart, he got to work.

  His anxiety only grew when batch after batch failed him, his supplies dwindling, until at last, he achieved success.

  Congratulations! You have discovered Unorthodox Shadow Meridian Rejuvenation Elixir! This formula is specifically designed to heal meridians with a Fire/Earth/Metal/Shadow series of affinities. This elixir will have only modest success repairing damage to meridians of any other elemental alignment.

  Alex gave a relieved nod, the terrible knot in his gut at last easing.

  For this was the last batch he could make, leaving only the strongest, most fertile Shadow blossom untouched, having sacrificed every other in a desperate bid to master this formula, until at last his sense of the ideal flow of Qi elements resonated perfectly within his mind.

  Had he failed this batch, he would have had to wait until he had grown an entire fresh harvest of Shadow blossoms, and his epiphany would have long since left, forcing him to start again from scratch.

  But now, both the formula and the complex flows of power needed at just the right moments were all unified in his understanding of the elixir's manufacture.

  Should more doses be needed, he was confident that he could replicate the feat.

  Or so he hoped.

  When he popped into existence once more and proceeded with anxious steps to Liu Li’s room, he heard the sound of quiet sobs drifting through the hallway. Alex swallowed, careful not to squeeze the priceless flask he held in his hand, slowly knocking on her bedroom door.

  “Please, not now, Father. I can endure no more lectures!” whispered the voice beyond.

  Alex cleared his throat. “Liu Li? It’s me.”

  The door immediately opened, jade green eyes reddened by too many tears fastened upon his own. Her breath suddenly quickened. She swallowed.

  "Alex. The way you're staring at me, that stupid cocky smile, did you actually manage to..." She shook her head. "Please, whatever you do, don't toy with me, Alex. I couldn't bear it!"

  He solemnly clasped her hand, placing the elixir within. “Whatever you do, don’t drop it.”

  She flashed a desperate smile, wrapping him up in a fierce hug.

  “Come. No time to waste. Let's get this to Father right away. I know he'll want to examine it first. And then, Alex..." She flashed a hopeful smile. "And then we'll see."

  21

  Her father frowned at the vial, wizened eyes peering carefully at the silvery-dark liquid within. "I can get no read on it. At all." He sighed, shaking his head. "The element of Shadow is utterly beyond me, I'm afraid. My treatises and manuals don't even acknowledge its existence!”

  Pained eyes gazed into Liu Li's own. "You know how desperately I want to help you, my child. But this is an unknown, untested formula designed by a young man we both admire, but who didn't know the first thing about compounding even mundane elixirs until a bare handful of months ago! And now? Now I fear terribly for you. I can get no sense of its efficacy, or even its safety."

  Liu Li paled. Grimacing like it pained her, she was forced to nod. “I… you’re right, Father. I know you are. But after all we risked to get this far, after facing and surviving Silver Fox’s own trial, I have to believe there was a point to all that. I have to believe this will work!”

  Her father sighed. "I know, daughter. But I have no way to judge this elixir's potency or, well, safety."

  Alex nodded. "A fair point. To tell you the truth, I'm still not quite sure how to judge the potency of my elixirs versus another alchemist's formulations. At least not the Qi-enhanced ones belonging to the realm of true alchemy."

  He then handed the man his most recent Unorthodox Qi Cultivation Elixir. "I had handed you one of these before, but you had returned it to me when the demands of the moment got the better of us. Perhaps now is an ideal time to analyze it. Determine its safety and efficacy, and judge my work accordingly."

  The older alchemist frowned, before giving Alex a curt nod. “Not a bad idea, Alex. Not bad at all.” He then grabbed both potions and headed back down to the lab.

  Alex grinned, making his way toward the hidden entrance and the training yard beyond.

  Liu Li gave him a surprised look. “Where are you going?”

  "To train. I feel like I've been locked away in our home or deep inside my ring for days. I could use some fresh air. And frankly, the thought of waiting around with a knot in my stomach while your father examines my work? I'd rather burn that pressure off with a good workout. Like your father said, it's important that I get a sense of my body’s strengths, now that I’ve ranked up yet again.”

  Liu Li grinned. “Sounds like a plan. Kit up, Alex, we’re going to spar.”

  Alex blinked. His beautiful friend rolled her eyes. "Just because my meridians were damaged doesn't make me a cripple. I can work out and spar as well as I ever could. I just have to hold off on using Adderstrike or any other Qi discipline, and I never needed that to defeat you before."

  Alex chuckled. “Fair point.” And before Alex knew it, he was fully kitted up and facing off against his friend in the practice field, feeling the same rush of excitement he did whenever they had sparred before.

  Only now, he felt lighter on his feet than he ever had before.

  He was no better at reading her feints and tells than he had been prior, for Liu Li was a fearsomely skilled fighter, but the moment she committed with her sparring ji, snapping down with the head as she aimed for a quick stunning string against his temple, he had already shifted his weight and stance, sliding forward as he trapped her ji with his own before pivoting and twisting his hips and disarming her, grinning as he brought the butt of his weapon up for what would be a light tap on her chest yet signify a deadly blow, before frowning down at the gladius now resting against his crotch.

  Liu Li grinned as he chuckled ruefully. “Femoral artery sliced open, and you’re dead before I am. You’re getting better, Alex. You’ve never been this fast before, or this light on your feet. You aren’t
just strong compared to the scrawny boy you were. You’re strong, period.”

  She winked. “But you still have quite a ways to go before you can take fighting me for granted.”

  Alex bowed his head. “You’re right. As always.”

  He winced when she cracked her reclaimed ji against his head. “Honor among duelists is fine, but don’t you dare take your eyes of your foe during battle, Alex!”

  He chuckled again, this time keeping his eyes on his target, noting her shifts in stance and balance, and when she lunged with her ji once more, he was ready, warding her thrust and closing, but she was already spinning off her back foot, bringing her polearm around with an abrupt shout, her graceful movements adding tremendous power to her fearsome swing and allowing her to keep out of range just long enough for her weapon to smash into a grunting Alex just a heartbeat before he could close.

  Though he twisted to parry just in time, Liu Li had already pivoted and spun, and Alex felt powerful arms jerk him off balance from behind as he was hip-tossed onto the ground, her gladius resting against his armored neck.

  He flushed. “That maneuver left you wide open. The only reason that worked is because you knew I was going to close, and I was too damn cautious to charge in with a thrust.”

  She nodded. “Because I’m skilled enough to read my opponent.”

  He chuckled ruefully. “That you are. I guess I have a hell of a long ways to go before I can best you.”

  She nodded as they separated and braced their weapons once more.

  “The reason I’m besting you so easily right now is because Father’s been focused almost exclusively on teaching you Qi disciplines, so you’re already out of practice reading my moves. You’ve only been training for a handful of months, whereas I have for years. So, what you can all too easily forget is seared into my brain for life.”

  She chuckled at his crestfallen expression. “Actually, you’ve hardly lost your edge at all, and the minute hesitations and awkward shifts in balance I try to take advantage of are a result of powering up so quickly, not any degradation of your skills.