Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior's Oath: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 4
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He poured all eight of his remaining points into his peripheral Qi reserves, giving himself a new Qi Pool of an astounding 40 points, or Bronze Rank 5.
He laughed and hooted as he fought with his dying breaths to break free of the suddenly perilous waves that were nearly drowning him, no matter that he had mastered them so utterly when burning with the power of eternal Gold. As had become his habit, he held onto his four potency points for the two levels he had just earned, somehow absolutely certain he would need every one he had stored away when he was ready to break through to Silver. Thanks to his game-like interface screen, he could channel that potential into breakthroughs whenever he was ready.
Certainly not now, with his desperately fought-for existence in jeopardy once more.
He had achieved his third divine cord at shocking cost, tapping into power that would have pushed any other Bronze cultivator well past transcendence and deep into Silver, if not on the cusp of Gold, assuming the insane flood of power didn’t destroy them utterly first.
But not Alex, with his insane degenerate matter cords shimmering like the bones of gods buried deep in an Eden below even the depths of hell, and whether that was truth or delusion he cared not, at that moment struggling with every ounce of furious will just to survive the perilous waters he was drowning in, before a single powerful hand yanked him to shore.
Gasping in exhausted breath, Alex found himself dazed and collapsed before the sealed library he had pulled from his divine ring and was now warded to kill anyone who dared to enter, and not even Alex was stupid enough to try.
Alex laughed bitterly, glancing at his character sheet as he stumbled back to his feet, taking quick solace in all the delightful ways he had grown as cold compensation for yet another damn library he was forever denied access to.
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Alex Hammer
Class – Cultivator: Disciple of the Dual Path (Unlimited potential. This is a Divine path.)
Rank 3 Divine Bronze Cultivation Achieved
Physical Characteristics
Strength - Bronze Rank 2 (25) (Relentless Resolve is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Vitality - Bronze Rank 2 (26) (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 - 13 (Exceeds 84% of Population.)
Perception - 17 (Exceeds 99% of Population.)
Willpower - 17 (Exceeds 99% of Population.)
Qi Pool - Bronze Rank 5 (40) (All meridian gateways are open. Forged and Peripheral Channels enjoy added resiliency!)
Health Points: 385
Perks
Insightful – Rank 2
Charismatic – Rank 2
Lesser Shadow Affinity - You can now sense Shadow Qi! You have +5 to spot all those using Shadow to ambush or confuse you.
Favored Skills
Poison Spitting – Rank 4
Golden Realms Kung Fu – Rank 5
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 Purgatory!)
Silver Swan Kung Fu – Rank 6 (You may now use this martial art in conjunction with White Crane and channel the force and fury of the sea in any and all circumstances! Reduced risk of straining meridians when using forbidden techniques!)
Stealth – Rank 3 (At least you can be sneaky at night, or if you stay out of your opponent’s line of sight!)
Qi Disciplines
Dark Qi Projection – Rank 4 (You can now sheathe feet, shins, fists, and forearms in Dark Qi! Dark Qi is resistant to all Elemental attacks. Dark Qi Projection can pierce all Light Qi Wards. Dark Qi Projection will disperse or deliver concussive force as if plate armor had been worn. Minimal Qi drain when summoned in Dark Qi-saturated areas or the Netherworld. Significant Qi drain when used anywhere else.)
Spirit Crane Strike – Rank 2 (You can now harvest the soul stones of enemy cultivators for yourself upon their death! Warning! Extreme Karma penalties may apply. To claim the cultivation essence of your target will indelibly relegate them to mortal status for countless future lives!)
Adderstrike – Rank 6 (Expanded Comprehension / Impact Invulnerability / Efficient Strike)
Bullrush – Rank 4 (6) (Instantly move 5-50 feet in any direction / Lightness / Maneuverability)
Wind Running – Rank 2 (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 2 (Now you can race upon waves, or ride the very raindrops in the air! Qi drain: Minimal! Synergizes with Wind Running during stormy weather.)
Storm Flight – Rank 3 (You may now travel along ley lines as fast as a phoenix, whether or not foul weather manifests. Multiple experiences riding along magical conveyances channeling the energies of Heaven, Hades, Earth, and Shadow have allowed you to transcend mortal limits! So long as you have within your possession artifacts of all Four Realms, peripheral channel strain is minimized!)
Black Swan – Rank 2 (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-Metal Qi elements involved. Cost to use: 4 Qi and risk of significant meridian strain, unless used after Silver breakthrough made, or in a storm.)
Piercing Strike – Rank 1 (Excellent for piercing elemental wards, once Soul Sight and Find Weakness have been successfully used.)
Qi Deflection – Rank 0 (You do not yet fully comprehend this art.)
Qi Absorption – Rank 4 (Breakthrough made! An additional 15 points of damage is absorbed from all Fire Qi and an additional 5 from all Poison-aspected attacks.)
Qi Flood – Rank 2 (Flood a grappled target (or artifact) with Dark Qi!)
Qi Perception-linked Disciplines
Qi Perception – Rank 5 (6) (Sense all physical and Qi manifestations around you within 60 feet with concentration. Sense spirit beasts and their flow of Qi. +6 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! Note: 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 4 (5) (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 weaknesses. Adept status achieved! Specialization chosen! You may now measure the karmic merit of any soul’s past (skill rank) lives, with a basic skill check!)
Spiritual Teacher – Rank 5 (6) (You may now directly impart the knowledge of any and all Cultivation disciplines upon suitable students with a successful 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.)
Qi Purification Techniques Learned:
Dual Path Purification Technique (100% 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 (75% Efficiency.)
Dual Path Light Qi Cycling Technique (75% Efficiency.)
&nb
sp; Divine Quantum State Cycling Technique (50% Efficiency.)
White Crane Cycling Technique. (100% Efficiency.)
Body Cultivation Techniques Learned:
The Eternal Fox Unified Cultivation Technique – Rank 10
- This divine technique now incorporates Golden Realms Meridian Restoration Technique (can regenerate damage 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.
- Breakthroughs currently in effect include Saintly Aura, Longevity, Regeneration, Power Healing, Dark Qi Recycling, Pristine Light Cultivation, Pristine Dark Cultivation, Pristine Form, and Metabolic Mastery.
- Damage from all poisons and caustic agents 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!
- Tier 1 Bronze Ogre status achieved. 0.5 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.
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 Flame.
Biochemical Mastery – Rank 6
You are now able to near effortlessly synthesize any compound naturally found in even trace quantities within the body, as well as synthesize or cure any poison or alchemical formulae mastered, save those reliant upon silverbell or shadow blossoms. You may now store modest amounts of said concoctions in your body indefinitely, and no longer feel weak or dizzy synthesizing limited quantities of reagents using your own personal physical reserves.
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Alex caught the gaze of the stunned Lord Wan Duan gazing at him with an executioner’s cold appraisal.
He smiled and flowed into a graceful bow despite the icy chills racing up and down his spine, having no doubt that this man had once been so much more than the typical noble or administrator.
Alex felt both vindicated and humbled by everything that had happened, for even he could now sense the golden cords of virtue radiating from himself in a glorious flood of light.
For all that he was deeply embroiled in the catastrophe that had occurred, for all that he had butchered a Gold that had nearly ignited a city, for all that Bingwen had blamed Alex for all his problems and his own mayhem, the fates themselves declared Alex the most virtuous of heroes.
As if Erjizhen itself was only standing because he had dared to pit his life against a psychopath, as opposed to fleeing peril twice over, with a hundred thousand lives hanging in the balance.
Lives under Lord Wan Duan, deadly former assassin Alex’s Soul Sight immediately pinged in a moment of raw connection between their two souls, both somehow measuring the other with cautious nods of respect, and only gratitude would the cold man allow himself to feel for the hero who had saved his city, his life, and the lives of his children, Alex’s Qi Perception sensing them just a short distance away.
A young kitsune girl and Ruidian boy that Bingwen had been threatening to butcher just hours ago, presently huddling in the arms of their terrified mothers, safe and unharmed.
The administrator flashed a rare smile, formally bowing his head. “In the heart of chaos and madness, sometimes heroes arise from the most unexpected of origins.”
Alex couldn’t help swallowing the sudden lump in his throat.
Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to see such a look granted to him in this cutthroat world of cultivators and killers, where no good deed went unpunished.
And first one, then another servant or terrified concubine raised their frightened heads when it seemed the worst had passed, not hesitating to run into their master’s arms or immediately arm themselves and scout for trouble or shout for help or servants, depending on their role in the household, the lord soon surrounded by a flood of wives and children and Alex thought it a miracle, an absolute miracle that they had all survived.
“Husband! We had prayed to all the gods that somehow, somehow...”
Lord Wan Duan kissed the brow of his kitsune wife, bowing his head Alex’s way. “Wipe your tears away, my love. We are safe, for now, and we owe a certain young cultivator a debt of gratitude we can only hope to...”
And then Alex’s pristine dream of a hero’s welcome was shattered with the bitter spite of gods who would do anything to see him dead.
A pain beyond anything he had ever experienced before tore through his soul.
Alex felt all the cords of grace and virtue that had tied his soul to good deeds performed for the sake of countless lives, over not one but dozens of lifetimes, snap in one terrible instant, severing him from karma’s wheel for all time.
Even as he shrieked in sudden spiritual agony, Long Wang’s voice roared like thunder across the heavens.
“It’s over, WiFu! May Fate’s black shears sever all ties of Karma between your damn pawn and every deed he has ever committed in every life he has ever lived! All his past acts of virtue count for nothing! Neither Yidushi nor Erjizhen nor any of the dozens of other cities your pawn has interfered with over too many lifetimes owe him any debt of gratitude or forbearance in this life, or any other! Now watch what happens when one of Cui Zhe’s pet assassins tears off his leash!”
Mocking laughter only grew at WiFu’s shocked gasp, and Alex could sense it all so viscerally, as if he was right there under the feet of those spiteful gods so eager for his destruction, and not stumbling to the ground in slow motion as a grateful lord’s gaze turned to a hardened killer’s once more, all memories of virtue tied to golden cords of karmic debt immediately shifting to the most obvious, most cynical interpretation imaginable.
Monstrous acts had transpired. A Gold had nearly butchered the lord’s family. And the fault seemed to lay squarely on the shoulders of the bizarre Ruidian who was even now a risk to the lives of everyone Wan Duan held dear.
Alex choked back a howl of despair.
Bitter and furious as he suddenly felt, he was not stupid enough to plead for the man to remember the gratitude, the golden promise of just rewards, that had all but shone in Alex’s promised future just seconds ago.
Alex sensed only death in the man’s gaze and mocking laughter in the heavens above.
He just prayed he could escape before the man behind him could strike him down.
A prayer unanswered.
Alex was sent flying before he could blink by a deadly Silver who now hungered for his head.
You have been struck by Deathadder!
You have suffered 1 Medium Wound and two cracked ribs! -2 to all Finesse checks! Rank 10 Eternal Fox resists 100 points of Deathadder Venom damage!
For only a heartbeat did he waste time trying to flip into his ring.
“No!” WiFu screamed in his mind. “It will kill you if you try to enter! It was all but destroyed after what you dared! Run, Alex. Run for your life!”
And a terrified Alex did just that, for all that he knew he was utterly doomed.
A doom sealed with the shattering of every golden cord that had once lit his life up with virtue, connecting him to every community, village, and city he had ever rescued or come to the aid of over countless lifetimes. All acts of grace, heroism, and nobility insta
ntly wiped free from all of Fate’s tallies.
He was now nothing to no one, and would die miserable and alone, without even past virtue to be remembered by.
He was an ant to be crushed and destroyed by tyrannical lords above who hated him simply because he was a piece played by a brother they despised.
A sibling they had locked in a blazing hell of blinding radiation, left to huddle and expire in a cramped cage, seared alive while they all retired to an impossibly glorious chamber to embrace heavenly songs before drifting off to paradise without end.
And despite the horror of his bitter cold existence, hounded by a man who wanted him dead in a world where Alex feared he now meant absolutely nothing to no one, he still found reason to laugh at the heavens above.
Laugh like a madman as he embraced the sheer agony of shattered ribs, hurling helplessly through the air as his enemy dashed forward to pound him to the ground.
Because WiFu’s siblings were going to get a very nasty surprise before long. Alex was almost certain of it.
But as to whether or not Alex would be alive long enough to savor their dismay... that depended on him and him alone.
Lord Wan Duan roared his outrage as Alex used his own momentum to his advantage, Bullrushing for the palatial support beams then immediately to an open window at the opposite end of the massive chamber, chaining three Bullrushes as fast as thought. The sound of the beams he had bounced off of exploding in stone and wood served as an awful cacophonous counterpoint to the screams of panicked women and children below.
And Alex didn’t dare spend a moment gazing down to make sure everyone was okay.
Silver death was coming for him, and at this point, Fate didn’t give a crap what he did.