Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reforged: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 2

by M. H. Johnson

  No! Alex thought as hard as he could, having no desire to waste the potential he could feel coiling up inside him, knowing just how useful those kills were. And whether or not Scar treated the rest of them as hindrances who had gotten in the way of his kill as much as anything else, it seemed that Alex’s interface, at least, was happy to credit Alex alone with the kill. Or perhaps it was simply crediting him with whatever portion of experience he had earned, according to whatever divine precedent measured such things, assuming his unique soul wasn’t the only one that could feast upon the spiritual potential of his kills. The one thing Alex knew for certain was that the slavers had claimed the spirit beast gem and all its potential for themselves, though whether they intended to use it for their own purposes or sell it, he had no idea.

  He risked a glance at his ring, gut twisting in anxious knots as he was forced to acknowledge how very much of his abilities as an alchemist and cultivator were absolutely dependent upon having access to that artifact. Right now, he was little more than a penniless slave that could be killed almost effortlessly on a whim. It was a struggle not to let the bitter truth of his circumstances fill him with despair.

  He then snorted, able to imagine all too well the ironic look WiFu would give him if he could see him moping like a helpless pawn right now. He and his mentor had beaten odds worse than this. He rubbed his brow, shaking away the mounting panic and despair. What he needed to do was figure out, as best he could, how he could repair whatever was wrong with his ring, assuming such was even possible.

  And considering how all eyes were upon them during the day, such that he didn’t even dare pick the most innocuous looking of herbs by the side of the road, it was only late at night, after the camp was set up and near everyone save a few surly guards lost in the deepest of dozes, that he could safely meditate upon his ring and the situation Silver Fox had thrust him into. And there would be no better time to get started, he decided, than to begin that very night.

  He flashed a quick smile as he gazed at his tarnished little ring, taking comfort in formulating a plan of action, knowing his resolution would allow him to endure the grueling day ahead, having something to look forward to beyond a captive’s shackles.

  He then froze, heart skipping a beat, affecting a nonchalant air as he turned a casual gaze to Peng who had been looking at him altogether too intently ever since he had woken up, his voice now void of the callous gruffness that had marked their first words, traces of warmth only entering as the day before had worn on.

  But now? Not the slightest trace of patronizing bemusement. Rather the hard gaze of a man who saw far more than what he let on.

  Alex quirked an eyebrow. “Peng?”

  The man stole a glance at their surroundings. No slaver was bothering with the slaves happily stuffing their faces with Qi-rich fare that would boost their health and their value at market.

  “In my previous life, I hunted and trapped woods very much like these. I can dress a kill, skin spirit beast hides, and prep it for armor better than what most of these fools are wearing. Hell, I’ve made more than my fair share of lamellar, once upon a time, before I realized how much more silver I could make by just bringing in my hides. Point is, I know my craft, and I can read a carcass as well as any man.”

  Alex nodded, just knowing by the look in Peng’s eyes where this was going.

  “It wasn’t Scar’s enchanted spear that spelled the boar’s doom.”

  Alex blinked. “No?”

  His companion smiled coldly. “No. It was the spear that pierced the beast’s right lung. Or the one that tore open its liver. Only with those wounds taking their toll did the damn thing finally collapse, the frenzied killing really just its death throes more than anything else. Scar’s final spear thrust just finished the job.”

  Alex dipped his head. “Well, I’m just glad the thing is dead. I’m sorry we weren’t able to kill it sooner.”

  Peng flashed a humorless smile, voice pitched just loud enough to reach Alex’s ears. “You’re walking a treacherous path, kid. If Scar and his cronies figure out what you’re capable of, I fear things will get much harder for you. But don’t you dare think you can take them on. No matter how confident your master was in your skills, three of those slavers are cultivators, and the fire mage is a Bronze Ogre Magi. The second rank at least. My advice? Keep your cool until we reach Yidushi. If luck is true and you fall into the graces of an honorable master, your skills just might elevate you to trusted servant one day.”

  Alex flashed an innocuous smile. “I’ll do my best to walk carefully and not trip us up, then. Hopefully, we’ll all find kind masters. And I don’t know about you, but I could definitely use some more stew.”

  Peng chuckled softly. “Fine. You’re an innocent harmless lad. And why not? No one would ever think a Ruidian capable of...” He gazed pointedly at Zeng Zeng, rapidly approaching. “I hope you’ve had your fill. I think we’re getting an early start today.”

  And true to Peng’s prediction, they were off within a quarter hour, Zeng Zeng having looked so harried he hardly bothered kicking anyone at all. The murmurs of the guards claiming that several of their number had sensed multiple spirit beasts snuffling around the kill site just a mile away made it all too clear why they were getting such an early start.

  But despite the air of anxious tension, they encountered no ambush or attack of any sort, and against all expectation, Alex found himself enjoying the shafts of sunlight against his face as he walked beneath a glorious woodland canopy of verdant green foliage, happily following the lead of guards and captives alike in grabbing the incredibly lush fruit upon low hanging branches that seemed to be almost everywhere, highlighting once again the lush and vital nature of this world, so filled with power and peril, yet anyone with the courage to live beyond one of the great walled cities was likely well-fed, as Peng himself explained.

  “Even in the city, most people eat well. It’s only the poorest of the poor that are ever malnourished. And no matter how destitute city life left one, any man or woman who has the courage to live outside the city, in towns and villages like where we’re all from, or even smaller farming or trapping communities, will never have to worry about going to bed hungry.”

  Peng shook his head with a bitter chuckle. “No. It’s spirit beasts happy to raid any community lacking proper fortifications, or at least a resident Earth or Water cultivator able to make use of the most basic wardings, that will spell a tribe’s downfall within the endless forests and fields of our wild, beautiful world. Of course, the closer your settlement is to the trade roads connecting the major cities, the less you have to fear rampaging spirit beasts and the like.”

  He glared at the slavers marching ahead, though he was careful to catch none of their gazes. “It’s another sort of monster you have to worry about, if you’re foolish enough to live as close to the hubs of commerce and trade as our town dared.”

  Alex’s eyes widened at that. “You mean...”

  The man nodded. “These slavers. Sent by city lords not content with simple tithes we pay when selling goods and produce in the city markets. Those bastards feel they’re entitled to a flesh quota from any town that catches their eye as well. And whether or not its legal in the damned city charters, no city administrator has seen fit to put a stop to the privateering. No doubt they see it as a harmless way of appeasing the various powerful houses within the city-states.” Peng scowled. “So long as Yidushi’s own citizens are spared a hungry lord’s predations, it’s no skin off Administrator Ruizhi’s back, after all.”

  Alex frowned, sensing there was far more to Peng than met the eye. “You’re no simple trapper, are you?”

  His fellow captive smiled mirthlessly. “And you’re no simple Ruidian. And we’d best keep our mouths shut. Tang Dan is looking half drunk and incensed again, and is no doubt eager for someone to vent his ire upon.”

  Alex’s thoughts raced a mile a minute, for all that he simply plodded along the hardpacked road with his head
lowered, the ripe scent of dozens of unwashed bodies, guard and slave alike, perfuming the air. He didn’t know what Silver Fox had been thinking, getting him into this horrid mess, and he could just imagine himself bobbing along the dark and strangely soothing River of Souls once more, the mischievous twinkle in WiFu’s eyes as he flashed Alex the most innocent of smiles, and he could all but imagine what the man, or fox, would say.

  “Who says I got you into anything, Alex? You chose to live, defying the will of the heavens themselves. For the second time. Instead of gracefully surrendering your existence, rich as it is with the memories of your first life and the odd talents your fresh soul encapsulates, you chose to continue your journey, refusing to surrender your piece from the board of fate and destiny.” WiFu’s gaze hardened. “Did you really think there wouldn’t be a price to pay for that?”

  Alex frowned. He had never been the most visual person in the world, not like his more artistic friends had been, but he could imagine every hair on the man’s head as he imagined what WiFu would say.

  Then sudden cries of pain pulled him out of his odd musings, the desperate pleading of a girl sobbing for mercy.

  Fearing he was going to get himself killed but unable to help himself, Alex found himself breaking away from a suddenly furiously whispering Peng, glaring a warning at him as he dared to turn around and investigate.

  Past the final pair of desultory and defeated-looking male slaves walking obediently behind him, doing all they could to avoid Alex’s gaze, he caught a clear view of Tang Den whipping one of the female slaves by the wagon carrying the choicest of Scar’s prizes.

  The woman was begging for mercy as she screamed under the caress of an angry whip made of Fire Qi that scorched her burlap blouse and left angry red welts clearly visible in the now-bare flesh underneath.

  And one of the two dao-wearing guards separating the wagon groups glared deadly warning Alex’s way, yet the voice raised in outrage wasn’t Alex’s own, for all that his heart burned.

  “Stop it! It’s not her fault she’s injured and has a fever. That’s all on you bastards!” snapped a surprisingly beautiful young woman bound far more securely than the length of rope around the neck being used to secure the other women. In fact, with a metal collar around her neck and metal cuffs around her hands, she was more constrained than any of the men, for all that her high cheekbones, full lips, and porcelain-smooth skin should have earned her the most comfortable of wagon accommodations, along with the other sobbing girls that Peng had already explained were destined for the most exclusive brothels in Yidushi. But here the girl was, a flimsy hat all that protected her features from the sun as she was forced to walk countless miles with everyone else, secured more like a dangerous prisoner than a vulnerable girl of perhaps Alex’s own age.

  Well, minus a thousand years or so.

  Soft brown eyes glared into the snarling countenance of the Bronze Ogre Magi whose trembling hand lashed out with his whip of Fire Qi once more, this time at the woman who dared to defy him.

  “How dare you speak that way to your master, slave!” Tang Dan looked incensed, lashing out with his burning whip twice more. The young woman struggled to stay on her feet, red welts soon leaking blood. “It does not matter what you once were, or thought you were, now you are nothing more than our slave!”

  He smashed at the girl’s nose with his fist, clearly aiming to crush it, yet he was the one who cried out when she expertly tucked and angled her head, Tang Dan’s knuckles crumpling against the hardest part of her skull before skittering off, along with her hat, at the odd angle she forced, resulting in nothing more than perhaps a mild sting thanks to hair and hat further protecting her skull, whereas her aggressor was howling in pain, having effectively smashed his knuckles against a rock. Alex’s eyes widened, sensing that the girl knew how to fight, and he was reminded once more that, on Earth at least, hand wrapping had gained popularity as a means of protecting a fighter’s fragile fingers, not the other guy’s head.

  “How dare you defy me, whore!” The fire mage shrieked, his tiny whip of crimson Qi turning into a brilliant, blazing whip of fire.

  He grinned coldly when the girl paled. “Oh yes, now when you are about to experience true pain do you finally know your place, you filthy excuse for a cultivator! Thought you were going to get into Dragon Academy, did you? All you needed was a caravan heading to Yidushi, and your uncle certainly got you that, didn’t he?”

  Tang Dan chuckled coldly as the girl seemed to crumple, spitting upon her bowed head, lashing out with a kick the girl didn’t dare dodge, though his snarl and wince made it clear he had hurt his foot more than he had her shin with his blow. “Thought you could ascend to Bronze, thought you could be worthy of the temple? As if a woman’s place was anything other than warming her man’s bed!” He gave a contemptuous shake of his head. “I better not hear any more lip from you, whore. A pretty girl who can cultivate might be worth a pretty penny to the right lord, but I will burn off your face and your pretty eyes if you ever dare defy me again!”

  “Turn around, slave, or that bitch isn’t the only one who’ll receive a whipping,” warned the closest of the two guards.

  Alex dipped his head and did just that, sensing that the guards didn’t want to earn the attention of a mercurial fire mage any more than he did, which might be the only reason he hadn’t already received the butt of a spear in his gut for daring to break formation.

  Peng glared daggers at him when he returned to his spot. “You’re a fool, boy. You know that? An absolute fool!”

  Alex nodded in complete agreement, though he was happy to note that Tang Dan had seemed satisfied with his final threats, and for all that the beautiful girl had come frightfully close to peril, she had managed to spare her injured companion any further abuse.

  Fists trembling with rage he dared not show, Alex thought long and hard about all he had seen so far, the clues he had on hand, and what his next move should be.

  4

  “Why are you disturbing me, Ruidian?” Cold, soulless eyes peered into Alex’s own when they stopped for the noon meal. Strangely, Scar didn’t look affronted, nor did he look pleased. Rather, he looked like he’d kill Alex without batting an eye, should the situation warrant it.

  Alex swallowed, ignoring his pounding heart, and made his move. “I noted one of the women had taken on a fever and there were… concerns that she would slow the caravan down, Master Scar.”

  The powerfully built slaver shrugged, tearing into a great big haunch of spirit beast meat. “If she continues to slow us down, we cut her throat, and Tang Dan burns her remains to ash. If the spirit beast meat heals her? She gets to live another day. That’s the nature of things. None of you are fools. All of you understand this.” His frown sent shivers down Alex’s spine. “The way you fought the other day told me you’re no fool and that you wish to live. So why are you troubling me with this?”

  Alex bowed his head. “My former master was a gatherer of alchemical supplies, and judged me fit enough to assist him. He also made some small coin with the most basic of healing tinctures, and taught me how to make them so he could focus his mind on other things. Many of the plants we would harvest have caught my eye during our travels. If it would please you, I would be happy to prepare fever tinctures and healing compresses, once I have gathered the correct ingredients.”

  Scar judged him for long moments with his coal dark eyes. He furrowed his brow. Alex felt a cold knot of dread in the pit of his stomach. “You’re a strange one, Ruidian.”

  Alex blinked. “Master?”

  “Only a fool reveals his hidden cards without a good reason, and the sick slave is no one you know. So why are you risking my wrath, disturbing me, when there is no benefit to you? Why are you telling me this?” His eyes flashed with sudden heat. “Do you think me a fool, boy? Do you seek to poison me?”

  Alex took a slow steady breath, gazing into eyes that promised instant death if he said the wrong thing, if he even blinked wrong.


  Like walking on a tightrope over a river shrouded in mist countless yards below, Alex proceeded very, very carefully. “You had mentioned earlier that those of us who proved our worth as hunters might have a better future in store for us than the slave markets. I would far rather work for a man who knows my worth than be sold to a master who thinks I’m worth nothing.”

  Scar’s hard eyes took Alex’s measure for endless seconds before he flashed a cold smile.

  “An answer that actually makes sense.” He gave a thoughtful nod. “Very well. Grab a harvester’s sack from our supplies, and get to harvesting any plants your master taught you had value. You’ll explain the properties of each to Tang Dan. You’ll show him how to make whatever tinctures you know during dinner, and one of the slaves will have fire, kettle, and grinding stone waiting for you.”

  His eyes hardened. “You’d better not need any fancy equipment, boy.”

  Alex swallowed. “Not for the most basic of tinctures, no.”

  “Good. Then gather everything you can, and make whatever tinctures have the highest market value.”

  Alex’s eyes widened when the man clapped his shoulder, giving a nod that was almost approval. “Depending upon how much the herbs you gather and the tinctures you make are actually worth? You might just avoid the slave markets, after all.”

  Alex bowed his head. “Thank you, Master Scar.”

  You have taken 5 Damage.

  Alex then winced as a burst of pain flooded through him from Scar’s powerful grip, suddenly squeezing his shoulder. “But you will make no poisons, unless I instruct you to. And you will be the first to taste any and all tinctures you create. If any illness or injury should occur from your tinctures that I didn't order? Your death won’t be quick, but it will be plenty painful. Are we clear, boy?”

  Alex jerked a nod. “Yes, Master Scar. Very clear.”

  “Good. Then we’re done here. Best you get that pack and get picking any choice plants we come across, boy. Your future depends on it.”