A notification tickled the back of Samantha’s mind and begged for her attention. She briefly increased her qi investment in [Whirlwind] to 10 qi/ second and Tobias’s approach slowed to a crawl. She could feel the slightest strain on her mind meridian as her perceptive abilities drastically increased, but it was nothing that would affect her during the spar. Her body, on the other hand, was a different story. With an effective 110 Agility–far beyond her approximate max value of 67.5–she would start tearing herself apart if she moved too quickly. Investing this much into [Whirlwind] was great for speeding up her perceptive capabilities, but she needed to ensure her actual steps were careful and measured. She’d been working on finding the best ways to move around without injuring herself, but it was difficult to pin down the limit of what counted as ‘too fast’. For the moment she shouldn’t run into any issues, though. She just wanted a little extra ‘time’ to check her latest system message.
She pulled up the short notification and scanned its contents with great satisfaction.
She dismissed the message from her mind and swept her spear carefully to the side to deflect Tobias’s incoming glaive. When the weapons clashed there was a brief pause as her Agility was directly pitted against Tobias’s daunting Strength, but she spent 10 qi to bolster her swipe with a [Telekinetic Impact]. She focused the solidified ball of force on where the weapons collided to add to the power of her deflection, and the glaive was knocked backwards enough where she could push it off course. She’d learned the hard way that absurdly high Agility didn’t completely close the gap between her and Tobias’s Strength. When he concentrated his full might and skill into a blow–as he was doing now–attempting to shift its momentum was almost like striking a solid stone wall. Without a little extra help from another source she was better off just trying to avoid it altogether.
As Tobias became slightly unbalanced from having his all-out attack countered, her attention was drawn to something rapidly approaching from behind her. Allowing her focus to drift slightly from the immediate fight to take in more information from [Whirlwind]’s 30 foot dominion, she saw that the ‘something’ in question was an [Antler Shot]. Silas had strategically aimed for the blind spot directly behind her head, but [Whirlwind] warned her of its trajectory before it was too late to dodge. She pushed the entirety of her body into her ongoing deflection and moved sideways just far enough so that the projectile missed her. However, this small delay caused her to miss the window of opportunity for a retaliatory strike. By the time she was in a decent position to attack, Tobias had already regained his balance. Silas and Tobias prepared to launch another coordinated offensive.
Their ever-improving teamwork continued to impress her. With [Liaison] connecting Tobias and Silas together they were proving to be much tougher opponents than she’d anticipated. She’d purposefully silenced her portion of the small network of threads linking them all so that she wouldn’t have an unfair advantage in the spar, but she could admit that she was sometimes tempted to eavesdrop. Especially in cases where they pulled off a truly surprising strategy, she was curious what had been passing between them beforehand.
After she’d first regained her ‘full fighting capabilities’ and could use her arts freely again she had dominated the bouts with Tobias. Years of relying solely on her martial prowess only amplified her deadliness once her various abilities were added back into her fighting style. She hadn’t thought about it much before due to losing spars so often, but she was now reaping the benefits of her past efforts. She felt she was genuinely becoming a master of the spear.
The back-to-back victories against Tobias were greatly satisfying in the beginning, but they lost their appeal as she became eager for more of a challenge. Silas had suggested he join Tobias’s side to increase the level of difficulty–which everyone had happily agreed to–but it wasn’t until the two of them had solidified their teamwork that they posed a consistent threat to her. Now, even taking advantage of [Whirlwind], she was only winning a little over half of the time and she felt that margin was shrinking by the day. It was frustrating and filled her with pride all at once.
Samantha opened back up her portion of the [Liaison] web to communicate with everyone before they renewed their assault.
“Hold! I need to focus on my attunement for a moment.”
Tobias and Silas both immediately stopped their next attacks. She nodded to them both in appreciation and proceeded to sit down into the lotus position. She slowed her heart rate with deep breaths and mentally prepared for what her insight told her came next.
Looking inwards, she could see how her qi’s elemental distribution had changed. Instead of all elements being represented evenly, her qi currently consisted of 30% Wood, 17.5% Water, 17.5% Metal, 17.5% Earth, and 17.5% Fire. Now she’d be slightly less effective with arts specifically attuned to other elements, and likely wouldn’t be able to use the most powerful non-Wood-attuned arts at all. In exchange, she’d be able to wield Wood-attuned arts with unusual proficiency–including the most potent techniques among them. She wouldn’t be immediately affected by this because all of her current arts and abilities were set up for a balanced distribution. She could possibly alter some–such as [Desert Breeze] since it involved only the characteristics of Wood–to benefit from her new attunement… however, that would come later. For now, she needed to actually complete the Second Stage of Spiritual Transfiguration. Changing her attunement was only half the battle.
Focusing on the energy flowing within her, she first fed Fire to Earth to bring out the characteristic of Balance. Then, using the enhanced Balance from Earth, she strengthened Metal’s Control. With the empowered Control, she nurtured Water’s Adaptability. And, finally, she fed the mix of rich energy to Wood’s characteristic of Movement. When the qi flowing through her meridians thrummed with what she could only define as ‘pure motion’, she began to infuse it into her qi-saturated body.
She forced qi out from her cultivation base and into the surrounding tissue where it was hungrily devoured. The previously neutral energy saturating her cells began changing to match her new Wood-Dominant qi, and ‘Movement’ began to make its mark upon her. She became more limber, and she could feel her tendons and muscles twitch under her skin as they slightly changed positions and connection points. It was an uncomfortable process, but not nearly as bad as when she had first acquired her qi-saturated body.
The entire process was over in a few hours, and her passive regeneration handled most of the aches and pains that had arisen during the fundamental changes to her physique. She expected that any remaining stiffness would be gone before long.
She stood and stretched to get a feel for her new body while she looked at the notification she’d just received.
She was tempted to look at or mentally calculate what the changes were right away, but wanted to save the ‘final reveal’ as a reward to herself for completing everything she needed to do.
She handed off the task of cleansing her eye meridians to her fragment, then resumed her sparring with Tobias and Silas while waiting for the meridians to clear.
Samantha inwardly cheered at the arrival of these latest messages. She hadn't expected to receive multiple synergies, but it was a pleasant surprise. She was unsure about what 'spiritual sight' was, but as soon as she dismissed the notifications she thought she found the answer. She rubbed at her eyes and blinked several times to make sure she wasn't imagining it, but she definitely wasn't.
Spiritual sight, huh?
Like a light fog had settled over everything, she could see the qi around her. It didn’t impair her vision in any way and could be ignored easily enough if she chose, but she knew that it would still take some getting used to. Whenever she focused on something it felt like she got a distinct impression of the ‘flavor’ of its qi. Not to mention what she could now see in Silas and Tobias.
The energy flowing through Tobias was structured in a way that was calculated, rigid, and mechanical. It was completely unlike her own cultivation base. Due to this, even though the qi that moved in his system had an identical ‘flavor’ to her own, it still felt somewhat foreign. Silas, on the other hand, was filled with vibrant, wild energy that flowed organically through his limbs. It looked… excited for lack of a better word. There was an enthusiasm held in the energy that was difficult to describe, but it matched the emotions that she could sense from him through her bond.
Curious, she looked down at herself. Situated in her torso near her navel–and made visible by her spiritual sight even without meditation–was her dantian. Stretching out from it and into every part of her body like veins were thin lines of power. Almost all of them glowed faintly, but the ones that matched up with her cleared meridians or branched off from them shone brightly. The light was predominantly blue still, but she could’ve sworn that it was slightly more green than before. The bundle of energy coiled within her center appeared to mirror her emotions perfectly–a mix of anticipation, anxiety, and determination. Wondering how her spiritual sight would be affected by [Fade], she activated it and observed herself with interest.
A cloak of Water-dominant energy drifted across her form and completely blocked her cultivation base from her spiritual sight. Then, the cloak’s spiritual appearance shifted to match the vague fog all around her. She had no issue seeing herself with her physical sight, but to her spiritual sense she had just become more fog in the background. It was good to see [Fade] was working as advertised. She deactivated [Fade] and then invested in [Translucence] to see what the difference was. Unlike with [Fade], her physical form faded from sight while her spiritual presence was unaffected. When she used both together she got very close to disappearing entirely.
She asked Silas to use [Translucence] next and the effect was comparable to when she used [Fade] and [Translucence] together. Silas’s abilities were always slightly different or more potent than the ones she gained from their bond, so she wasn’t surprised when he almost vanished from both her spiritual and physical sight. If she wasn’t looking for him it would be easy to miss him, but his faint presence would be enough to pick him out from the surroundings if she was.
Satisfied with her understanding of her new sight for the moment, she pulled up her potential core skills to make her selection. This was one of the last things she needed to accomplish before leaving the rift, and she’d already spent a lot of time considering what the best choices might be. She opted to disregard any option that couldn’t utilize the rift mark or that caused her to lose her personal storage space. Then, she discounted [Desert Breeze] since she didn’t consider the art to be finished yet, and she wanted to experiment with it and her attunement. This left her with only three arts to choose from.
It was incredibly difficult to choose between the three. Making [Telekinesis] a core skill would likely increase her already formidable versatility while in spectral form. Converting [Liaison] would give Silas and Tobias a storage space and would let the three of them share items across long distances. [Rift Walk] improved its speed, range, and would give her a large personal rift domain. She didn’t know exactly what this was, but at a minimum it would give her more storage on top of what her personal spatial storage offered. She doubted that’s all the rift domain was good for, though. If it were, then why describe it as something new, rather than categorize it as an increased storage volume?
After much back and forth, she kept coming back to the fact that [Rift Walk] was the only thing that potentially offered her something unique. Given that it was a Legendary skill to begin with, she wanted to believe that the personal domain was something truly special. It was tough to let [Telekinesis] and [Liaison]’s effects go, but she consoled herself with the knowledge that she could always make them into core arts later. At that time, there could even be a mark that was better suited for them than the Rift Mark was.
She only hesitated for a split second longer before she finalized her decision.
The gentle fog of qi around her instantly transformed into something frighteningly foreign and clung to her form. To her new spiritual sight, it was like looking upon the very heart of ‘order’ or ‘command’. Like a law of the universe made manifest–undeniable and absolute–it was simultaneously one of the most awe-inspiring and terrifying things she’d ever laid her eyes on. Her body burned as the strange energy seemed to reach through her and manipulate both her mark and her dantian. It inscribed a complex script onto the innermost layer of her core and she was mesmerized by the mysterious, beautiful symbols being masterfully woven before her eyes.
As quickly as it appeared, the unknown energy withdrew and vanished without a trace. The burning sensation disappeared as well, and the qi in the cultivation chamber settled back into an undisturbed fog. Samantha’s head was briefly emptied of everything but a single question.
Did I just catch a glimpse of the System?
It was impossible to know for sure but it definitely raised a lot of questions. Questions that were not easily answered. Perhaps it was something she could ask Theora about the next time they spoke.
As her shock faded and her thoughts resumed their normal course, she realized that she had new, innate knowledge that she’d gained when her core art was integrated. She finally knew what her rift domain would offer her… and it was glorious.
The domain was a quasi-spiritual space that existed adjacent to reality. It would start as an empty void, but once she reserved qi to access the space it would take on some of the traits of her qi. If she were still neutrally attuned it would be filled with undirected white light and breathable air without special properties. Being Wood-attuned now, the light would be more beneficial for growth and the breathable air could carry a breeze. She could manipulate this light to come from a single point as if it were a sun, and could move or dim it to mimic a day-night cycle.
Besides the light and air that were generated in the domain, she could fill it with most anything she wanted in order to personalize it. One way to accomplish this was to expend qi to create ‘spiritual furnishings’--similar to how her inner library was filled with bookshelves–which could take any form she could imagine. These spiritual objects would seem real while within the domain, but could never be removed from it or serve as a source of sustenance. However, if she wanted to, she could put real objects like dirt, trees, and water inside of her domain to create a self-sustaining environment. Even animals or spirit beasts could be placed inside… if she could capture them and close them in. And, because of her attunement enhancing growth within the domain, plants and animal life might actually flourish once inside.
Now that she had a better understanding of what the domain was, she knew why she needed [Rift Walk] to enter it and why it was only accessible by her. The space wasn’t anchored to any one place in this reality, and it was only due to her inherent connection with it that she could even open a path to it with [Rift Walk]. If she were to try and describe where it was… it was nowhere and everywhere. She couldn’t point in a direction that led to it, yet it was so close that it was merely a single step away. It was unreachable but at the end of her fingertips all at once. Her connection to the domain was the key that only she would possess, and she had total control over what went in or came out of it.
There were a couple other interesting things to note as well. First, because the domain was so intimately connected to her there would be no time dilation when she entered it. Whatever time she was experiencing outside ‘in reality’ would be how time flowed inside of it. For example, entering the domain from this rift would have time flowing about 350 times faster than normal, but time would flow normally in the domain if she entered it from outside the rift. Second, wherever she opened a rift would be the same place she’d eventually exit from it. There wasn’t a way to use the domain as a sort of waiting room while [Rift Walk]ing to different places. This was because just as the domain had no discernible ‘location’, reality would have no discernible ‘location’ while within the domain. Once the rift was opened, an anchor of sorts was created that would serve as her guiding beacon back. This anchor–like the domain–was inaccessible to anyone but herself and had no grounding in physical reality.
As much as she wanted to contemplate all the possible applications and implications of this new ability, she didn’t want to do it in this accursed chamber. At last, it was time to review the culmination of her time in this rift and get out of it. For the final time before facing her dreaded enemy, she pulled up her profile and took in the full scope of the changes.
Even after the handful of weeks spent changing her attunement and unclogging her meridians, she still had close to 300,000 points to spend. Once again, she decided to bump up Tobias’s attributes so that he was at his maximum of 47 in everything. Since he was close to his maximum values already it was fairly affordable. Then with the remaining points she allowed herself to fully indulge in whatever she wanted. She’d already covered purchasing what she needed for her immediate survival. After all these years, it was time to start planning for afterwards.
With the additional space her personal domain provided she was able to consider acquiring larger items than just alchemicals or books. And, with the option to furnish her domain with real items, there were broader categories of objects that suddenly became useful or desirable. Qi-powered coolers, large stores of preserved food, workshop tables and tools for various types of crafting… she looked through almost the entire shop again and found more and more items that caught her interest.
Unfortunately, the longer-than-expected stay in the cultivation chamber left her with too few points for the arts she was most interested in, but that didn’t mean she avoided buying any new manuals. She acquired a plethora of low-cost but useful manuals for the purpose of trade. She expected currency to continue to change from floor-to-floor while she ascended, but something like manuals would always have value to cultivators. In case the manuals weren’t as desirable as she hoped, she also stocked up on spirit pearls with various ranks and elemental distributions. Then, she bought a stock of Wood-attuned beast cores for herself if she needed them. She finished off her spending spree with the purchase of slews of herbs and other crafting materials. She intended to make use of them in her domain’s new ‘workshop’... which she’d put together properly later.
Once the items she’d purchased started to rain down all around her she moved to a spot as far from the precious Jade Pillar as she could get. She didn’t want to accidentally destroy anything important when she used [Rift Walk] for the first time. She reserved 5 qi for the domain to start because she didn’t think she’d need the entire volume yet, then funneled the 40 qi required to open the rift.
Space itself seemed to shake. There was no physical sensation to it exactly, but her spirit felt a sort of unnatural rippling in the immediate area.
A tear began to form 10 feet above where she’d intended to open the rift, and over the course of several seconds it snaked its way down to exactly where she’d intended for the bottom of the rift’s opening to be. Then, it snapped open with a violent burst of force that knocked her back several steps. Light poured out from the 10 feet tall, 10 feet wide tear in space and the rippling sensation subsided. She counted 30 seconds in her head to ensure it would stay open for the expected amount of time, and at exactly 30 seconds the tear snapped shut like the maw of a great beast. Another violent burst spread through the vicinity, but since Samantha was expecting it this time she wasn’t pushed off balance.
This is supposed to be less disruptive than before? I might as well forget about using this for quiet entrances or infiltrations.
More comfortable with what to expect from the art, she used [Rift Walk] once again to access her personal domain. This time, she willed the space to take on the appearance of a warehouse so she wouldn’t need to put items into seemingly thin air. The domain obeyed her wishes… but it didn’t come out quite how Samantha had expected. Looking at it, the ‘essence’ of the space was definitely that of a warehouse. It had shelving and was made of the right materials, but it was strangely abstract. Things lacked uniformity or were arranged oddly, but she supposed that was a result of not having a clearer image of what she wanted in her mind. Trying again with a more specific mental picture, the space shifted again to match her desire.
Satisfied with this for now, she began unceremoniously stashing her goods on the shelves while periodically feeding another 40 qi into [Rift Walk] to ensure the rift was kept open. She did not want to have her first day with this ability result in being cut in half and split across two dimensions.
In the end she reserved 10 qi to expand her domain enough to store the items comfortably. Once her qi pool refilled she summoned Tobias and connected him, Silas, and herself together with [Liaison]. That done, she quickly reiterated the plan with everyone and activated [Fade] and [Translucence] in preparation for opening the rift exit.
Years ago she’d had the idea to try and project directly outside the rift to spy on the Drake before exiting, but she was older–and hopefully wiser–now and had come to realize how unsafe that was. She didn’t know how having a previously-cut soul cord might impact her projecting outside the rift. Furthermore, she had no idea what would happen when her spirit entered ‘normal time’ while her body continued to exist in ‘accelerated time’. Not to mention she didn’t want to potentially leave Silas stranded for days or weeks while she was wasting time searching around outside.
No, it was time to face the future head on.
She placed her hand on the Jade Rift Shop Pillar and found the appropriate option.
She selected yes.
