[The Void Walk is a movement technique designed to form as the foundation of a higher level technique.]

  The first step didn’t move me any faster than normal. The second step took me three paces. The third took me ten. My entire concentration resided on my qi and form, until I was blind to everything between me and my target. I tunneled in, raising my sword. My fourth step crossed twenty paces.

  I had the illusion I was floating beyond the world. On top of it. Or outside of it.

  The [Void Walk] and the [World Severing Art] were meant to be used together. It was obvious, now, seeing how well they complimented each other. I had no spare capacity to focus on their compounding effects as I pushed everything I had into crossing the distance between me and my target. Distantly, I was aware of the horrifying, screeching, ripping noise that was coming from where my sword met space.

  The movement technique I had grown up using forced me to sprint and exert myself. But the [Void Walk] was just that; a walk. It was strenuous, yes, but it was calm, which paved the way for a deadly, single-minded focus. The world went quiet. All that remained was the roar, that horrible noise coming from the tear in the world where the edge of my blade met reality.

  I took another step. Then another. And then I swung.

  The Second Realm monkey resisted my blade for a moment. For the first time using the art, I actually felt the target I hit. Muscle parted like cloth. Bone parted like soft wood.

  [You reached level 6!]

  Both techniques broke at once.

  Wind and force roared around me as the technique ended, whipping my hair forward. Blood from the monkey poured over my shoulders, hot and wet and spilling over me as the two halves of the monster hit the ground. Still, I smiled.

  “You’re alive!” I said, reaching a hand up to grab Poppy’s shoulder and shake her. “I was worried when I saw the state of the wall.” Then I paused and looking around. The circle of monkeys was going ballistic. “Can you fight?” I asked her.

  “I’m good.” She said, dragging herself into position and raising her fists. “We talk after.”

  The first monkey was already throwing itself at me. The flesh of its first realm body parted without resistance, two pieces hitting the ground with wet thuds. The second was a step behind it. My black-coated blade pierced its skull. I heard the sound of wet thumps behind me, only having a moment to spin back for a glance to see Poppy punch holes through the chests of two spiritbeasts.

  Then a third monkey was on top of me. Their fighting was crude, underdeveloped, and free of thought or technique. They were merely ordinary beasts. Killing them was easy.

  A frown came over my face. Against the lifeless golem, I had felt that same heat from the youth. Against these monkeys, there was nothing. In a town of dead air and chaotic qi, we slaughtered them.

  It was boring.

  “What’s wrong?” Poppy asked, panting.

  “It’s nothing.” I said. She noticed the expression on my face.

  “Where have you been?” The last word was with a sudden change in tone that surprised me.

  “I saw the time change by the system. It couldn’t have been more than an hour outside, but…”

  “It’s been more than a day.” Poppy said. She was shaking, exhausted, and boneweary. “What the hell is wrong with this place? The monsters have no right to so intelligent and predatory for their level of strength.”

  “They’re spiritbeasts.” I said, taking in the view of the city and the corpses around us. The smell of blood and smoke hung heavy in the air between us. “And this is a spiritbeast horde. During a swarm, they’re capable of acting almost like a collective intelligence… one among their number has advanced, breaking through to a higher realm of power. I don’t understand why the Patriarch hasn’t descended the mountain to slay them, though. Something is wrong.”

  “You’re telling me.” Poppy said, standing up. Then she staggered. I caught her.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “You need to rest. Really rest.” My eyes flicked to the man laying in the alley. “Is he with you?”

  She nodded, but grimaced.

  “He’s injured.”

  “Then let’s get him somewhere safe.”

  I carried the man into the broken remains of a Noble Manor — I had to slam the door open, the lock bucking and breaking. The city was empty — or at least felt empty. Maybe there were civilians hiding in their basement, but the mass of raw, chaotic power hovering over it made finding them impossible.

  Not even the servants remained here. The Noble likely afforded them passages into the sect.

  People were expensive, after all.

  We snuck our way down into a more expansive cellar and foodstore beneath a heavy wooden hatch. There were even bottles of wine.

  “What’s the plan now?” Poppy asked. “Are we… leaving him here?”

  “You need to rest.” I said. “You’re barely on your feet as it is.”

  I looked at her. She had a look of determination on her face, like she didn’t want to accept it. I sighed.

  “Look, I’ll rummage through the manor and look for medicine. You stay here and recover. Or at least guard him until we find something that can heal him.” I said.

  I was already pilfering the cabinet beside, opening tiny ceramic jars and smelling the medicine within. Surprisingly, there were pills rich in qi lining the shelf. Judging by the fragrance, most of them were low-grade trash, though. I had learned a bit of alchemy in my time — mostly aimed at poisons that could destroy a cultivation base — and I even recognized some scents in the bottles.

  They were unlabeled, which meant that the manor likely kept the services of an alchemist. After opening around thirteen bottles, I found a high quality ceramic jar with three pills that smelled of the earth. They weren’t the healing medicine of Bloodstone, that was certain — but I was sure they were healing medicine all the same. My face soured at the memory of what these kinds of low grade healing medicines tasted like.

  “We often used pills like these to recover after fights.” I said, plucking one of the spherical medicines free. They were compounded partially with ingredients — but mostly with qi, a distilled mixture of power bound together. “What’s his name?”

  “Tie.” Poppy said.

  I pulled apart Tie’s lips and fed the pill to him before closing his mouth. My skin tingled as I felt the impure qi melt and dilute, even without swallowing. Tie’s body spasmed for a few seconds as the qi permeated throughout him. I frowned at it. This was highly impure medicine.

  I almost wondered if this was the same place Jian Yi was from — the low grade spirit medicine and sect unable to clear a spiritbeast horde before it emerged certainly felt like it. Another cultivation continent, perhaps, beyond the sea — or another world entirely. I didn’t know if there were more cultivation worlds out there. But I was going to find out.

  Tie stopped spasming eventually. His breathing was more even.

  “Is it done?” Poppy asked. “Was that like a healing potion?”

  “A healing potion?”

  “You don’t know what a healing potion is. Of course. This place — I don’t think we’re on the Savage Expanse, are we? The place you’re from is like this. You don’t have healing potions. Or levels.”

  “Correct.” I said.

  “They’re — like medicine that heals you from the inside. Imbued with mana. Like those.” Poppy gestured.

  “Correct again.” I said. I looked from the bottle then back at Poppy. She hadn’t fought through uninjured either. Scrapes and bruises covered her. I sighed. “You should take one, too.”

  It meant more impurities she would have to purge later if she advanced, but judging by the severity of the situation, it would be worth it.

  Poppy looked warily at the pill. Then back to Tie. He had spasmed violently in his sleep. The expression on his face was calmer, now.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “No. But it does taste awful.”

  “That, I can deal with.” Poppy said, taking the pill and leaning back against the wall. After bracing herself she swallowed it. Her face turned to surprise as the pill exploded into power inside her. “It itches!”

  I laughed.

  “It will be done in a moment.”

  I sat and waited for the soothing medicine to roll over Poppy. There was a moment of quiet. The only light in the room was coming from an oil lamp providing flickering light.

  “Sai.” Poppy said after a moment. “I need to be stronger.”

  I nodded.

  “That’s a good attitude.”

  “No.” She said. “I need to be much stronger. You killed that monster in one blow when it was about to end me. Teach me Sai. Not some of it. All of it.”

  I hesitated.

  “Maybe. I am not even that powerful outside of the scenarios. I am… I lost the root of my power decades ago. The System is altering me. Making me stronger.”

  Poppy stared bitterly at her finger. I followed her gaze.

  “Your ring is gone.”

  “It is.” She said. “And I’ve gained five levels in the time since I entered. That’s why… as soon as I’m rested, we fight. We hunt. Not just survive.”

  I stared at her finger analytically.

  “The scenario is capable of removing your equipment. Breaking the curse that binds you to it.” I touched where the scar remained of an arrow that hit me — now days ago — inside of the first scenario room. In time, my cultivator’s physique would heal even this subtle scar. But it remained. “You could remove it, now.”

  “Remove what?” Poppy asked. “The curse?”

  “Yes.” I nodded. I pointed to her. “The scenario’s are healing us. But not completely. Sever your finger. And you can be free. When the ring returns, it wont be a part of you.”

  Poppy hesitated.

  “I… I’m not sure.”

  I tsked.

  “You can make the decision later. Or in another scenario. But every day you’re bound to that ring is another you aren’t leveling.”

  She looked like she was about to pass out. The healing pill had healed her and sapped what remained of her energy. She was already barely on her feet when I found her.

  I shook my head. She had the talent of a prodigy, but not the rigorous will of one.

  “We still have time to make this decision. Rest. Tomorrow, we hunt until we can hunt no longer.”