That night they had set up a market in the outer part of the sect. Thousands of disciples came by, having heard the stories of the three times they had visited the village nearby to sell their wares or having visited at least one of those times, and hundreds of items had been sold before the sun had set.
Just after sunset one of the outer sect members came by Randy’s truck. He and Ben had set up a covered area with a table in front of it and were sitting out there with one of every item Randy offered on it. Ben was talking in English about how hot one of the female disciples were when a male disciple walked over and bowed. “Senior Daoist.” he said cupping his hands in front of him. “I wonder if I can ask about this device.” He pointed to a cell phone. “Is it the same device as those that the members of your caravan use to communicate silently?”
Randy motioned for Ben to be quiet. “These aren’t quite as high quality, but yes, they are. If you have one of these you can get a signal ten to fifteen li to someone else who has one, assuming you have line of sight and they are set to receive your message.” They had a local call function, but it would only let you contact people whose communications details you had within five li or so, as voice communication required more bandwidth than a text message.
“I must be able to see them to send them a message?” the man asked.
“Well, thin walls and things like that don’t block the signal, but the ground does, so you wouldn’t be able to contact them if there are large rocks or ground in the way.” They do still use radio waves, after all.
“That is very interesting. It could be useful for coordinating with teammates when on missions.”
“Yes, it is quite useful for that,” said Randy. “I have used it for that while doing training scenarios.”
The man nodded. “Is it also possible to read techniques on them? I saw one of the others looking at a book of some sort, though I couldn’t read it as it wasn’t in our language.”
Randy nodded. “I can send technique books to this device if you want. I’ll only charge half as much as a book copy would cost if you want them that way.”
The man nodded. “Then may I see one?”
Randy nodded and handed him the one on display. It was already set to use the local language, so after showing him how to use the call function to call Randy’s phone he taught the man how to type things on the phone. The local language had a character for each word, or combined them, so the keyboard couldn’t handle all of the symbols. Instead the keyboard used the roman letters to spell out words then changed them into the correct character, like many Asian languages did. “This is a list of one thousand common words and their spelling when sounded out with our characters,” he said, handing the man a spreadsheet with their word in one column and the roman version of their words in the next. The man type ‘Colihana’, their word for ‘cultivate’ and the symbol for it appeared, and he looked excited. “If the word isn’t there, this chart shows three or four words with the sound at the start and the characters for that sound, so you can look it up. It has about thirty thousand words, so you can talk about most things, and if it doesn’t know the symbol it will just send our symbols so the other person can sound it out. Try typing ‘Vrooshkin’ using this chart.”
He handed the man the chart and he eventually found the symbols for the “Vroo”, “Sh”, and “Kin” sounds and put them together, which caused the symbol for the creature to appear.
“See, it isn’t that hard, you just have to memorize a hundred or so sounds. And I hear that most members of the sect choose to temper their memory at some point.”
The man nodded. “That is true. It is one of the things one must do to advance along the Mind path after all, and most of us study it to some degree, even if we are primarily on the Body path.” He thought for a few seconds. “How much do you charge for this device?” the disciple asked.
“I was planning on charging five stones for it, but as you are the first one, I’ll let you get one for only three. There are more features I wanted to show you, though, before you settle on it.”
“Only five stones for a treasure like this? You said you would only charge half for techniques sent to this device, so if I plan on buying more than ten stones of techniques, that will save me enough to get the device for free.”
“Actually, six for you, as you will get it for three stones, but yes, ten for most people. I only have a few techniques above the Lower rating, but you can easily buy three of those or six Petty grade ones.” The man nodded. “Now about those features.”
A crowd had gathered and were watching them teach him to use the phone’s messaging app. Once he set a name and password in the app’s settings, the name being used to identify you in the chat group and the password being used to encrypt private communications between you and other users, he and Randy exchanged a few messages, even one while Randy was flying a Li above him, and the practiced by adding Ben. Ben had been using the translation app to follow the conversation, but the App could translate messages, so soon the two of them were chatting normally. Then Ben sent an emoji, which resulted in him teaching the man about the ability to send photos, video, and sound, as well as teaching him to use those features.
Everyone that saw this wanted one of the phones and soon Randy had sold out. The original man paid his three stones and started looking over the catalog of techniques on a tablet Randy had. Apparently the others hadn’t realized that they could buy techniques for half price if they bought a phone, so this launched another wave of enthusiastic people wanting to look through the techniques. Thankfully Randy also had paper copies of the technique descriptions, so they were able to look over them then look at the ones they were interested in.
Due to the fact that Randy was selling them for twenty stones each, an amount most disciples couldn’t find the cash for, the sales of Kevin’s books were slow at first until he informed them that technique books would be accepted in trade as long as it wasn’t being sold by him and he didn’t have a copy. Even if they weren’t allowed to provide outsiders with the sect’s techniques, many disciples had bought techniques from markets in other towns, merchants, or independent cultivators, so he soon had hundreds of petty rank techniques, forty Lower rank techniques, and about a dozen Average rank techniques, a mixture of every element, some derived elements, and a few mixed elements. One student had even grown up an orphan in a Buddhist monastery 400 li from the sect, and exchanged some Buddhist techniques as well as some that were usable by those without practice of the religion, essentially training manuals for outsiders and young recruits. Kevin would no doubt love all of these.
By the time things quieted down Randy had sold out of most of his merchandise. Almost all of Kevin’s books had been sold and Randy had refilled the box with books he got in trade. Seeing that few of the other booths still had customers Randy decided to close up shop. He put all of his things back into the truck and locked it, then wandered around the sect. The outer part was mostly houses and a few training areas. As anyone at the Third level was an Inner disciple Randy didn’t see anyone on his level to practice with, but there were several people at the training field willing to spar with Ben. It quickly became apparent that he had no idea how to fight without a gun, however, so Randy spent the next hour teaching him to use the Wood technique Randy had given him.
After teaching him about suppression training and dual cultivation training, and quickly sparring with him using dual cultivation just to show him how it worked and holding back so he didn’t instantly win. An hour later he informed Randy that he would be busy the rest of the night and pointed to a level two female disciple that was nearby, emitting a bit of Fire qi at him. Randy smirked. “Have fun. We leave just after sunrise.” he said, and the boy nodded and left with her.
Randy was also hoping to spend the night that way but, as there weren’t many elders or Inner Disciples in this section of the sect town he would just have to wait until he could see White Summer Fox tomorrow night.
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The next morning he got up from the floor of his truck with the sunrise, put up his sleeping bag, and went outside to fix something to eat and use the bathroom. Ten minutes later Ben returned and joined him for breakfast. “You have good memories of your cultivation experience with her?” Randy asked and Ben nodded. “Good.” He pulled out his phone and sent Ben the Guide which included details on how to use experience to advance your cultivation. “You’ll need to practice that before you forget the details. I suggest putting the experience into your melee combat skills, as you already got qi pressure and root experience from her Fire root suppressing you.” Ben read it over and meditated for a few minutes just to learn the technique, then Greg called out that they were going to leave soon.
Ben helped put up everything from outside the truck, Randy treating it more like an RV than a delivery truck, and a few minutes after he finished they left for High River. Greg briefly considered stopping at the village twelve li away, just to say hello, but as there were no cultivators in the town he decided against it, as the locals wouldn’t buy anything and they didn’t need supplies.
They were about one hundred li from High River when Mike saw a man flying towards them. A minute later he saw that the man was accompanied by dozens of people on flying swords. Thinking that it might be bandit activity, he advised Greg to ignore it, as it would only help them if they stopped. A minute later Mike realized that the man was in the Core realm and that the people with him were in Foundation. This seemed very suspicious, so Greg notified everyone to activate their vehicle’s shields and be ready to increase the strength to maximum. Just as he was finishing the message his truck suddenly hit something solid, like an invisible wall. The barrier prevented the wreck from damaging the vehicle, but he and Mike were thrown forward from the sudden deceleration. Thankfully both of them were still wearing their seat belts or they might have tested the windshield’s barrier from the inside of the vehicle.
The APC slammed on its breaks and slid to a halt, almost hitting Greg’s truck, but managed to stop in time. The rest of the vehicles quickly stopped as well. Realizing that this was most likely an ambush, the crew of the APC jumped out of the vehicle, four of the eight of them guarding the left and four guarding the right. Soon hundreds of people stepped out of the nearby trees on both sides of the caravan and the flying people arrived a few seconds later.
“People of Earth.” the Core man said. “I am Gold Korinkan, Level four cultivator and leader of this bandit group. Surrender your goods and your deaths will be swift and painless. Refuse, and I’ll let my men have fun torturing you before you die.” Randy knew that korinkan were the dominant predator in most of the nearby valleys and grasslands, instead of the vrooshkin which dominated mountain regions. They were like a mix of a cheetah and a skunk, only instead of a bad smell they sprayed poison. For the normal ones it was just something that irritated the airways, causing mortals and lower ranked cultivators to suffocate and distracting cultivators of their rank, but some of them were born with spiritual roots. This made their poison something from their element.
“Ready weapons.” said Mike, drawing him rifle and pointing it at the man. “Now lower this barrier and let us pass or..”
“Ah, yes,” the man said, ignoring Mike. “Those metal weapon relics your people like to use. I think you call them ‘guns’. We can’t have you using them, now, can we? It would take all of the fun out of fighting you.” Gold raised his hand. “Supreme attraction!” he called and suddenly all of the metal in the area started gathering above him. A few small rocks flew up, likely containing magnetite or hematite, maybe iron pyrite, then all of the guns started being pulled out of people’s hands, as they weren’t expecting to have to hold onto them while another pulled them away.
Mike and Randy managed to hold onto their weapons a bit longer that the average person, though. Mike simple enhanced his strength to hold onto the weapon as it slowly lifted him off the ground along with it, the massively increased mass greatly slowing the rifle’s movement. This gave him an opportunity to aim at Gold and squeeze off a single round before the recoil made him release the gun. The bullet hit Gold on the arm, only putting a hole in the arm, not killing him. Randy saw his shotgun leave his hand and quickly used the shrinking technique on it before using his metal root to pull it sideways. Whatever technique Gold was using didn’t hand the sudden changes very well and lost its grip on the weapon for about half of a second, giving Randy the time he needed to suck it into a pouch on his waist.
This left everyone unarmed as any attempt to unholster a strapped in or stored gun or draw a knife would result in the weapon being taken from them. A few people drew weapons made from bone or other materials that they had gotten in trade. “Come on. Let us see what the brave warriors of the United States are capable of.” shouted Gold. Obviously he had mistaken them for members of the military, but it wouldn’t solve anything to correct his mistake right now.
Just as one of the nearby vehicles started to slide towards the mass of metal in the sky Mike jumped into the air, using Slipstream to rapidly reach the man and punch him. This caused the man to lose his concentration on the weapons, causing them to fall out of the sky, and all of the other fighters from the caravan ran or flew at the enemy as well. Greg ordered the traders into the vehicles, as the vehicle’s barriers could protect them from the attackers. The non-combatants ran for the vehicles and Greg pulled out a box of ten centimeter long thorns one of the locals had traded him. He waved his hands and one of the level three combatants that was in the sky turned into a pin cushion as all of the thorns flew into him, some piercing critical areas.
As the guns hit the ground Greg pulled the needles out and sent them at someone else, the man falling off of his sword and hitting the ground where he started to bleed out. Meanwhile Mike had flown at the Gold and swung a fist at him. While Gold had more experience than him in aerial combat, especially in melee, Gold was distracted by having to use his qi to keep the blood inside himself from the hole in his arm, and therefore couldn’t properly counterattack. He did, however, send debris and guns flying at Mike, forcing him to dodge and respond with qi blasts, destroying many of the incoming projectiles. After several minutes Mike managed to wear him down and knock him unconscious, at which point he fell out of the sky. At level four he wasn’t damaged that badly by the impact with the ground and still lived.
After another five minutes the battle was over. After verifying that none of the enemies could continue fighting, Greg came out of the APC where he had hidden after he had lost most of his thorns and surveyed the area. One of the other non combatants, Dr. Grisham, a retired pharmacist who was playing the role of an alchemist, left as well, hoping to triage the combatants, and several others came out to help him. “Mike?” Greg asked, and the man walked over, holding his side. “What happened?”
“One of the mercs must have had an M2, because Gold had one of them hit me in the ribs and broke two of them. Left Gold open to a qi blast that took his leg, though.”
Greg nodded. “In that case, do you feel well enough to oversee the prisoner collection or do you need to meditate?”
“I can do it if you need me to, but I’d prefer to take a pain killer and meditate. I can fix my rib well enough that it only causes me minor pain in about fifteen minutes, but I’ll need at least a week to fully heal.”
“I can collect the prisoners.” said Randy, walking up. “Once Grisham is done patching them up, at least.” He pointed to where Grisham was bandaging Gold’s stump. Just then Ben came over, staring into the air like he was in a daze. “You okay, boy?” he asked.
“I...I just killed a man.” he said. “He knocked me to the ground and I thought I was dead, then I saw this giant thorn in the ground. It was the only thing I had so I roared, pulled it from the ground, and stabbed him in the throat. There was a flash as his barrier collapsed, and….” Ben stopped speaking and Randy went over and patted him on the back.
“You did good, kid. He attacked you and was going to kill you and all of us. What you did was self defense.” He wasn’t going to mention that for the man to have his barrier suppressed that quickly he must have been level one and was using an Earth barrier, as Ben only had a lesser wood root at level two, even after incorporating last night’s training. If he knew the guy was weaker than him it would only make him second guess himself and consider if he could have beat him in a non-lethal way. “Go take a nap in the truck, okay? You’re kind of burned out from the battle and need to rest.”
Ben nodded and returned to Randy’s truck. Greg looked at him and nodded. “First battle, huh? I remember my first real fight. Of course, it was a mugger in LA and not a bandit cultivator on an alien planet, but I ended up getting stabbed and needing stitches.” Randy looked at his confused. “Oh, it was a year or so before the discovery of qi. Once they came out I was one of the first people to buy a barrier vest. Wore aramid before that. Anyway, you can round up any mercs that are able to pull guard duty and collect the surviving bandits for transport to High River, where we can turn them over to the city guard. I’ll also set up a team to collect our dead and wounded and loot the bodies of the bandits.”
“Feel free to use my truck to store stuff, I’ve got plenty of empty crates. Just make sure everyone hurries,” said Randy, “We don’t know if these guys had backup.”
Greg nodded and, thirty tense minutes later they set off for the city. One thing about the situation worried Randy, though. These men all had identification for the Golden Radiance Sword Sect on them, with Gold being an Elder. That, combined with knowing they were from Earth, meant that this wasn’t just a random bandit attack.
They got one major clue to what was happening about twenty li before they reached High River. All cell phones that were connected to the wireless tower, including Ben’s, got an alert. The Three sect alliance had just laid siege to the base and town around it, and all merchants were to stay away until further notice.
