About three hours after we left High River we reached the sect’s base. It appeared to be a moderate sized fort which was in the process of being expanded. All of the trees within one li of the walls had been cleared and many large logs were piled up near the outside of the logging area, where some of them had been stood up to form a second wall. The wall only seemed to be made up of level two trees, however, as the level three logs were still stacked there and the level ones were likely in the piles stacked near the inner wall. The sect was apparently in the process of expanding their base.
Our group was stopped at the gate and Mike showed his ID, along with answering a pass phrase question. They apparently had tight security procedures if the sect master was being screened. He explained that I was Randy’s friend and here to see him, and the guards put a leather bracelet with a jade plate on it on my arm. “That lets us sense your position.” Mike said. “It’s useful if any guests try anything nefarious. I or one of the other elders will check in on it several times per day just to make sure you aren’t in a restricted area, but other than those areas you aren’t restricted on where you can go. The bracelet also lets you store contribution points, if you happen to trade for any, so you can buy things in the sect. All disciples have one.” Upon hearing this several of the trainees held up their wrists to show their bracelets as well.
I nodded and followed Mike through the outer gate. While so much of the wall was missing that I could have entered the base any time I wanted, it would just antagonized them if I entered anywhere but one of the proper gates.
Inside the outer wall were many fields and animal pens, as well as several barns. They seemed to have constructed artificial caves for some of the animals as well. From the variety of spirit animals I saw here it seemed that they were serious about raising them. No disciples seemed to be around other than a few that were on patrol, and most of the animals seemed to be asleep, with only a few nocturnal animals still awake.
The group went to one of the empty pens with a fake cave and all of the disciples motioned towards their bags, sending all of the wolves into it. They all seemed to have recovered some, and one of them even ran at the disciple that had brought it here, only to hit a barrier and bounce back, whimpering. On the wooden fence several pieces of paper glowed in reaction to the attack. From my own experience at creating talismans I could tell that several of the ones on the fence were overexerting themselves and taking damage, but that they had compensated for the low quality of the barrier with quantity, with a talisman placed about every meter along the fence. They seemed to be trying the electric fence approach, with the animal’s initial attempt being stopped with something they disliked, making them think that they otherwise flimsy fence was too dangerous to mess with. It wouldn’t hold them if they got too angry or desperate, but it was enough for now.
Once all of the wolves were stored and had calmed down we went to a pig sty where they released the single level one halfblood Irontusk Boar they had caught. After that we released the seven Shriek Ravens into the nearby rookery. These birds had caused the disciples much trouble, as their sonic attacks had disoriented, injured the eardrums of, and sickened most of the disciples. Still, they managed to chase most of the flock away and capture these seven.
“I didn’t think you could store living beings in magic bags.” I commented to Mike when they removed the boar, and he smiled.
“Special Beast bags, and a special version of the shrinking technique.” He said. “If they resist they can break out of it pretty quickly, but with them being weak and recently defeated holding them for three hours isn’t too difficult. Of course, the ones we bring into town are tamed well enough that they won’t start resisting unless we forget to feed them, but these haven’t been properly domesticated.
“So, what would happen if I tried to use my bag to store one?” I asked curiously.
“Well, first, the normal shrinking technique would just make them feel like their skin was too tight and annoy them. If, however, we shrunk one and put it in there they wouldn’t be able to breathe. They would also get really cold. The air in the bag isn’t something a shrunken creature can breathe, and the heat can’t really transfer to them, so they will feel like its far below freezing even on a hot day. These aren’t an issue for items because they don’t make their own heat or feel heat, nor do they need to breathe. The items don’t actually get cold, they just can’t exchange heat with the air.”
Now that I thought about it, the oxygen molecules would be massive compared to what they needed to breathe, so that made sense. “Any way I can get one of those bags and learn the proper technique?” I asked, and Mike shrugged. “Sure. It isn’t a secret. We use the standard Beastmaster Path book to train it, so the entire book is already out there.
I nodded, then realized something, and motioned for a specific jade slip out of my bag. “This Cultivation technique?” I asked, and Mike took the slip. He touched it to his head, then nodded. “So you already have a High quality copy too. I’m surprised. Not many people bother getting that technique. Most cultivators think that focusing on raising spirit animals is beneath them. That’s actually one reason we train and sell spirit pets, so that it becomes more popular and they will stop looking down on us.”
I nodded, and, after he let the disciples leave, he lead me to where Randy sat in the main hall of the sect. It appeared that everyone had already eaten, but Randy was in there drinking some sort of ale while talking to two adults. “I didn’t know we had guests.” Mike said, and Randy nodded.
“New Recruits, actually. Zhao Po is an early level two Wood and Stone cultivator. This is his wife La. They have a daughter running around here somewhere. She has a tracking bracelet it you want to find her, but I think one of the female disciples is watching her.” He then motioned to me. “Seems you brought back a guest too, though.”
I quickly sent Randy a telepathic message. ‘It’s me, Kevin. I know I look different. I’ll explain later. Right now though, I’m named Li Kev and we told the disciples that I was a friend of yours.’ Randy looked surprised.
“This is Li Kev. He said he knew you, so I brought him along to visit.” Mike said, playing the role well enough.
“Write, sorry. I didn’t recognize you at first. Poor lighting, I guess. We had a few drinks about, what, three months ago? I think we last saw each other about a week before starting this sect.”
I nodded. “I know that isn’t that long, but the idea of raising spirit beasts is fairly interesting. I wouldn’t have expected you to create a sect around it, though.”
Randy shrugged. “Well, we talked about it and decided that raising spirit beasts as companions and not livestock was something that no one else was doing in this region, so we saw an opportunity.”
I nodded. “Makes sense.” I then looked at the two other adults. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I would have thought that a level two cultivator could easily get a position in any sect in the area, or even just work as a guard or retainer for a major family. Why join a small, new sect instead?”
Zhao Po looked nervous, and unwilling to talk, and his wife didn’t seem to want to answer either, so Randy spoke up. “Po is a pacifist. He was raised by a Buddhist monk that taught him that he shouldn’t take the life of any living creature. And that’s pretty much impossible for a disciple of any other sect, and even more so for a retainer or caravan guard. Here, however, he can simply work his trade on the sect’s behalf, and we can look after and train his wife and daughter as well.”
I nodded. Most of the other disciples didn’t seem to have a spirit root, so the fact that his wife and daughter apparently didn’t have one likely didn’t matter. I addressed Po again. “So, what do you do for a living?”
This question seemed to make him much less nervous. “I’m a carpenter. I love working with spirit wood. I also picked up a bit of masonry due to my Earth root. Though here, instead of making fine furniture, I’ll have to help build the wall. Maybe a few buildings. Hopefully, in a few months, though, I can use some of those fine level three trees I saw near the main gate. They had two Mahogany trees and even a Rosewood tree out there. It would be a shame if it was wasted building a fence. Instead, I hope to use them to make fine furniture for the elders and sect master.” While they weren’t the most expensive types of wood, those two were rare enough that they hadn’t been taken to Earth as far as I knew. That would likely make them valuable materials here as well.
I nodded. “Interesting. I’m currently trying to learn talismongering, and my dao companion is a relic crafter, so I respect cultivators that work to produce things. Too many loose cultivators only know how to fight. While hunting beasts and bandit is worthwhile, I sometimes wonder if we are missing most of what the great dao can teach us.”
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Po nodded. “Well said. Too many cultivators seem bloodthirsty for my tastes. While the people of this set train in a type of combat, unlike most loose cultivators, they seem willing to spare the lives of beasts and not just harvest them for resources. I am much more comfortable around such people.”
I nodded and smiled. “Actually, these two have spared the lives of bandits, as well.” I pointed to Randy and Mike. “Why don’t you tell them the story of how the two of you took out an entire bandit sect?”
Mike and Randy exchange a slightly surprised look, the Randy shrugged. “Well, to start off, is fort we are in was actually built by those bandits, and served as their base. They were called the Red Vrooshkin bandit sect, and…”
Randy spent the next hour telling a glorious story about two heroes and their valiant rescue of several ladies in distress, with Mike occasionally joining in to add details. When he was done, including selling them to the city, Po nodded. “A bit more bloodshed than I am comfortable talking about, but at least you spared the life of the ones that could be redeemed. Many cultivators would have at least used stun spells on them. I’ve seen several criminals being hauled in to the city guard in High River, and almost always they are bound and gagged, often knocked unconscious or drugged to make them easier to work with. You, at least, allowed them to keep some of their dignity.”
Randy nodded and finished his ale. “Well, it’s getting late, so I’m going to go back to my room. Thank you all for the conversation.” He bowed and left.
A few seconds later, Mike stood up as well. “Well, I’d better show Mister Li to his room as well. Perhaps we can talk some more tomorrow.” I stood and, after the two of us bowed and left, the couple got up to got find their daughter.
Mike lead me to an area reserved for elders, and to a specific building. He knocked on the door and Randy answered, letting us inside. I immediately held up my hand then placed the flags around the room and activated a sound and light barrier. It was at early level four, which I figured meant that Mike was probably the only person at this sect base that could force their senses through it. “Okay.” I said in English. “The sound and light barrier is up. No one can hear us or see what we are doing in here.”
“So it really is you?” asked Randy. “It was hard to tell if it’s the same voice when you are speaking the local language, but I definitely recognize my cousin’s voice. Why do you look like a local, though? Some sort of illusion?”
“Flesh sculpting technique. It allows me to alter the shape of bone to a degree, as well as alter muscle and fat deposits under the skin. Took me around eight hours of using the technique to reach this point, but I think I did alright.”
“Interesting.” Randy said. “Does the fact that you can alter muscle mean you could use it to get stronger?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I could probably use it to bulk up, but I would have to refine my body more to improve the actual conditioning of the muscles, and therefore the density.”
Mike nodded. “So, not as useful as I thought. Still, it’s a pretty useful technique. How’d you come here, though? Did you manage to sneak out of the base when they dropped their barrier? Maybe sign up as a merc then go AWOL?”
“Nothing that extreme. I actually came here on a job.” I told them about how Adams was impressed by how I had protected those people and let me try out to be the Ambassador’s body guard, the tests I went through, and what had happened since we arrived. “As he’s staying at the Ji family estate, they will provide him security, so he is allowing me to come talk to you guys and complete my mission.”
“General Adams gave you a separate mission?” Mike asked, and I shrugged. “Kind of. I sent a letter to him asking to be able to come to this world in order to search for survivors, so after I was hired he agreed to let me do so as long as it doesn’t interfere with my duty to guard the Ambassador.”
Randy nodded. “Well, you found us. I assumed you just happened to bump into Mike?”
“Actually, you have White Summer Fox to thank. I recognized your favorite song and asked her how to find you after the show, and she pointed me towards Mike and the recruits. If I hadn’t seen him or heard that song I would have no idea where you guys were.”
We chatted casually for a few minutes before reaching another serious topic. “You know, I noticed something while Mike was bringing me back here. Ben and one other recruit had roots, but the others didn’t. But all of them were at least late level one. Does that mean that you broke the law and taught them rootless cultivation?”
Mike shook his head. “We did teach them rootless cultivation, but doing so broke no law, as the technique we used was native to this world.”
“This world has rootless cultivation techniques?” I asked. “Then what are the three sects attacking us for?”
Mike shrugged. “A misunderstanding, mostly. When we arrived here we were attacked by a group of mercenaries hired by the three sects to wipe out anyone from Earth they could find. Or, more accurately, all Earth people had a bounty placed on them as suspected demonic cultivators, and they were tipped off as to our existence and location. After defeating them, a battle which resulted in their metal cultivator trashing most of our guns, we decided that the best idea was to lay low by going native. Randy and I had cleared this base a few months earlier, so we came back and cleared the Vrooshkin out of it, then settled in.
Some of our scientists went to High River to look for local cultivation techniques we could use to hide our identities, and happened to discover that three of the occupational cultivation techniques that the various book sellers had technically didn’t require a spiritual root, the Chef, Manual Laborer, and Beast tamer techniques. Each does it in a slightly different way, though. If one eats raw spirit beast meat or eggs they can absorb some of the potential of that animal, including, in some cases, a bit of its spiritual root. The Chef’s manual has ways to preserve this or even enhance the effect when cooking it. And if a person trains hard enough while absorbing such potential their body can spontaneously develop meridians. After that point they can use cultivation techniques which don’t require a specific root, and even dual cultivate to get stronger, though they will find it much harder to resist another’s qi and will only be able to do so consciously, not unconsciously like those with roots.
The Manual Laborer manual has methods for cultivating the different parts of the body, then using qi do enhance the healing process so that the parts are conditioned by the healing. It works similarly to eating spirit beast meat, eventually raising the person’s base conditioning high enough that they automatically break through. And this can be continued all the way until the peak of level four, even if they don’t learn to use qi properly.
The Beast Taming manual takes a different path. It allows you to domesticate and bond with spirit beasts. Like I told the people in town, if a bond grows deep enough you can even borrow the beast’s spirit root, allowing those without their own spirit root to still use other cultivation techniques for their beast companion’s root.
These manuals are just ignored by the vast majority of cultivators, as they seek to find greater power and none of those except the beast taming one offers that. Even when they read the book though, they tend to skim over how it can give anyone access additional roots, only learning the parts that will let them control and/or subdue powerful beasts. At most they see the shared spiritual roots as a curiosity for when you want to expand your repertoire, not a serious means of cultivation. Though much of that is because they only use the master/servant contract, not one of the ones that let the bond grow easily, so they will need to wait decades for the bond to grow deep enough to borrow that root.”
When Mike had finished his speech I nodded. “So, as they aren’t familiar with these techniques, they assume black magic and human sacrifices are needed for so many to advance, leading to them assuming the worse about us?”
Mike nodded. “Pretty much.”
“In that case, the Ambassador needs to be briefed on this. If we can convince them that our method is a variation of the Manual Laborer technique we might be able to end this war without further bloodshed.”
Mike nodded. “Maybe, but we don’t know how to bring that to their attention. Our best bet is probably to grow this sect until the three invite us to an alliance, then explain our methods to them so that they realize that the prevalence of rootless cultivators in Earth culture doesn’t mean that they are demonic cultivators. Until then, we will help educate the public about these issues in hopes that they lose public support for the war.”
I nodded thoughtfully and took a sip of the ale Randy had offered me. “To think that this whole war are because they have overlooked three cultivation techniques they believed to be inferior.”
Randy nodded. “If you want to get technical, we actually have a fourth method that is native to this world, but won’t be revealing it to disciples until they reach level three and become elders, something none of them have done yet.” He motioned to his bag and a worn leather bound book came out. “This is called ‘false roots’, and it details how one can temporarily gain spiritual roots by using magical items and materials in unusual ways. I brought it back to Earth with me, and returned with it here, but so far only some of those from Earth have read it, mostly rootless scientists. The bandits that used to own this base were using this technique to get fake roots so that they can cultivate, though I didn’t understand that at the time. I did realize, however, that, as the roots fade over time, large numbers of people showing up with fading roots could draw the attention of the three sects, which is why it is so restricted.”
After that we moved over to lighter topics, like how I was studying talismongering, and I agreed to let them borrow all of my jade slips from this world until I had to leave, so that their disciples could learn to use them and do so. Eventually, we called the conversation to an end. The barrier was now sitting at late level three and falling slowly. It had only been conditioned to middle level three, so it would eventually stabilize at that level, but the conditioning had improved its qi absorption and storage so much that the decay was greatly slowed.
Mike took me to one of the housing buildings near their spirit stone mine, something the bandits had started and the sect had continued. The background levels here were around four times as great as normal, and the room’s array could focus it by another factor of ten, so even without a fancy array a small number of rooms could produce pure liquid qi, PLQ in Earth fuel terms. I wouldn’t turn it up so high until I was solidly in the third level, but at least it was an option.
