01 initialization, p.21
01. Initialization, page 21
part #1 of Paths Of Power Series
I bought the book for five hundred credits.
I resisted spending more money for the moment. I knew there were many things I needed to get while I had the chance, but I also wanted to help Rukia grow stronger. I’d be kicking myself if I spent all my credits on practical but unnecessary things only to find out that I could have made Rukia into some uber badass monster killing machine that could teleport me home in an instant. Ok, I knew that was extremely unlikely, but a man can dream, right.
I closed out the Marketplace for now and went to the kitchen with my book. But, first, I needed to cook up as much of the meat in my storage as I could manage.
I found a few cookie sheets in the kitchen and set them all out on the counter space. I checked the kitchen’s cupboards for any spices or really much of anything I could use to flavor the meat. The guys here weren’t much for cooking, it seemed. They had garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper, and that was about it. Using what I had, I laid out the pork steaks on the baking sheets and seasoned them.
I was able to fit nine pieces of meat on each. The magical oven thing had a knob for temperature, so I set it for three hundred fifty degrees. I could feel the essence shifting in the kitchen as the oven drew power to heat up. It was an interesting sensation. The oven even had a timer, so I set it for twenty-five minutes once the oven preheated and put two trays in; that was as many as I could fit.
While the meat cooked, I read my new book. It was fascinating and answered a lot of my questions as advertised. It did cover some of the same information the system gave me about how they advance and their access to their elemental affinity from their first rank. But it went into more detail. It also explained how beast cores will reflect the most dominant base energy their element has. So Rukia’s core would show up as water instead of ice.
I started my reading on how Rukia advanced first. I found out why her Ki pool didn’t fill very quickly. A large portion of the Ki she generated went straight into her body. All her biological systems were strengthened simultaneously, which took a lot of power to do. More of her Ki went into building up her core, increasing its storage capacity. Once the capacity reached a new milestone, her rank would increase, and her body would consolidate its gains and then be reflected in her character sheet by increasing her stats.
It was very fascinating and let me understand how different her advancement differed from mine. Giving her spirit and demon beast meat and spirit beast cores gave her more Ki to increase her body and capacity. It bypassed the environmental limitation she had. She could only passively generate Ki so fast in a given essence density environment.
There was a limit on how much Ki her body could process at one time. Any excess would be stored in her core as usable Ki for her abilities. If that was full, then the extra Ki would radiate out of her and convert back into environmental essence. Harmless for her, but it could attract sensitive beings. Extreme amounts could be very harmful to her and anyone or anything around her. As her rank increased, though, her body’s ability to process Ki increased, too, along with the Ki requirements to refine her body.
Beep beep beeeeep
I had to set the book aside for a few minutes as I pulled out the cooked meat, placed more in the oven, and reset the timer. I left out the meat to rest before putting it into my storage ring and returned to reading.
It turned out the element of the beast core did have an effect when giving it to your spirit beast. If the Spirit Beast Core matched your beast’s element, there would be no energy lost, but if you provide a beast with Ice power an earth beast core, then your beast must convert the earth element to their ice element. This reduced the amount of Ki being absorbed. No harm to your beast, just lower efficiency.
If the Ki is of the opposite element, then the conversion is worse. For example, by giving a water type a fire core, they would only gain half the Ki from it, but if it’s not opposed, they will gain approximately three-quarters of the energy, though it’s not an exact process.
I could give Rukia the Python’s Beast core even though it’s a rank five, and she is rank four. She would lose a quarter of the Ki to conversion, her body would pull as much as it could process, and the rest would refill her core. Then, once her body “digests” the Ki, I can give her another. The trick was telling when that was. The book said I would be able to know with my spiritual Sense with enough practice. But until I did, her growth won’t be efficient.
The technique section was enlightening too, it’s supposed to be rather difficult to teach new techniques to your beast unless you both share an element and have your middle Dantian opened. If you did, you could use your Ki to show your beast how to form a technique. It took time and patience, but you could buy modified beast cores if you didn’t match those criteria. A modified core stored a technique that a spirit beast can absorb and learn like a skill book. I would have to check those out.
While giving spirit beast cores to your spirit beast companion is very beneficial in aiding their growth, the same cannot be said of sapient cultivators. To process elemental Ki while still a body cultivator, one must strip away all elemental affinity from the Ki to make it usable. As a result, the body cannot process the elemental Ki, and it will be deposited in the cultivator’s opened meridians. This may cause Ki flow to slow down and possibly block up the meridians, causing a regression in cultivation. Correcting this problem will require expensive alchemical concoctions, so it is best to not use beast cores on yourself until you reach the Middle Dantian.
I was so glad I never tried to absorb a core; I barely had the credits for the things I need to improve, let alone having to buy potions or pills to fix the damage.
Shaking my head, I continued reading and cooking. Once I was done, I could go back and buy what I needed.
Chapter 19
It took me a solid six hours to cook up the eighty pieces of Demon Boar Meat and two hundred twenty pieces of snake meat, but it was all finally done. We now had plenty of hot, ready-to-eat steaks to survive on for our journey, but I wouldn’t say no to scavenging for some canned vegetables on our way. I dread the state my colon would be in if we ate nothing but meat all the way to Colorado.
I pushed out my Spiritual Sense to check on Magnus and found him still in his room. He seemed to still be asleep. Not wanting to wake him until he was ready to get up, debuff cleared, I went back to the City Core. I had Rukia with me, it has been quiet outside, and I didn’t think she would need to stay outside the entire time. She gets lonely without me next to her.
Hamlet: Outpost
Owner: Unclaimed
Upkeep per day: 37
Essence Generated per day: 37
Essence available: 5,340
Amenities:
Water: 5 Essence/day
Refrigeration: 5 Essence/day
Waste Removal: 5 Essence/day
Lights, 7 rooms: 7 Essence/day
Cooking Elements: 5 Essence/day
Market Interface: 10 Essence/day
Would you like to:
Claim Settlement
Remove City Core
Access System Marketplace
I reaccessed the System Marketplace. I had a few specific goals this time. First, I needed a manual or skill book to help me fight better with my spear and my new axe. Second, I wanted a guide to crafting using Ki. I know I only barely scratched the surface with making my spear.
I wanted to see if I could find a functional Ki ability for Rukia to use, maybe a better movement technique than her short Dash ability. I needed an excellent movement technique as well. Looking at the techniques available might give me a good idea of how to form one for myself.
It wouldn’t hurt to look for some cultivation aids, too, if they weren’t too expensive anyway.
It took quite a while to find something useful for my weapon fighting. I had to refine my search parameters over and over again. There were way too many options available. Some wouldn’t even work for a two-legged, two-armed being. In the end, I managed to find one Combat art that specialized in fighting with a spear for the primary weapon and an axe as a backup. It was called “Striking Wolf, Piercing Crane Style Base Form.”
From the description, it would function as a skill book from games. When I read it, it would download the forms and stances into my mind, and if I didn’t already have the skill for the weapon, it would grant me the first rank in the skill. Of course, I would still need to develop muscle memory and practice the style, but it would give me a jump start on fighting better. Unfortunately, it was only the most basic form of the style, and it still would cost me a full fifteen hundred credits.
I added it to my purchase cart. It was amazing how the System Marketplace functioned like many online retailers, but with no delivery times.
I pulled up body rank movement techniques and was excited to go through them, but they all carried a warning. Not all Ki Techniques were compatible with all element types. If I bought one that was not compatible with my unknown element, it would be useless once I opened my Middle Dantian.
This could be a problem with any technique I develop on my own too. However, the really basic ones didn’t seem to carry many risks of incapability, at least. So I started up a new search, entering many keywords to find something that would help me find out my elemental affinity before opening my Middle Dantian.
Eventually, when I entered the keywords “Soul Element Scanner,” I finally got a hit on what I was looking for.
Soul Element Scanner
Quality: Average
Rarity: Common
Durability: 30/30
Weight: 8oz
Traits: this device will scan your energy state, commonly referred to as the “Soul”. It will detect the elements your “soul” is attuned to, analyze their composition and display the result along with a brief summary of the specific qualities your particular “soul element” contains.
Value: c2,000
The image that came along with the description made it look like a tricorder from Star Trek. I wondered if all people have a soul element, what effect would it have on mana users or the faithful. It has a considerable impact on cultivators. Would it have as much of an impact on the other Paths of Power?
Two thousand credits was a lot of money right now, but I could use it on others to help them out as long as it didn’t break. Once I got home, it could help my family too. So I went ahead and put it in my cart as well.
I did a search for movement techniques for beasts next. The book said that as long as the base element matched the central element of the beast, the technique would adapt to fit the beast. So I pulled up water techniques. Again there were thousands of techniques for sale, some as low as a few thousand credits, while others looking like they cost upwards of a million. So I put a cap of five thousand credits to limit the options and specified that I was looking for a movement technique.
Her Ice fang was pretty flexible as it was. She could pump as much Ki as she needed into each bite, so the stronger she got, the more damage she could do with it.
As I scrolled through the techniques, one caught my eye, the Coursing River. Its description made me think of that song in that old animated movie. Who wouldn’t want their spirit beast companion to be as swift as a coursing river? It was three thousand credits but seemed to improve not only her movement speed but increased her overall mobility and ability to avoid attacks. I put it in the cart.
A guide to crafting with Ki was pretty easy to find, like all the essential guides to one of our Paths of power. However, it seemed like the system was trying to make it easier to find the primary resources we needed, at least once we managed to create a safe haven for ourselves.
The guide cost forty-five hundred credits, but it came with six basic bindings. Bindings looked like some kind of Celtic Knotwork in their design, and each set of Knots produced a different result. It listed the Bindings included the Ki Condenser, Impact, Projection, Protection, and Sharpness and a Core socket to increase Ki storage. It was another big spend, but if I could make some of my own gear more reliably or enhance the armor I just got, it would be well worth it. So I put it in the cart too.
I pulled up the cart to see how much it all came to and see if I could afford some consumables.
System Marketplace buyer’s Cart
Striking Wolf, Piercing Crane Combat Art c1,500
Soul Element Scanner c2,000
Coursing River Spirit beast Technique c3,000
Basic Guide to Ki Bindings and Formations c4,500
Total: c11,000
Would you like to purchase these items?
Y/N
Ok, I still have c12,539 after these items, and there is still over fifty-three hundred essence I can convert to credits once I claim the Core. So I went ahead and got another three Ki Infusions at five hundred credits each and three healing potions at one hundred credits. After those additions, I still had c10,739, so time to see about some cultivation aids.
The alchemy listings put the technique section to shame. It seemed like there were millions of options. All kinds of effects like temporary levitation powders, pills that grant a transient element to your Ki. You name it, it was probably there. I limited the results to items that were usable by body cultivators, which helped a good bit. Then I added in meridians and still had a good-sized list of things. Meridian cleansing pills, pills that repaired meridians, potions that helped removed beast core byproducts. Those were over c10,000 each! The Meridian Cleansing pills looked like what I needed, though. Each one is supposed to soften the plugs in your meridian, thin out the gunk and help it wash away with your Ki.
It is supposed to shave days to weeks off of your progress depending on how far along you are. It claimed to be more effective than sitting in an Essence Wellspring Zone and would stay in your system until you finished opening and cleansing the meridian it was first channeled into. . The downside was that they were a thousand credits a pill. Nevertheless, I went ahead and added two to my cart. The faster I progressed, the easier it would be to make it home. I could buy more in the morning and get Ki versions of my gear with the essence available here.
I opened up my cart again.
System Marketplace buyer’s Cart
Striking Wolf, Piercing Crane Combat Art c1,500
Soul Element Scanner c2,000
Coursing River Spirit beast Technique c3,000
Basic Guide to Ki Crafting c4,500
Ki Infusion Potion (50 Ki) x3 c1,500
Health Potion (50 hp) x3 c300
Meridian Cleansing Pills (body) x2 c2,000
Total: c14,800
Would you like to purchase these items?
Y/N
I hit yes and watched as the items manifested in my storage ring.
The Striking Wolf, Piercing Crane, came in a beast core like the Ki Technique for Rukia. When I pulled it out and held it in my hand, I received a prompt
Do you wish to absorb Striking Wolf, Piercing Crane combat art
Y/N
I selected yes. The core broke down into gas that flowed up my nose, in my mouth, and through my eyes. I coughed and sneezed at the same time. My eyes itched and watered; I couldn’t even see for a moment. I stumbled away from the City Core, and then it hit me like a sledgehammer to the brain. I dropped to my knees from the sharp pain radiating through my brain as images and sensations flashed through my mind.
As quickly as it began, it ended. I was on all fours, sweating buckets and breathing hard.
“Dude, you ok?” Magnus called to me from the doorway. “I could hear you screaming from the other side of the building. “
I coughed a few times. My throat felt raw. “Yeah,” I croaked. “I absorbed combat art, thinking it would be like… I dunno, a rush of information, then I’d be all like, I know Kung Fu. You know?” I sat back and pulled out a drink of water. It helped ease my throat. “It hurt a lot worse than I thought. I didn’t even realize I was screaming. Sorry for waking you like that.”
I looked at my stats and saw that my stamina dropped by nearly half from the ordeal.
“No worries. I feel much better, and my last debuff fell away.” Magnus reassured me.
“Well, let’s get some food; I cooked up a bunch of demon boar meat and spirit snake meat. So we can eat and compare notes, and I have a new toy to try out.” I said, leading the way to the kitchen.
We sat at the kitchen table with a pound of demon boar meat in front of each of us. Rukia was by my feet, enjoying a piece of the snake meat. The guide to raising spirit beasts included a helpful article about eating beast meat and how quickly one can process the Ki within. The rank of a spirit beast typically indicated how much Ki was held within its flesh.
So this body rank three demon boar held an average of three points of Ki in each piece of meat. And a cultivator could only absorb their own rank in Ki from meat per hour. So any extra Ki held within could be lost if a cultivator eats a higher rank beast than themselves. I should be capable of absorbing more with my stomach meridian opened if I actively cycled it, but the extra beyond my rank limits would just go into my Dantian.
With beasts, though, they didn’t need to actively cycle the excess. Instead, the Ki they consumed beyond what their bodies could handle automatically went to their core, either filling it or pushing their core’s limits to move towards their next rank.
“Ok, how about we start with the elephant in the room. Do you want to travel with me to Colorado; it’s on the way to Texas, depending on the route you want to take. I plan to take I-80 through Wyoming, then the U.S.-287 to Fort Collins, then down to Colorado Springs. So it’s not too far from there to get to Texas.” I put it all out on the table. “I think it would be safer to travel together than going separately.”
