The alien sky above made me long for earth’s calm stars. Three moons hovered like frozen corpses cracked and spilling violet fluids across their surfaces and the planet’s atmosphere. The moons were too bright; their light pollution drowned out the other stars. I felt waves of qi blasting onto us, twisted by the reflection of the moon. Something was happening to me under the qi’s influence. It was something I couldn’t abide by.

But destroying the moons could wait. The forest wasn’t safe, and I refused to sleep for long.

Monstrous birds of prey flew across the upper canopy of the forest above before a monstrous tongue lashed out and snatched one, causing others to scatter. In the gloom cast by flailing limbs, I saw a frog the size of a bus swallow a bird the size of three grown men. Bones snapped, and feathers fell as the massive creature devoured its meal. All the while, spirits possessing clouds of ash trudged through the trees, fighting spirit possessing roots and twisted vines. In this world of cultivation, it was survival of the fittest.

We remained safe and hidden due to Emily's formation carved into a tree branch. In a bubble of safety, we floated on a stream of chaos.

While the others slept, I looked up at the three moons, and my mind wondered.

I found it difficult to rationalize my past and present self. Before the system, I felt disgustingly subservient. Yes, that described me perfectly; I served others to survive. And just thinking about it filled me with unending rage. I was trapped in a dead-end job without the will to even save myself. I collected knowledge and enjoyed pleasure but never truly lived. My life had no meaning or purpose; I existed as a cog in a broken machine filled with a dream that was a lie. Liberty, my dearly departed dream of freedom, you died before I was ever born. Only power and blood can grant freedom.

My past and my present couldn’t be reconciled. I saw the writing on the wall because I listened to people smarter than myself. If I had a talent, it was looking for people more intelligent than myself to listen to. Freedom required force and blood to achieve and was unsustainable for large groups. That’s what the smart people said.

Sometimes it felt like humanity wanted tyranny, the kind tyrant like the stoic Marcus Aurelius who held the people’s best interests at heart. That wasn’t me; I couldn’t be mankind’s kind tyrant.

I had an opportunity to gain power only dreamed about. And I knew I couldn’t be trusted to rule. The dragon changed me, and no amount of neutral qi could bring me back. Every day the neutral qi had less of an effect. That’s why I am divided.

When I thought about the world I left behind, I couldn’t help but be glad for it. Divorce, the media, and the government were lost among a thousand worlds. All I had to do was get far away from the current government and wait for it to collapse. That’s why I wanted to get a farm and advance away from the triad. The majority realm extended a cultivator’s life by hundreds of years. Then, I could begin to figure this world out and explore the system with distance and time.

And then the neutral qi runs out.

I want to smash the triad, take their territory, rip apart and plunder their sects, and become myself. They say power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but they are liars. Power frees us to be ourselves.

…

After a night under the stars, we made our way towards the ashen heap I saw from atop the lord class spirit’s head. The ashes from the heap covered the forest from dusty footprints left by fire spirit possessed ashes. Small humanoid creatures made of smoldering ashes prowled and fought through the forest. Attacking each other and stealing their hearts.

I watched one spirit consume another, and it became larger and more powerful. The ashes on its body condensed, hardened, clumping up, and forming rivet-like scales. Those creatures chased smaller fire golems devouring more of them, or larger spirits devoured them. Some of those spirits took the form of small dragons, horses, birds, or knights forever fighting and devouring one another. But, to my consternation, not one of them approached higher or lord status. I was almost ready to bond with one and help it devour more of its fellows. Indeed with enough of the spirits devoured, it would evolve into a higher or lord class.

Of course, something had to interrupt my musings.

A mid-class spirit shaped like a dragon charged us, so I decided to see what my new wood type qi could do. I infused my qi into the ground and focused. My vision was clear. I wanted wooden stakes to shoot out from the ground and impale the dragon.

Instead, a single wooden stump shot up from the ground and tripped the beast. The possessed fell hard, growled, and struggled back to its feet. I raised my hand and threw more qi into my attack, only for an even larger stump to shoot out and bludgeon the dragon.

Emily looked on and nodded. “Dragons are known to have strong hides. It would be better to smash it than pierce it.” Emily said.

Shadbak picked up a stick and nodded her agreement. “Let’s beat this thing to near death and move on; when its kin smells blood, they’ll finish it for us,” Shadbak said, and I noticed a small orange trail of liquid qi trickling from a wound.

I had been going for wooden stakes like Dracula in the fate anime. But instead, I ended up with a big ugly stump instead of a pointy wooden stick. Moving wood qi around was a little harder than I thought. That or Cala was giving me trouble from the inside. Time would see an end to her resistance. But damn, if shooting stumps out of the ground didn’t feel humiliating.

While the dragon was unbalanced, Shadbak smashed her stick against its head, spilling loose ash everywhere. I pointed two fingers at the dragon and lifted them up, resigning myself to see a massive stump. Suddenly a massive stake shot up and skewered the dragon. I blinked and stared at my hand, then back at the dragon.

Gestures refined my control over qi. That was news to me; if I’d known that earlier, I could have experimented with more controlled techniques. Did that mean I needed to learn Naruto hand signs, or were there already hand signs? Were there further techniques? I didn’t know, and that was a significant weakness. So far, I just out sped and overpowered my opponents.

Shadbak threw herself to the side as the dragon unleashed a vicious fire breath. I held my hand out to stop the monster and pushed more wood qi into my attempt. Finally, three large trees shot up out of the ground and took the breath attack for us. Even as the trees grew under my qi, the flames ate away at them. In moments they were no more than dead lumps of charcoal.

I measured the difference in our output, and the dragon only used about a tenth of the qi I had used for the shield. So with a hand gesture, three more spikes impaled the beast. Fortunately, we fought in a forest full of seeds.

Shadbak peaked behind or shield eagerly. “While it's distracted, we should take its hearthstone. The Furyflame tribe will pay a ransom for it.” The she orc said.

“That does sound like a good idea. Hearthstones are the nucleus of a spirit and can be used to bond with them.” I said.

“That isn’t what the Furyflame tribe use them for but sure.” I approached the thrashing dragon and understood what the spirits were doing. They were devouring the hearthstones of each other to bolster their own. Would Cala have developed one if she possessed something physical? But, wait, she became a part of my spirit vessel.

Did I have a hearthstone? What if I did? Cultivators might hunt down other cultivators to devour their hearthstones. Or were they only hearthstone when the spirits possessed inanimate objects. That was something else I needed to investigate soon.

I cut open the spirit dragon’s chest and ripped out a spherical ruby about an inch in diameter. Without a second thought, I shoved it in my inventory for safekeeping. Those spirit-possessed vines must also have them too.

“Do you plan to make an offering of it to one of your blasphemous orc gods?” Emily said.

“No, I plan for you to offer it to one of our benevolent gods to placate the village chiefs,” Shadbak said.

I raised an eyebrow. “That isn’t going to happen. I don’t believe in any gods.” I said.

“Please don’t say that in public; we’ll be burned at the stake,” Emily said.

I turned my attention to my two companions. Their hair and clothes were covered in ash. The fur of Shadbak’s makeshift wolf hides had seen better days. Things might have been different if they had had time to cure the hides. The orc’s raven black hair had only just been brushed out, and already it was covered in ash. Splotches of grey ash-covered both girls.

Emily had suffered the least in their party. They had crossed from one fire cultivation area to another, and Emily had made use of her time. She had crossed from the mid-coalescence realm almost too high. But, really, this place benefited her the most.

Shadbak was weird; she wasn’t a cultivator but held the same amount of qi as an early coalescence realm cultivator. The qi she gave off seemed almost tailor-made for her. I didn’t know enough about orcs to make a judgment now, though.

“We should gather some headstones while we’re here. You never know when we might need them.” I said before leaping up a tree. Then, to my two confused companions, I smiled. “Meet me back here in a few hours, then we’ll head in deeper.”

…

While the others busied themselves with collecting hearthstones, I opened my achievements. I clicked on the first one, and a world map opened. Then, with a few toggles, I could locate any spirit, alley, or enemy within the range of my spirit sense.

Main Quest: Travel to White Mortar city

Side Quest: The Blood Spirit Conspiracy

Reward: x 5 Spirit Advancement Tokens

Relationship Quest: One of the Tribe

Reward: deepen your relationship with Shadbak

Side Quest: My Resolve

Reward: x 1 Enhancement Token

Relationship Quest: Cracked Indoctrination

Reward: Deepen your relationship with Emily

Achievements

Bond With A Mid Class Spirit x 100G

Balance Two Mid Class Spirits x 50G

Reach Coalescence Realm x 500G

Bond With A High-Class Spirit x 200G

Slay low Spirit Beasts x 100G

Slay Mid Class Fire Spirit with Wood Qi x 1000G

Escaped The King Of Kings Awakening x 5000G