Thud. His body hit the ground of the arena again, sending up a cloud of dirt. He lay on his back for a moment, staring at the sky, before hauling himself back to his fett and facing his opponent. Pristine plate mail, not a hint of dirt or scuff marks, regular breathing, with no sign of exertion, both hands held behind her back, his master was the picture of unperturbed. The day’s training focused on application of combat techniques against other people, so he’d been sparring all day. Which meant that he had been getting tossed around by his master all day, because he wasn’t even able to make her move from where she stood, but had managed to get tossed against just about every square centimeter of the dusty arena floor. He could more than hold his own against any of the other people from Earth, and even a few of the sect’s more permanent disciples, but his master was simply a monster, in both her cultivation and combat prowess.

“Pay attention, Alvin. I haven’t said that we were finished yet.”

Alvin’s blood ran cold, and he noticed that his master no longer stood stoically in the center of the arena. He threw himself forward, trying to dodge the strike he anticipated coming from behind, but got caught by a kick in the side, sending him tumbling a few meters back unto the ground. The sound of his master’s footsteps steadily approaching sent a wave of panic through him, but the dusty ground seemed to hold him down. He could only sit, wait, and watch as her shadow loomed larger and larger over him

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Alvin jolted awake as he hit the ground, having fallen out of the tree he decided to sleep in after traveling for 2 days non stop. While the dream that caused him to fall out of the tree wasn’t quite a nightmare, it was certainly not overly pleasant either. His sore back ached in agreement, but that could just be the result of falling 10 meters out of a tree and landing hard on his side.

“Well, I’m awake now, I guess. May as well keep moving, the trees are starting to get smaller and farther apart, so I’m probably almost to the edge of the forest. I haven’t had the feeling that something was after me since the first time, but I should still be careful, there’s no way to tell what might be lurking in this forest.”

Alvin set off again, flitting from branch to branch like a fish darting about a reef, leaves and branches barely moving at his passage. He continued for a few hours, before suddenly he felt danger coming from his left, and threw himself forward. The branch he had just been standing on disappeared into the reptilian maw that had been aiming to swallow him whole. Alvin felt his blood run cold: there he was, face to face with a rank 4, make that a PEAK rank 4, demonic beast, that for some reason wanted to eat him. Then, he remembered a detail from when the System first arrived, and his chilled blood drained from his face. The humans of Earth lacked almost all access to Qi, and as such had none of the benefits that many of the “System native” races had, such as bloodlines, or unique bodily constitutions. So, to give humanity a chance to catch up, humanity was granted bloodlines and constitutions, and the bloodline Alvin just so happened to be a sea dragon one, albeit only a fraction of a percentage of one. And he figured, based on the peak 4th rank aura coming from a monitor lizard the approximate size of a semi truck, that the beast could feel his bloodline, and thought that it would allow the drake to breakthrough to the 5th rank.

Alvin analyzed the situation swiftly, and realized that there was no chance for negotiation with the beast. After all, the only thing he had that it wanted was his bloodline, and he had no will or way to transfer that to the creature, nor could or would he help it break through. He could beat a low grade demonic beast at the peak of the 4th rank, maybe even an average one, but a high grade drake at the peak? He had a small chance of survival, let alone victory if he tried to take it on. The only option Alvin had left was to flee, and hope that the drake either gave up, or ran into something that would ignore him, a lowly Body Condensing cultivator, and still eat the pursuing drake.

Alvin quickly used his speed technique, Six Swift Steps of the Sailfish, to enhance his running speed and take off, continuing east. He heard the drake roar behind him, then the sound of it crashing through the undergrowth, and even some of the smaller trees. The sound started to grow closer, so he accelerated gain, pushing what he had learned of his technique to the limits. The distance between him and the drake started to increase, but then the infuriated beast let out an enraged hiss, and started to pursue him even more relentlessly, directly charging through anything that stood in between it and the morsel that could help it advance.Said morsel was significantly less enthusiastic about this distinction, but equally energetic in fleeing for his life. The distance closed from nearly 30 meters to a mere 10, then inched back up to 15 meters of separation before stabilizing.

“Damn System!” Alvin cursed. “Sure give everyone a bloodline. That’s all fine and dandy, but apparently mine seems delicious, because demonic beasts will NOT leave me alone! Do you think I wanted to specialize in fighting beasts?! No, I wanted to tend gardens, maybe raise the occasional beast, but the damn things won’t stop trying to eat me! So I had to study as many as I could, especially the ones that would benefit most from devouring me, and lo and behold suddenly I am an expert in fighting beasts!” His cursing and complaining did little other than distract him from his impending death, but ranting against the unjust circumstances of life made him feel better, so he wasn’t inclined to stop.

As he was now traveling near his top speed, Alvin easily covered as much ground in 2 hours of frantic fleeing as he did in 2 days of easy travel. He and the drake had made it to the outskirts of the forest, and he could see the ocean through the trees in front of him. His speed picked up, and he desperately ran for safety, knowing the drake would have no chance of catching him should he make it to the waves. After all, it was a beast of the forest, and Alvin was a water-aspected cultivator, with water-aspected techniques, which would all see a qualitative increase in power and efficiency the moment he stepped into the surf. The drake was also aware of this, and realized its decision to force to escape at high speeds until he tired had backfired, and so it exploded forth with its top seed, easily twice what it had displayed thus far in the chase. Trees went flying, bushes were trampled, and the distance between predator and prey began to shrink. From 15 meters, to 12, to 10, and then down to 5. Alvin attempted to pull away again, putting on a burst of speed, but that only delayed the massive reptile’s unstoppable approach. When there were a scant 2 meters between the 2, the drake began to launch attacks, specifically targeting Alvin’s legs, with its massive claws. Alvin ducked and dove around the blows, like a Minnows Darts Around a Rock, occasionally changing direction in midair to avoid a follow up attack from the rampaging beast. Still, the claws were creeping closer and closer, even beginning to cut through his robe and leave small scrapes on his side.

Alvin looked towards the sea to estimate how much longer he would need to stall, and realized he was getting chased directly towards a cliff. With no time to check how high it was, and no other options, he decided to try to trick, or force, the drake over the cliff. Hopefully the cliff was either tall enough to injure it and delay it, or stood directly above the ocean, where he could decisively defeat the beast. Pushing himself to his absolute limit, he used one of the mindless swings as a catapult to throw himself towards the cliff, buying himself the crucial seconds he needed. The drake, naturally, threw itself after him furiously, with all the momentum of a runaway semi truck. Alvin got to the edge of the cliff, the drake hot on his heels, and jumped, leaping as far and as high as he was capable of. The drake tried to stop and snatch him out of the air, but its momentum was too much, and it tumbled over the side. Alvin jumped off of thin air and onto the drake’s back, using it as a platform to gain a bit of ground back towards the cliff before he jumped again, this time landing back on solid ground, if only just. A moment after he landed, the drake did as well, and the heavy crash of it impacting the ground was drowned out by its keening wail. Alvin carefully poked his head over the edge, and saw that the cliff was a decent size, about 200 meters tall, unfortunately still overlooking dry land near the shore. It was a picturesque scene, if not for the 20 meter long, injured, and severely pissed off drake standing at the base of the cliff. It wasn’t putting weight on its front left leg, so it wasn’t properly balanced anymore. Its scales were also coated with dirt, a few had even cracked and bled, and it looked a little dazed. Despite the impressive array of injuries levied upon it, the drake still stood, and still wanted to catch the little morsel that tricked it into falling off of the cliff. If anything, its desire to catch Alvin had increased tenfold, because the energy contained in his body could help it to heal, and it would be completing what it originally intended, and now also getting revenge, a meal that was satisfactory three times over.

Alvin pulled his head back from the edge and thought about what his options were. He definitely needed to get to the ocean, but he could just walk along the cliff and find a way to the shore that wasn’t being guarded by 20 ton scaled monstrosity eager for his blood. But the drake was clearly injured, and in a significant way to boot. Maybe he couldn’t stand toe-to-toe against it when it was healthy, but with a bum leg and probable concussion? He should be able to have drake skin boots and some high rank burgers that night. He waffled back and forth, and eventually decided to fight the drake. The tipping point was the very high likelihood that the beast had a core, and a damn good one at that. The chance for both excitement and profit appealed very much to Alvin, who looked over the edge once more to confirm the drake’s location. The lizard bastard child of a dragon had curled up at the best of the cliff, trying to sleep and heal some of its wounds. Alvin could hardly allow this if he wanted to kill the beast, so after he had double checked where it was, he leapt down the cliff towards it. The air rushed passed him and blew his robe all over the place, and his hair followed like a tiny cape attached to his head, as he grinned maniacally on his way down. When he was 10 meters above the beast, he started to charge the same fist technique he had used to escape the tree when he first arrived, Fist of the Mantis Shrimp. He had only trained in the fist technique to a high enough level to learn the first major move, Blitz Strike, but it was a move that mimicked the power of a mantis shrimp. Before the world changed, a mantis shrimp could shatter glass that was 0.6 cm thick, strike 50 times faster than the human eye could blink, and with the approximate force of a 0.22 caliber bullet. Could a technique, or even a move, based on a creature of such disproportionate power be weak?

Alvin had complete faith that he could end the fight with this one punch. Maybe not immediately, but the drake was bound to gain a few injuries from the blow, which would allow him to chip away at it until the creature eventually collapsed. Right before his feet would have touched its back, Alvin twisted his body and threw his punch, adding the momentum of the fall to his attack. Scales shattered, bones cracked, and blood was spilt as the punch collided with the drake’s side with all the power of an artillery strike. The creature had a half meter radius depression in its back, which must have broken its spine, because it couldn’t move the back ⅔ of its body. Alvin clutched his hand, the drake wasn’t the only one that sustained broken bones in that collision. He sighed, looking at the beast struggling, and decided to put it out of its misery. He walked towards the back of its head, charging up another enhanced punch, this time with his other hand. With a mighty crack, and a rush of wind, the beast fell still, and the cultivator leaned against it to rest.