System Break

The soft blades of grass in the glade made a fine spot for a rest. I lay on my back and took in the rays with Ailen.

I said, "Use the same methods that I put you through the last few days."

"But I can't see like you," he replied.

"I'll check in when I can and give them feedback, today you have me but then we can't wait any longer. I need to go into the mountains and sort out the mine."

"I'll do my best," he said.

"Don't forget to test them. Expect at least one infiltrator, stay vigilant and trust your gut."

"We are doing checks in the old world," Ailen said. "Oh and Sakaala has the treaty she wants you to come get her as soon as your done with the mountainfolk."

"Sure. Is she in the stronghold yet?"

"She will be tomorrow. She can't stand Salastria."

A portal flared to life. It was an oval mass of swirling blues and I watched it with my qi-sight. It was tethered to the land core by a thin blue stream of qi, which made me think the gatekeepers used it as an anchor.

Mother appeared and welcomed the five new Svartalfar. They were all adventurers and while full grown they were apprentice guardians. They were forewarned that they were required to make an oath to protect the forest.

With my elbow on the grass I lay on my side and watched in silence. Ailen stood and welcomed them when the ceremony was complete. It was not surprising their cores were a healthy size for new arrivals. A high qi-count meant they were well above average. In fact there were all one in a million.

Ailen had died recently and reset, which meant his core was reset as well. The new arrivals had larger cores than him. 

They approached me following Ailen and I stood. I towered over them at seven feet counting my antlers. The three women and two men stood opened mouthed while Ailen introduced me. "This is Benzhi. He is the protector of the forest. You know him as Ben from the old world."

They looked at me expectantly. "You will enjoy yourselves here," I said. "It's not a problem to lose yourself in this world, I went native a long time ago. Your goals are the same - train hard and become strong."

There were five ash bows and quivers lying on the ground behind Ailen. He reached and handed them one each.

I held out an oak sword and ash spear. "Pick one, sword or spear, what do you fancy?"

Barde and Meili picked spears and the rest settled on a sword. Ailen showed them how to sling their bow and quiver. Then he handed them sashes to suit their weapon choice. 

I helped Barde and Meili fit their spear harness and pulled it tight. "You want it to bounce a little, but not all over the place. Not too high above your head, because it will catch on a branch. Dip your shoulders and it will lower too."

"First learn to qi-strike with your fist. Then we progress to weapons, but it's good to learn to run through the forest with them."

Ailen explained the different between skills, abilities, and stats. 

I added, "I barely check mine because they don't really matter other than tracking your progress. When you're in a fight, it doesn't matter if your running is zero or forty, just win the fight."

Ailen said, "We're going to train each morning and hunt for qi-cores in the afternoon. There are tons of monster to the south and east."

"Let's start to clear to the east all the way to The Reach but bring the cores back here and deliver to Mother. She will feed you at the end of each day, just a little concentrated qi from the land core. It will grow your core slowly but surely." 

I turned to Ailen. "Talila will hunt with you until you six can stand on your own." Then I smiled, "But today you will have me and Dark Bear for company."

"We go east now?" he asked.

I shook my head. "It will take all morning to run there and we can train while running. Then we can hunt for the rest of the day."

"Packs," he said.

I pointed to mine. "You think we can fill this?" 

"Skins?" he suggested.

"Dark Bear can carry them if we get too many. Outfit them tomorrow, we need to get moving."

Because of my training in another life directions came naturally to me; I could even read the night sky and work out north now. 

Ailen showed them the sun path with his hand and what was north. He had learned a lot in a few months too. 

I walked towards a tree, reached up and placed my palm on it. "Tree-run is a natural ability for us. Qi flows through your natural pathways to the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet. Fingers and toes are especially sticky. It knows when you want to grip and release without any conscious thought from you."

I looked at their confused faces and said. "Blink."

Their eyelids fluttered at my command.

"Until then, did you have to think to blink? Or do you do it unconsciously? Do you have to tell your stomach to digest food? Or your heart to beat?"

I pulled myself up off the ground and dangled while I spoke. "Your qi will do this without you having to think. There's really not much point in practising it. Same with qi-arrow. But I must admit no one is a better shot than Gisael so there is some skill to aiming. But my point is, you need to learn to mould qi otherwise the only thing you will ever be able to do is tree-climb and shoot your bow."

"Everyone squat jump. Show them Ailen." I waited for them all to try. "These are the muscles that need to be covered in a thin layer of qi for speed. You're going to visualise this as we run and encourage your qi to flow over these muscles. At first nothing will happen, but what's important is your qi begins to listen. It begins to move from your core because you want it to not because you used an ability in your UI."

"Understood?"

They nodded.

"Okay, let's run," I said and dropped before springing away to the east.

Dark Bear had no problem keeping up with the newcomers while I ran behind and watched them one at a time. I followed Meili who had chosen a spear. She was the dancer and she moved well. 

"Good," I said. "Your qi is responding. Keep it up." Her natural ability lay somewhere between Ailen and Gisael. Ailen and Sakaala weren't hopeless, but the recruits were one in a million in terms of qi-count. The main difference between them and me is that I could see qi.

I switched to Barde and then Dishi, the males of the group. "Dishi, you're an engineer right?"

"Yes sir," he said.

"Just call me - you, Benzhi or Protector," I said. "Make sure you meet the artisans and get to know them. Don't keep to yourself and live apart from the people. They may want your help one day or you, theirs. Inchel is the builder, search him out first."

"Okay," he said. "Thanks."

He took a bad path and it slowed us down. "Listen to the forest when you run, eventually you will hear it."

We arrived at the edge of the forest and looked out onto the plains. It was well past noon and dusk would soon be upon us.

"Rest. Don't eat too much," Ailen said.

I looked at the sky and then Ailen. "You should sleep here tonight. Use the outpost supplies and train qi strike in the morning." I surveyed the five newcomers and realised I expected too much from them on their first day. I'd forgotten how hard it was. They were tired from running and had spent their qi reserves practising.

I looked at Dark Bear and grinned. "It's just you and me bud. Let's go kill some monsters."

Ailen watched the new recruits as they watched me run off with the huge bear. He would have been a fully grown Kodiak in the old world but was still growing a little each day.

"Yeah," he said. "Its actually funny because him and that bear are the real monsters."