Mana 4 Chapter 7 (Patreon)

The dancer in the red dress pursed her lips as she watched us both prepare to fight. “Hold.” The girl in the pink paused, listening to her. “Introduce yourselves.”

“Isaac Hughes.” I bowed, not taking my eyes off pink.

“Tracy.” She gave a small curtsy. The gesture was polite, but anger still smoldered in her eyes.

“Good. You two may begin.”

Tracy was a pink blur as she came at me, but despite her sudden burst of speed, her attack was predictable. She moved to hit me with a heavy overhead chop that I parried away from my body and lashed out with a snap kick.

It caught her in the knee, and she tipped sideways. I’d hoped that it would be a somewhat even battle, but she was clearly inexperienced. I slashed towards her neck with the intent of pulling my strike and ending this.

But as I swung, she bent like a supple willow branch in a way I didn’t even realize the human body was capable of moving. Slipping around my sword, her leg came out of her dress in a flutter of cloth.

I pulled myself through the sword stroke, stepping into her and out of the strike zone of her kick. I pressed my blade forward.

She managed a crude block and used my force to launch herself back. “Lucky.” She snorted.

“I think that was more than luck, Tracy. He’s better than you, and you barely have an edge on his cultivation.” Red dress informed her friend, her tone kind but firm. I was surprised she was on my side.

Tracy jingled her arms and the bracelets on her arms clashed together rapidly, almost like music. Everything became softer around me, more pleasant.

It took me a moment to realize that what I was feeling was an attack on my soul. It wasn’t a harsh attack, but it took the edge off my senses, and I knew just how dangerous something like that could be. “Feeling good? Just put down your sword and embrace mine.” She cooed.

Standing still, I didn’t respond. Instead, I waited for what she’d do next. I needed my head clearer before I’d make the next move.

After a moment of my silence, she thrust forward.

In that moment, I activated the savage aspect of life mana. The haze she had dipped me in shattered with the savage need to survive.

Her eyes opened wide mid thrust; she hadn’t expected me to shatter her technique so easily. Her thrust was completely overextended. I wasn’t sure if it was pure arrogance or if she was just that poorly trained in the sword.

Catching the blade close to the guard, I lifted her strike up and over myself, leveraging her overly tight grip to pull her feet off the ground. I used that opportunity to drop one hand from my sword and grabbed the wrist of her sword arm, slamming her back down to the ground.

She landed with a solid enough thud that I wondered if I’d gone too far.

“I think that might be enough.” Red Dress said, stepping forward.

“Like shit it is.” Tracy growled, pulling herself up. “Let’s get serious.” Her mana came off her sharply, and then the quality of it changed. I realized that like my savage aspect of life mana, she had activated her own aspect.

Then she came at me, but it was off. Her momentum kept changing, going from extremely fast to almost a standstill. It was difficult to figure out where her sword would be when it flew with the force of a hurricane wind, only to freeze mid air and back up.

The halting beat to her attacks threw me off. I wasn’t able to identify where I needed to be to block the hit, how to best redirect the force.

“What is this?” I asked, drawing upon not only my aspect of savagery but also upon my mana to fortify my body and quicken my muscles to make up for the strange technique.

“Part of our sect's teachings.” She smirked, drawing on more of her own mana and speeding up again.

Her quick then halting speed was impressive, at least for a minute, but I soon grew used to it. Then it was just gimmicky. The trick might be an advantage the first time, but it quickly lost its bite. I was already adapting to it.

My blocks became rock solid. I learned to not force strikes as she froze. In the end, it was just like finding the beat to a dance.

Having grown accustomed to her rhythm, I pressed her again, this time knocking her sword free of her hand and pausing with my sword pointed at her. My breath came out heavy and quick as I panted from the exercise.

I chuckled internally. I must not be quite used to the gravity. That definitely should not have been enough to wear me down.

Tracy was panting herself, each breath puffing up her veil.

“I think you lost, Tracy.” Red dress clapped and addressed me. “That was well done; you adapted to her tempo aspect very quickly.”

“Thank you. Can I have your name?” I needed to stop calling her Red Dress in my head.

“Rachel.” She said simply, drawing her sword and stepping onto the stage. “Let’s see what we can learn from you in the way of the sword.”

“Sure. So Rachel, where are you in your lessons on the sword?” I asked.

She began demonstrating a basic regiment of the eight fundamental sword strokes. Her form was solid, but as a cultivator, she should be able to reproduce those easily with only a few lessons.

I waited as she finished for her to show more, but she stopped there. She had nothing else to show.

“Okay, well then we can start there. Follow my form.” I waited for the other three to follow her lead, and we stood together on the stage as we ran through a simple form that was not my father’s technique.

It was simple, but it went beyond the 8 fundamental strokes. Building upon them slowly, they were, of course, the foundation, but changing from stance to stance produced a million variations. Creating muscle memory on how to flow through the basic form and the subtle differences when doing so.

I took Rachel and her cohorts through the forms, and then we sped up several times, working to ingrain this form in their mind and body.

“Again?” Tracy complained.

“It isn’t about knowing the form. All of us as immortals, have near perfect memory. But our bodies still need to learn. We need to instill the form onto our muscles. So when we are here,” I raised my arm into one of the poses mid form, “and we need to be here.” I shifted to the next form. “Our body knows the answer without having to think. And it can do it while keeping a strong guard up or while attacking.” I showed the two different applications, both present in the form.

“Again.” Rachel demanded and with a focused face, she brought her sword to the start position. I led them through again.

I wondered how strong Rachel was as the leader of this small group. She must still be in the 4th ring, but was she near the peak, ready to break through to the 5th rank? At least among the girls I’ve met in the pavilion, she had an air of importance that few carried.

The other three seemed common; they clung to Rachel for strength. So she had to at least be stronger than Tracy to get that respect.

We went through the form one more time and I paused, realizing the sun had crept fairly high in the sky. I doubted that I’d have that much more free time.

“Thank you, girls. I’ll have to take my leave.”

Rachel nodded. “Breakfast has likely already started. Till later.”

Breakfast? The mention of it sent my stomach rumbling, and I realized I hadn’t eaten for a while. Remembering the first floor was all a large dining area, I took my leave of them and headed down to change in the bunk room and then get a bite to eat.

As I walked into the bunk room, Charles took one look at me and my sweaty body, a brow raising as he pulled me to the side. “Already selling yourself to the girls?”

“No, sword practice.”

He wrinkled his nose. “Much less enjoyable way to get sweaty. Go change and meet me back out here. We have work to do.”

I stepped away, but when I looked back, I noticed Charles and the other men weaving between the large dining hall tables, taking orders.

Groaning, I realized I must be working breakfast. I still wasn’t used to this new servant nonsense.

Going back to the bunk room, I found extra robes in the chest at the foot of my bed. Collecting a new set, I used the old to wipe myself down.

Coming back out to the dining area, I was given an apron and a menu. I waited for somebody to walk me through what I was supposed to do, but it quickly became clear I’d have no formal training.

“Hey, have you been helped?” I took the initiative and walked up to a table without food or drink. It wasn’t exactly cultivation comprehension of elements to figure out how to wait tables, just lots of hustle.

The table looked up, and one of them looked at me, angry as hell. Did I interrupt something? “I can come back later.”

“Listen here, fucker. I want your hand.” The man growled and the rest of his buddies looked ready to back him up.

That was the clue I needed to place him. The list of people who had a problem with me was a short one. And frankly, I had put the disciple from last night out of my mind.

“That won’t be necessary. And there’s no need to cause a commotion in the pavilion.” I tried to calm him down, keeping my attitude in check. The Madam’s ledger flashed in my mind’s eye. I did not want to owe the damages he might cause here in the dining room.

“I’m ordering your hand.” The Ying family’s young master growled. Several of the men at the table were reaching into their robes, but most of them were watching with interest. The young master’s face was full of the sort of anger that came as a reaction to embarrassment.

I could see that after the incident and then his defeat at my hands, he was being ridiculed by his peers. And now he was trying to earn back his pride by bullying me. He clearly was fragile.

A heavy sigh slipped out of my throat. Some people never learn.

“Are you going to start a fight? If so, let’s take it outside and not disturb my place of employment.”

He jumped out of his seat and tried to grab my collar, but I leaned back, swaying on my feet around his arm and taking two steps to the side as I grabbed his wrist and spun it behind his back.

A swift kick to the back of his knees had him in submission on the ground, and I pushed his head towards the ground. As I did so, he fought me with every ounce of his strength that he could.

I knew that his pride was already wounded, and fully making him submit would either deflate him or push him to fight me to the death right there and then. And based on his feelings so far, the latter was more plausible.

Letting go of his wrist, I stepped back, nearly bumping into another server.

At this point, the whole restaurant was quiet and watching the show. Charles was shaking his head rapidly at me. I gave him a frustrated look. It wasn’t like I’d started the confrontation.

Distancing myself, hoping the young master would sit back down, I stepped through the restaurant. Serving wasn’t doing very well for me. I wondered if they’d let me be a cook.

As I walked away, the blood-curdling cry of a young master’s wounded pride behind me made me turn. Infusing metal mana into my arm, I raised it to block just in time for the Ying boy’s sword to collide with my arm.

He looked completely shocked that I blocked his sword with my arm. I, on the other hand, was amazed that he actually cut a slight wound.

My face became an icy mask as my other hand snapped out and grabbed his throat. “There’s no need to hesitate if you strike to kill.” I lifted him off the floor and snatched the sword away from him.

The crowd was still watching intently, whispers sounding around us. “I can’t believe even the servants of the Pavilion are so strong.”

“I wonder if he’s for sale like the girls.” Another older lady commented.

My attacker clawed at my hand that held his throat while I pondered what to do with him. I should be able to outright kill him, but I still didn’t know all the rules or consequences in the new world.

I was a slave, after all. It seemed possible the Ying family could come buy my debt from the Madam and execute me.

The Ying young master was starting to turn blue in the face as his hands became more desperate to loosen my grip.

“Hello.” A woman in a white dress stepped forward. “I’d appreciate it if you released him. I can see you are hesitating. His family and mine are closely tied through marriage, and I’ll make sure he leaves here now.”

“Name?” I asked, ignoring the Ying young master for a moment.

“Wenxi Su.” Her eyes went back to the young master, and I followed them. He was really starting to turn quite blue.

“Of the Su family?” I clarified.

“Exactly so. Please, I think he needs to breathe.”

There was an anger at the name that burned in my gut, but I stuffed it down and smiled in response. The last thing I needed was another enemy, and they likely did not know who I was, nor would they even think I’d be here.

Giving young master Ying one last look of disdain, I released him to Wenxi. “I don’t want to see him around here causing trouble again.”

While he caught his breath, I walked off and started managing tables again. Wenxi dragged him away quickly. At first he went easily, but I noticed he struggled after he had regained his breath.

Hopefully, he’d cool down and that would be the last I saw of him. Continuing to come at me was only seeking death. He wasn’t nearly strong enough to take me on directly. But I worried about what he could do indirectly. His family was considered one of the three powers of the town.

“You got in another fight? Already? Do you learn nothing?” Charles hissed.

“That was the same guy as last night. He came here looking for trouble.”

“Then give him what he wants. Take a loss and stop it there.” The cowardice in his advice was almost too much. Where had the powerful Tiger Clan Elder gone?

“No. He’s far weaker than me. I won’t be letting him do anything, because it is clear he has no self-control. No doubt he’d take it too far.” My decision was final.

“Your funeral.” Charles shook his head and distanced himself from me.

The rest of breakfast was thankfully uneventful, besides needing to ask other servers questions from time to time. Which was more difficult than it should have been, because they all seemed to be avoiding me.

It wasn’t until breakfast cleared out and I was packing up that someone came and approached me. I expected it to be one of the other guys, but instead it was Tracy from earlier. “What can I help you with?” I asked.

“I wanted to apologize for earlier and ask if you’d come hunting with us this afternoon?” She blushed and looked at the floor.

Ah. Maybe I misjudged her. She seems much better after she’s cooled down from the fight.

“Sure. I don’t know how it works though with this.” I raised my arm to let the sleeve fall down and show the bracelet. “And I’m new to the area; if you could show me a map before we left it would be very helpful.”

“Oh yeah. There’s a system for the bracelets. We use servants as guards often enough. And the map isn’t a problem; I have one here.” She flipped her hand over and a map appeared from her spatial ring. They seemed common enough; I wondered if I could get one.

“Thank you very much. Where and when do we meet?” I asked, enjoying her new attitude. But going out into the woods with her set off a few warning bells in my head. She seemed more trustworthy, but I wasn’t going to be stupid. I needed to meet up with Kat and make sure she stayed safe.

This was a perfect opportunity to get out of Murdock and have a nice quiet meeting with Kat.

Rachel did trust Tracy, though, and I did feel like I could trust Rachel.

“We’ll leave here before lunch, say two hours from now?”

I nodded, already unfolding the map and taking a look. “I’ll have this memorized to give back by then if that’s okay?”

She shrugged. The map didn’t seem that important to her. “We are going here.” She pointed to a dense pack of trees on the other side of Murdock, opposite of the Jungle of a Thousand Paths. That section of the map seemed to be at the base of a mountain range and include a few smaller foothills.

“Got it.” I rolled the map back up, wanting time to head back to the bunk room and meditate so I could replicate this map in my soul palace for Kat.

Taking my leave so quickly might have been a little rude, but I had just gotten the next piece of what I needed to get my independence.

Heading back to the bunk room, I memorized the scroll and meditated into my soul palace, carving the map as I saw it into a block in my soul palace and sending reverberations to Kat, hoping that she’d come and inspect it.

I was surprised when my mana beasts responded to the reverberations, but I shouldn’t have been. They were watching closely, per usual.

“Master, are you going to look for a beast for your 4th ring?” Aurora asked, strolling into my soul palace, followed by Mei.

I hadn’t even thought of it in all the current chaos of my life. “Not sure yet. If there is an opportunity, I won’t pass it up, but I think I’ll need to keep myself alert for this.”

“You think there’ll be trouble?”

“There’s always trouble when you go to hunt mana beasts. Not to mention, I seem to be stacking up enemies here.” I couldn’t get rid of a nagging feeling that something was off with the hunting party. The initial excitement of being able to get a map and arrange a meeting with Kat had worn off and my hindsight was telling me something was wrong. Tracey had been almost too nice, not to mention she really didn’t seem like a person to go hunting.

But regardless, I had already committed to the task. Leaving the map as detailed as I could, I wrote out instructions for Kat as to what I was going to be doing and asked my mana beasts to help me pass the word along.

“You got it.” Mei snapped a salute, her tails going rigid along with her posture.

They might goof around, but they were dependable and protective of Kat and I. They would get her the message if she showed up.