[MA] 89. Sai (Patreon)

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The asshat snorted, "I would like to see you—"

Shen moved. Everyone was standing close to each other with a few feet between them. He jumped from the podium straight in the man's direction with all the speed he could muster.

Everyone here was an elite with high stats, weaponry, and armor. They were the cream of the crop, the best humankind had to offer. The man wore plate armor and looked like a resistance fighter.

But his helmet was open, and he was too slow.

Shen's golden spearhead pierced the man's left eye before he could even move. Shen felt enough resistance as his spear cut through flesh and bone in the eye sockets to assume the man had E+ resistance. However, his eyes were still a weak spot with only the equivalent to E-. With all of Shen's advantages, he easily put his spearhead inside the man's skull.

Then he twisted and moved the spear into the man's brain, all of his hundred and thirty HP meaning nothing when he had a piece of metal turning his brain into paste.

That happened in an instant. The man's companion was an obvious mage by her leather armor and the dagger hanging from her waist. She was still stepping back in surprise and fear when Shen's spear beheaded her. She didn't even try to put up a magic defense.

They turned into light and reappeared back in their circles.

"You mother—" another middle-aged guy yelled, but before he could say anything else, Shen was in front of him, crushing him with his spear.

Others made their strong opinions on Shen heard. A few moments later, there were seventeen less people around. The others had made a wide circle around Shen to watch the spectacle.

"A shame they don't give AP," Shen said after he was done. Then again, if humans gave AP, any remaining chance they had to kill the final boss would be gone.

"That was... something," Alicia said as she got closer to him. She had summoned a few fireballs but hadn't attacked. "I didn't help because I thought it would do be good for these mofos to understand the gap between you and them."

"Fucking tyrant," someone whispered.

Shen didn't care about that one. It was no true offense. Cultivator culture was based on honor, but sometimes, honor could only be upheld with strength.

Those people had been purposefully causing trouble. Such people could only be stopped with the use of force.

Alicia and Shen moved away from the middle of the people. Everyone parted way for them.

They were still walking when the xianxia-guy approached. He was in his mid-twenties, taller than Alicia but shorter than Shen, thin, and wearing leather armor. Three long daggers hung from his waist, so Shen guessed he was an agility fighter. His skin was light brown, hair black, and eyes brown.

"Inspect," Shen whispered as the man approached.

| Sai Mallik (E) — 110 / 110 HP

"Sorry about that question," he said when he got close enough. "I was so excited at finding out cultivation is real that I didn't think things true."

Shen nodded. "Their greed is not your fault, but if it matters to you, apologies accepted."

"Thanks... So, is it true?" he asked. "Your techniques don't work with mana?"

Shen suppressed a sigh. The boy hadn't even introduced himself. Shen only replied because the question had to do with things he had discussed previously.

"They don't," Shen replied. "Though I have never tried, I know qi and mana work differently from my conversations with Alicia. No matter how much knowledge I use, I can't create fireballs with qi. That would require insights on the Laws of Fire themselves. Qi is a more... brute energy, I would say."

"Mana is a high-level programming language," Sai said. "Qi is low level."

Even with the translation function, Shen didn't get enough to understand what that meant. Before he could answer, five people approached.

"Is that true?" their leader asked—her status evident from how the others followed her from behind. She was beautiful, in her late twenties, with fair skin, long black hair, and black eyes. Instead of armor, she wore a white robe with the drawing of pink flowers. Not a martial robe, but closer to Shen's culture than everything else in that tutorial. "Are you an ancient cultivator?"

She was too close to Inspect, as it required a voice command, and it would be rude. However, she was being rude enough—as everyone else in that place. Also, what was with everyone asking him whether his words were true?

"Inspect," he said to her face, looking her in the eyes. That was a clear way of saying he disapproved of her lack of introduction.

| Daiyu Chu Hua (E) — 100 / 100 HP

"That's my business," he returned her rudeness. She hadn't even reacted to his Inspection. She considered him beneath notice except in what she was specifically asking about.

"You!" one of her goons, a tall man in lamellar armor, stepped up. "How dare you talk like that to the Young Mistress of the Daiyu family!"

Hua said nothing, so she approved of her subordinate intervention. "Why wouldn't I dare?" Shen looked at his mistress. "Are you going to reign your dog in, or should I put it out of its misery for you?"

The man opened his mouth to speak again, but Hua talked first. "Answer my question," she demanded.

Seeing as she would keep treating him as someone below him, Shen swatted his hands around. "Damn flies making noise," he said. "Come, Alicia. Let's talk somewhere with something that doesn't smell so bad."

Shit attracted flies. His offense couldn't be more blatant, yet none reacted as he just walked away.

"What the fuck was that?" Alicia asked.

"I have no idea," Shen said. "Just a different flavor of idiot than Scott, I would guess." He noticed Sai was following and turned to face him. "Yes?"

"Huh..." He scratched his head. "I mean... Could I become your follower or something? I really like martial arts and stuff... Maybe I could ditch magic someday..."

Shen considered the offer. He was supposed to be making allies, but he clearly was terrible at that. Taking in those who came for him would make it a lot easier.

"You can start as a guard," Shen said. "Walk nine feet back and two feet to my left, unless there's someone with me on my left, like Alicia here, then walk to my right instead. You and I will slowly get to know each other. Very slowly. Over weeks to months. It can be frustrating for you, and withstanding that frustration will be your first test. That's how my family operated, and I'll do the same."

Sai smiled widely. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" His eyes were shining. "I won't disappoint you!"

Shen nodded, and Sai rested his hands on his daggers' handles as he stepped to stay that distance away from Shen. Then Sai did his best to look intimidating.

"You're becoming big stuff, huh?" Alicia said with a provocative smile. "Should I also do that? Should I bow and call you your majesty?"

Shen shook his head, ignoring the jab. "Do you have any other questions?"

"Yes, actually. Is it okay to name a Path? Like I did mine?" she flushed slightly.

"Of course. I used to name mine the Path of the Spear. Now I just call it the Path of Feng Shen. Even naming it is a way to apply your will to it, I reckon."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? Isn't that a little too narcissistic?"

"I am my Path, and my Path is me," he repeated for what felt the millionth time. "Why would it be weird to name it in the simplest way possible?"

"Oh. That makes sense. Should I name mine the Path of Alicia Winter?"

"You should name it what you feel like naming it. It's your Path. It belongs wholly to you and you only. Don't let anyone else tell you what to do with your Path, or they'll be shaping you. That is way too dangerous."

"Fuck that," Alicia said and crossed her arms. "No one is going to tell me how to live again."

Shen didn't point out that he was just doing that; he had told her she shouldn't do something, and she was complying.

"Anything else?" he asked, and she shook her head. "Then I'll attack the golem. It'll kill me. I'll meditate for a very long time after that." He turned to Sai and explained that the man was expected to stand outside Shen's circle even when Shen did nothing but meditate.

"Yes, sir!" Sai replied and made a strange gesture with his hand and his forehead.

Shen turned to Alicia again. "I want to talk to you, but we're on a timer. I'm under the impression that the system severely understated the golem's difficulty. Do your best to grow stronger in the three months we have left."

She nodded. "See you around, I guess."

Shen nodded back, then rushed toward the golem.

= - = - =

No one had tried anything against it after the first person had gotten killed. Some seemed to be planning something after Shen's lesson, but that was all. He rushed ahead, his body and spear filled with qi, and jumped on the first tiny island, a mere floating step.

The nearest island was hundreds of yards away from the golem. Yet, as soon as he touched one, the giant turned to look at Shen.

Shen jumped closer and higher, and when he was exactly one hundred yards away, the three hundred feet tall monstrosity turned its whole body in his direction. When Shen was within arms length to it, it punched him.

The arm and hand moved fast, definitely faster than Shen. The fist was way bigger than him, but the move was wide enough that he managed to jump extra steps and dodge it. He landed on the arm and ran—

Suddenly, his body froze as strong electricity ran throughout him. The enormous amount of electricity instantly crushed his qi defenses. The boss moved its arm slightly, and Shen dropped from the air.

| Feng Shen (E) — 134 / 200 HP

A single mistake, and he had almost died.

When the boss punched, islands were destroyed, but new ones rose from the ground—and the land immediately regenerated. Shen recovered as soon as he left contact with the golem and managed to land on a step to get back on track.

The golem punched again, but Shen just avoided its arm this time. He was only fast enough to dodge the telegraphed punches. If the golem's movements had been even slightly less wasteful, Shen would be dead already.

Everything moved fast. The closer Shen got, the harder it was to dodge. He lucked out three times and finally reached neck height. He leaped at the boss, his spear—

The golem raised its shoulder.

It touched Shen, who couldn't dodge midair. He ended up sprawled on the shoulder, getting shocked as his HP decreased at a rapid pace. This time, the golem didn't shake him off, so he was left there, stuck, his muscles spasming, and his organs cooking from the inside.

He died under terrible agony.

= - = - =

Alicia watched Shen be Shen. He dodged the golem as if it was easy. It looked like a movie or something.

Then she watched him die quite a stupid death, but one that showed it was impossible to deal with the golem alone. It would need to be distracted for the agility fighters to strike its neck. Mages probably had it the easiest.

Sai left to stand guard by Shen's circle—weird guy, that one. Then Alicia paid attention to everything else.

The reception to Shen's revelations had been overwhelmingly positive. It explained a lot of things everyone had felt or been confused about.

Shen killing other people, on the other hand, wasn't as well accepted. About half the people argued the world had changed, this was no damn democracy, and Shen wasn't the government. Still, the other half thought he had been too quick to take to violence and wondered if he was dangerous.

Shen wanted the best for Alicia. He had been prepared to kill Evelyn—and maybe all other sixteen-year-old mages—for her. That had touched Alicia on a profound level. She couldn't remember the last time someone had done something for her without asking for anything in return.

So Alicia would also do her best for him. She wanted the Achievement, but she would rather Shen not get hunted down after they got to Earth because people thought he was too dangerous. Maybe he could deal with that, but perhaps a simple few words and giving up on an Achievement here could prevent a nation from throwing hundreds of missiles against him.

Unfortunately, she had become a big advocate of introversion ever since her relatives got away with her money. She had no idea how to even start improving Shen's image there. She was also very aware of how she had died uselessly the last time she had tried to help Shen without the power to do so.

Fortunately, she knew someone who seemed exemplary at talking—she was even surrounded by other people already—and would love if Evelyn could get a guaranteed Achievement.

Alicia headed towards Sandra.

A few minutes later, they had a deal, and Alicia had seldom been more impressed with how someone with the right mind and skills could completely manipulate public opinion.

[A/N: Yes, random addition to the group out of the blue. It was past time someone just straight up asked to join him IMHO. We'll get to know Sai better, and judge if he is worthy of becoming more than a mere guard, over the following months—including on Earth.]

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