CURRENT SITUATION: h /\ im
'Ever wonder what a popped balloon feels like?'
MM… there was a spike poking through his chest.
There was [censored] flowing out.
"[Censored]" He said. He tried to say something, but according to Dieze, situations like these did not merit that type of language.
[Your word has been censored].
He coughed.
"You'll bleed out if you don't do anything," Dieze told him, frantically buzzing in his eyes.
"Dam-"
[Your word has been censored x2].
Why did his body feel so cold? He could feel his fingers freezing up, stiffly.
[You have died.]
"Um, did I just die?" Steven said.
"No, I was just kidding." Dieze said. "But you're scheduled to die in about two minutes, if you don't stop the bleeding."
Steven thought hard about what to do…
"Well…" He coughed again, each hack sending tremors of pain radiating through his body, intensifying the cascade.
He closed his eyes and imagined the flow of qi inside of him spreading out through the wound, forming a protective layer where the spike entered.
But the blood only slowed down.
Blood.. Ying was in the blood.
He took a shallow breath and imagined the Ying staying inside his body. His trembling hands moved to his chest, fingers tracing the path of the spike. With each beat of his faltering heart, he imagined the Ying staying inside his body, refusing to abandon him.
- - -
"Mrow!" (I'm back).
The tiger shouted, entering the cave.
It looked around.
There were so many arrows on the ground, and the broom was just laying on the cave floor, untouched.
"Huh." The tiger whispered, strolling over with its four legs.
"Mrow!" (What!)
Peeping an open chasm… it looked down. Below, it watched as the boy struggled below. His lips looked blue and his eyes looked delirious.
"Mrow." (Huh.)
But the tiger knew this type of training was the most effective.
Because in order to survive, the body needed a constant stream of energy. A constant stream of Zong to be made into Zhen, to replenish the Ying.
Gathering qi…
In fact, as the boy was struggling, the tiger could see the Gathering Qi — the Zong — inside the boy, starting to condense, and grow heavy.
Help, the boy mouthed, finally noticing the tiger.
"Mrow!" (Later, I promise).
And so, the tiger walked away.
- - -
"Mrow!" (You're still alive).
- - -
Steven woke up.
He checked his chest.
Nothing, not even a scar.
Beside him, a tiger smiled.
Steven glared at it.
Don't look at me that way, it seemed to say.
"I almost died."
"You didn't," the tiger licked its paw.
It gave him a hard look.
"Check your cultivation level."
Steven gingerly closed his eyes.
He remembered yesterday:
As he struggled to stay alive, the cold feeling in his chest suddenly became warm. The cloud of Qi within him started to condense and the landscape within his mind started to change. Then, thunder! He felt this 'HEAVY' feeling, as if he could smell the clouds drawing closer, the energy in the air started vibrating like static… and then…'drip!'
The cloud inside him suddenly started raining down!
As the river of Yuan flowed down, mixing with the 'rain', a body of water gradually started to form.
"Yeah, I don't see anything different," The boy said, ending his recollection of events.
The tiger whacked him.
"Hey, you're not supposed to hit injured patients." Steven said, a small tear falling from his eyes.
"You've reached 'Qi Condensation.'" The tiger spelled out, ignoring Steven's comment. "There are different stages. See that pond inside your body? That's the spiritual sea. Currently your Spiritual Sea is more like a pond. The three minor stages go like this. Pond -> Lake -> Sea."
The tiger motioned the order using its paws.
"So, I'm at the first stage." Steven nodded.
"Get up, kid." The tiger pulled him up. "More training today."
- - -
They were sitting under a tree. The morning had been hectic, with the tiger fighting and chasing after him, and Steven running away. According to the tiger, this was to help him further develop the Ying and Wei.
"Use Wei to block the paws."
"Use the Ying to heal the scratches."
"Mrow, mrow!" ('Good boy') the tiger would say whenever Steven managed to do any of them correctly.
"SmACK, SMACK!" was the sound that interrupted the forest's tranquility whenever Steven did any of them wrong.
And now, here they were, sitting on a tree.
Had Steven asked for any of this training? No. He had only wanted to rest and take a break from his mundane dream-walking job. He had thought that maybe it would've been like: "Hey, this is how to use a flute."
But no… his teacher was a sadistic tiger.
As if sensing Steven's thoughts, the tiger whacked him.
"Ow…" Steven rubbed his face. He looked indignantly at the tiger. "Why'd ya do that?"
"I dunno," The tiger mused. "Your face just looked so whack-able. Has anyone told you that? Gotta say…"
"Yeah…" Steven nodded, a strange reaction for someone who had just gotten whacked. Then, a slight excitement emerged in his eyes. "Yeah… yeah?"
Steven could sense the tiger was going to describe his looks.
The tiger looked at Steven.
Sure, Steven looked good for a human, right? He had eyes, a nose, and a mouse, er… mouth. And even two ears. He had skin and hair, and had some mixed features. Kind of like a vanilla bean, mixed with Italian spaghetti. His eyes were this stunning [REDACTED]. He had this [REDACTED] nose that looked [REDACTED]...
"There's not much to say about your looks," The tiger finished.
"..."
Why did it seem like no one was willing to describe his looks? Steven woefully looked to the side.
The tiger lazily rubbed its belly, like it had just eaten a watermelon. It leaned on the tree like a big lazy cat.
"Guess, it's time…" The tiger took out a flute of its own from its… (um…) somewhere.
Steven squinted. Where did that flute come out of again?
The tiger pulled the flute to its mouth.
It started playing a tune and the landscape started to rumble.
The tiger paused, looking at Steven.
Steven took out his flute bracelet and tried following along the same tune: "Toot-toot-toot."
Nothing happened.
"Let's start with something more basic." The tiger said. It took out a phone and asked for the boy's email. Then the tiger sent an email to him with the documents.
Steven opened the email:
| Music Stuff… Inbox. X
Tiger
└ To me.
Attached: Flute_music_sheetbook_for_dumb_beginners.pdf |
He clicked the PDF.
Inside, there were a couple sheets of music, along with some explanations. Steven read through quickly:
Because the flute was a wood-wind instrument, it specialized in controlling wind. That seemed intuitive. But that didn't mean that it couldn't do other things. The first few music sheets or lines, rather, were just one or two note melodies. Theoretically, they were easy to play.
So why then, did Steven struggle with the first one.
"Flute basics #1: A gust of wind."
"Toot!"
This move was supposed to create a gust of wind, not the strongest thing in the world, but still do something! Anything!
"Toot!" Steven played a note, which played perfectly resonant, but once again, nothing happened.
For once, Steven tried using his brain. He recalled the leaves again, their falling melody. He remembered the time he managed to learn those side-stepping maneuvers (or what Zero called the Qi-less technique).
And right now, he was working with a Qi-inept brain to learn these basic techniques.
Maybe he needed to imbue Qi into the note. 'But how?'
He tapped the flute, running his fingers down the ordinary mortal-instrument. He imagined a gust of energy pouring into the flute, and then he blew it like a sneeze.
WHOOSH!
The gust of energy hit a tree.
Steven celebrated, until he realized the tree was growing taller. Crack… rip… Its skin cracked, and dirt fell, and then it got up and lumbered towards him at increasing speeds like a crazy horror-movie monster.
Oh no.