Chapter 22: Assignment

Eric Xing felt a headache incoming.

There was no way to explain how, however. There was no physical evidence of its eminent arrival.

It was more of a flash of intuition. An enigmatic spectre of a warning. An existential feeling of dread.

'Whatever task he has for me is guaranteed to suck...'

"What would you have me do, Chief Feng?"

Eric suppressed his urge to visibly cringe as he spoke. He didn't mind earning his keep in this village, but it was his understanding that the majority of the locals had the freedom to seek out their professions on their own.

Although, the options were fairly limited.

Chief Qianggong Zhufu Feng, as far as Eric knew, rarely involved himself in matters concerning the common folk of the Thunder clan, instead functioning as a liason, of sorts, to the Lightning Sect. He was the strongest in the village and was appointed the position of village chief by the Lightning Sect.

Therefore, he had the blessing of status and the curse of direct servitude simultaneously.

Qianggong Zhufu Feng's burdens and responsibilities naturally caused several degrees of separation between his fellow clansmen and himself.

'Meaning, this amount of attention can't be good for me.'

The middle aged man let out a hearty laugh before saying, "No need to be so tense, Ah Xing. It is a simple task, really. One that I believe will benefit all parties involved..."

Eric waited in silence.

Chief Feng leaned forward slightly, placed his elbow on his knee and rested his chin on the back of his hand. He maintained an amused expression as he continued, "Not one for suspense, hm? Very well young man. I have a dilemma of sorts, in regards to you and, more specifically, your presence in this sleepy village of mine. When you were found, there was a fear that you may be a Demonic Beast, as wild as that may seem. Then it was discovered that you had no cultivation to speak of, let alone demonic essence. You were then housed with the local 'witch' which, although was not your fault either, lead to further superstition about you. I had called you here in order to calm the fears of my clansmen and gave you an... admittedly difficult task to accomplish."

Eric stifled the twitch he felt coming from his right eye.

Seemingly unphased, Qianggong Zhufu Feng continued, "One that would be slightly impressive if accomplished, and one less reason to suspect you if failed-"

The hair on Eric's head suddenly felt heavy as he suppressed a groan.

"-and then you went ahead and blew right past anyone's expectations after disappearing for a week!" The village chief laughed like a belligerent uncle. "Great heavens! Imagine if you had stayed around after that stunt you pulled in the market square... heh. But that's neither here nor there now, is it? The point is, young Eric, you are standing out entirely too much. This is a quiet village overseen by a small clan. Your... appearance... is already striking enough. What with your tall stature, wild hair and dark skin, there is no hiding you, that's for sure. Also, you are clearly not strong enough to pose a threat or hold the Lightning Sect's interest... So where does that leave you? Unique, but without power. A bit gifted, but with no chance of ascending to the Lightning Sect"

Eric couldn't help but wince a bit at the chief's direct words. He knew better than anyone how weak he was and how unlikely his chances of obtaining the freedom he sought were.

Chief Qianggong Zhufu Feng sat back in his chair, the amused grin in his face unchanged, "That being said, and in light of your new cultivation level, I have decided to place you on Pen Yushui's ironwood team."

Eric's eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment.

"Wait, what?"

...

Eric lay on the forest floor, wheezing.

His hands seemed to throb with each sharp huff that escaped his lips. The sensation traveled up his arms, through his shoulders, split at his spine and proceeded to spread to his head and down his back simultaneously. By the time it reached his toes, a new wave of pain would be at his ankles.

A rough, rude voice sounded off from above him, "Well well well stranger, seems you ain't as impressive as you pretended to be."

"Shut. up. Pen Yushui. and. help me. up."

Eric was still unable to control his breathing long enough to say much without sharply breathing in.

The muscular Pen Yushui offered a hand and pulled Eric up off the ground. The firm grip and strain from the pulling motion caused the pain to flare up even more, nearly causing Eric to let out a hiss of pain.

Thankfully, he kept his composure.

"So that, is a backlash."

Eric winced as he sat down on a nearby tree stump.

This area was the only spot of land on the village's side of the river that grew ironwood trees. It served as a training ground of sorts and allowed new recruits to practice without the threat of attacks from primeval beasts.

Pen Yushui nodded his head while grinning ear to ear, the catharsis plain as day on his face, "Yup. Put too much primal energy into an object at the point of impact without bracing your body and... boom. Pain."

Eric lightly shook his head, careful not to move too intensely, and took a drink from his waterskin. He looked at the small scratch in the ironwood tree he had just made, then down at the oversized blade that reached his shoulders when standing up, then to the big smiling fool standing over him, and sighed.

'Yup, definitely sucks.'

Pen Yushui suddenly placed his arms behind his back and began pacing from side to side like a professor, "Now that you know the feeling of failure, it should serve as an incentive to improve. Manual labor, like combat, is not all about expelling all of your strength at once and blowing through a task. That would be a waste and would leave you depleted with little to show for it."

"Then why would you tell me to give it my all like you did earlier?"

Pen Yushui stumbled for a moment, "Eh-heh... The sooner you experience a backlash, the less intense it will be in the future, I think."

"You think??"

"Look, I can't have you messing up like that when you are in the middle of chopping with your crewmates!" Pen Yushui paused before momentarily averting his eyes. "Could it also have been funny to watch? Yes. Yes it could have."

"..."

Eric couldn't even muster the strength to vent his frustration, the backlash had seemed to expel every drop of primal essence he had stored in his body.

'Not sure how I feel about my body's dependence on primal essence this early in my cultivation.'

The wonders of cultivation brought strength, longevity and unlimited possibilities. The existence of primal essence in this world was the catalyst that made the impossible, possible.

'No, that's the wrong way of looking at it...'

Eric took a drink from a nearby waterskin while earnestly ignoring the muscular simpleton that had resumed his pacing and lecturing.

'To resent primal essence would be as illogical as resenting the air I breath, the food I eat or the water I drink.'

One would die without oxygen. Conversely, one would die if given too much as well. Same for food and water.

'It makes sense that the same would apply to primal essence.'

Eric released a deep sigh, cutting Pen Yushui off mid speech.

Snapping his open mouth shut, Pen Yushui recovered from his initial shock and said, "Clearly you are in no state to be able to grasp any of this, a backlash hits the mind just as hard as it hits the body, sometimes. Why don't you take the rest of the day and tomorrow to rest? It should take half that to regain your lost primal essence, but there would be no point in rushing you. You would just be a burden if you kept passing out on us."

Eric blinked and decided not to correct him. The fact was that he was basically useless at the moment and he really had no strength to speak of.

"That's... oddly thoughtful of you, Pen Yushui. Is there a reason for your change in attitude today?"

Pen Yushui scratched the side of his head and seemed to find interest in the trees above, "Look, I... realized a few things after talking to uncle Jian Gang. While I still can not accept that wit- I'm mean, woman... you and I don't have a reason to hate each other directly."

"You are aware that you attacked the first friend I made after waking up, right?"

The large young man sighed and grabbed the back of his neck, the ground seeming to be the most interesting thing at the moment, "And you also embarrassed me in front of most of the southern market, alright? That witc- Ying Yue, and I have our own reasons that we can not get along. But as far as you and I are concerned," Pen Yushui raised his head and made eye contact with Eric, "I have no reason to hate you simply because you are an outsider and look different."

Eric raised and eyebrow in disbelief.

'That Qianggong Jian Gang must've really put the fear of God in this guy...'

"Then I'll leave it at that. I'll never condone your hostility towards Ying Yue, but I won't make you an enemy either. Just know that I won't stand for another attack."

Pen Yushui seemed to let out a slight sigh of relief before saying, "Of course. Now go get some rest, I want you fully trained before the frost comes."

Eric nodded and slowly made his way back to his dorm, grateful that he wouldn't have to cross the river in his current state. He realized, although belatedly, that he could no long sense the presence that had been stalking him.

Whether that was due to his current pain and weakness, or because they had actually left, was yet to be determined.

...

"Big Bro! H-"

"Not now fatty."

Eric raised a hand weakly to stave off Xiang Jain's assault before falling face first into his bed.