Weaponless

Walking along the trail it had been less than five minutes when the earth beneath Gordon's feet shook. It was just for a moment and felt almost like a giant had taken a step and then it was gone.

Looking around carefully he wondered where that earth shock had come from. Truthfully he had taken this dirt trail and felt lucky for being left here. Because he didn't have good gear his starting point had to be really lucky. And his gear wasn't even good it was non-existent. He had neither weapon nor armor. Without a weapon all he could do was run if he encountered any hostile beasts. Being here on this trail where there was an open view all around made it easy for him to see what was coming. There wouldn't be anything powerful up here where the energy in the air was sparse. The chi density was worse here even back in Talon.

Of course there were parts of Talon that were rich in chi. The city had been built on a chi spring. But that chi was reserved for those who could defend the city. So there were some in the Pits of Talon that didn't even know about any spirit spring at all.

His first priority was to make a weapon. Having no money he had not even considered buying a weapon on the plane. And his prospects of receiving a weapon of some sort from either Jessica directly or the Philos family in general hadn't happened. All was not lost though, Gordon was practiced at making and using a sling shot.

Sling shots were the weapon of choice for kids in the pits. Easily made and easily discarded, sling shots could be hidden from parents and authorities alike. Since weapons were prohibited in the Pits there had to be a way to quickly defend oneself. While beasts were thankfully rare in the Pits fellow human kids made up for this by bullying and preying on the weak. Everyone was weak in the pits. That was the definition of people in the pits, they were too weak to defend themselves. And the weak among the weak were a sorry lot indeed. The only thing the weakest of the weak could do was scrape by and scrap for what they needed using any tools they could.

Easily hidden in or under his waist band he had two lengths of string. Additionally, in his pocket was a square of cloth that when folded could be tied to make a cradle or pouch for a stone. Soon the two strings had been tied and a honest sling shot. There was no tension in the cords, no spring. This was the bare minimum, it could hardly be called a sling. Without using rubber bands Gordon could only swing the cradle above or to his side to build up enough speed for a throw.

The earth quake made Gordon consider his safety more carefully and without waiting any longer he built his sling shot and then gathered twenty small stones from the surrounding shale. Thanking his luck again he realized just how lucky he was to be placed down in the exact spot that would yield him the best shooting material for his weapon.

Then he filled his pockets with even more stones, until his pants pockets were so full the material of his pants was stretched tight to his legs on both sides.

And then instead of continuing on he took a stance, picked a target some twenty meters away, and then proceeded to practice his aim. It didn't take long to get back to the point where he could hit the rock he chosen as a target, but he wasn't complacent. He knew he could do better and continued to get his edge back. 

Once he had used up all the rocks in his pants he went to the target and collected all the shooting stones to try again. Some of the rocks had exploded on impact or broken enough that the resulting fragments were no longer usable.

Two hours later he massaged his arm and considered his progress. He was now able to reliably hit his target within about fifteen centimeters. Even better most of the time he was able to hit within ten centimeters. This was satisfactory gains and he decided to continue along the path.

Even while practicing Gordon had felt the ground shake randomly every once in a while. These weren't large earth quakes the shaking had not increased in power or duration. If anything he felt like the power of the shocks was decreasing.

Keeping his sling out with a rock loaded in the cradle he slung it over his shoulder and traveled for over a kilometer when he looked up and saw an eagle circling above his head. 

This was a perfect first target!

Aiming carefully he swung his sling shot and then let a stone fly. But as the stone rose into the air Gordon realized in horror that this eagle was flying far outside his vertical range.

Which meant only one thing. This eagle was much, much larger than he had originally thought. It had fooled him before because it was flying so high that it looked small.

Tense Gordon waited calmly. If he had angered the eagle there was no way he was going to be able to get away across all the shale. He was an easy target out here for a beast that had to be at least red gold ranked if not higher!

He had been told that the peak of Mount Renier was relatively safe with not very much spiritual power. Which meant in his mind that there wouldn't be many awakened beasts. Awakened beings were usually drawn to spiritual springs like moths to a flame. And with such powerful spiritual chi coming from the lower slopes and in the valley below, Gordon thought that the most he would see up here would be green bronze ranked beasts. At the very most!

And even then awakened beasts wouldn't usually attack a G ranked apprentice beast master. There was too little gain to be made for a lot of wasted energy. G ranked apprentice beast masters were only just barely more interesting than unawakened humans.

When hundreds or thousands of even normal people gathered together they became a lure that could not be ignored. And then when millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of humans gathered there was an even greater pull.

Talon had hundreds of millions of residents, but living within the ground hid most of their combined energy signature. This was the original reason why the pit was built. Instead of building higher and higher. Residents of this world built lower and lower. Housing most of the citizens within the ground had a lot of drawbacks, but the it was necessary to preserve their lives. Hiding was the safest course of action.

Fortunately for Gordon, the eagle didn't even change its circling pattern. Instead it started flying away.

Thanking his lucky stars Gordon realized that the path he was on led in the same general direction as the eagle seemed to be going.

Which meant he had a choice, he could turn around and go away or he could continue along in this same direction. Eventually he decided that going forward was a better plan. Obviously this eagle wasn't interested in him and just as obviously it was scaring all the other animals away.

Yes, he had been wondering why he had not seen even one animal since being dropped out here. Not even a lizard or a bird. Originally he had been disappointed. If he couldn't hunt anything he was really going to waste this opportunity. Couldn't there be at least a mouse or a butterfly? Something, anything.

Well, there was no way he was going to be able to even put a dent in that eagle, but maybe he could gain some knowledge along the way. This trip wasn't a total loss with his entrained cultivation continually cycling through his body. By the end of three days he was hoping that his percent completion for Spirit Gathering rank would be up to 25%. So he was going to gain something no matter what. All was not lost. He might as well play it safe and continue to passively enjoy the protection the eagle was providing.

There was no reason to risk his life going back into the unknown. He knew this eagle was way above his power level, so much so that he was less than an ant to it. Which made him unnoticeable. This was a form of safety and seemed to be the best option for now. If he knew a way to stay safe, he had to take it no matter how risky.

Along the way he continued to practice his aim with the sling shot even starting to practice with his left arm. Who knew what would happen out here in the wild, it would be important to gain at least some ability with his left arm. The power was a lot weaker and the aim was way off, but he had to start somewhere.