《The Qi Dungeon》
Chapter One: Prolouge (edited)
Within a certain mountain range stretched between two countries, there lay a tomb which was opened by someone in a chance encounter.
The opening of the tomb caused a fluctuation of energy, an energy so enormous it was felt by experts throughout both lands.
When the energy fluctuation was felt, most experts sent their followers in search of this energy. Nearby experts noticing the commotion, followed in hopes of reaping benefits. These experts in themselves were by no means weak but were optimistic in their chances.
Among the crowd was a woman, this woman was known as Rosanne. Rosanne was different from her peers, from a young age she was able to remember everything perfectly down to the smallest detail.
Within a secluded part of the mountain range, a gem was hidden. This gem had once been carried by a man, the man had travelled far and seen his fair share of sights. Due to his travels the gem had accumulated a small amount of his Qi energy.
But this man was fairly limited in his strength so when he went venturing into the mountain range, he had to flee from the beasts that he encountered throughout his exploration of the mountain range. During his escape, he lost the gem.
Hundreds of years went by and the gem had submerged into the base of the mountain.
On the day the tomb opened, the energy fluctuation caused the gem to evolve and during its evolution it began to draw in the surrounding energy. Through normal means this procedure would take decades to finish but due to the abundance of energy the time was shortened significantly.
Inside the tomb, the crowd of people had realized that it was more spacious than first expected. The experts realized that the owner of the tomb was famously adept with formations. This led to the parties mistakenly believing the energy flowing to the gem to be that of defensive formations.
They worked together for days to circumvent the traps and defensive formations. That was until they discovered a book that was placed upon a pedestal. This book, although it appeared worn and tattered, incited the greed of each member present. They knew that this book must be valuable to be so heavily guarded.
Rosanne, although she knew it to be risky, grabbed the book and proceeded to run out of the tomb. She had realised that doing this would anger the others but Rosanne had memorised the placement of the traps and how to trigger them. Upon her escape she triggered a few traps as to stall her pursuers as she knew she would be unaffected.
Upon reaching the entrance of the tomb, she decided that hiding herself in the mountains would perhaps offer her a chance to escape. As she searched for a place to hide she knew that if she was discovered they would surely kill her and take the book.
As she found a place to hide, her curiosity got the better of her and caused her to release her guard slightly and take a glance at the pages of the book. It was a manual on how to open a personal Sub Space. When realizing the worth of the book, she tore out and destroyed key pages. Because of this she knew that if killed, the book would be basically worthless.
Due to her relaxed guard she had been discovered, her pursuers exuded a bloodlust and continued to chase her down like a dog. Using artifacts and talismans in an improvised manner, she managed to hinder their chase. This allowed her to gain a moment in which to escape. Unfortunately she was unable to fully utilize this chance and became cornered.
Knowing she was unable to escape, she looked and saw that she was out of artifacts and talismans. She decided that she would take a stand and cut down as many as she could.
¡°Finally stopped running eh?¡± A man confidently walked to the front and gloated to his prey.
¡°Don¡¯t suppose we can talk this out?¡± Rosanne fired back knowing the outcome but trying anyway.
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¡°Not a chance! After what you did, you¡¯ll be lucky if you die here in one piece.¡± The man said this with a sneer, obviously feeling that he had the upper hand.
¡°Oh please, this book belongs to the one who takes it, I just happened to grab it first. If it wasn¡¯t me who got it someone else would have.¡± Rosanne believed this as she knew nothing belonged to anyone unless you took it for yourself.
¡°You may be right, but as the main sect leading the group, we require a bit of respect and gratitude. We can¡¯t allow others to believe we¡¯ve gone soft, so you will have to serve as an example.¡±
Hearing his retort, she drew her weapon, a slightly curved, single edged sword. Knowing her chances of taking them all on were slim, she decided to target the closer enemies and systematically whittle their numbers down.
As she continued fighting she managed to slay a number of foes. When she realised that she had become severely injured she had at least reduced their number by a fraction.
Upon this realization she felt something strange. It felt like it was an energy flow for a defensive formation from the tomb. Clinging onto a glimmer of hope, she rushed towards the centre of the flow.
Exhausted, bloodied and bruised she clung to this small glimmer of hope. Upon arriving at her destination searching rapidly for the defensive formation, she received a powerful blow to her defenceless back. Mortally wounded and knowing her fate was sealed, she decided to gather and condense all the Qi energy in her body with the intent to self-destruct and dwindle their numbers to near zero.
Understanding her motive, the enemy leader decides to act quickly. He attacks with a skill in which it attacks the soul. Once his attack connects, her soul was shattered and halted her subsequent self-destruction.
With a snort of disdain, the enemy leader took the book and left. But little did he know, or anyone else for that matter, that a vortex occurred in that very spot shortly after.
When her soul shattered, it didn¡¯t shatter equally. The fragments of her soul that held personality and memories were slightly enlarged and remained close together, while the remaining fragments were scattered.
A few fragments of her soul were absorbed by the gem. When this absorption occurred, a fundamental change took place within the gem. Using the empty fragments of Rosanne¡¯s soul, it created a soul of its own.
Seeking out more of this energy, the gem began absorbing more of the soul fragments. During this process the gem realised that parts of the energy it was absorbing had a personality and will of their own. While the gem received the empty parts of the soul, it healed the parts of Rosanne¡¯s soul that contained life. Upon doing this it gained a bond with Rosanne¡¯s soul.
But how could it have been a bond of equals when, while Rosanne¡¯s soul was larger than its own, her soul had no Qi Energy of her own.
Upon the completion of the healing process, the crystal was something completely new. This was a crystal that was meant to have no soul, but now it had two!
As this was the first time something like this had come into existence, the Grand Dao of Constructs left a mark, a ¡®seed¡¯ if you will, onto the soul of the gem.
And with this event the first ever Dungeon was born into the world.
(Author¡¯s Note: Please vote on the poll for if this rewording and editing is better or worse than the original prologue. Thanks.)
Chapter Two: Awakening (edited)
A few days¡¯ pass and the newly created soul begins to awaken. It has no experience or memories and acts on pure instinct. As any new being would be, it is curious of everything. When it feels that there is a connection to something else, it decides to investigate.
While the soul was investigating, its search went further than just the bond itself. The new soul utilized the bond to delve into the memories of the other soul. Through the memories it was viewing it learned language and words, also that the other soul inhabiting the gem was a female and that her name was Rosanne. While the new soul was gaining knowledge through Rosanne¡¯s memories, her soul began to awaken.
Feeling this, the consciousness was startled and retreated to his own soul.
¡°Uhhhh¡ Where am I? Is this the afterlife? It feels dark and empty. Wait, wasn¡¯t my soul shattered?¡± Rosanne was confused, she felt whole but something was off. It was as if her soul was smaller somehow.
The new soul noticed that Rosanne had awoken and thought that it could pull a prank on her. ¡°Hello and welcome to the afterlife. I am the god of the dead and your new ruler. What I say goes and if you disobey me, you will be punished!¡± As this soul had no gender, the voice it emitted was gender neutral yet adolescent.
Upon hearing this voice, Rosanne was understandably panicked and in a fluster replied ¡°I don¡¯t know what I can do for one such as yourself sir, all I can promise is I will try my best to oblige your request. Please don¡¯t punish me!¡± By the end of her desperate speech, tears were falling down her cheeks waiting for the inevitable reply from the child like presence.
Hearing her response, the new soul couldn¡¯t contain its laughter anymore. ¡°Hahahahahahahahaha¡ I can¡¯t take it; this is just too funny.¡± It continued laughing after it finished talking.
Once it had calmed down it took a look in Rosanne¡¯s direction and noticed a confused look on her face. ¡°Uh, what¡¯s going on here? Aren¡¯t you the god of the dead?¡± She asked puzzled.
¡°Yeah, about that¡¡± the new soul returned. Rosanne hearing this, became furious. ¡°Do you think you can play me for a fool? If you aren¡¯t the god of the dead, then who the hell are you and where are we?¡±
¡°Me? I¡¯m nobody really. I just woke up myself, I don¡¯t have a past. As for where we are, I can only guess we are in my body. I don¡¯t know about you but I¡¯m pretty comfortable. It feels like I¡¯m meant to be here.¡± It answered unsure of the truth.
Rosanne, while still pissed about what had previously transpired, managed to ask in a calmer manner. ¡°If this is your body, what are you? I can¡¯t see anything, there are no smells to speak of and I feel nothing around me. What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know; I think I¡¯m a gem but from what I can tell there aren¡¯t any others like me. That¡¯s according to your memories anyway.¡± It answered in an offhand manner.
¡°Hold on, what did you just say? Did you say you were looking at my memories?¡± When Rosanne heard this, she felt violated like her privacy had been invaded.
¡°Yeah, but because you woke up I didn¡¯t get a good look. I¡¯m intrigued about the world, mind if I take another peek?¡± The soul asked candidly.
¡°Not in your lifetime, I won¡¯t let you look at my memories. Ever heard of privacy, you could always just ask about the world you know?¡± She replied hastily.
As she finished her response, Rosanne had a realization. ¡°You said that you think you¡¯re a gem right? If that¡¯s true you¡¯re some type of treasure. Maybe of some value which means if you¡¯re caught and refined I will be as well seeing as I¡¯m also stuck in here with you. Okay, we are going to have to figure out a way to defend ourselves.¡±
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.¡°But I want to know more about the world, come on tell me, tell me!¡± The new soul whined in a relatively bratty tone.
¡°Fine you win, first lesson. In this world there are people know as Cultivators. They can be immensely powerful. They have the power to destroy mountains or rip the sky apart if they so choose. They can even become immortal. Cultivators are extremely greedy though, when they find any sort of treasure they will refine it to gain more power or make a weapon or armour of some sort. This means that if they find us they will refine us and kill us. Do you want to survive? Because I sure as hell know I do! We need to find a way to gain more power and use it.¡±
¡°Ahh!! I don¡¯t want to die. Tell me how do we get stronger?¡± The newly created soul said with an obvious panic in its voice.
¡°Well the first thing you need to do is sense the energy around us and draw it in. Since you don¡¯t have a Dantian and your body is a gem, it shouldn¡¯t matter where you store it. Give it a try.¡±
The young soul was hanging off every word, it tried sensing the energy around it. At first it wasn¡¯t able to feel anything but after a few minutes it was able to sense a faint sensation, it was small but substantial enough to feel. It had a comfortable and familiar feeling. It tried to draw it in and it was able to do so with relative ease. As the energy entered the gem, it began to change. Although the change was slight, it was a difference nonetheless.
¡°I did it!¡± It shouted, excited about its success.
¡°Wait!! It hasn¡¯t even been ten minutes yet. It should take weeks at least to sense energy, never mind drawing it in.¡± Rosanne said shocked at what had just transpired. In her experience it had taken her around a month to learn the very same thing.
Although it did make sense, the soul was formed from fragments that had originally belonged to a cultivator and had been exposed to large amounts of energy in the first place. The body was also that of a gem so it had a high affinity for energy.
Seeing how easy it was to draw in the energy, the soul tried again. Upon doing so it felt a splitting pain like its soul was tearing.
¡°You shouldn¡¯t try to absorb too much at one time. Let me guess you had an intense pain just then right? That is called a Backlash, it happens when you can¡¯t support the energy you are drawing in with your own power.¡± Rosanne was gloating at this point as she knew what would happen from previous experience. ¡°When a cultivator circulates the energy through their Meridians they filter it into their own Qi energy causing it to increase, since you are a gem I guess you don¡¯t have to follow that procedure really.¡±
When the new soul heard this, it continued to absorb energy. After some time passed it became bored with simply absorbing the energy. ¡°What do I do with this Qi?¡± It asked eager to understand more about this power it just discovered.
¡°Personally, I have no idea. You are the first gem I have encountered with a soul inside. I haven¡¯t even heard of something like this before. You should really make certain you can control your Qi before you try using it in any way. It won¡¯t end well for us if you stir something up and we are found.¡±
Disregarding Rosanne¡¯s warning, the new soul decided to send its Qi into its surroundings attempting to sense anything around the gem.
Although this decision may seem small at first, it caused a chain of events that started everything.
When the gem was absorbing the energy, it changed that energy into Qi, it became a certain type of Qi. One with a somewhat parasitic effect. This Qi invades non-living things such as rocks and dirt. It also takes over living things with no active consciousness such as grass and trees. The Qi energy forces these things to form a bond, claiming it as part of its territory.
Chapter Three: Death (edited)
When the young soul sent its Qi energy into its surroundings, it felt something peculiar. It felt as though its surroundings were expanding but in some regard remained stagnant. ¡°Hmm, this feeling, it¡¯s weird. Difficult to describe. Oh well, let¡¯s see what I can sense around us?¡±
¡°What are you doing? Muttering to yourself, if you have any questions then ask me.¡± Rosanne, thinking that the new soul was doing something stupid, decided to take a look.
¡°Huh, me, I was trying to use my Qi energy to see if I can sense anything. When I did send it out I felt something strange. What about you? Can you sense anything?¡± It asked Rosanne, pondering whether the feeling was just him.
¡°What do you mean, of course I can¡¯t sense-wait actually I can feel around us! I can almost see it, what did you do?! The only time I have heard of something like this is when talking about a powerful Cultivator. How did you do this?! You¡¯ve just started!¡± Rosanne said overwhelmed by the shocking event that has just unfolded. She could feel the surrounding area so clearly that it was as if she could see it even though it was a mere few meters in every direction.
¡°Why are you so shocked? Did I do something wrong? Are we going to be found and killed? I don¡¯t want to die!! I just started living!! Don¡¯t let me die yet.¡± The terror evident in its voice. It was worried as though something bad could happen due to what it had chosen to do. If it were able it would have been crying at this point.
¡°Can you please just shut up? You¡¯re not going to die, if you don¡¯t shut it I might kill you myself¡± The new soul was silent as soon as her threat was heard. ¡°Good, now this is something new to me so I can¡¯t explain much. It doesn¡¯t appear to be problematic so we don¡¯t have to worry. Can you expand that out a little bit further, say a few meters or so? It should give us a good estimation of what¡¯s going on around us.¡±
¡°Hold on, you don¡¯t really know much at all do you?¡± It appeared to be somewhat delighted by this information, noticing her constant unknowing of the subject.
¡°It¡¯s called modesty, maybe you should learn some. It will make being stuck in here with you easier.¡± She actually had no idea on what to do in this situation, she didn¡¯t want the new soul knowing this though. If she let this slip, not only would she be embarrassed but she knew she¡¯d never hear the end of it.
¡°Uh huh, Of course it is.¡± It said sarcastically, it was sceptical of this but it chose to not call her out, at least not yet. It then used its QI energy to expand its territory. It didn¡¯t know how large a meter actually was so it just decided to expand until it felt it was enough.
The young soul injected its Qi energy into its surroundings and expanded its reach, it soon found out that the further it tried to expand its reach the more energy it required to do so. The reasoning was because it was expanding in a spherical radius. The energy it required to infect the next ¡°layer¡± increased due to the distance growing larger.
As the soul was expanding its territory, the beasts in the surroundings felt a change. An increase in energy in that area. The beasts followed a chain of command of sorts, with the stronger beasts ruling on top and the weaker beasts at the bottom. But the beasts in that area were relatively weak in comparison to other beasts. The most powerful beasts within their area was a pack of wolves. The area of increased energy was largely attractive to any beast within the area and became known to all. Each beast was rushing to get to this power first as if to claim it for themselves.
Rosanne noticed that something had entered into their territory, she thought something didn¡¯t exactly feel right. She decided to take a look, she became shocked when she looked into how much they had expanded their reach. ¡°What have you done?! I said a few meters, not a few hundred meters. For god¡¯s sake, do you even know how big a meter is?¡±
¡°Well no, I don¡¯t know. I just kept going until I thought it was enough. Anyway, what were you doing all this time?¡±
If Rosanne had a body, she would be face-palming right now. ¡°Of course you don¡¯t. I mean, why would you? Anyway, we have a problem and it¡¯s your fault. We have a lot of beasts coming this way and we don¡¯t want them to find us. We have to do something.¡±
¡°But but¡ There is nothing we can do at the moment is there!?¡± It said in a panic and then suddenly from seemingly nowhere ¡°Idea!!¡±
¡°What is it?¡± As soon as Rosanne heard this she had a bit of hope.
¡°We pray to the God of the dead that we live.¡± It said in a serious tone as not to alert Rosanne to the fact it was making fun of her until a few moments later.
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¡°UUURRRGGGHHH¡ I would kill you if I could!¡± She was furious. It wouldn¡¯t stop mocking her even in this kind of situation. But at that moment she heard a howl.
¡°AAAAWWWWOOOO!!!!¡±
It was a long howl that seemingly signalled the inevitable arrival of the wolves, the top of the food chain in that area. ¡°AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!¡± Rosanne and the new soul both screamed in terror. ¡°What do we do?!¡± Screamed the soul. The pair were in such a panic that if they had the ability, they would be running in circles.
Upon the arrival of the beasts, a battle broke out. The conflict contained Wolves, Monkeys, Birds and even a few Mice. Although the battle had just begun the advantage was clearly with the Wolves. Their advantage was that they were a pack and had the ability to work together if need be. One or two would attack an enemy, cornering them and allowing waiting Wolves to ambush, securing the kill with little effort.
The waging battle lasted an hour or two before the surviving beasts fled. They knew they couldn¡¯t win. It was a long and bloody conflict but in the end the Wolves secured the victory.
Using the rights that they won in battle, they claimed that land as their home. They marked it as their territory and licked their wounds.
When Rosanne and the new soul realized that the wolves were not going to do anything to them, they calmed down. ¡°It seems like they haven¡¯t noticed us. I think we are safe for the moment. Now what are we going to do? Oh right, you didn¡¯t answer my question. What have you been doing up until now?¡± It was curious as it hadn¡¯t notice her doing anything in particular. ¡°Were you trying to figure out what to do, now that you don¡¯t exactly know anything?¡±
¡°Excuse me, I have been cultivating to give you energy and-¡° She froze. ¡°What do you mean I ¡®don¡¯t exactly know anything¡¯? Of course I know what to do, I mean why wouldn¡¯t I? I¡¯ve cultivated before, I¡¯ve done all this. What makes you think I don¡¯t know anything?¡± She was flustered. Knowing she had been called out but too embarrassed to say it.
¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know, how about how you¡¯ve been surprised too much and you even said that you haven¡¯t even heard about a gem with a soul before.¡± If there was a corner, Rosanne would be squatting there drawing circles.
¡°Anyway, you need a name don¡¯t you. I can¡¯t just call you ¡®you¡¯ or ¡®it¡¯. Are you even a boy or a girl?¡± Rosanne said, trying to draw the conversation elsewhere.
It was at this moment that the impression of the person who first held the gem became prominent. ¡°I think I¡¯m a boy. Yeah, that feels more comfortable.¡± As soon as the decision was made the souls voice became a bit more masculine, but it was still the voice of a child so he sounded like a ten-year-old boy.
¡°Well, in that case I¡¯ll call you Mort, which is short for Mortimer. It also happens means death, as you¡¯ll probably be the death of me¡¡± She was muttering the last part so Mort was unable to hear her.
(Author¡¯s note: Mort is actually French for ¡®Death¡¯.)
¡°Mort huh, so my name is Mort now. Suppose it is better than ¡®you¡¯ or ¡®it¡¯.¡± While Mort wasn¡¯t showing it, he was actually rather excited with his name.
¡°So what are we going to do now?¡± Mort asked Rosanne curiously.
¡°Well for now we¡¯ll wait and come up with some ideas. If you think of something, come talk to me about it first, don¡¯t just do it. We don¡¯t want something like this to happen again, do we?¡± Rosanne was speaking threateningly by the end of it as she didn¡¯t want to go through something like that ever again.
¡°Of course I will, I promise I¡¯ll do that so please stop looking at me like that.¡± He was feeling the pressure under Rosanne¡¯s glare. You have to remember that it hasn¡¯t even been a day since Mort was ¡®born¡¯. How could he withstand the glare from someone who has lived for decades with more than one life threatening experience?
But neither of them knew the properties of their Qi. It was one that infects something and lays claim to it. While the effect is immediate on things with no consciousness, it will still affect things with a consciousness, it will just take longer. So when those wolves were resting within Mort and Rosanne¡¯s territory, the ¡®Dungeon Qi¡¯ was being absorbed by them, slowly infecting and laying claim to them. Making them become a part of the territory and a part of Mort and Rosanne.
Authors Note: Sorry for just posting edited chapters recently.
Chapter 4 First Steps
It¡¯s been a few days since then. Mort had come up with a few ideas but they were all denied by Rosanne. Eventually he decided that he¡¯d had enough, that he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything if the wolves were always above them. So he decided that if the wolves wouldn¡¯t move, why not move themselves.
So he decided to try, not telling Rosanne as he knew that she would never agree. He started with trying to make a small room around them. It was slow work as he had to push the dirt, compressing it, away from the gem, everywhere except for directly beneath them.
It took about three hours to make a small cubic meter room. It was square just for looks. It was a dark room with a slight glow coming from the gem, placed on a dirt pedestal in the centre of the room.
Unfortunately, it was that moment Rosanne decided to check up on him.
¡°What the hell are you doing! I told you to tell me if you had any ideas, not mess around and try to get us found!¡± She was furious at him. She had been through a lot recently so she had been under a lot of stress. So with Mort doing something without telling her, she used that as an outlet.
¡°You almost got us killed last time you did something on your own, we¡¯re lucky that we haven¡¯t been found and yet you¡¯re moving things around and probably alerting everything in a few miles! We don¡¯t need you living up to your name!¡±
Mort felt wronged. He¡¯d only been trying help. From this feeling, stemmed anger.
¡°I was only trying to help! You would always say no to my ideas no matter what they were! Not even letting me try! You haven¡¯t even given me a proper reason for it!¡±
As they were both very angry, the Dungeon Qi was becoming chaotic. The closer to the gem, the denser the dungeon Qi is, and the greater the connection they have with it. Eventually it got to be too much. They caused an explosion.
The energy in close proximity to them was getting too chaotic so the power needed to go somewhere. So, it went to the area with the least resistance. They blew a hole through the roof and opened an entrance to the outside world.
(Wolves pov)
The wolves had just been resting peacefully when suddenly, a loud rumbling and a giant ¡°BOOM!¡± happened underneath a large rock next to the Alpha¡¯s resting place. When this happened, the wolves thought they were under attack so they all grouped up and went to the location of the sound. But upon reaching the newly formed hole, what they saw was a small, cracked, gem laying on the ground. It was radiating a familiar energy but strangely enough they felt no desire to consume the gem so as to advance in power. In fact, they felt like protecting it, like it was something above them, something for them to listen to, something akin a god to them.
This was because they had been infected with the Dungeon Qi. They had slowly absorbed it and so the gem, the source of the Dungeon Qi, was higher in the hierarchy then them. It was the master while they were the loyal slaves.
When the leader of the wolves saw the gem, it decided to go down and show its respect to the gem. But when it jumped down to greet it, the wolf heard a voice in its mind.
¡°STOP! Don¡¯t come any closer!¡± The voice was obviously panicked, but it sounded slightly childish.
The wolf stopped immediately. It felt confused. Why would their master feel so panicked?
When the wolf stopped, it felt through its connection with the gem that the voice was confused. It felt like it could almost hear whispering on the edge of its mind. There were two different voices, one was the childish voice from before while the other was a more mature and feminine voice. After a few minutes of that muttering, the childlike voice spoke.
¡°Um, please go back until I call you again. Oh, and please don¡¯t let any others in either.¡± The childish voice sounded rather nervous. Like it wasn¡¯t sure of what it was doing. This confused the wolf but it decided to do what it said.
It left and guarded the hole to make sure that nothing else could make it in.
(Mort¡¯s pov)
¡°It, it actually listened to me. Hey Rosanne, why did that wolf listen to me?¡± Mort softly asked Rosanne, thinking that she might blow up at him again.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
¡°I, I don¡¯t know. That¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen anything like that. I mean, there are some clans and sects that specialise in controlling beasts and insects, but they usually have to raise them through certain methods! I¡¯ve never heard of anyone able to control something that they meet for the first time. It just doesn¡¯t make sense! Haaa¡ I suppose that nothing has made sense recently either. I should just get used to it.¡± Rosanne felt resigned to the fact that nothing would make sense for her for a long time.
¡°Well, I suppose that for now we should just leave it be for now and get back to figuring out what to do. As long as the Wolves listen to you then we should be safe for now, but still, be careful around them. They are still beasts and we should look very enticing to them. Beasts aren¡¯t that smart and they usually follow their desires.¡± Rosanne warned Mort, still feeling uneasy about the whole thing.
And so, for the next few days Rosanne went back to gathering energy and thinking of what to do about their situation.
Meanwhile Mort decided to try and communicate with the Wolves. He spent almost all his time trying to form a connection with them. At first it was difficult to connect with them as this was a completely new experience, but gradually the connection grew stronger and clearer.
Normally if a being was absorbing the Dungeon Qi, it would slowly form a connection with the source, and the longer time exposed, the stronger the connection, but as Mort was spending time and attention on the Wolves, the connection rapidly grew stronger to the point that he could feel the connection he had with them even without fully focusing on it. It wasn¡¯t as close a connection as he had with Rosanne, and would probably never be but it was powerful enough that without outside interference, the bond would be almost impossible to break at their current level of power.
About a week after the incident exposing them to the Wolves, Mort was communicating with the one he talks to the most, the Alpha. It couldn¡¯t be considered talking with as the Wolves were not smart enough to form words, but they could convey intentions. They were ordinary wolves for the most part, not Cultivating Beast. Not yet at least.
¡°We might be leaving eventually. That¡¯s all Rosanne seems to be thinking about recently, a way to leave without being found out. You guys wouldn¡¯t stop us would you. I mean, why can¡¯t we just stay right here. You guys wouldn¡¯t hurt us, in fact I get the feeling that you would even protect us¡ That¡¯s it! We can just stay here and have you protect us!¡± Mort exclaimed.
¡°This way we won¡¯t need to leave and we can have something to protect us. This is a great idea, just let me tell Rosanne. I¡¯ll do my best to convince her. I can do it!¡± Mort was ecstatic with the idea. He had grown to like the Wolves during the time he had spent with the them.
The alpha on the other hand had been confused this entire time on who Rosanne was, as she never communicated with the wolves and did her own thing.
Mort rushed his consciousness back to the gem and started to excitedly shout.
¡°Rosanne, Rosanne. I have an idea! I know what we can do!¡±
¡°Oh no, I have a bad feeling about this. Well, fire away, let¡¯s hear it.¡± Rosanne didn¡¯t have much faith in Mort¡¯s ideas, especially after the last few incidents.
¡°We can just stay here! We can just stay here and have the Wolves protect us! This way we don¡¯t need to leave and we will have someone else who will listen to us and protect us.¡±
Rosanne felt like she had heard wrong. Have the Wolves protect them? Did Mort have something wrong with his head? It was a preposterous idea.
¡°Are you just trying to get us killed? What would ever give you such a stupid idea? Have the Wolves protect us? Have you gone out of your mind?¡±
¡°What¡¯s so wrong with that?¡± Mort really couldn¡¯t see what was so wrong with his idea.
¡°Umm, hello. They are beasts who would try and eat us in a heartbeat if they could. They won¡¯t protect us.¡±
¡°But they haven¡¯t tried to eat us once in all the time that they¡¯ve known that we¡¯re here. And they listen to what I say. Without complaining and finding non-existent problems with it, unlike some people.¡± Mort said pointedly, feeling a little tired with Rosanne¡¯s attitude.
¡°So, just because they haven¡¯t tried to yet doesn¡¯t mean that they won¡¯t, and just because they listen to you doesn¡¯t mean that you can control them.¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t you just give them a chance, what¡¯s wrong with that. Remember when we first met the Wolves for the first time? The Alpha jumped down and started walking toward us, and when I asked it to stop and leave, it did.¡±
¡°They. Are. Beasts! They cannot be trusted.¡± Rosanne was feeling indignant. Why couldn¡¯t Mort understand such a simple thing?
¡°Then give me one proper reason why the Wolves can¡¯t be trusted. A good PROPER reason.¡±
¡°They¡ Uhhh.. Um¡ Well¡¡± Rosanne tried to think of a reason other than ¡®They are beasts¡¯ to give Mort. ¡°They, they, they¡ Fine, I don¡¯t have a proper reason. But every time Humans and Beasts meet they try and kill each other.¡±
¡°But you said that there are people who can control Beasts, and we¡¯re not human, remember?¡±
¡°But¡ Fine, we can give it a try, BUT, the first time they try anything against us is the last time we see them, OK?¡± Rosanne was reluctant at first, but gave in, in the end.
¡°Yes, you won¡¯t regret it.¡±
¡°I already am¡¡±
Mort was very excited with this new development. He rushed back to the alpha to tell him the news.
¡°I did it! I did it! We¡¯re staying here!¡± Mort was almost shouting this. If he had a body he be practically jumping up and down with joy.
The alpha was happy that its master would be staying with them, though still confused about this Rosanne person. He felt especially touched that Mort was so excited about staying with them.
Chapter 5 The Grey Wolf
Just outside Morts territory came a Wolf. It was a lone wolf, one without a pack, but that was no reason to look down on it.As it was a lone wolf, most things looked down on it and bullied it, especially other wolf packs. Because of this it had been through a lot of dangerous situations, most life and death. Yet because it went through all that, it managed to cultivate some Qi. It was a small amount, but it was still there. This small strand of Qi made the Wolf undergo a qualitative change. It was now a Monsterous Beast.
Monsterous Beasts were different from normal beasts. They have acquiredQi and can now cultivate. The way for beasts to acquire Qi is to either be born with it, to eat a natural treasure of sorts, or go through many life and death situations and eventually cultivate some. The most common method is to be born with it, but that generally limits how strong the beast can grow. The next most used method is to go through many life and death situations and survive, but it is still uncommon for a beast to make it that far. Beasts that use this method find it harder to grow stronger than the first, but aren''t as limited in their potential. The last method is incredibly rare as the natural treasure has to one: be edable, two: not already have beings with Qi already sence it and trying to take it for themselves, and three: generally not have formed a consiousness as they usually won''t let themselves be eaten. Not all beasts born with Qi will stopped by their racial limits, but it is still incredibly rare for them to surpass it, almost as rare as finding a natural treasure and being able to take it away. These were not the only ways for a beast to acquire Qi, but the most used.
A Monsterous Beast is stronger than a normal beast in almost every way. They are stronger physically, can heal faster, can exert themselfs for a longer time, and are a bit smarter than normal beasts. But thats not to say that they are invincible in front of normal beasts.
When this lone wolf felt the Qi rich environment that is Morts territory, it decided that it wantsthis placefor itself. And so, it went in, ready to kill all who already inhabit this area.
Mort was doing what he usually does, looking at the wolfs and seeing what they are doing, when a new creature entered his territory. He took a look at it and found it was a wolf, but it was different from his wolves. It seemed stronger.
Worried, he went back to the crystal that is his body and decided to ask Rosanne about this new wolf.
"Rosanne, a new wolf seems to have found this place, but it seems to be a bit different from the others. Do you think you could tell me why?"
"What do you mean different? Just give me a moment." Rosanne scanned over Morts territory to try and find this ''different'' wolf.
"SHIT! We have good news and bad news. Bad news is that that wolf is a Monsterous Beast. Good news is that it is still very weak for a Monsterous Beast and that there is one. More bad news is that no matter what Monsterous Beast it is, it is still stronger than an ordinary beast."
"Monsterous Beast? What''s a Monsterous Beast?" Mort was confused. He had never heard the term Monsterous Beast before.
"A Monsterous beast is a beast that can cultivate. They''re stronger than normal beasts in every way. I''ll tell you about it later, we have to deal with this now!"
"Well, you know... We do have the wolves. We could always use them." If Mort had a face, it would be split in half by a huge grin.
"The wolves? They''ll run as soon as they see it."
"But what else are we going to do? We don''t have much of a choice."
"..."
"Well, seeing as you don''t have any other ideas, I''ll go and inform the wolves. Bye." And with that, Mort ''left'' to ask the wolves for help.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Once the Alpha heared that there was an intruder, he gathered the pack. There were around 30-40 wolves in the the pack. To deal with this new threat, the alphasent about 15 others and to deal with the Monsterous Beast.
"Are you sure that was enough, and shouldn''t you go with them?" Mort was still worried about the Monsterous Beast.
"That was most definatly wasen''t enough. There just going to die." It was the first time Rosanne had actually connected with the wolves mind, so the Alpha was confused on this new voice, but it had a simmilar feeling to Morts voice, so the Alpha wasen''t too worried about it.
"I really think you should send some more." Mort was getting increasingly worried, especially after Rosannes comment.
But as the Alpha was just an ordinary Wolf, it''s intelligence was limited, so all it responded with was a confident feeling, completely looking down on the Monsterous Beast, thinking it a lone wolf that was kicked out of its pack. The only reason it sent so many wolves already was because Mort seemed worried about it.
The area was quiet, with only the rustling of leaves. Suddenly, 10 wolves rushed past. They were on a hunt. They ran for about three minutes before they found what they were searching for. It was a large wolf, about one meter tall, walking leasurly through the forest as if he owns the place. He was grey in colour, but had a black streak down his side.As soon as he saw the 10 wolves, he gave a snort of distain, looking down on them.
Seeing this, the wolves felt furious. Not only was this intruder arrogantly strolling through their territory, he also lookes down on them. (A.N. They don''t know too much about Mort so they consider it theirs.)
Although the wolves were furious at it, their instincts were screaming at them that this wolf was dangerous, but they were still ordinary beasts and weren''t too smart. They still thought of this wolf as a lone wolf that was kicked out of its own pack.
The onlyprecautions their instincts managed to make them do was to slowly encircle and growl at the Grey Wolf, to try and threaten it to leave. They still looked down on it and thus weren''t too wary of it.
Upon seeing this, the Grey Wolffelt insulted. Only the weak used scare tactics, and they only used it on those weaker than them. So, as soon as a wolf got close, he lunged foward and swiped at the wolfs head.
Caught off guard, the wolf wasn''t able to react and was instantly killed.
They were shocked. They had been over confident because of their recent win over this area and started to look down on everything, but this woke them up. They started to take this Wolf as an actual threat.
They started to circle him, making sure that they were a good distance away from the Grey Wolf. Far enough to be able to react to its movements, but not too far as that would just make them waste energy.
After circling the Grey Wolf for abouta couple ofseconds the wolves attacked. Three wolves charged foward. Two from the front and one form behind. One tried to swipe at the Grey Wolfs face, to distract it while the other tried to get through its guard and attack its waist. The last wolf was there to help if things went bad.
And bad they went.
As soon as the wolves started their attack, the Grey Wolf jumped over the front two and landed on the back of another wolf, pinning it down. What happened after was a muffledcrunshing sound. The Grey Wolf crushed its head.
By the time the other two wolves turned around and rushed back, he had already moved on to his next victim. Leaping over to a second wolf and swiping to crush its spine on impact, fataly wounding it.
As soon as the other wolves saw this, they regrouped and started to run through the trees. Not to run away, as knew they wouldn''t be able to lose it and thought they would be bringing back a calamity, they wanted to use the trees as cover for sneak attacks. Of course, the Grey Wolf would not just let them run away, he was enjoying the hunt. He chased after them.
After two minutes of sneak attacks, and mabey two or three broken trees later, they were down to three wolfs.
The Grey Wolf had been enjoying himself. Seeing them running around, trying so hard, but unable to do anything. He was going to take his time to kill the last three. So with a slow lung, as if mocking them, he aimed to kill one of the three. But, it was a bit too slow. As soon as itwas seen that the Grey Wolf was going slowly, a wolf off to the side rushed foward and tackled the Grey Wolf.
With that tackle, the Grey Wolf went crashing into the side of a tree, smashing its waist against a branch. The branch broke, but the small stub left pierced into the side of the Grey Wolf. The Grey Wolf was incredibly angry. It had been injured by a beast that he looked down on. Furious, it rushed foward at full strength and killed off the other wolves.
The battle took about five minutes in all. From when they firstran intoeach other to when the Grey Wolf finally killed the last one. So, while slightly injured, the Grey Wolf continued foward, to try and conquer the area.