Ch17 Run

Ryan found Qi Point 002 shortly after midnight.

Opening it took considerably longer.

He sat cross-legged on the narrow mattress, breathing slowly while the city beyond his walls settled into its nighttime rhythm. The Streamer Guild drone hovered dormant near the ceiling, its blue indicator dimmed beneath privacy mode.

Ryan barely noticed it.

His attention had turned completely inward.

Inhale.

Ambient Esoteric Energy entered his body.

His core caught it.

Refined it.

Warm X Energy flowed outward through the pathways associated with his bloodstream.

Ryan guided that energy toward his left forearm.

The blockage was familiar now.

He had spent hours pressing against it the previous night, gradually weakening the resistance without managing to break through. At first it had felt like trying to force water through solid stone.

Tonight, there was a crack.

Small.

But real.

Ryan gathered X Energy against it.

Pressure built.

His arm began to ache.

He released.

Breathed.

Gathered more.

Pressed again.

The pain sharpened.

Ryan ignored it.

Not recklessly.

The cultivation manual had been explicit about that.

Controlled pressure.

Release before the pathway destabilized.

Recover.

Repeat.

Brute force could rupture the network he was trying to expand.

So Ryan remained patient.

Pressure.

Release.

Pressure.

Release.

Minutes became hours.

Sweat ran down his temples.

His breathing remained steady.

The blockage weakened.

Ryan felt it.

Another push.

The resistance flexed.

His heartbeat quickened.

"Come on."

He gathered his X Energy one more time.

Compressed it.

Then drove the pressure directly into the weakened point.

Something gave.

A soft internal pop pulsed through his forearm.

Ryan's breath caught.

Heat rushed down his arm.

The sensation wasn't painful.

It was the opposite.

Something that had always been tight suddenly opened, and X Energy flooded through the new pathway with almost startling ease.

Ryan's eyes snapped open.

A blue notification appeared.

[ QI POINT 002 OPENED ]

[ CULTIVATION PROGRESS UPDATED ]

Ryan stared.

Then grinned.

"Yes."

He immediately opened his status.

[ STATUS ]

Name: Ryan Lowell

Species: Human

Sex: Male

Cultivation Rank: Unranked

Qi Points: 2 / 360

Rank One Progress: 2 / 40

Talent: Absolute Energy Barrier

Strength: 8

Constitution: 8

Dexterity: 8

Speed: 8

Mental Energy: 8 / 9

X Energy: 9 / 11

Skills: None

Unique Skills: None

Faction: Streamer Guild — Provisional Creator

Subscribers: 0

Current Viewers: 0

Ryan studied the changes.

Strength.

Up one.

Constitution.

Up one.

Speed.

Up one.

Mental Energy capacity had increased from eight to nine.

And X Energy—

Ryan smiled.

Eleven.

That mattered.

A lot.

His torso-sized barrier had cost roughly four X Energy during his first experiments.

At nine maximum, two large barriers had nearly emptied him.

At eleven, he had more room.

Not dramatically more.

But enough that every future increase suddenly looked important.

"Skynet. Why didn't Dexterity increase?"

[ ATTRIBUTE DEVELOPMENT FROM QI POINT ACTIVATION IS NON-UNIFORM. ]

[ INDIVIDUAL QI POINTS REINFORCE DIFFERENT PHYSICAL AND ESOTERIC PATHWAYS. ]

Ryan's interest sharpened.

"So opening every point doesn't increase everything?"

[ CORRECT. ]

"Can I see what future points improve?"

[ DETAILED CULTIVATION PATHWAY ANALYSIS UNAVAILABLE AT CURRENT AUTHORIZATION LEVEL. ]

Ryan sighed.

"Of course."

He looked at the status again.

Two out of three hundred sixty.

Thirty-eight until Rank One.

That number was still ridiculous.

But yesterday it had been thirty-nine.

Progress.

Ryan dismissed the interface.

Only then did exhaustion hit him.

Hard.

He fell backward onto the mattress.

"Tomorrow..."

His eyes were already closing.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"...we get subscribers."

The room went dark.

The alarm came far too soon.

Ryan opened his eyes to a Skynet tone pulsing gently through his skull.

He groaned.

His entire body wanted another three hours.

Then he remembered.

Sword.

Hunt.

Stream.

Ryan sat up.

"Okay."

The excitement helped.

A little.

He dressed quickly, fastening the reinforced longsword at his hip before checking his equipment.

Combat knife.

Sidearm.

Magazines.

Wristband.

Sword.

Everything secure.

His gaze drifted toward the hallway.

The communal washroom waited somewhere outside.

Ryan imagined walking into a room full of alien mercenaries and half-naked recruits.

"Nope."

Tomorrow.

Probably.

He disabled the drone's privacy mode.

The silver sphere awakened.

Its lens rotated toward him.

[ CREATOR DRONE ACTIVE ]

[ BROADCAST STATUS: STANDBY ]

Ryan looked at it.

"Morning."

The drone said nothing.

"Good talk."

He left.

The squad assembled near the outer gate before sunrise.

Ben arrived with his axe resting across one shoulder.

Dezzy wore her sword at her hip.

Jessica and Raven carried the same particle sidearms as before.

Jessica noticed Ryan's expression immediately.

"What happened?"

Ryan smiled.

"Qi Point 002."

Her eyebrows rose.

"You opened it?"

"Last night."

Ben stared.

"You have two?"

"Yep."

"I still have one."

Ryan's smile widened.

"Skill issue."

Ben looked offended.

"You had a head start."

"Sounds like something somebody with one Qi Point would say."

Jessica laughed.

Dezzy ignored them.

"I made progress toward my next point but did not achieve a breakthrough."

Raven nodded.

"Same."

Jessica sighed.

"Me too."

Ben pointed accusingly at Ryan.

"See? Freak."

Ryan placed a hand over his heart.

"Jealousy is ugly."

"What changed?" Jessica asked.

Ryan opened the relevant portion of his status and shared it.

"Strength, Constitution, Speed, one Mental Energy, two X Energy."

Dezzy studied the numbers.

"Dexterity unchanged."

"Skynet says individual Qi Points reinforce different pathways."

"Logical."

Ben frowned.

"Mine gave me two X Energy when I opened the first one."

"So did mine," Jessica said.

Dezzy nodded.

"That suggests X Energy expansion may be relatively consistent, while secondary attribute reinforcement varies by point or individual physiology."

Raven looked toward the gate.

"We can conduct the scientific conference after breakfast."

Ben rubbed his stomach.

"Speaking of."

"There are rations in your storage," Jessica reminded him.

Ben looked offended.

"We agreed we'd stop eating depressing survival bars whenever possible."

Raven glanced toward the forest.

"First edible thing we kill."

Ben smiled.

"I knew I liked you."

They approached the gate.

Ryan paid his two-crystal entry reserve mentally before remembering—

Leaving was free.

Coming back was what cost them.

The thought was becoming increasingly annoying.

The gate barrier opened.

Five recruits walked through.

The wilderness waited.

Early morning transformed the forest.

The heat hadn't yet reached yesterday's punishing levels. Pale mist hung between the trees, catching the first golden light of the larger sun. Violet ferns rose above Ryan's shoulders in dense clusters, their broad leaves glistening with moisture.

The crimson sun remained low.

For a few minutes, the place was almost beautiful.

Then something screamed several miles away.

Ben looked toward the sound.

"Breakfast?"

"Probably not," Jessica said.

Ryan's drone drifted behind him.

Still standby.

Jessica noticed.

"You're not streaming?"

Ryan looked at the interface.

Subscribers: 0

Current Viewers: 0

"I need to."

"Then why aren't you?"

Ryan hesitated.

It sounded stupid now that she had asked.

"I don't know."

Ben looked back.

"Stage fright?"

"No."

"Definitely stage fright."

Ryan frowned.

He'd wanted this for years.

Watched thousands of hours of combat streams.

Imagined what he'd say.

How he'd introduce himself.

What his first fight would look like.

Now that the button was actually there, suddenly every opening line sounded ridiculous.

Jessica smiled.

"You don't need a speech."

Ryan looked at her.

"Darkstar always has good openings."

"Darkstar has been doing this for years."

"Exactly."

"So stop trying to be Darkstar."

That landed harder than Ryan expected.

Jessica continued walking.

"Just be Ryan."

Ben glanced back.

"Terrible branding advice."

Jessica threw him a look.

Ryan laughed.

Then opened the broadcast settings.

[ CREATOR NAME: UNSET ]

He still hadn't solved that problem.

Fine.

Later.

For now, Skynet would display his registered name.

[ BROADCAST TITLE ]

Ryan considered several options.

Human Cadets Survive Class-Three Frontier.

Too dramatic.

First Hunt Live.

Technically second hunt.

Road to Rank One.

Actually not terrible.

He saved that idea for later.

For now, he typed:

Hunting in the Woods

Jessica read it through the shared display.

"That's your title?"

"What?"

Ben turned.

"You're trying to attract ten thousand subscribers with Hunting in the Woods?"

"I don't want to waste the good titles."

Raven stared at him.

"Titles aren't ammunition."

Ryan ignored her.

He activated the stream.

The drone's blue ring turned red.

[ BROADCAST ACTIVE ]

[ CURRENT VIEWERS: 0 ]

Ryan looked at the number.

Zero.

Nothing happened.

The forest remained the forest.

No cheering.

No flood of comments.

No sudden audience.

Ryan felt strangely relieved.

"Well."

Jessica smiled.

"Congratulations."

"For what?"

"Your first stream."

Ryan looked toward the drone.

His grin slowly returned.

"Yeah."

His first stream.

Even if nobody was watching.

Yet.

Twenty minutes later, Dezzy raised one hand.

Everyone stopped.

Ryan immediately quieted.

Dezzy crouched beside a patch of disturbed soil.

"Multiple."

Ryan moved closer.

"How many?"

"At least three."

She examined another track.

"Likely four."

Jessica drew her sidearm.

Raven flexed her fingers.

Ben lowered his axe from his shoulder.

Ryan's hand settled on his sword.

The squad moved carefully.

Several minutes later, the terrain dipped into a shallow glade.

Ryan saw movement.

Something long twisted through the rotting vegetation.

Then another.

And another.

Four creatures occupied the depression.

Each was roughly eight feet long.

Their bodies resembled enormous centipedes crossed with serpents, protected by overlapping plates of dark green chitin. Dozens of hooked legs moved beneath them in disturbing waves.

At the front of each creature, two serrated pincers opened and closed.

One snapped around a fallen branch.

The wood broke.

Ben whispered, "Not breakfast."

Raven nodded.

"Definitely not."

Ryan queried Skynet.

[ SPECIES: UNKNOWN ]

[ ESTIMATED ESOTERIC CLASSIFICATION: RANK 0 ]

[ DETAILED DATA UNAVAILABLE ]

Ryan glanced at Jessica.

She was already kneeling.

"Same rules."

Jessica nodded.

"Opening shot."

Ryan began forming his barrier before she fired.

Sapphire particles emerged.

Lattice formed.

Two seconds.

Solid.

The barrier hovered in front of him.

Jessica activated Deadshot.

Her breathing slowed.

Her eyes sharpened.

Ryan watched the barrel shift by fractions.

Then—

Crack.

The particle round struck the nearest creature where its head plate connected to the segmented body.

Chitin exploded.

Blue fluid sprayed across the ferns.

The creature shrieked.

Every other beast turned.

Ben grimaced.

"Here we go."

The wounded creature thrashed.

The other three charged.

Fast.

Far faster than the grazing beasts from yesterday.

"Positions!"

Ryan stepped forward.

The first creature lunged.

Its pincers slammed into his barrier.

The impact boomed through the glade.

Ryan felt the collision through his Mental Energy, but the barrier held.

The creature recoiled.

Ryan moved the barrier.

Mental Energy drained.

The blue wall swept sideways and smashed into the creature's head.

Not enough to injure it badly.

Enough to disrupt its balance.

Ryan stepped around the barrier.

His sword came free.

The blade felt different from practice weapons.

Heavier.

Real.

The creature recovered.

Its pincers opened.

Ryan saw the mouth between them.

Saw the legs.

Saw exactly how stupid it would be to stand there admiring his new weapon.

He moved.

The beast snapped at empty air.

Ryan cut.

The Varkan-alloy blade struck the softer membrane beneath the creature's side.

Resistance.

Then the edge broke through.

Blue fluid splashed across Ryan's sleeve.

The creature screamed.

Ryan pulled back.

"Okay!"

Not dead.

Definitely not dead.

The creature twisted toward him.

His barrier intercepted it.

Beside him, Ben roared as another centipede-serpent rushed the ridge.

He swung the axe.

The heavy blade crashed through several legs.

The creature's body slammed into the dirt.

Ben planted one boot against its armored side.

"It's still moving!"

Dezzy arrived.

X Energy flowed through her body.

Her posture changed.

Muscles tightened beneath her uniform.

She accelerated.

One step.

Two.

Her sword punched through the creature's eye.

The blade sank deep.

The beast spasmed.

Stopped.

"One down!" Ben shouted.

"Two!" Jessica answered.

Another particle shot cracked across the glade.

The creature she'd wounded initially collapsed.

Ryan's target attacked again.

He moved the barrier across its path.

The beast tried going around.

Ryan shifted it.

Mental Energy continued falling.

The barrier wasn't fast.

But neither was the creature once Ryan controlled its approach.

He understood suddenly.

This was what his Talent was for.

Not simply blocking.

Dictating.

The creature could attack from wherever it wanted—

until Ryan decided where it was allowed to go.

He angled the barrier.

The beast moved left.

Exactly where Ryan wanted.

He stepped forward.

Sword low.

The creature lunged.

Ryan pivoted.

His blade came upward through the exposed underside of its neck.

The alloy cut deep.

Ryan twisted.

Pulled.

The beast collapsed.

He stumbled backward, breathing hard.

A grin appeared anyway.

"Three!"

"Don't count!" Raven shouted.

Right.

Fourth.

Ryan turned.

The final creature had tried circling behind them.

Raven stood in its path.

Both palms extended.

X Energy gathered.

The beast charged.

Raven released.

Air detonated.

The kinetic blast caught the creature directly in the head.

Its entire body lifted from the ground.

Eight feet of armored flesh flew backward.

It smashed into a pale tree hard enough to crack the bark.

The creature dropped.

Stunned.

Jessica fired.

One shot.

The head jerked.

Still moving.

Second shot.

The skull casing ruptured.

Silence.

Ryan held his sword ready.

Everyone scanned the glade.

Ten seconds.

Twenty.

Nothing.

Only their breathing remained.

Then Ben raised his axe.

"That..."

He inhaled.

"...was awesome."

Ryan laughed.

Adrenaline flooded through him.

His hands were shaking slightly.

His uniform was covered in blue fluid.

His barrier remained floating nearby.

His new sword was dripping.

And they were alive.

Ryan suddenly remembered the drone.

He looked up.

The silver sphere hovered above the glade.

Red ring glowing.

Still recording.

Ryan's interface displayed:

[ CURRENT VIEWERS: 0 ]

His excitement deflated slightly.

Ben noticed.

"Still zero?"

"Still zero."

Ben slapped him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry. Someday someone will appreciate how heroic I looked."

"You screamed."

"Tactically."

Jessica reholstered her sidearm.

"Harvest first."

Ryan dismissed the viewer counter.

She was right.

The creatures yielded better nuclei than yesterday's grazers.

Not dramatically better.

But enough.

After combining the fragments, they had slightly more than one complete low-grade crystal.

Ryan handed the registered yield to Jessica.

"You track today's loot."

Jessica accepted.

"Split everything after we get back?"

"Exactly."

Ben approached the least damaged carcass.

He stared at it.

Then looked at Raven.

"Breakfast?"

Raven examined the twitching legs.

"No."

"Not even a little curious?"

"No."

Jessica grimaced.

"Absolutely not."

Dezzy crouched beside the corpse.

"Consumption without species data would be unnecessarily risky."

Ben sighed.

"Fine."

He placed his palm against the creature.

Space distorted.

The corpse vanished.

His face tightened slightly as the storage load increased.

"Maybe it'll sell."

Ryan cleaned his sword.

The blue fluid clung stubbornly to the blade.

"Hopefully more than half a crystal."

They left the remaining carcasses.

The squad had barely traveled ten paces when Ryan heard something.

Branches snapping.

Fast.

Everyone stopped.

Then came shouting.

Human.

"Move!"

Four cadets exploded through the ferns ahead.

They were running directly toward Ryan's squad.

No.

Past them.

One had blood covering half his armor.

Another had lost his weapon.

All four looked terrified.

"Run!" one screamed.

Ryan stepped aside as they rushed past.

"What happened?"

The cadet didn't stop.

"Behind us!"

Ryan's hand tightened around his sword.

Something moved above.

Jessica saw it first.

Her weapon came up.

"Canopy!"

Ryan looked.

A shadow crossed between the branches.

Fast.

Too fast.

Thirty feet above them, something enormous moved through the trees without slowing.

One of the fleeing cadets looked back.

That mistake killed him.

The shadow dropped.

Ryan barely saw the descent.

One moment the cadet was running.

The next—

CRUNCH.

The creature landed on him.

The impact drove his body into the earth.

Blood sprayed across the surrounding ferns.

Ryan froze.

The cadet never screamed.

There wasn't time.

"RUN!" Ryan roared.

The squad moved.

No debate.

No formation.

Just movement.

Ryan sprinted.

His new Speed increase suddenly felt meaningless.

Behind them came another scream.

Short.

Cut off.

Ryan didn't look.

They tore through the forest.

Branches whipped across his face.

His sword bounced against his hip.

The drone raced overhead, keeping pace automatically.

Ryan's lungs burned.

Jessica ran beside him.

Raven slightly ahead.

Ben crashed through vegetation to Ryan's left.

Dezzy—

Ryan looked back.

She was falling behind.

"Dezzy!"

"I'm moving!"

Her breathing was already heavier.

The others had opened Qi Points that reinforced speed or had naturally higher ceilings.

Dezzy's physical configuration could compensate, but maintaining enhanced movement would cost X Energy and strain her body.

She activated Body Control anyway.

Her stride lengthened.

For several seconds, she gained ground.

Then Ryan saw the trees behind her move.

Not branches.

Trees.

The predator leapt.

Twenty feet.

Landed.

Leapt again.

Fast.

Effortless.

Ryan's stomach dropped.

They weren't escaping.

The realization arrived with terrifying clarity.

It didn't matter how fast Ryan ran.

It didn't matter how fast Raven ran.

It didn't matter if Jessica could keep pace.

The creature only had to catch the slowest person.

Then the next.

Then the next.

We can't outrun it.

Ryan looked ahead.

The other cadets were scattering.

One veered left.

Another right.

Panic.

Exactly what a predator wanted.

"STOP!"

Nobody responded.

Ryan planted his boot.

Turned.

"STOP RUNNING!"

Jessica skidded.

Raven turned.

Ben almost crashed into a tree.

Dezzy stumbled toward them.

Ryan drew his sword.

"We stay together!"

Ben stared at him.

"Ryan—"

"It's faster than us!"

That silenced him.

Ryan pointed back toward the forest.

"If we keep running, it picks us off one at a time."

Jessica's breathing was hard.

But her sidearm came up.

Raven moved beside her.

Ben gripped his axe.

Dezzy reached them.

She looked exhausted.

Ryan stepped forward.

The squad formed around him.

Five.

Together.

The forest went quiet.

Ryan heard his heartbeat.

Then—

Thump.

Something landed ahead.

Thirty paces.

Ryan couldn't see it clearly.

A black shape moved between the trees.

Twenty-five paces.

Jessica activated Deadshot.

Her expression changed.

"Ryan."

"What?"

Her voice was very quiet.

"I can't find a weak point."

That frightened him more than the screams.

The creature stepped into the light.

It was roughly the size of an Earth lion.

Maybe larger.

But the resemblance ended there.

Black fur covered a body packed with dense muscle. The coat seemed to swallow the morning light rather than reflect it, turning the creature into a moving absence between the trees.

Its forelimbs ended in pale claws long enough to open a human from shoulder to hip.

Blood covered them.

Fresh blood.

Human blood.

Ryan's grip tightened.

Skynet reacted.

[ ANALYZING TARGET... ]

The creature's eyes opened.

Crimson.

Intelligent.

Focused.

The identification failed.

[ SPECIES: UNKNOWN ]

[ ESOTERIC CLASSIFICATION: UNCONFIRMED ]

[ WARNING: ENERGY SIGNATURE EXCEEDS LOCAL RANK-ZERO BASELINE ]

Ben whispered, "That's bad."

Ryan didn't answer.

The creature lowered its head.

Something moved beneath the fur of its face.

Ryan frowned.

Then the face opened.

Four seams split apart.

Flesh peeled backward like the petals of some obscene flower.

Rows of needlelike teeth filled every interior surface.

Jessica whispered something Ryan couldn't hear.

The creature roared.

Sound hit them like a physical force.

Leaves tore free from branches.

Ryan felt the vibration in his ribs.

His barrier particles were already forming.

One second.

The creature crouched.

Two.

The barrier solidified.

Ryan positioned it in front of the squad.

His interface flickered.

Then, absurdly, another notification appeared.

[ CURRENT VIEWERS: 1 ]

Ryan stared.

Of course.

His first viewer had arrived now.

The creature's claws dug into the earth.

Jessica raised her weapon.

Raven lifted both hands.

Ben tightened his grip on the axe.

Dezzy lowered herself into a fighting stance.

Ryan brought his sword up behind the translucent blue barrier.

Thirty paces away, the predator smiled with a mouth that opened four ways.

The viewer counter remained at one.

Then changed.

[ CURRENT VIEWERS: 2 ]

Ryan swallowed.

A third appeared.

[ CURRENT VIEWERS: 3 ]

The monster lunged.