9. Journey to the Spine

Valeria and I walked through town as we talked about the mission ahead, "My sister is never one to go without contacting me when she is out on a mission. I am very worried for her safety after not hearing from her these past three weeks." Valeria spoke in a hushed voice as we walked through the marketplace.

"So she's never gone this long without contacting you before?" I asked as I perused some of the equipment on sale. I was looking for cultivation books, but there didn't seem to be any here.

"No she has not, we have magical communication devices that work over vast distances. The only reason for them to not work would be if she was not in this world any longer but mine is functioning normally. This leads me to believe that she is hurt or does not have the device on her person." Valeria spoke with worry in her voice at the thought of her sister being hurt or worse.

"Well there's no use in us stressing over what might have happened to her, it will only distract from our mission." I replied, trying to soothe her nerves.

"You are right Sam. I just hope she is still alive. Come we should get some horses if we are to travel to the Spine." We walked toward the stables, talking along the way. We reached a small stable on the outskirts of town where I saw and old man and a young boy, who I assumed was the man's son, tending to the horses in the stable yard.

"Hail travelers, how may I be of service?" The old man greeted us politely, a smile brightening his sun-wrinkled face.

"We require horses. The best you can offer us, if possible." I spoke up, smiling back to the old man as I looked over the horses in the yard.

"Ah yes, I have a few options. Please, come take a look at my stock." The man lead us to the horses grazing in the stable yard. Pointing at a few of them as he spoke, "These four are the best I have available right now. Their price is high but they are well worth it." I looked over the horses he pointed out and had to agree. They were sturdy looking animals and all had gleaming coats of fur. Two of them appeared to be bred for speed over strength while the other two were the opposite, built to be war horses by the look of them.

"What is the price on such fine steeds?" I asked, trying to gauge how much this would cost me.

"The two Seraph steeds cost 2 gold coins each, and the two Justicar steeds cost 3 gold coins each." The man said as he pointed first to the swift steeds, then to the strong ones, "Of course I have other horses as well, the cost for them ranges from 50 silver to 1 gold."

"Hmm, I see," I said, resting a hand on my chin and thinking. I had enough gold to buy the horses, the question was, which one do I buy? Did I want a swift horse or a strong one? "I think I will take the two Seraph steeds, we have much distance to cover and speed is essential." The old man smiled once more.

"As part of the purchase, I will include your saddle and tack. I don't like to charge for such things when someone buys one of my finer steeds from me. Feels like I'm taking advantage of them." The old man then made his son lead the two swift steeds to the stable, leading us in so we could inspect the horses closer. The horses were beautiful to say the least. The had rich brown and black coats that shined in the low light of the stable. They were built tall and thin, but I could tell then had strong bodies and high endurance.

"They are perfect for us," Valeria said, she was inspecting the brown horse closely. Circling to make sure she took in every detail. "What are their names?" She asked as she walked around them.

"The black one is Swift Night and the brown one is Long Strider," The old man replied as I handed over the 4 gold for the horses. He then brought out saddles and tack for us, helping us to saddle the horses before letting us lead them outside.

"I thank you much for your patronage, and should you require any additional horse training in the future I can train the horses for some different situations for a fee of course. Though I assure you it is well worth it!" The old man said enthusiastically as we mounted the horses and turned to leave town.

"I'll keep that in mind the next time we are in town," I said before nudging with my heels to get us moving. Swift Night began gracefully working up to a trot as we left town, the change in pace almost imperceptible atop the horse's back. We traveled quickly along the main road, reaching a good 15 or 20 miles within the 6 hour ride. I stopped the horses at a crossroads and dismounted, looking up to the darkening sky.

"We should find a place to rest for the night." I said absentmindedly as I felt around with my energy sense. I found a good hollow in the woods that was dense with spiritual energy and led us there.

"This should be a good place to camp for the night," I said as I dismounted and led Swift Wind to a tree to tie him to for the night. Valeria also dismounted and looked around the hollow, searching for threats before nodding.

"This is a good place to rest, I don't sense any dangers nearby." She looked around the camping space once more before helping me take care of the horses and set up camp. Once we were sitting next to the fire and eating some soup I made she looked over at me curiously.

"How did you find this place? It's pretty out of the way from where we were."

"Oh I used one of my abilities to sense world energy, this place has both the most abundant and the purest world energy close to where we were."

Valeria raised an eyebrow at my explanation and looked closer at me, "You're a Cultivator aren't you." She stated the question as if she already knew the answer. I looked at her, gauging her reaction to my words.

"Yes, I am a Cultivator. Do you know much about them?"

"Only that they are always stronger than they look," She replied, her eyes remaining clear as she looked at me.

I nodded and got up, heading to my tent. "We will be safe here, I will be cultivating for a few hours before I rest." Valeria simply nodded and went to rest in her tent. I sat cross legged on the floor of my tent and extended my senses to the spiritual energy around me. I could tell that more energy was gathering by the second and that the energy was becoming purer the longer I sat in place. 'This must be due to the spirit tree. I should cultivate it alongside myself.' I let the thought pass through my mind as I tried another experiment with my meditation. Using my energy sense along with my meditation I began to try and manually absorb and hold the energy within myself. Using the knowledge I had of my skills, I was quickly ably to grasp the concept of absorbing and refining the energy. A few hours later, I was able to see into my own body, looking at the spirit veins in my body leading to my dantian that only had a tree shaped source of energy in it.

I smiled to myself softly as I began feeding the supremely pure Qi in my Dantian to the spirit tree. The tree greedily devoured the Qi, my absorption barely able to keep up with its pace.

[You have learned a new skill! Basic Cultivation]

[Basic Cultivation: Rank: D; Through practice and meditation you have learned to control the spiritual energy and Qi inside your body. You have officially become a cultivator.]

[Your cultivation level has been set to Spirit Apprentice: 1. You will now become a true cultivator. It is highly recommended that you find a cultivation technique and a master to help your growth.]

[All stats Increased by 50%, Spirit Energy has been changed to Spirit Qi.]

I smiled as I felt the power surge through my body, reveling in the feeling.

[Character Status]

[Name: Sam]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Cultivator]

[Level: 8]

[Exp: 0/12,800]

[HP: 360/360]

[SQ: 750/750]

[Strength: 126 (+10)]

[Dexterity: 126 (+10)]

[Agility: 111 (+12)]

[Intelligence: 121 (+5)]

[Will: 133 (+5)]

[Stat Points: 0]

[Skills/Abilities]

[Advanced Meditation, Passive, Rank: A- Allows you to meditate and absorb the spiritual energy in the world to cultivate. Cultivation level: Spirit Apprentice: 1; Spiritual Qi: 6000/50000]

[Advanced Qi Sense, Passive, Rank: A- Allows you to sense and control the Spiritual Qi around you to some extent.]

[Body Tempering, Passive, Rank: A- Through the use of environmental conditions and Spiritual Energy you can temper your body and make it stronger.]

[Piercing Slash, Active, Rank: C- A powerful slash that ignores 15% of the target's armor. Deals 100% Strength damage.]

[Basic Cultivation: Rank: D; Through practice and meditation you have learned to control the spiritual energy and Qi inside your body. You have officially become a cultivator.]

I grinned as I looked at my new stats before resting for the night.