The cool burn of the Qi elixir was a dull ember now, barely holding back the beast in Kael's gut. The city around him felt different, sharper. More dangerous. The schematic in his hand was a spiderweb of lines and labels, a blueprint for a midnight raid. "The Hollow." A condemned apartment block, all broken windows and peeling posters, hunched against the bruised pre-dawn sky like a forgotten gargoyle.
KAELEN THORNELEVEL: 12HEALTH: 80/100ENDURANCE: 45/100QI: 25/100
Twenty-five Qi. Just enough to keep him from shaking. Not enough for a prolonged fight. He needed to be surgical. In and out.
He moved, Shadow Step activating like a second skin. His form blurred, a ripple in the fabric of the night. He flowed through the narrow gap between a overflowing dumpster and a rusted fence, feet barely disturbing the loose gravel. No sound. Just the whisper of the wind, the distant thrum of the city.
The building loomed, a black maw. Sera's intel had been precise. Two lookouts on the roof, two at the basement entrance, one roving patrol inside. Low-level Crimson Veil thugs. Armed. Probably Qi-enhanced. Annoying.
He scaled the fire escape like a shadow, each rusted rung silent under his weight. His fingers, calloused from years of gripping dummies and training weapons, found purchase on crumbling brick, ignoring the grit. The wind picked up, tugging at his hoodie.
On the roof, a figure was silhouetted against the pale smear of emerging dawn. Big, beefy, cradling a submachine gun like a comfort blanket. Staring out at the city, probably bored out of his mind. Easy.
Kael landed softly, a footfall no heavier than a falling leaf. The thug never heard him. He was humming some off-key tune.
Right. Now.
Kael moved. A quick, brutal strike to the back of the neck, a Serpent's Fang pressure point attack perfected over two and a half years. The thug crumpled without a sound, his gun clattering softly against the concrete. Kael caught it before it could make too much noise, set it down gently. Efficiency.
CRITICAL HIT!BASIC STREET FIGHTING: LEVEL 10 (MASTERED!)STAT BONUS: STRENGTH +1
He ignored the notification. Too busy. One down. He dragged the unconscious thug behind a grimy ventilation unit, out of sight. His internal hunger gnawed, a dull throb. But now, it was background noise. The adrenaline had taken over.
He scanned the roof. Empty. The second lookout was probably taking a smoke break or a nap. Typical Syndicate. He moved to the edge, peering down. A single figure leaned against the basement door, staring at his phone. Another easy target, if Kael went for the direct approach. But Sera mentioned the ventilation shaft.
He found it, just as the schematic showed. A wide, rusted metal grate set into the roof, leading down into the building's forgotten guts. Stale air, heavy with the smell of decay and damp, wafted up. He pulled out the utility knife, the dull blade glinting in the faint light. The screws were old, seized. He put his weight into it, Qi flowing into his arms, and with a soft CRACK, they stripped. He tossed the grate aside, making barely a whisper of sound.
He dropped into the shaft, feet bracing against the metal walls. It was a tight squeeze, dark and dusty. Every breath kicked up more grime. He used his Qi-sensing again, a faint hum in his mind, detecting the rough layout of the building's internal structure. The sub-basement, old boiler room. That's where the goods were.
He slid down, using the shaft as a chute, controlling his descent with a practiced grip. He could hear the faint, muffled sounds of human activity below. Voices. Just as Sera said.
The shaft opened into a small, disused storage room, probably a janitor's closet back in the day. He landed lightly, his eyes adjusting to the deeper gloom. Cobwebs clung to everything. Empty shelves. Perfect cover.
He edged to the door, listening. Muffled voices from down the hall. Two, maybe three guys.
He opened the door a crack, just enough to see. The hallway was dark, illuminated only by a single bare bulb at the far end, casting long, distorted shadows. There were two Crimson Veil thugs, chatting idly, leaning against what looked like a reinforced steel door. The sub-basement entrance. They carried standard street knives, nothing fancy. But he could feel the faint hum of Qi enhancers on them, like Sera had warned. Little jolts of artificial energy. They were stronger, faster than normal thugs.
"Still think this is some big score?" one of them grumbled, adjusting his leather jacket. "Just some old jade and a ripped-up map, boss says."
"Boss says it's worth a fortune, so it's worth a fortune," the other countered. "And anyone tries to take it, they get to meet my new friend here." He patted a heavy, metal pipe wrapped in barbed wire. Charming.
Kael's mind went into calculation mode. He could take them both. But it would be noisy. And noisy meant more thugs, more problems, and a greater drain on his already limited Qi. He needed the element of surprise. And the ventilation shaft.
He closed the door silently. There had to be another way. Sera's schematic had mentioned a secondary ventilation system, leading directly into the boiler room. Old buildings, multiple systems. He found a smaller vent cover, screwed into the wall, high up, near the ceiling. This one was even more rusted.
He climbed a stack of decaying crates, testing their stability. They groaned, but held. He unscrewed the vent, Qi flowing to his hands, making the metal screws vibrate and eventually pop free with a quiet tink. He pushed the cover aside. This shaft was narrower, dusty, but passable.
He squirmed inside, his backpack scraping against the metal. It was dark, claustrophobic, and smelled like ancient dust and something vaguely organic, like old bird nests. He pushed forward, ignoring the discomfort, focusing on the Qi hum getting stronger ahead. The boiler room.
He found the end of the shaft. Another vent, this one opening directly into a large, shadowy room. He peered through the slats.
It was the boiler room. Huge, rusted machinery dominated the space. A single, flickering fluorescent light cast a sickly green glow over everything. And there, near a stack of crates, were his targets.
Two more Crimson Veil thugs. One was guarding a large, black crate, pacing. The other was slumped in a broken chair, seemingly asleep, a bottle of something clear and dangerous clutched in his hand. Qi-sensors were definitely in play here, tiny glowing nodes stuck to the walls. But he was in the ventilation shaft, a blind spot.
Kael scanned the room. The target items. A red silk scroll, rolled tightly, was tucked into a specially carved niche in the black crate. Next to it, a small velvet bag, likely holding the jade weights. All within reach.
The sleeping thug. The pacing thug. The Qi sensors. Plan. He'd drop in, take out the pacing guard silently, then deal with the sleeping one. Grab the items. Get out. Fast.
He pushed the vent cover open, letting it drop to the concrete floor with a soft CLANG. Not silent enough. The pacing thug spun, startled. "Who's there?!" His hand flew to his sidearm.
Damn it.
Kael didn't hesitate. He dropped, landing light as a cat, and moved. Coiled Dragon Strike. His body rotated, Qi swirling, the kinetic energy building. He didn't use a full kick; instead, he unleashed a sweeping palm strike, designed for disruption. It hit the thug's chest, not with a bone-breaking impact, but with a shockwave that seemed to scramble his insides. The thug gasped, eyes wide with confusion, and crumpled, unconscious before he even hit the ground.
CRITICAL HIT!COILED DRAGON STRIKE: LEVEL 2 (15/2000)STAT BONUS: AGILITY +1
The sleeping thug was now awake, fumbling with his gun. "What the—?!"
Kael was already on him. No time for fancy moves. A brutal, efficient Serpent's Fang jab to the throat, followed by a knee to the gut. The thug went down, wheezing, his gun skittering across the floor. He wouldn't be getting up for a while.
Kael stood, breathing hard, the adrenaline roaring. The Qi in his meridians pulsed, but it was a dying flame. His stomach gave a violent lurch, the hunger returning, stronger, more insistent than before. It felt like his insides were trying to eat themselves.
KAELEN THORNELEVEL: 12HEALTH: 75/100ENDURANCE: 30/100QI: 5/100
He ignored the warning. He grabbed the red silk scroll, feeling the ancient, almost spiritual energy emanating from it. The map to a Qi-vein. This was huge. He tucked it carefully into a waterproof pouch in his backpack. Then the velvet bag of jade weights. They felt heavy, cool, radiating a subtle Qi. He stuffed them in too.
He quickly rifled through the thugs' pockets. A few wads of cash. A small, unlabeled vial. Qi enhancers. He pocketed them. Anything to keep the beast at bay.
He needed to get out. Now. The Qi-sensors were probably screaming bloody murder to some central monitoring system. Any moment, more Crimson Veil thugs would be swarming the building.
He spotted an old service tunnel, half-hidden behind a stack of rusted pipes. It was dark, cobweb-filled, but it looked like an escape route. He squeezed through, backpack snagging on a loose pipe, before tumbling into a wider, forgotten maintenance corridor.
He could hear distant shouts now, the thud of heavy boots. They were coming.
He sprinted, using Shadow Step in bursts, conserving his last scraps of Qi. The corridor was a maze, twisting and turning, but his City Navigation skill kicked in, guiding him intuitively through the dark, damp passages. He knew this part of the Under-City, the forgotten veins beneath the city's skin. He'd explored it extensively with the original Kaelen's memories, and his own System-enhanced senses.
He burst out of a service hatch, not into an alley, but into the back corner of a derelict loading dock, a few blocks from "The Hollow." Early morning fog clung to the ground, obscuring vision. Perfect.
He didn't stop, didn't look back. He ran, the hunger raging, the exhilaration of the fight fading into pure, desperate need. He could almost taste the Qi elixirs Sera promised.
He found her waiting, exactly where she said she would be, a dark silhouette under a grimy overpass. She wasn't leaning; she was standing, still and alert, her eyes scanning the street.
"Took you long enough," Sera said, her voice flat, but a hint of approval in her tone. "They're already swarming 'The Hollow.' Sounds like you made a mess."
Kael tossed the scroll and the velvet bag at her feet. "Got the goods. Two guards down, one knocked out. No permanent damage." He watched her face for any reaction. "They had Qi enhancers. Little vials. Grabbed one."
Sera glanced at the items, then back at Kael, her eyes piercing. "Clean. Efficient. I like it." She picked up the scroll, unrolling it slightly. Her eyebrows lifted. "A map to a Qi-vein… and these. Northern Peaks jade. Good haul, Thorne. Very good." She gestured to his stomach. "Still hungry?"
Kael just nodded, clutching his midsection. "Beyond hungry. It feels like my body's eating itself."
Sera reached into a large duffel bag she had leaning against the pillar. She pulled out a vacuum-sealed MRE pack and a handful of small, dark vials. "Here. As promised. A week's worth of these. High-grade. Plus, a few extra elixirs. You earned it."
Kael didn't wait. He tore open the MRE pack, shoved a dense protein bar into his mouth, chewing furiously. The taste was bland, but the calories hit him instantly, a warm wave of relief washing over the primal hunger. He downed two of the Qi elixirs. The warmth in his chest flared, stronger this time, pushing back the gnawing emptiness.
QI: 5/100 → 65/100ENDURANCE: 30/100 → 60/100
He felt the strength returning, his mind clearing. The trembling in his hands stopped. He looked at Sera, really looked at her, now that the immediate crisis was over.
"You knew," he said, his voice a low rasp. "You knew how bad the hunger would be. You sent me in knowing I'd be desperate."
Sera just shrugged. "Motivation is a powerful thing, Kaelen. And you needed to learn the cost of that new technique. The Flowing Serpent Meridian Art isn't for those who can't pay the price. And that price isn't just Qi; it's everything else, too." She paused, her gaze direct. "Your father, he learned that lesson the hard way. It's why he started coming to me. He needed resources. Food. Qi supplements. Information about the Whisper. He was chasing that power, just like you. And it was consuming him."
Kael felt a chill that had nothing to do with the pre-dawn air. "What happened to him?"
Sera's expression hardened. "He got too close. To the Whisper. To its influence. He thought he could control it, channel it. The Meridian Art, he believed, was the key. But he disappeared. And others who try to trace his steps… they usually meet a similar end. Or worse, they become something else." She looked at the red silk scroll in her hand. "This map. It could lead you down the same path, Kaelen. To the source of the Whisper's power, deep in the Under-City. Is that what you want?"
"I want answers," Kael said, his voice firm, "and I want to be strong enough to face whatever's out there. Strong enough not to be a victim. Or consumed." He thought of the original Kaelen, dead because he stumbled upon something too big. He thought of his own accidental transfer. He wasn't going to let that happen again.
"Then you're playing a dangerous game, Thorne," Sera warned. "The Crimson Veil Syndicate is going to be breathing down your neck now. And they won't forget this. You just stole from them. Embarrassed them. They'll be looking for you. For the Serpent's Coil."
Kael felt a flicker of defiance. "Let them look. They want a fight? They'll get one. This dojo isn't going anywhere."
He finished the protein bar, wiped his mouth. The taste of the elixirs lingered, a metallic sweetness. He felt replenished, centered. Ready. The sun was starting to peek over the jagged skyline, painting the grey city in hues of orange and pink. Dawn was truly here. And Master Jin was waiting.
He needed to return to the dojo. Hide the MREs and elixirs. Get the red lacquer box. Then, Dragon's Peak. The Flowing Serpent Meridian Art. His next step.
"I'll see you around, Sera," Kael said, turning to leave.
"You will," she replied, a faint, knowing smile on her lips. "Because you'll need me, Thorne. More than you think. This game? It's just getting started."
Kael didn't answer. He just melted back into the fading shadows, leaving the loading dock.