Gabriel woke up not with the rising sun or the melody of songbirds, but with another quest shoved right in his face.
[ Quest
Reach Level 1 Qi Refinement
Time Limit 5 hours
Punishment Death ]
As soon as his eyes landed on the death penalty, Gabriel became wide awake. He cursed. He got goosebumps just thinking of what would have happened if he wasn't an early bird.
Gabriel hurriedly got out of bed and took out the Celestial Tyrant's Method manual. He quickly went through the practical instructions : sit in a lotus position, breathe in for three seconds, hold his breath for three seconds, breathe out for three seconds. Then, focus on the flow of energy. It was an easy task for Gabriel. As someone with no magic who quickly started to overflow with it, he was hyperaware of his magic's every movement. He felt in chest, beating in tandem with his heart.
He focused on the his magic's comings and goings. It traveled through his body in an infinite loop. Gabriel identified the points by which his magic passed through to be his meridians. Next step was, according to the manual, to push out his magic outside of his body.
Gabriel tried. He forced his magic outside from the warmth of his body. He shivered. It felt like the depths of his soul were being frozen. Nevertheless, he continued.
The method's last step was to drag the outside magic inside his soul with his own magic.
Tentatively, tendrils of Gabriel's magic reached out for the energy outside. Gabriel unconsciously flinched. It burned. But he couldn't stop there. Gabriel forced his magic to continue touching the outside magic until the tendrils were coiling around particules of outside magic. Gabriel couldn't feel his body anymore, his senses reduced to his magic.
Nevertheless, Gabriel continued. He dragged the outside magic inside his meridians, forcing it to become his.
[ + 1 Magic ]
Gabriel ignored the uncomfortable warmth.
[ + 1 Magic ]
[ Qi Refining ( lvl 1 ) ]
Gabriel let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He could suddenly feel his body again. His skin was damp with sweat. He knelt on the ground, holding his stomach. He heaved. His mouth opened, and he vomited on the ground. Gabriel breathed in and out, his heartbeat steadying.
Gabriel blinked, his vision had gotten clearer. His body felt much lighter too. He moved his limbs around, and noticed the black liquid that covered part of his skin, particularly where his main meridians were located. Gabriel grimaced at the fool texture of the liquid. Gabriel had better go to the hot spring. Gabriel hid his wings and put on his clothes. He took a spare robe to put on after the bath and went to the hot spring.
Nobody was in the water, but Gabriel still kept the bandages on his wings just in case.
As he cleaned himself up, he looked to the side, where the quest rewards were displayed.
[ + 10 Magic ]
[ Celestial Tyrant's Method ( lvl 3 ) ]
[ Divine Fire Arts ( lvl 3 ) ]
He sighed, his muscles relaxing with the hot water. This morning was just too stressful. Why did the system give him a death quest so early in the morning, Gabriel silently complained.
He scrubbed off all of the dark liquid, dried himself and put on his clothes. The sun was already high in the sky. He sighed again. All of this made him miss breakfast. Maybe he could go ask Xie Ling for food, he thought. Wait, he was supposed to spar with Xie Ling today.
He hurriedly changed his bandages before running to the courtyard, hoping he hadn't made Xie Ling wait.
Gabriel couldn't remember at what time they were supposed to spar. Xie Ling was in the courtyard. But he wasn't alone.
" Oh, hey! " Xie Ling noticed Gabriel and waved at him.
At his side were the other two disciples of Lord Zhou.
Gabriel waved back. He observed the trio, wondering what they were doing. They didn't seem to be sparring. The idea that they were just talking made Gabriel uneasy for some reason.
" So you're the elusive Jia Bu. " Said the boy.
Gabriel nodded and stared at him, waiting for him to introduce himself. The guy noticed his stare, he tilted his head, as if asking what Gabriel wanted, but didn't say a word.
" And your name is..? " Gabriel said.
" I'm Li Xinyu from the Li family. "
" From the main branch ? "
" Of course. " He seemed puzzled that Gabriel even had to ask. " Members of the side branches aren't allowed to introduce themselves as part of the Li family. " He continued.
Gabriel hummed in acknowledgment. He looked around. Li Xinyu was the only one out of the four of them to actually be part of a martial family. Gabriel thought nepotism was as rampant in the east than in the west, but maybe he was wrong. Or maybe this group was just unique.
Or maybe some people were just lying. He glanced at Dai Yu, thinking back to the arrogance she exuded. Now that he thought about it, her dagger was weird too. How could she get her hands on such a priceless weapon if she wasn't from a martial family ?
" Isn't Li an orthodox family ? " Dai Yu remarked.
" No martial family is strictly orthodox, unorthodox or demonic. " Li Xinyu avoided the question.
" But families are still oriented toward certain paths. And I don't think I've heard of a single Li member entering a sect other than the Orthodox Sect. " Dai Yu shot back.
Li Xinyu soon mirrored Dai Yu's glare.
" Guess that'll make me the first. " He said with a tight smile.
" Or maybe that'll just make you another traitor to the sect. " Dai Yu mutters, loud enough that everyone can hear.
Li Xinyu unsheathed his blade. Dai Yu pulled out her dagger. Gabriel glanced at Xie Ling, but he didn't seem very concerned. On the contrary, he had stars in his eyes.
Gabriel remembered that he said he liked fighting, maybe he also liked watching other fights.
The two lunged at each other, weapons in hand. The clash of their blades and their loud insults filled the courtyard.
Xie Ling watched attentively every bit of their movements. Gabriel didn't really understand his interest. Bored, he turned to his friend.
" Are you going to participate in the tournament? " Asked Gabriel, his low voice was drowned out by the fight.
Gabriel glared at the other two disciples. He repeated himself, louder this time.
" What ? " Xie Ling half-yelled.
Gabriel glared harder at the two. He raised his hand and gathered half of his magic. He cast Magic Missile in between the two disciples. Gabriel had forgotten how much power just half of his magic represented. A deadly ray of pure energy passed between them. They dodged just in time. The spell had only grazed them, yet their skin had blistered and burned.
Dai Yu hissed in pain. Li Xinyu held his hands over his wounds. Gabriel cursed under his breath. It wasn't his intention to actually hurt them. He quickly cast Heal on both of them. Luckily, their wound were superficial enough to heal immediately.
Xie Ling didn't seem to be shocked at all by his actions, but the other two were staring at him like he was insane. He didn't really understand why they were shocked. Even if it wasn't his intention to hurt them, they had still been dead set on murdering each other during the entrance test, a few burns weren't exactly over the top.
Seeing that they were both alive, Gabriel turned back to Xie Ling.
" Anyway, I was asking if you were going to participate in the tournament? "
" Oh, of course ! Core disciples are pretty much obligated to participate if they aren't in seclusion. " Xie Ling answered with a wide smile. He seemed genuinely excited for the event.
Gabriel nodded. He was sure to win against all of Lord Zhou's disciples, he wonderd if the disciples of the other lords and of the sect leader were much stronger.
" By the way, " Xie Ling continued. " you weren't here this morning, but we were told to stay in our rooms during the afternoon. Lord Zhou's aid will bring us to the lord's office late in the afternoon. " He informed him.
Gabriel hoped Lord Zhou had gifts or maybe advices to give them for the tournament.
" Wanna spar ? " Gabriel asked with a smirk.
He had to make sure he was stronger than Xie Ling. Xie Ling smirked back and reached for his spear.
" Whenever you want ! "