Hardcore: Qi Worlds Chapter 52: Dawnharbour 5

 Benzhi stepped through the portal onto the third floor. An unsolicited a pop-up appeared in his view, it was a message through his hud.

 Benzhi swiped the message away, 'oh great I want to avoid this overblown system and now it's giving me popups. I need a friggin blocker,' he said under his breath.

 Benzhi looked around, he was alone. Oh, Crap. Benzhi reached out to the old man through his connection.

'Old man, where are you?' Benzhi sent.

 The portal had split them up, as far as Benzhi could tell, he could go back through the portal and exit, or forward. Like that was a question. Of course, he would go forward.

 The third floor was distinctly creepier than the first two. It was dim, the only light source was a bioluminescent lichen that adorned the walls. The walls were made up of grey stone blocks in various states of decay. The portal room was small with one door leading out into a corridor. Small amounts of water seeped through the walls in the corridor, it was like they were underground, the walls glistened with wet lichen sporadically lighting the way. It gave the place a light green tinge.

 There was a room at the end of the corridor, Benzhi entered wondering what sort of beast he would encounter. Surveying the room, if you could call it that, Benzhi saw the walls and floor were similar to the corridor, however, the room was split into two. There was no floor for fifty paces. The elongated room had a massive hole in it, which spread the entire width. Benzhi looked down the hole, it was certainly too wide to jump, he could see nothing. He engaged qi sight and he could see streams of qi crisscrossing the surface of the hole. There were blocks floating in the air, he hadn't noticed initially because of how dark they were. 

 Benzhi threw a broken off piece of stone down the hole, 'yeah I guessed it, it falls forever with no audible smack when it hits the bottom. This place was some sort of tomb raider shit.' he thought. Benzhi speculated; he was supposed to move the blocks with qi manipulation so he could reach the other side. But they were far away, he wasn't that skilled to move something from that distance. Fortunately, the designer had left the ceiling in place. 

 Benzhi engaged tree-run, ran up the wall and across the ceiling, dropping down on the other side of the hole. He walked through the door into the next corridor. 

   Benzhi was excited to see what awaited him in the second room. This was fun, so far. He entered the second room and scanned it. At first, it seemed empty, but he could see a shimmer in the middle. Upon closer inspection the shimmer was similar to a force field or curtain, light from the bioluminescent lichen would bounce off it, now and then, causing a reflective shimmer.

 Benzhi engaged qi sight. He wasn't surprised to see a web of qi threads stretching from one side of the room to the other, blocking the exit from the room. He approached the web. This was amazing, how was it created? Surely the men who thought aids were a great idea, hindering the progress of everyone at the academy, did not have the wherewithal to create such a thing.

 Nothing he had witnessed from the QWP had indicated this level of qi manipulation. Their greatest accomplishment he had witnessed thus far was the creation of portals and the Qi Worlds. It must be the same talents who achieved that who created this tower.

  Benzhi approached the web's centre. He reached out and touched it, there was no shock or pain, but as he pressed the web it held firm, like a force field. It was designed to stop a practitioner advancing unless they could find a way past.

 Benzhi pushed qi out of his palm, similar to a qi strike, but a gentler, slower flow of qi. He pushed against the web. It bent under his qi, but still held as the whole web supported this section, it snapped back when he released the pressure. Benzhi thought, 'how do you break through a web? ah cut the strands!'

 Benzhi drew his qi blade and sliced the web, sparks flew, his sword bounced back jarring his arm and shoulder. The threads were far stronger than his qi blade, he wouldn't want to attempt that again and again. Benzhi imagined pushing with his shield, but where would that get him, the web wound bend, but not allow him through and he doubted he had the strength to snap those threads. They were incredible.

 Benzhi gave the threads a closer examination, even if he couldn't make it through there was something to be learnt here. He needed to develop some sort of qi lens for his qi sight so he could put this type of manipulation "under a microscope," so to speak. The threads were made up of tinier qi threads twisted together forming a stronger binding. 

 Where the threads crossed one another, to form the diamond pattern, they just touched one another, they were not fixed. Benzhi reached out with his qi, and lifted one of the threads, it moved upwards slightly. When he tried pushing his sword, his hand or a finger through the centre of a diamond it was pushed back, but he was able to move a thread up. When we released the thread it snapped back into place, it remembered where it was supposed to be. 

 Benzhi reached out with two qi streams, one from each hand, pushing two threads, one left and one right, they began to separate, a tiny hole in the matrix formed. 'This is it,' he thought, 'progress at last.' The only problem was, he would have to use multiple streams at once and the force became greater the further the threads were separated. 

 Benzhi drew qi from his almost depleted shield, pushing our four qi streams, pushing the four sides of a diamond in different directions, as the threads moved far enough to impact on their neighbours he had to pick those up as well. The pressure was becoming intense, Benzhi broke out in a sweat from the effort, he had never done something this difficult with qi, it was like qi weightlifting and multitasking at the same time.

 As soon as Benzhi thought the gap was large enough he dived through, he could not maintain the effort any longer, he was exhausted. Benzhi dove through normally, his hands were already outstretched and he could not concentrate on any additional qi abilities, he wasn't at his limit, he was past it.

 He rolled and released the strain as soon as he felt it was safe, he did not want to have to regrow his feet right now if they were caught when the web closed and were sliced off.

 Benzhi sat on the ground, where he had stopped rolling, and rested. He felt like he had just run up a hundred flights of stairs whilst juggling four balls. After five minutes, he stood and walked from the room. Benzhi was no longer having fun, he was dreading what he would find in the next room. He wondered what would happen if he could not pass, would he be stuck in here?

   The now-familiar pattern of room, corridor, room repeated itself. This lichen stuff sure was useful, Benzhi wondered where he could get some. 

  Benzhi entered the third room wondering what sort of qi manipulation test would face him. He was unprepared for the spear-wielding elf that charged him.

 The elf was tall, much taller than the wood elves from the Alpine Forest, he was six foot. He was thin and garbed in a green plated scale armour, Benzhi could not see any vines, nor was his skin, green or pale, it was grey, dark grey. What made Benzhi think he was an elf was the pointy ears, the slight frame and perhaps the way he moved. Despite the armour he wore, he was quick, very quick.

 Benzhi brought his shield around, just in time to deflect the spear, sparks flew, the spear must be qi enabled, Benzhi was pushed back from the force of the blow. The elf had leapt and thrust the spear down at him. The elf used his momentum to close on Benzhi again, bringing his own shield around, smashing it into Benzhi's side. Benzhi flew ten paces and lost his footing, he landed on his side, that shield had hit him with a qi strike.

 'Was this guy my mirror image?' Benzhi thought fleetingly, he had no time to speculate. Benzhi got to his feet and turned to face the elf, he did not have the advantage of three pairs of eyes watching the opponent, Huineng and Anastasia were not here, neither were Gisael and Reyas if they were he would have known the elf had closed on him blindingly fast. 'He must have fucking shunpo'd!' Benzhi thought as the spear tip approached his side.

 Benzhi engaged stoneskin on his right side, but it was a fraction too late, by the time he covered the area with the tiny scales the spear had already impaled him. His skill with stoneskin still required thought and concentration to create, it was nowhere near as natural as tree-run or qi blade. Thus Benzhi was too slow in forming the protective layer.

 Pain shot through him, he felt a sickness immediately, he had a feeling the spear did something other than just stab him, his body was reacting strangely.

 Benzhi shunpo'd away from the elf and drew his qi blade. The attacks had been fast and ferocious he hadn't been able to draw his sword until now. 'Complacency is the biggest killer of all,' Benzhi admonished himself.

 Not since he had fought a black cloak had he faced someone so skilled. In fact, in the few moments, he faced this elf Benzhi was fairly sure he outmatched the black cloaks. The elf was on another level.

 The elf did not speak, did not sound or battle cry, he merely approached Benzhi at a walk, his piercing gaze inspecting the damage he had done so far. The elf's eyes were the lightest of blues.

 Benzhi faced his shield towards the elf, and while he had spare seconds, he closed the spear wound. Inspecting the damage in the moments allowed, he realised he was poisoned. Benzhi began to destroy the poison using qi healing, burning through his reserves, he had only dealt with half before the elf charged again.

 Benzhi shunpo'd left, tracking the elf with his shield, turning, he closed the gap himself, towards the elf's flank. The elf brought his own shield to bear as Benzhi sliced, allowing no avenue for attack, Benzhi pulled his sword and moved past the elf towards the rear door.

 There was a barrier in the doorway, there would be no cheating this encounter, Benzhi kept moving sweeping past the door before turning to face the elf again. The distance between them was fifty paces. Benzhi stopped, he began to use the time to destroy the poison before it spread throughout his body. The foreign body was easy to find, it stuck out like a sore thumb, that was one saving grace of being poisoned, Benzhi surmised.

  Benzhi was using qi sight to find and destroy the poison, he left no small portion of focus on the approaching elf. He noticed something strange, there was a stream of qi coming out of the elf's back. It looked like a qi cord. Was the elf being powered or controlled remotely? Benzhi speculated. 

 Benzhi wasted no time when the poison was destroyed, he ran up the wall and across the ceiling, so far the elf had not shown the ability to tree-run, but that didn't mean he couldn't.

 Benzhi dropped down behind the elf and shunpo to its left side as it turned, tracking Benzhi, Benzhi was able to get behind the elf, and he used qi blade to slice through the qi cord, Benzhi was still using qi sight while fighting, he could see the patterns on the elf's armor, shield and spear. The qi blade sliced through the cord, Benzhi sighed in relief, it was severed, if it was like the thread in the last room he would not have been able to slice through.

 The elf's armour, spear and shield immediately lost the qi patterns and the elf finally made a noise. He growled at Benzhi in anger. Benzhi could see the cord moving, it was going to reconnect, Benzhi shunpo'd at the elf and sliced high, across the eye-line, the elf brought up his shield to block. Benzhi changed tact as soon as the shield blocked the elf's vision, he swept with his foot, adding qi strike to the blow. 

 He brought the elf down in a crashing heap, breaking the elf's leg, Benzhi then swung his sword in a backward slash aiming at the spear arm. The elf did not sit still and allow himself to be cut, he brought his spear up towards Benzhi attempting to use its length to force Benzhi back.

 Benzhi ignored the spear, which had not powered back up with qi and layered his chest with stoneskin allowing the spear to jar against his chest Benzhi sliced through the outreached arm.

 Benzhi pulled back from the elf, the fight was over unless the elf could heal himself, which Benzhi doubted. He would give his opponent a chance to surrender.

 The qi cord reconnected and the elf stood unsteadily. The elf had lost his spear hand, he dropped his shield and picked up the spear. The elf was not going to yield. Benzhi sighed.

  The elf hitched the spear under his arm, like a lance, pointed it directly at Benzhi and charged. Benzhi knocked the shield aside with his own shield, whilst stepping slightly to the right in order to deflect the blow and not take the full impact. Sparks flew, the elf was still flying past Benzhi. Benzhi severed the cord again with an upward slice before closing on the turning elf and bringing his sword down towards its head.

 The elf moved to the right, attempting to dodge the blow, Benzhi missed his head, but still sliced through the elf's shoulder. The elf was unable to dodge in time, only saving itself from a mortal wound.

 Benzhi kept bringing his sword down, the elf was not powered with qi at the moment so he tried to end it. Changing the pattern slightly on his qi blade, Benzhi kept pushing it down through the shoulder into the elf's chest. The momentum was lost, the move was akin to carving a roast opposed to a sword combat slice. 

 The elf snarled viciously at Benzhi as the light left its eyes. Even in its dying breath, the elf was struggling to stab Benzhi with its spear. 

 Benzhi was sad for his opponent. He bowed at the fallen elf, it really was different to the wood elves of the Alpine Forest. Benzhi speculated it may be a dark elf or shadow elf, whatever they called themselves.

 Benzhi left the spear. If this was a game he would loot all the belongings and use or sell them, putting them into his magical backpack with one hundred slots. He laughed to himself. But this was no game and he did not feel right about taking from the corpse of such an elite warrior, powered by a remote qi cord or not. He would gain a qi spear one day from the dwarves of the Alpine Forest that would make that one look like garbage.

  Benzhi approached the door, which was now unimpeded, and continued up the familiar corridor to the fourth room. 'I hope there isn't a hundred of these,' he thought to himself. He would run out of qi soon and he did not have time to rest.

 Benzhi entered the fourth room warily, sword drawn, shield readied, qi body activated. He would not be caught napping twice. This room was significantly different. It looked like an ancient throne room, cobwebs spread between dilapidated pillars, fallen statues broken into several pieces were strewn across the floor and at the rear a dias with their chairs which could only be described as thrones.

  In the centre of the room stood a knight. Benzhi could only assume he was some sort of knight he was decked out in spiky dark plate armour which glowed with runes. He held a type of spear, it was massive, with blades at each end. It could be called a Dao or a Halberd. Benzhi also assumed the knight was a dark elf, judging by the pale blue eyes. 

 Benzhi felt something coming from the knight, it was a feeling of dread, he wasn't that afraid of the knight. This wasn't coming from his own fear. It was similar to the foreboding feeling he had before the portals spawned across Basal. He viewed the knight under qi sight and was not surprised to see intricate patterns of qi tracing his armour and spear, but he was also surrounded by an aura.

 The aura was strange, it wasn't qi streams, it was more like a fog or hologram. Unlike the last dark elf, this knight had no cord, this was his power. Benzhi would have been afraid of this opponent event without the dread. Under qi sight, Benzhi could sense the dread was being emitted by or through the aura.

  Dodging that Dao and penetrating the armour was not going to be easy. Benzhi prepared shunpo, he would use the environment, he especially liked pillars for quick changes of direction and height.

 Benzhi began to walk towards the knight, who seemed to regard Benzhi with disdain, the feeling of dread became stronger the closer he got. 'How do you train for this sort of thing?' he thought. Benzhi was about to engage shunpo and charge when a portal opened behind the knight, the knight ignored Benzhi and immediately knelt with his head bowed.

 'Oh shit,' Benzhi thought, 'if this guy is kneeling what the fuck is coming through the portal.'

 The most beautiful being Benzhi had ever laid eyes on stepped through the portal and spoke with an angelic voice.

 "No fun for you today Ghehena, I want to talk with this one," her voice made Benzhi tear up. He still had qi sight activated and her aura was massive when compared to the knights. It spread across the room almost reaching the throne behind her and certainly past Benzhi.

 She had an exotic beauty that no earthly beauty could compare. She had the trademark pale blue eyes, long white hair stretching all the way down her back. Her skin was the same dark grey with translucent light blue adornments. She wore the most exquisite dress with multiple dark blue hues. She wore long gloves up to her elbows and she was barefoot, like Benzhi. Her lips were full with a slight red tinge to the grey and blue hues that dominated her skin. She looked almost sad, but her gaze shot through Benzhi's heart, impaling him with feelings of worship for her.

 Ghehena just knelt, head bowed and said nothing. He was like a statue, his aura had retreated and the sense of dread had disappeared.

 "I am Scydhel, Daughter of the Myrkalfar. It would be customary for you to kneel in my presence mortal," Scydhel vocalised.

 Benzhi immediately fell to his knees. 'Did I do that intentionally?' he thought to himself confused.

 'I wish to speak with you. Ghehena will be sad that I have upset his duel but his needs are beneath my concern," Scydhel stated coldly.

 Ghehena shivered slightly.

  Benzhi noticed that Ghehena had covered his body with a qi lattice, similar to stoneskin, layering the surface, but more like the web shield in terms of pattern. As Scydhel glided towards the three thrones she beckoned Benzhi to follow, he took this time to study Ghehena's pattern as he walked past.

 Benzhi crudely began to layer himself with a similar lattice and immediate the feeling of Scydhel's beauty and his love for her dropped down a few notches. Her aura was affecting him, just like Ghehena's dread aura, except hers was much more powerful and instead of dread, it enveloped him with feelings concerning worship for her. Hell, he even had a hardon.

  Benzhi began to improve his latticework qi shield as he approached the thrones, Scydhel sat in the centre, throwing her leg over the arm while dangling her bare foot cutely in the air. Benzhi's qi shield was poor, but it gave him slight breathing space in what was a suffocating environment. He knelt again as soon as he reached the indicated position for their little chat.

  Scydhel laughed melodically, "I see now you are talented. You do not wish to worship me unconditionally?" She asked teasingly.

 Benzhi breathed, "You are beautiful, you have no need of tricks to make me think so," Benzhi was not the best charmer, he was just being honest. 

 Scydhel laughed sweetly and asked, "Why are you not their leader?"

 "Whose leader?" Benzhi asked.

 "The men, the men with the pathetic machines," she responded. Benzhi still had trouble breathing in her presence despite his hastily created lattice shield.

 "I am not sure what you mean, but I probably do not wish to be their leader," Benzhi answered honestly.

 "I came to talk to you, you who are an abomination, I have need of your service," Scydhel stated.

 Benzhi thought, 'what if I don't want to serve? Oh, scratch that he would find out what it is first, this lady and her servant were massively powerful. He needed more information on them and about them.'

 "Name what it is you want me to do," Benzhi replied. 

 Scydhel tilted her head in the manner of all beautiful creatures do when they are in thought. Her finger lightly tapped her cheek. 

 "I am concerned that the men will not honour our deal, not because they are deceitful, but because they are inept," Scydhel said in her melodic manner.

 Benzhi was struggling to think about anything except begging her for sex. What deal, what did she mean. He needed to fish without giving his ignorance away.

 "How can I serve to ensure the deal is kept," Benzhi replied.

 "The shield needs to stay up and the portals open, otherwise the sacrifices will not be possible. I have forewarning the shield is in danger of collapsing, and if this happens the city will be overrun by our enemy. When this happens the tithe cannot take place." Scydhel sounded sweet when describing murdering people for some nefarious reason.

  "You, Benzhi, yes I know your name abomination, you need to rectify this and get your people in order. The abominations who made the deal through my underlings are lacking. I have watched you on this third level of this replica and you have show skill far beyond the others of your kind. I want you to ensure the deal is kept. If that means you take over from the other abominations, so be it, the dealings of abominations are normally beneath me. The only thing that matters is the sacrifices keep coming," Scydhel spouted her ultimatum and when she said his name he almost...

 Benzhi's head spun. He was guessing at what she meant, but, it pretty much seemed that she wanted him to take over QW9 or even QWP and ensure the shield stayed up and the sacrifices came on time. He did not want to be any part of it. In fact, the whole thing made him want to vomit.

 The QWP had not been opening these portals, it was probably the Myrkalfar, and certainly not this city and shield. 

 "I can only help with more information," Benzhi answered.

 "You want payment for that which has already been paid?" Scydhel asked dangerously, "I think not. You will do as commanded or I will wipe your kind from this city and all the worlds we find you."

 "You have completed this poor imitation of the tower which spans the nine hels. It is time for you to depart," with that she waived her hand and a portal opened behind Benzhi.

 Benzhi wished he had qi sight enabled when she opened the portal, an opportunity missed. He stood and walked through the portal.

'Congratulations,' Benzhi thought to himself, 'all that shit just flew out the window into stupid meaningless crap.'

Chapter end