Hardcore: Qi Worlds Chapter 7: Qi

Benzhi rose, he had meditated all night on his qi, its circulation and how he was able to influence it, albeit in a small degree, to his palm. If he was to hazard a guess, he would assume if he hit someone or something with his qi it would do a lot more damage than a simple push. Benzhi was looking forward to finding out. 

Benzhi mulled over what Mother had revealed yesterday. She and Gisael were new to this world. That must have something to do with the simulation. Her backstory was she came from a different place. This probably explained why there were only the two Fae in the forest and not an entire village or kingdom of wood elves. Benzhi had to admit, he couldn't ask for more competent trainers. Even the enigmatic Gisael was an effective teacher.

Striding over to Mother's willow, he was looking forward to what the day would bring. Mother appeared, as usual, once he touched the tree.

"Mother," Benzhi began, "can you appear without me touching the tree?" 

"Yes," Mother replied.

"Then, why do you wait for me to touch your willow tree?" Benzhi asked.

Mother smiled shyly and answered, "because of the tradition we created. You assumed for the first days you needed to do this, who am I to disappoint?" Mother circled Benzhi. "Benzhi, yesterday you harnessed your qi, Now, the real training begins." She stopped, staring at him with a penetrating gaze. Although she was a couple of feet shorter, her presence was enormous. Benzhi felt pressure, he could barely stand. After a few more moments he fell to a knee struggling not to kiss the ground.

"Benzhi, you still have much to learn about the nature of qi," Mother instructed. The pressure relented and Benzhi was able to stand. Benzhi felt like gravity was turning back to normal setting after being turned up tenfold.

Mother began a lecture. "Benzhi, my children, the wood elves, they all share a few qi abilities in common. These are natural to them, they did not have to learn like you will. They can send qi to the soles of their feet. They can send qi to their palms and some from their palm to their weapons. They can use qi to enhance their senses. Sight, hearing and other senses. This is common to nearly all my children, from my previous world. Some were more gifted and talented than others. Gisael has one of the strongest gifts."

Mother paused and then continued. "Today, you will practice all the forms you have learnt. With a few changes. You will use your sword and I want you to direct your qi to the blade. Sharpen the edge."

Benzhi contemplated what Mother had just said. Gisael had run up the tree by directing qi to the soles of her feet and just ran up the tree? It made sense, yet, why and how did she stick? Contemplating directing qi to his sword was daunting let along making it sharpen the edge. Based on his current progress this was going to take a long time to achieve let alone master. He hadn't the foggiest how qi worked, he felt like he was drowning in what he didn't know. There was only one thing to do, as he did the first day he followed Mother practising the first form. Jump in the deep end and swim like hell.

Benzhi closed his eyes and stood still with his sword in hand hanging by his side. He ran through the form in his mind, adding the sword would be different, alone, it would not be difficult. A few adjustments, based on common sense, would need to be made. Benzhi was no sword master. He would treat the sword as an extension of himself. The extra reach and ability to slice being the main differences. He imagined directing qi not to his palm, but to his blade. He imagined a chainsaw where the wood was the guide and his a qi powered laser cutter running around the guide. Benzhi smiled, that would be awesome!

Benzhi began. The form with the blade was passable, it would improve. With every extension and now, whenever a motion which effected a slice with the blade, Benzhi attempted to direct qi to his palm as before. He dropped the sword a few times. Another tack. He stopped completing the whole form and just attempted a short form with a swing of the sword. Benzhi imagined the qi running through his hand, over the hilt, and down the blade, skimming the edge. His attempts met failure and frustration. He was not aware of what was happening, he could not sense where the qi actually was. It was obvious what he was imagining was not what was happening. This was fine when he was doing something unsophisticated like push qi out his palm, but now when finesse was required, he was failing dismally.

After three hours of sweat, tears and a little blood Benzhi felt like a goldfish navigating the Marianna Trench. He would persevere, however, that would have to be tomorrow it was time to train with Gisael the Terrible.

Gisael looked bored, Benzhi approached her as she leaned against the Hyperion. It was the most impressive tree in the forest.

Gisael yawned, to complete the picture, and said "why don't you just bang your head against the tree here. Will probably be the same result." Gisael sighed, "you really are the least talented forest guardian ever." 

Benzhi, hang his head down for a minute. What she said was probably true. But, he wasn't a wood elf, he wasn't born with these abilities, he had to do it the hard way. He started to get angry. 

"Listen guano breath," Benzhi seethed, "unlike you, I have to work and work hard for every minute ounce of progress. If you were in my shoes you would have gone crying home to mommy a long time ago. Now, my guess is I am to direct qi to the soles of my feet and run up that tree," as he indicated Hyperion. This should be a lot easier than directing qi to his sword's edge and closer to pushing qi out his palm. "Move aside," he demanded, petulantly.

Benzhi backed up. Took a deep breath and leaned back like long jumpers do before a run-up. He sprinted directly at the tree, directing qi to the soles of his feet, leapt up and placed a foot directly onto the tree. He took another step up the tree. Suddenly he was pushed away from the tree, his feet and legs kept rising above his head while he was flying backwards away from the tree. It was all going wrong so he decided to tuck his knees in. Benzhi ended up somersaulting backwards landing on his knees away from the tree. Phew, not too disastrous, just a couple of bruised knees. His qi hadn't allowed him to stick to the tree. Instead, it had literally catapulted him away from the tree.

Benzhi hung his head. Glaring at Gisael he stated, "I cannot sense my qi, I am working blind here."

Gisael pondered and after a minute volunteered, "perhaps you should develop your senses first."

Benzhi perked up, "will that help me sense my qi?"

"It may. You are a puzzle. It would probably be easier to train a wood mouse, they, at least are predictable." Gisael replied. "Follow." Gisael led Benzhi away from the glade. After running for a long time they arrived at a hilltop outside the forest. "Normally we would tree run and try this in the trees. Since you cannot tree run this will suffice. Sit"

Benzhi sat and Gisael sat behind him putting her hands on either side of his head.

"Now, push qi into your eyes. When you have done this tell me what you can see." Gisael asked.

Benzhi complied. He closed his eye and meditated on his core. He imagined his qi circulating through his body and pushed it ever so slightly to his eyes, he let a small amount of qi pool there before re-entering circulation. Benzhi didn't even have to open his eyes. He could see tendrils of qi everywhere, thousands upon thousands of them. They looked like tiny wires or stream of blue green light. It was...beautiful. It was also overpowering.

He looked at his core, he could see his own reservoir, it looked the same colour as the turquoise gemstone except it was liquid. His own liquid cooling system, but instead of luminescent coolant, it was qi. Benzhi opened his eyes and was overtaken with sensory input. He collapsed.

An indeterminate amount time later Gisael was tapping his face. "Wake up stupid," she ordered. "Perhaps less qi in your eyes."

"It worked!" Benzhi jubilantly exclaimed. "It worked!" The sense of relief he felt was immense. He must have put a massive amount of pressure on himself to succeed. Working every minute of every day to get results. It was a small step forward, however now he could sense where his qi was and what it was doing everything would be so much easier. At least he hoped so. Before he was blind, but now he could see. Another amazing discovery, well discovery for Benzhi, was there was qi everywhere.

"Let's go back and try the Hyperion again," Benzhi enquired.

"Very well," Gisael replied. "Race you." She took off.

Who was she kidding? Benzhi thought as he sped after her. She was still so far above his level he didn't know how much faster she was. And. How old was she? First, she had nothing kind to say, would only laugh at him and now wanted to race like children? Perhaps she was very young. Either that or wood elves were always playful no matter the age.

Benzhi arrived back at the Hyperion. It was a majestic tree. He didn't even know where the top was, you couldn't see it from the ground. It was wide and once you did reach a branch, which was probably fifty meters above ground they were wide and strong. Gisael was leaning against the tree. Smiling this time, probably pleased with herself.

"I nearly fell asleep waiting," Gisael crooned.

"You should have, you look like you need some beauty sleep," Benzhi replied. Gisael just looked confused. 'Go real world sayings, hah,' Benzhi thought to himself.

Benzhi closed his eyes and prepared for an attempt. He first pooled a small amount of qi in his eyes, then looked down at the soles of his feet and attempted to pool a small amount on the surface. He looked up at the tree with his eyes closed and could see its magnificence. The tree also had its own ecosystem of qi, and the roots, the roots were shared with the other trees, all the other trees. This was amazing. Benzhi allowed the qi pool to drain from his eyes and then opened them. He wasn't going to make that mistake again. He lined up for another attempt while maintaining the qi on the soles of his feet. 

And fell on his arse.

Benzhi sighed and rubbed his now sore arse. Getting up walking back to what he had decided what his starting position, where quite frankly the run-up was probably unnecessary it was more about warming up and preparation.

Benzhi studied the qi circulating his body and when he pooled or directed it to certain areas. It was like water, or like jets of air being pumped through pipes. Except it had form, shape and texture. Looking closer, it had turbulence. Perhaps the key was how it was pooled, or layered on the soles of his feet. Benzhi began to try different methods and attempted scaling the tree again, and again. He must have tried a hundred times, well into the afternoon and early evening. He was bruised and battered.

It was the usual time of the day he would sit down to refresh and meditate for the night. Gisael had already left him a couple of hours ago. So he made his way over to the pool, grabbed the small wooden bowl which was now left there and drank a few mouthfuls. A sip was not cutting it anymore. He closed his eyes and monitored his core, yes it was brimming now and so bright, almost white and shining.

Before he began Benzhi decided to check his stats to gauge his progress in the Qi Worlds simulation. Especially since today was a landmark day.

Satisfying. Very satisfying, Benzhi thought. Qi Manipulation had sky rocketed to 7.

For the first time Benzhi did not have to imagine qi circulation as he meditated he could sense it. 

Chapter end