Chapter 31:
I tightened my grip on my sword as I watched all three Crystal Drakes that had apparently set up an ambush for us. Well, probably not for us specifically. They were each larger than a van. I doubted we were much of a meal for them.
Still, they weren't likely to let us go just because of that, either.
Crystal Drakes were known to be incredibly aggressive. They could turn things into crystals with a beam attack from their mouths and were quite strong compared to many other spirit beasts at the same Rank. Though there wasn't any mention in the bestiaries about them setting up ambushes, so there might have been other things that made them incredibly dangerous that I didn't even know about.
Just great.
"Please tell me you can beat them all," I asked Sun Yun as I resisted the urge to use my boost. I'd gotten really used to using it when I was in danger, but it would just be a waste now to try. With all my passive buffs now, 250 Qi was not nearly enough to improve my stats. Unfortunate, but at least I could use all that Qi for other Skills instead.
"It's fine," Sun Yun said, still sounding excited. "They're dangerous, sure, and they're all Mid Rank 1. But I can deal with them."
"All at once?" Lin asked, her own grip tightening on her metal war club.
"Well…" Sun Yun said, hesitating. "You guys should probably work to tie one of them up. I should be able to keep two on me and not let them blindside you as I take them out. Might be a bit hard to let Li Lan get the finishing blow, though."
"I'm good without it, thanks," I said hurriedly, eyeing the dangerous Crystal Drakes that looked seconds away from charging. Something held them back, however. I was really hoping it was Sun Yun and that they could tell she wasn't easy prey. Or even better, they were wary of all of us. "Let's just take these things out before we all get turned into statues."
"Okay," Sun Yun said brightly. Then she rushed off. She was a lot faster than I'd seen her so far. Not as fast as her sister, but something about the way she moved seemed to make it hard to keep track of her. Before I knew it, she'd reached the other two Crystal Drakes. She slapped her palm into the side of one of them and sent it flying into the other.
The two beasts tumbled together further away from us, and then she rushed off to continue her assault.
That was all I could watch before I had to focus on the final and much closer Crystal Drake. It let out another roar, and the crystals on its back glowed brighter. Then that same glow appeared in its mouth. Shit.
The three of us split apart and dodged as a beam of purple energy blasted out. It missed us all, but where it struck the ground, the earth there transformed into that same purple crystal.
"I'll distract it," Jianfeng called out as he rushed the Crystal Drake. Wind started to swirl around him, and his speed picked up as he dodged an attempt to bite him in two. He tried to stab at its eye, but the drake was too fast. It pulled back just in time and nearly buried one of its claws into Jianfeng's side. He barely managed to leap back from the strike, and then was forced to continue to dodge as the drake bit and clawed relentlessly.
Lin reacted faster than me and rushed to help. I followed behind after a moment, watching as blue light exploded from her body. She kicked off the ground hard and burst forward with her warclub at the ready. It looked like she was going to smash the drake in its side, hopefully giving Jianfeng some space.
But before she reached it, the drake's crystal-clad tail lashed out like a viper. She only barely managed to put her club in the way in time as the tail smashed into her. It sent her flying for a yard before she flipped and got her feet under her. Then she landed and skidded to a halt.
I grimaced at the speed of that attack but didn't slow my approach. Letting the drake focus all of its attention on Jianfeng for any longer than necessary was not a good idea. So I rushed in, wary of its tail even as Lin charged again from the side.
The tail lashed out again. It looked like it was trying to sweep us both. But Lin was ready for it this time and met it with her war club. The spiked crystal-clad tail met the metal of her weapon, clanging loudly and sending her skidding back. But it also sent the tail off course, giving me the opening to strike.
I launched forward with Burst Step, silver light coating my blade. As I passed the drake, I swung my sword as fast as I could. The blade bit deep into flesh, scoring a good hit, and I grinned.
Then the drake freaked the hell out.
It spun even faster than before, like a rabid cat that just got its tail stepped on. My vision was filled with the sight of purple crystal as its tail whipped toward me. I only had time to bring my arms up to block before it smashed into me and sent me flying.
All the while, I could hear the drake freaking out, roaring and smashing everything around it.
My arms screamed in pain, and I almost dropped my sword. But I was a lot tougher than in the past. A lot stronger too. So I kept my grip and spun in the air to land on my feet. It was surprisingly easy, and I skidded to a halt with a grimace.
I looked back towards the—holy shit!
I dove to the side as a beam of purple light rushed towards me. I managed to get out of the way just in time. I fell to the ground again but rolled to my feet in a rush. As I did, I frantically looked for the drake and any more danger.
Thankfully, no more beams of light met me, but now the drake was further away. Where it had been was completely covered in crystal, and Lin and Jianfeng were only now reaching it again.
Its freak-out must have given it the chance to make room.
I rubbed my right arm with my free hand for a second as I looked over my arms. They were red and there were cuts. But… Well, it honestly wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Not with how fast and how sharp that tail was.
Guess I still wasn't all that clear on my own durability. Though, I probably could have prevented any injury at all if I'd remembered to use Armored Shell. But it was a new Skill, and in the heat of the moment, I hadn't thought of it.
I would do better next time. Hopefully.
Certain that my wounds weren't bad, I rushed towards the drake again as Lin and Jianfeng continued to harass it. It seemed able to hold the two of them off but was slowly losing ground. If I joined in, I could probably get another hit in. Or allow them to do the same. But then it would freak out again, and I wasn't too keen on seeing if I could bring up Armored Shell fast enough this time.
Perhaps I could damage it from range instead?
The idea came to me as I crossed over the now crystalized ground. I'd come hunting the Gem Shelled Tortoise because I thought my Earth Skills would work with crystal after all. And that crystal would make my Earth abilities hit a lot harder than more fragile rock.
Why not give it a try?
I stopped for a second and used Earth Constructs. I grinned when it worked, and a spear of pure crystal formed up from the ground. I still couldn't really launch my Earth Constructs as fast as Rock Spear had shot spears, but I did have another way of launching them. One that was probably even better now with my Ursine Strength.
When the spear finished forming, I gripped it tightly, and I rushed forward to close the distance. I wasn't an expert at spear-throwing or anything, so I wanted to get as close as I could without getting into freak-out range.
"Watch out!" I called when I was close enough, and I threw the spear with all my might. Which was quite a lot with my Ursine Strength. "It might freak out again!"
I aimed for its side. Even with my boosted Dex, this was my first time throwing a spear by hand—something I probably should have practiced since I still sucked at launching constructs with my Skill. I didn't want to aim for the head and just miss.
Though perhaps that caution was unwarranted as my spear flew through and hit it right in the side. And unlike my shitty Earth spears, which would have probably just shattered, it plunged through its scales and into its flesh beneath.
Like I thought, it freaked out again from the wound. But Lin and Jianfeng were already moving away, getting out of range of the whirlwind of claws, fangs, and spiked tail.
The drake kept at this for a moment before it slowed, and the crystals on its back glowed again. Then it started blasting with its crystallization beam. It started around itself before it realized that we'd already backed off. Then it started firing at us.
First at Jianfeng, then Lin, then me. But after I dodged, the drake seemed to continue to focus on me. Almost like it was—
I moved before I could think about it too much. Activating Earth Wader, I dove into the ground, maximizing my Qi input to make the ground as liquid as possible.
The drake lunged at me in a rush, covering the distance between us in barely any time at all, its maw wide opened to bite me in half. But I was fully into the ground before it reached me and swimming further down. I did not want to know what might happen if it turned the earth around me into crystal while I was in it.
I stayed only close enough to the surface to keep track of the drake with my Earth Sense. When it disappeared, probably to attack Lin or Jianfeng, I swam to the side and then moved to exit the ground a bit away from where I'd gone in. Just in case.
As I did this, I tried to think of a better plan than keeping up the tactic we've used so far and hoping it tired itself out. It might work, but the longer this fight lasted, the more dangerous things became. Perhaps Sun Yun would finish off her two soon and come help, but I didn't want to chance that.
Thankfully, I did manage to think of something before I reached the surface.
I leaped out of the ground, head on a swivel in case the drake was too close by. But thankfully, Jianfeng and Lin had its attention again, both lashing out with their sword and war club.
I grinned at the sight as I rushed over to the largest patch of crystal I could find. Using Earth Constructs again, I made several things. One was a large structure that would be behind me, as big as I could make it without being obvious and with extra Qi channeled into it to make it more durable. The others were just more spears, each one imbued with extra Qi as well.
Crystal seemed to much more easily absorb my Qi when creating constructs. I wasn't quite sure if that was a good or bad thing, but I hoped it meant that it was making everything extra tough faster. And it wasn't like I didn't have the Qi to spare now that boosting would be a waste.
"Hey! Lure it over here!" I shouted when I was done. Hopefully, despite being smart enough to set up an ambush, this drake would still fall for my trap when it was blinded by rage.
"We'll try!" Jianfeng called out. Then after another moment, the two of them started leading the battle towards me. I sheathed my sword and hefted one of my crystal spears as they neared.
"Incoming!" I shouted and threw the spear with everything I had. Then I grabbed another spear and did the same. And then again. And again. All as fast as I could.
The first spear hit as I threw the last one.
It skimmed the side of the drake's shoulder, not even making it flinch. Then the next one sank into that same shoulder, earning a roar. Another almost got its eye, but skidded off its eye ridge, and a final one got it into the meat of its forelimb.
As expected, the drake freak the fuck out. It became a whirlwind of destruction again for a moment. When it stopped, it started blasting beams of purple. But only once. I'd been expecting to have to dodge more, but after I leaped out of the way the purple of its crystals finally seemed to dim.
I rushed back over to where I'd been standing as the drake's ranged option was gone. And then it did exactly what I wanted it to do. It rushed me.
Maw opened wide, it clearly wanted to tear me to pieces. I watch it come, not trying to see if I could dive into the crystal with Earth Wader. Instead, I just leaped to the side when I thought it was close enough.
I might have left it a bit too close as I felt something tug at my leather boots at the last moment. But there was no pain, so I ignored it as I rolled on the ground and forced myself up on my feet. Behind me, there was the sound of tearing flesh, a thump, and an ear-piercing roar of pain.
When I spun to see what happened, I was met by a great but gruesome sight. The drake must have tried to turn at the last moment, probably to bite my foot off. But it failed and ended up ramming into the constructs of crystal spikes I made side first.
Its own weight and momentum did the rest, embedding my spikes deep into its side. It struggled for another moment, but I wasn't going to miss my chance to end this. I unsheathed my sword and activated Metallic Razor Slash. Then I rushed to decapitate it.
It took three strikes to cut all the way through its thick neck. But I managed it in the end, and its head thumped heavily onto the ground.
I grinned at the gruesome sight before Lin's constant reminders rang in my mind. I quickly looked around for any other danger. There didn't seem to be any but—oh shit.
My caution turned out to be warranted. Another crystal drake leaped out from the cracks on the far side of the isolated plateau we were fighting on. It landed with a thump. Then it reared up its head and roared. It was a loud piercing roar, louder than any of the drakes we'd heard until now.
I eyed it warily, tightening my grip on my sword. But then more roars rang out as if in reply. At first, there was one. And then another. And another. And another.
Holy fuck, how many of them were there?
"Okay, we need to go," Sun Yun suddenly said, having rushed over at some point. Her two Crystal Drakes were defeated as well and Lin and Jianfeng moved to meet us. Sun Yun reached out for the decapitated and impaled Crystal Drake. "Things are getting out of hand."
Using the absurd vacuum function of her spatial pouch, she fit the massive corpse inside in just a second. Then she tapped her pouch again, and a small lotus blossom popped out. It flew to the ground between us and opened up as it grew large enough to fit us all, lifting up off the ground.
The world suddenly shifted. The acceleration was intense and pushed me down against the flying lotus blossom. I thought I might be crushed for a second, but the acceleration ended almost as soon as it began.
I took a second to steady myself, then looked up when Sun Yun gasped. Jianfeng and Lin were also gaping, looking over the side of the blossom. I moved to do the same, and my eyes might have bugged out of my sockets as I saw what they must have.
Down far below—holy shit we got so high up so fast—the isolated bit of land we'd been fighting on was crawling with crystal drakes. There were a least a dozen now, all looking the same size as the ones we fought. One was even larger and there seemed to be even more crawling out of—holy shit.
A massive beam of purple shot up into the sky from below.
Our lotus ride dodged to the side, narrowly missing the beam that was several times larger than any the drake we'd fought before had unleashed. I gripped onto the lotus tightly, but thankfully wasn't thrown off by the sudden move.
"We have to leave!" Lin shouted.
"I know!" Sun Yun shouted back, and we accelerated again. This time to the side. Again, I was worried about being thrown off. But something seemed to be helping keep me in place. The acceleration also wasn't as strong as before.
One more beam of light shot towards us before we escaped. But it went wide enough that I was pretty sure Sun Yun hadn't needed to shift us to the side. Then the wasteland was left behind as we reached the massive trees of the forest again.
We were high enough that we were well above even the tallest of the trees. That let us move fast in a straight line, hopefully well out of range and interests of those drakes. I started to relax as it seemed we were finally safe. But then the blossom started to descend suddenly.
We didn't fall or anything, but the abrupt maneuver put me on edge as the flying lotus neared the tree line.
"Why are we descending?" I asked.
"I don't want to tax my new treasure," Sun Yun said, a look of focus on her face as she somehow directed the flying lotus. "Or use up any spirit stones powering it. Something that can let a Qi-Gatherer fly isn't cheap to repair or to power."
"Oh," I said, leaning over the side of the lotus blossom again as we passed into the trees. I suppose that did make sense. And we were really far away from the drakes now. The lotus had flown very fast, covering what might have been an hour's run in a lot less time. Still… "But can we use it if they somehow catch us?"
"Yes," Sun Yun said as we neared the forest floor. "But hopefully we won't have to. Or I'll never hear the end of it from Big Sis."
"I think you've already given her enough reason to chastise you," Lin said, looking remarkably relaxed sitting on the lotus despite what we'd just been through. "You still snuck out of the compound after all."
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," Sun Yun said brightly. "I did sneak out. But! If I didn't sneak out, you guys would have probably died looking for that turtle. Easily escaping so many crystal drakes without my lotus wouldn't have been likely."
I cringed at that, and neither Jianfeng nor Lin looked all that happy about the reminder. If Sun Yun hadn't been here, and we just ran into that ambush by ourselves… It wouldn't have been pretty.
"I still don't get what happened," I said as we landed and Sun Yun put away her lotus. "The bestiaries didn't say anything about Crystal Drakes setting up ambushes. And we shouldn't have even been close enough to the actual Crystal Cliffs to run into one of them, let alone a whole colony or whatever."
"That was quite strange," Sun Yun said with a nod. Despite the somber topic, she didn't sound all that worried. Though I suppose with that new treasure of hers, we weren't in too much danger.
"It might have something to do with what's happening in the west," Jianfeng said as he carefully scanned our surroundings. "The spirit beasts are acting up in the western parts of the Great Southern Forest. Perhaps this is a sign that the issue has come to the East as well."
"Then we'll have to avoid the Great Southern Forest for now," Lin said with a frown and started heading north. "We should make our way out of here quickly."
We all agreed with that and started to follow her. It was a shame to leave too soon, as there were still other targets I wanted to hunt. But if Jianfeng was right, then staying and trying to find those would only invite more disaster for us.
"How long do you think we'll have to avoid this place," I asked as we walked.
"The troubles in the West have been going on for more than a month now," Lin said. "So at least that long, if not longer. You should give up on the idea of hunting here for now. Not unless Young Miss Sun Xia decides to escort us directly. Otherwise, it would be too dangerous. We could join other larger groups to lessen the danger, but that would cause other problems."
Lin turned to eye me meaningfully at that last part.
"It won't be an issue if I come along," Sun Yun said cheerfully as she walked next to Jianfeng. "My spatial bag will make storing the beast carcasses for later a lot easier."
I nodded at that. She wasn't wrong. Though, whether or not Sun Xia would allow something like that after we got back was another question. Something Lin was eager to point out to Sun Yun.
The two girls playfully argued that point as we continued to make our way through the forest. So far there were no signs that the Crystal Drakes were chasing us. There were also no signs of any other spirit beasts either.
Well, except for the fox watching me.
Wait, what? I stopped and turned to look at the small fox watching me from the underbrush. It looked small and unthreatening, but my less-than-stellar experiences with its kind so far made me dislike it immediately.
I moved for my sword and—
Wait, what was I doing? It was just a cute little fox. Oh, and behind it was a gorgeous woman. She had… fuck those were big. And she looked like a weebs wet dream, with fox ears sticking out of her head and a big fluffy foxtail swaying gently behind her. I still didn't like foxes all that much, but maybe she wasn't so bad.
I started walking towards her, something feeling off about the whole situation, but I couldn't quite place what. Oh well, it was probably fine.
Chapter 32:
The beautiful, well-endowed fox lady led me into the underbrush. For some reason, I felt that there was something wrong. But that couldn't be right, could it? What was wrong with getting a chance to hook up with a gorgeous fox babe? Yes, foxes were kinda assholes, but I'm sure fox women were much better.
I tried to reach for the fox lady, but she giggled and pulled just out of my reach. I grinned at her and moved to chase as she beckoned me. I wanted to wrap my arms around that slim waist of hers and pull her to me. And I could tell she wanted it too, with all the flirty and lusty looks.
We continued like this for a bit before we found a cramped clearing with a small spring running through it. There, another fox lady waited. Her robes were partially open, showing off her very ample assets as well. I wanted to bury my face in them.
With a grin, I walked over to the two gorgeous women giving me bedroom eyes. I wasn't any kind of casanova and only had one girlfriend before. But I was certain that I could handle these two lovely ladies. Even if I couldn't, I was pretty sure that at least making the attempt would be worth it.
The more well-equipped of the two ladies reached out a hand to me, fluttering her eyelashes. I reached out happily, my heart beating hard in my chest—
"And that's enough of that."
Someone appeared to the side of the fox lady and kicked her hard. What the hell? Who was this assho—wait, what?
I blinked several times as I registered what I'd just seen. The girl—it was Sun Yun!—had kicked the foxy lady, but her leg hadn't connected properly. Instead, it seemed to phase through the woman at the same time as something smaller was sent flying.
I blinked again and shook my head. "What's—"
The other foxy woman snarled in anger and charged. Sun Yun spun and lashed out with her palm, but again her hand phased through the woman. This time, though, nothing else seemed to have been hit, and the woman just disappeared into a haze.
"Oh, that's annoying," Sun Yun muttered.
"Su—" I started to say, still feeling a bit confused. It felt like my mind was a little foggy. But then something grabbed me from behind and pulled me back.
I reacted on instinct and tried to elbow them to get away. But my assailant caught my arm and kept me from hitting them.
"Let go—"
"It's me!" A familiar voice shouted in my ear, making me wince. "It's Lin!"
I froze for a second and then quickly turned to look. It was Lin. She was holding onto me, looking annoyed as she kept me from driving my elbow into her stomach. I winced at her look and stopped my attempt.
"So—"
Lin grabbed me again before I could ask one of the many questions I had. She pulled me to the side just as blue flames smashed down where we'd been. It left a small crater and a heavily burned patch of earth.
I stared wide-eyed for a moment before turning to look at where that came from. Jianfeng—when did he get here?—was with Sun Yun, and they were both fighting four different opponents. Two foxes and two fox women. But the foxes and women both had oddly similar angry snarls on their faces as they fought. And every time Jianfeng or Sun Yun seemed to hit one of them, their blows ended up just phasing through their opponents who then disappeared.
A moment later, one of the remaining opponents would split into another fox and a woman. And while this was happening, balls of eerie blue flame were being hurled around by the four as well.
The flames moved with unnatural agility, chasing Sun Yun and Jianfeng as they fought. When they smashed into the underbrush or trees, the balls of fire seemed to just bounce off, not catching anything alight. However, the few times the flame grazed Jianfeng, they exploded brightly and burned his robes.
It was all very confusing, even as my mind was beginning to clear.
"What's happening?" I asked as Lin and I both moved to avoid several more of those eerie blue flames.
"You were enthralled by those Spirit Foxes," Lin said, not moving to join the battle. Instead, she stayed close, eyeing me carefully every so often as if to make sure I wouldn't do anything stupid. "They were trying to lure you away to eat you."
"Oh," I said, feeling a bit dumb as the foggy feeling around my mind completely left. It then became super apparent what had happened. "So how did they—"
My question was interrupted by a shout from Sun Yun.
"Okay, enough of this!" She shouted as she waved her whole arm in front of her. A wave of air seemed to explode from her and push away everything around her except Jianfeng.
Two of their opponents were sent flying. One of the dog-sized foxes, and one of the fox women. Though after the woman smacked into a tree, she turned into a fox as well.
"No more illusions!" Sun Yun shouted. Then I felt something strange yet familiar. Spirit sense! Despite only being at Mid Qi-Gathering, she already had that ability.
And apparently, it was enough to let her see through whatever illusions the foxes were using. Right after I felt her spirit sense, she moved in a rush and attacked again. Despite another two fox women splitting off from the foxes, there was no more hitting and phasing through illusions for Sun Yun.
One of the foxes was smashed into the ground so hard it left a crater. The other—which had been hiding in the illusion of a fox woman again—was smashed into a tree, leaving a small crater and making the massive thing shake at the impact.
"That was kinda annoying," Sun Yun said, hands on her hips as she looked at her two downed foes. Then she turned to me. "Well, come on. Do you want to finish them off or not?"
I blinked as I realized what she meant. Oh, right. I could harvest these. Annoying asshole they might be—I was starting to get a complex about hating foxes—but the illusions they used could be a pretty amazing Skill depending on how it worked. I might as well get something out of this mess.
I unsheathed my sword and made my way over to the two badly wounded foxes. Quickly and cleanly, I decapitated both of them, finally putting an end to this whole confusing and dangerous incident.
Sun Yun stored them away right afterward, and I didn't bother checking what they might have to harvest. I could do it later, and I was more than a little sick of the Great Southern Forest now. I wanted to leave and put this whole day behind me.
It was only a couple of minutes after we began heading north again did I remember the question I'd wanted to ask during the fighting.
"So how did the foxes sneak me away?" I asked the rest of the group as we jogged through the forest. "Like, did they use an illusion to hide that I'd been taken or something?"
With my mind more clear, I could remember that the fox's illusion had led me away for several minutes before we reached that clearing. So, another illusion hiding what had happened was the only thing that made sense to me. We kept too close an eye on eachother out here for them to not notice me walking away.
"Pretty much," Sun Yun said, nodding. "It was subtle and took a moment for me to realize what was happening. Then it took just a bit more effort to find you."
I frowned as I considered that. "Which meant that if they'd been a bit faster, I might have died."
That was not a nice thought to have. Even with everyone around me and all my new strength, I'd just almost died. The only silver lining was I might get the ability to do the same from the fox carcasses.
"Probably not," Sun Yun said rather flippantly.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Whatever the foxes did, I was totally confused and had no idea I was in danger."
"Yes, but charm techniques like that are very easy to break," Sun Yun said very confidently. Was that general knowledge she had or first-hand experience? "When they actually moved to harm you, your survival instincts would have likely broken you out of your trance. It's the reason they worked in pairs and the reason that spirit foxes like these aren't more common. If the charm ability was so effective, they would easily hunt other spirit beasts and humans."
"I guess you're right…" I said, thinking it through. It was a bit disappointing that charm abilities were so weak since I might have been able to get one of my own. But at least that meant that I hadn't been in as much danger as I thought.
It wasn't much, yet it made me just a bit less nervous as we made our way through the quiet forest.
Unfortunately, the quiet did not last. Not long after the battle with the foxes, we ran into more spirit beasts. It wasn't an issue at first. They were just Early Rank 1s, and while most of us were a little worn out, it wasn't that bad. We dealt with them as they came, even taking a moment to harvest the cores—We had more than 30 now, but we encountered no new spirit beasts, so I didn't bother trying to get them for harvesting.
The only exception to this was a large bird of prey that tried its luck while we were fighting other beasts. Unfortunately, a quick check before Sun Yun stored it away showed that it did not have a Skill that could let me fly, much to my dismay. It would have been a pleasant surprise after those Crystal Drakes and the foxes.
But that disappointment didn't bother me for long as things started to get worse. As we continued to travel north—where there should be fewer spirit beasts—the number of encounters we had only grew.
It seemed to just be bad luck at first. Yet it kept getting worse. And worse. It was like all the spirit beasts in the forest had become suddenly extra aggressive, and they were far more easily drawn towards us from the sound of fighting.
As this continued, we abandoned wasting time extracting cores, and Sun Yun just dumped the corpses directly into her bag. But the problem kept growing, and we gave up on that too soon after. Instead, eventually, we just had to start running, leaving behind some cripple spirit beast to distract the others.
Thankfully, that seemed to work, and the rampaging beasts got drawn towards what we left behind. They seemed to fight amongst themselves after that, drawing even more spirit beasts towards the fighting. But at least not towards us for the most part.
We had to do this a couple more times before we finally made our way out of the forest at a run. I would have been more panicked about the whole thing if it wasn't for Sun Yun's treasure being available as a fallback plan.
"So I guess there isn't any more doubt about if the spirit beast problem is spreading," I said sarcastically after we'd put a considerable distance between us and the tree line to the Great Southern Forest. It was around late afternoon, given the sun's location.
"It would seem so,' Lin said in a deadpan voice beside me as we looked back towards the forest. Even from here, we could see movement within the trees. None seemed to be rushing out to chase us or anything, but it was more than a little disconcerting.
"Do we need to tell somebody about this?" I asked. "Like, beside Sun Xia?"
"I don't think we will need to," Jianfeng said. I turned to him, confused, before I saw that he was pointing at something behind us. Then I saw what he was referring to.
Coming towards us were several mounted riders. They approached at speed, and for a second, I thought they might try and run us over. But no one else moved to run or dodge, so I forced myself to stay still, and just watch the approach. In the end, they stopped only a couple of feet from us, halting their movement far more easily than I thought possible.
Given the slight feeling of Qi I could feel from them, I assumed that was a feature of whatever kind of spirit horses these were.
"Halt!" the lead man said rather aggressively. "Do not attempt to enter the Great Southern Forest."
The lead rider and the rest were all dressed similarly. They wore impressive-looking scaled armor, with full coverage of their bodies. There were some minor yellow and red embellishments decorating the armor, but for the most part, they looked practical. Their helms were open-faced, though, making it easy to see the stern no-nonsense look on the lead man's face.
"We weren't planning to," Jianfeng called out, taking the lead. "We just got out and have no intention of going back in soon. The beasts are incredibly aggressive at the moment."
The lead rider seemed to be taken aback for a second by Jianfeng's answer. It seemed he hadn't expected that, and he gave our group an evaluating look.
"I see," he said, nodding to himself. "It is good that you manage to get out safely. We've gotten dozens of similar reports in the last hour or so. We were sent out to the East to intercept anyone trying to go into the forest, as well as to watch out for spirit beast incursions. What can you tell me about your experiences?"
"Well…"
Jianfeng gave a quick recounting of our experiences. From how normal it had been before noon, to the disaster with the drakes, then to the surge of beasts as we left. He did alter the story though, so that we triggered the Crystal Drake trap from afar, and fled after seeing just how many there were. Probably to keep Sun Yun's treasure a secret.
"I see," the man said, a concerned look on his face for a moment. Then it was wiped away, back to the stern visage he had before. "Very well. You four should leave this place at once, then. The imperial garrison shall manage this disaster, as we are doing in the East. Only large or more powerful groups should enter the Great Southern Forest until this matter has been settled."
"Oh, of course," Jianfeng said, giving the soldiers a quick bow. The rest of us did the same, even Sun Yun before we started walking away.
"Well, at least someone is looking into this mess," I said once the riders rode off and seemed to be far enough away.
Sun Yun let out a dainty snort at that and shook her head. "They said similar things about managing things when things got bad in the East. Now, more than a month later, they are still tied up there, and bandits are running around the countryside, causing problems practically uncontested except for private efforts. I wouldn't put too much faith in them dealing with this."
"Oh," I said, looking back at the forest one last time. If that was the case, then this might be a sign of more troubles to come.
I turned away from the forest and shook my head. Well, it wasn't like I was at the level of strength to really deal with that right now. Better to leave it for others to handle, even if they weren't doing so well. Instead, we should just head back to the city, and rest and relax.
Or, well, I would do that just as soon as I figured out everything that I'd gained from this whole mess. Despite some nasty surprises, and the hunt getting cut short, I'd still gained a lot. More than enough cores to fuel my cultivation, two Skills that gave me two great boosts to my stats, a powerful new defensive Skill, and potentially a couple more Skills that would hopefully turn out to be either useful or powerful.
Overall, not bad, though I hoped not all my trips out of the city would end up being like this one.
—Line Break—
The trip back to the city was thankfully a lot less eventful than our trip getting out of the forest. No issues with spirit beasts, and our only encounters were with other people—none of which were bandits. Most of them were either people like us, traveling on the main road back to the city after having fled the forest, or people who'd been turned away by the imperial army for being too small a group or too weak.
A few groups were actually coming from the north, apparently willing to brave the Great Southern Forest at night or just looking to make a quick trip. Once we told them about what the imperial army was doing, most turned to head back to the city.
One group, however, didn't turn back. Given that it was a large group of more than a dozen people, several at mid Qi-gathering at least, that wasn't too surprising. They should be able to keep safe, and for them, the trouble might be a bit of an opportunity to get a lot of spirit beast cores or even full carcasses to sell.
Or to get killed if things got worse.
Aside from these encounters, we did stop a couple of more times on the way back. I needed to check if the oldest of the corpses Sun Yun was still carrying in her spatial pouch were still good. If there was a time limit and the preservation power of her pouch didn't help with it, then I'd have to harvest everything on the road.
Thankfully, each time the carcasses came out glowing blue, and we did not have to deal with that.
When we got back to the city, it was approaching evening, and the sun was starting to set. We headed straight for the Sun Compound from the southern gate. News about the troubles in the Great Southern Forest seemed to have just reached the city, and I heard many people talking about it as we made our way through the busy streets of the merchant district.
I ignored it all for the most part, as we were moving too quickly to really hear more than snippets of people's conversations.
Then, finally, we arrived at the Sun Compound. Sun Xia was there to meet us at the main entrance, looking quite unhappy. Even though she didn't glare, the blank look she had was enough to make me nervous despite it not being directed at me.
Despite her bravado from earlier, Sun Yun was equally cowed as she was led away for a 'talk'. Thankfully, Sun Xia didn't seem to blame the rest of us for Sun Yun's decision, and she even smiled and thanked us for getting her sister back home safely.
It was only when the two of them were gone did I remember that Sun Yun had all the spirit beast corpses on her. Meaning that I wouldn't be able to see what rewards I might have gotten for braving the crystal drakes and those foxes just yet.
Annoying, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. So, instead, I split from Jianfeng and Lin and headed back to my little house. There, I got cleaned up and ate a small meal. Normally, I'd either have to eat a whole lot more or take some fasting pills to ensure that I felt full. But, as it turned out, the cores I ate for my cultivation helped with that, keeping me able to eat a more normal-sized meal.
An interesting side effect. And with all the cores I'd gathered, it seemed like I would be able to eat more like a normal person for quite some time.
Once I was done with my food, I planned on just going to sleep, given everything that had happened.
However, before I could actually go to bed, there was a knock on the door.
—line break—
"I thought I wouldn't be seeing you for a while," I told Sun Yun as the two of us entered a large single-room building. It was quite a bit larger than my guest house, with a two-story tall ceiling and geometric formations inscribed on the floor.
It was apparently a cultivation room meant to be isolated from the outside. A good place for privacy, according to Sun Yun. Technically, Sun Xia could look inside with her Spirit Sense, but Sun Yun was adamant she wouldn't do that. And even if she was wrong, it wasn't like I had a better place to harvest and test Skills.
Any other location would be less private, and another snooper would be much worse than Sun Xia.
Sun Yun scoffed. "I told you that I was in the right. Big Sis couldn't ignore my perfectly sound arguments as to why joining the three of you was a good decision."
"Is that right?" I asked.
"Of course," Sun Yun said, holding her head up high for a moment.
"So if we were to head out tomorrow," I said, eyeing her skeptically, "then I suppose you will be free to come with us? No sneaking out needed."
Sun Yun winced at that and then turned to glare at me. "You know, perhaps I'm feeling too tired tonight. I should probably head to bed instead of helping you with this."
"Never mind, never mind," I said, laughing just a little as I shook my head. "Forget I said anything."
Sun Yun glared at me for another moment before she nodded once. "Good. Now, how do you want to do this?"
I took a moment to think about it before directing Sun Yun to just take out the Crystal Drake and Foxes first. The other spirit beasts were just maybes at the moment. I only had so many Skill Slots, and I wasn't sure I wanted to start consolidating more for subpar Skills. The Crystal Drake and the foxes, however, I had high hopes for.
Once that was done, Sun Yun left as she had better things to do than just watch me go about harvesting things. Which was fine with me as I wanted to take my time with my choices. I needed to consider just which Skills would be best, as well as how they might affect my consolidation options.
So, I carefully read through all the available Skills first, making sure I didn't miss anything. When I was done, I had a shorter list of six Skills that stood out the most to me.
Crystalizing Beam (Active) (Rank D): Unleash a beam of energy that will attempt to turn anything hit permanently into crystal.
Cost: 20 Qi per secondQi Crystal Storage (Passive) (Rank D): Gain the ability to store and retrieve Qi from crystals. Quality and type of crystal effect rate of Qi stored and retrieved.
Qi Crystal Body Growth (Active) (Rank D): Grow temporary crystals spikes from any part of your body. Size and strength depend on Qi expended.
Base Cost: 30 QiDuration: 30 minutes.
Foxfire (Active) (Rank C): Create and control foxfire. Foxfire is part illusion and part reality, unique to every being able to create it. It can burn or not based on the desires of its creator. When it burns fuel, it can replenish itself and even grow.
Cost: 5 QiUpkeep: 1 Qi per hourIllusionary Form (Active) (Rank D): Create an illusionary form that can be overlaid upon yourself. It can be controlled within a set range. Create an illusion over yourself that you can control. More complex or larger illusionary forms will cost more Qi.
Base Cost: 5 QiRange: 10 yardsBase Upkeep: 5 Qi per minuteEnvironmental Illusions (Active) (Rank D): Create an illusion over a set area. More complex or larger illusions will cost more Qi.
Base Cost: 10 QiRange: 20 yardsBase Upkeep: 5 Qi per minuteThe six Skills were not equal, but they were all quite tempting nonetheless. I could only have three of them, however, and only one of those three could come from the Crystal Drake. The only question that remained was which three would I take?
Chapter 33:
Editing note: I edited last chapter so the description for the two illusion Skills have been changed. Just to make it more clear the difference between the two and what they can do.
It took me some time to make my decisions about what Skills to take. They were all quite tempting in their own way, and some were clearly more beneficial than others. But there was more to consider than just whether the Skills were good enough or not.
I also had to consider what Skill consolidations these new Skills might unlock, along with the chances I could harvest any similar Skills soon.
For the foreseeable future, the Crystal Drake and most of the creatures of the Crystal Cliffs were probably going to be out of reach. I would have to take that into account. Then there were the One-Tailed Spirit Foxes. I'd seen their entry in the Starguard Bestiaries, and they were supposed to be quite rare. It was unlikely that I would find any more of those in the future.
And, of course, there was one final worry that I had to consider. Whether or not I would be able to use the Skills I harvested openly. Harvesting abilities from spirit beasts wasn't as note-worthy as being able to do the same to people. But it was still something that I wanted to avoid others even considering that I could do.
If I used too many abilities that resembled spirit beasts, and they were different enough from each other, it was possible that people might start making assumptions. They probably wouldn't come to the right conclusion, but it was better not to draw that kind of attention in the first place. Thankfully, after giving it some thought, and thinking back to talking about this with Lin and Jianfeng, I was pretty sure that wouldn't be an issue with these Skills at least.
The crystal-based Skills could be seen as an extension of my Earth techniques. And the illusion and fire Skills could be one-offs. But it was still good to think about these kind of things now, to get into the habit.
Eventually, I made my decision and picked my three new Skills. They were Foxfire, Illusionary Form, and Crystalizing Beam.
Illusionary Form seemed very useful. The way the foxes used it, it was pretty much both a disguise ability and a clone ability in one. It would probably take some getting used to, but all the utility available was just too good to ignore.
Crystallizing Beam was also a very powerful move, but took a little more thought before I took it. Getting access to more Qi by storing it in crystals was tempting. But, in the end, I chose Crystallizing Beam. There were a lot of reasons for this. Part of it was not wanting to rely on a resource I had to buy. Another was wanting a harder-hitting move. And one of the biggest reasons was how being able to make my own crystals would make my Earth Skills even more powerful.
That also wasn't taking into account the possible consolidations I might be able to get with said Earth Skills. It really was a great Skill for me and made up for me not getting that Gem Shelled Tortoise I was originally aiming for. This was likely better than what the gemstone tortoise could have given me.
Finally, there was Foxfire. That was actually the hardest decision for me. Overall, it didn't sound that impressive. Perhaps a decent range option, but with Crystalizing Beam, it felt a bit redundant. Perhaps it could be the less Qi-intensive and more controlled range option, but I could have filled that role once I got better with Earth Constructs or Earth Manipulation.
However, the thing that still made me choose it in the end was the rank. It was the first C-Rank Skill I'd seen. I honestly thought I might have to wait until the first time I harvested a Rank 2 for me to get a C-Rank. And I couldn't help but feel that there might be something special about it.
So, in the end, I took the skill.
Once all three carcasses had dissolved into light, and I had recovered from all the information that flooded my mind, I was eager to see if I was right about the C-Rank Skill. The information that came with the Skills was only ever about how to use them and not all their details.
I walked over to the trio of dummies in one of the corners of the room to try things out. Standing only a couple yards back from the target, I held out a hand and activated Foxfire for the first time.
A small ball of blue flames appeared in front of my hand. It hovered there in the air, and I could feel a strange connection to it. With just a thought, I made it float slowly to the left and then to the right. Then I made it do something more complex, ascending in a spiral.
I smiled despite how unimpressive it all was compared to some other things I'd done. The amount of free control I had over the Skill was nice. Of course, if this was all it could do, then that wouldn't make up for taking up a slot. It was time to see just what else it could do.
Looking back at the target, I willed the blue ball of flame forward as fast as I could make it. I also willed it to burn as hot as it would allow.
The fireball smashed right into the dummy, erupting into a small burst of blue flame. When that disappeared, I looked at the dummy to see… nothing. Absolutely nothing.
What the hell? Did I mess up in making it burn, or was it that weak? On a closer inspection of the wooden dummy, I saw that there was a slight singe mark on it. So it seemed it had burned, just not well.
I frowned at that and tried again, creating another ball of foxfire. This time, I attempted to funnel more Qi into it to make it bigger or stronger. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to work. I could control the Foxfire, but I had no way of adding more Qi.
I launched this foxfire ball in frustration at the target and got the same result as last time. Frustration welled up in me as I wondered if I'd just fucked up. I could have gotten more illusions Skills instead of this. It was so freaking weak, what the—
Wait a minute. What if…
Hope welling in my chest, I held up my hand again and aimed at the dummy once more. I activated another of my new Skills. A beam of familiar—and still a bit frightening—purple blasted out of my hand. It smashed right into the dummy for a couple of seconds, quickly draining my Qi as it did. Then I cut off the Skill and looked at the results.
Once again, I started to worry when I saw that the dummy was now coated with a thick layer of crystal. I'd been hoping the dummy was actually magical in some way and that's why my Foxfire had seemed so weak. But if—
There was a cracking sound. It was soon followed by another and then another. Finally, the cluster of crystals that had been clinging onto the dummy broke apart and crashed into the ground.
I stared wide-eyed as the dummy remained mostly unscathed, except for some shards of purple crystal that still clung to its frame.
I sighed in relief. So the dummies were magical to some extent. Probably extra tough, and even had some way to repel the crystallization effect of my Skill. That meant that there was still hope for my Foxfire. Perhaps it would do a lot more damage to something less protected. I would have to check later with more fragile targets.
With my hope restored, I spent the next half hour or so messing around with Foxfire some more, trying to figure out its secrets. It didn't take me long to figure one of them out, and I realized just how silly my previous panic about the Skill was. Even if the dummies hadn't been reinforced it wouldn't have been an issue. Because while I couldn't add Qi to a ball of already made Foxfire, I could control more than one of them at a time.
The only limit there seemed to be in terms of numbers was my focus and Qi. Aside from that, it seemed I could have as many balls of Foxfire as I wanted. Which, when combined together into a single attack, was much more devastating than I thought possible.
Combining over 10 of the fireballs into a single attack created a much larger explosion than the single fireball. It also left a much darker burn mark on the dummy. The mark disappeared after a moment from whatever repaired the dummies, but it was a remarkable improvement and left me far more satisfied with the Skill.
After that, I decided to move on. I messed around with Crystalizing Beam a bit more and realized that the whole cultivation chamber seemed protected against my crystallizing effect. It was a bit worrying, but I just hoped it wasn't as easy to get such protection on armor as opposed to a structure. And if that wasn't the case, it wasn't all bad.
Crystals still grew from where I hit with the beam, even if they didn't turn anything else into crystal. That effect would at least slow down an opponent. The crystals themselves could also be used with my Earth Skills, making any constructs I made much tougher.
Once I was done with that, I finally moved on to Illusionary Form. Which, as expected, was not quite that easy to use. Creating a clone of myself wasn't too difficult and seemed the easiest way to use the Skill. But controlling the movements of the clone while moving myself was a lot more difficult. Changing what the form looked like and getting something that didn't look hideous was also not easy.
I would need to spend more time training it as it would be well worth it to get it working. But that would have to be in the future. It was getting late, and I was still mentally tired from the day. So I decided to just check out any new Skill Consolidation quickly and call it a day.
Or at least, that was the plan.
Then I actually opened my status screen.
Everything seemed normal at first. I was now at around 20% of the way to Mid Rank 1, which I should be able to bring up to 100% after processing another 23 cores in addition to one I'd eaten along with my dinner. I had more than enough cores for that after our hunt.
My normal cultivation was, of course, way less impressive, as I hadn't started yet so it was still labeled 'none'. And I had used up 16 of my 20 Skill slots—a number that I could reduce by a lot if I needed to by consolidating.
But then I saw my Skill Consolidations. The first thing I noticed was that it just said 25+ options available on the main Status page. But after I clicked on that, and opened up the secondary page, I saw that there were a lot more options than I thought. A lot more.
It was as if my consolidations had more than doubled.
I quickly looked through the massive list to see just what could have caused this. And very quickly, I realized what the culprit was: Foxfire.
For some reason, Foxfire was extremely compatible with other Skills. It could literally combine with every other Skill. And as I looked at the various options available, I realized that the Foxfire Skill seemed to take precedence over other Skills.
All the resulting consolidations seemed to still be the same at the core. The ability to create and control Foxfire. But what changed between the various combos was the additional effects the foxfire got when combined with another Skill. For the most part, the flames seemed to gain an ability similar to the Skill combined with Foxfire.
It took a while to get through the whole list, but several really stood out to me. So much so, that I was strongly considering just consolidating the Skills now. The only thing that held me back was that I wasn't quite sure what to take. There were so many incredibly useful Skills, and I might only be able to have one of them.
Foxfire (Active) (C Rank) + Qi Devourer (Active&Passive) (C Rank):
Qi Devouring Foxfire (Active) (C Rank): Create and control Foxfire. Foxfire is part illusion and part reality, unique to every being able to create it. It can burn or not based on the desires of its creator. When it burns fuel, it can replenish itself and even grow. This particular kind of foxfire can also absorb Qi, burning it to increase its own power or channel it back directly to an extra temporary Qi reserve of its creator.Cost: 5 QiUpkeep: 1 Qi per hourFoxfire (Active) (C Rank) + Crystalizing Beam (Active) (D Rank):
Crystalizing Foxfire (Active) (C Rank): Create and control Foxfire. Foxfire is part illusion and part reality, unique to every being able to create it. It can burn or not based on the desires of its creator. When it burns fuel, it can replenish itself and even grow. This particular kind of foxfire can also expend itself to attempt to crystalize anything it touches.Cost: 10 QiUpkeep: 2 Qi per hourFoxfire (Active) (C Rank) + Illusionary Form (Active) (D Rank):
Foxfire Clones (Active) (C Rank): Create and control Foxfire. Foxfire is part illusion and part reality, unique to every being able to create it. It can burn or not based on the desires of its creator. When it burns fuel, it can replenish itself and even grow. This particular kind of foxfire can be used to project an illusionary form of its creator that can mimic life.Cost: 10 QiUpkeep: 1 Qi per hourFoxfire (Active) (C Rank) + Quick Step (Active) (D Rank):
Foxfire Steps (Active) (C Rank): Create and control Foxfire. Foxfire is part illusion and part reality, unique to every being able to create it. It can burn or not based on the desires of its creator. When it burns fuel, it can replenish itself and even grow. This particular kind of foxfire can be expended while being stepped on to give the user a burst of speed.Cost: 10 QiUpkeep: 1 Qi per hourFoxfire (Active) (C Rank) + Metallic Razor Strike (Active) (D Rank):
Foxfire Displacement Strike (Active) (C Rank): Create and control Foxfire. Foxfire is part illusion and part reality, unique to every being able to create it. It can burn or not based on the desires of its creator. When it burns fuel, it can replenish itself and even grow. This particular kind of foxfire can be expended in pairs to transfer a physical strike from a foxfire near the creator to another foxfire within range.Cost: 20 QiUpkeep: 1 Qi per hourDespite how useful all the Skills in my shortlist were, I found myself drawn to Qi Devouring Fox Fire the most. The loss of the boost from Qi Devourer might have deterred me more if the boost wasn't already pretty much useless at this point. Not without increasing how much QI I could store by likely an absurd amount. It was probably better to find a more Qi efficient Skill to replace it in the future.
And everything else about Qi Devouring Foxfire was too useful to ignore.
The ability to drain Qi from a distance could be a huge advantage. So far, despite Qi Devourer allowing me to drain Qi from others, I hadn't used it because I mainly fought with a sword. It was tough to get into a position where I could use such a powerful technique. Something to empower me and weaken my enemy at the same time.
But with Qi Devouring Fox Fire, it would be a lot easier to try and drain my enemies. A lot less risky as well. Not only that, but I could use that drained Qi for myself, allowing me to use my Skills more freely.
If the other Skills weren't all quite amazing as well, I would have chosen the ability already. But, because they were, and this was potentially my only shot for a very powerful ability for the next while—because of the troubles in the Great Southern Forest—I wanted to be as careful as possible.
So I decided to leave it for later. Let myself sleep for the night, and maybe make my decision tomorrow. I would have to choose soon, however, as Pan Song's meeting with Sun Xia was scheduled for tomorrow. If we were still going to go to that ruin, then I would want this new ability ready in case I needed it.
I left the cultivation building late into the evening. The sun had long since set, and the moon was high in the sky. The stars above also shone incredibly brightly, the light pollution of the city here nowhere near the levels of a city back on Earth.
I took a moment to admire it all before heading back to my house to go to sleep.
After changing into some nightwear, I dove into my absurdly soft and luxurious bed and went to sleep, happy to leave any decisions to tomorrow.
Or at least, that's what I tried to do. Something stopped me, however. I wasn't sure what it was at first. It was as if there was something trying to draw my attention at the back of my head. I hadn't noticed it before, but in the silence and quiet of my bedroom, it started to be very apparent.
Unable to sleep because of it, I tried to focus on the feeling to figure out just what it was. It reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was almost like… like… Foxfire!
I opened my eyes as that realization hit me and sat up. It reminded me of Foxfire, but the Skill wasn't running at the moment. Or at least, I didn't think so. For a second, I wondered if I had left some Foxfire out, and that was what I was feeling.
But, after taking a moment to center myself, I realized that wasn't the case. The feeling wasn't off because it was far away. No, in fact, it felt quite close. The strangeness was because I didn't have a connection to this Foxfire. I couldn't control it, yet it was connected to me.
I opened my eyes again and pulled up the sleeve of my right arm. Then I stared at my forearm and focused on it. After another moment, I was sure. The feeling was coming from my forearm there.
But how? Why?
I reached out with the same sense I'd used to find it, trying to connect with this flame and see what it was all about. It seemed to try to evade my grasp, slippery like an eel and trying to remain unnoticed. But I had noticed it, and I didn't like it one bit.
I forced it harder. Tried to grasp it and—ouch!
I winced as a blue flame erupted from my arm. There wasn't a lot of it, and despite the initial pain, it wasn't that bad. But it was still surprising as all heck. Had one of those One-Tailed Spirit Foxes left that on me? It was possible. If their fox flames were altered like the options I had for Foxfire. Perhaps that was just something you could do with foxfire. Leave it inside of someone as a trap or tracker.
But then again, perhaps not. Because as I looked at my right arm, where the flame had come from, I remembered another fox I'd encountered before. One that had gotten even closer than the foxes that tried to lure me away. It had bitten me right on the arm where the flame had been.
I frowned at the realization. As if I didn't already hate foxes enough.
A part of me wanted to just go to sleep now that it was dealt with. But I couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't more to this than I thought. Despite my new Skill, I was hardly an expert on these types of things. It could have been some kind of tracker. Or it could have been worse. It would be better to get a second opinion.
I sighed at that thought and moved to get up. It seemed I wouldn't be getting a chance to sleep just yet. Hopefully, I was just being paranoid, and there was nothing to worry about.