Lei Tian opened his eyes in the dim light of his small room. He lay there for a moment, waiting for the familiar ache in his ribs, the dull throb in his jaw.
It didn't come.
He sat up, throwing off the thin blanket. His body felt light. His Dantian hummed with a robust energy, the liquid Qi swirling smoothly, noticeably denser than the day before.
"Not a dream," he whispered, a smile touching his lips. "It's all real."
He washed his face in a basin of cold water, scrubbing away the grime of the night's work.
He dressed in his heavy leather apron and thick cotton trousers, the uniform of an outer forge apprentice. He checked his storage ring… the five bodies were still there, suspended in stasis.
He would need to find a way to dispose of them eventually, but for now, they were safe.
He stepped out into the bustling corridors of the outer courtyards. The air was already shimmering with heat from the massive smelting furnaces.
Apprentices hurried by carrying loads of coal and raw ore, their faces smeared with soot.
Lei Tian joined the flow, heading toward Forge Sector Four. His designated station was near a row of smaller anvils used for shaping the rough blanks of standard issue swords.
He picked up his heavy forging hammer. It felt different in his hand today. Before, it was a burdensome tool that strained his meager Qi.
Now, with his bolstered foundation, the hammer felt balanced. He could feel the flow of energy from his core, down his arm, and into the iron head.
He pulled a glowing hot blank of standard spirit iron from the small furnace beside his anvil and laid it flat.
Clang.
He brought the hammer down.
He channeled his Qi into the strike, using a basic technique taught to all apprentices.
In the past, his timing had always been slightly off, his Qi flow uneven, resulting in flawed metal that needed constant reheating.
Today, his focus was razor sharp. He struck the metal, and he could feel the impurities within the iron shattering under the combined physical and spiritual impact.
He struck again, finding a rhythm that had eluded him for months.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
He didn't know it, but the three Foundation Establishment cultivators he had plundered the night before had given him a slight refinement of his own mediocre talent.
He wasn't a genius, but his body was learning faster.
"Good strike, Tian."
Lei Tian paused, lowering his hammer.
Standing behind him was Overseer Ma, a scarred man at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment.
He was known for being harsh, and utterly unimpressed by branch family members.
Overseer Ma was looking at the partially shaped sword blank on Lei Tian's anvil, a look of mild surprise on his face.
"Your Qi flow is more stable," Ma noted, gesturing to the unblemished surface of the cooling metal. "You're finally starting to control your output instead of just hitting it like a brute."
"Thank you, Overseer," Lei Tian said, bowing his head respectfully.
"Don't get cocky," Ma grunted, turning away. "Keep up the work. If you can maintain this quality, I might move you to the tempering stations next month."
Lei Tian watched him go, a sense of grim satisfaction settling over him.
He felt the eyes of the other apprentices on him. Some looked surprised; most looked resentful.
A branch family loser suddenly getting praise from Overseer Ma? It didn't sit well with them.
Lei Tian ignored them. He returned to his hammering.
As he worked, his enhanced hearing picked up a conversation from the next row of anvils.
"You're going to the Whispering Pines today?" a voice asked.
"Yeah, pulling a double shift," another replied. It was Lei Huo, a main family disciple known for his arrogance. "Team of six. Me, Ping, and San at Foundation Establishment. Two grunts from the outer yard to carry the packs. We're extracting a vein of Silver Thread Ore the scouts found yesterday."
"Who's leading?"
"Captain Lei Feng," Huo said, a note of respect entering his voice. "He says we should be back by dusk."
Lei Tian's hammer faltered for a fraction of a second.
A team of six. Three Initial Stage. One Middle Stage. Two Qi Condensation.
It was a veritable feast.
He finished his morning quota with time to spare, his new efficiency allowing him to work faster.
When the midday bell rang, signaling the meal break, the forge emptied out rapidly as apprentices headed for the dining halls.
Lei Tian slipped out of the forge sector, sticking to the shadows of the high walls until he reached the northern gate.
He showed his apprentice token to the guard, claiming he needed to gather some specific herbs for a personal project.
The guard, barely glancing at the token of a low ranking branch member, waved him through.
The Whispering Pines was a dense forest that clung to the lower slopes of the Ironspine Mountains, just a few miles from the Citadel.
The trees here had needle-like leaves that produced a rustling sound in the wind, giving the place its name.
Lei Tian moved through the forest. He climbed into the lower branches of the massive pines, leaping from tree to tree, his enhanced Qi allowing him to move with terrifying agility.
He found them within an hour.
The team was gathered around a shallow excavation site near a rocky outcropping.
Two Qi Condensation cultivators, the "grunts" were currently hacking at the stone with heavy picks, sweating profusely.
The four Foundation Establishment cultivators were lounging nearby on a patch of soft moss, passing around a waterskin and talking loudly.
"I'm telling you, Feng," Lei Huo was saying, gesturing expansively. "The Patriarch is being too soft on the branch families. They come here, eat our food, use our forges, and produce trash. We should cut their quotas in half."
Captain Lei Feng, a lean man with sharp features, took a swig from the waterskin. "The Patriarch knows what he's doing, Huo. They are cheap labor. We need them to mass produce the garbage we sell to the mortal kingdoms."
Lei Tian, crouched on a thick branch twenty feet above them, felt his grip tighten on the hilt of his iron dagger.
Suddenly, one of the Initial Stage cultivators, a pale youth named Lei Ping, groaned and clutched his stomach.
"Ugh. I think that roast pork from last night was bad," Ping complained, his face turning a sickly shade of green. "I need... I need to find a bush. Give me a minute."
"Make it quick," Feng ordered. "We still have half a vein to extract."
Ping waved a hand and stumbled away from the group, heading deeper into the dense undergrowth to the east.
Lei Tian dropped silently from the branch, landing softly on a bed of pine needles, and tracked Ping's movements.
He found the pale youth a few dozen yards away, hunched over behind a thick briar patch, groaning miserably.
Lei Tian drew his dagger.
Ping didn't even have time to turn around. Lei Tian clamped his left hand over the youth's mouth and drove the dagger upward into the base of his skull, twisting violently.
Ping's body seized, his eyes rolling back.
Lei Tian lowered him gently to the ground, pulling the blade free.
He quickly patted down the body. He found a pouch containing fifteen low grade spirit stones and a restorative pill. He pocketed them.
"System. Plunder."
The blue light washed over the corpse.
[Target Defeated. Cultivation: Initial Stage Foundation Establishment. Plunder Complete. Progress: +10%]
The energy surged into him. Lei Tian quickly stored the body in his ring, smoothing the dirt where it had lain.
He moved back toward the excavation site, finding a new vantage point in the trees.
Ten minutes passed.
"Where is he?" Lei Huo grumbled, kicking a loose rock. "Did he fall in?"
"San," Captain Feng said, turning to the other Initial Stage cultivator. "Go find him. Tell him if he's not back in two minutes, I'm docking his contribution points for the day."
Lei San, a lanky youth, sighed and stood up. "Probably asleep behind a tree. Typical."
San headed off in the same direction Ping had gone.
Lei Tian smiled in the shadows.
He followed San. As the lanky youth reached the briar patch, he stopped, frowning at the disturbed dirt.
"Ping? You out here?" San called out softly.
Lei Tian dropped from the branch directly above him.
San heard the rustle of leaves and looked up, his hand flying to his sword.
But Lei Tian's downward momentum, combined with his Qi, made the strike impossibly fast.
Lei Tian landed squarely on San's shoulders, driving his knees into the youth's back, forcing him to the ground face first. At the same moment, he slammed his dagger into the back of San's neck.
A muffled grunt, and San was dead.
Lei Tian searched the body, finding a decent quality spirit iron dagger and a few more stones.
"Plunder."
[Target Defeated. Cultivation: Initial Stage Foundation Establishment. Plunder Complete. Progress: +10%]
Another rush of power. His Dantian was throbbing now, the liquid Qi swirling with a satisfying density. He stored the body.
He returned to his perch near the clearing.
"Unbelievable," Captain Feng was saying, pacing back and forth, his face dark with irritation. "Now San is gone. Are they playing a game?"
"Maybe they found a hidden cave," Huo suggested, laughing. "Or maybe a Wood Sprite lured them away."
"Stay here and watch the grunts," Feng ordered Huo, drawing a silver bladed sword. "I'm going to find them. And when I do, I'm going to break their legs."
Feng stalked off into the trees, his aura flaring angrily.
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