The Phoenix [Cultivation, Reincarnation, Tower Climber]

As the rest of the group fought off an enormous tarantula, Yuri found himself lost in thought. No, rather than lost in thought, he was lost in worry. He hadn't originally intended to try and assassinate the Phoenix, but now here he was, his attempt failed, just waiting to find out exactly what had happened to her. Theoretically, there was no way for her to know it was him. Theoretically, there was also no way she should have survived the explosion, but she did anyway, so clearly Yuri's theories were not to be trusted.

Amongst all the worry was also a healthy dose of regret. He wanted to defeat her, but he wanted to defeat her fairly. But when his teammate who specialized in tracking said that she had entered a narrow cave, and his other teammate had a strange obsession with explosions… He didn't want to win this way, but in the back of his mind, he knew that he would not be able to reach the level that she would acknowledge him. Not any time soon, and possibly not ever. He would forever be second best, and he didn't want that. He had let his darkest impulses win, and while he hadn't paid the price yet, he had the feeling it was only a matter of time.

But then again, that was only if she found out it was him. And there were only a few people who knew it was him. Four of his teammates, and the co-conspirator. The teammates were contractually obligated to stay quiet, but the co-conspirator… Well, they had already betrayed their friends. Yuri was under no delusion that they wouldn't betray him as well.

"Yuri!" shouted one of his teammates, pulling him out of his contemplation.

He looked up to see one of them lying face down on the ground, unmoving, and the others making a hasty retreat. It was time for him to step in.

The battle ended just a minute later with the spider impaled on Yuri's sword. His fallen teammate was alive, though only barely. He had apparently taken a full-powered strike from one of the spider's legs, and his spine seemed to be broken, along with multiple of his ribs. With his body strengthened through cultivation and the help of a healing pill, he would live through the Starter Quest, but he would be completely immobile and useless until he got to a proper healer.

Yuri stood over the man as he whimpered in pain, his sword still drawn. The man was now dead weight. He would only slow them down. For just a second, Yuri half wished that the man had just died instead. The death of a comrade was a terrible thing, but it would be easier to handle than a crippled comrade.

Then, he sighed and sheathed his sword and started organizing the others to safely get the injured man to the new oasis that Ivan and the others were setting up near. It was a shame that they would be slowed down, but he doubted it would make much of a difference in the end. He had multiple other teams working under him, so the loss of two men—the injured one, and the one who would have to tend to him—was not too great.

With that taken care of, his mind went back to the Phoenix. As long as he hid the culprit from her, he might be alright. She had not died. If the man who was with her also survived, she would be less inclined to seek revenge. Even less so if the rest of her teammates also lived. In that case, it would be best to seek a peaceful resolution with the co-conspirator.

When he reached the oasis, he knelt down and splashed some water on his face, then looked up at the bright blue sky and sighed. Then, he turned to the tents, and called out.

"Ivan!"

The other man came sauntering over, a smile on his face.

"Yes, boss?"

"Get ready," said Yuri. "We're going soon."

"Where?"

"Whichever way the Phoenix's teammates went."

***

What made keeping Jacob safe for four hours wasn't actually what the others were most worried about. That is to say, they didn't get ambushed by the other group from the oasis. Vanessa thought it might have been worse though.

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Apparently, the lizard that had been guarding the oasis didn't guard the oasis alone. It had a partner, and the partner returned from its hunting trip about two hours into Jacob's meditation. It had a deer carcass in its mouth that was literally smoking from whatever was in the lizard's venomous fangs, but as soon as it saw its partner dead on the sand, it dropped the deer and went on a small rampage. It located them immediately, due to Jacob's turbulent oum, and charged straight toward them.

Only June, Vanessa, and Al were there, with Kat and Jenny being out scouting, so it was a hard fight. They were on the verge of losing when Kat finally returned, and they were able to just barely turn the tides and swing the fight their direction. By the end though, everyone but Kat was completely out of oum, and physically exhausted, and even Kat wasn't in top form.

When the lizard fell, Vanessa practically collapsed, catching herself in a crouched position as she caught her breath. June stumbled a few dozen feet away before flopping to the ground in the cooler, slightly damp sand near the oasis water. Al remained standing, but Vanessa could tell he was only doing so to try to look cool, and in reality, he wanted nothing more than to lay down. Kat was doing a little better, but she was still breathing like she had just gotten done with a long distance run, and likely wouldn't be.

For a minute or so, they all stayed like that, catching their breath, and recovering what little oum they could in that time. Then, Vanessa suddenly recalled the reason that the battle had been so difficult in the first place and turned back to where Jacob was. Fortunately, he was still there, undisturbed, and handling the oum from the pill. She breathed a sigh of relief, then took a few more minutes to recover before walking over to sit next to him and recover her oum. The others did the same, and soon, they had formed a small circle around him, each meditating to recover what they had just spent.

Jenny returned soon after, and after they explained what had happened, she took on the role of a more mobile guard, patrolling around them. Half an hour passed in peace, and Vanessa lost herself in her cultivation. It was only when she heard a dull thud that she became aware of the world around her again, and opened her eyes to see Jenny slumped over in the sand with a small silver needle sticking out of her neck. Before Vanessa could even react, she felt a slight prick in the side of her own neck, and her vision went dark.

The mushroom's oum is strange. Its fire oum is abnormally strong. There's almost no unattributed oum within it, which, even for a spirit herb this powerful and ancient, is unusual. It also moves weirdly in my body. It enters my core as usual, but rather than accumulating as usual, it starts flowing out into my oum pathways, and while intense, the way it moves almost seems controlled. It all feels very artificial. And it hurts like hell.

Usually, absorbing spirit herbs is a little bit painful. That's why they're refined into pills before consumption. The raw herbs are full of wild, untamed oum that can do some serious damage to an unprepared cultivator. This is doubly true for the mushroom with its superheated oum, which, if I couldn't transmute fire myself, would likely be burning me from the inside out right now. Well, maybe not.

The strange movement of the oum actually seems to alleviate some of the danger. I think that if I just let it run rampant, it would leave me severely injured, but it wouldn't kill me. It feels like it's halfway between a pill and a spirit herb. Now that I've had more time to observe it, I think "artificial" is exactly the right word. This is not a naturally occurring mushroom.

It also serves as further proof that transmuting oum to fire is an essential part of these Legacy challenges. Anyone who can't do that would wash out. Or at least, they'd never be able to unlock the second phase of the first challenge, or whatever just happened in there. That makes sense, I guess. Anyone who makes it past the first challenge is either monstrously strong, or highly compatible with her techniques.

Whatever the case, I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit. This one mushroom won't be enough to push me to High 1 star, but another one should, and a few more after that should push me to Peak 1 star. I don't think I'll be able to break through to 2 star, given my time limit, but Peak 1 star should give me as much of an oum buffer as I need to figure things out.

That is, if Trinity doesn't take it all. She's being very greedy right now, and taking much more than usual. It's very annoying because I'm in a bit of a time crunch right now, but at the same time, I can also feel our bond strengthening by the minute. This might be the final push that will let me freely access her voidspace, and while now isn't really the best time or place, I don't think I really have a choice.

The bond doesn't fully settle when the last of the mushroom's oum disappears, but I can feel that we're right on the cusp. I quickly run out and grab a couple more mushrooms and return to my room to pop another in my mouth and start cultivating. Trinity once more greedily drinks in as much oum as possible, and soon, the bond between us is almost tangible. I can feel a direct connection between my core and hers, and as we meditate, the connection gets denser and denser. It feels like a pipe about to burst, so I push more and more oum into it until finally, a crack appears. With one final push, I hear an audible crack, and am enveloped in oum. A moment later, it's gone, and the connection has calmed.

I also notice that I am no longer sitting on the bed. The ground is hard, and the air feels different. I open my eyes to find myself surrounded by complete darkness. I hold up my finger to make a small candle flame on the tip, and when it ignites, I find myself staring right into the eyes of a corpse.