Chapter Fourteen: First Encounter with Skills

At last, after swimming back and forth in the pond a couple of times, Feng Ke’er finished her work. Looking up, she saw the first pale light of dawn rising in the east.

Ha! Without realizing it, she had worked through the entire night! No wonder she felt so hungry—her stomach felt as if it had been glued to her spine. Carrying the wild cock she’d cleaned to perfection, she made two rounds in the cave before she finally realized something was off—fire? Where was the fire! Without fire, how was she supposed to roast her wild cock to that mouthwatering, golden crispiness?

She opened her green cloth bundle again. She hadn’t misremembered—there was nothing inside like rations or fire-starting tools.

Was there some kind of canteen here, where everyone ate? Feng Ke’er looked at the wild cock in her hand, swallowed hard, but still decided she’d treat herself to roast chicken for breakfast. She’d had enough of plain boiled everything—no oil, no salt—for three days straight with the Feng clan. She’d had her fill.

But how to make fire? She searched nearby but found no firestones or anything similar. Make fire by drilling wood? Oh, heavens, did she really have to go that old-fashioned route?

Reaching up to the phoenix jade pendant hanging on her chest, Feng Ke’er’s mind sparked with an idea: Heh, she’d almost forgotten—she’d already entered the innate realm. Maybe she could learn some basic spell, like a fireball technique?

But the Universal Tome had a bad temper—it wouldn’t respond unless it drew blood.

She bit her middle finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the phoenix jade pendant.

“Ding!” That dead thing came to life once more.

A string of golden, dazzling words appeared in her mind:

Species: Master;

Level: Initial Qi Refinement;

Self-created skill: Basic Dagger Assassination;

Learnable skills: Ice Orb Technique, Swift Step Technique.

Beneath the text were two checkboxes: Activate Ice Orb Technique, Activate Swift Step Technique.

No fire-starting skills! Still, Feng Ke’er was thrilled: Aha! She could learn magical skills now!

But how to use these? At that moment, she noticed a tiny golden fingertip icon next to the two checkboxes.

She tried it—she could move it with her mind!

Wow, the Universal Tome was so modern, even more advanced and user-friendly than a touchscreen.

Feng Ke’er was greedy—she selected both. After all, you can never have too many skills, right? She’d always been a diligent and eager learner.

“Ding!” The string of words vanished from her mind. A current shot through the back of her head, tingling.

“Ice Orb Technique initiated!” A female voice sounded again. “Still your mind, hold your breath, let your thoughts follow your energy.”

Feng Ke’er dared not get distracted. She quickly closed her eyes and obeyed.

A current whirled swiftly around her crown, then plunged down her spine, shooting to the tip of her tailbone, and then burrowed straight into her lower abdomen. Her lower abdomen contracted sharply, then relaxed, and an icy chill surged up from half a thumb’s length below her navel. That chill shot upwards, streaking through her belly and chest, following her right arm and finally condensing into a single cold point at the tip of her right index finger.

The female voice called out crisply, “Release!”

Feng Ke’er’s eyes flew open. She raised her right index finger and shouted, “Release!”

Bang! The cold point shot from her fingertip, arcing through the air and crashing squarely onto her freshly laid grass mat.

Boom! The mat was thrown high, roots and broken leaves scattering like a goddess scattering blossoms, drifting all across the cave.

This couldn’t be right! The black crow’s ice-blue orb appeared elegantly at the tip of its finger, then gradually grew and could be tossed about at will. But her Ice Orb Technique was more like a mortar shell—pure violence!

“Achoo! Achoo!” Caught off guard, Feng Ke’er’s eyes filled with tears, and she sneezed thunderously.

“Swift Step Technique initiated!” The female voice sounded again, gently reminding, “Master, stand firm!”

No sooner had the words fallen, a current rushed down from her crown, again veering sharply at her tailbone to enter her lower abdomen, which contracted and released swiftly. Two streams of heat shot down her legs to the soles of her feet.

The entire process took less than a tenth of a second. In other words, just as the woman’s voice faded in her mind, the heat flows reached her soles.

Whoosh—without her brain’s permission, her legs bolted forward like arrows loosed from a bow!

“Ah—ah—!” Her muscles clenched, and Feng Ke’er flailed her arms wildly, her upper body wobbling as she struggled to keep up.

The scene reminded her of learning to skate as a child… Only, this was a hundred times faster.

Wind roared in her ears, her vision blurred as though veiled in gauze. Feng Ke’er could only make rough judgments, desperately trying not to crash into the cave wall. Luckily, this cave wasn’t gourd-shaped; the entrance was wider than the interior.

Unfortunately, she’d forgotten—the cave opened right onto a lotus-filled pond…

“Ah—” She burst from the cave, body hurtling into the air, arms windmilling like a pinwheel, eyes squeezed shut in terror.

She was lucky. The pond was small, and her speed was great. With a bang, she landed solidly on the ground.

Opening her eyes, she found herself standing before the only hut in the courtyard that hadn’t collapsed, her nose barely a fist’s distance from its mud-brick wall!

Her nerves suddenly relaxed, her legs went limp as if standing on clouds, and Feng Ke’er rolled her eyes and collapsed onto the ground. Her little hands patted her chest in relief as she gasped for breath. Mamma mia! That had scared her to death. This tome was insane—danger at every turn, nerves of steel required!

Once she’d caught her breath, the first thing she did was carefully examine herself. Nothing seemed different—her right index finger wasn’t even scratched, her navel was still the same…

If there was any change, it seemed her lower abdomen had become smoother and more toned.

Now she was truly puzzled—where was her dantian? Where was the spiritual energy? Why hadn’t these appeared after learning her skills?

When she’d just advanced, she’d checked her body. Her eyes hadn’t turned into legendary CT-scanners with X-ray vision or anything. She couldn’t see through her flesh, let alone her internal organs or meridians, and not even through her thin blue robe.

Later, she’d gotten busy settling in and set the matter aside.

However, while learning the skills, she’d clearly felt energy currents moving inside her. She’d thought that after such a surge, her body would change again—perhaps opening a meridian or leveling up her vision.

But it seemed she was still as ordinary as ever—no see-through vision, just a myth; and the Ren and Du meridians were still just terms in her head.

Well, well, you can’t become a master in one bite. Best to focus on mastering Ice Orb and Swift Step Techniques first. Climbing to her feet, Feng Ke’er’s lips curled in delight as she muttered, “People are iron, food is steel—skip a meal and you’re starving. Time to figure out how to roast that wild cock!”

She hadn’t learned Fireball Technique, but she had Ice Orb Technique. With the sun, ice orbs, two sharp daggers, and plenty of dry grass, why worry about making fire?

Actually, the method was simple. First, Feng Ke’er would create an ice orb, then carve it with her dagger into a hemispherical ice lens, and position it under the sun. The sunlight would focus into a single spot. She’d then place a pinch of dry grass at that spot, and soon enough, the point would ignite the grass, giving her an open flame.

A bit troublesome, but much easier and faster than drilling wood, right?

“Ice Orb Technique!”

Still her mind, hold her breath, clear all distractions, let her thoughts follow her energy.

Feng Ke’er closed her eyes. Sure enough, a current stirred near her crown. This time, drawing on her previous experience, she tried to guide the current more slowly.

Surprisingly, it worked! The speed of the current was under her mental control—she could make it go fast or slow as she wished. Though not yet perfectly precise, at least it wasn’t running wild like an untamed horse.

Following the route indicated by the tome, she clumsily guided the current along its path. When it entered her lower abdomen, it turned icy cold once more.

She could control the flow’s speed. As it slowly pushed to her right index fingertip, a crystal-clear ice point began to form!

It was about the size of a mung bean!

So small—utterly useless. If only it could be bigger. She held her breath and pushed more energy into the flow.

Hey! It worked again!

With a bit more effort, she made another discovery: the current could be increased, provided she worked at it.

The more energy she poured in, the bigger the ice point at her fingertip became!

Harder! Bigger! Bigger! Grow!

At last, exhausted, the energy was spent. Feng Ke’er was left panting like an ox, seeing stars, sweat pouring, and feeling faintly nauseous. It felt no better than running a ten-kilometer race.

Meanwhile, the tiny ice point had grown into an ice ball the size of a melon.

She had no strength left to make it any bigger. This, it seemed, was her limit. Feng Ke’er flicked her finger lightly, sending the ice ball tumbling into her palm.

Heavy and freezing—it was the real thing, solid ice!

To make ice on such a hot day—Feng Ke’er was already delighted. Once she’d caught her breath, she carved the ice ball into a lens and set everything up.

Then, she returned to the cave to fetch the wild cock. The bird was rather large. After a moment’s thought, she took out her dagger and split it neatly in two. The headless half she wrapped in a lotus leaf, stored it with the ten wild eggs she’d collected, and set it aside. She trimmed a branch and skewered the half with the head.

Just then, something strange happened. The chicken’s head was too big to roast quickly. Feng Ke’er tried splitting it open with her dagger, and to her surprise, inside was a dark red, crystalline object, nearly round and about the size of a coin.

What was this thing? Feng Ke’er weighed it in her palm—nice and heavy.

Whatever, she’d keep it for now. After washing it clean, she tucked it into her green cloth bundle and, with the chicken half balanced on her head, swam across the pond to the front yard—though she could have used Swift Step to leap over, that technique was still too wild, and she hadn’t fully mastered it yet. Besides, she was so hungry she was dizzy; best not to ask for trouble.

The fire was already burning, flames leaping half a man high, crackling and popping.

Time to roast! Feng Ke’er set the chicken over the flames, saliva glands working overtime.

The greedy tongues of fire licked the chicken, and as the meat sizzled, a mouthwatering aroma soon filled the little courtyard. Ah, what a wonderful morning!

Universal Tome, Chapter 14: First Contact with Skills—complete!