Stray Fox Strut - Chapter 13 (Patreon)

I dragged myself up the very last step and collapsed just in front of the doors of the Ancient Shrine. Wraithwalk had already dropped after I walked through the wall at the bottom of the mountain, so I was out in full view as I took one ragged breath of air after another. I felt drained—so very drained. Not only did the steps sap me of the will to live, but using Wraithwalk across the entire village left me exhausted.

The crow swooped down into a landing just in front of me and cocked his head. His eyes held that same worry from the last time I collapsed, and he hesitantly took a step toward me. “Caw?”

”Yip!” I jumped up to my paws and proudly lifted my head. Although I felt like dying, I couldn’t let him get a big head and feel superior. That was my job. He couldn’t have it.

The doors into the Ancient Shrine creaked and groaned open. The old scholar with his stupid hat stepped out with his wooden staff slung over his back. “Ah, little friend, I feared the worst… it is good to see you once more. And I see you’ve brought a companion.”

“Caw!” The birdbrain startled and ducked behind me like I could stop the old man. The vote of confidence, while appreciated, was entirely misplaced. I barely had the energy to breathe, let alone fight.

“Little friends, please, be welcome.” The man stepped back into the shrine and cast a hand wide. Bread crumbs scattered across the cleaned courtyard.

”Caw—“ The crow vanished from behind me and practically teleported into the courtyard. He immediately pecked at the crumbs while side eyeing me protectively.

Woah, betrayed for a piece of bread. So much for being my loyal subordinate…. Not that I needed one in the first place. I was better off by myself, anyway. Right, I was a lone wolf—erm, fox.

Zeteoh laughed heartily and tapped my head with his wooden staff. “I see you’ve awakened your Qi.”

”Yip?” How’d he know—? No, this guy had some kind of weird sorcery. He also knew we were out front with that same ability of his. And Old Zhou for that matter. I was missing—could it be some kind of Qi sense? 

“Good, good. Your journey starts here, little friend.” The old man leaned on his staff and rubbed a hand through his salt and pepper beard. “How was Old Zhou?”

My gaze instantly dropped to the ground. “Yip...yip…”

”Oh.” His mirth abruptly faded, and his gaze snapped to my satchel. “I see.”

I only spoke to him for a minute tops, but he seemed like a brave warrior. Not like I could speak any words of condolence to begin with. The most I could do was bat the man’s leg with my tail.

“My thanks, Little Snowdrift.” He sighed and reached down to softly stroke my ears. I let him for only a moment before backing away. He looked off the side of the mountain, and his eyes unfocused like he was seeing something else. “My age is a bygone one. It fades with every day. I’ll stand as the last of a flickering flame.”

My ear flopped to the side in confusion. Some kind of poetry? That was one way to grieve. “Yip?”

“I’ll be fine, little friend.” The old scholar once more tucked his hands into his sleeves with the staff leaned against his shoulder. “I could feel it coming on the wind.”

He casually waved his hand. A bamboo framed pack on the far side of the courtyard trembled and vibrated for a moment before lifting into the air. I squinted and the world washed out so I could see the Qi moving through the air. 

The man’s Qi Manipulation was a thousand times more complex than Wraithwalk. Even just seeing it made my head throb as I tried to pry into the deeper machinations of the technique. He grabbed the backpack a beat later, and the technique ended.

[Collecting Record… .001%… .002%…]

[Partial Record: | Qi Manipulation |]

Oh… I’m not learning that one anytime soon, yip. I sighed and felt my motivation abruptly drop. Half the reason I wanted to come back here was to learn his technique. At this rate, though, I’d have to watch him like a bajillion times. Some much for being an easy technique.

“Don’t be disheartened, Little Snowdrift.” Zeteoh pulled on the pack and crossed his hands into his sleeves. “The path of a thousand steps begins with a single one. You are still young in your journey.”

Flowery words you got there, old man. I flicked my tail toward the pack. “Yip?”

”Ah, yes… You caught me just as I was about to leave.” The man looked back toward the shrine with a fond expression. “Heaven has decreed I make my move.”

“Nyeeeh?” I shot him a pitiful look and collapsed to my side like I’d just been stabbed. What happened to teaching me, you stubborn old fool!

“The martial path is one best walked in seclusion. Your path diverges from the teachings that I can bestow. Do your best, and you may even surpass this old fool one day.” He sagely stroked his beard like he just dropped a mountain of deep insight on me.

If you don’t know how to teach this empress, then just say it! What’s up with your way of speaking? Did your brain rot while studying ancient classics? I dropped the pitiful look and returned to my usual galant expression. It was wasted on Zeteoh, anyway.

He didn’t have to pass me his techniques if he didn’t want to, but the least he could do was give me a basic rundown on how all this worked. I wasn’t even sure if the thing I called Qi was actually Qi, let alone how to make it stronger.

“Yip.” I rolled my eyes and looked away with a huff. Trying to get anything from him was like pulling teeth.

“This place…” He turned back to the ancient shrine and slowly shook his head. “It’s always sad to say goodbye to a home, even if temporary. I pass it to you, Little Snowdrift. Do with it what you will.”

I looked around the tattered building. So… he’s leaving me a rundown shrine that he no longer wished to manage himself? How generous. Although… this really wasn’t that bad of a location. It was highly defensible with the wall, and safe from the blight as far as I knew. 

“I go to the mountains.” He pulled the straps on his bag and grabbed his staff with. “If Heaven wills it, our paths will cross again.”

”Yip!” I doubted it. The mountains… 

I looked off toward the Ghost Dragon Mountains and the massive palace perched on their side. The sooner I got out of here, the better. In a couple days, I’d make my way south to find a way out. I highly doubted I’d ascend the peaks once more. 

Zeteoh gave me one last fond smile and then began his descent down the endless stairs. The Stairs of Doom alone was this place's best defensive feature. I couldn’t imagine many were willing to come up all this way. He casually waved a hand to me—ah, no. He was just shutting the door. I watched with Eye of the Recorder as the doors quietly closed.

There was a little more progress, not that it’d matter. The journey of a thousand steps was achievable. The journey of a bazillion? Not so much. The one I could train it off of was also leaving…

Maybe if the Record was so slow with it, I could just learn it the usual way? I alone had the Record, yip? So these people must’ve learned their techniques and skills from other—ah, right! The Red Tithe technique. I still had the manuscript in my bag.

I shuffled over to the stone table and pulled the ancient manuscript from my bag. It plopped down onto the table, and had a strong blood-scent to it. Record! Get to work!

[Collecting Record… 1%… 2%…]

Although the manuscript was smaller than the ones I glanced through at Story by Lamplight, it took a vastly longer time for the Record to copy it. Maybe there was something innately different about the manuscript? 

While I waited for the Record to finish, I flipped through the pages and glanced around the manuscript. It was mostly flowery words and descriptions, but there were a few familiar diagrams of human bodies, energy flows, and ancient looking sigils scattered throughout. 

The Red Tithe was entirely for humans. At a glance, I could see that. No wonder Old Zhou didn’t feel any pressure passing it to me. Even if I wanted to learn it, I couldn’t. It wasn’t like the flows and diagrams were for a fox. 

Could I even learn this? I read back through it and flipped through the pages. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but it seemed like some kind of Qi absorption technique. Something like that would be nice. I felt entirely drained of Qi still.

I turned my senses inward and felt for that warm… vital energy? I flipped through the pages of the manuscript. Vital energy looked right, but it was also referred to as the Fundamental Energy of Heaven and Earth, whatever that meant. I think I’ll just stick with Qi. Quick, easy, and rolls off the tongue well.

Most of the descriptions and stuff went over my head. Not to mention my anatomy was entirely different from a human's. I’d have to completely revamp and rework the technique if I wanted to use it. It wasn’t like Wraithwalk—or maybe it was? Maybe the Record adapted Wraithwalk to me with that agony-inducing treatment it gave me.

”Caw?” The crow flapped over to me and perched on the side of the table—after finishing the breadcrumbs. I could see where the traitor’s true allegiances were.

”Hmph!” I flicked my tail around and turned to block him out of my view. Not like the little beggar could help me even if he wanted to.

Maybe I was looking at this the wrong way? I needed to find someone to ask questions before doing anything with a technique. I didn’t even know where to start, and I was basically trying to sprint before I could even crawl. I didn’t even know how Wraithwalk worked since the Record handled all of that.

I gave the manuscript one last look and then curled up to wait for my Record to finish working. Little Cacaw—I really should give him a better name, shouldn’t I? My subordinate couldn’t be named something stupid. How about… blackie? Erm, no. Heisen? That wasn’t too bad?

I sat up regally and lifted my snout into the air. As my number one subordinate, the little back crow instantly realized something was up. He likewise stood up straight as he felt the gravitas of the situation.

”Yip!” I brought my paw lightly down on his right wing, then repeated the motion on his left. I dub thee Heisen.

“Caw?” Heisen’s head tilted to the side, and he eyed me like a weirdo. He was just too dumb to truly understand my noble aura.

A shiver went up my spine, and my exhaustion pulled even heavier. I could use a nap. I shifted from paw to paw and bent my head to pick up the manuscript. The crow was focused on it, though, so I just shook my head and stretched out instead. He could look all he wanted. It wouldn’t matter. I had a copy in the Record, anyway. 

“Haah…” A big yawn stretched my jaw, and I looked up to the sky. It wasn’t even that late… Why was I so tired? I turned back to Heisen. “Yip! Yip!”

”Crrraw, crraw.” He waved a wing in my direction and flipped a page of the manuscript like he was actually reading it. What a birdbrain.

I hopped off the table and slunk off to a snowbank on the far side of the courtyard. It wasn’t night yet, but I could seriously use some sleep.

— — —

AN: I made an error. Zeteoh uses a staff. I called it a bo staff repeatedly, but a bo staff is a Japanese weapon, and not Chinese. Although this world isn’t China, it does follow a lot of wuxia and Chinese elements, especially for now. Chinese staff are actually called guns… that’s going to get complicated quickly, though, so from now on it's just wooden staff and not bo staff. I’ll go back and edit it all when I put it up on RR.

Here’s a look behind the scenes, if you’re interested. Naming has been a bit of a complex issue as a whole. I don’t want to use western names like Timothy and Clark for obvious reasons. I also know that, at least for me, Chinese names kind of just get hazed over and forgotten. It's just a cultural difference. It’s the same reason in Outrun the Jade Fang aren’t very Japany, and Shiro is Shiro Tsukuyomi instead of Tsukuyomi Shiro.

Like Shang Qi, Shan Qui, and Shang Ki all look like the same person to me when I’m reading quickly. I’ve read translated novels in the past, and I couldn’t tell you a single name from any of them. As you’ve probably noticed, I’m going for a bit of a different naming convention.

I also don’t use diacritics at all. Technically, almost every name I use should have one. Like, for this chapter, technically it’s Hēi Sēn, I think. I’ll actually be able to type and remember Heisen, though.

So far, I’ve managed it pretty well, I think. Most of the characters I’ve named are kind of a weird western take on eastern names and language. You’ll see what I mean when more named characters show up.