[Last Emperor] Chapter 3 - Chimps, Cats, and Tigers (Patreon)

Tao Zi hurried towards his destination. Keeping his jogging pace, but this time, far more attentive to his surroundings. The cat had almost taken his head off his shoulders not even a few minutes ago. Had it been something faster. Stealthier. Stronger. Bigger.

The image was clear in Tao Zi's mind. He would have been a goner without a shadow of doubt.

Bad habits made it difficult to focus for long periods of time. He recalled a ton of self help books saying that it took roughly a half a month of time before you could break out of them. Time he couldn't afford right now. There had to be an expedited way to do the same exact thing. The quickest way possible.

He jumped as the orange cat bolted in front of him from the left. Streaking past his feet. Directly where he was about to step in what could only be a calculated attempt to trip him up. There was no other excuse for the consistency by which his new stalker kept zooming in that area. Following him ever since he had provided it with a tiny meal.

Always just far enough that he couldn't catch it. Close enough that he could see it or hide in his presence if anything did show up.

Tao Zi ignored the little rascal, henceforth dubbed Tiger Cinnamon the Third. Instead focused on the immediate areas around him. Enhancing his limited senses as much as he possibly could. Not that it was much to begin with. It was only the start of the long path ahead. Nothing more.

Being a Qi Gathering Initiate was not much in the grand scheme of things.

Extended your life. Give you some superhuman abilities. Not as much as a certain flying kryptonian, but closer to Yamcha. Above even the most elite humans in all categories. Compared to what was out here, it wasn't much.

A basic HellHound was more than enough to cause him significant stress.

Based on what he recalled during his experience with Chi Chi, it was closer to a basic mob than anything that was considered decently strong in this spacial pocket. A hellhole of endless suffering and monsters that were unnecessarily strong.

What they ate, how they grew stronger, and why they fought anything they found at sight was beyond him.

All of this information had been conveniently forgotten simply because he had other things to focus on. Better things to think about than studying multiple volumes of lore and exposition on an area he had never imagined he would end up in. Not even a thousand years later. Yet, here he was.

I should have paid better attention to Chi Chi!

"Wait." Tao Zi stopped in his tracks. Head slowly drifting back towards Tiger Cinnamon the Third.

"How did you get in here? You look very young and there was no way a stray, starving cat like you could have made it up to our mountain sect. The patriarch hates cats."

The cat meowed. A mournful tone before a final chirp followed Tiger's retelling of his struggles.

All of which Tao Zi did not understand.

I need to start taking notes on things I need to figure out. The list is growing endlessly. Step 1, find some safety. Step 2… fucking cultivation.

The next hour was nothing but Tao Zi running through the maze of boulders until he finally got out of them and into a new biome. One that kissed upon the mountain slope and signified how close he was to his destination. A dead forest. One with an overabundance of dead trees, dead vines, bushes, and anything else that was supposed to be green.

There's no time to waste. I need to get to that cave first and foremost before anything else.

He did not wait any longer. Tiger hesitated behind him for a moment, having enjoyed the cover that had been the massive boulders and the tiny nooks and crannies that filled the maze. Out here, there was much less. Noise much easier to create and beast much more likely to be suited to hunting little orange cats.

Tao Zi rushed into the dead forest. Stumbling on roots and low hanging branches that crumbled with each touch. Any tree he happened to brush past creaked loudly. Letting the entire forest know that he was out here.

He received multiple notifications and rewards that appeared behind him. Tao Zi ignored them all. Immediately throwing the items into his spacial ring and moving with haste. The system notifications were hidden and only a pinging sound let him know they had appeared.

Tiger started to look more frantic the further they went. Chirping and meowing quietly.

Eventually jumping onto his back and wrapping itself around his shoulders. He hadn't noticed how long he was until now, spreading more like a fashionistas fox scarf rather than an average cat.

Yet, that was a distant thought.

Tao Zi slowed his pace down. Every time Tiger had jumped onto his shoulder there had been danger. Every. Single. Time. It was his most accurate way to locate dangers around him. The cat's senses were strong enough to pick up things he had no clue were around. Whether it was an enhanced sense of smell, hearing, or whatever else it could have been.

His thoughts did spiral for some time that the cat was not as simple as it seemed, but it was pointless. As long as it did not harm him, he would take advantage of its existence. Stave off the loneliness. A pet to keep him going and interact with.

It wasn't much but it was something.

Tao Zi froze in his spot. He heard something move ahead of him. Scraping the ground, roots crumbling under light footfalls he could nearly hear over his loud hammering heart beat. Just loud enough for him to register it now that he was looking for it. Whatever it was, it had not noticed him.

He slowly made his way closer. Stepping over any roots. Dodging any branches that jutted out oddly from trees. Peeking through the black bushes and dead greens.

A gray chimp looking thing sat on its haunches. It wore a loincloth. A spear sat on the ground a few feet away from it. Long arms of corded muscle clawed at the ground working to get a fresh, white series of roots. Finding one, breaking it from the dead tree, and consuming it on the spot.

Not a speck of hair or fur on it. Its face was less monkey looking and more human. Though its head was overly large, knots and bumps covered its skull. Obvious scars had not healed quite properly all over its body.

Even as corded as it was, it looked sick. Movements sluggish. Struggling to rip out a root and eventually returning to using the spear to cut it out of the weak dead tree. Consuming it without hesitation. It returned to look for more. Clearly still hungry.

Starving.

System Analysis -

Sickly Goblinoid

Mortal Stage

Warning -

Not all Mortal Stage creatures are the same. Mortal dragons cannot be compared to mortal gerbils.

Tao Zi blinked at the clear warning the system was giving him. The hints, while sometimes unnecessarily harsh, tended to be gold. Helping him in situations he may have not figured out himself. Though how strong could a single chimp be?

At the end of the day, Tao Zi was still a cultivator. A lazy, love to procrastinate cultivator. But one, nonetheless.

He resolved himself. Tiger sensed the change in tension in the air. Even the chimp perked up with a root half way into its mouth. Looking left and right, not knowing Tao Zi was behind it. There was no going back. He would take out the goblinoid. Test what the system would provide for him and whether he could figure out what Qi Exp really meant.

Was he actually cultivating by gaining Qi Exp? That would save him so much time wasted meditating in silence and the darkness of a single room.
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He had no cultivation mats. No pills to enhance his circulation or make it easier to accept the Qi around him. No arrays to gather Qi in a single room and turn him into a cultivating machine. These were all things he technically should have had in his spacial ring. All items he had left back in his closets, gathering dust.

Tao Zi took a single step. He froze in his spot unwilling to move even an inch.

Seven more chips stepped out of the forest on the other end. Each one bigger than the other. Tao Zi received seven more system notifications, one for each one. All of them were Mortal Stage Goblinoids. One bigger than the other, until the last one stepped up to the sickly chimp. Standing tall, and purposefully towering over its weakened counterpart.

It began to hoot and holler. Grunt, scream, and clack their teeth in obvious rhythms. Forming sentences. An actual rudimentary language. The sickly chimp only kept its head low. Refusing to respond to any provocation.

If they can speak, they can plan.

Tao Zi stepped back and made sure he was better hidden. One was easy enough, he assumed. Two, three, four? Maybe. But eight all together without knowing how strong they actually were. After receiving that cryptic warning message from the system too. There was no way he was going to risk it so soon.

He wasn't an idiot. Lazy maybe, but not a fool that would throw his life away.

A plan began to form in his head. The fastest, easiest way to get one isolated and fight them too. It wasn't much, but based on what he saw, they weren't the smartest bunch. He would try it out. Lure a fool into a trap, kill it before it could recognize what was happening.

Tao Zi walked away from the hooting and hollering. Heading towards his cave designation. Tiger, quickly finding its spot on his shoulders, nipped at him. Upset that he almost fought the chimps. It would be disappointed to know that he planned to not only fight them, but to farm them as though this was a game.

For all intents and purposes, it was a game. With rewards, experience, loot, and even a dungeon style spacial pocket he was in.