A few days after Jang Mu-Yeon had left, Chris had grown restless. He’d tried exploring the area, but an invisible barrier stopped him from going too far. His system was still dormant, and he had no idea when it would activate again.

  With nothing else to do, he began reviewing Yong-Su’s memories once more. However, he could no longer access the memories of Yong-Su’s mother; for now, he could only see fragments of the host’s past.

  The memories he could reach were still useful, allowing him to practice Yong-Su’s sword techniques. Unfortunately, without any Qi left in his core, he could only mimic the forms rather than fully perform them.

  So he focused on the ‘Basic Sword Form’, combining it with his own understanding of swordsmanship to refine his technique and the ‘Eight Direction Fist’ technique to improve his bare-handed combat. His body’s muscle memory helped guide his movements.

  At first, he thought the training was pointless after all, he might lose everything once he returned. But now, he could shift between stances more fluidly. He still had a long way to go, but progress was progress.

  “When is he going to come back? We’re almost out of time.”

  Chris was outside the hut, swinging his sword. Sweat dripped down his face and over his bare abdomen.

  A low hiss answered him, the sound coming from the black noddle basking in the afternoon sun.

  “You know I can’t understand you, Soa,” He said, wiping his sweat with a piece of fabric before tossing it toward her.

  The sweat-soaked cloth landed squarely on her. She panicked, thrashing around to get it off. Not only did it block the sunlight, but it also smelled terrible.

  Chris burst into laughter at the sight of one of the strongest creatures being defeated by a simple piece of fabric. Watching her struggle, he took his sweet time before stepping in.

  “Okay, okay… stop struggling or you’ll make me die from laughter!”

  Soa hissed louder and more frequently, clearly irritated as she continued to writhe.

  'I should help her before she gets too angry.'

  As he got closer, the snake suddenly stopped moving. He assumed she had tired herself out, but when he lifted the fabric, she was gone.

  Confused, he looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen.

  “Soa? Where are you?”

  He checked under stones and around the hut, anywhere she could have hidden, but there was no sign of her.

  “Enough with your games! It’s not funny anymore. Where are you?”

  The answer came as something wrapped tightly around his throat.

  For a moment, he thought the assassins had found him. He tried to peel it off, but couldn’t get a proper grip; whatever it was felt scaly.

  “I’m sorry for annoying you! But could you let me go? I’m running out of air! I promise I’ll never do it again!”

  The pressure increased. She wasn’t satisfied yet

  “Fine! You can have my pillow! Use it to bask in the sun, okay?”

  That did the trick. Soa loosened her grip, dropped to the ground, and slithered toward the hut.

  Chris sat down on a log and took a deep breath, savoring the feeling of air filling his lungs again.

  “I see you didn’t waste your time lazing around.” Said a voice from behind him.

  Chris jumped up, ready to strike, but he relaxed when he saw it was the physician.

  “Phew! You scared me. I thought you were one of those assassins.”

  The man smiled.

  “Those fools could never find this place.” He gave Chris a quick once-over. “Your body’s in top condition, you’ve been taking good care of it. Where’s the lit…”

  He stopped mid-sentence as he spotted Soa dragging a pillow out of the hut.

  “What… is going on?”

  “It’s a long story.” Chris said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Let her have her fun for now.”

  The physician raised an eyebrow but chuckled.

  “If you say so.”

  “Did you manage to find what you were looking for?”

  “My search bore fruit.” Jang Mu-Yeon said as he began walking toward the hut.

  “What took you so long? We’re almost out of time!” Chris raised his voice slightly.

  Mu-Yeon stopped at the threshold, a hint of annoyance creeping into his tone.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “I took a little detour to visit my last remaining family member…and lost track of time.”

  Chris immediately felt bad for snapping at him. He, too, would give anything to see his family again. He opened his mouth to apologize, but the physician spoke first.

  “Don’t feel bad. I was expecting to find a grave when I went there. It’s been a long time since I left that life behind.”

  His words were meant to comfort Chris, but they only made him feel worse about how he’d spoken.

  “You’ve been cooped up in here long enough,” Mu-Yeon continued. “Go take a walk outside to clear your head. You’ll need it for what’s coming.”

  “Shouldn’t I stay until you’re ready?” Chris asked. He felt guilty at the thought of leaving now.

  “It’ll take me some time to prepare, and as I recall, you do not have any knowledge of the healing arts.” He gestured toward the path he came from. “Head that way and you’ll exit the formation. Take her with you, the fresh air will do her good.”

  Chris picked up Soa from her pillow, though not without a brief struggle. She only agreed to go after he promised the pillow would stay put. He would have loved to reclaim it, but he valued his neck too much to risk being strangled in his sleep.

  'I’ll find a better one someday...and you won’t touch it.'

  As if reading his mind, Soa hissed and nipped at one of his fingers before slithering up his arm and coiling around it.

  “So you can read my thoughts now? Is there no place I can have a little privacy?”

  She hissed again, louder this time.

  “Okay, okay, calm down. It’s time for us to have an adventure into places neither of us has ever seen.” He wasn’t lying; this was his first time here.

  Mu-Yeon called out something to Chris as he was leaving, but in his excitement, Chris didn’t hear him.

  “He should be fine.” The physician murmured to himself. “As long as he doesn’t stray too far from the formation.”

  Unfortunately, he had no idea what Chris was about to unleash.

  Chris followed the winding path until it abruptly ended at a solid stone wall. He pressed against it, surprised when he phased through it.

  'I never would’ve found my way out alone.'

  “Soa… are you sleeping?” He asked softly.

  A tiny hiss answered him.

  “Can you remember the way back?”

  Another hiss, firmer this time.

  “Alright, I’ll take that as a 'yes'.” Chris said, exhaling.

  The snake responded with a playful nibble on his arm.

  “Hey! Can you stop doing that? We really need a better way to communicate.”

  Soa coiled tighter around his arm, acknowledging him in her own way.

  “Ouch! Okay, fine… never mind. Keep nibbling.” He grumbled, half-laughing.

  Because of their bickering, he didn’t realize that he had gotten out of the formation. Only when he lifted his head did he realize where he was.

  Before them stretched a landscape of impossible beauty. Jade crystals jutted from the earth like the ribs of a sleeping dragon; translucent pillars refracting sunlight into cascading patterns of green and gold. Between them grew a meadow of luminous flowers, their petals shaped like polished gems.

  Chris was amazed by the landscape. He went and crouched down to touch one of the flowers. Its stem pulsed faintly beneath his fingers. As he leaned closer, the petals quivered, releasing a faint dust that shimmered like powdered jade.

  Then, a gentle buzzing filled the air.

  From the depths of the meadow came some bees, each one the size of Chris’s head, their bodies glowing with light. They hovered gracefully, their bodies scattering pollen as they gathered nectar from the jade-like blossoms.

  The bees didn’t fear them; instead, they circled lazily above Soa, who flicked her tail curiously. One even landed on Chris’s head, its legs leaving glowing prints of pollen across his hair before taking off again.

  The deeper Chris went, the more the forest seemed to breathe. The jade crystals hummed in low resonance with his heartbeat.

  At the meadow’s edge, Chris stopped. The path ahead vanished into mist.

  The mist parted as Chris and Soa advanced, revealing a clearing littered with broken jade shards. At first, Chris thought they were remnants of the forest’s crystal growths until one of them moved.

  A low, resonant chittering filled the air. Dozens of jade shards began moving: ants, but each the size of a wolf. Their bodies gleamed with plates of translucent jade, light pulsing faintly. They moved with eerie precision, their jointed limbs clicking against the crystalline ground, the rhythm steady like the beat of war drums.

  Chris froze.

  He then crouched behind a low ridge of jade, heart pounding. The ants didn’t seem to notice him. They moved with methodical precision, carrying chunks of crystal toward a vast mound that pulsed with faint green light; a hive sculpted from the same jade that filled the forest.

  Chris held his breath.

  Soa, however, began to stir. Her tongue flicked rapidly, catching the faintest vibrations of the ant's movement. She slipped from his arm and glided silently through the grass.

  “Soa…no!” Chris hissed, but she was already gone.

  The serpent’s body rippled through the grass, approaching one of the ants. She reared her head curiously.

  The nearest ant froze. Then, its head snapped toward her, mandibles clacking.

  Another joined it.

  Then another.

  A wave of clicking filled the clearing, echoing like metal striking stone. The ground began to tremble as hundreds of crystal-coated ants turned in unison, their eyes burning with a cold, mirrored light.

  “Soa!”

  Chris lunged forward as the first ant shrieked. The swarm surged toward them, a living tide of jade and fury.

  Soa darted back toward him, weaving between snapping mandibles, her movements a blur of blackness. Chris grabbed her as she leapt to his arm, her scales cold and trembling beneath his hand.

  He ran, crashing through the crystalline undergrowth, breath ragged, the ground quaking behind him.

  The ants pursued them relentlessly, their bodies glowing brighter with every step.

  The forest roared behind him. Every step Chris took sent splinters of jade and dirt scattering beneath his boots as he sprinted through the clearing. Soa clung tightly to his forearm, scales pressing against his skin, her body trembling with every thunderous impact that shook the ground.

  'We are almost back to the formation entrance.'

  The sound behind him grew deafening as hundreds of feet stroked the ground in perfect rhythm, a wall of clicking, crystalline rage.

  Chris ducked beneath a low branch, lungs burning, eyes locked on the way back to safety.

  “Soa, hold on!”

  He leapt over a fallen crysta, and the ground gave way.

  The world shattered beneath him like glass. Jagged shards of jade and soil collapsed in a rush, and he plunged downward into darkness. Soa hissed sharply, wrapping tighter around his wrist.

  He hit the ground hard. Pain shot through his body, knocking the air from his lungs. Dust and fragments of crystal rained down around him, glinting faintly in the dim light that filtered through the hole above.

  For a moment, everything was still. Only the distant echo of the ants chittering remained.

  There was no path back up; the shaft walls were too smooth, too slick.

  They were stuck in an old tunnel.