She finished cooking the steak, plated it, and set it down for Bear, gently stroking the inside of her hair as she did. Kaida then pulled out a glass of water as if performing a magic trick—the glass now filled with clean water that Bear could actually drink.
"I'll be back. I need to speak with Wenxu." She looked at the Phoenix. "Vael, message me if you need anything."
Vael simply nodded, seeming to understand her. Bear looked relaxed as he started eating.
Kaida left the house, closing and locking the door behind her. As she passed the neighboring home, she knocked softly. A loud crashing noise followed, like someone had fallen out of bed.
{"All that calm, just to fall like that, Wenxu."} Kaida chuckled, clearly amused.
She waited about twenty minutes before Wenxu ran downstairs in his usual Foundation Establishment robes.
"Ah—yes, what do you need, Kaida?"
"...Nothing. I just wanted to check on you. See if you were awake." Her face turned deadpan in an instant.
Wenxu paused to process that, then sighed. "Sorry for rushing, then... I'm doing fine. What about you?"
"Amaris left Bear with me, that's all. Just saying—you should take care of him if I'm out doing something."
"Oh, I see. Yeah, sure. Why'd she leave?"
"Her elder brother's wedding, from what I heard. Don't know which one though." Her voice was dry. Then, from the corner of her eye, she noticed someone struggling with their cultivation. They looked composed but were sitting at an odd angle—and floating slightly above the ground.
"What is he doing...?"
"You don't know? There are different methods to cultivation..."
Kaida blinked, stunned. "I thought there was only one... Last time I tried a different path, I vomited black tar." Her mind wandered back to that strange temple, after she'd left Osami behind.
"Probably because you changed paths during the Gathering or Condensation Stage. You can switch now or later—just not in the final realm. Only our Sect Leader, the Empress of the Zarahushtra Empire, and two others have reached that stage."
"I see... But what are the methods? I doubt the manuals cover that—those are for kids learning the basics."
"Well yeah, obviously they don't." He wasn't rude, he just sounded a little confused.
"Can you tell me?" Kaida asked Wenxu.
["Why can't I explain it to you...?" Cinder sounded jealous.]
{"...You can. Just talk to me like a normal person."}
"Never mind, I need to do something first. I'll ask when I get the chance," Kaida said to Wenxu, suddenly dry and disinterested. She waved and walked off, waiting for Cinder to start explaining.
["Starting off, there are normally five paths. Though… you've got a mix of two? One's called the Heave—"]
{"God, please don't say Heaven Defying."}
["...Yeah. It's Heaven Defying Path. The most common one."]
Kaida groaned, slowly walking as she listened.
["As I was saying—before I was RUDELY interrupted—the path trades explosive power for a shorter lifespan. Not from aging, but cultivation becomes harder. Tribulations are also more intense. You don't have this one."]
{"At least that's one upside to this world."}
["Next is the Earth-Natural Path. As the name suggests, it requires communion with nature. Slow and stable growth, but if you become detached or get disturbed while cultivating, you risk deviation. You somehow have this, even with your personality."]
{"Basically becoming one with nature. You could've just said that."} Kaida ignored Cinder's analysis about her affinity.
["The last one I'll cover now is the Void-Born Path. Rooted in apathy, detachment, and isolation. It accelerates Core Formation and renders the core invisible—even shattered cores or dual cores. But it risks dissociation."]
{"...How can I have both the Earth-Natural and Void-Born Paths? One is attachment, the other is detachment."}
["I… honestly don't know. But the combination lets you passively absorb Qi."]
{"You should've told me earlier."}
["I forgot—and you wouldn't let me explain earlier."]
{"…Tch. Yeah… sorry about that."}
["Thank you..." Cinder felt genuinely pleased.]
Kaida sighed and waved the thought away, but mentally noted everything. Though her face remained expressionless, something in her had shifted.
She decided that cultivating alone in the dense forest would be best. It would harmonize both her Earth-Natural and Void-Born paths.
{"I do need a signature technique. Akari has one, so others probably do too... I should be ready. But what should I create?"}
She flipped her hand softly through the air as if thumbing through an invisible book.
"…How fitting." Kaida chuckled to herself.
She shifted the Qi in the air—it began to take shape and color. The Void-Born Qi appeared dark, often mistaken as 'demonic,' but it was simply emptiness. Meanwhile, the Earth-Natural Qi gleamed in bright hues, white and vibrant. From them, she formed countless dots. At the center, the energy grew denser—a radiant white core—while the outer layers spiraled outward.
["Would you like to name it?"]
{"…Will it be corny?"}
["...Unsure."]
{"Just call it Andromeda. I'll only say the name during a spar—no need otherwise."}
["Ma'am, you just made a bite-sized—"]
{"Yes, I know. And I'm not explaining how it works. What if someone's reading my mind...? Other than you."}
["That's just paranoia."]
Kaida stood still for a moment before casually whistling and walking away—unaware she was already at the edge of the peak. She stepped off and immediately began falling, but adjusted herself midair, swiftly accelerating to terminal velocity. To slow her descent, she condensed the Qi beneath her, increasing its density until it became heavier than she was, forming a cushion that softened her landing. Once on the ground, she released the Qi and looked up. The air around her shifted slightly, a visible disturbance, but it was too minor to concern her.
"Today's really boring…"
["I thought you didn't want to do anything?"]
{"I guess I could help someone if I'm feeling generous."}
An explosion suddenly rang out nearby. Kaida groaned and rubbed her temples before turning toward the sound. Without hesitation, she dashed forward at full speed—so fast that the sound barely caught up with her, creating a thunderous boom in her wake. As she skidded to a stop, the force of her momentum tore up grass and dirt. In front of her, a person's hair was burning, and the surrounding trees were ablaze.
Kaida swiftly manipulated the Qi inside her, blasting it out like a pressure hose. One hand doused the flames engulfing the trees, while the other directed Qi at the person, soaking his clothes and extinguishing the fire. Once the flames were gone, she let out a sigh and stared at him. His hair was messy, but surprisingly unburned.
"Special hair you've got."
"Th-Thank y—huh? Oh, yeah! I was protecting it with Qi so the fire couldn't ruin it. My hair's kind of like steel, so it doesn't melt that easily."
"You mean silky steel, but sure. I hope brushing it isn't like dragging a comb through rock."
"I… Yeah—I can still comb it!" He looked a bit flustered, his mood dipping slightly.
"So how'd the fire even start?"
"Well—I was trying to cultivate to surpass the Heav—"
"Okay, no. Shut up. Why do you want to do that?"
"Uhhhh… Well, I just thought that's the goal for all cultivators… I don't really have anyone or anything to do it for."
Kaida sighed. {"Okay… This guy. Mmm... Whatever. I'll just give advice."}
"Why not make a reason, then? Like—make friends, get stronger, actually have a purpose. Or maybe start a sect after getting stronger, use that power to help people. You know, normal things?"
He looked stunned, like she'd just introduced him to the concept of basic human motivation. Kaida stood quietly for another minute before he finally processed her words, his expression shifting into one of realization—and then joy.
"You seem unusually happy…?" Kaida tilted her head, leaning against a scorched tree while watching him.
"Well, I think I just found a reason—it's to prove you wrong! I don't need a reason to grow strong—I just want to!" he said smugly, his grin stretching across his puffy cheeks. His curly brown hair, fluffy and unkempt, reached down to his neck.
"That's…" Kaida paused, considering whether to tell him what she was really thinking.
["Don't. I feel like he'd overthink it, try to find a new reason, or just give up cultivating entirely."]
"Ha! See I outsmarted you!" He was clearly happy about it, meanwhile Kaida found it somewhat fun to listen to him, though, she noticed footsteps, it wasn't human, larger than human feet with her seeing a... Tiger? For a place this mountainous, and also forest wise thick she didn't expect something like that.
Kaida looked softly tilting her head staring at it. {"I guess some creatures from my world do exist here. It'll be easier for me then."}
The Tiger, confused moved closer cautiously looking at Kaida, her hair glistening a blue color and the green patches shaping into something more, familiar, shaped in a pattern like they could be connected in some way or form. And the white peak and tips unchanged, but as the tiger touched it a sensation of cold washed over its paw.
The Tiger moved its paw back instinctively, it wasn't a normal kind of cold, it felt otherworldly, a Freezing temperature higher than any of it species had reached with her moving her head back looking at it in its eyes.
The guy stood there still celebrating but heart the sound of popping, from Kaida's fingers being cracked softly and saw the Tiger and began panicking immediately. "W- THATS AN APEX PRE- WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" He was clearly stunned and had begun shouting but Kaida formed a qi block which looked like a brick, other than the fact it was light blue and threw it onto his face softly to make him shut up.
"What you need?" Kaida spoke directly to the Tiger not focusing on the guy anymore, and she didn't even bother turning to face it, she just bent back instead.
The Tiger, for more than one reason was confused and just licked her hair with it turning incredibly more confused as it felt being it's thirst being instantly quenched. It walked off finding no threat here, just noise.
"Why did it just leave-"
"First, what's your name, Second, it didn't see us as a threat, if your calm and don't posture or try to dominate then it'll leave you alone unless it's hungry."
"Uhm- Name's Fyodor."
{"...I saw Germanic but I guess I saw Russian as well, no one really smiled much while walking around in the Empire unless it was to their kids or family."}
["Ma'am, remember your Tribulation?"]
{"...What about it?"}
["The Fight that guy asked for is going to be tomorrow."]
{"...Ugh. I wanted to forget and just leave it, I don't care about reputation-"}
["You only accepted because I was going to give you the Flaming Heart Pill."]
{...Flaming Heart?"}
["It's made of a Heart which once boiled in a temperature as hot as the sun is taken out and purified to be made edible, it boosts your cultivation basically."]
{"For a name that corny at least it makes sense."} Kaida walked away from the guy waving bye not focused on him anymore, thinking of what she needs to do now.
{"Should I learn more about the Empire or take a mission or whatever they have?"}
["It'll benefit you so I suppose so. It'll be in the place you took the entrance exam, fought Akari and the Pavilions, probably on a board."]
She went to continue walking only to find what looked like a bag, probably from Fyodor. She saw what looked like a mini... Telescope.
"Curious...?"
She touched it as it became large into a normal sized telescope but clearly well built, though primitive, probably from the Industrial age. {"....Hmmm, Could be better."}, she injected it with Qi again to see if that's what presumably made it big, and that's what it was, she saw it become smaller inside of his bag again.