Hunter stood at the edge of his "camp" (a generous term for three cave holes and a fire pit) watching twenty-three people limp, hobble, and generally exist in various states of "please let this be over soon."
This was fine. Everything was fine. He'd accidentally become responsible for two dozen lives. No pressure.
His hand throbbed where the squirrel had done its best impression of a meat grinder. Blood had soaked through the makeshift bandage he'd wrapped around it. Every pulse sent little lightning bolts of "you should probably deal with this" up his arm.
He tried to ignore it. Bigger problems. Like the fact that his secret bandit cave was about to be exposed to a bunch of grateful civilians who thought he was some kind of righteous hero.
"Master?" Tao appeared at his elbow, voice pitched low. "Master, what do we do with all these people?"
"I don't know, Tao. I didn't exactly plan for this."
"Should we tell them about the..." Tao glanced around nervously. "The supplies?"
The Clearwater loot. Still buried behind the cave where they'd frantically hidden it three days ago. Food stores, clothes, medicine, tools. Everything they'd stolen from farmers.
Everything these people desperately needed.
Hunter's eye twitched. The universe had a sick sense of humor.
"We're going to use some of it," he said quietly.
Tao's eyes went wide. "But Master, Liu Mei..."
"Liu Mei is probably watching us right now, judging every decision I make." Hunter looked up at the trees. He couldn't see her, but he knew she was there. Felt it in his bones. Three days of constant surveillance had given him a sixth sense for when someone was lurking in the foliage taking notes. "And you know what looks worse? Letting people starve when we have food. That's not very 'agent of the Heavenly Dao' behavior, is it?"
[LUNA] OOOOH SMART (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧ [LUNA] USE THE EVIDENCE TO HELP PEOPLE [LUNA] DESTROY THE EVIDENCE BY BEING CHARITABLE [LUNA] THIS IS LITERALLY THE PERFECT CRIME [LUNA] ROBIN HOOD WISHES HE THOUGHT OF THIS ♥
Thanks. I hate it.
[LUNA] YOU HATE EVERYTHING [LUNA] IT'S YOUR AESTHETIC [LUNA] VERY EMO [LUNA] VERY ON BRAND (◕‿◕✿)
"Go get Xuan and Lex," Hunter said to Tao. "Dig up the supplies. Food, medicine, clothes. We'll distribute those. The coins stay buried for now. We might need them later."
"Yes, Master!" Tao bowed and scurried off, looking relieved to have clear instructions.
Hunter turned back to survey the chaos.
Han Qiuyu, the guard with the spear and the professional paranoia, was already organizing people. Separating the injured from the mobile. Taking inventory of who could walk, who needed carrying, who was about to keel over from shock.
The man moved with military precision. Voice calm but commanding. People listened to him automatically, responded to the authority in his tone.
Hunter watched with a mixture of admiration and envy. That was leadership. Real leadership. Not the stumbling, making-it-up-as-you-go mess that defined Hunter's entire existence.
Han noticed Hunter watching. Their eyes met.
The guard's expression was complicated. Grateful, yes. Hunter had saved them. But also suspicious. Calculating. The look of someone trying to solve a puzzle where half the pieces didn't fit.
Great. He knows something's wrong. Because of course he does. He's actually competent.
Qiu Hengdao, the large merchant in the now-filthy purple robes, was having a breakdown by the fire pit. Not a loud breakdown. A quiet, existential one. The kind where you sat very still and questioned every decision that led you to this moment.
"My wagons," he whispered to no one. "My goods. My horses. All gone. Dasher. Dancer. Prancer. Vixen." His voice cracked. "I named them after reindeer."
Hunter had no idea what reindeer were in this world, but the man's pain was universal. Total financial ruin. Everything you owned, gone in an afternoon because some squirrels decided to be aggressive about their territory.
The other survivors were scattered around the clearing. Some sitting. Some standing. All looking lost. Shell-shocked. The kind of expressions that came from surviving something that should have killed you and not quite processing that you were still breathing.
And then there was the little girl.
Six years old, maybe seven. Clutching a doll that had seen better days. Her dress was torn, stained with blood that wasn't hers. Her eyes were too big, too empty. The look of someone who'd watched their mother die.
She'd been following Hunter since they arrived at camp. Not speaking. Just following. Ten feet back. Like a ghost.
Every time Hunter looked at her, something in his chest hurt worse than his shredded hand.
I saved her. But I couldn't save her mom.
The woman had died an hour into the journey. Blood loss. Internal injuries. Hunter had tried to use his qi to help, channeling spiritual energy into her wounds like he'd seen in cultivation novels. It hadn't worked. He didn't know what he was doing. Didn't have the training. Didn't have the skill.
She'd died anyway. Quietly. Without complaint. Her last words to her daughter: "Be good for the nice man."
The nice man who was secretly a bandit with a slavery addiction and a murder count.
Hunter wanted to throw up. Again. Still. Forever.
"Senior!"
Hunter turned. A young refugee, maybe eighteen, was bowing. Actually bowing. Deep enough that his forehead nearly touched his knees.
"Senior, thank you for saving us! This humble one is eternally grateful! You are truly blessed by the Heavens!"
Oh God. They're doing the formal cultivation world thing.
"You don't need to..." Hunter started.
Two more refugees rushed over. Bowed even deeper. Started spouting gratitude in the flowery, over-the-top language that apparently came standard in cultivation worlds.
"Senior's righteousness shines like the sun!"
"This lowly one witnessed your glorious battle!"
"The way you crushed that spirit beast with your bare hands! Truly, the mark of a supreme expert!"
They'd watched him catch a squirrel and let it eat his hand because he was an idiot who didn't think before grabbing murder rodents. But sure. Supreme expert. That tracked.
More refugees joined. Soon Hunter was surrounded by a crowd of people bowing, praising, thanking him with such earnest sincerity that he wanted to die from secondhand embarrassment.
[LUNA] YOU'RE A HERO! (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧ [LUNA] LOOK AT ALL YOUR FANS [LUNA] SO POPULAR [LUNA] IT'S LIKE COMIC-CON EXCEPT EVERYONE THINKS YOU'RE ACTUALLY BATMAN [LUNA] AND YOU'RE JUST A GUY WHO FELL INTO THE BATCAVE BY ACCIDENT ♥
This is a nightmare.
[LUNA] NIGHTMARE? THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUE [LUNA] PEOPLE WORSHIP YOU [LUNA] ZERO EFFORT REQUIRED [LUNA] YOU LITERALLY JUST HAVE TO STAND THERE AND LOOK MYSTERIOUS [LUNA] WHICH YOU'RE ALREADY DOING BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S HAPPENING (◕‿◕✿)
Han Qiuyu cut through the crowd like a knife. "That's enough. Give the senior some space. He's injured and needs rest."
The crowd parted immediately. Han's voice carried weight. Authority. The kind that came from years of keeping people alive through discipline and order.
"Thank you," Hunter said quietly.
Han studied him with those sharp, calculating eyes. "Your hand. It's worse than you're letting on."
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine. The wound is deep. I can see bone through the bandage." Han's expression didn't change. Still professional. Still assessing. "If you don't treat it properly, it'll get infected. Even cultivators can die from infection if they're not careful."
Hunter looked down at his hand. Blood had soaked through the cloth completely, dripping onto the ground in steady drops. The pain was getting worse, not better.
"I don't know how to treat it," Hunter admitted. The words came out quieter than intended. "I'm still... new to all this cultivation stuff. The healing thing. I don't know how it works."
Han's eyebrow raised slightly. "You're Foundation Realm but you don't know how to circulate qi for healing?"
"Is that something I should know?"
"It's basic Body Refining knowledge. First thing any cultivator learns." Han paused, studying Hunter's face. "You really don't know, do you?"
"I really don't."
The silence stretched. Hunter could practically see the gears turning in Han's head. Foundation Realm cultivator who didn't know basic healing techniques. Who lived in a cave with no resources. Who admitted to raiding villages but gave away the spoils.
Nothing about Hunter made sense.
"Sit down," Han said finally. "Before you fall down. I'll show you."
Hunter sat. The relief of getting off his feet was immediate and embarrassing. He hadn't realized how exhausted he was until he stopped moving.
Han knelt beside him. "Give me your hand."
Hunter extended his injured hand. Han unwrapped the bandage carefully, revealing the full damage underneath. Three deep puncture wounds where the squirrel's teeth had sunk in. The flesh around them was already turning an angry red, swollen and hot to the touch.
"This is bad," Han said bluntly. "You should have dealt with this immediately after the fight."
"I was busy not dying."
"Fair point." Han placed his palm over the wounds, not touching, just hovering. "Watch carefully. I'm going to show you the basic healing circulation. It's simple. Even mortal cultivators at the first level of Body Refining can do this."
Hunter watched. Han's qi moved in a specific pattern, flowing from his dantian, up through his meridians, and into his palm. The energy was warm, gentle, different from the violent power used in combat.
"Healing qi is about restoration, not destruction," Han explained. His voice took on a teaching quality, patient and clear. "You're not forcing anything. You're encouraging your body to do what it already wants to do: repair itself. Your job is to guide the process, speed it up, make it more efficient."
The qi flowed into Hunter's hand. The pain eased slightly, the angry heat subsiding.
"Now you try. Close your eyes. Feel your dantian. That sphere of compressed energy at your core. Can you feel it?"
Hunter closed his eyes. Reached inward. Found his dantian easily, the foundation he'd built during his breakthrough. Silver-bright, dense, powerful.
"Good. Now draw qi from it. Slowly. Gently. Like sipping tea, not chugging water."
Hunter pulled qi from his dantian. It rushed into his meridians like a flood. Way too much. Way too fast.
"Slower!" Han barked. "You're going to burn your meridians out. Foundation Realm has more power but that means you need more control. Try again."
Hunter tried again. Slower this time. The qi moved through his meridians, warm and strange and alive.
"Good. Now guide it to your hand. Follow the pathway I showed you. Don't force it. Let it flow naturally."
The qi reached his hand. The wounds tingled, then burned, then settled into a deep, uncomfortable heat.
"That's it. You're doing it. Keep the flow steady. Let your body's natural healing process accelerate. Foundation Realm cultivators can heal injuries in hours that would take mortals weeks. But only if you know how to direct the process."
Hunter kept the qi flowing. Slowly, incredibly slowly, he felt something change. The wounds weren't closing yet, but the angry inflammation was reducing. The heat was fading. His body was remembering how to heal itself.
"How long do I need to do this?" Hunter asked, eyes still closed.
"For injuries like this? Six hours of focused circulation should bring you to eighty percent. You'll want to repeat the process twice a day until it's fully healed. Maybe three days total."
"Three days? That's it?"
"You're Foundation Realm. Your body is fundamentally different from mortals now. Stronger. More resilient. Capable of things that would seem like miracles to anyone below Body Refining." Han pulled his hand back, breaking contact. "Open your eyes."
Hunter opened them. The wounds on his hand were still there but looked significantly better. The swelling had reduced. The angry red had faded to pink.
"That's incredible," Hunter breathed.
"That's cultivation." Han stood up, brushing dirt from his armor. "You really are new to this, aren't you? Even calling it Foundation Realm like you just learned the term yesterday."
"More like two weeks ago."
Han stared at him. "Two weeks. You've been a cultivator for two weeks."
"Give or take."
"And you're already Foundation Realm."
"Is that... fast?"
Han laughed. It was a sharp, disbelieving sound. "Fast? I've been cultivating for twenty years. Twenty years of blood, sweat, and pain. I'm ninth level Body Refining. I'm one breakthrough away from Foundation Realm and I've been stuck at this bottleneck for three years." He shook his head. "You did it in two weeks. That's not fast. That's impossible."
"I had help," Hunter said vaguely.
"What kind of help lets someone go from mortal to Foundation Realm in two weeks?"
"The kind I can't really explain."
They looked at each other. Hunter trying to figure out how much to reveal. Han trying to figure out what kind of monster he'd attached himself to.
"You're not normal," Han said finally.
"I'm really, really not."
"But you saved us anyway."
"Yeah. I did."
"Why?"
The question hung in the air. Hunter thought about Liu Mei watching. About the system's quests. About the little girl who wouldn't stop following him. About the fact that somewhere between accidentally killing a guard and catching a squirrel barehanded, he'd stopped running from responsibility.
"Because I could," Hunter said simply. "Because someone had to. Because those squirrels were going to kill you all and I was the only one there who could stop them."
Han studied him for another long moment. Then he bowed. Properly. The kind of bow cultivators gave to those they respected.
"Thank you, Senior. For the lesson. And for everything else."
"I'm not really a senior. I'm barely a cultivator."
"You're Foundation Realm. That makes you my senior regardless of how you got there." Han straightened. "And if you're going to protect these people, you need to understand what that means."
"What does it mean?"
"It means you're strong. Stronger than you realize. Foundation Realm cultivators can take on dozens of Body Refining cultivators simultaneously. The gap between realms isn't linear, it's exponential." Han's expression was serious. "You could fight fifty ninth-level Body Refining cultivators and win. Easily. That's the difference in power."
Hunter's brain stuttered to a halt. "Fifty? Are you serious?"
"Completely serious. The qi density in your dantian, the strength of your meridians, the power in your strikes, they're all magnitudes beyond what Body Refining cultivators can achieve. You're operating on a completely different level now."
"I can fight fifty people."
"At least fifty. Probably more if you actually knew what you were doing."
[LUNA] TOLD YOU! (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧ [LUNA] YOU'RE SUPER STRONG [LUNA] YOU JUST DIDN'T KNOW IT [LUNA] IT'S LIKE HAVING A FERRARI AND THINKING IT'S A HONDA CIVIC [LUNA] YOU'VE BEEN DRIVING IN FIRST GEAR THIS WHOLE TIME [LUNA] WHILE EVERYONE ELSE IS SCREAMING "WHY IS THAT CIVIC GOING 200 MPH" ♥
Why didn't you tell me this earlier?
[LUNA] BECAUSE WATCHING YOU PANIC ABOUT EVERYTHING IS HILARIOUS (◕‿◕✿) [LUNA] ALSO YOU DIDN'T ASK [LUNA] ALSO ALSO I'M PETTY [LUNA] IT'S MY THING [LUNA] YOU KNEW THIS ABOUT ME ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Hunter looked at his hand. At the wounds that were already healing faster than should be possible. At the power thrumming through his meridians like electricity waiting to be unleashed.
He was strong. Actually strong. Not just "got lucky with a boulder" strong.
The realization was terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure.
"So those squirrels," Hunter said slowly. "The ones that are definitely coming back for revenge. I could handle them?"
"If you knew what you were doing? Absolutely. Red-Maple Shadow Squirrels are C-rank spirit beasts. Dangerous to mortals, deadly to low-level cultivators. But to a Foundation Realm expert?" Han shrugged. "They're just oversized rats with an attitude problem."
"That's what I told myself during the fight."
"You were right. The problem is you're fighting like a Body Refining cultivator with too much power. Relying on instinct and luck instead of technique and strategy."
"Because I don't know technique and strategy."
"Exactly." Han looked around the camp. At the refugees settling in. At the supplies that would need distributing. At the defensive preparations that hadn't even started yet. His jaw set with determination. "If those squirrels attack again, we need to be ready. And you need to understand your own capabilities before you accidentally kill yourself trying to be heroic."
"What do you suggest?"
"We prepare. Set defenses. Plan tactics. And I teach you the basics of cultivation combat that apparently nobody bothered to explain." Han's expression was grim but determined. "Because if we're going to survive the next few days, we need you fighting smart, not just fighting hard."
Hunter stood, testing his hand. The pain was still there but manageable. For the first time since the squirrel massacre, he felt like maybe, possibly, they had a chance.
"Okay," he said, meeting Han's eyes. "Teach me."