Black Onyx - Phoenix Resurrection

“Earthquake!”

“Aaaaaah!

“Watch out!”

Those guys were exaggerating. It was just a small localized tremor as I shifted the bedrock and brought it higher to the surface.

[Relax! It’s me.]

“Gerald?! What are you doing?” Chity exclaimed.

[What does it look like? I’m making a camp.] I removed the dirt and replaced it with a solid stone foundation. I then spit it in the center and rose a smaller circle that was caved in like a shallow bowl. For the campfire.

I then rose two stones that forked out on each side of it for the spit roast. And of course, I couldn’t forget to raise the seats for each of us. Nice, comfortable stone seats with a slight incline so we could really enjoy our time.

The guys just stared at me, jaws hanging and opened wide.

[What?] Being stared at made me uncomfortable.

“What… what the heck is that?!” Chity exclaimed, pointing at my creation. I thought it was pretty obvious, but since he didn’t…

[It’s a campsite. We either do it properly or not at all, you feel me?]

“W- Eh…” It seemed Chity was at a loss for words. “You used all your Qi to make this?”

[Um…] No? It was barely anything. In fact, it has already refilled itself. But I couldn’t exactly say that, now could I? On second thought, I might have gone a bit overboard. So what should I say? I best go with the truth. [Well, I noticed there was no Formation stopping me, and I got too excited.]

“But what if we get attacked and have to fight? What will you do then?”

Not letting it go, huh? Oh well, I can understand his concerns somewhat. Besides… [I still got this, you know?] I said, gesturing at the Toothpick in my hand. [An if that’s not enough, I still got you guys to protect me.]

“But-“

“He’s right, you know?” Blade interrupted him and claimed a seat. “And these things are really comfortable! Good job!” He gave me a thumbs-up. At least someone appreciated my work.

Chity seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he just shook his head. “Alright, alright… I guess you got a point. Just don’t do it so suddenly next time, okay?”

[You got it, chief!] I saluted.

Chity just rolled his eyes, ignoring my clowning around, and went back to work. I suspected the sudden tremor was what bothered him the most, everything else was just an excuse. He was the one who screamed the loudest after all.

Pero and Ken returned with full waterskins and joined us around the fire. While they were away, we gathered some dead wood and began preparing a bed of embers for cooking.

“What the heck?! Where did this come from?” Ken questioned when he saw the beauty I made.

“It’s cool, right? Gerald made it. Try the seats, they are super comfortable!” Blade urged him while having basically become one with the seat. He even rolled over a small boulder as a table to put his legs on top while relaxing.

“Wow, you are right. Great stuff!”

I just smiled and nodded, happy to hear they were enjoying my work.

They prepared a place for a pot and boiled some water, splashing it over a boar to help get the thick hairs off. The entire animal was then stuck on a stick and placed over the fire, being occasionally turned so as to not get burned.

Since the spit roast was going to take many hours to finish, we each took a palm-sized piece of meat from the other boar and stuck it on a smaller stick, roasting it over the hot coals.

We had plenty of time, so we began cracking jokes and chatting. The atmosphere was very nice and relaxing, and I stared into the flames, without any thoughts at all. My breathing slowed and went according to the Turtle Breathing Technique, my Qi moving with it. I have done it so many times it now felt natural to do. I didn’t even have to think about it.

“Hey, Gerald?” I heard Chity call me. “You wanna say something?”

[Hmm? What? What were we talking about?] They completely caught me off guard. I wasn’t listening at all.

“We were talking about our decision to join the Sect. I always wanted to become a powerful warrior and take care of my family, that’s why I did it. What about you?” Chity said.

[Me? I didn’t have much of a choice, really. I basically had nowhere else to go.]

“What do you mean?” Blade asked. I guess my words really didn’t explain much. I wanted to continue, but Chity beat me to it.

“He lost his family if I remember correctly.” He looked at me and I just nodded for him to continue. “And then he spent days running from monsters in the forest until he stumbled on the Old Plum village.”

“Ouch… I’m sorry to hear that.” Blade said.

[It’s fine. I came to terms with it long ago.]

“Where are you from anyway? Is it a place close to the Sect?”

[Don’t think so… And since you are curious, I can tell you that my last permanent residence was in Myrtana.]

“Myrtana?” They all looked at me curiously. “I don’t know any village going by that name.” Chity said.

[It’s far away. I had been running through the forest for days after all. Even I don’t know where it is anymore.] Not that I could even if I scoured the area in a 1,000-kilometer radius. I was teleported here after all. I seriously doubted I was still on Neloron, even if it was still the same planet.

“You are not some bastard son of some noble, are you? I heard stories of things like that happening, sending them away not to bring shame to the family.” Shi said, and I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

[I wish… If I was then maybe I wouldn’t be so freaking poor! I’m completely broke right now!]

The guys burst out laughing. “Haha, same! I spent my last Shards on this stupid shield.” Blade knocked on his wooden circle of a shield reinforced with iron. “I thought we were going to have some hard fights, but I’m starting to think I was overthinking it…”

“There’s still time to get your head bitten off, don’t worry.” Ken sneered. “We got the whole day tomorrow, I’m sure we will find something for you to fight. Maybe a big bush that you can cut down. That’s all you are good for, it seems.”

“You bastard!” Blade barked back and the rest of us began to chuckle. “At least I did something. What about you? What did you do all day? Going to get water like some servant girl?”

“How dare you!” Ken became red in the face, and we began roaring in laughter. It was all in good fun. Every group of friends would poke fun at the rest of its members to keep them humble. And it was a good way to keep stress at bay.

But we didn’t go too far, and besides, our first round of meat was ready and so we got to work, devouring it like the hungry animals we were. Only then I realized how hungry I was. There was just meat and salt, with a tiny bit of smoky flavor, but it was so damn good! I couldn’t wait for the bigger piece roasting over the flames.

I licked the fatty juices off my lips as I stared at the roast. I felt like I could eat an entire leg, and by the looks of it, so could the others.

There was more time to kill, so we continued with our previous conversation.

“Blade? What about you? Where do you come from and why did you join the Myriad Beasts Sect?” Chity asked as we all calmed down. He tossed another few branches in the fire and rotated the roast a bit. It was already getting nice and brown at certain places.

“Me? Green Bean village was my home. Cozy little place, but it has no future. Most of our leaders are part of our chief’s extended family and he is being too soft on them. Many already left, joining nearby villages…” Blade said, hanging his head low as he sighed.

“As for why I joined, that’s obvious! It’s to get strong and fight monsters like the heroes of the old! I’ll become the strongest swordsman there ever was!” He stood up and created a heroic pose with his scimitar and shield, pointing the blade at the sky.

“And I’m going to get filthy rich and get a few girls, of course!” He added with a grin.

“But, of course.” Ken smirked, barely holding back his laughter. “All will bow down to Blade’s mighty sword and worship it!”

“Exactl- Hey!” Blade exclaimed. The rest of us just laughed. These two were just too funny.

“Who’s next?” Chity looked at the rest. “Pero?”

“Right…” The guy cleared his throat and began, his expression darkening as he did so. “I come from… a poor family. While I was the oldest of five siblings, I also had the most responsibility and so I had to work in the fields ever since I was little. My father would… shout at me many times if I was too slow, sometimes even if I wasn’t.”

He appeared conflicted and remained quiet for a while, probably searching for the right words.

“One day I learned of the Sect and the requirements for joining, and so I began secretly studying math on my own and with the help of my granny. She helped me a lot and was also the one urging me to join the Sect. She said the Cultivators are the ones with money and that if I wanted to change my fate, I should go and join them. And so I did.”

[Hmm…] We all kept quiet for some time. I could imagine it wasn’t easy escaping from an abusive family, especially when he knew he was leaving his younger siblings behind. But he had to do it to break the cycle. If he got some achievements, in a few years he would be able to help them, if he so chose.

“Well, at least you had a father…” Ken began. “I didn’t even know mine.” We all looked at him weirdly.

“What? My mother was a whore and a drunk on top of it. I had to work to feed myself, doing odd jobs and hunting whenever I could. But eventually, I got tired of shoveling shit, literally, and decided to try my luck, so here I am!”

[So… Who’s a bastard now?] I jeered.

“Shit-shoveler…” Blade said under his breath with a grin, but we could all hear him, which brought smiles back to our faces.

“Yeah, yeah! You guys are so original…”

“Oh, cheer up you guys!” Chity said, displaying his superior knowledge as a leader. “When we get back we will have plenty of time and money to visit his mother!”