Fighting to be Kind in a Cultivation World

“So, what do you guys remember about my abilities?”

Lin is the first to speak, “If I’m not wrong, you can heal people, even with serious sicknesses.”

“You can also tame any creature, like the spiders,” Gong mentions as an aside.

“Well, not exactly… I believe I can tame most creatures, but have only tried the insects, spiders, and smaller organisms.”

Gong looks like she wants to mention something else, but stays silent. She must be thinking of the ‘spirit beast,’ comment I made earlier.

“Oarganimisms?” Lin asks.

“Oh, that’s just means anything that’s living… like an animal, plant, or even moss on a wall.”

“Oh, so that’s what it means.”

Lin goes quiet at that explanation.

Ai, however, catches onto the greater implications of what that could mean.

“So, does that mean you can tame humans?”

Oh, wow… she just came right out and said it. I think Gong asked it before, when I first brought it up, but Ai probably wants to be sure, in her own way.

“No, not at all. In fact, the only things I can tell that I absolutely can’t tame, are humans or beings directly related to humans, like demi-humans.”

Ai gives me a long look, before being satisfied by my answer.

Ai then speaks her thoughts, “You also can heal both conditions and illnesses… and actually turn them into something beneficial.”

My eyes flicker over to Lin, assuming that she mentioned that to Ai.

She’s nodding along, so they must have talked.

“Not only that, but…” Her eyes look at Gong briefly. “You heal from afar, though it seems to be much less effective than being close up. I’m also not completely sure, but I think you can use that on multiple people at a time.”

Did I actually tell them about that ability? No… I don’t think I did. The only time Ai would have seen that… would be when I fell unconscious.

Hmm… she’s sharp to have caught that. Especially in that situation. Though maybe I’m thinking of this in the wrong way. If I were in her shoes, I would have a hard time forgetting anything about that night.

Not only that, but when she looked at Gong, it looked like she also had something different she wanted to say, but held back. Could it that Lin told her about my ability to see her spirit root?

“That’s right, I can do generalized healing from afar. Like you mentioned, it appears to do a weaker form of healing that still heals overall conditions.” Ai nods in confirmation, seemingly satisfied by the answer.

“However, I should mention a few more things about my abilities…”

With a look at Gong, I meet her eyes.

Alright, here I go. I’ll start with the things they individually know.

“Regarding my taming ability, I believe I can tame not only normal creatures but also spirit beasts. While I can’t say how I know this, I can say that I’m pretty sure I could tame a low tier one, whatever that would be.”

Ai and Lin, being the ones I didn’t previously mention this to, seem shocked.

Lin, per usual, seems to get excited about the idea. Ai is more contemplative.

However, that isn’t all. I feel that what I’m about to say is the most important part of this ability, considering how we move forward.

“However, that’s only a small part about my ability. After practicing and studying it a bit more, I’m confident that my ability allows any creature I tame to grow. And by grow, I mean gain the ability to eventually become a spirit beast.”

Silence covers the room. A loud Thump resounds and a quick turn of my head shows that Gong has collapsed, her legs sprawled out. I can hear her muttering to herself, “So, I wasn’t imagining it… they are becoming larger and smarter.” Lin, for all the excitement she was shown earlier, is now practically in shock.

It seems she can’t really believe something that crazy.

Out of anyone, though, Ai is taking this information the best.

She’s simply sitting there, appearing to consider this information.

She’s the one that has received the most shocking change to her life from my abilities already. So, I guess it’s not too far off that she’s reached the point that she’ll just accept most things I say. Normally, I’d like to say something off the wall as a joke, but it’s probably not the right time to do that, since they might actually believe me.

As expected, Ai is the first to speak to this revelation.

“If that is the case… then that changes everything. How long does it take for the creatures to become spirit beasts?”

“I’m actually not sure myself. However, I have two creatures I’ve been using as a baseline. That cockroach you saw me tame, when I first talked about this and another creature, the smallest possible organism I could tame.”

With a wave of my hand, the cockroach scurries out of one of the tunnels into this room.

On the ceiling.

Scrichscrcichsrsicishcichschrsishcisch

What is frightening about that, is that it is the length of a five-year-old child.

It moves so quickly that even Gong immediately threw a leg at it, on instinct, just barely stopping before hitting it.

Well, if it hadn’t already dodged the spider kick.

Once again, the healing constitution is showing its strength, as normally I couldn’t even imagine glimpsing that high-speed interaction.

What was even more frightening for everyone, even me, was the reddish blob that bubbled out of the ground.

I mean, I always knew it was there… but to have it just flow up like in one of those monster movies scares even me.

Preemptively, this time I asked them to not attack it. The overall size of the blob has now reached around a person and a half.

Feeling the need to explain these, I start off with the cockroach.

“First thing I want you all to look at with this cockroach, is its obviously large size.” I see a few shaken nods.

Why does Gong look more scared than Ai and Lin? She’s also staring intently at the blob.

Could it be because she didn’t know it was there? That’s interesting to know. That must mean none of the spiders came across it either…

“To my knowledge, any creature I tame will no longer need to eat, drink, or breath. From what I can tell, they still need to sleep, though.”

Before they can ask questions on that obviously outrageous statement, I continue. “Any tamed creature that continues to eat and drink, will grow in size. I believe this because the resources that were to be originally being used to survive, are now increasing the size of the creature. While I haven’t tested it yet, I strongly assume that if I were to stop feeding them, they would stop growing in size, but continue growing towards spirit beast status.”

I take a breath. They wait for me to say something else.

Gong giggles maniacally, like she’s imagining something.

Realizing her outburst, she quiets down a bit meekly.

Didn’t she already hear this? Though, I can understand her giddiness.

“She’s right, though. This is amazing,” Lin adds.

Ai follows up with a somber note, “With just this ability, not including the others, we could all be held tortured, held hostage, or killed.

“James would be mind slaved for the rest of his life. Especially considering, he can give away ownership of the creatures.” This immediately sobers Gong up, amplifying the previous statement she had made to me privately.

With a look at me, “Nonetheless, this is good. We need to hear everything, so we can actually plan for how to account for this. To make sure something like that never happens to any of us.” With that said, she looks at me to continue.

It’s all too apparent that something will need to happen. We need a way to protect each other easily. This is probably the time to mention my ideas… and test them. Before that, though, it is time to fill in Gong on my other abilities. With some caution, of course.