The Dao of Magic

04 - Camp

The woods have been growing more and more dense the more I walk. The mud road I'm following is totally deserted, apart from the few tracks visible, not a single soul in sight. Taking a right was a good idea because the mountains have been growing less and less pronounced, sheer cliff face giving way for sloping hills. The road is surrounded by big trees on both sides, giving me a pleasant shade to walk in. I see a light at the end of the foliage tunnel, and I increase my pace so see what the woods will give way for.

A truly breathtaking view greets my eyes. The hills have given way to grasslands with sparse woods after half a day of walking. The road winds itself further into the distance, a little village visible a couple of hours walking further down the road. Beyond that the grasslands stretch out into perfect flatness, the hills giving way for perfect grazing grounds. A spire is visible just on the horizon and I assume that that's the first big town I will come across. That's a few days walking though. I slaked my thirst on another stream I came across, but food is an issue.

Food is not an issue, I still have my spatial ring. It is filled with useless but interesting junk, which includes dishes from all over my previous world. With a slight tinge of pain in heart, I think about the many treasures I had to sell or trade in order to collect the massive amount of lighting metals. By the way, I'm sure that world has a name, I just never bothered to ask. I'm sure it's not much better than the unimaginative Earth. I gather a bit of qi in my hand and access the ring.

Food is an issue, the qi I currently possess is just enough to bring out an apple. Then I'd be totally empty. My total qi has doubled since I left the cave, but even doubled it is of no use. Two grains of sand worth of qi is useless when you're used to entire mountains of it. Rubbing my temple I think of what to do. Temporary setting up camp in the woods seems like a good plan, followed by some light hunting and a lot of stalking. Want a tip for blending in? Blending in in a society that's totally alien to you? A society that's built from the ground up on fundamentally different values and languages than those you're familiar with? Do a lot of stalking.

When I first came to live inside the ten-year-old body of the previous owner, I did a lot of stalking. Languages where alien to my ears, it took me few years to be able to hold even the most basic of conversations. The villagers saw me coming back covered in blood and alone, and assumed trauma made me stop talking. I just blankly stared, trying to imitate shock victims from war movies. It worked and they left me alone to integrate into peace. Since then I have picked up a few tricks here and there that should prove helpful in hastening this process for yet another world.

Woods spread down the sloping hill on my left towards the village, my right is a rockier area where shrubs are the biggest plant. I set off towards these woods, to start a camp and begin my creepy stalker mode.

As I walk through the woods I decide that I have just enough qi gathered to start some experiments. The most important trick I want to try is spiritual sense. Every sect used to have a different name for this phenomenon, but spiritual sense is the best descriptor in my opinion. Heavenly Sight, True Viewing, God Sense, it doesn't matter how you call it, it's all about using the qi outside of your body to increase the range of your senses. Want to hear something a couple of miles away? Peace of cake as long as you have enough qi. Deciding that I have reached deep enough into forest not to be disturbed, I separate a quarter of my total energies and guide it to my mouth through which I let it flow outside. A sphere a few meter radius around me get a slight qi saturation, allowing me to feel the wind blowing around me.

Closing my eyes I stand still as the nostalgic feeling of absolute knowledge about the environment returns to me. The amount of qi you pump out determines the amount of feedback you get. For example; a scouting sense is as thin as possible, covering an immense area with little qi, but only able to only vague shapes. Studying artefacts requires one to saturate the environment around said artefact to the maximum. Some advances objects can only be truly comprehended by pouring absurd amounts of qi inside the object.