Will finds himself sitting at a table looking almost identical to interrogation rooms he’d seen on tv. Except the chairs and table were wooden and there was no one way mirror next to the door.
“We’re in a section of your dungeon aren’t we?”They definitely weren’t somewhere where a lot of people were allowed.
Maybe this is an outpost of some kind? But he had definitely said city before.
The dwarf was sitting across the table from him, his arms crossed in a comfortable way, staring back at him. “Yes.” He answered.
“Why are we here? Are we prisoners?”
The dwarf sighs and then rubs his face. “No. Yer not prisoners.” He pauses for a second, but before Will has a chance to ask further, the dwarf continues. “I said before the situation’s complicated. And it is. My people are wary with other races. Especially the human one. We’ve been betrayed, backstabbed and abandoned in times of need. Treaties been broken and atrocities committed. In revenge, some of these have been done in turn.” A frown came over Will’s face at hearing this. “This might be old history to a human, but to the dwarves, it wasn’t that long ago. And even if it was, we have long memories. Some of the dwarven kingdoms have moved on from old hates. Some leaders have considered the two races square after generations of back and forth.” He paused again, a pained expression on his face. “Others do not.”
“So what does that mean for my friend and I?”
“It means that my debt to Taleya and my loyalty to my king puts me in an awkward position. It is forcing me to play this entire thing close to the chest. But as far as you two go I will live up to my debts.” He said the last part gruffly and with pride. Loyalty to his king or not, this dwarf strikes Will as the type of person that holds himself to a higher standard; a standard his king doesn’t seem to meet. He reminds Will of Amos. He decides he likes him.
“Besides. I’m not willing to leave two kids in the woods to die. Not if I can help it.”
Will bows his head to the dwarf. “Thank you. With everything that I am, thank you.”
The dwarf gives a quick nod in return.
“Yer welcome.” Will raises his head as the dwarf continues. “The girl will get the attention of the best doctors our city can offer. I’d say medical care, but we can’t right bring her into our medical facilities. A few of them owe me some favors though, so they’ll do the work and stay quiet about it; not that I’d have to twist their arms to help a person injured as badly as the girl, but still. As for you, I have a cot arranged in a rarely used space down here. It’s not a palace, but I figure it’ll due. When I get word on your friend I’ll come down right away and let you know.”
Will was eternally grateful for the help this dwarf was giving to them. So he almost didn’t ask for this next part.
Almost.
“There’s no chance you have a place somewhere down here for me to train do you?”
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The dwarf laughed. “A hard worker! That’s what I like to see. The mountain has some decently strong Qi. Nothing special, but it should provide you with sufficient cultivation. It’s quiet down here so meditation also shouldn’t be a problem. Physical practice with your abilities may be a problem, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“Again, thank you. For everything.” Right as the dwarf is about to get up Will speaks up. “I do have one more question though.” The dwarf pauses and looks back at the human, waiting. “I can understand not letting us know what and where this place is. But after all you’ve done for us, I have to at least know your name.”
The dwarf barks a short laugh. “And maybe if we meet again I’ll share it. But I’ll not risk my men or myself just to share a name.”
Will frowns. He’s been offered more kindness in this world than ever before in his life. Will feels like each new person, with a few exceptions, have shown him more decency than all of his old world combined. He’d like to be able to repay these kindnesses, but it looks like this one would have to wait on fate. “Fair enough I guess.”
A few minutes of walking later, Will is shown to a room that is definitely a prison cell. But it was done up with a comfortable looking bed, a door that was promised to stay unlocked, an area down the hall to go to the bathroom, and what Will guesses is a wash basin with fresh water.
“I’ll have some food and water brought down a few times a day.”
Will nods his thanks, something he’s found himself doing a lot, as the dwarf walks away. If he ever gets the chance to pay it forward he definitely will.
With everything that has happened, going to the new city, exploring it, the tournament and everything that happened with it; and then Belial…
It has been a lot, and his training has fallen to the way side because of it. Maybe not for that long, but when you go from training all day every day to missing a week or two, it becomes significant.
Will finishes taking stock of his new room and immediately prepares to cultivate. He sits down on the cot and falls into the breathing pattern that Amos had taught him what feels like a life time ago. Once he senses the Qi, he begins to absorb it and cycles it in the pattern that Amos had shown him on a diagram he had drawn on a piece of paper.
The dwarf had been right. The density of Qi here wasn’t anywhere near as dense as around his home with Amos, but it was richer than the city of Dunham.
Two hours later Will stops his cultivation and begins to meditate.
Raw power is nice, and against someone his own tier, he has plenty of it. But he’s finding out that the vast majority of cultivators are way beyond him in power level. He’s not sure why, but he figured he probably wouldn’t run into any extremely powerful enemies for years; if ever. He realizes how wrong he was the more that time goes on.
So his goal now is to develop more techniques to use his element in more unique and diverse ways. Master Amos taught him that the only limit to these techniques is a mix between his own understanding of his element and his imagination. And the more unique and diverse his abilities are, the harder they will be to defend against.
Also, the more diverse his abilities the more versatile he’ll be.
He can already coat his body in lightning, making him faster and his fists and legs hit harder. He wonders if he tried extending that to his blades if that would add to the damage he could deal, or would it interfere with the strike? Maybe just cause a shock? Something to try either way.
His fight with the razor had him thinking as well. When the bird had him pinned he had been able to immobilize it. It had taken a decent degree of his strength, and he had the advantage of being in contact with it, but it had worked. Could he use that same concept to develop a way to immobilize an opponent even without touching him? What about multiple?
He had the unique advantage of having an advanced understanding of lightning due to his old world’s science. The trick would be applying that knowledge in a useable way through his techniques.
He had a few other ideas, but he didn’t want to give himself to much to take on at once. For now he will meditate on his element, cultivate, and do his best to grow stronger. He has to. Alea needs him. And he has a feeling that Belial will be a problem that will never go away. Not unless he gives up or the man dies. And he’s done giving up.
