A Courageous Heart, a Dragon's Spine

Deep in the quiet of night, snores rose and fell through the Shocking Heron Martial Arts Hall's large communal sleeping room, as though a roomful of toads were arguing.

Li Xiang lay on a hard plank bed by the window, eyes shut tight, while his body underwent a transformation that turned everything upside down.

There was no pain, only a tingling itch that made his scalp prickle.

His spine was heating up.

At first, it was merely warm, as though water were flowing down his back.

Then the warmth turned scorching, becoming a violent current that burst from his tailbone and surged up his spine, smashing through every barrier on its way to the crown of his head.

"Click... click, click..."

Faint cracks sounded from his bones.

They sounded like precision gears meshing, or old chains being forged anew.

If anyone could have seen through Li Xiang's back just then, they would have been horrified to discover that his spine, once as straight and brittle as an ordinary person's, was writhing in a strange way.

The cartilage between his vertebrae stretched and compressed. His slightly stiff natural curves were forcibly adjusted, and every vertebra rotated faintly, seeking the best angle from which to exert force.

This was Dragon Spine, the trait granted by the Boxer profession.

An ordinary person's spine was a pillar. Its main purpose was support: hard, brittle, and liable to break under too much force.

But Dragon Spine made Li Xiang feel as though his back had become a bow drawn to its limit, or a great python lying dormant beneath his flesh, ready to spring and strike.

Even lying flat, his back arched slightly instead of resting fully against the bed. Its taut curve seemed poised to unleash its strength at any moment.

So this is how a profession trait changes the body?

Li Xiang slowly opened his eyes. A sharp glint flashed in them through the darkness.

Without waking anyone, he got out of bed and pushed the door open onto the courtyard.

He moved as lightly as a cat and landed without a sound.

His spine shifted with the movement, yet there was none of the stiff scraping of bone against bone. Instead, he felt the smooth spring of a great tendon snapping taut.

Moonlight spilled like water across the empty training ground.

Li Xiang stood there, drew a deep breath, and tried contracting the muscles in his back.

Thrum!

The great dragon of his spine shuddered. An immense force rose from his tailbone, building pressure layer by layer like a hydraulic pump. It passed through his waist and back, shot up to his neck, spread through his shoulder blades into both shoulders, then gathered in his right fist.

Instinctively, Li Xiang punched at the air.

He used little muscular strength. The blow came almost entirely from the spring and transmission of force through his spine.

Crack!

A sharp report rang through the air.

The fierce wind of his fist even stirred a faint vortex.

What incredible force transmission!

Li Xiang stared at his fist, secretly astonished.

Before, when he punched, his strength had scattered through his muscles. Even if he put ten parts of force into a blow, losses through his joints left only six or seven parts at his knuckles.

Now Dragon Spine was like a highway, delivering the strength of his entire body to his limbs in an instant without any loss. The vibrations of his spine could even accelerate it a second time.

This was more than an increase in strength. It was a transformation in explosive power.

And the change was not limited to his body.

Li Xiang found that as Dragon Spine took shape, his mind grew exceptionally steady too.

If he faced Hong Tianbao's terrifying pressure again, he felt he could bear it far more easily than before.

Better to break than bend. Such was the bone of a dragon.

Courage in the heart, dragon bone in the spine: this was the spirit of a martial artist.

Would unlocking the profession through a different boxing style produce a different trait?

Li Xiang turned his attention inward and studied the small line about the Boxer profession in the Book of a Hundred Trades, lost in thought.

He had awakened the Dragon Spine trait because he practiced Taizu Long Fist.

That style used broad, expansive movements, ancient and vigorous in form. It sought to make everyone a dragon, cultivated an unyielding courage, and focused its training on the great dragon of the spine.

Nine days later, Li Xiang held his stance for two hours and went through Taizu Long Fist once more. Only then did the Boxer experience bar in his mind tick forward.

[Profession: Boxer]

[Level: Lv2 (0/20)]

[Tier: 0]

[Profession Trait: Dragon Spine (Beginner)]

[Profession Ability: None]

[Hint: Raise the Boxer profession to Lv5 to unlock a new profession ability]

Practicing punches alone gave him just one point of experience a day.

That was far too slow.

Li Xiang glanced at the display, then slipped into the kitchen while the other students were still groaning and rubbing their legs.

Qin Zhong was already crouched there tending the fire, his face smeared with soot as he fanned the stove fiercely with a palm-leaf fan.

Steam rose from a huge iron wok on the stove. A round figure stood before it, wielding a great iron spatula like a weapon as he tossed the food inside.

It was the hall master, Hong Tianbao.

"Here?"

Without looking back, Hong Tianbao tapped his spatula against the rim of the wok with a crisp clang. "Cut the Angelica and Huang Ran over there into three-inch lengths. Don't mince them."

"Got it."

Li Xiang wasted no words. He washed his hands and picked up the kitchen knife.

Thock, thock, thock, thock...

The blade flashed. Each cut left the medicinal ingredients the same length, with smooth, even ends.

[Ingredients cut. Cook experience +1]

Li Xiang watched the notification appear in his mind.

His main reason for helping in the kitchen was to earn experience for the Cook profession.

"Hall Master, you're a Martial Laureate. Why are you cooking personally?" Li Xiang asked casually as he worked. "Even if you can't afford a master chef, you could have a junior cook do it."

"Can't afford one?"

Hong Tianbao snorted and dumped a large basin of chopped ingredients into the wok. They sizzled, releasing a rich aroma.

"I'm no wealthy grandee, but I can afford a cook. I do it myself because what those cooks make is pigswill, without a shred of nourishment."

The spatula flew in his hand, and the ingredients seemed weightless under his touch.

"For martial artists, training is three parts of it. Eating is seven."

"This wok is your medicine pot. Too much heat, and the medicine loses its potency. Too little, and its power won't come out.

"And this meat has to be cooked in an instant to seal in its vital energy. Only then can it nourish the body."

Hong Tianbao turned and narrowed his eyes at Li Xiang. "If you know nothing about food or medicine, what are you practicing martial arts for? To end up a brute who only knows how to kill? That's the lesser path."

"A true Grandmaster understands heat and cold, grasps yin and yang. The principles are the same whether you're dealing with food in this wok or people in this troubled world."

Li Xiang listened thoughtfully, though his knife never stopped.

"That's enough." Hong Tianbao pointed to the steamer beside them. "I saved two meat buns for you in there."

"Thank you, Hall Master!" Li Xiang stood on no ceremony. He grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Take this."

Hong Tianbao suddenly drew a handful of copper coins from his robe and tossed them onto the chopping board.

"Your wages for these ten days."

Li Xiang froze, forgetting even to chew the bun in his mouth. "Hall Master, this... this doesn't seem right."

"Take it!" Hong Tianbao glared at him. "I run a Martial Arts Hall, not a charity. I waive your tuition because I'm buying your lives three years from now. That's a transaction."

"But the work you do in this kitchen is extra labor. If you work, you get paid. That's the rule."

"Always remember: you're a student of this Martial Arts Hall, not a servant in my household."

Li Xiang looked at the copper coins on the board, then at Hong Tianbao's round face. Complicated feelings welled up in him.

The fat man spoke harshly, but no one could fault the way he did things.

"Then I'll take them, shameless as that may be." Li Xiang put away the coins and went on chopping.

[Ingredients cut. Cook experience +1]

[Cook level increased to Lv8]

After lunch came a rare chance to rest.

The morning's stance training had worn the students out. Fed and watered, they sprawled like dead pigs in the shade of the corridor, snoring loud enough to shake the sky.

Li Xiang did not sleep.

He treasured every moment, especially now that he knew he lived in an Age of Chaos, with danger lurking on every side.

He found a secluded corner out of sight of the others and took a writing brush and several neatly cut squares of rough paper from his robe. They were supplies he had brought from the burial-clothes shop in Blackwater Ancient Town.