Schwab

I'm back. No more daily uploads, since I'm nowhere near close to coming even in 4th place in this contest. I'm thinking of updating maybe twice a week instead. No set dates, because I'm terrible with schedules. But rest assured, I'll write and you will read.

I'm dead. I'm so dead. Literally deader than dead.

What am I gonna do without a system? I was practically useless without it! And the fairy was gone, too! She was my main source of knowledge! I didn't know how to build stuff or get resources or harvest stuff or-or do anything!

My chest tightened as a lump built up in my throat. Was this really it for me? I had so many plans...I was going to make an epic sect, get my revenge, stop the xianxia MC from murdering me...

Now, I could see my evident demise in front of me. Nun getting killed while on a food trip...Starving...The summon betraying me...He'd eat my arm first. My arms probably the best part of my body. Or maybe my thighs? No, he'd save the thighs for later. Maybe make jerky out of 'em. I'm not that big, but my thighs have a lot of meat on them. He'd survive for a while. Maybe he'd make tools out of my bones and then heading into the forest. And then he'd die because my bones are brittle and wouldn't make for good weapons against the tree monsters.

God, I can't cope.

I curled into a ball and rocked myself, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. The dirt rubbed against my bare arm, rubbing it raw. But I welcome the pain; it distracted me from thinking about my inevitable doom.

Oh, but it would get infected. So, besides starving, I'd also suffer from an infection that I couldn't cure. I'd be in pain for days until the summoned would get fed up and put me out of my misery. Would he still eat me if I was sick? Maybe, if he was desperate.

God, I can cope with this even less now.

A loud thump brought me out of my melancholy. I shifted to see what had dropped and saw a box had dropped from the sky mere inches from my legs. Glancing up, I saw the offending culprit: a rapidly closing wormhole in the sky.

My mind drew a blank as I watched the tear in space of time close up with a wet, uncomfortable sounding pop. It reminded me of someone sucking on a lollipop but also like the noise of an octopus dragging its tentacles across moist dirt. Very squelchy and icky. Belatedly, I ended that mind tangent where it was. I didn't want to think about the wormhole anymore, so I went back to moping about my circumstance.

And then came a shadow.

"Master, this one is at your service."

I uncurled slightly to see an uncovered man standing above me. This wouldn't have been so bad if my head hadn't been placed between his feet, giving me way too much access to things better left unseen from another man. Grimacing, I wiggled out from under him and turned my back on him.

"Just eat me now," I muttered. "Let's go ahead and get this over with..."

"This one does not believe eating the sect leader would be in the best interests of the sect."

I scowled into the dirt. "What sect? There's no sect here. It's just me, you, and one monkey! And only two of those members can cultivate and I'm not one of them. There's no point in continuing..."

The disciple exhaled through his nose with a heavy sigh. "This one believes the sect leader is of weak will."

"Spot on," I murmured, giving him a thumbs up.

"Master, this one thinks that opening the crate would be beneficial to our survival."

"And why is that?"

"While this one's cultivation is just at the first step, this one can sense large amounts of qi radiating from the box."

Yeah...He was right. It smelled...strange. There was that wood smell, but not like the hints of oak coming off of my disciple. It was more like...a wisteria? Yeah, it had a fresh flower scent. Then there was...I would say a light rain shower. More than a drizzle, but calmer than a pour. I smelled fire, too. Like a campfire, crackling in a forest. I could almost taste the smoke...And then came the scent of...wind? I wasn't sure, but the smell gave off of that cold and breezy smell. Finally, metal. It was coppery, almost like the taste of blood, but more intense. Sharp and solid.

There were other, muted smells but those five overpowered them greatly. I couldn't make the rest out; I'd have to open the box to find out.

I held out a hand to my disciple. "Help me up," I commanded.

He grabbed me by the forearm and yanked me off the ground with surprising strength. I stumbled into him, practically falling onto his chest. Quickly, I pulled away, not wanting to feel any dangly bits pressing up against me. The experience with Nun had been gross enough.

I brushed the dirt off of my left side and turned to confront the box. It looked like one of those crates from Madagascar that shipped baby Marty - or was his name 'Rudy'? I don't remember. Anyway, it was a wooden cargo box. Even had the fragile stamp on it and everything. That meant it was legit, I'm sure.

But still, I had my trepidations as I hesitatingly walked toward it. I nudged it with my foot cautiously. My nose flared up as nature smells clashed rather violently. I jumped back, expecting some kind of explosion, but they settled down moments after. Shaking my head, I gestured for my disciple to come closer. He walked forward obediently and I ducked behind him.

"Open it," I whispered conspiratorially. "I'll stay back here."

He nodded and strode toward the crate. I withdrew a little ways away, just in case. Crossing my fingers, I watched my only disciple bend down. Please don't let him die, I thought. I don't want to be the one to eat human flesh!

My disciple yanked the lid off of the crate with a grunt. Stepping aside, he looked at me expectantly. When he didn't explode into a million pieces, I tentatively came forward. So far, so good. Hopefully, this wasn't some elaborate ploy to get me killed early. My disciple didn't look like a cannibal, but you could never be too sure.

About a foot away from the box, a wave of sensational scents hit me. I doubled over, coughing as the wicked sharp smells flooded my nostrils. I covered my nose and turned my back on the box, retreating to safety. I collapsed on the river bank and dunked my head into the water. The rushing river cleared the scent but, in turn, tried to drown me. Pulling back, I gasped for air, snorting and coughing the water out of my system.

"Master?" my disciple called. "Is everything alright?"

"No!" I wheezed back, hacking up a lung. "That box reeks."

He leaned toward the crate and sniffed experimentally. Straightening, he shook his head at me. "Other than the scent of a few spirit herbs, this one cannot smell anything out of the ordinary. This one will try to improve his sensory orifices to Master's level."

I wiped my nose and spat out the last of the water. "I don't know how you can't smell it but-"

Wait. I remembered smelling stuff from the summoning altar before. The fairy had said it was some weird kind of qi. I don't remember smelling qi off of the spirit herbs I collected or when I was in the forest. Maybe something about the altar awakened some kind of superpower in me?

I gasped. Did this mean I wasn't totally useless in this new world? If I could smell qi, then I could avoid all the Stationary Ents in the forest! Maybe the disciple and I could find civilization! And, I dunno, probably Nun, too...Yeah, I'd find him. He was a little stubborn nut, but he was adorable. I couldn't just abandon him.

If he's not already dead.

No! No bad thoughts! I had a superpower now! Nothing could stop me!

Oh, wait, the fairy said the number of the tree monsters was so high that their energies clouded her senses or something. What would happen to me if I tried to go there? Just getting near the box was nearly enough to incapacitate me.

I hadn't really been focusing before, now that I had cleared the box's scent from my nose. But I could smell the river's qi. Being so close to it and having previously just dunked my head into the water, the smell practically drowned out anything else. Fitting, seeing as the stupid thing tried to drown me earlier. Covering my nose with my hand, I got to my feet and backed away from the river.

Perhaps this wasn't a superpower, but a curse. I'd have to go everywhere with my hand over my nose just to not get blinded by the scent of qi. Great. Just great.

"Master," the disciple said, interrupting my musings. "This one believes you should take a look at this crate."

And I still had to deal with that, too.