Starlight Life Of The Sage

"Master we'll find you in your next life. Wait for us."

Cara woke up from her meditation with shaking hands. She thought about the rainbow shield that kept her memories safe through two reincarnations, and then she thought of her 12 disciples that created such a powerful shield. Even now, worlds away from them, she could feel their warmth and love. They truly did surpass her, in the end.

-

Cara stepped out of her house and looked to the sun, finding it directly overhead. It was the afternoon, now. She smiled; she enjoyed her forays into the Soldier Garden much more than her morning cultivation.

She decided to explore north, towards the city, with small hope of finding more trails and roads through the forest.

The strange plants on the forest floor were now familiar to her, and she picked several along the way, stuffing them into her beast-skin clothes. At this moment she truly looked like a wild tribal, a kid raised on the land.

A few hours passed and Cara marked down several landmarks in her mind. The northern forest had at least three roads cutting into it from the Tin City, but only one was wide enough for a carriage to pass. Signs of bandit activity were all over the place, with numerous abandoned and broken carts lying alongside skeletal remains.

Cara clenched her fists at the sight. Memories from her current body surged through her mind, and she watched her parents being eaten by monsters on the roadside again and again.

Anger turned to action. With her immaculate mana control, Cara knew she could hide her presence. She decided that it was time to scout out the main bandit groups.

-

The main bandit camp was easy to find. Trees were cleared for almost half a kilometer. Sheets of metal were held up by a wooden frame, forming a weak fencing around the entire area. Smoke puffed up from a fire somewhere inside and the smell of cooked meats and brandy drifted on the wind.

Cara observed the camp from the outside while hiding in the canopy. She thinned her aura and positioned her body to hide entirely from view. She watched, unmoving, for hours. There would be no alchemy practice tonight.

Sentries shifted every four hours. Patrols and scouts for the bandits changed every eight. They constantly watched the three roads from the Tin City. One patrol watched entry from the southern roads, but they shifted only once since Cara started watching, so she didn't know their schedule. She guessed they had a subordinate camp in the south somewhere, considering the amount of supply the departing group took with them.

The auras of the bandits fluxed. Cara could practically smell the mana emanating from deep in the middle section. There were strong fighters, there.

A full day after the start of her observations she was rewarded. One of the strong bandits left. Cara could see through his cultivation. Like her, he practiced an Outer Cultivation Technique, but he was in the Houtian Rungs still, probably around the 10th level.

Cara knew she could take him. Inside the bandit camp one more strong fighter remained, and she couldn't tell his cultivation from such a distance. Thankfully, they separated on their own.

Cara moved, following the patrol with the 10th Rung warrior. She clutched the treetops and shadows, and she moved in silence. Not even the birds noticed her passing, sometimes directly over or under their nests.

The strong warrior moved north alongside five regular bandits. His movements were precise and measured, showing control and discipline.

Cara followed the group all the way to the edge of the forest, where the six of them walked free from the Soldier Garden and towards the city ahead.

Cara clicked her tongue. She didn't want to walk out of the forest, nor did she want to approach the city yet. Just as she could sense mana signatures to some degree, others probably could do so as well. If she met a cultivator or 'magician' strong enough, even her meager stealth skills wouldn't save her.

Still, she recognized the opportunity here. Only one fighter remained in the camp. One was in the city. She doubted they had a way to communicate while separated.

Cara traced back her path towards the bandit camp. Her hands itched and her body screamed out for revenge. She decided to deliver on it. The mana signature from the camp didn't feel too much stronger than her own, and she knew for a fact her Body Cultivation technique was much stronger than the one used by the bandit that left for the city…

Cara waited until nightfall. In the dim lighting she moved, like a shadow, and she climbed the metal fencing to infiltrate the camp.

The chorus of nearly 100 drunken bandits singing and merry disgusted her. These people were responsible for her family's deaths…

Cara shook her head. Reincarnation had some strange side effects. She was growing more and more to think of herself as Cara, not as The Sage.

In a moment of introspection, she wondered if that was a good or a bad thing.

-

Cara avoided the regular bandits with ease. She didn't want to drum up an alarm. While she could take down these regular humans like nothing, she feared losing the element of surprise when she couldn't judge her foe's strength.

In the center of the camp stood a larger building. It looked like a camp, built with logs and scrap metal. The glow of a hearth shined through one window, and Cara peeked into it. She saw him, then, the bandit leader.

The man stood over six feet in height but had the air of scholar about him. He was dressed in tight, well-fitted robes that bore an insignia of two magpies crossing flights.

His aura was unlike anything Cara had ever seen. It wasn't particularly powerful, but it was unique. Mana seemed to gather around him from the environment itself, as if he were attracting it. A small bulb of mana formed inside his head, in the center of his brain, and it moved almost like the core of a Magic Beast.

Cara knew none of the Six Paths from her world looked like this. She wanted to study this man, to see him use any application of this mana, and to recreate it if possible…

But something else inside her drowned out the logic of The Sage: the burning rage of a parentless child.

Cara sighed. She moved like an assassin. She pulled a bonetooth knife from a beast-skin pouch and held it so tight her knuckles turned white. She waited for the man inside to focus on something before she made a move. It didn't take long. Soon enough the man pulled out a book from his robes and started reading it.

The mana in the room stirred and swirled around the bandit leader as he read. Cara realized he was cultivating. She grinned from ear to ear. There were a few times when cultivators were the most vulnerable and during their cultivation was one of them.

She moved like lightning. Her body burst through the glass window and she buried the knife into nape of her target's neck, severing his spinal cord like twine. He tried to scream but Cara used her free hand to stuff his mouth with a cloth.

Cara smiled. No cultivator could access their control and meridian systems without their spine or brain stem intact. She held tightly and waited for the bandit to die… She made a mistake.

A bolt of mana formed over the bandit's head and smashed downwards into Cara's head, shoving her to the floor. She coughed a spurt of blood and rolled when she hit the ground.

The bandit she stabbed collapsed like a puppet with his strings cut, but his eyes were open and staring, as if they wanted to chew through Cara like a gourmet meal.

Two mana bolts formed above the bandit. That number increased to three, then four, five… Eleven bolts of mana came into being. Cara stumbled to her feet, the right half of her face burned black from the attack.

She f.u.c.k.e.d up. She knew she f.u.c.k.e.d up. This man was casting spells she had only ever seen in video games from her second life. This man was a mage.

And mages apparently didn't need an intact spine to cast spells.

Cara's eyes watched in abject horror as the spells launched at her. They were fast and she could feel the mana in them roaring, as if it were some fabled beast coming to devour her whole.

Thankfully, without the element of surprise, the mage's spells weren't strong enough to stop Cara. She didn't run from the attacks but moved into them, towards them. She moved her body the absolute minimum amount to dodge the first few spells.

The next five or so bolts all arrived at once. Cara grinned and pulled back her fist. Her Heaven's Light Boxing glowed so bright it looked as if someone ignited magnesium. A sun was born in that bandit's cabin.

The mana bolts were struck down, swatted like flies. The surprise on the bandit mage's face was palpable, but Cara no longer had time to revel in his woe. She approached him and stomped down on his head, ending his misery and denying him the slow death he deserved.

From outside the cabin she could hear a ruckus. The mob of weaklings were coming.

Cara smiled but it didn't touch her eyes. She cracked her knuckles and moved towards the door. Tonight there would be a massacre in Tin's Soldier Garden.