The sun had barely risen over the white treetops of the forest when the sound of footsteps on the tavern's back terrace broke the silence. A cold breeze danced between the trees, but the heat of practice would soon chase it away.
Ji Ao yawned, his face still creased from sleep, and walked to the backyard of the Wolf's Fangs tavern wearing simple clothes—a worn-out shirt borrowed from Lobraw and a makeshift sash around his waist. He rubbed his eyes while balancing a small bowl of hot fruit porridge.
Ruby was already there, her arms crossed, watching him impatiently.
"You're late. I've already done my stretches, run around the inn, and defeated two scarecrows in an imaginary duel."
"Wow… good morning to you too," Ji Ao muttered, trying to hide his bad mood.
She ignored him and pointed to the training dummies.
"Repeat what we did yesterday. I want to see if the Chi'ia stone worked or if you just got lucky."
He set the porridge down on a barrel and picked up the sword he had left beside the target. The blade, once foreign in his hand, now felt like an extension of his arm, lighter and more obedient. With a steady breath, he advanced. The first strike wasn't spectacular, but it was firm, direct. He spun, and the following cut was clean, precise. The sound of splitting wood was sharp, and Ji Ao blinked, surprised as the dummy's arm flew off and fell to the ground. Another was pushed back with a powerful thrust.
"Huh? That was…" he paused, looking at his own hand in disbelief.
Ruby just arched an eyebrow.
"Again."
Ji Ao picked up the bow, took a deep breath, feeling the familiar wood in his fingers. He drew the string, and the motion felt more natural, less forced. He released. The arrow cut through the air and embedded itself with a dull thud in an inner circle of the target.
She made a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a "humph."
"At least you're not a complete good-for-nothing anymore."
Lobraw, who was watching from the tavern's balcony with a piece of bread in his snout, came down the stairs with a half-smile.
"I see the training really worked, huh?"
Ruby turned to him.
"It's not just training. It's the Chi'ia stone."
Lobraw grumbled, "Ah yes… the old tale of compatibility with energy stones. I'm just wondering who had the guts to share one of those with a novice…"
Ji Ao, curious, stepped forward. "Hey, Lobraw… what exactly is this stone?"
Before the wolf-human could answer, Ruby intervened.
"It's a dual-ability stone—for duplication and insertion. Or for laymen like you, a Chi'ia Stamp Stone."
Ji Ao frowned.
"Dupli-what? A Chi'ia Stamp Stone?"
She stepped closer, with a slightly impatient look, as if explaining to a very slow child.
"Duplication: it copies the skill of someone willing to share and stores that information. Insertion: it forces that knowledge to attach to you as if it were your own."
His eyes widened.
"So I… have your sword and bow skills?"
"Only between 1 and 2%. If you force any more than that, your head might explode. Literally."
Lobraw coughed.
"Exaggerating."
"Realistic," Ruby corrected, with a dry look.
Ji Ao scratched the back of his neck.
"But… does this mean I can copy anyone's skill? And will it last forever?"
Ruby crossed her arms.
"Of course not. The skill can only be passed by someone who actually wants to do it. It's like I lend a bit of ink to this stone and it stamps it onto you. The difference is, it only sticks if you practice every day, for at least eight to ten days. Otherwise, the ink fades. It disappears. And you go back to being a wimp."
Ji Ao looked visibly distressed.
"So I have a deadline to stop being useless?"
"Yes. And it starts now."
"What if we get more of these stones?"
"Forget it, blockhead. This only works once. When it works at all."
Lobraw laughed.
"Ruby, you should be a military instructor."
"Maybe I am. In another universe."
As Ji Ao resumed his exercises, with arrows flying truer and cuts growing firmer, the same little creatures from the previous day appeared nearby—the little fox girls, sheep girls, and anthropomorphic pig girls. But this time, they weren't laughing. They watched in impressed silence. The fox girl, who had led the mockery, was now sitting on a rock, her eyes wide.
"He… he's really getting better," she murmured, almost in a whisper.
The sheep girl nodded her head, amazed.
"He doesn't even look like the same clumsy boy from yesterday…"
Ji Ao, sweating, glanced at them from the corner of his eye. He smiled, though still out of breath, satisfied. He wasn't a warrior yet, but he was no longer a joke. He stopped for a moment, remembering what Lobraw had told him about his new name and how important it was in this place. Taking a breath, he turned to Ruby, determination replacing the exhaustion on his face.
"You will call me Zangh Kao once I finish my training… even if I'm not anyone important... You can be sure that in this world, I will be."
Ruby's reaction was immediate and violent. In a swift movement, she grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground, leaving his feet dangling in the air.
"What was that name you said?"
Though he was scared, Ji Ao held his ground. He met her furious gaze without flinching.
"Zangh Kao... And you can be sure... If I stay here... in your world... I will have my own kingdom... and you will be proud of me."
For the first time, Ruby's mask of impatience cracked. A reddish hue rose up her neck to her cheeks, and she looked away, unable to hold his gaze. The fury in her eyes had been replaced by something more complex—surprise, maybe even a hint of... recognition? She placed him back on the ground with a gentleness that didn't match her earlier strength, as if she were handling something fragile.
Lobraw, watching from a distance, whispered to himself, "He's got courage. Now he just needs the rest."
Ji Ao turned to Ruby again, who was now watching the training with her arms crossed and an unreadable expression.
"Ruby…" he called, hesitant.
"Huh?"
"If this is only 1 or 2% of what you know…" he also turned to Lobraw, who had approached with a canteen, "…what would her 100% be like?"
Lobraw let out a low laugh.
"That's the kind of thing you don't want to find out up close."
"I'm serious," Ji Ao insisted.
"So am I," the wolf smiled. "I saw Ruby single-handedly cut a path through twelve scarlet wolf-human hunters with just one blade. They had her surrounded near Stone Creek, the elite. They thought she was easy prey." Lobraw paused, his gaze lost in the memory. "It wasn't a fight. It was a harvest. Her blade was a silver blur, and all you could hear was the sound of armor being torn and their howls of surprise. In less than a minute, she was standing in the middle of them all, without a single scratch. That's what 100% can do—and she's not even there yet."
Ruby snorted dismissively.
"Don't exaggerate, Lobraw. I was just irritated that day."
Ji Ao swallowed hard, looking at his own hands, now firm, strong. A fragment of that power was inside him.
Lobraw then opened a small leather box hanging from his belt.
"Speaking of carrying…" he took out a necklace with three small stones set in a rustic, reinforced leather chain. "Here. This will help you not to pass out on the second day of training."
Ji Ao looked at the object with curiosity.
"What is it?"
"PFC," the wolf-human answered simply. "Physical Constitution amulet. An ancient artifact. The three stones represent the three pillars of the body: green is speed, red is health, blue is strength. They won't make you a superhero, but they'll stabilize your body, increase your stamina, and reduce the chance of collapse from energy overload."
Ji Ao held the necklace. As he closed his hand around it, the warmth intensified. The green stone seemed to vibrate with a restless energy, the red one pulsed with a steady, constant heat like a heart, and the blue one emitted a cold, solid strength. It wasn't jewelry; it was a living tool, and he felt his tired body respond to that energy, his sore muscles relaxing slightly.
Ruby arched an eyebrow.
"You just have a necklace like that lying around and you give it to him just like that?"
"Of course," Lobraw said, looking at Ji Ao with a sincere smile. "He's trying. That's worth a lot more than people who only have talent and look down on others."
Ji Ao clutched the necklace to his chest.
"Thank you. I… I won't waste this."
Lobraw patted him on the shoulder.
"Just take care of these stones. And remember: they react to your discipline. Laziness and self-pity make them lose their shine. Constant practice and effort make them more intense."
Ji Ao nodded, his gaze fixed on the horizon. He now carried not just a stone of skill… but three marks of hope and commitment. And even though he still felt very far from being a warrior, the boy who was a laughingstock the day before was now, little by little, becoming someone worthy of respect.