MadFireGod

  By the afternoon of the seventh and final day before Biyu’s legs would heal, Jin Shu had perfected his rune practice. He could now inscribe each rune fwlessly, and the time had e to upgrade his oement bubbled within him as he anticipated testing the new runes and their powerful effects.

  “Yin’er, let’s go,” he called toward the er of his room, where a small figure was buried under a pile of bs.

  “Mm! Mmmm! Mmm! Mmmmmm!” came a muffled, distinctly angry response.

  “I ’t uand you when you’re uhere,” Jin Shu said, walking over to the bundle. He lifted the bs, revealing an irate little tiger cub gring up at him.

  He barely had time to react before a paw swiped at his face. Jin Shu pulled back just in time, though his face already bore the marks of a previous enter. His left cheek and the bridge of his nose were decorated with fresh scratches, proof of an earlier skirmish with the tiny, furious cub.

  That m, while waiting iraining room, a silver blur had uself at his face with startling precision. The cub had delivered two swift, stinging strikes, all the while scolding him in a high-pitched voice: “Bad Daddy! Liar Daddy!”

  Through this he regrettably found out what her earlier—“or else”, meant.

  Yin’er’s tantrum had sted most of the m. Through tears and growls, she accused him of abandoning her again. Jin Shu, bewildered, argued that he hadn’t left her ‘alone’ since she had Fan Biyu for pany. The cub had no real terargument, so she settled for sulking, retreating to her huddled er.

  Jin Shu now stood awkwardly before her, unsure how to make amends. Coaxing an upset child was entirely fn to him; no one had ever do for him in his own childhood. But he’d seen it done in films and TV shows, so he decided to try.

  “Uh… e out, and I’ll have the chefs make you a big, juicy steak. How does that sound?”

  The lump uhe bs remaiill. No response.

  He cleared his throat, trying again. “Ahem… Yin’er, Daddy’s sorry. He didn’t mean to make you upset. Why don’t you e out, and I’ll get you anything you want, okay?”

  His face burned with embarrassment at the overly sweet words, but he pushed through. To his surprise, saying them felt… right. Warm, even.

  A small head peeked out from the bs, her silver fur still bristling with indignation. “Don’t want anything! Daddy hates me!”

  “What?!” Jin Shu’s eyes widened. “I don’t hate you! I… I love you!”

  Her ears twitched. “You do?”

  “Yes, Daddy loves you a lot! So please, e out,” he pleaded.

  Slowly, she poked her head out from the bundle of bs, her silver ears fttened against her head. She hesitated for a moment before taking a tentative step forward. Jin Shu thought she looked utterly adorable.

  As she stepped out pletely, she tilted her head up to look at him, her wide golden eyes filled with uainty. Realizing how much she was struggling to meet his gaze, Jin Shu crouched down, l himself almost to the floor to get closer to her eye level.

  “Everything okay now?” he asked gently, reag out to pet her soft head, his hand trailing down her back.

  For a moment, her eyes narrowed into tented slits, and a soft purring sound escaped her. But then, as if remembering her earlier indignation, she shook his hand off and puffed up her fur. “No!”

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, taken aback.

  “Daddy said give me anything. Yin’er wants a hug!”

  “Okay,” he said with a chuckle, immediately scooping her up. He held her snugly against his chest, her small body fitting perfectly in his arms.

  “Kiss.”

  “Hm?”

  “Yin’er wants a kiss now,” she demanded, her tone firm but her eyes hopeful.

  “Alright,” he said, leaning down to pnt a gentle kiss on the softly glowing mark on her forehead. “All better?”

  She nodded slowly, her earlier anger seemingly fotten.

  “Good. Let’s go then. Daddy has lots of work to do.”

  As he stood, Jin Shu realized with mild amusement that he’d unsciously started referring to himself as “Daddy,” just as Yin’er did.

  ***

  Jin Shu sat in his workshop, a table before him den with ons that should in this world. At the ter y the Sig Sauer M17, a replica of his old service pistol. This one, however, was matte bck, a departure from the coyote brown of the standard issue.

  Beside it rested a long rifle, the H&K M110A1 CSASS. Another relic of his army days, it brought back memories of his sraining, even though he’d never officially been a sniper during his time as a Ranger.

  Arrayed alongside the firearms was an assortment of khe KA-BAR, the official bde of the USMC, gleamed with a utilitarian sharpness. The Karambit, with its curved bde designed for hooking and disarming, held a sinister elegance. And finally, there was the Yarbh knife—a deeply personal reminder of his brief time as a Gree, a period cut short by the pgue that had ged everything.

  “Let’s start with the runes all my ons will share. Both the basid advanced forms of the Durability Rune, for sure.”

  He picked up the inscribing needle, steadying his hand as he begaedious task of carving runes into each on. Over and over, the delicate strokes embedded the power into the tools of his trade. When he finished inscribing the Self-Repair Rune on the M110A1, the on immediately fred with a bright white glow, only to dim seds ter.

  “Hm?” Jin Shu frowned. “That glow means it’s repairing, but… a light that bright? It’s on the verge of breaking.”

  He picked up the rifle, iing it closely. How could I fet something so essential? He hadn’t ed his ons, hadn’t checked them for damage. That gring ht g him, a the rifle down with a sigh.

  The more he thought about it, the clearer the problem became. His reination had affected more than just his mind. He was in a new body, with its own limits and habits. Muscle memory and instincts that had once been sed nature were now fractured, leaving gaps in routines he’d once followed religiously.

  “Now that I know, I won’t let it happen again. Anyway, back to inscribing.”

  Jin Shu turned his focus back to the ons, ensuring that each was equipped with Qi Circution Ruhese were essential, as they provided a slight boost to the effectiveness of all other runes on the on. However, he had to be mindful of the limitations of each on’s material. Differeals could only handle a certain number of runes before reag their breaking point.

  The knives, while made of strong materials, weren’t fed from the best. They could safely handle a maximum of seven runes. Any more, and the ons would literally burst uhe strain. Jin Shu had seen it happen before—when he was younger, his father had overloaded a on in his fe. The fragments had exploded with such force that shards of metal were still embedded in the walls to this day.

  Carefully, he selected the seven runes for eaife, tail them to plement the elemental properties of their designs.

  The KA-BAR received two fire runes: Fme and Wrath, enhang its cutting edge with destructive heat. The Yarbh was imbued with Wind and Tempest Ssh, granting it a swiftness and slig power that mimicked a gale. For the Karambit, he chose the ice element, inscribing it with Frost and Gcial, giving the bde a chilling, almost freezing quality.

  Eaife also received the Sharpness Rune for unparalleled cutting power and the Bloodletting Ruo enhas lethality in bat, bringing the total to seven runes apiece.

  Jin Shu then shifted his attention to the firearms. He had initially sidered adding an Explosion Ruo his pistol, envisioniatis. However, upon closer iion of his rifle, he realized the internal damage caused by the Explosion Rune would limit its usability. The on would only withstand three shots before requiring repairs—and the Self-Repair Rune, while useful, was far too slow for heavy damage.

  With that in mind, he decided against using the Explosion Rune on ons he relied on frequently. Instead, he inscribed the advanced form of the Qi Circution Ruhe Qi Reservoir Ruhis would allow the ons to store a reserve of Qi, ensuring he’d always have extra energy to draw upon in a pinch.

  Satisfied with his decisions, Jin Shu leaned back, a small smile pying on his lips. Each on had been crafted and inscribed with care, tailored for versatility and reliability itles to e.

  He would rather never use these ons, but he knew in his heart that was wishful thinking at best.

  Pag away the fiools of war, Jin Shu lingered on the M17 in his hands. “For now, my pistol doesn’t have the lethality to take on cultivators beyond the Qi Realm. I’ll o rely oing close with my knives.” He retrieved a 9mm round from his ste earring, turning it over between his fingers. “I might o enhahe ammunition if I want to increase its stopping power...”

  His voice trailed off as he addressed the microscopic AI led within his dantian. “What do you think, Nano? Should I do it?”

  The tiny robot’s voice resonated in his mind, analytical and direct. “If you were to inscribe your ammunition, it would certainly beany times more lethal. However, we detect hesitation.”

  Jin Shu sighed, rolling the round across his palm. “I don’t like killing, and the stronger my ons, the easier it bees for me to kill.”

  Nano tilted fraally within his spiritual sea, the subtle movement almost veying fusion. “Are you certain?”

  “Certain that I don’t like killing?”

  “Yes.”

  “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Because in your memories, you were highly effit. From what we’ve observed, killing wasn’t just something you tolerated—it was something you excelled at, even sought out.”

  “Effit, sure,” Jin Shu muttered, his grip tightening around the round. “But that doesn’t mean I e. Quite the opposite, actually. If I had to kill, I made it my goal to do it as ly and effectively as possible.”

  “How is that the opposite?” Nano pressed.

  He hesitated, searg for the right words. “Uh… let me put it this way. I was following orders. Seeing it as just aask helped me dissociate from my as.”

  “You’re lying.”

  The statement hit him like a physical blow. “What? I’m lying? How?”

  “In your memories, you reveled in the rush of adrenaline. You pushed yourself to be the best, seeking pt on the most dangerous missions. It was your driving force.”

  Sileretched between them. Jin Shu’s expression darkened, his thoughts sinking deeper.

  “… Am I really lying to myself?” he murmured.

  Without waiting for Nano’s response, he sank further into his mind, into the very depths of his soul. Memories aions surged around him like turbulent waves as he searched desperately for the truth in Nano’s words.