The goon looked up.

  A Zane-sized shadow fell across him.

  He wondered what he should do about this guy. He was a bit worried he might break a little too much. The world, that was. He still hadn’t figured out how much this place could handle.

  If letting out a bit of aura was like setting off a nuclear bomb here…

  Maybe it was just a matter of being careful. Taking it one bone at a time.

  As he considered things, the goons stared at him, then at each other, and seemed to draw up a shared resolve. He might be bigger than them, but there were four of them—that seemed to be the thinking.

  They charged him with fists full of lightning.

  The first guy smashed four knuckles on his chin.

  Now, Zane’s body was like a chunk of Transcendent Titansteel. He could control it, but he only softened for Reina. With these guys, he kept his body as normal.

  That fist struck him the way a chunk of pork strikes a meat grinder.

  CRACK!

  The goon stared at the lump of bloody flesh that had been his hand. Then he howled.

  Another came in, leg stiffening with a silver sheen, and gave him a hearty kick. This ended with the fellow rolling on the ground whimpering.

  The last fellow stared at his friends dumbly. Then he made a wise decision and charged Zane with his staff. Twelve feet of runed steel cracked Zane over the head and shattered.

  A shard hit him in the face, and he fell over wailing.

  Around that time, Zane made up his mind on what to do about these guys. Then he looked around.

  They were still on the ground, rolling around.

  …The problem appeared to have worked itself out.

  So much of the time it was like that. Sometimes these things just go away on their own.

  He looked back behind him. “You alright?”

  Jin looked rather dazed. A fly came dangerously close to his wide-open mouth. He nodded quickly.

  A snort floated across the street.

  “And who might you be?” drawled the young master, arching a perfect brow. If he was fazed at all, he didn’t show it.

  Again, Zane figured he really ought to come up with a backstory. For now—

  “I’m Zane.”

  “Just Zane?”

  “That’s right.”

  He seemed to find this amusing. “Zane. You should know you speak to Liu Yi, young master of the Yi Family, Chosen of the Windsong region’s Silverwind Sect… that’s right. You stand on my ground.”

  He pursed his lips. “I must ask that you give my family some face, and step aside. There’s some trash I must dispose of, you see.”

  Jin reddened. “Why you—!”

  “The kid helped me out,” said Zane. He shrugged.

  “That’s if you wish to play this?” The young master sighed. “If you insist.”

  Then he took a step.

  A sliver of a moon bloomed at his feet. Jin gasped.

  “Dark Moon steps… Senior, you’ve got to get out of the way!”

  “Hush, trash,” sighed the young master. He cocked his head at Zane. “You might’ve taken my men's fists fine. But I think you’ll find there’s a difference between they and I… just like there is a difference between my body and yours.”

  He showed Zane his knuckles.

  “This fist has been bathed in the essence of ambrosia seven-fold. It has broken twice-tempered iron gold. My own strength frightens even me at times, I must confess…”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  He smiled at Zane. “Are you sure you wish to do this? I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Zane stood there, shielding Jin, as unmoved as stone.

  Young Master Yi shrugged.

  “Then you’ve brought this upon yourself.”

  He let out a heroic shout.

  There were over twenty steps of runway between him and Zane, and he made the most of them. With every step the moon brightened beneath his feet. The crescent grew a little fuller. Ten steps, and it was a half-moon; fifteen, and it was nearly full.

  Quite a pretty technique, Zane had to admit. But the folk on the street found it anything but—he saw just horror in their eyes. Like that fist had a reputation.

  “It’s okay, senior Zane!” shouted Jin. “I can take it!”

  He tried to shove Zane out of the way, tried to throw himself in front of the attack.

  But this was Zane, so he bounced right off.

  Then the young master was upon him. The steps came, a storm of soft touches, building as though in a dance, each more ferocious, more beautiful than the last. The moon started to blur beneath his feet, started to shine, growing to a full picture. Making the ground its night sky.

  Shouts filled the street; Old Wei shook his head and looked away.

  Then Yi leaped.

  Thrice he spun mid-air—and with each spin, he gathered momentum. Until all that power fell to one sinking fist.

  He struck Zane right in the belly.

  The force rippled the air. It blew the roof off one of the shop’s straw roofs. The aftershocks kept going; a cyclone of moonlight drove high into the sky, chasing away the clouds…

  CRACK!

  Zane looked down at the fellow, unimpressed. “You done?”

  The Young Master stared dumbly at his hand.

  His hand was a bloody meatball.

  He shrieked and surprised everyone with the octaves his voice could reach. Quite impressive.

  Then he doubled over.

  While this fellow had been doing his dance, Zane hadn’t been paying much attention. He’d zoned out around step seven.

  He took that time to come up with a backstory.

  “I’m a monk,” said Zane as Young Master Yi rolled about, clutching his hand and sobbing. “I come from a monastery. That’s why I haven’t heard of the outside world.”

  He paused.

  “Also, I believe in nonviolence. That is why I won’t be fighting you with Skills.”

  He was pretty happy with it, actually. It covered all his bases nicely.

  He inspected the blown-off shop roof. If that was enough to blow off a roof here, he was pleased he didn’t punch one of those guys.

  “Violence is never the answer,” Zane advised wisely. The young master wailed.

  “Y-you!” Yi pointed his one good hand at Zane. “I—“

  He looked around and saw everyone there staring at him, lying in the dirt sniveling—just as stunned as he was.

  It was quite a contrast to his unflappable look just seconds ago.

  “Six Hells…”

  “He… he just beat the young master!” someone cried.

  “He didn’t make a single move…”

  “Did… did I just see the young master roll around crying?”

  Yi tripped over himself three times as he was in such a hurry to get away.

  ***

  At first, Zane hadn’t really been interested in getting involved. This Jin was a little too chatty. But Jin gave him a hand when he didn’t have to. The kid’s heart was in the right place.

  Only now he stood in a street full of gaping folk.

  It was probably time to give up on the inconspicuous thing.

  “Senior…” Jin was sniffing, tears in his eyes. “You—you took those blows for me… You cared…”

  He pressed his head in the dirt.

  “Senior!” he shouted. “I, Jin Wei, humbly ask—will you take me as your disciple?!”

  Zane wasn’t sure why, but in that moment, threads of Fate grew thick in the astral plane, swirling around him. Weirdly thick. Usually, it meant millions of lives—the fates of planets, even galaxies, hung on one moment. One choice.

  He considered the boy for a moment.

  “No.”

  Jin looked stunned.

  “I don’t have time for it,” said Zane. Really, he should’ve gotten going already. He wasn’t sure how he got dragged into all this anyway. He looked toward the end of the street and caught a flash of the young master’s silks vanishing into a distant alley.

  Good thing that was over with.

  The lines of Fate seemed to be fading around him.

  “Oh…” Jin drooped.

  …He felt a bit bad.

  “…I could give you a pointer or two. But that’s it.”

  Jin lit up. “Really?!”

  “I’m not your master.”

  “Okay!” sniffed Jin. He was in tears all of a sudden.

  The lines of Fate flared back up.

  Weirder and weirder.

  It had been quite an emotional few minutes for the kid, come to think of it. With his ex-girlfriend, and getting beat up, and now this.

  Jin gasped. “Senior! That, um, thing you were looking for!”

  “What about it?”

  “I did find something! It was just two months ago—but… now that I think of it—it’s right, it’s got to be!”

  Zane eyed him dubiously.

  “I was in the Kunlun mountains, all lost—and then I found this really weird valley…”

  He nodded quickly. “Senior, you’ve got to go there. I just know it!”

  The kid had a very earnest look to him.

  “Let me show you? Please? I’ll never forget this, Senior Zane, never ever!”

  It was a bit dramatic of a reaction, Zane felt. All he’d done was stand there and do nothing. But the kid seemed set on it. He got the feeling the kid would jump through fire for him.

  A strangely thick line of Fate flashed between them.

  …Okay. Time to get to the bottom of this.

  He checked the kid’s stats.

  Signature Title: Martial Hero

  Skills:

  Plot Armor (Unique)

  Decreases probability of taking a fatal hit by 75%.

  Treasure Magnet (Unique)

  Grants the wielder at least one legendary treasure every arc.

  “…”

  With those things, he wasn’t sure he had to step in at all back there.

  They were quite strange—he didn’t see them that often. He did get the sense there was something bigger going on here.

  If he had time after he finished up the concept, he figured he might look into it.

  For now, though—

  “Take me there,” he told Jin.