Nier sat with his eyes closed, unaware of how much time had passed, but he knew it was already night. He continued to meditate, trying to feel the Ki.
What was he doing wrong? The book clearly stated that all he had to do was close his eyes and meditate to sense the Ki. The fact that it wasn't working meant he was doing something horribly wrong.
As moonlight bathed the sea tower, the first sea creature began to approach. It didn't know exactly what attracted it there—perhaps it was the unusual sweet smell wafting from the place or the strange figures it saw. It didn't care.
Moving at high speed with its snake-like body, it finally reached the sea tower. It slithered through, searching for the source of the sweet smell, and soon enough, it found it: a body lying there. Its instincts told it that the creature was asleep and posed no danger. With the smell so strong, it couldn't hold back from launching itself at its defenseless meal.
But before it could reach Annie, Nier plunged a dagger into its head. Writhing, the serpent tried to escape his grasp, but Nier seized its head and cut it clean off. Blood spilled across the concrete floor of the sea tower.
Nier had stopped meditating since it wasn't helping him; instead, he decided to keep watch. If he died, at least he would have tried. Thankfully, he arrived in time to save Annie from a sea serpent. Although they were on the weaker side in terms of strength, these creatures were extremely poisonous.
Looking at his dagger, Nier realized this would be a long night. The serpent's blood would attract other sea creatures to the tower. He pushed the ten-foot serpent into a corner; if he was about to fight for his life, he didn't want to trip over a corpse.
The sea creatures he most expected were more sea serpents because they were quite common in this part of the ocean; one could say this was their territory. However, this wasn't a general rule—other sea creatures could also be spotted here, including the one that had killed their father.
Nier sat cross-legged again and continued to meditate while keeping watch over his sister. Soon enough, two more sea serpents appeared. Nier opened his eyes, dagger in hand; this was it—it was now or never.
As if sensing him, the two serpents took up defensive stances; instinct told them that this would be a hard meal to swallow. As they stared each other down, a weak rock from the tower fell into the sea, its sound ringing through the night breeze.
The two serpents lunged at Nier simultaneously. He made no attempt to dodge since his sister was behind him. The first serpent aimed for his head but suddenly changed direction and went straight for sleeping Annie instead; it had chosen an easier meal over one that might fight back.
But Nier wouldn't let it go that easily.
"no you don't!"
He tried to run and stop it, but the second serpent saw this as an opportunity and launched itself at his back. Anticipating this move, Nier made a quick turn and lodged his dagger into the serpent's head; it died instantly.
The other serpent lunged at Annie, its mouth wide open and fangs glistening with venom as it prepared to strike. Just as it was about to sink its teeth into her flesh, Nier sprang into action.
With a swift motion, he raised his right arm and intercepted the deadly fangs that pierced his flesh. Pain shot through him, but he gritted his teeth and held firm. In that same heartbeat, he drove his dagger deep into the creature's skull with his left hand.
He sat down to catch his breath; it was only the first two creatures, but he was already poisoned—his right hand began turning bluish-purple as the poison spread rapidly. Ripping a piece of cloth from his pants, he tied it tightly around the bite mark to slow its progression.
Closing his eyes again proved difficult due to immense pain coursing through him. Unable to concentrate on meditation anymore, he began strategizing for when other sea creatures arrived.
First of all, he quickly realized what went wrong in the previous fight: he hadn't prepared for multiple enemies which led to his injury. His first priority had to be defending Annie without getting too close to her.
He moved the two serpent corpses out of sight but instead of discarding them entirely, he covered Annie with their bodies—ensuring their weight wouldn't crush her while preventing her from being bitten again.
The second thing was extracting the poison glands from the serpents; he needed them in case other creatures came that weren't sea serpents.
Finally, he sat back down again with closed eyes, focusing all his energy on feeling that elusive Ki.
…
Two hours passed; blood stained every corner of the sea tower's floor while Nier remained seated amidst serpent corpses. The poison had already claimed all of his right hand and was creeping toward his left side; bruises and bite marks marred his body.
He continued meditating in vain; deep down, he knew that given how poisoned he was, survival through the night seemed impossible.
He'd already killed about twenty or so of the sea serpents.
After another minute passed, something else landed on the sea tower—this time not a sea serpent but something more humanoid if you excluded its numerous tentacles writhing all over its body.
It slowly approached Nier before stopping six feet away from him. Opening his eyes now revealed no surprise; he had anticipated that soon enough something other than serpents would come.
He slowly got up and retrieved the dagger he'd embedded in one of the serpents' corpses before taking position—but before he could even move, the creature was already upon him.
It seized him by one of its many tentacles and slammed him down into concrete with such force that Nier lost consciousness instantly; his body went limp.
The creature looked down at him with satisfaction as its rows of teeth gleamed in a sinister smile.
"kikikkikikikikikkikikikkikikikikikkik."
Surveying its surroundings revealed nothing else—just those detestable serpent corpses piled nearby except for one corner where almost all of them were stacked together; however, it opted not to touch them.
Holding Nier by his foot with another tentacle, it started dragging him toward the sea—it had its meal and felt satisfied.
"kikikkikikikikikkikikikkikikikikikkik."
…
Nier opened his eyes—or rather couldn't feel them open at all.
"Did I die?"
Looking around revealed nothing except shiny white dust floating in this dark abyss.
"Hm… what are those?"
Watching them closely sparked a memory—something important slipped from his mind.
"…..!"
Suddenly remembering brought clarity: 'Ki'! The book had said that Ki would float like dust!
"Hahaha!"
Finally! He could see it—the damn Ki! Though now it seemed futile since death felt imminent after being attacked by that creature earlier—but giving up wasn't an option!
Since the first step of sensing the Ki was done he could begin the following steps toward becoming a warrior: first controlling Ki to create his core…