章 129: Sheep Cultivator (2976 words)
Green fields, bustling forests and a clear blue sky. The golden sun illuminates the peaceful lands with its light and allows the life to thrive.
Near a giant mountain range which is known as the Earthen peaks is a small village made up from farmers that life at the edge of their kingdom.
In a world where there is a mystical energy called Qi that allows living beings to ascend beyond their limits time and time again till they reach the edge of immortality mere mortals that are unable to interact with it have no other future than to mingle at the edges of their kingdom.
But even if they are unable to access the Qi in their bodies or around them, the mortals still manage to life their own life far away from the dangerous places invested with powerful beasts and people alike.
A man with brown hair that has some grey on the edges stands atop a hill, holding a wooden cane and a coat around his shoulders.
This man's name is Kiel. He doesn't possess a second name as he didn't feel it was necessary for someone like him.
Kiel is currently overseeing his small herd of sheep, which is grazing at the foot of the hill, there are a total of eleven sheep eating the lush green grass that was still a bit wet from the morning dew.
"Haaa, what a beautiful day. There is nothing in the world for which I would willingly give up the life I'm currently living." With a satisfied sigh Kiel lets his gaze wander over to a sheep which has a very round belly.
'It should be about time for her to give birth, hopefully they will be two healthy lambs.' Kiel thinks as he sizes up the round sheep.
As if to confirm his thoughts the sheep lays to the ground and starts to shout out.
Kiel freezes up for a moment before running over to assist the sheep giving birth.
'Darkness... it is so dark… but also warm… so warm.' A weak mind numb from the long time it slumbered slowly starts to awake.
Suddenly, walls which the awaking creature didn't know existed start to contract around it and pressing it in one direction.
Still not fully awake the creature hastily makes the decision to escape in the direction the walls are pressing it.
Fighting its way through the small tunnel the creature finally reaches the end.
Kiel calmly watches the pregnant sheep give birth while assisting wherever he can.
The whole ordeal took some hours but in the end three freshly born lambs lay in the lush green grass at the foot of the hill.
Two of the lambs are male and have white fur with brown spots while the last one is female and has completely white fur and deep blue eyes
Happy at the successful birth of the three lambs Kiel's mood improved even more, but what he didn't notice was that the white lamb was behaving a bit strange.
It is sitting completely still and just stares at the blue sky as if in a daze.
'It is so beautiful… … so beautiful to be alive again.' The small lamb tears its eyes off from the bright blue sky and instead looks around.
The lamb's eyes shortly pause on the Kiel's figure before they continue to observe the unfamiliar surroundings.
By now the white lambs mind was full awake and it started to recall various pieces of knowledge of its previous life.
'I don't know who I was in my old life nor is there anything about my family, friends or other people close to me.' The white lamb turns its head to its mother and two siblings.
It observes the three sheep for a moment before looking down at itself.
'Well, how am I supposed to act? I have never been a sheep before.' The white lamb lets out a chuckle at its current situation.
'Anyway, I first need a new name. I can't remember my old one and I feel a bit uncomfortable without one.' Pondering a bit, the white sheep tries to come up with a name that it likes.
'How about Shea? Yeah, I like it.' Nodding to herself, Shea unsteadily gets up to her feet.
'From today on I'm Shea and I'm going to be the greatest sheep there has ever been!!... … … HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!' Shea proudly declares before breaking down from laughter at the absurdity of what she just said.
Rolling around the ground for a while Shea finally managed to calm down from her laughing fit.
'Okay, enough of that, there's still a lot of things I need to understand if I don't want to end up as livestock.' Getting back on her feet Shea begins to test out her new body.
Time passes and Shea slowly got accustomed to the life of a sheep.
In order to not get turned into food by the farmer she acted all cute and worked hard to get him attached to her.
Days, weeks and months pass fast for Shea, as each day was busy and full of things she wanted to achieve.
One of her high priority goals was to learn the language of the humans living in the village.
Other than learning the local the language Shea also watched the other villager working, expanding her knowledge even more.
It's been three years since Shea was reborn as a sheep and she has grown into a healthy and exemplary sheep with two horns that grow out behind her ears and curve forward.
Her deep blue eyes are full of curiosity and energy, desiring to see and explore this new world.
Currently lying on the wooden floor of famer Kiel's house Shea is lost in her thoughts.
'The last three years were nice and interesting; I have roof over my head and no predators to fear while surrounded by plenty of knowledge.
But after three years I learned all there is to learn from this small village, be it cooking, sewing, carpeting, smithing or one of the many other jobs present in this village.
I'm getting bored, then there is also the problem concerning my lifespan.
If I'm correct, then I got around 7-9 years left before old age claims my second life.
I don't want to life my entire life in this little village… …' Shea stares at the wooden planks with a thoughtful expression.
'Some of the villagers told tales about powerful beasts and people that possess supernatural power. Is it possible that this world is some kind of fantasy world? If yes, then there might be a way for me to extend my lifespan a bit more.' Pondering about what to do Shea falls asleep.
The next day she made a decision, she would stay for another two years in which she will try to come into contact with any supernatural energies she can think of.
In her previous life Shea read many stories and novels about a great variety of energies and ways to come into contact with them.
Hopefully one of the many methods will be successful.
With a new goal in mind Shea starts her own thought up training routine.
Harsh physical training, meditation, moving meditation, different incantations and many more things.
Many days pass without Shea succeeding in coming into contact with anything supernatural, but all the almost ridicules training did increase her stamina, strength and agility by a lot.
Her strange behavior brough her many raised eyebrows, but she didn't care and continued to do what she was doing.
After a year of failure Shea changed her method and instead of trying to access some kind of energy she started to develop techniques.
Her hope is that she can make and train a technique to a supernatural level and from there on ascend future.
Seea has three techniques planed.
The first one will be a defensive one, the plan is to use her thick wool to cushion attacks by dispersing the kinetic energy.
She doesn't have an idea yet how to defend against sharp attacks, but the whole technique is still in its baby shoes anyway.
The second one is offensive; she wants to develop a charge that allows her to gain lots of momentum and release this momentum upon impact without harming herself too much.
It sounds simply, but in reality, it is really hard to hit something with a charge and not hurt oneself.
Lastly, the third one is a movement technique, focusing on speed, maneuverability and reaction.
It is the most important one as it not only would allow Shea to run away fast, but it also complements the other two techniques.
The increase in reaction speed would allow her to more effectively use her defensive technique and the increase in maneuverability and speed would boost the damage and hit rate of her charge.
Shea also gave each one a name just because she wanted too.
The defense technique is "Golden Fleece", the offensive one "Ram's Hammer", and lastly the movement technique "Cloud Step".
Right now, the techniques are nothing like their names suggest, but maybe they will one day.
Weeks and months fly by while Shea was immersed into her training and the development of her techniques.
In order to successfully develop the techniques, she used all her knowledge from this and her last life.
Knowledge about aerodynamics, kinetic force distributions/shock absorption and other such things were used and applied in her techniques.
Slowly but surely the techniques took a more solid form and start to show a visible effect.
Shea nimbly moves around the thick forest near the village, she jumps up trees, runs along branches and evades roots on the ground.
Her four feet move in an almost calm rhythm if not for the absurd speed.
Each hoof moves fast, precise and completely silent, allowing Shea to always have a good foothold even in difficult terrain and remain stealthy.
Suddenly, with an abrupt burst of speed Shea charges at one of the trees head forward.
The moment she collides with the hard wooden trunk of the tree, she performs multiple miniscule movements.
Not a second later a loud sound was heard in the forest closely followed by a creaking of breaking wood and another loud impact of something heavy falling to the ground.
Standing in front of a fallen tree with lots of wood fragments around her Shea calmly exams her handywork.
'The charge and movement technique have come along nicely. This proves that this world isn't like the old one.
"Cloud Step" and "Ram's Hammer" are rather easy to practice because they are active skills, but "Golden Fleece" is a bit tricky.
There isn't anything that attacks me, the only thing I could practice on was against some of my fellow sheep by provoking them to charge at me.
Those attempts ended rather successful, by now I can block them perfectly without any problem. All the kinetic energy gets dispersed through my wool upon impact.
But normal sheep aren't very strong, making my success less meaningful, I need to find better practice partners.' Shea slowly turns her head southwards in the direction of the giant mountain rage.
'From what I've heard in the village there are lots of beasts near the Earthen Peaks, maybe I should pay them a visit, they would make great training partners I'm sure of it.' Standing silently in the forest for a while Shea contemplates if she should leave for the mountain range or remain here till the end of the year.
'I already developed my techniques as far as a possible in my current environment, if I want to improve, I need to experience actual combat.' A look of determination covers her face, and she makes a small bow in the direction of the farm in which she lived for the last five years, before charging southwards.
Being an herbivore makes finding food easy for Shea, water also didn't proof a problem, there are plenty of small streams and ponds between her and the mountain range.
Thanks to "Cloud Step" Shea's travel speed was even faster than a horse and after training for almost two years she developed enough stamina to run half a day without pause.
Shea also kept her eyes open for anything that might look supernatural, she was sure that there are at least some special plants imbued with a special energy.
Her hoofs silently push off the ground accelerating her even future when she finally saw something of interest, a boar.
It is slightly bigger than Shea and a lot heavier, meaning that its charge should be a lot stronger than a normal sheep.
Instead of directly challenging the boar to a fight Shea instead keeps herself hidden and observes the boar form a safe distance.
'If I want to get the most of out of this encounter then I first need to lure it away, it would be bad I another animal decides to participate.' Shea silently watches the boar for a moment before she starts to circle around it in search for an acceptable arena.
Luck was on her side as she came across a medium sized clearing a few minutes later.
After checking out the clearing and verifying that no other animal was nearby Shea went back to the boar which didn't move far away from its last location.
Shea swiftly jumps out of the bushes and stands near the boar before declaring her challenge.
"Blöööööck!!"
The boar swirls around and stares at the unwelcome challenger.
Its eyes immediately focus on Shea's white form which proudly stands there not even five meters away from it.
Letting out two streams of warm air form its snout the boar starts to scratch the ground with its left front hoof.
Just before the boar could lower its head and prepare to charge Shea calmly turns around and blatantly walks away in the direction of the clearing.
The boar first just stares at Shea's rear with a perplex expression, but that didn't last long, as soon anger overtook the boar and with a loud squeaking it charges at Shea.
Just before the boar could hit the unprotected rear, Shea performs an extremely fast side jump, narrowly dodging the boars charge.
'Its attacks a very obvious, but they are also a lot stronger than the charges of my fellow sheep.' Shea calmly lures the boar to the clearing where she intended to start her practice.
It was easy to keep the boar's aggro high enough so that it continued to follow her all the way to their destination.
With one last dodge, Shea jumps some distance away where she finally turns to face the angry boar.
'I already witnessed enough of its charges to get the timing right, now I only need to resist its momentum.' Pressing her teeth's against each other in preparation for the pain that comes with failure, Shea once again shouts her challenge.
"Blööck!!"
With its mind cloud by rage the boar squeaks loudly and charges at Shea.
Shea swiftly changes her position and catches the boars charge with her fluffy wool.
"Thummbh!"
Shea was sent flying for a good two meters before she found her footing again.
'Damn is that boar strong. I barely managed to disperse a sixth of the kinetic energy in its attack.'
Ignoring the aching pain of her body Shea once again readies herself for the boar's attack.
Delighted by the fact that it finally managed to hit the damn sheep, the boar releases a roaring squeak and continues with a new charge.
This repeated itself for more than twenty times, only then did the boar start to realize that its attacks have started to do less and less damage, to the point that the sheep doesn't even take a step back anymore.
'It took a while, but I finally got the hang of it.' A wide grin appears on Shea's face as she uses the "Golden Fleece" technique to fully block the boars charge, all the momentum and kinetic energy just disperses upon contact.
Using the boar's confusion of being blocked by fluffy wool Shea makes some distance between herself and the boar.
'Time to end this.' With that thought Shea lowers her head and readies herself for the use of "Ram's Hammer".
Shacking off its confusion the boar turns around and looks at the charge ready Shea not too far away.
The boar responds in kind and also prepares to charge, both then suddenly push off the ground with their hoofs rapidly approaching each other.
"BAANNG!!!!!"
A shockwave spreads through the clearing as the two beings collide.
At first glance it looks like the boar is winning, but in the instant Shea performs her technique the boar was sent flying all the way to the edge of the clearing.
Landing lightly on her hoofs Shea glances at the struggling form of the boar with a trace of shock.
'This beyond my expectation, looks like my techniques are a lot stronger than I imagined.' Slowly strolling over to the boar which lies on the ground, desperately trying to get back up, Shea only stops when her right front hoof stands on the temple of the boar's head.
'I lack any sharp or deadly attacks to finish off my opponents, a point which I didn't think about before.' While thinking about what kind of finishing move she could create Shea raises her hoof before smashing it with full force down on the temple of the boars head.
With a disgusting cracking and munching sound the head of the boar gets turned to mush.
Shea looks at the bloody mess she created with a frown.
'I have never killed before, not even animals, how come I don't feel any remorse or even disgust at such a scene and action?
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