Chapter 1 - Thunder Seal (Part 1)

NOTE: So as I was finishing up this chapter somebody decided to take on this work. Since I hadn't posted my chapter yet, technically the right of way goes to them, which is okay. There are tons of things to work on, so I'll just go sniff around and see what I can find :D I decided to post what I did anyways, just because I don't want those several hours of work to be wasted.

Chapter 1 - Thunder Seal [Part 1]

A sheer cliff reached up kilometers into the sky, dotted with shrubs that looked like little specks tenaciously clinging to the cliff face as they were buffeted by the wind.  At the summit of the cliff it flattened out revealing a platform that had been constructed, with a small silhouette in the sunset, who was lazily sitting on the edge of the cliff with two legs boldly hanging over the edge as they unconsciously swung back and forth.  That figure appeared to be exceptionally lonely

He was a sixteen year old young man with a faint broad brow, and a pair of thin eyes that made it seem is if he was habitually squinting.  It always gave others the feeling that he wasn’t fully awake.  His face had a very clear outline as if it were carved out by an axe, allowing a hint of resoluteness to escape, but since he still hadn’t reached full maturity he continued to exude youth and inexperience.  If one were to carefully observe his sleepy eyes, a hint of great change could be detected.

“This world is really damn perverted!  Even the time here is not the same, I don’t even fucking know how long I have been here....three years?  Maybe four years?  This place only has two seasons....hot season....cold season....*sigh*...why can’t I go back...”

The young man sighed as he struck the ground and began to examine the fist techniques engraved in the rock.  The trace of a small smile appeared on his lips, nothing else in this world could satisfy him.  Besides accumulating strength, no other form of entertainment could be found in this place.  In addition every day he had to find a way to eat, or be eaten, using any method possible to find something to fill his belly.  That is what it meant to live in this world

A loud shrill whistle echoed loudly and the youngster suddenly leaped up and quickly dashed along the edge of the cliff, with a surprising speed.  After a short moment he reached a corner in the cliff where there was a small fort that was jutting out 7 to 8 meters over the cliff.  Two men were standing inside of the small fort.

The fort was very small, with an elongated shape that protruded out over the precipice of the cliff.  The top of the fort was constructed of logs, and the floor was three meters long with a two meter wide hole in the middle where the dizzying drop of the cliffs below could clearly be seen.  A flat metal cage was in the hole with a large metal wheel installed above it.

A man with a long beard watched the youngster arriving and said, “Ah Feng, the hunting party just came back.  You have good eyesight, why don’t you take a look and see how things went?”

The youngster nodded while resting his hand on the wheel and leaned forward only to see several tiny specks below.  His eyes suddenly flickered and emitted a faint silvery glow before he happily said, “It’s Uncle Ke, they’re back....quickly lower the cage!”

The bearded man grabbed an iron ring and pulled releasing the metal basket that rested in the bottom of the hole.   As he began rotating the wheel the cage began to slowly descend.

The cage was rectangular being 3 meters long, 2 meters wide and 5 meters deep.  It was designed to shuttle people and supplies, and was also one of the ways to get to the Tiger Cliff outpost.  There were a total of two paths leading up to tiger cliff outpost.  One was the cage, and the other was a tunnel through the mountain, but since the tunnel was more difficult to walk people preferred to use the cage.

Soon the cage was hoisted back up with two men sitting inside and a pile of hunted animals.  After a quick look the youngster said, “There is only small game, Uncle Ke, you didn’t catch anything bigger?”

Inside the cage there were hare, pheasant, duck and even a few rare goats.

That so called rare goat was only indigenous to these mountains and it was an extremely small species of wild goat that enjoyed eating all kinds of nutritious grasses.  Their meat was extremely delicious however these goats were so small that there wasn’t much meat, at most 10kg of meat, which wasn’t much more meat than a pheasant or hare.

Uncle Ke laughed, “Ah Feng, we didn’t catch much this time, hey hey, but anyways...we did get rid of a long-tusked boar that was several hundred kilograms, making it a pretty good harvest.  Ah Feng, later I’ll go back down and bring a leg of pork up here hehehe.”

Ah Feng nodded and said with a smile, “Good, I’ll send Uncle back down immediately.”

There were mostly hunters living at Tiger Cliff outpost.  The families living in the valley would mostly grow some grain and root vegetables, but the men didn’t farm, they would go out hunting.  Tiger Cliff outpost had a small population of about 1000 people, made up of about 200 families.  Ah Feng was also part of one of these families.  At home he had his grandfather and little sister, but as soon as this youngster was born his parents immediately left and nobody knows where they went.

Getting by the last few years was difficult, but he had only recently become aware of the dire situation.  His little sister was only three and depended solely on the youngster Ah Feng to bring her up.  His grandfather’s body was already so old and frail that he could no longer go out to hunt.  At first Ah Feng depended on gathering wild fruit, and from time to time several hunting families felt bad when they saw the trio suffering, so they would deliver some hunted meat.  When encountering hardships these people were very simple.  Neighbors would help each other out, because if they couldn’t rely on each other it would be impossible to survive here.

However, during this warm season the youngster Ah Feng had to prepare his own provisions for the upcoming cold season.  This became a difficult task, because he not only had to feed himself, but he also had to gather enough to feed his grandfather and little sister.

Uncle Ke went down again and loaded about 250kg of boar meat into the cage.  This type of meat was not very good, it was tough and there wasn’t any good way to cook it.  The meat might not be very tasty, but Ah Feng didn’t really care since it was good enough just having something to eat.  Since he came here there were many times when he couldn’t eat his fill, plus his appetite was so big that he often wondered how he could eat so much.

Several hunters along with Ah Feng happily carried the meat into the outpost.

Tiger Cliff outpost occupied steep terrain that was placed within a two kilometer depression of farmable land that was surrounded by steep cliffs.  The families of Tiger Cliff outpost all lived within caves that penetrated the steep walls.  Each family occupied a cave and many had extended their caves by building a cabin outside.  During the warm season they could live in the cabins, but once the cold season started they would have to retreat back into their caves for the winter.

It looked like Tiger Cliff outpost had been placed inside of a giant bowl, with the people living inside of the bowl and the cliffs made up the walls, but they were also large natural fortifications.

As a result, as soon as people arrived at the cliff they would immediately come to the residential area.

.....

In one hand Ah Feng carried a boar leg and in the other he carried two pheasants as he quickly walked towards his home.

He quickly arrived at a house with a wooden fence surrounding a large yard that was adjacent to the edge of the cliff dwelling.  A little girl saw Ah Feng coming back and happily shouted as she ran over, “Big brother, big brother...”