Rumble

Training was weird. First thing he did wasn't to get me to do push ups or something like that. The first thing he did was show me diagrams of my own biology on a wall, acting like a school teacher with me as the student on his desk, watching him work.

"You see, I have an understanding of the physiological differences between you and I, but I have never had to create a training program for a member of your species. Considering the different ways our bodies work, from our muscles to our organs, I will essentially be starting from scratch. So we will begin with the basics!"

I got the sense he'd never really 'made' a training program for anyone, beetle or otherwise. That was fine. I wasn't sure insects could tear and repair muscles stronger the way humans could, so I'd take what I could get.

"To my mind, the best way to strengthen you physically is to strengthen your heart. Easy enough, my tiny friend! Exercise is the key, flying, running, moving and fighting! The same as any other cultivator."

Si Chou then put up another diagram. "Now. You understand the realms?"

Kind of? He hadn't gone into a ton of detail. I knew each one had five levels in them. The one I was interested in was the Immortal stage. I didn't actually care about immortality, but I wanted at least a few decades. At my nod, Si Chou continued.

"A cultivator must train heavily, not just their body, but their Qi," Si Chou hesitated. "I must confess, my own clan is a more relaxed one. We haven't ever been the kind to become true powers. I myself am only a Foundation Realm cultivator, and only a rank two one. To some from the city I might as well be an Initiate, considering my age."

He seemed down for a moment. Then he sighed, clapping his hands. "Well, no need to spit blood over it. Just know that with time and training, anyone can be as great as I."

Well… shit. He sounded kind of like my own self-deprecation voice.

"So, our training plan is simple. You will eat the same Qi-rich foods as before, you will run courses I design for you, and you will fight on my behalf against others of your ilk! Does that sound good?"

I nodded seriously. Si Chou stared at me, then I could sense him pout.

"I wish you could talk."

Dude, I tried, it just sounds like chittering.

"Regardless, let us begin!"

Cue the Rocky montage I guess.
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Like he said. Training consisted of simple stuff. I ran courses of varying complexity every day that he could spare. That was the first time he took me outside of his little office, where his brother and sister sect members watched bemused as I ran the courses. They were simple affairs, just little obstacle courses meant to make me jump, run, fly, and avoid getting hurt.

Simple little things… unless you had to run them. For Si Chou, they were adorable little things that he could set up relatively fast.

For me, they might as well have been death traps.

A knee height wall was a massive mountain. A small path of burning coals might as well have been a river of magma. Ropes going up six feet were sequoias. I don't think he understood what the scale of things were for me. Hell, sometimes the only reason I could understand what I was up against was because of my extrasensory abilities.

Which helped. I didn't know if it was because I was a beetle, because I had Qi, or a combination of the two, but while my eyesight wasn't great, I was learning to use it in combination with my other senses to understand my environment and plan out my travel across the courses.

I had a sort of sense for Qi as well. It seemed to mix in with my powerful sense of smell, so different people seemed to give off different smells, colors, and feelings.

Si Chou felt relatively weak compared to a lot of the people around him, but also… content? Calm? Like he was fine where he was.

Then, one day, someone walked by a window in the distance while I was doing another course, running on a log that spanned some water, and I fell into the water. That powerful person had an almost physical effect on me. His Qi burned, like shoving my hand into flames and smelling that horrible pork burning smell.

I got used to it, running the courses every day, eating, and sensing those around me. About a month in, Si Chou changed things up and took me to a small inn, carrying me in a simple basket.


"Now, my lad, it is time for your first real battle," Si Chou whispered to me through my basket. The wooden basket had enough room for me to look out as he strode towards the inn ahead of us. It was a single lonely building within the woods along a makeshift road winding its way through the mountains. I watched with interest as we approached the three story building, taking everything in with my senses.

The smell of humans was familiar, as were the horses. While I'd never encountered horses in my beetle form, I had in my previous life. If there is any sense that really attaches to memories, it's smell.

The front door swung open into a loud clack of wood scratching on wood, expelling a man who stumbled out smelling of alcohol and shame. Well, not so much shame as the things I associated with the feeling. He barely avoided bumping into us, staggering away. I noticed one more thing about him. He felt… weak. His presence was barely noticeable.

If that powerful random guy who I'd noticed back at the sect was a forest fire and Si Chou was a bonfire, that guy was a candle about to sputter out.

We walked into the inn and the same thing came from the people within. Not a lot of folks, maybe five or so, but all of them were more akin to candles of Qi in terms of size. Foundation Realm then.

Si Chou had gone over a bit of what each 'realm' of cultivation was. Apparently practically any human in this world easily reached the lowest level, Foundational, where a person could live up to 150 years as long as they were in good health.

Still, as weak as they were, I had no room to talk. I was barely a match for most of them, and nowhere near Si Chou.

He carried me to the back of the place, where more people were gathered past a door. Opening it up revealed a group of people talking and yelling at each other as they drank around a round table, some carrying slips of what had to be some kind of currency. Si Chou went over to the edges of the round table in the center of the room, letting me see what everyone else was looking at.

Beetles. Two of them, male like me, were wrestling with each other. They clashed horns, each trying to throw the other. I watched with all of my senses as they battled. There was a sort of lack of intent from them. It was less like watching a UFC match and more akin to those old robot battling shows. They went at each other, but it was all on instinct.

Still, it was interesting. The fighters were an ink-black stag beetle and a yellow Hercules beetle. Well, a Lu Bu beetle here, since Hercules wasn't a thing obviously. The stag had a pair of horns that stuck out like mandibles, slicing sideways, while the Lu Bu had a long ass top horn and a shorter bottom one.

As I watched, the Lu Bu beetle clamped down on the stag beetle's head, and began to squeeze down. A small sound of scratching filled the air around them, though I doubted the humans cheering them on heard it. The stag beetle struggled, trying to push the Lu Bu back, but barely made him budge.

"Rather simple battles," Si Chou whispered to me. "But they will work as a challenge for you. You simply need to toss them out of the ring or make them run from you."

"Talking to a basket, Si Chou?" A male voice said.

Si Chou chuckled, turning to look at the man. Through the gaps in the basket I could sense a tall portly man stand next to us with an amused demeanor. "Talking to my new beetle."

"Ah, another of your weirdos," The portly man chuckled. "Thank god, I've been losing all night."

"You still might, depending on your bets, Jinhai," Si Chou teased. "This one is a powerhouse."

"Is that so? Can I see him?" the now named Jinhai asked eagerly.

Si Chou opened the basket just enough for me to look at the guy. He was a bit overweight, but in a hardworking farmer kind of way, with a bareface and long hair. He eyed me with a chuckle.

"Awww, he's barely out of his pupa, huh? Still, you haven't led me wrong before. You still not betting?"

"It is a vice that would destroy me," Si Chou said, lowering the basket lid.

"Don't worry, I'll destroy myself for you," Jinhai chuckled.

The two went up to the organizer of things, the inn owner presumably. After some talk, they went back to the table, where the Lu Bu beetle sent the stag beetle running, leaving it victorious and making a few people groan, though the majority didn't seem to care either way.

I mean, the Lu Bu was huge compared to his opponent.

Then, without much preamble, Si Chou lowered me down onto the table.

"Next fight, next fight!" the organizer shouted. "One of Si Chou's weirdos, newborn rhino!"

"Newborn? Easy money!" One guy shouted, laughing.

The bets went fast and furious. I had to admit to some curiosity as to why me being new meant I was somehow less able to win. Beetles didn't exactly gain martial arts experience… well, maybe in this world they did.

After it was all done, Si Chou opened up the cage. And for the first time in my new life, I was face-to-face with someone my own size.

I walked over to him, looking him over. Big. Had at least a few pounds and feet on me. Uh, ounces and inches, I mean. We met eyes. And his eyes were… dull. Whatever sort of energy filled me with intelligence and life just wasn't in him.

That didn't mean he wasn't a fighter though. While I was looking him over, he dashed forward with surprising speed, our horns meeting before I could do anything. He pushed against me, and I staggered.

Back in my old life, I had been a wrestler in high school. Only for two years, but it led to me learning other combat sports. I remembered a moment, early in my training, when I ended up against a guy built like a brick shithouse. I had a moment to think 'oh holy shit' before he smashed into me.

The exact thing happened with the Lu Bu beetle. His upper and lower horns pushed against mine, forcing me back. I got my feet under me and clawed at the table, bringing myself to a stop before I could get pushed out of the ring. The Lu Bu continued to push me with an almost mechanical sort of determination, his horns squeezing against mine.

'Fuck… you,' I growled at the larger beetle, pushing back as best as I could.

I wasn't going to win in strength against him. But I didn't have to.

I twisted my horns just outside of his, so that they encapsulated his head, then twisted in the other direction. Still focused on moving forward, he didn't have time to counter, getting flipped over to his side. I then pushed with all my might, clamped down on his head. His own horns did the same, squeezing down on me hard. That sucked.

I didn't feel pain in the way a human did. But I did feel stress, I understood danger, I had enough awareness of my body to feel damage, and I certainly didn't like having my body clamped on by two giant horns thicker than my legs, a rush of panic filling me. The Lu Bu's horns began to scratch against my armor, the sound filling my head.

I used that burst of panic to fuel me and twisted again, then stepped back and out of his grip. His elytra, the hard shell that protected a beetle's wings, snapped open to help him stand up.

'Not happening!' I chittered as I rushed the beetle again, smashing into his side with all my speed and strength. I placed my horn under his body and lifted. His claws gripped the table as best as he could, but I pushed harder, forcing him into the air, then running forward. At the edge of the ring I let out a roar (that ended up sounding more like a squeak) then tossed the guy forward.

The Lu Bu flew out of the ring, landing on the edge of the table on his back. He wiggled there for a while before forcing himself onto his feet again. After a bit, it started crawling around again.

Damn. All my determined yells were wasted on him.

The humans around us let out loud yells, some cheering, more disappointed. Jinhai cackled loudly, clapping Si Chou on his back. My caretaker gave me a clap, grinning down.

"All right, next fight!" The organizer shouted, completely unbothered as the Lu Bu was taken away.

I would have grinned if I could have. Yeah. Next fight.

Another beetle dropped onto the mat, a stag beetle. I rushed for him immediately. He slashed his mandibles at me, but I ran to the left of him and got behind him then atop him. I clapped my top and bottom horn around his middle, then lifted him over my head. My legs flexed, my whole body moving to toss him like a baseball towards the edge of the ring.

More groans, but a couple of laughs.

"Damn, aggressive little guy, huh?" Jinhai laughed.

"Yes," Si Chou frowned at me for some reason as I looked around the ring. "Very much so."

I kept at it for the next three fights. The beetles I fought weren't too varied in strength or speed, but they were all dependent on their instincts alone to fight me. Whereas I, with my human mind, could use my natural abilities with my intelligence to maneuver and send them flying.

Although, I did have those instincts. Anytime one of the beetles were thrown in to fight me, I would face them without meaning to, my senses focusing on them. I could smell them, hear them, feel their Qi, and every part of me wanted the fight. I could channel that need to fight into intelligent decisions, but the wish to brawl was always there.

After my fifth fight, Si Chou waved at the organizer, who nodded and let him place me back into the basket. Jinhai grumbled, but still looked pleased.

Si Chou carried me out. For some reason though, he seemed more worried than happy.