u/Connect_Study3875

This is a spin-off series set in the world of [The Survivor Becomes a Dungeon](https://www.reddit.com/r/SurvivorBecomeDungeon/comments/17yusqj/the_survivor_becomes_a_dungeon_chapter_list/) by u/scribblingfoxx88, and is being written with the original author's permission.

Idris POV:

“Anyur, why do I have to wear these… restrictive clothing?!” Reyhan asked, a week after that first session we’d trained together in, a black corset, the fabric dyed an inky black to match the color of her hair and eyes, being sinched down to follow the natural lines of her body, stopping just below where her breasts would one day grow in, and being designed more to pin the fabric of her dress down to the shape of her musculature, the skirt made out of a material that easily stretched with each movement of her legs with elasticity, but also hugged the form of her lower half.

“Like it or not, but even without a boys for us to specifically court, we’re to be shown off for any prospective fathers-in-law to consider us as brides for their own children,” Anyur replied, wearing a similar gown, but also having the agency to demand a looser style, embroidered vines and ivy snaking across her body and skirt, which also had more of an umbrella shape, to show her cultivation powers being in plant manipulation, various flowers dotting the other embroidered shapes. “Now quit squirming, or I won’t be able to blend the edges of this seam in the cotton fabric here.”

“Believe me, Reyhan, I’m not used to these clothes either,” I commented, wearing a similar outfit, including a pseudo skirt in the form of an extension of the tight-fitting suit jacket, not much looser than Reyhan’s corset, the and instead of elastic fabric, there were slits in the exact center of the front and back to allow my legs to come out and hit a running stride, allowing me to move them if I had to get out of there, but it also felt like the upper body portion would restrict my breathing, especially since most of the material was silk.

“That’s why we’re doing these twice daily fittings for the cloths you two are going to be wearing to Ismail’s wedding,” Anyur grumbled, finally getting a seam where the fabric part of Reyhan’s corset would be sealed along her spine, the vertical parts made out of the limb bones of foxes, specifically hunted for having been a nuisance to a vassal’s chicken farm, and so Aunt Arzu had bought the bodies so they could be used for making her youngest child’s clothing, at least one of the hides being cleaned and prepared as a scarf, as the wedding would be happening in winter. “I know that I’m not sure my own dress is good enough, since I’m probably going to be approached by my first marriage suitors, possibly even going to be asked to be a handmaiden to one of the imperial princesses.”

“Are you going to be ending up with a prince’s baby in your belly?” Reyhan asked with audible worry.

“Possibly, but I’d have to spend some time with him first, and I’m not sure I’d ever be able to put up with the pressure of potentially being an imperial consort on the off chance he ends up on the throne,” Anyur sighed, her hands moving to a different spot on Reyhan’s gown, probably working on a different seam that needed attention.

“Why not apply to be a student of the great sage like Alim?” I asked as the tailor working on my clothes worked to remove my jacket, letting out several of the seams before sliding it back onto me.

“The young master really is progressing in his training,” he reported, running his fingers under the jacket all over my upper body to check the fit, and it already felt better and looser. “I didn’t feel this much development in Lords Alim and Ismail until both were nine years old, though I am thankful young Idris isn’t trending as tall as Lord Ismail. I appreciate working for House Turan, but that boy always has been as true a giant as any person I’ve known to be while still being human.”

“Yes, that son of mine is quite large,” Aunt Arzu sighed, walking in wearing a silk gown that was embroidered with fine golden threads in the same of winds blowing across a white sand desert. “And don’t worry about your sister falling pregnant until she’s ready, Reyhan. Unlike your soon-to-be-wed brother, Anyur’s pretty responsible for her age, and I’d be more likely to retain her as my secretary rather than send her away to clean another family’s household.”

“Mother, wouldn’t Alim be a better fit?” Anyur asked, satisfied with how Reyhan’s dress looked for Ismail’s wedding for the time being. “Besides, assuming you pick him as your heir, he’d benefit from it more.”

“True, but it would be better to have two of my children trained to take the role if something happens to change my plans, like Alim passes unexpectedly or refuses to pursue his claim to my holdings,” Aunt Arzu said, looking to Anyur. “As it stands, if something happens to both Alim and me, at least before Alim has children, you, my intelligent, caring, and empathetic daughter, would be my preferred choice over Ismail to take my throne.”

“Thank you, Mother, but I th-” Anyur tried to say as a rebuttal to her mother trying to override Ismail’s rights to the throne as the second eldest.

“You’re also humble, are more interested in caring for younger family members, and if you choose to not marry, I’d ask you to take the role your uncle has in the daily functions of Alim’s household if he accepts his inheritance of my lands and titles,” Aunt Arzu said, cutting Anyur off, her hand coming to rest on her teenage daughter’s cheek, sweeping away a tear with her thumb before pulling her into a hug. “Now, why don’t we finish with today’s fittings and get on with the tasks we all have for the day. Idris and Reyhan have today’s lessons soon, and we don’t want them to be late, now do we?”

Before long, the tailor had helped me take off the robes that were being crafted for me, and I slid into the normal clothes I’d wear for training with Shifu, while Anyur helped Reyhan get out of her formal dress, putting on a resized version of my training outfit based around her body as a little girl. Before long, the two of us, plus Aunt Arzu, joined Shifu outside, and at first it was a shock for me to feel the cold winds blowing into my face, but I was able to cloak myself with thin, weak flames, just enough to ward off the frost and snow.

“Reyhan, see what Idris did?” Aunt Arzu asked, her hands holding my cousin just inside the door, where she’d still be protected by the stone walls and various warming and illuminating flames. “He used his ki to form a barrier to fight off the snow. Now, what I want you to do is the same thing, but where Idris used his own internal flames, I want you to use warm, indoor air, and wrap it around yourself like a blanket on a cold night.”

As the two of them stood just inside the threshold, Reyhan started breathing steadily but deeply, then swept her hands down over the front of her body, and a barrier of wind wrapped around her, about an inch past her clothes. But she was still jolted by the sudden exposure to the cold weather. Aunt Arzu’s response was to pull Reyhan back inside, have her try again, and then repeat until the effect held.

“Right, now that the cold isn’t a factor until you two kids run out of ki, I want you two to practice meditation techniques,” Shifu explained, gesturing to a pair of quartz platforms before helping Reyhan and I sit on one each with our legs crossed, hands on our knees, then directed us in a series of breathing exercises, and I could feel the energy flowing out of the air around me and into my body.

But before long, I could feel it take less and less energy to maintain my flame barrier, and I figured it was me adjusting to the cold weather, like when swimming in a pool colder than the air over it. As it faded and eventually stopped, I could feel my connection to cold, snow, and ice strengthen.

“Ah, so you’ve discovered elemental harmonics, Idris,” Shifu said, grinning proudly as I opened my previously closed eyes and saw a flurry of snowflakes circling me like cars on a highway. “In this state, even starkly naked, the harshest of ice storms would have a minimal effect on you, and your spells with the element you’ve harmonized with will also be far stronger. But, that’s only when your ki reserves hold out, as maintaining this state takes a heavy toll, and I’d be surprised that you’d be able to hold it for more than a few minutes at your current strength levels.”

Sure enough, as I continued to marvel at the ability, I started to feel the pain of a headache starting to settle in, a sign my ki was running low. Not long after, the pain became too much, and I was forced to stop the energy flowing into the swirling snow around me, and almost at once, the cold started biting at my flesh, and Dad ended up dragging me in as I pretty quickly fell over, unable to do more than just lie there and shiver.

After getting some hot mutton soup in my belly, eating it while wrapped in a wool blanket, I started to feel better, downed a few mouthfuls of Yingtou juice, and went back out to the meditation lesson. This time, I was instructed to more carefully moderate the flow of vital energy until the lesson properly ended at around sundown. From there, it was dinner time, then I was let go to do what I wanted, and I chose to spend that free time translating more of those ancient texts that Alim had finished restoring before he’d left to strengthen the powers from my Linguist title, but ended up falling asleep in there.

[Chapter 0](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1sbwdip/the_soldier_becomes_a_dungeon_chapter_0/) [Previous Chapter](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1sbx2hw/the_soldier_becomes_a_cultivator_chapter_4/)[Previous Chapter](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1si32t3/the_soldier_becomes_a_cultivator_chapter_6/)

Idris POV:

“Very good, Idris,” Shifu praised after seeing me launch into the air with another phoenix plume, named as, while not truly immortal, phoenix birds did exist.

Yes, they also tended to burst into flames to leave eggs when they died, but said eggs would be in clutches of up to seven, and the burning would be an alternative to laying them, as was the normal case for similar birds. None of these eggs, at least in normal conditions, would also be the offspring of the burned-up bird, and none of them would be the reincarnation of the bird. They also tended to be hermaphrodites, meaning all birds had both male and female parts, and it would be the elder bird that takes the role of the mother, meaning most birds would get a solid two breeding seasons, with each pairing’s mother self-immolating to lay her eggs, then the father would tend them, preferably in the caldera of a slowly erupting volcano, while gathering small animals like mice, rats, rabbits, and other, more mundane species of birds to feed the babies when they hatched. Those babies would then take flight at the start of the next year’s breeding season, clearing the way for their stepfather as it were as their own father becomes the soon-to-be burnt to ashes mother of the next clutch, waiting things out for two or three years until they were big enough and strong enough to fight their way into a favorable position to start the entire cycle over again.

As such, since my family, House Turan, had built our manor on the side of just such a volcano, one of our major exports as a noble house was phoenix feathers, which decidedly don’t give the health benefits they did in other works of fiction, like Harry Potter. Instead, they could be rubbed on stuff like candle wicks to light them, making the properly collected feathers a form of safe and fully reusable matchstick.

“Now what should I do?” I asked, floating at around thirty feet in the air, burning my ki resources like a helicopter would when hovering.

“Now, angle the flames of your plume in all sorts of directions, then when you feel comfortable with that, fully commit to one direction, angling all your flames into it, and try out level flight for a little while,” Shifu ordered, and I started imitating my aunt’s movements when she’d float on columns of wind.

That pretty quickly showed me how flying with fire was different from with wind, as where Aunt Arzu could move silently while being slow and deliberate, my flames made my movements in flight far more quick, jerky, and each of the flames coming from my hands and feet howled like the solid-fuel engines of hobby rockets. This told me that while what my aunt was doing would allow her to move stealthily and without damaging her surroundings, I’d be, by comparison, racing around like a comparative sports car, explaining why I’d surprised Alim and Ismail so completely by literally rocketing out of the last-known position I’d been in when sparring with each of them.

“Pretty!” Nur, my now year-old little sister called out, her mind that of an entirely ordinary toddler and not augmented by reincarnation like mine, happily clapping from where she was sitting in my mother’s lap, while the tutoring session, I was progressing well as my master’s now six-year-old student.

“Yes, Sweetie, your brother is very impressive,” Mom commented, smiling proudly, one of her hands holding Nur’s body to my mother’s still-flattening belly, despite the year that had passed since her latest child’s birth, the other one working at breaking off bite-sized chunks of the various sweet snacks set out for Nur to enjoy while she watched me.

“Keep in mind, Zohre, the gods chose to let Idris retain his memories from a previous life,” Aunt Arzu commented, holding her hands out to stabilize the wind column Reyhan had formed and was struggling to maintain, her first meridian having just come into play less than a week before. “Even if Nur follows her brother’s example to the letter, the very fact that he’s remembering most things instead of learning them from scratch will likely make him far more powerful than anyone else in this entire household.”

“True, but the fact that Nur will have Idris to learn from will be a big help for her in developing in her life to come,” Dad countered, his task being to handle medical supplies, like bandages with antibiotic poultices made from a mix of specially curated molds, fed by mixing them with rough leaves and needles from the trees surrounding the manor and splints for if either Reyhan or I had our individual flying abilities gave out, with little shots of Yingtou tincture, the key to our fast development, despite the both of us still technically being around seven years old.

“Mother, I might have a pretty big issue,” Anyur complained, entering the room, a vomit-ruined bedsheet in her hands, the stain in the center of the part she was holding. “Linh, the daughter of Lord Nguyann, who’s been my hand maiden for the past six years, did this. And I don’t think it was entirely her fault, not with the lessons on personal responsibility you’ve been careful to teach each of us, especially given how a certain brother of mine seems not to pay as much attention during such lessons.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed how she’s had a rather effective siren’s call effect on Ismail for some time, and caring for you wasn’t the only reason why she was sent to be your attendant,” Aunt Arzu sighed, guiding Reyhan back down to the ground while I cut my flames, forming an ice slick as a landing strip, gradually increasing the friction so I’d slow down over a longer distance. “I’d been hoping to secure Ismail a position as Linh’s consort, since she’s her father’s intended heir, but I’d been hoping to get them to tell me when they started their courtship, and get a wedding in for them before a pregnancy happened. I’ll handle this, starting by writing to Lord Nguyann, then I’ll see to arranging a marriage before news of a pregnancy gets out too far.”

“What does this mean?” Reyhan asked, looking around, confused as Dad got a shot of the tincture ready for her and I each.

“Rey, you know how Nur was growing in Auntie Zuhre’s tummy?” Anyur asked, bending down to come closer to her sister’s eye level. “Well, Miss Linh is starting on that process, with Ismail as her baby’s daddy.”

“But, her body doesn’t look any different…” Reyhan observed, reluctantly taking her shot of elixir into her hand, gulping it down before shuddering from the sour flavor.

“That’s probably because she’s just starting on the process,” I said, slugging down my own shot, scowling at the same sour flavor like it was cheap booze in my old life from the rare night we’d celebrate by getting absolutely tanked. “Just like how Nur’s not as big and strong as we are, that baby’s going to be growing in Linh’s belly for nearly a year before it’s going to be strong enough to live out here with us. It’s also likely we’re going to be traveling to Linh’s home for a quick wedding to Ismail, as for nobles, it tends to be kind of embarrassing to have a baby when not married, even when it’s with another noble.”

“Right, now that the Yingtou is taken, let’s move on to hitting targets at a long range,” Shifu said, snapping his fingers and making an assortment of at the moment stationary floating targets made out of a lightly colored, but probably very porous stone. “Reyhan, since your mother’s busy, why don’t you join in?”

“First, does this mean that Linh’s going to be my big sister like Anyur?” Reyhan asked, looking rather excited that she’d have another girl to play with when she wasn’t learning from her mother and the two brothers she had left, as Alim had been accepted into the great sage’s courses to study more advanced magic, and I could easily imagine him researching fire much like his mother had researched wind.

“Close, but the term’s going to be sister-in-law, meaning she’d be either the sister of one of your siblings’ spouses, or the wife of one of your siblings, in this case, Ismail,” I explained, understanding the concept as one of the differences between NCOs, like I’d been in my previous life, was the right to take any number of spouses being reserved for commissioned officers, each rank allowing another wife until hitting flag officer ranks, when all such limits were lifted; the specific general I’d served under having a harem of no fewer than twenty wives at the time of my death. “Shifu, Aunt Arzu uses wind blasts aimed at bells to signal for her staff. Can we use one of those as Reyhan’s target?”

“The metal used in their construction would be too expensive is she uses too much power with each blast, but making more of these stone targets is just a matter of going out to your family’s lands, as they’re just pumas from the local mountain,” Shifu explained, flicking one of his hands so one of the targets floats into my hands, and sure enough, it was light like it was made out of paper instead of proper stone, and I remembered how pumas specifically was full of air trapped from when it was violently ejected into the air by an eruption.

“Beyond that, I could see how a team of wind, earth, and fire cultivators could make this without a mountain like ours,” I commented, tossing the target back into the air, and Shifu reversed the command, directing it back into the position it had originally been in before my tutor demonstrated what I’d be aiming at.

“Right you are, now, take note of the numbers on the targets, and hit the one with the number I say,” Shifu instructed, then calling out random numbers, and I started firing bolts of fire and spears of ice at them, aiming for the ones called out.

As suggested, Reyhan did her best to keep the numbers called out and blast them with wind, thrusting her hands out in similar trigger gestures her mother did, but even with the Yingtou helping her out, she started to tire out quickly. Before long, she started to sway like she’d just downed an entire six-pack of ¾ pint beer cans, and eventually fell over onto her back.

“She’s fine, just sleeping as her lone meridian is demanding,” Shifu snapped, seeing me turn to check on my cousin. “She ended up expending and recovering enough ki to expand the capacity of the meridian, and now her body has forced her to sleep while recovering and adjusting to her new level of power. When she wakes, she’ll have closed the gap between her and you, Idris, and if anyone is to touch her, it will be you, Kashif, as you move your younger niece to a more comfortable bed until she returns to our waking world.”

I was then instructed to keep going until either all the remaining targets were destroyed or I too passed out, and I called for a break when I started to feel the call for sleep and just barely stopped in time to drag myself over to where Mom was sitting with Nur, then just dropped into an empty chair next to my mother and sister, then just blackness. When I woke up again, Reyhan was back up and working her way through more targets, and I was also feeling stronger than before, so I joined in as well.

After draining ourselves to the point that both Reyhan and I ended up taking another involuntary nap, our lessons for the day were called finished, and we were instructed to change out of the sweaty clothing from the training session. From there, we were ushered into the dressing rooms for Aunt Arzu’s personal tailor’s office, getting our measurements for fitted formal clothing to attend Ismails wedding, the nineteen-year-old man himself looking cowed from the lecture of personal responsibility he’d had retaught to him as while he’d already been promised to marry the lesser lord’s daughter he’d impregnated, he still slept with her before marriage, and now there wasn’t a chance for a proper courtship that his mother and her father had planned for.

After that, it was time for dinner, and it was fairly normal, and far more enjoyable than in my first life, as there, I’d have been fed just a nutrient slurry that hit all my body’s basic needs, while also reducing the need to keep track of the different elements of the food. However, it sure does give a much more pleasant aspect to food when you can change things like the doneness of a steak, the seasonings on a tuber, or even the kind of sauce mixed into a bowl of rice.

The Soldier Becomes a Cultivator (Chapter 5)

The Soldier Becomes a Cultivator (Chapter 4)