The meeting lasted for just over an hour, and then Layla excused the Death Gauntlet Team—Nil didn’t like it even though it was succinct and explained their purpose in a few hours. She kept CIT back to discuss the nitty gritty of their investigation. Susan joined them to get up to date with their current operation. She hadn’t climbed high through the Metropolitan Police Force’s ranks, but her quests often involved tracking and investigations. Her experience gave her a lot to contribute to the process.
“I don’t get why I have to come with you.” Shawn sighed. “Unlike you two, I have a lot of training to do.”
“Why the song and dance, Shawn?” Nil asked. “It’s not like we can keep you here.”
“He likes to spend time with us, but admitting it goes against his ‘I’m too strong to need people’ routine,” Selia said. She walked between the two men, both arms looped around one of theirs. “Nil and I got access to a bunch of exclusive vendors thanks to this recent quest. Hopefully, they’ll let you in as our companion, and we can all pick up something useful.”
“Might as well invest our riches back in ourselves.” Nil followed the Schema interface’s map toward the new vendors. The list included vendors who specialized in Soul Weapon upgrading materials and consumables, which accelerated the growth rate of spirit beasts, helped them develop new abilities, or boosted aspects of their physiology. The artisans and vendors intrigued him the most. The first group included alchemists, tailors, leatherworkers, and even blacksmiths who would make custom equipment at a discount. However, Nil felt that learning fighting styles and techniques from around the multiverse would significantly increase his survivability rates. “It's not like we get any interest for letting our Schema Credits just sit there.”
“Does that matter?” Shawn asked. “It's not like there is inflation with Schema Credits.”
“In all seriousness, Shawn, you’re good, but there is a chance our Death Gauntlet opponents might prove better,” Nil said. “I saw your Airlock match, and it was closer than you probably want to admit. We need every advantage we can get, even if it's temporary. I don’t know the details of your power, but maybe Moon Rabbit Emporium’s cultivation techniques might make a difference.”
“I mostly want to get in there to match your growth rate,” Shawn said. “You’ve been a Summoned less than half the time as me, but you might just beat me to Bronze Realm.”
“Between cultivation exercises and mage training, you should have no trouble keeping up with Nil,” Selia said.
“Mage training?” Nil raised an eyebrow. “You invest in Mind?”
Shawn nodded. “My attribute spread makes me more an Arcane Warrior than a Knight. If it weren’t for the short-range, I could’ve been a mage. I prioritize Spark first since it affects my energy source, barrier strength, and the power of the explosions. The rest is divided equally between Finesse and Mind. The first is for general mobility and physiology improvements. Mind helps me with the mental strain of creating multiple barriers, holding them, and general control. I should delve a little into spellcraft, but I worry it will end up with me stretching myself too thin. I’m thinking of taking a negative trait once I have enough Cursed Energy built up. Something to boost my Mind potential could be great. ”
“I wish I could get into magic.” Nil sighed. “When Andrew and I talked about becoming Summoned, he was always the artisan, and I was the mage. I would go on adventures and bring back the riches. He would make me energy batteries and spell stores to become the most badass arena mage ever.”
“Please.” Selia rolled her eyes. “Between Brutal Battery, cultivation techniques, and now the Source Gauntlets, you’re pretty bloody powerful compared to most mages.” She returned her attention to Shawn. “Have you given my idea much thought? Folded barriers or sharp angles for cutting tools might be pretty cool. You have trouble breaking through enemy armor defenses. Maybe a spell that wraps your barrier around a sword could help you achieve something of the sort.”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a whole section dedicated to something-wrapped-blade techniques in Moon Rabbit Emporium,” Nil commented. “Maybe we should look into something of the sort. Maybe we should start there?”
Shawn paused, bringing the trio to a stop. “Do you really want to share access to the Moon Rabbit Emporium with me? I get you doing it for Selia. You two are dating or whatever this is, but I’ve never been particularly nice to you.”
“Yes, but we’re friends now, right? And on the same team.” Nil shrugged, flashing the man a friendly smile. “What fun is a professional rival if I get all the unfair advantages and he lags behind? It’ll be no fun if you fall too far behind. I’ll have to start over with someone new again, and I’m not that ready for that level of drama and commitment.”
Selia laughed, but he only got a nod from Shawn. The trio went to the Moon Rabbit Emporium first. It took a moment to talk the guards into letting the pair through, but the guard relented after Nil’s regular shopping assistant showed up. It was an opportunity for her to get more commission, of course.
“It’s fine as long as you’re the one making the purchases, Mr Roy,” she declared.
After going over Selia and Shawn’s powers, their fighting styles, and requirements, the woman had a rough idea of what they needed. First, she got them two different sets of Qi Detection manuals and pills that would increase their sensitivity. Given their vastly different abilities, Selia and Shawn required utterly different approaches. After explaining how everything worked, she also picked out individual cultivation techniques for them. Instead of pills that boosted attributes, she also added beginner cultivation aids to the basket.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The woman also tried to sell them manuals for Qi Projection and Qi Shaping, but much to her chagrin, Nil suggested he share the copies he purchased with them instead. He had copied them into his Schema Interface and the physical copies now sat in his Nexus storage.
It took several minutes to talk Shawn into giving into the idea of a barrier-wrapped blade. He preferred hand-to-hand combat, but after Nil told him about Sakura’s Cutting Light and what she had achieved with her soul weapon, the man relented. After a demonstration, the shop assistant declared Shawn’s power a combination of spatial and force essence—whatever that meant. She took a monstrous chunk out of his savings with manuals dedicated to Spatial-Folding and Force-Wrapped Sword.
Doing the same for Selia proved significantly harder. She had already started on her journey toward energy and Qi detection, but her power didn’t directly translate into offensive or defensive techniques. The closest option they found was awfully close to Spectral Tethers. In the end, they settled for a fundamental Attraction and Repulsion technique.
“The manual lays the foundation for advanced movement, flight, and control techniques,” the shop assistant said. “It's an excellent start and could combine well with your magic to become something far more useful.”
Before departing, Nil spent a part of his recent windfall on another manual. He was nowhere near mastering Qi Projection or Qi Shaping. However, both manuals referred a lot to a third fundamental technique: Qi Manipulation. He believed that mastery over Brutal Battery’s energy and the Source would continue to rocket him through the realms. Not a year passed since Nil was an ordinary civilian, and now Bronze was in sight.
Before heading to the magic-focused section of Nexus Market, Nil used one of the vouchers he had received in Cultivator’s Technique. He met with a few Qi masters but was treated surprisingly poorly.
“I don’t think they like people from non-cultivator realms,” Shawn commented after the third meeting. “Why not just keep working with the manuals? You’re starting to project and shape just about right. I bet you can do the same with manipulation.”
“These bastards all got sticks up their butts,” Selia said. “Bunch of cu—”
“Are you looking for Qi training, young man?” An old man in ratty clothes waved Nil over. A dirty bowl with a couple of grains of rice sat next to him, and a gourd sat next to him, tipped over onto its side. His droopy eyes had the same red tinge one would expect from someone who smoked too much weed. “I might not be a Qi Master, but if you desire a firm group on the fundamentals, you won’t find a better…” The man trailed off mid-sentence, scratching his head. “What’s the word?”
“That place has a lot more people dressed like us,” Selia said, pointing at a building ahead. She pulled Nil along. “Let's try our luck there.”
“That’s right!” The man snorted. “Teacher. Dragon Shit. How did I forget that?” He guffawed. “You want tutoring, young man? All it will take is one of those vouchers.”
“I was looking for someone with their own training rooms,” Nil said. “I appreciate the offer, but—”
“Training rooms?” The man laughed harder. “What for? You’re learning to harness the power that permeates all universes and separates them. You don’t need dragon-shit training rooms or fancy buildings and uniforms.” He snorted again, shaking his head. The man grabbed his gourd, held it upside down over his mouth, and shook it. “I swear cultivators nowadays are just drowning in pretention.”
“And you can do better than them?”
“You can’t seriously be considering him, can you?” Selia asked.
“You’re wasting valuable training time, Nil,” Shawn told him. He nodded at the building Selia had highlighted. “There’s an Indian guy at the reception wearing Levis. That’s the place. I want to look at spells.” Shawn lowered his volume. “This guy is drunk and probably senile.”
“He’s right on both counts, and I’m no Gold or Platinum Realm like those teachers,” the old man stated. His laughter ceased, and he wiped his face. “But you want the fundamentals. Don’t you? One voucher. Three lessons.”
“I want ten. Most of these places offer seven for one, and they have all the necessary facilities and resources.”
“But they won’t take you because of where you hail from.”
“Nil.” Selia tightened her hold on his arm. “Shawn is right. This is a mistake.”
“I never mentioned the Source,” Nil said. “Qi and the Source are vastly different, and I haven’t mentioned it once since living in the Moon Rabbit Emporium.” He smiled at the old man. “Our friend knew otherwise, and I want to know how. You’re not what you seem, are you, sir?”
“Sir?” He laughed even harder.
“Yes. You won’t be in the Nexus Market or this part of it unless you are allowed to be here. You clearly have a thing for toying with people and hiding your true identity. Hence, sir.”
All signs of humor disappeared from the older man’s face. He looked Nil in the eye for several silent seconds. “Now, why do you have to go ruin my fun?”
Nil shrugged. “I don’t have the time to play around. My next Death Gauntlet match is in just over a week.”
“One voucher. Seven lessons. Agreed?”
“That’s acceptable. When do we start?”
“You’ll be hearing from me. Run along now.”
Selia and Shawn were glad to move on and bombarded Nil with questions. The pair didn’t hesitate to share their doubts about the strange man, their friend’s sanity, and especially his judgment. They ended up in the new exclusive magic neighborhood that was a part of Selia’s reward. She spoke to a few old mages and explored several scrolls.
After an hour of searching, Selia found a tutor who’d help her master her current spells and get better at avoiding backfires, failures, and mental strain. She paid with a voucher and picked up another sensory spell. Nil also bought her the first scroll in a series of increasingly more difficult and powerful toxin conjuration spells.
Shawn grumbled as he spent the last of his money on a magic tutor. He also picked up a manual of force missile spells that would use his barrier energy to give him a much-needed ranged option. He believed that combining the knowledge from his Spatial Folding and Force-Wrapped Sword techniques with the spell could produce something powerful and terrifying.
Nil enjoyed watching his new friend excited. They returned to the ludus afterward. While he and Selia got some much-needed rest, Shawn returned to training. The man had a spring in his step, and his eyes wandered over invisible screens as he walked.