Helping Riffa to her feet, I offered her a nod of my head. She did not look too happy to have lost, but there did not seem to be any ill will on her face as she returned my nod. I had not expected my blow to knock her out, but apparently controlling the sand people like she did required a great deal of concentration.
“Thanks for the bout, Riffa.”
“In reluctant concession, you are welcome, Hunter. Thank you as well.”
Reff walked up to us as we parted, a small smile on his face.
“In vindication, do you see, sister? You were unsure whether your chosen Exemplar would benefit you very much, and as I have said, as you stand, you are vulnerable to attacks from directions not covered by your puppets, not to mention to fast attackers. You should concentrate on completing your Path.”
Riffa turned on her brother and her eyes narrowed slightly, and when she spoke there was the faintest growl to her voice.
“In accusation, this was to convince me not to come with you? I am stronger than Hunter, why should I not go?”
“In exasperation, Riffa, your Focus leaves you vulnerable. Hunter, who has yet to complete his Core, defeated you by exploiting that weakness. You have said that once you have completed your Path, your puppets will act independently; if that is the case, you would be foolish to risk yourself further right now. You have been lucky so far.”
I mostly stood back during all this, trying to be small. I could see my friends point; Riffa had been an easy opponent once I had made it past her sand sculptures, but I could also see the other side of things. While Riffa’s Focus might not currently be great in some situations, I was sure there were others in which it would excel, especially if they could eventually move and make decisions on their own, freeing her up to actually fight. I could imagine that being pretty scary. On top of that, she was still at a higher stage than I was and if she chose to forgo her Focus, she might very well be able to mop the floor with me. Mop the sand? Can you mop sand? Rake the floor with me?
“In irritation, I know you only fear for my safety, Reff, but if I am ever to complete my Path, I must Experience more of the world. Be warned, brother: one day I will overtake you, and on that day, I will return your concern several fold.”
Reff had said she was competitive. I could definitely see it, and I felt a little sorry for my large friend, if she ever did overtake his cultivation level.
“You three all have Foci related to Crafting – you two and Raaf I mean. Is that a family thing, or your entire people? I know you mentioned that your whole group were crafters originally.”
I piped up, hoping to head off the discussion before it could descend into whatever passed for full-on sibling squabbling amongst the Risi.
Reff turned to me, a touch of relief on his face as he spoke.
“With relieved confirmation, many of our people start with some sort of crafting Focus, which is then often adapted for combat. For many years, after our arrival, we tried to hold onto the purity of our art, however without the Metal caste, it was not possible. A compromise was reached.”
“It seems to have worked out well,” I gestured around at the Citadel we stood on, “This place is certainly a work of art. And both your armour, and your sculptures, Riffa. Makes me wish I had taken something with more structure for my Focus, but it is what it is.”
It was kind of true – my lightning had saved my bacon a few times, but I had been exposed to more of the world since then, to more people. I thought I could do better, but doing so risked losing both my extended energy channels and all the progress I had made so far. I did not think reverting to the state I had been in upon my arrival would be helpful in my upcoming mission, or any of my future ones.
The siblings both bowed and thanked me for the compliment, seeming to come to a silent agreement to table their discussion.
We discussed the bout after that, going over places where the two of us could have done better, and I felt a little dumb when Reff pointed out that I may have been able to jump over them. I had not really practiced much with my increased strength – most things seemed fairly normal to me, as materials here are tough and heavy enough even for other cultivators. For example, the sword I had been practising with was probably thirty or forty pounds, and while it had seemed a little heavy for me when I first held it back in Everwood City, it had not seemed that heavy.
I tested out jumping, perhaps making the mistake of giving it my all – I shot into the air, at least thirty feet up, before landing back on the sand with a muffled whup. I looked at my friends in amazement, a wide smile on my face. My smile did however fall quite quickly, as a sand puppet once more formed between us and jumped up, gaining not quite as much air as I had, but given its own height, it could probably have grabbed me. I pictured it throwing me down and landing on me, so I quickly decided to refrain from giant leaps in combat. It was impossible – at least for me – to change my direction in the air, and that would leave me open.
Bidding them goodbye, I went in search of Walker, shaking images of myself soaring through the air with a sword held in front of me from my mind.
*
***
*
After asking a couple of people, I managed to locate my mentor – along with Aella – at a tavern a couple of levels down from where our residences were.
Inside the tavern – The Ale Well – there was a low hum of conversation, rather than the more boisterous din I was used to from places where people drank in public. The light was low and tinged red, with the glowing lines running in gently sweeping waves around the room.
There were a few non-Risi scattered about, though they were hard to see among the giants. Walking through the rumbling crowd, I managed to spot them both in a corner, along with Sonja. I hesitated as I spotted them, wondering if perhaps I was intruding, but as I paused, the heads of both Walker and his fellow Apex turned to me simultaneously and my mentor gestured me over.
“Hunter, please, join us. We are enjoying a final drink before Sonja and I must go to gather the others.” Walker’s voice pierced the low rumble of the room easily, and with a smile and a nod I took the final remaining free seat at the table.
“You know where the others are? I’ve been meaning to ask – if the Apexes are scattered around the world, won’t it take a long time to gather them?”
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It was Sonja who answered, rather than my Mentor, her lambent grey-white eyes locked on me.
“Know, not specifically, do we. Our favoured routes and homes, however – yes. Fast do we travel when on our own, and our perception stretches far. Weeks it will take, at least, it is certain.”
Walker nodded around a large stone flagon as he drank deeply, before setting it down and speaking, a surprising hint of trepidation in his voice.
“I do not look forward to disturbing Bo Ai’rong, he is always foul tempered when interrupted.”
“Envy you, I do not; still would I take the Unfettered Frame over the Sun’s Judgement. Stuck-up and arrogant, she is.”
I was surprised to hear an Apex refer to another as stuck-up; to that point I had only heard them – as a whole – described as a fairly tight-knit group, at least as far as a dispersed group could be. I had also never heard of either of the Apexes they had mentioned, though that was not too surprising given how long I had been there. Other than the two present, I had heard of the Wild Bounty and of the Crystal Drake, as well as Reff’s brother, the Mountain’s Seed.
“What sort of cultivators are the Unfettered Frame and Sun’s Judgement? If that’s not rude to ask?”
Sonja blinked at me for a moment before a look of understanding dawned; I was sure Walker had told her about my particular past, so I was not surprised when she did not challenge my ignorance. It was my mentor who answered first, his voice filled with admiration, and again, a little trepidation.
“Bo Ai’rong focuses entirely on physical abilities. He is – physically – the most powerful being on this world, and the most powerful I have ever come across while Walking others. If a Peak Pinnacle cultivator is five-thousand times as powerful as a normal person, Bo Ai’rong is at least thirty-thousand times as powerful, though I have never seen him go all-out. It is possible he is more powerful still.”
Shocked, I tried to picture a person who was that strong and fast; they would have a hell of a time interacting with the world. Even the strongest materials I had seen would seem like little more than tissue paper to somebody like that. In my mind, I imagined a sneeze taking out a city and shuddered a little.
“A star’s form does Paladin ChianJilow, Apex of the Sun’s Judgement take. Unleashed or controlled she may be, but is devastating either way. In service of Weilou, who holds Dominion over Stars is she. Zealous.... stuck-up.”
Sonja’s description was somewhat less intimidating, at least at first. Unlike Bo Ai’rong, I had no real frame of reference for becoming a star, but if she actually became star, then it was probably pretty deadly. It was also the first time I had heard the word Weilou, and given the designation of Paladin, I inferred that it was a god.
“Weilou is a god? I think this is the first time I have heard one of the local gods spoken of by name.”
It was Aella who answered this time; she had been listening along and snorting quietly to herself whenever the Mending Flesh described ChianJilow as stuck-up.
“Weilou, the Dominion of Stars, is a god, yes. God of fire and light! And god of passion, and justice! His followers party hard, but get super judgy afterwards... they can be pretty stuck-up.” The last was said with a wide smile as my teacher took a long pull from her own flagon. I caught a whiff of what was in the stone vessel and winced; I had thought it ale, given the name of the establishment but it smelled more like vodka.
“... So, she’s a Paladin? I thought the gods weren’t allowed to interfere with things down here?”
“They cannot intervene directly – even the wars between worlds are more a byproduct of their own battles with other pantheons. They can however grant power to those that seek it and are deemed worthy. When a worshipper is ready to begin their Path, they may entreat the gods, and if they are found to be worthy, they are granted an Exemplar that embodies their chosen deity. From that point on, they must serve that god’s values, if not their direct will.”
“The gods can provide Exemplars? It seems like a lot rides on a person’s choice of Path.”
“Indeed, Hunter. In many ways, the choice of Exemplar is much more important than that of the Focus. A well-chosen Exemplar can take even a mediocre Focus and make it great, and can push a great Focus to the heights of power.”
I pondered his words – I had been a little disappointed with my own Focus almost since I had chosen it. That was not to say that I hated it – lightning was still awesome, and it had saved me a number of times, but when I saw how others used their own, I was a little jealous. Maybe, I thought, I could make some of that up with my exemplar.
“Walker, Reff’s sister creates sand puppets, but she has a hard time controlling them all, at least until she finished integrating her own Exemplar. It made me thing about your own abilities – how do you control so many swords at once? They all seem to act independently. It’s not rude to ask... is it?”
“It is not rude, amongst friends. You should not ask strangers, however. Some can be quite... secretive about it. When I was younger, when traveling far from here, I came upon a being with fifty heads and a hundred arms. In each, they held a weapon. This being was capable of wielding them independently, and with great skill, despite an apparent lack of genuine intelligence. I do not know from where this being originated – I have never found or heard of another, but it fought well. For days and weeks we fought, and it is only due to its lack of intelligence I was able to prevail, as it was otherwise stronger than me in all ways. My Focus made use of multiple weapons - though not as many as now - but a mortal mind is not designed to control so many disparate objects with skill, and so I considered myself fortunate to have found a beast which seemed to make up that lack.” Walker took another drink from his mug, which seemed to be even stronger than Aella’s own. “I absorbed the hundred-handed beast as my Exemplar, hoping it would allow me at least a portion of its own control. Once I had integrated it fully, I was pleasantly surprised to find I had underestimated its control, as well as several other benefits.”
Something about Walker’s story rang a bell in my memory, and I searched for a moment, trying to recall what it was he had reminded me off. There was some mythological creature from back on Earth, I was sure, but I was unable to recall the details.
“I absorbed a natural treasure! It resembled a pinecone, but seemed to me made from stone, as did the tree it grew from. The blasted tree nearly killed me – the damn cones made themselves many, many times heavier as they fell. Turned people in to mush, and now I do too!” My teacher slapped the table and laughed. Her short description explained the unreasonable power exhibited by her weighted chain, as well as how it had so much of an... impact on people.
Sonja was of course silent – I had only met her a few times, and while she seemed friendly enough, I was not about to ask her about her own cultivation, given our limited relationship.
I turned back to my dark mentor and asked him the same question I had asked Reff: whether he knew of any Exemplar that would fit me and my own Focus. His answer was pretty much what I expected, but there was a hint of hope in it too.
“Each Path must be chosen individually – intent is as important as the actual choice. The Sha Forest, however, is a very interesting area, filled with strange and powerful beasts, as well as natural treasures. Should you complete your Core, there would be a good place in which to find your own Path.”
I nodded, but stayed silent. I did not know how far I had to go to complete my Core, but if what Walker said was right, that the Sha Forest was a good place to begin, I would have to double down on my cultivation; if my luck so far was anything to go by, it would likely be an interesting journey. Riffa had said it would take about a month to get there, which was within the timeframe of my quest, thankfully, though it did not leave a very large margin for error.
That did remind me however that I needed to collect my orders from the alchemist – I had placed it the day before and it had wiped out most of my funds. The order was nothing special, just healing and cleansing pills, mostly, but given I was leaving my mentor behind, I would not be able to mooch off him any longer. I planned on doing some hunting on the way, when I had chance to put together some more money, though the idea that I might be killing the descendent of some Elder would probably keep me up at nights... I hoped Instinctive Precognition would warn me if I was about to do something so stupid, but with the way it worked, I was not sure if me knowing it might be stupid would block it.
Shaking my head, knowing I was over thinking things again, I stood once more and bowed to my friends, and Sonja.
“I have an early morning tomorrow, I should probably go get some rest, and pick up my supplies. Will I see you again, before I leave?”
“I will see you before you leave, Hunter.”
“Yeah, me too! … Provided it’s not too early...”
I grinned at my teacher and turned to leave, my mind already on the coming journey.