I sat cross-legged with my eyes closed, comfortable within Reff’s bubble of cool air as my friends chatted quietly. My mind and spirit were focused on the last day or so, internalising the Experience and making the events a part me. It had been a strange feeling, being empty of power, especially after I had spent so long packing it into my centre – into my Core; it was slightly frustrating that I – theoretically – had all that power tucked away that I was apparently unable to access, but upon consideration I did not think I would like to have to start it again from scratch.
With a grin, I kept my breathing even as I felt my Core pulsing in time with my accumulation of Experience, almost humming as it converted my efforts into Praxis. It had occurred to me to begin to push that energy directly into my new Exemplar, but the possibility that we may have to face our thief – or thieves – at any moment had caused me to reject that idea, ultimately.
As the person most at home in this environment, Darina had scouted further down the river, looking for more likely spots, but the river apparently curved sharply towards the farms to the North, so the apprentice had turned back; it seemed we had found the most likely spot, and so we had setup just inside the tree-line, a short distance from the rock outcropping.
“How are you recovering, Hunter? You should probably figure out what your new abilities are before engaging in a life or death battle, and we may be short on time.”
I had been quietly cultivating for about six hours at that point and the sun had just set; the noises of the jungle were switching from day to night and I heard the strange undulating cry of something in the distance before it was picked up and echoed back from a dozen directions.
I no longer felt empty at that point, but my awareness of my energy channels had never been great and though my sensitivity had improved my leaps and bounds since I had completed my Core, the scope of the energy system carved inside of me made it difficult to obtain an accurate picture. Which is to say that while I no longer felt empty, it still only felt like a trickle.
“Hey, Hunter, don’t ignore me.”
Irritated, I opened my eyes and met the apprentice's re-jade eyes, glaring.
“I’ve recovered some, but I don’t know how much. My energy channels are too large to get a big picture view.”
“What, why would you do it that way? How fast is your Core producing Praxis?”
“... Quickly? It’s sort of... humming along?”
“And, so?”
“So ... what?”
“You are-”
“With hurried intervention, the rate at which your Core processes Experience into Praxis can inform you how much energy you have available, Hunter. When your Core matches the timing of your Heart, you are full.”
“Oh. Well, then I guess I’ve recovered some, but I have a way to go. Thank you Reff.”
“With calm assurance, you are welcome. Please alert us when your Core slows, as Darina in this at least is correct; it would be better to have a grasp of what you are now capable of.”
“Will do! Just going to, you know, get back to it.”
I heard a snort again from where Darina sat as I closed my eyes once more, but I simply processed the Experience, paying close attention to my Core. At this rate, I thought it would take a at least a day to recover, possibly two, but that was still an incredible step up from the months I had spent manually processing energy.
If I was lucky, I would be able to practice with my Exemplar the next day.
As luck would have it, that night, was not the night.
*
***
*
I woke early but refreshed in the pre-dawn cool, the nocturnal denizens of the rain forest still asserting their dominance – or getting laid – in the distance. We had taken turns watching for our half-hoped-for guest, with myself taking the first in hopes of cramming more cultivation in, which meant that as I awoke, I could just make out the sitting form of Reff as he gazed fixedly in the direction of the river.
Not wanting to risk waking the others with a greeting, I turned my gaze inwards again and began to cultivate; the rate at which my Core vibrated had slowed considerably, now beating at about twice the rate of my heart, which from what I could gather, meant I was about a third full, given my extensive system. I did not think that I had spent that much energy in my fights, so I was probably safe to practice, and if it came down to it, if I needed more than a third of my total reserve in a fight, I was probably going to lose either way; there was only so much of the stuff I could push though my channels without losing control and taking myself out of the fight.
Thinking about my recent loss of control I recalled the pill Tang had given in back in Everwood City; he had said it was designed to increase the potency and resistance to any element you were Focused on. I had not used it yet because the young alchemist had also said that it was most effective when consumed at the Path stage – which I now officially had a foot upon. I had been eager to consume the thing for a long time; the prospect of strengthening my lightning was great and all, but the true attraction lay in the increased resistance; lightning hurt and while I could heal the burns, I was not a fan of pain.
Reaching into my first storage ring, I pulled out the box which contained the pill and opened it; in the dim light, I could make out no details, but I recalled the slightly transparent, white-grey hue of a moonstone. As I picked it up in my remaining hand, I felt how smooth it was, almost like glass. Like many of the pills I had seen since my arrival on that world, it looked more like it was designed to choke somebody rather than help improve them, and if it had been much larger I could have expected straps to be attached at either side, but as it was, I thought I could just about get it down, though I wished – for the first time – that I had water of my own, rather than just the hydrating pellets I had purchased. Fantastically convenient they may be, but they did not help to wash things down.
With a shrug, I built up some saliva in my mouth and popped the large pill in, swallowing with a grimace. There was a little pain as the ball slid into my throat, but its surface proved slick enough that it did not stick, though I could feel it travel all the way down, before vanishing into my stomach. For a minute or so, nothing happened and I thought perhaps the pill had gone bad, or that I had wasted it by taking it too early, but just as I was ready to slap myself, I felt strange effervescent warmth begin to build within me and spread. It was not unpleasant by any means, but the increasing sensation of being fizzy was certainly off-putting.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Knowing that the pill would need to interact with my Focus, I turned my gaze inwards again and my spiritual sight fell upon my now solid soul sea just in time to see a glowing grey cloud begin to penetrate the walls of my centre, before flowing through the hard edges of my Core to wrap around my Focus. I watched to process with rapt attention, though it did not last long. In less than a minute, the bubbling warmth had gone, along with the cloud and in its place, I saw my Focus now limned with a soft grey-white glow.
Given how painful my breakthroughs had been to that point, I had not expected the process to go so smoothly, but I was glad it had. It also occurred to me that requirement to take it at the Path stage may have meant it needed to drain my Praxis, as absorbing my Exemplar had; that probably would not have gone well, given my depleted state, and I wiped a sudden sweat from my brow that I had not suffered any consequences for my rash action.
Slipping the now empty box back into my ring, I once again turned my attention inwards to cultivate with a smile, knowing I may have more than one surprise for my sparring partners later that day.
*
***
*
“So, are you going to take it easy on me, due to the whole ‘one arm’ thing?”
I stood opposite Darina in a small clearing a short distance from the rock we were watching; Reff and Riffa had opted to stay behind to maintain our vigil, which left me facing off against the diminutive apprentice solo for the first time since the day we had met.
“No.”
“...Okay, then I won’t take it easy on you either.”
“Good. Now shut up and fight.”
The red-eyed girl was as eager to fight as ever, and while I had been mostly joking about her taking it easy on me, I knew from our time training together that she was not the type to hold back much, even in practice. Reluctantly I dropped into a guard stance, though it was a little awkward with only one arm.
“You aren't going to use your sword? You seem to keep forgetting it.”
“I don’t keep forgetting it, we keep fighting things I don’t want to kill.”
“Like your torturer, and the frog?”
“Hey, I wanted to take the frog as my Exemplar.”
“... At the end.”
“Let’s just fight, okay.”
Darina snorted and I scowled, Focusing. As always, my lightning crackled into existence with a whine and the world slowed around me. Given how fast the instant frog had moved, I had almost expected the world to freeze around me, but if my Path was having any impact, I was having a hard time spotting it.
With a yell Drain sprang at me across the short separating distance, her body moving low to the ground as she drove herself forward almost parallel to the jungle floor. Now that my opponent was moving, I did notice a difference; while there was not a great disparity, my perception of the world was definitely faster than what it would normally have been while utilising my Focus at my previous level. I focused harder and the number and thickness of my tendrils around me grew, time slowed even further as well.
As the apprentice closed and threw her first punch – a rising uppercut carrying the whole of her momentum, I stepped clear and pushed her arm away from with my remaining hand and threw my opposite knee towards her head.
Narrowly avoiding my knee by spinning away, Darina spun into a kick, but the basic level of my Precognition warned me it was coming, and with my enhanced speed I was out of the way and already countering by the time it reached my former position.
Turning my body, I stepped into a straight punch that would normally be ridiculous in a real fight; it involved too much of the body and it telegraphed so loudly you could see it coming a mile away, but I wanted to test my speed.
The apprentice’s arm almost made it in time to block, but it barely brushed my sleeve as my fist smashed into her jaw and sent her skidding across the rainforest clearing. Knowing she would not be down for long, I went after her but it seemed that she was done with warming up, because Darina rolled out of the blow and to her feet, the skin around her jaw rippling in a disturbing fashion.
We met again, fists and feet flying as we each fought to wring victory from our opponents. I dodged every one of her blows but she simply took mine head-on, speed versus endurance and pure aggression.
I will admit that I was growing frustrated; while it was true that I was putting on a far better showing than I had ever been able to before completing my Core, Darina’s ability to simply ignore damage was rending my own main advantage somewhat moot. While I was fast enough to land blows with ease, I did not see how I could win, short of outlasting her Praxis. That might have been a strategy with other opponents, given my extensive energy system, but the apprentice had them too, and she was not operating on less than half a tank.
With a growl, I pushed on my Focus some more, slowing time further and hoping to strike hard and fast enough to overcome her protections and send lightning rocking through her; but I recalled our first fight, when she had allowed me to do just that and it did nothing.
The two of us were too evenly matched, and I knew she was growing as frustrated as I was with being unable to hit me, as her face was growing red and her eyes wide with growing focus.
Quick stepping around Darina, I dodged a blow to my face and was in the process of pushing her off her line when Instinctive Precognition sounded a warning inside of me and I leapt backwards just in time to avoid some sort of gruesome claw growing out of my opponent’s arm.
As I stared in muted horror at the bony thing sticking out of my friend’s limb, it shrank and vanished as if it had never been. As I stared at the now pristine flesh of her arm, Darina offered me a vicious grin.
“Flesh shaper, remember?”
“Creepy!”
I did not wait for her to respond, instead rushing in, hoping to capitalise on her distraction; I had no such luck. I snapped a series of short jabs into the apprentice's unprotected face, but even in the short time between blows, I could see the marks vanishing.
When the counter came, I dodged, as I had been doing, but once more alarms rang inside me and I found myself narrowly re-dodging a blow as Darina’s arm grew and elongated to follow me. Suddenly, I found myself dodging desperately as my opponent flows and changed before me, following me or growing new limbs as I fought to avoid her blows.
Growing desperate, but conscious of my limited Praxis and still not having a real handle on my usage, I tried to force my mind to work faster – and it did. The world stilled around me; it no longer crawled but stood frozen before me, though I in turn was also frozen.
I could see Darina in front of me, a feral snarl on her face as she lashed at me with an arm now covered with sharp spurs of bone, and I could not look away or move. For long a long second the two of us stood shackled in place before all at once we burst back into motion, the bony blow sailing over my head as all the commands I had sent my body in that long moment were received all at once and I lost my Focus and found myself in spasms.
“What are you doing?”
Luckily my body quickly regained it’s composure and I climbed to my feet, offering a shrugged apology to my opponent.
“No idea. The world frozen and I couldn't move. And then it unfroze and my body freaked out. Have to say, not super-impressed with my Path... maybe I should have put more thought into it?”
“It is too early for regrets, Hunter. You have absorbed your Exemplar but cannot have integrated much of it. You will grow more proficient as you grow used to it, and perhaps in time you will be able to stand frozen for longer periods, and that will in some way be helpful.”
“... Darina, was that a joke?”
“Was it?”
“... Okay, one more try?”
I shook my arm loose and Focused again; I just wanted to land one solid punch and I’d be happy with our field test, as marginally helpful-turned-debilitating as it had proved.
“Fine. But I won that first bout.”
I mumbled something about cheating with new abilities under my breath, but I knew it was fair; her Exemplar was a shapeshifter, and while she had used that ability to aid her own healing more than anything, if you could not improve, what was the point of practicing?
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
Rolling my eyes and once more dropped into a guard stance again and concentrated on my right arm, trying to force more Praxis through it and to my surprise, energy surged into and around my arm and great leaping arcs of electricity and I grinned at my opponent; two could learn new tricks, it seemed.
This time I did not wait for her to come to me, I went to meet her, and while I was using the same amount of power as I had been at the end of our first bout, the world did not crawl as slowly, and I guessed that my new trick came at a price. I did not let it dissuade me, however; I may not have been as much faster as I would have liked, but I was still faster and I ducked under her first punch with ease, twisting to drive my fist into her stomach.
As my fist made contact, there was a loud snap and a sensation like my arm had moved on its own before Darina was catapulted out of the clearing and into the dense jungle.
“What the shit?”