Tiger Lao shook his head, “Lady Davar, I cannot answer your question. Not because I don’t want to, but because I do not know the answer. I know not where the passages to enter the lower floors are, nor do I know what needs to be done to pass through. I know only a few things, and I’m afraid it would not sate your curiosity.”
Yuriko tilted her head and said, “Bits and pieces would be fine. Better than nothing. What can you tell me?”
“I will tell you what I know, but would we be more comfortable seated and sharing a cup of water?”
“As you will,” Yuriko said offhandedly.
“Please follow me.”
Yuriko and Elsie followed the martial arts teacher as he opened the door of one of the buildings. The door opened to a hallway, and Tiger Lao led them to the first door on the right. Inside was a living room that a low table in the middle, and a two-seater sofa and an armchair around it.
“Have a seat,” Lao said as he headed over to the next room. He came back a moment later carrying three bottles of clear water. Elsie gasped as Lao gave her one, even as he carefully placed another in front of Yuriko.
“Pure Water? Sifu…this is…”
“An offering to our guest,” he said firmly.
Yuriko nodded in thanks and took the bottle. It held half a Ren of water and the cap could be twisted off. She wasn’t sure what the bottle was made of, but she had assumed it was glass. Upon further inspection, she knew it was not. The label in the middle identified it as ‘plastic’, however, and encouraged the holder to recycle it after finishing the content. She twisted the cap off and took a careful sip, holding off a grimace.
It was indeed, purely water, and as such, tasted terribly flat, lacking the minerals that natural spring water had. It tasted the same as what Gwendith froze out of the atmosphere if drunk directly rather than using a condenser canteen. Still, both Lao and Elsie sipped theirs with great relish.
Once Yuriko placed the bottle on the table top, Lao continued speaking. “What you seek, I suppose, is how to Delve to the next floor. I do not know where the Gate is since we were placed in secure transports, with no windows, and our ‘chronian implants and REI-space walkers were disabled. It would take several hours to journey from Central to the Gate, but it could be longer or shorter. Once we arrived, we were directed immediately into the portal, and the area was usually dark. The next thing we knew, we would be on the first lower floor.”
Yuriko nodded, then asked, “How often did you go? How long ago was this?”
“A decade ago,” Lao said. “I left as soon as my term was done. I couldn’t take it anymore.” He sighed. His Anima fluctuated and pushed away from his skin, but stopped an inch away abruptly. Yuriko frowned at the sight. It was not a natural stop, but one constrained.
Her eyes flickered to his forehead, towards the now hidden symbol. The Brand either weakened him or constrained him into a path. The Imperial Path forced Anima to remain within the body, so perhaps it was that? Lao did not react to her inspection.
“As for how often…we were on that floor for years, and I only went there once. I left soon after. I’m sorry, Lady Davar, I do not have more than that.”
“It is enough, thank you.” Yuriko smiled. “In truth, what you said was more than I expected, and it was something I did not seek from you.”
“Ah, then what do you come look me up for?” He asked in surprise, his overly formal tone slipped. Yuriko’s smile widened. She preferred it this way, come to think of it. Too much etiquette was wearying.
“Well, Elsie here wanted to awaken.”
“So she brought you here, to her failure of a teacher.”
“You’re not, sifu!” Elsie exclaimed. “I’m the one who failed.”
Lao shook his head. “Only Matsumi succeeded. Nearly ten years of teaching and she was the only one.”
“Did you achieve your enlightenment on your own, or was it induced?” Yuriko asked bluntly. She knew how to bring someone into the Ancient’s Way, but it required Ambrosia. A lot of it, to be clear, and the little bit that Gwendith and the other brought back was nowhere near enough. If there were other ways to awaken Anima…
“The latter,” Lao admitted, and he subconsciously rubbed his forehead. “But I don’t remember. But I felt my Anima grow when I practised my martial art. It is why I teach. Even if they cannot attain enlightenment and awaken Anima, the knowledge and skills learned would still serve them well.”
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“I see.” Yuriko hummed. “You are mistaken. Walking the path of martial enlightenment will not allow you to awaken Anima, but it is indeed one of the prerequisites to improvement.”
“I suspected as much,” Lao sighed, “but Matsumi awakened a year ago while in practice.”
“Then it’s something else or something completely related to your martial art.” Yuriko smiled.
Lao nodded, then he remained silent for all of three minutes. Yuriko felt that he wasn’t quite done, but Elsie was already fidgeting.
“You want to become a Mystic,” Yuriko said to her, and Elsie nodded. “It is not simple or easy, nor is it inexpensive. I don’t think you’re suited to the same path your sifu has taken or his genius student.”
“I know,” Elsie said tersely. “But…”
“Hmmm, perhaps a door might open for you.”
Lao had stirred from his luminescent mood, and he steeled himself to ask a question he knew was rude. His emotions practically yelled at her as it warred with curiosity and decorum. “Lady Davar. I can feel something from you, something that is the culmination of Mysticism. If—if it’s not too much trouble, will you grace me with a glimpse?”
“Hmm, I don’t mind.” Yuriko said, “It will be repayment for your help.”
“I agree.”
Yuriko simply smiled and unfurled her Anima. Golden Radiance spread from her body and covered the entirety of the living room and the kitchen. She shaped it so that it wouldn’t go past the door and she simply relaxed her restrictions.
Tiger Lao fell to his knees from the armchair, while Elsie gasped, breathless. Yuriko felt threads thickening between them, awe and worship. She debated rejecting them, but the sincerity she felt through the original threads convinced her to let it be. It was not lust, at least.
“Magnificent,” he murmured. His ‘chronian body whirled and clicked as subconscious controls betrayed his agitation. She could feel something rising within the warrior, something familiar yet unexpected. Desire. To fight, to challenge himself. To grow.
So similar to her own drive to challenge herself against worthy foes, even if most of those clashes ended up in a stalemate.
A challenge, was it? His strength did not match her own, but she felt he had skill. And she felt that her own techniques, the very basis of her Ennoia, were lagging behind everything else. After all, she had overwhelmed her foes more than matched skills with them, and she had no clue where to even find someone close to her level to whet her skills with.
It was frustrating to only have fights where her foes were either too weak or too strong. That only left one avenue for her to advance, which was to limit herself to fight evenly against those who have objectively more skill than she did.
She could see and feel the challenge rising with Tiger Lao’s eyes, but it was tempered by caution and respect. She felt that he wanted to fight, but was too polite to ask.
“Let us spar,” Yuriko said with a smile as she retracted her Anima back to herself. “Only by crossing blades would you truly see my enlightenment.”
“It will be my pleasure, Lady Davar,” Tiger Lao said, “but I request we begin with bare fists.”
“I don’t mind.”
With that, both of them stood and walked out the door.
___________
Elsie’s mind spun at the revelations Yuriko casually tossed out, and at how meek her sifu was. She had not realised that the gap between the two was so big. She was not at the level of being able to catch a glimpse of that gap,m and even when Yuriko revealed her ‘enlightenment’, which she honestly had no idea what it actually meant, the only thing she saw was that it suddenly grew brighter and warmer inside the room.
Her eyes were drawn to Yuriko and she couldn’t help but stare even as her heart thundered and heat rushed into her body. No, she wasn’t attracted to women! But if it was Yuriko…maybe?
Shaking her head, the effect dwindled as the light receded, and the next thing Elsie knew was that the two of them got up and headed right back out. They were going to cross blades? Spar?
She followed behind, uncertain what the point would be. She didn’t dare underestimate Yuriko considering she killed two of the Scourge with just a dinky Defender. But actually sparring with a martial artist? Bare-handed combat?
She looked at Yuriko then at Sifu Lao. Yuriko was taller than Elsie by a few inches but was more slender. She wasn’t quite a vision of voluptuous beauty, but the feeling she gave was that hers was perfection while other figures were just…off. Elsie was suddenly conscious that her bosom was too big, and her hips too wide. The length of her legs compared to her torso was too short, and her fingers looked too stubby for all that they were ‘chronian gear. And that gorgeous, glowing hair! It flowed down the woman’s back like a waterfall. It caught what little light came down to Junktown from the skies, and made it shimmer. The neon glows of the signs, and harsh lights of the street lamp simply set off Yuriko’s features and made her stand out all the more.
And Sifu Lao was more than a dozen inches taller than the girl, and nearly half again as wide. His body was sculpted metal and was designed for strength, agility, and burst movements. His spine was installed with a Celerity Boost, similar to Big Waldo’s but Milstate grade rather than the weaker version bounty hunters use. Rites were all well and good, but they could only be used a couple of times before the user had to rest and recover. Otherwise, their nerves would fry and their bodies heat up to feverish heights. Sifu Lao, owing to his Mystic Arts, was nearly all ‘chronian gear. The only limit to his Rity was how tough his brain was.
The two of them faced each other from a few paces away. Sifu Lao bowed with his right hand cupped in his left palm, giving honour as a student rather than a master. Yuriko did the same, but Elsie could easily tell she was simply mimicking without understanding the custom.
Once both were upright, Sifu Lao said, “I will begin.”
“As you please.”
As soon as the last word was spoken, Sifu Lao launched himself at Yuriko. His body practically flew through the small distance and he was within striking distance in the blink of an eye. His punch practically created a vapour cone as he threw it directly at the girl’s face. Elsie nearly screamed in outrage. How dare he try to mar such beauty!
Yuriko’s left hand rose up, palm facing the martial artist. The fist landed directly in the middle, looking as if it had been drawn irrevocably there.
Thud! Swish!
But as soon as the impact happened, the fist twisted and slid off the block. It continued on its way to Yuriko’s cheek with only a little bit of its momentum shaved off.