After I told the party of Jinmei’s story, the rest of the lunch was quiet. She was just one of dozens. Mortals scooped up from around the country and brought into a desert devoid of monsters.

Poppy answered with a ‘hmmm.’

Most of the food was gone by the time I was done telling them about my circumstances — about the Grim Tempest, and my people.

“So — okay, your parents — your birth parents — want you to fight in a tournament to be recognized as their child? And you didn’t just say no?” Eros asked. I looked at him, confused, then at Poppy.

“Surely you understand?” I asked. You couldn’t just say no to your filial ancestors, but perhaps only the nobility here understood; if every person here gained levels and power, perhaps the piety expected to ones family wasn’t as severe for the lower classes.

“Sai…” Poppy said, shaking her head. “It might hurt for a while to disappoint your family. But if breaking those bonds is better for you… that’s why I’m here. Across an ocean. It hurt at first. But it was worth it. It will be worth it for you.”

They didn’t understand. I tapped my fingers on the wooden table. The gloss surface sucked the heat from my fingers.

“It’s not about my feelings. I’ve already cast off the bonds of those families — I cannot act against the responsibility I hold toward my ancestors.”

“Sai — ”

“No.” I shook my head. “It would break our social code of honor. Other cultivators would consider me a Rogue Cultivator. If I disobeyed my ancestors without a justified reason, every Righteous Cultivator would consider me an enemy. It affects their own honor to stand beside or under me.

“I would not be able to stay in an office of power without constant challenge. Cultivators would refuse to fight at my side, to fill my garrisons, and to repel the waves of spirit-beasts that assault our cities. To us, honor is everything, and the piety toward our ancestors and teachers outweighs all others.”

“Hold on — go back — waves of spirit-beasts? Like, ghosts?” Eros asked.

I shook my head.

“They are not so different from your Titans. Much weaker. But one becomes… as strong as my brother. Then leads an army of smaller ones. When they consume all the food and qi around them, they are drawn to centers of power. In the wilderness, this means wars across mountain ranges and oceans and valleys. But often it drives them to the walls of our cities and the lives of our people.”

“I get it.” Poppy nodded. “You need this recognition to become a leader, ever. And this is the only opportunity?”

She contemplated for a moment. In the meantime, I noticed that Anna’s scowl was growing increasingly deep. She seemed like she was tired — they had woken her up for this.

The smell of the food changed in the tiny space, the aromatic of spices filling it, and the sun was rising higher, illuminating the room. Many of the other tables had already rotated through patrons. Anna reached back and started retying her hair.

“So then, all you gotta do is win this tournament? Whose the front runner?” Anna asked. She tied her hair into a long, complex braid that she drooped over her shoulder.

“The tournament is meant to be an exhibition for my brother. I’m not meant to have a chance to win it — in fact, it might make things worse. I need the strength to come in second place.”

“That’s harder. You know that, right? It’s harder to hold back than to fight with everything you have.” Anna said. “So you gotta get stronger than your brother. A lot stronger. So… we’ll train you.”

Anna stood.

Poppy sighed and pushed her plate forward.

I hesitated.

“I… would appreciate that.”

“How long you here for?” Anna asked.

“Another two days.” I replied.

“I’ll take him to the warehouse. But this ain’t for free, Sai. We teach you this, and you teach us the skills we got from that ruin.”

I nodded.

“You teach me to fight like a Trailblazer, and I’ll teach you how to become a proper cultivator.”

The group led me to a warehouse only a block away. The alleys that led to it slanted unevenly, pressing narrow before widening again. The entrance to the warehouse was where the alley’s pressed in; its front showed that it was one of the oldest buildings the city. Weather damaged scarred unfinished wood.

But the inside looked remodeled. A lot of the work was amateur, but…

“What is that?” I asked, staring at the center of the room. Pillars rose in a circle around a miniature arena. The qi around it buzzed oddly. “A formation? For practice?”

“It’s an array.” Poppy said.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Anna strode by confidently and stopped in the middle, while Poppy walked to the side. There were piles of crates here, many in different stages of opened. Metal and monster parts peeked out from inside of them. Armor sets and weapons sat on the wall.

Laundry hung from the ceiling, drying on a clothesline, and a table in the corner had a half eaten dinner.

“Are you… living in here?” I asked.

“Many businesses returned to the Old Country after the first Titan. So this was cheaper than a home.” Poppy said.

“I’ll give Sai a tour later. You’re on a timer, right? Some kind of limited teleportation?” Anna asked me. She pulled out two daggers. I didn’t see from where. Maybe it was a skill. She was still in lounge-wear.

“She wears a few different sheathes at all times.” Poppy said, seeing my confused expression. “She’s always done that. I’m going to run some chores.”

“I’m going to sleep.” Eros said. Then he started picking at the meal in the corner. The sounds of Spearpoint were muffled inside in the warehouse, but I could still hear conversations walk through the streets.

Anna stared at me, waiting for my reply.

“Yes.” I said. “I’m on a timer.”

I stepped into their array cautiously. A wall of buzzing static blurred my view of the rest of the warehouse. It wasn’t dissimilar the formation in my own training room.

“Then hurry up. Let me see what you can do. Then I’ll figure out what to teach you.” Anna said. She spun the knives in her hand.

“Will this array stop us from hurting each other? Or…” My eyes scanned the wall for a practice weapon. I didn’t see anyway.

Anna snorted.

“Just use your real sword. It will be fine.”

“Alright.” I nodded and pulled my own sword from its sheathe, entering the first Anti-Lightning stance.

Black as dark as night coalesced around the two daggers held inverted in Anna’s hands. They looked like sharpened shadows. Then she raced toward me. I struggled to estimate her speed as my mind struggled to track where she was, blurring not just from speed but that odd skill that made my perception slip away from her.

Her daggers had a shorter range than my sword did. I swung where she was going to be, focusing my Perception in her direction. Inside the limited space of the arena, it was easier.

Our blades met with the sound of screeching metal. She grunted in surprise as my Strength forced her downward.

But she didn’t stop, leaning into it to dive toward me, her other arm extended. She was strong enough to block me with a single arm, fending the blade off. I turned toward her, pulling my blade along her shadow covered dagger and meeting her second one. There were sparks.

She spun and kicked me backward. I bounced off the wall of force around the array, the air knocked out of my lungs.

She was stronger than me.

I met her next strike before I managed to recover my footing. Then I blocked another, taking a step forward, threatening her with the reach of my sword. I extended past the reach of her dagger, forcing her to take a step backward every time we exchanged glancing blows.

I pushed her across the arena. One more exchange, and her back would hit the barrier.

Then a hand reached out from my shadow and gripped my sword hand, jerking me backwards. A foot kicked the back of my leg. A hand grabbed my hair and exposed my neck. I fell to my knees on the cheap mats in their warehouse, staring up to Anna’s dagger above me.

“You fight so properly.” She said, her shades sinking back into the shadows.

I sheathed my sword and rubbed my wrist where her copies had grabbed me. They were as cold as corpses when they clutched me. Even my hair felt chilled.

“You fight… like you’ve fought for your life. A lot.” I said. I frowned. I should have seen her using her skill coming.

Her fighting style was like a cornered dog fighting for scraps of meat. It was one I wasn’t unfamiliar with — it was one I had encountered in the streets of my territory too often.

“You should’ve known I’d use my skill. I was waiting for you to use yours. Do you not have any actives?” Anna asked. She was frowning.

“I have one.” I said. “It’s just…”

“Has a weird activation condition, doesn’t it? Damnit. This is why you should level with a team. It’s harder to a gain a second active after the first.”

“The techniques I can use from my cultivation are more than enough.”

“Then show me those.” Anna said.

“It’s dangerous. But I will.” I said.

Anna rolled her eyes and raised her daggers.

“Hold nothing back.” She said. “You’re not going to scratch me. So try.”

I entered my stance again, pulling a thread of qi into my legs, and a second thread into my arm. My sword made a crackling noise, then black lightning raced up the hilt and danced along the edge in flashes.

My Willpower brought order and structure to my power. The crackling lightning shifted, moving in a consistent wave. The noise turned from harsh static to a consistent hum as waves of black poured off of it. Anna raised her own daggers.

The shaped technique in my legs activated. I crossed the arena in one step. My qi pulled my sword forward faster than any mortal could matched. I held nothing back, intending to reach her neck in a single swing then stop.

Her blade met mine before I stopped my own. Then pain erupted in my stomach as her fist pushed me skidding backwards across the arena. One of Anna’s shadow’s pushed her up into the air, and she fell toward me.

I swung again, the anti-lightning qi making my swipe blindingly fast. In midair, Anna couldn’t dodge.

One of her shadows emerged, pushing her to the side, and her fist slammed into my jaw, pushing me to the ground. A kick hit my side. I stumbled away and then up to my feet as Anna’s shadows slid around me and back into her own.

My face was numb. I put a thumb to it and came away with blood from a split lip.

Then I raced to meet Anna’s next swing. She chased me around the arena for minutes, until the qi inside of me was plummeting, and I struggled to keep up with her blows.

“Stop — ” I tried to say between a deluge of new bruises.

She didn’t.

She even inflicted several shallow cuts that drew blood. I slowed, my reactions becoming more sluggish. And then I realized that she had still been holding back.

The edge of her knife kissed my face, passing by my nose with just a hairs breadth between it and my skin. My eyes widened.

The flat of her other blade slapped my face.

I dropped my sword. She kicked me up. The qi in my arms snapped as it lost the sword as a focus for the shaped technique. I shaped the void fist.

She met my punches with the flat of her blade.

“Poppy already showed me that technique.” She said. She didn’t even sound winded.

Her blade raced for my eye. I felt death encroach for just a single ludicrous moment. Then she pulled it away, feinting. I rolled back, grabbing my sword, shaping my technique. Her next strike already raced toward my neck.

My sword raced to block it in a single clash. My qi guttered out. But my shaped technique didn’t.

[New Skill: Stormbreak Riposte(Agility +1)]

[Stormbreak Riposte: Once per sixty seconds, act with limitless impetus to meet a lethal attack with flawless precision and full force. Additional levels decrease cooldown.]

Anna smiled and stepped back. I panted on my knees, sweat dripping down my scalp. Poppy stood with arms folded and a disapproving frown. How long had we been at it? My body ached.

I sheathed my sword. My arms shook.

The array buzzed down around us.

“You know healing potions are expensive, right?” Poppy asked Anna. Her voice dripped with disapproval.

“Relax. Sai doesn’t mind. Right Sai?” Anna said. She didn’t address the price of a potion.

Poppy gave me a worried glance.

“Thank you for the instruction.” I said, offering a clasped fist. My meridians ached.