“Iris, mid Red realm, nice to meet you.”

“Who, me? I’m Iris, a mid Red-realm cultivator.”

“Low Red realm? An esteemed personage such as myself? You must be mistaken.”

Iris was practicing her greetings while they waited for Venh to show up. A week had passed since the conclusion of the sect’s first competition and Iris had not let it go to waste. The clarity she gained from her technique with Guang was apparently a huge boon to her cultivation. Now, when the three of them practiced efficiency, she was on par with Guang. 

Boneroot felt they wouldn’t need his supervision after another week, or two. This was particularly important because he was going to need to seclude himself to break into the middle of Orange realm at some point in the near future. Supposedly, Jota had done the same thing soon after he won the competition.

Iris was not reveling in her achievement elegantly. Hana had grown tired of it the moment after Iris announced her advancement. Boneroot was initially thrilled for her. He knew how hard she had been working toward this, after all. It took around five minutes for him to get sick of it. That left only Guang to humor the girl’s Kuroki-esque boasting.

“If I act like this upon reaching any milestone,” Hana grouched, “you have my express permission to euthanize me immediately.”

Boneroot nodded gravely, accepting the lofty responsibility. He felt a twinge of regret that Kuroki wasn’t here to commit to the bit with him. Iris took the barb in good spirits, however.

“No need to be jealous, Hana. I’m sure you’ll see some progress eventually. Sadly, not all of us are graced with such beauty and talent.”

Iris knew her breakthrough had not yet put her on the same level as Hana and Hana knew she knew. That was the only thing keeping the girl from flying into a rage. That and the promise of personal training from a Sect Expert.

“Sorry, he’s later than usual,” Boneroot tried to reassure her.

“He’s just waiting for the right moment to make a grand entrance,” Iris added.

All four looked around, expecting that line to draw the elusive man out of hiding. Unfortunately, they found nothing out of place on the training field they had reserved. In the distance, many of the other training fields were booked up. The competition had lit a spark under a number of disciples, Boneroot’s team included. 

“Don’t try to summon him,” Boneroot said. “He’d rather let us sit here all day than become predictable. Anyway, have you figured out where Biku and Kuroki keep running off to?”

Iris shook her head.

“He still won’t tell me and I’m not going to press him on it as long as they’re staying safe.”

“What’s this about? Where are your betters off to?”

New to the group, at least in a social sense, Hana wasn’t aware of the spirit beasts’ mysterious adventures. She had, however, quickly grown much fonder of the two creatures than their human counterparts, or so she claimed.

“The two of them go off into the forest when we have classes, or cultivation to do,” Boneroot explained. “If I had to guess, Kuroki’s trying to teach him how to hunt, or something.”

“Wrong.”

All heads whipped around to the source of Venh’s voice. The brown-eyed man stood directly behind Guang, who, impressively, didn’t flinch. 

“Do you want to know where the two little rascals are always sneaking off to?”

Immediately, Boneroot, Iris, and Hana voiced conflicting opinions.

“Oh, relax,” Venh said with a wave of his hand. “I wasn’t going to tell you anyway. Are you ready for training?”

Hana wasted no time shifting gears.

“Of course, Sect Expert Danh. I would just like to take this moment to thank you once again for agreeing to aid us. I understand maneuvering sect politics can be a burdensome task, even for someone such as yourself.”

Venh looked at the girl’s politely inclined head, digested her carefully chosen words, and promptly ignored her. To her credit, Hana only flushed slightly this time.

“Rather than address your individual, or collective mistakes during the competition, I’d prefer to provide you with a clear path forward. Each of you is lacking in just about every area, but I’ll focus on techniques. Specifically, I’m going to recommend one for each of you to learn.”

“I assume you’ll be wanting to name those techniques, too?” Boneroot asked, thinking of the CHAOS YARN Venh had been gracious enough to share with him before they left for the sect.

“No,” Venh responded with a smirk. “I would never do something so petty.”

The others were too enraptured by anticipation pick up on the slight. He had no doubt they would get around to mocking him for it later.

“Let’s not waste any time, then. Iris and Guang, your primary issue is the same. You lack movement techniques. While I understand you’re both leaning towards large-scale, area-denial techniques, a movement skill is integral to any cultivator’s arsenal. Only after you master one should you focus more on your specialty.”

Neither of the two disciples even nodded, spellbound as they were. 

“Fortunately, not cultivating a clan art makes you blank slates of a sort. It won’t be all that difficult to guide the development of your own techniques. As for you, Hana, it’s a bit trickier. Your biggest weakness at the moment is stopping power. While your elusiveness and agility are admirable, they are only worth so much if you can’t actually put your opponent down with the advantage they grant you.”

Hana was paying close attention to his words.

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“I’m not all that familiar with your clan’s art. There only a handful of others with a similar Mist attunement, so my guidance will be more reliant on how techniques are generally crafted among all ki types, rather than specifically yours. Can I assume the Fang of the Mist has a rather grandiose technique that collects all of your mist and converts it into one powerful attack?”

The girl’s eyebrows raised.

“You are correct, Sect Expert. I hesitate to elaborate, of course, due to the secrecy of—”

She was cut off by Venh’s waving hand.

“Most arts that use a domain technique, like the mist you effuse, have a trump card for turning it into a more bluntly powerful weapon. I hate to disappoint any of you, but cultivation arts below the Blue realm are rarely so different from one another. There are a number of reasons for that, but I personally blame lack of creativity.”

“Anyway,” Venh hastily moved on. “I don’t want to assist in creating a mockery of a technique already within your cultivation art, but we can certainly develop something that is less all-or-nothing, but still packs a punch.”

The gleeful smile on the girl’s face as she agreed to Venh’s plan was a hard departure from the demeanor she usually adopted. Soon afterward, she steeled her expression back to the standard, faux serenity.

“As for you, Boneroot. Where are you most lacking right now?”

He probably should have expected Venh wouldn’t make it quite so easy on him, but the question caught him off guard nonetheless and he offered a lame response.

“Is it also stopping power?”

“Versatility,” Venh corrected him. “The moment your techniques are disadvantaged, you’re forced to take unnecessary risks. When an opponent can resist your Radiant Claw and your Light beams, you’re almost always forced into fighting with your qi. That’s why you’re going to focus on manipulating your Spatial ki. Instead of a claw, make a fist. Then, a blade, or a shield, or a spear. Anything. Part of advancing through the Orange and Yellow realms is developing a freer mastery of your ki. Go down to that end of the training field and practice with your Spatial ki until you can take out a training dummy with blunt, rather than edged, force.”

“That’s it?”

Boneroot was grateful for the assessment, but surprised by the unceremonial send-off. The man’s raised eyebrow was all the answer he was going to get. Boneroot suppressed a sigh and dutifully trotted to the opposite end of the training field.

His training started out relatively futile. He had grown so accustomed to shaping his Spatial ki in the form of the claw that he had to completely undo the habit. It was fairly similar to the muscle memory of swinging a sword, or taking off at a sprint, but with his ki. Additionally complicating the issue was the improvement Boneroot had been working on for his Radiant Claw over the last month. Making use of ambient essence in his technique, as he’d been trying to implement, was hard enough without experimenting with different forms.

Still, he recognized the opportunity for tremendous growth when he saw it. Freely shaping ambient Spatial ki was so obviously powerful, he almost didn’t believe it was something he could do. Images flashed through his mind of Jota falling to a translucent onslaught of different ranged techniques before his paper even came into play. He wasted only a moment on the fantasy, though, and then he was focused on the task at hand.

At the other end of the training field, Venh was describing to Iris and Guang the basics of a movement technique, while Hana waited patiently and absorbed any bits of ki theory of which she already wasn’t aware.

“Let’s start with Lightning ki. There are a few different ways that movement skills function for cultivators in the lower realms in your attunement. I’m just going to focus on one of them, though. Specifically, you’re going to learn how to propel yourself forward in short bursts by discharging Lightning ki behind you. This won’t be as fast, or as efficient as a technique from one of the clan arts. Not right away, at least. What it will do is teach you a vital means of manipulating your ki and provide a malleable technique that you can easily improve, or even replace as you get stronger.”

Venh led the excited girl to the middle of the training field, where he spent roughly ten minutes instructing Iris in timing the burst of ki with her movement, regulating the amount of ki used, and controlling the resulting speed. He left her to practice on her own with a promise to return and check on her progress after he finished with the others.

“Guang, you’re next,” he said to one of the two remaining disciples awaiting his advice. “As you might have guessed by watching either of those Zhen kids, the Metal attunement does not naturally lend itself to speed, or agility. While some choose to rely on their qi cultivation to shore up those gaps, I’m of the opinion that’s a mistake. As I understand it, the art your father passed on to you is focused on magnetism, correct?”

Guang had been nodding along, but froze up at the final question. He cast a concerned glance over to Hana, who had the tact to pretend like she’d heard nothing out of the ordinary.

“Don’t give me that look. It’s not a foreign concept among circles of scholarly research. There are also a number of tribes and individuals to the south of the Empire that dabble in the field. I’m guessing that’s where your father got the idea. Regardless, the relative lack of information about magnetism might be an obstacle for you in the future as you seek to advance your understanding of your abilities. For now, though, it’s to your benefit. You should be able to use a movement technique that other Metal cultivators would have a hard time reproducing.”

Hana watched the average-looking man inspect different pieces of metal Guang materialized. The metals seemed to have a barrier of force repelling them from one another. Soon, the Sect Expert was instructing him in some manner of propelling himself off the metals. While Hana found the display fairly intriguing, she was content to wait for him to fully develop the technique to interrogate its mechanics.

No, her focus was on the teacher. She hadn’t thought much of Expert Danh prior to reconciling with her team, other than a vague envy of the attention Boneroot received from him. As he was explaining the intricacies of a concept of which Hana had been previously unaware, she began to wonder about the Sect Expert. The way he spoke, the bits of his experience that slipped into conversation, and the breadth of his knowledge all reminded her of a clan elder, rather than a mere Blue-realm cultivator. Hana had almost certainly met more cultivators around that level than her teammates and Danh just didn’t strike her as the same.

Eventually, Guang seemed to understand the basics of the technique he was trying to learn and Sect Expert Danh was free to finish his initial teachings. As he walked over to Hana, she put all suspicions out of her mind to fully focus on learning the technique he had to offer. No matter who Danh was, or was not, the opportunity to get stronger was not one to take lightly.

“Spread out your mist, please.”

The man’s voice was pleasant, but his expression serious. Hana allowed her domain to spread out from her body. Mist poured over the grass around the two of them, creating a ring roughly ten feet in radius. She watched as Danh inspected the technique.

“Impressive potency for someone of your cultivation. I assume your clan’s art puts a heavy emphasis on forming a strong foundation of domain control?”

“For the women, yes.”

“Ah. Well, I think you’ll find that to be in your favor, regardless. Particularly once you reach the Orange realm, that base will be more useful than a handful of offensive techniques. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, but a domain skill like that can be molded into any number of things according to your needs. Show me your primary offensive technique.”

Hana performed her Mist Blade for the Sect Expert. She knew better than to expect to impress him, so his frown didn’t come as a shock.

“You’re manifesting more ki, rather than taking it from your domain. While that can be an effective way to conjure up more raw power, it is a crutch in this case. Before we can work on developing a domain-collapse technique, you’ll need to be able to do your Mist Blade without drawing on any extra ki.”

Hana bit her lip as she listened to the man’s assessment. She had been taught to do that in order to not disrupt the efficacy of her domain. When she explained this to Danh, though, she was rebuffed.

“That is a worthy concern when considering the dissemination of a technique to a large number of disciples not expected to advance past the Orange, or Yellow realm. For your individual strength, however, the benefits of learning to freely shape your domain far outweigh whatever stability drawing on extra ki offers. Unless you intend to stop at serving a supporting role for your clan’s stronger members?”

The girl was speechless for a moment. Somehow, she had never considered that line of reasoning. When none of the male disciples her age showed her same aptitude, the disappointment of the clan elders was obvious. While they didn’t come out and say it, it was clear in their language. They spoke of bettering the clan and how she could aid that effort. They spoke of regaining the strength of the cultivators they had in Kazemura. They never mentioned Hana being among them.

When the girl still didn’t say anything after a moment, Venh left her with a final bit of advice before moving on.

“If you’re having trouble, talk to Boneroot. In many ways, Spatial ki resembles a domain like yours. His insights into his own Radiant Claw can likely guide the development of your Mist Blade technique. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to check on the others.”

Hana wasted no time in experimenting with the manipulation of her mist. She remained silent and Venh walked off. He made a handful of corrections in Iris’ and Guang’s fledgeling techniques before heading to the other end of the training field where Boneroot was still ironing out the basics of shaping ambient essence into different forms. 

“How’s it going?”

“Not bad,” the boy told him. “I wish I hadn’t stopped working on this to focus on the competition, to be honest. Feels like I set myself back.”

Venh laughed.

“By what? A week? Two? Consider your teammates, Boneroot. Each of them was set down a path in error by one fool, or another. Miss Kasumi less than the other two, but still misguided in her own way. You’ll have to take my word for it that Kroshieshi was a far, far better mentor than Guang’s father, or Iris’ disgraced master.”

“How much exactly did you look into their backgrounds?” Boneroot asked, his curiosity piqued.

“I didn’t really need to do much. The sect keeps pretty extensive files on anyone they let into their grounds. Regardless, they’re slowly finding their way. I don’t foresee any of the three languishing in the lower realms. The question is whether you can match their progress.”

Boneroot grinned and attempted to answer the man’s challenge without words. The fist of Spatial ki, however, dissipated before it reached Venh. 

“Point proven,” the boy admitted. “I think the others will agree that the next month has to be training and nothing else. Hey, can we skip the next competition? As we are, there’s just no chance of us getting anything out of it.”

Venh smiled again.

“You’re slow on the uptake, frankly. I imagine a few others will sit it out as well, but most of them have to compete just to represent their clans. Can’t show any weakness and all that. Talk it over with your team, but I think it’s the right move.”

Boneroot was pleased with the idea. Since coming to the sect, he hadn’t quite had the same chance to focus solely on bettering his techniques that he had in Felindei’s Grove. A brief conversation with his teammates later, it was decided that the next six weeks would be dedicated to cultivation and working on the techniques Venh showed them. Though Hana hesitated to agree at first, she decided to prioritize her own development over her clan’s reputation for once.