Joshi dove in on the middle head of the hydra. His right fist was wrapped in a layer of red lux. To his left, Chang-li was shouting and slashing with his sword, distracting the left-hand head. Hiroko stood some distance behind them both, focusing her attention on the right-hand head. It hung listless and dazed as cords of blue lux wrapped it.

Joshi punched the head as it snapped at him. His fist pushed through the creature's jaw, smashing teeth back into its throat. Chang-li was flailing madly with his sword. He came close to slicing open Joshi's left arm as he struck the hydra, but he severed the head with a couple of desperate hacks.

A moment later, he reached in. His right hand was wreathed in flame like Joshi's had been coated in lux. He burned the stump of the hydra's head.

Joshi pulled back his fist and summoned more lux from his core. He was getting adept with this technique. His difficulty lay in sustaining it. Though his core had deepened during the past days of cultivating, and he felt he was on the verge of experience the first core condension, he still couldn't hold as much lux as he thought he should. Each punch had to be carefully considered.

While he was practicing during his cycling times with using lux to shield his body against attacks, right now he didn't have the lux to spare. It all had to go into his attacks. His next punch took the hydra right between the eyes, dazing it. Joshi stepped back as Chang-li swung his left-hand blow, slicing through the hydra's neck. The scribe applied more fire.

Joshi couldn't help being a bit jealous of Chang-li's progress. The scribe was using not one, but two colors of lux at the same time, and it seemed as though his core reservoir was deeper than Joshi's own. It was hardly fair. Chang-li had not been prepared to cultivate, not the way Joshi had, and yet he was already far ahead. Joshi was scrambling to keep up. Perhaps the years of wearing a slave collar had damaged his lux channels in some way he had not yet realized. He would have to pay attention to that during his next cycling time.

Hiroko's hydra head was seemingly asleep. It posed no threat as Chang-li sliced the head from the body and then seared the stump. The hydra body thrashed, and all three of the unexpected cultivators fell back. The hydra had been an enormous beast, the size of one of the mammoths Joshi's people occasionally hunted far to the north, but with smooth gray-green scales and a tail as long and broad as a birch tree. It wavered and tottered for a long moment before collapsing to the ground.

Joshi let out a sigh of relief. He released his grip on his lux and cycled it back to his core to regenerate. Chang-li lowered his sword. He wiped his brow with his right hand. Then he started forward.

"It's probably the heart," Joshi called. "Try cutting that out."

As the scribe bent over the bulk of the dead hydra, Joshi turned back to Hiroko. She had sagged to the ground, her knees up in front of her, arms wrapped around them. Her face was gray with exhaustion. Sweat ran down her face. Joshi retrieved their canteen from where the trio had left their possessions before engaging the hydra. He unstoppered it and gave it to the princess, who drank gratefully. She took two long pulls before holding it up and considering.

"I suppose I overdid it," she said quietly. "Blue lux is dangerous. You get wrapped up in it, and before you know it, you've let too much of yourself slide through the connection."

Joshi was worried about her. As long as they had only a single target, her attacks seemed effective. But if they were to be attacked by more than one creature, she would quickly be overwhelmed. The princess was holding up remarkably well, considering she had been born to a life of luxury and not trained for this cultivation. She kept up with the two of them without complaining, ate her share of the rations, cycled as hard as they did, and was having an impact. He could already tell her spells were growing stronger, just not as fast as Chang-li's. The scribe must be a cultivation prodigy. It was an offense against the gods, the way the Emperor's system prevented talented cultivators from trying their hand in a tower. Chang-li was worth a dozen of Young Master Feng.

Chang-li called triumphantly, "I have it!"

Joshi bent down and offered his hand. Hiroko took it, her palm resting warm against his. He pulled her to her feet, and they turned to see Chang-li returning with the hydra's still-beating heart, blood dripped from the severed valves. Chang-li looked down at his hand with some distaste. It was coated in blood. “The cultivator journal mentioned defeating a different creature and taking its heart. They had an eternity bottle and stored it in the cultivator's soulspace. I don't suppose you know how to open a soul space.”

Joshi shook his head. "I was told under no circumstances to attempt it without guidance.”

“Imperial cultivation tutors know how to safely open a soulspace. It's usually done near the Peak of Mental Refinement,” Hiroko volunteered. “I think it’s generally given as a wedding gift to a cultivator on marrying into the Court of Gems.”

So, another way the Emperor controlled those who might possibly rise to challenge him, Joshi thought. "We'll just have to wrap it in one of the leftover ration pouches and hope for the best.”

The hydra's oasis was more of a swamp than a grove. Joshi led the way through reeds until he found a stretch of open water. There he washed his arms and face. After storing the hydra's heart, Chang-li followed suit. Hiroko wandered down to the edge and bathed her face and neck in the water as well.

After that, Joshi set off for a slightly higher hillock lumping out of the swamp not far off. They sat down on the soft grass for a quick bite to eat and some cycling. Joshi kept one eye and both ears open for any sign of company, but as far as he could tell, the hydra was the only living creature in the swamp. "Your cultivating is going well," he told Chang-li.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The scribe went slightly pink. "Ah, thank you. So is yours."

Joshi shook his head. "No, you are far in advance of me. I'm quite impressed the way you're managing two types of lux at once. Are you content with your cycling patterns or would you like to learn another?"

"I'm working on deciphering one in this cultivator's journal now," Chang-li said. "If I do learn it, I'll be sure to share with you, but I will accept any guidance you can give me.” He hesitated. "Though, my thought is I do not need cycling guidance right now so much as I need lessons on how to use a sword. You are the son of a war leader. You must know more than I do about the blade."

Joshi nodded. "I am no expert in it. The Hapiru monks preferred fists and staves, but as the son of the Khan of the Darwur, I do know a bit.”

“No doubt more than Chang-li.” Hiroko sighed and changed up her posture. "I need to know how to be more aware of everything else that's going on. When I'm focused on an enemy, that's all I can do. Manage the lux connection between me and it while keeping the blue lux from stealing my own life force. I know that is a danger to us all should we be attacked by a pack of creatures."

"Perhaps you should try cycling two colors of lux like Chang-li," Joshi suggested. "Not during a fight, of course, but now in practice.”

“I haven't managed to touch other colors of lux unless I'm doing that dumpling trick, and that isn't really letting me cycle another color.”

"Which colors have you tried?"

"Mostly red. I'm trying to improve my body."

"Perhaps that's the problem. You're so tightly attuned to blue that red is unnatural for you. What of the others?"

She closed her eyes and felt. "The violet lux is right there. Hard to avoid. But of course, I can't touch that."

Chang-li looked as though he might say something, then closed his mouth again.

"The indigo, there's not much of it, even less than the violet. But it does seem to answer my touch. How do you manage both, Chang-li?”

"I don't really know," he admitted. "I was trying to focus on the yellow and the orange just came along too. I think I must be attuned to orange similar to how you're attuned to blue."

"Then perhaps I'll focus on the indigo and see if the blue comes along.”

“I’m using Joshi's basic technique when I cycle both," Chang-li said.

Hiroko closed her eyes, her hands in the position Joshi had taught her. She was very intent on what she was doing, her face almost blank in concentration. Her once pure white undergarments were now stained with grass, blood, sweat, and sand, changing them to a muddy brownish shade. They clung to her body nicely, though Joshi tried not to let her catch him looking.

"It's working. I'm moving the indigo and the blue comes with it."

"Don't try to do anything with the indigo," Joshi advised. "It's considered an advanced form of lux, like the blue. I don't have any knowledge of how to use it." Hiroko could only safely use her blue techniques because she had been taught them previously.

Joshi reached out for his own core and cycled, trying to concentrate on packing as much red lux into it as he could. He considered trying to cycle another color of lux, like he'd suggested to Hiroko, but his issue was not with concentration, but with sheer quantity.

He needed to condense his core. That was his next step toward Bodily Refinement, allowing him to increase the amount of lux his core could hold and the density of that lux. Someday, he would be able to coat his entire body with red lux, turning blows from swords or stingers, blocking arrows, while returning punches that could shatter a stone wall. One day. If he had enough time.

He had not asked Chang-li how many days of purification rations they had available to them. Chang-li had said enough for almost two weeks. They had taken purification tablets eight times since. Sooner or later, they would run out, and then they would have to find a way out of the tower or die.

Unless he could somehow reach the Peak of Bodily Refinement by then, able to successfully purge his body of unwanted lux. Then he could stay in this tower for as long as he liked, harvesting food from the tower beasts and plants that grew here. Then nothing could stop his climb. Not a towerbeast, not the emperor himself. He could reach for the heavens and climb high enough that no one could ever put a collar back on him.

But he knew he wasn't close enough. His core felt slightly tighter than it had at the start of this, but not enough. Not nearly enough. He could just start to glimpse what the Peak of Bodily Refinement would look like for him. It was a long way off.

Hiroko let out a sigh and opened her eyes. "I think that's working. But it's hard. It's like carrying heavy rocks uphill. I'll keep at it," she added. "How about the two of you? Are you making progress?"

They both nodded. "I feel like I'm on the verge of learning to deepen my yellow lux technique," Chang-li said, "instead of just holding fire in my hand. I want to stab outward with it like a second knife."

"Then we really must get you some swordplay lessons.” Joshi stood and ventured a little ways into the swamp, looking for a pair of suitably strong sticks. When he returned, Hiroko was talking to Chang-li in a comfortable tone.

“When we get out of this tower, I will be sure to tell everyone how you've saved my life. You and Joshi both will be able to get a pardon for your unlicensed cultivation. The young masters will wish to curry favor with me, in the hopes I choose one of them as my spouse. They will listen.”

“You’re going to wed —” Chang-li choked. He leaned over, coughing hard. Joshi found his own eyebrows raising as he sat back down. He began stripping the bark from the pair of sticks he'd brought, unsettled by the sudden stab of anger piercing him.

"What has so amused our scribe friend?" he asked Hiroko, whose eyes were narrowed with a look of displeasure as she studied Chang-li.

"He mocks me," she said unhappily.

"No," Chang-li recovered, holding up a hand. "I'm sorry. I pictured a certain — never mind.”

Joshi understood what he was saying, having the same concerns. “I do not know why you are so eager for marriage, but I advise you, Highness, choose anyone but Young Master Feng. He is an arrogant fool concerned with his own advancement.”

"It is not for you to say," she snapped.

He bowed in apology. “Forgiveness, highness. But though my words may offend, I felt I must warn you again Feng. He is not worthy of you.”

“How dare you?” Hiroko was practically spitting in anger. “An escaped slave, a barbarian, passing judgement on a true cultivator? And speaking to me, Princess of the Empire, daughter of the greatest general the Empire has seen in three lifetimes, as though I were just some — some common girl?”

Joshi bit off an angry response. It did not matter. For now, he wanted to keep peace with the princess. Her aid here could mean the difference between life and death.

As soon as they’d found an exit to the tower, they’d never see each other again, after all. He would die rather than return to slavery, while she seemed eager for her chains. So be it. If she regretted her choice one day, he wouldn’t be around to see it.