Joshi counted the purification tablets a third time. Two left. He had stretched them as long as he could. He could feel his body starting to unravel under the weight of his unpurified lux. How long had it been since his last tablet? Definitely more than a day, though it was hard to keep track of time in here. The tower's second floor had the same extravagant quantity of violet lux as the first. Time had little meaning.

Joshi was cuing off his bodily signals, and as he cultivated more and more, those bodily needs were becoming less and less apparent. He ate when his body began to shake with weakness. He cycled after his internal sense told him it had been long enough since the last time. Already he could feel how dense his lux was. Any time now, his core would condense for a third time, then he would be able to begin his final push toward Bodily Refinement.

"Any time," he told himself again, swallowing the purification ration and sitting in his favorite cycling position. He started with a basic cycling technique to push the effects of the purification tablet all through his body, flushing out the unrefined lux that clung to his channels like lichen on boulders.

Then, as he refilled his core with the densest red lux he could manage, he switched to the Way of Boulders technique. It was a complicated cycling pattern for this stage of his development, the second most advanced that the monks of Hapiru had taught him.

First, he filled his core as densely as he could. Then he opened a single lux channel at a time, letting the dense lux trickle out through one channel, then the next.

Joshi repeated the cycle until he was dripping with sweat, then switched to the Purification of Mind and Soul technique, allowing less dense, unvariegated lux to flow through him. It washed away his tiredness but began the process of building up lux contamination once more.

As he cycled, his mind wandered back to his encounter with the guardian of the first floor. It had looked deep into his soul, and granted him a boon. “You wish for freedom above all else. I will grant that. From now on, no bond may hold you unless you chose it. But no man will be able to free you from any you willingly choose to keep.”

He had puzzled over that afterward. The first part was clear enough, and welcome. He would die rather than wear the collar again. But the second — why would he ever willingly choose to be restrained?

His cycling complete, Joshi got to his feet. He had been seated in a small alcove in an outcropping of rock, sheltered as best he could. Now he emerged, watching carefully for signs of trouble.

The previous floor had been largely devoid of tower beasts, except at the oases. This floor was another matter entirely. It teemed with life of all sorts, all hostile, all on a scale just a bit too big. He had fought cats that stood on four feet taller than he stood on two, punched his way through squirrels the size of small antelope, and taken on a trio of ornery mountain sheep with spiraling horns tipped with long spears that viciously sought his blood.

Each fight brought him to the brink of failure. Each fight made him stronger. He had not yet determined the floor challenge. He was running out of time.

Joshi, senses alert, cycled red lux throughout his body and weaved it as close to his skin as he could. He strode off through what appeared to be a swamp. He was making for a tall promontory that had caught his eye several sleeps ago. Now, as it grew nearer, he was certain that it was an edifice of some type, worn and weathered so it looked from a distance like a rock outcropping. As he drew nearer and nearer, it had resolved into a triangle form; a pyramid, rising high out of the swamp.

He dropped down into a small valley, the edifice largely disappearing from view behind the next ridge. A wide, shallow stream ran down the bottom of the valley. He hesitated at its edge, ears alert, eyes seeking out a threat.

And he found one. What he had at first thought were logs, after a few minutes of scrutiny, blinked at him. Joshi had heard of creatures like these, monsters that lurked in lakes and rivers south of his homeland, where it rarely froze.

He cycled lux to his fists and prepared. His skin was hardened with it, forming almost an armor. Joshi tried to siphon a little orange lux to his right hand but could not keep it in the form he envisioned.

Combining two types of lux in the same technique was called a chord, while adding a third was a braid. Beyond that, he wasn’t certain; the monks of Hapiru prepared cultivators for the first steps of the climb only. After that it was up to them to prove their potential to a future master or gain admission to a sect, where deeper secrets could be delved.

Still, he knew that the chord he was trying to imitate was possible. The monks of Hapiru had spoken of weaving orange lux into the red to form a spiked gauntlet over a fist. In time, he would be able to shape the orange lux into blades and spikes. For now, it refused to answer. Chang-li might be a cultivating genius; Joshi had a lot of hard work in front of him.

Joshi carefully counted his opponents. Four of them, and they would be at home in the water. He retreated, scouting back up the bank, until he found a warren of knee-high rabbits. There, he waited, still as a stone, until one particularly foolish rabbit hopped close enough for him to grab.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

The creature kicked and bit against his arm as he twisted its neck. Snap. It lay motionless. Its fur was tinged blue. At first, he had thought it was the light, then he decided that truly was its color. But if the rabbits had any inborn lux capability, they weren't displaying it.

Joshi returned to the river, where he laid the rabbit carcass on the bank about eight feet out of the water. There was a frantic splashing in the water, and then something exploded up onto the bank. Joshi leaped, his legs fueled by red lux. He smashed down onto the scaly log creature, smashing his fist between its eyes. It thrashed and fought to bite at him.

He punched it again in the same place. It kept fighting. Joshi changed his tactics. He grabbed its upper jaw with both hands, reinforcing his arm with lux and ripped upward. He felt something in the beast's jaw crack and give, even as its teeth cut into his hands. The creature lay still.

Joshi stepped away, taking a deep breath, feeling its processed lux left available to him. He sucked it in, cycling it through him. These creatures were heavily reliant on red lux. It eased into his core as though he had cycled it himself a few dozen times to refine it. Out of curiosity, he tried pushing it down. The lux compacted nicely. Joshi allowed himself a grin and changed his plans.

A few hours later, a dozen lizard log carcasses lay scattered along half a mile of riverbank. Joshi, having cleaned out the nearby area of the monsters, sat cultivating. He pushed out all the lux he could, everything that wasn't red or violet, then cycled just the violet through his body.

As Chang-li had said, it strengthened him. He felt as though his core was on the verge of the next compression. Perhaps he would be in time. He focused inward, willing his core to coalesce, his lux to condense one more time.

Something buzzed at his head. Joshi assessed it as not a threat and focused. It buzzed past again. His eyes caught a glimmer of indigo. Intrigued, he broke his technique and stood up. A ball of light about the size of his fist circled him three times before hovering at about nose level just out of arm's reach.

Joshi cocked his head. "And what are you?"

The ball buzzed with excitement, growing brighter, then darker, then brighter again.

"Do you understand me?"

It buzzed again.

"Do you want something from me?"

Another buzz. Joshi had read of incorporeal beings living inside of cultivation towers. They were rare, their bodies made nearly entirely of lux. Joshi had never thought to meet one. He held out a hand, palm up. The little ball of violet light hovered over his palm. He could feel it radiating its presence. The creature was curious.

"And I am curious about you," he said gravely. "What do you want, little one?"

It buzzed, then zipped toward the nearest dead lizard log and back.

"You wish me to kill more?"

It gave a very emphatic no sort of buzz. Joshi considered. Then he wondered what had attracted the creature. His killing of the lizard logs? Perhaps, but it had not made itself known until he had been cycling and venting unwanted lux. Joshi reached inside himself, seeking out any pocket of indigo lux he had. He found a little and cycled it out through his right-hand lux channel.

The little creature buzzed excitedly, turning a deeper shade of violet. Joshi tried again with blue. It seemed to like that, though not as well as the indigo. It entirely rejected the lesser colors. At last, he expended a little bit of his precious violet lux. The creature buzzed so excitedly he thought it would fly apart.

"So," he said, "you like lux, and you can't get it for yourself."

It buzzed.

"Not as easily as I can get it for you," he amended.

Another buzz, this one definitely happy.

"You'd like me to help you out. What's in it for me?" He wasn't being rude, but he was here alone with few resources. Lux was precious to him, even blue and indigo, which he couldn't do much with.

It vibrated again. He almost felt as though he could understand it. He fed it a little more violet lux, and now he could feel its presence in his head. It wasn't quite intelligent, not the way a human was, but it was far more complicated than any of the tower beasts he had fought so far.

He tried to remember what the monks of Hapiru had told him about such creatures. They were rare. They had the potential for nearly unlimited growth. They were often, but not always, friendly. And in some cases, they had been known to make deals with cultivators.

"Tell you what," he said, "can you help me get out of here?"

It hesitated, giving off a buzz-buzz.

"Maybe," he interpreted. "Well, why don't you just stick around and we'll figure this out. I’m out of lux for now, but I'm planning to go look for more lizard logs here once I've finished my cultivation cycling."

It buzzed happily. Joshi sat back down. The little creature of lux hovered over his head as he once again began to cycle. He dropped into the Way of Boulders technique. He could feel his lux resisting him. It had grown so thick that the cycling took concentration, like pushing the aforementioned boulders uphill.

He cycled, hardly daring to breathe. He was on the verge of the breakthrough.

The lux ball abruptly flew straight at him. Joshi barely had time to be surprised. He didn't even break his cycling technique as it crushed against his chest.

His body rang with the impact. It shook him to his core. Joshi lost his cycling pattern, grabbed for it, almost had it, lost it again, then forced himself to reclaim his pattern.

He desperately cycled his lux around his body, suddenly feeling changed. Gone was the resistance of a moment ago. Now his lux flew easily along channels that felt too large.

No. No, they didn't feel too large. His lux had condensed. He had reached the third condensation. His core was ready for him to take the next step toward Bodily Refinement.

Excitedly, Joshi dropped the cycling technique. The little ball of lux flew triumphantly around him. Joshi smiled.

"You may stick around," he told it. "Do you have a name?"

It buzzed. No.

"May I give you one?"

A hesitant, maybe, buzz.

"My father had a prize golden eagle he taught to hunt for him. It would bring prey back. It was his most treasured companion. When the eagle suffered a broken wing, my father wept and nursed it back to health. In my tongue, the word for eagle is Magen. I would call you Magen."

The little ball buzzed up and down excitedly.

"Very well," he said. "And now it is time for me to sleep. Can you keep watch?"

Buzz. Yes.

Joshi lay down with his head upon the satchel Chang-li had given him. He closed his eyes. For the first time in many days, he slept soundly.