Joshi still couldn’t quite believe he had made it to the Peak of Bodily Refinement, even as his body told him the truth, over and over. He was remade. His flesh felt somehow more solid and real, like he had just emerged from a cold mountain pool. His muscles taut beneath his skin. The weariness of the last few days burned away. His lux channels ran clear, all the debris and contamination having been forced from his body by the transformation that overtook him as he had reached the peak.

He formed one hand into a fist and considered his fingers, weaving together his two lux chords. A glove of red lux coated his fist all the way down his arm, almost to his elbow. Three sharp orange spikes appeared, positioned as though growing out from between his folded fingers.

He slashed the air experimentally, feeling them slice. Magen wove around his head excitedly, the little creature's happiness matching his own. Idly, Joshi pulled a bit of violet lux from the air and fed it to the creature. He sucked in as much violet as he could, cycling it through his body, following up the purification of his lux channels with a violet wash.

He could feel the lux taking effect at once, strengthening his newly forged channels and preparing them for an influx of violet lux. Then he cycled the ambient lux in the chamber. It was easy to pull out the orange and red he needed, easy to condense it within his core, refine it, and draw it forth. His previous core condensings had meant he could hold twice as much lux each time. He had expected perhaps another doubling on reaching the Peak of Bodily Refinement. Instead, he found his core seemed to be capable of holding at least ten times as much. It wasn't that it was larger. The core felt as though it was the same size as before. He could just fit more lux in.

Joshi cycled until he felt refreshed. Then he stood back up and coaxed Magen to join him. "It is time to face whatever lies at the top of this pyramid," he told the little lux creature. "I am not afraid any longer." It pulsed at him, and he could almost hear a chirp of delight from it. Magen was ready, too.

Joshi climbed the last stair. He was prepared to face enemies, perhaps more specters from his past. Instead, he found himself in darkness. Joshi turned on the spot. It was warm and dark and silent. He could hear nothing, feel nothing, not even his own feet on the floor. He extended his arms in both directions and shuffled forward, trying to find a wall. He couldn't even see Magen and started to panic, but then realized he could feel the little creature's presence in his head. He relaxed and told himself he knew better than this. Each floor had been a test, and so was this, but apparently not of combat.

Joshi sat back down into a cycling position and began his Way of Boulders technique. As he slipped into the familiar cycling pattern, he could feel a presence all around him, watching. But it didn't feel hostile, so he sat there, acknowledging it in his mind. At last, after he had gone through the pattern perfectly a dozen times, a voice spoke.

"It has been many years since anyone braved my challenge, Cultivator. Tell me, what do you seek?"

"A way to the next floor," Joshi said honestly.

"That is a true answer, but short. What do you seek after that?"

"My freedom."

"You have that already," the speaker chuckled. "No one can put a chain on you if you do not wish. And having reached the Peak of Bodily Refinement, I think most will fear to stand in your way. You are a cultivator now, not a slave, Joshi."

"You know my name."

"I have been watching you for some time, ever since you met my child and took pity on him."

"Your child?" Magen pulsed at him, and Joshi nodded. Of course, the little lux creature was the offspring of the guardian of this floor. Somehow it seemed obvious now.

"Once, Cultivators came here to seek the boon of my children's aid in their climb," the guardian said. He sounded almost sad. "It has been so long since that happened. The last few rare Cultivators who came did not know what a boon they were offered. They drained my children for the lux in their bodies and so passed up a unique chance. You, though, you seem to have seen the opportunity."

"I was lonely," Joshi admitted. Something about the guardian's voice compelled him to speak truths he would not have easily revealed to anyone. "I have spent years alone and thought I had gotten used to it until I made my friends and then lost them again within the span of a few weeks. Perhaps I am not as strong as I thought. I needed the companionship that this one offered." He raised a hand, and Magen settled against it. He still couldn't see anything in the dark, but Magen's presence was there.

"You have done well. I will bless the bond between you, that is, if you choose to keep it. After all, my brother has said you may bear no bonds but those you choose."

"I would have Magen with me for as long as he chooses." Joshi realized suddenly that he'd become aware of the little creature as a being, and moreover one that very much considered himself a he.

"Then so be it. With his help, you may be able to achieve triumphs those on your path normally do not. Take care where you go from here, Cultivator. The floors beyond are broken and twisted. Those who seek to climb them do so for their own advancement."

"That is true of all cultivators."

"Yes, but be wary. You may pass when you wish." And then the presence was gone with no further ceremony.

Joshi stood. It was still dark, but Magen urged him forward, leading the way. Joshi followed, blindly trusting his little friend. He found he was able to perceive through the darkness, through Magen's own senses. There was lux here, very faint. Joshi had felt it all the time. Magen could see the lux even without having to use a lux sight ability, and could navigate by it.

They followed a coil of indigo lux that grew stronger and stronger as it went until suddenly it whirled upward in a bloom taller than Joshi's own head, a swirling mass of lux.

"This then?" Magen pulsed agreement. Joshi, without further ado, stepped into the bloom.

He emerged back on floor three. The first thing he thought was, How different this is now. How different I am now.

He could feel the lux. There was no collar blocking him now. He sensed great quantities of red and orange and bits of yellow. Very little green, indigo, or violet, but hints of blue here and there. If Hiroko could get back onto this level, perhaps she could reach her third condensation and come close to the peak herself.

Thoughts of his friends propelled Joshi forward. There were many dangers on this floor, as he knew, yet he was more suited to them than ever before. He flared his senses, keeping alert as he went, Magen watching behind for attacks. Though the jungle-scape around him was somewhat familiar, he had no sense of bearings. Where was the exit from here? He needed to avoid it. Most of the parties would probably be sticking close to the exit until they were more comfortable with this place. He didn't want to encounter any other cultivators accidentally, not unless he chose to leave.

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Joshi considered as he went. He had reached the Peak of Bodily Refinement. He could leave this place and there was no one who would dare treat him as a slave ever again. It would be hard to gain access to any other tower, even at the Peak of Bodily Refinement. Hundreds of thousands of cultivators in the Empire reached that status. Only a fraction of them were able or permitted to climb any higher. Having tasted cultivation, Joshi did not wish to stop.

Magen gave him a split-second warning. Joshi whirled, summoning his gauntlet while at the same time raising his left hand and calling up a shield. Both techniques worked perfectly. A foot-in-diameter round shield appeared, centered on his left wrist, while his right fist, wrapped in red lux and decorated with orange spikes, drove forward, punching straight into the exposed belly of the leaping frog that had just plummeted out of the trees at them.

The frog's huge, three-foot-long tongue wrapped around Joshi. He felt the acid burn at once. He slashed his claws upward, severing the tongue, and then punched the frog straight in the mouth. His claws tore a hole for his fist, and he smashed straight through the frog's skull, splattering its brains against the trunk in front of him. The frog fell dead.

Joshi leapt back, holding the shield, as three more frogs dropped out of the trees around him. They were green with red spots and came up to nearly chest height. The frogs let out horrific, croaking screams and leapt, one sailing straight over his head as the other two landed right in front of Joshi. He didn't wait for their attack. Instead, he spun and kicked hard, dropping his shield technique to encase his left foot in red lux all the way up to his knee as his leg smashed into the frog. He kicked it hard back against the tree, then came down, took a half-step forward, and punched out with his lux-gauntleted fist, smashing the next frog as he had the first. It croaked and fell dead at his feet.

Magen whistled a warning, the first audible sound he'd heard from the creature. He understood it and whirled as the frog that had come behind him lashed out with its tongue. Magen interposed himself between Joshi and the frog. The tongue wrapped around Magen's form, and the frog screamed, recoiling away as though the taste of the lux creature had offended it. Joshi didn't care. He made use of his ally's distraction to finish off the final frog with a blow to its neck.

Joshi stood panting in the jungle, covered in frog slime and brains, as Magen extracted himself from the dead frog's tongue and circled. Lux poured off of the creatures, more than Joshi had ever felt from a tower beast before. He seized it all, cycling as fast as he could, pushing the rarer colors to Magen while he refined more red and orange for himself. Then he shifted into Purification of Mind and Soul and felt the wounds he'd been too busy fighting even to notice begin to heal.

His stomach was rumbling. They said that cultivators at the Peak of Bodily Refinement and beyond could process the meat of tower beasts. Joshi eyed the frogs. He and his brothers had hunted marsh frogs on many occasions as boys and had always been fond of how they tasted roasted over a fire. It might kill him, but on the other hand, he was just about out of food, and if he didn't eat something, he would have to give up on this attempt.

"What do you think, Magen?" he asked. "Are they worth the risk?" Magen whistled an emphatic yes.

An hour later, Joshi had built a fire beneath a couple of overhanging trees, picking the driest wood he could find to try to avoid smoke. He skewered one giant frog haunch on a pointed stick and held it over the fire, rotating it every so often. The smell of roasting meat increased his hunger from a dull ache to a ravening yawn. When the food seemed ready, he pulled it back, sniffed it, then very carefully licked the outer skin. It tasted of rendered fat and juicy meat, just a little salty from the brackish environs. It was delicious, and all he could do not to take an enormous bite. Instead, he waited for as long as it took him to cycle Way of Boulders five times. Then, he allowed himself to take a single small bite.

The meat had cooled a bit, but was still crispy-skinned and delicious. He chewed very thoroughly, finally swallowing, before returning to his cycling. He cycled ten times, then another ten for good measure. It seemed as though the meat was good to eat. Joshi began a slow, careful meal. Magen circled.

"I do not think this is food for you, little one," Joshi laughed, instead giving Magen more lux. There was very little violet lux on this floor, and he longed to save what he could for his own advancement. But the little one needed to eat and grow as well.

Joshi was considering saving half of the roasted haunch for his next meal when he heard a branch behind him snap. He was on his feet and behind a tree five spans away. In no time at all, Magen hovered over his shoulder. They peered out as five cultivators stumbled into the little grove where their fire had been.

"I knew I smelled food," one of them said. "There!" He pointed at the discarded haunch of Joshi's meal sitting beside the embers of his fire. A second of the cultivators raced forward and picked up the frog haunch. They were all male, in their twenties, and a ragged-looking bunch. Their cultivator robes were all mismatched, with the patterns of five different sects, none of which Joshi recognized, but that was to be expected. He'd never had much to do with the Empire before becoming a slave, and since then had been accustomed to looking down at the dirt, not around at his betters.

"Wait," a third man hissed. "This fire is still warm. The one who left this might be here somewhere. Spread out."

Joshi considered trying to flee. All of these men had reached Bodily Refinement like him, but he could sense how poor their cores were. They felt shaky and misshapen. Then he knew what was going on. These were a band of rogue cultivators. They had snuck in or bribed their way past the guards at the entrance and were here to cultivate as much as they could, as fast as they could, before being caught and thrown out.

"Can you hide yourself?" he asked Magen quietly. The lux creature buzzed and vanished. Joshi stepped out from behind the trees, holding up his hands.

"Well met," he said. "It is good to see kindred spirits here in this foul place. Come, share my fire, share my food. There is more of that where I took it. It has done me no harm yet, so I feel it is safe for you."

They looked him over. One man had a wooden sword which he raised threateningly, a narrow edge of orange lux along its surface. Two of the others carried daggers, a fourth a club, and the fifth was barehanded like Joshi.

"Who are you?" the one with the wooden sword asked. Joshi could see their robes by now. All of them were missing the insignia that should be present there, denoting rank and status in their sects. These were cast-off disciples who had been sent away for failing to meet expectations or because of some crime. They were desperate men. But desperate did not necessarily mean prone to violence. They would not want to risk themselves, not after whatever it had cost them to come here.

"Why, I am here to cultivate without a license, just like you," Joshi said. "The meat came from some giant frogs I killed. There's three more untouched carcasses, and the half I left of this one just beyond."

The men stared at each other, then him.

"You killed four of these monsters on your own? Is there anyone else here with you?"

"No," Joshi said. "Why should there be?"

"I think he's telling the truth," the man with the club told the others. "You're Darwur, yes?"

Joshi inclined his head. "I am."

"What's that?" asked one of the others.

"Barbarian nomads from the far side of the empire, where the general of the West is conducting a campaign of extermination."

Joshi kept his features still, as though they were not casually discussing the war that even now ravaged his family's lands.

"If he's this far into the empire, he's either as desperate as we are, or some other sad case. Look at him. He's no young master."

The men relaxed, lowering their weapons. The one with the sword stepped forward.

"I am Er-Yun. Wu Yang and I will come with you to harvest dinner."

"Very well," Joshi agreed pleasantly, and led them from his sheltered place back to where the frogs were. All the while, he was considering. Make a break from it, or learn what they were after? He did not think it would be hard to give them the slip. Wait, he counseled himself. Learn who they were, and what they were after, and then decide on his move. He had time.

Now that he had reached the Peak of Bodily Refinement, he had all the time he needed.