Seok stomped again, sending tremors through the ground once more. The Burrowing Rodents bolted from their home, centuries of instinct warning them of a tunnel collapse. It was every rodent for themselves, the vermin climbing over each other in a mad dash to escape.

James leaped onto one, only for it to stop and change direction as he dove. James tried again, swiping out to snatch another rodent. This one sprung over his hand and onto his back, barely registering him as it scrambled away. James felt their small feet run down his back and tried to stun it with a leg kick but again the creature had an instinctual insight into his movements. It leaped off James at the last moment, leaving him empty handed.

“I did say it would be difficult, disciple,” Nadia said. He couldn’t help but hear the laughter in her voice.

“Master, is this a new cruel and unusual punishment?” James asked.

“Of course not,” Nadia answered. “Do not worry, the rodents will return shortly once they realize their tunnels haven’t collapsed. Study their movements, disciple. Use the Metastate if you must, but keep the time short. This practice will be twofold. One for predicting movement, the other for managing your energy while in the Metastate.”

James sighed. “Alright, master.”

He brushed his dirty hands on his clothes. It was a novel feeling and James wasn’t sure he liked it. He was used to grease and oil. The towers didn’t use dirt for farming and the floors had plenty of servitors to keep things clean on the safer floors. At least the dirt fell away with a few brushes, leaving only a gritty feeling on his hands.

Sure enough, the Burrowing Rodents came back after a time. James studied them as they came. They made twitchy movements, mainly with their nose and ears. He sank into the metastate to see their energy. There wasn’t any.

He left the state in surprise. He couldn’t understand it, the creatures were somehow masking their intention despite their movement. He entered the state again, reaching out to a rodent.

The creature moved with a blast of intention, the energy appearing only when James acted. He knew that his hand would miss, but when he stopped his motion the rodent did as well. It looked at him, twitching nose and ears almost taunting.

James tried again, reacting with his other hand when the rodent started to move. The animal’s trajectory changed, the energy snapping away from him and leading the animal out of danger. James frowned.

“Master, how are they reacting to me so quick?” he asked.

“Instinct,” Nadia answered. “They are born with the innate sense.”

“Just great. How am I going to get past that?” James asked.

“There are many answers,” Nadia said. “Some learn to completely mask their intention, as you have no doubt seen. Others, like myself, slowly cut off their path until they are unable to escape. Even more throw everything they have into one movement, overpowering their opponent before they react. Each option has merit and it is up to the cultivator to make the choice.”

James nodded. “Okay.”

He turned back to the rodents, most of them now back in their tunnels as he sank into the Metastate. With his senses heightened, James thought about how he would approach this puzzle. His Stochastic Simian Arts were best used when an opponent attempted to engage with him. The goal was to observe and react. James preferred to flood the opponent with choices, masking his true intentions underneath waves of feints.

He tried it with the rodents as Seok sent another earthquake through the ground. To his surprise, the rodent ignored every piece of junk information James sent its way and only acted on the true movement. Again James felt the animal slip through his grasp, but he could tell he was getting closer. The creature had reacted a hair slower than before.

James left the Metastate as the rodents ran away, thinking hard on his choices. He still preferred to confuse his opponents with feints, but it seemed he would have to improve immensely to succeed. Perhaps he just needed to send more feints?

He tried the new idea on one of the returning rodents, but he was again thwarted. He got closer than before, but it was on the scale of millimeters. James would have to send an almost infinite amount of feints to this creature if he wanted to catch it, something only possible when James had absolute mastery over his art.

Since that wasn’t the case, James changed his strategy. He tried masking his intention completely, but the feeling stymied his movements. James’s natural disposition had him constantly moving, trying to hold that in only made it harder for him to catch the rodents.

He tried overpowering the rodents, putting everything he had into one quick action to capture the beasts. He realized quickly his art wasn’t built for swift actions. He could move quickly, yes, but not quick enough to succeed. Power didn’t work either, James’s art was about using the power of others more than his own.

Finally, he attempted to cut off all the escape routes. He sank into the Metastate, studying himself and the area around him. He tried reaching out, doing his best to guide his foe toward an inevitable end. Energy flowed around him, giving James insight.

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It still wasn’t enough. James did not have the experience to create traps, nor the natural inclination of a strategist. He had the ability to think ahead, but he would need more training to craft a net that captured the rodent. Difficult, tedious training as well.

He leaned back, blinking tiredness out of his eyes as he looked up. He furrowed his brow. Small dots of light ran across the sky as the day turned to night, the glowing sphere above dipping below the horizon.

It took James’s breath away, and for a moment, all his worries left him.

“What are all the lights?” he asked softly.

“Stars,” Nadia answered. “The Goddard family placed them on the lower floors to keep passage of time. They mimic the stars outside the cities. It is said each one holds innumerable lands just like ours.”

“It’s beautiful,” James said. Each star shone with intent in James’s eyes, as if to say they were the only ones he should see. Yet despite this no star could completely outshine the other.

“You only see sights like this in the wilds,” Fu said with wonder. “It’s half the reason we keep coming back to these dangerous lands.”

Seok nodded in agreement.

They spent a small amount of time admiring nature before James decided to get back to training. The break had given him an idea. He entered the Metastate as Seok stomped.

James acted, sending his intent toward one of the rodents. However, instead of one true movement and a thousand feints, James tried to treat each movement as the true movement. None of them were feints, yet all of them were feints.

He failed the first time, but the action had brought him closer than ever before. He actually felt his hand brush the animal’s fur. James cemented his resolve, he knew he was onto something now.

He tried again, lowering the number of moves to increase the intent. He failed again, but had almost gotten a hand around the rodent before it bolted. His neck felt hot.

Cool water splashed against him. He looked over to see Nadia nearby, her face in concentration as she cooled James’s overheating nodes. He looked at his master in thanks and went back to training.

Once the shining orb in the sky had dipped below the ground, James succeeded. He reached out, his intent spreading to five actions. Each one was a feint, but at the same time each was his true attack. The Burrowing Rodent stopped in its tracks, unable to move as the intent surrounded it.

To a non-cultivator, it would have looked as if James had somehow frozen the animal in its place before plucking it from the ground.

“How wonderous!” Fu said as James held up his prize.

“How dangerous,” Seok grunted.

Nadia agreed. “Your choice was correct, disciple, however you cannot use what you have learned effectively until you have a way to cool your nodes. Your actions put too much strain on your body.”

“It won’t matter if he wins in one exchange,” Fu said flippantly.

“How many cultivators do you know that go down in one exchange?” Seok asked.

“Oh, I’m sure there are plenty,” the man said with a wave of his hand.

“Is there a cybernetic I could install?” James asked Nadia.

“Not without limiting your movement,” Nadia answered. “Cooling systems are, and perhaps always will be, bulky by nature. Refrigeration is a concept that runs contrary to the natural order of things. That does not mean there aren’t options, however. Talismans like the one you currently hold can help in emergencies, and there are cores that will cool your internal temperatures.”

“Alas, his greatest achievement, locked behind a core,” Fu lamented. “If only he had a master with connections such as I.”

Nadia rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face.

“We should collect the rest of what we need,” Seok said.

“Yes,” Nadia agreed. “We will have to travel a short way to reach the oxen.”

She grabbed the still squirming rodent from James’s hand, then reached down and corralled two more into her waiting arms. James was almost jealous, his master made the act look so simple.

Fu rubbed his hands together. “I cannot wait. This will be our greatest hunt to date!”

James found himself getting picked up once more. Seok nodded.

“Good work,” he said.

James couldn’t help but ask. “Is your arm alright?”

“Never better,” Seok said. “Cybernetic prosthetics can be better than the real thing, and your master is a generous sort.”

The earth cultivator flexed his arm, the lines of circuitry shimmering under the low light of night. James admired the craftsmanship before Seok took off behind the others. They stopped after a time to make camp. Nadia pulled out her dimensional storage, removing a set of camping equipment.

“I’ll stay on watch,” she said. “Get some sleep everyone.”

Everyone nodded.

On the new day they continued their journey, slower this time. Fu and Nadia fanned out in search of signs. According to the information Tsukiko provided, the Electrum Oxen would leave scorch marks and burned patches of grass as they moved.

“Here,” Fu said. The others joined him to see a trail of burnt grasses. He pointed in the distance, everyone just able to see movement.

“Alright, remember to stay downwind by about a hundred meters. Any more and one might notice us before we’re ready,” Nadia said.

The others nodded. They moved in a circle, Fu using his floating seeds to mark the wind’s direction.

Seok let James down once they reached their position.

“Okay, everyone remember the plan?” Nadia asked.

“We separate some of the herd by scaring them with the rodents,” Fu answered with a yawn. “It isn’t a difficult concept.”

“Take this seriously,” Seok growled.

Fu sighed. “My good friend, I am taking this seriously. Do not worry, I shall perform my task to the greatest ability.”

Nadia opened the bag of Burrowing Rodents, just enough so her hand could pull one out without releasing the others. She handed the bag over to Seok and then stood next to Fu.

James watched as his master started to conjure water, soaking the ground around their companion. Fu acted as well, plucking seeds from his person and dropping them on the ground. The man took a breath and the world seemed to focus on him. He breathed out, letting a wave of life expel from his lungs into the ground. Or at least, it seemed that way to James.

The seeds below sprouted, growing into tall, spiraling grasses that latched onto both Fu and Nadia.

“No, you naughty things,” Fu chided. He swept across the grass, untangling it even as he directed it to hold the rodent. Nadia stepped away once the animal was secure.

The animal squeaked, and James saw a few of the oxen perk up in the distance.

“Um, I think they heard that,” he whispered.

“Not a problem,” Fu said. “This will only take a moment.”

With a push, Fu sent the grass rushing toward the oxen. The rodent tried to shriek in terror, but Fu had wrapped its mouth shut with the grasses. James watched as the silent wave of plants moved to cut through the herd of oxen.

Fu swept his arms like a conductor, swerving the wave of grass to split three oxen from the herd.

“Two or less, remember,” Seok chided.

Fu rolled his eyes, but obeyed. He moved the grasses skillfully, then opened his hands.

James heard a squeak, and then a bray of fear. He saw the herd bolt as the Burrowing Rodent shrieked, the two separated moving directly toward his group. Everyone got ready to receive them.