Kaden had seriously underestimated how far the prabetu reached, and by the time he found Trella in an entirely separate section dedicated to services, she was barely recognizable. She lay on her stomach with clusters of spines sticking into her back.

“Do I need to get Eve? Are those poisoned? If so, can you poison me?” Kaden asked.

“It’s a treatment,” Trella said. “The Adventurers here, sorry, ‘Cultivators,’ are dependent on mana flow to their cores. Unblocking the pathways is essential to their survivaaaaaaaallllll….”

Trella’s head lolled over.

“Patience,” the [Healer] in thick green robes said. Wooden decorations hung from the robes and clacked as she moved. “The meridian is opening. You have been blocked all of your life, it will not be a gentle experience. It will take years to repair them all, but your ‘mana’ regen, as you put it, will increase.”

Trella lay over on the table and moaned in a way that wasn’t pleasant. “It’s like being shocked.”

“You have survived on a diet of garbage,” The healer responded. “It’s like you have lived in impurity. This is the natural flow of energy, you are not familiar with it.”

“You gotta try this. Show her your hand,” Trella said with slurred speech.

Kaden started with the simple, the easy, handing over five gold.

When he removed the glove on his right hand, the healer’s sharp intake of breath told him more than any assessment. The muscles in his wrist, the base of his palm, and forearm were still sunken and shriveled.

“How did this happen?” The healer tapped the scales embedded in his hand, which looked more like tattoos than actual dragon hide.

“Mana burn from a fire dragon,” Kaden said.

“Stop fighting!” She pinned down his arm. “Relax the muscles.”

Frustration welled up in him. “They are relaxed.”

She lifted his hand and turned it over, tsking the whole time, then called her assistant to speak in hushed whispers, then called another ‘doctor’ to look. “This muscle growth is unnatural. How did you heal it?”

“God of Spring. I was missing a large chunk of my wrist.” Kaden looked over to Trella, who was fast asleep, shivering.

“The channels here are nearly destroyed. The flesh is a reflection of that. What’s baffling is that it healed at all,” the [Doctor] said.

Kaden shared the details of his [Confirmed Guardian of Life] title. “That’s what I would expect. So? Is there anything you can do?”

“Not me,” the Healer replied. “I unblock meridians. I adjust imbalances—and there’s far too much fire in your soul—and I treat normal problems. You’re curious. Second tier and very few impurities. Your body should be riddled with them.”

“Druids.” Kaden hadn’t appreciated what their healing pools had done. “I fought a Lord of Hell and his daughters, they used a healing pool on me.”

Her disapproval didn’t need [Multispeak] to translate. “I don’t offer false cures. That wound is probably forever. Interesting, an enchantment on the glove? Trying to compensate for lost strength.”

The [Doctor] spoke up. “There are pills that can rebuild pathways, but their cost would be more than every ship in the harbor. And if it were known you had one, every third tier cultivator in the Empire would come looking for the foreigner who has no core and yet possesses a treasure.”

It was a good lesson. “Would these treatments work on beasts?”

“Eh?” The accupuncturist jerked around to look at him. “We treat the Emperor’s [Night Sky Tigers]. Your dog needs no such treatment. She is a gem.”

Kaden summoned Trinity. “I was actually thinking of her. She was mutated, which is forced growth. She’s constantly in a bad mood and I wonder if she isn’t in pain and just has always been.”

The [Doctor] practiced his soft landing skills, fainting.

The assistant screamed and sprinted out the back of the tent.

The [Healer] grinned. “Oh, a majestic spirit beast. And what a terrible mess inside. Three sets of meridian pathways, one body. She has not formed a core, which is curious. Will she let me attend?”

Trinity answered by clomping forward and sinking to her knees, then her belly, with her tail coiled about her. Her serpentine head watched attentively while her bone head closed all four eyes and laid down to sleep.

The blind head continued to track the [Healer’s] every movement, even as she drew a cluster of needles from Inventory. “This will not be fast, easy, or cheap. But she is magnificent. The Mother of Nightmares.”

Trinity flinched as a needle pricked her center neck, and [Razor Scales] activated—then deactivated. Kaden put a hand on her, and Vip whined, nosing Trinity. *Slow.*

###

After hours, the healer removed needles one by one and stored them. “I don’t dare do anything else, not yet. She should not have grown so quickly. It’s made a mess of her channels. Give her a few years to heal and establish a stronger foundation for her soul.”

Trinity rose, slightly wobbly, exuding the kind of exhaustion that said she was healing and so very tired.

Kaden pulled her into his soul, trusting [Guardian of Life] to help her heal. Trella had woken and privately told him the pins and needles feeling had gone, though she didn’t feel more energy yet.

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“Lots of water, and absolutely no martial tournaments tonight!”

When Kaden emerged, a soldier in black waited. “There will other days for your to enjoy but now is the time for business. We find that giving foreigners entertainment keeps the trouble to a minimum.”

The prabetu had shifted to a quiet mode, with vendors eating and cleaning, preparing for the next day as much as looking for customers. It made sense - every day, new ships might arrive but if they hadn’t docked by late evening, they wouldn’t be allowed in.

The guard led them to a dining hall built around a combat arena for two. This wasn’t the monstrous displays of Omnor, but more like training yards with racks of equipment. Swords, spears, knives and axes, polearms and flails, along with common shields stood in matched sets.

Trella nudged him. “These are all soldiers. Sailors. Captains. I’m pretty sure we got lumped in with the crew.”

“I like the crew.” Kaden didn’t mind. “Let Sara and Eve handle the business. Ashi can impress them, you and I can relax.”

Different crews separated themselves, forming neat boundaries, but Kaden didn’t see theirs. Instead, he and Trella picked a seat next to the fighting ring. Raucous cheers rose up as servants carried in plates of food.

There was no ordering, there was only what was provided.

“Fish is good. Shrimp is good,” Trella said.

Kaden helped himself. “The rice and peas are good, and poisoned.”

Your skill with [Resist Sleep] has increased.

Trella froze. “And what?”

Kaden took nibbles of each. “Only the rice and peas and the pudding, and it’s some kind of dilluted sleeping drug. He took another of her shrimp, just in case. “Shrimp are fine.”

Trella flagged down a waiter. “Can I have some more fish and shrimp.”

“More. Food.” He replied in broken common.

And brought a whole plate. It was the only way anything got served. Kaden sampled everything. “Don’t eat the beans, everything else is fine.”

“Sleeping poison?” Trella asked.

“Too much salt.” Kaden leaned back. “That was a very mild dose. Even if I didn’t have [Hard to Kill] it wouldn’t put me to sleep.”

Trella tapped on his hand. *I’d bet it’s crowd control. Dose them with something that makes them relax instead of killing each other.*

As the minutes passed, the formerly surly crowd grew quieter. Laughter exceeded jeers, and Kaden began to wonder if it was all sleeping powder or if they’d been drugged as well.

*Stare and laugh,* Trella said silently.

He did.

“Hard working guests, you honor Xiao with your presence. While your masters gawk and bargain, you enjoy the fruits of your hard work. Now, let us show you the valor of Xiao.” The voice came from stones above.

Kaden summoned Vip and let Vip clean the plates of everything except the sleeping poison foods, then petted her as sets of warriors began battles. Mock battles, he suspected, because these were working warriors with scars on their arms and lean muscle, and every blow was close, yet not deadly.

“If they were trying to kill each other? One of them would have succeeded.” Trella leaned back, her head on his chest, as the battle switched.

The previous combatants had been warriors.

These wore flowing robes and bowed to each other.

“You may know of blade and bow, but now watch as our warriors battle by the power of their soul. These first realm cultivators are masters of their chosen techniques. Flame Fist!”

The cultivator in red thrust her hand aloft, and it caught fire.

Kaden held up Burny. “Hooray! Fire’s the best! Water’s pretty cool too! Stone, at least you’re not the Wind guy!”

“Hey.” Trella sat up, momentarily serious before she carefully grinned. “They’re taking bets.”

Kaden shook his head. “Bad idea. These fights are fixed. If everyone bets on the wind guy, he’s going to just barely lose. Tell me you’re not going to bet.”

“We don’t lie to each other.” Trella stood. “I’ll be right back.”

She stood and mimced the same slightly off-kilter walk to find a betting table, where she spoke, then handed over a palm full of silver before returning. “I bet on them all. If we don’t bet, we stand out. I want to blend. I’m this close to being able to engage [Stealth].”

Kaden tried [Stealth Aura] and felt the skill almost take hold. He stood and lurched over to the end, where a server waited. “Hey. My woman and I are having a good time. Is there a private room where we could have a better one?”

His server shuddered. “Some people find the toilets lock.”

Instead of answering, he waited for his turn at the betting table. “My woman. Dressed in black, serious, she bet she’d win. Who’d she put her money on?”

The old man running the bets glanced to Trella. “All on Fire, though I’ll let you in on a secret. Ho Zhu has been practicing his Tornado Thrust since his last humilating defeat. The man’s out for blood.”

Kaden dropped four silvers on the air cultivator and stumbled back, his face plastered with a crude smile. *Definitely a regular betting ring. He wanted money on the air cultivator.*

All in all, no different than what he’d expect in any small-time gambling hall meant to keep the workers from causing trouble and give them reason to celebrate.

The first battle began.

Trella was entranced from the moment one of the cultivators rocketed forward in an open palm strike, then back. “It’s like Sara’s [Lunge] except he’s using it constantly. We could never do that.”

The [Fire Fist] technique looked like a flaming punch, but the mana cost must have been negligent—or the woman regenerated mana very quickly, because she used it with wild abandon.

“Let’s not wind up on the wrong end of cultivators,” Trella said.

“The best battle is one you never fight,” Kaden replied.

She looked back at him. “What? No, the best battle is the one two of your enemies fight and then you swoop in and clean up both of them when they’re weak. That’s the best battle. Unless you can get three enemies to fight, and that would be better. Or four.”

Lunging man lunged face-first into flame-woman’s fist.

Bone crunched and teeth fell, and the man screamed in agony as he dropped to the ground, clutching his burned face.

“Shit just got real,” Trella said, tensing. “I don’t think that was supposed to happen.”

Fire-woman burned off her red robe, revealing a server’s outfit, then ran and leaped from a weapon rack to scale the wall and drop into the stunned audience. Fire-woman grabbed the first server in range and the woman exploded into flames. With every step, she left another victim, heading for the betting table.

“Not a robbery,” Trella said. “Let’s see how she likes the Deception.”

Trella’s shadow rushed toward the assassin, rising up before her.

A pillar of flame errupted, turning the shadow to non-ash and leaving the weaker echo in its place. “Bad Asssassin,” It said in Trella’s voice. “You call that immolating an enemy?”

Another pillar of flame—and this time Trella’s [Dual Deception] activated, leaving one who sat primly on the seat just ahead. “You really need to do better,” the Deception said. “It’s ok, a lot of people have trouble on their first mission.”

The Fire-Assassin screamed, and a wall of flames exploded outward, leaving the Deception echo sitting where the first had been, picking at its nails. At that instant, Kaden understood Trella’s strategy. The screaming, the burning, the running employees would all bring guards and this one had drawn attention far too soon.

Kaden will the Falcrow into existence. It emerged from the servant’s passageway behind the betting table, screaming, “Death is your decree! Death for us both!”

Fire-Assassin swung with flaming fists—through the falcrow, which turned and swooped. She wouldn’t be fooled by an illusion a second time, she—shrieked as the Falcrow raked her eyes with claws. The Fire-Assassin let go of her bleeding eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “[Final Flame.]”

Kaden had only a moment to trigger the Eldritch Shield and step in front of Trella. An explosion of flame burst out, sinking into the eldritch shield. Those unlucky enough to be on the same side of the arena weren’t shielded by the mana barriers.

Their screams were short and intense.

Trella stepped out from behind Kaden, choking on the sweet smell of roasting flesh. “We have to get moving. That wasn’t the assassin. That was the distraction.”