A substitute proctor had to be brought in for Janna’s test, and this one did not share Ryu Ken’s vindictive nature. Two days after Sunwhisper’s success, Janna had demanded she be allowed to attempt the ritual herself. The hour when the Heavenly Academy of the Azai would open its doors to new students was fast approaching, and Yuyu was prepared to risk her pupil’s life if it meant she would be ready in time.

Janna still wasn’t able to overcome the wards of the proving stone by will alone, but Yuyu purchased a third elixir to ease the transformation process for her. The Eight Trigrams Cauldron Elixir did much of the work for her, but at the price of reduced efficacy. The mana body that resulted from the use of that kind of aid was less perfect than one produced by the efforts of the pure artist alone.

Even had she been allowed the weeks or months it would have taken to develop her will to the point where she could master the proving stone, she would still not have been rewarded with a body as tough or as strong as Sunwhisper’s. Fortunately, some of the techniques of the Path of Deepest Stone functioned as physical buffs, so she could temporarily perform at a higher level than the quality of her transformation would have suggested.

Stone Skin Stance and Immortal Mountain’s Vigor together meant that she could hold her own as a three-star in hand to hand fighting. And the substitute proctor was content to go a few rounds with her before conceding that she had achieved a suitable mana body to receive a new mark. Of course, Sunwhisper had also used his elemental infusion techniques to great effect, providing a show of brute power that would not soon be forgotten by the witnesses.

Janna was a more skilled martial artist, as was only right, given that she had trained since she was a little girl in the style of her family. It galled her to know that her superiority would be gone in an instant if Sunwhisper ever decided the discrepancy mattered enough for him to need to increase his martial knowledge by means of his demonic system. So far, there had been no need. His sheer physicality had made his mediocre talents as a martial artist more than adequate to the task.

After the commotion of Sunwhisper’s duel, Janna passed almost without comment. They were given their stars with little fanfare, and returned to Yuyu’s compound to prepare for their journey to the Heavenly School.

They did not have much in the way of belongings; the clothes on their backs, and Sunwhisper’s alien spears. Despite having grown up as an unwanted child, at least by a father who did not completely believe that she was his, perpetually spurned for the sake of the advancement of her brother’s, she had never felt as much like an appendage to someone else’s story as she did now.

In a sense, she had known it would be this way the moment she decided to tie her fate to Sunwhisper, but she had not known how it would feel. No matter what she did, she would always fall short of him. Even as she advanced, the rushed nature of her advancement ensured that the distance between them would only grow as time went on. Never in her life had she imagined that an occasion as momentous as taking her third star could seem so hollow.

As far as the mission went, Janna was bait. While their mistress had not openly stated the source of her enmity for Makoto Shishio, it wasn’t hard to piece together the missing details. The man made a habit of preying on his female students, and he was well connected enough to avoid reprisal. As a debt slave, Janna was low enough in status that Makoto Shishio wouldn’t worry about an accusation from her. It would be a simple matter to arrange some attempted indecency for Sunwhisper, masquerading as her brother, to interrupt. Together, they would kill him.

Those were the broad strokes, in any case. Yuyu had largely left it up to them to hammer out the day to day. She gave them the writs of sponsorship to present at the gates of the academy so they would be allowed to enter and face the application process, but would not be accompanying them on their journey, as she had other duties to attend to in the region. That did not mean their progress would not be carefully watched. Yuyu assured them that she would have eyes in the academy as well as on the road.

So they set out on with the ink on their arms still fresh; a girl, the demons, and two sacred beasts.

The Heavenly School was situated in a valley beside lake Hylia, a body of water famous for the breed of freshwater lobster that lived long lives along its sandy bottom. They had no natural limit to their lifespan, and if they were not caught young, could continue to molt and grow for centuries beneath the placid surface of the lake. Killing the elder lobsters was forbidden. When they had existed long enough, they began to develop as sacred beasts, and could be bonded by would-be graduates.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“You are troubled,” Sunwhisper said as they reached the bend in the road that brought them within sight of the valley.

“I am not troubled,” Janna replied, her words belied by a bitter undertone. “I have been handed fortune after fortune, and only a fool would bite every coin they receive.”

“It is the curse of cultivators,” Sunwhisper’s footsteps on the stony path were a slow echo to the rhythm of his cores, “that they must never be satisfied. There is always a peak beyond every peak, and a master beyond every master.”

“Yes,” Janna agreed, “that is the trouble.”

“We are not in competition, you know.”

His statement was mild, but it nearly caused her to stumble. “I did not say that we were.”

“It’s the way things are done here, everyone must compete. There can only be peace after the hierarchy is firmly established by bloodshed.” Sunwhisper adopted a musing air. “It’s not so different from the way my world was, at its heart. Authority and character level were largely interchangeable. And those who derived their authority through social influence could only keep it by socially influencing at least a few much higher level than themselves. Or that is what I imagine it was like, as my memories are all second hand.”

“There is no other way,” Janna concluded for him.

(Law of the jungle, kid. She should fear us, just like you should fear the other cultivators. Everybody eats everybody else.)

Karasu cawed from above, signaling her disapproval.

“Dominance hierarchies are natural,” Sunwhisper said, “but they are not the only possible configuration in a given social context. You and I can accomplish much more as allies than as competitors.”

“Rivalry is the root of greatness,” Janna quoted, though she couldn’t remember who exactly had said it first, it was a common enough phrase to be considered a universal truth.

“Rivalry can lead to greatness, but it can also lead to waste and ruin. I would like to be able to consider your success and mine one and the same, and I hope for you to feel the same.”

“For all that you wear my family’s face, you are not my brother,” Janna said. Surely, no brother of hers would have made such a statement. Or if they did, it would have been a one sided sentiment, meaning that she should be proud of their achievements, while they were free to resent her if she ever managed anything on her own.

Sunwhisper touched her arm, and they both stopped a moment.

“You are my only friend in this world.” Their eyes met, and for a second, she experienced a strange sense of oneness with this young man, this demon, and she genuinely believed he meant what he said. Then Ogumo bumped into them both before rocketing back off the trail to hunt small game.

(You’re breaking my heart.)

“My only human friend,” Sunwhisper corrected.

“Do you still believe you will find what you are looking for in my world?” Janna asked.

At this, the demon was silent, and they found their pace again. It was spring in the valley, and the trees beside the road were laden with fresh buds and verdant leaves. There was plentiful ambient mana in the air, and though their eyes had developed enough for them to detect a faint shimmer of its abundance, only Karasu could see it clearly. It was not nearly so potent as it had been in the Hidden Valley, but Heavenly Schools were always built in locales rich with spirit energy.

“I do believe it,” Sunwhisper said.

“You said the barbarians could be on the side of your greater demon, the Spiral. What will that mean for the Land if you steal our magic to save your home?”

“I have no desire to harm your people. But I do intend to fulfill my mission. That being said, if the Spiral Dragon is in Hollow, then it would fall to me to stop him here as well, I think.”

(That’s a reach. You think Orobos cares what happens to Hollow?)

{I think he would, if leaving meant risking part of the Quintessence falling into the coils of his nemesis.}

“If anyone should have the source of magic,” Janna said, “if there is such a thing, it should be a child of this world. It belongs to us, and we are its rightful bearers.”

“An odd sentiment,” Sunwhisper said, “given that you don’t believe it exists at all.”

“Yes, well, if it does.”

(And we’re back to the subject of competition. When is this girl going to start being useful, exactly?)

“That kind of power,” Sunwhisper said, “is too great for any one soul to bear. It doesn’t have to belong to me, but it does have to save my world.”

Soon after, they came to the gate of the Heavenly School.