I groggily got out of bed the next day, dressed, and stashed my money under a pillow just in case. Not like anybody will actually steal it, but better safe than sorry. Then I walked out my door and instinctively ducked to nothing. I quirked an eyebrow, surprised that there wasn’t an attack. My ears moved on a swivel as I looked around and saw no one there. Huh, no morning wake-up call? That’s unsettling for some reason.

Slowly descending the hallway and out of the building, I went to the bathhouse, quickly bathed, and then went for food. As I got my food, I quickly found the rest of my team eating, and I went to join them, ignoring the jealous whispers of all the teams that didn’t make it into the tournament.

“Hello, Zeana,” a familiar and unwelcome voice said as Lii stepped into my path, seemingly out of nowhere.

I jolted and stepped back from him before saying, “Hey, Lii.”

“I just wanted to wish you luck at the Hollow Throne tournament. I’m sure you will do great,” Lii said with a smile, and he sounded genuine this time.

That set off some alarms for me. “Uh, thanks,” I managed to say, walking around Lii with no trouble. He didn’t call after me, he didn’t follow me, and he didn’t stare after me. He just let me go. Which I thought was weird. He hates me. I know he does. Why is he being nice? I don’t trust his niceness.

“What did Lii have to say?” Shiro asked as I sat next to him.

“He wished me luck in the tournament. It sounded genuine and weird,” I answered as I cut a pear while I looked back where Lii stood a moment ago, but he was gone.

“Weird, how?” Cami asked.

“It just was weird. He hates me. Why would he be nice?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Scarlet said as she stuffed her face, “We got another two minutes to finish our food before we got to go and train. So eat fast.”

I did as I was told and quickly stuffed my face with rice and fruit. I’m guessing I’ll need the energy for training. And I’m not looking forward to the intensity we’ll probably experience. But hey, another day, another dollar … er, coin … whatever a Lucre is technically.

***

Just as Scarlet said, two minutes later, whether we finished our food or not, we all got up and left. I followed my team down the path that led out of the village. But before we got there, Haze landed before us, making a small crater in the path. She wore a leather jacket with a large, flaming, anatomically correct heart and had seven empty duffle bags slung over her shoulder. She turned to us with a savage grin and proclaimed, “WHO’S THE BEST FUCKING TEACHER HERE!?”

In unison, we all yelled, “MASTER HAZE!”

Except for Cami, who yelled, “MASTER SHI’EN!” Haze glowered at Cami until she sheepishly said, “Master Haze.”

“That’s what I thought I heard,” Haze said, her smile returning. Then she tossed six of the duffle bags at us and said, “Within those duffle bags are your team jackets, specially made for each of you, and we’re cutting our training time in half. We leave for the Wong empire in three days, so you’d better be ready to train like hellhounds are on your heels!”

One of the duffle bags made it to me, and I opened it to see a leather jacket with a flaming heart on the back with wing holes and a new belt red belt. I put on the jacket and pulled out the belt quizzically, “Master Haze, why do I have a belt in here?” I asked.

“Because since you’re at sapphire rank with a level four core for the highest, you need to represent that instead of wearing the gold one all the time. I also put the rest of the belts you’ll need in there too. Now come on. We got training to do,” Haze commanded.

I grumbled a little, pulled off my golden belt, and put on the red belt. Once I finished tying the knot, I noticed everyone had left me and were halfway down the path already. I quickly ran after them and fell back in line behind everyone. We didn’t walk much further before Haze stopped just outside the crater the village had been built within. And it was the entrance to another cave.

Haze entered first and sent chakra into a vein of blue crystals that lit up the tunnel system in a brilliant blue and purple light. “You’ve got to be kidding me?” Shiro cursed as he saw the glowing cave.

On the other hand, Jax and Cami ran into the cave excitedly. Their energy felt infectious as the rest of us couldn’t help but smile and follow after them, not including Shiro. The blue and purple lights of the cave danced and flowed like water in a stream. And soon after, the cave opened up into a new cavern. Except, unlike the last training cavern, this one looked artificially made. There were six steel support pillars, each a meter in diameter and reaching the cavern’s ceiling twenty meters up, and held together with a latticework of additional steel beams. The cavern was also at least another twenty meters long and fifteen meters wide. This one had so much more space than in the last cavern.

I marveled at the size and the colors of the cavern crystals made. I couldn’t wait to train here and start my cycling. I threw down my duffle bag at the entrance to the cavern and stretched out my body. “Why hello, Zeana! Are you doing well?” Guru Shi’en walked out of the tunnel and made me jump in surprise.

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“GAH! Why are you so good at scaring me!?” I asked indignantly.

The old man chuckled and touched the side of his nose knowingly before turning to Haze, who quickly approached after my yelp. “Master Hazaizil, will you please gather your students,” Guru Shi’en asked nicely.

“Yes, master,” Haze said politely with a bow, “Get over here and line up!” She then commanded far harsher than needed. We all quickly complied and stood side by side at attention with our hands at our sides and looking straight forward. After a second, we were all in line, and Haze nodded approvingly. She turned to Guru Shi’en and asked, “What brings you here, master Shi’en?”

Guru Shi’en chuckled and said, “Well, with the cost of this new training cavern for you all, I’d might as well see how it turned out.”

Haze blushed a little, and the orange streaks in her hair glowed a little, “Yes, thank you very much, master, for commissioning this be built. But is that the only reason why you’re here? If so, then we should get back to training. We have a lot—”

“There is another reason why I’m here,” Guru Shi’en interrupted Haze and turned to look back through the entrance to the cavern, “Well, don’t be shy. Come on in.”

My ears twitched with curiosity as I craned my neck to see who he was talking to, and I was not disappointed with what I saw. Two little girls cautiously walked through the cave entrance wearing grey gis with grey belts. They were identical in every way. Both had long flaxen hair tied into a ponytail that stopped halfway down their backs, with green highlights. Their only difference were their eyes. One had light green eyes, and the other had steel blue eyes. But that wasn’t what caught my eye. What drew my attention was the long pointed ears they had. They were adorable elf children!

Guru Shi’en walked behind them, placed a hand on each of their shoulders, and said, “Go on then, introduce yourselves.”

The two girls hesitated and looked down at the ground nervously before the green-eyed girl stammered in an accented voice that I couldn’t quite place, “I-I’m Leila Sucrose.”

“I-I’m Shersha Sucrose,” said the blue-eyed girl.

Haze cocked an eyebrow at their accents but said nothing and instead said, “Hello. Why are you introducing them to me?”

“I would like you to train them,” Guru Shi’en answered, “The rest of the teams and teachers are at their maximum, you’ve got plenty of room on your team, and I expect you can easily handle teaching two more.”

Haze tapped a clawed finger on her arm and hedged, “Are they like us?”

I cocked an eyebrow at that question. Haze said, ‘like us,’ not, ‘like them.’ Is Haze a monster too? I guess she would be a monster in some form of the word, but is she one in the literal sense? I’ll ask that later.

I turned my attention back to the conversation and saw Guru Shi’en shake his head, “No, they are elves. Leila has shown excellent promise in spellcasting, and Shersha has shown the same promise with chakra control.”

Shaking her head, Haze said, “Master, not to be rude, but you know who I prefer to—”

“I am well aware of your policy, and I have told you time and time again to change it, have I not? Hmmm?” Guru Shi’en cut her off and said harshly, his kind demeanor gone.

Haze clenched her fists and said, “You have.”

“I have finished asking. They are your responsibility now,” Guru Shi’en commanded and then turned to me with his kind smile and said, “Zeana, might I talk with you in privet?”

I blinked and said, “Uh, yeah.”

“Good, now follow me,” Guru Shi’en said and began walking out of the cavern. I followed him as Haze instructed everyone to get to training and began talking to the twin elves. Once I caught up with him, he said, “You still haven’t answered my question.”

“What question?”

“The one I asked when I entered.”

“Umm,” I hedged cocking my head in thought, “what was it again?”

Chucking, the guru repeated himself, “Are you doing well?”

“Oh,” I exclaimed, nodding, “Yes, I am doing well.”

“Good, good. I heard from Lady Sheji that you were a great help in the grove. And I couldn’t help but wonder if you learned anything about yourself during that time?”

“Umm,” I thought momentarily, “I learned I have two racial abilities. One allows me to see a person’s sin, and another tells me what needs to happen to them to absolve them of it.”

“Not what I was going for, but continue,” Guru Shi’en said, listening intently.

“Oh, well, I’ll circle back to it. Anyway, there is a problem with the abilities. I don’t know how to control them.”

“Hmm,” Guru Shi’en said, thinking, “That would be because it is, as you said, a racial ability. Only a Deadly Zin can use it. Not a cultivator such as yourself.”

I cocked my head, “What?”

“A Deadly Zin is a monster. They tend to have less intelligence than a cultivator. And most importantly can’t cultivate. So when you make your clones out of chakra, that doesn’t mean the monster version of you will use chakra to make clones. So when you use those abilities, you’re reverting into a monster.”

“W-what?!” I panicked, “I don’t want to be a mindless monster!”

“Good to hear,” Guru Shi’en said, “Then here’s what you need to do. You ready?” I nodded, and we exited the tunnel. With a quick flick of his hand, a spell flashed and disappeared before I could see it, and the ground shook under me as the earth moved and formed two words in big, bold, non-threatening letters. DON’T PANIC. “It is that easy,” Guru Shi’en said.

I scowled, “One, explain what you mean. Two, how do you know this exact phrase and font for this very obvious reference?”

Guru Shi’en chuckled, “Do you really think you’re the first to reincarnate here? Hmm?”

My jaw dropped, “Y-y-you—”

He winked at me and continued, “And what I mean is, one day, your clones will die again, and you may lose control of yourself. That will happen when you let your emotions get the better of you. Don’t let them. And to answer your second question, you do know the Fusang tree is the tree of knowledge, and I live in it.”

I closed my mouth, now questioning what to do with all that information. He might have just talked to another person who reincarnated here, but I feel that might not be it. And the tree of knowledge would explain a lot. I shook my head and asked, “Okay, I am probably at max capacity for things to think about, but I have one more question. Do you know what the blockage is for the sacral core?”

Chuckling, he said, “Yes. Now,” with another flash of a spell, the big, bold, non-threatening word crumbled and returned to the earth, “I must be going. You need to get back to training and figure the blockage out yourself. Farewell, young Zeana, and may your team secure victory in the Hollow Throne tournament.” With that, Guru Shi’en walked off at his slow old-man pace.

I sighed, went back into the tunnel, slapped my cheeks, and said, “All right. Emerald stage in three days. Let’s go!” and ran down the tunnel to start training.

***