Number One walked forward, his back straight and proud. Even as he ground his teeth to keep up appearances. According to his stated desires, the group of four was exactly the sort of thing that infuriated him. This outcome would have brought him a great deal of grief.
That fool Number Two is dedicated to a fault. Since it is his invited, he definitely feels responsible for this lucky girl. Meanwhile, Number Four was clearly the individual who leaked the information that this girl won to Number Two. He’s here to watch the show only, no matter how imperative he suddenly claims that it is he sees Master. And I… am furious. I’m worried. I’m frustrated. And I’m increasingly desperate-
As he thought about each of the emotions, he allowed his facial features to change to reflect those emotions. His portrayals felt flawless. But he suddenly realized the woman behind him was watching him carefully as the emotions passed through the medium of his face.
He gave her a tired smile, covering everything up. He was a great being caught in a moment of weakness by an inferior, his embarrassment was understandable. But something about her eyes shifted his focus. Inwardly, Number One reviewed her information. Original Planet… Expira? Hum, I haven’t heard of that. Yet it also sounds so familiar. When did I become so idle that I recognized minor planets…?
The group reached the end of the tunnel and arrived at the base of the Path of the Spirit. In the middle of the cavern in front of them, a massive pillar of white energy blazed upward, connecting the powerful energies below with the powerful energies above. The Spirit Path was perhaps the most dangerous of the three paths, at least in theory. It required balance between the inner patterns and outer, and punished you for failing at either. Only through this connection could they take an elevator up to where the Master spent all of his time training.
So long as Master responded. Which did give Number One a bit of trepidation.
Number One vented that emotion by turning and glaring at Number Two and Number Four. They were the true source of the pressure he felt. Number Two didn’t even appear to notice; that fool was probably even now practicing the Grand Pattern in his mind. Number Four looked hurt, as though the child-like traitor couldn’t figure out why Number One would be mad at him.
Snorting, Number One looked back at the pillar of light. Even if they both represented threats, he was still Number One. “Alright, we will ascend together then. Once we reach the Master, Miss Silver, it is important that you remain completely respectful-”
RUMMMMMMMMBBLLLLLLLEEEEEEEE!
It started small, but within only a second the entire cavern around them was shaking. The vaulted ceilings trembled and cracked. It seemed the area was nearing a collapse. Number One frowned upward, believing that the Master was just engaging in a particularly destructive training session. Yet the rumbling continued to grow worse.
Large chunks of stone fell from the ceiling and crashed on the ground.
Then he felt pain right above his heart, where the connection to his path resided. Number One hissed and raised a hand to his chest, feeling this disturbance impact the Path of Bone. What the hell…? Is Master losing control of the Path of Spirit? Or could something have happened on the Path of Blood? I’ve been so careful-
A voice blasted out, interrupting Number One’s wild speculation. “Elhume you bastard? How dare you intrude on my sacred space?!? We had an agreement!”
RUUUUMMMBLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The shaking grew worse as the entire group paled. If what Master said was correct and Elhume was truly attacking the sacred Mountain-
They would be squished to nothing without any tension. Number One dared plot, but before true power, there was little that he could do.
“Do you think I’m dead? Do you think I don’t notice how distracted you are?!?! ARGGHH! You dirty fuck!”
Only Master would dare reprimand Elhume so directly, Number One’s heart palpitated. Yet the tremors only grew worse, making him secretly believe that Master was going to doom them all with his arrogance by resisting Elhume. The light from the Path of the Spirit grew blinding as it howled out underneath the direction of the Master.
But Number One’s eyes became malicious. However, you raise a good point, Master. And I wonder how distracted you currently are-
The rumbling abruptly ceased, so suddenly that Number One blinked in surprise. The Path of Spirit fluctuated and returned to normal. A peal of booming laughter echoed out from above, but then the laughs cut off into coughs. Number One’s lips twitched again. You just noticed that we are here and are trying to keep up appearances? Do you think anyone was ever fooled by you, you self-important prick?
“Ah, Disciples. Please come visit. I’ve been expecting you.” Suddenly the voice of the Master became deep and unfathomable. The pillar of light receded, revealing a platform. Steeling himself and wondering why Elhume had attacked, Number One led the group forward.
*****
Sam knocked on the door and poked his head into Daniel’s office. The record keeper and head research of Donnyton waved his hand. Sam proceeded past the compendiums and walked up to Daniel’s desk. He eyed the area. He could have sent a message, but he wanted to see the wolf beast that Daniel was trying to raise as a dog; Sam had a soft spot in his heart for hounds after growing up with his uncle breeding them.
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Not here today. Alright, down to business then. Sam cleared his throat. “I won’t be able to come to poker night tonight.”
“Ah, that’s actually for the best,” Daniel responded without looking up from whatever paperwork that occupied. His hand continued to write even as he spoke, “I’ve already heard from Glendel and Kayle, neither will be able to come. And you know how twitchy Paolo gets when he thinks Kayle is training while he’s not. Better to just wait for next week.”
Sam grunted and turned around disappointed that he had wasted the time to come here. But Daniel called out to him before he left. “Oh, there’s something else. We received a message from an individual in the Nexus. Looks like it was the buyer of that Bracer you made recently. They wish to buy a few more, if possible. They seemed extremely willing to pay a high price. Apparently, those bracers are very compatible with their particular faction.”
Sam felt bitter. Is the sort of equipment I can make so common in the Nexus that you can usually buy them by the dozen at the supermarket…? Haaah...
He turned away to hide his expression from Daniel. “Not interested. I’m attempting to improve my forging process, so I’m not taking commissions at the moment.”
“In that case, you might be interested in the second proposition this individual offered. I believe they called themselves Ozark, a Pinnacle Seeker, in the message.” Daniel continued. “They claim to be a supporter of independent artisans such as yourself. They are willing to provide some rare and valuable materials from their homeworld to you if you pass some of the results to them.”
That finally made Sam pause. Even though he wanted to focus on how to impact the significance of items as he worked on them, he couldn’t help but be tempted by the talk of materials. No smith worth his salt would turn down such an offer.
If I’m going to just toss the results in the scrap pile anyway, there shouldn’t be much harm in passing them on to this group. Sam looked over his shoulder and nodded. “Alright, that’s fine. Agree provisionally, as long as they don’t care what sort of result they receive. Figure out what sort of stuff the Nexus has and find the value of what they provide. I’ll handle the rest.”
As Sam walked out of the room, his eyes glittered. And if they continue to provide materials… then it’s time to figure out what I’m missing about the equipment I can create. They claim to be a supporter of the arts? Heh. Randidly had argued very persuasively that the Nexus isn’t that sort of generous place.
Whistling to himself, Sam put the deal out of his mind and proceeded to dinner with Regina.
*****
Influence +7,901!
As they walked over toward the stairs to the next step, Randidly patted the Lizakh warrior on the back. It was very easy to be in a good mood after receiving such a gushing surge of Influence from the shade after his victory. “Don’t take the loss to heart. If I’m being honest, my method of utilizing the Grand Pattern can be considered cheating. The fact that your seven palms was able to penetrate that deeply into my storm is pretty impressive, without an image.”
“It’s not seven palms, its one strike,” The Lizakh warrior sighed. His expression was drooped and exhausted. Combined with the insubstantial body, the effect was making him look quite pitiable. “Today for whatever reason I felt especially good. I even thought I could push my One Strike, Seven Deaths Palm to new heights. Perhaps even evolve it entirely. To think I ended fully three meters away from touching you and triumphing… and the storm only grew more powerful the deeper I penetrated…”
Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I still could have produced Acri. Or used one of the Fangs to neutralize the force of your palm. Or gathered up a bunch of natural energy and unleashed it in a highly destructive blast. Randidly continued to pat the Lizakh’s back. However, to be able to push five meters into the storm, weathering the electromagnetic radiation, light radiation, Nether, and natural energy is pretty impressive.
I also appreciate that you directly surrendered after that. Probably saved me quite a bit of time.
Randidly began to climb the stairs, heading to the next opponent. Immediately, the physical restriction on him increased by another 3%. He moved his arms around, savoring the restriction; it probably hadn’t been since he had broken past the 1000 Stat barrier that he had felt so stifled. But after a few steps, he turned and looked at the Lizakh warrior. “Oh, you are coming up with me?”
The Lizakh warrior regained a small amount of haughtiness. “Why not? Challengers come through here so rarely. Besides, I might find it- mmm, educational to watch you battle against the other guardians. They are all more powerful than me, and significantly so.”
Randidly’s turned away to hide a smile. You mean you want to see me beaten up, huh? Well, considering how much Influence you gave me, I won’t hold it against you. Plus, if you are climbing with me anyway-
“Would it be possible to see your Skill for utilizing the Grand Pattern again?” Randidly asked. “Consider it payment for the entertainment in the other challenges. I think I’d find it highly educational.”
The Lizakh warrior glared at Randidly several seconds, as though suspicious he was mocking him. But seeing Randidly’s straightforward look, he seemed to be mollified. “Hmm, I suppose you’ve probably never seen anything like it, huh? Well, there should be no harm in showing you just a little. You take a thin channel of the Grand Pattern’s force and split it in two. Then you torque both streams in different directions-”
The shade struck. A spiraling, piercing attack shook the surrounding area and briefly knocked the mist backward. For that reason alone, Randidly could only raise his eyebrows in shock; being able to briefly delay the suppressing mist was more than he could accomplish.
His emerald eyes glittered as he replayed the attack and notice the ingenious way the Lizakh utilized force. To be honest, in terms of multiplying the power of a small amount of natural energy, the Lizakh was quite a bit more proficient than Randidly. He just couldn’t host a walking natural disaster.
Which was, perhaps, cheating.
“Can I see it again?” Randidly asked. “The way you utilize force is pretty impressive.”
“Too quick to catch it? Heh, you are starting to see my charm. Watch closely.” The Lizakh grinned. Then he threw out several palm strikes in a row. The mist almost hissed in distaste as it was forced backward. The curling strikes smashed against the strange material of the stairs, throwing off sparks without damaging it at all. But the mist could only begrudgingly give up ground before the curling attacks.
Randidly’s eyes glowed. His hands twitched, mimicking the movements of the Lizakh.
Synchronicity detected! Your Skill Talon Strike is reacting!