Fonta’s hair had been meticulously combed and then tied into a topknot that looked reminiscent of an upside-down beet. His Golden eyes shined in irritation, as he looked down at his deep purple and gold robes made from silk. His umbrella was tied to his hip where a sword would be. To many, it would mark him as a pacifist. Anyone who knew him would see the ruse. Fonta argued hard and managed to keep his sneakers on as well. Fonta had never looked more regal and his charisma stat was sitting in the sixties as golden earrings pierced his ears with amethyst gems in the center.
“This is a massive waste of funds.”
“Cost you less than 20,000 in your shop.”
“20,000 that I could have saved.”
“You are meeting royalty as a sect master in a minor unapproved sect. You need to be on your best behavior.”
“I know.”
“What do you say to the king?”
“Nothing, because he speaks first.”
“Good. When do you bare your claws.”
“Hopefully not at all.”
“Correct.”
“What do you do if the king tell a bad pun.”
Fonta squinted. “I laugh?”
“No, you stay still and hope he doesn’t use it as an excuse to offer you an ultimatum. Finally, keep the precursor thing as an arrow in your quiver, only use it if necessary, and don’t mention what your boon is.”
“Alright.”
“Great.”
“What else?” Fonta crossed his arms.
“That should be it.”
Nodding, Fonta entered the auction house leaving his teacher behind. Casimar stood in brown earthen robes while Yang wore ocean-blue robes. The three boys walked through a purple door and stood atop a green circle with a pentagram in the center.
In moments they were there and in the next, they were across the world on another continent.
Fonta took a deep breath and noticed that the area had a lot more energy in the air, as he looked about. Stepping out, of a back door, Fonta found himself in a city made of stone, carved into a mountain with various stairways and pathways leading up to a fortress atop the hill. On the ground around the mountain were multiple farms and fields, where cattle roamed mostly freely.
Casimar nodded, “Welcome to Terragen, it may look smaller than Lumino from here, but that mountain has been hollowed out, what you see on the outside is just the start. We build with compactness and efficiency. My father is a minor king, he has some power but he isn’t lord of a good portion of land, so outside of the mountain there are mostly farms. Meant to feed the people of this empire.”
“Does your father have Awakened cultivators to spare?”
“Plenty of them. Those are a dime a dozen.” Casimar added.
“Lead the way.”
Casimar did so and eventually, the trio found themselves walking up the stairways for thirty minutes before arriving at what was known as the lifts.
“These will cut down on travel time a bit.” Casimar said as he withdrew a badge which he waved to the lift operator.
As the trio entered Fonta scowled as something violent screamed into his mind.
The man bowed. “Going up, young master?”
“Yes I must speak with my father posthaste.”
“I understand. Sad–”
Fonta drew the man's hidden sword faster than the operator could react seizing the poison-tipped blade against his neck.
“Sadly you won’t get to finish that sentence.” Fonta didn't budge as the blade whispered into him telling him it wanted to bite him.
“How did you figure it out?”
Fonta nodded to Yang who drew his sword and then took to the rear.
“Your blade screams its intentions. It hungers for blood, truly the weapon of a villian.”
Fonta didn’t get the chance to pull information from him as a spear of stone pierced his heart from behind, then launched him into the darkness below.
“I was questioning him, you’re a bit too eager to kill.”
“This isn’t my first rodeo.”
“You’re what?”
“People have been trying to kill or control me since I was young. Guys like this explode after they die or when given enough time.”
A boom followed by a burst of flames shook the lifts.
Fonta threw the sword into the depths below. “I can’t use a weapon like that.”
“Good job, didn’t see that coming. I can see why you’re going to be leading a sect. Was that true though, did his weapon scream to you?”
“Weapons that kill enough tend to gain taste for blood or take on aspects of their owner. A freshly forged sword is like a child, impressionable and innocent. The way they are used impacts them greatly. That sword was frequently covered in venom and excrement from toxic creatures.”
“That’s why you tossed it.”
“I have heard of that, Voice of the sword, that's admirable for someone our age.”
Yang shook his head signaling to Fonta not to correct him.
“So it isn't unique?”
“No, but it is one of the rarer understandings. Usually the sensation is faint like intuition, or an innate or understanding. Others can see the path the weapon wants to travel. Few can smell lingering chi or energy from a weapon. Legends tell of two capable of touching a weapon and learning of the weapon's previous owners.”
“So what now?” Fonta swung his umbrella to the side.
“Someone will need to stay behind, turn the knob to 30 then pull the lever and jump on board when it starts rising. It will get us to the castle.”
“I-” Fonta started.
“Leave it to me.” Yang said as he began turning the knob.
Fonta nodded and stood on the lift while Casimar joined him.
Yang didn’t join immediately after pulling the lever, waiting a bit as the floor moved up. Ten feet twenty feet, then as it approached thirty, seven figures fell from above. They were landing on the rising platform. Then it suddenly stopped causing the seven to stagger.
“Damn, guess these people need to die.” Fonta moved forward like a blur removing the head from one of the awakened cultivators wielding a maul as a kick pushed the body off of the platform. Using the momentum from a kick, Fonta bounced towards a second one attempting to dual-wield warhammers.
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Two hammers came down where Fonta’s head should have been only for a figure to appear behind him.
Fonta didn’t care for etiquette when people tried to kill him. As an explosion shook the platform, Fonta buried his thin blade straight through the man’s heart and swung him off the stage.
Two Arrows shot towards a seemingly distracted Fonta as the head of the umbrella shot open and redirected them.
The archer punched hard enough to get sent flying off the platform and to his apparent death as he was caught in another explosion.
Casimar looked at a juggernaut wielding an earthen shield and thrust his hand forward causing the large cultivator’s armor to open up from behind and eject him off the platform.
A dagger wielder appeared behind Casimar attempting to take him out only for a Warhammer to crash into his head directly.
The last two were swallowed up by a dragon of ice that sent them flying down the hole as Yang landed atop the platform having ridden his technique to the platform.
Fonta retrieved his new Warhammer.
Stone and bone, bone and stone, mix them up, to build my home.” The warhammer sang in his grasp accepting the new owner quite quickly. It was a slow creature, but that didn’t surprise him.
“You have quite the arm. But I thought your hands were full.”
“Oh that? Don’t you remember?” Fonta let the hammer levitate in front of him.
“Secondary talent?” Casimar figured out.
“Yes. It’s like an extra hand and is quite useful.”
“Is that how you took the first guy's sword?”
“Yes, when I passed him and felt the presence I used my power to grip it, so when he reacted I grabbed the sword first and pulled it to my hand. It’s simple, but effective.”
“Yang, I didn’t expect you to also be so strong, not our level yet, but not far off.”
“He’s the number one disciple. If only he’d spar with me more.”
“I have other duties. I can’t spend all day fighting you from sunup to sundown.”
Casimar coughed. “Right, anyhow that should be it, anymore than eight and we have other issues.” Raising his hand towards the knob turned, the lever flipped and the platform moved up.
----------------------------------------
Fonta cleaned the blood off his weapons and clothes with a burst of chi as the trio arrived at a set of double doors where two guards stood resolute.
Casimar pulled out his badge and showed it to the guards. They looked at him oddly. “That is your badge but, Young Lord, we weren’t aware you left the castle.”
“Thats…Wait, someone who looks like me is already here. That’s what you’re telling me.”
“No?”
“I have a question.” Fonta stated.
“Who is that?”
“A talented warrior who can hear the voice of a sword. He helped me kill the woman who used mental domination techniques.”
“I don’t like this. Hey guards, if you reach for your spears I’ll be forced to fight you. This is not what you want.” Fonta started.
The guards flinched before scowling as a hold was broken.
“We’ll bring you in at once, Young Lord.” The guards opened the door revealing a velvet carpet and various well-dressed and groomed individuals.
Fonta noticed a woman around his age staring at him and stared right back. Wondering if this was a local greeting or a battle invitation. Fonta maintained eye contact with the young woman with blond hair and green eyes.
Yang grabbed Fonta’s elbow and pinched him slightly.
Fonta turned forward and followed Casimar forward as they were taken to see a man who looked exactly like Casiar only more muscular and with a beard. The two were nearly identical, from their hair to the way they carried themselves.
“You who claims to be Casimar, why have you come here?”
“I came to see why rumors of me asking for vengeance are spreading when I’ve done no such thing. I have killed the vile cultivatior that used me as a tool. Yet people in Lumino talk of begging for war.”
“Huh, and here I thought you forgot politics. Tis a simple matter, show me your cultivation technique.”
“I just began using a new one, so you know.” Casimar seemed worried as his chi flowed through him in the triple rope pattern Fonta had only where the shape Fonta had encompassed his body Casimar appeared to have a rather blocky shape that was between a circle and a square.
“Earth and Metal. My son has used those in the past and you know the protocol. Which also means you know what is next.”
“I must defeat the impostor to prove my name. Otherwise I am a fake.”
“Hey, what’s going on? Why are you being so rough?” Another Casimar was brought out only Fonta noticed a few key differences, the first being that their cultivation was higher than his by quite a bit. The second was the fact that they didn’t have any real muscle, it was all fake, like that fox lady he saw in the auction house.
“Excuse me, if by some odd reason, Casimar is determined to be a fake I will step in to prove his name.” Fonta sated.
“Fonta, what are you doing?”
“Who are you?”
“Fonta Pain, soon to be sect Leader, Conqueror of Two precursor landmarks, and this young man's employer the moment you give your consent one way or another.”
“Thats a mighty ask. What reason do you speak to one such as I?”
“Simple really, the person right there is at minimum, high awakened if not Nascent and I wa-er I don’t want my friend to die fighting someone two tiers higher alone.”
“Is that true Casimar, have you reached the Nascent realm? So fast, truly a legend among legends and yet you come here speaking of loss. Didn’t you say the Self Made King and his cohorts tried to silence you?” The king stated in a tone that seemed quite condescending.
“I have no idea what he means. I am still in the Elpmet stage.”
“Oh? Young master Pain, my son says you're wrong. Who am I to believe, I’ll let you join in, if the Casimar you brought here loses.”
Fonta shot Casimar a look. “No I won’t lose on purpose so that you can fight someone strong.”
“I didn’t say that. Just, pepper them up a bit before you know, concede so that I can have some fun too.”
“Sometimes I wonder if you were a bandit in your past life.” Yang whispered.
The two Casimar’s locked eyes in the center of the throne room as a rock was dropped on the floor.
The moment the stone hit the ground, the two cultivators burst into motion.
Earthen walls and barricades shot up between them as spears impaled them, and boulders crashed into one another.
Both Casimar touched an obsidian ring at the same time causing a section of their walls to melt into condensed balls of earth that were launched at each other.
The two connected and the two balls faded, one split in half from a metal core being shattered while the other disintegrated.
The attack repeated six times as the meteorites connected over and over.
As they did so, something odd happened. When the Casimar seemed to be winning, something strange would occur and the clash would always end in a stalemate.
Casimar exhausted touched a golden pendant he’d hidden in his shirt, casing ten spears of gold to fall from above on top of the doppelganger.
The fake rolled forward and clapped causing twenty earthen spears to come from the ground, all of them hitting but only six penetrated his skin, though one was quite close to his heart, the earthen spears then disintegrated into dirt.
Fonta stepped in as Casimar tried to stay on his feet. “I’m not done.”
“Oh you are. Thing is, this isn’t a test, it's an execution. Let me handle the rest, watch and learn.”
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The day before the trio left. “Since you've gotten stronger, I’ll show you the spring scroll. It’s weaker than the main family one, but we need the boost if we’re going to encounter Nascent realm cultivators and I can tell, you are an enlightenment away from breaking through to the awakened tier.
Fonta opened the book and immediately noticed the false techniques added to distract away from its true nature. This was the core of Yang’s fighting style. Each for sprung from this one. Winter was the end but spring was the beginning. The Wyrmling of Spring.
Fonta nodded to himself and practiced the technique and refined it until it suited himself then made some alterations to better suit Yang’s body type.
“You know, learning from you must be what it’s like to learn from a true master of the art. You can see into the heart of a style.”
“This technique, grows as you use it, where winter ends and spring begins. There is a natural pattern but I’m missing some key pieces to finish it. All we can do is make it match our styles. Yours is power while mine is speed and ferocity. Where one may see fallen snow, the other is hail.”
“Yes Master Pain.” Yang bowed.
This wasn’t the first time Fonta felt sincerity, but it was the first time he recognized that Yang did see him as an actual teacher and not someone pretending to be one.
“Right then. Why didn’t you show me this one first?”
“I didn’t have it at the time. Please don’t look further into the matter.”
“It is none of my business disciple Long.” Fonta nodded as he Imagined using that style with his telekinesis.
----------------------------------------
“Time to test my strength. I’ll show you the power of the Buy-One-Get-One style. You bought a fight with Casimar, now you get to fight me, for free. Isn’t that a good deal?” Fonta felt his Umbrella’s blade and heard her voice.
Young one, I will only break the veil, I will not strike the final blow. I am sorry.
Fonta nodded to himself watching Yang get the injured Casimar out of the splash zone. He then raised his weapon and entered a low stance.
The king dropped a second stone to the ground only, instead of the organized battle that happened prior. As Casimar summoned barriers of stone. Fonta had already closed the distance, having broken inside, slicing a long line across their cheek before stepping forward with a thrust meant to take an eye.
Casimar pivoted and moved in to land a direct palm strike on Fonta’s chest.
Fonta was still acrobatic and flexible, even as he’d grown and in that moment he’d spun in the air and kicked off a barricade causing it to crumble into dust as he landed a solid headbutt into Casimar’s gut.
Casimar staggered and tried to create distance but no matter what he did or what he tried Fonta was like an unrelenting force of nature as he dodged a lance of earth and moved into his new technique.
Fonta slashed like a monsoon shower, fast, heavy, and endless in moments Casimar was shredded from head to toe as a Fonta appeared behind him thrusting between the shoulder blades and causing a dragon of water to shoot out and bite down on Casimar’s arm.
The king raised both of his eyebrows as he looked at Fonta more closely. Seeing that Fonta had no resemblance to the Long clan. Though a certain young blond woman stared daggers into him as he used a style he clearly shouldn’t have had any access to, albeit it was incomplete as far as she could tell.
Casimar suddenly increased his speed and punched Fonta so hard in the gut that he was flung across the room into the wall. Shaking his head, the earth user summoned fifty earthen spears above Fonta and dropped them all at once attempting to turn the young boy into swish cheese.
“Now stay down!” The cultivator commanded as something odd happened.
Where the young Casimar had been, an older man with black hair and red eyes appeared. He wasn’t young but it was clear that he was in the Nascent realm. Blood flowed from small knicks on his face there the mask had been weakened.
“You are not my son. That much has been clear, to think you'd struggle so much against a child. No, you struggled against my son as well, the power you displayed was at least middle awakened but to create fifty of those wasteful spears.”
“Damn you! I was so close to the secrets of the earthen walls.” The man said towards Fonta.
The boy in question walked out of the dust with a few cuts, placing his umbrella in his sheath. “You did good my friend. Rest, I’ll end this with something else.”
Fonta cycled his chi through his center and noticed it was now flowing through his body like blood, his concentration would only expedite the process. He felt better in nearly every way.
“How are you alive? That should have turned you into a pin cushion!”
“I destroyed them. It wasn’t easy, but now I’m an awakened cultivator. You gave me just what I needed to break through. For that I will make your death swift.”
“I’m still Nascent tier, I won’t hold back.”
“Same.” Fonta’s speed had suddenly increased as the ground under his feet shattered grabbing two of Casimar’s golden spears Fonta moved like a dragon soaring close to the ground, The Nascent cultivator summoned a dome of earth around himself like a turtle shell.
Fonta’s first hit bounced off his shell, the second pieced the shell but the third. Like the tail of a dragon, the third spear cut through the shell causing the Nascent cultivator to stagger as his chi was disrupted.
Or so it had seemed, earthen needles shot from the cultivator's left hand by the hundreds.
Fonta dodged, parried, and redirected, with his ability and skills but the barrage left him staggered as quite a few holes the circumference of an arrow shaft had burrowed through his non-vital organs. Blood pooled as he continued forward like a puppet without strings. Bloody needles joined the spears Fonta was controlling as he took one more step forward.
A scroll in the Nascent cultivator’s right hand glowed and utter terror in his eyes as a spear shot towards his throat drawing blood as a flash of light engulfed him. Causing the Cultivator to disappear.
As the threat left, Fonta stood for a long moment as blood flowed from his nose and ears, and various cuts, holes, and broken on his body as he passed out. In truth to escape the spears and needles, he used his extra hands to push his body beyond his physical capabilities. Like a puppet on strings, Fonta's movements were crude but strong. The control of his new talent and their ability to work together showed him a way forward; he just had to be more careful. The light faded from his eyes as he fell to the ground.
As Fonta lay bleeding on the carpet, various healers arrived having already helped Casimar, taking the young man somewhere he could rest.
Casimar’s father looked at his son. “To force someone at the Nascent tier to flee, That Sect leader is strong in offense and willpower. I give you my blessing to spend time there building the sect’s defenses. I expect you to come back should you need to inherit, but until then outside of marriage obligations you are free to do as you please.”
“Thank you father.” Casimar nodded, standing straight up as he made his way to leave.
Yang, while mostly ignored, turned to follow Casimar out the door when a hand with long blue nails dug into his shoulder.