Bo didn’t really think of himself as a strong man. Sure, he wasn’t weak, but there was a difference between that and the kind of strength that made a Raidboss a Raidboss. And Warbosses were on an entirely different level above that.
But none of the guys here were Raidbosses; when Still Water had set this thing up, he had looked for volunteers with their feet on the ground, the warriors like him who didn’t really have anything else going on. Guys who were mostly just standing around all day, since they didn’t have a long border that needed defending or neighbours they could raid.
Entrails, Rod, and Yon were basically on the same level as him. Just normal. Average.
So it was a little bit frustrating that all three of them had managed this thing faster than him.
“Good progress, Bo. Up for one more attempt, or should we take a moment?”
Lu sounded concerned, probably because he was down on his hands and knees, trying really hard not to throw up. “Naw. Naw, one more, I’ll get it this time.” Rod hadn’t been wrong; it really was like trying to catch a fly with your tongue.
His alien friend made an uncertain sound, but raised his arms. “Alright, one more. We’ll break for a short rest after.”
Bo bit down on his cheeks to hold back a snarl as the energy surrounded him again, projected from Lu’s hands in thick streams. He knew the man didn’t mean it is an insult, but it still made him see red that he thought Bo would fail again, right after he said he’d get it.
I want it. I want it. Everybody else seemed to have some special thing going on. Lu was a lone alien extradimensional traveller, which was basically the best kind of thing ever; Softy was one of like, five rot-eaters who hadn’t defected, and was really useful because of that; Cobo was a moody little shit but he was a cool moody little shit, the kind with a tragic backstory and special powers who hung around a hot woman without making it a big deal.
And that Bull guy was so strong it was almost scary. Bo couldn’t even imagine what he would be like, when he got to the top and had wrinkles and white hair like a real human Warboss.
Lu’s other friends were all interesting people. He wanted to be like that, to have someone else look at him and go wow, that’s Bo, that’s a cool guy right there.
So when the weird Earth energy covered him head-to-toe, he pushed like he never had before. Touching it was so much harder than normal energy; it wasn’t water, not really, it didn’t flow or pool or freeze like the energy of the swamp did. It flew away from him whenever his spirit moved, evading his grasp like a living thing squirming away from every passing shadow. He thought that maybe it was more like air, but even that didn’t seem right. Air didn’t try and stop you from breathing it.
His spirit surged as his heart roared in his ears, and the energy trembled. “Stay still,” he mumbled. “Stay still, you bugger.” You’re water. I’m water. We’re one thing, so you should get in here already! The energy swirled around him, bits pulling apart and disappearing into nowhere he could feel, just gone – but other bits were pulled in by the motion of his spirit. It was hard, even harder than tracing those symbols Lu had tried to get them to learn, but he wanted this.
The energy circled him, sliding around the outside of his skin – but it shouldn’t be stopped by his skin, that wasn’t how it worked. “Get. In!” His head felt like it was shrinking down, his skull constricting his brain into jelly with the effort of pulling – and, in little drips and drops, the energy pushed past the imaginary barrier. It felt unnatural, but he grit his teeth and pulled harder, and soon it was entering in streams. With a strangled noise of effort, he forced it further in with sheer willpower, until the streams entering from his front met the ones from his back.
A mental crack – or maybe that was him breaking his own teeth, he couldn’t care less right now – and the water-but-not-water turned to ice.
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A sound, soft, blurry. Another, sharper, but not sharp enough for him to care.
Then pain, and Bo rolled over as his eyes flew open. “Rah! Fuck, I’m up!”
“Ah, Bo! I was worried there for a moment, don’t scare me like that.”
His eyes rolled around in his skull, his half-asleep brain taking in his surroundings in bits and pieces. Lu was standing near, Yon stepping back, the other two still reclining from their own battle with the energy. The other human was- The energy!
The thought made him sit up. “Lu! What happened? Did I do it?”
Lu’s head rocked back at the forcefulness of his shout. “Ah, I think that’s what I’m meant to be asking you? It’s not like I can see through your skin.” A pause. “…So? Did you succeed?”
“Uh…” Bo focused on his body. The first thing he felt was his stomach, complaining about all the clenching he had been doing. Second was his bottom left molar – yeah, he would have to pull that out later so it could regrow proper.
He moved, shifting as he sat, trying to feel out for a little shard of crystal inside himself. His mood plummeted. “I…” I can’t feel anything extra in my chest or gut. He had… failed.
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His teeth threatened to crack even more as his jaw clenched. Damnit. I thought for sure that was it! He felt a hot wave of shame gather under his skin – but then it turned to triumph as he finally spotted something out of place.
“Lu! I..!” It wasn’t where Lu had said it should be, just behind the breastbone. Instead it was affixed to the back of his spine, a little spiny nodule the size of a nail clipping. The shape is different too. Like a little urchin, all spiny except where it touches the bone. “I did it!” He rushed to his feet, ignoring the woozy feeling in his pounding head. “I did the thing! I’m a cultivator now!”
Lu stepped back, fear rising on his face as he saw where this was headed. “Bo, I'm happy, but let’s not-!”
Bo scooped him up and pressed him to his chest. “I did it, Lu! We both have both things now, we’re the same!” I’ve got my own deal now! Be and Entrails and Rob and Yon, we’re gonna be all in this together! His mouth hurt, not just from his teeth, but also because he was smiling so hard. “Yon, get in here! You too, Hom guy!”
The little human tried to run, but he was even easier to scoop up than Lu had been, and in seconds they were sharing a big group hug. “I love you guys!”
Rod clapped slowly from where he lay, mumbling something that was probably sarcastic, so Bo added him to the hug by flopping down on top of him.
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On the twenty-first, Lu officially became an inner disciple. Technically he had been one the moment he had ascended into the inner realms, but paperwork moved at its own speed separate from base reality, and it was the paperwork that decided which section of the sect he was allowed to live in.
He was probably more nervous than the situation warranted. It’s just moving a little further up the mountain. And I’ve been visiting the inner sect basically every other day now anyway, so it isn’t like I’m not familiar with its layout.
But his perfect reasoning failed to assuage his anxiety, and the stubborn emotion persisted. Almost all the people who had regarded him as a stain on the sect’s prestige existed in the inner sect, their average levels of talent carrying them upwards, while he had remained firmly at the bottom until age twenty.
Don’t think about that. You’re their equal now – in fact, they should be ashamed for being tied with a man who stood perfectly still for a whole decade! Yes, he was thinking about it wrong; rather than focus on how long he had stayed at first realm, he should feel proud of his rapid ascent through the third. And soon the fourth. With his nose held high, Lu stepped forward.
Like in the outer sect, housing space in the inner sect was far from free, though it would be near impossible to actually be destitute enough to end up on the streets. Every disciple received a monthly stipend, and that stipend was more than enough for a modest dwelling. So long as Lu did literally anything, from simple labour to sect missions to alchemy to selling cores at the fixed rate the sect accepted them, he was guaranteed a roof over his head.
Of course, Lu hadn’t gone for the cheapest housing available; no, with his semi-newfound wealth, he had decided to live in a building befitting his stature.
The neat and orderly rows of houses and businesses went by on either side as he walked down the street, his shoes cushioning his feet against the hard stone pavement. Lu had seen these streets dozens of times, yet now that he lived here they took on a different feeling – no longer was he a visitor, gazing up at the towers of the elite as he scrabbled in the dirt. Now he was the elite, whom others would gaze up at longingly while they scrabbled!
A chuckle, soft but giddy, escaped his throat. Look at these buildings. So large! So coordinated in colour and shape! This is a place built to be lived in forever, where the eye never tires of its surroundings! The large trees formed an archway that seemed to welcome him as he went, the rays of the sun highlighting falling winter leaves as they were shed in preparation for spring, and for a moment the ordinary street seemed like a tiny slice of Heaven descended to Earth. The cultivators wore a higher cut of robe around their similarly cut figures, their features angelic and perfect.
Then the spell broke as a leaf landed on Lu’s nose, but it remained a quite pleasing street. His smile remained wide as he continued.
His new home was not a tenement, shared with dozens of others, but rather a private house with attached garden and enough rooms to cater to his every need. He took a long look at it before stepping in, and when he did he found it quite to his liking.
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Lu unloaded the furniture from his purse in neat stacks around the foyer. The wood and metal constructs were much too heavy for his telekinesis to move, but despite hauling them around physically he didn’t so much as work up a sweat. Ah, yet another joy of the inner realms. And now… With a smooth motion he clapped his hands twice. “Could I get a hand with the furniture?”
Almost immediately two heads popped out from the adjoining room, their expressions mildly surprised. One was male, and the other female.
“Ah, pardon us, master. We assumed you would be along later in the day,” said the man.
“Please, let us take care of these for you,” said the woman.
As they began moving his furniture to the appropriate rooms, Lu almost felt a tear form in his eye. Servants. I, Lu, have a pair of servants! Not just a cook to prepare my meals, or an accountant to manage my estate, but full-time live-in servants! Even in his wildest boyhood dreams, he had never aspired to such luxury.
The man was named Tsushi, and the woman Nancho. They were brother and sister, he assumed, or perhaps cousins; the both of them had straight hair with a slight blue tint, and muscular frames that could only be the product of hard work laid atop natural physiology. While they were mortal, they were easily able to pick up and move even the heaviest pieces without allowing them to slide and scratch the floor.
According to their resumes, they were skilled cooks and landscapers in addition to housekeepers. With them looking after the house, Lu could devote every second to cultivation and cultivation-adjacent activities.
Just thinking about all the time he would save made his heart soar. And with the garden, I can grow certain herbs rather than buy them. Then have them prepared, rather than doing it myself!
He felt like he was floating as he went from room to room. It was all immaculate, and tasteful, and his. Again he summoned the servants, this time handing them a stack of notes. “These are ingredients I’m looking for. Please keep an eye on the markets, and snap them up if they appear.”
They nodded in sync. “Yes, master,” said Tsushi.
“Shall we prepare a mid-day meal as well?” Nancho added.
Lu shook his head, his smile remaining undiminished. “No, I’ve already eaten. Though I’ll be wanting dinner in about… six hours.” Plenty of time.
They bowed, and took their leave at his dismissal. Then Lu’s smile widened even further as he turned towards a section towards the far end of the house.
His new dwelling was a cut above anything he had ever experienced before. The kitchen, dining room, bedroom, and two separate bathing rooms were all exceptional – but it also had another room, which his home in the outer sect had lacked completely.
Lu opened a door, and beheld a cultivation chamber for the first time. Not just a cultivation chamber, my cultivation chamber.
The inner sect really is a step closer to Heaven!