Sound was an odd but useful attunement that could be used to fuel some powerful emission techniques, so it was what Verus selected to test himself for next.

Unfortunately, grasping the nature of the ki and performing the technique proved difficult. He made no progress for the rest of the day, or until the start of his Cultivation Theory class the next.

Verus didn’t let that keep him down though. His victory in the dueling ground was fresh enough in his mind to keep him happy. Thus, he was still hopeful as he made his way to class and took a seat.

His classmates’ behavior towards him was slightly different. Although some of them were still openly hostile, most of them simply ignored him now. Apparently, Fang had been right. Beating Katar and proving he wasn’t weak had changed their opinion of him, if only a little.

Elder Ling soon arrived and began her lecture. The young female elder looked the same as last time. “Today we will be discussing the basics of attunements and how they relate both to the Tempered Realm and techniques.

Attunement is a term used to describe how strongly you resonate with a specific type of frequency of ki. There is some debate about how much a cultivator’s attunements are determined by the soul or the body, but for your purposes that doesn’t matter.”

Verus knew all that already.

“Each frequency or type of ki is associated with either an element of the physical world or an emotion, and each variant of ki has different strengths and uses. Elemental ki is mainly used to produce energy or control matter. For instance, fire ki produces heat and earth ki can be used to alter or move the earth around a cultivator. Elemental ki can also be transformed into essence to form weapons or create other special effects. Emotional ki is different. Its main use is to alter the emotional state of others near you, and by nature it is far more malleable and subjective, so it is often used to craft illusions. The more someone is affected by an emotion, the more real such illusions appear.”

This was more interesting, and matched Verus’s own experiences. The Lightbringers back at the mountain temple had frequently emitted an invisible aura of ki that made all the wards pay attention and focus better. He’d never seen them craft illusions though. Er, or had he? How would he know?

Elder Ling took a moment’s break before continuing. “The more you use a type of ki the stronger your connection to it grows. This is because using the ki causes natural essence glyphs to be inscribed within your core and even alters your soul to a small degree. This can also affect your attunements in subtle ways.”

Verus perked up. Finally, the lecturer was talking about his own problem. He couldn’t afford to let this opportunity pass. No one had ever asked a question in class yet, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t allowed. It certainly hadn’t been forbidden, so Verus gathered his courage, carefully ignored all his peers, and raised his hand.

Elder Ling noticed right away. She frowned and studied him a moment before speaking up.

“Yes, do you have question?” she asked impatiently.

All the other disciples turned to look at Verus, but he focused on a breathing exercise and continued ignoring them. “Honored elder, I wish to know if you can you gain an attunement that you weren’t born with.”

Verus had decided not to ask about finding existing attunements because he’d already talked to an elder about that and he had a book on the topic. If an easier way existed, he’d already know.

Elder Ling nodded. “Yes, but it’s very difficult and not practical for disciples. Extensive use of a channeling technique over many years could allow you to strengthen an attunement, but It’s usually only done by elders on certain flexible ways. For instance, someone on the Way of Gathering Storms could develop a lightning attunement if they wanted to increase the breadth of techniques available to them. An elder would have the time and resource necessary, and their ascension wouldn’t be held back much because they could still ascend by gathering wind ki. Now, let’s get back to the main topic.”

A mix of excitement and disappointment warred within Verus. Elder Ling’s explanation wasn’t immediately helpful to him, but at least he’d learned something. You could gain attunements. Even if he didn’t have years to wait until choosing a cultivation technique, that was still good to know.

“This brings us to the topic of the Tempered Realm, the next step for all you young cultivators,” Elder Ling continued. “Reaching the Tempered Realm requires not only amassing a certain amount of ki and essence within your core, but also gaining some spiritual understanding of ki. It’s a small hurdle along the way to enlightenment, that can usually be overcome by simple practice, but a necessary one. More advanced Realms require much deeper understanding of the nature of the heavens.”

The rest of the lecture was uneventful, and when it was done, Verus headed to the physical training with Warin and then went back to his room to practice channeling sound ki. He made no progress, which was expected, but nonetheless dampened his previously good mood. Having learned his lesson, he didn’t over-train though, and got five hours of sleep that night. As a cultivator, that was all he really needed.

The next lecture in theology was on the endless heavens themselves and went into more technical detail than any speech by a Lightbringer that Verus had ever heard. Usually they were more focused on obedience to doctrine and less on discussing the details.

“Another term for the heavens that is frequently used by scholars is the eternal plane. In particular, this term refers to the non-physical dimension that lies parallel to worlds such as ours,” Gerath explained. “It is within this dimension of pure energy that spirits dwell and souls return to upon death. There, they reunite with the Archon and God, before being purified and returned to the physical Realm. Travel between worlds is also done through the eternal plane, either by advanced cultivators or via gates such as the ones the empire builds to transport settlers.”

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When the class was over, Verus headed over to physical training to do his daily exercises with Warin. However, when they were done, Warin asked Verus to stick around.

“I want to do some more ki technique training,” his friend explained. “And I was hoping to get your help.”

“Sure, I guess. What do you need?” Verus replied. He owed Warin quite a lot, so he couldn’t really refuse.

The pair started walking over to a training area over at the edge of the disciple compound. As usual, there were few people in sight and the temple had a sedate atmosphere.

“Great. I invited another person along as well, so I’ll introduce you when we get there.”

“Wait… what? Who is it?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

When they reached the field, there was another disciple present, and it was a girl. Verus tried not to stare as he awkwardly walked over to her. Thankfully, Warin handled the introduction, allowing him to just go along with it.

“Escora, you came! That’s great. This is my close friend Verus. He’s the genius I told you about!”

“It’s nice to meet you, but I don’t know about being genius…” Verus stammered.

Escora eyed him skeptically, in an almost hostile manner. She was a tanned young woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair that had been intricately braided and tied back so that it didn’t get in her eyes. She was wearing clothes that were quite different from that of most other disciples. Instead of a robe, she wore a black slit skirt that went past her knees and a brown long-sleeved shirt. She has had a wooden bead necklace around her neck. It was obviously traditional garb, which meant she was probably from one of the Telhri tribes that had joined the empire.

Verus didn’t know much about them, but he did know that many of the tribes had allied with the empire when the first imperial expeditionary forces had arrived on the world. They’d been happy to side with other humans to drive out the demi-humans that had plagued them. Most of them had then been completely absorbed into the empire’s superior culture as it established its borders. Only a few of the tribes in the empire still maintained their tribal lifestyle, but there were others outside the empire borders who were hostile to imperial authority and sometimes launched raids on villages and merchants. The Telhri had thus gained a reputation for thievery and banditry among the common folk.

Still frowning, Escora turned to Warin. “This is the other person that’s supposed to help me? He looks like he can’t even help himself and his ki feels pathetically weak.”

Warin didn’t lose his cheerful smile. “Looks can be deceiving. Verus is simply having some difficulty deciding on a cultivation technique. He is nonetheless the greatest genius among all the disciples of the Great Wind Sect when it comes to the understanding and practice of ki circulation. Just wait and see.”

“I suppose I was usually was one of the first at the temple to figure out ki techniques, if only by a little,” Verus mused humbly.

“Ha, everyone else only learned those techniques soon after you because you always turned around and helped them,” Warin replied before turning to Escora. “That’s why I know he can help you.”

Embarrassed, Verus turned to Escora and tried to change the subject. He was uncomfortable being praised too much. “So, you’re having some sort of problem? May I enquire as to what is it?”

For a moment, Escora’s confident demeanor cracked and she looked uncertain. “It’s not a large issue, but I’m the only person from my tribe here in this sect. My earning of the invitation was considered a great achievement by my clan, and by being here I give my family much honor, but I have no one to turn to for help with my legacy techniques. I’m sure some of the elders could give me advice, but they don’t teach outer disciples directly. That means I must either figure everything out myself or abandon my clan’s techniques and learn the sect’s.”

“So, what exactly do you want from me and Warin?”

The young woman straightened up and looked down at Verus. “First, just some simple sparring and practicing, so you’ll need to be able to hold your own despite your runty spirit or you’ll be useless to me.”

How rude. Was this how she asked for help? Verus stifled an angry scowl and focused on not letting his emotions getting the better of him. Yes, he just had to think of her crude behavior as a test, or as practice for dealing with jerks.

“I won my last duel against a fire cultivator,” Verus told her. He still had some of the burns as proof. “Have you done any dueling?”

“I’m not one to pay attention to the rumors on the wind or partake in petty squabbles,” she replied dismissively. “So, I don’t know anything about that, but I suppose we’ll soon see how good you are.”

As Escora turned and walked over to the center of the training ring, Verus leaned close to Warin. “Why did you invite her to join us? She seems the roughest woman in the entire sect!”

“Sparring and sharing advice is what we already do during our training sessions. We’ll get more out of it if we have another person.”

“Fine, but why her? She doesn’t seem like the best training partner. Instead of exchanging advice, she seems more eager to exchange insults.”

Warin patted Verus on the shoulder. “She could use some friends. Trust me, the family scions look down on tribesmen like her even more than they do us. She puts up a brave front and likes to act tough, but she’s not exactly skilled at making friends and she’s all alone here. I think I’ve talked to her more than anyone else in the sect.”

Verus’s expression softened. He supposed he could empathize with that. Anyone would develop some prickly defensive thorns after facing the hostility of other outer disciples alone. “And how did you meet her?”

“Everyone has to go to the cafeteria.”

Sighing, Verus walked over to where Escora was now waiting for them in the ring.

“Which one of you wants to go first?” she asked them.

“Verus does. He’s eager to prove his skills,” Warin answered with a mischievous grin.

A tired groan escaped Verus’s throat, but he entered the ring anyway. Warin wasn’t actually wrong. He had enough people looking down on him already, so he wanted to at least show Escora that he could hold his own.

“I assume this is going to be gentle spar with no weapons?” Verus asked as he took up position across from her and assumed a martial arts stance.

“Yes, we’ll start off nice and easy so that you don’t get hurt. This is about feeling each other out.”

Her words brought some very uncombative images to mind, but Verus didn’t let his focus slip. He kept his eyes locked on hers, instead of letting them roam her body. He was an ascetic and refused to end up a vapid fool the moment he talked to a woman. Especially this one, after she’d just announced her intention to attack him. Still, her tribal dress was quite immodest in places…

“Begin!” Warin announced with a gleeful laugh from safely outside the ring.