Verus hung in the air, too stunned to move, as the power of Tellus’s punch burst through him. Pain flowed through his stomach and up through his entire body. Weakness and nausea were next, but he fought not to spew the suddenly acidic contents of his stomach. Instead, he concentrated on landing on his feet and then throwing himself sideways.

He was just in time to avoid another punch from Tellus. The other disciple’s fist glanced off his cheek as he stumbled away, but Verus manages not to fall. He fought off the pain and turned to his opponent as he raised his hands defensively.

Tellus snorted rudely. “You should just give up and fall, little ward. You can’t beat me.”

“No,” Verus hissed back furiously. It was completely against his nature to surrender in the face of adversity like this. A voice within him screamed to keep fighting and never give up. Of course, it would have been nice if the voice told him how to win as well. Verus knew his chances weren’t good.

“Fine, but it would have been much easier on you if you’d just stayed down.”

Verus didn’t reply. He was an ascetic. To him, pain was nothing but an illusion. Only struggle brought about growth and enlightenment.

Tellus charged forward, throwing a flurry of punches at Verus, who barely managed to block or deflect them. However, Tellus followed up with a low kick. Verus tried to dodge, but his poor condition made him slow, and the kick slammed into his thigh.

Verus found himself falling to his knees. He couldn’t stop it no matter how much struggled internally. There was simply no strength left in his legs. The kick had turned his muscles to jelly.

As Verus struggled to get back up, he saw Tellus lean back and launch a kick straight at his head. He flinched as the other disicple’s foot smashed into the side of his head. Stunned, Verus fell over, but he didn’t lose consciousness. It felt like Tellus had held back, otherwise he would have been thrown sideways and knocked unconscious.

That was enough for the referee though. “The match is over and the winner is Tellus Earthy! The prize of four red ki shards is his.”

Verus felt the ki-infused voice of the elder echo through his body despite his pain and hazy consciousness. The loud speech had a deep finality to it that chilled him to the bone. Verus let his eyes fall shut. He’d lost. He now had no shards and would fall even more behind the other disciples. His chances of becoming an inner disciple had just crashed.

Tellus gazed down at Verus and shook his head. “Fool. You cannot see the mountain before you. You should have spared yourself a beating by not challenging your betters. A few shards mean nothing to us. We have all we need and more, but my peers’ pride would never let them accept the defeat of any of their fellows at your hands. Your scheme won’t work anymore. No one you have a hope of beating will accept your challenges. Accept your place and they will forget about the insult you have given them. Fade into the background like the nobody you are.”

That said, Tellus walked away to claim his prize. Verus was left on the ground as his emotions roiled amidst the concussed haze of his mind. He’d lost.

Seeing that his friend wasn’t moving, Warin hurried over to his side. The referee and Tellus had already both left.

“Are you okay? Can you walk?” Warin asked.

Verus considered the question for moment. “No.”

With a concerned look on his face, Warin reached down to help his friend up and Verus went along with it. Thinking was hard. He didn’t want to think.

“It’s just two shards. You’ll get more next week,” Warin pointed out. Verus didn’t bother replying. He focused on the pain in his gut and keeping his breath steady as they walked out of the ring together. It turned out that walking was almost as hard as thinking.

“That was a good fight,” Escora added in a comforting tone from where she was still standing next to the ring. “You just got unlucky in your match up. He was ready for your techniques and his earth ki gave him some good counters.”

“Indeed,” Verus replied curtly. It was all he could manage. Escora meant well, but she didn’t understand his position. This was more than a small set back for him. He needed those shards badly. It was true that Tellus’s techniques had given him an advantage, but Verus couldn’t help but feel that he still could have won if their ki levels had been the same.

Feeling a little steadier on his feet, Verus stepped away from Warin to stand on his own. He wobbled but didn’t fall.

“Are you going to the infirmary?” Warin asked.

Verus shook his head. “No, I’m already feeling better. I just need to catch my breath. This isn’t anything some meditation and rest won’t fix.”

“Well, I’ll walk you to your room.”

Verus nodded in agreement, so Warin led him back to the dormitory. Verus then said goodbye to Warin, pulled his door shut behind him, and collapsed onto his bed to stare at the ceiling for moment before covering his eyes with one of his arms.

His head was still spinning and his body was covered in bruises, but that was nothing compared to his roiling emotions. Doubt and self-loathing swirled within him, eating away at his guts and darkening his thoughts. It was overwhelming, and despite his training and self-discipline, he wanted to cry like a child. It felt like all his dreams had just died. He’d never become an elder, find enlightenment, and ascend past his own pain-filled weakness.

Pain and fatigue weighed heavily on Verus when he tried to get out of bed the next day, but he was far too disciplined to let that stop him. Years of living as an ascetic allowed him to ignore any emotion and perform his morning routine. It couldn’t make happy though. He felt utterly miserable.

It was a free day, so he avoided going out and concentrated on channeling. The mediation and focus on ki sensing allowed him to avoid thinking about anything else, but he couldn’t do it forever. Verus couldn’t stop his mind from wandering whenever he took breaks to eat or exercise, but he remained on task with grim determination.

Later that day, after several hours of meditation, Verus finally performed the darkness channeling technique. The result was a complete lack of a darkness attunement. Still, the expected despair hadn’t come. Maybe he was already as miserable as possible, but he had felt something when holding the darkness ki though. It had felt familiar and right to his senses. The negative power called to him. Maybe he’d actually gained a hint that would lead him to a hidden attunement. It was the first evidence he’d encountered that he wasn’t just wasting his time, so he actually felt somewhat relieved.

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Verus sighed as he put the channeling crystal away. Unfortunately, he had no shards left so he couldn’t refill his orb. That was the problem he’d been avoiding thinking about.

Was channeling really what he should be doing right now? He’d lost his duel against Tellus and the shards he’d gambled. All the channeling he was doing was consuming his shards and leaving him further and further behind his peers when it came to ki levels. Winning another duel was going to be difficult even if he could find someone to accept his challenge, and he probably couldn’t. Maybe it was time for him to just give up on finding a rare attunement and just accept that he had to start cultivating using the Way of Imperial Might.

Despite the logic of that plan, Verus simply couldn’t make himself do it. It would mean giving up all hope of his dream and throwing away all the effort he’d already put into channeling. He simply didn’t want to ascend using the Way of Imperial Might. A life in the army was not for him. He needed more.

Most of all, conceding would be giving the victory to the spoiled brats who’d conspired against him and sent Tellus after him. He was not going to do that. The dull ache of his bruises were a constant reminder of his grudge. Verus had come to really despise most of the other outer disciples. They were a shameful mix of pride and greed with little in the way of redeeming features. Every fiber of Verus’s being wanted to defeat them and show them what a true ascetic could do.

Verus’s thoughts were interrupted when Warin showed up at his door. The chubby young disciples knocked and then stepped into the room after getting permission to enter.

“Greetings, how may I help you?” Verus asked his annoyingly persistent friend.

“I just thought I’d check on you and make sure your injuries from the last fight weren’t bothering you.”

“I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.”

“What about your spirit? I imagine it took quite the beating as well.”

Verus gave his friend an irritated look. “I have not flagged in my commitment to my goals. I would be working diligently right now if it weren’t for this visit. Is there something else you wish to discuss before you leave?”

“Ah, there was one thing. Here, have this,” Warin replied sheepishly as he pulled a red ki shard from his robe and tossed it to Verus.

“I told you that I wasn’t going to accept shards from you. They’re yours!” Verus said as he caught the item.

Warin sighed. “I appreciate that, but allow me to be honest, brother. I have no intention of joining the inner sect, and I don’t possess the genius required even if I did. Your need for shards far surpasses mine, much like your talent. I’m happy enough getting a job in two years and becoming a normal cultivator in service to the empire, so just take the shard and stop letting your pride blind you.”

Disbelief showed on Verus’s face. “Why are you here if you have no intention of competing?”

Warin sighed again. “You know the answer to that already. I’m here because of you. How could I abandon my most precious sect brother to this horrible place? The atmosphere here is dark and horrible. The disciples are voracious beasts, and the elders aren’t much better. “

That was further than Verus was willing to go, but he saw Warin’s point. The temple was certainly far different than he’d imagined.

“Your guidance on ki circulation is the only reason I earned a spot here, but you need my help as well,” Warin continued. “You may be a genius, Verus, but you still need help. Without me, you would have already let your inner darkness overcome you several times. I know you well.”

“You do,” Verus agreed as humble gratitude overcame him. He couldn’t have asked for a better friend. “I’ll accept this shard, but I’ll definitely repay you one day.”

“I wouldn’t expect any less. Don’t lose hope. I know you can become an elder,” Warin replied before leaving his friend to his meditation.

However, a few hours later, a wave of oppressive ki washed over Verus, jolting him to his feet as it squeezed his heart. Pain and surprise made him jump out of bed, but a quick look around revealed that his room was empty and that the source of the ki was outside the dormitory.

Before Verus could decide what to do next, a deep commanding voice echoed through the entire building. The way it reverberated clearly through the walls was obviously unnatural and the effect of some ki ability. “All outer disciples are to come to me and gather in the courtyard immediately.”

Since this was obviously an elder, Verus had little choice but to obey. He exited his room at the same time as all the other disciples in the dormitory and thus found himself among a teeming crowd headed for the exits. Warin quickly joined his friend since their rooms were right beside each other’s, but neither of them knew what was going on.

“Whatever is happening, it doesn’t seem equally unexpected to everyone,” Warin remarked as he gestured at a group of disciples that were smiling confidently and whispering excitedly amongst themselves. “They seem to have been given some warning.”

“Probably,” Verus remarked with a grimace. “There seems to be no shortage of advantages that connections can get you in the sect.”

Once outside, the disciples got a look at the elder that had summoned them. He was standing the middle of the courtyard right next to the dormitory and extremely hard to miss since he was still radiating waves of ki that sent shivers down Verus’s spine.

The oppressive aura only died down when it looked like all the disciples from the dormitory had gathered in front of the elder and fallen still. He was a tall man with dark hair and piecing eyes.

“Outer disciples of the Great Wind Sect, you’ve had enjoyed the abundant resources and knowledge of the sect for a month now. During that time, you’ve built up the foundation of your styles and began ascending toward the Tempered Realm. Normally, you’d enjoy some more time to train in safety, but now a great opportunity is in front of you. An emissary from Capitar, the imperial throne world, will soon visit this plane. A huge celebration is planned to welcome them, including a tournament.”

The mass of gathered disciples stirred excitedly. Even Verus was affected. A tournament to honor a visiting emissary? That sounded interesting, but why had every disciple been called out? Surely, they all stood no chance of participating. Verus certainly had no illusions about being among the best on the planet even among outer disciples.

“To properly show the emissary the might of our world’s cultivators and the potential of our world’s disciples, the imperial governor has decided to open up the Algorian Reaches to all of the young disciples of the major sects below the Grasping Realm. The Reaches are a vast stretch of spirit-inhabited forest that are kept as a training ground by the imperial palace. It is the hope of the governor and the grand elders of the sect that exposure to the rich ki and dangers of the Reaches will prompt some of the outer disciples to reach their full potential in time for the tournament. Normally it takes far longer than two or three months to reach the Tempered Realm, but properly motivated geniuses sometimes manage it.”

Verus grinned. This sounded exactly like the kind of opportunity he needed. He was finally getting a break!

“All of you will be participating, and make no mistake, the Reaches are dangerous. The loss of a few disciples is considered a low price to cultivate some worthy geniuses for the tournament. There, no one will be holding your hands. You will live or die by your own actions, for enlightenment cannot be handed to you, you must earn it by overcoming yourself and struggling beyond your limits. Either you will be tempered into proper tools of the sect or you will break.”

“What?” Warin hissed in alarm as Verus’s grin winded. Yes, this was a heaven-sent gift!

It would be difficult, without a doubt, but it would also be a chance to prove himself. Undoubtedly the family scions would have various advantages, but out in the Reaches, he’d find a way to beat them. He could feel it in his bones. They were practically vibrating with anticipation. This was exactly the opportunity he needed to overcome all his deficiencies.

“The test will last a month, and anyone who distinguishes themselves can expect further resources and training for the tournament upon returning to the sect. That is all. Gather what you need and report to the front entrance of the temple tomorrow morning for transportation.”

The elder then turned and began walking away. After four quick steps, he disappeared, leaving nothing but a hazy black after-image that vanished a moment later.

Warin and Verus threw each other startled glances and then immediately began running back to their room to beat the rush. Verus was planning on bringing his channeling gear and seeing what else he could requisition. Warin had other priorities.

“I need to grab a bag and get to the cafeteria!” the chubby disciple exclaimed as he ran.