Escora didn’t find a suitable water ki font that day, so she and her companions were forced to keep exploring the forest until night began to fall. Then, they set up camp and went to sleep.

They headed out again the next morning, eager to discover their goal. After every half hour or so of hiking, they stopped to let Verus scan their surroundings for water ki using his scrying disk. It wasn’t until after noon that Verus detected a source of water ki, but once he had, Escora immediately led them straight toward it.

However, they soon ran into a complication. As they peered through some bushes toward the source of the water ki, they were confronted by the sight of a massive glowing catfish floating through the trees. Its long whiskers brushed against the ground as its fat body leisurely swam through the air.

“That’s not a font. It’s a water spirit,” Warin hissed.

Verus could only agree. He didn’t see anything that could be a water font around. The spirit was the source of the ki he’d sensed.

“This could still be of use,” Escora remarked. “If we hunt the spirit, I’ll be sure to gain some insight into the nature of water and I can absorb some of the ki it leaves upon death. Hunters from my tribe do this all the time.”

“You want us to fight that thing?” Warin asked. “It’s twice the size of the last spirit!”

Escora laughed. “It’s a big fat fish! How dangerous could it be?”

“It’s a spirit. What it looks like doesn’t matter!”

“After everything we’ve done, you’re still afraid of a spirit? We can take it, no problem.”

Verus nodded. “She’s right. If we want to advance, we need to be aggressive and take risks. That’s how we’ve gotten this far.”

Warin grunted sourly. “It’ll work up until it doesn’t, but fine, what’s one more crazy fight?”

“Exactly!” Escora laughed as she slapped him on the back in a friendly gesture.

“I wasn’t being serious…”

As usual, Escora’s plan was simple but effective. Using their new ki-camouflaging bracelets, they slipped around the spirit as it lazily swam through the trees, placing warding talismans on trees to keep it from fleeing. Then, Warin activated the wards and Escora and Verus attacked as the specter reared up in surprise at suddenly finding itself corralled.

The fight began in earnest as Escora summoned a water whip and snapped it toward the spirit. It responded by rolling to the side to avoid the strike. Escora immediately attacked with another whip, but the spirit was faster. The catfish’s mouth bulged and then it spat a stream of water at her, knocking her off her feet.

Verus dove in from the other side with one of the looted swords in hand. He had never had much training with blades, but he had enough to use it against a spirit, and it would be far more effective than his hands or a dagger. The catfish didn’t see him at first, but then it spun in the air and slapped at him with its tail fin. Verus could only slash at the spirit’s tail as he jumped back.

An exhausting melee ensued. Despite its bulk, the catfish spirit lacked killing power. It had no claws and its water techniques were powerful but did little permanent damage. Still, the spirit was tough and more agile than it looked, so it was hard to damage.

Thankfully, Warin managed to use a chant to supercharge the wards. This momentarily restricted the spirit and brought it down to the ground, allowing both Escora and Verus to charge in unimpeded. Verus then located its core and destroyed it with a stab of his sword.

Immediately upon the spirit’s death, it burst into a cloud of thick water ki.

“See, that wasn’t so hard,” Escora huffed before falling into a sitting position.

Verus choose not to comment. Soaked from head to toe and clearly exhausted, he thought she looked like she’d just climbed up from the bottom of a pond with weights tied to her legs.

As Escora began meditating in an attempt to absorb as much of the spirit’s power as she could, Verus and Warin stood guard. At the same time, Verus couldn’t help but absorb some of the ki too. Most of it would go to waste anyway. It was very pure water ki, and even he could sense hints of insight within it. It flowed like water over the earth, both a tiny stream and a mighty river. Roaring like white water and gently trickling like a tiny spring. It was a shame he didn’t have a water attunement…

“Are you taking in any of this ki?” Verus asked his friend.

Warin shook his head. “No, I’m already feeling bloated. Taking in any more natural ki simply makes me feel sick. I need to take a break.”

That was very different from how Verus felt, but he supposed everyone had different limits on how quickly they could absorb ki. Apparently his was very high, even with a substandard channeling technique.

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The ki only remained plentiful and pure for about half an hour. That was when Escora sighed and got up. “I wish we had an item to absorb and store ki in, but I suppose the insight was really the important part. There are plenty of fonts here in the Reaches.”

“Very true. Enlightenment is the goal, and ki is but the method,” Verus replied as he waved his short sword through the air. Being exposed to so many types of ki and insights might even help him discover his attunement. It was unlikely but possible.

“Why are you still holding that sword?” Warin asked him.

“It worked quite well against the spirit, and it just feels natural in my hand for some reason,” Verus said as he flourished the blade and took a stance. “I’m thinking of using it more.”

“Just don’t cut any important parts of yourself off, and watch your swings around me,” Escora told him. “If it looks like you’re going to hit me, I’ll put you down. No warning.”

“I do have some training. I know the basic stances and strikes,” Verus muttered as he sheathed the blade. He was definitely keeping the sword, if only to counter other disciples with weapons. It was odd how familiar using the weapon felt all of a sudden. He’d never felt this way before.

The three disciples didn’t discover what they were looking for that afternoon or the next, although they did find several more spirits and a permanent cyclone that was a wind ki font. The swirling vortex slowly moved around a small grassy clearing and was about the size of a person. While quite fascinating to look at, it was useless to them, so they moved on. There were signs of battle in the clearing, meaning someone had already picked the place clean.

It was during the next morning that Verus detected a font of darkness ki. After some discussion, they decided to check it out. Because negative ki types were harder to find, it was possible there were herbs or resources at the font still.

However, when they arrived near the source of the ki, they found themselves staring at a dark cave mouth located at the base of a small rocky cliff. No light seemed to be able to penetrate the shadows within, and Verus had no idea how deep the cave was. The only thing they could see was a row of stalactites that hung from the cave ceiling like huge jagged teeth.

“We should have expected this,” Escora said as she fished out their two lanterns from their backpacks.

“Are we seriously going in there?” Warin sighed in exasperation. “I already know the answer, but I needed to say that.”

“Of course, we are. Think of the treasure we might find! I seriously doubt anyone else will have explored these caves recently.”

“Because it will be incredible dangerous inside. Look at it!”

Verus placed a reassuring on his friend’s shoulder. “I believe we can do it. I doubt there’s anything more dangerous than the lizard spirit or Tellus in there.”

“I believe it was a mistake introducing you to Escora,” Warin replied as he made a sour face.

Nonetheless, Warin took a lantern and walked up to the cave mouth with his friends. Escora took the lead and the other lantern, while Verus was at the rear.

Thankfully, the ki lanterns worked in the cave, allowing them to see where they were going. Their clean white light pushed back the shadows to reveal dripping stone walls and row after row of stalactites and stalagmites. However, they weren’t strong enough to expose everything. The cave was one long passage that went on out of sight, past the light of the lanterns.

Pressing on, they reached the end of the passage, where an opening led out into a larger cavern. With the lanterns, they could only see a about a dozen feet ahead, so they couldn’t tell how large the underground chamber was. The darkness ki was even thicker here and was dampening the light. Even the ceiling was too high to see.

“I don’t like this,” Warin whispered. His voice echoed in the confines of the cave.

It was at that moment that the darkness hanging in front of the disciples came alive, exploding toward them in a frenzy of motion and high-pitched shrieks.

Verus and his companions jumped back defensively, but the incoming wave surged right past them. As he held up his hands to shield his face, Verus got a good look at the things flying around him. They were bats, headed out of the cave. They must have been spooked by Warin’s voice and the light.

A moment later, the last bat flew past, and the three disciples relaxed.

“That was unpleasant,” Verus whispered. He could still hear the echo of the shrieking in his ears.

“Actually, it was a good sign. The bats mean nothing nastier is around,” Escora said as she stepped into the larger cavern with her lantern held high.

All Warin and Verus could do was follow her, which they did reluctantly. At first, the gloom prevented them from seeing much more than the rocky floor at their feet, but then they reached the center of the chamber. There, a crack in the floor oozed thick black smoke. Except it had no smell and looked too oily. On closer inspection, the way it moved almost like water revealed it to be distilled darkness, and not smoke. They’d found the font.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s anything too dangerous in here. Let’s split up to search for treasure,” Escora told them. “I’ll go alone since you’re both so scared of the dark.”

“It’s the things in the dark that I’m worried about,” Warin muttered.

Nonetheless, he joined Verus and they went to explore the rest of the cave together. Water dripping from stalactites on the ceiling had created pools of shallow water and there were more than a few jagged rocks around, so they moved slowly and carefully. Soon, they stumbled upon a natural treasure though. A patch of black mushrooms with dark purple veins. The fungus were clearly odd spiritual herbs of some kind.

Escora also managed to find some black stones that looked like they contained metallic ore of some sort.

“Spiritual ore is even more valuable than herbs,” she explained with a proud smile as she showed it to her companions.

“Is that everything you found?” Verus asked her.

She shook her head. “No, there was one more thing. Let me show you.”

Escora led her curious companions over to the far side of the cavern, were there was a crack in the wall next to some loose rubble. The crack was wide enough for someone to squeeze through, and there appeared to be another cave on the other side.

“It must have opened up not too long ago,” Escora remarked as she held her lantern next to the gap. “Just think. Maybe we’ll be the first ones to ever explore it! Then we could get our hands on some real natural treasures! Not scraps that regrow every century or so.”

Verus stared into the crack. Maybe Escora was right and incredibly treasure lay within, but maybe there was something else waiting for them. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible lurked in the ancient darkness ahead.