As the outer world dissipated and I appeared on the golden shores, I felt free. The air was fresh, the sand underneath my bare feet soft, and the warm light welcomed me from all around.

It instantly reminded me of why I crafted my path as a voyage. It wasn’t a journey, not a march, not an adventure, but a voyage, specifically. It usually meant by ship, but that just wasn’t quite what it meant to me. It was meant to be a pleasant, enjoyable journey, with plenty of adventure and things to see - but ultimately, it was supposed to be enjoyable.

And here I was. The injury that split half my body open was gone. My skin had a golden hue, like everything else here did, when I looked down at myself. I took the first step and it came so unbelievably, stunningly easy.

A golden sun was setting and I walked towards it with a bright smile. My whole body felt unbelievably light, every step came easy. I could imagine many reasons for it, be that the cumulative effect from imprint growing so much, the fact that I’d used my golden Qi a lot, the journey itself, proving myself against the kamaitachi…

I smiled, because it didn’t matter. There was soft sand against my feet, and I took a few minutes to truly enjoy that feeling. Simply enjoy the voyage through the golden shores. I strayed a little far, letting the water wash over my feet, and it was pleasantly cool, without being cold.

Then, slowly, I started to truly try my best at cultivation. I loved voyage. Truly. It was a path crafted from my deep seated wish for freedom, and that was exactly what I was granted. The ultimate freedom of going forward as far as I’d like.

And since it was so easy to advance, right now, that freedom was enhanced. My slow steps turned into a quick walk, then a jog, then a full on sprint, and moments later, I was flying across the shores.

I was truly happy, then. Voyage usually was a small adventure, a fun, free walk, but with as much advancement as I’d made, the beach was practically begging me to move forward. I’d already overcome the bottlenecks, already dealt with the obstacles. Usually, voyage demanded time in the shores, and an adventure outside.

But now, that second condition had far outpaced the first, and so my progress was increasing by leaps and bounds, literally. I leapt forward, putting thousands of grains of sand behind myself. Each jump sent a cloud of sparkling gold flying, and brought me forward even further.

I laughed, flailing my arms to keep my balance as I soared through the skies, the soft sand cushioning my landing. A few times, I fell on my back, yet picking myself up was as easy as thinking it. The sand stuck to my back and in my hair a little, but I enjoyed the feeling of it.

This wasn’t regular sand, after all, it was soft, and silky, and comfortable. So I let it stick there, and simply leapt forward more.

Soon, I saw something new appear. Alongside the sun, the rocks, and the smell of the sea, I saw clouds in the distant sky. They were large and fully, casting slight shade onto the ground, a small residence from the golden sun.

With ease, I leapt high enough to run my fingers through one of them. I knew they were a sign that I’d made it to the next step of voyage, but for now, they were just pretty clouds, gorgeously shining in the sunset.

They felt soft to the touch as my hand ran through it, and a laugh bubbled out from my throat. I jumped even higher, above the clouds this time, my head poking through them and seeing the golden sky expand endlessly. I fell, laughing all the way down, as I crashed into the sand with my back, sending thousands of pieces of gold flying.

I stretched my hand out towards the sky and clenched it into a fist, still laughing, then dropped it by my side. For a few blissful minutes I stayed like that. I was still absorbing the Qi, the sea slowly swelling, and bringing more sand with it. The waves started touching my side, soaking through the dress I wore in this imaginary space. I stayed still for a few more minutes, breathing, and enjoying the moment.

Then, with a sudden jump, I was back on my feet, leaping ever forward.

- - -

A few hours later, I stopped my cultivation, returning to the real world.

Opening my eyes, I immediately noticed the fact that everything hurt. Even my chest. Like I’d overeaten really hard, except with my cores.

Both of those felt strained, too. I suppose advancing so much so fast wasn’t exactly normal, so I could expect some discomfort, but still!

At least I’d reached the fifth step with voyage, now. It was still super easy to move forward, though at the very least I wasn’t jumping into the sky anymore. I shook my head a little at how ridiculous that was, and the motion hurt my neck, making me grimace.

Two more steps, and I’d be able to get to the next realm. Just two more steps to cross before that.

A smile wormed its way onto my face, despite the fact that my body felt like it was in miserable condition. Soon. I’d get to the point where I was considered in the upper echelon in terms of cultivation soon.

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Then the smile turned into a grin. Maybe, if I did really well, I could get there before Matt did. Now that would be something I’d never let him hear the end of. I shook my head a little again, getting rid of the thought. Maybe I didn’t need to be that vindictive?

I was totally gonna rub it in if it happened, though.

Lazily, I let my eyes drift through the room. Matt was sitting in the lotus position, meditating. There was a faint pink haze around him, which occasionally coalesced into plum petals, which shattered whenever they touched the floor, as though they were fragile crystals. He would probably cultivate throughout the entire night.

Knowing him, he might even catch a glimpse of enlightenment during it all.

Liam was also still awake, practicing. I saw his form shift from solid to ethereal and back in rapid succession. He’d probably already had time to advance his cultivation based on his experiences, given that he hadn’t been wounded nearly as bad as Matt and I, so he was probably trying to acquire a new technique and improve his efficiency.

The twins were both asleep, and so were Marie and Ann. The latter of the two had an arm draped around me, and a serene look on her face, while the former used her arm as a pillow on the wooden floor. I guessed Marie probably was supposed to take the next shift.

Emilia seemed to be currently in charge of guarding us, given that her eyes drifted across the walls, checking for things. She was busying herself with absorbing Qi, but not properly cultivating. This was more… storing it away and passively practicing some things without expending actual resources.

It sounded impressive, but it was essentially a very slow form of training when you couldn’t put your whole mind to it. And suffice to say, she couldn’t. Emilia took night watch seriously, as she did anything that involved protecting us. Her mace lay on the floor next to her, fingers tapping on the grip of it, as her eyes met mine.

“Hey there, princess,” Emilia whispered with a smile. I was sure I’d caught the hint of a frown on her face before, but it vanished when she saw me. “How’re you feeling?”

Her voice transmission was a lot worse than Liam’s, which was to be expected with all the practice he put into it. She was still definitely pronouncing the words and just using her Qi to carry them further, in an attempt to not wake the others.

“I’m okay,” I replied, using the same method, just about as poorly. I was a bit surprised at how little trouble speaking gave me. “Still in a lot of pain. Getting better, though.”

“Good to hear it.” Emilia nodded, her eyes coursing over the walls again, watching out for any of the smaller kamaitachi, or newer monsters. “You should really stop putting yourself in positions that have you get hurt this badly, though.”

I gave her a crooked smile. “Probably,” I agreed, “but what else am I gonna do?”

She smirked back at me. “Hit things really hard.”

I chuckled, and didn't grace it with an answer. We sat in comfortable silence for a little while. Occasionally, the snow outside crunched, or a gust of wind blew a couple flakes in from our air-hole. I saw some of them land in Emilia’s hair, getting tangled up in it for a few seconds before melting.

Slowly, my eyes drifted closed, and I fell asleep.

- - -

When I woke up, Reya was kneeling next to me, her hand glowing with Divinity and hovering over the part of my stomach that got sliced open. There was an uncomfortable pulling sensation as my skin mended back together. I could see the scabs slowly receding and gave her a small smile.

She returned it, then focused on my injury again. After a few minutes, she drew back, and a lot of the pain I’d felt yesterday faded. Granted, I still could feel every muscle in my body screaming at me for being overused, but that was just how fighting went sometimes. Especially when I used [Golden Body]

I sighed, leaning back further against the wall, and enjoying the fact that it only mildly felt like I was gonna rip open my intestines. The day drifted by as I chatted a bit with Ann, spent some time cultivating, ate a bit of the rather gross stew, and drank some more water.

Whenever Reya or Eric had recovered a good amount of Divinity, they’d heal up me or Matt some more. We were still looking out to make sure that they weren’t using it too much. I didn’t exactly want my flesh to start being misaligned. But with everyone making sure I was healing well, and them using spells that boosted my natural recovery more so than direct healing ones, it should be fine.

Another two days passed like that, before I was ready to walk again. The day before, it’d been possible to get up with a reasonable amount of pain, but now, standing posed little issue, and walking worked as well.

Since my arms and legs were much less injured, and more sore, they’d also almost fully recovered by now, and I started slowly practicing my spearwork again. I worked through stances and katas very, very slowly. Which was exactly the way you were meant to be doing it, so that was a plus.

I felt like the movement helped me feel better. Kept my muscles working as I recovered. I started eating more, and recovered more quickly.

While I was focusing on that, the others were exploring the rest of the monastery. Since it used to house a martial arts sect, we were hoping to find anything neat, from a secret stash to hidden techniques. After all, no one had been stupid enough to bother coming here after it was abandoned, anyway.

Another two days later, when my wounds had mostly recovered with the help of Orvan’s final healing potion, they did actually find something. A chest with a couple manuals, that dealt with a style of swordsmanship very similar to what Matt was practicing. We took the books and scrolls, and also the loose, disorganized sheets of paper, and stuffed them into our inventories.

It made me glad that in there, things didn’t mix. We’d collected some of the corpses while we travelled, and getting blood on the manuals would turn them essentially useless. A good chunk of our inventory was filled with pieces of the kamaitachi, especially the sickles, since more of them had crawled through the snow to attack us.

We’d also heard louder noises outside, footsteps and growling. There were larger monsters out there again, and it was finally time for us to start heading off.

I let out a soft sigh, checking all my gear again, making sure I was set. Ann flashed me a smile, and she looked great in all her travelling gear. After another quick check, Marie jumped out from the hole in the ceiling, and let down a rope for the rest of us.