Josh and Sen looked up and saw, well, the last thing they expected. Nearby was an orange-furred orangutan wearing a straw hat and a pair of blue denim coveralls. He was standing on the fence with one leg. The other leg and both arms were being held defensively in front of him as if to shield himself from some kind of vegetable perverts.

“Sorry, friend... didn’t know you were there. And, you know... when you got to go...” Josh smiled sheepishly and held his hands up in surrender.

“Sure, sure... Don’t mind too terrible much. I’ll just wash these here particular stalks extra well before I sell them to anyone...” The orangutan rolled his eyes and dipped his chin. Corn issue seemingly settled, he changed the subject. “Anyway... what are you doing way out here? You two come for the race?”

Josh and Sen introduced themselves and explained they had been sent to Mwezi for an Item of Power that would help them Attune their Cultivation.

“Aha... thought so! You’re here for the competition.” The orangutan seemed to relax. “That’s why we’re here, the Sundai Clan, I mean. I’m Gusti Sundai. One of the clan’s farmers.” Gusti leaned and spit over the fence, then continued. “As you said in your roundabout fashion... The Blessed One’s Mental Attunement fruits, the Ip’pul, are about to ripen. Palace’s gates are about to open, and all qualified Cultivators will get to enter the race to the orchard to collect one.”

Josh looked to Sen and then back to Gusti. “Are you a Cultivator? Do you know about Cultivation?” Josh said a little more desperately than he had intended at the hope of getting some information from a willing person.

Gods knew, the Clone only told them what probability determined they should know. Which, in most cases, was very little.

Gusti looked back at Josh like he might indeed be ‘special’ after all. “Well... I’m a Beast Affin. I was born with Earth Attunement like all my kind are. So yeah, ’course I’m a Cultivator. Is that a trick question?”

“Sorry, Gusti. No disrespect intended. Where we come from, none of the Beast Affins have any Attunements at birth. None of them even know about Cultivation. We’re humans in a world with eight-billion others, and none of them know about it either. We got thrown onto the Path by forces out of our control and are trying to figure it out so that I can get back home to my daughter, Sophie.” Josh spoke faster at the end than when he started, for some reason needing to get the truth out.

Gusti pulled a small, oblong silver object with a crystal inset one-third of the way from the top. The crystal was currently lit a steady, royal blue.

Gusti looked up with sympathy to Josh and Sen. “Well, okay, boys. You can stop right there. Not saying your story makes a lot of sense to me... but it’s true. Every word of it, as far as I can tell.” He sat down on the top row of the fence and looked at them. “You see, I’m more than just one of the clan’s farmers. I’m also the head Peacekeeper. We spotted you guys about four gyras ago, back on that hill.” Gusti pointed to where Sen and Josh had first appeared. “I came out to check your intentions. I can tell you don’t have any guile in you. Being set on the Path of One without any information at all? Well, we should at least help you as much as we can.” Gusti looked up, clearly in thought. “I’ll tell you what. This is my family’s land. Give me a hand here with some of the chores. I’ll bring you into town and show you around and explain what I can to you about basic Cultivation and the competition the Blessed One has apparently sent you to qualify for. Deal?” Gusti’s eyebrows raised inquisitively as he looked back and forth between Sen and Josh.

They nodded in agreement so fast they almost bonked their heads together.

Finally, some help!

They quickly learned that the farmer hadn’t lied about having to work for it, however.

Gusti had fencing created for another two fields, which was way more than it sounded. Despite being as dense as iron, they had to heal large blisters on their hands and some bruised bones by the time they’d finished enclosing the two fields. The science side of Josh’s brain raised a red flag at that, and for the first time in a while, Josh agreed. When he got the chance, he would ask what was going on with his body’s durability.

Gusti also had livestock to feed. There were regular chickens and cattle-like creatures called bovinas. They were larger than cows by about 50 percent and definitely not as even-tempered. Josh had to heal a couple horn-holes in his posterior before he was done. He also had to change into his spare crew jumper or forever walk around with free air conditioning to his nether regions.

As the sun began to set, the pink and orange gas giant was still prominent in the sky and looked like it would glow softly on its own for several more hours. Gusti returned with a wagon drawn by Sparky, an hour after the sun had bid ciao, baby for the night.

Sparky was… unique. It was a minivan-sized, furry, maroon-colored animal that appeared to be a fusion between a tree sloth, a bear and a Dr. Seus hallucination. Gusti identified him as a kuda. From the beginning, it was evident Sparky didn’t like Josh or Sen. He actively snapped at them with twelve-inch fangs as they neared the wagon. Calming him, Gusti promised the kuda that neither of them would try to share his dinner. Mollified, Sparky acquiesced to let them ride in the storage portion of the cart. Sweaty, tired, and needing a shower, neither Sen nor Josh objected.

Gusti was the first to speak. “So, it seems you both have a handle on the basics of circulating your Essence and healing wounds. You also can express your Essence to form protective constructs. I saw that as you were walking up to the farm. That’s pretty darn good for the both of you, given you are so early in the development of your Spherical Core with and with only an Earth Attunement. The Clan hasn’t had anyone able to express Essence in the first striation of Attunement in... well... a very long time.” He scratched his head with his right foot as if thinking about just how long. Seeming to give up trying to remember, he continued with their conversation. “Now, I can tell that you both need to work on your control of both Aura absorption, external expression, and more efficient propagation. There are some exercises that I can recommend to you for that, if you’re interested?”

Sen put his palms together and bowed to Gusti from the back of the wagon. Josh nodded, indicating they would both appreciate it.

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Gusti raised an eyebrow at their response. “All right. When we get to town, we can start there... after a shower, of course. Sorry... but both of you fellas smell like you’ve been working on a farm all day.” He took a shallow sniff and his face pruned with distaste. “... and mostly with the wrong end of the animals... What’s the matter with you both... don’t you bathe?”

Sen looked confused and grew a sour expression as he smelled his own underarm.

Josh moved quickly to the back of the wagon, creating more air space for Gusti, then thinned his eyes at the Orangutan Affin.

“You’re messing with us, aren’t you?” Josh said, half-laughing as he settled back into the comfortable slouch he previously occupied.

Gusti spread a broad smile on his lips and laughed. “’Course I am, boys! Forgive a farmer his field humor... but I had to skin the Weda! Can’t have you bowing over yourselves every time we talk. We’re simple folk here in the Sundai Clan. Helping two good-natured young ones is just the basics of kindness. I suspect you will find the rest of the Clan feels the same way when you start to meet ’em.

“So, anyway... what questions y’all have for me?”

Josh held up his healed hand and turned it over as he asked about getting hurt from simple work. “Back home, because of my Earth Attunement, I wouldn’t have to heal my hand if I’d hit it with a hammer. In fact, I’m so dense that my hand would likely have bent the head of most hammers as much as it would have hurt me. What’s different here?”

“Welp. After catching you two at my fence, your density was never in question.” He smirked with a sly smile, “Kidding, kidding!” The orangutan nodded slowly as if things made a little more sense to him. Anyway, what you’re saying goes along with what you were telling me about none of the eight-billion people on your planet knowing what Cultivation is. Nor any of the Beast Affins being born with an Attunement. You see, all spiritual creatures can Cultivate… If they have access to enough Aura and Essence, that is. I suspect that your planet, galaxy, or perhaps the entire iteration is deficient in one or both for whatever reason. If so, the inhabitants would not be born with the natural Attunements and all the matter in that place would be... weakened. Lower densities. Lower molecular weights. Less electromagnetic forces keeping particles together, etcetera, etcetera. Weaker materials make for weaker beings—” A thought appeared to come to Gusti. “Mind if I see your swords?”

Josh and Sen handed them over.

“Just as I thought. The workmanship is masterful. Whoever made this did the best they could with what they had. But at this point on your Path, you boys would be better served with a standard weapon made from stuff around here. I’ll bring you around to Jorng’a, our journeyman blacksmith. He can offer you something worth your while.”

They continued on their path for a while, the inexhaustible Sparky forging on gamely, before a small town became visible—quickly growing as they approached. Gusti waved to the two guards as they entered the town gates. One looked like a Wildebeest Affin with horns bracketing a long equine face. The other had a sharp beak and a tortoise’s gray-green, knobby skin. A large, oval shell covered his back.

The guards waved back to Gusti, not questioning his judgment about letting Josh and Sen pass through into the clan’s town.

Josh interjected, “You were saying you have a blacksmith?”

“’Course we do, son,” Gusti said, waving his right leg at a fly buzzing around his head as he held the reins of Sparky with his left hand. “The Sundai Clan is just shy of twenty-two thousand members strong!” he said with pride.

He began pointing out the various shops he mentioned with his right hand as he said their names.

“We have journeyman-level Talisman Drafters, Inscribers, Alchemists, Blacksmith Armorers and Weaponsmiths, and Crystal utilizers of all kinds. We also have apprentice-level Scribes that help create our knowledge books as well as a Clan-based Oracle communicator and a branch of the Santosa Core Bank that travels with us as necessary.” The orangutan finished with a smile then looked up at the palace, looming like a cliff over the town they had built around its walls. “Speaking of traveling, we will pull up stakes as soon as the young ones finish their Attunement run.”

Josh’s brain spun. It was just like the MMORPGs he had played in college and that he’d returned to with only a small pang of guilt after he had separated from Miranda. He and Sen could obtain reliable information about Cultivating and maybe even get some gear improvements from the Clan. It was going to take some serious investigation and likely some money. No matter where, when, or what iteration one hailed from... cash was always king! They were going to have to figure out a way to earn whatever the Clan used for currency.

Hopefully not through more farm work. Josh could feel Sen’s agreement through their Bond. They would do what they needed to build their strength.

Josh quickly moved back to the conversation, not wanting to lose the chance to ask the question that seemed to flow naturally from what Gusti had just said. “You won’t be partaking in the Attunement run?”

There was another slight look of surprise and a half-smile from Gusti. He then nodded to himself and shrugged with a body language that said, I should have known.

“No. I won’t be trying to qualify for the race—”

A roar erupted from the shop Gusti had identified as belonging to the Talisman Drafter.

“I have already told you not to speak with disrespect to me! I walk the steps of the Dragon—”

The next voice was not raised in anger, nor in volume. But, somehow, it carried the replying woman’s Intent throughout the entire town. “And I told you if you raised your voice in my shop again, I would throw you out. It’s time for you to leave!”

Several loud slaps sounded out and a well-muscled, eleven-foot-long snake creature with four arms flew out through the open doorway of the Talisman Drafter’s shop. Its body rolled to a stop in the middle of the street shrouded in a small cloud of dust. A female Orangutan Affin in a cornflower-blue prairie dress with a matching bonnet quickly followed. She stopped in front of the snake figure slowly rising to its feet.

The shopkeeper, trying to use her tiny body to block the snake monster’s path, stood with her feet spread wide and hands on her hips. She was a full seven feet under the serpent man’s head as it rose to its… tail?

Undaunted, she spoke, “Now. Is that clear enough? Or is our discussion continuing?” She cocked a very serious eyebrow at the towering creature. The four-armed snake man—which Josh decided to call Mr. Snake flexed his external hood like a giant cobra and then started to glow. The coloration of the deep red of a banked fire began spreading to his chest scales with a rising heat that Josh could feel coming off his body in waves fifty-feet distant.

Josh eyed Mr. Snake’s Core and Meridians; its power outstripped his

and Sen’s significantly. Mr. Snake’s Essence appeared to be a mixture of the gold-orange of Earth, and a reddish yellow Josh assumed was fire, given what he saw and felt.

A surprising thought came unbidden to Josh’s mind. He couldn’t see Gusti’s... or the Talisman Drafter’s Core or Meridians... but he could see Mr. Snake’s...

Why was that?

If it seemed polite and the chance came, Josh would ask. After all, he wasn’t sure what the right way to query about a person’s Cultivation was.

Maybe there isn’t a polite way at all. Everything about the subject may be a taboo topic.

Two seconds passed, and Mr. Snake continued ramping up his Essence. Emberous lights were glowing in its large nostrils and steam was rising from his scales.

The female Affin rolled her eyes and muttered, “Why do the dumb ones always need to learn the hard way?”

Moving faster than either Josh or Sen could accurately follow, what they thought they saw was the shopkeeper striking the overgrown cobra in four places with her knuckles. Twice in its abdomen, once in its larynx, and once on the top of its head. The glowing immediately stopped, and the heat began to fade. The towering snake fell, rigid as a board—as if poleaxed to face-plant in the middle of the road.

The shopkeeper dusted her hands and looked up at Gusti, who was getting down from the wagon with the casual air of a man who’d seen all this before.

“Really, Cahya?” he said, lifting Mr. Snake’s body off the road and placing it over his shoulder like lumber.

The body was still stiff as a tree trunk, somehow.

“The poor guy’s only at the second level of Attunement. Did you have to petrify him? He’ll be like this for two days at least and he’ll be lucky to not have any permanent injury to his Meridians– I don’t even know if he’s going to fit in the cell I have for him like this.” Gusti shook his head and walked toward a flat-roofed, squarish building at the end of the street. The word Peacekeepers was engraved on the wooden placard in front.

“I gave him every chance, Gusti! He was going to burn my shop down. What was I supposed to do?” Cahya answered in a self-righteous tone, long-fingered hands on her hips defying Gusti to contradict her.

“...If a second level can burn down your shop, then I think we can safely say that the fault isn’t with the customer but with you skimping on the level of imbued Essence in your building materials...” Gusti muttered under his breath as he continued toward his office. He then clicked for Sparky to follow and waved to Josh and Sen. “C’mon boys, we can talk while I take care of this one. Where were we... Oh yeah, the Blessed One’s contest. It’s pretty much only for the young with only their first Attunement in the Spherical Core ranking. I completed my Spherical Core long ago. Most of the clan elders here have...”

Josh and Sen looked at each other and swallowed with dry throats. Suddenly, they felt like teeny-tiny fish in a gigantic pond.