by Aaron Oster
He wasn’t expecting Geon to offer him an answer, but he needed some way to keep his mind off the harsh environment and his thirst.
“I can honestly say that I have no idea,” Geon said. “While my memories are slowly returning, Dungeons use Qi differently than humans.”
“Do you know if the techniques were any different?”
Geon paused for a moment, as though trying to remember something important.
“I’m pretty sure they were the same, but also not the same. Remember, when you make it to Green, you can start working on your own branching Path. What that means for you specifically, I can’t say, but it will affect how your techniques function. Remember, you’re limited to a total of nine in each discipline —four Body, four Spirit, and one Conqueror.”
Roy thought it over for a few moments, digesting the new information and filing it away. On the Body side, he’d learned three techniques — the Physical was his Exploding Fist, the Movement was his Shockwave, and he’d chosen the name Trace for his Armorer technique. This was on account of the way the golden light seemed to trace triangles in the air before surrounding him.
The only Body Essence technique he had yet to learn was the full-body technique, which was the ultimate Body technique that joined the first three and multiplied them many times over.
On the Spirit side, he’d learned three as well. He had the Projected technique, Void Sphere, as well as Constellation, which was his Terrain technique, and his Containment technique, which he’d named Overflow, due to the massive overflow of Essence he expelled from his body in the process. The only one he hadn’t learned yet was the full-area, which, like the Body, was a combination of the three, multiplied many times over.
Then, there was the final technique, and one that would earn anyone the title of Master, should they learn it — the Conqueror. It was the ultimate technique of any Martial Artist, combining all eight of their techniques into one massive and overpowering force.
He was quite a ways from mastering either of the combination techniques of the Body or Spirit, so the Conqueror was quite far off. In fact, most Martial Artists never even learned a Conqueror technique, which was why, despite there being so many Green-Belts and higher in Light City, there hadn’t been all that many Masters or Grandmasters.
Roy’s brow furrowed at that, remembering the first Grandmaster he’d met, Aika’s grandfather, Tonde Irusaru. The man had taken him in at first, taught him the Path of Power, and even helped him cleanse his body and prepare him for future growth. However, when he’d found out Roy’s secret, the man had banished him from the Tonde clan, threatening death. Roy found it strange that he hadn’t heard a thing from the man since, but he still remembered the experience quite well.
“Do you have any ideas of what branching Paths I might take?” Roy asked, in an attempt to clear his thoughts of the old man.
He was also genuinely curious. What he knew of Power so far was that it was destructive and abrasive. Other than that, he couldn’t really think of any ways to refine that without angering the Spirit of the Path.
“I literally told you ten seconds ago that I didn’t know. You should probably get your head checked,” Geon said. “I think all this time in the sun may have damaged your squishy brain.”
“I almost forgot why I hate asking you for anything,” Roy retorted. “Guess I should thank you for reminding me.”
“Hey, you can’t blame me for not knowing everything,” Geon said with a mental shrug. “I’m just a Dungeon.”
Roy was about to retort when he felt a flash of something different in his radius. He skidded to a halt, noting the minimal decrease in his overall Essence due to his massive capacity, before looking closer.
“What is it?” Geon asked. “Did you feel something?”
To the northeast, Roy could sense something different, a small spec of blue standing out in the sea of Green and Brown.
“I think I may have found some water!” he said excitedly, taking off in that direction.
“Are you sure it’s water, and not a person or Beast?” Geon asked, speaking Roy’s fears aloud.
“If it is, then we might have to fight,” he admitted. “But it would better than us both dying from dehydration.”
“Fair point,” Geon said. “But you might want to slow down and reign in your Essence. If they haven’t already sensed your approach, it might be best to stay hidden.”
Although he knew it would take much longer to arrive this way, Roy also knew that Geon was right. With his Shockwave, he could have covered the half-mile gap in under a minute, even with the unsteady footing and uneven terrain. Without it, it would probably take about fifteen minutes, especially if he were trying to stay hidden.
Sighing, he pulled his Spirit Sense back in, suppressing his Core and continuing at a normal walking pace. Now that the wind from his run was gone, the heat assailed him once again. The burning Light Essence bore into his skin and tried to damage his body. He was honestly surprised that there weren’t more people out there, what with how many different types of strong ambient Essence were around.
The Windblight might have been full of Wind, but it was also covered in Earth Essence, the type that was not hampered by all of the living things in a forest or mountain. Here, it was abundant and undisturbed. Then, of course, there was the Light Essence, beating down from on high.
The heat also generated an enormous amount of Fire Essence, which rippled through the air and hung in flickering patches along the ground. Another Essence type that seemed to be apparent was that of Weakness, the silvery wisps flowing over the sand. Roy supposed that since sand was so loose and constant shifting, it had to be constantly churning out more and more.
It was a shame that almost no Power Essence was around, but he immediately pulled and cycled what little was naturally generated into his Core. He was still quite far off from advancing to 1st Dan Green, since he’d need to fill his Core with Power Qi. To do that, he’d need to pull in Essence, refine it, then weave it into Qi, then repeat the process over and over.
The refining of natural Essence left him with only about a tenth of what he’d pulled in, so every time he filled his Core, which was quite substantial, he only got to use a tenth of it. Each part of Qi converted to five parts Essence when weaved. That meant that to fill his Core completely and begin pushing the boundaries, he’d need to fill his Core a total of…
Roy became nearly became ill as the numbers were added up. Fifty. That was the number of times he’d need to pull in, refine, weave, and repeat until his Core was full of Qi, and that was only to start pushing the limits! He sighed, realizing that while getting to Orange had been a challenge and a half, getting to even 1st Dan Green was going to be far more challenging.
Of course, he could cut down on that time if he got his hands on the Beast Cores that Hermit had. But to do that, he’d need to find the man.
Roy’s thoughts were interrupted as he crested a small rise and finally got a better look at his surroundings. Stretching out in all directions, as far as the eye could see, was nothing but sand. But, standing out in the middle of that sea, seemingly unbothered, were a pair of Martial Artists. From where he stood, Roy could make out the colors of their robes and their Belts.
“Still think we can fight?” Geon asked. “Because, from where you’re standing, they would flatten you in about a second.”
3
Roy clenched his fists as he examined both of the Martial Artists. They were both women; that much was obvious by the shapes of their bodies. Their skin was several shades darker than the people in Light City but lighter than Hermit’s. Roy figured it was probably more due to the environment than anything else.
They were dressed in long-sleeved white and tan robes, and each had a Blue-Belt tied around their waists. It was difficult to see from here, but Roy was pretty sure that neither of them were a Base Blue either, not that it would have helped if they were. He didn’t stand a chance of beating either in a fight, let alone both.
It seemed he’d managed to rein in his Core on time, as neither of them seemed to sense him, so he was now faced with a dilemma. He could either go down and hope they were friendly, or give them a wide berth and go look for water elsewhere. Of course, there was also the matter of the two of them just standing there, which, in his mind, could only garner one explanation — they were guarding something.
Whatever that might have been, Roy had no idea, but seeing as they were quite strong, at least by his standards, it must be something important. Would they see his approach as hostile and attack? Or did he want to risk going down there and hope they were friendly?
“What do you think?” he asked Geon.
“In my experience, the strong generally look down on those who are weaker. If I were you, I’d turn and run the other way. But your squishy body needs water to continue functioning. By my estimate, your efficiency has decreased by a full ten percent, and the decline will only get steeper from here. You don’t know where or if you’ll be able to find water anywhere else. So, I’d recommend going down and taking your chances.”
Roy sighed. He’d been afraid that the Core would give him that answer. He had never been much of a people person, due to his deformity and how he’d been treated. He just had to hope that these Martial Artists didn’t take one look at him and attack.
Well, here goes nothing, he thought to himself, then set off down the other side of the dune. It was a steeper descent on this side, the sand sliding under his feet and getting him down far faster than he could have guessed.
By now, he was close enough that the others had noticed him – it would have been impossible for them not to – though they remained where they were, waiting for him to approach.
“Um, hi,” Roy said, stopping several feet away and addressing the pair of women.
They looked eerily similar, so much so that he knew they had to be twins, which reminded him of Shah Koya’s twin lackeys. Still, he tried not to let his bad experiences with those two show in this encounter.
“Who are you, and what are you doing in Inu territory?” one of the women asked.
Now that he was close up, he could see twin slashes of purple on each of their Belts, marking them as 2nd Dan. The woman didn’t sound hostile, only curious, and seeing as they hadn’t taken defensive postures, they weren’t going to attack him outright, which was a relief. She’d also given him some information, letting him know that he was in the territory of the Inu clan, which he knew absolutely nothing about.
“I was captured by a Martial Artist from a rival clan and managed to escape,” Roy said, deciding on a version of the truth. “I’ve been wandering around for days looking for people or water. You wouldn’t happen to have any, would you?”
“From which clan do you hail?” the other woman asked.
“Wow. They even sound the same,” Geon commented.
Roy thought on that for a moment. Now that he knew the Heralds weren’t some backwater clan, but rather, a powerful clan – likely even one of the Seven Great Clans – he wasn’t about to mention them. The Itachi clan was also off the list, as they were also well known. He had to use a clan name that they wouldn’t recognize.
“The Tonde clan,” Roy said evenly.
The two women shared a quick look, then turned back to him.
“We have not heard of your clan before,” the one on the left said. “Where is your clan’s homeland?”
“In the Crater, located in the Outer Edge,” Roy replied.
“Interesting,” the one on the right said. “I have never met someone from the Neutral Zone.”
Roy sighed inwardly, glad that they had no idea who he was or where he came from.
“So, what exactly are the two of you doing out here?” Roy asked, looking past them to try and see if he could spot anything now.
“Can’t you sense it?” the one on the left asked with a raised brow. “I know you are relatively weak, but even one such as you should be able to sense it.”
Roy flushed in embarrassment as he realized that his Spirit Sense was still tightly closed off. Opening himself, he immediately felt the twin cores of blazing green, marking these two as Wind artists. However, as he expanded his senses, he soon felt what they were talking about.
“Is there a city underground?” he asked, not sure if his senses were tricking him.
“So, you can sense it,” the one on the left said.
“Sorry. My Spirit Sense was closed off. I didn’t want to be rude,” he said.
When the two women looked confused, he explained, “Where I’m from, it’s rude to examine someone else’s Core without permission.”
This was, of course, completely made up. But they didn’t know that, and the custom sounded feasible enough to be true. The two women nodded, accepting his statement as truth and giving Roy the opportunity to pose his first question once again.
“So, do you think you can let me into your city? I could really use some water.”
“Of course,” the one on the left said. “So long as you pay the toll.”
“I don’t have any money,” Roy said, feeling his hopeful mood slowly disintegrating.
“That’s fine,” she replied. “You can just work it off once you’re inside the city.”
“Work it off?” Roy asked as she extended her hand to one side.
There was a rush of wind, and a moment later, the sand was blown to the side, revealing a gleaming canteen. It floated up off the ground, propelled by swirling Essence, and landed in her hand.
“Yes,” she replied, holding out the canteen. “You can work it off.”
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to accept water without knowing the price?” Geon asked as he eagerly took the canteen.
Despite his raging thirst, Roy knew Geon had a good point.
“What kind of work will I be doing?” Roy asked, pausing with the canteen halfway to his lips.
“Just some work for the clan,” she replied. “Until you’ve worked off the price of entry, as well as the water. Getting it out here isn’t cheap and requires the clan to keep a steady supply of cores to power our scripts.”
“I don’t like this,” Geon said.
“Working for a clan can’t be all that bad,” Roy replied, raising the canteen to his lips and taking a slow sip.
Cool relief washed down his throat, soothing his dry and parched skin and flooding his body with life. He paused, taking another, longer sip, and reveling in the sensation. After more than two days with no water, it was pure bliss, and for nearly an entire minute, he continued drinking, taking small sips, despite his urge to simply upend the canteen. Despite his increased constitution, he doubted that his stomach would take well to the flood of water.
“Are you done?” one of them asked, as the other pressed her palm to the sandy ground.
“Just a bit more,” Roy replied, watching as her palm flared with a green light.
This time, the blast of wind was directed downward, and she wasn’t using Essence. She was using Qi. A spiral of green light flared across the sand, spreading in an intricate pattern, tracing lines beneath the sand. A powerful breeze whipped up as she continued pumping Qi into the glowing script, and a moment later, the ground began to shift.
Without so much as a sound, a ten-foot section of sand simply vanished into thin air, revealing a well-lit sandstone staircase leading down.
“Wow! Where did all the sand go?” Roy asked curiously.
“The script dispersed it into Wind,” the woman replied, standing straight.
Roy had no idea what that meant, nor how the sand stayed in place, despite there being no obvious platform for it to sit on. Then again, things rarely made sense in the world of Martial Arts, so he wasn’t going to ask any more questions.
“Thanks for the water,” he said, handing the nearly-empty canteen back. “Who should I talk to once I get inside?” he asked, making to step past them, but both women extended their arms, blocking him from advancing.
; “You will wait here for your escort,” the one on the right said, still in the same conversational tone.
This first action set off alarm bells in Roy’s mind. Why were they stopping him from entering without an escort?
“You know what?” he said, slowly backing away. “I think I’ll just be on my way…”
There was a burst of wind, and a moment later, one of the women was standing behind him, blocking his path.
“You need to pay off the water you drank,” she said, still not touching him, but making it clear that she wasn’t going to let him pass.
“You should have listened to me,” Geon said as Roy’s body tensed.
His eyes flicked between the two women, calculating his chances of being able to get away. The one blocking his path had moved quite fast, but not so quickly that he hadn’t been able to follow her. Of all the Advancement Paths, Light Essence was the fastest. After it, came Power and then Wind.
They were a full stage ahead of him, so he definitely couldn’t fight, but if he could tap into his Qi, he might be able to get away.
His muscles tensed, but before he could try, the sand beneath his feet surged, flowing up around his ankles and trapping him in place. His brows furrowed in confusion for a moment, as neither of the two women followed an Earth Path.
“I see we’ve found another outcast for the arena,” a man said, his deep voice coming from behind Roy.
Roy whirled in place, finding that the bindings around his feet were far too strong to break, and when he saw the man coming up the staircase, he understood why. A bright Red-Belt containing five slashes of gold sat around his waist, signaling the premature end of any escape attempts.
Roy could practically feel the smug satisfaction emanating from Geon as the two women turned and bowed at the waist to the newcomer.
“Don’t you say it!” Roy warned, but as always, the Core could not contain himself.
“I told you so.”
4
Aika let out a long, frustrated breath as Hermit casually strolled along, hands clasped behind his head and whistling to himself as though nothing were wrong. She kept the anger from her face so as not to upset Ferry, who was already distraught enough as it was. The humanoid ferret walked beside her, her ears drooping atop her head and her eyes downcast.