Eternal Core (School of Swords and Serpents Book 6)

by Gage Lee

  Hwai-nam had a large bot for endurance. He wasn’t particularly fast, nor good at the controls, but he could outlast most opponents. I knew Tuko’s ma reservoir would run dry long before Hwai-nam’s bot’s would, leaving him inoperable. Limited stamina led to hasty mistakes, so I would have to end it fast, or pace myself.

  I could do this.

  Hwai-nam smirked as he pointed to me, then thrust his thumb down toward the ground. A taunt. The crowd cheered with excitement and looked to me for a retort. I let the challenge roll off my shoulders without a reply, inciting an even larger roar of excitement. We were in outer-city, and while the crowd may have bet on Hwai-nam, they loved when one of their own had the guts to put well-off men like him in his place.

  The countdown block hanging over the ring showed ten seconds, and I set Tuko at the edge of the arena. My hands were sweaty against the buttons of the control panel, but my mind felt at ease as I allowed some of my ma munje to slip into the panel in a measured trickle. I connected with the systems and listened to their whispered responses as I moved Tuko forward. His legs were damaged, but not broken.

  Three, two, one—the buzzer rang loud and long, and I saw Hwai-nam flinch at the noise. His bot lumbered forward on two legs like a swordsman. It shook the discarded parts on the ground with a jingle as it jogged forward and transformed its claw-like hands into maces.

  Tuko jumped into the ring like a nimble arachnid, skittering towards the first obstacle—an overturned barrel—with the twist of the joystick. He jumped up onto the iron-bound wood, and we waited for Hwai-nam’s bot to get closer.

  I held my leg still as my hand hovered over the newly minted button on the control panel: the secret weapon. Hwai-nam’s bot swung toward Tuko with a twist of its hip gears, and Tuko jumped up just in time. The opponent smashed into the barrel, its arm getting pinned in the metal frame.

  Perfect.

  Tuko landed back on the split wood with a nimble dip, then leapt again as the second mace-fist pummeled into the barrel, trying to free the first. I activated the burst mechanism on Tuko’s side, angling him directly over our opponent, then mashed the secret button.

  The compartment on Tuko’s underbelly snapped open, launching a volley of hyper accelerated shards at the other bot’s exposed neck joint. Golden light zipped through the air, smashing into the opponent with a snap-snap-ping! Ma munje oozed out in waves from the decapitated bot.

  The crowd held their breath as I landed Tuko on the ground behind the opponent, ready to surge in for the kill. But Hwai-nam’s bot fell forward into the barrel, its right arm still trapped and hollow neck pouring misty gold magic. Black smoke curled up from inside it, and when Hwai-nam jerked his controls back and forth, nothing happened.

  My mouth dropped open. It worked!

  “Cheat! He cheated!” Hwai-nam declared as he shot to his feet, his control panel clattering to the floor.

  The crowd booed, groaned, and shouted protests, but I wasn’t afraid. I knew the rules of the game and knew that these people wouldn’t turn on me. I’d done nothing wrong.

  Gui approached the ring and stepped in. He moved Hwai-nam’s bot around, then focused his ma munje on the damage, making an assessment. He moved on to Tuko, lifting and inspecting, then set him down.

  “Hwai-nam is defeated. Jiyong is the winner,” Gui declared, and I let out the breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding in. The crowd gave a half-hearted cheer, glad to have a local win, but most of them lost their bets. A few excited whoops—my best friend’s loudest of all—followed the crowd’s groans.

  My sweaty hands relaxed on the controls, and I pulled Tuko back to the edge.

  “How can you call that a clean win? He used the environment to trap my bot!” Hwai-nam declared as he dropped into the ring to retrieve his broken bot.

  I’d aimed just to disable it and clean up with a few well-placed slices, but apparently Hwai-nam’s designer needed some education on easy targets. Why would he put the reservoir in the chest, and why would he connect it to the absolutely unnecessary head?

  Gui puffed up his chest. “Come off it. You think you can show up as the wealthiest man in the room and get your way on just that? The environment is a legal part of combat, and we’re not changing the rules for some rich, inner-city pungbahn.”

  We in outer-city threw the word around casually since it wasn’t derogatory, but the rich folk really hated being called stuck-up and self-centered, so it was like a curse to them. Really got their blood boiling.

  Hwai-nam’s face was red as he snatched what was left of his bot from the filthy battle arena. “That boy didn’t beat me cleanly! You’ll hear about this!”

  Boy... well, at least he hadn’t called me something worse. At fifteen years old, I still had a narrow face that made me look more like thirteen, though working in the arborum had given me the upper hand on fitness compared to others my age. Tuko didn’t look like much either, which was why everyone thought we were easy prey. Tuko was a saucer with legs and claws, with plenty of space for secret compartments and surprises. That was why we won.

  Se-hun—my best friend and foreman at the arborum—crammed through the audience and leaned up against the fence that separated me from the crowd. He grinned. “You did it again, you crazy bastard! I need to bet on you more often. These odds were amazing!” He tapped his knuckles on his chest twice, then held his fist up to me, though he was pressed against the chain link barrier.

  I chuckled and reciprocated the gesture. “How amazing?”

  “Ten to one.”

  I shrugged. “Their loss.”

  I grabbed Tuko and pulled the ma munje that remained in him back into my reservoir. Se-hun held the chained gate open for me, and we walked toward the bookie, who eyed me with a wild grin.

  “My boy, Jiyong!” The mid-fifties woman barked with laughter as I gave her a cheeky smirk. She shooed away the groaning losers and pulled me in close. “Next time I’ll give you better odds. You really did a number on that inner-city pungbahn, didn’t you?” The bookie tried to wrap an arm over my shoulder but fell short by a few inches. I dipped my knees to allow her that familiar gesture.

  She laughed again, throwing her arm over my back. “I like you. You can come back any time!”

  “I intend to, but not for a while,” I said as I accepted the guli coins from her other hand.

  A concerned glare furrowed her brow. “And why not?”

  Se-hun threw himself into the conversation. “He’s getting into Bastion Academy for pungbahn losers.”

  The old bookie’s eyes glimmered with excitement. “Good for you, young man.”

  I held up my hands. “I haven’t even taken the test yet, but I hope so.”

  “With a performance like that, I know so,” she said and patted me hard, then walked away with a wave. “Best of luck in the assessment test!”

  “Sungchal!” A voice rang out and my hand clamped down on the money.

  The dispersing crowd took on a feral nature, scrabbling for their belongings and seeking an exit. Sungchal were the kingdom guard, and they were not kind when they discovered illegal activities.

  “Let’s go!” Se-hun grabbed the control panel from under my arm, then pulled me toward the rooms behind the arena.

  “What are we doing?” I asked as he yanked the door shut behind us, locking us in the staging room I’d just come from.

  “Quiet,” he whispered, and blue-green ry munje twisted between his fingers.

  “This isn’t going to work!” I urged in a hushed voice but allowed him to push me into the corner of the room. I crouched down with Tuko, my fist clamped tight around the guli that promised my family’s security.

  Se-hun turned and danced, his ry munje creating an intricate web in front of us. Then he clapped his hands together and pulled back into the corner, shrouding us in complete darkness with his spell.

  “Just stay quiet,” he whispered as heavy boots clomped outside the door.

  How had they gotten in so fast?
>
  That didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting this money back home, any way I had to.

  The wood frame of the door snapped as a heavy boot kicked through it. Two soldiers in shimmering red plate mail stepped in. They wore the crest of the kingdom on their breastplates; a wingless dragon twisting around a sword, talons gripping the hilt at the top. The sungchal’s left hands glowed a soft yellow while their short swords in their right glowed bright red.

  My lungs burned as my heart pounded in my chest and I prayed. Please, for the love of Mun-Jayu, let Se-hun’s ry munje be better than it was last time we tried this.

  Click here to continue reading Foundations.

  Acknowledgments

  THE SCHOOL OF SWORDS and Serpents was a massive undertaking that could never have reached the finish line if it weren’t for the team of very talented people who fixed all my mistakes. They don’t get nearly as much credit as they deserve, so I’d like to take a minute to acknowledge all their hard work and support.

  Thanks, Zack, for reading the early drafts and helping to guide me through the dark valley of doubt somewhere around the 60% mark of every volume. Without your insight and encouragement, this series would never have made it so far.

  My undying gratitude goes out to you, Tamara, for finding and exterminating so many of my mangled sentences and horrible grammatical puzzle boxes. If it wasn’t for you, only the sages themselves would understand these books.

  And, of course, a very heartfelt thanks to Jody, whose proofreading expertise polished the manuscripts into the awesome stories they became. Without your final touches, some very embarrassing errors would have slipped right through my fingers.

  None of these books would exist without the faith and trust extended by James and Jeanette, the heart and soul of Shadow Alley Press. Thank you for giving me a chance to bring these books to the world.

  Last, but certainly not least, thank you to all the readers who took a chance on an unknown author and offered such kind words of support and encouragement in your reviews. Without you, none of this is possible.

  The Dragon Academy

  WHEN AN ANCIENT DRAGON'S soul scale binds itself to the human Taun, the world of men and serpents is turned upside down. For the first time in history, a man will be trained in the ways of dragons.

  Torn between his human nature and the ruthless spirit of the dragon trapped inside him, Taun must learn to master cultivation arts and combat skills that no man was ever meant to practice. As the competition between Taun and his school rivals intensifies, an ancient threat looms beyond the Dragon Academy's walls.

  With only dragon misfits as his allies, young Taun must claw his way to the top of the school's standings to get the resources to save his family, or risk losing everything to his enemies.

  Jump into the thrilling adventures of Taun and uncover the secrets of the Dragon Academy with this free first chapter in this exciting new series: https://geni.us/SSS6_DA1.

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  Copyright

  Eternal Core is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.