I left for work early the next morning, my mind exhausted from barely catching a few hours of sleep. But despite my fatigue, I maintained my razor focus on my goal. Images of the prior night’s reading flashed through my mind as I made my way through the square, eager to put them into practice.
A few of my neighbors stopped conversing the mont I neared them, the subject matter obvious as they all gave the stink-eye as I walked by. One of them, a black girl nad Jian Yi, stared at especially hard. When I had my back to her, she muttered sothing under her breath and I paused.
“You got sothing to say?”
I glanced over my shoulder at her. Dark skinned, slimly built, hazel eyes with hair pressed flat against her scalp in a tight bun. I could sense so fear within her, but it was matched with an equal amount of anger and to her credit, not an ounce of either showed on her face.
“I said you’re an idiot, Chun.” She narrowed her eyes at , lifting her chin defiantly. “What? Are you going to kill for saying that now?”
I chuckled at her. “Luckily, I don’t work that way.”
It was true too. She was challenging in a sense, but she was of no challenge to . The Fla didn’t grow stronger by preying on the weak.
“So, enlighten then,” I said as I stepped back towards her and all of her friends quickly disappeared. “Why am I an idiot? Besides my na, of course.”
She huffed out a scoff, but I could sense her fear reduce when I smiled, cracking the joke.
“You’re an idiot for challenging Master Hein.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I guess ti will tell.”
“You don’t get what I an,” she said, folding her arms. “You know that even if you sohow manage to defeat him, all it’ll do is draw more attention to us, right?” Jian Yi then grimaced, chewing her bottom lip. “What will your plan be then, big man? You may be stronger than all of us mortals, but are you stronger than Master Hein’s family? Or a hundred Imperial Guards? Or the Warden herself?”
I didn’t answer her right away. It was a question I mulled over myself at least a half dozen tis a day. The price of failure for was clear, but perhaps even more costly would be the price of success. Or more accurately, the price of too much success too quickly.
I gave Jian Yi a smile. “Don’t worry. I’m well aware.”
“Then why don’t you stop. Before you paint an even bigger target on all our backs.”
“Because that’s not my path,” I said. “And I’m not going to let that happen either.”
“Oh really? How?”
Another good question, but for , there was only one answer.
“I guess I’ll just have to be strong enough to kill them all before I eventually piss them all off.” I shrugged with [Struggler’s Resolve] and then grinned. “But don’t worry, once I’m that strong, the target will be squarely on my back. Not yours.”
Or so I hoped, but I didn’t have ti to think about all that right now.
What would be, would be.
As I turned to go about my way, the curses Jian Yi yelled at my back were priceless, but I was starting not to care. I wasn’t going to win everyone over and this wasn’t so popularity contest either. Still, what she said was true. After I defeated Hein, it would likely be full steam ahead and I would have to grow exponentially stronger to stay one step ahead of the curve. The totem pole would be on display and one swoop from soone up high enough and it would be ga over. The key would be in not pissing off too many powerful people too quickly…or too many at once.
But still, could I do it? Could I really grow that strong, that quickly? I wasn’t sure, but the bar just got raised a few notches in my mind. I didn’t just need to shoot for the Iron Bracket. I had to shoot for Diamond. One thing was certain though. If I didn’t grow strong enough, it wouldn’t be from any lack of effort on my part. The idea spurred into action.
I needed to start my training.
* * *
From my morization of the Basic Infantry Weapon Techniques manual, the Axe technique was broken down into a set of twelve forms. Each one was a series of finely choreographed movents, defined right down to foot placents, turns, and swings. After finally gathering my handlers together and picking up my client for the day I was finally ready to get to practicing.
Until Sumatra called over.
Ire built within my gut at the last-second delay and as I approached the gray-skinned giant, I noticed he had a peculiar smirk on his face. What the hell was this now?
“Co with ,” he said.
I followed him towards the edge of the compound. As I passed by Lee and Mu Lin, I gave them both a questioning glance, but they gave only confused shrugs in return. Whatever this was they didn’t know anything about it. When we got a fair distance away from all the clients and other handlers, Sumatra gave a look up and down, like he was assessing for the first ti.
“So, I understand we have a mutual friend in the restaurant district now.”
It was more a statent than a question, but I nodded anyway. “I guess so?”
His eyes then narrowed. “Don’t think that this changes anything between us, understand? We’re not equal-ranked disciples in so secret sect. If anything, it makes your boss, twice. Got it?”
I could sense anger building within him, but I played it cool. “Of course.”
“I’ve been watching you lately, Chun. You’re changing. Quick like too. I wonder how you’re able to do that.”
I shrugged. “Self-improvent is a virtue of the empire, isn’t it? Maybe I just like to work hard.”
He eyed oddly again and I began to wonder if he was sensing the Qi within my stolen core. “Most people need help to advance as fast as you have. The kind of help you have to venture into the wild for.”
I channeled so Frenzy into [Indifference] to mask my pulse from rising. “I wouldn’t know. I’m pretty new at all of this.”
He harrumphed. “The Fire Bird Sect has too much riding on this operation to have it blown open because so dumb-shit Terran wants a free ride, understand? If I find out you’ve been smuggling materials from the outside and selling them, I’m going to have your ass.”
I actually breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. I was figuring he might be hinting to knowing what happened to the lightning core, but if this was all it was then maybe he suspected less than I thought. But just when I thought our conversation was over he added, “When the ti cos, I expect you to do exactly what’s required. No rapling nest bullshit, understand?”
It took a half second to even register what he was talking about, before I finally recalled the lie I’d told. Perhaps he suspected after all. I used [Struggler’s Resolve] as I nodded. “I understand.”
“Good,” he said, turning back toward the camp. “Now get back to work.”
* * *
About an hour later, I finally got my handlers in position to babysit the duo of cultivators we had picked up. We were back in the swamp again, killing my favorite cannibalistic toads. I found a grassy clearing atop a cliff a fair distance from where my guys were set up, giving a good vantage of what they were doing.
My mind was still jumbled with the worries of the last 24 hours. My eting with Hong Feng, the trouble in the square, my brief run-in with that girl Jian Yi this morning and now the subtle threats coming from Sumatra. If I was being honest, it was adding a new level of stress I didn’t need. But if I was going to be successful, I needed to harness that stress and turn it into determination—just like my Fla was able to turn my worst fears into Frenzy.
Finding a comfortable spot on the grass, I sat in lotus position to clear my mind and to do just that. Maybe it was the fact that things were finally starting to happen for real, or perhaps happen all at once, but I could sense I was approaching a threshold of so kind. A step that once taken, there could be no return. People’s lives and livelihoods were depending on what actions I would take next. One mis-maneuver and I could doom us all to a quick demise. But the Demon in was craving to toss it all out the window and simply grow strong enough to kill all the people I hated—just roll the dice and not care if I survived or anyone else.
The Yee word for Berserker ford in my mind as I ditated on both those thoughts, the twin characters of the Demon and the Struggler juxtaposed in an eternal battle for control. Focus too much on my cares for the community and I could feel my Fla smoldering with inaction threatening to beco a Waning Ember, but to lose that care completely and focus only on revenge and I could already envision the monster I would beco.
Exhaling, I looked to my only source of strength and guidance for support, my one-ti ntor…Threja. I wished she were still here for to glean so more wisdom from her. But perhaps she had given as much as she could already. As I cycled my Frenzy, I tapped into my ntal Capacity and just like with the manuals I could see her image clearly within my mind’s eye as if she were standing right there with now. Threja, the surprisingly gentle giantess with the heart of a Demon. If there was anyone who knew how to walk the fine line of the Berserker it was her.
And then, like I was reliving the mont in real ti, I saw her speaking before .
“It is a narrow path we tread,” she said. I watched her rise from a crouched position, her massive body coming to her full height as she stood to look down at . “Many who travel the path grow addicted to the power of the Frenzy and are eventually consud by their own Fla, becoming Demons. It is why there are so few of us. Your Frenzy must always be tempered with Struggle. This is the core of our Dao. As an elder practitioner, the best advice I can give you is this: trust and follow the path of Frenzied Fla, but ensure the Struggler wrestles always with the Demon. Without struggle there can be no true growth, only descension into madness.”
Never did those words make more sense until now.
And then I felt sothing open up inside of .
Like a breakthrough of so kind.
Perhaps not physical, or even ntal.
My Fla burned brighter and when I envisioned it, it had transford from a thick yellow wick of a burning candle to a Fla that was bluish at its base with dancing yellow on top. A spiritual breakthrough. A Fla burning hotter and brighter than before.
Through the stress and conflict of my thoughts, I had advanced.
I was now one step closer to fully understanding the core of my Dao.
Opening my eyes, I felt refreshed, my Frenzy seeming to have doubled in concentration. I used it to finally begin my practice of the Axe techniques, my mind finally clear. I recalled the images from the manual with complete clarity. But while I could recall the information just fine, transforming them into knowledge usable on a battlefield was an entirely different thing.
I began with the first four forms, starting with a rudintary stance that placed my left foot and hand out front, with my right foot and arm back, holding my axe ready to strike. Each form was a set of motions that moved my position laterally left or right, or backwards and forwards while always keeping up my guard. It was a new way of thinking for . While my reflexes had gotten pretty quick thanks to my Reflex Sharpening and Frenzy, I was still mostly reacting out of instinct, jumping to the side to avoid things rather than making efficient use of body chanics like this.
I got to work, slowly at first, taking an inordinate amount of ti to run through each form, ensuring I had it just right before moving on to the next. Once I was sure I had perford each one correctly I then began to repeat them over and over, committing them to mory while speeding up each ti.
Hours passed as I practiced the simple movents over a hundred tis each, converting them from re mory to muscle mory, until I was able to perform them without thinking of the movents consciously.
I thought only of the nas of the forms themselves and my body would do the rest.
[1st form]!
I shifted to the left in a series of quick steps.
[2nd form]!
I shifted to the right.
[3rd form]!
I shifted back.
[4th form]!
I advanced.
I practiced so more until I was able to transition between all of them seamlessly. First, Third, Second, Fourth, First! It was just moving around in a square, but the fluidity and speed in which I could do it was amazing, even for sothing so basic, my martial training was beginning to pay off. It made eager to put into practice what would co next.
The Axe itself wasn’t a defensive weapon, which suited my preference of style just fine. There were no blocks per se. Its defense involved either maneuvering quickly in and out of your opponent’s range or parrying their attacks. I focused on learning those techniques after lunch: the 5th Form being a combination of a roll and slide that ended in an attack and the 6th Form a reactive glancing blow directed at the enemy’s weapon.
In between my practicing of the forms, I snuck in a few belrug kills to generate Frenzy and maintain my cultivation growth. It wasn’t as much as I would normally generate during a day out in the field, but it was enough to train my Reflex Sharpening and ntal Quickness every ti I ran through a form.
After a while, I found that by using my Frenzy I was able to increase the speed in which I could perform the techniques by nearly tenfold. That got through morizing them much faster, but at the expense of giving a cardio workout. Eventually I had committed the 5th and 6th to muscle mory and combined them with the first four.
I created a routine, fighting an imaginary foe for over an hour, dashing between the forms while using Frenzy, tearing up grass as I rolled, quick-stepped and swung. I was drenched in sweat by the ti I was finished for the day, but I felt that I had fully mastered the first six forms and advanced to the fourth stage of Reflex Sharpening and the third stage of ntal Quickness to boot.
I left the field a happy man.
* * *
That evening, after avoiding the silent but angry mob that was my neighbors, I gave my body a rest but exercised my mind by starting my study of the Lightning Technique manual. It was a much different book compared to the Axe techniques. Where the Axe manual focused on forms, the Lightning manual was all about controlling and transforming internal energy.
There were countless pages on how to harness one’s Qi and refine it into a form that could be utilized to create actual lightning, but I only half paid attention to it all. Most of the techniques were not applicable to and so of the ridians ntioned I’d never even heard of before. But the goal was not to try to create my own lightning, just to learn enough to be passable if I was ever questioned about my fake core.
Still the more I studied the more the idea interested and I finally found a passage that gave an inkling of hope.
Origins of the Lightning Arc Technique
The great founder, Zen Ju Xian, was originally a fire worshiper whose descendants eventually ford the Fire Bird Sect. But Zen Ju Xian was dissatisfied with the limitations of fire techniques and sought to refine them further. It is through his experintation with increasing the strength of fire techniques that he discovered the ability to concentrate Fla to the point of producing lightning. Thus, all lightning techniques find their roots in fire. While the mastery of fire techniques is not necessary to manifest lightning, a fundantal understanding of fire manifestation will be of great benefit to any lightning practitioner.
Holy shit…I thought. The Frenzied Fla was a kind of fire wasn’t it?
Perhaps not literal fire, but I did recall seeing yellow flas in the sky when Threja transford. The idea spurred into action. Perhaps there was a technique that I could mimic to produce Flas from Frenzy and then substitute that with the techniques in the lightning manual.
That got looking into the orb under external manifestations again. I searched for over an hour, but after a while had to conclude that either those flas I saw in the sky were not real, or she had developed sothing herself beyond what the orb could teach .
That got thinking of the problem in reverse. Perhaps I could apply the ridians in the lightning manual to those within the orb. But again, so of them just didn’t match up. But what if they could?
I reached for Mu Lin’s fundantals book. That text contained every ridian in existence. If I could line up what the lightning book was referring to, then perhaps I could translate that into its equivalent within the orb techniques.
It seed worth a shot.
I began reading, but by the ti I got to the second page of ridian locations my head was swimming and my body was aching for sleep. Reluctantly I closed the fundantals book. As much as I wanted to research further, I couldn’t spread myself too thin. I still had half the Axe manual to master and that required an intensive physical workout that required my body to be in peak form.
Master one thing at a ti, I told myself.
Still, as I drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t help but dream that lightning mastery might be sohow within my grasp.
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