Paired Cultivation, A Threads of Fate Universe Story: Chapters 6-10 (Patreon)

Chapter 6

Keiko and I scurried into our room. She giggled, obviously excited about our upcoming cultivation. We hurried over to the back right corner of the room where there was a basic cultivation pedestal set up. We slid that aside, and I placed the tiny Centering Lotus pedestal down in front of Keiko and I. I extended a thread of my qi into it to create the blood bond. The blood bond was to prevent anyone, but me, from activating that the artifact. It was something my grandfather told me about, but I never actually had an opportunity to try it.

I felt a strange connection to the item. It was like I would know where it was, no matter what, as long as I was close enough to it. I looked up and saw that Keiko was extending one of the Foundation Building pills out to me. I took it gratefully.

With a push of qi from me, the Centering Lotus expanded to be large enough to just barely fit Keiko and I when we eventually settled down across from each other on it. There was also a book in the middle of it. It was a plain black leather tome that looked older than anything I had ever seen before, I guess it had been defended by this Centering Lotus for as long as anyone can remember, probably thousands of years. I picked up the book and despite my incredible urge to open it up, I set it aside so that Keiko and I could cultivate. After we were done, there was almost a one hundred percent chance that I was going to be reading that. The book, that is…assuming that I could actually read the language it was written in.

Keiko and I started our paired cultivation and I immediately felt a drastic change, where before I had been producing most of the qi that I was passing to her from my own quote lower core. Now I was pulling over ninety percent of it from the air around me and I could tell that Keiko was doing the same. That meant that our cultivation sessions could go longer as Keiko wouldn’t be getting tired as quickly. In addition, I could feel my meridians growing more flexible as we cultivated, which would also extend our sessions as we wouldn't be straining our qi channels as much.

Together, Keiko and I each popped our Cultivation Building pills at the same time while performing our cultivation exercise. When I crunched down on it, I felt a wave of condensed qi rip through my body, strengthening my meridians, cores, and qi channels.

I was completely shocked at how the Foundation Building pill hadn't been taken by anyone in all these years. Suddenly realization washed over me…everyone else who had ever gone in there was at least a Brain cultivator. Their foundations had been set before they actually went in there, probably dozens, if not hundreds, of years before. These pills wouldn't do anything for them! Because Keiko and I got to go in there at such a low stage, we were able to reap the benefits of them while no one else would've been able to. I needed to remember to complement Keiko on her choice and apologize for giving her shit about it in the moment. Across from me, Keiko was enraptured just like I was a few seconds ago, I could see the light of multicolored qi running through her eyes and building up her and I could feel her qi channels, meridians, and cores reinforcing as mine did.

Despite our rapturous experience with the Foundation Building pills, we didn't slacken in our cultivation technique. In fact, we pushed harder than we ever had before, but it didn't hurt like it would have before, it just felt amazing. For the next two and a half hours, we cultivated longer and harder than we've ever done before. By the end of it both of us were sweating profusely and our entire bodies were coated in black sludge from the impurities we had forced out through our intense cultivation. We both slumped back into the Centering Lotus and found that despite being silver in color, it was actually exceedingly comfortable. It felt like something more akin to a leather couch than the metal that its silver appearance would lead you to believe. I wondered why that was, it looked like metal but felt like leather… weird.

Keiko reached out a hand for me to grab and I did so, she pulled me over to lay down next to her and wrinkled her nose, “I would like you to know that you stink very badly, but I still love you.”

I didn't know how to respond to that, she smelled awful too. So, I didn't. I just lay next to her in companionable silence, with the noticeable exception of our panting from our intense cultivation session, while holding her hand. I could feel the qi in my lower core becoming denser and more sluggish to move. It seems that after taking that pill and using the Centering Lotus pedestal, my estimate of taking a month to break through to Heart cultivator was going to be dramatically shortened. If it took more than a week, I would be very surprised.

I turned to grin at Keiko, only to find her staring at me with shining eyes. She leaned over, gave me a kiss, and then snuggled against my side. I was shocked, but I didn't want to ruin it, so I didn't tell her the good news. It could wait, it's not like anything we were going to do would change that. As long as he continued along the path we were on, there was nothing that would be able to stop us from growing stronger.

After laying on the Centering Lotus for another hour relaxing, we both decided that we were disgusting and that we needed to find a bath to get off all of the funk that had come out of our pores while cultivating. When we stood up, I debated if I was going to bring the Centering Lotus pedestal with me, but decided against it. I figured that if there was anywhere safe in this place for my most prized possession, our room would be the safest. Not even Dawn or Dusk have been able to enter as far as I knew. After a moment’s hesitation, I did shrink it down and tuck it underneath a pillow on the bed, just in case. It never hurts to be cautious.

I scooped up the black leather book from beside the Centering Lotus and tucked along my side, I would be reading it during my bath. Keiko stretched over by the middle of the room, “All right lazybones let's get going. I need a bath as soon as possible. I haven't smelled this disgusting since that time I got sprayed by a Rubble Skunk when we were ten.”

Rubble Skunks were earth attributed animals that ran rampant around Roh City about five years ago. They weren’t very dangerous, but they were very, very annoying. Instead of spraying you with a gas that makes things stink, they sprayed you with a noxious sludge that would not come out of clothing unless you used pure water qi to push it out. Even then, it took dozens, if not hundreds, of hours to do so. Most people just threw away whatever clothes they sludged.

Keiko was too stubborn for that; plus, the scarf the Rubble Skunk hit was a gift from her mother before she passed. She spent the two hundred hours it took to get that sludge out. I’m willing to bet that of the possessions she didn't have with her, the scarf from her mother is the one she was missing the most.

I laughed out loud, “Yeah, I remember that summer. You were wearing your scarf for a festival and got sprayed by a Rubble Skunk when you walked around the corner down by the square. It took you so long to get to get cleaned up and to store it away that you were late for the event your father wanted you to be there for.”

She groaned, “You don't have to talk about that part, do you?” She shook her head. “Anyway, let's go see if we can find a bath somewhere in this hallway. I’m willing to bet that there's at least one if not a bunch.”

I held out my hand toward the door, “Lead the way, milady.”

It didn't take long for Keiko and I to find the baths. They were two doors down from the restaurant. Keiko stared at it longingly as we passed it, but we decided that we should wait until we were clean before we went back in there. We entered the baths and found that there were different options for different points to access.

For free, we could use the large open bath, but from the look on Keiko's face…that was not something we would be availing ourselves of. For one point, we could get a single medium-sized bathtub to share, I saw Keiko hesitate when she saw that one, but eventually her gaze slid down to the next the last level. For two points you got two individual small bathtubs in a private room. Finally, for fifty points you could have a large bath installed in your room for your use at any time.

Based on the fact that one training session did this to us, I know that Keiko was probably leaning towards the two-point option, but the math actually worked out that maybe we did want the personal bath installed.

I brushed my shoulder against Keiko gently, “Hey, what you think about doing the fifty-point option? I think that over time, it would pay for itself. I know that over time, it would pay for itself. Think about it, we've been here less than two days and we’re already thinking about spending two points on a bath. If we had our own private bath, we wouldn't have to think about it, we would just be able to do it.”

Keiko's eyes gleamed as she turned to face me, “Are you saying that we get to have our own private bath installed today?”

Her face looked so hopeful that at this point, I wouldn't have been able to tell her no. Instead, I just nodded, “Yes, we are going to have a private bath installed today.

I looked over at the bath attendant who had a veil covering her face, “Miss, we would like to have a private bath installed.”

The woman behind the desk looked as shocked as one can through a veil, “Are you sure? Most couples just use the single bath option to save points. Not many people can afford to spend fifty points on bathing.”

Her voice almost sounded condescending, which I didn't appreciate.

I set my jaw, “I didn’t ask for your advice, I told you we were having a private bath installed. What do you need to do to make that happen?” I walked up to the desk and leered down at her angrily.

The woman behind the desk looked decently afraid, at least as far as I could tell through the veil. Her voice shook as she answered, “All you need to do is to touch the crystal on the desk and say ‘Install Private Bath’.”

I looked at the counter and saw a large red crystal set into it, but raised about half a centimeter. I slapped my hand down on the crystal, “Install Private Bath.”

Somehow, as soon as I said that, I felt like it had been done, like the bath was already installed and ready in our room.

I looked up at the attendant, “How long does it take to finish?”

She shook her head, “As soon as you spend the points it just happens. The only thing you spend points on here that doesn't happen immediately is food in the restaurants.”

I nodded appreciatively, “Thank you.”

With that, I spun on my heel to Keiko by the hand, and marched back towards our room. We made it back to our room and only one thing had changed, in the back left corner of the room there was a bamboo privacy fence, closing off about twenty% of the room with a single large door that lay open revealing an idyllic hot spring. Keiko's released my hand and sprinted for the hot spring, shucking her clothes as she went, as she was wont to do. That girl has no shame, even though her father did everything he could to imbue her with a sense of it. I can't say I didn't appreciate the view as she slid into the water with a sigh.

I followed behind her at a more sedated pace before getting to the edge of the enclosure. I took my clothes off, put them in a neat-ish pile, and walked in with the book held under my left arm. I saw Keiko had taken up the left side of the hot spring, so I went all the way over the right side and slid into it with a sigh, being careful not to get the book wet.

I heard Keiko sigh from the other side of the hot spring, “This is the life. I would like to state that when we eventually build our house, we need to have a hot spring like this in it. No questions, it must be done.”

I laughed heartily, “I agree with you there, there's not much that's as nice as a hot spring to soothe weary muscles or get you clean after getting disgusting after cultivating.”

We sat in companionable silence for a few moments, before I leaned back and opened up the cracked black leather tome. I found that I was in luck, it was written in a language that I knew… the only language that I knew. The book was called Inheritances Throughout the Ages, I settled in and started to read it. I read through things like the Inheritance of the Blaze and the Inheritance of the Runemaster, but the one that caught my attention was the Inheritance of the Eclipse. It was the only other Inheritance that mentioned a pair, and it seems to have never changed locations. It was always on a decently large island off the coast of the land of the empire.

When I looked a little deeper, It mentioned that there were many people who had gone from the Inheritance of the Lovers to the Inheritance of the Eclipse, but not many ever returned. The book spoke of untold power found within the walls of the Inheritance of the Eclipse, but also said that there were fierce guardians before it. Even the author of the book couldn't seem to find a way to fight through. The tokens for the Inheritance of the Eclipse are all held by the group that are known to protect it, though there was a rumor that one had slipped out and been taken in by the emperor's family over 5,000 years ago.

I looked over at Keiko, only to see that she was soaking up to her neck in the water and was dozing in and out of sleep. I decided not to bother her with what I just learned and went into reading more about the different Inheritances throughout the world. I had a very good inclination that this book was incredibly valuable and that I would need to do everything I could to protect it. The first thing I needed to do was find a spatial ring or a spatial pouch or something of the sort to hide the book in. I would need to go and find that next.

After soaking for about an hour, I got out of the water, dried myself off with a mixture of fire and wind qi, and threw on a new gi. I walked over to help Keiko out of the water. For a few minutes, she resisted, but I did finally get her out of the water. I dried her off the same way I dried myself off and helped her into her new gi. She mumbled something about taking a nap and then stumbled her way over towards our bed in the middle of the room.

A few moments later, I heard her snoring and decided that it would be okay if I went shopping without her. She had a bad habit of spending money that she didn't have. I wrote a note and left it on my side of the bed, saying that I was out exploring and that I would be back soon. I put the book under my pillow alongside the Centering Lotus pedestal and then turned and walked out of the room, taking a peek at the sleeping form of Keiko as I did so.

It was weird to be walking these halls without Keiko by my side, but I knew that despite our cultivation being tied together, there were still times that we were going to need to be alone and I was going to have to get used to that. I made my way back toward the central hall, thinking that if I needed information, I could probably just ask one of the people who was there for it.

When I entered the hall, I heard the sounds of sparring coming from down the way, but I ignored them. Instead, I turned toward the wall opposite the entrance Keiko and I came in yesterday. The wall was covered in requests written on parchment and attached to the wall with pins. Each one of them detailed out a quest or a task for a couple to complete for points.

The quests or tasks varied dramatically in in difficulty. There was one as simple as clean out the bath of the initiate dorm, which was worth two points. On the other hand, there was “Discover a new paired combat technique”, which was worth two hundred points. It appeared that for the more complicated tasks, there were multiple groups allowed to take them, with little pieces of parchment being torn off by each pair attempting said task. More simple tasks, like cleaning this out the bath, only had one or two pieces of paper to tear off.

From behind me I heard a familiar voice, “It's good to see you out here, Steven. How are you doing?”

I turned around to see Dawn standing there looking at me, “Oh, hello Dawn, I’m doing well.”

“I’m surprised to see you out here without Keiko. Is everything okay?”

I laughed, “She's just tired after using the personal hot spring we had installed.”

She chuckled, “I’ve always been one to say that purchasing something permanently that you’re going to use a lot is dramatically better than paying each time you need to use it. I have seen pairs of cultivators in here spend hundreds of points in those baths, only to realize that they should've just purchased the private bath at the beginning, if they could afford it. Is there anything I could help you with? You know I do happen to know the guy who runs this place.” She winked at me.

“You know, there are a couple things I have questions about.

She nodded, “All right, let me know and I’ll do everything I can to help.”

Dawn was being surprisingly helpful, considering her attitude the day before. I guess Dusk must have spoken with her about her attitude and she turned it around? More likely, she realized that she reached a level of power that almost no one did, so she still had something over us. I wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I’d take it.

I listed off the things I needed, “I’m looking to get a spatial ring for both Keiko and I, information on how the points system works, and information on how to get more points so that we might be able to get back into the vault. Think you can help with any of those?”

She chuckled softly, “The first thing is easy, all you need to do is walk to the end of the hall that you call home now and you will find a commissary where you can spend points on items. The point system is a little more complicated, you see, it costs two points per day for a couple to remain in this place. The reason you want to stay here is that time moves faster in here than it does out in the real world, so you can train much faster here than you would out in the real world, so you can grow stronger a lot more quickly than people who didn't have this benefit.

“Points are used for everything here, getting lunch, buying things in the store, and purchasing new cultivation techniques. As for the vault, that requires a little extra. You can't buy your way in with points, not unless you're willing to spend a thousand points on the single item on the lower tier. I can't say I recommend that. Instead, people are granted access to the vault by doing something that the creator of this place would've considered extraordinary or exceptional.

“A good example of that is winning a tournament for Brain cultivators as Heart cultivators. Punching above your weight class, as it were. The people who created this Inheritance were known for fighting well above their cultivation level. As Heart cultivators, they were taking on saints and winning. They want to nurture people like them, i.e., anyone who can do that. I hope that answers your question.”

She looked at me sweetly and I felt that, despite her earlier reaction, she wasn't a bad person. She was just someone who wasn't used to being showed up.

I nodded emphatically, “Yes, that answered my questions as well as I could hope for. Are there any benefits besides the obvious ones for ranking up our cultivation level?”

I felt Dawn's eyes pore over me for a few seconds before she looked at me, shocked, “Wow, it looks like you must've found something interesting in the vault! I won't ask wasn't what it was, because I know you won’t be able to tell me. However, yes, there is a benefit. Each time you rank up, you will be gifted with a number of points equal to fifty times the rank after Body that you advance to. In your case that would be fifty points as Heart is one stage after Body.”

I nodded, “Thank you very much, I appreciate all your help. I think I’m going to go and purchase those spatial rings for Keiko and I now.”

She inclined her head ever so slightly toward me, “I wish you luck, Steven. You and Keiko have a long way to go, but I think you're going to do great here.” She turned on her heel, took a few steps, and disappeared from view without another word.

I was never going to get used to people being able to teleport away from me like that. I took a look at the board for any tasks or quests that might interest Keiko and I, but I didn't really find anything that fit our particular skill sets yet. Instead, was going to have us focus on advancing to Heart cultivators as soon as possible. It would allow us to gain access to a few more qi types so that we be more effective in fights, if need be.

I walked back down the Apprentice hallway and ended up in the commissary. I have to say, the commissary was a lot less impressive than I was hoping it would be. Instead of it being arrayed with thousands of items on the walls all sparkling new, it was a wall of black stone with a single three-foot by four-foot hole surrounding a desk that reached out through the hole. Behind said desk was a young man who looked incredibly bored. I walked up and greeted the man behind the counter, “Hello, I’m Steven and my partner, Keiko and I are new here. How are you doing today?”

The man behind the counter sighed, “Hi, I’m Roderigo. I’m doing okay, but that's beside the point. How can I help you?” He sounded almost depressed at his current situation.

I looked at him puzzled, “Do you mind if I ask you a question first?”

His face lit up with a wry grin, “I assume you mean besides that one? If so, yes.”

I was pretty confident that I was going to like Roderigo. I grinned, “Okay, Roderigo. Why do you look so sad behind the desk there? Also, where is your partner?”

His face darkened, “My partner and I aren't exceptional, we got in here because I managed to try to try and save her from some bandits and end up here, but neither one of us are particularly talented in cultivation. For us to get to stay here and grow stronger, we both have to work. She runs the bath in this hall and I run the commissary. We make enough points to eat and stay here as well as get a few small cultivation aids. It's not a lot, but it's better than the situation we left behind.”

I was shocked, “I had no idea that people end up here like that, I’m so sorry!”

He waved away my concern, “Don't worry about it, there's not a lot you can do to help us, and every sale you make both here, and in the baths, helps us wrangle a few more points. So, I’d appreciate if you would buy from me and not the Initiate hallway commissary! Jackson, the guy who runs that one, is a giant donkey.” His face brightened a bit.

I cracked my fingers, “All right, I’ve got a few things I need.”

“Bring it on!”

I listed off the things Keiko and I needed and by the end of it. Roderigo was laughing.

He wiped a tear from his eye, “Two spatial rings, each with one hundred cubic feet of space, four points each. Two spatial earrings, with matching pairs that are not spatial for hidden storage, two points each. Replacement gi for yourself and your partner that're in ten different colors, four points total, the book Basic Paired Cultivation Techniques, ten points. This book includes basic techniques for using your partner's qi more effectively and how to reinforce your partner and yourself at the same time. All told, that adds up to twenty-six points total. Simply touch the blue gem on the counter here and your items will be delivered to your room.” He grinned, “Thank you so much, I make ten percent of whatever you spend, so I really appreciate your service!”

I smiled wide, “I’m glad I could be of assistance, maybe you and your partner, whose name I did not get yet, can have dinner sometime. My treat.”

He was startled, “Are you sure? I know dinner can get pretty expensive here. Also, my partner's name is Melody.”

I did my best to assuage his concern, “Yes, I’m sure. It will be lovely to spend dinner with another couple here. Let me know when works for you two and we’ll make it happen. I’m going to go back to my room and check out the delivery, okay?”

He beamed, “Thank you so much, I really appreciate you coming to see me today.”

I waved as I was walking away, “See you later, Roderigo!”

Walking down the short hall and around the corner leading into the room I shared with Keiko, I found a small box sitting to the right of the entranceway. I reached into the box and found my purchases. I immediately bound one of the spatial rings and one of the spatial earrings by sending threads of qi into each of them. I put the ring on as well as one regular earring and the bound spatial earring.

It felt strange, I had gone my entire life without access to a spatial storage device and now I had two of them. I put the book of techniques into my spatial ring along with my half of the gi. I walk over to the bed and draw the Centering Lotus and Inheritances Through the Ages into the spatial earring I was planning on using as storage for my more precious items.

I placed Keiko’s ring and set of earrings on the bedside table before turning to look at her sleeping form. She was curled up into a ball, just like she always did at home, it was adorable! I walked over to the corner opposite our new hot spring and started going through my martial arts katas.

It felt amazing to be working out today, I couldn’t believe how good it felt to be at the liquid stage of Body cultivation. It felt like my entire body was flowing with power and every movement drew qi from my lower core without me even thinking about it. I flowed through my usual katas in silence, doing my best not to wake up Keiko from her slumber. As I was finishing up, I heard a loud yawn from behind me. I turned around to see Keiko stretching beside the bed.

She padded over to join me, “Were you doing katas without me?” She pouted. “You know I love to work out with someone else, why didn’t you wake me up?”

I shrugged, “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t going to interrupt what you had going on over on the bed. You were too cute to mess with.”

She slapped me, not very hard, but hard enough that there was a satisfying noise, “Not fair! I can’t control how cute I am when I sleep and now, I missed out on martial arts training because of it…curse my cuteness!”

I laughed, “How about I work out with you some more? I’m not really tired, I was just stopping so I could start reading more of the book we found in the Centering Lotus.”

Her face lit up, “Really? Yay!”

Without missing a beat, she launched into her warm up kata. I followed along, step for step, and strike for strike. After five minutes or so we flowed naturally into sparring, like we did a thousand times before.

She started laughing and couldn’t stop, “I feel so amazing! It’s like my entire body is full of power, it feels like I could take on the world!” She continues punching, kicking, and throwing elbows and knees at me while she talks.

We naturally flowed from sparring with just our bodies to sparring with qi constructs. Keiko produced her water qi whips and I enhanced my speed using wind qi to push myself in the directions I needed to go. Both of us were inspired by Jim’s performance in the tournament a year ago, he showed that it’s not only the size of the qi construct that matters, it’s also the finesse with which you use it. That’s why neither of us were throwing huge blasts of qi at each other, though with my lower core, I probably could, instead we both focused on precision qi strikes.

About ten minutes into our qi sparring, I saw an opening. I unleashed a whirlwind that knocked Keiko off balance for a moment, so I launched a small burst of flame from my heel while attacking with a roundhouse kick. In response, she coated her midriff with metal qi and reached out to snare my other foot with her water whip. I used wind qi from my heel to hop myself off the ground just enough to pass over the water whip before turning that motion into an overhead kick brimming with both fire and wind qi.

I stopped the kick half an inch above the crown of Keiko’s head, “I win.” I spun back around and bowed to her. “Thank you for the match.”

She slowly straightened up her back before bowing, “Thank you for the match.” A few moments later she couldn’t hold herself in anymore, “I thought I had you! That last whip strike was flawless!”

I laughed, “Of course it was, that’s why I let you go for it. I knew that if I left an opening where only one leg was on the ground you would go for that whip sweep you love so much. I’ve watched you practice it at least a thousand times and I knew you were just waiting for the perfect time to use it, so I took advantage of that to counter attack.”

She stared at me like I stabbed her, which I definitely didn’t do while practicing as kids…OK, one time, but the healer in town took care of the wound without too much trouble using wood qi. She told her father that she did it to herself, to protect me from his wrath, and he banned her from using any pointy or edged weapons for a month. She was so mad!

I smile nervously, “Let’s focus on advancing as fast as we can, I want to do some serious cultivating so we can take on some of the requests on the board in the main hall.”

She looked at me strangely, “What requests in the main hall? Did you go exploring without me?” The look on her face told me that she didn’t read my note.

I looked at her sheepishly, “I left a note…”

I went on to describe my time outside the room without her. She didn’t ask very many questions, which was surprising.

When I finished, her eyes glowed with excitement, “You’re right! I can’t wait to reach Heart level, then we can do a tournament! We have to focus on that book of techniques you bought too,” she said as she walked over and put on her ring and pair of earrings, “if we take full advantage of the methods in there, we’ll have an even better shot at winning!”

I cracked my knuckles, “Let’s get down to business then!”

Chapter 7

The next week passed by in a flash, Keiko and I spent the lion’s share of our time cultivating using the Centering Lotus. When we would finish cultivating, we would immediately jump into practicing fighting techniques from inside the book of techniques I bought earlier. We both had a good laugh at some of the names of those techniques though.

Keiko's eyes watered as she pointed at one of the diagrams in the book, “Restless Lover Slaps Partner? That’s the most ridiculous name I’ve ever heard! It doesn't even describe what the person looks like they're doing!”

I chuckled, “You're right there, that looks more like punching someone behind you than rolling over in bed and slapping your partner. I wonder who named these techniques? There’s no name where the authors name would normally be located. I wonder if these are some of the most basic techniques left behind by the people who created this Inheritance?”

Keiko sobered up a bit, “Well, whoever created these techniques…they really need help naming things.” She pointed at the page across from the previous technique. “Look at this one, Coiling Bean Sprouts Twined Together? I mean…it almost makes sense? It does have the two users spin and punch together, but they never twined anything together, not even their arms. I would've called it something like Two-Fisted Pincer Attack, or something like that.”

I shook my head and closed the technique manual, “Either way, I think we found quite a few useful things we can do that might make us better in a fight. There weren't any real cultivation tips besides things that Dawn and Dusk already taught us. I wonder if we need to purchase those separately, or if we just aren't far enough in the book to find them? There isn't a table of contents anywhere, so I can't just look for cultivation techniques and continue to that page. I'm halfway tempted to rip out the pages and have it rebound in the correct order, defensive techniques a one spot, offensive ones next, evasive ones in another, and if any cultivation techniques are in here…put those at the end or the beginning probably? I don't know.”

Keiko shook her head, “I think that would be a good idea, but I wonder if it might be more trouble than it's worth to do that? I think that once we’ve gotten what we can out of this manual…maybe we can trade it back in for some points hopefully, or potentially trade it to someone for dinner or cultivation tips?”

“Maybe you're right, I was just thinking about how it might work if I had it sorted like that. I’m sure that’s just my inner perfectionist talking, thanks for pulling me back from the brink…” I looked away with the thought of fixing this manual running through my head.

Keiko looked around our room and frowned before turning back to me, “This room feels a little bit barren; don't you agree? All we have is our bath, our bed, and that's about it. I wonder how much it would cost to get some house goods, for lack of a better term. I'm talking about a table, some chairs, maybe a few couches, or maybe a kitchen? I know you really like to cook, so if… I just had an awesome idea!” She was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, strike that…she was actually jumping up and down with excitement.

I beamed, “Well, what's your great idea?”

“What if you cooked our food?!” When she saw the questioning look on my face, she explained more. “I'm willing to bet that we can buy the ingredients for a lot less than it costs to have things cooked for us. I'm willing to bet that you’re as good a cook as the people cooking our food are. If not, you’re pretty close. Either way, I think it would be worth it to save points by having you cook our food.”

I walked over and hugged Keiko, to her surprise, and whispered in her ear, “That was an amazing idea. I think it's going to be a real game changer.” I squeezed her as tightly as I could, I heard a few joints pop and crack and she sighed with pleasure.

I stepped back after releasing her, “We have to go visit Rodrigo!” I grabbed her hand and started walking toward the door.

She followed me gladly, trailing a bit as she did so, “See, I'm full of great ideas! You should really listen to me more often.” Rather than walking like normal, she was doing something more akin to strutting, which she must have thought looked powerful, but instead it looked more like someone trying to get their gi out of their nether regions.

I chuckled a bit, “I can't argue with your current idea, but in the past, I was right to ignore you. Do I need to remind you about the spring year where you recommended that we go hunting in the forest in the middle of Iron Bear mating season?”

I turned to see her wince, “Okay, fair enough. This was a good idea though and I'm glad you recognized it.”

We turned the corner walked down the hallway from our room, then out into the hall before turning right to walk down the Apprentice hallway.

We walked all the way to the end of the hallway and were greeted by our friend Roderigo, “Hello Steven! I see you brought with you the lovely Miss Keiko, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I had wondered who would be able to keep Steven in line. He's such a shrewd negotiator and businessman that I knew he had to have a lovely woman behind him keeping him on the straight and narrow.” He winked mischievously at Keiko.

She blushed, “I mean, I do kind of keep him in line…but most of the time,” she doesn't finish her sentence, which struck me as odd until I felt her hide her face in my back.

I stretched my arm behind me and patted her on the back, “Don't worry about her hiding, she's just not used to being complemented by people here. A lot of the people in the dining room haven't been treating us very well, they think we're just upstarts who got a lucky break. Somehow, it got out that we got to go access to the vault already, so people have been challenging us to duels pretty regularly.”

Roderigo's face fell, “Milady, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you upset; I was merely saying that it’s wonderful to finally meet the lovely future Mrs. Steven.” His voice was soothing, like warm honey down a sore throat. It soothed the way the harshness that Keiko obviously perceived from his previous exuberance. There was a good reason why he survived as a commissary master.

She peeked out from behind me just a little bit, “It's okay, I'm just a little bit crossbow shy around here. People haven't really taken a liking to me, which is really unusual for me considering how I grew up. Thanks for being so nice to Steven the other day.” She started hanging on my left arm, peeking out around me.

Roderigo smiled, “Think nothing of it, Steven and I get along famously! It’s because he’s such a good person. It's refreshing to have an Apprentice who isn't all about themselves, including their partners. Sometimes it feels like Melody and I are the only two people here who actually care about their partners. I know that's not true, but given the way I've seen some of these people treat their partners, it wouldn't surprise me to find that some of them knew they were going to be taken to this place and decided to use it as a way to jumpstart their cultivation journey.” His eyes grew distant, like he was thinking of long-gone days. “Melody and I grew up together, we've been in love since we were children. It was only natural that I sacrifice myself to protect her. I would do it again, a thousand times, even if I knew it would lead to my death.”

From behind me I heard someone clear their throat like they were getting ready speak. I whirled around to find Melody, the woman who runs the Apprentice baths standing behind Keiko and I.

She looked furious, “Roderigo Saskala, if you ever, and I mean ever, talk about sacrificing yourself for me again… I will shove my foot so far up your nether regions… I'll need a new pair.” She shifted her gaze from Roderigo to Keiko and I. In a flash, her demeanor shifted from enraged to polite, “I'm so sorry for my husband, he has a bad tendency to self-sacrifice. It's something we're working on, but it's tough to get out of someone once it becomes something they’re wont to do.” She looked back over toward Roderigo. “Is this a nice couple you were telling me about?”

I glanced back and saw Roderigo nodding furiously, “Yes darling, that’s the couple I told you about. They offered to take us to dinner! They even said they’d pay!”

I looked back to see Melody's face in a look of shock. She opened her mouth a few times without making any sound before speaking, “Are you sure? Dinner here is so expensive!” She waited a few seconds, “I guess we can go to one of the cafeterias. They are a lot less expensive.” Her face fell a bit.

Keiko stepped out from around me and walked toward Melody, “I'm sorry, did you say cafeteria?”

Melody looked up and saw Keiko standing less than a foot from her face, she took a step back before speaking, “Of course there is, one per hallway. Where have you been eating every night?” Her face was both curious and horrified.

Keiko shrugged, “We've just been going to the restaurant and eating the cheapest things we could find that met our qi needs. I'm about done with Aqua Vitae! At this point, I think I could re-create it, if I had the means to do so. I know exactly how it tastes and I'm about done with it.”

Melody's jaw hung open, before she snapped it shut with an audible clack, “Aren't you two worried you're going to run out of points? Most people only show up with a hundred points. If you've been eating at the restaurant every night, it must be at least ten points for the pair of you. How many more days you have here at that rate?”

Keiko looked back at me questioningly and I knew exactly what she was thinking.

I smiled toward Melody, “Keiko and I have enough points to continue that for a little while, but were actually here to see if we can maybe stretch our points a little.” I turned to Roderigo, “How much would it cost to have a full kitchen installed in our room? I would need a stove, an oven, as well as a working sink. Oh, also a table with chairs, and all the cooking utensils. You know, I would like to expand our bathroom to be able to accommodate two people at once, in privacy.”

Roderigo looked at me puzzled, “Why would you want those things? I mean, I get warning the expanded bathroom, it's something that I've thought about purchasing for Melody and I a couple of times, but I couldn't justify the three points to spend on it, but a full kitchen with a table, chairs, and equipment…that's something like ten points. It's so expensive for something you have almost no use for! I guess you can use it to reheat your food from the restaurant if that's what you want to do.” His face showed a look of confusion, if not disdain. I was going to blow his mind.

“How much does it cost for a fresh Iron Crab? Dead is preferable, but I'll take care of it if it's alive.”

He looked at me funny, but looked down at the book in front of him before flipping to the front of it. He ran his finger down until it reached a certain page number and then turned the book to that page.

The look on his face after that was one of pure shock, “It's only one point, how can it be only one point!? Just the legs cost four points in the restaurant!”

The grin that covered my face could only be described that of the cat that caught the canary, “Excellent, I'll take the full kitchen, with tables, chairs, equipment, and any other sundry items. I'll also take the bathroom upgrade. Actually, is there an upgraded kitchen set up that includes something like a counter that people could eat at in addition to a bigger table for six people or more people?”

Vertigo still looked stunned, but he dutifully flicked back to the section of the book that had what I asked for, “Yes, it looks like for twenty points you can have a kitchen and dining room set for eight people, it includes everything you asked about except for the bathroom upgrade. Is there anything else you want that might be in this section?”

The look of shock on his face was still there, but it seems like asking me questions about things I want to buy was making him feel better.

“I would also like to purchase a set of three short couches, three chaise lounges, and a large square table to put between those pieces of furniture, hopefully at couch height.”

He dutifully listed off their prices, two points for the couches, two points for the chaise lounges, and one point for the low table. Is that all?” At this point, he was just staring at me incredulously.

I nodded, “Yes, that's exactly what I want. If I did my math correctly, that's twenty-eight points? If I spend another two points does that round up to three points for you and Melody?” It couldn't hurt to ask.

He nodded, “That is the correct total. Also, yes, we would get an additional point if you spent two more points.”

From behind me, Keiko's voice rang out, “We also want two gallons of Aqua Vitae, two gallons of Fire Water, twenty pounds of Zephyr Rice, twenty pounds of Blazing Elk, and two pounds of Iron Boar.” I turned back to see her beaming. “What can I say, I know what I like.”

I shook my head, but turned to Roderigo, “Well? How much for all of that?”

He didn't even look shocked anymore, he more looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, but was beyond the point of disbelief. He dutifully replied, “That would be twenty-two more points.”

I rubbed my hands together, “Done.”

I had so many plans and recipes ready for the use of those high-class ingredients. My grandfather was quite the cook, so he told me stories about the high-class foods he ate and cooked along his travels. Keiko asked for all of my favorites, she was really thinking about me when she listed those off.

I snapped my fingers, “How much for a full spice pantry? I'm talking like ten racks, stacked five deep, of every spice I can imagine?”

Roderigo just shook his head, “Ten points.”

“Add it to the pile.”

I heard something fall behind me and turned around to see Keiko picking up Melody from the floor.

Keiko was holding her head, “Are you okay, Melody? I'm glad I caught you before your head hit the floor, but you still took a pretty hard fall.”

Melody gently shook her head, “I'm okay, I'm just shocked at how many points you just spent like they didn't matter. Also, you just gave Roderigo and I six points! That's three days in here, do you understand that?”

Keiko just laughed, “Of course we did, that's why we asked about rounding up. Otherwise, why would we do it?” Keiko looked bemused, like Melody didn't understand why someone would help someone else.

Before Melody could reply, I interjected, “Roderigo told me last time I was here that you two received ten percent of whatever we spent, either here, or in the baths. I was feeling bad because us purchasing a private bath meant that you wouldn't get points from us every time we went to the bath. So, I figured if I spend a little bit more here, it would be helpful to you guys.” I turned back to the desk and addressed Roderigo, “Sixty points total?”

He nodded in response and I slapped the gem on the counter, “Done!”

Keiko helped Melody to her feet before clapping her hands excitedly, “I'm so excited! I get to eat Stephen's cooking again today!”

I grinned, “Roderigo, Melody, would you two like to come over for dinner tonight? I seem to have just come into quite a bit of food as well as a nice table and chairs and set of couches for after dinner…”

Roderigo started stuttering before Melody cut him off, “That would be lovely, when should we should arrive? Also, when we do arrive, please make sure that one of you comes out to let to let us in, otherwise we won't be able to enter. Also, you have nothing to worry about letting us in, those that enter others’ rooms with permission are held to strict guest restrictions. Any breach of etiquette, such as stealing or breaking intentionally of any of the hosts’ items results in immediate expulsion from the Inheritance site.”

Keiko gasped, “I hadn't even thought of that! Steven, did you think of that?”

I shook my head, “I hadn't, but I really wasn't worried about it. I trusted that Roderigo was a good person and that he would only be partnered with a good person. Two good people aren’t going to steal from a couple doing something kind for them.”

Roderigo sounded choked up, “Thank you so much. You don't know how much the six points means to Melody and I. That’s three free days we didn't have to work for. We can work on our cultivation bases for those three days and maybe turn it into something more. We will happily come to dinner with you two tonight.”

Keiko walked up behind hugged me while looking under my arm toward Roderigo, “Sounds good, see you at dinner!” She started tugging me back towards our room, “You need to get started on dinner, mister, I'm expecting a feast!” I laughed and let her tug me back toward our room, I really did have my work cut out for me.

When Keiko and I returned to our room, we found that our kitchen and dining room set up had been placed in the left corner, along the same wall as the hot spring. Our bed had been moved to the far-right corner directly opposite to the kitchen and the living room couches and table had been placed in the center of the room.

I immediately headed over to go check out my kitchen set up and I wasn’t disappointed. I had more knives, tools, and spices that I had ever dreamed of owning. There were things I hadn’t even heard of, but I was so excited to try them. Things like powdered dragon scale, which I was pretty sure was actually just some kind of spicy topping. It was likely a combination of ground ginger and something called cumin.

I cracked my knuckles and started to work organizing the kitchen the way I liked it, or more accurately how my grandfather would’ve liked it. He always seemed to know exactly where everything was because he reorganized every kitchen ever went into. I found that, in addition to the normal cooking objects, I also had something that looked a little bit like a pot but had a spot for qi to be inserted in the bottom of it. It almost looked like one of the alchemical pots that I’d seen alchemists toting around in Roh City from time to time, but there was no way that’s what it was … was there? While I worked away in the kitchen, Keiko spent her time preparing our living space for guests. She reorganized the pillows that came with the couches, chairs, and chaise lounges. She took a few minutes to polish the new wooden table between them to a mirror sheen.

After that, she moved on to cleaning up the dining room table and made sure that everything was set up properly there. She laid out plates, bowls, and utensils for a group of four. She placed the table settings side-by-side, ignoring both ends of the table to allow the couples to sit side-by-side, next to each other.

About forty-five minutes after we arrived back in our room, dinner was ready. I opened up the oven and looked at the Blazing Elk with Aqua Vitae and cumin sauce, it looked perfect. I pulled the dish out of the oven and placed it directly on a cooling rack, where I proceeded to allow it to cool while preparing the Zephyr Rice.

I looked over to where Keiko was lounging on one of the couches in the middle of the room, “Keiko, can you put the privacy screen around our bed? I don’t want them to get any ideas about how messy we are. It wouldn’t do for them to find out that we’re not the neat freaks everyone would expect.”

I set about preparing the starch to go with our protein. I seasoned it liberally with powdered ginger and sea salt, before finishing cooking it with a surge of fire and wind qi. Most people would say to only use fire qi when cooking, but if you considered how much liquid it takes to cook rice properly, it makes sense to add a dose of wind qi to the mix to dry out the excess moisture while keeping everything else the perfect texture. When I finished with the rice, I looked up and saw that Keiko stood at the edge of the breakfast bar, salivating.

She grinned before I shook my head, “Would you please let our guests in? Dinner will be served in just a moment.” Without sparing her another glance, I turned to slice the Blazing Elk.

She stomped off muttering angrily under her breath, “It’s not his job to boss me around…”

Less than two minutes later, she returned with Roderigo and Melody in tail. They were chatting happily about how excited they were to get in a finely cooked meal for the first time in a long while. I was standing by the table waiting for them.

As she led them over to join me at the table, they were gawking at our private bath as well as our kitchen and living room set ups. She was excitedly telling them how the bath was going to save us so many points over the course of time that it just seemed like the right thing to do.

Rodrigo and Melody bowed slightly when they approached the table. As he straightened up, he smiled at me, “We really appreciate you inviting us into your domain, so that we could enjoy a meal with you to.” Melody echoed his sentiments.

I beamed, “Keiko and I are always happy to have friends over for dinner, especially when it’s because of them that we even thought to make that meal.” When I saw the looks of confusion on their faces, I continued. “You see, it was you two mentioning to us how our points expenditure was unusual that led us to look for ways to say points. Without you two, we would be eating at the restaurant every night, just burning points. Also, I can confirm that I am a much better cook when it comes to fire qi heavy foods. This Blazing Elk doesn’t taste like garbage, or ash, like it does in the restaurant!”

Keiko walked around the table before gesturing at the set of chairs opposite her, “Please, take your seats and we will serve this wonderful meal.”

By the sound of her voice, I could tell that she was salivating. Despite her picking these out because they were my favorites, they were also some of her favorites. I also seasoned them heavily with a few flavors that I know she really enjoys.

Roderigo and Melody gladly took their seats and selected from the Aqua Vitae or Fire Water that were prepared in the middle of the table. Melody took Fire Water and Roderigo took Aqua Vitae. Keiko came over to assist me in carrying everything over the table. I grabbed the Blazing Elk and indicated for her to grab the huge bowl of Zephyr Rice, before walking over and placing the meat on the table. She did so and then sat down, grabbing Aqua Vitae for her and Fire Water for me. As I sat it down, my neatly carve slices of Blazing Elk split from the whole and became a perfect serving tray of meat. I couldn’t suppress the grin that shot across my face fast enough for our dinner guests to miss it.

Roderigo smiled broadly, “I haven’t seen any like this in … well … ever to be honest. This might just be the finest meal I’ve ever seen! Who taught you how to cook?” He looked at me with genuine curiosity on his face, so I decided it was fine to humor him.

I sat down and grabbed the serving knife and fork. I placed equal amounts of Blazing Elk on everyone’s plates while explaining, “My grandfather taught me to cook, despite being a great fighter, he was an even better cook! In his later years, he taught me everything he knew about cooking, so you’re not just eating my experience, you are actually experiencing the truest form of my grandfather’s cooking as well.”

He nodded appreciatively, “Well, I can tell you one thing for sure, we can’t wait to dig into this feast!”

Despite her name, Melody remained mostly silent. She seems to content to allow Roderigo to dominate their side of the conversation as we dug into the meal I prepared. The sounds of satisfied dinner guests were music to my ears, lots of munching, crunching, satisfied moans, and the like.

Throughout the meal, we talked about cultivation and our hometowns. Roderigo and Melody were both from a small town on the outskirts of the Empire, up in the mountains. They spoke about how beast waves would come and wipe out the less sturdy buildings every few years, so most people had homes cut into rock faces to protect them and their occupants. This intrigued me, as I had only ever known the life of a city born child, so their experiences were incredibly different from what I was used to. Keiko and I explained how we grew up in a city and how our disparity in status kept us apart romantically until we ended up in the Inheritance together.

Something Melody said stuck with me, it was right before the end of the meal, after all of us had finished our entrées and were working on finishing our drinks.

She dabbed her face with a napkin before folding it in her lap, “The heart is a fickle thing, it cares not for any societal restrictions. Instead, it weighs life’s experiences and determines the best course of action for every person individually. Often, it stays within the norm, but for some, it understands that to be happy a change will be required. It seems that was the case for you two, neither one of you would have been happy if you hadn’t ended up with each other. It’s evident by the way you look at each other when the other one is looking. Years of stolen glances are a tough thing to get out of the habit of. Honestly, I don’t think it’s a habit you have to break!”

Her smile gleamed, “In fact, I think it’s endearing, it makes you to feel more like real people, rather than a couple of prodigies who showed up, went into the vault, and then spent points like they didn’t matter.”

Keiko and I both blushed at her statement, but when we looked each other in the eyes we saw that we both felt the same thing the same way. Our time apart as we were growing up allowed us to grow closer than we likely would have if we had been shoved together. It reminded me of something my grandfather used to say about flavors when cooking.

He said that things like sweet and salty go together better because they’re different, just like two sweet things together can be too much for one’s palate to take. As a child, I argued with him, saying that candied berries were delicious, and they were sweet and sweet, so similar things must be better together.

To show me how wrong I was, he created a simple salted caramel and a candy coated, for me to taste. As I was a child, I eagerly gobbled up the candy-coated caramel, and it was delicious mind you, but about one third of the way through it I was like this is to suite. I had never experienced something that was to suite before. When I tried the salted caramel however, the salty balanced out the suite so well that I just kept wanting to go back for more. My grandfather watched my reactions with a wry grin. He said that people were the same as food when it came to differences making things better. That was why he was such a good friend to the city Lord, he came from nothing, while the city Lord came from everything. Together they had different viewpoints that allowed them to grow together as great friends.

It didn’t take us long to demolish six pounds of Blazing Elk and almost five of the Zephyr Rice. After the meal was done and I had put all the dishes over by the washbasin to be cleaned, I exchanged a nod with Keiko.

I addressed our guests, “Would you two like to cultivate in the living room? There’s plenty of space.”

After a moment of hesitation, they nodded and we all went over to the living area. Keiko and I took a couch while Roderigo and Melody took a chaise lounge. Almost instinctively we started to cultivate together. After a few moments of glancing over, I could tell that Roderigo and Melody were still using Orbital Breathing as their primary cultivation technique. I had expected them to have something slightly more advanced depending on how long they’d been here. I guess being shopkeepers, they really didn’t make a lot of points. I sighed, I’d been hoping to grab a few tips and tricks along the way from our house guests, but regardless it was nice to have another couple over to talk to.

After around an hour, both couples had finished cultivating most of the qi from dinner. I could tell from the look on Roderigo and Melody’s face that they were feeling the effects of the good food a lot more than Keiko and I were, though I guess that’s to be expected. Unlike Keiko and I, Melody and Roderigo both had to work full time to stay here. They didn’t have the time or points to go to the nice restaurants, so they probably weren’t used to getting this much natural qi from dinner to cultivate with.

Roderigo and Melody both bowed, “From Melody and I, we thank you wholeheartedly. You did not have to spend so many points on us to become our allies. What you did, buying things from us, you actually cared about the points Melody and I were receiving … we can never repay that debt.”

Keiko smiled broadly as they stood up, “It’s nothing! It cost us nothing, but helped you two out.”

As Roderigo and Melody began turning to leave, I stopped them, “Would you two care for a soak in our hot spring? It is much too large for the two of us and I would like to continue conversing with you tonight, if that appeals to you of course.”

Roderigo and Melody exchanged a quick whispered conversation, which I did not use wind qi to listen in on, though I was tempted to. After that, they nodded.

Melody spoke up, “That would be lovely. Thank you for your hospitality.”

They both bowed deeper than they had when we offered them food, which struck me as odd, but I dismissed it with a thought. Each person reacts differently to different things, maybe in their culture a bath was rarer than a good meal. Weird place, the mountains…

Keiko clapped happily, “Awesome, I’ll go and make sure the bath is ready.” She gracefully got up and walked over to our private bath.

She did not immediately banish her clothes to her spatial rang like she usually did, instead she walked in to the hot spring, close the door, and a few seconds later we heard a splash into the water.

I grinned, “Sorry about that, Keiko really does act like her element, she is more at home in water than most people are in the air.”

Melody gave Rodrigo a peck on the cheek before turning to address me, “I completely understand, you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve been tempted to just dive into one of the baths after setting it up for an Apprentice down the hall. I’m going to go join her, if that’s okay with you?”

I happily nodded, “Please, go and enjoy yourself. We’ll be along behind you in not so very long.”

Melody walked over to the hot spring, opened the door, and went inside. We did not hear a splash like we did with Keiko.

Roderigo and I relaxed on our respective pieces of furniture, both of us having sat back down after Melody went to the hot spring.

After a few minutes of pleasant silence, I asked Roderigo a question, “Is there anyone I should worry about, or think about, here in the Apprentice hallway? I’ve found that the way people treat a humble shopkeeper, or in your case, a quartermaster, is more telling than how they treat someone of their own status.”

His face darkened, “Most of the Apprentices don’t give me too much of a hard time, but there is one couple that Melody and I have both been abused verbally by. If it wasn’t for the fact that we were protected by the Inheritance’s rules, I get the impression that they wouldn’t have stopped with verbal assaults.”

I leaned forward toward him, “Well? Who is it? Who do we have to look out for?”

“Marcos and his partner Rione. They act all prim and proper around those of similar status, but towards those people they see as beneath them, they are horrendous.”

I was shocked, Marcos and his partner had seemed so welcoming when Keiko and I went to the restaurant for the first time. Since then, we had exchanged a few words, but we had never actually made time to eat with them. Now I was glad I hadn’t made the time.

My lip curled in disgust, “I am so sorry Roderigo. No one should have to go through verbal abuse for any reason, let alone just because someone is a slightly higher status than them. If you don’t mind me asking a question, how long have you and Melody been here?”

Roderigo shook his head gratefully, “We’ve been here for a little over a year. We’re not the slowest set of Initiates they’ve ever had, but were close to it. For some reason, Orbital Breathing just never seems to feel right for us. I’ve heard of other cultivation techniques within paired cultivation, but Melody and I can’t afford to buy the technique manuals to learn them.” He looked pained, like someone who had been shown the sun only to be locked away in a dark cave.

“How much would an intermediate cultivation manual cost?”

He hissed out through his teeth, “One hundred points, and that’s for the most basic Apprentice level cultivation manual. If you want one of the more advanced Apprentice level manuals it’ll cost you almost two hundred points, one hundred ninety-eight points to be precise. For Melody and I, that’s just a pipe dream. Stars-damn the fate she and I were cursed with! To be in a place where we can grow stronger together, but to be unable to do so due to a deficiency neither of us knew we had!”

Roderigo’s heartfelt exclamation about the fate he and Melody shared struck a chord with me. I knew that, if I was in his situation, I would’ve done the exact same thing he did. I would’ve found a job that would allow me to stay in this place and train with my beloved for as long as possible. It just so happened that Keiko and I were blessed with talent while Roderigo and Melody weren’t. They didn’t work any less hard than we did, not that I know of at least, but we were thriving and they were struggling to survive. I couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t a way I could help these two. I had two thoughts about it, but it was definitely a plan A and plan B situation.

I shook my head solemnly, “First things first, I wish that you and Melody were better off, I think you are a genuinely kind of person and that you deserve better than the lot you were given. Second, is there a way to have someone examine your cores, techniques, or other general cultivation related items? Could you pay a certain number of points to get a checkup like a town healer would do?”

“For twenty points you can ask Dawn or Dusk to look at you and your partner’s techniques to point out flaws. Though if you do those techniques out in the main room there is a chance that they will come by and give you that service for free.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully, “I did hear once about an Apprentice paying to have his cores, meridians, and qi pathways looked at after a particularly vicious duel he took place in. Why do you ask?”

“You said that Orbital Breathing just doesn’t feel natural to you, I wonder if there isn’t something wrong with the qi channels in your arms.” When I saw the look of indignation on his face, I hurriedly continued my explanation, “From our conversations, I can tell that you and Melody are both conscientious and intelligent individuals. I don’t think that both of you would be having issues with a technique as simple as Orbital Breathing. I’d be willing to bet that there is probably something more like an issue with the qi pathways in either your arms or somewhere near your lower core. Call it a hunch, but I would bet quite a few points that there is some sort of mutation or other change that’s making it difficult for you.”

He looked flummoxed, like I had just told him that the second head he grew after eating a strange berry was just a side effect and would wear off in a few days. I know it’s an odd example, but that’s the look he gave me.

“If I have some sort of deformity in the qi pathways in my arms, how am I ever supposed to do Orbital Breathing properly?” He hung his head in shame.

I wondered how I could help my new friend for a few moments before inspiration struck. It was so simple, so elegant, that it had to work!

I leaned forward in excitement, “I wonder if you can do Orbital Breathing with the qi pathways in your legs, rather than your arms? It would follow the same general rule of qi manipulation, but instead of using your arms you just use your legs…” I was going to have to try that with Keiko later, because with my additional meridians in my heels, that would allow me to pass even more qi back and forth to Keiko, at least as much as she could take.

He looked at me with his mouth agape. He tried to speak but no words escaped for at least thirty seconds or so. After he took a moment to collect himself his eyes gleamed, “If what you’re saying is possible, it would prove that there was an issue with the meridians or qi pathways in either Melody’s or my arms. If we knew what was wrong, we could justify spending the points to have Dawn or Dusk take a look at them to see if they can be repaired! Either way, our cultivation would soar as we would actually be able to properly do Orbital Breathing. It would be a game changer; we’ll be able to become Apprentices!” He jumped up triumphantly. “We have to go talk to the girls, let’s go join them in the bath, I don’t want to wait a second longer to talk to Melody about this. Also, I haven’t had a nice bath and quite a while.” He reached out a hand to help me off the couch and I gratefully accepted, despite not actually needing the help.

Together we walked over to the Hot Spring and I opened the door. Inside we found Keiko and Melody giggling like school children over on one side of the steaming pool of water. As we both entered the enclosure, they both quickly stopped laughing and looked away from each other in embarrassment. I couldn’t help but wonder what they been talking about, but after a few moments of consideration I was glad that I didn’t know. Some things are better left as mystery. I walked toward the edge of the Hot Spring and, as I stepped into the water, banished my clothes to my spatial ring as I sunk up to my neck in the perfect temperature water.

I let out a sigh of contentment and a few seconds later I heard Roderigo do the same before he slowly waded over toward his wife.

Keiko, seeing Roderigo wading over toward his wife, waded over toward me to give them some privacy. She looked at me expectantly, “Well, what was he so excited about? Did you do something silly?”

One of the things I love most about Keiko is that she wasn’t afraid to ask me if I was being dumb. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, she always caught me in the act.

I shook my head, “I gave them a potential solution to a problem that they have both been having for a while. We’re not sure if it’ll work, but if it does … they should be able to cultivate like we do, or at least like everyone else does at the initiate level.”

She stared at me in shock before we both heard Melody gasp from across the pool.

Keiko looked back at me with a smile on her face, “I’m not going to ask what their issue was, but I’m glad you were able to help them. I think both Roderigo and Melody are good people, they were just stuck in an awful cycle. You did a great job.”

Keiko waded over closer to me and gave me a hug, firmly pressing her perky breasts into my chest as she did so. She had a look of shock on her face at what she’d done, but didn’t pull away. I for one, was looking anywhere but at Keiko at this time. The last time she caught me looking at her in the bath she launched a jump kick at my head when I wasn’t looking. It took two days to get my sense of balance back to normal after she did that. A few moments later she turned and put her back against me. I sighed in relief and gave her a kiss on the cheek. We sat in contented silence while our friends were animatedly discussing how we were going to attempt the new method of Orbital Breathing when they got back to their room.

After we soaked for about fifteen minutes, we all decided that it was time to get out. I use a combination of air and wind qi to dry myself and Keiko, while Melody did the same for her and Roderigo. We all walked out of the Hot Spring with fresh gi on and Keiko and I bid the other couple a fond farewell as they left out the entrance hallway.

As soon as they passed out of sight I visibly sagged, worn out from the social requirements of hosting a dinner party and the after-dinner festivities. Keiko saw my reaction and led me over to the bed where she helped lay me down on my side. The last thing I remember that night was her crawling into bed beside me and holding my hand.

Chapter 8

The next morning, after I cooked us a quick breakfast of Zephyr Rice and Iron Crab, we settled in to cultivate on the Centering Lotus. As Keiko settled into performing the Orbital Breathing technique like normal, I held her hand.

“Can we try and do the technique with the meridians in our feet? I know it sounds strange, but with my additional meridians down there I should be able to push more qi you away more quickly. What do you think?”

Keiko considered it for a moment before nodding, “I don’t see why you couldn’t use your legs, but I think I’ll keep using my hands. I don’t have the meridians in my feet opened up yet. Hopefully everything works out. I’m game if you are?”

“Sounds good!” I smiled, “let’s give it a try!”

The following session of Orbital Breathing was the most productive session we had ever had, I was able to push almost twice as much qi back toward Keiko as I was in the previous sessions. All that time using the additional meridians in my heels for fighting with qi constructs had made it so that moving qi through those meridians was even more natural than going through the meridians in my hands. I had more fine control with the meridians in my hands, but for brute force, the meridians in my heels were dramatically more powerful.

After two hours of Orbital Breathing that way, Keiko and I both laid back in the centering lotus panting heavily. Not only had the new way worked, but it was so much more effective for us than the regular way, and that way was working very well for us. I checked the qi in my lower core and was shocked to find that it was so dense now that it was barely moving. I had reached the peak of the body stage of cultivation. I reached out through my connection to Keiko and found that her lower core was in a similar state to mine, it wouldn’t take much for either of us to push through to Heart cultivators in the coming days.

She groaned as she sat up to look at me, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

I wasn’t entirely sure what she was thinking, but I could probably guess.

“You want us to push through to become Heart cultivators today, don’t you?”

She nodded emphatically, “After we took those foundation building pills, I get the impression that as long as we make sure to reach the peak of each stage before moving on, I think we’re going to be fine in ranking up. I guess we should probably check in with Dawn or Dusk to make sure that it’s okay though. What do you think?” She stared at me intently.

I didn’t bother sitting up, I just nodded from the ground, “I agree with your sentiment, I guess we should go to the main room today and wander around looking for Dawn or Dusk. I don’t really want to pay them to come to our room to check our progress.”

She scrambled to her feet, shifting the Centering Lotus in the process, and sending me sprawling to the ground in a heap. I groaned and slowly pulled myself to my feet, brushing off my gi as I did so.

She rushed over to me with a look of concern on her face, “I’m so sorry! Are you OK? Did you bump your head?” She was standing on her tip-toes to be able to see even the side of my head closely, she couldn’t see the top due to how short she was.

Internally, I grimaced, I did actually thump my head on the floor, but I knew that the last time she kicked me in the head was a lot harder than my impact with the floor, so I was going to be fine.

I put on a small smile and gently brushed at Keiko away, “It’s all right, I didn’t hit my head … well not that hard. Don’t worry about me.” I stretched my back with a satisfying pop before sighing. “Well, are we going to head out into the main hall?”

Her face was still plastered with concern, but she nodded softly, “If you’re sure?”

I was sure, but even if I wasn’t, I probably wouldn’t’ve told her. Call it chivalry or bull headedness, but I wasn’t one to let my problems become someone else’s problems. I knew it was a character flaw, but at a certain point it was part of who I was and it would take a lot for me change it. My grandfather was the same way, I didn’t know he was sick until a month before he passed away, when he fell down for the first time in my entire life and he finally told me.

I strode toward the exit of our room, looking back toward Keiko, “Well, are we going?”

She hurried to catch up, snagging my hand on her way by and tugging me out into the hallway. While we walked to the main hall, we chatted about how excited we were that we were so close to ranking up to become Heart cultivators. Keiko was mostly excited about how much stronger it would make her physically, plus how she could use qi to reinforce her body using her Heart core. I was excited for that too, but I was more excited for the additional elements that we will both get access to. Heart cultivators typically had anywhere from three to all six elements, and considering that Keiko and I both had two as Body cultivators, there was a very high chance that we would end up with five or six elements when we awakened our heart cores.

As we walked, we both circulated our qi through our Lower cores, struggling with the effort of moving the hyper dense qi of a peak stage. I saw then why they called Peak stage the Crystal stage. My qi really didn’t want to move, so I knew that it would make us more sluggish in a fight, as we weren’t used to that sensation. We would have to be careful to not lose our tempers if someone challenged us to a duel. In our state, there wasn’t much chance we would win even if we were more skilled than they were.

When we arrived in the main hall, we were greeted by the familiar sight of the training areas before us as well as the job board to the right and the tournament arenas to our left. Almost immediately, we spotted Dusk watching a pair of couples sparring in the very center of the main hall. There were only a couple of other couples watching, but it seemed like they were mostly waiting for Dusk to finish watching the current battle so that they could get the next turn being watched by the master.

Keiko pointed at Dusk excitedly, “He’s right over there! We should go over and see if he can help us.” Without waiting for my response, she released my hand and bolted toward the center of the hall.

I hurried after her, there was no way I was going to let her go into a group of people like that without backup. Even if we were forbidden from fighting outside of duels, there wasn’t anything to stop someone from angrily swatting away an exuberant young girl who didn’t really know the way of the world yet. I caught up to her and kept up with my long legs despite her moving her much shorter legs faster. I loomed over her like a bodyguard, glaring at anyone who looked at her funny. I had been playing that role for a long time, though she never seemed to notice.

As we got toward the sparring ring, I noticed that Marcos and his partner were standing opposite us, across the ring and away from the rest of the people watching the fight. He saw me and waved. It took everything I had to wave back cordially. I couldn’t stand bullies, especially not those who would bully those who had no means to defend themselves against their bullies. I knew way too many people like that from Roh city. All of them were small minded and holier than thou about their strength, while in reality their inability to be flexible in their stances left them with a multitude of weaknesses.

The largest of those weaknesses being that they usually skimped on the fundamentals in favor of more flashy techniques. I have the scars to prove that fancy knife tricks might look good, but when someone kicks you in the side of the head you lose your grip on that knife and potentially drop it on said kickers foot. Not saying it was my best fight, but it was a fight where I took down another elder’s child who had insulted Keiko behind her back.

We were in luck, as soon as Keiko reached Dusk the fight ended. It was ended when the leaner couple suddenly released a conjoined serpent of what looked like fire and earth qi out of nowhere. They yelled out the name of their attack, which made me grimace, it was called Magma Unending Serpent. That wasn’t even what it was made of, so I probably would have called it something like Ember Serpent or something similar. Either way, naming your attacks is dumb, it tells people what to expect so they can prepare a counter. I guess it didn’t help their opponents, because their attack swept the legs out from under the stockier pair of combatants and slammed them into the arena floor.

Dusk clapped and exclaimed, “Excellent showing! Five points to the victors and three to the losers. Let that be a lesson to all of you! Losing a hard-fought battle can be even more informative than winning an important battle. Usually, I only give out three points to the victor and one to the loser, but having seen the blood, sweat, and tears put in by both couples I decided that their effort was worth the additional points.”

He turned to the crowd, putting his back to the arena and Marcos’ posse that had joined him, “However, if I find out that any of you have fixed fights to try and get a few free points … not only will I not give you any points, instead I will either deduct a number of points or, if the issue is egregious enough, expel you from the Inheritance site. Permanently.” He glared at everyone in the audience and even turned around to glare at Marcos’ group. “Don’t test me on this, you won’t like the results.”

As soon as he finished that small speech, Keiko darted up and tugged at his robe, she looked up at him with big puppy dog eyes and Dusk’s formerly serious face softened.

He slowly led Keiko and I away, waving behind him to the other group to disperse them. When I looked back, I noticed that Marcos was scowling towards us until he saw me looking. Then he flashed me a grin and waved before turning away. Some people can’t help but be two-faced, it’s just their nature.

Dusk finally got us away from the central sparring arena, over to a small set of training mats. He turned to Keiko and I, “Hello to our newest Apprentices! How can I help you two? Do you need advice on fighting techniques? Maybe it’s something a little more intimate?” He wagged his eyebrows up and down suggestively which made both Keiko and I blush bright red.

He laughed, “I see that wasn’t it. How can I help you?”

Keiko had yet to recover from her embarrassment at Dusk’s previous question so I decided it would be a good idea if I took over.

“Yes, master. Keiko and I have two major questions and I have one smaller one. Our first question is about the stability of us moving to Heart cultivators now. Would you be able to take a look at our cores and the rest of our cultivation bases to see if it is time for us to move on?” I looked at him with entreating eyes.

He laughed pretty hard, “Of course! I’m glad you came to me instead of just doing it yourselves. Whatever anybody ranks up in here, they’re supposed to come to Dawn or I first to make sure that everything is going properly. I guess you two didn’t really go through the Initiate classes so you didn’t know that was something that was available to you for free.” He rubbed his head softly, “Sorry about that. No one’s ever come in as an Apprentice before so we didn’t have anything in place to help you. That’s our bad.”

I groaned and rubbed my forehead, “Thank you for informing us. So, are Keiko and I good to move on to Heart cultivation?”

Dusk stared intently at Keiko and I for a few moments before nodding appreciatively, “Yes, it seems that your cultivation bases are moving along quite steadily. It was only a month ago that you came in here as Body cultivators and you’re already moving on to Heart. I expect great things from you two, especially after seeing how the creators of this place reacted to your presence. What were your other questions?” He seemed genuinely interested.

I waited for Keiko to speak up, but she turned to me and then quickly glanced back at Dusk. I guess she decided that talking to Dawn and Dusk fell under my purview despite the two of them being Emperor cultivators, they didn’t really act like it so Keiko felt like she was out of her depth. I know it sounds like that’s a lot of information to convey with a glance, but when you grow up with someone you learn a sort of nonverbal language that even a couple doesn’t get until years into the relationship.

I bowed softly, “Our next question is about a modification to Orbital Breathing, we wanted to make sure that we weren’t going to cause problems later on by using a modified method.”

He opened his eyes wide, “Oh? A modification to Orbital Breathing? I’m interested. What did you come up with?”

“I was speaking with Roderigo from the Apprentice hall caravansary,” Dusk nodded, “and he told me about how he and his wife Melody were having trouble with Orbital Breathing. He said that it never felt right to them, like there was something missing or was wrong when they would practice it. In an effort to help my friend, I went into problem-solving mode to try and find a way for he and Melody to use Orbital Breathing, but potentially using something other than their arms. I recommended they try using their legs, seeing as they would still have two open meridians pointed toward their partner for the exchange of qi. It would just be a slightly less natural motion of letting it flow. After they left, Keiko and I tried that method, though Keiko kept using her arms and I used my legs. We found that our cultivation efficiency increased dramatically, I would say that for every hour we spent, it was the effect of two hours the other way.”

Dusk laughed softly, though there was a look of concern on his face. “What you’re talking about isn’t going to cause you any harm, in fact that is the slightly more advanced version of Orbital Breathing. Once you became Heart cultivators a more senior couple would’ve come and walked you through the different types of Orbital Breathing until you found the meridians that worked best for your Orbital Breathing. It seems however, that you two already found the best meridians for yourselves to use. Typically, you would only see an increase in productivity by twenty percent.”

After a moment of thought, he snapped his fingers, “It’s the extra meridians in your heels! They’re allowing you to push double the amount of qi toward your partner and receiving all of her transfer with no waste. That’s what allows you to increase your efficiency so much. I don’t recommend that you tell anyone that it’s so efficient. Tell them that you got the twenty percent increase like everyone else if anybody asks and continue your Orbital Breathing as you wish after that.”

I let out a sigh, “I’m glad we weren’t going to hurt ourselves doing it that way, it just felt so natural to us.”

Dusk smiled, “As for Roderigo and Melody, I need to stop in on them tonight to see what might be wrong with their qi pathways or meridians. I wish they had come to me in the last year they’ve been here. If they had, I would’ve been able to identify the problem much more quickly instead of them struggling for so long.” He shook his head. “I always wondered why they hadn’t advanced past Initiates, but when I spoke to them, they never mentioned that they were having any problems.

“You would think that paired cultivators would be better with communication than normal cultivators, but some couples fall into an even more vicious cycle of confirming each other’s biases and deciding that they don’t need anybody else. That is a false feeling that can be very toxic to your cultivation and to your health. I truly appreciate you coming to see me and mentioning their plight to me when they wouldn’t do the same for themselves.”

He inclined his head slightly to me, showing his gratitude without too much deference. “As a reward for your actions,” I started the speak up but he glared me down, “you will be given a Heart cultivation scroll. Unlike the manuals which contain a multitude of different techniques, this will only have one technique in it. However, I would like to say that it was my favorite from Dawn and I’s Heart cultivator days.”

With a wave of his hand a black and silver scroll appeared, hanging in the air in front of Keiko.

She hurriedly reached out to grab it before bowing deeply, “Thank you, Master. We will do our best to live up to your expectations.”

Dusk laughed heartily, “My dears, I have the distinct impression that, not only will you live up to my expectations, you will greatly exceed them.” He looked around the room for a few moments before turning back to us, “You said you had one more small question. What was it?”

“I was wondering about the Misty Isle, I read about it in a book I found and wanted to know when the next time the exit from this Inheritance site would be at that location.”

Dusk looked at me in shock, “That is a larger question then could know, but I will still answer it. In three real-world months, three years in here, the exit for this Inheritance will be on Misty Isles for two days in here. After that, we won’t be back there for two real-world years. I must caution you, if you are going to seek the Inheritance of the Eclipse … I can only say that even Dawn and I wouldn’t’ve started out looking for it as Heart cultivators. We would have at least waited to be Brain cultivators before going.” He smiled a little bit, “Though, at the rate you’re going, you could be Brain cultivators by that point. If you got lucky, you could even be Saint cultivators.”

Keiko and I bowed deeply toward Dusk before I replied, “Thank you so much Master. I am genuinely excited to see where our journey takes us. Thank you for your time, we won’t take up any more of it. Farewell.”

Dusk nodded softly, “It was wonderful talking to you. Don’t hesitate to come to me with questions, so many issues people have could be solved if they only asked for help. I’ll see you soon.”

With that, he turned on his heel and, as he took a few steps away, disappeared.

Keiko looked at me in shock, “Well? Why are we still standing here! We have to go check out this technique scroll from Dusk!”

I grinned and nodded, “You’re entirely correct, we need to get back to our room right now and check this out.” I immediately banished the technique scroll into the hidden storage space in my earring and together we darted back down the Apprentice hallway into our room.

When we got back to our room, we immediately headed toward our training area where I summoned the Centering Lotus for us to sit on. We both clambered atop it and I pulled out the scroll from Dusk and extended it toward Keiko.

I smiled, “Take it, he put it in front of you, not me.” I shook the scroll toward Keiko suggestively.

She shook her head solemnly, “No, it was something for both of us so I think we should both read it when we open it.”

I nodded thoughtfully and after a few moments of consideration helped figure out how Keiko and I could sit side-by-side comfortably on the Centering Lotus so we would be able to read this scroll together. After a few stolen kisses and a single long series of kisses that left us both breathless, we opened the scroll together. The inside of the scroll was significantly less impressive than the outside, but as we looked at it, we could tell that there was a significant amount of qi running through it.

At the top of the scroll, it read: “I’m glad to see that you opened this as a pair, because if you hadn’t you wouldn’t be reading this. Good job!” At the end of that line was a small caricature of Dusk with both thumbs up.

The images depicted below that line of text showed a pair of figures, one male, one female, standing side-by-side with balls of swirling qi held in front of them. The next image showed the couple merging the two balls of qi into one, and the third image showed the couple unleashing a beam of qi that was about the width of an incense stick and piercing through a mountain shown off in the distance.

Below each of the pictures there were descriptions on how to use the technique, but I’ll boil it down for you here. The first step is for each member of the pair to gather up as much pure qi of one type as they could. The next step is to use Orbital Breathing without actually taking in any of the qi to mix the two energies together to create a harmonious whole. The final step is to suddenly reject the qi together and using a method described in the scroll, collect all of the absorbed qi into a single beam of energy that, according to the scroll, could shoot for almost one hundred miles at the Brain cultivator level. It didn’t say how much farther it would go at higher levels, but from what I understood it would increase dramatically in power.

Keiko and I read through that scroll probably one hundred times, committing it to memory before Keiko stored it away in her earring.

She grinned, “No need to store all of our best stuff in one person’s secret compartment. I think we should wait to try out that technique until we push through to Heart cultivators. Is that okay with you?”

I nodded emphatically, “I one hundred percent agree. If we get that wrong, the backlash of it might kill us at our current level. I might even want to wait until we're at least at the vapor stage of Heart cultivator before we actually give it a try.”

I struggled to my feet, shook out my legs, and then walked toward the kitchen. “If we’re going to keep cultivating, or going to need to refresh our qi stores. I’ll whip us both up a meal, full of the qi we need to push through to Heart cultivators!”

I heard Keiko get up from the Centering Lotus behind me and a few moments later I heard the scraping of wooden chair legs on a polished stone floor. I glanced behind me and saw that Keiko was sitting at the dining room table, though she was slumped forward onto the table itself and snoring softly. I smiled and went to work.

I took my time preparing a beautiful meal of Blazing Elk, Zephyr Rice, along with some Thrashing Eel, full of water qi, that I picked up from Roderigo last week. I finished the meal off with a fine dust of Iron Thistle which is full of metal qi. Altogether, that took me about fifteen minutes to get ready. It wasn’t the easiest thing to cook Blazing Elk to perfection, it takes three different levels of heat at different points of the task.

Instead of waking up Keiko like I normally would, I decided it would be fun to see how long it took her to wake up by placing her bowl of food in front of her nose before I sat down across from her. I wasn’t disappointed. A few seconds after I sat down, she shot up like a loaded crossbow and stared at the bowl of food in front of her. Her eyes grew wide and she started salivating.

Her face lit up as she stared at the bowl of perfectly prepared food. She folded her hands and bowed toward me before grabbing her chopsticks and poising them over her bowl, “Thank you very much for the meal!”

When I nodded in response, she took that as a signal to start eating and proceeded to demolish the aforementioned bowl of food in record time. She ate almost a pound of Blazing Elk and half a pound of Thrashing Eel, along with a pound of Zephyr Rice in less than three minutes. If I wasn’t so taken aback, I would’ve been impressed. Instead of wolfing down my food I instead enjoyed the subtleties of the flavorings I’d chosen and how well prepared the meal was. It was one of my better efforts, in here or back home. My grandfather would’ve been proud, he always talked about how Blazing Elk with one of his favorites and he loved when it was served just barely cooked because of the fire qi inside making it safe to eat.

After I finished my bowl of food, I noticed Keiko staring at me intently. Not wanting to rush anything else, I closed my eyes and sat at the table for a few minutes just enjoying the feeling of having a full belly.

After about two minutes, Keiko snapped. “Well? We need to cultivate now if we want to push through today.” She hurried around the table and tugged me toward the Centering Lotus.

For a second, I considered resisting, but on second thought I remembered that our goal was to push through to Heart cultivators today and letting the qi from my food absorb naturally wouldn’t let me do that, so I let her pull me toward our training area. As we reached the Centering Lotus, Keiko reached up, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and settled into her stands for Orbital Breathing.

I followed suit, but instead of the normal lotus pose with arms outstretched like Keiko, I was sitting in the same full lotus pose, but instead of my arms being extended, I was flexing my feet so that the bottoms of them faced toward Keiko’s hands. I know that probably sounds uncomfortable, but when you’re as flexible as someone full of wind qi is, little movements like that don’t really bother you.

We settled into our pattern of Orbital Breathing and after about thirty minutes, the qi from our food was fully processed and we were able to use it to great effect in pushing through to Heart cultivators. Less than ten minutes later, I felt something unlike anything I had ever experienced.

Through my link with Keiko, I could feel the crystallized qi inside her breaking up apart just as mine did. Our qi rushed into our newly opened Heart cores in the center of our bodies. We both groaned in relief as we circulated our qi even more intensely after breaking through, not allowing ourselves the usual downtime after a breakthrough. That was something that I learned from my grandfather, he always said that when you broke through your body was in its most receptive state. He said to continue pushing through as hard as you could. He talked about how when he broke through to Brain cultivator, he continued cultivating for almost an hour afterward and by the time he was done he was a mid-stage Brain cultivator.

After a few minutes I felt Keiko flagging and I felt the sudden irresistible urge to kiss her, for some reason I felt like it would allow her to push through the barrier and to continue cultivating. I didn’t fight that urge, I leaned in and kissed her, both of our eyes were shut but it was like I was drawn to her lips like a moth to a flame. The effect was extraordinary, unexpected but extraordinary.

I could feel, more intensely than usual, the outline and general state of her cores. Her newly opened Heart core was less full than it should’ve been, it seems like she wasn’t properly circulating her qi, so the next time I pushed qi toward her I pushed it straight into her Heart core and I felt her body relax. I pulled back from the kiss and smiled, though I kept my eyes shut. We continued cultivating like that for an additional two and a half hours until we both crumpled into a heap in the middle of the Centering Lotus.

The last thing I remember before passing out was Keiko muttering to herself, “He should do that more often.”

Chapter 9

When I woke up the next morning, I felt an unfamiliar pressure on my chest. I begrudgingly opened my eyes and found Keiko curled up in my arms. She was sleeping so peacefully that it felt wrong to wake her up. So, I didn’t. Instead, I focused on identifying the changes in my cultivation foundation from the previous day. I extended my gaze inward and took in the view, two open cores, check. Ten meridians open, including my heels, that was more than usual, I should only have up to seven with my heels included. When I checked my Lower core, I found that in addition to the usual fire and wind qi, I also had traces of earth and metal qi.

I was disappointed for a moment, before I felt the presence of both water and wood qi lazily floating about my meridians. With a thought, I absorbed them through said meridians and cultivated them inside my lower core. It was as I had suspected, I now had access to all six types of qi!

I hugged Keiko tighter in my excitement and she purred contentedly. Not wanting to disturb her rest, I took the opportunity to go over her cultivation base. I directed my gaze through our connection and surveyed her cores, meridians, and qi pathways. She had eight open meridians, her qi pathways looked much wider than before, just like mine did, and in her lower core I saw little bits of all six qi types floating inside. Keiko got all six types of qi as well, if this were back home, they would be throwing us parties for our advantageous breakthroughs. But I didn’t get the impression that the Inheritance would do anything of the sort, though I guess we would get fifty points for ranking up, so there’s that.

I decided to experiment a bit with my new abilities, after infusing my arms and legs with a little bit of earth qi, I gently stood up while cradling Keiko in my arms. It seems like I was doing a pretty steady job because she didn’t wake up. The enhanced strength and stability from the earth qi allowed me to walk her over toward the bed and then I laid down on it and allowed Keiko to continue sleeping softly on my chest. I had to say, that was one of the more pleasant ways to wake up that I’ve ever experienced. I dozed off to sleep a few minutes later.

When I eventually came to, I immediately noticed that Keiko was missing from my chest. I hurriedly looked around our room and found her right where I expected. She was over in the training area practicing against a sparring dummy with her arms and legs reinforced with metal qi. The greatest thing about the training dummies in our room is that they were stars near indestructible. In the main hall, I had seen Brain cultivators blast them with the most powerful qi constructs I’d ever seen and the sparring dummies didn’t even have a mark left on them.

For a while, I just laid on the bed with my head propped up on a pillow and watched her sparring against that dummy. Watching her fight was a lot like watching a dancer performing their heart out. Like a dancer, she used a mixture of fast jerking motions, along with slower more deliberate ones. I got the impression that those were supposed to imitate striking and blocking, though in my experience, blocking that slow is almost never beneficial.

After twenty minutes of watching her fight against the training dummy I couldn’t help myself any longer. I slipped my legs off the bed and, as quietly as I could, stalked up behind her. In hindsight, that was not my best move because when I finally got up within five feet of her, she turned around and punched me square in the face, narrowly missing my nose. I didn’t even have time to flinch back before her fist was almost touching my nose. In a stroke of genius, Keiko stopped her fist, mere millimeters from my nose.

She scowled at me, “Why are you interrupting my training session? You know that when I make a breakthrough in my cultivation, I like to work out the kinks by sparring or just working out.” She glared at me even more intensely when she saw the huge grin plastered across my face. “What’s so funny? Do you think my tradition is stupid or something?”

I put my hands up defensively and naturally settled into a defensive stance. My weight was on the balls of my feet and I was shifting from side to side, just in case she decided to go for another punch. Nothing I did stripped the grin from my face.

“I would never call your tradition silly, nor would I call it stupid. Instead, I would say it was silly that you didn’t ask me to join you.” I stuck my tongue out at her for a few seconds. “Of anyone in the world, we know each other best. So, when we spar, it’s the most interesting because it’s a chess match, strike and counter strike, parry and riposte. Now that we’ve both become Heart cultivators, I want to see which of us figures out body reinforcement the fastest. In addition, now that we’re Heart cultivators, we should be able to fight for a lot longer as our endurance should have dramatically increased.”

Keiko hopped back a step and settled into her own fighting stance, unlike my defensive stance, hers was very aggressive. Where my stance focused on keeping my weight evenly distributed over my entire body so that I could move anywhere at a moment’s notice, all of her weight was focused on the front half of her body so she could lean into a strike to attack more powerfully. In the past we had talked about how she was much better suited to using a quick striking style than one focused on raw power due to her size and stature, but she was determined to be a powerhouse. She wanted to be a one punch per opponent kind of fighter. At least now that we were Heart cultivators, she could reinforce her body with her qi so that she could actually do a lot of motions she had failed to do as a Body cultivator.

As I daydreamed, she struck.

She unleashed a salvo of punches along with a few kicks toward my head and shoulders. If I hadn’t been already in my defensive stance, she may have knocked me out right there. Each of her blows struck like a sledgehammer, even though she wasn’t reinforcing her arms and feet with metal qi I could tell that she had some kind of qi infused into her muscles, which allowed her to strike with much greater force than her petite form would lead you believe. Maybe her decision in fighting style wasn’t so crazy, if she worked to take out foes in a single strike, they’d never see it coming. I danced back, avoiding the rest of her blows as I got my head on straight.

She snickered, “I almost had you there! I think that would’ve been the first time I actually knocked you on your ass since we were kids.” With that, we circled each other, each looking for an opening in the other’s stance. I had a slightly easier time, as her stance was a lot more aggressive than mine, but the problem was that every opening I saw I knew would lead to a Pyrrhic strike. A Pyrrhic strike is when you may make contact and deal damage to your opponent, but in return you will also be struck and potentially harmed. In real fights, a strike like that is almost never worth it, unless it’s to save the life of someone.

After about thirty seconds of circling, I saw my opening.

I darted in, faking a blow toward her chin and when she went to block the strike, I pushed a bit of qi into my right leg so that when I jumped it was significantly higher than she was expecting. Sending qi in my other leg, I hammered down onto her shoulder a tremendous ax kick which drove her to her knees with a grunt.

A few seconds later she rubbed her shoulder and stood back up in a different fighting stance, this one was much more balanced than the offense heavy stance she favored before. Before I had a chance to say something witty or do anything else she unleashed another barrage of blows toward me, I was under the distinct impression that we were going to keep fighting until she was satisfied. I settled in for the long haul and over the next hour and a half we sparred all over our room.

We avoided our bed, the Hot Spring, and the kitchen, but the dining room and the living room each had pieces of furniture knocked over by the time we were done.

Keiko smiled at me from the couch she was laying on across from me, “Now that was a good sparring session. I feel like I got to know my body so much better after our breakthrough now. I think we might even have made it to the middle stage of Heart cultivation! Isn’t that wild?”

I smiled from my supine position on my own couch, “It’s just like my grandfather said. Cultivating directly after a breakthrough is the best way to cement your cultivation in your new level. Harnessing the surge of qi we felt during our breakthrough, we were able to push through what would have taken months, if not years for other people. It feels like that’s the power of Orbital Breathing and the power of paired cultivation in general. Because we are constantly feeding each other qi, our bodies are always adapting and adjusting to new levels of it. Because of that, when we broke through, our bodies knew what to do. They harnessed the surge of energy and, together with our cultivation technique, used it to make something stronger.” Keiko just nodded and settled her head on a pillow.

I still couldn’t believe that we had pushed through to Heart cultivators after being here for less than two months. A lot of people don’t become Heart cultivators until they’re thirty-five or forty years old! We did it less than two years after becoming Body cultivators. There were some geniuses who would accelerate through the cultivation ranks incredibly quickly, but those people generally had shaky foundations. When it came time to push through to the highest level of cultivation they would fail. With us practicing paired cultivation and the building foundations pill that Keiko and I both took; I didn’t think that was going to be the case for us. Something in those pills reinforced our bodies and made us much better suited to the fast-paced style of paired cultivation. We laid there for a while before heading over to the hot spring to wash off. After twenty minutes in the bath, we reconvened in the living room.

Keiko was dancing from foot to foot, she was obviously excited about something. After a few seconds she couldn’t hold in her excitement, “Can we go and see if there are any jobs we qualify for now? I want to see how many points we can gather up.”

I frowned, “What use do we have for points besides just staying here? I mean I know we buy food and we pay for our two points per day to stay here, but beyond that I don’t really see the point in gathering up many more points.”

Keiko snorted, “You’re forgetting that we could purchase cultivation manuals, technique manuals unseen in the normal world for hundreds of years. All we have to do is gather up points and they can be ours. Think about how nice it would be if you had a bracer or something to increase your defense or a technique that could help you harness your newfound metal and wood qi to harry a foe from long distance. All of those things are here and we can purchase them now, especially since we became Heart cultivators!” She tugged me towards the hall, “Let’s get going, I want to see if there’s anything good on the board.”

I followed behind her solemnly, I hadn’t really considered purchasing more than one or two technique manuals. In my previous life before the Inheritance, I had never really had any formal training in technique. I had formal training in martial arts, but when it came to cultivation it was all word-of-mouth from my grandfather that I followed.

In Roh city, almost everyone is from one Roh family or another, but my grandfather and I were different. My grandfather was adopted into the city when he was just a young boy. The current city Lord’s father took him in and when he became old enough, made him a guard of the house because of how much he trusted him. However, my grandfather never really felt like he fit in so when he was given the opportunity to travel, he did. He never found any people who looked just like him, so when he finished traveling, he ended up back in Roh city. He decided that he would make the most of his life in Roh city, despite not actually feeling like he belonged. Me being dropped off on his proverbial doorstep didn’t help that matter either.

That was a long-winded way of saying that my grandfather didn’t have a big family behind him supporting him. Everything he had, he fought for or learned from watching others. The city elders never paid to have someone teach my grandfather, he figured it all out on his own. Everything I know, I learned from him, considering he was a peak Brain cultivator, I think I could’ve done worse.

Eventually Keiko dragged me all the way into the main hall, where we stood before the job board. We discussed a few different jobs, but none of them really felt right to us. There were a few standouts up there: cleaning out the Initiate communal bathroom, ten points, up to five couples allowed. That job sounded like the worst thing ever. Not only was it cleaning up after other people, it was also menial work when you’re trying to better yourself.

A better one was explicitly for Apprentices, teaching an Orbital Breathing class for the Initiates. It explicitly called out teaching the standard Orbital Breathing technique, so it wouldn’t be a good fit for Keiko and I. We would be slowing down our cultivation to do so. That also paid ten points, it was limited to five couples as well, one per class.

Finally, there was one that I was very tempted to take, though I knew Keiko would hate it. The task was to organize the library in the Apprentice hallway, it was for up to two couples, and in addition to gaining five points per week you would also get unlimited access to the library, including the restricted section. I knew that nothing incredibly valuable would be in the Apprentice hallway, but I couldn’t help but wonder what I might find inside said library. I made it a point to make a note to myself to remind me to check out that library one of these days, who knows what kind of goodies I would find.

Keiko stamped her foot in irritation, “It’s like all the good requests were already taken!” She punctuated her statement with another stomp of her foot. “I was hoping I could find a basic sparring class teaching task, but it looks like all of those were already taken this morning.” She turned to face me. “If we’re going to try this out, we’re going to have to get here a lot earlier in the morning. Can you handle that?”

As I nodded, a soft popping sound came from the board. I turned to look at it and found that there was a new piece of paper up there, but it wasn’t a task. Instead, it was the tournament registration sheet for up to thirty-two Heart cultivator pairs. The only catch was that you had to pair up with another couple for the tournament. I looked over at Keiko and saw her grinning from ear to ear.

“We have to do it.” Her eyes shone like the rainbow off of the waterfall spray. “I know we have to find another couple to fight with, but we’ll figure that out.” She reread the tournament announcement and sighed in relief. “We have a month before the tournament, I’m willing to bet that we can find a couple to be our partners by that time.”

I shook my head and smiled, “I admire your optimism, I will defer to you when it comes to finding a couple to be our partners. I wonder how Roderigo and Melody are doing, we should check on them sometime soon.”

I heard a soft cough come from behind me and when I turned around to see who it was, I found Marcos and his partner.

He smiled like we were old friends, “Steven! It’s wonderful to see you today. Find any jobs that look good to you?” He stepped up beside me and started taking in the jobs on the board. I saw his eyes dart toward the tournament announcement and widen for a second before shrinking back to normal. It looks like he was excited for the tournament too.

I shook my head softly, “None of the jobs up there really seem to fit our style. We’re working on ways to make points that will work for us better than those listed here.”

Marcos looked at me in shock, “How are you making points, if not by doing jobs? I have to say, I knew that the pair of you were special, but if you’ve found a way to make points without working … I’m all ears.” His smile was so sweet that it was cloying, plus the knowledge that it was entirely fake made it nearly impossible for me to speak with him.

“We’re exploring different opportunities, not all of which are listed on this board, though some of them do intersect so we would qualify for those points as well.” I looked at the board and faked like I just now saw the tournament announcement, “Wow! Did you see the tournament announcement Marcos?”

He nodded, “I’m looking forward to seeing who decides that they have the gumption and ability to try and win said tournament. It should be a wonderful fight.” He flashed his fake grin toward me again and I successfully stifled a groan.

I shook my head, “I don’t know how we’d do; we just broke through to Heart cultivators recently and we’re still getting used to our newfound strengths.” That wasn’t entirely a lie, we really weren’t used to our abilities yet. However, there was no chance Keiko and I weren’t going to be a part of this tournament.

He laughed, a noise that sounded haughty and at the same time utterly devoid of life. “You two should enter, it will be wonderful to finally get the measure of you two.”

I heard his partner behind him mutter something to a similar tone, but she didn’t even try to sound pleasant.

Keiko sensed my reluctance to be there and came to the rescue. She tugged at my hand and bowed politely toward Marcos and his partner. “I’m so sorry, but Steven and I have an arrangement to make and we really do need to go. It was lovely speaking with you, but we do need to be off.” She started tugging me back toward the Apprentice hallway, “Come on dear, we wouldn’t want our appointment to go to waste.”

I turned and faked an apologetic look back toward Marcos, “I’m so sorry, we really do have to run. Good luck with whatever it is you’re working on, I’m sure you’ll get what you deserve.”

At this point Keiko had dragged me almost thirty feet away from the haughty couple so I didn’t hear Marcos’s reply, though I did see his smile slip into a sneer for a second before he turned away.

Once we ran the Apprentice hallway we immediately walked to the public bath, as that’s where Melody worked. We entered the bath and to our surprise, Melody was nowhere to be seen. When we asked the attendant on duty, she said that Melody had removed herself from the schedule and probably wouldn’t be coming back. That got Keiko I nervous, so we hurried down to the end of the hallway where we were greeted by an entirely new person. Roderigo had also quit his job. His replacement talked about how he had been promoted from the Initiate hallway and how he was going to do a better job than Roderigo ever did. I made some noncommittal noises like, “Yeah, we’ll see you soon,” and hurried back to our room. When we got back inside, we found that there was a small box waiting for us just inside our entryway. It was labeled with both of our names and there was a card on top of it.

Keiko snatched the card and ripped it open, after reading it quickly she handed it back to me with a huge smile on her face. I read the letter and this is what it said:

Dearest Steven and Keiko,

I hope this letter finds you well, Melody and I spoke with Dawn and Dusk yesterday and informed them of our problem. However, they mentioned that Dusk had already spoken to you two and that he had already formulated a solution for us. It turns out that I was born with naturally blocked qi pathways in my left arm. As I am right-handed, I never really noticed that those qi pathways were shriveled to the point of being nearly useless. Dusk mentioned that when I became a Saint cultivator, I’ll be able to re-forge those qi pathways and get them working normally, but until then I am to use the method of Orbital Breathing that you proposed to Melody and I.

We can’t thank you enough. Because of you two, Melody and I broke through to Heart cultivators this morning. As soon as we did, we were informed that we would become Apprentices and that our room will be placed right beside yours. Because of you two, Melody and I have the greatest chance to continue cultivating together here and I couldn’t be happier.

All our love,

Roderigo and Melody

PS. We would love to come over for dinner again sometime if you would have us.

I set the note down on the table and grinned. I turned around and saw that Keiko had torn open the box from Melody and Roderigo. Inside was one simple thing, a black statue of an elk made from what appeared to slate.

She hefted the elk statuette for a moment before tossing over to me when she saw me looking at her.

I caught the elk with one hand and stared at it for a few seconds. I had no idea what this thing was.

“What do you think it is? Is it just a decoration?” I scratched my head.

Keiko laughed, “It’s a storage device, dummy. Most of them are designed to be rings, necklaces, or some other kind of clothing or jewelry. However, years ago they used to make other objects into the spatial storage devices. I wonder what’s inside? I didn’t look.”

I shrugged, no time like the present. I sent a thread of my qi into the storage device and bound it to myself. A moment later, I was greeted by the sight of a storage device full to the brim with all kinds of different ingredients, meats, spices, fruits, vegetables, and everything else you could use to make a fantastic series of dinners.

I couldn’t help but grin, “It’s full of food. High-grade stuff, just like you’d get from the restaurant. I wonder how many points this cost them? If I wanted to buy this, it would be at least fifty points. If not more.”

Keiko shrugged, “Maybe he got a discount? Working for the commissary that is. Either way, that’s good food, he asked me about the dinner, and I’m hungry. You get started on food and I’ll go invite them.”

I smiled and nodded. I was excited to have our friends over for dinner again.

The dinner went off without a hitch. I made us a lovely meal of Iron Bear sashimi, a stew made with Basalt Potatoes and Icy Carrots. It was a meal full of metal, earth, water, and wind qi.

Keiko, Rodrigo, Melody, and I were all relaxing in the hot spring, after cultivating our meals, when the topic of the upcoming tournament came up. At first Keiko and I just talked about how we were looking for a set of partners and how we weren’t sure where we were going to find one. Rodrigo and Melody exchanged a look that, if I hadn’t been observing them closely, I never would have noticed.

Roderigo cleared his throat softly, “What if we were your partners? I know that we only just became Heart cultivators, but so did you. Plus, we’ve been training here for over a year and we know almost everybody due to our jobs. Melody heard people complain about their struggles while they were in their baths, you’d be surprised how many people complained to the attendant not really thinking that she might be a competitor in the future. I had the same thing going from working at the commissary.

“I know every technique, book, pill, weapon, or anything else people purchased in the last seven months. Together, we probably have the best information network here, besides Dawn and Dusk themselves. I think that if we put our heads together on this task, we might just be able to make a run for the win. With your raw talent and our information and tactical skill, we have a real shot at this thing.”

Roderigo was sweating and it wasn’t just because of the heat, he was obviously nervous that we would reject him and his wife. I know that if I’d been stuck at a bottleneck for a year and didn’t know where to go, I would probably feel a drive just like they did. That drive was to prove myself, not just to my peers but also to myself. I exchanged a concerned look with Keiko and from the look on her face, she was going to leave the decision up to me.

I had a lot to consider, there were a lot of other couples we could reach out to. Some of them were definitely more powerful than Keiko and I, but something in the back of my mind told me that trust was going to be more important than power in the upcoming battles. Fighting in a group isn’t all about raw power, it’s about cooperation and understanding each other’s limits. The better you knew your allies, the more powerful you can be as a team, and of all the people Keiko and I had met in the Inheritance, the people sitting across from us were the only pair that I would want to go into battle alongside, Dawn and Dusk notwithstanding.

I winked at Keiko before turning to face Roderigo and Melody, “Something’s telling me that of all the people we could get as our partners,” Roderigo visibly shivered in anticipation, “you two are not the most powerful couple we could get and power is a very important thing in battle.”

It was Melody’s face’s turn to fall, she started to speak up before I raised my hand, stopping her before she could begin.

“However, trust is the most important thing on a team and of anybody else we could get for this, you two are the ones I feel that we can trust our backs to. Would you like to team up with us?”

Roderigo’s face went from a mixture of sorrow and anger to that of pure exultation, Melody’s did the same. They were so used to being beaten down that the idea of two people they thought of as friends turning them down was obviously sitting at the forefront of their minds. I was going to have to work hard to disabuse them of that idea. I needed my compatriots to be confident in not only their skills, but also in themselves as people. I knew it was a long road to get them to be the confident people I knew they could be, but I was willing to take that ride with them.

Roderigo was so choked up that he just nodded in response. While Melody also nodded, she spoke as well. “We would be delighted. When would you like to begin training? We don’t have a lot of time before the tournament.”

Keiko jumped up in excitement but I immediately pulled her back down to the water to prevent our partners from seeing her fully naked form. She grinned at me sheepishly before turning to look at our new compatriots. “I’d like to start training as soon as possible. How does six in the morning tomorrow sound?”

Roderigo and Melody exchanged a glance before Rodrigo nodded to Melody. Melody turned to address Keiko and I while she laughed, “Six works perfectly for us. Will there be breakfast provided? I know that the box we gave you contained Thunder Chicken eggs, they’re Roderigo’s favorite when poached properly.” Roderigo nodded vigorously and I could hear his stomach growling from across the bath.

We all laughed for a moment at the timing before I spoke up again, “I have the distinct impression that we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, so you can expect me to continue cooking as long as I have food to do so. I wonder …”

No one had ever told me it was possible, but I had an idea that might make our training and strategizing with Roderigo and Melody even easier than it was looking to be. It was kind of a harebrained scheme, but the more I thought about it, the better an idea it sounded to be … in my head at least.

I grinned like an Iron Wolf who caught a Thunder Chicken and leaned over to whisper in Keiko’s ear. She giggled nervously as I described my plan. “Their rooms are right next to ours, correct?” She nodded. “What if we had the Inheritance join our rooms?” She gasped and looked at me like I was crazy, but I continued on. “We would make sure to have the same protections that are normally on our rooms placed on our bedrooms, but that way none of us would have to leave our room unless we needed to go out for food pick up and I have a sneaking suspicion that Roderigo might know a way around that.

“Not only would it be good for morale, but I also think it’ll be a great way for us to keep our strength hidden from the other teams. If they agree, after someone runs down and writes their names next to ours on the sign-up sheet, we can just stay in here and train for the next month until right before the tournament.” She started nodding with a smirk on her face, which made me grin back even wider than before. “When we show up as a peak Heart cultivators after just opening up our Heart cores, they won’t know what hit them.” I had subconsciously gathered a bit of wind qi in my hand and when I clenched a fist at the end of my whispering to Keiko it popped with a, not so quiet explosion.

The water within a couple feet of my hand displaced and set the water along the entire hot spring sloshing for a few moments before it settled down. I looked over to Rodrigo and Melody sheepishly before bowing my head slightly. “Sorry about that.”

Melody’s laugh was just like her name, melodious, “All is well, I can tell from the grin on both of your faces that you’ve come to a consensus. Mind telling us what you were whispering about?”

I outlined my plan to Roderigo and Melody, explaining the tactical and morale related benefits of it. At first, they were very hesitant to try it. They were both very attached to the privacy they had compared to the small village they grew up in. I propose that we would make sure that our bedrooms will be closed off with at least one quarter of each of our original rooms and then placed as far opposite each other as possible within our newly conjoined room. That would give us at least eighty feet between our bedrooms, far more than most people living in a city get from their neighbors. After Rodrigo and Melody had their own whispered conversation, which was a lot longer than ours was, they eventually consented.

Roderigo shook his head, “If it works, I think it’ll be great, but I’ve never heard of anyone doing something like this. I worry that the Inheritance won’t allow it to happen.”

I laughed, “Leave that to me, now all I have to do is find the person to speak to about doing this to our rooms. I’m guessing I’ll have to go to the main hall to do that?”

Roderigo snorted, “I always wondered why you guys asked me about improving your living space. Most people just use the ledger by the entrance to make changes.” Seeing the look of confusion on both Keiko or my faces, he continued. “If you needed to purchase something new, like the dining room set or an entirely new room inside your room you would have to go to the shop, but in this case, it’s just taking down a wall and shifting our bedrooms around. I guess we’d also have to move some of the other rooms around in here, but that’s nothing you couldn’t take care of from over there.” He pointed through the open door over to a small table that Keiko and I had never really messed with by the entranceway to our room. “That’s the ledger you can use to move everything in here around.”

I smack my head in frustration, “You’re telling me that we didn’t have to manually move our bedroom set to the far corner of this room? Instead, we could have used the stupid book to do it.” I groaned and Keiko echoed my sentiment.

Melody laughed along with her husband, “That’s correct, though I guess it was good exercise moving all that furniture.” She snorted cutely and covered her face before laughing even harder.

As I stood up from the bath, covering myself up with a towel as I did so, I smiled confidently, “All we can do is try, right? I’m going to go over to that ledger and give it a try.”

As I walked toward the ledger, I used my usual combination of fire and wind qi to dry myself off. As soon as I was dry, I used my spatial ring to summon new gi for myself, this one was a nice dark navy blue. When I arrived at the ledger, I saw that it was labeled Configuration Tome. I flipped it open to find it blank. There were no instructions, no easy “use this to modify your room” instructions. I groaned internally, but decided to try something before giving up.

I used the pen next to the book to write in it. I wrote, “merge the room I share with Keiko with that of Roderigo and Melody. Place our bedrooms as far apart as possible and enclose them in a private room that each have the same protections our normal rooms do versus other couples. Also rearranged the bath, kitchen, dining room, and living room to make the rooms come together more cohesively.”

For a few seconds, nothing happened, and then writing appeared in the book as if someone were writing in it from somewhere else. “Cost: five points per couple. Requires consent from Keiko, Roderigo, and Melody via their respective Configuration Tomes. Change will be made if the request is confirmed by them within the next twenty-four hours.”

The book’s text was in a flowing script that I thought I recognized. On further introspection, I realized where I knew it from, it was the same writing that was in the technique scroll that Keiko and I had received from Dusk. I was pretty sure that he said it came directly from the creators of this Inheritance. It seems that they were potentially more active here than we were led to believe, or at the very least, their echoes were. Either way, I was right and this was going to work! I pumped my fist in excitement before turning back to join Keiko, Roderigo, and Melody in the living room.

Before I could say anything, Keiko cut me off, “Based on your wolfish grin, I’m guessing you were successful? I don’t see any changes in here though … Is there something Roderigo and Melody have to do?”

I smiled, “Yes, they both need to sign their Configuration Tome and approve the change. Actually, so do you, it wouldn’t let me make the unilateral decision to merge our rooms without your consent as well. It said we had twenty-four hours to complete the change and that it would cost each couple five points.”

Roderigo and Melody exchanged a pained nod before she turned her gaze back to me, “We can do that. We’ll go back to our room and sign it in the morning before breakfast. Hopefully, when we do, our rooms will merge and we’ll be able to come over for breakfast without having to have one of you out in the hallway.”

Melody patted Roderigo on the back, “We’ll also run down to the main hall to sign our names next to yours on the sign-up sheet for the tournament. After that, we’ll consider ourselves to be in closed-door meditation until the day of the tournament.”

Despite my nod, Keiko held up a finger. “I recommend that we come out a day before the tournament, just in case any qualifications are placed on the tournament while we were in closed-door meditation. I’d hate to miss out on the tournament because of a technicality.” She shivered at the thought.

All of us nodded in agreement and after a little while chatting with the other couple, they left for their own room for what might be the last time.

Keiko and I yawned in unison before heading over to our bed in the corner. When I crawled into bed, as I lay there, Keiko pounced on me. I was startled, but excited.

She looked just like I did earlier, like an Iron Wolf who caught the Thunder Chicken. She leaned in close to whisper in my ear, “There’s one thing I’d like to do before our rooms merge. I’ve always wanted to be with you and now is the time.” She gave me a meaningful look and I immediately knew what she meant.

I nodded softly, “If that’s what you want, that’s what I want. I always hoped you would be my first as well.”

I woke up the next morning to a mess of tangled sheets with Keiko asleep on my chest again. After our activities from last night, I felt closer to her than ever and I also felt like our cultivation had advanced a bit, even though neither of us were actively circulating qi at the moment. It’s no wonder that paired cultivation partners were almost always lovers as well. I could tell that it was coming up at 5:30 in the morning, so I gingerly slipped out of bed, covering Keiko up with the sheets as I did so. I looked back at her sleeping form and couldn’t help but smile, the woman I loved was now also my lover, as far as I was concerned … life was as good now as it had ever been.

I hurried over to the kitchen and started on breakfast for four, Thunder Chicken eggs, Thrashing Eel filets, and Fire Water sauce. Right before six, Keiko wandered over from the bed, to the Configuration Tome, and then over to the breakfast bar.

She yawned as she fixed her hair with some water and wind qi before fixing it in place with a mixture of fire and wind qi. It was nice to see that her manipulation of fire and wind qi was coming along nicely. The first time she tried that, she nearly burned the hair off the top of her head. If I hadn’t stopped her, she would have.

“You signed the book saying you approved the merge?”

Instead of answering verbally, she nodded and reached over to grab a plate of food from the counter.

I slapped her hand away gently, which made her gasp in surprise. I shook my head, “It would not do for us to eat before our roommates arrived. It would be rude. I know you’re hungry from last night, so am I, but we can wait a few minutes for the rooms to merge before eating.” She smirked and winked at my mention of our activities last night.

As if summoned by my words, I heard a monotone voice come from the room itself, “Please stand by the Configuration Tome. The room merge will take place as soon as both partners are touching the tome.”

I nodded while Keiko balked at the idea. It made sense to me, shifting rooms around with people in them was liable to get somebody hurt. With us standing near something that was not going to change, the odds of us getting hurt by the room shifting went down to next to zero.

I walked around the counter after gathering our breakfast into my spatial ring. I took Keiko’s hand and towed her toward the entrance to our room where the Configuration Tome rested on a small table.

As soon as we both placed our hands on the Configuration Tome, I felt the world shift and after a bright flash of light, Melody and Roderigo were standing across the entranceway from us, their hands placed on a very similar tome to our though there’s was green while ours was blue. I looked around the room and smiled at the changes.

The kitchen now dominated the center of the room, surrounding it were countertops with lower cabinets along with an island in the middle with cabinets in there as well. There was a living room on either side of the much-enlarged room, so instead of being two hundred feet wide, it was now a little bit deeper and around one hundred and fifty feet wide. I saw Keiko’s and my private bathroom was now attached to what I had to assume was our bedroom. Actually, it appears that we were granted an extra bathroom, as there was another one against the back wall adjacent to our hot spring which was dead center in the back wall for ease of sharing. Besides their bedroom and a couple of couches, Roderigo and Melody’s room was a lot more basic than ours was, though that was to be expected as they had only recently become Apprentices.

After taking in our new living arrangements, I turned to grin at Roderigo and Melody. “I hope you like the new digs, because we’re going to be living, working, and eating here for the next month. First things first, it’s time for breakfast.”

I led everyone over to the dining room table and placed each person’s meal in front of their seat.

Chapter 10

The next four weeks of my life were a montage of cooking, cultivation, sparring, group sparring, and such strategizing.

Keiko and I grew closer during that time than I ever thought possible. I thought I knew her as well as possible before then, but I was wrong. I also learned more about Roderigo and Melody than I ever wanted to. I learned that they are very much so morning people, rather than night owls, and if you keep them up too late, they get incredibly ornery and start snapping at people for no good reason.

I learned that Roderigo has some kind of issue where everything must be kept in its perfect place and in the third week, he decided to go through my kitchen and reorganize everything. It took every ounce of restraint I had in my body to stop me from killing him right there, no man should touch another man’s kitchen … it’s just wrong. It took me almost two hours to put it back the way I liked it and I forbade Roderigo from entering the kitchen again unless it was to grab a plate of food.

Melody, on the other hand, turned out to be a delight. She had that strange motherliness to her that helped solve squabbles among our little group in no time flat. She was also a pretty deft baker, so she and I would tag team dinners some nights, which was appreciated.

The more intimate Keiko and I became, the more natural our situation felt. I went from always wanting to protect her from the world, to always wanting to give her the best of the world. It felt strange to say that, but when I looked back on our lives, I noticed that most of what I did for her was just keeping her away from things that would cause her strife. I’m not saying that was a bad thing, but in the long run I don’t think it was a good one either. I knew that from that point on I was going to keep exposing her to the real world, so that when we both needed to be out in it, we would both be able to handle it.

For our sparring sessions, we would usually start off fighting our partner and then after half an hour or so we would switch to fighting boy versus boy and girl versus girl. After an hour of that, we would switch to fighting against the opposite sex partner of the other couple for forty-five minutes. If those times sounded odd, you would be correct. However, we determined that that particular mix of times allowed for us to get to know each other without straining the relationship we were in the middle of building. After one-on-one sparring, we would move on to fighting couple on couple.

I learned that Melody focused on supporting her husband with wood and wind qi along with sending wind blades toward her opponents, while Roderigo focused on midrange fighting with blades formed of metal qi with the chilling aspects of water and wind qi. I was struck more than once with those blades and trust me, a blade that is so cold you can’t touch it really hurts when you have to forcibly remove it from your skin and muscle.

In addition to our normal sparring as groups, which did end up switching up partners so we could get used to fighting with each other. We also helped teach each other how to use the qi we specialized in. As a Body cultivator, Roderigo had access to metal and wind qi while Melody had access to wood and earth qi.

I asked her why we never saw her use her earth qi and she smiled. She explained that she was constantly using her earth qi to reinforce the ground beneath her, while also using it to sense movement all around her using something she called tremorsense. Over the four weeks of training, we each exchanged tips on our different qi specialties and by the end of it we had each picked up each other’s tricks, at least a little bit. My favorites that I grabbed were Melody’s tremorsense and Roderigo’s Blade Salvo, as he called it.

I think I broke Roderigo’s heart when I told him that saying the name of your move out loud every single time you do it was a bad idea. When he protested, I explained how when you yell out that you’re going to use your Fire Dragon’s fist, your foes know to avoid anything looking like a punch coming toward you because they know it’s going to be imbued with fire qi. For example, in training I always knew, before I told him this, when he was going to use his Blade Salvo because he would yell out. At that point, I was able to use a shield of wind qi to deflect the blades and then counterattack while he was recovering. Melody caught on right away and even came up with something even more ingenious. She proposed using the wrong names for things to throw off our opponents.

After we discussed it, we decided that it would work once or twice and we should save it for our so-called finishing moves. At first, Keiko didn’t really understand, so Melody and I laid it out for her, using Roderigo as an example. We explained that when he was going to use his Blade Salvo, he should call out something like Earth Spike, because it would draw their attention away from his hands and more towards his feet, where an Earth Spike was more likely to be generated from. After that explanation, both Roderigo and Keiko agreed that it was probably something that we shouldn’t use except in the finals, or if we thought we were about to lose. It would only work once on a group that could see it.

Due to our good diets, excellent cultivation techniques, and determination, Keiko and I reached the Peak stage of Heart cultivation on the second to last day of the month. Roderigo and Melody reached the High stage of Heart cultivation, so they were following along close behind. On the second to last day before the tournament I paid twenty points to have Dusk come and inspect everyone in our room.

When he arrived, he was shocked at the progress we had made in just a month.

“I can honestly say that I have never seen a group of new Heart cultivators advance so quickly. Do you mind telling me how you did it? If possible, I would like to advise incoming Initiates of any techniques you might be using, as time as a Heart cultivator is quite dangerous.”

Roderigo and Melody both nodded while Keiko and I both looked confused.

I scratched my head, “Why is it dangerous to be a Heart cultivator? As a Heart cultivator, you’re more powerful than a decent portion of the population and have access to at least three different types of qi. Isn’t that enough to keep most people safe?”

Dusk sighed, “In most places, that will be correct. However, in here, Heart cultivators are preyed upon by more powerful Meridian and Brain level cultivators. They say that they’re going to help out the Heart cultivators with techniques or points and get them tied up in deals that seal away their freedom. Some even pulled them into something more akin to slavery by dragging them out of the Inheritance site and back into their normal lives.”

Roderigo and Melody nodded sadly before he spoke softly, “That’s why Melody and I were so anxious to advance quickly. We had already received multiple offers from Meridian cultivators from the region near where we’re from to join their groups back in the normal world. A lot of them tried threatening us, but as long as we were working for the Inheritance, we were pretty much untouchable. Now that we’re not … we’re in danger if we don’t advance quickly.” Melody nodded sagely and patted Roderigo on the back to comfort him.

Keiko gasped in shock and what felt like indignation mixed with fear. “Is this something that you allow Dusk? I thought you were supposed to help cultivate talent, not cultivate wannabe’s slave masters! Do you have an explanation?” She smiled at him, baring her teeth and everything.

I could tell from the look on Dusk’s face that he didn’t have a good answer for Keiko’s question. I debated for a moment coming to his rescue, explaining that as long as the rules of the Inheritance weren’t broken, he didn’t really have any say in what people said or did in hear, but I decided that I would let him explain that to her.

Dusk’s face fell even farther than before. He sighed deeply, “Despite the appearance of freedom that Dawn and I have, we are tied to a very strict set of restrictions on what we can and cannot do in here. If someone steals from your room, we have carte blanche to do whatever we like to get them out of here, up to and including killing them.

“If there is any unwanted intimate contact, either between partners or other people, we are encouraged to remove the offender with great prejudice.” He spat at the mention of the aforementioned heinous act before continuing. “However, unless they outright put a slave contract in place and infuse it with qi inside the Inheritance, there is nothing we can do about the methods being used by the more nefarious Apprentices here.”

I started to speak up to defend Dusk, but he held up a hand to stop me before continuing. “Once people make it to the Disciple level, Saint cultivators are usually more focused on advancing themselves rather than dealing with the petty squabbles they may have back in the real world. There’s even a couple of Duke level cultivators who are in the Disciple hallway. They’ve been here ever since they fled the country, they used to call home, years ago. You wouldn’t catch any of our Disciples dead doing what the Apprentices are known to do as Meridian or Brain level cultivators

For some reason, it’s the Apprentice level that has the most trouble. I wish we could stop that, but we don’t have the means to do so and despite us begging for more autonomy, the Inheritance doesn’t have the ability to give it to us.” His face grew thoughtful for a moment. “It would take an order from the progenitors of this place to free up our restrictions and the only way to get that would be to earn access to the third tier in the vault. In all my time here, only five couples have gained access to the second tier and none have gained access to the third.”

Our group huddled up, with Dusk excluded, even though he knew he could hear us. After a brief discussion among ourselves we decided that Dusk and Dawn were not in the wrong, they were as much prisoners of the situation as anyone else was. Keiko was the one most offended by the fact that people were becoming slaves of other people, she wasn’t used to the harsh realities of real life. In the past, I would have shielded her from this fact, but now I wanted her to see it so that she understood what we were fighting against.

The group stood back so that I could address Dusk, “We understand, we don’t like it, but we understand. What can you tell us about the couples who are known for this pseudo-slave master role? Are there any people that we need to watch out for?”

Dusk took a second to think before nodding. “I cannot give you any names because of restrictions placed upon me,” I sighed before he continued, “but I can tell you that of the other sixteen teams in the tournament, at least four of them will be made up of pairs of master and slave. I can also tell you that you have spoken directly with at least one person with that kind of tendency.” I watched as a wave of pain shot through Dusk, though he gritted his teeth and bared it.

The only other person I’d really had a conversation with in this Inheritance besides those in this room and Dawn was Marcos. I reflected back in my interactions with him and a lot of things made more sense now. He wasn’t trying to be a friend to me, he was trying to lead me into a trap where I would make a mistake and agree to something I shouldn’t. Despite his low-stage cultivation, being a Heart cultivator just like we were, he must have significant assets in the outside world that would lead him to enslave those of similar cultivation levels to himself.

I nodded to him, “Thank you for the information. Is there anything you can tell us about our cultivation levels, stability, or anything you see that needs to be changed? We’ve all been doing our best to keep our use of qi even. I read about that in one of the technique manuals that said that it was important to keep your use of qi even, instead of specializing in one thing.”

Dusk nodded sagely, “You and Keiko’s cultivations look rock solid. It’s surprising because of how quickly you’ve advanced, but whatever it is you got from the vault must be having quite the effect on your cultivation base. As for Roderigo and Melody, your cultivation bases look relatively stable. Make sure to keep your use of qi as even as possible and make sure to continue your Orbital Breathing for at least an hour per day to continue stabilizing your cores.”

He looked back toward me. “Are you willing to tell me what you did to grow stronger so fast?” His eyes were pleading to me, I could tell that this meant a lot to him even though I didn’t fully know why. I looked back to the group and they all nodded vigorously, they really wanted me to do this, so I did.

I explained to Dusk how I was purchasing food from the caravansary and cooking it myself to save points. I also explained that the food I cooked, due to my level of skill, was significantly higher in qi than the food in the restaurants. I also explained that we had been using the shifted version of Orbital breathing, which allowed us to harness more of the qi than normal for most people.

I sighed after answering a few questions of his about exactly what we cooked. “That’s about it, lots of qi packed food, cooked well, cultivated with the most effective method we had available, and being sure to wind down for the day every day rather than continuing to struggle past our breaking points. Oh, also making sure to spar for at least two hours each day to make sure our qi is being utilized, rather than just sitting stagnant in our cores. I hope that helps anybody else coming in. I would hate for anyone else to end up like those people who have already been taken in by the indoctrinators.” That last word felt dirty in my mouth.

Dusk thanked us profusely and before he left, he turned back to us. “Each couple has been granted one hundred points for their contribution to the Inheritance. Thank you so much for that. Also, as the tournament is exactly twenty-three hours and fifty-eight minutes from now, I’m able to tell you what the prize for first place is. It’s a trip to the vault.”

Everyone in the room gasped besides Dusk himself.

“We don’t know what kind, or number, of picks the winning group will get, we’re assuming that it will be based on their performance and how much they impress the progenitors’ spirits. I advise you to think like they might have, I know that at least Keiko and Steven have already caught their eye once.” He paused for a moment, looking off into space before continuing, “I really do have to be going, I wish you all luck.” With that he turned on his heel and disappeared.

Roderigo rubbed his hands together, “Alright, as far as I’m concerned that prize means only one thing. We’re gonna win!”

The rest of us laughed, but internally I knew that we would have our work cut out for us. Something told me that Marcos and his slaves wouldn’t be easy opponents in the coming tournament. No matter what, I would be keeping my friends and Keiko safe. Nothing else mattered.

It turns out that we were correct to come out of closed-door meditation on the day before the tournament. When we checked the board in the main hall, we saw that in addition to finding a partner couple, each team had to provide twenty points to enter the tournament, but each couple had to provide ten. Roderigo and Melody didn’t have ten points to pay, so they frantically did a cleaning job in the Initiate hallway to scrape up enough points to make the buy-in. They finished up with twelve hours to spare, so we spent the last twelve hours sleeping and then warming up after a good breakfast and cultivation session. All of us were antsy, ready for the fights to come later in the day. Together, we walked down the Apprentice hallway toward the center of the main hall, where the tournament grounds had been set up the day before. When we arrived, we were astounded to see that seating had been set up all around the tournament grounds, and the way the stands were completely full. I learned later that this tournament was a big deal and that it happened every ten years.

I noticed that Marcos and his partner were standing beside a pair of hulking brutes, one short bald man who was wider than most doorways I’d seen before and one woman who was nearly as large as her partner. Both of them were bare chested, though the woman’s breasts were bound tightly with white cloth.

He waved to me, but before I could wave back Keiko had glared at him, which set him on his back foot. He scowled and turned away while waving us off.

I glared at Keiko, “Well, now he knows we’re onto him. I was hoping we could get in a few strikes during the match before he figured it out. No big deal though, we can take him.”

She smiled and reached out for my hand. I took it and gave it a comforting squeeze. Roderigo shadow boxed back and forth while Melody remained calm.

The tournament floor was full of the other fifteen teams though going to be fighting in the tournament. They were milling about chatting with one another, some of them looked like old friends while others were deliberately avoiding each other and shooting glares and jibes at each other. I let my team over to the edge of the arena which I could tell was split into eight pieces to allow for all of the teams to battle at once. Even at one-eighth size, the battlefield looked enormous to me. I was excited to experience what the full-sized arena would feel like. Rather than chatting like the other teams, Keiko, Roderigo, Melody, and I focused on cultivating the breakfast we’d eaten earlier to fill our Lower cores as much as possible for the upcoming series of fights. In my spatial ring I had five more qi packed snacks for each of us so that we would be ready to fight given just a few minutes of respite.

We didn’t have to wait long before Dawn and Dusk appeared out of nowhere, roughly thirty feet above the center point of the battle arenas. They both turned and waved at the crowd as the crowd cheered back at them. After a few moments of allowing that to happen, Dusk held up his hands for silence and, after a second or two, he got it.

He spoke softly, but it felt like his voice was delivered directly to your ears. “Welcome to this year’s Heart cultivator tournament! This year, it appears that we have quite the promising batch of contestants. We have those who are just about to break through to Saint.” He waved his hand toward the couple who were standing by Marcos and his partner, along with a couple other scattered couples throughout the teams. “We also have those who only became Heart cultivators in the past month.” He waved his hand toward my entire team, which elicited laughs from the audience. Keiko’s face grew red as Dusk continued. “Do not take them lightly however, as I’ve seen firsthand how a couple of lesser strength can defeat another couple with greater strength … as long as they are wise and efficient with their strategy and their use of qi.”

Dawn stepped upward slightly, bringing her slightly higher than Dusk, before she began speaking. “The brackets will be decided by lots drawn by the elected captain of each team. I would appreciate it if all captains would make their way to the center of the arena so that we can get this show on the road!” Over her head she released a massive amount of qi that resolved itself into colorful lights and popping sounds that rose high into the air.

Before I could turn to ask who we were sending up, Roderigo and Keiko both shoved me toward the center. I turned to object but Keiko stopped me by wagging her finger at me. “Oh no, you’re not getting out of it that easily. The three of us agreed that you would be our team’s captain on our first day living together while you were cooking dinner.” She stood on her tip toes and kissed me on the cheek.

“Now go out there and pick us a good lot! I want to beat Marco and his goons up, but I want to do it in the finals, not the prelims.” She winked at me before grinning savagely. Roderigo and Melody just nodded and smiled happily before shooing me toward the center.

I chuckled to myself before muttering under my breath. “What did I get myself into? I guess I better just roll with it.”

With that, I hustled my way into the center of the battle arena. I was the second last team leader to arrive and I bowed deeply toward Dawn to apologize for wasting her time.

A few seconds after I got there, Marcos strode in like he owned the place. “Deepest apologies mistress Dawn, I got held up with my teammates.”

Dawn merely sneered at him before holding up a large black and silver box that she pulled out of nowhere. “Alright, I’m going to have each of you pull out a ball with a letter on it and that will tell you which battlefield you will be fighting on, ‘A’ through ‘H’.” As the other captains reached in to grab their balls Dawn jerked it away. She chuckled, “Picks go in the order of when you signed up. That means that Steven and Marcos will select first, though Steven will get the very first pick.” We both stepped up and placed our arms near the box, though my hand was slightly ahead of his. “I wish you both the luck you deserve.”

I glanced up at Dawn and saw her wink at me very briefly, if I hadn’t been looking for it, I definitely would have missed it. When I stuck my hand into the box, it felt like I was being drawn to a certain part of it, so I went with it. A moment later I drew out a ball with the letter ‘A’ on it.

I held up the ball of my head, “I got ‘A’!”

I heard the crowd roar in excitement, as my drawing signified the beginning of the tournament.

A few seconds later, Marcos snatched out a ball and sneered at it. He held it up above his head and spoke in the most obnoxious voice, it sounded like he didn’t care for his result at all. “I drew an ‘H’.” He immediately pulled down his arm and stared daggers at Dawn.

To her credit, she did nothing but smile in reaction.

As each of the team leaders drew their lots, they led their teams toward their respective battle arenas. My team was facing a team made up of very burly looKing cultivators. Not a single one of them looked like they had ever seen a vegetable in their life, they must’ve eaten more protein and cultivated their bodies more than anything else.

I looked back to my team to see them grinning, they saw the same things I did about our opposing team. They lacked balance, it appeared that all of them were either wood, metal, or earth qi specialists. That led me to believe that our combination of wind, fire, and water qi was going to prove to be very effective against them.

Roderigo had no tact; he was grinning from ear to ear with both thumbs up before Keiko glared at him and smacked his hand out of the air. I sighed and turned back to listen to the rest of Dawn’s address.

When the final ball was drawn, Dawn clapped her hands and using an enormous amount of qi created an illusion type qi construct above the center of the arena that depicted an extremely large banner with the tournament layout on it. As there were only sixteen teams, there would only be eight matches in the first round, so even the winning team would only have to fight four matches.

Given my enlarged Lower core, a longer fight, or a larger number of fights, would greatly benefit Keiko and I, but I could see why they decided not to do that. Most people want to see very big, flashy techniques when a fight between cultivators is going on. They were going to be disappointed when they watched our team, all of us were getting very good at using as little qi as possible for the result we wanted. Keiko and I have been doing that for years, so we were exceptional at it and both Roderigo and Melody both at least had the basics of it down. However, due to my enhanced lower core size I could release larger qi constructs than most people of a similar level of cultivation for a longer period of time. Not many people were ready, or able, to take ten wind blades at one time and I could make twenty without breaking a sweat.

As I watched, each of the names of the team leaders appeared on the giant board in the sky. Through some twist of fate, my name was placed in the top left of the bracket and Marcos’ was placed in the bottom right. The only way our teams would face each other is if both of us made it to the final match. I had a sneaking suspicion that would happen, though I was going to be sure to keep my team focused on the match at hand, it wouldn’t do to lose to an inferior team because our minds weren’t focused.

I pulled my team into a huddle, “Alright, so I’m assuming we all noticed what type of cultivators we’re facing.”

My team nodded and Roderigo spoke up, “They’re a bunch of muscle-bound types, probably using earth, metal, and wood qi. I’d bet they’re going to try and grapple us too, seeing as they’re so much stronger physically than we appear to be.” He grinned toward Keiko, who smiled wickedly and nodded back.

I chuckled softly. “What else did you guys notice about them?”

Keiko and Roderigo exchanged shrugs before Melody spoke up. “They don’t appear to be working as a team of four. They aren’t even talking as a team before the match, they’re just speaking with their partners.”

From the large illusory tournament board came a very loud verbal announcement. “Matches will begin in ninety seconds!”

There was no time for learning that round, I had to do a bit of direct ordering to make sure we won. “Melody’s correct, so here’s the plan…”

“Three, two, one, begin!”

The opposing team, made up of brawlers and grapplers, rushed toward us. I smiled, that was exactly what I thought they would do. Keiko and Roderigo surged to meet them while I moved up behind that pair to provide support with my Wind Blades. Melody stayed behind us, she was focused on another part of the plan and it would take all of her concentration to make sure it went properly. Just as Keiko and the leading male brawler came into contact, she darted beneath him and, after infusing her right arm with qi, launched herself skyward to deliver a devastating uppercut toward his chin.

The redheaded, topknot wearing, machismo filled, brawler didn’t know what hit him. The offensive stance he was in would have been sufficient to defend against a series of quick, light blows, but it had nothing to stop a single heavy blow to the chin. After contact, he sailed nearly ten feet in the air before slamming into the ground next to the edge of the arena. his foot was sticking out and the edge of the arena glowed red.

A moment later, a dark robed cultivator darted from the shadows and dragged him out of the battlefield before speaking in a deep voice. “This combatant is out of the match due to leaving the arena.”

It didn’t hurt that he was also knocked out, but from the looks on his team’s faces they were angry at us just the same.

The woman dressed in the same clothes as the unconscious opposing team member screamed in rage and hurtled toward Keiko. Her eyes were bloodshot with rage. She was so focused on destroying the person who took out her partner that she didn’t notice Roderigo’s attack until it was too late.

He slid along the ground with a little boost of earth qi before springing up alongside her and delivering a metal qi reinforced kick directly to the side of the enraged woman’s side.

I knew from my times fighting Roderigo that, not only was his leg coated with metal qi, he would have also reinforced the muscles in his leg and hips to allow himself to deliver an even more devastating strike than normal. I know for a fact that both Keiko and I had been knocked across the room by that kick and I was not disappointed with the results when used in an actual fight.

Before the enraged woman could get her hands around Keiko, she was launched bodily over thirty feet out of the arena, slamming into the qi shielding protecting the audience, and before she could attempt to stand back up the same dark robed figure walked over and tapped her on the forehead, stopping her in her tracks.

At this point the remaining couple opposing our team figured out that we weren’t the pushovers they thought we were going to be. They were one of the couples that were indicated as being at the Peak of Heart cultivation, so I knew not to underestimate them.

The couple stood side to side and in unison screamed out, “Rain of Boulders!” They stepped forward and delivered a straight punch into the air and with it sent an enormous amount of earth qi that formed itself into a series of small boulders, each about the size of a melon, that streaked toward Roderigo’s side and head. Before the boulders could strike him, a sharp crack was heard and suddenly a wall made of earth qi burst into being before him. At the same time, another earth qi wall sprouted beneath the two cultivators opposing us, sending them to either side of it and cutting them off from each other.

It did my heart good to see Melody coming into her own in a fight. Rather than simply supporting Roderigo like she used to, she was actively shaping the battlefield to make it easier for all of us. In addition, I could feel a surge of wind qi behind me, pushing me toward the enemy and I knew that was her urging me to finish up this fight as quickly as possible. Not wanting to keep a lady waiting, I sprang into action. I ran forward and, taking advantage of their confusion, unleashed a barrage of Wind Blades at each member remaining on the opposing team.

The blades of wind qi caught the male counterpart on the opposing team unaware and dealt him a particularly grievous wound along his chest and another nasty cut on his thigh. I could see that his wounds were already healing due to his wood qi, but it didn’t go fast enough and he passed out from blood loss. After deflecting my Wind Blades with a shield of metal qi, the last remaining member of the opposing team heard her partner hit the ground. She darted around the wall, completely ignoring me, and hurried to help him.

She held up her hand and yelled, “We forfeit! Someone please, help my husband.”

As if summoned by magic, a white robed cultivator streaked in from the sidelines and laid hands upon the wounded man. I could feel the wood qi radiating off of him and was confident that our opponent would be all right.

Above us, the tournament banner bellowed out another announcement. “Battlefield A, the winner is Team Steven!”

Before my team could celebrate, I urged them to join me as I went and bowed to the final remaining conscious member of the opposing team. The rest of my team followed behind and bowed deeply. We each paid our respects.

To her credit, the last woman, whose name I learned was Lenore, who their team was named after, was very understanding of the situation. Seeing that her husband was taken care of, she stood up and bowed deeply to me and my team.

She spoke confidently, though there was a thread of pain in her voice, “Thank you for not killing my husband. I could tell from the way you launched those blades of wind qi that you could have aimed for his neck, rather than his chest and thigh. Your level of qi control is incredible.” She bowed again.

I smiled and shook my head, “This is a tournament to encourage growth, not to kill fellow apprentices. I truly hope that your husband recovers fully and if you need anything from me to make that happen, please let me know.” I nodded to her when I saw the look of shock on her face.

Keiko laughed beside me. “He’s always like this, don’t try to fight it. Trust me, he’ll track you down if he thinks you need help.” Melody and Roderigo both nodded furiously.

Lenore cupped her hands, showing tremendous deference, and bowed deeply to me, “Thank you for your generosity. If we need anything, we will reach out to you.” She straightened back up and glanced back at her husband before looking back at us. “I need to get back to Giorgio, but I truly appreciate you not harming me on my team any more the needed to win the fight.”

She glanced around before leaning in to speak directly in my ear. I leaned in so I could hear her. “Beware Silvali, he will undoubtedly be your next opponent. He focuses on the venomous aspects of wood qi, so if any of his strikes reach you, you will likely succumb to them quite quickly. My husband and I dueled him and his partner last year in a standard couple’s tournament and it cost us almost one hundred points to have the toxin removed from our systems.” She leaned back and nodded when she saw the look of shock on my face. “I wish you the best of luck, I hope you get everything that you want out of this tournament.” With that, she turned and walked to see how her other two teammates were doing. They were both seated on benches near the edge of the arena rubbing their head and side respectively.

As I turned to address my team, to let them know about what I just heard from Lenore, another announcement rang out from above.

“Battlefield B, the winner is Team Silvali!”

It looked like Lenore was correct, we would be facing Silvali and his team next. I was hoping to get to watch the end of his match to help formulate a plan to defeat them, but I guess I wouldn’t get the chance.

I hustled my team over to the sidelines and handed them each a snack, even though we didn’t really expend much qi, it was always good to keep ourselves as topped up as possible, in the event that we needed every drop of qi we had in our fight.

As I was handing them their snacks, I whispered to them as a group, using a strand of wind qi sneaking toward one of each of their ears. “Silvali is a toxin-based wood qi user. We need to be careful when fighting him.”

Melody snorted and when I turned to see her, she was grinning from ear to ear. “Leave him to me, let’s just say that I have extensive experience with people like him.” She cracked her knuckles, which was very unusual for her.

Roderigo patted her on the back before looking at me and Keiko in shock. “She’s right, with her here, we have nothing to worry about with him on the other side of the field. You might even say she’s something of a specialist in that area.”

I frowned and looked from Keiko back to Melody. “I’m gonna want a better explanation after this is all over, is that okay?”

Melody smiled sadly, “It’s a story to follow a large meal, as it is not a short one. Suffice to say, I know Silvali and his family. His clan and mine have been at war for generations, or at least they were.”

All of us quickly downed the snacks that I had prepared and focused on cycling the qi from within the food. After eating, we strode toward where Marcos’ team was fighting, but before we could even make it halfway there, the announcer said that they had already won their match. I had been hoping to get an inside look at what type of techniques Marcos and his team would be using, but in the end, we would have to rely on our insight and instincts to defeat them, should we end up facing them in a final-round. Then again, we hadn’t even beaten Silvali, so it wasn’t time to be thinking about the final-round.

Despite our upcoming fight, Melody’s demeanor was serene. She seemed even more composed than she had before our first match. From the way Roderigo was doing his best to pamper her, I got the impression that something horrible had happened between Melody and Silvali’s clans. Then again, she spoke about her clan in the past tense, so there was potential for something truly horrific to have happened to them.

She saw my look of concern and shook her head softly. “Please do not worry about what is in the past. I have made my peace with that and I’m looking forward to doing what I can to make it right in this moment. I took a look at Silvali’s team and was not surprised by what I found. His consort is his partner, she has incredibly strong metal qi control and likes to throw blades like Roderigo, which is normal seeing as she’s his second cousin. As for the rest of his team, their most likely wind and water qi experts.”

She saw the look of confusion on my face and elaborated. “Roderigo and I are from an area in the mountains. Control over wind and water qi leads you to have a higher station in those places, as you can help deflect the brunt of winter year’s might.” She took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Someone like me who only had control over earth and wood qi were considered to be next to useless in our community. Silvali’s family were renowned because of their ability to hunt large game due to their unique toxic techniques for wood qi. From my sources, I know that he has access to four elements, everything but fire and metal qi. His consort has three elements: metal, fire, and water qi. I don’t know enough about his other teammates to give you any more information that I already have. I’m sorry about that.” She bowed slightly in apology. “I do know that they’re likely held by a slave contract to Silvali’s family.”

Keiko spoke up from beside me. “Don’t worry about that, what you gave us is more than enough. I’m assuming that, seeing as you’re going to be going after Silvali, we’ll need to go with plan C?”

Melody looked first to Roderigo, who shrugged, and then to me. I nodded in confirmation.

Melody smiled and nodded toward Keiko, “That would be wise. Knowing Silvali, he’s going to rush to kill me as soon as possible, so that I cannot use my unique technique to render him useless.” She shuddered. “That’s what he did the last time we fought.”

Roderigo stepped up behind her and rubbed her shoulders with his thumbs. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, “Don’t worry, my love. Today, we have reliable allies rather than the rabble we had before. It’s going to be different this time.” He spoke firmly and clenched his fist.

I was beginning to get a picture of what might’ve happened back in their hometown, but it felt wrong to pry, so I didn’t.

We stood there, in the center of the Battlefield, for what felt like an eternity, though it was probably something closer to ten minutes, before the final winner was announced for Battlefield C in favor of Team Brick.

About thirty seconds later, the same announcer voice peeled out across the Battlefield. “Round two will begin in one minute, following the expansion of the Battlefields. Contestants, please stand along the inner walkway between the Battlefields outlined in gold.”

My team was already standing where the designated safe area was, so we didn’t have to move. We watched as Battlefields A and B merged together to form one much larger Battlefield. Once we felt the ground stop shaking, we hurried over to the newly expanded Battlefield A and took our positions. With five seconds to go, Silvali and his team swaggered onto the battlefield, but as soon as the announcer yelled for the match to begin, they became dead serious.

Paul, imply up above that the couple joining Silvali is probably held by slave contract.

As Silvali and his partner darted forward, the smiles on their faces were sickening. He couldn’t help but monologue as he reached Keiko and Melody, who were in front of Roderigo and I when we were in Formation C.

“I’m so happy to finally get a chance to kill the last remaining member of the Moon clan. My father will be delighted to know that the last one of you rats have finally been stomped off of the face of this world.” Silvali hissed like a snake and attempted to drive two, wood qi coated, fingers directly into Melody’s abdomen.

To my horror, Melody didn’t even try to divert or dodge Silvali’s attack. Instead, she grinned as his strict fingers punctured shallowly into her abdomen.

He laughed when he saw the smile on Melody’s face. “Are you so happy to finally go and meet your family again? I’m glad to have been of service. Send them my regards in the spirit world.” He pushed even more wood qi into Melody, but she only grinned wider as he did so. A few moments later, he started to look concerned. “Why aren’t you falling down? You should be dead by now, the amount of toxic qi I’ve pushed into your cultivation system should be enough to kill a Saint level cultivator, let alone a piddling Heart cultivator like you.”

Melody locked her hand around Silvali’s wrist and twisted it until it snapped audibly. He screamed in pain and looked up at her in horror as he slumped down to cradle his newly broken wrist.

Melody laughed, loud and heartily, but it wasn’t a happy laugh. Instead, it was a laugh born from pain and suffering boiling over to become the fuel that dragged her forward in life. Roderigo grimaced, but didn’t do anything to get in between Melody and her targets. Instead, he focused on using metal and wind qi to keep the slave contracted couple away from Melody so that she could do what she needed to do.

Keiko took that opportunity to coat her entire upper body in metal qi, dart forward, and blast Silvali’s partner in the side of the head with the straight right jab. I’d like to say that her head made a nice ringing noise as it bounced off the ground, she must’ve had some sort of metal qi reinforcement there as well, but it wasn’t enough to block Keiko’s explosive strike.

Melody looked into Silvali’s eyes coldly. “I’m glad I finally got a chance to use the final technique my grandfather taught me, before your family had him executed.” She walked forward and slapped him across the face of the back of her hand before continuing to speak. “You see, my family comes from a long line of healers and hunters. Those lines of work bred a certain trait that I just so happen to have the most effective form of.” She spun and kicked Silvali in the side, driving him to his knees. “It just needed a catalyst, which you so graciously supplied.”

Silvali’s face was a mask of horror. “What do you mean? All I did was pump you full of toxic qi … oh no.” He struggled to stand up, but Melody dropped an ax kick on his shoulder and drove him back to his knees. At this point, Roderigo and I had knocked out the other remaining members of Silvali’s team and we were watching Melody and Silvali’s interactions with rapt attention.

Melody shook her head softly, “You couldn’t just fight fair, could you? You had to use your family technique to try and kill me in the tournament which is supposed to promote growth, rather than death. Though in my case, they are kind of the same thing. I have a Seven Colored Cobra bloodline, so not only did your toxic qi not hurt me, instead it actually unlocked my bloodline, so I have to thank you. Otherwise, it would’ve taken me years to find someone willing to do that to me.” She cracked her knuckles and formed her hand into a spear point. “The slave contract holding your team will be null and void with your death, but I’d happily end you either way. When you get to the afterlife, I would ask you to tell my grandfather that I was successful, but where you’re going there’s no way you’d see him.”

Without any sign of hesitation, Melody drove her knife hand straight through Silvali’s heart, which I heard burst from ten feet away. She drew her bloody hand out of his chest and then threw her head back, I saw tears rolling down her face as she wept for those she had lost.

Above us, an announcement rang out. “Battlefield A, Team Steven wins!”

Roderigo walked over and pulled Melody close as she cried. It was like all of the pain she had suffered in silence throughout her life was pouring out of her like a waterfall. Keiko walked over and I put my arm around her, but we both knew that it wasn’t our place to help Melody through this. That was going to be Roderigo’s job, I just hoped that he was up to it.

A few seconds later, another announcement rang out from the loss. “Battlefield D, Team Marcos wins!”

I cursed under my breath, which made Keiko giggle like a child. Sometimes I found it remarkable how much of her childlike wonder she kept, despite our current situation. Other times, I wished she would join me in adulthood fully, but I would wait for her to do that as long as it took.

On a completely unrelated note, it felt like fate was telling me that I would need to fight Marcos straight up, I was never going to be given a chance to see what he could do. On the other hand, Battlefield C still had a fight raging on, so I took Keiko over and we watched that fight for the next ten minutes.

I could tell that Team Agnes, who were the favorites according to some betting I heard going on from the sidelines, had the upper hand against their opponents, Team Victor, but upon closer inspection it appeared that perhaps everyone was mistaken. I noticed that Victor himself never actually engaged any of the opponents on the other team. Instead, he was working on some sort of massive qi construct which appeared to be nearly finished. Just as the rest of his team were finally put down, he roared up from the back lines and screamed to the heavens.

“Star fall explosion!”

Falling from the air above Victor’s opponents were over a dozen large earth, fire, and metal balls of qi that were rapidly approaching the opposition. He didn’t give the opposition any time to retaliate, striking just as they were congratulating themselves on taking down the rest of his team.

I heard, rather than witnessed, the eradication of Team Agnes. That attack from Victor had to be pushing the Meridian level, if not higher. I wondered how he pulled it off as a Heart cultivator, but I didn't think I was going to get a chance to ask, because when he unleashed that attack, he fell to the ground with blood shooting from his eyes and ears.

I heard my grandfather speak of that happening to someone he knew once. He called it qi shock, when someone uses too much qi all at once and blows out all of the qi pathways running throughout the body. Nearly everyone who had that happen died, even if there was a skilled healer nearby.

It seems that Victor sacrificed himself to protect his team from the opposing side hurting them any worse, or at least it looked like that might have been what he was trying to do. A white robed person streaked in from the sidelines and infused what looked like a tremendous amount of wood qi into Victor while simultaneously giving him two pills while working his jaws to crush them with his teeth while she poured some sort of liquid down his throat at the same time. I was fascinated, but from my vantage point I couldn’t see much more than that.

About us, the announcer's voice pealed out again. “Battlefield B, draw.”

I looked at Keiko to see if she knew what a draw meant, but she didn’t either. I decided that it was time to use our resources, so I walked over to the sidelines and asked someone who looked like they’d been here a while.

“So, what does it mean if our next opponent is out of commission?”

The middle-aged brunette woman I was speaking to had a friendly smile. “It means that you go straight to the final round.”

I smiled and bowed to her. “Thank you for the information, I hope we can meet your expectations.”

She cackled softly, “I hope so, I wagered fifty points on your team to win the whole thing. I’m fixing to have over a thousand points by the end of this based on the odds they put on you losing. Now go out there and make Agatha proud! You hear me?”

Keiko jumped up and down excitedly, “You got a deal. We’ll do our best to take down that mongrel, Marcos.”

Before I could correct Keiko, we didn’t know if Marcos would be in the final round yet, we heard the announcer yell out again. “Battlefield C, draw.”

I shook my head in disbelief when I saw Keiko looking up at me expectantly, “Never mind, let’s hurry to the center of the tournament grounds so that we don’t get caught when the Battlefields shift.”

I bowed to Agatha one more time and then led Keiko back toward where Melody and Roderigo were waiting for us. Melody’s face was still puffy from crying, but she had a newfound determination on her face and I got the distinct impression that she was more than ready to fight. We hurried to the center, where we were joined by Marcos and his team.

He sneered when he saw me, “Looks like little rats made it to the finals. It looks like old Victor couldn’t do his damn job. I’ll have to make an example out of him when I get home.” He smoothed his hands through his slicked back blonde hair and looked away from me.

It’s strange how someone I used to think of as someone I really wanted to get to know had converted into someone that I really wanted to kick in the head in such a short period of time. I looked down and saw that Keiko was practically vibrating with rage, so I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

I leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of him. You focus on the task at hand, paying attention to whatever the rest of his team are doing, because you and I both know that Marcos is not going to be that main offensive force on their team. He’s too chicken shit for that.” Keiko and I both grinned before straightening up.

Above us, Dawn and Dusk appeared, resplendent in their pristine white robes. They were about thirty feet up in the air, to allow everyone to see them clearly.

Dawn’s voice rang out. “Welcome to the final round! Team Steven versus Team Marcos. May the best cultivator team win.”

I heard a crunching noise coming from over by Marcos and turned to see what was happening. Both of the additional team members beside Marcos and his partner were frantically chewing something that was making a very loud crunching noise. A few moments later, a shockwave of qi radiated out from them, it knocked my entire team to their knees and actually knocked Marcos and his consort off their feet. They recovered quickly, and laughed, her softly and him maniacally.

His wicked grin ran from ear to ear. “I hope you enjoy fighting Meridian level cultivators, because that’s what you’re going to have to do to beat us.” He spun on his heel and slunk toward where his team was supposed to gather on the battlefield.

From the looks on the faces of Marcos’ other team members, they were excited to do this. They were excited to cheat, to steal away the win from those who potentially deserved it using unjust means. They made me sick.

I looked up to Dawn and Dusk as if to ask, “Is this legal?”

Dusk frowned and nodded. I got the picture, the rules only said that the selected contestants needed to be Heart level cultivators at the beginning of the tournament. It didn’t say that they had to be Heart cultivators at the end of the tournament. My team was going to have our work cut out for us if we are going to defeat the new Meridian level cultivators, especially considering that after a breakthrough people are at their peak for a short while.

I pulled my team into a huddle and we put our heads together. I spoke solemnly, “This is going to be a tough fight. Marcos and his team have somehow managed to increase their cultivation level dramatically during the tournament. Besides Marcos and his consort, the other two are now meridian level cultivators, so expect them to have at least some control over all six elements. However, their tactics won’t have changed much, so we can still expect them to be crafty, rather than brutish.” I let that sink in for a moment before continuing. “I think it’s time for plan Z.”

Everyone but Keiko stared at me from around the huddle, but I just smiled. “Don’t worry about it, we’ve got this.”