I stood, almost slipping back on to my ass as my right leg spasmed beneath me. Getting it back under control, I began pushing the dregs of my Praxis around my body once more, the energy washing away some of the negative effects of my system being flooded with electricity.

Turning fully, I looked at Fou Shei’s sister with disbelief clear on my face.

“Dare? Your assbutt little brother has tried to kill me twice now, and I’m the one daring because I dare to defend himself? Are you kidding? Were you dropped on your head a lot as a child? Both of you, I mean?” I looked her up and down, taking in her long, bare legs and short kimono. Her long black hair was tied into a complex braid and her eyes were so dark they were almost the same black as her hair. Like everyone I had met since my arrival, she was gorgeous and even amidst my anger and pain, it was a little distracting.

Of course, right then her face was a dark red and her eyes were opened so wide that I was almost afraid they were about to fall out – not the most attractive look. I had to assume the reason was my perceived temerity, but maybe that was just the way she showed affection. And old man can hope.

“You...! I will grind you into dust!”

“You dare?”

“I... what?”

“You see how dumb it sounds now? When you just throw it out?”

With a growling yell, the still unnamed girl launched herself at me and she was fast, at least as fast as her brother had been when using his Focus and I once again found myself on the backfoot as tried to dodge and deflect as many blows as I could. In contrast to her brother’s kicks, my new opponent was a more balanced fighter, interposing punches, knees and elbows in. She also lacked the blades of compressed air however, so it was working out okay for me, or at least it was until a stream of floating water slapped into the side of my face, staggering me and almost breaking my jaw if the pain was anything to go by.

Before I could recover, I took a blow to the back of my knee and something wet grabbed my other leg, yanking me off my feet. Finally, while still in mid-air, one last punch was driven into my stomach, slamming me back to the sand.

As I lay staring into the deep blue of the sky, for a brief moment I contemplated the apparently vast difference between just having reached the Core stage, and having been there for a while. Then my instincts began screaming at me as my Danger Sense trigged, and I rolled sideways just in time to avoid an axe kick that would have crushed my skull. Apparently axe kicks were a thing in their family.

Twisting my body and kicking off the sand, I rolled back to my feet, turning back to my scantily clad opponent prepared for anything – other than the high-pressure jet of water about to drive into my eye. I did not even have time to blink, let alone dodge before there was a loud boom and my vision was blocked by something. I jerked back a step, blinking before taking in the shape in front of me – it was Walker’s dark hand. The jet was driving itself to mist against his unmoving hand, as my mentor’s low, calm voice spoke into the sudden silence.

“Enough. I do not mind youthful exuberance, but let us not take things too far. Hunter, you did well enough. Go and concentrate on refining Praxis for now, you appear to be mostly depleted.”

I nodded, struck dumb by the speed Walker had demonstrated – the boom had to have been him breaking the sound barrier. I had known that our bodies would improve as we cycled more refined energies, and in greater amounts, but breaking the sound barrier seemed to have placed absolutely no strain on my mentor and that was frankly terrifying. I would have to ask Walker if there was an average increase in capacity or something.

I walked away, brushing sand off my robe and out of my hair as Walker helped Fou Shei to his feet, giving them both tips on how to improve. I hoped I would be getting my own tips later in order to prevent my own murder from being too easy for the Unceasing Squall duo.

Shaking my head and rubbing at my jaw, I sat at the edge of the arena, cross-legged on a huge paving stone. I drew in a deep breath and fell inside myself, finding myself once more hoving near my Focus. Drawing my Experience towards the image at my centre, I watched as the golden sea spun inwards and drained into my Focus I pushed it through. Praxis pulsed golden-blue out along the thousands of filaments leading into my body, and I could feel it pulsing around my body, healing and strengthening me before it returned to my energy centre, dense and powerful at the bottom of my soul sea.

*

***

*

I sat refining for about an hour, the ocean of golden energy noticeably depleted by my efforts. I would have carried on – the sensation of driving Praxis through my energy pathways was hard to turn away from once I got started, but I felt a shadow fall over me, and I looked up to find Walker standing there.

“Hey, Walker – it didn’t occur to me to ask earlier, but where’s Aella?”

“Aella grew enthusiastic about the bounty offered by the Alchemists Association and left to begin her investigation. She volunteered me to watch over her students while she is gone.”

My mentor did not seem to mind being volunteered, and it occurred to me that he was a seriouslyeasy-going guy, given who and what he was. My Lucky ability had really been putting in the hours when I met him outside the city.

“Teacher really likes money, huh?”

“She does indeed. I believe she wishes to found a full school to complement the Steel Splinter.”

“That’s really... commendable.” I wanted to say cool, but my idioms had not been hitting their mark recently. The subject of money had reminded me of something, however.

“Oh, Walker – when I was escaping, I took some money and a couple of rings off the guards – can you tell me how much I have?” Walker nodded and I began to dig into my pocket, but he held up a hand to stop me.

“You have quite a large sum, it seems like 2170 growth coins, or the equivalent.”

“I didn’t even show you the money.”

“My perception does not rely on sight, Hunter. As should be evidenced by the blindfold.”

I knew he had mentioned his perception before, and I had obviously noticed his blindfold, but I had always figured he was using echo location or something.

“So you have... some sort of... spiritual sense? Seems kind of invasive... when will I be getting that, by the way?”

“It is unlikely you will. Few achieve it.”

“It’s an Apex thing, then?”

“It is.”

I waited for several seconds, hoping my mentor would elaborate but there was nothing but silence. Deciding not to push it, I went back to the money.

“Well, anyway – you said I had a bunch of money, but there was no way there’s that many coins in those two pouches.”

“Growth coins rarely reflect their real values in their literal numbers...” Walker went in to explain the local currency system, and even provided me some examples of relative worth. It all seemed fairly simple, and I was already rubbing my hands together at the thought of buying some actual clothes.

Distracted by dreams of giving up my hobo look, I completely forgot about the rings until my mentor brought them back up.

“The rings seem to be spatial storage devices, though they are not of the highest quality.” That definitely caught my attention – if D&D had taught me anything, it was Anything of Holding was incredibly useful.

I fished the two rings out and examined them – they were almost exactly similar. They were a deep verdant green with veins of gold, looking a lot like Japanese kintsugi.

“Storage devices you say...? How do I open them? Maybe they’re filled with treasure!”

“If they were filled with treasure, why would they keep their money in pouches?”

“You raise a good point, Walker. So, what do I do?”

“You wear them, Hunter. They are rings. Once wearing them, you push a filament of Experience into them and you will gain access to the extra-planar space.”

I nodded and slipped the rings onto the middle fingers of each hand, watching with a grin as they adjusted themselves to fit. I switched them about a couple of times and each time they fit me perfectly – I even tried on my toes and even that worked. I thought that would be a great place to hide them once I had shoes.

Slipping them back onto my hands once again, I reached out with my Experience and slipped a tiny stream into the right ring. I became aware of a space, roughly a meter on all sides. Within the space was a sword, a couple of clothing sets and a number of bottles, vials and bags. I pulled on the contents and they appeared in my arms – the bottles tumbled to the ground but luckily, I was sat at the edge of the sand circle and they did not shatter.

I placed the sword on the ground and checked out the clothes, but unfortunately, they were much too small for me. Next, I drew the sword – it was the same bright silver as the sword Sidona had taken from the other guard and I guessed they must have been standard issue.

I had no idea what all the alchemical stuff was, but decided to hang on to them until I could get them identified. The other ring contained almost identical contents, missing only the sword. The clothes were of course, too small.

“Hey, Walker, do you want one of these rings?” I knew that while I might have a use for both later, but right then I did not have enough to make much of a difference to even one of the spaces, and besides, a I owed Walker a lot.

“I do not require such a device, but you have my thanks for the offer, Hunter.” I recalled something my torturer had said about being able to store items in your soul, but it had not really registered until that moment. If that capacity was related to your stage of cultivation, it made sense that Walker would have to have it.

“Well, if you change your mind, let me know! I was thinking about going to buy some clothes, if that’s okay?”

“You are free, Hunter. You may come and go as you wish. Please try not to get kidnapped again. I will be here until sundown.”

“Great. I guess I’m off then. On my own. I’ll be back soon, I hope!”

I stood, a little nervous as I thought back on my experiences since arriving on this world, but I knew that if I was going to get anywhere in my cultivation, I needed to get out and experience new things. I was not going to get anywhere sitting by Walker’s side, and Xiournal’s missions were only going to get harder – even the easiest on the list had almost got me killed, and had got me tortured.

Firming my resolve and taking a deep breath, I forced my legs to carry me out of the arena, determined to experience as much as I could before nightfall.