Verus stood before the muscular disciple that had come to challenge him. He really should have seen this coming. He’d annoyed quite a few young family scions by daring to beat their peers in a duel. They couldn’t gang up and ambush him on the temple grounds, but they could send one of their stronger members to challenge him to a duel. He didn’t have to accept though.

Tellus glared angrily as if reading his mind. “If you refuse my challenge, know that everyone in the sect will see you to be a conniving coward and refuse to duel you in turn. There will be other repercussions as well, for you won’t always be able to hide behind the rules of the sect.”

That was a problem. Nothing he did was likely to make the entitled and insecure family scions among the outer disciples not hate him and work against him, but he did need to keep dueling to procure extra shards.

“Excuse me, but I need a moment to think. You’ve surprised me,” Verus told the entitled ass that had come to harass him as he reached out with his senses to scan his spirit.

The other disciple seemed to have more ki than him, which was to be expected, but not by all that much. Really, with access to all the resources from their families, Verus was surprised most of the other outer disciples didn’t have even more ki than they did. It didn’t take all that long to absorb a ki shard, or was that just him? Maybe absorbing ki shards was something he took for granted but other people had to struggle with, like his ki circulation skills.

Tellus’s ki did have a distinct feeling to it, cool and earthy. Yes, he was probably an earth ki cultivator. That was another advantage he had over Verus, but it was possible that he was still being underestimated. Since he’d started dueling, Verus had paid attention to the competition a lot more, and he knew all the strongest fighters in the outer sect now. Tellus wasn’t among them. Verus didn’t think he’d ever dueled before.

Since it seemed like choosing his own fights and picking off the weakest outer disciples wasn’t going to work anymore, Verus knew he was going to need to adapt, and that meant fighting stronger opponents. However, if he was going to Tellus, he needed to be smart about it.

“I accept your challenge and look forward to facing you combat. The stakes will be two shards each.” That was all Verus had at the moment.

Tellus grinned, but Verus kept talking. “Four days from now, after history class seems like a good time.”

“Why wait that long?” the other disciple replied as his grin became a frown again.

Verus would have put it off longer if he thought he could get away with it. He wanted time to train, look into his opponent, and absorb some more ki. He was willing to bet he could make some significant gains in a few days if he gave it his all. According to Warin, he was a genius after all.

“That’s when I have time.”

“Bah, whatever. A few days won’t matter.”

Tellus left after giving Verus one last scornful look. Verus simply smiled back politely. He was going to enjoy punching Tellus right in his smug face.

It was late in the evening already, so after spending some time cultivating, Verus went to bed. The next day was the holy day, so he had to go to the devotery with all the other disciples, but after the sermon was over, he met up with Warin and Escora to get in as much training and as possible. Escora gladly threw herself into sparring with him, so that he could work on mastering his battle focus and fighting style.

During class the next day, the usual group of disciples from minor families kept throwing Verus smug and vicious looks, but he ignored them. It was obvious they expected Tellus to put him in his place, but that wasn’t going to happen.

Soon, Elder Ling took her usual place at the podium and began lecturing. “Glyphs are created from essence by cultivators, which means they are a type of conjuring and can only be created by creatures with souls. While considered mysterious by many, glyphs are essentially symbols imbued with intent that can be used to effect ki in very complex ways. Their shape gives them function, making them a natural language of ki. Cultivators usually draw them in essence to subtly change what essence constructs do or make them perform certain actions automatically. This makes them useful for creating artifacts and arrays, but they can also be used to boost ki techniques if you have the time to create the glyphs.”

Elder Ling then raised a hand and began using her finger to draw glowing white symbols in the air. When she was done, the symbols flashed brightly. Verus shielded his eyes with a raised hand, but the glyphs and the light soon vanished.

“I used those glyphs to power that light spell,” she explained. “Thus, they drew power from their surroundings instead of using ki from my core. Such techniques are severally limited by the availability of natural ki around them though, so they are usually of limited use in battle. The type of essence you use also matters, with light essence being the best for affecting light ki, so your attunements still matter when using glyph boosted spells.”

Glyph scribing was an interesting topic, but quickly got very technical and Verus couldn’t think of any way that glyphs could help him solve his problems or duel better. He simply didn’t have the knowledge required or time in a fight to use them.

During theology class the next day, Verus got more nasty looks from some of the other students, but they stopped when the lecturer showed up. Gerath’s cheerful demeanor also made it difficult for Verus to feel bad about himself and his lecture was also quite interesting.

“Cultivators of all levels are connected to the eternal plane. This connection grows stronger and is obvious at higher Realms, but it still exists even at the lowest Realms, when simply glimpsing the eternal can drive cultivators insane. The enlightenment brought along by ascension is required to safely interact with the eternal plane, for its majesty is too much for the merely mortal to comprehend.”

That reminded Verus of Iniais and his odd behavior, and he had to suppress a shudder. Was he truly tormented by visions of the eternal? What would that be like?

Gerath continued. “Still, many of you are wondering what the nature of this connection is and if it has any practical applications. The answer is complicated, of course, but we do know some things. The eternal plane is infinite, an endless ocean of ki. However, it reflects the physical plane even as it helps shape it. Different parts of it are thus associated with different types of ki. The soul of every cultivator is unique and tied to the eternal plane in subtle ways. The eternal plane is the source of souls after all, and they are drawn back there after death to be reborn. This connection is heavily influenced by a person’s natural attunements, or perhaps it’s the other way around. The answer isn’t clear. However, someone with a strong fire attunement will thus be drawn to an area of the eternal plane that is heavy in fire ki.”

The mention of attunements drew Verus’s interest, but he couldn’t think of any way it was useful. He had no way to peer into the eternal plane and apparently it would drive him insane and destroy his mind if he did. That didn’t seem like a price he was willing to pay.

Two days quickly passed and the day of the duel arrived. After history class, Verus meet up with Warin and they went to the challenge arena. Verus was feeling nervous despite all his preparation. He had gambled a lot on this fight, and he didn’t want to get beat up.

“Just remember, he’s supposed to use earth ki, so use your movement techniques to get the upper hand,” Warin reassured his friend as they walked. “Earth ki is no good for movement or emission attacks. This should be easier than fighting Katar and his fire.”

Verus nodded along.

When the arena came into sight, Verus was surprised to see Escora there. They’d never interacted outside of their training exercises before.

“After all the training, I thought I’d stop by and see how you fare when the blows aren’t being held back,” Escora told him. Verus was fairly certain she was trying to be friendly, fairly. She certainly wasn’t very good at it.

“Thank you for coming and for your help preparing,” he told her before turning to face his opponent.

Tellus was standing in the ring next to the referee, looking calm and controlled, so Verus walked over to him.

“Let’s get this over with. You’ve made me wait long enough already, stray.”

“As you wish,” Verus replied as he raised his hands and took his stance. Yes, he was going to enjoy smacking that stupid look of Tellus’s face.

“Begin,” the referee yelled.

Following his plan, Verus went on the offensive immediately. Tellus held his ground. The muscular disciple took a wide stance and raised one hand up defensively while the other stayed at his side, in preparation to strike.

Verus started his offensive with several jabs, but he kept light on his feet. The probing attacks were easily blocked or dodged by Tellus, but Verus took the opportunity to try and slip past his opponent’s guard by circling around as he threw some more jabs. He was trying to get a good feel for Tellus’s style and draw him out.

Tellus’s responding movements were minimal but effective. He kept his steady stance as he pivoted around to keep his sights on his opponent, and the calm and determined look on his face didn’t drop for even a moment. He parried one jab with a flick of his raised hand and then leaned just out of the way of another. He was making next to no unnecessary movements.

Verus decided to take the fight to the next level. Taking a deep breath, he cycled ki through his body to enhance his power. Then, he launched a new barrage of punches at Tellus. This time, he mixed in a few heavier blows though, in the hopes of catching his opponent off balance.

After the initial series of quick blows, the first ki-enhanced strike slammed through Tellus’s guard. Shimmering energy rose up like steam from Verus’s arm as he stepped forward and channeled his ki. The blow zoomed toward Tellus’s face. However, Tellus quickly leaned back out of the way of the attack and threw a low kick at Verus’s front leg. Verus slipped to the side of the blow and tried to resume his offensive, but Tellus simply blocked the first blow and then countered with a flurry of blows of his own. They were in close now, and Tellus’s heavy punches quickly put Verus on the defensive. After parrying one, Verus felt a shiver work its way down his arm from the surprising power of the blow. Trying to block would obviously be a mistake, so he focused on dodging. However, that came with its own downsides. He was quickly pushed back away from Tellus, who didn’t have to move as much, and found himself on the defensive. As a punch grazed his nose, Verus decided to disengage. This wasn’t working, so he jumped back away from Tellus to catch his breath.

Tellus didn’t let him go without a fight though. The muscular disciple charged after him and threw another low kick at Verus’s front leg. As Verus dodged to the side, Tellus then threw a powerful punch straight at his opponent’s face.

Instead of panicking, Verus simply calmly watched the blow fly his way. It was a perfect set up for vanishing feather step, so that was what he did. Cycling ki to his legs and skin, he burst to the side, leaving a cloud of ki behind to confuse his enemy. As Tellus punched through the after image, Verus rose up from his blind spot and channeled all his ki into one strike aimed right at his opponent’s jaw.

However, if the muscular outer disciple was surprised at all by how Verus had disappeared in cloud of ki and reappeared right next to him, he didn’t show it. His expression remained steely, and right before Verus’s blow landed, he adjusted his posture slightly to help absorb the blow. His shoulder came up to protect his chin and he twisted to the side a little.

Verus’s blow still landed, but not right on Tellus’s jaw. Instead, it deflected off his opponent’s shoulder and then glanced off his cheek. Tellus barely budged, and Verus saw wisps of dark grey earth ki rise up from his body. The ki had a solid and cool feeling that was unmistakable, like fresh dirt. It was obvious that Tellus was using an earth ki reinforcement technique to protect himself. It may not do much for his speed, but it certainly made him tough as er… earth.

Rather than be discouraged, Verus twisted around and launched a follow up attack, a flying side kick. The strike slammed into Tellus’s chest, but the muscular disciple stepped forward and widened his stance to take the blow straight on. As a result, Verus bounced off him. That earth ki reinforcement technique was very impressive, and the ki level difference didn’t help. Verus was still behind the curve there, since he hadn’t been absorbing shards.

Landing clumsily, Verus quickly tried to regain his balance, but Tellus acted first. The muscular disciple raised a leg as if it to kick, so Verus began to jump back. The kick never came though. Instead, Tellus stomped the ground as hard as he could.

As he landed, Verus felt confused for a moment, but then the ground beneath his feet shook. Tellus had used the stomp to push earth ki into the ground and cause it to vibrate. Caught by surprise, Verus stumbled and lost his balance.

Tellus ruthlessly took advantage of this and charged straight at Verus and threw a heavy punch right at his face. All Verus could do was desperately try to block. He raised his hands just in time, and Tellus’s punch slammed into them, pushing Verus back. At the same time, pain seared through Verus’s arms form the power of the blow, and he thought he heard an ominous crack. Ow! Tellus hit like a horse.

Worse than the pain was the numbness that followed. He needed his arms to win! Verus gritted his teeth as he tried to escape out of Tellus’s striking zone. He readied himself to use a desperate vanishing step, but Tellus seemed ready for that. Instead of attacking, he stomped the ground again.

Caught halfway through the footwork of the Vanishing Feather Step, Verus stumbled and the technique fell apart. He was thus helpless to do anything when Tellus stepped forward and punched him right in the gut, lifting him off the ground slightly. His already weakened arms reacted far too slowly, and the full force of the blow pierced straight through him.