When Verus awoke the next morning, he opened his eyes to see the familiar sight of his room. Then, he took a moment to assess his own state of mind. He felt like himself. Nothing too dramatic had changed. He was the same young temple ward as always. Yep, there were no eldritch whispers telling him to murder and maim.

That was slightly surprising considering all the things that had happened to him yesterday, but it was also quite the relief.

He did remember being assailed by a storm of strangely powerful dreams and nightmares last night, but they were hard to remember and already fading from his memory. He was left with only a vague recollection of strange places, people, and war. He remembered that violence and battle had dominated the dreams. In them, vile monsters and shining heroes had fought and fallen. It had been both horrifying and glorious, even if the details were sketchy.

As he stared up at his room’s ceiling, Verus tentatively turned his awareness toward his spirit and ki core. Both were intact and seemed to be functioning normally. There was no sign of damage or weakness.

Verus let out a deep breath as the anxiety and fear he’d been holding in leaked out. It seemed like the seed wasn’t some sort of parasite spirit or poison after all. If anything, he felt slightly stronger than before, but only slightly.

“Strange,” Verus mumbled aloud. What exactly was the seed? If it was a cultivation resource, shouldn’t it have done far more for him? It had seemed very powerful and valuable.

Frowning, Verus noticed one small change. He could sense the Warrior even though he wasn’t in a fight. The presence wasn’t doing anything though. It was just there in the back of his mind, so he wasn’t concerned. Perhaps it was a little stronger now, but that was it. It didn’t seem like any of the terrible things he’d feared yesterday had come to pass.

Reaching deeper into himself, Verus tried to study the depths of his own core and see if he could feel his soul. He had very little luck and got nothing but some vague impressions, but he thought he could feel a familiar shape, the pill. It appeared to be inert.

“Maybe I’m at too low of a Realm to absorb the seed yet,” the young disciple mused aloud. That would make sense. The seed was supposed to be powerful and he was already at the end of the Foundation Realm, so he didn’t need more ki.

Verus’s next move was thus obvious. If he wanted to seek power, he needed to go get his cultivation technique. It was time to track down the drunk elder. Only power would keep him safe from spirits and criminals, allow him to seize his dreams, and make Warin’s sacrifice meaningful.

Bracing himself, Verus got up and changed out of his dirty and rumbled robes before leaving his room. Elder Caligo had given him instructions on how to contact him. Hopefully, he still planned on honoring his promise and wasn’t passed out drunk somewhere.

Wasting no time, Verus headed over to the administration office and wrote a message for the elder. It simply stated that he’d acquired a rare attunement and wanted to meet. One of the attendants in the office took the note without comment, leaving Verus with no idea when he’d get a response, so he decided to head over to one of the training yards and work out his anxiety. Staying in his room would be pointless, and an elder would be able to find him without a problem anyway.

Upon reaching the training yard, Verus began going through a martial art form that involved a series of graceful punches and kicks. As he moved, he closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. Inner peace was elusive though. Too much had happened, and he was still a storm of emotions. Grief and fear were paramount. Although he was channeling them to drive him forward now, he was still far from comfortable.

Verus let out a deep sigh and opened his eyes, only to be startled by the sight of a robed man standing right in front of him. Panicking, he stumbled and ended tripping over his own feet in an undignified manner.

The dark haired elder snorted disdainfully as Verus picked himself off the ground. This was definitely Elder Caligo. His unkempt looks and sunken eyes were distinct among all the elders. Usually they went to great lengths to appear regal and dignified. Elder Caligo gave off the impression that he was too tired to care what anyone thought.

Verus supressed his irritation and gave the man a quick polite bow. “Apologies, I didn’t expect you to come to me. I was thinking you’d send a servant to summon me, elder”

“I’m not someone who enjoys wasting time on unnecessary pomp and ceremony. With my power, it takes me but a few moments to reach you. Sending a servant would take far longer, and I want to get this foolishness over with. Now, what’s this about finding an attunement? I’d almost forgotten about that stupid promise you’d fooled me into making. You’d better not be lying,” Elder Caligo said as he peered at Verus suspiciously.

In response, Verus held up an open palm and summoned as much void ki as he could. The translucent energy rose up like thin shimmering steam. A frown appeared on the elder’s face as he leaned down to study it.

“Void,” the disciple announced proudly.

“Huh, you weren’t lying after all. That is a rare attunement,” the elder remarked as he straightened back up.

“Does that mean you’ll honor me with a cultivation technique,” Verus asked hopefully.

Rather than answer immediately, Elder Caligo chuckled darkly first. “No.”

The bottom dropped out of Verus’s stomach. “What, why not?”

Apparently, enjoying Verus’s reaction, the elder chuckled again. “I’m afraid your attunement is too rare. I don’t know of any cultivation techniques that would work for that sort of ki.”

“Surely you could get a cultivation technique from someone else or perhaps from a library,” Verus suggested desperately. Why did everything always go wrong for him!

“No, when I said I don’t know of any cultivation technique that would work with this void ki, as you call it, I was being literal. I’ve never even heard of a cultivator of such ki. I doubt any of the great sects on this world have a single cultivation technique for it.”

“How could that be possible? I have it!” Verus blurted out. He could barely contain his anger now. This was just too much.

Elder Caligo rolled his eyes. “How? The odd thing is that you have the attunement, not that others don’t. From what I know, it’s usually only rarely found in spirits. What you call void ki is the frequency of ki associated with emptiness and nothing. People are made from the exact opposite of that! Spirits don’t have a physical body, but you do. Thus, I have no idea how you managed to acquire this attunement. Perhaps it’s a long dormant bloodline of some sort, but regardless, I have no cultivation technique for you nor any way of acquiring one.”

Verus wasn’t going to take this setback lying down. Not anymore. Not after everything that had happened. He glared angrily at the elder instead of backing down. “You promised me a cultivation technique. Are you saying you’re incapable of fulfilling your side of the bargain?”

“Ha! You’re lucky I’m even bothering with an outer disciple like you.”

Verus simply kept glaring until the elder threw up his hands. “Alright! Fine, let me think. There might be something I can do, you impudent whelp. Don’t let anyone say that I don’t keep my word.”

Verus relaxed a little as he let Elder Caligo think for a few moments.

“There are a few cultivation techniques that work with many different types of ki. One of them might work for you.”

“Generally, those are focused around human ki and are considered weak,” Verus pointed out.

Elder Caligo gave him a look. “They’re better than nothing.”

Standing firm and being aggressive seemed to be working, so Verus stuck with it. “Not if they don’t work. Didn’t you just go on about how void ki is different! Wouldn’t it operate poorly with a technique centered around human ki? I’d only accept such a technique if you could prove it would actually work.”

“What are you going to do, cry? Bah, how did a nobody like you get so picky?” The gloomy elder huffed and looked to the side as if considering something. “I suppose I could make some enquiries. Give me a moment.”

The elder than used some sort of movement technique to disappear into thin air, leaving Verus alone. He hadn’t just been abandoned, had he? Could he do anything if he had been? Probably not.

Verus stood in the training yard by himself for almost half an hour. He considered leaving, but really he had nowhere else to be.

Thankfully, Elder Caligo reappeared soon after that. He looked annoyed as he studied Verus. “You’re lucky my master isn’t currently in closed cultivation. I was able to converse with her and she seemed interested by your ability to use void ki. She is a collector of the esoteric.”

Verus flinched. The master of an elder could only be a great elder! Things had suddenly escalated to an unimaginable degree. Normally, such a powerful cultivator would never become aware of the existence of someone as lowly as him. He’d never even caught a glimpse of someone on that level before. It was said great elders were thousands of years old and could spend centuries in closed cultivation as they gathered the immense energy needed to ascend through the higher Realms. It was also rumored they could kill with a look and had shed normal human emotions long ago.

Elder Caligo nodded in satisfaction as he saw Verus’s reaction. “Good, it seems you understand the gravity of the situation. Don’t think you can talk back to my master as you would me.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Verus quickly replied.

“Very well then. Follow me,” Elder Caligo said as he began walking away. He took a swig from his ever-present canteen as he moved.

“If I may ask, where are we going?”

“To the one of the archives. There are some things there I’ve been sent to collect. Now, be silent and don’t fall behind.”

Verus did as he’d been told, and soon the elder led him out of the outer disciple section of the temple and into one of the areas that was normally restricted to him. The young disciple looked around with interest as they moved. Here there were many buildings he’d never seen before, including several that sat on floating islands of rock. There didn’t seem to be any way up to them, so Verus supposed that the elders simply jumped. They also passed several large wells that were ringed by glyph covered stones. Steady strong winds blew up out of the wells, carrying large amounts of wind ki. There had to be a wind font below the temple somewhere.

Aside from sect servants in green livery, there were also some elders around. They gave Verus a few looks, which made him feel uncomfortable, but they didn’t approach. Elder Caligo’s presence was enough to assure them that he belonged.

Eventually, the pair arrived at a building made of heavy stone blocks. It was strong but simple looking, with only a few slit windows. It was also quite small, barely larger than a normal house. After seeing the disciple library, Verus had been expecting an archive for elders to be even more fortified, but he’d also expected it to be much bigger. It looked more like a vault than a full library.

As they neared the entrance, Verus noticed a pair of stone statues on either side of the doors. They were shaped like warriors in heavy scale armor and standing like they were guarding the building. They were rather plain, so Verus’s eyes moved past them to study the thick wooden double doors of the archive, but then the statues moved. Their heads turned to look at the two approaching visitors. Startled, Verus froze for a moment.

Somehow, Elder Caligo noticed his reaction and turned to grin in amusement at him. “Don’t worry about the statues. They’re simple constructs made of stone and empowered by glyph-wrought commands, nothing special. Such toys are only good for standing in one spot, because moving wears them down and consumes far too much ki for them to be practical. Really, they’re just for show.”

“Can they fight?” Verus asked as he resumed walking.

“Not well enough to justify their costs, but they're certainly enough to squash a trespassing disciple,” the elder replied with a snort as he walked past them and pushed the doors open.

The statues watched Verus as he followed Elder Caligo inside but didn’t move anything other than their heads. A moment later, he was past them and had entered the building. Before him was a long hallway lit by light crystals. The walls and floor were both made from solid stone blocks, like the outside. It gave the place an empty and forbidding feeling that was reinforced by the echoing sound of their footsteps.

There were a few iron reinforced doors along both sides of the hallway, but the elder ignored them and headed right for a stairwell at the end of the hallway. Looking over the edge, Verus saw a spiraling stone staircase that went down over a hundred feet, revealing why the building was so small. It was mostly underground.

The pair descended until they reached the sixth level of the basement. There was a solid-looking metal door sealing off the floor, but a wave of the elder’s hand caused it to swing open with a heavy thud.

“Follow right behind me, and don’t touch anything!” the elder ordered in a serious tone as he walked through the door. “Almost everything in here is deadly.