It has been over a week since I encountered Dalin. In that time, he had explained to me many things which broadened my understanding of the world. I learned about the truth behind mana, why I could not wield it, and was even introduced to the other energies.

For this week, we had been slowly making our way towards Try’s Hold, taking an indirect path so that Dalin had more time to properly ‘educate’ me, he had said. Yet now, we were finally here. I could finally see the wooden walls made of sharpened spikes. The last time I had seen this sight was before my herd had decided to attack it. But, even though it should have only been a week since the attack, I could not see any signs of a battle.

Not only that, but the atmosphere of the town was even fairly lively, showing no indication that there had been any tragic event recently. At least, that was the case until we reached the gate. One of the cursed… no, Dalin had said that they were known as variants, one of the unicorn variety strode up to meet us. While he did not pay much attention to Dalin, he did cast a heavy look to me.

“What is the reason for your presence here?” The man asked, looking directly at me as he did. It seemed clear that he did not trust me, or more specifically did not trust the non-variants. Maybe my herd really did attack…

“We simply seek shelter for a night.” Dalin’s voice sounded out from behind me before I had the chance to speak. His tone was not the same carefree one that he had been using to speak with me these last few days. Rather, it seemed to be serious, almost disappointed.

Hearing him speak up for me must have caught the guard by surprise, because he suddenly looked over at Dalin, studying him for a long moment. “Very well.” He nodded his head, backing up to the gate again. “Just don’t cause any trouble while you are here. We’ve had enough problems with people like him lately.” At that, he once against sent a pointed look in my direction.

“It’s alright.” Dalin answered, a calm smile on his face. “We won’t be here for long.” After he said that, he walked forward, motioning for me to follow behind him.

As we entered the city, I had to say that it seemed different than I had imagined. While I had seen it from a distance, my greymane had never allowed any of us to actually enter Try’s Hold in the past. But, I had always imagined it to be a peaceful place, somewhere that everyone was able to work together to push back the harshest of dangers, whether they be from monsters or nature itself.

Yet, what I saw here seemed so different. Everyone that we passed cast suspicious looks towards Dalin and I. Children were ushered into wooden huts, and I could even faintly hear people exchanging harsh words as we passed by.

“What is someone like him doing here?”

“Probably looking to cause trouble.”

“How can he even show his face here?”

The words confused me for a moment, but soon we arrived at a mostly empty stable. There didn’t seem to be anyone managing it, and so we went into one of the larger vacant stalls. Once in there, Dalin and I lowered our bodies to the floor, sitting down while he crossed his arms in front of him. He seemed to be deep in thought about something, so I could not help but ask. “Have you never been here before?”

The question seemed to catch him by surprise, as he looked over to me quickly. He appeared to be thinking about how he wanted to answer, before he gave a small sigh. “No, I was not born in the city. I came from a wandering herd, my parents normal like yourself.”

He went on to tell me how he had been cast out from his herd due to what he was. There were still the legends of Tryval killing herds for harming ‘cursed’ children, so there was no way that they would dare to kill him. Instead, when his horn began growing more apparent, he was exiled. I had to quietly wonder how long ago that had been, as he was already so powerful with magic, yet at the same time did not carry any supplies with him. Maybe he simply hadn’t come across any good trees since his exile?

“Anyways, what do you think about this city?” He asked suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Well… It isn’t what I was expecting. I had heard rumors that they were welcoming of anyone. But, I didn’t really feel very welcomed there.” I admitted, looking to the wooden walls of the stall. If anything, it seemed like they were being almost as aggressive towards me as my herd was towards them.

Dalin nodded his head at my answer. “Yes, that surprised me too. I had been hoping that we could stay here for a few days, maybe get some things that we need. At this rate, it’d be better to just leave in the morning.” He said with a sigh, shaking his head in a dejected manner.

His words caught me by surprise, though. “You intend to continue traveling together?” I had imagined that this would be where we parted ways. After all, aside from the week we traveled here, we had no real relation to one another.

He smiled at me, nodding again. “That’s right. There are still some things that I want to show you. Also, some things that I think we should do together. It is less likely that any herd will be quite as aggressive towards us if we travel together, whether they be normal or variant.”

His words did seem to hold a bit of sense to me. Besides, one of the main reasons that I had stuck with Dalin for so long was the desire to get stronger. Without my herd, there was little I could do on my own, yet the Power that Dalin had already shown me was enough to convince me that following him was a smart decision. “Okay then… what do we do next?”

Dalin’s next words surprised me. “Well, first we need to look for some more friends. Even together, our numbers are only two. Right now, the tensions between the normals and the variants are higher than ever, higher than I had even expected. If we are to continue safely, then there is a need to gather more friends, and form our own herd.”

“But… is there really a need for the fighting?” I asked, shaking my head. I didn’t really see why they had to hate each other as much as they did. I mean, we were all created in His image, so why should we hate one another for looking slightly different.

However, when I asked that, Dalin just looked at me with a small smile. “Maybe there isn’t. But, to stop it would take a lot of work.” After saying that, he closed his eyes, leaning to the side against the wall of the stall. I could tell that he was already asleep by his steady breathing. Dalin had some difficulty getting any rest during this week on the move, saying that he had never been able to get comfortable. Yet now, leaning against this wooden wall, he had fallen asleep almost immediately.

Shaking my head again, I closed my own eyes in thought. Was there really anything that I could do to stop the fighting?

In the morning, Dalin and I immediately left the stable after waking. Unsurprisingly, the gazes we received were once again filled with hostility. At the very least, I was comforted by the fact that nobody tried to stop us from leaving or attacked us. Once we were out in the plains, we picked a random direction and began our journey.

After we were out of the city, Dalin began talking again, resuming his lessons on energies. “Now, where were we. Ah, yes. I already told you how each of the four energies naturally repel each other, but really there is more to it than that.” As he spoke, I began to intently listen to his words. Each of these lessons felt like a doorway that would help me become stronger. “While the energies repel each other, it is possible for them to combine to form something greater.”

“What?” I asked, incredulous. “How does that even make sense? They cannot both combine and repel at the same time.” I said, shaking my head. Surely, Dalin was playing a trick on me at this point.

However, he only calmly smiled. I felt a small burst of energy, and then he was several lengths ahead of me without a single sound. It seemed like the running technique I had tried a couple of times with ki, yet without the accompanying thunderous noise. I didn’t even seem him cross the space, as if he had simply appeared there. “What… magic?”

When I asked that, he shook his head. “Chakra, a mix of magic and ki. It is the only combination I have found that works so far, but it is enough to prove my point, no?” He asked, and I couldn’t help but nod my head. “Good.”

After saying that, he slowed down enough for me to catch back up with him before resuming the lesson. “Now, as for the process of mixing these two energies, it won’t be particularly helpful for you, as you cannot use magic. However, understanding the process will likely help you come up with ideas of your own.”

With that, he began to explain to me how different energies merged, and a story about how he had accidentally discovered chakra. Thinking about that, I began to wonder if there were any energies that I could combine to achieve a new Power. Thankfully, there was little to worry about when traveling with Dalin, as his magic was quite strong.

Later than night, after we had stopped our daily travels, I decided to test something. A little experiment to see if I could create that new Power, using the only combination that I could think of. Magic was unavailable to me, and I could not sense spirits, so the only option I had was ki and the energy of the world, which was found everywhere in the world.

As for how I was going to combine them… I honestly did not know. Dalin had spoke of ratios to combine the energies, and the need to force them together. Yet, how could I do that? I did not even have the ability to manipulate the natural energies, let alone forcibly combine it with ki.

The only thing that I thought might be possible was to release my stored up ki into the surrounding air, and hope that it merged on its own. If it worked, that would be great. If it didn’t, I wouldn’t really lose anything, since my ki would recover after eating and sleeping.

So, following the methods that Dalin had told me, I controlled the ki in my body. After pushing it out past my skin, I focused on it, trying to feel any slight changes within the ki itself. Most of it simply seemed to vanish, but every now and then I would feel a small change and pull that portion of my ki back in.

When I was entirely done, I felt a weariness fall over me, my energy mostly depleted with my ki. Yet, I knew that what I retrieved felt slightly different from normal, which made me excited. “Ashur, what did you just do?” I heard Dalin’s voice speaking up next to me, and turned to see him looking at me curiously.

“I am not sure.” I said honestly. I did not have the intention of hiding this Power from Dalin, but at the same time I did not really know if what I did would have any effect. “Let me rest first.”

He studied me for a moment, and then nodded his head. He had apparently understood that I was low on energy at the moment, for he pulled out some edible herbs that he had gathered every now and then while we journeyed. After he handed them to me, I naturally did not refuse. We had not found any creatures that we could hunt for our dinner yet, so of course these herbs would have to do.

After our little meal, I checked my ki to find that it had recovered. Yet, part of it was still different, roughly the same amount that I had been left with after my little experiment earlier. Focusing, I decided to test out and see if this was truly any different than normal. Bringing that small amount of altered ki to my hand, I knelt my body down to bring me closer to the ground.

For some reason, this ki felt oddly warmer than normal, filling me with a sense of warmth. When I struck the ground, yellow flames erupted from my fist, which tore open a small hole in the ground. I was a bit disappointed that it did not have the destructive impact that a ki punch normally carried, but at the same time, I was excited.

Even if it was limited, this was a new Power, one that I had never seen before. And judging by the surprised expression on Dalin’s face, he had never seen it before either. “What… what was that?” He asked, his eyes seemingly shaking as he looked down at the hole beneath my fist.

“Uhm.. World Ki?” I mused, trying to give a name to what the mixture of the energy of the world and ki would be. I then explained how I had created it, which caused Dalin to grimace.

“That does not seem very useful…” He said quietly, but shook his head a moment later. “No, it would be best for you to continue training in that whenever possible. At the very least, it will let you try something new, and you can even show it off at key moments.”

Hearing that, I silently nodded my head, and once again repeated the process before we went to sleep. Like before, I found a small amount of my ki changed by this process, and decided to store it in my lower heart. As long as I kept it there, I would not accidentally waste it if I have to fight with my ki.

The next several days followed a regular pattern. Every day, we would run wherever the wind took us, stopping only to eat, sleep, or greet passing herds. Though, that last one was met with hostility more often than not, as most centaurs disapproved of Dalin’s presence. Some, I felt that they might attack if I was not there as well.

Before meals and rest, I would generally once again expel my ki to train this new ‘World Ki’, each time getting slightly more back for my trouble. I kept believing that there had to be something more to this new Power, as no Power was useless. It wasn’t until nearly two months later when something strange happened.

After resting, I once again inspected my energy, as I always did to make sure that I was in peak condition. However, at this time I was given a shock. Although I had yet to convert almost half of my ki, now that my energy had recovered with rest I found that my body was filled with this mutated energy. “Dalin!” I hastily called out, looking towards him.

In these two months, his figure had improved slightly, his muscles becoming noticeably more toned. It seemed that he was becoming a good deal stronger than he had been before we met, but he wasn’t the only one. “Yes?” He asked, looking over to me curiously.

“My world ki has changed.” I explained, telling him how it had suddenly ‘infected’ all of my ki. Contrary to my worries, though, he was only excited.

“Quickly, try a simple walking technique with it. Let’s see what it has to offer.” He urged me. Ever since that first discovery, we had avoided letting me use any world ki, due to the simple fact that it would not recover easily. Yet now, it seemed to have completely replaced my normal ki.

Under his guidance, I threaded some of this world ki through my four legs, making sure to properly reinforce my bones as I pushed more into my hooves. The last thing that I wanted was to accidentally break my leg. I had heard stories of men or women who broke their legs and had to be put down because of the immense pain that they would go through every day, even after it began recovering.

Once I felt my legs were ready, I dashed forward. I could hear something burning behind me, but I could not turn my head to look just yet. I could feel myself speeding forward, slightly faster than when I used normal ki for this. Only after ten seconds passed did I stop and look behind me.

A ten second gallop used roughly a third of my ki, and the result was clear to see. Behind me, there was a dotted trail of small yellow fires burning at the ground. Those back near Dalin had already begun to go out, leaving a charred patch of dirt. Seeing this, my excitement could only grow. Creating fire like this was something that only the variants had ever been able to do. Sure, we could create it by striking stones together, or other methods like that, but to create it from nothing like this? I felt like I had stepped into a new realm of Powers. By the time that I had returned to Dalin, a small pair of messages had appeared in front of me.

Congratulations, you have earned an Achievement!

For comprehending the laws of the Elemental Monk, you have gained the Elemental Fists achievement. +1 Wisdom, +1 Dexterity

Congratulations, you have earned an Achievement!

For being the first to comprehend the laws of an Advanced Class, you have gained the Theorist achievement. +1 Intelligence

My eyes went wide as I read these two messages. Achievements were truly rare things, and I had never actually earned one before. The only person I had ever seen who displayed an achievement title was my greymane, and he had the Winding Arrow title. He had never told me what it was for, or what it gave him, but I could tell that these two achievements would be quite helpful to me.

I could tell that Dalin was trying to say something to me, but in my excitement I could not make out what it was. I hastily opened up my Condition to see if there were any major differences. I had not checked it in several days, relying on my own senses to determine my strength. What I saw, though, gave me quite the pleasant surprise.

Name

Ashur

Race

Centaur

Life

263/263

Strength

12

Ki

88/88

Stamina

11

Intelligence

8

Dexterity

15

Wisdom

13

Luck

6

Charm

7

Power List

Archer 4

Carpenter 6

Chef 3

Herbalist 7

Hunter 4

Monk 6

Scholar 13

Scout 14

Warrior 4

Naturally, my next objective was to check my new achievements. Having a title was a mark of strength, something few people ever really received. What I saw in the message that appeared left me stunned.

Achievement

Passive

Title

Elemental Fists

+1 Wisdom, +1 Dexterity

+2 Wisdom, +1 Dexterity

Theorist

+1 Intelligence

+2 Intelligence

It took me a long moment after that before I realized that Dalin was still trying to get my attention. When he saw me looking at him, he gave a small sigh. “Okay, now can you tell me what happened?” He asked in a patient voice.

“I just… got two achievements.” I said, a wide smile on my face. He looked at me in shock, before making me tell him what each one was for, as well as what their bonuses were.

After he heard the bonuses, he seemed to sink into thought. “I think… you should pick the Elemental Fists title. Wisdom will enhance your ki, so it would only make you stronger to have that. As for Intelligence, none of your Powers rely on it.”

Following his advice, I selected my title to be Elemental Fists. From now on, whenever anyone looked at me, they would get a vague feeling regarding my title. Anyone who focused on me would hear the title in their mind, like I had done with Elter long ago. Just the thought excited me.