“Now tell me about your cultivation method. Each stage requires new and more complex techniques to advance. How far will the method you’ve been given take you?”

“Manu said as I grew it would reveal new insights to me. I have started to understand new lessons as I meditated last night, but I feel it will take some time to grasp it all.

“Before I formed my core, I learnt to take in Ki and direct it carefully as the guide showed me. Now though, anything I draw in is pulled to the core, and while I can feel Ki moving in my body, it is without control. Honestly, it feels like a setback in regards to my control.”

“You will need to tell me more about the method you are using. I hesitate to offer you a sect method if what you have is already superior. Perhaps the sect can gain from what you have. What about arts and the dao?”

“I’m not sure what you mean."

“Does this divine guidance offer you arts or insights into the dao?” Asha could see the words meant nothing to him.

“Perhaps I should start at the beginning. The Path has three pillars. The first is cultivation, Which is the absorption of Ki from the environment. Then storing and converting it into a form you can use. The second pillar is the arts. These are the methods of using the Ki within you. Displays of power and combat. The third pillar is understanding or insight into the Dao. By meditating upon the mysteries of the universe, you may use these insights to enhance your arts, either strengthening or altering them.

“ Until now, your work at the Forge was enough to count as an art to pull any energy out of you as you worked. However, you will need a proper art now that you have advanced. From the confusion you showed, I assume Manu did not give you any arts appropriate to your levels.

“No, Master. At least they remain hidden if he did. But from his words, I think he gave me what he felt would give me a chance at life. If I were to guess, I was given knowledge of only the first pillar.”

“It would be too much to expect more. You are absurdly strong for a boy that crossed into mist stage. Though I cannot tell if that is due to your method or the years you held back progress.

“You can sense my strength? And it’s impressive?” Quan grinned.

“You are also absurdly weak for a young man of 15 who walks the path, so do not get overproud,” Asha said. “Can you not sense the strength of others around you?”

“Sense how? Do I get a spider-sense?”

“Why would you want to sense spiders?” Asha gestured to Lo Ren. “Try to sense her. How does her power compare to yours?”

Quan moved his attention to the girl, but nothing came to him but what he could see and hear after several minutes. Seeing his failure, Asha stood.

“I can see this will be a steeper learning curve than I feared. You have perfected one thing while remaining ignorant of everything else. Tonight while you meditate on the day and your Ki, try to extend your sense beyond your body and feel the life around you.”

She turned to Lo Ren and said, “when you run in the mornings, you will instruct him in the things he needs to know. Treat him like you would the youngest child that knows nothing of the world yet.” With that, she left to her own rooms.

The next few days followed the same routine. Each morning Lo Ren, another of Chiro’s children, would run him ragged while patronizingly educating him on the basics of Sect life and the world beyond. The Wild Rose sect was not very large, with only a few hundred members, twenty masters and three elders. Asha was the youngest master and one of only two female masters. Lo Ren served under Yin Lo along with all the other young ladies in training. The Wild Rose was part of the greater school of the Rose, with many sects of various sizes spread throughout the country. Quan took many details with a large dose of skepticism as she spoke of cities of millions and empires that were thousands upon thousands of years old. The level of technology could not support such large cities and nations as she described. He knew earth historians often denied the sizes of contemporary accounts.

Quan spent the rest of the day in a rigid repetition of stances and movements under Asha’s watchful eye. Whenever she thought him ready, she would add new complexity to the poses and movements. He recognized his training's basic idea from things like tai chi on earth, though the movements were unique. He also began to see hints of humour and personality beneath the strict Master mask Asha wore.

Instead of Lo Ren, Asha was waiting for him as he came out for his morning run on the seventh day. “Your trial week ends today. If you wish to continue training after today, you will not lose sight of me.”

Before Quan could even bow and reply, she was off running. In the last week, he had improved greatly, far more than he had any real right to without the Ki in his body. He soon realized Asha was setting a much faster pace than Lo Ren had. He was struggling to keep up. As the end of two hours came near, he realized they were nowhere near her villa, and she intended to run much longer.

He pushed on, too stubborn to fail. Asha began yelling at him to push on his Ki if he wished to keep going. Quan could feel the energy in his core, but he had no idea how to do as she said. He tried to concentrate on his core for a moment and nearly face-planted as he tripped on uneven ground. With a grimace, he set out trying to pay attention to his inner workings while maintaining enough awareness of the world around him.

The effort temporarily distracted him from his aching muscles. After about fifteen minutes and only a few more stumbles, he was able to see both the mountain path and his core at once. Still, that didn’t help him close the widening distance between Asha and himself. He could see the core pushing energy out the length of his limbs where it was greedily drunken up by burning muscles. He noticed that the flow was no different than when he meditated at night. Surely it should speed up during times of use, much like a heart rate? It took nearly another thirty minutes of running agony, but finally, he found the knack of cycling ki in and out of sore muscles and organs. His muscles grew invigorated, his lungs felt free again, and he started to pick up speed as he chased the white-robed figure ahead of him. After running like that for ten minutes, he found Asha waiting for him.

“That is enough. You do not want to burn out your infant core. We will walk the rest of the way.” Asha gestured for him to walk beside him and offered a water skin she held. After he drank his fill, she vanished the water bottle in a way he couldn’t understand. “I have a small spatial treasure.” She said, noticing his shock.

“Let’s talk honestly. Your test is over. I will take you as a student if you wish. My brother and I have discussed how to manage your time.” Elation filled Quan, but before he could reply, Asha continued, “However, there are things you should hear before you accept. You will be my first student, in part because I am a new master, but also because I am a woman that refuses to practice the womanly arts.”

Quan understood instantly. It would have been impossible to spend so many years in this world and not see a sexism level that would appal any modern mindset on earth. Still, he asked, “what are the womanly arts?”

“Ribbon dancing, song and dance, various instruments are the main courses with some variation. Lo Ren is a fantastic ribbon dancer.” Asha said.

“So they are performers instead of combatants?”

“There is power in what they do, comparable even to traditional combat arts if they reach a strong enough level.”

Quan considered her words, “So they don’t mind if you achieve power, but you need to be pretty and desirable while doing so?” A touch of derision in his voice.

“That is blunter than they would say but yes.” She replied with a slight grin at his tone. Then she waited to see if he’d see the challenges ahead.

After another minute of silent walking, Quan spoke, “So someone agreed to teach you the ways of weapons, and you achieved master rank. Excelling like that must piss off some traditionalists. Thus, no boy, or at least his parents, has agreed to be taught by a woman, and the current girls are heavily pressured only to consider traditional arts.

“Being your first student, I will be watched and judged as a reflection of you. Challenged and perhaps ridiculed.”

“I can handle some juvenile bullying, one advantage of being older than I appear. I suppose I have just one question if you will answer honestly.”

“Will having you as my master hold me back?”

“It is possible you could get accepted by another master. Some may even try and steal you away when they learn you are with me. You would be the least of their disciples, though, and I know of none that would allow you to serve two masters as we propose.”

“Is it really so insane to try and do both?”

“Yes, even though we reach for immortality, the younger years are always most formative. Honestly, Chiro and I expect you to choose one path or the other to be free from the unbearable workload we have planned. The family has started a betting pool on which path you choose and how long it will take.”

“Is anyone betting on me lasting?”

She shook her head slightly.

“Challenge accepted."