"You are supposed to be practicing," Asha said as she walked up to the edge of the sparring yard. Quan had his arm stretched out, and out of nowhere, a glove appeared under his hand and then fell to the ground.

"I am practicing." Quan said. "Just a different skill," as he bent and made the glove vanish again.

"Oh?"

"The armour, as great as it is, takes two people and half an hour to get on." Quan complained. "So if I take it into the trial, which you tell me will take several days, do I sleep in it?"

"Obviously not," he continued, "Then it occurred to me I can summon the sword we have been working with right into my hand from the ring. So I wondered if I could summon the armour already on."

"Your ring is on your hand. That's why it works." Asha explained as if he were a dummy.

Quan held out both his hands. The ring clearly on his left hand, and the sword appeared in his dominant right hand, "Different hands, or I'd agree with you."

"Still not worth your time. Armour is not something most cultivators bother with. Unless you invest a great deal, it does not grow in power as a weapon can. Spiritual armour is unheard of. Your body will soon be stronger than the armour." Asha informed him. "Normally, armour is for those that don't expect to advance past their stage, or perhaps in times of war."

"Why did Master Chiro make me a full set then?"

"Ask him yourself. He never told me ahead of time."

Asha unsheathed her own blade and set herself to challenge him. Quan positioned himself to do the same. His sword raised, it was now a simpler sword, steel with a slight hint of blue, but no runes or aura came from it.

After a moment's observation of his form and the blade, she nodded. "Begin."

Quan quickly took the initiative and tried for a quick head strike that was easily deflected, and Asha struck back. On the third such pass, Stormcutter revealed itself. Its full aura burst forth. Runes appeared on the blade, one glowing and lightning danced along its edge.

"Reset," Asha said calmly. They'd been working on this for a couple of days now. Quan had been able to connect enough to get the sword to hide its true appearance, but once it started fighting, all pretense was gone.

Quan stepped back and calmed the sword. It wasn't intelligent in that they could talk in words. It was more of sending feelings and developing empathy to work together. When the sword resumed its disguise, Asha quickly said, "Begin."

"Aren't we supposed to be working on aura control?" He asked as he moved forward.

"Not until you've cleared your meridians."

"I have. The program says 100%.'

"A broken program. It is wrong. I can feel you are at the very edge. Reset. Keep working on the exercises. You'll know when you're done. Begin."

Quan swung in frustration, "Can I ask a couple of questions that have been piling up in my mind?"

"I'm amazed there is room for more questions. Go ahead. Reset."

"I am still the very last ranked member of the sect, for over a year."

"That will change dramatically after the contest. Begin."

"Good, but not the point I wanted to bring up. Where are all the new recruits?"

"It has been a bit unusual for no children to come of age in the sect, but there are a few joining soon. Reset."

"Sect children."

"Yes. Begin."

"Where are the town children or farmers or anyone outside the sect? I discovered on my trip that there are no outside kids in the entire group except me."

"Reset." Asha gave a puzzled look as she talked. "That may be true. I haven't looked."

"I don't know why or how, but I think something strange is going on."

"Begin."

"When I first came, you mocked me for not knowing about the 100 gold my father earned in compensation for taking me. I asked him later, but he didn't know either."

"I don't think you understand how massive 100 gold is to the poor people. There should be a line of 12-year-old boys coming to be tested."

"Reset. The sect doesn't test them. The local town or city governor does. He pays out the gold. Begin."

"I don’t think they are offering it anymore and haven’t been for long enough that people have forgotten about it. At best, they aren’t advertising it in any way. That’s hurting membership. All those huts for new members lay empty. You must have had more recruits in the past.”

“Reset.” Asha frowned as she considered his words. “It seems unlikely that we just never noticed till you showed up, but it’s hard to deny the signs when you point at them. Begin.”

“A gradual change would go unnoticed over a long period of time. I think it might be part of a larger trend. Or I’ve taken one issue and embellished it into a grand conspiracy.”

“Reset.” Asha watched as he reset, just a bit faster every time as he slowly gained more control with the sword. “I’m going to regret this, but what’s your larger picture? Begin.”

Quan struck forward twice in quick succession, trying to get past Asha’s guard as he considered how to explain his thoughts. As he pushed ki into his arms to block a strike, he suddenly lost control of his Ki, and it burst forth from his meridians. He quickly took a step back from the fight as his body trembled. The last of the material blocking his meridians had finally pushed out. It was like an ear you didn’t know was plugged, popping. Suddenly his body was alive as energy flowed freely, and a feeling of ecstasy sweep through his body and limbs. The stream of Ki was now a flowing river with nothing to impede its flow. He pranced around as energy danced through his body, he circulated his Ki, and the flow and power he could bring to bear was night and day.

“Congratulations, you are now a true cultivator,” Asha said formally. “Your infancy is over. You have managed to catch up to your peers, doing in two years, what took most of them four or even five.” Asha gestured to a servant to bring tea and snacks to the side table as she motioned to Quan to follow her.

“Every cultivator at this stage can live to 100 with little loss of vitality and life. The warrior stage you are now in has five levels. Each level will extend your life by around 200 years and see a growth in strength and speed. This is sometimes called the body perfection stage.”

“That sounds like what I’ve been doing already.” Quan said.

“In many ways, it is. I’ve heard some sects don’t consider you capable until after this stage. You will find that your Ki feeds your body much more directly now. You have a head start with your foundation of body cultivation, and you should do very well in this stage or I will be very disappointed in our hard work.”

“You will also find that you may begin manifesting elements you are most in tune with and gaining minor insights into the dao.

"Can you explain the dao better?"

"The dao is your understanding of the universal truths. I work with air as one of my elements. The dao of air is itself too immense to comprehend at once, so to begin with, we work on aspects that eventually combine to a greater truth. For instance, one of my insights is into the dao of flow, the never-ending movement of air as it flows from one stage to the next. I feel that truth in my soul and enhance my arts with it. The dao is a truth you have utter faith in your soul about. When you have such a dao, you can apply it to your arts and enhance them in ways that reflect your understanding. It is one way two people with the same art can have very different results. No one achieves the same dao as another, as it is unique to you and your perception."

"Physics for the Soul." Quan mused.

“I would be a poor teacher, not to inform you that at this point, you also have new options available to you,” Asha said reluctantly.

“Obviously, you can continue with the sect, grow and learn all you can. Some choose to wander, taking to the roads to see what opportunities await them or find a sect more to their liking. There is also the secular path. The army is always in need of young warriors. They will help nurture your fighting. As you grow in rank, many nations will offer you land or titles as well. Here on the outskirts, you are already guaranteed a position of head guard or captain of some unit if you wished. The further to the center of the empire you go, the harder it is to impress with your cultivation. Some kingdoms are ruled entirely by cultivators granted rank and land, based on their stage. I obviously hope you will remain as we have invested much time and effort into you.”

"Now go meditate on your channels and begin the aura exercise I showed you. We start again tomorrow. From there, the Founders challenge. "