The disciple emerged from the ball of water, coughing and sputtering. Mud streamed from his chin and clumped in his hair. A moment later, Elder Zun’s qi flared and a sudden gust of heat turned the water into vapor. The losing disciple collected himself and bowed to his opponent. The older girl returned his gesture before she resumed her place in the crowd of disciples ringing the sparring circle. The loser followed a moment later.

I regarded the mud, impressed at his creativity for trying to trap air in a clay construct to avoid being drowned. The water’s pressure had been too high, though, despite its small volume. Well, making water apply pressure had to be easy.

While the Elder praised the victor, I ruminated on the way qi of different affinities played into and made techniques. There were both conceptual and physical factors. After all, how else would you even get a ‘nature’ type, or commonly use light to bolster people’s morale? That was hardly an inherent property of the thing. It was probably due to some ‘collective subconscious’, but also the actor’s own beliefs. Understanding how your affinity worked correlated with your power, and constituted a big part of why “enlightenment” was such a big deal. That was why I’d advanced so quickly — a lifetime’s worth of knowledge and conceptions about light, darkness and natural laws in general.

The elder clapping his hands broke my train of thought. “On to the next spar. Inner disciple Han against disciple Leri.”

The ambient volume plummeted. I ignored the stares and stepped forward until I stood just inside the border of stones marking out the sparring circle. At the same time, I started cycling, pushing light qi into a diffuse aura around me, preparing to activate one of my best techniques. Light’s Speed. One Mother had created, while the old Inaris had adapted it into a version I’d further improved. A simple buff to your speed. Natives might be surprised, but what could be faster than light? I’d been tinkering with other things, but I wouldn’t reveal my trump cards, especially since they weren’t even ready.

My opponent stepped into the ring as well. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, but could be older, and had the strength of someone in the middle of the fourth stage. I don’t think I’ll beat him, but at least he’s stronger than me by enough that losing shouldn’t damage my reputation if I put up a good fight.

Over the last few days, I’d participated a bit and managed to hold my own against two people at my level, although I wasn’t sure if they’d given it their all. But the serious look on Han’s face and the way he gathered his Earth-affinity qi let me know I wouldn’t get any freebies here. We bowed to each other.

The elder nodded at us. “Begin!”

I took off. A moment later, a boulder crashed into the ground where I’d been standing. From my opponent’s expression, he hadn’t expected my speed, and he tried to reorient himself.

I took the chance to dart in and throw a few jabs. The first took him in the shoulder, but he barely moved back, and the rest failed against a covering of brown qi he’d raised. He tried to retaliate, and I backed away, narrowly dodging a qi-enhanced kick.

All of this went so quickly a normal human wouldn’t have been able to distinguish our movements. I circled around the ring. It was quite large, but not enough to let us really cut loose. While I had the speed advantage, his defenses were strong.

I dodged around the ring for a bit more, trying to get a feel for his movements. Like in previous spars, I planned to let my body worry about the actual moves and concentrate on the strategy. It meant I fought half on autopilot all the time, but that couldn’t be helped. I only had a yellow belt in a single martial art on Earth.

After half a second of this dance, the Earth rumbled. I jumped, my enhanced qi carrying me all the way to the center of the ring. Behind me, I could feel chasms opening and pillars shooting out. I dodged a strike and tried to retaliate with one of my own, but he moved and it glanced uselessly off his flank.

I turned his shadow into chains to buy me some time while I disengaged. I might be able to wear him down, but he had more qi than me. My dantian contained mostly light qi presently, so I couldn’t use many darkness techniques. But I had to do more than dodge around the ring until I exhausted myself, if I wanted to keep up my image.

Another covering of earth qi grew on my opponent and he destroyed my chains, gathering more qi for another attack.

I cycled more qi, pushing it out and forming it into loose balls of light. While I dodged another throw, I made darkness snap around myself, letting my presence vanish into its concealment. I couldn’t hide my qi signature completely, but I tamped it down until it was the strength of the decoys, who I’d set to flitting around the ring. They were little more than light qi with the vague shape of a girl, but I copied their movements, hiding among them.

One of them approached him from behind, gathering speed. My opponent jumped aside just in time and I let it curve back around at the same time another one attacked. I couldn’t keep this up for long, my core was already half empty, but he’d spent a lot, too. For every illusion that attacked, he had to assume it contained a full attack and guard against it.

So I sent two of them at him and watched as he raised an earthen wall around himself, obscuring him from my sight. I pulled back the attacks a little, spinning them to come from different angles.

The wall exploded. I tried to evade, but clumps of stone smashed into my constructs, the qi contained in them disrupting their structure.

At the same time, my opponent reappeared. I sensed his presence a split-second before he charged out of the cloud of dirt. I tried to dodge, but I hadn’t kept up my speed buff. An Earthen wall slammed out of the ground in front of me, and I only just managed to vault it.

The wall shot up. Just as I was flying over it, it hit me. I tried to correct my trajectory, but the air offered no purchase. The disciple came to a halt at the edge of the ring just as I slammed into the ground, a meter outside.

I shook my head and levered myself up. The impact hadn’t hurt more than jumping onto a mat, but I had to flick a few strands of hair out of my eyes.

Silence had overtaken the courtyard. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the tension in the spectators’ postures. But I wasted no time in turning toward the victor and offering a bow. It wasn’t excessively deep, but on the level of the one I’d give the elder.

“Thank you for your valuable pointers, senior Han. That was a good fight, and a clever finishing move.”

Everyone seemed to release their pent-up breath at once. The disciple bowed back right away. “It was my honor.”

I smiled again, just to demonstrate I wasn’t upset. No one needed to fear a grudge that would ruin their career. Good thing I know how to lose. Hopefully, that makes it clear I expect them to fight seriously. I need to learn.

The elder recaptured their attention, and I moved off to watch the rest of the fights. No one came within three meters of me, but I’d gotten used to that. The fights made up for it. I usually sparred against older disciples, many of them inner disciples, because of my stage. These people all had fighting experience and it showed. While there was little in the way of more clever tricks, the fluidity and finesse of their techniques matched their brutal efficiency. Some of the fights devolved into beatdowns at the end, and the elder even had to call off someone. The disciple had beaten his rival even after it became clear he’d fallen unconscious, and I’d bet there were some internal injuries in addition to all the broken bones. A healer moved in and carried the loser off.

After the fights, most stayed in the area to train on their own, but I didn’t linger. I didn’t want people watching my fumblings, and didn’t have a partner to train with. So I walked away, trying to decide where to go. The library beckoned, or I could do some formations training, or even explore the sect a little more.

Soon, the other disciples walked off to their own destinations, and I found myself alone on a path winding between a small grove of trees and a pond further up the hill, with a good view of the sect. I paused to watch it.

After a moment, I spoke. “San Hashar, can you hear me?”

A slight rustle answered, and when I turned around, I found the soldier standing beside the trees. She cupped her hands. “You called for me, Princess?”

Well, that answers that. I shrugged. “How are things going? Any problems?”

“Nothing serious. The elders are not pleased with our security measures, but they don’t object too strongly. We’ve had no perimeter breaches or suspicious activity outside. None of the disciples seem to pose any threat.”

I didn’t want to know how they assessed threat. “Good.” Then I paused as a thought struck me. “Actually, since you’re here. What did you think about my fight?”

“It was a valiant struggle, Your Highness.”

I snorted. “Which I lost. Seriously. Be brutally honest, please.”

She raised an eyebrow and paused for a moment before speaking. “I saw that you expected not to win. That was your first mistake.”

“Hmm. But I was outmatched, wasn’t I?”

“Perhaps. Knowing your limits and estimating your chances realistically is important. But a fighter still needs confidence. Without trust in yourself and determination to prove it right, how will you fight at your full potential?”

I nodded, knowing she had a point. “Fair. Anything else?”

“Your lack of experience hampers you. While your tactic may have been clever, it could not have worked. Your opponent was in the middle part of the fourth stage, with senses superior to yours. Your effort at hiding was doomed to fail.”

I rubbed my temple. “So he played along enough to let me think it had worked until he countered. That’s embarrassing. Thank you for your analysis, San Hashar.”

“Of course. Is there anything else you require, Your Highness?”

“Do you anticipate any trouble going forward? How about if I leave the sect?”

She cocked her head a little. “Nothing specifically, though we are wary. The town has been cleared, so it should be safe enough with a reasonable contingent of guards. I would advise against going into the wilderness, as its beasts can be unpredictable.”

I blinked. Of course. The nearby town, Pekasa. I didn’t even think about that. “Disciples go to the town regularly, right?”

“Occasionally, though only those who have reached the third stage are permitted to leave, and they are not allowed to stay outside the sect longer than a day.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Not a problem. I’ll be going to the town now. Make whatever preparations you need, but I’d prefer to go alone.”

“As you wish.” San Hashar bowed, then vanished again.

I fed a bit of qi into my spatial ring, taking out a few things to check that I had everything I might need before putting them back inside. Then I took off for the sect’s gates at a fast pace, arriving a minute later.

The guards, two disciples in a small hut beside the main gate, politely questioned me on my destination and reminded me of the time limit, but let me through without a problem. I started walking, taking a look at the sky to gauge the weather. A few clouds, but otherwise nice. The sun would start setting in about an hour, so I could spend a nice evening in town.

The path reminded me a bit of roman roads. It cut in a straight line through meadows and the forest’s outskirts. The town wasn’t far, and even without pushing myself, I could be there in ten minutes. But first, I looked for a nice spot on the way to refill my qi a bit.

Soon, I was sitting on a hill beside the road, letting the sun warm my face. Birds sung in the trees, their melodies alien yet able to relax me a bit. I sank into meditation, cycling qi. Behind me, an outcropping of boulders threw deep shadows, and I pulled in some of the darkness gathering there, too.

Something disturbed me, a prickle against my senses that broke through my meditation. I opened my eyes and tried to pinpoint its source, but I couldn’t find anything. My qi was restless, my mind on alert, but there was nothing to grab on to. I channeled qi into my eyes, ears and even my nose, trying to chase it down. The birdsong and occasional rustle of leaves sharpened, but all the noises belonged here. I smelled the forest, the road and a few animals, nothing suspicious. My sight sharpened and I stood up and swept my gaze over my surroundings. Nothing had changed from before, had it?

There. I caught it in the corner of my eyes. When I tried to focus, I saw a blur floating over the sky, towards the horizon. I couldn’t make out any details, didn’t even know if it was a physical object or if I was just seeing qi. A few moments later, it grew too distant to make out.

I remained alert for a bit, but nothing happened. The prickle didn’t come back. Since I hadn’t heard from the guards, it was probably nothing important, maybe just a strong beast flying over us. I considered calling for them, but I didn’t want to appear spooked by nothing. And if it was a serious concern, they probably needed to focus without me distracting them, anyway.

Still, I picked up the pace a bit as I continued on my way to the Pekasa. I could already see the town, and with a bit of qi strengthening my legs the walls soon loomed over me. They were several meters tall, built of stone that appeared coated in qi, with two gates set into them that I could see. The stone was very smooth and regular, like concrete, although the actual bastion and gates looked like those of a medieval city or castle wall. I could even see the spikes of a portcullis and downward-facing holes to pour liquids through, what were they called again? It all brought back memories of the castles I’d visited on Earth, but I shook those thoughts off.

The gates stood open, and while a few third-stage cultivators in uniform guarded them, they let me through without hassle. I slowed down and entered the town, trying to take in everything.

My first impression said this was an utter mess. The houses stood mostly two or three stories tall, and looked like someone tried to cross half-timbered houses with concrete, and put sloped roofs and oriental decorations on top. The streets were cobblestone and wide enough for the crowd, but still a bit cramped. Lots of different colors assaulted my eyes, everything decorated with bright fabrics and shiny crystals or stones. I needed a moment to adjust to the clamor of a settlement after days in relative peace and quiet. At least the smell wasn’t worse than in any modern town.

I cut through the crowd easily, as everyone moved out of my way. The looks started to bother me, so I ducked into a side alley at the first opportunity, put up a dark screen and changed to some less fancy clothing I’d stored in my ring. The pants, shirt and jacket were still of good quality, but not enough to mark me as a noble. I also clamped down on my aura and dampened my qi to that of someone in the third stage.

With the new getup, I could breathe easier. People still didn’t shove or crowd me, but few spared me a second glance. So I wandered through the town, trying to take everything in.

Except for some superficial differences, it was pretty mundane. People went about their business, visited or operated stores, ate in open-air restaurants, or strolled through the small park. I guessed the place had at most twenty thousand inhabitants, a village or small town any way you looked at it. I listened to some conversations that revolved around what to buy or who was seen with whom. Even if they could carry sacks of produce around one-handed, people were still people. Most of those I saw where in the first three stages, only the occasional town guard might be in the late part of the third stage or higher.

Wait, that one seemed familiar. Wasn’t that Commoner Boy from the sect? But I only caught a glimpse of him as he went down a darkish alley. I’d just go the other way.

All in all, I spent a pleasant if boring evening in town, wandering through the streets and taking in the sights. I bought a flatbread sandwich from a street vendor and enjoyed it on the go. I hadn’t eaten anything since I arrived at the sect, so it was a nice change.

Streetlights had completely replaced natural lighting by now, and I should probably head back. I took a look around at where I’d ended up in. Clearly the seedier part of town. Most of the establishments around me let out light, music and the buzz of conversation. The music might be a little boring, mostly flutes and string instruments with simple melodies, but I’d still missed it.

The next corner over, two women in very thin dresses looked down from a balcony. When they noticed my gaze, they smiled and leaned forward, sticking out their chests. I snorted and turned away. I wasn’t that hard up.

Although … I really would like to get laid, and this is the first real opportunity I’ve had. I gazed around again, settling on one bar with more upbeat music and an inviting atmosphere, where I could see qi signatures pulsating. There are my guards, but they wouldn’t spy on private moments, would they? I hesitated, then shook my head. No, I think they’ll respect my privacy. Besides, guards will be around a long time. I’m not going to let their presence dictate my life. So I headed for the bar.