Jessica had taken the afternoon to work through and rewrite her path manual. Under the watchful eye of two of her scouts, she ventured right outside of the gate to find suitable things to punch and train on. There were a good amount of boulders and trees and before she started breaking trees indiscriminately, she chopped some wood for fires. The rhythmic motions as she chopped pieces of log for use put her at ease. Move wood. Chop. Split. Pile it up. She was holding back her qi deliberately. At any time she could have chopped with her hands, rather than the axe she'd sheepishly borrowed. She didn't. That wasn't her purpose. Working up a sweat would have been nice but that eluded her. It was as if she was trying to visualize sweat glands that had given up. Oh, they were there, just on strike. She was going to have to make it happen. There was a neat pile of logs next to her when the first trickle of sweat dripped down her brow. Pausing to wipe her face, she noted that the stack was taller than she was. Jessica grabbed as many logs as she could and carried them into the Sect. The students were told in no uncertain terms that she was not to be bothered. That had gone out through ANN, the Auntie News Network, and she was pleased to see that no one approached her. She brought the pile up to her war room, placing the pile next to it. Lest the students forget that sometimes you had to do it yourself, she smiled back at the two closest aunties. They had set up a Mahjong table next to the elevated war room, and steam leaked over it. Down from the training area, two more aunties were approaching, making a matched pair. Jessica walked back to the pile of logs. Grabbing another pile, she hefted it into a now-familiar position. It wasn’t heavy- it was bulky- but she settled into her carry. Another bead of sweat passed over her left eye. As soon as she got back in through the rock entryway, she saw one of the aunties running after an initiate with a frying pan. Their path of travel took them out of the cafeteria. She smiled. She was told that from junior cultivators and up they didn't require food as much. Something about that core made it unnecessary. She kept up appearances and had samples of all the food, but this one was probably asking for seconds or something. Her decision to keep the aunties in charge of the food detail had borne fruit. The quality of the rice alone was worth it. Somehow among the aunties, there was a pair that had learned how to infuse the rice, to enrich it with qi. To Jessica, it just tasted a bit like extra Sriracha, but it was working its magic on some of her younger initiates. The auntie, a predator of the cafeteria, finally caught the initiate smacking his bottom with a pan. Then just as abruptly, she left, turning on a heel. It was probably a minor disciplinary action, but the initiate was definitely an actor of some sort. Jess resumed her carry, unloading the pile next to the rest. Taking care not to disturb the now heated game of Mahjong, she jumped back over the wall from the center of the school. Her landing was far gentler than any aunties' disciplinary actions. A puff of snow shot out around her, neatly encircling the work area. After she put that pile down gently and placed them all one by one, her back started to slicken as well. One by one, she stacked the logs. The last carry-over found her finally all warmed up. She started drawing in qi focusing on making her trip easier. It already felt simple, but with the qi- it was easy. The stack of logs was empty as she returned. She would have to make more if she wanted to keep going, but Jessica was on a mission. She reached out with her spiritual sense trying to feel the qi in the nearby trees. In order to draw the qi from the tree-like Sa Kon-she would have to duplicate that technique. She replayed the movement in her mind. The damn spear connected with the qi system of the target… and… And what? Jessica was stumped, so she went into problem-solving mode. She didn’t have a tablet but she started to brainstorm possibilities. What made that spear special versus other spears? Some artisans spent their time on the spear, of course. But what else? What was the difference between a spear that could talk, over a mundane spear? It seemed to have its own dantian, so could it develop a core? And if it could develop a core, would that make it a cultivator in its own right? Or did it already have a core? She could start asking questions. Sa Kon could easily give her a bunch of cryptic answers as well. He was getting okay at evading the answers she wanted but there was a way. With her spiritual sense open, she could see her own core and she reached out, sensing the cultivators keeping a watchful eye on the outer wall. Well, that would be easier, she could start testing to see if both of their cores looked or felt the same. With a sigh, she kicked off the ground, flipping over the wall and landing next to her central war room. “Time to do the obvious thing,” She grumbled. With the tiniest amount of force, she opened the door to see Sa Kon propped up in a corner he particularly liked. He got to see the aunties play from the window. Jessica crinkled her brow. “Oh hello, mistress! Are you feeling in a stabby mood tonight mmm? Ready to spear or kabob some more delicious demons? I stand ready!” “If you won’t tell me what I want to know,” she said, her mood stoic and complacent, “Then I’m going to have to see what I can see myself.” Inside her vision, the spear was a wash of little circles, rivulets of power that coalesced in a central area near the top. "Ooooh, that tickles!" Sa Kon said. "So you can sense my nascent spirit, I see." "Did I say the wrong thing? If so I didn't mean to offend…oooh stop it you're going to make me laugh hee hee hee." The spear shook with laughter. Sa Kon, demon skewer of northern fried chicken guffawed like he was at a comedy show. And she, performing a standup set. Jessica retracted her nascent spirit. "You feel alive." "Well don't you feel alive mistress?" "I supposed that is the wrong statement. What I mean to say is that I feel that you are no different than any of my cultivators. You should have the ability to draw in qi on your own. Which begs the point- for me at least- as to what your affinity would be as a cultivator." A long silence stretched between the two. Only the faint clacking sounds of the Mahjong game interrupted their stand-off. “Is skewering things not an affinity? I dare say that it should be if not. It would be a marvelous one!” “It is not the skewering that I think is the most pressing thing you do. There’s some mechanism when you draw the qi out of the enemy, like how I draw the heat out of the air to…” “Mistress? Where are you going? Mistress? I promise I won’t bite! Oh, she’s gone bother.” Jessica grabbed three logs and jogged down to an open arena. She placed one log in the center and she sat in front of it, beginning to cycle her qi. The spear had done it in a specific way. In a way it was like a chef, taking something inedible or unpalatable, and making it easy to access for the eater. Except in this metaphor, the cultivator that wielded Sa Kon was the eater. She drew all of the heat out of the log, plunging the temperature into double digits of Kelvin. The log calcified as more flecks of cold warped it. It shrank slightly, losing some of the definition that merely being lukewarm would have given it. Fully beef jerky, Jessica tried to do the same thing except for this time, contacting the log with a lash of qi. She drew nothing out. Perhaps the thing she was drawing from had to have a foundation stage core in order for the mechanism to click in. The comparison of the two techniques side by side made her want to develop a transitional mechanism that she could teach to her students, but before she could pass on that kind of knowledge, she would have to learn it herself. And she was still practicing the cold storage technique. Each night she memorized ten pages from the library, lessons from the different paths that An Yong had said might have the most affinity with her path. Jessica shook her head and quieted her thoughts. If she could figure out a repeatable way to do the demon's work without the spear, it would make her job a lot easier. She still had the spear, so she was inclined to use it. When you have a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. Fa Za nodded to the junior disciple. He’d asked for one of them to make the trip from his home school while he took his leave of absence. The Cold Steel school really needed his lectures. Especially some of the children loved to hear him speak. “Pursuant to your inquiry elder, we were able to bring the package you asked for. You will be able to set it up easily, or we can fix it up for you.” For the longest time, the Junior disciple sat there awaiting his command. “That will be all. Have it placed over…” Fa Za Gestured to the training grounds closest to the exit to Frost Haven, “There should be fine. Then you may return.” “At once elder.” Fa Za flew over, taking the short hop as an opportunity to showcase his skills. None of the aunties responded. He didn’t grumble as he approached the package taking care to remove the seals gingerly. A large box unfolded in front of him, extending to a room the size of a house. Then Fa Za cycled his qi through the front door, as the ceiling stretched, popping into a second, third all the way to a seventh floor. Black metallic bars and wisps of shadow smoke surrounded the new structure. It dwarfed the school grounds as Jessica fumed down to see what the fuss was. White-robed initiates all turned to watch as the tower menaced. “Fa Za, what is the meaning of this?” Her beautiful face was incredulous. “Why, Elder Jessica, I wanted to give you a gift that any lady cultivator would be proud of! From my holdings, I have brought a training pagoda that your students may excel in their mystical arts.” “What’s the catch?” She said, crossing her arms. Fa Za put up both hands in an arresting motion. “Now before you sic your aunties on me, this is for them, one cultivator goes in and I’ll have it set up so that your most junior initiates can access the challenge as they fight shadow beasts. I can show you how to fix it up, should you wish?” Jessica was wary, and Fa Za noticed that a few drops of sweat floated down her face as she narrowed her eyes.