When the sun roused Boneroot from his meditation the next morning, he knew immediately he should have slept instead. While he had replenenished his energy reserves in their entirety, not to mention assimilating a surprising amount of ambient essence, he felt just as tired as he had the night before. Now that he was in the Orange realm, his ability to go without sleep was greatly improved, but that simply wasn’t enough to offset the grueling exertion he’d endured not eight hours ago.

The rise to a standing position yielded an unwelcome assortment of creaking and cracking. Boneroot grimaced as he remembered he’d be pushing his body to the limit once again in the day to come. Through bleary eyes under the shade of his raised hand, he looked out at their location.

He was shocked out of that bleariness by Lake Aobu. It was vast beyond belief. In front of him lay an endless sheet of pristine water that stretched out to the horizon. He wondered if someone who spent their life at this lake might think the same of visiting Sentoru forest. A surprisingly fervent sense of pride convinced him the answer was yes. However, just as he began to fully take in the serenity of its stillness, the surface was breached by a massive serpent.

Boneroot briefly admired the creature’s bright green scales catching the sunlight before realizing it was flying through the air directly at him. He could sense Kuroki in his shadow and he certainly didn’t fear for Venh’s safety, so he bolted away from the camp.

At a safe distance, however, the scene unfolding took an entirely new direction. Right behind the serpent’s glistening, airborne form, Venh himself sprung out of the water. On reinspection, the snake hurtling toward their camp was clearly dead and the cultivator responsible was clearly smug about it.

The corpse landed with a heavy thump and Venh with no sound at all. The man sauntered over to the creature and his voice called out in a level tone,

“I found breakfast!”

Though Boneroot was unamused, the words roused one little tsovar from his shadowed slumber. Slinking out from the darkness at the boy’s feet, Kuroki was filled with admiration.

“WOW! Is that a dragon?!”

“Did Felindei never show you a dragon? No, Kuroki, this is just a lake viper. Despite how they look, they rarely break out of the Red realm. Even Boneroot could take one down.”

Again with the winking. Shrugging off the slight, the boy’s mind returned to the strenuous task ahead. Suddenly, food was a very welcome sight. So, he and Kuroki crowded around the campfire where Venh was slicing, searing, and serving their meal. It had a shockingly subtle flavor, at odds with its once ferocious appearance.

Soon, though, it was time for the trio to break camp and head toward the Wei Mountains, their final destination. While Venh and Kuroki were chatting about all the things they might see along the way, Boneroot was stretching in his best approximation of what he’d always seen the Village’s hunters do. His body was still sore, but the food had certainly helped.

According to Venh, the meat of spirit beasts was particularly helpful to cultivators. He was surprised to hear this for a number of reasons. Chiefly, he’d never been told that by any villagers, even if they rarely hunted for anything in the Red realm or above. Also strange was it had never come up during his time in the grove. He wondered if that had anything to do with the tsovars actually being spirit beasts. Though, they certainly weren’t in danger of being hunted, so he couldn’t say for sure.

Regardless, the time had come to begin the day’s journey. Before he started to get his energies cycling, Venh had a few words for him.

“Don’t worry about slowing us down. There’s plenty to see along this lake, believe it or not. Just focus on making it to the sect, OK? If you can get there before sundown, I’ll pretend to be impressed, deal?”

Boneroot actually found that one funny, so he it let it slide and waved the other two on. They left at a pace he couldn’t have matched even at his fastest, let alone while cycling. He was curious, however, if cultivating while running, once he got the hang of it, could actually allow him to run faster. It seemed unlikely, but it’d be worth looking into.

Today, he had a much smaller goal in mind. He wanted to run with his eyes open. In light of yesterday’s struggles, that was rather ambitious. So, he began step by step, as he’d learned to do the hard way, until he was moving forward at a relaxed pace. Instead of ramping up his speed over time, he chose to open his eyes and focus on speed afterward.

To his surprise, it actually worked. He couldn’t get too excited, as he still had to devote the majority of his attention to keeping his energies circulating and stable. Despite that, he did notice the weakening of his bond with Kuroki as the two grew farther and farther away. Fortunately, he seemed able to sense the little cat no matter how far he went.

The boy continued to run at a steady pace for quite some time, not yet daring to speed up and risk disorienting himself. Eventually, he did do so, but only gradually. After he had been running for two hours, it was clear that he was significantly less tired than at the same point yesterday. There were a number of possible reasons for that, but he suspected it was largely to do with how much time and effort he had originally wasted.

The previous day’s run was tumultuous to say the least, so he had tired himself out far before he had a stable qi cycle pushing him forward. The difference was extraordinary. He was growing more confident by the minute, enjoying the satisfaction of moving forward without tiring himself out. After his third hour of running, he was starting to wonder where these supposed wonders of Lake Aobu were. He was still dutifully following Venh’s trail of Light ki, since he and Kuroki were well out of sight, even in the open landscape that stretched for miles around. He was careful not to follow his vague sense of Kuroki’s location, which would dart miles to the north or south at a moment’s notice.

Regardless, he gradually increased his pace until he was as close as he dared to a dead sprint. It wasn’t as fast as he could run without cycling, but Boneroot was still rather impressed with himself. Almost as impressed as he was disappointed in the scenery

While he wasn’t an expert on the geography, he was fairly certain that he had reached the halfway point in his journey without seeing so much as a single fish in the lake to his right. It had been miles and miles of the exact same thing. He’d have to interrogate Kuroki about where he and Venh were darting off to.

After another hour, something finally changed. He could see the Wei Mountains in the distance. As with Sentoru Forest and Lake Aobu before them, the Wei Mountains defied realism. They looked like the backdrop to one of his mother’s beloved legends.

He felt his anticipation build parallel to anxiety. It had been years since he’d interacted with someone his own age, or at least around his own cultivation. Even though he was reluctantly growing fond of Venh, he couldn’t claim to have much in common with a Black-realm cultivator.

The prospect the Brightmoon Sect presented was one with which Boneroot still hadn’t properly come to terms. He could make more friends, learn about cultivation and spar with people not trying to kill him. Well, not trying their hardest, at least. It sounded like a dream.

To daydream, however, meant to divert attention from his cycling. The lapse in focus cost him a graceless spill into the dirt. On his back and looking at the sky, Boneroot guessed it was an hour or two after noon. He felt he should have been able to see the sect sticking out of the mountains by now, but he didn’t actually know how exactly the grounds were situated.

Venh had mentioned there being a city beneath the sect called Mountain’s Rest that had good relations with all the nearby cultivators. Kroshieshi described a city to him almost a full year ago now, but Boneroot had yet to properly picture what one might look like. If anyone had tried to build something similar in his village, they’d have been mocked at best. He’d never find out by wasting time on the ground, though, so Boneroot rose to restart his cycling step by step once again.

A couple hours later, he didn’t have to imagine what a city might look like. He trotted up to Venh and Kuroki standing a hundred feet away from an ornate, metal gate. Atop it stood who appeared to be guardsmen, watching the road that stretched out from beneath them. Before he could peek into the city past the gate, however, Venh grabbed his attention.

“You’ve arrived with an hour to spare. Good job.” He looked like he actually meant it, too. “Here’s the plan: you need to bathe, we need to eat, you need to attend an orientation of some sorts. I’ve been informed that it will be quite boring and take a couple hours and then all you strapping young cultivators will retire to your quarters for the night. Tomorrow is when the fun begins.”

What the boy now knew to be Venh’s staple grin was not putting him at ease. Either tomorrow would be legitimately pleasant, or absolutely torturous. Yet, despite the alleged boredom ahead, Boneroot couldn’t quash his own excitement. The moment had finally arrived. He didn’t even care that he was dead tired. Neither did Kuroki.

“Venh took me to see a real dragon! It was so big! It opened its mouth to shoot at us but then poof we were gone and then after that..”

The rest of his young companion’s words fell on deaf ears, as Boneroot shot a hurt look at the architect of the fun excursion to which he wasn’t invited. Pursed lips and a quick headshake told him the tsovar was likely embellishing.

The cat stopped babbling and slipped into Boneroot’s shadow. A moment later, he was asleep. The boy felt a twinge of jealousy. A personal nap space was exactly what his weary body was craving.

As he stepped toward the open gates, however, Venh stopped him.

“Remember, from now on I’m Danh. If you slip up and call me Venh at the sect or even in Mountain’s Rest, we could be in a bit of trouble.”

“Got it, Danh.”

Boneroot rumpled his face after replying. The new name felt odd, like it didn’t match up to the power of its owner. Perhaps that was the point. The man turned back toward the city, but this time it was Boneroot who stopped the procession. Before the two of them entered and potentially met more soon-to-be disciples of the Brightmoon Sect, he had to clarify something that was bothering him.

“Wait. Before we go in, I have to know something,” The sudden severity in the boy’s voice gave Venh pause. “When do I bow to the nobles? “Should I just do it to all of them at once, or one at a time? Do I need to do it each time we talk? Also —”

Venh cut him off with a laugh and exaggerated sigh, then said,

“Kid, I thought you were about to declare a blood oath or something. Bowing? What, did Kroshieshi tell you to do that? That’s actually surprising. No, don’t bow to any of the little lords or ladies. None of them are strong enough to demand it. Not even close. I doubt even the most arrogant of them are even expecting that sort of thing.”

Though his previous concerns weren’t entirely assuaged, this information came mostly as a relief. Besides, there was a city to explore.

This turned out to be a formidable task. Boneroot was struggling to even wrap his head around this new environment. He walked on winding, stone roads snaking between buildings larger than any he’d ever seen. At every corner, there was someone selling a food, medicine, or garment he’d never even heard of.

Venh watched with amusement as a number of these street hawkers descended on the boy, trying to pitch their shoddy concoctions, or equipment. He guessed they made a hefty sum each year when the new disciples showed up in town without a clue what any of these products were worth. Or, in this case, not worth.

He quickly swept Boneroot past the throng of peddlers and down a number of side streets and alleys until they found their destination. The new location gave the bewildered cultivator a moment for his thoughts to catch up.

The boy was clearly overwhelmed by the number of people. Boneroot had never seen so many people and they were barely through the gate. Venh addressed his confusion,

“You’ll get used to it eventually.”

“I’m not sure I want to.” The last twenty minutes felt like they had worn on him as much as the morning’s trek.

“A fair assessment. Unfortunately, this will be the only place for you to get certain supplies, so you’ll be forced to come down every once in a while. Put that out of your mind for now, though. This,” Venh swung the boy’s gaze to the building behind him, “is a bathhouse. Try to regain some energy, or at least just relax a bit. I’ll meet you out front in an hour, OK?”

Before he heard an agreement, Venh was gone. While Boneroot was used to the sudden appearance and disappearance of particularly powerful individuals, he noticed a passing courier stumble in shock. Grinning, he turned to enter the building at his back.