Eden Floor 1 | Weir:

I watched along with the rest of the gathered Seekers as Ars stepped into the room with the training dummy.

The score of 2966 might seem daunting at a glance, especially when the score at the start of today wasn't even close to being 4 digits long. Over the past week of doing this though, I had gauged Ars average damage to be around 15-20 per hit. This meant he'd win in less than 200 hits, though to beat her score in 30 seconds he would have to hit the Striking Dummy like 5 or 6 times a second. But when you considered that his Byun didn't lose momentum as it bounced and that he could take his time setting up, I didn't think he'd have a hard time beating her score at all.

As everyone watched Ars take out his Byun and begin the same setup he had one week prior, I took some small glee in the somewhat bitter and resigned looks on Zhou's and the Xingkong girl's faces. Clearly she recognized the Byun and the advantage it gave him, but it was too late to regret her prideful challenge now. I half expected her to try and complain about him taking the time to build up his Byun's momentum before beginning the challenge, but she simply watched resolute the entire time.

A few minutes later saw Ars proudly leaving the room, with the number 2972 floating behind him as testament to his triumph. It probably took him about 26 seconds to beat the score, but a win was a win regardless of how close.

"Good job! Now it's my turn," Lexi gives him a high five as he exits before promptly making her way into the challenge room, clearly excited to try as well.

Ars watches Lexi enter the room before he smugly looks over at the Xingkong girl and walks towards her with a taunting grin, "soo~ about that challenge."

Once again, part of me expected her to complain or get angry but the reality has me surprised as instead of anger, there's a slight look of acknowledgement in both her and Zhou's eyes.

"Of course, let it not be said that the Xingkong family are sore losers, you have proven yourself quite capable," she responds to Ars' taunting without a hint of animosity and even her compliment seems genuine.

Her tranquil response brings him up short and he does a double take of the two before glancing over at me as if wondering if this was some sort of ploy, causing me to shrug in response to his questioning gaze. With the way their attitudes rapidly changed, I couldn't tell which represented the real them. Knowing their background as part of a powerful family just made me feel like I was missing too much information to make an accurate judgement of the two though. Regardless if they had a reason or they didn't, it was my own pride that stopped me from just standing there after their haughty attitudes rubbed me the wrong way.

I turned my attention back to Lexi, she'd taken out her rapier with the oddly long hilt and was swishing its tip in lazy 8's by her side as she approached the Striking Dummy. Unlike Ars, she didn't need any sort of setup and once she was in position, she immediately dropped into a stance and began her attack.

Her blade flicks out seemingly dozens, and then hundreds of times in what felt like the span of a few seconds, a mesmerizing series of rapid stabs and slashes all converging precisely on the head of the Striking Dummy before her. As the seconds ticked by, she seems to build up more and more strength behind her attacks, with the noise of her flurry of blows ringing out ever sharper to where we stood outside the challenge room.

After about twenty seconds of continuously raining blows on the Dummy, Lexi suddenly somersaults overtop the Striking Dummy, landing a few feet away with her sword held vertically in front of her before she drops low into a powerful lunging stance. With a yell, and an incredible burst of speed, she crosses the challenge room in a single lunge before sliding to a halt on the opposite side, nothing but the sharp ringing of metal striking metal still reverberating throughout the room to signify her attack had landed. Then without even turning around and with her head held high, she makes her way out of the challenge room and over towards Ars and I.

"Showoff," I tease as she walks over and she playfully sticks her tongue out at me in response.

"Hehe~ was your plan not to show off when you agreed to her little challenge?" Lexi smugly calls me out on my intentions before finally glancing back at the Striking Dummy she'd left behind, and the 3236 above it.

I chuckle in response before admitting, "you got me, their attitudes just annoyed me. And when she so confidently put out her challenge like she couldn't be beaten, I couldn't help myself."

She nods her understanding before asking, "Well?"

"Well what?" I turn to her with confusion.

"You can beat it right?" she asks, not smugly, but with genuine curiosity, and a pointed glance at the empty scabbard resting on my hip.

"Don't worry, she's not the only one who doesn't need a weapon for something like this," I confidently say before making my way forwards, leaving Lexi to take her well-earned challenge from the cocky Xingkong duo.

To be honest, I wasn't 100% positive I'd be able to beat her score the way I had in mind. I may end up having to actually hit the Striking Dummy the old fashioned way if my plan didn't work out, it just wouldn't really send the message I was going for if I did that though. Lexi had me figured out, the idea was to show off, I didn't just want to beat her score whichever way was the easiest.

No, my plan was to copy their "Dispersal Fist" technique and then beat her score using that, I'd just be cheating a little bit in order to do it. Since I could control my internal energy externally, I was pretty sure I could mimic her technique by using my energy as a sort of measure for the Striking Dummy beforehand.

The fact that the girl could just visually ascertain the dimensions of the golem and fit her energy to it after she stopped controlling it was honestly incredibly impressive and no doubt beyond the current me, I'd likely need an immense amount of practice to get to that level of control. But by enveloping the Striking Dummy with a thin layer of my energy beforehand and then using that as a mold when I went to attack, the attacking energy would naturally conform to perfectly fit the shape of the target. Or so I hoped, I'd have to be careful I didn't accidentally start the challenge before I was ready though. At this point I had a pretty good idea of how sensitive the Striking Dummy was to incoming damage though so I didn't think I'd set it off too early.

I let my tail swish behind me as I circled the Striking Dummy before coming to a stop in front of it and placing my palm upon it in the same way that I had every time before. This time however, I only release a very small portion of my intent to encircle the Striking Dummy without pressing down upon it. I gently encapsulate it, taking a minute to perfectly mold my power overtop it, forming a shell of sorts around the Striking Dummy with my power.

With that portion of my intent held in place, I then close my eyes and focus on the void within it in my perception. A perfect outline of the Striking Dummy appears before my senses, visible to my minds eye by the way my power encompasses it.

"This will actually be easier than I thought," I mumble.

Keeping my eyes closed, I begin steadily gathering power into my palm, much like the Xingkong girl had earlier. Thought part of me is tempted to utterly destroy the girl's score, I resist the urge and stop coalescing my power after a few seconds. I sit there for a moment, focusing upon the Striking Dummy's outline within my mind before releasing my power with a sharp breath.

At the same time, I use my surrounding intent to squeeze down around the Striking Dummy, keeping the unguided energy now raging within it compressed and with nowhere to vent it's destructive forces except within the Dummy itself. After a few short seconds, the power I'd gathered expends itself and I withdraw my external intent as well, taking a look above the Striking Dummy to see the results of my attack.

3859.

I'd meant to beat Lexi's score by a smaller margin, but I'd never used my intent this way before so I couldn't really gauge how powerful my attack would be. I was proud of the result though, and even thankful to the Xingkong girl, if it weren't for her impromptu lesson to Zhou earlier, then I may have never thought of using my internal energy in this way. It was a good reminder that I still had plenty of room for my own growth.

I'm startled from my musings by the Xingkong girl's voice coming from next to me.

"You! How would you like to become this Baihua's sworn sister?!" she states from behind me. Apparently she'd entered the room while I wasn't paying attention, but more surprising were the words she'd just spoken.

Baihua?

Sworn sister??

I guess I knew her name now which was nice, but I had no idea how to respond to what she'd just said. Turning to face her, my response dies in my throat as I see the look of sheer admiration and determination the girl is giving me. It's so at odds with what I was expecting from her cold and aloof appearance and previous haughty attitude that I'm truly at a loss.

"Umm..."

"This Baihua respects and pursues strength above all else and is considered the prodigy of her family, I can tell that Senior sister and I are birds of a feather so I hope that we can become sworn sisters. However we have embarrassed ourselves earlier by hiding behind the prestige of our family. Alas, our duty prevents us from behaving as we should, for we cannot risk failure and so must make use of any means available to ensure our passing of the first test. I hope that Senior sister is willing to overlook this disgraceful behavior of ours?" she carries on unprompted at my confused expression.

"...It's fine? I don't really care how you act, and I kind of guessed you had your reasons. Also you don't need to be so formal, you can just call me Sola." I respond hesitantly, not quite sure what to make of the current situation.

If her culture is as similar to the eastern cultures on Sola as it seems then her calling me Senior sister was a little more than just a simple gesture of respect, and requesting to become sworn sisters went well beyond even that.

"Lady Xingkong, is she-?" Zhou starts to ask as he enters into the room as well but is silenced with a glare from Baihua.

I catch the look between the two and squint my eyes in suspicion.

"Is she what?" I ask the two of them pointedly.

"F-forgive me Lady Xingkong," Zhou bows to Baihua in apology causing her to sigh.

"It's fine, relationships should not be built on dishonesty." She then turns to me before continuing, "I'm unsure if you will believe us, but we were actually told to look for you-"

I quirk up an eyebrow in silent doubt of her statement. I didn't even exist on Eden before a week ago so how could I believe that she'd been sent to look for me?

"-well not you specifically, but one who could match my strength. I was given a prophesy before becoming a Seeker that I would find a sworn sister to share trials and tribulations with as we ascended and that I would know them by their might." She finishes explaining, and I somehow find myself willing to believe her.

"So was all of this-" I gesture around, "-to create a situation in order to hopefully find someone of comparable strength to you?"

She nods, "yes, we hoped to find people with the will and strength to stand up to us. For I cannot see myself becoming sworn sisters with someone unwilling to do at least that much."

"I see... and this prophesy. It's uh, not about helping you overthrow your clan patriarch or save the world or stop some great evil or anything crazy right?" I hesitantly ask, earning concerned looks from both her and Zhou.

"N-no? It was just a simple prophesy meant to serve as help on my path as a Seeker. All of the major scions of my family receive similar prophesies before becoming Seekers," she explains, looking like she wants to ask why I'd think it was anything more but stopping herself.

"Whew~ Ok good, because I've got too many problems as it is to get embroiled in some crazy prophesy as I ascend," I sigh in relief and let out a nervous laugh.

I knew from experience that most prophesies were nothing more than huge signs of trouble, always being these overly pretentious things regarding the fate of the world or some such, so if this was just about her and I becoming allies then I had no issue with it.

I could use all the help I could find while I ascended after all. If anything, she may be the one cursing the prophesy that lead her to me by the end of it all. I couldn't help but laugh at the thought.