The first proper excursion across the border to the lower realms had come. Since they weren’t packed in as tightly nor were they going for long, Vari found it much more comfortable than the trip to their border planet. At least, until they actually arrived.

As they drew away from the upper realms, Vari felt like she was in a desert being drained dry. Even the vast expanses between systems with almost no upper energy felt like oases of power, and the energy she expended for just living and the subconscious defenses she raised constantly leeched energy from her. In turn, the presence of something else became clear, though slowly because of how weak it was.

Lower energy. Drawing it into her was an unfamiliar and unpleasant feeling. Where upper energy was a flowing river, lower energy was like pouring a jug of molasses into her veins, sticky and slow moving and weak.

Why anyone would want to train with it, she didn’t understand. On the other hand, it gave her a new level of respect for those from the lower realms. Was that what they had to deal with for over a hundred years? No wonder it was difficult for people to ascend. Vari felt like she could barely muster the strength to stand up. That wasn’t fully true, of course- she had upper energy still in reserve- but everything felt wrong.

Isolation was a rarity on a ship. With minimal space to move about, eat, and sleep time alone was rare at best. For this dive into the lower realms, everyone was meditating where they could find space, getting themselves used to lower energy. After a certain point, Vari grew tired of wrestling with her energy and wanted to distract herself. With the limited options available, she chose food.

For her, there was the choice between hard, dry bread and moldy cheese. Was the quartermaster incompetent? Vari decided that was a yes- though she noticed practitioners of the Glorious Harmony Technique got better meals. Not that much though, reinforcing how unprepared they were for this special excursion. The food on the ground was not much better, but it was something.

She was hungry though. Especially due to the lack of proper upper energy. There was no way she could possibly sustain herself. She lazily dealt with her food, trying to determine if the mold was intentional- it was not- and if it was edible- her energy senses detected it was. Tasted awful, but that might have just been the cheese. It was frustrating how picking out something so insignificant with her energy had become. How long had they been beyond the border? Eight hours, ten? Were they still accelerating? She couldn’t tell. Vari hoped they turned back soon. Lower energy was garbage.

She trudged back towards her room, which was about a size smaller than the bunks that filled it. The cramped corridors and lower energy gave her a headache. She nearly ran into someone outside her door. “Sorry,” her reflexes said.

“That’s not good enough.”

Vari automatically glared at the individual who responded. Her head hurt. She didn’t want to deal with this. There were… four men. All carrying spears. Vaguely recognizable? But only as a group. “Oh, you’re all… Iva’s cronies, right?”

“We are supporters of the future disciple of the Spear Saint,” said the man defensively.

Vari snorted. Normally, she might have had tact. Right now, everything was unpleasant. “Oh please. At best she’ll be a lackey to an honorary disciple which puts you cronies even one more rank lower.”

The man lowered the tip of his spear towards her while the others… spread out wasn’t quite correct. Because they could only manage to get half a step to the side in the tiny hallway.. At best, they shifted their weight

The man whose name Vari didn’t intend to learn spoke with barely concealed anger, his voice hard. “One of your station would do well to remember it!”

The spear jabbed towards her. It was a simple matter to wrap her fingers around it, stopping it. That led to a strange dull pain in her palm as Vari looked over towards her hand. Why was blood dripping down her palm and off her wrist?

Oh right. Because energy was garbage and the spear was still sharp. What a stupid way to die. Not that Vari planned to go easily. Her other hand came up, grabbing behind the spear head like a sensible person, while at the same time her best ‘weapon’ kicked out for the man’s knee. There was a satisfying crunch as her heavy boot shattered a kneecap.

Unfortunately, the moment the man fell there were two spears lowered at her. One cut a notch in her ear as she barely managed to dodge to the side, the other very nearly impaled her torso- the only thing stopping it being the half-fallen state of the first man hindering the motion.

At that moment, Vari didn’t hesitate to draw upon the power of those in front of her. Weak as they were, practitioners of the Glorious Harmony Technique had to have something. What they had was… more garbage lower energy. The promise of the saints didn’t do much either- they were half a realm away.

Vari twisted open the door, completely filling the corridor. It held up to exactly zero attacks, the next spear stabbing straight through it as if it were made of… well, extremely normal wood with no bolstering. It was hard to believe they’d been so cheap. Vari had to bend backwards to not be impaled, gaining a gash along her jawline as she was too slow. She stopped her backwards fall by grabbing the spear, yanking it towards her. Spinning it around in the tight corridor was basically impossible, so she just tossed it behind her.

As the door was ripped off its hinges, Vari wondered if anyone would stop this. No, probably not. Nobody would or could help her, and her techniques just didn’t work right. As she tried to think of something that would, instinct took over.

The door flew towards her, but she held out her bloody left palm. When it connected, instead of shattering the door or punching a hole, it retained its structure as its momentum was reversed down the corridor, augmented by her energy. The useless base structure meant it was still smashed apart by the clumped group of men, but it bought her a moment which she mostly used to stare at her own hand. That wasn’t her barrier techniques. Her thoughts were sluggish, but what came to mind was… a shield?

The individual who lost his spear took one from the man with the broken knee. The one in the rear hopped up, supporting himself with his knees pressed against the sides of the corridor, angling his spear down towards Vari. So now she had to deal with three attacks at once.

A lupine growl tore through her throat, rippling down the corridor. In any other state, using something of such little power against Life Transformation cultivators was useless, but they were just as weakened as her. Or at least, close enough. They all staggered back half a step, knocking into the man wedged in the top half of the corridor. Vari took the opportunity to step forward into her room.

That would make the long spears have even more of a disadvantage. At best one or two could poke around the corner towards her. Vari breathed deeply, feeling strangely… vigorous? With half a moment to think, she recognized the source of the techniques. One was Timothy, the other Fuzz. They didn’t really fit her and she had no intention to add such things to her repertoire in the long term, but they fit lower energy so well. No… natural energy? That was what they called it.

When spears stabbed into the room, Vari levered the first one against the doorway to slam someone into the wall across the room. The other she ignored as it simply stabbed into the wall.

Since both Vari and the others had the exact same ten or twenty seconds of combat experience using natural energy, she was confident enough to step back out- one of her feet leading the way. If she was wearing normal boots, the spear might have pierced the bottom of her foot- but what Vari had covered her whole foot in solid metal. It wasn’t quiet on the ground, but it was the most durable equipment she owned. The spear skittered off as her foot stamped into a sternum, then she stepped forward to grab the throat of the last uninjured guy.

“You’re going to do three things for me,” Vari said. “First, go tell Iva I’m not her damn rival or anything. I don’t intend to rub myself all over Jafet, so there’s no competition there. Second, you’re going to bring your door here and replace mine. Third… you’ll bring me your meals. Got it?” Vari glared, then some gurgling sounds made her realize she had to relax her grip.

The man coughed as air could once more enter his lungs. “I understand… senior sister.”

Ugh. Whatever. Good enough.

“And drag these guys with you,” Vari waved him off. A proper cultivator could drag three regular people, even without energy.

-----

The incident was not brought up by anyone. At most, Vari received a glare from Iva if they happened to pass each other. Even with the Harmonious Citadel’s skewed justice the four lackeys really couldn’t pin any blame on Vari without lowering their own status further by admitting their loss. They might plan something later, but Vari had at least whatever the duration of the trip was.

They were definitely changing direction now, after a full day. It was hard to determine quite the rate of change, but by the end of the day they should be heading back to the upper realms for perhaps four full days ‘in’ the lower realms. That seemed rather tight on the ship’s energy budget, but she had no control over it.

What Vari did have control over was properly expelling all of her upper energy and working strictly with… natural energy. She still found it weak, but not as unpleasant. It was just the newness that threw her off so much. It was like living in a cave then stepping outside to experience the sun for the first time… though that didn’t quite fit. Upper energy was still better. Yet this experience of using lower energy was something interesting.

Vari tried to pick through the abilities used by her friends from the lower realms. Alva’s archery formed an arrow out of energy, but Vari’s oldest memories of that could discern some traces of instability- after all, it was made for use with lower energy and had to be adapted or remade for upper energy. She had now bow nor reason to use one, but holding a Spirit Arrow in her hands even if it crumbled apart under any pressure taught her quite a bit.

If she’d had access to this energy when she was just beginning her cultivation, she would have found it much easier to transcend the early ranks. Was that what determined those who would practice the Glorious Harmony technique? Not talent or skill, but those who were able to afford to practice with lower energy. That certainly fit what she’d seen. And because they achieved their status, they got more resources funneled to them to grow faster. From some perspectives it made sense, and from others it was the best way to weed out those with talent in favor of those with money first and talent second. And since those with the money were already in leadership positions, of course they would deem their own offspring the most worthy.

Despite what she could learn, Vari was looking forward to getting her feet back on a planet. And eating better food. The lackeys did bring Vari their better food, but it was barely soft and flavorless bread with butter sometimes, or if she was lucky salted meat jerky. Sure, it was only so many meals that she had to deal with it, but she also needed those meals. She was ravenously hungry, like she hadn’t eaten in years. She did, of course, but her body was trying to produce upper energy in a place that simply wasn’t suited to it. And it also had to maintain its normal functions.

The fourth day in the lower realms, Vari felt the energy of the formations powering the ship fade to almost nothing as they nearly ran out of power. The air began to grow thinner as all the energy was focused on keeping the ship going at super-light speed. That was technically correct, but it also made her certain that the Harmonious Citadel didn’t know what it was doing- and not just with supply logistics.