The day before we were set to depart in search of the phoenix Elder, having already completed my practice sessions with Aella and Walker I was facing off with Reff once more. He stood in a wide stance with his body armoured with the bright, burning rock I was now used to. I was not using the sword. I had a couple of them, but I did not know how well they stood up to abuse, and so I did not want to test them against literal lava.

My Focus pulsed electricity through me, as minimally as I could manage; I was still unsure exactly how much Praxis was in my body, as I could only actively observe my core, so I was determined to be as conservative with it as possible. Given that mentality, I was concentrating on dodging, rather than deflection or blocking, while trying to incorporate as much of the footwork from The Sword’s Tide as possible.

Reff was of course giving it less than his all – from what I could gather, a Peak Core, or Path stage cultivator was about fifty times as strong and fast as a normal human, which even with my extended energy systems, I knew I was not up to facing, given my recent duel with Darina. Still, I did not think my friend had slowed down as much as he should have had to – my body possessed excellent natural reflexes, which was one of the main reasons I had selected the Ren as my race, and on top of that my Focus was slowing down time, though it was barely noticeable at this level of output.

A molten straight kick flew at me and I rotated my body making me end up at Reff’s side, his burning heel missing me by less than an inch. Before he could threaten me with it further, I stepped away to my right, rotating again to bring myself in line with his side before stepping in to attempt a punch to the back of his knee. The blow landed, but did little; the knee was physically braced with his armour and it turns out molten rock is an excellent insulator. I knew that enough power could overcome any insulator, but I did not want to expend that much energy, and were I willing, I did not know how much a full powered blast would hurt my friend. You may be wondering why I would practice against somebody that was literally the worst matchup for me, but that itself is the reason. I was almost certainly going to come across people like Reff and Darina who could simply afford to ignore my abilities, so I wanted as much practice against them as possible. Even if it meant having my ass handed to me. A lot.

I was a fraction of a second too slow in coming away from the punch and Instinctive Precognition flared as I felt a blow coming from above, sending me rolling away. As I came out of the roll and back to my feet, I felt another kick flicking sideways at me, and again without conscious thought I jumped into the air sideways, rolling over Reff’s leg and back to my feet, feeling slightly disoriented. Instinctive Precognition was a fantastic ability, and while it always seemed to offer the best possible response in the moment, it did not seem to plan ahead and could leave me in some sticky situations. I hoped that that would get better as the ability improved, and to be fair I was noticing the warnings coming in a little earlier than before, though it was tough to tell when it came to reacting to the future. Still, I would take maybe ending up in a bad position to actually being kicked in the face.

I reoriented myself just in time to spot another foot approaching, so I ducked under it. In an act of reflex that had nothing to do with my abilities I reached up and grabbed the leg, pushing Praxis out of my channels to prevent my flesh from crisping. The leg took me with it, of course, but when it tried to drop, I was under it, and twisting my body, I leveraged the leg down and around my shoulder, flinging my brightly glowing friend up on over my head to land face down in the sand. Or so I would have liked, anyway. What actually happened was that Reff rolled into the throw and back to his feet before quick-stepping toward me and sending a back-kick my way that was fast enough that even though it was directly in front of me, Instinctive Precognition kicked in once more and I performed a very strange twisting dodge under the leg, with my body rotating so that my head was pointed at Reff, under his leg while I kicked out with my own leg and used the force to drag myself back around and to the side. It was not a kind of dodge I had used before, and I was not even sure a normal body was capable of it, but a dodge was a dodge.

Skipping backwards as my friend turned, feeling slightly dizzy and off balance, I waved him to a stop, wanting to take a break. I had been practicing non-stop for more than nine hours by that point, and as much as I knew it was benefitting me, both in terms of my cultivation and my general skill, I was reaching the point that I was losing some focus on what I was doing.

“With sincere praise, you are improving, Hunter. It is hard to believe you have only been practising for as long as you have.”

I watched as the lava retreated back into Reff’s palms as he spoke, before the glowing blobs faded back into the large rocks he carried about with him.

“Thanks, Reff. It’s hard to tell, when everyone is so much stronger than me.”

“In dismissal, you keep company with Apexes, what would you expect, Hunter?”

“You have a point. I guess those bandits back in the Everwood forest were more normal?”

“In confirmation, that is correct. You have defeated a number of challengers, I believe?”

“Yeah, a few. It’s easier to focus on the defeats I guess. Either way, I'll take your word for it and accept the compliment. By the way, what’s with the lava rocks? Where does the heat go when you... put the armour away?”

“With studied expertise, heat is an illusion, Hunter. What you see and feel as heat is in fact merely the excitation of matter, via the input of energy. The energy in this case is my own Veritas, and so when I am done with it, I merely take it back.”

Okay, so Reff’s Focus was way more efficient than mine was, while serving a similar dual purpose. I may have been jealous.

“That’s an impressive Focus, Reff. Mine seems kind of wasteful in comparison.”

“In correction, the ‘heat’ does not originate from within my Focus. My focus is the manipulation of stone, specifically as armour. For my Exemplar, I defeated and absorbed a Cherufe, granting access to magma and lava as a medium, as well as improved control.”

“Huh. I haven’t given much thought to Exemplars, honestly. It just seems so far away.”

I thought about my conversation with Sidona, weeks ago now, and how she had explained that the absorption of an Exemplar was the start of the Path stage of cultivation, and how the choice could have almost any effect on your abilities.

“I don’t suppose you know of something that would work well for me?”

“In apology, I do not. The choosing of an Exemplar is a deeply personal choice – it should reflect your personality and style. Some make choices wholly unrelated to their original Focus. My brother started with much the same Focus as me, though not specifically related to armour. For his Exemplar, he chose a beast that could regenerate its limbs seemingly endlessly, and so gained the ability to grow stone. But another who chose the same combination may have resulted in a different result. A great deal comes down to intent.”

I had not come into contact with many beasts since my arrival – I did not think a Plainsrunner would do much for me, or the giant flying plant spider from the other world. Sidona had said that you could use natural treasures or even objects, but I had not come across many of those either. I was suddenly very glad for my quests from Xiournal, even if I had a crappy deal. They at least forced me out into the world, where I had a better chance of finding something that fit me. I hated to think of myself cultivating in the same city for my entire life, and settling for any old Exemplar. No thank you!

“In inspiration, perhaps you could spar with my sister? She is closer to your level, having only recently begun to walk the Path. She will be stronger and faster, certainly, but the integration is still in its infancy, and so you will only need to contend with her Focus, which does not lend itself to personal combat.”

I looked up at my giant friend in surprise, it had not occurred to me to ask what level Riffa was at, but it made sense that it would be lower than Reff, given that she was younger.

“You want me to fight your sister?”

“In confirmation, yes, I believe you two should spar. She is not so far ahead of you that you would pose no challenge as you are, especially given her particular abilities.”

“... Okay, if you’re sure, big guy.”

“In assurance, please remain here. I will return with my sister.”

*

***

*

Reff returned with Riffa after maybe half an hour – I had taken the opportunity to sit down and cool off, making sure to go over my training and the mistakes I had made. There had been many, though fewer than the day before, and I was starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel, a little hope that I would not always be quite so far behind.

I stood as the siblings approached, brushing dark sand from my pants and bowing at them – more of a nod than a real bow, it still was something I was not used to.

“Hey, Riffa. Did Reff tell you his idea?”

“With resignation, it is so, Hunter. My brother thinks it would be useful to us both, though I do not see how.”

“With appropriate mystery, we shall see.” Reff’s voice bordered on laughter, or at least as close as he ever came. I raised an eyebrow at him, and at his words. The Risi, as they were apparently called, could phrase things in ways that were obviously not meant to be funny, but I often ended up hiding my laughter regardless.

I stepped into position and waited for Riffa to take hers, and was surprised when she asked me to move back a little. Shrugging, I took a few steps back and dropped into a defensive stance. I stared over at her, my eyes locked on her waist, which was easy in that case due to her height, and waited for her to adopt a stance of her own. She did not, instead standing relaxed with her sapphire-on-black eyes half-lidded. I narrowed my eyes at the lack of caution – even Darina had taken up a stance – and I was about to spring forward when I heard a slight shifting and glanced down at the sand of the practice hall.

Amidst the dark grains, I saw faces forming. I blinked down at the strangely blank masks of sand and even took a step back as they began to rise up, sucking in more sand as they grew and gained definition. After a second or two, six figures – each an identical sand sculpture of my opponent – stood between us. I could see Riffa on the other side of them, still standing relaxed and her eyes still half-closed.

I did not have long to look, however. As one, the sand sculptures came at me, and I could feel their weight through a faint vibration in the floor as they stepped closer, as walking wall between me and my relaxed opponent. As I Focused, their approach seemed to slow and the sharp smell of ozone welled up around me even as the filaments of light I was so used began to crack and flicker, seeking a path to follow.

I was not willing to be completely boxed in by the sand figures, but between them they had a lot of the practice area covered. There was room to either side of them, but I thought it likely that if I went in that direction, they would shift to cover it. Taking the chance, I ran for the gap to the left, and as I predicted, they moved to cover the gap. I did notice something else though, that I may not have done if not for the slowing effect of my Focus: There was a hesitation. A split second of unchanging motion before they stopped as one and moved sideways.

Hoping to get a better handle on the delay – or at least confirm whether it was real or a trick, I shifted direction and ran directly at one of the towering constructs. Again, I noticed the hesitation as I moved and a plan came to me, that I would never try against a real person, but might be worth a shot in this case. I sped up, pushing a touch more power through my Focus as I did, allowing the world to slow further as I accelerated. With a wide grin, I dropped to my knees as I approached them and tried to slide through the high arch of the sculpture's legs. It did not go quite as well as I had hoped.

With a shudder like the falling of a portcullis, the construct I was aimed at dropped to a knee, blocking my path. There had been a hesitation, but it had considerably less space to cover than I did. Rolling as I felt a blow coming from above, I came to my feet ready to fend off the others, but they only began to react after I had risen.

I took a moment to consider how difficult it would be to independently control six figures – I had seen Walker independently control millions of swords, so I knew it was possible, but he was an Apex. I decided to ask about it before I left the next day, and turned my attention back to the fight at hand.

I spent a minute or so testing their coordination – it seemed like they could move in unison when it did not involve any individual movements, but whenever I moved in to test them, I was always engaged with a single opponent. It was true that Riffa seemed able to shift her attention between them – with a brief hesitation – so it seemed like I was only ever fighting one person at a time.

I moved in to engage with one of the sand giants, still trying to make it through, under or around them to get at my actual opponent, but this time I had a plan. As soon as one of the constructs began to react, I would switch my focus to trying to bypass another, moving them slightly out of position by making sure that Riffa never had the chance to move them all as a whole without letting me through. Eventually, I managed to make a gap, and allowing a kick to impact me – which really hurt – used the force to dive through the gap, and as her attention was focused on the one doing the kicking, Riffa was unable to intercept me.

Throwing up sand where I impacted rolling out of the blow, my arms aching furiously where I had taken it, I launched myself at Riffa’s still relaxed body. As I sped her way, I could see her eyes open fully for the first time and she began to drop into a stance. She might’ve been faster than me, but she was flat-footed and distracted. Reaching her just as she took up her defensive stance, I stepped up onto her knee and used it to jump higher. As I did, I grabbed her shoulder and pulled myself into a punch directly to the point of her chin, even as I flared my Focus hard.

There was a sharp crack from my blow as my lightning flowed into her. Not wanting to be grabbed, I kicked off her chest to land back in the dark sand, frantically trying to anticipate possible counters. It did not come, and it was with a vague shock that I heard Reff calling out.

“With satisfaction, Hunter wins.”