“You have three minutes. Then we run.”

Boneroot stood among twenty four other disciples, running through the drills that Kang barked out. Four Sect Experts and four classes, but he just had to get stuck with the only one in the Imperial Military.

For the last hour, the disciples in Kang’s charge had run. There was occasionally a bit of down time. Then, there was more running. He hadn’t begun with a lecture, or even an introduction. He’d just told them to run. They followed as close as they could in the wake of the nearly bald man’s monstrous, backwards strides. His upper body remained eerily still as he surveyed the disciples trying their best to keep pace.

It was hardly surprising to learn the Sect Expert set speed and distance goals that were only achievable with qi use. Anyone who fell behind was given a much less pleasant means of expending their energy. Either way, the disciples were forced to the limits of not only their bodies, but their qi reserves. Also, while he couldn’t be certain, Boneroot suspected the Wind Expert was somehow preventing a breeze from cooling anyone down.

Before the class began, the boy had expected he would have the leg up on the other disciples because of his ability to cultivate and run at the same time. As it turned out, that particular skill didn’t matter when you had to focus all of your attention on efficiently using your qi to keep up with the pace of the exercises.

In the few minutes before they were going to be made to run again, Boneroot turned to the only friend he had in this particular class, Guang. Iris had been sent to one of the other training fields to learn from Expert Yun once again. The two of them had made a bet whether Kang or Yun would be worse. Since he was clearly going to win that wager, Boneroot at least felt a little better about misery.

It was also hard to complain about the exhaustion when others were collapsing, or vomiting around him. In that regard, Guang was performing quite admirably compared to the other Red-realm disciples. It may have helped that his qi cultivation was ahead of his ki, but Boneroot’s was far ahead of that and he certainly wasn’t having an easy go of it.

Drinking greedily from his water flask, Boneroot asked, “Is this really what the military is like, Guang?”

The broad-shouldered boy grinned, but shook his head.

“No, this is worse. By far. The military was a lot more standing around. Really, nothing worth mentioning. Where’s Kuroki gone to today, huh?”

Boneroot noticed the hasty change in subject, but declined to comment on it.

“Sometimes, he takes Biku hunting during classes. He won’t tell me exactly where, though, which is somewhat concerning. For today, anyway, he’s just napping. Pretty LAZY if you ask me.”

Boneroot raised his voice to provoke the cat sleeping in his shadow, but all he got for his effort was a mental approximation of a yawn.

A couple minutes of idle chatter later, it was back to running. By the end of the class, both Boneroot and Guang were wobbling toward the canteen to meet up with Iris. This was a marked improvement over the disciples splayed out on the grass where they’d collapsed.

They found the girl already waiting for them, looking sweaty but not all that disheveled. As such, Guang declared Boneroot the winner of the bet. There wasn’t much argument after they explained how they’d spent the morning.

“OK, fine,” Iris finally relented between mouthfuls of rice and vegetables. “That sounds worse. At least Yun explained why there was so much running. I guess that’s one more Sect Expert filed under disappointing. Were there a lot of guys like him in the military, Guang?”

“Sort of,” the boy started to explain. “But not quite as extreme as him. Kang is like a caricature of the people I served under. I wasn’t in the military that long, anyway. Are you going to the Combat class later, Iris?”

“I was planning to,” Iris responded. “If I keep failing to cultivate properly over and over again, I’ll put my head through a wall. I gotta hit something. Diversify, you know?”

Happily, the boys expressed their own desire to attend the afternoon’s class. After going to Central to find out where the class would be held, they had some time on their hands. Naturally, that was Kuroki’s cue.

“Play time! Where’s Biku?”

With a sigh, Iris materialized her spirit beast. Biku’s jade antlers caught the light as he struck a gallant form in front of his tsovar friend. Boneroot was about to ask what Kuroki had in mind, but the two took off as soon as they were together.

“Do you know where they keep going, Iris?”

“Not a clue. I’m not worried if Kuroki’s there, though. There can’t be anything that close to the sect that can challenge a spirit beast in the Yellow realm, right?”

“I hope not.”

Guang spoke as he edged toward the residences, “If were going to that class, I should probably go cultivate first. I need to recuperate more of my qi, or I’ll just be dead weight.”

Boneroot was torn between cultivating and chasing down the spirit beasts. On the one hand, he wasn’t exactly hurting for qi, even after the intensive class. He had been practicing cultivating in short bursts, as well as passive energy cycling, both of which were starting to pay off. On the other hand, he didn’t want to intrude on Kuroki’s playtime.

Boneroot expressed his interest in seeing the parts of the mountain that lay beyond the sect’s borders and Iris agreed to come with him. They took off at a moderate speed toward toward the wooded area on the eastern edge of the mountain plateau. It was the same direction Kuroki and Biku had headed, but he wasn’t intending to catch up to them.

There were a few areas in the Outer Sect that Boneroot had so far observed where a disciple could venture out into wilderness, or whatever else they might run into on the mountain. The first was the sect entrance. On his way up to the Brightmoon sect for the first time, Boneroot saw a number of branching paths where an enterprising young cultivator might find some trouble to get into.

To the North and Northwest, there were a couple of stony passes that he suspected lead up the mountain. He chose the wooded eastern edge, however, because he trusted Kuroki’s innate sense for adventure. Whatever dangers, or secrets lay hidden on the mountain, the excitable tsovar was sure to dig them up.

The copse was fairly out of the way, only nearby to one of the more distant training fields. As Boneroot and Iris made their way through the trees, a strong nostalgia gripped him. He hadn’t been out of the Sentoru Forest more than a week, but this reminded him of his days before he met Felindei. He’d wander through the forest nearest his cave, looking for flowers, or food for hours on end.

The nature which surrounded him was surprisingly unfamiliar. Unlike the tall, monocolor trees that comprised the majority of the Sentoru Forest, the ones on the mountain were an array of autumnal colors. The foliage not only varied in color, but in density. At times his vision was limited to no more than ten feet around him, while other sections gave him a clear view of the towering peak above.

The duo only talked in quick exchanges, going most of the way in amicable silence. They were taking their time, not wanting to use up qi before the afternoon’s combat class, but they still came to a clearing fairly quickly. Boneroot and Iris emerged from the thicket at their backs to find a number of ways forward. If it wasn’t clear before, there was little doubt left that this area had been intentionally shaped to shephard disciples toward different parts of the mountain.

There were six paths available to them, with some leading higher up, others heading down, and one leading straight ahead. He could sense Kuroki on the forward path, but far ahead, so, after quick deliberation, that was where they decided to go.

As the two moved forward, the trees and shrubbery began to change, growing almost too thick to pass in certain directions, forcing them to change course. His connection with Kuroki was leading him at similar angle and he quickly found out why. After one stubborn slash through a few overgrown vines, Boneroot found himself atop a cliff overlooking the Storm Plains.

Lightning flashed in the distance, but it was a shimmer in the air that caught his eye. Focusing some qi to enhance his vision, Boneroot caught side of a group insects Kroshieshi had once told him about. A group of hebishis were flitting about the edges of the localized thunderclouds. They looked remarkably similar to the smaller dragonflies with which Boneroot was familiar from the Sentoru Forest. Those insects, however, were not Red-realm pack hunters attuned to Storm ki, like those in his line of sight now.

“I can’t see! How do you do that eye thi— oh wait, I got it. That’s a neat trick.”

Iris moved into his spot as Boneroot slipped back onto the guided path, content with his sighting of a creature he hadn’t actually believed existed. He’d have to reassess some of the more outlandish things Kroshieshi had told him about.

When Iris joined back up with him, they talked happily about the hebishis. Iris, too, had thought they were a myth, but for entirely different reasons.

‘You thought dragonflies weren’t real?”

“Just say the name! It’s ridiculous! Who are they trying to fool, huh?”

Boneroot laughed at the joke and the casual lapse into one of Guang’s mannerisms. Iris was pumped up from the sighting and took off with a laugh and the slightest burst of qi into the forest ahead. He was caught by surprise, so it took Boneroot a few moments to catch up. For a city girl, Iris was surprisingly adept at flitting between the roots and rocks. By the time Boneroot found her, she had come to a stop in front of what looked like grassy cave. A mound of mossy stones and packed earth formed a wide tunnel into the mountain.

“Boneroot, come look,” she said in barely-restrained whisper.

“Iris, step back. Slowly.”

There was no levity in the boy’s voice. He recognized the den in front of her. In the Sentoru Forest, that would have belonged to a bear, or worse, a spirit beast. Part of his brain was telling him the Brightmoon Sect wouldn’t leave any threats out of the Red realm this close to the sect proper, but his instincts were still flaring. Growing up in the Village, children were taught early on how to recognize the home of a creature they had no business disturbing. Without that knowledge, he would have never survived his time alone in the forest.

Iris hadn’t fully appreciated the severity of the situation, though, so she had only taken a couple steps back when the animal emerged. Like Boneroot had suspected, it was a bear. However, he had not anticipated a Wei bear. Its claws were longer and its fangs sharper, but that wasn’t the primary identifier. Covering the creature’s dark brown fur were plates of solid rock and dirt. All along its belly, back, and shoulders, the Wei bear would be nearly impossible to wound for all but the most precise cultivators bellow the Yellow realm.

Boneroot was waiting. Wei bears did not frequently surpass the Red realm, but it did happen. So, while he was confident in his ability to escape, he wasn’t as sure about Iris. If this Wei bear was in the Orange realm, or higher, it would be able to fell the girl in a blink of the eye. If that happened, he’d fare little better in fending off the bear. Of course, that was assuming it attacked. It may settle for just scaring the intruders off. Boneroot held out hope that was the case, as the bear was up on its hindquarters, letting out a deep growl. Fully extended, it must have been at least eight feel tall.

The bear’s armor was too thick, Boneroot realized. It was too tall and each of its claws were nearly a half-foot long. There was no way this particular bear was only in the Red realm. The worst case scenario flashed to Boneroot’s mind. The den was for cubs. The mother sensed a threat to her offspring. It was stronger than both of them.

The bear came down from its rear-up with a swipe at Iris. She shot backwards with a burst of qi, narrowly avoiding the massive claw, which tore through the dirt at her feet with sickening ease. Lightning cackled at her fingertips, while Boneroot was channeling Light ki into his own for an attempt at blinding the Wei bear when he sensed an entirely different spirit beast bearing down on them.

Kuroki burst onto the scene with a technique Boneroot had never seen before. For such a braggart, the tsovar was rather stingy about showing off the full extent of his martial prowess. Now, though, there was no doubting just how much power he wielded.

Wreathed in a blanket of shadow, two copies of the hellecat bounded forward from farther down the wooded path. While one tsovar lunged at the Wei bear, the other snatched Iris and Boneroot from the ground with tendrils of Shadow ki. For a moment, Boneroot was shocked. The amount of raw power and finesse needed to carry two adult-sized humans with materialized ki was mind boggling. Then, he went flying through the air, unceremoniously launched by Kuroki’s technique away from the threat.

Still impressive, though.

Before contorting his body to land, Boneroot caught a glimpse of the Wei bear tearing into Kuroki’s copy. Its claws sliced straight through the illusion and once more into the dirt. With both sect disciples out of the way, the tsovar turned to face down his opponent. Kuroki let out a growl to rival the bear’s own. The image was comical in a way; a wildcat only hip-high was threatening a behemoth decked out in the natural equivalent of plate armor.

When the Wei bear slowly backed into its den, though, the emotion that swept over Boneroot was relief, rather than amusement. He could sense the animal’s Earth ki hovering around the entrance to its lair, but it was likely just trying to bar entrance. For now, they were safe and it was all thanks to the little cat who slept twelve hours a day and thought rainbows were long birds.

Before Iris, or Boneroot could say anything to their young savior, he bolted back the way he came. A minute later, he returned with Biku following at his heels. The two spirit beasts gave the bear’s den a wide berth as they caught back up..

“Kuroki,” Iris said. “That was incredible! Biku, are you OK?”

“Indeed!” The winged deer sounded indignant. Boneroot could sense faint remnants of Shadow ki coming off his body, though, so it was safe to assume Kuroki had hidden him.

“Thanks, Kuroki.” Boneroot let out a ragged breath. “You saved us and—”

“What were you doing?”

Despite not being phased by facing down the Wei bear, the little tsovar seemed genuinely baffled as to why he and Iris had been in such a precarious position. It was a fair question. The boy had lived in a forest most of his life.

“Don’t look at me! She’s the one from a city! She didn’t see the den until she was practically inside it.”

He winced as he spoke. That was harsher than he’d intended.

“Hey!” Iris shouted with her own indignance. “How was I supposed to know there was a Wei bear of all things this close to the sect. Even if it was just in the Red realm, it could still maul most of the new disciples, right?”

“It’s so easy!” Kuroki told her. “Just look at all the ki! And the rocks!” Kuroki began to list the many ways to identify such a den, some of which Boneroot didn’t even know about, before Iris finally interrupted him.

“That’s not easy! I didn’t live in the woods eating sticks, or whatever you do!”

“I don’t eat them! I chew on them! It’s not the same!”

The two bickered a bit more as they made their way back to the sect. Iris seemed more embarrassed than anything. It was hard to hold it against her, though. Boneroot should have noticed the danger much quicker. Perhaps he was getting rusty since moving to the sect. Regardless, he owed his friend an apology.

“Sorry about that, Iris. I should’ve noticed the den sooner... and not let you take the blame with Kuroki.” He rubbed at his neck for a moment before continuing. “Anyway, we should report it, right? That bear is a serious threat to most of the Outer Sect disciples, I’d wager. Worse than that, it looked like it was protecting cubs. There’s no way the sect can leave it alone.”

Relieved to be out of the hot seat, she jovially waved off the apology and agreed to report the sighting. They made a beeline to Central the moment they emerged from the forest. One of the older Outer Sect disciples was manning the front desk and he was not happy to hear about the encounter.

“Again? That’s the second time in the last two weeks.” He muttered the second part under his breath, but it would have been audible even to non-cultivators. “You’re OK, though? That’s great!”

“We’re fine,” Iris said. She was caught up on his first statement. “This is a regular occurrence? Seems pretty dangerous.”

“No, sorry, everything’s fine! I’m just talking to my self. I’ll report this to the Inner Sect and they’ll send someone to deal with the Wei bear. You’ll get some sect points, as well, for scouting the danger.”

Though both of them were still suspicious, Boneroot and Iris were placated by the promise of the spirit stones sect points could get them. They went their separate ways to relax and recuperate qi for the upcoming Combat class.

On their way home, Boneroot asked his feline companion, “So are you finally going to tell me where you and Biku keep disappearing to?”

“Nope!”

With a sigh, he ducked into their cottage to recenter himself after the excitement of his first foray into the mountain’s wilderness.