I left for work early the next morning, my mind exhausted from barely catching a few hours of sleep. But despite my fatigue, I maintained my razor focus on my goal. Images of the prior night’s reading flashed through my mind as I made my way through the square, eager to put them into practice.

A few of my neighbors stopped conversating the moment I neared them, the subject matter obvious as they all gave me the stink-eye as I walked by. One of them, a black girl named Jian Yi stared at me especially hard. When I had my back to her, she muttered something under her breath and I paused.

“You got something to say?”

I glanced over my shoulder at her. Dark skinned, slimly built, hazel eyes with hair pressed flat against her scalp in a tight bun. I could sense some fear within her, but it was matched with an equal amount of anger and to her credit, not an ounce of either showed on her face.

“I said you’re an idiot, Chun.” She narrowed her eyes at me, lifting her chin defiantly. “What? Are you going to kill me for saying that now?”

I chuckled at her. “Luckily, I don’t work that way.”

It was true too. She was challenging me in a sense, but she was of no challenge to me. The flame didn’t grow stronger by preying on the weak.

“So, enlighten me then,” I said as I stepped back towards her and all of her friends quickly disappeared. “Why am I an idiot? Besides my name, of course.”

She huffed out a scoff, but I could sense her fear reduce when I smiled, cracking the joke.

“You’re an idiot for challenging Master Hein.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. I guess time will tell.”

“You don’t get what I mean,” she said, folding her arms. “You know that even if you somehow manage to defeat him, all it’ll do is draw more attention to us, right?” Jian Yi then grimaced, chewing her bottom lip. “What will your plan be then, big man? You may be stronger than all of us mortals, but are you stronger than Master Hein’s family? Or a hundred Imperial Guards? Or the Warden herself?”

I didn’t answer her right away. It was a question I mulled over myself at least a half dozen times a day. The price of failure for me was clear, but perhaps even more costly would be the price of success. Or more accurately, the price of too much success too quickly.

I gave Jian Yi a smile. “Don’t worry. I’m well aware.”

“Then why don’t you stop. Before you paint an even bigger target on all our backs.”

“Because that’s not my path,” I said. “And I’m not going to let that happen either.”

“Oh really? How?”

Another good question, but for me, there was only one answer.

“I guess I’ll just have to be strong enough to kill them all before I eventually piss them all off.” I shrugged with [Struggler’s Resolve] and then grinned. “But don’t worry, once I’m that strong, the target will be squarely on my back. Not yours.”

Or so I hoped, but I didn’t have time to think about all that right now.

What would be, would be.

As I turned to go about my way, the curses Jian Yi yelled at my back were priceless, but I was starting not to care. I wasn’t going to win everyone over and this wasn’t some popularity contest either. Still, what she said was true. After I defeated Hein, it would likely be full steam ahead and I would have to grow exponentially stronger to stay one step ahead of the curve. The totem pole would be on display and one swoop from someone up high enough and it would be game over. The key would be in not pissing off too many powerful people too quickly…or too many at once.

But still, could I do it? Could I really grow that strong, that quickly? I wasn’t sure, but the bar just got raised a few notches in my mind. I didn’t just need to shoot for the Iron Bracket. I had to shoot for Diamond. One thing was certain though. If I didn’t grow strong enough, it wouldn’t be from any lack of effort on my part. The idea spurred me into action.

I needed to start my training.

* * *

From my memorization of the Basic Infantry Weapon Techniques manual, the Axe technique was broken down into a set of twelve forms. Each one was a series of finely choreographed movements, defined right down to foot placements, turns and swings. After finally gathering my handlers together and picking up my client for the day I was finally ready to get to practicing.

Until Sumatra called me over.

Ire built within my gut at the last-second delay and as I approached the gray skinned giant, I noticed he had a peculiar smirk on his face. What the hell was this now?

“Come with me,” he said.

I followed him towards the edge of the compound and I passed by Lee and Mu Lin, I gave them both a questioning glance, but they gave me only confused shrugs in return. Whatever this was they didn’t know anything about it. When we got a fair distance away from all the clients and other handlers, Sumatra gave me a look up and down, like he was assessing me for the first time.

“So, I understand we have a mutual friend in the restaurant district now.”

It was more a statement than a question, but I nodded anyway. “I guess so?”

His eyes then narrowed. “Don’t think that this changes anything between us, understand? We’re not equal ranked disciples in some secret sect. If anything, it makes me your boss, twice. Got it?”

I could sense anger building within him, but I played it cool. “Of course.”

“I’ve been watching you lately, Chun. You’re changing. Quick like too. I wonder how you’re able to do that.”

I shrugged. “Self-improvement is a virtue of the empire, isn’t it? Maybe I just like to work hard.”

He eyed me oddly again and I began to wonder if he was sensing the Qi within my stolen core. “Most people need help to advance as fast as you have. The kind of help you have to venture into the wild for.”

I channeled some frenzy into [Indifference] to mask my pulse from rising. “I wouldn’t know. I’m pretty new at all of this.”

He harrumphed. “The Fire Bird Sect has too much riding on this operation to have it blown open because some dumb-shit Terran wants a free ride, understand? If I find out you’ve been smuggling materials from the outside and selling them, I’m going to have your ass.”

I actually breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. I was figuring he might be hinting to me knowing what happened to the lightning core, but if this was all it was then maybe he suspected less than I thought. But just when I thought our conversation was over he added, “When the time comes, I expect you to do exactly what’s required. No rapling nest bullshit, understand?”

It took me a half second to even register what he was talking about, before I finally recalled the lie I’d told. Perhaps he suspected after all. I used [Struggler’s Resolve] as I nodded. “I understand.”

“Good,” he said, turning back toward the camp. “Now get back to work.”

* * *

About an hour later, I finally got my handlers in position to babysit the duo of cultivators we had picked up. We were back in the swamp again, killing my favorite cannibalistic toads. I found a grassy clearing atop a cliff a fair distance from where my guys were set up, giving me a good vantage of what they were doing.

My mind was still jumbled with the worries of the last 24 hours. My meeting with Chow Feng, the trouble in the square, my brief run in with that girl Jian Yi this morning and now the subtle threats coming from Sumatra. If I was being honest, it was adding a new level of stress I didn’t need. But if I was going to be successful, I needed to harness that stress and turn it into determination—just like my flame was able to turn my worst fears into frenzy.

Finding a comfortable spot on the grass, I sat in lotus position to clear my mind and to do just that. Maybe it was the fact that things were finally starting to happen for real, or perhaps happen all at once, but I could sense I was approaching a threshold of some kind. A step that once taken, there could be no return. People’s lives and livelihoods were depending on what actions I would take next. One mis-maneuver and I could doom us all to a quick demise. But the demon in me was craving to toss it all out the window and simply grow strong enough to kill all the people I hated—just roll the dice and not care if I survived or anyone else.

The Yee word for Berserker formed in my mind as I meditated on both those thoughts, the twin characters of the Demon and the Struggler juxtaposed in an eternal battle for control. Focus too much on my cares for the community and I could feel my flame smoldering with inaction threatening to become a Waning Ember, but to lose that care completely and focus only on revenge and I could already envision the monster I would become.

Exhaling, I looked to my only source of strength and guidance for support, my one-time mentor…Threja. I wished she were still here for me to glean some more wisdom from her. But perhaps she had given me as much as she could already. As I cycled my frenzy, I tapped into my Mental Capacity and just like with the manuals I could see her image clearly within my mind’s eye as if she were standing right there with me now. Threja, the surprisingly gentle giantess with the heart of a demon. If there was anyone who knew how to walk the fine line of the Berserker it was her.

And then, like I was reliving the moment in real time, I saw her speaking before me.

“It is a narrow path we tread,” she said. I watched her rise from a crouched position, her massive body coming to her full height as she stood to look down at me. “Many who travel the path grow addicted to the power of the Frenzy and are eventually consumed by their own Flame, becoming demons. It is why there are so few of us. Your Frenzy must always be tempered with Struggle. This is the core of our Dao. As an elder practitioner, the best advice I can give you is this: trust and follow the path of Frenzied Flame, but ensure the Struggler wrestles always with the Demon. Without struggle there can be no true growth, only descension into madness.”

Never did those words make more sense until now

And then I felt something open up inside of me.

Like a breakthrough of some kind.

Perhaps not physical, or even mental.

My flame burned brighter and when I envisioned it, it had transformed from a thick yellow wick of a burning candle to a flame that was bluish at its base with dancing yellow on top. A spiritual breakthrough. A flame burning hotter and brighter than before.

Through the stress and conflict of my thoughts, I had advanced.

I was now one step closer to fully understanding the core of my Dao.

Opening my eyes, I felt refreshed, my frenzy seeming to have doubled in concentration. I used it to finally begin my practice of the Axe techniques, my mind finally clear. I recalled the images from the manual with complete clarity. But while I could recall the information just fine, transforming them into knowledge usable on a battlefield was an entirely different thing.

I began with the first four forms, starting with a rudimentary stance that placed my left foot and hand out front, with my right foot and arm back, holding my axe ready to strike. Each form was a set of motions that moved my position laterally left or right, or backwards and forwards while always keeping up my guard. It was a new way of thinking for me. While my reflexes had gotten pretty quick thanks to my Reflex Sharpening and frenzy, I was still mostly reacting out of instinct, jumping to the side to avoid things rather than making efficient use of body mechanics like this.

I got to work, slowly at first, taking an inordinate amount of time to run through each form, ensuring I had it just right before moving on to the next. Once I was sure I had performed each one correctly I then began to repeat them over and over, committing them to memory while speeding up each time.

Hours passed as I practiced the simple movements over a hundred times each, converting them from mere memory to muscle memory, until I was able to perform them without thinking of the movements consciously.

I thought only of the names of the forms themselves and my body would do the rest.

[1st form]!

I shifted to the left in a series of quick steps.

[2nd form]!

I shifted to the right.

[3rd form]!

I shifted back.

[4th form]!

I advanced.

I practiced some more until I was able to transition between all of them seamlessly. First, Third, Second, Fourth, First! It was just moving around in a square, but the fluidity and speed in which I could do it was amazing, even for something so basic, my martial training was beginning to pay off. It made me eager to put into practice what would come next.

The Axe itself wasn’t a defensive weapon, which suited my preference of style just fine. There were no blocks per se. Its defense involved either maneuvering quickly in and out of your opponent’s range or parrying their attacks. I focused on learning those techniques after lunch: the 5th Form being a combination of a roll and slide that ended in an attack and the 6th Form a reactive glancing blow directed at the enemy’s weapon.

In between my practicing of the forms, I snuck in a few Belrug kills to generate frenzy and maintain my cultivation growth. It wasn’t as much as I would normally generate during a day out in the field, but it was enough to train my Reflex Sharpening and Mental Quickness every time I ran through a form.

After a while, I found that by using my frenzy I was able to increase the speed in which I could perform the techniques by nearly tenfold. That got me through memorizing them much faster, but at the expense of giving me a cardio workout. Eventually I had committed the 5th and 6th to muscle memory and combined them with the first four.

I created a routine, fighting an imaginary foe for over an hour, dashing between the forms while using frenzy, tearing up grass as I rolled, quick-stepped and swung. I was drenched in sweat by the time I was finished for the day, but I felt that I had fully mastered the first six forms and advanced to the fourth stage of Reflex Sharpening and the third stage of Mental Quickness to boot.

I left the field a happy man.

* * *

That evening, after avoiding the silent but angry mob that was my neighbors, I gave my body a rest but exercised my mind by starting my study of the Lightning Technique manual. It was a much different book compared to the Axe techniques. Where the Axe manual focused on forms, the Lightning manual was all about controlling and transforming internal energy.

There were countless pages on how to harness one’s Qi and refine it into a form that could be utilized to create actual lightning, but I only half paid attention to it all. Most of the techniques were not applicable to me and some of the meridians mentioned I’d never even heard of before. But the goal was not to try to create my own lightning, just to learn enough to be passable if I was ever questioned about my fake core.

Still the more I studied the more the idea interested me and I finally found a passage that gave me an inkling of hope.

Origins of the Lightning Arc Technique

The great founder, Zen Ju Xian was originally a fire worshiper whose descendants eventually formed the Fire Bird Sect. But Zen Ju Xian was dissatisfied with the limitations of fire techniques and sought to refine them further. It is through his experimentation with increasing the strength of fire techniques that he discovered the ability to concentrate flame to the point of producing lightning. Thus, all lightning techniques find their roots in fire. While the mastery of fire techniques is not necessary to manifest lightning, a fundamental understanding of fire manifestation will be of great benefit to any lightning practitioner.

Holy shit…I thought. The Frenzied Flame was a kind of fire wasn’t it?

Perhaps not literal fire, but I did recall seeing yellow flames in the sky when Threja transformed. The idea spurred me into action. Perhaps there was a technique that I could mimic to produce flames from frenzy and then substitute that with the techniques in the lightning manual.

That got me looking into the orb under external manifestations again. I searched for over an hour, but after a while had to conclude that either those flames I saw in the sky were not real, or she had developed something herself beyond what the orb could teach me.

That got me thinking of the problem in reverse. Perhaps I could apply the meridians in the lightning manual to those within the orb. But again, some of them just didn’t match up. But what if they could?

That got me reaching for Mu Lin’s fundamentals book again. That text contained every meridian in existence. If I could line up what the lightning book was referring to, then perhaps I could translate that into its equivalent within the orb techniques.

It seemed worth a shot.

I began reading, but by the time I got to the second page of meridian locations my head was swimming and my body was aching for sleep. Reluctantly I closed the fundamentals book. As much as I wanted to research further, I couldn’t spread myself too thin. I still had half the Axe manual to master and that required an intensive physical workout that required my body to be in peak form.

Master one thing at a time, I told myself.

Still, as I drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t help but dream that lightning mastery might be somehow within my grasp.