"The rules for this round are simple enough," Alpha informed us. "Each contestant will stand in an array scribed circle that the contestant's Qi will power. If they are forced out of the circle, they lose. If they are unable to continue because of injury, they lose. If they move to attack by leaving the circle, they lose. And if they cannot spare the energy to empower the circle, they lose.

"The duels will continue until the last two Hindel remained. It is double elimination, so an individual that lost the first round can demand the right to a second round, but almost no one ever does. They are usually too injured, and their energies funneled into healing to have any to spare.

"The Hindel are trained to know when to admit defeat. They have learned that to acknowledge loss is not a sign of shame, and they will carry no stigma for realizing they have been bested.

"There are rare instances where one of the defeated continues to challenge, but if they have been defeated by a challenger once, the chances of meeting them a second time and winning is rare."

"Li'Uin's performance was impressive," I replied. Is he the favorite to win?"

He had been the Hindel who created the vignette of ocean, storm, monster, and ship. His affinity with metal and familiarity with water gave him the same control over the two elements as a dual aspect cultivator would have.

His construct in the first round had been artistic, an intricate model that used his strengths and allowed him to defeat his opponents. That artistry and intimate knowledge of his strengths should carry over to this round.

We watched as he crafted a metal harpoon, streamlined the shaft to pass through the water quickly, and then used pressurized water to launch them at his opponent. The Hindel that blocked his spears found themselves shrouded in a cloud of metallic particles. I watched, my perception fully engaged, as he commanded the metals dissolved in the ocean's water to thicken and add to the haze of metallic fog the shattered spear had released.

We had been careful when using the environmental array to allow the Hindel to travel, participate, and watch this event to store water collected from the ocean. We had diverted water from the estuary, knowing it would need to be filtered. It was a simple matter to filter the brackish water we collected until it was indistinguishable from the ocean water found in the bay. It wasn't distilled. That might have caused damage to the Hindel, people that had adapted to the ocean's salinity.

Li'Uin's affinity with metal was masterful. The cloud of particles he manifested was formed from the different metals found in seawater. Each bit of metal collected and added to like particles, attracted to only metals of the same type.

He was controlling a multitude of different metals simultaneously, filtering them out of the seawater, causing them to collect, and suspending them in a fog of confusion. I had never observed a metal-aligned cultivator with such control over their affinity.

Even more impressive was his ability to affect the solidity of each metal. He was not fire aspected, but he was still able to turn the metal he controlled into liquid, splashes of molten metal that did some damage as well as obscured vision. It was only when I combined my [Dao of Movement] with my perception that I was able to see how he was doing it.

His control over the microscopic particles was absolute. And he used that control to cause the metal particles to vibrate, the motion of each molecule of metal against the other creating friction and heat.

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To have this kind of control and to know precisely how fast and long he would need to manipulate individual pieces of metal demonstrated the tenacity and determination to understand and control his elemental alignment. A resolution that I had never witnessed before.

His attacks with the molten metal were effective, and he won duel after duel one by one; the other challengers that faced him were eliminated. The weapons and water element his competitors controlled were used against them. The longer a fight lasted, the longer the heat from the metal affected the surroundings.

Superheated, the metal transformed the water, creating pockets of boiling water that forced challengers out of the scribed circle or damaged them badly enough they were forced to surrender.

"Have you ever seen anything like that before?" Wu Chen asked the Patriarch. He was as surprised as I was at the control Li'Uin made look effortless.

"I know of only a few cultivators that would bother to master the fine level of control he has over his element," the Patriarch replied. "You have to remember that the land has a bounty of metals that can be used. Learning to collect and separate the metals suspended in water would require him to train differently from someone on land.

"The Hindel travel through water; they may be hundreds, even thousands of feet from the ocean floor where they would have easy access to metals. It would make sense that he would overcome what might have been a weakness with a more focused approach."

"And to control so many different metals at once?" Wu Chen asked.

"I would guess he is replicating something we do when using our spirit roots," she answered.

"The same way I can use my meridian channels, having trained and linked each channel to a spirit root, making it easier to practice my Alchemy?" I said, hazarding a guess that it was something like that.

I was already constructing a series of exercises that would give me a similar level of control over air, fog, and water. Each element contained its own fragments of particles suspended in each medium. It would be interesting to see what I could do if I could gain control and operate on the microscopic level.

My control over the elements I was aligned with was impressive, but my approach was more brute force than the elegant dance of metallic particles Li'Uin had managed. I would begin to experiment with my control, adding precision and detail to the mix. I could already imagine some of the benefits I might gain if I succeeded.

"Yes," the Patriarch answered me. "I believe he has linked his meridian channels to a specific metal and uses a wave pattern of controlled Qi to collect and separate the metals he finds."

"Well reasoned," the Alpha responded, "the only thing you missed is that he uses the metal from the spear he summoned to add to serve as seed stock in separating and collecting the metal suspended in water. He also has bracelets, rings, and armbands that can be cannibalized if needed.

"It is easier to control metal if you bring it with you," she added with a small chuckle.

Most of the battles between the ten contestants amounted to a conflict of will and attrition. Of those competing, only two, Li'Uin and a young woman with an ice affinity had something other than the water element as an affinity.

Those contestants aligned with water affinity fought each other for supremacy and control of the element, trying to control the water around them and subvert their opponent's efforts.

"Consorts can be of either sex?" I asked once the woman using ice had won her first fight.

"Of course," the Alpha replied. "We live and travel in pods. A Consort has many roles, none of which require them to be male. They serve as Captain of our Guard. Seneschal. My Voice when necessary. And a diplomat at times.

"We would be ill-served as a species if we allowed matters of gender to determine position. I want the best person, the most talented, to serve as consort. The stronger they are, the safer my pod becomes."

"Very similar to Sects and how the Patriarch can be either gender," Wu Chen said, acknowledging the merits of appointing the best person for the job.

The Hindel were a matriarchal society, mostly. The head of each pod was always female, but it seemed that was the only position where gender mattered. It was the same in the Empire. For most, gender was irrelevant, except for the position of Emperor.

The Emperor had always been held by a male of direct descent from the Empire's founder. I believed that if there ever came a time when only a female descendant lived, that policy would change. The Emperor would rather see his bloodline continue to rule than allow another to claim his throne, but I wasn't sure that the woman that became the first Empress would survive long.