“Ready?” Wallis called from just beyond the demarcated edge of the training ground. Since this wasn’t a real duel, just training, he lounged on the ground with his back against one of the rainbow trees that surrounded the training ground, hands folded casually behind his head and feet crossed in front of him. There was no need for him to be ready to intercede at the first sign of foul play or outside interference, just observe and perhaps call out advice if he felt it was warranted.
Despite it very explicitly not being a real duel, Lulu was still taking it a lot more seriously than her partner. She was dressed casually, her sect robe hung over a branch nearby to reveal the blush-pink inner robe she wore beneath it, but her lips were stretched into a savage, toothy smile and her eyes were bright and sharp. Instead of her usual braided bun, she wore her dirty blonde hair pulled back and Calvin didn’t fail to notice the pair of ivory-white Silkwing Heron feathers secured within. She certainly hadn’t had time to fashion or commission a proper artifact, but the potent treasures would still serve to amplify her wind techniques.
Her smile widened and she pointed her new spear at Calvin. “Ready,” she confirmed, sinking into a simple stance. Beneath her skin, muscles flexed and tensed, her body ready to move with explosive force at a moment’s notice.
Standing on the opposite side of the field, Calvin nodded sharply. His own inner robe—dark blue a few shades darker than his sect robe—bore several marks of their previous duels, holes and tears where he hadn’t quite been able to avoid Lulu’s techniques or questing spear. They were intentionally pulling their blows and weakening their techniques, and the formation around the training field helped ensure their safety, but the fabric was much flimsier than the qi-reinforced flesh beneath.
“Ready,” he confirmed as well, qi gathering within him but not yet formed into a technique.
“On my mark then. Three…two…one… fight!”
The moment the last words were said, Lulu was off. She shot forward like an arrow, her robe whipping wildly in a sudden wind and her spear leveled at his chest. Dust erupted around her, the force of her lunge shattering the ground and a fierce gale turning the sandy floored arena into a veritable dust storm that choked and blinded.
The first time Lulu had used that technique in a spar, Calvin had been caught completely by surprise and nearly skewered. This time, he was ready for it.
Rather than simply try and make distance, he leapt sharply to the side in a burst of golden sparks. Lulu’s spear passed through where he had been a moment earlier, wrapped in a cone of shredding wind blades that tore great gouges into the ground. She continued forward for several feet, then stabbed her spear into the ground and used its shaft to pivot feet-first towards his new location without losing nearly any of her speed. More wind gathered around her, keen edges turned visible by the dust in the air.
This time, Calvin didn’t dodge. Instead, he used the first of his new techniques, directing his qi into the form the jade slip had imprinted into his mind. It still felt sluggish and awkward compared to how the technique manual had shown it should, but that would come with practice. Already, the technique came together much more quickly and potently than it had the first time he’d attempted it, and it no longer drained his qi quite so precipitously.
[Ascending Sovereign’s Proclamation]
A brilliant sphere of golden yang qi formed above his head, radiating light like a miniature sun. Lashing gales turned into stiff breezes and Lulu faltered as the technique’s suppressive effects crashed down on her, her own yin-aligned attunement working against her and intensifying the power of the technique.
Calvin met her feet with crossed arms, a sheen of metal qi turning a bone-shattering impact into one that simply drove him back a single step. He countered with a sharp jab, stepping into the blow, and now it was Lulu’s turn to evade, spinning away with inches to spare and no time to block with her spear.
Calvin focused and the rays of golden light pouring from his technique seemed to warp and bend, a fraction more of the technique’s suppressive power turning to weigh Lulu down rather than being wasted on the otherwise empty training ground. Distracted, he nearly took a spear to the gut, but he managed to knock it away with the back of his hand and the suppressive light meant the wind blades surrounding it scraped futilely against his defensive technique.
For several seconds they fought in close quarters, exchanging a flurry of blows. Lulu’s spear struck out towards the sun above his head whenever she thought she had an opening, and Calvin defended his technique with dogged determination. She was a better fighter than him, more experienced and technically skilled, but the usual gap in strength and speed in Calvin’s favor was further widened by the suppression she was under, causing her to miss-time attacks and barely avoid counters she saw coming from a mile away.
Seeing the way the tides were turning, she jumped back, the suppressive weight on her spirit easing with distance. Calvin didn’t pursue, withdrawing some of his focus from the slowly destabilizing proclamation and the metal qi on his hands and arms to shape another technique.
This one came together much more easily, requiring only a fraction of the qi and control. It really was a very simple technique at its core, and Calvin didn’t need to partially filter his own qi to more closely match the technique’s requirements.
[Noonday Sparrow]
A blazing ball of fire in the vague shape of a plump bird, wings spread in flight, shot forward, flying in a straight line towards Lulu. She cut it out of the air with a single thrust of her spear, the technique winking out like a snuffed candle flame, but there were two more already in the air, one flying in a wide spiral while the other once again shot directly at her.
Her spear rose, but this sparrow juked sharply towards the ground just as it got in range, evading her thrust. It didn’t evade the followup wind blade, but instead of just vanishing it erupted into a small fireball that, for the first time that day, singed the edges of Lulu’s inner robe.
Lulu looked down at herself, idly shredding the other sparrow with a sweep of her spear, and a flicker of annoyance flashed across her face. Her body tensed, qi flaring, and—
“And that’s time!” Wallis called. “A draw this time!”
Calvin prematurely detonated the three sparrows in flight and Lulu relaxed, dropping the tip of her spear till it brushed the ground. The wind died and the sun above his head flickered out, strands of qi unraveling and dissolving into the air as soon as he was no longer continually reinforcing it.
Calvin sagged, breathing heavily. Lulu by comparison was smiling serenely, adjusting her robe where it had been knocked askew during the fighting and brushing dust out of her hair with her fingers. Wallis joined them a moment later, looking pristine without any of the dust clinging to both Lulu and Calvin.
“That was much better than your last attempt!” he said encouragingly.
Calvin groaned, but acknowledged the point. The sun hadn’t immediately collapsed when he tried to use another technique, lasting all the way to the end of their thirty second time limit. That really was much better than the five seconds it had lasted during their first spar earlier in the morning, but absolutely pathetic for a suppressive technique meant to last through hours-long engagements.
“And you’re really starting to get the hang of those sparrows!” Lulu added. “Those would have really hurt if they got through!” She demonstratively pointed her spear towards the charred earth where one of the final sparrows had detonated only a few inches above the ground. “Look at that! More than enough for a bunch of Gathering bothers!”
That at least he agreed with. Of the three techniques he’d purchased from the Technique Repository, the Very Low quality [Noonday Sparrow] technique had been by far the easiest to learn, more so even then the Extremely Low quality [Vermillion Tide Seal].
Even with the aid of the Scroll and the detailed instructions within the jade slip he’d received, it had taken him nearly the entirety of the previous day to use the Low quality (and hadn’t that been a very pleasant surprise!) [Ascending Sovereign’s Proclamation] for the first time. Meanwhile the sparrow he managed on his first attempt—though without any instructions imbued into it, it had immediately exploded in his face.
The sparrow technique simply felt…right in a way the others didn’t. Despite its malleability, or perhaps because of it, it came together smoothly and accepted his qi easily. Almost too easily. He strongly suspected the technique would become even easier and more powerful once he’d fully attuned himself to the qi of the Imperial Phoenix. That was probably a good thing in the long run, but would potentially make things complicated.
With a heavy sigh, he straightened, his spirit feeling slightly sore from channeling so much qi so quickly. He’d put a strict cap on how much qi he was willing to use during today’s training, and he’s just about reached it in just a handful of thirty-second exchanges. He really needed to work on the efficiency of the proclamation technique…
Still, despite only winning one of their bouts and losing more than he drew, he felt pretty good about how the day had gone. Several of his losses had been due to his unfamiliarity with his techniques, something that would come with time and practice, and otherwise he’d felt like he’d been fighting pretty evenly with Lulu. Even with his recent improvement, Calvin couldn’t imagine Yunfei was nearly on the same level as Lulu, so he was feeling pretty confident in his performance during the upcoming duel.
Especially since his own lacking competence with his new techniques wasn’t the only reason he’d done somewhat poorly in most of their duels today. He brushed his hair away from his forehead, noting that it was getting a little longer than he usually kept it. “That spear is cheating,” he complained good-naturedly.
Lulu wrapped her arms around the spear, hugging it tightly to her chest, and stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re just jealous!”
Calvin shrugged. That wasn’t entirely untrue. Lulu’s new spear was a Low quality work of art that she’d spent some ludicrous number of points on—so many neither she nor Wallis were willing to admit just how much it had cost—not to mention several precious favors.
Calvin wanted to criticize her for spending all the points they’d risked their lives for in a single day, but he’d pretty much done the same thing for the same reasons. He’d missed it, but apparently Lulu had nearly died when her old spear gave out on her after blocking a surprise attack from the cult leader and she’d been briefly left without a complete weapon. She’d taken that experience to heart and, after not finding anything in Sapphire Tooth City, had decided to go all out when purchasing a replacement.
Her new weapon would most likely serve her well into the Core realm, the work of an Inner disciple belonging to Metal Peak and fashioned nearly entirely from Core realm materials. Not only was it significantly more durable than any of her old spears, but it also greatly amplified any wind techniques channeled through it. It was honestly a little bit too good for Lulu’s current strength. Using it as anything more than a pointy stick put significant strain on her spirit, enough that the thirty second rule had been put into place as much for her safety as it was for his.
“A little,” he admitted. “Though if you keep holding it like that maybe Wallis will start getting jealous too.”
Lulu pressed the spear tighter against her chest, though she relented when Wallis kissed her forehead, freeing one arm to wrap around his chest. Seeing the very familiar looks in both their eyes, Calvin loudly cleared his throat, reminding the amorous couple that they were very much not alone—not that they always cared enough for that to stop them.
Wallis coughed. “Uh, we’re done for today, right?”
Lulu leaned her head against his shoulder, “Wallis and I were planning to—“
“—come over to my place for tea,” Calvin finished smoothly. Like they’d agreed that morning.
Wallis blinked, Lulu swore, and Calvin sighed heavily.
“Um, rain check?” Wallis tried. Calvin didn’t miss where exactly on Lulu’s back his hand had fallen, nor the glint in Lulu’s eyes as she pressed herself into Wallis’s side.
Talking to them right now would only be a waste of time.
He sighed again. Well, he needed to meditate and refill his qi reserves today anyway, especially if he hoped to progress his qi attunement to the next step before his upcoming duel. “Two hours,” he told them firmly, turning around and beginning to walk away. “And don’t forget to reset the field when you’re done!” It took some time, but the formation would return the burnt and torn up field to its original pristine state, but only if you didn’t forget to trigger it before you left. Those two forgot frequently.
“Yeah, definitely!” Lulu called back, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of her new spear clattering onto the dirt.
“We won’t!” Wallis agreed, his sect robe flying past Calvin to land hanging neatly on an overhanging tree branch.
He’d give them three hours before he came looking for them, Calvin decided. He closed his eyes, picturing the way Wallis had stared at his dao companion three spars ago when she’d taken him by surprise and knocked him out of the field so hard the formation had triggered, catching him before his body could crash through any of the surrounding trees.
…maybe four hours. Better to give them a little bit of time to get cleaned up after.
Despite his experience with the duo, his final estimate proved to be overly pessimistic, if not by that much. Just under three hours after he’d left the training field, he found Lulu and Wallis on his doorstep fully dressed and as composed as they ever were. Wallis sheepishly apologized and presented an apology gift—a fresh almond loaf cake he’d baked that morning.
Calvin graciously accepted both, silently appreciating Wallis’s foresight. Wallis was not exactly a spiritual chef, but baked as a hobby—something Calvin sometimes suspected had helped him win Lulu’s heart. The cake looked and smelled absolutely delicious, and was liberally covered in his favorite spiced honey nuts.
It was only the work of a few minutes to brew the tea. He picked out Wallis’s favorite blend—heavy on citrus and dried stone fruit, light on the more vegetal notes—then after a moment’s thought supplemented it with a fallen petal from one of Gwen’s midnight glory that she’d given him after their dinner. Tea brewed from midnight glory petals could help soothe the spirit and cleanse impurities, something he and Lulu would both appreciate right now. Normally a singular petal would have little effect in a pot shared with three people, but this was one of Gwen’s plants. He was curious to see just how well it would work first hand.
Pouring the tea, he served himself a thick slice of cake and settled down across from his friends. Lulu perked up from where she was lounging against Wallis’s side, temporarily ignoring her tea as she cut herself an equally decadent slab of nutty goodness.
Wallis took a much more reasonable slice and sipped from his cup, closing his eyes and smiling serenely at the flavor and fragrance. “Delicious as always,” he complimented, raising his cup to Calvin.
Calvin finished chewing and pointed his spoon at his friend across the table. “Right back at you.”
For several minutes they simply sat around the table, enjoying their tea and dessert in companionable silence but for the sounds of dishes and chewing. Eventually however, Wallis set his thrice-emptied cup down on the table and leaned forward, crossing his arms and bracing his elbows against the table. “As nice as this was, I assume you have some reason you wanted us to come by?”
Calvin nodded. “I did, yeah.” He drained his own cup and stood up, gesturing to the table. “Help me clean up?”
Wallis joined him and with four hands it only took a moment to clear the table. Instead of helping clean up, Lulu helped herself to another small wedge of cake, then pouted when Wallis gave her a judging look. Rolling her eyes, she used a carefully controlled wind technique to gather up the inevitable crumbs, a foot-tall cyclone winding across the table, then floor, and finally depositing its gathered bounty of dust and debris in the nearby garbage.
She gave him a look right back, only relenting when Wallis gently kissed her forehead and settled back down on the seat beside her, one arm thrown around her shoulders. Then he expectantly turned back to Calvin.
Calvin shifted his weight from foot to foot, suddenly nervous. He’d intended to act nervous, to better sell his implied story, but now that the time had come he couldn’t help but wonder how his friends would take things. So far they’d been content to accept some of his strangeness without comment, but how long could such an attitude really last?
They were his friends. Probably his closest friends. He was casually friendly with a number of other disciples, was slowly growing fond of Gwen as more than just a resource to cultivate, and of course there was whatever was going on with Ariadne, but he trusted Lulu and Wallis to watch his back, to fight at his side, to trust in his capabilities and judgement. That was not something he’d ever felt before coming to the sect, and he realized now how much he’d come to value it and the camaraderie between them.
He didn’t want to lie to them. But neither could he tell them the truth. That was a line he didn’t dare to cross.
Two could keep a secret only if one of them was dead.
He exhaled loudly and reached into his robes, steeling himself. Whatever came next, he owed the two of them at least this much. He still had no idea of the true value of the innocuous metal canister hidden in plain sight in his bedroom, but he’d promised to make letting him keep it worth their while. That was a promise he intended to keep.
“You alright Calvin?” Wallis asked suddenly, startling him. “We can come back later?”
Calvin shook his head. “No, no, sorry.” He took a deep breath. “Just…” he trailed off, not sure what he had been planning to say. “Sorry,” he repeated in lieu of anything meaningful. Then he silently withdrew the pockmarked scroll case from within his robe and set it vertically down on the table.
Lulu sat up and Wallis leaned forward, both watching with sharp eyes as he carefully unscrewed the cap and withdrew the ragged-edged sheet of vellum within. He carefully laid it out on the table, the page lying flat despite the scroll tube it had been stored in for who knew how long. Then he took a deep breath and turned the page one-hundred-and-eighty degrees before resolutely sliding the page across the table. His fingers lingered for a moment, then he sat down and folded his hands together in his lap.
Lulu eagerly leaned forward, only to freeze a moment later, her mouth falling open. Wallis was only a moment behind her, and he blinked once, then looked up to fix Calvin with a wide-eyed stare.
“This––“ he began.
Calvin shrugged helplessly, stiff fingers intertwining with bone-shattering force. “There’s a bit more on the back.”