In the week that followed the tournament, Chance finally dedicated time to learning the technique in the book that Pete had gotten for him. It only took a grand total of two days to read through it – the technique was a series of patterns to put his Essence through that would manifest it in a precise way.
That was the way the book described it, at least. From his testing, Chance realized that the application wasn’t exactly as cut and dry as it had appeared to be. The technique was, for lack of a better word, stiff. There was no flexibility to it, and it felt almost as if he were borrowing somebody else’s ability.
The technique was simple. It just allowed him to imbue his urumi with Essence, empowering its attacks. But, the more Chance practiced it, the more he felt like it didn’t work properly. It wasn’t quite the feeling he’d gotten during the tournament, as that had felt like something was missing. This was more like he was trying to eat soup with a fork.
Before the week was out, he’d already memorized the most important parts of the book. Whatever had helped him learn the language seemed to be applying here too, and he had little difficulty remembering the contents of the technique manual. Unfortunately, that did little to actually make it feel like it fit.
Chance ran his concerns past Pete at the end of the week. He found his mentor sitting in the large, cushioned chair in the living room, where he typically took up residence when he wasn’t out on a job. The older man gave him an understanding smile when Chance had finished running through his problems.
“That’s quite natural, I’m afraid,” Pete said. “If you recall, I mentioned that you shouldn’t make your own techniques for quite some time. That’s because it requires a very detailed understanding of your Essence and how it functions. When you use a technique, you’re following in the path of someone with a similar Essence to you, but they had enough understanding to make a technique. The benefit is a powerful skill, but the drawback is that it isn’t truly your skill.”
“I don’t know how I didn’t realize that. It doesn’t work because the person who made this technique views Karma differently than I do, so it doesn’t feel natural to use my Essence like this,” Chance realized. “Crap. I should have asked you days ago. I just wasted so much time trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.”
“Practice is never wasted. Getting a better understanding of how this technique works will still aid you when it comes time for you to make your own,” Pete advised. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “And, typically, techniques are far more interesting than the one I was able to find for you. It’s just that there’s so little available here for Karma cultivators. Your lot are a very secretive – or rare – bunch. I’m not sure which. I’m just sorry I couldn’t find something more interesting for you.”
“Don’t apologize. This is perfect,” Chance said. “Knowledge is a lot more valuable than some random technique, and I’ve got so much to work on right now that I don’t think it’s a huge loss. I’ll just focus on cultivating and my main skills, since the technique was basic enough that I think I’ve already got it under wraps.”
“A wise plan,” Pete said, bidding Chance farewell as he set out.
It had been several days beyond the time Baba had told him she’d need, so he took a break to swing by her store and pick his vials of pills back up. She’d helpfully labeled all of them, going so far as to spell everything out phonetically to help him read them.
It wasn’t needed as he’d already gotten a very firm grasp of the written language, but Chance appreciated it anyway. He thanked her and promised to return at a later date before returning back to his room to look through his earnings.
To his delight, almost half of the vials were cultivation aids. From the look of them, they were better than the one’s he’d been buying thus far. A vial of blue cultivation aids stuck out to him from the others. Baba had marked it with a plus, so they were probably even better than the rest. That probably meant it would be best to save those for as long as possible.
In addition, there were several other miscellaneous vials of pills. One was labeled monster repellants, which was fairly self-explanatory. Among the others were more healing pills as well as one vial labeled Purification with just four pills in it and a vial with just a single, large white pill. The latter was marked as Enlightenment.
Pete was cooking dinner when Chance found him to ask about the pills. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw the contents of the final vial, and he nearly dropped his kitchen knife.
“You need to put that away immediately,” Pete said, clasping Chance’s hands back over the pill to hide it from view. He glanced around, even though they were within the safety of the Whiteheart house. “That pill is worth more than the rest of your earnings combined – and that’s understating it. When you’re at a bottleneck in your cultivation, you can take that to break through, though those words hardly do such a pill much justice.”
Chance hurriedly put it away. “Like what you’re at now?”
Pete’s gaze sharpened. “Yes, Chance. And don’t even consider offering it to me. I’m a failed old man. Even if I were able to push forward another rank, it would do nothing in the long run. That pill is for someone with potential. Never give it away. Do you understand?”
Chance swallowed and nodded. He couldn’t deny that he’d been about to offer it to Pete. After all, the older man was having difficulty reaching the next stage, and he had no such problem. The impurity pills weren’t going to be of any use to him either. “Yes. I’ll keep it for myself.”
Pete sighed and shook his head. He patted Chance on the shoulder and picked the knife back up, returning to chopping the strange, brittle-skinned vegetable on the cutting board. “They must have really seen a lot of potential in you if that was your reward. I don’t believe it’s anywhere near common. Yeo showed me his gains a day ago, and he didn’t get one. Perhaps it was the new prize for first place, but I can’t imagine they’d waste such a rare pill every time there was a Squire tournament.”
The Old City’s words bubbled up unbidden in Chance’s head.
Lower rank Shikari are just fodder for the ones that truly rule the city. Why would they give a disposable soldier a useful item?
Chance buried the questions. They would be good to address when he got strong enough to ask them. For now, the most important thing he could do was survive whatever was brewing between Yamish and the Old City.
The next few days passed quietly. Bella returned with Wren early one morning, but she darted up to her room so quickly that Chance didn’t even get a chance to say hello. He was left standing on the porch beside Wren, staring at her disappearing back in befuddlement. Wren laughed at the quizzical look on his face.
“She found much inspiration from studying with my master,” Wren said. “But she could not cultivate until he was done teaching, so she needed to act quickly in order to avoid losing inspiration.”
“That makes sense. Did it go well?”
“Only she can decide,” Wren said with a small shrug. “But she seemed to believe so. How have your own studies gone?”
“Neither good nor bad,” Chance admitted. “I’m making progress. Learned a new technique, but it doesn’t really strike me.”
“Essence mismatch,” Wren said with a knowing nod. “An unfortunate drawback of techniques. Some have it far more than others. The more unique your path, the harder it is to use other’s techniques.”
“So I’ve found,” Chance said dryly. “What about your technique? The one you used when we trained.”
“Ah.” Wren gave Chance an embarrassed grin. “My master made that specifically for me. It fits my path perfectly.”
“Wow. I didn’t think about that being a thing, but it makes sense. Is that why your master didn’t want you to use it?”
“Precisely,” Wren said. “It was borrowed power, so to speak. I apologize for being unable to hold myself back.”
“We’ve already gone over this. It was a fantastic fight and there’s nothing to apologize for,” Chance said, waving his hand dismissively. “Did you want to get to that sparring session we agreed on? I’ve got some free time.”
“Alas, I must depart. My schedule today is tight.” Wren shook his head sadly. “I was simply accompanying Bella back. We will have to have our spar another day.”
“No worries,” Chance said. Wren extended a hand, and he reached out to take it. As they shook, Wren pressed a small square into Chance’s palm. He opened his mouth, but something in Wren’s eyes stopped him from speaking. “I’ll be seeing you, then.”
“Yeah. I’ll be seeing you,” Wren said, holding Chance’s gaze for just a moment before turning and striding away.
Chance stepped back inside the house, closing the door before hurrying up the stairs to his room. Only then did he allow himself to open his hand and look down at the small, folded paper that Wren had given him. He picked it apart to reveal a hastily written note.
My friend, ill winds are blowing. The eyes of several powerful cultivators have fallen upon your team. My master discovered that Bella is at great risk due to her involvement with an exiled Shikari. Your performance at the tournament is receiving undue attention, and Yeo seems to have his own demons. It is almost as if someone assembled people that should not have gained attention into a single group intentionally.
Regardless of the reason, Gleam is no longer safe for you. You are all in danger. I do not know how or from what, but I strongly suggest you leave for some time. Do not move immediately or suspicion may be cast onto my master. The city moves quickly, and you will soon be forgotten if you can remove yourself in time. Trust no one – not even me or my master. We may come under scrutiny and be forced to comply with the city. Time is not your friend.
Hoping for better times.
Wren
Chance stared at the note, re-reading it several more times. Then he tore it up, crumpling the ribbons of paper into pieces. He looked around and, failing to find a good way to dispose of them, he crumpled them up and stuffed them into his mouth.
The last thing I need is for the note to somehow get tied back to Wren. Also, still tastes better than monsters. Significantly better.
He didn’t give himself time to think until no trace of the note remained. Chance swallowed, and it wasn’t because he was still eating.
This is bad.
The world cracked and shifted around him, wooden floor turning to cracked cobblestone. Chance found himself standing in the Old City once again. Floating before him, right side up for once, was Yamish, and he didn’t look happy.
Evidently, things were about to get worse.