The First Peak of the Force

by Yuri Ajin

  “Where are you going?” he asked, noticing Kai just passing by him.

  “I came here for my Flower,” he replied without looking at him.

  “Your Flower?”

  “Yes. My Flower,” Kai said firmly and entered the cave. He didn’t care about the wounded students as he couldn’t help them in any way. He didn’t care about the darkness of the cave either. His eyes were like those of any nocturnal predator and he feared no beast that might’ve made itself a home here.

  The cave was rather small, perhaps the same height of a two-story house. But the deeper Kai went, the narrower and lower it became. Ducking a bit so as not to hit his head, he saw what he had been looking for ― a tunnel leading downward.

  Following the spiraling corridor, he descended deeper and deeper into the bowels of the beast. Luckily, his journey didn’t last long. After a hundred steps or so, he reached another cave. The connecting tunnel looked man-made, but, knowing how quirky Mother Nature was at times, it could’ve very easily been a natural formation. However, chances were that the monster that had once lived here created a tunnel connecting both caves.

  The Illusionary Flower could be found in this cave. But Kai didn’t stop here either. Reaching the wall, he walked over to a narrow, hidden crevice in it. Climbing into it, he found himself in a very small cave.

  It suddenly became brighter.

  Stopping, Kai looked in front of him. Floating in the air was a shapeless blob of luminescent fog. Coming closer, he felt the impulses of the Forces gathered within it… Forces of Space.

  Usually, in lands with a high-energy density, such as the Plateau, it wasn’t uncommon to have different kinds of Forces occasionally appear on their own, especially in places where energy was left undisturbed for a long time. More precisely, where there were no people around. Because of this, places like the Far Wasteland became a paradise for the rarest types of Plants and monsters. It was precisely because of this that the clans decided not to conquer the entire area.

  However, these Forces were as quick to disappear as they were to appear. Whenever they would form, they’d remain in this world for a split second. Under very rare circumstances, it was possible for a cluster of them to appear all at once. However, this happened so rarely that people had begun to believe that such a thing wasn’t possible at all, and that anyone who claimed otherwise was just full of shit.

  Particles of the same kind of Force would circle around each other, like planets around a star, attracting similar Forces and making the cluster bigger and bigger. It was in places like these that Spirits could be born over the course of several millennia.

  One such cluster was in this cave.

  Kai first discovered it a year ago. He was taking a stroll around the place when he passed near this rock and noticed a bright glow under it. The moment he figured out what he was looking at, he realized just how lucky he had gotten. First of all, rare were those who could sense the power of a cluster and not mistake it for the aura of some powerful beast, and second, even rarer were those who could approach it without feeling any negative consequences.

  The cluster’s first line of defense was a field that curved the space around it, making it difficult to sense it from afar. Kai was fortunate that he possessed energy vision. The second was, as he himself called them, the Fragments of Space. Reminiscent of shards of broken glass, pieces of Force invisible to ordinary eyes swirled around the cluster. The edges were sharp enough to cut through bone.

  Energy vision and his unique control of energy helped out this time, too. If it weren’t for these things, he would’ve probably died the first time he had come here.

  In fact, only Elementalists could find and tame a future Spirit. As Rune’Tan had explained, thousands of Fragments could be dispersed with a dense wave of ki, which someone at the Elementalist Stage could absolutely pull off. Peak-level Exorcists could probably do the same. Kai, on the other hand, could get close to the Forces only because of his unique abilities.

  If he were to use a technique that’d allow him to release his ki in such a manner, he’d definitely damage the cluster. Luckily, thanks to his energy-taming ability, he easily bypassed the Fragments. Standing in front of the cluster, he was finally able to feel the full power of the centuries-old Fragments.

  The reason why he had to get so close to it was cultivation. Who would refuse the opportunity to contemplate the real Forces of Space for free? Kai knew a little bit about the Path of the Sword, but nothing really prevented him from learning the Path of some other element. After all, there was no better teacher than nature itself.

  This was what Kai had been doing for almost the entire last year. Thanks to his hard work, he managed to make great progress, having mastered all four Forces of Space at the Hearing Stage. He must’ve been born under a lucky star as he doubted that anyone else would’ve found this place as easily as he had.

  However, this time, he was in no hurry to approach the cluster. Bowing slightly, he sincerely thanked the future Spirit, which, unfortunately, would probably be found and captured before it was completely formed.

  Turning around, he followed the tunnel to the previous cave and approached the Flower. He didn’t know for how long it had been growing here, but, judging by it being of peak-quality and Gold rank, it must’ve been quite some time.

  The Flower was beautiful. It grew directly from the stone, casting a pale, shimmering silver light upon the cave. Its thin stalk was no longer than a human hand. Its five petals, each the size of a silver coin, were adorned with mysterious symbols that kept changing their shape. Any attempt to memorize or find meaning in them was pointless. This was what Force Fragments actually looked like.

  When Kai first came down here, he immediately noticed the Flower. More precisely, a whole bed of them. But it was all an illusion that the Flower had made to protect itself. The real one was in a completely different place, hidden by a special veil that made it invisible. A year ago, the Flower was only of high quality, so Kai decided to help it grow. Thanks to Rune’Tan, he learned that he needed to do two things in order for the Flower to become of peak quality.

  First, he made a miniature energy-collection array around the Flower. Over the years, he had seen enough similar arrays to know how they worked. In addition, he learned a few more details about them from the information Dee had given him. Usually, the problem with building arrays was their complex structure and knowledge needed to form it. Apprentices studied this art for years, but Kai, who had no difficulties with energy control and who had long ago memorized the schematics of many arrays, needed but a couple of hours to master the art of making them.

  Aside from that, from time to time, Kai brought Crystals and other Plants to the Flower, so that it could absorb their energy and grow.

  Thus, in almost a year, Kai had managed to raise the Plant’s quality. Then again, the Flower had probably been doing fine on its own. All that he had done was help it reach a new stage sooner rather than later.

  Crouching in front of the Plant, Kai closed his eyes and tried to remember the correct way of harvesting this particular type of Flower. First, he needed to find the energy threads with which it was connected to the stone and then cut them off. Finding them wasn’t difficult, and as soon as the first thread was cut, the Plant suddenly swayed and lit up. However, nothing happened.

  Kai knew that this particular Flower should already be able to move on its own. There was a special technique to prevent the plant from escaping, but he didn’t care much for it. Due to the fact that it was so close to a cluster, it had fallen under its influence and simply decided that it liked it far too much to escape.

  A minute later, the Plant was in Kai’s Ring.

  Time to go back up to the surface and fix this mess.

  Chapter 20

  LURING OUT THE SALAMANDERS

  While Kai was in the cave, Yang Ling had managed to gather all the limbs, wake up all the students, and have them activate their Rings. With the limbs intact and stored a
way, they had a chance of being healed. Unfortunately, these injuries would affect their ability to fight and cultivate but it was still better than being disabled and dead.

  Having noticed Kai, Yang Ling got up. His right hand was now wrapped in a special healing bandage. Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to find his fingers. They were probably lost and trampled over during the fight. However, that seemed like nothing compared to what his friends had lost.

  “What happened here? Why are there so many students in the Far Wasteland?” Kai asked straight away.

  Yang Ling looked up at him in surprise. How come Kai didn’t know? Had he been hiding underground this entire time?

  “The Great Tournament,” he muttered.

  What? Kai thought, but then he remembered. Has it really been that long?

  “All right…” He sighed. “Tell me everything. And don’t spare the details.”

  Yang Ling continued staring at him. Has he truly been living in the Wasteland? Snapping out of it, he began to tell Kai about the Tournament. He told him about the event itself, about the awards, about the first round and its rules, about the tokens, about the search for Plants, about the Bright Moon Clan, and about the ambush. He also told him about the brochures, from which Kai could get much more information.

  “Fiftieth anniversary? Interesting…” Kai muttered and checked Shin Kou’s Ring. To his surprise, he had a brochure on him. Noticing the token, he picked it up and looked it over. The number four hundred was engraved on it. No wonder he had dealt with him so easily, Shin Kou seemed to have been one of the weakest apprentices.

  [Grand Tournament Storage Token]

  Rank: Silver

  Quality: Peak

  Features: see more

  Information (Points): 1,740

  I see. So these are the points they told me about...

  Having checked all of the tokens, Kai noted that Shin Kou’s teammates had far fewer points than him. On average, two hundred.

  Seeing that most of those points had been taken from the defeated students, Kai tried to transfer them all to one token. However, he failed — apparently, transferring points between the members of the same clan wasn’t allowed. However, they could be transferred to another clan’s token and then transferred back to a clanmate through it. In this way, the Salamanders shared part of their points with Shin Kou.

  Having figured it out, Kai ended up with only one token worth 5,520 points. Unfortunately, the Crystals, which gave these points, couldn’t be removed from the tokens. This required a special key that only the elders of the Blades possessed. Any attempt to open the token by force threatened to destroy both it and the Crystals.

  Kai sat down with the intention of studying the brochure in greater detail when he was suddenly interrupted by the leader of the Tree of Life Clan members.

  “Sorry… But… Can… Can you return our tokens?” he whispered in a hoarse, weak voice.

  Kai raised his head and eyebrows. “Do you seriously intend to continue? You’ve lost all of your limbs… It’d be suicide at this point. Although, I admire your guts.”

  “No…” the young man replied, smiling through the pain. “If we saturate them with energy, we’ll be teleported back. However, we’ll be disqualified... Otherwise, well… We’ll just sit here till we die...”

  Kai checked the properties of the tokens, making sure that was how they worked. A small area of its energy space had outlines that strongly resembled the structure of a transfer array, into which two Forces of Space were interwoven.

  At first glance, the structure seemed simple, but Kai knew that there was no way that he’d be able to recreate it. Although only two of the four Forces of Space were used here, they were clearly called upon by a Seer. Also, all of the tokens had an anchor. That is, they were connected to each other, forming a much larger array, connected to artifacts outside the Far Wasteland. That was how the tokens knew where to transfer the students.

  Returning the empty tokens, Kai watched patiently as the students poured energy into them, activating the transfer process. As it took some time, it was clear why they didn’t leave during the battle. Over the next couple of minutes, the clearing was illuminated with bright lights at least twenty times. The last to disappear were the team leader and Yang Ling, who thanked Kai for saving him before he left.

  Left alone, Kai soon exited the clearing too. He took his time to study the brochure and come up with a plan. For almost two years he had hid like a rat. It seemed that the time had finally come for him to reappear. And thanks to the rule that said that all the participants were under the protection of the organizers, the Tournament seemed like the perfect opportunity for his return.

  However, this wasn’t the only reason why he was interested in the Tournament. There were also the awards, the opportunity to test his strength after almost two years of training, as well as getting revenge on the Salamanders, who he hated with every fiber of his being.

  He hoped that they knew that the hunters could also become the hunted.

  ***

  Crouching by the stream, Kai washed the blood off his hands and face. Which group of Salamanders was this? He had already lost count.

  It was the seventh day of the first round. Kai had never once gone in any other direction but south. As he progressed, he lured out any nearby members of the Salamander clan by unmasking his aura, thus allowing their tracking artifacts to spot him.

  As soon as he got to the Far Wasteland, he realized just how dangerous the place really was. Heavens only knew how many times he got close to dying. But the tricks Rune’Tan had taught him helped them both survive. Kai noticed the approaching Salamanders in advance by expanding his aura and then quickly hid it in order to confuse them. Doing this, he was able to kill more than two hundred of them in the span of a week.

  He felt no guilt or pity killing them. They had signed their death sentences the moment they took it upon themselves to find and kill him. If they were the fearsome warriors they claimed to be, then they had to know that no worthy opponent would go down without a fight.

  He didn’t spare anyone.

  Luckily for him, getting rid of the Salamanders turned to be a very efficient way of earning points. He also helped himself to any and all resources they had found. The marks on their Rings were the same as their owners, weak and easy to break.

  Having finally washed the blood off himself, he was about to continue moving further south when he detected two unfamiliar auras. Their owners were moving incredibly fast, heading to the spot where he had recently dealt with another dozen Salamanders.

  Damn it! He frowned. They seem very powerful. They must be among the first hundred! But my aura was hidden, how did they...? Bastards! Maybe the last group managed to send them some kind of a message!

  Kai turned and ran south. It was unlikely that they could track him — the distance between them was still far too great — but he didn’t want to meet them just yet. Another group of Salamanders could come to their aid; he really didn’t have the time to deal with a bigger group now. His target was far to the south and he wanted to get to it as soon as possible.

  He didn’t stop running even when the stream was a good couple of miles behind him. His plan for today was to get closer to his goal, so he didn’t want to waste time on the Salamanders.

  Remembering the last month’s events, he smiled. At that time, he had just completed a very long session of deep meditation, during which he mastered the Hearing Stage on the Path of Space. The only reason he had gotten out of his hiding hole was to put his new powers to a test.

  To his misfortune and great displeasure, there were no powerful monsters in the area. He later learned that this was the work of the Blades, which had cleansed the Far Wasteland in order to make it safer for the upcoming Tournament. He was lucky that the Elementalists didn’t find him, as he had killed all the monsters that had been lurking around the cave. They must’ve either ignored that area, as it seemed safe, or failed to notice the power it exuded. />
  But no matter how far he went, he still couldn’t find monsters strong enough to test his skills on. Already getting angry, he stubbornly moved on, which made Rune’Tan wake up, surprising him.

  “Kai, I think I just felt a Fruit with soul energy!”

  Having figured out where the energy was coming from, Kai immediately moved toward its source. Unfortunately, by the time he got to it, the Fruit was no longer there. But he had no intention of giving up. Using the Forces that he had recently mastered, he was able to determine in which direction the Fruit had gone and then went after it again.

  For three whole weeks, he wandered through the Far Wasteland, chasing the migrating Fruit. Each time it seemed like he was about to find it, it immediately slipped away from him. The last time he saw it, it had moved far to the south, all the way to the ocean.

  Kai cursed. He’d get this Fruit even if it killed him. But before embarking on such a long journey, he decided to pick up the Flower.

  Initially, seeing the speed at which it grew, Kai wanted to help it grow even more so that it surpassed the Gold rank. However, if he didn’t take it now, Heavens only knew if he’d get a chance to come back for it.

  He had reached the Spinal Cord Endurance level within nine months after leaving the clan, so he didn’t need to rush with progress for now. This could’ve happened earlier, of course, but he needed a break between the levels for his organism to adapt and heal. Unfortunately, there was a catch in his case. After reaching the end of the Mind Stage, he couldn’t progress further due to the injuries that Helios had given him.

  Finding himself in a dead-end, he decided to work with and improve what he already had. He practiced swordsmanship and controlling his aura, fought countless monsters, and meditated on Space and Sword Forces (from the purchased Particle).