Previous Chapter —Table of Contents— Next Chapter
The roar of winds covered up every other sound. The wind picked up everything in the surroundings, carrying with it all manner of deadly implements and dust, making it impossible to see beyond it. Hidden in the winds was a still greater danger… but immediately around Barrett, it was calm.
That didn’t stop the shards of taspum hidden in the winds from being flung at him, but they weren’t supported by additional force as they impacted him. If they were going to pierce his armor, they would need to be brought up to a much greater speed… which would make the attack that much more telegraphed- though he had to admit that since they could be launched on any rotation, that was barely a weakness.
A sharp blade thrust at his throat, carrying sufficient force to pierce straight through it if he let it. With a twist of his wrists he diverted it off course. His arms followed it around as it struck from every angle, his spear spinning around behind his back to catch it, each strike sending it just a bit further from its intended course. Then his spear changed trajectory after barely deflecting an attack, slicing down and stabbing out with great speed.
Spear clashed with energy, slicing through… but Reina pulled back as that happened. Then the winds dropped, quickly depleting into nothing. “Hmm. Interesting.”
Barrett shook his head, “I can prevent you from controlling the air, but I can’t really stop you from moving.”
“I felt it a little bit… but it was little more than moving against a stiff wind. Still, controlling anything within your zone seems… extremely difficult.”
“How much?” Barrett asked. “It’s not much effort to keep it, at least at a close distance.” Barrett supposed that because he was technically doing nothing at all, it took little effort. However, he should have needed to offset his opponents efforts, but he really hadn’t noticed any effort.
“Hmm… I guess it would be like pulling the air out of someone’s lungs? It’s part of you, and thus very difficult to control.”
“You can do that?” Barrett asked. “Can you-”
“No.” Reina cut him off, “I will not be involved in any sort of insane training where I pull the air from your lungs.”
“… I might not have been asking about that,” Barrett frowned, “But how difficult would it be?”
Reina tilted her head, “Not worthwhile. If I can reach through people’s defenses with enough energy, I might as well just directly injure them. For you… it might be somewhat possible, or maybe more difficult just passively. With you being you.”
Barrett nodded, “I am me. And my body is mine.”
“And your armor is you, and your spear is you, and apparently the air now if you want it to be.” Reina rolled her eyes, “It’s a strange path you’ve gone down, though Pure Body Tempering is mostly just… unusual. It’s not necessarily stronger in any way. You’ve just figured out how to use it well.”
“Thanks. I had to, to reach this point. How are the Living Cyclones doing? I know you’ve been expanding quite quickly.”
Reina shrugged, “It’s not too bad so far. If I was seventh tier, we could attract more members… but quantity doesn’t really matter. My style has diverged enough from the Sword of Four Winds Style that some people’s affinity match better. I’m also more willing to consider a broader variety of candidates, since I’m not overwhelmed with people who want to join.”
“How about that one student with Roc Eyes? Finn? How’s he doing?”
Reina smiled, “He’s a good student. He works hard, and will likely become a master soon enough. His eyes seem quite useful, but difficult to train.”
“How so?”
“It can be difficult to pick out weaknesses usefully in combat. If he has time to study… it’s fine. The problem is, it’s usually just as easy to pick out a weakness through energy senses. If a barrier has less holding it together at one point… it’s simple. Even if that weak point moves around, it can be tracked easily enough. But true weak points don’t really shift.”
“I could help with that. At least for a training scenario.” Barrett held up his hands, “Tell me, which of these fingers is my weak point?”
Reina shrugged, “How should I know? I don’t recall any of them being torn off recently or anything.”
“It’s this one-” Barrett pressed a finger with another one of his fingers, and the bone snapped. “-extremely weak, but hard to pick out.” Barrett waved his hand, and his finger recovered even as he did so. A simple break only took a few weeks to recover from, and thus only a handful of seconds. “I can easily move around weak points and change the intensity, and it’s not something easily noticed by other senses.”
“I’m sure he’d appreciate the chance. It was his special point, but if it doesn’t develop… it doesn’t do him much good.”
—–
Years of uneasy peace passed. The Convocation of Souls, which had stayed out of the Metal Sea war, became the dominant force in Smiynia, more so than before. They took advantage of the absence of most masters and grandmasters, though only a few direct conflicts took place. After all, if they went too far the rest of Smiynia merely had to work together to eradicate them. Still, they gained more power… and news from elsewhere wasn’t much better.
It was hard to say that the Ostain Empire now controlled Voscea… but it was quite clear they controlled all travel in and out of the area. Very little information came from within the country, but it was clear that eruptions and instability on the societal and geological levels continued. The country itself was rejecting them, or a number of factions who knew about the inner workings of Voscea. Perhaps it was something like the guardians that the Southern Metal Sea had, though clearly less directed.
Unfortunately, though the Ostain Empire had been significantly delayed, it was likely they would soon continue their expansions. Perhaps they would not move on the Southern Metal Sea, because of the alliance with Stredo. However, they would certainly move elsewhere. Barrett wasn’t content just to let them do as they wished, but he also wasn’t able to stop an army by himself… or even with the help of a handful of friends. Not those armies, anyway.
Still, the times weren’t all doom and gloom. The time for the fifth tier tournament had arrived once again, and Barrett’s first students would all be participating. It felt strangely like his students were catching up to him… though in fact that was just the normal way things went. They were only about two decades behind him, after all. They’d cultivated for about half as long as he had… but each tier took longer than the last. His best students might actually just catch up to him in terms of tier just before he reached grandmaster level. He was fairly certain at least some of them would reach sixth tier at the optimal pace, but he would definitely reach grandmaster. The difference between the beginning of sixth tier and the very end of it could be quite significant, but it would be their closest point for quite some time.
Barrett thought about becoming a grandmaster. In theory, he should also reach seventh tier shortly before Master Hykel could advance to eighth tier. He certainly wouldn’t count on Master Hykel not advancing as soon as feasibly possible, but he would still have a few years. It would be interesting to fight him on relatively even footing… though he supposed an extra forty years of experience would certainly make a difference. And, well, still most of a tier of power. Still, that would be his best chance for three and a half decades after that.
—–
Barrett wanted to sit and enjoy the tournament matches, but he couldn’t. Something didn’t feel right. He wasn’t concerned with anything going wrong with the arena. There wasn’t just one faction managing things, just one person checking if there might be problems.
If he was honest, the feeling could have very well been self-induced. Barrett was always worrying about when some country or other might act against Stredo, with two neighbors who were more active than they had previously been.
Obviously there couldn’t be an army approaching the city without anyone noticing. Not one that could do anything important. And the tournament wouldn’t even tire out the city’s best warriors- there were still many sixth tiers and grandmasters to account for. Still, some would certainly be injured… and if battle came within a few days or weeks, the tournament could be disruptive.
But Barrett couldn’t do anything about that. He expressed his concerns to people he knew, but Nilima’s response pretty much summed it up. “I dunno. If I don’t even know what the problem is, I can’t exactly kill whoever’s causing it.” Nilima didn’t deny that there might be a threat. There were always threats, especially during recent times. Grandmaster Joston didn’t need to hear Barrett’s worries- he already managed the tournament and some of the city’s defenses. He had enough on his hands, especially considering some of the people who were supposed to be filling positions had died in the war. Five years was enough time to replace someone, but not enough time for that replacement to learn everything someone else knew by heart. Cultivators could easily have decades of experience in an area, after all. So could non-cultivators, of course, but they generally had less to do with the defense of the city.
Finally, Barrett spotted someone that might be able to help. As for whether he could help or would help, that was a different matter. Still, it didn’t hurt to ask. “Good day, Einar.”
“Good day, Barrett.” Einar smiled at him, “I doubt you made your way through the stands with such an expression just for pleasantries. What can I do for you?”
“Hmm…” Barrett crossed his arms and looked around at the people surrounding them. “I don’t know.”
“That does make it quite a bit more difficult,” Einar shrugged. At least his voice remained pleasant. Barrett found Einar was much happier around him lately, since saving his life. They’d fought together before, but it hadn’t had the same results. “So, tell me what’s on your mind.”
While Barrett couldn’t do much with air under his control, he could at least stop sounds from going where they weren’t meant to. Of course, most energy or magic cultivators could do the same… but Barrett found it useful. “It just feels like something’s wrong. Not with the tournament but…” Barrett waved his hand. “Something.”
“Ah yes. Decidedly vague. Well, let’s go somewhere else. I don’t need to watch the tournament anyway. I’ve already seen everyone.”
“Do you know who wins?” Barrett asked as they walked.
“Maybe!” Einar nodded. “Maybe not! Who can say?”
“You didn’t give up on divination entirely, did you?” Barrett frowned.
“Not at all. I just choose to see fewer things. Besides, once I cut off divination about you I ran into many fewer annoyances. I like to pick and choose.” Einar took Barrett up to the top of a building that could see out over most of the city. “Behold, the diviner’s tower! Also known as city hall and other things, but they let us up on the roof. Some of us look at the stars but…” Einar gestured to the sky, “There’s only one big one to see right now. As for you…” Einar looked around. “If you had to pick a direction, what would it be? Instinct is fine.”
Barrett looked around the city, turning a full circle. “Ugh. Sorry, I can’t really…”
“What does it feel like?” Einar prompted.
“Just… all around.”
‘ “How far?” Einar asked.
“The city, maybe the surroundings.”
“Good enough. Now, let’s sit…” Einar patted the ground and pulled out a deck of cards. “The phenomenon of non-divination cultivators getting feelings has been studied significantly. There are many interpretations, but my particular favorite is that they are just picking up on things subconsciously.” Einar shuffled the cards and placed three face down. “Choose one.”
Barrett flipped one over.
“Ah yes, The duelist in a reversed orientation. Do you know what that means?”
“No, what?”
“You flipped that card over vertically. So it got a different orientation.” Einar snatched up the card and shuffled it back into the deck with the two still face down. “Cards do nothing but spark ideas. From my perspective, the card wasn’t reversed. Some might say the reading was for you, so it had meaning… but I believe it’s only what we give to it. At best, I might be able to use magic to draw on your subconscious thoughts. Which I will do, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure. What do I do?”
“Just let me, then pick a card.” Einar splayed out the deck. “I know you must have some idea of what’s on these cards, even though you can’t see the front. Try not to focus on that too much.”
Barrett nodded. “Just one?”
“For now.”
Barrett pulled out a card. “The duelist. Not reversed this time.”
“You flipped it around the other way,” Einar shrugged. “So what does that make you think of?”
Barrett knew many duelists. However, instead of going to those he knew, it brought up random people in the crowds. “Visitors to the tournament.” Einar gestured for him to continue, so he did. “Maybe they’re spies? I feel like anyone could be a spy these days.”
“I’m sure there are many spies,” Einar shrugged, “But that doesn’t mean they don’t have a stake in Stredo as it is. But you would be worried about Smiynia or the Ostain Empire, I’m sure.”
“Well… yeah. Can you find if there are any?”
“Hmm…” Einar shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out. Let’s see…” Einar’s eyes turned pure white, his facial features fading away and being replaced by two more vertical eyes. The eyes rotated in all directions for some time, before Einar returned to normal. “Nothing momentous will happen today.”
“Oh. I guess I was just worried for nothing?”
Einar shook his head, “Not at all. The future is made up of everything that happens… and a single thread can unravel a cloth. More importantly, I have someone to go meet.”
“Who?” Barrett asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe we won’t even meet. Certainly, they don’t wish to. Do you want to come with me?”
“Will that help? Ah, right, you don’t know.” Barrett tilted his head, “Sure. Let’s go look.”
“Great. And the direction we go is…” Einar waved his hand all around them. “Anywhere. But if I had to say it… it felt like the edge of the city.”
“Away from the tournament?” Barrett nodded, “Taking advantage of everyone’s eyes being focused there.”
“Or something like that.” Einar shrugged. “Or I’m wrong and it’s nothing.” Einar stopped to look at Barrett, “You’re not afraid of death, are you?”
Barrett shook his head, “No. Not really.”
“Good.” Einar nodded. “That makes one of us.”