Dario twisted to the right as a fist flashed past his cheek. The blast of air that followed blew his hair back and he stumbled, but recovered quickly, raising his hands in a defensive pose.
“Hohoho! It seems that the hare is finally turning into a fox. And all it took was a brief adventure, with a little sprinkle of hardship.”
JeeJee patted him on the shoulder, chuckling happily. Dario narrowed his eyes at the old man for a moment before relaxing again.
“It felt a lot more like a flood than just a sprinkle. And this is how you welcome me back? No congratulations, just right back to training?”
The old teacher scoffed. “It would be a grave oversight of a teacher to let his disciple move up in this condition. Lessons must be learnt and energized movements must be practiced. It will take time and practice to move less like a drunken infant and more like a warrior.”
Dario grumbled, but he couldn’t deny that he needed help managing the jittery feeling the light Ki put into his muscles.
“However, some acknowledgement is in order,” JeeJee continued, putting his hand on Dario’s shoulder to begin leading him to the training grounds. “Unless these old eyes are mistaken, here walks a young man who has realized his Dao Heart. That is far more impressive than merely absorbing a Koto.”
The old man looked up at the crystal ceiling, something passing over his face that Dario couldn’t quite place, until he looked back at Dario with a smirk.
“And not a day too soon. Even a week’s delay would have cost this old beggar a tidy sum.” JeeJee happily tapped a bulge in his pocket which clinked with the sound of a bag of pearls.
“What in the depths are you talking about?”
“A wager, of course, on when the wayward disciple would finally speak his truth and follow his desires. Not a small one, either. Most of the folk in this town were in on it. Many thought it would take a while longer, yet not a single soul believed that you would remain here. One supposes that some stories are more predictable than others.”
JeeJee’s satisfied chuckle turned into a full laugh as he watched Dario’s expression slowly move from a confused frown to slack-jawed outrage.
“But… how… I didn’t even…” Dario stammered as JeeJee laughed, twirling the ends of his moustache and happily tapping his purse.
“The houses of pleasure will rejoice. There will be a feast!”
It didn’t take long for JeeJee to push a baffled Dario onto the training grounds and start him on an exercise.
“The goal is simple: catch the black ones before they touch the ground,” the old man said before tossing a large bunch of paper cuttings up into the air. Dario’s eyes flicked between the pieces fluttering down in a mess of colors, like a rainbow had been turned into an explosion of paper by some obscure working of Ki. His hands flashed, but it only took a few counts for the rain of cuttings to come to an end. He opened his palms to reveal four pieces of black paper, along with a few yellow and red ones.
“It will only be possible to succeed by improving one’s control of Energizing. Gather it all up and try again.”
Grumbling, Dario set to gathering the pieces of paper into his hands before tossing them up again, this time pushing plenty of light Ki into his arms, enough to make his hands tremble. His hands moved far faster than before, but also more erratically. They zapped out and back in increasingly fast and uncontrolled motions, until his right hand snapped back like a bowstring, hitting himself right in the face.
“Ow! Damn it! This energy keeps going out of control.”
JeeJee laughed. “Perhaps it would be prudent to start off with an even simpler exercise.”
He picked up three pebbles and tossed them at Dario, who easily snatched them out of the air as he’d drawn the light Ki back out of his muscles.
“Begin to juggle them, then slowly increase the light Ki in your seams as you do so. More pebbles can be added once the basic form is achieved.”
As Dario settled into a rhythm of tossing the pebbles up and catching them, his focus on the exercise lessened, eyes flicking to his old mentor.
“Any fancy new tricks you can teach me now that I’m an Amber?”
“Mm? Only a few days have passed, yet the disciple is already dreaming of flashy new techniques? Or even more ambitious, perhaps, a new aspect to cultivate?”
He nearly fumbled a pebble as his eyes gleamed with greed, but JeeJee shook his head.
“With greatly expanded reserves of Ki, any Amber will be able to enact larger effects with Emanation techniques. The disciple’s grasp on Ki is strong enough that, with some experimenting, his martial might will naturally become greater. But a fresh Amber should focus on their body, first and foremost. Gaining control over one’s movements while fully energizing the muscles is paramount.”
“Come on, don’t be stingy, what’s the next aspect?”
“It will be revealed in due time. Instead, let us speak once more of stories and their endings. A cornered young man lays an ambush for a noble and his guards, yet the ambush fails, leaving all alive and vengeful. Why did the ambush fail, and how does the story continue?”
“Wait, how do you know about that?” Dario asked, letting a pebble clatter to the floor as he looked over at JeeJee.
His teacher chuckled. “The disciple is not the only one with keen eyes.”
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Dario frowned as he picked the pebble back up and began to toss them into the air again.
“It failed because they had too many damn tricks up their sleeves. Rich bastards can throw artefacts around like they’re sweet buns.”
“Two trained Ambers, without the help of any artefacts, would not be able to withstand a few dozen Reijuu of Talc level? How might the disciple fare against those beasts?”
Dario thought that over as his eyes flicked between the falling pebbles. Already, his hands began to tremble and seemed to gain a will of their own, moving ever so slightly off course, but still he fed a bit more light Ki into the seams that ran through his arms.
He’d be able to slip away easily from most of those beasts, but the apes would still see through whatever illusions he created, so they were the biggest problem. But he was faster and stronger now, and they’d be fighting in a jungle that was full of plant Ki and all kinds of plants to use it on. With a full quiver of arrows and his paralytic fruits, he’d likely make short work of them.
If he was able to do that as a fresh Amber, two armed guards who’d been at that level for longer could probably manage it as well.
“Alright, so maybe my plan wasn’t watertight-”
“There were tools that remained unused, further preparations that could have been made. Answer truthfully: why did the ambush fail?”
Dario didn’t get why JeeJee was making such a point out of this. Not every ambush works, right? Even if they lived, at least he got away. It would have been more convenient if they died, maybe, but…
He felt a familiar tightness in his stomach then, making him recall what he’d gone through on the Asomatous Floor. Was he lying to himself again?
“Urgh, not this again.”
In a brief moment where he lost focus, his right hand jerked suddenly, slapping a pebble away instead of catching it. He sighed as he went to pick it up.
“Alright, if I’m being honest, there might have been a part of me that knew it wasn’t likely to work. Maybe I wasn’t ready to kill those people. Even though they were definitely assholes.”
JeeJee nodded as he smiled at Dario. “A valuable insight. Has the day finally come where the disciple does not simply run away from hard things?”
Dario chuckled as he began to juggle the stones again, ramping up the light Ki a bit faster this time. “The day that happens is the day I die.”
He focused on the juggling for a moment, grinding his teeth as he tried to stop his hands from moving all over the place. They were practically vibrating as he grabbed and tossed the pebbles.
“And how does the story end?”
One hand slapped against the other, which he then withdrew reflexively but it moved back further than intended, resulting in another slap to the face.
“Ack. Well, those assholes probably have it out for me. Guess I’ll have to watch my back.”
When the old man stopped chuckling, Dario looked over to find his teacher giving him a serious look. Those were rare.
“Generally speaking, lessons are usually best taught indirectly, so that disciples may come to their own realisations. But in this, an exception must be made. Listen carefully, disciple, for this lesson may become the difference between life and death. When it comes to dealing with the Great Clans, one should never start a fight one cannot finish. If a fight cannot be avoided, then one must strike decisively and mercilessly. No exceptions.”
Dario scratched his head and showed a sheepish smile. “Welp, it’s a bit late for that.”
But then his own expression turned serious as he looked JeeJee over.
“You know, I feel like I learned a lot more about this world in the last weeks. But I still know next to nothing about you. Who are you, really? Why are you here? Besides the women.”
His old teacher looked wistful as he spoke.
“Who am I? Just an old man, weathered by time, trailed by the long shadows of his past. Someoine who has stumbled more than once and whose mistakes still echo, even today. But more relevant to the disciple: someone who has set his own dreams aside to foster others.” He smiled sincerely as he looked back at Dario.
“There remains a flickering flame of hope. That another may learn from those echoes, may shine brighter still, and some day reach those lofty heights that the old man never could.”
“...I’m not sure what that means. Why do you train me, then? What do you actually want?”
JeeJee craned his head up to look at the ceiling, though Dario got the impression he was looking beyond it.
“If one wanted to do this old man a favor… Well. Put a scratch on it, my dear disciple. Just to see a single scratch on that damned indomitable ceiling would be enough for this teacher to die a happy man.”
***
When Aria and the children went off to class, he picked out his magic tablet again, realizing that he only had a few days left before Ascension. He’d already let Hana know he survived, but now he took the time to share more details of how his adventure turned out.
It was thanks to you that I got the idea to bring the orphans back. I figured my mom was always happiest when she was taking care of others, especially when she was teaching children. Clear win-win situation.
That’s great! It’s so nice that you have this close-knit community in the Belt. I’m sure she’ll be alright, even when you’re off adventuring on higher floors. When are you leaving?
I’ll join Nika in the Ascension ceremony four days from now. So that’s how much time I have left to complete my final important adventure on this floor.
Another adventure? What are you planning this time?
It’s been brought to my attention that a poor damsel is trapped somewhere. I imagine she’s crying her eyes out every day, hoping that a bold and strong adventureman might hear and rush in to save her. That day has finally come! If the damsel is willing, she only needs to share her location, and I’ll be on my way.
Oh! You mean me! Wow! Umm… That’s amazing, but… I don’t think it’s going to work out.
Dario paused, frowning.
I thought that’s what we talked about? Going out to explore the wonders of Tenjou together? Did you change your mind?
Oh, no! Of course not! I would love to go out and adventure with you. It’s just that… Well, there’s something I haven’t told you. Freeing me is quite... impossible. But I’ll be fine, really, as long as you keep me entertained with your stories. Every time my tablet lights up, I’m so happy and excited! It’s already so much more than I ever had before.
I don’t get it. What’s the problem? Are you trapped deep in some hidden canyon, or in a fortress belonging to one of the Great Clans?
That’s not it. Dario, I… I’m not even in the Basement at all. I never said I was. The truth is... I’m up on the fourth floor.
Dario gaped at his tablet for a moment, then he huffed in disbelief, shaking his head. But the next huff he let out was amused, and then, as he looked up at the ceiling, he began to laugh.
It was a giddy and joyful laugh, one that only grew as it went on. His eyes were large and bright, dancing with excitement at the thought of all the adventures yet to come.
Well, young damsel, you better start packing your things, because adventureman is coming for you.