Waking up to an impossible heaviness in my limbs, my first thought is, ‘I’ve been passing out way too often recently.’ I stretch my tense muscles and look outside—it looks like only a few hours have passed. I quickly settle back into the lotus pose and feel my flow of mana. The mana moves quickly upon my request and the density has increased, letting me know the overall power of my mana has improved. I check a few more things in my meridians and pathways to make sure I didn’t damage myself during meditation—when everything seems okay, I open my eyes and attempt to form a connection with ChaLong.

  I wait for a few minutes after the attempt, but the connection is never made; it seems like the little guy is working on his own cultivation now that he has some spirit herbs. I decide that there isn’t much more I can do today, so I eat something real quick and go to my quarters to sleep the rest of the night.

  Dross wakes me up in the morning and I prepare for my first full day of Sagaryn’s training plan. I was too excited yesterday to really review the overall plan, but I start the day with some general warm-ups that he outlined for me before I get to the real meat of the training. I have to re-read the page multiple times and I look around to make sure I’m not the subject of an elaborate prank. I skimmed through the pages last night, so I knew his plan largely consisted of agility and evasion techniques, but I didn’t realize the overall intention was to absolutely pummel those moves into my bones. But I remember the deal Sagaryn and I made yesterday and begrudgingly follow Dross through the sect until I arrive at what has so lovingly been called the ‘torture array’.

  I really wasn’t sure why it got its name until I arrived and saw an individual already in the array dodging ten mana constructs that were flying around the small array trying to hit him from different angles. At first, it didn’t seem too bad… the dull thuds and the participant’s light grunts made me assume that the collisions weren’t too painful. That was, of course, until I saw the line of individuals receiving medical attention with broken bones and bruised bodies just outside the array. The torture array moves faster and hits harder the longer you’re in there, and I was just lucky enough to arrive at the start of this individual’s training run.

  Without much of a choice, I queued up for my turn and began reviewing the exercises in earnest to get as much as possible out of this training session. Sagaryn provided a few key movements to focus on, and he also indicated flows of mana to watch out for so I can make the best personalized evasion technique. The most surprising piece of advice in the journal, however, was the recommendation to run Petal Dance while I’m training to familiarize myself with the skill and the feeling of being in a meditative combat state. He made other notes about leveling up the skill so the duration is longer and the periods of weakness afterward shrink in the safety of the sect as well.

  After five minutes or so, my attention is drawn to the blood-soaked robes of the individual in the array, as he’s bludgeoned in the back and thrown out of the array. After a minute the array is fully recharged and it’s my turn, so I send a small prayer out to the universe for protecting my life and walk to the array. I hand my training journal to the array operator who nods, and thankfully only three mana constructs begin levitating as my time starts. Their speed of attack and maneuverability seem quite limited to start so I refrain from activating my skill yet and just observe their patterns. I also believe it is important to familiarize myself with the evasion techniques without my skill and this gives me a good opportunity to feel my body and mana flow as I focus on dodging.

  For the first minute, I am almost flawless in dodging; only taking a glancing blow to my left shoulder, since I didn’t calculate the construct’s trajectory correctly. Over the next minute, I start to take more direct hits from the constructs as they speed up and come in from unexpected angles. I start to feel the pressure, the longer I am in the array; finally, I feel like I’ve experienced enough of the evasion techniques and activate Petal Dance.

  The pressure brought on by the three mana constructs quickly decreases. Unlike the battle with the minotaur, activating Petal Dance did not take me to the lotus pond, and I can only guess that space is available if I enter a meditative trance naturally. While I am disappointed that I don’t have a chance to push my inheritance’s meditation further, I also realize this is a great opportunity to focus on the evasion techniques without my own mental interference. At first, I’m disoriented by the out-of-body, third-person view of myself; however, I am slowly able to identify areas of the evasion techniques that my trance-self performed flawlessly.

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  The minutes pass, and I lose track of time as I try to glean any possible insights from the training. ‘Dancing Cam,’ as I’ve decided to call myself when in such a trance, hasn’t been hit by any of the mana constructs even as the difficulty has continued to ramp up, and because of this I’ve been able to find ways to limit unnecessary movements during combat. These improvements aren’t necessarily part of the evasive techniques that Sagaryn tasked me with, but rather they are improvements to my overall combat form that maximize efficiency. My intense focus is ruined as my consciousness is abruptly brought back into my body. Pain wracks me as the weakness from activating Petal Dance settles in, and I panic as I see the three constructs bearing down on me. My body doesn’t respond to my pleading request to just move and I brace myself for a dreadfully painful impact. An impact that never comes—the three mana constructs hover just in front of me for a second before they burst into motes of mana and return to the array.

  I look over to the array administrator, who gives me a thumbs-up and waves me off the array so the next disciple can get their torturous training started. Once the administrator starts the array for the disciple, he hands me my training journal back and congratulates me on a good training session.

  I sit there with confusion painted across my face for a minute before I ask. “Why did you stop the array just before the constructs pummeled me?”

  The admin looks equally confused for just a second before he points at the journal. “Your training plan mentions that you will be training with a boosting skill. They usually have pretty harsh recoil or weaknesses following their conclusion; because of this, all of the array administrators are trained to watch for the end of those skills and cancel the arrays if we can before any damage is done to the disciples. Obviously it’s not always possible, but your boost ended with enough time and you didn’t look like you were going to make an effort to dodge.”

  I thank the administrator before I follow Dross to my next training exercise of the day. Rather than coming to an open pavilion with an array, we come to one of the most run-down-looking buildings I’ve seen in the sect so far. Dross knocks on the door, and it slowly opens revealing Captain Croff and a set of stairs leading down into a basement. Dross explains that he will be back at the end of my training to take me back to the pavilion before he bows to Croff and me and departs.

  Croff looks at me for a few seconds before giving me a satisfied nod. “Disciple Camden, I am happy to see that you look relatively unscathed by the torture array. Per the request of Professor Sagaryn, I will be your weapon’s instructor for the next month. Please follow me to the training room.”

  With that greeting, he quickly turns around and walks down the decrepit building’s stairs. I follow behind him, but stop myself in amazement as we enter the basement’s training room. I’m not sure why the building looks so run down, but the training room and its array look like priceless treasures with inscriptions adorning the walls, and a brilliant flow of mana running through the entire room. Croff crosses the room and picks up a plain-looking monk’s staff and swings it around a few times, getting a feel for the weapon. He signals for me to arm myself, and I pull ChaCha from my back and lower myself into a fighting stance.

  He chuckles a bit before shaking his head. “No, we aren’t going to fight. Not yet anyway. My class is called ‘Weapons Master’. My skills make me proficient in just about any weapon, which means I am usually called to train disciples who use more unique weapons such as yourself. Over the next month, you will mirror me as we move through drills and familiarize yourself with different acceptable forms for your weapon. This should give you some more flexibility in fighting techniques that differ from your inheritance and it will give you a better foundation to improve your inheritance in the future.”

  I’m appreciative of the opportunity, but still confused why we are training in such an elegant room. I simply wave around the room with confusion on my face, and the captain seems to understand.

  “Well, the training won’t be all that simple. Your strength still leaves a lot to be desired so we will be doing these drills under the effects of a gravity array. We will start at 3x gravity, but if you can’t withstand 10x gravity by the end of this month, I’ll have considered myself a failure as your mentor.”

  I feel a quick burst of mana from Croff before I feel the heavens crash down on my shoulders. It takes everything I have to just remain standing, but the captain looks indifferent to the increased pressure.

  He drops into the first monk’s spade form he is going to teach me. “Follow along, Cam.”