Kris:

  She glared at Anise from across the garden.

  It wasn’t entirely because the girl was smiling from ear to ear, barely suppressing the occasional giggle. That was definitely not helping, but…

  Kris just hated shortcuts. Yes, she was struggling to mentally figure out the framework behind cultivation. She doubted she’d ever get it fully. But having Anise hand her the answers on a whim seethed at her sensibilities. She’d never liked being told the answers. She preferred to analyze and find her own path in life.

  Kris didn’t feel she was a genius, and if the label was spoken to her face, she’d deny it. She worked hard. She figured things out via logic and experimentation. It was her preferred way to get through life’s hurdles.

  And yet, Anise had done something that had easily clicked into place and given her the roadmap to qi meridians and how to sense them. More annoying was the lesson she’d been told before they’d even begun.

  “The thing about cultivation is that everyone is different. Every person has their own qi pathways that guide them along the great dao. If your natural inclinations lead you to channeling energy into weapons, your meridians will be entirely different from a person who can blast people with shards of ice.”

  Anise’s first lesson was simple enough. But with the meridians framed out for her, and if they were just mana constructs made by the user’s mind, then Anise couldn’t possibly have created a framework that would suit Kris.

  Except that she was doing it again. Overanalyzing things and circling the drain.

  So she prodded the framework and tried to find the pattern she could somehow sense with ease.

  It felt odd. Complex. Yet the pattern was there.

  Within her body were channels of various spiraling rivers and tributaries. And they read to her mind like a language. Each side of her body told a different story. One felt like ‘dismantling’ and the other felt like ‘infusing’ without actually needing too much puzzling out.

  Or perhaps it was better for her to think of the dismantling side of her body as picking apart the details for her, helping her to assess herself. Taking every aspect apart piece by piece and finding truth buried within the maze.

  It felt like cheating, and she hated it.

  Do you, though? Anise spoke into her mind again. Annoyingly.

  Yes, I do. I hate being given the answers.

  Except that you’re missing the point. This isn’t me giving you some cheating powers. You already have a natural talent at analyzing and taking things apart. When a cultivator reaches for power, the power is an extension of themselves. It takes your strengths and makes them forces of will. This is already yours.

  Kris considered that. What made her who she was? Part of her yearned to scream of her love for Mari. The racial inclination she’d been born with and grown into.

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  She stifled that.

  The real question her ‘dao’ wanted her to confront was ‘who are you?’

  So she faced it. Perhaps, beneath her veneer of modesty, the reality was that she reveled in being a genius. It was a hard truth, but it was there, to some extent. So much so that she hated that part of herself. It was unsightly. The impulse to deny herself began to war with the truth.

  The mana entering her body then started to fight her, too. Her conflicted willpower telling the mana to do two opposing things at once.

  You are beginning a qi deviation. You need to accept who you are and put the flow of energy into order. If you fail, it will try to tear you apart. I’m not going to save you from this. If I do, you’ll just hit the same roadblock later, when there’s even more danger involved.

  Kris bit her lip, drawing blood.

  She rarely failed at things. When she did, she learned from it and turned the lesson into constant improvement. As the years had gone on, she’d begun to learn from the failures of history. All so she wouldn’t fail in the future.

  She confronted her urge to deny herself and shifted the focus.

  Yes, I am a genius. I have so much talent others never had. That won’t change. I won’t deny it. But I will temper it. I won’t be boastful. Temperance. Moderation.

  With every word, she turned the denial into support. Something to give her natural talents some structure. And with it, the part of her that decoded into ‘infusing’ merged the threads.

  She didn’t feel superhuman, but she felt refreshed. Whole. Unified in purpose and passion.

  Kris opened her eyes and realized there was a warmth behind her.

  Mari was there, sitting cross-legged and with her eyes closed, a smile on her lips as she stretched her palm towards Kris’ back.

  “That was unexpected.” Anise pulled their attention, looking up at the darkened skies above. “Ten hours, ladies. About what I’d expect from a first realm deviation. On your first damn session. You absolute maniac.”

  Kris’ eyes widened. Ten hours had evaporated in the blink of an eye?

  “I tried to help after the first hour. You were too focused to notice, no surprise, but when things began to align, I was able to prevent anything from falling apart or getting damaged.” Mari hugged her from behind, squeezing almost desperately. “Thank heavens you pulled through.”

  “Thank you. I learned some unsettling things about my real feelings. I never quite realized how much I loved the way people worship me sometimes.” Kris blushed in embarrassment, feeling ashamed to admit it aloud.

  Anise stood, shaking her head. “Don’t worry. You couldn’t hide that from the two of us anyway. Mari’s primary path is strange. A sort of harmonious link between her and those she meets where she can empower her teammates, and their trust strengthens the link. It’s mostly a healing power. I haven’t seen if she has any other path, but most people have a duality to theirs.

  “Mine is growing nature and the concept of the moon. They are expressed as life and gravity, mostly. Kris, I’d say yours is understanding things and making them. I’m happy to say there aren’t any dangerous dao or energies present, but I am still a little worried about Marielle’s ability to turn towards destruction and corruption.”

  Kris sagged backwards into Mari like a puppet cut from their strings. She was hungry, and mentally felt like she’d spent her evening moving a mountain. Despite that, her body thrummed with a suffusion of vitality.

  “How’d your healing go?” She asked the girl holding her.

  “With Anise helping, I think I made some good progress.”

  “That’s good.” Then she paused, unsure of how to quantify her evening. “How do I know what tier I’ve made it to?”

  “You’ve barely begun. Done nothing to stretch the new senses you gained. Give it time, first timer.” Mari chuckled, smiling down at her warmly.

  “Fine, fine.” Kris accepted the nonanswer and turned her gaze back to Anise, who was weaving something invisibly with her outstretched hands. With a flicker of intangible recognition, she felt the air’s thrum of life-giving energy dissipating around them. Dispersing the mana.

  “Who’s hungry?” The girl opened her eyes as she spoke, standing up and immediately making her way to the stairs.

  “I’ll fix something up.” Mari didn’t stop smiling, but her eyes glittered with mirth as she lifted Kris like she was air, then followed after their mentor.

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