Path of the Berserker

I woke up the next morning feeling like I’d slept for a century.

My body was still stiff, but I could tell with the combination of bandages, the Qi from the healer and my own Frenzy, that my arm was perhaps already halfway to being fully healed. The wounds to my torso were nearly completely gone as well. I wasn’t fit enough to get into another sparring match by any means, but I was healed up enough to move around without constant pain.

I welcomed the immobilization, though.

It was a fine excuse to defer my physical training regime and concentrate solely on my studies. I started by reviewing my knowledge of the meridian points from the Foundation manual Mu Lin had loaned me. There were literally hundreds of points listed, but for what I was intending to accomplish today, there were just a handful that I needed to both locate and actuate before mastering how to channel energy through.

From my earlier studying while preparing for the Wooden Bracket, I had already located three of the five points required, but they were unlike any I’d utilized before using my Frenzy techniques. For the first part of the day, I focused on those only. I was grateful now for that bounty of Frenzy that I had soaked up at the tournament. Although I’d used a good portion to heal myself, the vast amounts I’d gathered from the crowd and condensed into my Dantian was enough to carry out my cultivation exercises without needing any extra Frenzy at all.

Sitting in lotus position on my cot, I placed the orb and both books open in front of me and began my training. I cycled my Frenzy in between the three points, getting more familiar with their locations and the spiritual muscles I needed to activate them. It was a bit like trying to push water through clogged pipes. Very little Frenzy flowed at first, but the more I did it, the more the energy eroded away at whatever it was that was blocking the flow. After a while, I found that by using condensed Frenzy the process went even quicker.

I kept this up and after a few hours the three points became well established, with me being able to channel large amounts of energy in between them without restriction.

“So far so good,” I said to myself as I prepared to target the next meridian on my shopping list. It took another hour of cross referencing the Foundation manual with both the orb and the Lightning Art manual to finally find the location of the fourth point.

It was at the base of the neck, somewhere between the fourth and fifth vertebrae. Not that it was a physical point that I could actually touch, but knowing it was there at least gave me something to focus on visually while I meditated to locate the point within my spirit.

After another couple of hours of channeling through the point, I cleared the clog enough that I was able to flow my concentrated Frenzy though all four of the points. By that time my soul was exhausted. It wasn’t physical fatigue per se, but it affected me almost the same, like mental exhaustion after a hard day at school.

Still, there was one last meridian point that I needed to unlock.

It was labeled only as Jing within the lightning manual, but I couldn’t make sense of the characters and their meaning and there wasn’t any other reference to it at all. When I checked the Foundation manual, I could find no reference to it either. I’d finally reached the extent of my knowledge. Checking out my window, it was already late afternoon and close to quitting time.

Perfect, I thought.

It was time to see Mu Lin.

* * *

As I left my apartment I passed through the square, now bustling with the late afternoon crowd and spotted that girl Jian Yi again. She was with a small posse of my neighbors, maybe a dozen in all.

As I walked by casually with [Indifference], I caught a whiff of a different kind of energy exuding from them, Jian Yi in particular. Not the literal kind, mind you, but just a strange aura or attitude. She lifted her chin at me with a closed lip smile, a smug expression— more of a smirk really, like she knew something I didn’t and was gloating about it.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d almost say she was patronizing me, but I didn’t have time to deal with her bullshit today. I glanced at her, looked away and then carried on about my business.

Stopping at the central market, I hunted for a bag of Mu Lin’s favorite fruit, but decided to get her some persimmons jam and a bag of steamed buns instead. Variety was the spice of life, after all.

When I finally arrived at her door with a knock, she greeted me with a wide-eyed stare before rolling her eyes and slowly shaking her head.

“When you didn’t show up for work today, I knew something was up,” she said, clicking her tongue at me as she pointed to my bandaged arm. “So what happened to you? Did you enter the tournament for real?”

“Yeah, kinda,” I said, still unsure how much I wanted to share with her about the details.

“Well did you place or what?” She opened the door wider to let me in. “Remember I got money riding on you.”

“Well as much as being king of the shit-tier league has a nice ring to it, I unfortunately didn’t place.”

She laughed. “Seriously?”

I nodded out the lie instead of telling it and then handed her the jam and steamed buns to ward off any more questions. The distraction worked with Mu Lin greedily looking inside the bag with a huge smile.

“Wow, these look so fresh! I’m eating one right now.”

She raced off to her small kitchenette and returned with two buns slathered with the jam, handing me one of them while stuffing the other in her mouth.

“So what do you need, Chun?” she said with her mouth full. “I know you only come to visit when you need something, especially when you bring me snacks.”

I feigned offense. “Are you calling me a bad friend?”

“You’re a terrible friend,” she said with a laugh. “But seriously hurry up, I see you’ve got that Foundation manual tucked under your arm. You need me to explain something in it?”

“Ah…” I’d almost forgotten I’d brought it. “No, not from this,” I said as I handed it to her. “Was just bringing it back really.”

“Oh, so that’s why you came? Guess I had you figured wrong. Seriously though I am in a bit of a rush.” She flipped through the book as if looking for missing pages. “Actually, I could use this today. Good timing.”

“Use it for what?”

“There’s a mock exam this evening. It’s open book.”

“That means it’s easy right?”

She rolled her eyes. “No. That means it’s actually really hard. It’s not about what you can memorize, it’s about being able to apply principles.” She glanced at the clock on her wall. “Shit! I’m already late. I’ve got to meet Xi Xha there so she can vouch to let me in as one of her students.”

“Oh,” I said. “You’d better get going then.”

“Yeah.” She rushed around with the bun in her mouth while packing her bag full of books. “So what do you need? Or did you really only come to give me this back?”

I felt like a heel asking her, but I really needed the answer to continue my progression. “I’m trying to find a meridian called Jing.”

“Jing?” she said looking at me strangely.

“You don’t know it? I couldn’t find it in the Foundation book anywhere.”

“You sure you’re saying it right?”

I shrugged.

“Here,” she said, slapping a pen on a piece of paper on her desk. “Write it. Quickly.”

I took the pen and mentally formed the characters in my mind.

I wrote them as quickly and accurately as I could.

“There,” I said. “I think that’s it.”

She furrowed her brow again. “Never seen this before. Where did you find it?”

Shit, I couldn’t tell her the truth about that. “You think Xi Xha might know?”

“Maybe. I could take it to her to find out, I guess,” she said.

“Why don’t I come with you?” I snatched the paper from her. The last thing I needed was Mu Lin getting caught with something found only in a martial training manual.

“Dressed like that?” she said, balking at me. “We’re not headed to work you know?”

I looked down at my disheveled clothes made even worse looking by my bandaged arm. “Why? Where are you going?”

“The Judicial District.”

“The what?”

I’d honestly never even heard the name, but Mu Lin was looking at me like I’d just forgotten my own birthday. Not that we celebrated birthdays anymore.

“It’s like literally the heart of the city,” she said, shaking her head again. “Geeze, Chun. Where all the big shots hang out and stuff. Like the Wardens and the judges. It’s why I need Xi Xha’s help to get in. You need a pass.”

I figured it was like the artisan district where Master Edrik had to write a pass for me. “But Xi Xha will be there, right? Maybe I can ask her at the gate?”

Mu Lin sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine… come on then. But be quick about it!”

I grinned. “Lead the way.”

* * *

The Judicial District was north of the city center, or so Mu Lin described. It was still a place I’d honestly never been or heard of before, but Mu Lin kept insisting that I had to have come for a school field trip at some point. Maybe I had but had just forgotten or just didn’t care to remember at the time.

As we left the restaurant district and headed north, nothing looked that familiar to me. Tall buildings dominated the skyline as we entered what was perhaps the old business district in the past, but I wasn’t certain if the buildings were being used anymore. As we ventured further in, most of the buildings disappeared altogether and were replaced by Yee architecture, their decorative roofs covered with green tiles and timed with ornamental dragons.

But the most oppressive symbol of the imperial take-over was fixed right above me now. The glowing pagoda of the true imperial city hovered right overhead like a low-lying cloud. I could understand now why this was considered the true heart of the city. Qi-powered skiffs made up a constant flow of traffic to and fro, ferrying cultivators from the city streets to the huge object that had to be close to fifty city blocks across at the base.

As Mu Lin and I approached the district gates, a guard on duty, accompanied by a trio of enforcers, eyed us warily. Or perhaps they eyed just me warily anyway. The gate wasn’t a literal gate, but more like a roadblock set up in the middle of the city street. Behind the barricades lining either side of the guard booth, the true high-class citizens of the city strolled back and forth in ornate robes, most of them appearing to belong to the Silver Leaf Clan. There were more than a few robes of beige and white as well, members of the imperial government, or what we’d have called civil servants back in the old world.

Mu Lin’s face was pale with anxiety as she frantically looked about. “I don’t see her…”

“Let’s ask the guard,” I said. “Maybe she left a pass for you.”

“Good idea.”

I let Mu Lin go ahead of me as she cupped her hand and gave a low bow before the guard. “Exalted official, my name is Mu Lin. I seek entry into the district to take an exam at the university. My instructor, Xi Xha, should have been here to allow me entry. Is there a chance she left a pass for me?”

The guard, a slim man that looked in his forties, frowned for a moment before heading to his booth and returning with a clipboard. He leafed through the pages on it and shook his head. “There is no pass here for you. Perhaps you are mistaken.”

Mu Lin’s mouth fell open. “But… but my exam starts in just a few minutes. Please can you check again? There is no way she would stand me up like this.”

“Do you accuse me of incompetence?” The guard’s tone became aggressive. “I looked already! It is not there!”

A spark of anger stirred my Flame as Mu Lin immediately cupped her hands again, holding them high above her head. “A million apologies. I meant no offense. Clearly, I must be mistaken.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, stepping forward with [Struggler’s Resolve] and the guard took an immediate step back. “What’s it take to get in here?”

The guard glared at me as if even talking to him was an offense. “More than what you possess, Terran. Only citizens are allowed past this point, or those sponsored by citizens.”

“That true for C-class citizens too?” I asked, mentally crossing my finger.

“Yes,” he said testily. “Any citizen.”

I gave Mu Lin a smile as I reached into my overcoat and produced the small identification card I’d received after winning the tournament. “I’ll vouch for her then.”

A spike of anger erupted inside the guard as he snatched the card from me. “What? How did you get this?”

I shrugged. “A lot of hard work…and pain.”

I poured more Frenzy into [Struggler’s Resolve] and the guard’s expression changed, perhaps catching the hint of how I’d gotten the card. He smiled then as he looked at me, nodding slowly.

“I see,” he said with a harrumph before handing me back the card. “You may enter, but not her.”

Mu Lin’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“You need a reason to sponsor someone,” he said. “You told me you have come to sit an exam. So unless he is your teacher, I suggest you go.”

“Oh, I am her teacher,” I said quickly.

Both the guard and Mu Lin looked at me like I was crazy now.

“Well, one of them,” I said. “Here I can prove it. Mu Lin!”

She jumped at my sharp call.

“Pass me your fundamentals manual.”

I gave her a stare and thankfully, just like when we were dealing with the guard after meeting Threja, Mu Lin acquiesced to my untold plan. She rummaged through her bag and handed me the manual.

I in turn handed it to the guard. “Here. Test my knowledge. Pick any page and passage randomly and I will quote it to you.”

Even the enforcers gave a chuckle at that. Mu Lin was staring at me like she wanted to cut her losses and just book it, but I kept her put by placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Go ahead,” I said, and used my Frenzy to fuel my recollection of the manual through my mind’s eye.

“This should be amusing,” the guard said as he opened the book and plopped a finger down. “Page 7, passage 3.”

As the image formed in my mind, I spoke the words I saw. “Qi balancing is a fundamental trait common to all forms of life. Whether in the air we breathe or the trees and mountains, Qi always seeks balance. It is the disruption of this balance that leads to the flow of Qi, traversing always from a point of high density to low density. At least, this is the flow according to nature. Cultivation, therefore, violates this law of nature, by channeling the diffuse Qi found in nature into the concentration of one’s Dantian.”

The guard blinked and flipped far ahead in the book. “Page 142, passage 8.”

“Within the later stages of solid core formation, a practitioner will begin to sense a secondary consciousness within their Dantian. This stage is known as the germination of one’s sacred soul. Through further cultivation of Qi, the soul is nourished through a gestation period. The sacred soul is the truest reflection of one’s inner self. Whether a god or a demon, a sacred soul reveals the identity and history of one’s journey. Therefore, caution must be taken in how one accumulates power after this stage is achieved.”

He flipped again, his brow furrowed in disbelief. “Page 38, passage 4.”

“The extremities contain several meridian points, but the number of which vary between the left and right side depending upon—”

“Page 33, passage 3.”

“The beginning of the Qi Foundation-level training starts always with—”

“Let me do one,” one of the enforcers said, but the guard quickly shooed him away.

“Page 34, passage 3.”

My mind drew a blank, until suddenly an image appeared. “That was a trick. There is no passage three. There are only diagrams on that page.”

He let out a chuckle. “Well, I’ll be…”

A healthy dose of lemonade came from the guard and the enforcers alike as he handed me back the book. “I see you have proved yourself, master teacher. I’ll get you a form.”

* * *

Within less than a minute I had completed the document, stating the reason for Mu Lin’s entry and using my ID number as a signature. It was an odd feeling, like I was actually part of the system now. It was all at once liberating yet loathsome. But this was the key to my ultimate victory.

Tear it down from the inside, I reminded myself.

“A good teacher always fights hard for his students,” the guard said as he handed Mu Lin the document along with the Foundation manual. “You should be proud to have a teacher like him. A fighter in more ways than one.”

She smiled awkwardly. “Yes, thank you.”

“Go on now,” he said.

As we walked through the gates, I could feel Mu Lin’s eyes burning a hole into me. When we got out of earshot, she finally let me have it.

“What in the nine hells was that, Chun!” she exclaimed. “How the hell did you do that? And when did you become a citizen?”

“Eh…” I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about it?” She stared at the ground, perplexed. “You know that damn book better than I do. Maybe you should be the one taking this exam.”

I gave her a cheesy grin. “I could if you paid me.”

She elbowed me, not willing to accept the joke. “Seriously, how did you do this?”

I let out a sigh. “I just took an interest, I guess. I read it a lot. Like… a whole lot.”

“And the citizenship? Did you actually place in the Wooden Bracket?”

Mu Lin was too smart to fool any further. I finally gave in. “Yeah, I did.”

She punched me on my arm. The uninjured one, thankfully. “Why the heck did you lie to me about it? That’s a hell of an accomplishment. Congrats. I honestly didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Hey,” I said in protest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I lost money to Lee.”

I laughed. “Now I see who my true friends are.”

“Honestly, though,” she said, her voice dropping in tone and becoming serious. “You really didn’t want to tell me? Why?”

I thought on my feet, putting my Mental Quickness to the test. “Well, I knew you were studying for this exam to get your citizenship. Just didn’t want to tell you I got mine before you got yours, you know? Didn’t know how you might feel about it.”

It wasn’t the truth, but it sounded plausible, plus it was far more palatable than the actual truth. Mu Lin looked back at me with sad eyes, before giving me a hug. “Thanks for being so thoughtful, Chun. But I’m okay. I’m happy for you. Really. Actually, I’m not totally okay. I’m jealous as hell of you for your memory. Talk about the student becoming the damn teacher.”

I could only laugh at that.

As we walked a bit further, a voice called out from above. “Mu Lin!”

We both looked up to see a skiff descending from the sky. It was about the size of a car in length and flat like a small rowboat. Xi Xha was atop it along with several other women, her hands cupped to her mouth as she shouted down to us. The craft landed, controlled by a servant dressed in black robes at the stern.

“I’m so sorry!” Xi Xha said as she hopped out. “I had an engagement that ran late. How did you manage to get inside?”

Mu Lin jerked a thumb at me. “Ask him.”

Xi Xha immediately blushed upon seeing me, as if just realizing I was there. “Um… Chun? Nice to…”

I could sense fear inside her, but it couldn’t have been as a result of seeing me, could it? She immediately glanced back towards the three women lounging on couches within the skiff. All of them were immaculately dressed in black robes with silver trim, the colors of the Silver Leaf Clan. To say they were all beautiful was an understatement. If Xi Xha was a model then these were Hollywood superstars. Two of them had dark hair, flowing loosely in ponytails.

“Is that your little handler friend, Xi Xha?” one of the women called out with a cackling laugh.

“I wouldn’t call him so little,” the other said, leaning into her friend while giving me a wink.

The two of them continued to laugh, causing Xi Xha’s face to redden even deeper. I avoided looking at her to prevent her embarrassment from increasing. I didn’t know whether to feel insulted or flattered, but I decided to go with flattered when I sensed the lemonade coming from the two of them. The third woman hadn’t said anything yet, but she stared at me the hardest, and honestly, I couldn’t help but stare back.

She was unlike any woman I’d seen before, except for the princess maybe. Exquisitely beautiful with sharp features, her eyes a silver hue, the same as her hair which was cut short in a bob. A fairy to be sure.

“Is everything alright, Xi Xha?” the woman spoke, her voice deep and authoritative, a soul well beyond the twenty or so years that she looked.

Xi Xha turned and bowed deeply to her. “Everything is well, my lady. My thanks for the lift down.”

The woman nodded at her and then gave me a final sultry-eyed stare with a hint of lemonade before barking for the servant to depart. As the skiff lifted off, Xi Xha bowed deeply at the waist before me.

“Chun, please forgive me for that interaction. I…I don’t really know what to say. I’m very deeply embarrassed.”

“Who were they?” Mu Lin asked, still looking up at the departing skiff.

“Some old friends from university,” she said and turned an even deeper shade of red.

Friends? I thought. More like girlfriends.

It kind of made sense now. I could only imagine what she might have told them about our red light district exploits together. Women always did that shit. Like a damn competition or something. It’d certainly explain the instant lemonade, regardless of my shitty clothes and busted arm.

Xi Xha then bowed deeply to Mu Lin. “I apologize to you as well, Mu Lin. I’m so late. Come, we need to go.” Xi Xha then bowed to me again. “Thank you for getting her in here.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Come, Mu Lin,” she said, taking her hand. “There’s still time.”

As they began to take off, Mu Lin suddenly stopped. “Wait! Chun, your question!”

“Huh?” Xi Xha said.

I almost didn’t want to bring it up, with them being in such a rush, but Mu Lin seemed insistent. Perhaps she was trying to pay me back. Sheepishly, I pulled out the paper. “Only if it’s a quick answer. Do you know what this means, Xi Xha?”

Xi Xha studied the characters. “That’s an ancient script. I’d need to cross reference it with an 11th-millennium compendium to be sure, but literally it says: spiritual root essence.”

“Any idea what that means in terms of meridians?”

Xi Xha looked to Mu Lin. “Come on. You should know this one.”

Mu Lin’s eyes narrowed for a moment before going as wide as saucers. “Oh! It’s the basis for your aspect. Like fire or water. What your elemental core is based off of.”

“Excellent,” Xi Xha said with a smile.

“So which meridian relates to fire?”

“No, it’s not a meridian,” Mu Lin said. “It’s like…a core of your being.”

“Very well put,” Xi Xha said, smiling. “Let’s hope that question is on your exam. Was that it, Chun?”

“Ah…I did have some questions about laws and stuff, but you two better get going.”

“I promise I can help you with those later, perhaps after the exam?” She gave me an apologetic smile.

“How long is it?”

“Three hours,” Mu Lin said. “But why wait? You have all the answers you need waiting for you right there.”

I followed where she was pointing and saw a large multi-story building with guards at the front. “Is that a library?”

“Sure is,” she said. “Go knock yourself out, Mr. Citizen. You have all the access you need now. You might just find what you’re looking for all on your own.” She then winked at me. “Pretty sure you’re smart enough.”

“Please don’t wait for us if you don’t need to,” Xi Xha said, bowing to me again. “I’ve inconvenienced you enough already.”

“No worries,” I said and then waved to Mu Lin as they both departed. “Good luck!”

I checked the time. It was still early enough, I supposed. Plus, I was reenergized by obtaining the knowledge I needed to unlock the technique as well as being fawned over by a bevy of hot women. Life was looking up. As I approached the doors to the library, I showed my ID card to the enforcer guarding the place, who after a few frowns, eventually let me inside.

Through the double doors the place opened up like a museum, with shelves three stories high, packed with books and scrolls. Almost immediately one of the librarians hustled over to me, an unpleasant look on her middle-aged face.

“What is it you want here?” she said. “Are you lost? How did you get—”

I shoved my card in her face to shut her the hell up and then poured on the Frenzy with [Struggler’s Resolve].

“Going to need some help,” I said. “Need to find some books that lay out the laws and rights pertaining to B and C-class citizens.”

The old bitch frowned at me even more. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I need to know what it takes to create a Sect.”