Master Zhen seemed visibly startled at the question. His brow furrowed and his expression became unreadable. Rix thought perhaps he'd made a mistake.

But eventually, the man sighed. "Bah, at my age, one should be capable of masking their emotions better."

"I didn't mean to pry, elder…" Rix offered.

Why had he asked? The idea of a prisoner asking after his jailer's well-being was a strange one. But the old master didn't treat the inmates the way most of the staff did. His irritability manifested sharply at times, but it never carried the raw contempt Rix felt from most of the guards. In many ways, he treated them more humanely than anyone except the Quartermaster. Rix didn't have many ways to repay that, but perhaps he could listen.

"It's fine," the Weaponmaster said. "Perhaps there is a lesson in it for you."

He regarded Rix for a few moments. "I do not wish to be here."

The matter-of-factness with which he said that caught Rix off guard. "I had no idea, elder."

Though he thought he'd managed to sound mostly sincere, the man looked at him sharply. "This isn't the time for cheek. I'm imparting wisdom."

A ghost of a smile appeared on Rix's face. "My apologies."

Master Zhen gave a firm nod. "As I was saying. This place is like a leaden chain around my neck. My Path is at a bottleneck. For three decades, I've sat at the peak of Nova. Three decades with my essence capped, unable to forge, unable to progress. I have just one step left to take, and yet, I cannot."

Rix's mouth dropped open. Three decades stuck at one rank? That was insane. "Why?"

"Because I'm not allowed," he spat, the fire of long-burning anger clear in his voice. "By all measures, I'm a prodigy. The Zhen bloodline is ancient and strong, and my potential is Peak. Many of the city's Omens would already shy away from duelling me. And yet, I am held back."

"By your corporation?" Rix asked carefully.

Master Zhen nodded.

When Rix had first arrived, the Quartermaster had explained how the corporations could command their disciples with threats of excommunication, but this situation was clearly more nuanced.

"Why wouldn't they want you to grow stronger?"

The elder shot Rix a bitter smile. "Because power fears potential, boy. Not every corporation is so, but jealousy runs deep through the veins of Ironguard Enterprise. It's true, the resources to get one to Omen are rare, but after this long it is clear that rarity isn't the issue. Over the years I've seen my lessers elevated in my place. People who, to this day, are not the Martial Soul I am."

He drew a deep breath. "My current tenure here was due to expire several weeks ago. This was the reason for my absence. The First Master said he would review my situation. He's a snake, and I long ago read the leaves, but for some reason, I dared to hope." He spread his hands. "Obviously, the review was not favourable. And so I remain, condemned to wasting my considerable talents on you lot, like using a priceless blade to trim weeds."

Rix couldn't imagine being in that situation. This was a man on the cusp of unimaginable power. And yet he was utterly helpless. When framed like that, he seemed almost more caged than Rix himself. At least Rix could still progress his Path.

"What is the step you need to take?" he asked. "Is there no way to take it without their support?"

Master Zhen gave a sad laugh. "Believe me, I've considered it. I've achieved all the requirements necessary to reach Omen. I've assembled my class and mastered my techniques many times over. All that's left is mana refinement. But that requires lengthy exposure to a sacred site, and those are both rare and expensive."

His gaze drifted to the wall, as though he was gazing through it. "No other corporation will help me, for obvious reasons. There are no doubt ways to do what is needed outside Cloudpiercer's walls, but to seek those I'd need to abandon my post, which in turn is abandoning my corporation." His eyes returned to Rix. "And I assume you understand what they could do to me in those circumstances."

Rix felt a shiver roll down his spine. He nodded. He had so many questions, particularly about classes, but now was not the time.

"I'm sorry, elder."

The man studied him. Rix didn't know how to read the expression on his face.

"I see something of myself in you, you know?" he said, after a few moments. "Not the genius, or the talent, or the skill, obviously. Definitely not the coordination or physical gifts. And the mental faculties are not even worth comparing, now that I think about it. It's as if someone described me to a blind sculptor who then tried to recreate me from clay. With their feet." The man paused, letting a little of his levity fade. "But still, you are not completely without hope. And should you surprise everyone and continue to climb, be careful to whom you hand the keys to your power."

Rix gave a mute nod. He didn't need to be told twice. This had been a sobering lesson in the realities of the Martial Path. It was clear this life was populated by pitfalls far more numerous than the obvious fades and mortal dangers. What was strength if it only existed at the whims of another?

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

***

Rix hadn't been entirely certain Han would keep to his word, but things did indeed cool off dramatically in Spiritlock after their meeting. While the animosity between the Iron Hand and the Shadow Runners hadn't entirely diminished, it was reduced to sharp looks and vague threats. Han still made his hate clear whenever he and Rix were in the same room, but he did so from a distance. From what Wing reported, everything was quiet on the Fractured Realm border.

In that normality, Rix returned to his routine, and it felt really good. Breaker continued to be a significant asset to their kill speed. With his help, they were able to battle substantially larger numbers of fades than they'd been doing previously.

After just one week, Rix hit the essence cap for Peak Whisper. He forged that night in his cell. The process was much the same as the last two times, like being remade in glorious light from the inside.

With the Han battle a looming prospect, he made the hard choice to alter his approach to attribute distribution, just for now. He loved his focus on acuity and agility, but the brawl in the mess had revealed firmly where his deficiencies lay. If he had any hope of killing Han, he needed to be able to cause as much damage as humanly possible. To that end, all 8 points went into strength.

Path

Tier - Whisper (Peak)

Class: Unfused

Weapon bond: Quarterstaff

Style: Foundational Quarterstaff Basics (Low)

Embodiments: None

Aspects: None

Mana: 200/200

Essence: 0%

Techniques:

Wind Blade (Mid)

Force Hammer (Mid)

Sunspot (Low)

Body

Agility - 19

Strength - 15

Vitality - 7

Mind

Acuity - 20

Mana Control - 10

Mana Capacity - 10

Soul

Authority - 0

Sovereignty - 0

Just that rank up more than doubled his strength. The difference was stark. Though one might not think of increased strength as being universally applicable, Rix felt a newfound ease in all his movements, even just what he could manage in the confines of his cell. He couldn't wait to see what it felt like in combat.

He was now a Peak Whisper. He took a moment to bask in that. It was the first — and probably the easiest — box he had to tick to stand a chance against Han, but it was an accomplishment nonetheless.

It was also a notable step forward in his larger mission. It was easy to forget that he had grander ambitions than just what lay immediately in front of him. From Peak Whisper, the next step was a full tier up to Spark.

His rank now made him one of the stronger people in this part of the prison, though that was misleading as the ratios were skewed towards the top and bottom. At Low Whisper were all the prisoners who refused to dive at all. At the upper end were all those who'd survived the realm. The reality was, people didn't linger in those middle ranks for very long. They either progressed or they died.

While there was no official tally, for obvious reasons, just from chatter around the prison, Rix estimated that more than forty prisoners had died since his arrival. It seemed like he and Luna's experience during the heist was a harbinger of things to come. There had been two other entropy events since then, including a fade tide in the western quadrant that killed ten unaffiliated divers.

Even amongst the prisoners that considered themselves tough, there were rumblings of discontent. Spiritlock's fractured realm was unequivocally becoming more dangerous. But there was little Rix could do about it. He'd survived the strange gravity shift, and would continue to do his best to roll with whatever was thrown his way.

***

"I did it," Luna said to Rix by way of a greeting as he strode up. She looked a little haggard, dark circles nestled under her eyes, but her smile was wide.

It was a week after the lockdown, and they were at the daily Shadow Runner muster. Given the tight confines and constant monitoring within Spiritlock's walls, it was difficult to discuss anything private there with the whole group. Each day at the start of the dive, the Shadow Runners gathered near the entrance to their zone to get status updates and faction reports.

"Did what?"

She leaned in close and dropped her voice low. "I felt it."

It took Rix a moment to understand what she was getting at, but when he did, his mouth dropped open. She'd found qi. "After two weeks?"

She shrugged with a sort of feigned modesty. "Wasn't so tough."

"That literally took me months."

She was clearly enjoying his shock, but she decided to show pity. "To be fair, I was sort of cheating. I already knew what it looked like from seeing it inside you, so I wasn't going in blind. I just held that image in my head while doing what we were taught, and eventually I found it." She drew her lips tight. "Also, as much as I don't want to admit it, that time in lockdown may have helped."

"That's not fair," he said.

"Not for you."

"He is going to shit himself when you tell him."

Luna made a face. "I was looking forward to telling him, but not if that's the reaction."

Rix couldn't help but laugh. People threw around the word 'genius' in Cloudpiercer, but the more time he spent with Luna, the more it felt like it might genuinely apply to her.

"Your bloodline really is something special."

Luna's expression slipped. "I wish more people felt that way."

Again, her displeasure was clear. He'd bitten back his questions in the past, but it was clear that, for better or worse, they'd crossed a threshold. So, this time he didn't hold his tongue.

"Why do you hate it so much?"

She took her time answering, a range of emotions playing across her face. "The Falling Leaf are renowned warriors. The entire sect is built around that. Our combat bloodlines are some of the strongest on the continent. Despite what you might be told, they even rival some of your Thousand-Year Families." She drew a long breath. "But that means non-combat bloodlines are worthless."

Rix was putting the pieces together. "Is that why…I mean, with your father?"

She nodded. "The Kai family bloodline is amazing. Both my parents are more durable than someone a full tier higher. They're both like Han levels of scary-tough. We haven't had a dustblood in more than five generations. And then…" She gestured down towards herself.

"It's not just our families that stop acknowledging us," she continued. "Dustbloods are basically forced to be the sect servants. That meant that everything I grew up wanting — System access, the right to dive, even the right to train — was all suddenly forbidden to me. According to the elders, dustbloods aren't worth wasting any of the sect's resources on."

Rix swallowed hard. His parents were gone, which was its own sort of suffering, but while they were alive he'd never had any doubts about their love. Family was supposed to be a refuge from the cruelties of the world, not their source.

"Bleeding hells. I'm so sorry, Luna. That doesn't sound fair at all."

"It's not," she replied, her voice quavering slightly. "I was one of the best in my age group, and my potential is High, but it didn't matter. As far as they were concerned, my blood made me worthless."

"I'm sorry," he said, not knowing what else to offer. Heaven's blood, he was bad at this sort of thing. "But I'll say it again, your bloodline isn't worthless, Luna. If it's not appreciated in the Falling Leaf, it damned well will be out here. It saved my life. Wing seems to think it might let you become the ultimate smuggler. Hells, at the very least, it seems to mean I can never have an advantage over you again."

That brought a ghost of a smile to her face. "I do enjoy beating you."

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