The realm here wasn't nearly so cleanly divided as in the Farm, with its towering chasm walls. Fortunately, they had an entire half at their disposal this time, which would make it relatively easy not to stray to where they didn't belong. Rix had no desire for any further conflict in this place.

To be safe, they headed in a straight line west. The air in the mushroom forest was damp and heavy with the scent of wet earth and decay. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, just alien. Growing up on the streets of Cloudpiercer, you were buffeted by all manner of scents, but never anything so purely organic as this. Rix found the improvements to his sense of smell perhaps the strangest impact of his increased acuity. Stronger sight and hearing were easy to make sense of. They simply enhanced the way he already interacted with the world. But the default mortal sense of smell was like a lame limb. It functioned, but wasn't strong enough to be relied on in most situations.

To some degree, that felt like it was changing. While he couldn't yet tell exactly what was what, there were layers to what he could smell now that he was sure he would not have noticed two months ago. It was odd to realize how much information had been just out of reach for him before.

Rix and Luna continued forward. The ground was spongy, absorbing the sound of their footfalls, and the sheer density of the growth meant visibility was limited. Every step sent up tiny puffs of spores that glittered in the hazy yellow light filtering down from the unseen sky. They moved cautiously, weaving between the fungal trunks.

"How are we going to do this?" asked Luna.

Rix shrugged. "He said he'd be able to find us, so we just keep moving, I guess?"

They were in something of a delicate situation. Like the Farm's portion of the realm, this one was effectively a series of concentric circles, with each new ring theoretically housing stronger fades. Rix still didn't fully understand how it came to be quite so neatly. Huan had once explained that not every part of each realm played by those rules. It was the job of the Martial Souls who created the access gems to map those ebbs and flows, and then position the portals appropriately.

Whatever the cause, it made finding Breaker difficult. The closer they were to the dive site, the smaller the area they had to work with. As Low Sparks in an unfamiliar region, the smart play was to stick to the first zone where the fades should be manageable, but that spot also had the most foot traffic and the highest density of other divers. Though they'd traveled far enough to be out of sight of anyone else, he could hear the echo of another conversation not too far distant, and from slightly further something that sounded like combat. The reality was that they needed privacy to talk and receive instruction the way they had in the past, and that was in short supply here.

Luna flashed her teeth. "Straight to the outer edge, just like I said."

Despite the pressing need to talk to the man, Rix had to admit that part of him was itching for a fight. He'd been a Spark for over a week, and he still hadn't been able to test what that really meant. It was just a matter of who, or what, would find them first.

He didn't have to wait long to find out.

They were passing a cluster of thick, rust-coloured toadstools when the ground trembled violently. A deep, guttural sound, like stone grinding against stone, echoed from just ahead.

Luna's grin was immediate and sharp. "Guess Breaker will have to wait."

Rix didn't have time to reply. A mushroom the size of a small hut splintered apart, sending chunks of fungal matter flying as something massive ploughed through it.

It was a walking fortress. Twelve feet tall and nearly as broad, the fade was a bipedal behemoth made of overlapping, wood-like fungal plates that looked as hard as steel. It reminded him vaguely of the armored behemoth he'd fought early in his diving career, though this one was significantly more imposing. Its head was a solid, featureless cap, and its arms were broad, gnarled clubs. Dozens of smaller, bioluminescent mushrooms dotted its body, pulsing with a sickly green light that cast eerie shadows.

To Rix's eye, it looked more powerful still than the fade he'd fought for his tier-up. Perhaps the zones were less rigid here? Or maybe they'd simply got unlucky.

The fade let out another low groan, a sound that seemed to vibrate in Rix's bones, and fixed its unseen gaze upon them.

"Big one," Luna said. "Let's see if it bleeds."

The juggernaut answered by charging. For its size, it moved with terrifying speed, each step a miniature earthquake that shook the soft ground. It lowered its head, turning its entire body into a battering ram aimed straight for Rix.

With his Spark-enhanced agility, dodging was almost trivial. He danced to the side, feeling the rush of air as the massive form thundered past. He and Luna moved in unison, striking at its exposed flank with their weapons.

The sound was of wood on stone. Their blows bounced harmlessly off its carapace.

"I think that's a 'no'," said Rix.

The fade recovered, swinging one of its piston-sized arms in a wide, horizontal arc that forced them both back. Rix tried a standard [Wind Blade], hoping the cutting edge would find purchase in the seams between the plates, but they were interlocked too tightly. His technique scraped uselessly against the armor, leaving not even a scratch.

They spent the next minute in a frustrating dance, easily avoiding the fade's slow, telegraphed attacks but unable to inflict any damage in return. Luna's [Falcon Slash] bounced harmlessly off its plates, and even with both his freshly enhanced attributes and his open Mountain Gate, Rix, too, lacked the power to crack its shell. He tried invoking his gate, which made each of his blows land with a thunderous crack, but even that was inadequate. It was like fighting a walking wall.

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Rix was just starting to wonder if it had any techniques at all when it suddenly changed tactics. Mid swing, it planted its thick legs, and raised one massive foot before slamming it down with colossal force.

A shockwave of energy erupted from the point of impact, tearing through the spongy soil. It was similar to what Rix could do with [Force Hammer], but significantly more powerful. The ground buckled beneath his feet, throwing him off balance. Before he could recover, the juggernaut was already in motion. Activating what must have been a second technique, its entire body became wreathed in a dull blue glow as it swung one arm down in a brutal overhead chop. Whatever it had used, its movements were suddenly impossibly fast. He had no time to dodge.

There was no choice. He had to take it.

Gritting his teeth, he planted his feet, invoked his Mountain Gate, and flung his staff up horizontally, bracing for impact. Strength and stability flooded his body, rooting him to the spot.

The blow landed like a falling building.

A deafening crack echoed through the forest as the fade's armored fist connected with his weapon. The force was catastrophic, a shockwave that slammed through his weapon and into his arms, threatening to shatter them. The muscles in his shoulders and back screamed in protest. He was driven back a full five feet, his boots carving deep furrows in the earth as the impact forced him to his knees.

But the new bedrock of his Spark-level vitality combined with the power of his gate meant he didn't buckle or break.

The juggernaut reeled back for another strike, but Luna was there, her katana a blur as she hacked at its legs, drawing its attention. It bought Rix the second he needed to scramble back to his feet, though again she left no lasting impact.

"You good?" she asked.

He nodded. "Thanks to the gate. Who would have thought all that sitting could make a man so durable?"

Luna snorted. "Might have been preferable to be squashed into a paste."

It was satisfying being able to take a blow like that. It cost him a chunk of his qi, so he couldn't keep it up indefinitely, but he could already imagine how many options would be available to a cultivator once they had a few gates open.

The fight resumed. Now that they'd seen the fade's tricks, the danger had diminished. The next time it tried a similar combination, Luna was ready with a [Wind Dash] which got her out of harm's way despite losing her balance. But defense was just part of the puzzle. They still had to kill the thing. He tried [Force Hammer] enhanced by invoking his Mountain Gate, which he sent thundering into the fade's raised arm. That attack would have broken anything he fought in the Farm, but in this case, it merely sent a web of cracks splintering through one of its plates. Another couple of those in the same spot would probably have punched through, but that was easier said than done with his dwindling qi and the speed the fade was capable of moving.

He had a growing sense of resignation about what he needed to do.

"Think I need to try my new trick," he called to Luna as she ducked one of the fade's sideswipes. He'd been intending to experiment more before mixing qi and System techniques in a real combat situation, but he didn't see another way. Also, a part of him just wanted to see what it would do on a live target.

She nodded. "Figured you'd want to show off some more. I'll distract it."

As she unleashed a flurry of attacks at their opponent's side, Rix turned his attention inward, grasp his qi and cycling it towards the site of the tear between his networks. Pushing it through still required focused effort, but after a moment, the resistance broke and he began guiding it up towards the [Force Hammer] shape in his mind's eye. He used less qi than in his previous test, though it was a difficult line to walk. He couldn't afford that crippling backlash he'd experienced yesterday — if the attack failed, it would leave him wide open — but he wanted to give it the best shot at success.

His compromise was to use about half of each resource. After feeding in the qi, he tentatively filled the rest out with mana. The moment the technique was 'full', it ignited, and power, raw and chaotic, exploded down his arms and into his staff. It bucked in his hands like a raging animal. The silver glow of the technique was different now — shot through with the deeper gold of his qi, it was brighter, wilder, and seemed to warp the air around the head of his weapon.

Luna had baited the fade to turn away from him, so [Force Hammer] crashed home into its back. He poured every ounce of his new Spark-level strength, every lesson from Master Zhen, and all the power from his open Mountain Gate into the single motion.

The sound was like a detonation.

For a split second, nothing happened. Then, with a deafening shriek of tearing matter, the fungal plates shattered. The blast sent a shockwave outwards, shredding the nearby mushrooms and sending both Rix and Luna stumbling.

A hot spike of psychic agony drove into his skull, and his vision swam in a sea of white. The backlash was less severe than the previous day, but it still drew a cry from his mouth and sent the world spinning. He staggered blindly backwards, trying to remove himself from harm.

Through the ringing in his ears, he heard a new sound — a wet, pained roar.

He forced his eyes open. Where the juggernaut's armor had been, there was now a gaping, crater-like hole. Inside, a mass of soft, pulsating green flesh quivered, exposed to the air. The creature was flailing strangely, as if unable to comprehend that he'd actually blown through its defenses.

Luna was already moving to take advantage.

She launched herself forward, her katana wreathed in [Falcon Slash's] green blur. This time, her blade didn't spark. It bit deep into the exposed core. The juggernaut let out a final, gurgling scream as Luna's three slashes tore through its vital essence.

It swayed for a moment, then crashed to the ground with a shuddering thud that shook the entire clearing.

A rush of essence, more potent than any he'd felt before, flooded into Rix. He let out a shaky breath, still fighting the waves of nausea from the backlash. He called up his System display.

[Essence: 1%]

That's what it had been when he'd ranked up, meaning despite the way the reward had felt, it had not been enough to move the needle even a little. People said the climb got exponentially more difficult at higher tiers, so he wasn't surprised, but it really made clear how much work it was actually going to take.

Luna stood over the corpse, her chest heaving, a wide, bloodthirsty grin on her face. "Okay," she panted. "The Cauldron is going to be fun."

Rix managed a weak grin back, pushing himself to his feet. His head still throbbed, and the perils of what he'd done were obvious, but the results were undeniable. He had a new weapon in his arsenal. A true finisher. And in this new, more dangerous realm, he had a feeling he was going to need it.

***

They pressed deeper. With no psychic tug from the tether, it was difficult to know exactly what thresholds they were crossing. Thankfully, they didn't encounter anything else as tough as the fungal juggernaut. They did take several more fights, including a particularly tricky one against a group of small multi-legged fades that clung to the undersides of some of the giant mushrooms. They waited until Rix and Luna walked beneath them then attacked from above with their long, barbed tails. Rix wound up hacking through the mushrooms' trunks with a Mountain-Gate-powered [Wind Blade] and bringing them to ground where they lost much of their advantage.

Eventually, the landscape around them began to shift. The predominant plant life was still fungal, but in between, large boulders the color of chalk began to appear. The soil beneath their feet turned harder, and the mushrooms grew less dense, letting a little more light punch through to the forest floor.

They were moving past a particularly large pile of stones, when a voice rang out from within.

"You'd best have a good excuse for wasting my time so."

They turned to find Breaker staring at them from within an opening in the rock.

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