Outworld Liberators

Lifara walked in the opposite direction from where Thaddeus had left the Undead Slayer, so he followed without complaint.

"Where are we going?" Thaddeus asked.

Lifara did not answer with words. She only raised one hand and rubbed her thumb against her index finger.

Thaddeus stared at the gesture for a beat, then understood.

Fortune. She meant to circle back and collect something.

His gaze dropped to the broken sword still in his hand. He had made that blade himself.

Radeon had insisted on it from the beginning. If Thaddeus wanted to become strong, then he first had to forge his own weapons and learn what a weapon truly was.

Weight. Balance. Temper. Edge. Weakness. A man who did not understand the thing in his hand had no right to entrust his life to it.

Still, for all the lessons Radeon had given, there was one question Thaddeus had worried like a dog at a bone.

How far did the path go?

He had asked it often enough that even Radeon's patience had finally thinned.

One day, perhaps tired of being hounded, his master had answered him plainly, and the answer had left Thaddeus shaken.

Right now, Thaddeus only stood at the threshold of sword qi. He could force out a faint, formless edge, but that was not the same as truly holding it.

And even sword qi itself was not the end. It had ten ranks within it. Beyond that came sword intent. Then manifestation. Then materialization. Then sword heart. Then sword soul. Then sword unity.

And that was only the road of the sword.

Above even that was weaponry qi, a harsher and greater thing that demanded mastery over four separate weapons.

Yet even that was not the summit his master stood upon.

Radeon possessed something more perfect still.

Armament qi.

Radeon had told him what it meant in the same flat voice one might use to discuss the weather.

It was a combat qi born from eighty-one different weapons, each with its own foundation, each needing to be understood truthfully.

No shortcuts. No deceit. Cheat yourself in even one part, and armament qi would never appear.

Every time Thaddeus remembered that, the path ahead seemed less like a road and more like a mountain range without end.

He tightened his grip on the broken sword and kept walking after Lifara.

Radeon had told him to keep his focus narrow for now.

Sword qi. Bow qi. Spear qi. Shield qi.

Any one of them would do if he pursued it honestly. His master had said there was no real difference between such paths at the start.

The only difference was that Radeon was old and Thaddeus was still young.

So for now, Thaddeus wanted only one thing.

Sword intent. A stage where the mind could begin to command the sword, where thought itself reached the blade before the arm ever needed to move.

As they stepped into the stone structure hidden beneath thick greenery, the air turned cool and damp.

Vines had already crawled over the entrance and made the place look half-swallowed by the wild.

Inside, two Stitched Butchers lay where they had once stood watch.

They had likely been sleeping when Lifara's plants found them.

Now ropes of vine threaded through their sewn flesh and pinned them in place, their meat twitching weakly as if the bodies still had not accepted death.

Thaddeus did not pause. He swung his broken sword once.

Ten slashes flashed out from that single motion.

The trapped creatures split apart where they lay. Their bodies slid into wet slabs of bloody meat, collapsing under their own weight.

"New move?" Lifara asked.

She did not sound surprised.

"Yeah," Thaddeus said. "How was it?"

He tried to sound casual, though the question carried more anxiety than he wanted to admit.

He always wanted to know where he stood. Every new cut, every new idea, every little gain felt too small when measured against the mountain Radeon had shown him.

"Pretty strong," Lifara said after a glance at the remains. "I don't have anything that offensive."

That answer eased something in his chest. Then her attention shifted at once.

She walked deeper inside and found a steel cache half-buried behind roots and stone.

When she opened it, a length of bamboo lay within. At first glance it looked plain enough, dull and ordinary, but when Lifara lifted it and sent qi through its body, the truth came out.

Its surface deepened into a rich purple sheen, quiet and noble beneath the dim light.

It was Thousand Years Water Tempered Bamboo. Rare stuff.

Such bamboo grew beneath punishing currents, in places where bamboo had no business growing at all.

Stranger still, it did not bend away from the water. It grew against the force, resisting it year after year until its body became unnaturally hard.

Even so, this piece was small, only about a meter in length.

Lifara did not look disappointed. Quite the opposite.

A faint satisfaction touched her face as she turned it in her hands.

This was a plant, and that made it hers in a way few treasures ever could.

Small or not, she could raise it later. Nurture it. Multiply it.

Make more from the root of what she had found.

"Big sister, let me borrow it for a while," Thaddeus said.

"You'll pay if it gets damaged, right?" Lifara replied at once.

Thaddeus nodded.

The four of them, Fay, Oswin, Lifara, and Thaddeus, had all been reprimanded by Radeon over such matters before. Their master was no narrow-minded fool.

He had seen too many worlds, too many people, too many bonds ruined by the same old weight.

That was why his view of discipleship differed from most. In matters of debt and favor, money ran thicker than blood or affection. It was not even a liquid thing to begin with.

Those who claimed otherwise were either naive or liars. For that reason, Radeon had once told them in a cold, unmistakable tone never to owe a brother or sister lightly again.

Money, he said, was a necessary cosmic evil.

Ugly, yes, but useful, because it balanced itself in time and forced order onto the realms and worlds.

After that, they continued through the remaining inheritances.

Lifara came away with the better haul. She found three pills meant to nourish and temper the meridians, one of which Thaddeus also borrowed on account.

Beyond that, she obtained a set of boots, a defensive soul bell, which she had already wore even trying to make Thaddeus envious.

Then there were two arts, and Lifara was turning them over in her head, no doubt searching for how to wring the greatest value from each.

Soon, they returned to the Beacon Tree. No one had entered yet, and no one else had arrived.

Then the first group appeared, and it was obvious who they would be. Oswin had a Homing Globe. All he had to do was follow it.

The moment he arrived, he called the two of them over and asked for a fresh set of hair. After that, each of them began checking the others for anything unusual. When they found nothing wrong, the tension eased.

From the personal spaces within Radeon's system, they took out their own food, while Fay even spread a picnic blanket with their master's face printed across it.

Since Radeon did not mind such things, why should they?

Jenkii and Jackson were stunned. These people were far too casual. They were still inside a secret realm.

Why would anyone start eating here of all places?

Jenkii nearly lost her composure altogether when she saw the spread of meat, soup, and even rice.

"Hey, aren't you all too relaxed? This is still a secret realm, after all," Jenkii said, her concern plain, especially with how young Thaddeus and Lifara looked.

"This seems to be a safe zone," Fay said.

She pointed behind herself while still chewing.

The ground trembled.

Something huge was coming, charging in an aggressive sprint. Even then, the four remained relaxed. A monstrous humanoid towered nearly a hundred meters high, all exposed muscle, bone-white sinew, and a skull-like face. It was a Flesh Titan.

It thundered past them.

A hundred fifty meters away at most.

And it did not even spare them a glance.

Jenkii and Jackson both let out shaken breaths, clearly rattled by yet another giant monster.

"How could you tell?" Jackson asked, already aware that knowledge like that could mean the difference between life and death.

Soon, they returned to the Beacon Tree.

No one had entered yet, and no one else had arrived.

Then the first group appeared, and it was obvious who they would be.

Oswin had a Homing Globe. All he had to do was follow it.

The moment he arrived, he called the two of them over and asked for a fresh set of hair.

After that, each of them began checking the others for anything unusual.

When they found nothing wrong, the tension eased. From the personal spaces within Radeon's system, they took out their own food, while Fay even spread a picnic blanket with their master's face printed across it.

Since Radeon did not mind such things, why should they?

Jenkii and Jackson were stunned. These people were far too casual.

They were still inside a secret realm made of horrors.

Why would anyone start eating here of all places?

Jenkii nearly lost her composure altogether when she saw the spread of meat, soup, and even rice.

"Hey. Hey, aren't you all too relaxed? This is still a secret realm, after all," Jenkii said, her concern plain, especially with how young Thaddeus and Lifara looked.

"This seems to be a safe zone," Lifara said.

She pointed behind herself while still chewing. The ground trembled.

Something huge was coming, charging in an aggressive sprint. Even then, the four remained relaxed.

A monstrous humanoid towered nearly a hundred meters high, all exposed muscle, bone-white sinew, and a skull-like face. It was a Flesh Titan.

It thundered past them. Fifty meters away at most.

And it did not even spare them a glance.

Jenkii and Jackson both let out shaken breaths, clearly rattled by yet another giant monster.

"How could you tell?" Jackson asked, already aware that knowledge like that could mean the difference between life and death.

"The wear on the ground. The earth by the doorway was too clean. I also dragged a few monsters around," Lifara said.

That was another lesson from Radeon. Use boasting as a strategic resource.

Like any other commodity, it followed the law of supply and demand.

Right now, Lifara thought these people looked well off, and she meant to find out whether she could sell the arts she had gained for some added benefit.

While they ate in ease, taking calm bites between talk and silence, the teachers above were growing anxious.

There were strict prohibitions on the calls.

No master could reveal anything that might help a disciple navigate the maze, since the audience had access to multiple screens and could piece together a proper map with enough care.

Nor could they discuss inheritances obtained by other participants, and that ban also covered the hidden cards and advantages those participants carried.

If a student tried to speak of treasures claimed by others, the transmission would blur those words out.

It was a tight rule set, and everyone understood why. Every side wanted an edge.

Even so, rules were rules.

So when the first master finally chose to speak, teachers had already begun gathering to see whether the service was truly worth the price.

"We'll see if all these lost crafts are really worth the fuss," the man said.

It was Denzil, calling out to Jenkii.