Book 9: Chapter 4: You’ll Leave Me Behind
Sen gave himself the rest of that day to recover and spend time with Ai and Falling Leaf. While his body’s transformation had seemingly restored him, he felt drained. At the very least, he knew that there was a near-certainty that he would kill someone who came to him with a frivolous problem given his current mood. Aside from occasionally poking his now absurdly pale skin and asking if it hurt, Ai seemed to take it all in stride. He supposed that she had been through far worse upheavals and was still young enough that his skin changing just didn’t hit her as a crisis or something that warranted a lot of attention. Falling Leaf, on the other hand, seemed more uncertain about the new him. Enough so that it prompted the usually quiet woman to pose a question.
“What does this change mean?” she asked.
“I’m stronger,” said Sen with a halfhearted shrug. “Beyond that, I’m not entirely certain. I’m going to have to go out and push my limits to see what this really means.”
“You said the manual wasn’t vague, but it surely said something about what to expect.”
“There were some cryptic statements that meant absolutely nothing. There certainly wasn’t anything about being this pale. I don’t even know if it’s permanent or not. I’m hoping not. I can say that I’ll be more durable and resilient than I was before. That much is clear. And I guess improved survivability is never a bad thing.”
“Not as a rule, no,” said Falling Leaf with an amused smile. “Will you continue on this path?”
“Body cultivation?” asked Sen.
The panther-woman nodded.
“I honestly don’t know. It has provided me with benefits, but it’s also nearly cost me my life more than once. I’m not convinced it’s worth the risks. Of course, I did just go through a tribulation. It’s hard to want to do anything that might trigger another one of those when it’s so fresh in my mind.”