116 Verdict

The day passed quickly while Yun was busy meditating and absorbing some of the new realizations she'd had in her many recent battles. As a result of all the fights and situations she'd been in she had obtained quite a bit of experience in using her elemental powers during combat. Her ability to multitask had grown quite a bit, as well as her efficiency in manipulating elements. Now what she needed was more time to absorb her experiences, but time was not on her side. As she meditated and absorbed all the things she was holding on to she felt that she was reaching a critical point and forced herself to stop. If she were to try and pass that point it would be extremely dangerous to be interrupted before she finished, and there was no telling how long it would take.

Yun sighed heavily as she stood up from her meditation. This feeling of not having enough time to grow was definitely a new one for her, and she was feeling frustrated by it as well. Never before had she felt that her growth was stuck in a place where she could not advance, but now she knew that this bottleneck was one she simply needed a period of time to address. As she stretched her muscles out she took a moment to mentally calculate the time and discovered she had just enough time left to bathe and have a short sleep before her designated time with the commanding General. Taking a few bites from the food that was left on the table for her she stored her clothing in her spatial artifact and stepped into the warm water.

Her fur was lightly water repellent, so it took a few minutes before she was soaked through to the skin. As she relaxed in the warm water she also used her Dragon Aura a little to heat the water up a little further, making it quite hot to help stimulate her muscles recovery.

After her bath and a small snack Yun lay down on the lavish bed and let her mind drift off to sleep.

————————

As Yun's consciousness drifted away from her body for the first time in a very long time she thought about the fact that cultivators rarely actually slept. After finishing with the Meridian Opening realm sleep could be almost completely replaced by short periods of meditation to replenish the mind. Some cultivators, however, preferred to still sleep occasionally just for the pleasure of total oblivion and the rare chance of obtaining some insights from the unconscious mind's processing of memory.

Within the dark oblivion that was the mind Yun began to feel the presence of the other spirit that rested within her. She felt a minor sense of disgust about it, but she also felt a small portion of thankfulness for the knowledge she had been given by it. Without it's experiences she would not be anywhere near as powerful as she currently was, just the expert knowledge of spear-fighting by itself was already extraordinarily valuable.

After a few moments of waiting it felt like the spirit had finally awoken enough to communicate with her, so she patiently watched it, waiting for what it had to say.

"Young one, this is much sooner than I expected to speak with you again. It seems you're growing quickly, but by the standards of other worlds you are still not advancing fast enough. You certainly began cultivating at a young age for your world, but you are little more than average in the grand scheme.

"You must press forwards! The enemy grows more powerful the longer you wait, and rapidly recovers their full powers. Pressure is a necessary factor in the growth of a powerful warrior, but so is determination and spirit."

Yun stared at the spirit for a few moments, contemplating what to say in response. She went over a few choices, such as 'I have no desire to fulfill your grudge, just provide me your knowledge and leave me be', or, 'If you want me to grow so badly you should hand over your own resources to assist me.' In the end she didn't choose any of these more aggressive thoughts, but chose instead to just acknowledge the spirit's words.

After a few moments it felt like the world was drawing closed around them, and the spirit quickly returned to his dormant state, conserving his energy. Before long the world of consciousness had faded completely to black and Yun felt her mind beginning to rise out of the fog of actual sleep.

——————

Yun woke slowly as her biological clock told her it was time to hear a verdict from the General. She rose from the bed and put her uniform back on before she traversed the large room to sit at the table near the door and eat. She knew that soon she would be hearing news from either the General himself or one of his aides.

As if on a queue, the young Lieutenant from the previous day knocked on her door soon after she sat down. She called out to him that he could enter before he opened it.

"The General would like to send you his regards along with his instructions. You're to be provided a small vessel capable of carrying you down-river on the currents as well as rations to feed you during that time. He will also provide you a map with important locations on it so that you may navigate successfully to where you need to go. Please follow me to the Logistics building to retrieve your supplies before you're escorted to the riverside."