Book 5, chapter 9

The first day at the academy hadn't gone as well as she hoped, but it was over now. Zee collapsed face-first onto the silky sheets of her king-sized bed without bothering to take off her uniform. She was mentally exhausted from hours of lectures and only wanted to rest. Food could wait for tomorrow. For now, all she wanted was to cultivate and relax.

Her exhaustion was washed away as she closed her eyes, and drew in streams of energy from the world river. Opening herself up, the energy flooded in. The energy was so abundant, and dense here, at least fifty times denser than back on Iztara.

She was actually forced to hold back the tide, so she wasn't overwhelmed. Her multi layered fragment was extremely potent for her grade, but it had its limits. Still, her cultivation speed was monstrously quick with such an energy rich environment.

Every couple of seconds, a wave of pure energy pulsed from her fragment, rippling through her body. She caught the energy before it could escape and directed it toward a gate in her sternum. The thirty-ninth gate was slowly being worn down. By now, each gate was like a walled fortress, with thick walls and battlements to protect it. Zee was the besieging army at the gates, with siege equipment trying to knock it down.

Cracking one open at this stage took refined energy control, combining both of her sparks for all-out attacks, and most of all it took time. Pills could help her break them open faster, but Zee had no desire to gunk up her body with hard to remove pill toxins.

The heart of fire could slowly cleanse pill toxins from her body, but not at that rate. Besides, becoming a pill popper was a risky gamble. Taking handfuls of gatecrashing pills could help her open all of her remaining inner gates in a week. But then it would take years of expensive medicine baths to rid her body of so many pill toxins. Even then, medicine baths could only do so much. Some pill toxins were far too stubborn for standard medicine baths to get rid of.

No, that was a fool's errand, only used by idiots, and the rich who didn't want to risk their lives to rank up the proper way. It was like ingesting powdered beast fragments to rank up skills. That method gave what was referred to in the adventuring community as hollow power.

Hollow power was generally looked down on. It was when someone used alchemical concoctions to elevate their rank, pushing their skills to the next grade. It offered a quick boost in power, but it was frowned on because the user didn't have to learn how to properly use their skills to rank up.

In the E grade and higher, proper use of skills was very important. Using skills effectively took years of hard work to learn. Pill poppers didn't have to go through what everyone else had to. They just paid ridiculous prices for the pills, natural treasures and ground up beast fragments, and could be raised to peak E grade in a few weeks.

Then they could lord their newfound power over everyone of a lesser rank. Zee hadn't known it back in the day, but Lord Sebastion, the duke's son she had killed, was probably one such person. He had been an entire grade above her, and she had killed him, getting the giant slayer boon.

It was ridiculous now that she thought about it. A middle E grade cultivator losing to a mid F ranker in a one-on-one fight? It was laughable. Granted, she had overcharged her skills, but still. Zee was middle E grade right now, and she couldn't fathom losing to someone in the F grade.

Her combat experience, her power, with the utility of her skills, and her foundation were just too high. But then again, his overblown arrogance was why she was able to mortally wound lord Sebastian in a surprise attack. 

It was a friendly reminder that no matter how weak any enemy appeared, she would never take them lightly. Arrogance was the road to death, diligence was the road to victory.

The streams of energy flooding into her mind formed a whirlpool that was sucked into her fragment. Some of it was absorbed, while most were sent into the depths of her inner world.

The storm was growing ever larger, filling her inner world to the brim. All she needed to do was keep feeding it and before long, she could evolve her inner world. Her multi layered obsidian fragment pulsed, and waves of purest energy radiated through her body.

Beating like a drum, the heart of fire swallowed some of the pure energy up. It flickered, and beat again, releasing a trickle of its flames into her body. Heat bloomed in her chest as the flames flowed upward from her heart, funneling into a small vortex at the back of her neck. 

She could feel it growing. The avatar of dominion was almost full, and ready to be used. At this rate, it should be ready by tomorrow evening. Zee was more than a little excited to test out her new bloodline talent. But first, she would need to find somewhere private to test it out. Her mother's warnings still echoed in her mind. 

She couldn't let random strangers find out she had the imperial bloodline talents or it would cause a lot of trouble. Besides, a bloodline talent with a three day charge up time had to be extremely powerful. 

Whatever it did, it was going to be a spectacle. She paused her mental train of thought. On second thought, perhaps she should go visit her great grandpa Farsaic. She inherited the bloodline talent from him, so she could get some advice on how to use it. She actually liked that idea a lot better. Getting guidance from Farsaic was probably for the best. 

She would be a fool to ignore the opportunity. Before she knew he was the emperor, grandpa Farsaic had already offered to help her out before she awakened the second bloodline talent. Zee nodded to herself. Once Avatar of Dominion was ready, she would use her token to teleport to grandpa Farsaic's hidden garden.

Having made up her mind, Zee focused back on cracking open the next inner gate. It was a time-consuming and challenging task, but it had to be done. The next morning, Zee slipped out of bed, ate a quick sandwich and was out the door before Bastion was even awake.

His combat course started an hour later than hers, so he got to sleep in a little. Master Fier and most of the class were already in the training hall when she jogged in. More curiously, everyone was dressing in patted suits that looked sort of like armor. 

"Ahh, Viotti, there you are. Come over here and put this on," Master Fier said.

Zee jogged over. "What's this for," Zee asked, eying the cumbersome outfit curiously. 

"I will tell you later. Just put it on," Fier urged.

Deciding it wasn't worth arguing, she slipped the patted suit of fabric over her combat uniform. It was made of layered gray fabric, and weighed more than she expected. Once everyone had dressed in the patted outfits, Fier addressed them all.

"Now that you are all suitably dressed, I have a surprise test for you. See that black flag each of you have tied on your belt? Well, that flag is important. To pass this test, all you have to do is run to district twelve sign, and come back. Any of you that make it back with your flags intact will be given permission to sit out the next surprise test," Master Fier said with an evil smile.

One of the students raised their arm.

"What is Rachel," Fier asked.

"What do you mean return with our flags intact," Rachel asked.

Master Fier grinned. "Oh, I almost forgot. Another of the combat classes in the academy are all going to try to stop you," Fier laughed. "I know what you're thinking. It could be dangerous right, but let me assure you. Yes, it will be dangerous. They will have suppression bracers on, but don't let that make you complacent. I gave you those patted uniforms so the other class wouldn't feel bad about beating the crap out of you," Master Fier said.

Noone moved upon his troubling statement. Fier gestured towards the door to the training hall. "What are you waiting for? The longer you delay, the harder it's going to be to get to district twelve and back," Master Fier said.

Some of the students started scrambling towards the door. As if in an afterthought Fier spoke again. "Don't forget your wooden training swords. You will need them!"

Limbering up, Zee rolled her shoulders, testing the range of movement in her patted full body armor. Dressed in the same ridiculous outfit, Allison walked over.

"Are you ready," Allison asked.

Zee slipped on her wire helmet and nodded. "Ya, let's go. We don't want to be mobbed," Zee said.

They jogged towards the front door. Zee supposed they could have grouped up with others, but that looked like a pain. Hespa seemed to think otherwise, as he was assembling a group with some others. 

Curiously, Hespa gave her a friendly smile as they locked eyes, before going back to assembling his group. His gesture was a lot friendlier than his demeanor the day before. Either he was in a better mood today, or he had done some digging and discovered the incident with the tailor.

In either case, Zee wasn't all that committed to finding out at the moment. They were having a surprise test, which seemed kind of like a relay race. Breathing evenly, she matched Allison's pace with a fast jog as they moved down the hallway towards the exit.

"Does master Fier usually do stuff like this," Zee asked.

"Ya, it's his favorite thing to do. I hope you're ready to kick some ass. It's going to get messy out there," Allison said, sounding excited.

"Messy, for the enemy," Zee said with a grin. 

"Well said," Allison laughed. They ran down the hallways, out into the streets. The academy grounds were flooded with students, but none had similar outfits to them. Just as she thought that, a group of five rounded the corner, running down the street.

Their full body suits were made of layered green wool, with a conical wire helmet. Other than the green color, they looked identical to her own.

"Over there!" One of them shouted.

"Shit, that was fast. Come on, this way," Allison said. Without any hesitation, took the steps three at a time. In second they were down the stairs and out into the street, ignoring the startled shouts of nearby students.

Zee followed close behind, weaving between the heavy foot traffic. Taking long, drawn out breaths, Zee glanced back at their supposed enemy. Given all of them had long wooden spears, it was pretty obvious which combat class they belonged to.

The group of five tried to follow, but the throngs of students in the street slowed most too much.

"Spearmen, this should be fun," Allison called back.

"Why do you say that," Zee asked.

"One of the imperial descendants is a spearman. Who knows, we might get to fight them," Allison said.

"That doesn't sound fun at all. Why would you want to fight them," Zee shouted, her boots thudding loudly as she ran.

Allison glanced over her shoulder, her eyes faintly visible through the steel mesh of her helmet. "Because I'm curious as to how good they are," Allison said.

"You are a battle maniac," Zee said, ignoring an angry shout as she narrowly dodged a lizard kin walking down the street.

 "And you aren't? You cannot tell me that you are not curious," Allison laughed.

"I am curious, but we don't want to lose our flags," Zee said.

"Who says we are going to lose to some stuck up imperial," Allison asked.

"Oh, I don't know, vast amounts of money and a potent bloodline do," Zee said.

"Says the lady whose family is filthy rich, with their own powerful bloodline," Allison replied.

Zee rolled her eyes, a gesture that was hidden by her visor. "Just focus on the damned road, princess," Zee retorted.

Allison laughed, and Zee could practically hear the woman smiling. That melodic laugh was infectious. It was nice to see her friend having so much fun. Life didn't always have to be a fight to the death.

Zee grinned. That's right, why not beat up some people for sport? It actually sounded like a lot of fun. Running through the early morning crowds of students headed to class, they were halfway through district eight before they were cut off.

Three spearmen spotted them and rushed to stop them. In the lead, Allison pushed an unfortunate student into the first opponent, startling him. The second tried to bash her with his spear, and missed as Allison slid along the ground, sweeping his legs out from under him. Zee met the third, who looked distracted, whacking them upside the head with a loud crack of wood on the helmet.

There was a startled yelp as her startled opponent staggered, dropping their spear in surprise. Zee didn't hesitate, body checking the rattled woman to the ground. Righting herself, she noted that Allison was mercilessly tenderizing the last standing spearmen.

Her sword struck the man's leg, ribs then cracked into his helmet in rapid succession, and the man went down.

"Well, that was fun," Zee said with a laugh.

"No, it wasn't. Are you two crazy," stammered the student Allison threw. Allison patted the man on the shoulder.

"You did fine, not bad for a human shield." Allison said.

The student scowled, glancing at the three downed spearmen who still hadn't gotten back up.

"Are they alright," He asked.

Allison waved a hand dismissively as one of the downed spearmen groaned. "They are fine, see, they are moving," Allison said.

Zee gestured behind them. "We should get going before those five catch up," Zee said casually.

Allison nodded, giving one final glance to the upset student. "Thanks for the assist," Allison said, before taking off again.

They left the disgruntled student with their down opponents. Poor guy looked a bit rattled, but he would get over it.

Reaching district twelve with their flags intact was easy for them, but getting back was looking to be the hard part. Most of the streets back were being blocked by groups of spearmen who were waiting for them..

Zee slid to a stop at a corner, her chest heaving. 

"Damnit, they are everywhere. Just how many people are in the spearman combat class," Zee asked.

Resting her hands on her knees, Allison paused beside her, panting. "I think it's at least a hundred," Allison said through labored breaths..

"A hundred, why so many," Zee asked, feeling a bead of sweat roll down her back.

Beside her, Allison shrugged, an exaggerated gesture in the full suit of patted armor. "It's a class that is fairly cheap to equip and works really well in large-scale combat. Might not be the most powerful in one-on-one combat, but in groups, blocks of spearmen can be devastating," Allison said.

"You mean groups like that," Zee asked, pointing down the street.

A group of fifteen or so rounded a corner, and started jogging towards them in a tightly packed group.

"Exactly, just like that," Allison said.

"Well, shit, what now," Zee asked.

"Let's go that way. We will keep circling until we find a route back that hopefully isn't blocked off," Allison said. She pointed to their right, in a direction that wouldn't take them any closer to the training hall, but it would take them another street over.

They circled, running along the street, spotting more of the green tunics. The enemy was everywhere. Finally, they found a street that didn't have anyone blocking their path. Tired, they took it, jogging back towards the training hall.

Zee would have noticed the trap sooner if not for the suppression bracers. They restricted the distance of her spatial ripple skill, so she didn't notice the spearmen lying in wait until they were already surrounded.

Five people flooded out to block their retreat, while five more moved to block their path forward. Students in the street quickly scrambled out of the way, not wanting to get caught in this conflict.

"Why don't you two just hand over those flags before someone gets hurt," one spearman ahead demanded. His tone was casual, yet also menacing at the same time.

"And why would we do that," Zee asked, her sword held in a loose grip at her side.

He gestured around them, to the other spearmen and then to himself. "We have you outnumbered five to one. Do you really think you can win?"

Allison scoffed. "You have a point. Those odds are not in our favor," As she spoke, Allison made a few subtle hand gestures behind her back. It meant to wait and ready herself for a blitz attack.

Zee gave a slight nod at the gestures and waited. The spearmen drew closer, closing the net, their wooden spears lower as they approached.

The impromptu leader of the spearmen paused about ten feet in front of them, raising his spear. "Hand them over, and you can go. No need to get some bruises when you can walk away unharmed," He offered.

Zee pitied the man for what was about to happen next. "Now!" Allison said.

Zee leapt forward, taking the leftmost spearmen. Through his visor, the man looked surprised, clearly not expecting resistance. 

She batted aside the tip of his spear, and ducked in and to his left to put his body between herself and the spearmen on her right. Using the man as a shield, she body checked him hard.

Thrown off balance, he staggered into the next one in line, and they tumbled to the ground in a tangled pile of limbs and spears. Allison had done something similar, sweeping the leader's feet out from under him. Allison took a hit to the ribs for her trouble, but didn't appear to be phased.

"Let's go," Allison said, leaping over her downed opponent and ignoring the others.

Giving the two students who were trying to untangle themselves a friendly wave, Zee ran after Allison.

No point in fighting the others if they could just force their way through. 

"Hey! Get back here!" The disgruntled leader shouted, scrambling back to his feet.

"Better luck next time," Allison shouted 

Zee laughed. "I don't think they expected resistance," Zee said.

"Ya, I noticed," Allison said, panting as she ran.

"I don't think they will make that mistake again," Zee said, her grin visible through her visor.

Running up the stairs, Allison pushed open the doors to the academy. Zee didn't even slow, running into the hallway. The green coats were hot on their heels, but they were too slow to catch up.

They had made it!