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Han De brought his wrist around as he fed mana into [Flaming Descending Fist].
The skill hit the monster but didn’t kill it as he hoped. It shook its head in what he hoped was pain, but instead, the beast opened its mouth back up and tried to bite him.
Turning and activating [First Dawn’s Spiritual Might], he fled back into the swampy area.
The technique was meant to empower his strikes, but he had messed up the flows somewhere, and had turned the technique into a fleeing one. Shameful, but it had kept him alive a number of times.
He was turning around a bend in the solid ground when his foot slipped, sending him tumbling into the water of the swamp.
In his panic, he swam downward as he tried to escape the sucking mud and water plants.
As he was calming down and getting his bearings, he stopped moving altogether.
There was something beneath him.
An empty space where there should have been more mud and dirt to his spiritual sense.
Swimming down, he dug through the mud and nearly sucked in a mouthful of sludge in his shock at the prize he had revealed.
He’d heard of this! He’d overheard two Young Mistresses discussing these hidden crystals. They’d called it a spiritual challenge. Great opportunities and rewards came from these for anyone who could overcome the risks.
Clenching his fist, he pulled himself through the barrier that kept the water and mud at bay.
This was his chance for greatness.
If he could beat this challenge, he could turn from a coward into someone strong and respected.
He just needed to be willing to spend the Genesis Energy he had accumulated to activate the pillar of crystal.
Han De hesitated as his hand was an inch away.
If he did this, there was no going back, and he might not be able to run away from whatever challenge was inside the pillar. He didn’t know what awaited him, but the crystal whispered tales of grand foes and rewards gleaming with the power of the sun.
He could die here.
And that thought terrified him.
He knew his sect brothers and sisters wouldn’t have hesitated to put their lives on the line, but he was different. Han De wanted to live. He enjoyed safe delves in rifts of his own Tier or lower, when he knew each monster that would appear along with its strengths and weaknesses.
It made things safe.
Safe was good.
He bit his cheek as the same cowardly thoughts overcame him once again.
Han De wanted so badly to be different. To be strong. To embody the ideals of the Sect and make the Sect Master proud.
Firming his will, he put his hand on the pillar and felt his Genesis Energy leave his body like it was being sucked away.
He expected to be pulled away, but nothing happened.
It had taken his Genesis Energy and done nothing, like some common street rat.
For the first time since he came to Minkalla, an emotion other than fear filled his belly.
Anger.
It had cheated him!
Taking a deep breath, Han De inspected the crystal before him. With his spiritual sense, he could see his Genesis Energy flowing around inside its crystal form. It looked pitifully small inside the pillar, like a cup with just enough water to cover the bottom and make noise as it sloshed around.
And that’s when he understood.
He didn’t have enough Genesis Energy to activate the pillar.
Looking to the Genesis Energy he had ‘spent,’ he looked outside to the swamp where the monsters he couldn’t kill lingered.
He was now stuck in a dilemma. Kill the monsters or leave his precious Genesis Energy in the pillar.
Han De refused to be weak.
With a firm heart, he exited the hidden area and swam back to the surface.
He just needed to plan and figure out how to kill the alligator-men that roamed the swamp.
It took him a week and a half, but he eventually managed to find, track, then ambush one of the smaller monsters.
The fight was brutal, but he prevailed with a heavy kick that shattered the monster’s teeth and long snout.
He roared in victory as the Genesis Energy washed over him, and a precious technique shard fell to the ground.
Picking it up, he had his [Spiritual Self] inspect the technique.
[Spiritual Arrow] was only a Tier 8 skill, but it would be his first ranged technique. It wasn’t one in any of the Soaring Clouds Sect’s manuals, but he knew the Deep Sky Ravagers Sect used the skill in conjunction with a kick to impart devastating power at close range. However, he didn’t know the proper modifications to make.
That made it hard, but not impossible, to replicate the changes. He had seen the technique in action during an exchange of pointers between Young Master Long Zhiyuan and Young Master Deep Bite.
Young Master Deep Bite had been angry that Young Master Long Zhiyuan killed his junior brother in the Culling and wanted to humiliate Young Master Long Zhiyuan. Except in a reversal no one had expected, he had, in turn, been defeated soundly, bringing shame to his glorious Sect.
But during that fight, Young Master Deep Bite used [Spiritual Arrow] three times, and Han De had seen each and every usage.
He clenched his fist as he returned to the spiritual challenge. He had to try.
Three weeks later, he exited the hidden room and challenged another of the alligator-men. The fight was easier, but not easy by any means, and Han De took a cut to his forearm that would take days to heal if he didn’t want to waste a potion.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. As the time passed, Han De killed more and more alligator-men, earning items and techniques, which he slowly incorporated into his fighting style. He arsenal was refined with each round of life and death combat, until one day, he was pulled into the spiritual challenge.
Winona ran, intellectually aware of her breathing heavily, but barely able to sense it for herself. Minkalla had been sold as some wonderful dreamland, where wishes could come true, skills lined the floors, and killing Imperials would grant her actual, inherent rewards. But from the moment she appeared inside to find herself all but blinded, it had been nothing but a nightmare.
- Writer
