Seshka was glad to call it a night, not just from the whirlwind day she’d gone through. Waking believing she’d been expelled from the sect, only to find she hadn’t and in fact had been given the path millions had only dreamt of, to walk among the gods. To then be met by who she thought was a god at first but is now realizing is just a strange young man, with very limited knowledge.

  She’d also entered the Intertwining Path event with him, with a quest to aid him. The quest itself was unusual, but for two people to enter the event together was unheard of; after all, it was related to the individual’s path. Seeing that mana chaser so early had scared her, but it looked like that was just a blip, nothing to worry about — well, she didn’t think so with all the goblins she’d slain not long after.

  Anybody would have been glad to call an end to this day, but it wasn’t the reason Seshka dismissed herself from Tyler; no, it was his never-ending barrage of questions. He was relentless. No sooner did she respond to one of his questions, he had another five waiting. He’d asked about her entire life, the known universes in the multiverse. Wanted detailed information on the Intertwining Path event — why did he want to know that? He was on it.

  Seshka wrapped her blanket around her, listening as Tyler in the other compartment grunted quietly under his breath every now and then. She didn’t want to know what he was up to. Tomorrow, she thought, training and pushing out further along their paths. Nothing could be as strange as today was, she thought, and closed her eyes.

  Tyler took the cloak he had looted from Malek out of his spatial sack and wrapped it around him. He wasn’t cold, but sleeping without a cover felt wrong to him. He even used one during the summer months. It was more comfort than practical, and it gave him a grounding sense, as if to say some things were still the same after the events of the last few days.

  He’d stayed and chatted to Seshka for a good while, trying to get a bigger picture in his mind of what this new reality of his was like. She was very forthcoming with answers. She had spoken a lot about gods and faith. Tyler didn’t put much stock into all that, but he never corrected her or voiced his opinion. He wanted her to feel relaxed and explain more of what she knew.

  He’d also kept up his work on trying to speed up the energies in his core, only now it was becoming a true exertion on him. He could speed up the rotating energies quite easily at first, making them spin at an accelerated rate. He would then stop. The energies would slow down but be a fraction heavier and faster than when he first started. He would then repeat the process.

  Now, though, the energies were that dense and spinning that fast that he had to strain to push them faster still, letting out involuntary grunts when releasing the pressure. The energy in his core now spinning at a constant speed, it felt more real more physical, like it was a part of him all along and he now had access to this.

  To his delight, Al was right. His core had become so dense with energy, which orbited it so fast, that very little to no energy cycled through his body. He was confident his chakra would not leak his intentions now when fighting, or at least not be as obvious.

  Trying one last time to push his core faster — and failing — Tyler decided that he’d need some rest too, as tomorrow felt like it might be an even stranger day than today.

  Seshka was already outside when Tyler woke, so he packed away the cloak he’d been using and the drink he’d decided he wanted during the night, then went outside to join her. She was in the clearing, spear and buckler in hand, going through some sort of training exercise. She was covered in sweat, like she had been training heavily for the past few hours.

  Tyler decided to stay back and observe for two reasons. One, he wanted to see just how skilled Seshka was, to gauge her ability for himself. The second reason was that he might actually pick up a few tips that could help him out. He fished about in his special sack while Seshka continued training and pulled out some meat, cheese, bread, and drinks, placing them neatly on a small pop-up table. Might as well sort breakfast out.

  Seshka finished a routine of jumping and spinning with her spear, her shield arm always covering her exposed side, and landed with one knee down facing Tyler. She looked up, stared at him, and rose to her feet.

  “We train first. Grab your weapon. Let’s see if you have understood anything from yesterday. I do not expect much in such a short time, but there should be some improvement. Now hit me!”

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  Tyler dropped the piece of cheese he was just about to pop in his mouth and grabbed his pole. He was looking forward to this. No energy was cycling through his body; his chakra could not betray him. He’d even tried to cycle some energy himself, but his core was too dense and fast — the energies clung to it. Okay, this might be a problem for later, but right now all he wanted to do was land a blow on Seshka.

  He walked slowly towards her, not moving his arms or even swaying his pole. He didn’t want to give any information away. She might realise his chakra was restrained if he moved his arm and she didn’t detect anything. He stopped about two metres away and smiled.

  “Okay, let’s do this!”

  He darted forward at speed, not directly at Seshka but to the side, as if he intended to run past her. He’d seen this technique — not in fights, but when watching football. A player would look like he was about to run past an opponent, causing them to give chase and move. They would then stop suddenly, creating an opening — and this is exactly what he did.

  Seshka’s eyes widened at seeing Tyler run away from her. She moved that one foot back like she’d done the previous day and twisted her hips to face where Tyler would be going. At the same time, Tyler came to an abrupt stop, punched his arm out straight, and let the pole slide through his closed fist.

  The pole extended like another arm from his hand, the speed of his punch making it sail forward. Seshka tried to turn away, but her momentum had her going the other way, and the tip of the pole gently thudded against her shoulder. Tyler instantly took a step back, looked at Seshka’s astonished face, and smiled.

  “What have you done? You have no chakra. That’s impossible. Yesterday it was raging all over you — young, weak, and out of control. Now I feel nothing. If I had to guess, I wouldn’t even say you were Proven to the system. How is that?”

  Tyler thought on this for a while. He didn’t want to divulge Al, and the way Seshka had spoken about training one’s core — him telling her that her whole belief system was obviously not the best method — sounded a little harsh.

  “I must have a good teacher,” Tyler said, not lying but also avoiding telling the truth. He felt this might become a norm until he better knew Seshka.

  “Thank you for the compliment, but no, that is not it. Even having Master Silgan instruct you on a one-to-one basis, it would take months, if not years, to completely hide your chakra like you are doing.”

  “Maybe it’s a race thing then? I have to say, though, I do not have much control over it. I have just managed to stop the energies in my core from flooding my body and cycling like a drunk man on a bike. I am not even sure I can infuse energy from my core into my chakra.”

  Tyler instantly tried to infuse some mana into his pole and was surprised when energy left his core, travelled around his body, and into his pole. There was no resistance or pain. It just felt natural, like taking a step. His eyes opened wide.

  Seshka saw his surprised look, nodded, and spoke with the measured voice of an instructor.

  “What you have achieved will be a massive boon as we progress along the intertwining path. Do not worry too much about your cycling of energies just yet. There seems to be no damage — I felt your chakra spike just then. You activated a skill, a skill the system agrees you are already familiar with, and it helps you out. Just being able to do that shows you have not caused too much damage, if any. What exactly did you do to train your core like this?”

  “It’s not a big secret. In fact, I think people have written books on it — or was it books on people?” Al said, trailing off as if he was trying to remember something long forgotten.

  Tyler took his words as a sign it was okay to share what he’d done, so he tried to explain in his own words.

  “It seemed like an impossible task trying to cycle all that energy going around me. It was so chaotic, and I didn’t really know where to start. So, I tried to make it go even faster. So fast it clung to my core and didn’t even get the chance to start cycling through me. You could say I solved the issue by intentionally making it worse.”

  Seshka looked at Tyler for a long moment, obviously weighing his words, before she gently shrugged her shoulders, took a step back, and raised her spear towards him.

  "I suppose if it works for you, who am I to criticise?" She paused, studying him with new eyes. "Though I admit, I'd like to understand it better. Perhaps when we have more time, but for now it does help us move forward. You are no longer shouting your movements out, no longer holding up a sign saying I am about to move my arm. This is good. We can start training some fighting styles. Come, attack. This time I will defend and strike back.”

  Tyler nodded. He was glad this conversation hadn’t gone much further. He’d rather have a better understanding of what he had actually done before trying to explain it in detail to anybody. He took a step back, readied his pole in both hands, and sprang forward, pole in front, ready to attack or defend depending on what Seshka did.

  Seshka swirled her spear around her body, pulled it down onto the centre of his pole, knocking it from his grip, then flicked the spear one hundred and eighty degrees in her hands and jabbed the square of his chin with so much force Tyler thought his head was going to come off.

  He spun through the air several times and landed only a few feet away on his side, his head going fuzzy for a brief moment.

  “You are thinking too much about what you are going to do, and not what your opponent is doing. Again. We have a few hours before we should start moving on.”

  Tyler got back to his feet, wondering if he had just heard Seshka right — did she say a few hours? Before his thought was finished, Seshka swept his legs with her spear, sending Tyler to the floor again, this time her spear pointed at his throat.

  Seshka clicked her tongue. “Again!”