Chương 15: The Next Task

The system window opened while Zero was still summarizing. He noticed it in the corner of his vision and paused. Viria noticed the pause and looked. World 1 Task Complete: Cross the Cloud Sea Team Zero has reached the far-side region. Proceeding to next task… World 1 Task: Seek the Jade Obelisk Objective: Locate the Jade Obelisk and learn one martial technique from its imprinted walls.

Valid interpretations include: sword marks, palm imprints, fist impressions, footwork scars, claw traces, weapon grooves, [View Lull List] Requirement: At least one team member must successfully comprehend and reproduce a recognized technique. Warning: Interpretation failure may result in qi backlash, injury, or wasted time. Everyone read it from their windows.

"The Jade Obelisk," Viria said. She looked at Sable.

"Zero said you mentioned it."

"Yes," Sable said.

"I heard it in Shenhua, the city where my team arrived."

"Is it far?"

"From here? It's several hours on foot, less on the bridge route." She paused.

"I heard about it from a merchant in the outer city's lower market. He described it as a local legend; old, covered in the marks of past cultivators. I did not know it was a competition objective until now." Viria looked at the task window again.

"Interpret and learn one technique from the walls." She turned to Miho.

"Is that something we can do?"

"Yes," Miho said. She had long since returned from the eastern rocks and was currently standing at the edge of the group.

"The imprints are the residue of technique. A skilled cultivator can read the mark a sword leaves and reconstruct the cut that made it. A palm print carries the qi distribution of the strike. Footwork grooves show the weight transfer pattern." She paused.

"It requires either cultivation sensitivity or very careful observation."

"We have both," Zero said. Miho looked at him.

"Yes," she said.

"We do." Ren had been listening.

"We are also looking for the Obelisk," he said.

"Our next task is the same."

"Yes," Zero said.

"That is competition."

"Yes," Ren said. He said it without antagonism.

"Good luck." Yukito stood. He looked at Ren, then at the rest of Team Solace in turn.

"Thank you for the information," he said.

"We'll be on our way." The words were plain and without performance, which was Yukito's way of showing sincerity. Ren inclined his head.

"Take the bridge route. It begins at the island's northern edge and runs back toward the far-side shore. You will avoid the labyrinth entirely."

"And Carrion?" Miho asked.

"Carrion operates near the labyrinth exits," Ren said.

"The bridge route bypasses those. You should not encounter them."

"Should not," Viria repeated.

"The competition does not guarantee routes," Ren said.

"But the probability is low." Viria accepted this with the expression she used when she accepted information she did not fully like. Team Zero moved toward the island's northern edge. At the boundary where the silver grass ended and the stone bridge began, narrow, old, stretching out over a gap in the cloud toward the far shore, Zero stopped and looked back. Team Solace had not moved.

Ren was watching them go, and his expression was the one Zero had seen on him throughout the exchange: genuine attention, without agenda in the surface of it. Zero turned back to the bridge and followed the others.

The bridge route was not a bridge in the way Zero had previously understood bridges. It was a series of stone platforms connected by narrow spans, each platform just large enough for four people to stand on comfortably, each span approximately two meters wide and considerably longer than felt stable. The stone was old and showed it: worn smooth in the center of each span where feet had passed, rough and lichen-covered at the edges.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The qi density was lower here than in the Cloud Sea proper. The platforms had formation markers cut into their edges, old enough that the qi in them had gone thin, maintaining just enough stability to hold the structure upright.

"How old is this?" Viria asked, looking at the nearest formation marker.

"Old," Miho said.

"The formation is pre-sect. Whoever built this built it before the Heavenly Cloud Sect existed."

"So, very old." Zero ran Identify on the nearest platform. Ancient Cloud Bridge: Far-Side Span Type: Qi-stabilized transit structure Age: Significant (pre-sect era) Structural integrity: Adequate Formation status: Diminished but functional Note: Do not test load limits.

"Adequate," Viria said, reading over his shoulder.

"That is deeply unpleasant for a bridge."

"Adequate means it will hold," Zero said.

"Adequate means it will probably hold." Zero sighed, and stepped onto the first span. The stone held.

The far-side shore was rocky and steep, rising into foothills that carried the first signs of civilization Zero had seen since the Heavenly Cloud Sect: a dirt road, rutted from cart traffic, running parallel to the cliff face before turning inland. In the distance, following the road's direction, the outline of walls and rooftops. Likely Shenhua's outer city, if Team Solace was to be believed. Team Zero stood at the bridge's terminus and looked at it.

"Several hours," Miho said.

"On foot."

"We could be faster," Viria said impatiently, and left the implication open.

"I thought you said Spatial Inventory cannot transport people?" Zero said, confused.

"No. But it can transport things we would otherwise be carrying." She was already adjusting the weight distribution on her belt.

"Which means we can move faster."

"You want to run," Yukito said.

"I want to move faster. Running is one interpretation." Miho looked at the road, then at the distant city walls, then at the sky, which was beginning to carry the lower-angled light of mid-afternoon.

"We move quickly," she sighed.

"Not at a sprint. Cultivator travel pace."

"Which is…?" Viria asked.

"Faster than we have moved before," Miho said.

"I will set it. Follow." She started down the road. The pace she set was, as described, faster than anything Zero had sustained overland. It was not a sprint, but it was not walking, and it incorporated a specific weight-transfer rhythm that he recognized after the third minute as a modified version of the Returning Step adapted for road travel. He fell into it after a few adjustments through Spiritual Shapeshifting.

Yukito fell into it naturally, which was consistent with twelve days of shadow exercises that had trained his body's movement economy to a higher standard than it had been before the sect. Viria fell into it approximately eight minutes in, swearing quietly, and then stopped swearing once she found the rhythm and realized it was actually easier than fighting against her own momentum. Shenhua grew closer.

Ross counted his share of the haul while his team rested near the labyrinth's western exit. It was a good haul. The team they had taken it from had been mid-level, with good instincts for the labyrinth but no instincts at all for the kind of threat that waited at the exit. Thresh had disabled their fastest member in the first three seconds. Lyra had closed the retreat. Ghent had pinned the remaining two while Ross went through their inventory. The interesting piece was in his hand now.

The Bloodstone Necklace was heavy for its size, the stone dark red and warm in a way that had nothing to do with his palm. It had been at the bottom of the taken team's leader's inventory, behind three other items that were more obviously valuable. Ross had taken those too, but this was the one he had kept looking at. Bloodstone Necklace Type: Qi Artifact Attribute: Blood/Vitality Effect: Unknown Warning: Improper use may cause blood qi contamination. Ross put the necklace on.

It settled against his collarbone with a weight that was not quite physical, and for three seconds nothing happened, and then something happened that did not show on the outside at all. He had been right to keep it for himself.

"Ross," Ghent said.

"We should move. Another team will clear the exit in twenty minutes, maximum."

"I know."

"We could take them too." Ross looked at him. Ghent had been saying the same things for three days: we could take one more, we could take another, we have time. The answer had been no every time, because Ross understood something about pressure that Ghent did not; that it accumulated, and accumulated pressure attracted attention, the kind of attention that came from too many ambushed teams in too small an area was the kind that ended careers. Or, in this competition, ended everything.

"No," he said again.

"We have what we ca—" Ross was interrupted by an ear-splitting screech reaching him. Thresh. Damn it. Ross was moving before the sound finished. He found the insectoid thirty meters down the exit corridor, backed against the wall, two of the four members of a team still on their feet and pressing the advantage. Thresh was fast, the fastest in Ross's team, and he now had an arm bent at an angle it was not designed to achieve. Ross assessed in two seconds: The team had all four members, none of them showing injury.

Thresh had taken significant damage and was barely holding position. Lyra and Ghent were not in the corridor yet. Ross made the call.

"Disengage! Now!" he yelled. His voice carried the flat weight of a decision already made. The leader of the team—-Team Axiom, according to the Identify result—-looked at him. She was a tall woman with dust-gray wings and the calm expression of someone who had won several fights and expected to win this one as well, did not move.

"You picked the wrong corridor," she said.

"I know," Ross said through gritted teeth.

"We're leaving." He crossed to Thresh, got a shoulder under one arm, and pulled them upright. Thresh made a sound that was not words.

"Lyra. Ghent," Ross ordered.

"Now." They appeared at the corridor entrance, reading the situation.

"But we could—" Ghent started." Now," Ross emphasized, not leaving any room for him to continue. They moved. Team Axiom did not pursue. That was their characteristic, Ross would later note: they did not overextend. They held their ground and let threats remove themselves. He had the same principle, which was why he was walking away from a corridor where Thresh's arm needed attention and four Axiom members were watching. This world had enough rooms. This competition had enough time.

What it did not have was margin for the kind of error that came from ego outpacing assessment.

"We've done enough today," Ross said, as they cleared the corridor and the light changed from underground to overcast sky. Thresh, through what was clearly significant effort, croaked, "Axiom… fast."

"Yes," Ross said.

"They were."

"Avoid… them."

"Yes," Ross said.

"We should." Lyra and Ghent fell into step behind them. Neither spoke, because Ross's voice when he said now had a specific quality that removed the appetite for further conversation. Ross touched the Bloodstone Necklace with two fingers as they moved. The warmth was still there. He left his hand where it was.