Seth sat in the library, trying and failing to read the first book he pulled of a shelf. Yesterday, he had asked Mal to help him "heal" an attacker wrong. His head was foggy, as if he were struggling to wake up from a nightmare. He tried to make his eyes focus on the words, but they were nonsensical scribbles to him.

  "Mal, did you do something to me?"

  [No. Hungry. Food?]

  "Mal?"

  He felt a wave of confusion from his... passenger? Parasite? Partner in crime? Why did he ask Mal to show him how his brand of "healing" worked? Questions swirled in Seth's mind. He shook his head, stood up, and left the library. Outside, the lights were just starting to dim. His stomach rumbled. Immediate goal in mind, he went to the cafeteria.

  When he arrived, he saw Therus getting food and sitting down by himself at a table. Seth got some food and sat down with Therus.

  "So, I hear you all but crippled a couple initiates in ways the healers can't readily heal," Therus said between bites of an orange stew with green, blue, and purple floating vegetables. He was relaxed, the usual smile on his face.

  "Yeah," said Seth. "Don't feel great about it, though."

  "Why?"

  "I condemned them to a slow, drawn out death."

  "Good," said Therus, voice turning hard as iron. "Leaving enemies around is dangerous."

  "Yeah, but—"

  "Seth," said Therus, his voice dropping near to a growl. "You cannot afford to be kind here. I don't know what idyllic paradise you came from, but your attitude will get you killed. I let it go to give you time to adjust, but..."

  Seth sighed and shook his head. He knew Therus was right, and he didn't have any issue with killing people when push came to shove. But this felt cruel.

  "I know. Normally, I wouldn't have an issue with killing someone, but..."

  "How is this any different?" Therus asked, confusion apparent on his face.

  "This new attack essentially gives them my constitution, so..."

  "Ah, I see. It would indeed be dangerous if they figured out how to use this constitution like you have."

  Wait, that's the reaction? Oh, shit...

  Seth's mind turned at a hundred miles an hour, imagining various scenarios where the sect learns of his ability to grant people a powerful constitution. If they were willing to pay the human cost of that decision, then...

  On the bright side, I'll probably survive in the short term. Granted, I'll never have any freedom again...

  "Therus, how did you find out about this?"

  "Everyone's talking about it. Why?"

  Seth sat without saying a word, his mind racing through possibilities. None of them good.

  "Lucky you. At least, that's what I'd be saying if we weren't part of the initiation. Limits the amount the sect can interfere to secure this new ability."

  Ok, so no monstrosity breeding for me immediately. Still...

  "Lucky me? I can't imagine the sect would allow me to cultivate any real sort of power..."

  "I didn't think you wanted any actual power...?"

  "That was before I faced a future being confined to be... what? A breeding stallion?"

  "True. Still, not sure what we can do about it. Have you spoken with your master about this?"

  "My master?"

  "Yeah, elder Frerren," said Therus, more confusion clouding his features.

  "Not yet. Probably will speak with him tomorrow."

  "Good. Look, if you need anything, let me know. I'm not sure how helpful I can be, but..." Therus' gaze dropped to his food as he trailed off.

  "I appreciate it. Need someone here watching my back."

  "Same. Want to spar after this?"

  "No, have a technique I want to work on."

  After they exchanged their goodbyes, Seth returned to his room to work on how he would deal with his "master" tomorrow. Is that the relationship in this world? Feels weird.

  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary the next morning. He woke up, did some light exercise, and went to elder Frerren's office as normal. The air buzzed with tension, as if some disaster were about to fall from the sky. He kept looking over his shoulder to satisfy himself that he wasn't being trailed. Then again, I may not... no use thinking about that.

  He walked up to the door and swallowed as he knocked on the door.

  "Enter," elder Frerren yelled through the door. His voice sounded the same as always.

  Seth entered, sucking on the inside of his mouth to generate some moisture, but failed. Elise and Toman were already there, sitting in chairs. Seth took a seat near the window and waited for the elder to start speaking.

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  "First of all, well done getting the formations around the sect back into operational condition," Frerren said. Nobody smiled. Instead, the anxiety in Seth's chest crystalized as his heart raced.

  "Second, I'm hearing interesting rumors about initiate Seth." All feeling seemed to vanish as his mind went blank. He barely noticed elder Frerren standing up and staring at Seth. His gaze swept up and down, as if scanning for some irregularity, some contraband.

  "Initiate Seth, how did you manage to give another initiate your constitution?"

  As the words echoed in his head, he felt familiar tendrils stabbing into his soul. Once again, his prior experience with the technique did nothing to help him acclimate to it. He would have screamed in pain if the technique allowed it. Instead, he shuddered and gazed up at Frerren.

  "How?" Frerren repeated his question. Seth's mind spun, but he was drawing a blank.

  "I'm not entirely sure." His voice quavered, but he forced his gaze away from the floor.

  "What do you know?"

  "The technique was... inspired by my constitution. I performed it while under significant mental strain, so my memories of the event—" His throat slammed shut as pain rocketed through his body and soul. Ok, that strayed a little too far from the truth.

  "Think hard, Seth," elder Frerren said in a gentle voice that would have been more convincing if it reached his eyes. "Self deception is comfortable, but down that road lies failure and death."

  "Sorry, elder. It was inspired by my constitution. I performed it while in an altered mental state." He forced himself to stop there before he lied again.

  "What are the effects of this altered mental state?"

  "I don't know."

  Elder Frerren stopped for a moment to stroke his chin and pace around his desk. Seth still couldn't move because of the elder's technique. Elise and Toman had their eyes locked on the floor, as if afraid to look in his direction.

  "Could you repeat this ability?" The elder asked, finally resuming.

  "With some practice and experimentation."

  A grin broke out on the elder's face. He stretched lazily, still pacing, though much more slowly.

  "And those you alter with this ability, does it allow them to use your method of binding?"

  "I don't know."

  "Explain."

  "The method I used was altered from the original one that was supposed to use bound spirits."

  "Wait, so you altered an inheritance technique? Why?"

  "That technique would have involved killing seven other initiates."

  "It would have..." The elder trailed off before starting to chuckle. The chuckle transformed into a full laugh. As he was laughing, Seth felt the tendrils leave his soul. He relaxed into the seat, taking a deep breath.

  "Anyway, we'll need to discuss your future with the sect once you pass this initiation. But that's a while away. As for our other topic, I think we have enough leeway where I can start giving you all dedicated time to train. Your contribution points earned will be halved during these training periods."

  "Elder, have you determined the rotation already?" asked Elise, her eyes beaming.

  "Yes, Seth will have the first period of two months. Followed by Elise and then Toman, who will get four months."

  "Thank you, elder," said Toman.

  "Elder, I may not be able to accomplish..." said Elise, looking down at the ground.

  "Are you about to break through your bottleneck?"

  "Yes, though forming the organ will almost certainly take longer than four months."

  "Will six months be enough?"

  "Yes."

  "Then you will have six months, though three will be without compensation."

  "Thank you, elder."

  "If I may ask, why does Seth go first?" asked Toman, not a trace of hostility in his voice.

  "Initiation schedule."

  "I see. Forgive me for my impertinence, elder."

  Frerren just waved his hand in dismissal before saying, "Seth, your rotation will begin in five days. I expect you to have some control over your new ability by the time it's over. If you need living test subjects, there are plenty of living creatures a hundred li to the west. You are all dismissed."

  Seth walked out of the office and started his formation rounds around the sect. As strange as it sounded, these rounds were starting to feel routine, like so many electrical inspections. He even had a checklist he followed for these formations, allowing him to get the job done efficiently. Two hours and some minor adjustments later, he finished his rounds for the day.

  "You already done? Not sure if I can call you slowpoke anymore," Elise said from behind Seth. He whipped around to face her.

  "Isn't that to be expected, elder sister?"

  "True, but I wanted to tease you a bit longer."

  "Is there something I can help you with, elder sister?"

  "Drop the elder sister crap when we're alone. Makes me feel old. And yes, you can help me, though it will be rather unpleasant for you."

  "Lead the way," said Seth, trying to keep his nerves out of his voice.

  "Relax, I said unpleasant, not dangerous. Not too dangerous, anyway. As long as you follow instructions," she answered, then walked down an alley. She led them down several twisting side streets and alleys until they emerged in a small courtyard covered in a layer of dust. He wondered why it hadn't been cleaned, but then he noticed the array that had been invisible until they entered the courtyard. Come to think of it, I hadn't even noticed the initial side street until she led us down it.

  "What now, elde... Elise?" Seth was unsure of how to address her after she forbade the use of her title.

  "We spar. Hold nothing back, including that new ability of yours."

  "I told you all, I can't—"

  "Seth, you're going to need to get much better at lying if you want to pull one over on me. Now, don't hold back unless you want this to go from unpleasant to dangerous." As she finished her sentence, power washed over the courtyard in waves, causing ripples in the air. Seth became a leaf on the wind, allowing the waves to carry him away from the danger as he shot a wave of ice shards. He followed the shards up with his eighteen needle incapacitation.

  The initial ice shards reached Elise and shattered on her skin, still unblemished from the strike. Seth reached the wall, so he deactivated leaf on the wind, activated iron arms, and launched himself forward behind his needles.

  The needles pierced Elise, who still hadn't moved, and her eyes flashed in surprise. Seth rocketed toward her, crossing the distance in half a second, slamming his fist into her. The blow knocked her backward, giving Seth an opening to heal one of the needle strikes.

  "Mal, can you heal?"

  [Heal!]

  He felt his healing twist into the distorted version Mal controlled, and a mote of cancerous cells took root in Elise. A wave of pain exploded through Seth as his back slammed into a wall, breaking ribs and forcing the air from his lungs. Elise was now standing in the center of the courtyard, glaring at Seth with a manic grin on her face. He immediately began repairing his ribs and prepared another salvo of ice shards.

  Seth felt a wave of anxiety, so he activated his qi sight and saw a hundred fists of qi flying toward him. Eyes going wide, he abandoned his attack and once more became a leaf on the wind, trying to roll with the punches. Some of the fists pushed him along, but some were either too direct or pincered him from multiple angles, rendering the technique innefective. In a last desperate gamble, he activated a barrier in front of him. It shattered, so he activated another. And another. His meridians were on fire and his body was feeling drained of qi, but he could squeeze one more barrier out. It shattered too. Out of ideas, he curled into a ball and crossed his arms in front of him.

  Waves of force slammed into him, and once more the wall welcomed him back in its loving, solid embrace. Ribs shattered, and fragments pierced his good lung and heart. He danced on the edge of unconsciousness as he raced to heal the fatal wounds.

  "Seth, are you alive?! Sorry, I went overboard!" Her normal smile was nowhere to be found; her eyes clouded by anxiety.

  "I'll live, elder sister. Though what the hell was all that about?"

  "I thought I told you to stop—" she said, a smile returning to her face.

  "I'll stop once you explain what this was about, elder sister."

  She sighed and shook her head. Then laughed a loud, rowdy laugh.

  "Sure, I'll explain. I'll even treat you to dinner."

  Even more confused, Seth once again followed her through a maze of alleys, not knowing what she had in store for him this time.