Savage Awakening 468. The Summit of the Ages (I)

“This is the meaning of martial arts!”

That slash was clean—not a wasted movement. And when it struck, each line flowered into a dozen others.

As Ren advanced, he brought a field of phantom flowers blooming mid-air, deadly sharp.

Zane was a bit surprised. Credit where credit was due. This Ren fellow was quite impressive—he really had done his training.

Maybe he shouldn't be surprised. This guy went 9-0 among top Ascendants. It wasn’t the easiest thing, dodging all those slashes at just Ascendant speeds.

Petal after petal fell, and each time Zane barely got out of the way. He got the sense this guy was one of those peak Ascendants who could go toe-to-toe with Minor Gods.

Soon frustration started showing on Ren’s face. Sweat beaded his brow. He roared, slashing and slashing—but a minute went by, and he hadn’t landed a single clean hit.

“So you do have some skill,” grunted Ren. “To have the ability—and cheat anyway… That only makes you more despicable!”

Some of these slashes were getting quite close to hitting him. The mat wasn’t very big, and there were hundreds of falling flowers, and Zane was a rather large target.

He was trying to be conservative—not do too much. Keep a low profile, and all—at this rate, he might really get exposed.

Then a petal got through.

A wayward slash nicked a single hair on his arm.

“Alright,” said Zane, frowning. “That's enough.”

CLANG!

Ren slumped.

He put in a little extra oomph—he whacked it a little faster than usual. Still within reason, he felt. And with all those petals, he figured no one would really notice.

Sure enough—even the ref took a second to clock what just happened. All the petals vanished at once.

Zane gave the fellow a wave. “Are we done here?”

“Y-yes! Right—victory to Jack! That’s… 10 in a row—you’ve qualified for the Summit, sir.”

“Great.”

There were just a few dozen martial artists out on the mats now. Now that it was the 10th round, the field had been massively pared down. But the far end of the hall was still packed with martial artists, craning over each other’s shoulders. There was some lively discussion going on.

He ambled off.

Just as he was leaving, he heard a long wail. He looked back—Black Belt Ren was taking off his black belt and putting on a white belt, tears in his eyes.

…He did feel a little bad.

Eh.

He figured it might be a good thing in the long run.

Being that into martial arts didn’t sound very healthy. It’d be good to loosen up a little—smell some real flowers. He was rooting for the guy.

***

Level up!

Asura Titan’s Body, Third Form II -> III

Friend of the System, Tier III: 22%

“You said you’re using a rock?” said Noughtfire.

“That’s right.”

“…And it’s working.”

“It’s very low-profile,” Zane informed him. He was quite pleased with how the art was developing, actually.

“I see.” Noughtfire took another sip.

“That’s welcome news. There's just a few more rounds to go then before you claim your prize, then.”

Zane nodded.

“And you're certain this is it?”

“It’s something called the ‘Lost Library.’”

Noughtfire twitched. He took a few seconds to finish his tea; it seemed to take him some effort.

“Is something up?”

“Kindly refrain from announcing shocking news when I still have tea in my mouth, disciple,” rasped Noughtfire.

Zane blinked.

“You did say the Lost Library,” said Noughtfire.

“They made it sound like a pretty big deal.”

“A big deal…” Noughtfire looked vaguely amused. “When I was a younger man, I spent nearly six hundred years scouring the edges of this Galaxy. Searching any lost ruin I could find—trying to find a key to that place. That scholar’s paradise, lost to the first eras… It was my greatest ambition. You must understand that back then I had a single-minded devotion to knowledge.”

The old fellow still seemed pretty devoted to knowledge to Zane. Even more than Reina, which was impressive. If this was him mellowed out, he wondered what the younger Noughtfire was like.

Noughtfire shrugged. “In the end, I concluded it a myth.”

“If you want,” said Zane. “After I win, I could just—”

“No,” said Noughtfire sharply. “No—that prize is yours to keep, disciple. The wise man is beyond such temptations. He takes what Fate offers, and no more. I suspect the key grants limited uses. If that Lost Library is preserved by the System, as it sounds, each viewing has its cost.”

“I just meant looking stuff up. Maybe making some copies while I’m in there, or something.”

“…Ah.”

Noughtfire coughed. “Well. If you do have time left over, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.”

Zane hid a smile. “It would be the wise thing to do.”

Noughtfire did the same, a tad sardonically. “Indeed.”

They both took sips of tea.

“You should know,” said Noughtfire. “I have been keeping an eye on Astra. Since you entered, the Monster King aura has surged. Fate placed you there for a reason. But it left a trace.”

Zane nodded.

“I doubt Malzareth can track you precisely. Especially across time. But he can get within striking range… take care. Astra is too shrouded and mysterious for anyone to pin down. But it also makes a prime spot for ambushes.”

“I’ll keep an eye out.”

“There is one more thing,” said Noughtfire. “That chance encounter with Aiwe from your last Astra visit… your Friend of the System perk. Now—placing you here, at this ‘Summit…’”

Noughtfire stroked his beard. “They follow a single thread of Fate. At times Astra feels like a journey into a distant past… Dragonspire once referred to the origin planet of this galaxy, you understand. In an era long gone.”

Noughtfire nodded. “You must’ve been fated to meet Aiwe back then and gain the Friend of the System. Just as you were fated to land just when this ‘Summit’ went down. These are significant moments in history—moments that might make or break all civilization. I’ve never heard of such a thing as that perk, incidentally... you made a link in fate. These things are very obscure. But a ripple made eras ago becomes a tsunami in the present.”

Noughtfire paused.

“Though that is all conjecture.”

Zane never would have thought of that first Astra session. He wasn’t even sure it was real for a while. He supposed he got a nice break there. Though more and more it was hard to tell where luck ended and fate began.

He decided it wasn’t worth mulling over too much.

“You don’t seem very surprised,” said Zane.

Noughtfire shrugged, took a sip of tea. “In truth, I’ve suspected something like this for a while... It does appear you’re on the right path. Keep investing in that dreamsteel. Gain the key. Then we’ll talk.”

There was a gleam in his eyes. “I must say, I’m looking forward to what comes next.”

***

The next day was a rest day. Zane spent that morning by the fountain, feeding some of the swans—one of the few acceptable kinds of bird.

He headed off soon after, in search of some street food.

As he left one end of the square, the crowds parted at the other end—folks were gasping and pointing.

“I made it through!” said Jin, grinning ear-to-ear. “That fire-breather was really something—I thought he might’ve gotten me there… but I just bit down and kept fighting—I don’t even know what happened.”

The crowd wasn’t pointing at him but at the man he was talking to. Tall, well-muscled, darkly handsome, with a mane of wild hair.

“I told you, you little brat,” said Salazar. “You had nothing to worry about.”

“It felt like you were the only one who thought that…” Jin reddened a little. “Senior Wei said I wouldn’t even make it past the third. And when I told Young Mistress Chu she just laughed at me.”

“They don’t see the bigger picture,” said Salazar, shrugging.

He paused to wink at someone across the pond. A beautiful girl in a dress that curved and flowed like a river. She’d been staring—she blushed and looked away.

“That’s Yuehong—the Lotus Princess!”

“Is it?” mused Salazar. “We’ve never met… perhaps I should introduce myself.”

“Senior apprentice-brother…” gasped Jin. He shook his head. “You’re just too cool!”

Salazar laughed, ruffled his head. “You’re a little too easily impressed.”

“No,” said Jin, shaking his head vigorously. “It’s not just… that. Everyone thinks you’re just chasing girls all the time.”

Salazar shrugged. 

“But that’s not true! You train harder than anyone! The only one I saw train like that…”

“This Zane again?”

Jin nodded.

“Now you’ve got me curious.” Salazar leaned back, grinning. He looked at Jin with his usual lazy grace—but Jin knew his senior brother.

There was an edge to him now.

“Say we fought. One-on-one. Who’d win?”

“Senior Salazar…” said Jin. He looked crestfallen—he had to bow. “…It has to be Master Zane.”

Salazar laughed. “Don’t look so put-out. It’s just a question.”

He didn’t look too bothered, which was a relief. But Jin knew that grin. There was even more of an edge to it now.

His senior brother might seem casual, relaxed, sitting like this. He might seem an effortless genius to the outside world…

But at the heart of him, there was something much harder. The thing that made him, far and away, the greatest of his generation.

It was just—no one could bring it out of him. Not even the other top Chosen.

“I’d sure like to meet him someday,” mused Salazar. “I have a feeling he’d be fun to fight.”

***

Zane had a few more days off—so he took time to Level with Reina.

Level up!

Essence Level

Essence Level 557 -> 558

After, she gave him a run-down of what she was up to.

“I've been delving into these lost tomes,” she said. “We had to excavate them from the sealed chambers. They haven’t been touched in almost a Chaos Cycle—they’re all quite badly damaged. The magic’s faded away—it’s just fragments now.”

She lay there, idly fascinated with a strand of his chest hair.

“But I think I can connect the missing bits,” she said. “It’s like having the pieces to a puzzle—you can kind of see the picture it’s hinting at. I just need to figure the rest out.”

“Sounds like just your thing,” he told her.

“It’s—well. Yes, it is,” she said, with more than a hint of pride. “But it’s as complex as anything I’ve ever tried… even the language it’s written in—it’s old Elvish, which is also mostly lost. Just translating it’s been a challenge.”

She sat up, breathless. “If I can figure it out, though, I might be able to awaken the World Tree—maybe all the way down to the roots, where it draws from the core of the Galaxy.”

“It does sound strong… Is it all Creation down there?”

“We don’t know—no Mistress has done it since the First Eras.” She hesitated, visibly tamping down on her excitement. “It’s still a long ways off, though. And even if I could draw from it, I couldn’t handle it right now. I’d need a much stronger base physique. Last time drawing from the tree put me out for days. There’s lots to work on… enough about me.”

She wanted to know what he’d been up to.

He blinked. “This isn’t fair.”

“What is?”

“I can’t do this right after you talked about translating stuff from old Elvish,” he explained. “You’re setting me up to look silly.”

She seemed amused.

“…What?”

“It’s nothing. Just—go on.”

“…So I found this rock—”

Reina was a trooper. She made it all the way up until the white belt before she broke.