“Did you enjoy your soup…?” Azar mumbled spitefully as Micro walked back through the entrance. “What took you so long? What business could you have with the mundane?

  “It filled me up at least… Nice people too,” Micro replied, patting his stomach with a smile. “Did you want to eat something too?”

  “Just return to your little friends,” Azar mumbled, and Micro entered the arena. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “Master!” Kel’s familiar greeting caught Micro’s attention right away.

  “Hello!” Micro called back.

  “There have been several developments since you left,” Kel started to explain before he’d even reached Micro.

  “Oh?” Micro looked around at the busy arena, but the stage was still under construction, so he wasn’t sure what could have happened.

  “There’s a bit of good news, but there is some…” Kel suddenly paused.

  “Bad news?” Micro asked with some shock on his face.

  “Not exactly,” Kel continued slowly. “The good news is that although rumours have spread about you, none of them contain any mention of heroes or magical summonings. Rather, you’ve done more than enough to convince anyone watching that you are a prodigious young cultivator. However…”

  “Young?” Micro said with a laugh. “Well, give it to me straight, Kel.”

  “Both the manner in which you fight and the way you address cultivators and the mundane with the same courtesy are somewhat problematic. While I can understand it being difficult for one as great as you to differentiate between such insignificant beings as us, your kindness is taken for unprecedented arrogance,” Kel explained, his tone growing increasingly solemn. “Your way of living seems to provoke many.”

  “Now that you mention it…” Micro sighed. “So, I have to fight a lot more people?”

  “Many more,” Kel replied.

  “Then I’ll be making a lot of friends soon,” Micro said with another shrug, beginning to walk back to the recovery room. “Let’s visit Tae!”

  ~

  By the time Micro had returned, the other contestants had all been fully healed, though their energy was still depleted. Tae was excited to hear of Micro’s victory, though everyone was confused by the story of how the fight had ended. While Kel and Micro were sitting with Tae and enjoying some tea, Vera approached Micro once again.

  “Your spirit seems much more at ease now, young master,” she said warmly as she knelt beside him. “I understand little of your nature, but I can sense that you have found a balance.”

  “You were right!” Micro replied happily. “Doing what I was meant to do felt a lot easier.”

  “I won’t pretend I understood what I saw today, but I can see that it was for the best,” Vera said with a warm smile, placing her hand on his head. “Be sure to stay true to that strange path you walk. It is yours and yours alone. To try and walk the path of another would tear you apart.”

  “Like a bicycle on a highway,” Micro agreed with a solemn tone.

  “I sense your understanding,” Vera replied with a warm smile. “I feel our world is blessed to host such a soul.”

  “Thanks, Vera,” Micro said as the kind old lady in white stood up to leave. “I’ll try to stay on this road!”

  “I wish I could see what she sees…” Kel sighed as Vera left. “The Soul Art gives one an amazing insight into matters of the soul, and I have so many questions about yours.”

  “My soul isn’t that special,” Micro said. “It’s just a shinier version of my old body.”

  “All souls tend to be the shape of the vessel they’re born with, more or less,” Tae explained between sips of tea. “It takes extraordinary mental fortitude to perceive one’s soul so vividly, never mind moulding one’s soul… But to think there was a soul capable of absorbing so many Core Cards’ teachings. Your race must be very different from our own.”

  “We’re built different, that’s for sure,” Micro replied with some sympathy in his voice. “I never thought about it before, but it’s hard to imagine how humans get by without tires, headlights… Fingers are convenient, but the human body really is oddly designed.”

  “In any case,” Kel interjected, his anxiety returning. “You must consider your approach to your next fight.”

  “What do you mean?” Micro asked.

  “Whether you fight in the next round or another, I’m afraid your Shell Prison technique may not be as effective the second time,” Kel explained. “You caught Thea off guard, but it wouldn’t be hard for somebody to avoid it if they knew it was coming.”

  “I see,” Micro replied. “That’s a shame.”

  “However, my grandfather would never forgive me for trying to steer you on your own path to victory, so I will leave you to meditate on it alone,” Kel said with a reassuring look. “I must also meditate. Perhaps we were lucky that your attack resulted in so many repairs being needed before the next fight. We have ample time to prepare and recover.”

  “Yes, thanks for making this take so much longer,” Ki called out sarcastically from nearby.

  “Good idea,” Micro replied, closing his eyes and getting comfortable. “I could go for some dessert!”

  ~

  Micro, Tae, and Kel spent the next few hours quietly meditating in the recovery room while the other contestants tended to their own business, though many were shocked at first by how quickly Micro was able to accumulate energy by using the Mycelial Art to draw energy directly from the ground below The others who had already been eliminated from the tournament left to enjoy the city until sundown, and the audience gradually grew in size as night fell.

  Micro thought about the various ways he might be able to use the skills he had acquired while replenishing the energy in his core. He was confident he could reconstruct the cab in which he’d trapped Thea even quicker than before, but knew that Kel was right about it being easy for a cultivator to avoid if they saw it coming. He didn’t have the confidence to swing his arms around as quickly and skillfully as Kel, who’s ability to fight both impressed and intimidated Micro, and he still struggled to imagine himself intentionally hitting somebody. However, when he remembered Vera’s words and the look on Thea’s face at the end of their last fight, he felt confident that things would work out somehow.

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  “It is time!” The announcer’s voice stirred him from his meditative state. “Would Micro, the mysterious representative of the Fire Mountain Turtle Sect, please return to the stage to declare his intentions!”

  “Do what feels right, master,” Kel assured him as he opened his eyes.

  “Thanks, Kel,” Micro replied as he quickly returned to the stone platform, distracted for a moment by the splendid view of the starry sky above. A bright purple shooting star caught his eye, but he didn’t dwell on it. He returned his attention to the ground and noticed several mundane workers smiling at him from a messy corner of the arena where tools and debris were piled.

  “Will you fight again, or will you nominate another to lead the next round?!” the announcer asked as the crowd became more lively.

  “I’ll nominate someone else!” Micro declared. “I need a bit more time to think…”

  “I see,” the announcer replied, apparently more relieved than disappointed. “Who do you nominate?!”

  “Oh, right…” Micro said, realizing he still had to choose somebody. He looked over at Kel, Teran, Ki, and Yin, all standing confidently in the waiting area, and waved his finger around for a moment before settling on a contestant. “Teran, you can go ahead!”

  “Teran, representative of the Earth River Sect, shall lead the next round!” the announcer confirmed to the somewhat awkward applause of the audience. The young woman in dark red robes walked gracefully up the platform with a confused look on her face, meeting Micro at the centre of the stage.

  “Bowing out so soon?” she whispered to Micro as he walked by. “You shy?”

  “I’m still trying to think of an approach to fighting…” Micro admitted with a shy smile.

  “Well don’t go too far,” she snapped back with a smile. Before the announcer could even ask her, Teran suddenly shouted loud enough for everybody to hear.

  “I challenge Micro!” she declared as Micro stopped half way down the steps. “Get back here!”

  “Oh dear,” he replied, tripping over his own foot in surprise. He turned around to see a fierce aura obstructing his view of the girl. He looked back to Kel to gauge his reaction, but Kel only smiled and nodded. The sound of the announcer’s voice and the noise of the audience faded from his awareness as he returned to the stage to face Teran. “Alright then.”

  “Did you come to this world to mock us?” Teran whispered through her burning aura, loud enough only for Micro to hear. “Do you mean to toy with us like some sick god?!”

  “I just—” Micro stuttered as her anger began to flow through him like a harsh wind. “Safety is important, so I—”

  Micro wasn’t sure whether the match had started or not, but Teran suddenly unleashed a powerful wave of energy at him before he could finish speaking. He managed to summon his armour in time to nullify the energy’s impact, but he was pushed halfway across the platform in no time at all. The force of the energy against his face felt like driving into the wind on a highway, the air rushing by his ears making him feel dizzy.

  “Hmph!” Teran scoffed. “The River Art alone is enough to deal with you. Thea makes everything look so difficult.”

  Micro began to understand the nature of Teran’s attack as she blew him around the arena like a leaf in the wind. Every time she waved her hands around, he could feel her pulling all the moisture in the air along with them, her own energy resonating with the energy in each droplet of water that formed, allowing her to create rushing currents as she pleased.

  “Don’t you dare fly away just yet!” Teran shouted as she brought a current crashing straight down on Micro. “Not until you learn a lesson!”

  Realizing it was only a matter of time before the currents would either push him off the edge of the stage or crush him like a turtle on the road, he rooted himself in the ground with the Mycelial Art and bolstered his armour to counter the currents’ effects. He stood up straight as swirling currents of energy grew even stronger.

  “That’s quite efficient…” Micro marvelled as he inspected the flow of energy around Teran, who was able to manipulate the energy of all the moisture in the air by channelling a small amount of it through her core, expending very little of her own energy in the process. He tried several times to summon similar boxes of energy around the platform in which to trap her, but it was clear that she was intentionally maintaining a fair distance from him while moving elusively around the arena.

  “I’m not some poor little bird you can cage, boy!” Teran shouted, her voice seeming to stir the energy currents even more violently. Though she moved around the platform gracefully on the currents she created, their pressure only continued to grow.

  Micro’s Turtle Art armour began to crack as the sound of the rushing wind distracted him. The smallest holes in his armour were enough for the storm he stood at the centre of to completely overwhelm his senses. He attempted to use his Spirit Wave technique, but he didn’t know where to aim. He briefly summoned a hammer and waved it around without reason, but let it dissipate soon after. It was then that he was reminded of the feeling of being parked outside in a storm, longing to be back in the safety of his garage.

  “What to do…” he thought as he resolved to try something new, though his casual demeanour continued to enrage Teran. Teran noticed the change in his expression and only increased the pressure of the currents attacking him from all sides.

  Unable to see or hear anything beyond the storm around him, he suddenly crouched down and slammed both of his hands on the ground, adding both his hands to the network of roots already growing out of his feet into the ground. Having doubled the amount of energy he could now draw up from the earth, he finally allowed his damaged armour to vanish. The crowd gasped as it seemed like he would soon be torn to shreds by the relentless current, but soon they couldn’t see him at all. Micro had apparently confined himself in a box similar to the one in which he’d trapped Thea that afternoon. Teran only increased the force of her attack despite her confusion, but the box continued to grow even more rigid as Micro quietly focused on its construction from within the safety of his own creation.

  “You think you can hide in there forever?!” Teran shouted provocatively, but Micro could barely even hear the sound of the wind anymore. If not for the roots he had spread throughout the stone platform once again, he would have no idea where she was at all.

  After fortifying the ethereal truck cab he had manifested, he took a deep breath and relaxed for a moment. He thought of trying to grab onto Teran’s feet with the roots he created, but they were far too brittle to use for anything but absorbing energy. While Teran’s attacks continued to increase in intensity, Micro sent his roots farther into the ground than ever before. The energy became richer and more volatile the deeper he went, and soon he had reached the limit of what he felt he could safely channel through his core.

  “That should be enough,” he muttered to himself as he began to channel the energy into the ethereal structure around him. “Nice!”

  ~

  “Do you think this is a game?!” Teran screamed through the storm she’d created. “Fine! Are you waiting for me to show you how a real warrior fights? I’ll show you!”

  For a moment, the currents that bombarded Micro’s strangely square shelter vanished completely, but as Teran closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, the air and the ground both began to vibrate slightly. Dust from all around filled the air, forming small clumps of dirt, around which water began to condense. In a moment of serenity, the mud which Teran had mixed in the air floated motionlessly, frozen in time. But as she once again began to wave her hands through the air in circular patterns, the droplets formed a single river of mud that flowed around her continuously, the force of which created a powerful cyclone around the arena. The audience watched with great satisfaction as her elemental weapon began to thrash Micro’s manifestation like a continuous landslide. The stone platform around Micro was quickly eroded by the endless torrent, but its speed and power only increased along with Teran’s frustration.

  “Come out, coward!” she screamed as the box began to grow in size. Each crack she managed to make in the strange shell repaired itself quicker than the last, but she was far from finished. “At least die properly!”

  “What is he planning?” Kel tilted his head as he waited patiently to see how Micro would react to the powerful attack, and Yin approached him from behind.

  “Kel!” Yin shouted over the sound of Teran’s unrelenting attack. “Combining the Mycelial Art with the Turtle Art—”

  “I also see the potential,” Kel said, nodding his head slowly with his eyes firmly trained on Micro. “But it is unprecedented…”

  “He is creative, perhaps wise,” Yin added, adjusting his dark hood in order to better observe the fight. “But does he even have a plan?”

  Kel and Yin stared in silence from that point on as the crowd cheered, crying out with excitement as her river of water and earth bombarded Micro’s unmoving box. It appeared as though it was only a matter of time before her attacks would finally break through or push the box straight off the platform, but Teran suddenly noticed that while attacking, she had taken a step back. She glanced behind her, and noticed the edge of the platform had grown dangerously close to her heels.

  “Wait,” she mumbled, then turned around to re-examine the strange box she was attacking. “Was it always that big…?”