Volithur pyed the mimic monkey game constantly. Ever since Khana had shown it to him, he had been spying on the techniques used by others and trying to imitate what they did. His ability to discern details with his senses grew rapidly, vastly exceeding his ability to replicate energy movements.

  The Sergeant pumped the barest trickle into his body to boost his movements, a feat which reminded Volithur a little of what had happened to him when he took the blood boiling elixir. Instructor Gordo used a much more efficient aura defense technique than Volithur, where instead of hardening the entire surface, he only empowered small areas for a few seconds before withdrawing his investment. From what Volithur could see, Instructor Gordo lost very little of the energy outy using his technique.

  The Head Scribe maintained a constant mental boost by using a steady circution instead of an in-and-out cycle. Volithur had no idea how that one was achieved, but he knew it was possible due to his observations. Various nobles would push diluted energy out of their domain at the same time as they sucked purified cosmic energy in through their auras. That seemed like a trick Volithur should learn, but his best attempts failed utterly.

  Most curiously, he had seen the Sergeant’s soul grow murky and foul when the man was supposedly observing a morning training session. The darkness faded over the next hour until there was barely a shadow left. The Sergeant appeared exhausted by the experience, but Volithur’s growing senses could tell that the Sergeant’s soul held noticeably more cosmic energy than before.

  The ability to spy on others and steal their techniques had opened up a whole new world to Volithur. He couldn’t understand why this hadn’t been taught him from the very beginning. Unless it was a secret technique of the nobles, in which case maybe he shouldn’t let anyone know he had been taught it. When he expressed his concerns to Khana, she ughed at him and cimed it was just a children’s game. He still resolved to keep quiet about what he was doing.

  The new hobby came at a good time, as Thassily had succeeded in his goal with Dar. The girl was pregnant and the Marshal had wasted no time ending Thassily’s wardship. Thassily took the payout, married the girl, and became part owner of the distillery. He disappeared from Volithur’s life with only a brief hug and an impossible promise to keep in touch.

  His time in css proved fruitful as the cosmic water helped with his body enhancement more than he expected. As useless as the substance was for increasing the power of the soul, the fact that the cosmic energy entered through the body made it a convenient aid to magnify his efforts at body enhancement.

  In short order, he completed work on his tibia and fibu bones. He moved on to the radius bones of his forearm. When those were saturated, he began work on the ulna bones. He pnned to target the pelvis next, which would complete all of the rge bones of his body. From there, it was all smaller bones. He thought maybe the ribs would be a good entry point, but strengthening the hands might be more practical since he sparred daily.

  For as fast as his body enhancement proceeded, it still bothered Volithur how little progress he made at rebuilding the energy reserves of his soul. He spent a little every day on body enhancement, some more on mental strengthening, and occasionally would use his aura as a barrier during sparring. All of that proved a serious impediment to advancement.

  Though… the physical and mental changes were permanent improvements. The resources were flowing to him once more, so there was no pressing need for him to reach level four. He could gain a lot of tangible benefit from enhancement whereas advancing only gained him bragging rights. His status in the household was strictly capped by his origins, so there was no real reason to chase after the next soul level.

  He still wanted it, though. People were judged by their power and soul level provided the easiest metric to gauge that. The soldiers at the beginner level showed him a grudging respect as he could hold his own with any of their number now. True, he relied heavily on the enhancements to his mind and body, but that was a normal part of the equation in a world of cultivation. He couldn’t help it if none of them were able to dedicate the same hours to self-improvement as him.

  Eventually the Marshal noticed his improvements and scheduled a meeting.

  “Ward Harridan, I can’t help but be impressed by your development,” the Marshal said.

  “Thank you, Master Marshal.”

  “You have made good use of your meager talents, and I believe that should be rewarded. Though I had to make a payout when Thassily left, that was done in the local coin. My resource budget was not impacted. Thus… I have an extra tea powder elixir to distribute every month. I believe it would do the most good in your hands.”

  Volithur bowed deeply. “Thank you, Master Marshal!”

  The man snorted. “Do you know what ‘tea powder elixir’ is, Ward Harridan? It’s the garbage that is left over after they process tea leaves on Tian. A combination of leaf fragments and dust. They used to throw it into refuse piles before realizing that off world Xian would pay good money for it. We buy the powder, mix it with infused water, and throw it in a vial as a reward. Not only is it garbage on Tian, it is retively cheap for the family. Shaocheth never worries about transport fees. They only limit our access to the powder because they think making it too plentiful would limit its use as an incentive.”

  “It is still a precious resource to me, Master Marshal.”

  “That is the right attitude to have, Ward Harridan. Do you know what blood boiling elixir is? It is the same tea powder, but combined with citrus juice and botanical items from Tian. The ingredients are all plentiful and affordable on the home world. Again, the limitation on its avaibility is intentional. However, Master Zara saw fit to bring an entire crate of it for exclusive use by the soldiers. Its distribution is entirely within my purview.”

  The Marshal leaned forward. “Do you want another vial of blood boiling elixir, Ward Harridan?”

  “Absolutely, Master Marshal!”

  “Then you must prove yourself worthy of it. As your efforts enhancing yourself in body and mind proved yourself worthy of receiving the resources formerly dedicated to Thassily. I will give you three months to show me how deserving you are.” The Marshal paused dramatically. “You are not the only person I am keeping an eye on. If your efforts prove insufficient, I can reward someone else. Understood?”

  The next day, the soldiers received their monthly resources. For Volithur, that was two elixirs. Eager to prove his worth, he drank both down at the same time and settled in to cultivate. He was able to use that burst of energy to finish saturating his forearms, then move onto his topmost ribs. Sparing no energetic expense, Volithur emptied out his soul entirely during the session.

  By the time the effect of the elixirs wore off, half of his ribs were transformed. It was great progress. It had also been costly. Not only had he spent two tea powder elixirs, he had also invested all of his energy reserves into the effort. Volithur hoped the investment would be impressive to the Marshal, because he wouldn’t be able to build up enough cosmic energy to perform a simir feat in the next three months.

  He barely managed to build up enough cosmic energy with aural cultivation to take advantage of the cosmic water given to him before css that day. Then when he had his lesson with Khana ter, he had to force himself to keep the good news about the elixirs to himself. Khana was sensitive enough about her situation that she would be saddened by news that his fortunes were rising. And, more concerning, he didn’t trust himself to not pledge to share the extra elixirs with her. If he knew one thing for sure, it was that he was an absolute idiot when it came to certain people.

  So Volithur told no one his good news. He simply worked even harder than he had before. The days blurred by as he dedicated himself to the goal the Marshal had set before him. Volithur even went so far as to reduce the hours of sleep he got so that he could have extra time to cultivate.

  In sparring, he stopped using his aura barrier altogether. No one seemed to take advantage of the change or really even notice it, but Volithur began to accrue bruises at an accelerated rate as he had to rely on normal body mechanics to defend himself. He became a little more cautious, which took away some of his edge. It wasn’t a huge detriment, but the decrease in combat effectiveness rankled. Volithur kept telling himself it was necessary to conserve energy for enhancement purposes.