Chapter 4:

  Henry wasn’t entirely sure how he expected training with the greatest knight in the world to go, but he was damn sure this was not it. At the very least he thought they may have engaged in some fencing and Geoffroi could have shown him how he uses his preferred weapons, the things that made him such a terror on the battlefield, that earned him the nickname the Walking Siege Engine. Instead here they sat in the cleared area just outside the village, legs crossed facing each other, Geoffroi’s eyes boring into his own as he instructed him on, of all things, breathing. As suspicious as he might have been of this, Geoffroi looked nothing but earnest as he spoke.

  “Breathe deep, draw the air down into your chest through your nose, fill your lungs as much as you can, then hold it for a moment, before letting it out slowly through your mouth.” Geoffroi said. Henry did as he was told and drew the air in, letting it fill his chest until he felt uncomfortably full, he held it, let it sit until his eyes began to feel oddly tight, then let it escape through his lips.

  “Good, do you feel your body relaxing, easing the tension out of your muscles and your heart rate slowing?” Henry thought it over for a moment before realising Geoffroi was right, his breathing had slowed everything, he felt relaxed. Still he had no idea what this had to do with fighting.

  “Yes, I feel relaxed, but forgive me my lord, what does this have to do with me fighting?” Henry asked.

  “You’re not just a provincial knight anymore Henry, you’re a climber, and what we do here, what we have to do in order to climb higher, is different, for instance take your artifact for example, why is it a different shape than Arthur’s own Caliburn?” The question caught Henry off guard.

  “I assumed he knew I would know the longsword more than a broadsword like he used.”

  “Not a bad answer, but not quite, it took the form of a longsword because that is what you wanted it to be, it’s the power of weapon artifacts.” Geoffroi stood and drew his own blade off his hip, it was a deft draw, the kind of simple, effortless action that showed mastery in simplicity. Without missing a beat he gripped the sword in the half sword, hand a foot or so from the point. That was when things changed though, and the blade began to lengthen and transform into a fine teak haft and in mere moments Geoffroi was holding a spear with a fine blade and solid lugs where blade met haft to prevent anyone sliding down.

  “Artifacts, at least the Tower Made kind, unless they specifically say so, will morph and change to suit the wielder’s needs, but only if they have complete and total control of their Essence, and this is where you’re going to get a lesson ahead of schedule, Henry, you don’t need me to teach you to use a sword or a spear, you’re a fighting knight, from what I’ve heard you earned your spurs on the field as all knights should, but now you’re a climber and you need to learn what most don’t learn until they get to the tenth floor.” Geoffroi allowed his weapon to take the form of a longsword once more.

  “Essence doesn’t need to be simply absorbed and given free reign on your body as you have had up until now, in fact most of the Essence you’ve accumulated up until this point isn’t even absorbed yet, most is sitting inside your centre awaiting the process,” Geoffroi once more sat cross-legged before Henry.

  “I want you to continue the breathing exercise and focus entirely inward, feel the paths the Essence runs down through your body and follow it to your centre, I will know when you get there.”

  Henry did as he was told, the shock of watching the sword become a spear still fresh in his mind, but he breathed in and out as instructed and followed the sensation with his mind, tracing where he remembered feeling the Essence soak into his skin, the trail was faint but definitely there. It was like when he had fully exerted himself and he could feel the veins pumping at the surface in rhythm with his heartbeat. With an almost preternatural ease he followed the path that wound like a river over the skin of his forearm and down to his armpit and gathered in that full feeling area he had first noticed just below his heart. It was like having a blindfold removed, almost as if he was seeing for the first time as the entirety of his centre became clear to him in an instant.

  A shining ball of Essence blossomed in his chest like a new sun, despite its metaphysical nature it was almost too bright to look at, even though Henry’s eyes were actively closed as he examined the fiery new portion of his being. It swirled around like a storm contained in an orb of glass, he watched it with such intense fascination, even as he saw threads peel off from the orb to run through his body in a seemingly never ending stream of power.

  “Those threads you see are being absorbed into your physical and magical channels, they will increase your strength and durability as well as the power and efficiency of your abilities, but that’s only a fraction of what Essence can do, for your first lesson, I want you to find the physical channel, and widen it, force it to accept a second thread of Essence at the same time.” Henry nodded absently as he heard the words, it took him five attempts to work out how to move a thread, reaching out with his physical hands did nothing, but simply focusing on the edge of the orb felt like running his hands across an old tapestry, at least if that tapestry had been made of flame that didn’t burn his hands for some reason, but as he brushed it he could feel the slightly raised sections where a thread would soon emerge, and from there he could guide it along the path he had seen the threads go to his physical channels.

  The key he found was to imagine himself doing things, so when he found the channel that led to his physical cultivation, he simply imagined wedging his finger into the hole and drawing it open further. That was when the pain started, what he hadn’t expected was for the wider channel to attract additional threads he hadn’t guided to it, an extra four threads came careening towards the channel and were immediately sucked through to run rampant through his entire body.

  Henry was catapulted out of his trance and lay in a twitching heap as his body caught aflame, at least figuratively as the Essence set to work strengthening him to a ridiculous level. Six times the regular amount of Essence shuddered its way through his musculature, bones and skin like a tidal wave. It wove reinforcements around his organs and purified his body so that a deep, black slime escaped from his pores, carefully wicked away and incinerated by the lightning of his armour.

  “Let the impurities flow, that’s your Essence making you healthier, removing every toxin from your body, also six threads was probably too much in one hit, but you’ll survive.” Geoffroi sounded exasperated though also oddly distant as he admonished Henry, the part of Henry’s mind that could still form a sentence thought perhaps Geoffroi should learn to warn students that this could happen. Unfortunately his jaw muscles had locked and he could tell it would be some time before he could curse the older knight out.

  The tremors slowed after ten minutes and by the time they passed the twenty minute mark his muscles seemed to have released him and stopped seizing. The black ooze that had exited his pores was gone and only the scent of ozone remained after having all of it be evaporated by his lightning infused armour.

  “That armour is very handy, the smell of that gunk clung to me for a week after I did that.” Geoffroi said as he pulled Henry back into a sitting position.

  “Now you’re going to do that again but for the magical channels, this time you’re going to go much slower and only increase it to two threads, and Henry I mean it, if you go too big here you’ll fry your mind, understand?”

  “Yes my lord.” Henry answered as he fell into the breathing exercise again, once more delving into his centre and finding the fiery ball of Essence within his soul. The whole process was much easier now having already done it once, he could practically blink and find himself staring at it. This time when he guided the second thread to the next set of channels, he moved much slower. Rather than forcing the channel open he simply guided the thread close and coaxed the edge aside until it could fit. This reduced the shock considerably, the thread ran up through his heart and over his brain before returning to that place just below his heart and encased his energy pool. He somehow knew now that he had doubled his capacity for using abilities and they would hit harder.

  “How often can I add another thread?” He asked, eager at the surge of power that now thrummed through him.

  “Conventional wisdom is five times each per floor, once each per challenge you complete, but it’s heavily dependent on how much Essence you gain and how much you continue to gain. I’m sure you did the basic three challenges before advancing from the first floor?” Geoffroi asked, and Henry simply nodded in acknowledgement.

  “That’s not actually a rule, just what we reinforce for most climbers as they need Essence to keep climbing and each level has subsequently purer and stronger Essence with which to grow, before we’re done here I expect you to have completed at least ten challenges on this floor, and before the true threat arrives I’d prefer that number to be closer to twenty.” The Frenchman tapped his boot as he thought over his next words.

  “You have almost unlimited capacity for Essence, some preach that you can waste it but it’s just not true, so long as it is actively being absorbed by your channels there will always be space for more, and you can’t ruin your foundation by taking in too much lower quality Essence, but taking higher quality is always a good thing, you have a base of floor one essence and you’ve already gained more in one challenge on this floor than I’d say you got toal on the first and yet, if you went back to the first and did another dozen challenges it would not harm your power, it would just be slower growth than doing the same here, make sense?”

  “I think so, so all Essence is good, higher Essence is just better and more efficient?” Henry answered, his tone uncertain.

  “Exactly, so now that you’ve channeled your physical and magical Essence, it’s well past due you bonded with your sword, draw it into your hand and guide the Essence to its hilt through your hand.” Geoffroi said.

  And so they went through the process again, this time it was even easier, and Henry caught himself wondering how no one knew about this outside or why it was hidden, it would ensure more climbers survived the first floor easier. When the essence touched Caliburn’s hilt, a ripple of energy ran down the length of the blade and suddenly Henry could sense the weapon as though it were another limb almost, to the point if he weren’t holding it he could tell exactly where it was.

  “That feels odd.” He muttered.

  “You get used to it, don’t worry.” Geoffroi chuckled. The older knight rose to his feet with the sort of athletic grace that Henry aspired to, it was strange learning at the foot of this man who was both a hero and an enemy all at once. He was the man of arms that all of their ordo aspired to be like, but he was also French and training Henry to kill his own Prince, and that led to a very complicated bundle of emotions that he knew he’d need to untangle at some point. Geoffroi stretched his arms out and then drew his sword, he fell easily into the Boar’s Tooth garde and waited.

  “On your feet, now that you’ve unlocked your Essence you can probably manage a few passes with me, obviously this is training so I will not be putting my blade through you, that said come at me with everything you have, try to kill me, let me see what a Dragon can do.” Geoffroi smirked, confidence high as Henry rose to his own feet and drew Caliburn in turn. Claws grew from his fingertips and were reinforced by his gauntlets rather than stymied, electricity raced over his shoulders and his eyes glinted through his visor’s slit.

  “Careful what you wish for de Charny.” Henry spoke, his voice taking on the growling edge of his dragon form.

  ******************************

  Henry hit the ground hard, but his legs simply could not hold him up any longer, he was exhausted and no matter how he tried, there was simply no energy left for him to call on, his claws had receded and his scales were gone, Caliburn felt like it had lost its sharp edge and his armour barely sparked anymore. Meanwhile de Charny still held his blade in garde and hopped on the balls of his feet, fresh and unperturbed by the colossal blasts of energy that had erupted from Henry. He had admittedly been tentative in his first attacks, unsure if the man truly meant for him to go all out, but by the end of their fight he had absolutely been trying to kill the frenchman. It had all been for nothing, the man’s power level was just too titanic to truly harm.

  Geoffroi’s simple cuts had been enough to carve through Henry’s magical defenses. His blows always stopped just before they hit his armour, but that was when the force of the blow would still strike, the air generated by de Charny’s mezzano was enough to drive Henry to his knees.

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  “How…is…that…even…possible?” He panted from his back looking up at the other man. The smirk that covered Geoffroi’s face was exactly the kind that made Henry want to punch him in the face.

  “Henri, what floor do you think I am currently working my way through?” Geoffroi asked. Henry rolled and managed to push himself up onto his knees.

  “I think I heard you were on the nineteenth, I don’t think I actually said this before but thank you, for coming down here to train me.” Henry answered.

  “That’s the king’s official stance, let’s people think he can still call on me to come win battles for him, but I’m currently on the twenty-fourth floor when not training new dragons.” The man said with a chuckle.

  “And you’re most welcome, it’s refreshing to teach someone who understands there’s more to life than simply serving a king who is only a king by accident of birth. Truth be told, I am looking forward to ascending and never leaving the Seed again, besides Arthur has promised me a few rewards after that for this little diversion.” Henry raised a brow at that but it was clear de Charny had no intention of elaborating.

  “As to my original question, once you’re on at least the twenty-third floor and drinking that Essence down, then we can spar more fully, but for now we are simply training, firstly, your swordwork is good, Fiore’s work if I’m not mistaken.” At Henry’s nod he continued.

  “My information says he is on the thirtieth floor somewhere, I’d love to match swords with the man someday, but his system of binds and cuts is good, it’ll serve you well, especially against foes that are slightly stronger or comparably strong, unfortunately that doesn’t hold up for long, the higher you climb the more overwhelming the foes will become and until you can maintain your dragon form for an entire challenge or longer, you will need to be able to fight the overwhelmingly powerful, and we need to teach you this while you remain on the fifth floor.” Geoffroi finally sheathed his blade and began to pace.

  “We’re going to focus on your physical cultivation first, you need to be faster, so starting with tomorrow, you’re going to be doing a challenge every morning, then we shall train in the afternoon, after each challenge you are going to add two threads of physical and one of magical, I’m also going to ask you to change Caliburn’s shape every second day, choose another weapon form and I will expect you to clear challenges with it as well, any questions so far?”

  “Didn’t you say I can only do one thread per channel per challenge?” Henry asked, his confusion evident.

  “I said that was the conventional wisdom, we are being neither conventional nor wise this time, besides you’re going to be bringing in so much Essence here that it won’t be an issue, the Fifth Floor is famous for a reason amongst climbers, in the initial twenty-five floors, the fifth floor’s challenges are the longest of almost any other, on average climbers are advised to allocate at least eight hours of time to clearing each challenge here, you will be doing it in three.” The grin on de Charny’s face was almost predatory now.

  “Didn’t Arthur say he’d be back in three days?”

  “He will be, his training will join mine in the afternoon session, you will still be hitting the challenges in the morning session, for now you need to eat, let’s go get some food into you, before your Essence High wears off.”

  De Charny wasn’t joking when he said Henry needed food. They walked back into the village and immediately into a Tavern that was run by Tower Denizens. They filled two bowls with the thick stew that was being served and a plate with a good english beef steak was put in front of him as well. The Essence High Geoffroi had mentioned had started to wear off and that was when it hit Henry that he hadn’t eaten in days, and they had been high energy days. He shovelled the food into his mouth and swallowed as best he could, his stomach screamed at him to go faster and all he could do was oblige, much to the amusement of his table companion. Geoffroi watched him thoughtfully as he finished his meal, eating at a much more sedate pace himself to Henry.

  “Alright I’ve made up my mind, Henri you’re going into a challenge this afternoon, you need more Essence, and the more we can throw you against the better.” He tapped his chin briefly.

  “Do you know what other weapon you want to use Caliburn as?”

  “Poleaxe,” Henry answered almost immediately, he gave a somewhat sheepish shrug and smile to his mentor.

  “I’m english.” The way he said it, it almost sounded like an apology and de Charny laughed hard at the thought.

  “I do not share my countrymens’ opinions on the weapon, by god, I know for a fact le Maingre uses one.” He nodded then.

  “Good, once you manage to shape it as you like you will enter the first challenge we find, then you are to maintain it in that shape until such time as you find yourself unable to continue, bonus points if you complete the challenge with it in that shape.” Henry nodded.

  ******************************

  Caliburn’s new shape wasn’t bad, Henry had gotten the haft to a good six feet long, it had a butt spike of the same blue and purple steel that had made up the blade of the longsword and the head in the shape of a hammer was made of stone with a back spike and thrusting tip above it, the entire haft was made of good white, English oak with the wrapping of shining green leaves running the entire length, the weapon itself did look entirely fae, and Henry was sure that in certain backwoods in England there were dedicated old priests who would try to burn him at the stake for wielding such a heretical weapon. Given what he now knew of the gods he thought the whole thing absurd, let alone the fact that he was so filled with Essence from the God Seed now that he doubted any parish had the strength to take him, no matter how devoted their sergeants or men-at-arms were.

  Before embarking on this new challenge, Geoffroi had informed him that with his new physical cultivation strength he was considered an E Grade mortal. There was apparently an entire ranking system set aside for the mortal occupants of the Tower that was entirely dependent on how many threads their channels could funnel through their bodies. The fact he was starting five floors early was apparently a point in his favour, when he finally got to the tenth floor he’d likely have advanced to D Grade at least and that meant he’d be well ahead of the curve when this form of cultivation became common. De Charny had confided in him then that one of Arthur’s promises was to share higher level cultivation secrets with him as payment for training Henry, something the younger knight was eager to know about as well.

  Still, that was a long way off for him and for now he had to focus, because he was facing down an endless horde of insects, they were like what a centaur would look like except their lower portion was like that of an ant, except an ant the size of a horse. Their upper half was still ant-like as well but anthropomorphised, with a hard, black exoskeleton and scythe-like arms. The creatures came at him in waves of half a dozen. They were faster and more wild than the hobgoblins, he had to assume there was no real sapience to them, but they weren’t as physically strong as the hobgoblins and orcs had been. Or at least he assumed so, it may have been hard to gauge when he was now moving faster and hitting harder than he ever had in that first challenge, and his weapon’s new form was perfect for splitting open carapace.

  He kept the staff in tight against his body, only swinging the hammer across his shoulder width before reversing, simple staff blows that hit with the entire power of his twisting body. Pushing off his back foot the blow would turn his body, it put his shoulder, hips and legs into every blow and that made the hammerhead strike like the fist of a wrathful god. He watched the black chitin of one beast cave in as he was showered in green ichor that his armour thankfully burned away.

  He had already learned how much of an improvement his new harness was, the first ant he fought had managed to strike him full across the chest with a scythe arm, and it had felt like a hard punch, pushing him back a few steps only to have its head crushed for its troubles. That was how he’d learned they were ambush predators, as well as simple beasts. Now as he delved deeper into their warren he was grateful for the swarm archetype they seemed to conform to. Each gave less Essence than a Hobgoblin had, but they made up for it in sheer numbers.

  You have slain [Formica Centaur]

  Essence Distributed

  It was concerning to Henry how much stronger he felt and how easily he dispatched these foes, he resolved to continue cautiously and to ask Geoffroi when he got out about it. There was the fact his armour countered their blows and his weapon decidedly countered their armour, so it was no surprise he was able to mostly wade through the Formica, but he remembered keenly how much stronger than the rest of the monsters in the challenge Gorshak had been, and he was not eager to repeat that experience, and so he grimly followed the path deeper into what he could only call an ant nest.

  The winding tunnels were very large and he was able to walk at his full height and make use of his weapon’s full length, but still it was a very uncomfortable sensation of being underground. He’d fought in a sapper’s tunnel once in a siege in southern France, and that alone was enough for him to swear off ever fighting underground again. This tunnel was at least well lit, with glowing slime clinging to the walls, he wasn’t sure what it was, but several of the Formica had been daubed in it like warpaint and it did make their alien faces truly terrifying, glowing mandibles would likely haunt his dreams for nights to come yet. Still even those had provided no true challenge. He had kept up the pace, as cautious as he was he was still progressing through the tunnels at a quick clip and was fairly certain he’d been down here for merely two hours.

  He could feel the density of the Essence growing the deeper he went and the numbers of Formica attacking him were increasing, they’d started in groups of a dozen, but now they were coming in as many as twenty at a time. The sheer amount of Essence he was getting was tempting him to find a hidey hole and open another couple threads before he found the Guardian. That train of thought was dangerous though, he was hardly expert at opening his channels and just because they couldn’t get through his armour with a single quick strike, if he was incapacitated by screwing it up again they could definitely work through it.

  So far he had been very sparing in his use of his abilities so his energy pool was full and deep and he was ready should he have to transform to fight the guardian. Though he had yet to do it again after his first transformation and the thought that he was no longer truly human was still a sore point, he’d have to face it sooner or later, but for now he would simply treat it as a trump card, something to bring out if all else failed. Maybe he could speak to Arthur when he returned, try and bring the two halves together as it were and embrace that part of himself rather than reject it entirely.

  The waves of the Formica were growing further in frequency, though they seemed to have topped out at twenty individuals, once more he was thankful for his armour burning off the ichor that splashed him as he continued to break and cave in their exoskeletons like they were made of paper. The crumpled mess of ant creatures was good for something else though, and Henry kept collecting Tower Stones, the odd currency building up to great proportions in his storage ring. He grinned as he saw the sheer quantity of stones, knowing that if he needed something he’d be all set for a good long while. He’d continue saving though, the time would come to replace his armour before long and he was sure it would be expensive to ask Grimnir to do it again without Arthur’s backing.

  He finally came to an end of the tunnel revealing a great cavern of red dirt that had been packed down by the weight of thousands upon thousands of feet. In its centre, carved from the same earth, stood a throne and upon it rested the most corpulent example of a Formica he had ever seen. This one resembled an ant even more than the others, her abdomen so large that it would be the size of a wagon on the outside, the great white, rubbery mass seemed to pulse and ripple as eggs the size of chickens continued to fall out and be collected by scurrying small Formica servants. Henry was in the presence of the queen and the Essence she radiated was palpable. Before her was a cadre of ten guards, all were larger and more heavily armoured than their patrol counterparts. Their scythes already glowed with unused abilities and suddenly Henry was considering transforming without any compunction.

  Still he stepped forward into the throne room, the Queen’s head rose and took him in as her guards all fell into ready stances, unlike her smaller brethren, she appeared capable of speech, as her mandibles pulled back to reveal a more humanoid mouth.

  “Ah, such manners, it has been a long time since food offered itself so willingly to the hive, my children grow famished.” Her voice was oddly seductive, and a part of Henry’s mind seemed to agree with her, why shouldn’t he serve the hive, his body would nourish many young Formica. He lowered his weapon and began to move forward, his steps uncertain. One foot after the other as he walked towards his Queen’s embrace. Her face held nothing but love for him, she would bring him into the hive, he would live on eternally within all of her children, what greater honour could there be than simply sustaining the hive to the best of his abilities.

  The guards parted, allowing him to walk through until he stood before the great Queen of the Formica hive, her smile beatific as she looked down upon him, her sweet scent almost overpowering, but he welcomed it as she bent forwards, her mandibles spread to bestow this great gift upon him.

  Then his world turned blue, so bright as to be painful, the scent of Ozone burned through the entirety of the throne room, and colossal booms crashed through the air as great bolts of lightning dug through the earth. Henry was gone. In his place stood a drake, larger than the queen and clad in blue scales, the armour Henry had worn had elongated and clad the beast’s body as the young dragon roared its defiance. Claws raked through her guards and severed their bodies, tossing them away like a child throwing toys, and the dragon’s great maw fell upon the queen, teeth neatly severing her upper body from her abdomen and devouring her in one swallow.

  Henry felt the rage and the indignation roar through his very being at the idea that such a creature could ever treat him as food. He was a dragon, the ultimate predator, the king of all he surveyed. There was none so great as he and his flight, and the power of the storm raged through the throne room like the coming of a great calamity, none would survive his wrath.

  Aspect Upgraded [Aspect of the Storm Dragon Knight]

  [Aspect of the Storm Dragon Knight]:

  You embody the raging storm as it crashes over the world, within you is the noble heart of a knight and the arrogance and power of a Dragon. Your domain is the Storm, Chivalry and Power itself.