Just like in the previous scenario, the room doubled in size to accommodate Poppy. This time, however, the room remained conjoined; no artificial wall separated it.

  The scenario filled out more of the sword techniques associated with the Anti-Light Sword art. The basic forms, the stances and techniques necessary to progress through the art were all included. The previous room covered the set of internal techniques necessary to cultivate the skill; this room gave ways to put those techniques into practice.

  It only took Poppy four hours to clear the chamber this time.

  She once again did not master the proper sword forms; instead, she carved a path through [Skills], gaining ability the System could recognize.

  I completed the scenario with even greater ease. Now that I had the basics of the sword art down, learning to apply the same circulation in different ways was much easier.

  My own completion restored my core another 2%, and it was restored 2% further when Poppy cleared the room.

  “I leveled?” Poppy said, sounding stunned and confused.

  “Good.” I said, turning over to her. I frowned. “What are you investing your Attributes into? Strength?”

  “Strength? No.” Poppy said. “My class already gives me attributes towards Strength with each level — most Warrior classes do. Does your not?”

  The System said I would unlock a class at level 10. But I was in no hurry. Even though the training chambers were progressing my core, I was not leveling quickly. I wondered if they had a limited amount of power to spend, and mine were being spent on my core instead of levels.

  That was fine with me.

  “I am yet to obtain a class.” I said. Poppy stared, contemplating me in stunned silence.

  “How did you survive here with a level that low?” Poppy asked, concern in her voice.

  “So far, I’ve only encountered those… goblin spirit-beasts.” I said, stepping toward the exit chamber. This time, both chambers emptied into the disheveled and ruined sections of the labyrinth. Poppy followed behind as I inspected the doors before stepping into another level 5 chamber.

  Our conversation was briefly interrupted by stepping through the flowing black liquid that contained this section off portion of reality.

  “And you killed them? By yourself? While below level 10? How many were there?” Poppy asked, following after me into the scenario chamber.

  This room was considerably larger and more ornate. I paused and took the room in. It was a training hall. In the center was a sword wielding statue. Unlike the previous chambers we had explored, this was the first thing we had encountered that looked used. Wear and tear marked its sides, tiny sword marks having cut the stone surface.

  [Level 5 Scenario]

  [The scenario is complete when you successfully exit the chamber. To exit the chamber, earn sufficient approval by achieving mastery in the Anti-Light Sword arts.]

  [Reward: Levels, Attribute Points, Spirit Healing Progress, Sword Art Mastery]

  The stone statue stood in a pit of sand at the rooms far wall. The exit to the chamber opened behind it; a wide, tall archway into another room. To access it, we would obviously have to defeat the sword wielding statue. There were beds here, too, a a dozen pressed into the walls like a makeshift barracks, as if entire batches of students were expected to pass through here.

  Weapons waited on racks.

  I wasn’t sure Poppy would be able to make her own skills to get through this.

  “There were four of them. The goblins, that is. They were no consequential threat.” I pulled out the technique manuscript that was slowly filling with Anti-Light arts.

  “Goblins are born with stats above the human norm. Not intelligence… or Intelligence, mind. But they’re quite strong despite their diminutive size…” Poppy rambled as I read through the pages of the book.

  I closed the book, one hand falling to my sword.

  “I’m unsure you’ll be able to complete the scenario with just the [Skill] you gained.” I said, closing the book after memorizing the first new sword form. “You should go first and try.”

  Poppy waited for a moment. I hadn’t replied to her line of inquiry about the goblins. It was fine if I left her curious as to exactly how strong I was. Low level spirit-beasts like those weren’t a problem for me. I side-eyed Poppy. My initial assessment of her may have been wrong.

  She was probably much stronger than a single goblin. I made a mental note that it was harder to assess the strength of people in this world.

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  Poppy dug through her own technique manual.

  Much like mirroring the sword forms of the previous room, she would have to adapt it for herself piece by piece.

  “Not all of this is applicable. But I can integrate it with my family’s own style…” She said, sitting down. “Let me think.”

  I began to practice the sword forms through rote repetition while Poppy continued to contemplated.

  Poppy contemplated the manuscript for half an hour before approaching the golem. I sheathed my blade to observe.

  As Poppy neared within ten paces, the golem drew a sword.

  The hilt of the sword had matched the cold, gray stone exterior of the golem. But its blade was shining silver. Poppy took a step back. The statue took a step forward.

  I had to commend her. She knew how to fight. She corrected that second of hesitation she showed at the same moment the golem charged her. With her fist cloaked in black, she swatted the flat of the sword, dove into the golem’s guard, and slammed her right hand into the stone statue’s center.

  Against a person, even a cultivator with flesh as hard as steel, the enhanced attack might have compressed someones lungs, making them flinch and stagger.

  Against a statue, though? It did nothing.

  Poppy hit the sand with a thud as the pommel of the sword slammed her down. Then the statue kicked her away. My hand fell to my sword, but my fears were unfounded; after kicking her away, the golem stopped pursuing her.

  She pushed herself up with a gasp, her face settling as she saw the golem step back to the door and sheath its blade.

  “Of course.” Poppy said, she sounded winded. “It’s made of stone.”

  She flopped back into the sand, sat cross legged, stared down the golem and contemplated.

  I pulled my sword and continued practicing the forms.

  Eventually, Poppy tried again.

  Every time Poppy fought the golem, she lasted a little bit longer. She empowered more blows, adjusting her footing and strikes. She moved more defensively and reactively, mirroring lessons from the technique manuscript.

  In turn, the golem fought harder. For every gain she made, the training statue seemed to immediately offset it, fighting harder and faster.

  But it looked like she might actually be able to clear the challenge room without needing to master the sword technique. Exhausted and bruised, she eventually yielded from the golem, climbing out of the sand fighting pit and sitting next to me.

  “Would you like to give it a shot?” She asked, shaking sand out of her boots.

  “Not yet.” I said, sheathing my sword and gesturing to the beds with my chin. “We should rest.”

  Poppy hesitated. I saw the look on her face; the internal debate between the time constraint of her friends outside and how much stronger she needed to be to effectively do anything.

  “Okay. But just a short one.”

  I sat cross legged on the bed, cultivating as I rested. I woke up a few hours later, stirring from sleep to the sounds of Poppy fighting the golem.

  I had heard the sound in my sleep, but remained in that state between waking until I felt the qi in the room bend. My hair stood on end. The first thing I saw when I looked up was Poppy’s arms sheathed in black to the elbow instead of just her fist or palm.

  The golem was moving faster than it ever had before, ducking and weaving with almost human movement and flexibility, stone bending uncannily to block a blade. For a moment, the perfect illusion we were in broke; stone could not move like that. But the statue wasn’t stone; it wasn’t even real. These scenarios were made of qi and dreams.

  She blocked a strike of the blade’s edge with the palm of her hand. The metal creaked and hissed. To my astonishment, she gripped the sword.

  Then she headbutted the golem.

  [Warning: Scenario integrity degraded 23%. Additional Change has been harvested to restablize. Scenario altered.]

  Time paused. Even Poppy stood perfectly still for a moment. Then the room rewound, moving backwards through Poppy’s moves. Then forward. Then backwards again. My manuscript floated out of my pocket, the pages flipping to the whims of an invisible hand.

  A silhouette of Poppy’s body filled in pages near the back of the book as words describing the technique rapidly filled in the pages. I read them as they appeared.

  Vascaran Void Fist appeared at the top, naming the technique. The text appearing on the pages went on to describe a dozen prerequisite [Skills] that needed to be unlocked, accumulated, and stacked together to create the foundation of [Skills] to learn the style. On top of that, it required both an Anti-Light core… and mana.

  Each of the forms Poppy practiced had been transcribed over ten pages. Then the book snapped shut and fell to the ground. I saw Poppy’s own copy change, falling to the floor on the other side of the room. Time unpaused. Poppy staggered to the ground as the pressure holding us in place disappeared.

  [Scenario complete!]

  [Generating rewards…]

  [Damaged Spirit Repair Progress: 22%]

  [Legacy Authority Two Progress: 15%]

  “What was that?” Poppy asked as she stood. She looked to me in alarm.

  The golem stepped out of the way, leaving the door open.

  I waited for a moment. If that old ghost was going to talk to me, he wasn’t doing it right now. He said that whenever there was additional Change harvested he had the power to alter the scenarios. I wasn’t eager to explain his existence — or the power of the scepter giving me authority over the legacy.

  If he did take control of the scenario, he didn’t decide to show himself.

  “I think you just invented a new cultivation technique.” I said, standing from the bed and picking up the technique manual. There must have been a hundred blank pages before Poppy’s technique. “And the Legacy seems to have recorded it…”

  A cultivation Legacy that could record new techniques was unthinkable. This was far beyond the level of any formation I had ever heard of, even those from myth and legend.

  Poppy looked at the exit, then back to me.

  “You’re going to be able to beat this thing once I’m on the other side, yes?”

  “Of course.” I said with a confident nod. I pulled my sword from the bed and attached it to my belt before striding through the sand. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  Poppy stepped through the threshold with a nervous expression before turning back. There was more scenario space on the other side; I didn’t think this scenario was finished yet.

  The golem stepped back in place. I freed my sword and circled it with a confident smile.

  Even at its fastest speed, the statue wasn’t enough to truly challenge me. As I crossed within ten paces, the golem changed. It’s mouth turned upward into a smile.

  A wave of green fire echoed out from the golem’s heart, and the stone changed from cold gray to jade. When the golem crossed the space between us, it was a blur.

  When our blades crashed into eachother, they stop silently. Anti-light met anti-light, consuming all sound and force. The golem’s blade was coated in black I froze. A laugh echoed through the air. It’s fist landed in my stomach, sending me flying twenty feet, the air gone from my lungs. I slid across the ground without letting go of my sword, pulling myself up in time to see the door to the next room slam shut, separating Poppy and me.