Blue mist flowed like streams into Banda from the Mana Crystals around him. He absorbed it all patiently, until the crystals were depleted and the foreign mana swirling within him reached the limits of his grasp.

  He cycled the mana through his network of paths and meridians converting it into his own aura, and pushed it all into the meridian of his left wrist. Just as he had done with the right, he swirled the dense ball of aura carefully and violently until the meridian broke open and repaired itself anew.

  Banda exhaled softly in the wake of his second success. Yesterday he had finally expanded the first meridian he opened to its limits, about twice as large as its starting size, which meant he could move on to the next.

  The two meridians on wrists fully governed the flow of aura used for both of his martial arts. Now that they were properly opened, he would be able to use them far more easily.

  Though that was merely his priority. The state of the meridians heavily affected all basic techniques, so it would only be after he opened all of them that the gates of his potential would be truly opened.

  Banda supposed that was why this second stage was called Outer Gates. He had not paid much care to the labels of human power, not this one nor the first stage Spirit Tempering, but he had learned many words in the past few weeks. And those words taught him many things he had not known before.

  “Spar?” Eres asked.

  “No.” Banda placed a few pieces of mundane items in front of him and began to carve runes.

  “You haven’t been making much time for me lately.” Eres complained.

  “Learn a craft.” Banda spoke bluntly. Sparring and training were good, but a craft gave power faster.

  “...I’ll think about it.” The deeper nature of Eres’ words were lost on Banda, as he was too focused in his pursuit.

  Banda’s eyes suddenly sharpened and halted his clawed finger. The weapon with the half finished rune broke apart but he cared not one bit. Banda gave Eres a silent look, and her demeanor also turned serious.

  Strangers broke through the doors and damaged walls of the shack. Banda flung the runecarved items at his feet, shattering the skulls of two intruders.

  Behind him Eres blasted a small group with a mass of aura, sending their broken bodies to crash open a larger doorway, as she channelled aura in her other hand. She thrust out a palm of aura that dented in a man’s chest.

  The body of the muscular man slammed another against the wall. The thin masked man shoved his dead ally away but his movements had been delayed enough for a destructive mass of aura to break him apart.

  A giant of man in full armor effortlessly broke through the wall of the building as he charged towards Eres. She struck him with a Palm Blast that would have slain most, but the man’s armor held up with mere minor wounds.

  He raised his greataxe through bloodied teeth, and Banda mauled him apart. Like a rabid beast, Banda blurred around, killing his enemies with ruthless efficiency.

  “Spare one!” Eres shouted.

  Banda got to the last and broke his leg clean at the shin. He stood over the human yelling in agony as Eres calmly joined his side.

  “Who sent you?” She asked coldly.

  “...if you don’t let me go… you will die!” The man spoke through pained groans and labored breath. And Banda crushed his hand.

  “You will die if you do not answer my questions.” Eres told him as he writhed on the floor.

  “A-alright! Tath… We work for Tath. She wants you dead… ‘cause you attacked her younger brother!” The man quickly changed his tune.

  “Who?” Eres asked with genuine confusion.

  “In the bazaar… The one you blasted.” He explained further.

  “Really…?” Eres showed partial disbelief. “I didn’t even kill him.”

  “She’s… not one to let insults like that stand.”

  “Well… no matter. This saves us some trouble.” Eres interest in such an insignificant encounter ended there. She had something more important to ask. “Why is Tath buying so many herbs.”

  The man paused a moment too long, and Banda broken his arm.

  “She eats them!” The man yelled out. “It’s all she’s been doing the past month. I don’t know why.

  “She must have obtained some sort of trait.” Eres mused to herself. “What does it do?”

  “I don’t know for sure.” The man was far more loose with his tongue now. “I think she’s cultivating faster. She might even be in the second stage of Rank 2. Please… She doesn’t tell us anything, that’s all I know. Please let me go.”

  “Sure.” Eres said casually, and Banda killed him with a single swipe to no surprise of her own.

  “We should kill this human.” Banda asserted.

  “Yes.” Eres agreed, knowing full well he was speaking of the Rank 2 slumlord. “But don’t kill her right away. I have some things to ask first.”

  ---

  “It’s taking too long…” Muud grumbled. The open vest of the muscular bald man was now replaced with low grade leather armor that he taken to wear at all times.

  “Shut up.” A red haired woman with lean muscles seated on a carved wooden chair snapped at him. All his pacing and whining grated on her mind like nails on stone. “This is all because you got embarrassed by some no name greenhorn.”

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  Muud grit most of his frustrations away. But only most. “They’re still taking too long.”

  “They’re obviously dead, you fool.” Tath said, her indifferent tone in contrast with her twitching fingers. Though her mood worsened in annoyance at the sight of her wide eyed fool of a brother. “Why are you surprised? Use your brain for once.”

  “How?” He asked, his frustrations slowly turning to concern. “Was it those two?”

  “Otto must have done something. They might be more important than I thought…” Tath rose to her feet as she thought out loud. As she passed by, she kicked her brother as though on a whim. “Look at the mess you’ve gotten me into!”

  A feral blur lunged in the opening and clawed at Tath’s throat. She managed to lean back just slightly and kick him away, but the attack was successful. Banda slide across the ground on his feet in a pouncing stance as blood gushed from the slumlord’s neck.

  But to his surprise, a viscous green sap seeped out along with the deep red blood, and within moments her wound was healed.

  Tath’s muscles swelled with aura and her skin turned to iron. “Kill the girl!” She yelled at her brother as she charged towards her feral assassin.

  Banda blocked her hammering fist but the weight of it buckled his legs slightly. She had become stronger. Her Harness technique was superior to his own, but he had not used his own yet.

  Tath raised her other fist and Banda mauled her away, his own muscles tightening and swelling now. The slumlord burst to her feet and charged Banda again.

  He ducked under her kick and swiped at her gut, but his claws left only shallow scratches. He sidestepped the punch that followed and planted a skull-shattering punch on her jaw, but the impact only slightly dented it.

  Banda darted back to create some space. Her human trick that made her whole body like metal was stronger than most he had seen. A mid grade technique at least, he guessed. But it was no true threat.

  He held his clawed right hand open and clenched his left into a fist, turning them both to iron. Tath charged and Banda lunged with her.

  She was more skilled than the weaklings he had just killed, but she was nothing compared to what he had seen. Banda dominated the bare-fisted iron human, denting and clawing away without end. None of her strikes landed, while each one of his piled on more and more damage.

  Shock filled Tath’s eyes with each exchange. Though shock turned to indignation and another change happened.

  She roared as her eyes turned bloodshot and the bitter stench of herbs filled the room. Green veins swelled along the dark gray color of her iron body, and she charged faster than before.

  She was like a mindless beast now, her attacks reckless and fierce and unskilled. But she had become much stronger. Twice as strong as Banda, even with his use of Harness.

  Banda didn’t hesitate in the face of a strong opponent. He pushed his Feral Form past his limits. His face grew more monstrously bestial and his body more twisted and feral. He bashed her face with a rapid strike, sending her crashing over the floor and lunged after without mercy.

  Tath fought hard, but all her strength and ferocity were nothing before a true savage. He ripped and dented into her more destructively than ever. Green blood even started to seep through her wounds.

  She struck back in desperation but hit only air, and Banda landed a blow that made her cough a mouthful of blood. For the first time, realization that she would lose showed on her face, and Tath glanced around for a way out.

  At the other end of the room amidst a floor of bodies, Eres blasted aura at Muud. The graceless man pulled an underling in front of as a shield to survive it, but her Flying Palm that followed cracked his leather armor and knocked him off his feet.

  He looked up in fear as Eres channelled violent aura in a palm, and Tath made her move.

  She lunged at Eres, taking Banda’s clawed slash clean as she went, and grasped her hand at her chosen hostage. Eres’ sight drifted into direction just in time, and a giant shield appeared to block the iron hand.

  Tath didn’t even have the time to register the disembodied arm of mana that appeared out of thin air before the faint thought of death crossed her mind. It was far too vague to be called a sense and came from far too deep within her mind to reach her thoughts.

  Instinctively, she curled her arms over the back of her neck just as Banda clawed down. Tath smashed into the ground, and before he could strike again, a purple fog exploded from her body and filled the entire room.

  Banda’s eyes went alert. He held his breath and appeared by Eres’ side in a blur, and clapped his hands together like thunder. The rush of wind blew an open space in the fog around them.

  But it was too late. Eres coughed up a splash of blood into her hand as blood trickled down his own mouth as well. Muud spluttered and violently coughed in the corner behind them, faring far worse.

  “You’ll never get the cure if you kill me!” Tath raised her hand as Banda’s feral gaze slid towards her. “It’s a slow acting poison. Takes five days to kill. I’m the only one on this worthless floor who can produce the antidote.”

  Tath walked around them as she spoke, towards her younger brother. She undid the Iron Body technique around her fist and clenched it until it bleed a light green sap. Muud caught in it his palms and drank without hesitation. Color returned to his face and his constant coughing ceased.

  “The only way you get the antidote is if you work for me.” Tath declared with a renewed air of authority.

  “...Doing what?” Eres asked as she held her composure.

  “Gathering herbs.” The slumlord spoke plainly.

  More liquid seeped from her hand, duller than before, which congealed into two small gel-like balls. She tossed them over to the pair who casually caught them, but refrained from anything more.

  “A partial antidote.” Tath explained. “It’ll delay the poison, but it won’t cure it. Wouldn’t want you dying before it’s worth my while.”

  Banda smelled green pill in his hand with suspicion. After a moment’s thought, he swallowed it whole and the effects of the poison subsided at once. He gave Eres an approving look and she eat hers.

  “How many?” Eres asked, still giving little of her thoughts away.

  “Until I say it’s enough.” Tath asserted. “How long that takes depends on you.”

  “...Alright.” Eres agreed to her conditions. Though they was more like demands. They could kill her, certainly, but then they would have no means to deal with the poison. And she did not suspect Tath was foolish enough to surrender the cure through torture. In practice, the situation bore little difference to the Soul Seed which kept them enthralled to Otto.

  “That antidote will only last a day. You still have some light left.” Tath gestured them to the door with a smile, and the pair left in silence.

  ---

  Eres slammed open the door of the apothecary for the third time. “How does one harvest herbs?” She demanded.

  “...it takes skill.” Gurda answered through a sullen face. She was becoming displeasing used to these intrusions. “Most herbs need to be harvested a specific way. Ignorant hands will ruin them.”

  “And where can we find them?” Eres continued.

  “Herbs are everywhere. You just need to know where to look. The denser the mana in the area, the more herbs. Higher grade ones only grow in the densest environments. Around here, that’s in the mountain ranges.”

  “As are the stronger monsters.” Eres added with a slightly accusatory tone. She found the old hag’s intentions obvious. “I imagine you have a book on herbalism…”

  Banda stepped nearer, and Gurda’s expression worsened. She took out a book from the shelf behind and place it on the counter for her to take. Banda brought it over to Eres who skimmed through the pages before taking her leave.

  Eres sighed in annoyance after they left. “Enthralled to two people now. And this one is even more unstable… Tath won’t hold up her end. Not for long. And she’s seen the Avatar Arm. We need to kill her and that goon of a brother. After we use this book of herbs to find something that can cure us.”

  “It’s your fault this time.” Banda’s blunt words caught her off guard.

  A silence held between them for a moment, then Eres smiled back at him. Her eyes settled into an eerie calm, though there was a trace of something more profound deeper within. Something cold and resentful.

  “I suppose it is.”