After being introduced to the rest of Leona’s team, Elara brought Anthony and Pom to their rooms. For her teammates, she picked the two spare rooms closest to her own on the south side of the building. Handing them each a key before clapping her hands in satisfaction.

  “Good. You two get settled in. I need to take a bath and change out of these filthy undergarments. We can go for a tour around Highwarden after lunch!”

  Anthony waved goodbye to Elara and Pom before stepping into his new room. It was rather bare, containing only a bed, a meditation mat, a window, a dresser for clothing, and a small stand for weapons and armor. After walking over and pressing down on the bed with one hand, he shrugged dismissively at the firm resistance of the mattress.

  “Oh well, I’m not here to be comfortable.”

  After spending a few minutes gazing out the window toward the busy streets below, and quickly cleaning himself up, Anthony placed his armor on the stand and took a seat to complete his daily cultivation. Closing his eyes and resting one hand on each knee, he turned his attention to the spinning star of power that appeared whenever he focused on his own consciousness.

  It was always an odd experience to observe the star. Anthony couldn’t truly see inside his own being, yet when he closed his eyes and focused, the star rose in his mind as clearly as if it were right in front of him. It was so detailed that he could instantly detect any changes, whether it had grown slightly or increased its speed of rotation.

  As he began the cultivation process, tendrils of power were drawn away from the spinning star, like coronal ejections from the sun. The star itself had a strong pull on the power it contained, forcing Anthony to work hard to establish the circulatory system that would drive the energy throughout his body.

  When he finally succeeded, it felt like a gentle river of warm water flowing just beneath his skin. He diligently completed the process, letting out a satisfied breath as he opened his eyes an hour later.

  After finishing his basic cultivation practice, Anthony pulled out his cultivation journal and began to read:

  [Because the Fractured Path cultivation technique creates an autonomous nexus of power within its user, the energy cannot be drawn upon as directly as with most cultivation techniques. Though it can be slowly directed throughout the body during cultivation, this process is much too slow to be useful during combat. This is the tradeoff that must be overcome in exchange for gaining such a potent cultivation asset. However, if the user can master the difficult task of learning to expertly wield this energy, their potential will rise far beyond that of practitioners of conventional techniques.]

  According to the cultivation technique, Anthony should have waited a few months before attempting this next step in the process. Unfortunately, he had already been forced to endure the release of this power twice, and in his situation, it seemed like it might be more dangerous to wait than to proceed a bit early.

  Controlling this power was so difficult to learn because the foundation of each user's nexus was unique. Unleashing its power required intense emotional control, making the process highly individualized and unpredictable.

  The two times Anthony had accidentally triggered his nexus had both occurred during moments of tremendous emotional turmoil, each linked to his past trauma. The first was when his stepfather revealed his involvement in Anthony’s mother’s death. The second was when he encountered a situation so similar to his traumatic past that it triggered a flashback.

  To control his power properly, Anthony had to learn to regulate his emotional responses—an incredibly difficult task, especially for someone so young.

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  The cultivation journal outlined several methods to aid in this process, including the creation of what was called a nexus key. A nexus key was a mental image that the cultivator would use during meditation. The goal was to associate that image, to some extent, with the original traumatic memory. The stronger the association, the more power the key could release when used.

  If the connection was successful, the cultivator could trigger their nexus by focusing on the nexus key. However, a nexus key would always open a mental door of a fixed size, releasing the same amount of power each time. Yet, much more precise control of power was a requirement for nearly every martial technique.

  To gain finer control, multiple keys would need to be created, allowing the cultivator to cycle through them and access the appropriate amount of power for any given moment.

  In theory, this sounded simple. In practice, it was incredibly difficult. Nearly every attempt to create multiple keys ended in failure. While most cultivators could forge a single nexus key quite easily, only one in ten ever managed to develop multiple keys and attain true control over their power.

  Anthony slowly closed the journal, taking a deep breath as he shut his eyes and considered his next move.

  “For now, I’ll try to create a weak key. If I succeed, I can worry about making more over time.”

  Creating a weak key would allow Anthony to dampen his nexus whenever it was accidentally triggered in the future. While it was possible to suppress the nexus completely, doing so required meditation and clearing his mind—something that wasn’t feasible in dangerous situations.

  It was crucial to choose keys that wouldn’t come up in casual conversation. The image had to be unique enough that it wouldn’t be triggered accidentally. After a few minutes of thought, Anthony decided to base his keys on imaginary creatures, ensuring they were distinct and memorable.

  For his first key, he envisioned an ugly rodent with the horns of a goat and snake-like scales. He decided that as his keys grew stronger, the creatures representing them would look more powerful as well, helping his control by associating each creature with a certain power level. But for now, this weakest key would be embodied by a feeble-looking rodent.

  Anthony set his journal aside, closed his eyes, and spent the next half hour performing the mental exercise to link his chosen image to his nexus. This was a dangerous process, as there was always a risk of accidentally triggering the nexus while forging the connection.

  Which was exactly what happened a few minutes later.

  Luckily, because the key he was creating was weak, Anthony was able to clear his mind and endure the minor surge of energy without much effort.

  As the power settled, a small smile spread across his face. The triggering of his nexus was proof that the first key had been successfully created. Anthony sat still for a few moments, blinking quickly as a look of slight confusion crossed his face.

  “That was… easy.”

  Anthony shrugged at the unexpected ease of the task as he rose to his feet before walking over to the armor rack and drawing his sword from its sheath.

  The next moment, the grin on his face widened a great deal. When the image of the snake-scaled rat surfaced in his mind, a faint red glow began to shine along the length of the blade in his hand.

  Anthony watched for a few moments as the glow grew to a modest brightness before it gradually faded, then he rushed out of his room and down the stairs towards the training room without delay to test his new ability.

  Pushing open the door of an empty training room, he glanced around before walking to the wall and pulling a wooden dummy into position. Taking a fighting stance, he took an initial swing without activating his nexus, in order to gauge the power of his normal attacks.

  The sharp black blade bit into the solid wood of the dummy, sinking about two inches before coming to a stop. After pulling out his blade and inspecting the damage, Anthony stepped back and prepared for his next strike.

  This time, he triggered his nexus with his newly created key. The same red glow flickered to life along the weapon’s edge. Raising his sword high, he swung down hard on the dummy’s left arm. The blade sank almost four inches down this time before coming to a stop.

  As the glow faded from the blade, Anthony sheathed his weapon and leaned his face forward to closely examine the wounds on the dummy. Anthony’s eyes slightly narrowed as he observed the damage, rubbing his chin as he considered the two different cuts.

  “Hmm. Even such a weak key is capable of doubling the cutting power of my basic attacks. How strong would a full powered attack be?”