“Thank you, Alex,” Kuaisu said with an apologetic grimace as Alex gently lifted her now well-padded form up to the air vent leading outside. She gazed longingly at the lush jungle maze they were now leaving, even if the fruit-laden maze had been stripped free of countless rip prizes rich in spiritual energy. “Even though we collected the entirety of that gold-tier beast and properly dressed our kill… I would have loved a chance to explore that wonder’s lost secrets.”

  Alex flashed a bittersweet smile, quietly promising himself and the doomed sanctuary that he would be doing his best to plant at least a few of those precious seeds into the tiny grove he had made in the world above as he slipped free of the lush warm paradise that had come so close to claiming so many of their lives… bracing himself for the brisk chill that to the others felt like death’s winter come at last. “Me too. But Lao Tie is right. We have a duty to secure the city that goes far beyond our personal fortunes. And how ironic would it be if our lives were to be lost to greed and a city’s future hopes as well?”

  He shrugged, nodding to the others as he gently slipped free of the Wind’s embrace for his feet to touch the snow that supported his weight without issue, thanks to a now supernaturally attuned Lightness technique that made traveling through snow drifts that most of their party needed snow shoes for effortless.

  “There is that,” Kuaisu agreed, flashing Tang and Wu Xien both relieved smiles. “And seeing as I’m missing half my leg…”

  Alex winced. “We’re going to get that healed. One way or another.”

  This earned a sad sigh. “Boy do I hope so. Because as much as I love the idea of being feted as one of the city’s heroes… I’d much rather enjoy it on two whole feet.”

  “Agreed!” said Lao Tie. “And we’ll make treating you all and making your full recovery our top priority as soon as we’re granted royal audience!” He turned to Alex, eyes still alight with the fires of excitement, even if his cheeks were blue with how cold the howling winds were blowing… despite Ya Ling now doing all she could to surround them in a protective ward of buffering air that Linnea did her best to heat up.

  Alex furrowed his brow. There could be no doubt… it truly had gotten colder. Drastically so. And whether it was simple chance or presaged far greater perils soon to come, Alex knew there was only one course of action it made sense to take.

  “Come on. Let’s get out of here just as fast as we can.”

  “Damn right,” Tang agreed, rubbing his bandaged side even as he helped a stumbling Wu Xien forward. “That bastards of a cat left its mark on both of us, beyond what even our… companion’s potions can cure.”

  “Not to mention costing me a leg,” Kuaisu said with a wry smirk from Alex’s right shoulder, his left now holding a trembling Rachel, who’s haunted gaze and pale grey lips filled him with such alarm that he didn’t hesitate to send a steady stream of potency into her, earning grateful smile and a kiss on his cheek.

  “Thank you, hero,” she whispered, before her dusky cheeks flushed, all the more so when Linnea glared her way, before easing her expression to a wry smile.

  “I guess that’s acceptable. He is carrying you like the hero he is... and your natural gifts will serve our future clan well.” Linnea turned to beam at Ya Ling who was, in fact, carrying her. “Isn’t that right, sister-wife?”

  Ya Ling’s cheeks flushed before the bemused smirks of their boon companions. “I’m just glad that everyone made it out alive.”

  “So am I,” Lao Tie said in quiet agreement, gazing fondly at his fellows. “So are we all.”

  He then turned to gaze at the direction he swore the rift out of there could be found, Alex and Rachel both dismayed to find that the lichen patches she had worked so hard to create, that Alex had thought such a useful lifeline for so many reasons, had been both flash frozen and covered by at least half a foot of powdery snow.

  “We’re just a mile out, and if we can keep up with our Ruidian friend’s pace…”

  “Won’t be a problem, Lao,” Tang assured, sharing a tired smile with Wu.

  “Damn right it won’t,” Alex said with a smile of his own, continuing what he had been subtly doing since they had first left the delve.

  You have shared a portion of your potency with: All Node-linked party members!

  Healing rate has accelerated. Frostbite has been mitigated.

  You have consumed 0.001% of free potency.

  Ya Ling’s eyes widened. She turned to Alex, flashing him a smile and mouthing the word ‘thank you.’

  Alex grinned, though his smile became strained with how intently the others, no fools, were looking at him.

  Tang shared a snort, for all that his pace had visibly picked up, the color returning to his cheeks. “I never heard about him being a healer in the tales, have you?”

  Wu Xien chuckled. “Certainly we’re making a tale worthy of the bards today!”

  A flushing Alex, hating even to acknowledge all that was being implied, cleared his throat, catching Lao Tie’s gaze.

  “Lao.., about what we talked about…”

  He raised his hand. “Fear not, friend Alex. I know you’re here ‘undercover,’ eager to serve the royal family in the most discrete of fashions. Of course we don’t take certain rumors and old dusty tales too seriously. And unwanted fame will make your ability to blend in all the more difficult. I understand. So I promise you, not a single one of my companions will whisper a word about the role you played in our tale this day.”

  Kaisu snorted. “Wait, really? After all that work, taking on a Gold-tier beast and, not to put too fine a point on it, saving all our lives like a damn hero in a story book… this boy wants to fade away into quiet obscurity?” She peered thoughtfully down from the shoulder of the youth carrying her and Rachel through the bitter cold. “In how many of the tales did the Fox’s disciple ever shy away from glory?”

  Alex winced, his cheeks blazing. The only reason why he didn’t trip over his own two feet with that left-field declaration being that his Silver-tier finesse would allow nothing but perfection at this point.

  Tang held the snorting woman’s gaze. “In all the tales with happy endings, Kuaisu. In all the tales you’d actually want to live in.”

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  “If the boy truly wanted obscurity… then why the hell hasn’t he dyed his hair?”

  Alex opened his mouth, at a momentary loss for words. Because he couldn’t say that it was because he had grown so used to Shadow Qi and the cloak of obscurity Kitsune were naturally so gifted with, or that, at least at first, no one seemed to think much of his straw-blonde hair at all. But now that he thought about it… why the hell didn’t he done just that?

  “That’s actually a very good point,” he allowed with a rueful smile. “I guess… let’s just say I hadn’t paid that much attention to old dusty tales, as you put it, until it all just sort of smacked me in the face. But now that a couple good deeds on my end are serving as kindling for juicy rumors… perhaps I should do just that?”

  “Ooh… that’s a good spin on it! Sow doubt, deny everything, without telling any lies at all! Technically, I mean. So your cultivation base is still intact. Right?”

  Alex smirked at Linnea’s twinkling eyes and impish grin.

  “It wouldn’t hurt, kid,” Kuaisu allowed. “You’re clearly a genius, you hardly look older than any number of talented boys and girls still clearing their meridians, and you’re at least as strong as Wu Xien and as quick as me.”

  “Stronger,” Wu Xien assured with a chuckle that became a shiver. “But damn it’s gotten cold.”

  “And he’s faster than all of us,” Tang concurred with a respectful nod Alex’s way. “We’re it otherwise… none of us would be here.”

  “Stronger, faster, and he can cultivate the elements. Multiple elements. Not just enhance his Strength and physical resilience, as is the norm for most body cultivators,” Lao Tie declared, beaming warmly Alex’s way. “No wonder rumors are circulating about our exceptionally gifted friend. Just one of the reasons why we will keep our secret close… and dare I say it, Kuaisu does have a good point. Dying your hair Black… or red, to match your Ruidian wife, would serve you well if discretion is now your watchword.”

  Alex couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “You’re right. That’s something I’ll be looking into, just as soon as things calm down.” Alex felt a lurch in his gut that was equal parts anxiety and excitement as he sensed the rift between worlds, just ahead.

  “I see the gate,” he said, locking eyes with Lao.

  Lao dipped his head, pulling free one of the exceedingly valuable but by no means priceless cores of mixed elements, along with the others, all secured to an inner pouch. Alex alone now holding all evidence of storage pouches securely hidden. “I’m ready. And though I think you’re being a bit overzealous, friend Alex, I can’t really fault you, considering the value of our prize.”

  Tang, panting due to imperfectly healed injuries and forcing himself through the snow despite the bitter cold, nodded. “The boy makes a good point, though. No need to reveal to the Spring faction just how valuable our real prize truly is. And the shattered Deep Silver core with so much ice that could replenish the valley if used in the right formations… declaring that as our glorious find is enough. Enough to be worth a tiny tale of hope, all on its own.” He gave a satisfied nod. “And this way, there’s less chance… far, far less chance of middlemen who would normally not even think of treachery giving in to once-in-a-lifetime temptation and claiming the true royal prizes that should be ours. A betrayal that we might not even survive, should all of Spring Faction or at least their masters decide that our inconvenient removal is worth the stain to their honor and perhaps a strain to their cultivation… should the result be that their sect would be given perpetual rule over the entire academy, and the delves.”

  Lao Tie paled. “Tang, an act of treachery that heinous… for those stakes…” He sighed, before giving a rueful chuckle. “Is something that absolutely any clan head would do in a heartbeat for the sake of his extended family, his people. Even if, in all other ways, save for that singular betrayal, he might live his life as an honorable man.”

  Linnea nodded. “The only other option is that we declare to the world our glory. Our find! So that the entire academy and then the entire caldera is alive with the wondrous tales of our feats that would spread like wildfire! The farthest thing from anything that sect elders would be able to spin or control. Elders who would no doubt urge us to keep things discrete before scooting us aside to give us our reward, which, for a Gold-tier Water Core and a guaranteed thousand years of a filled caldera lake and the wondrous prosperity that would ensue, is utterly beyond their ability to match... so they would just give us death instead!”

  “But then we’d have to worry about the Red Prince catching wind of our incredible find and making it impossible to plant that core into the ritual site,” Ya Ling warned her sometimes still impulsive friend. “And then the soft conquest of influence and enticement would instantly become a hard, bitter siege, assuming they didn’t break through in record time with the help of those Silver-tier assassins you told us about, Alex.”

  Tang gave a pained shake of his head. “Damn if I don’t feel like we’ve all grabbed the fox’s tale and are just trying to figure out how to let go in time.”

  Lao Tie glared at his abashed friend who shrugged.

  “It’s just an expression, Lao.”

  “Of course. Which is why the path we’ve chosen makes so much sense! Your idea for cover is exactly what we’ll use! We don’t hesitate to show our bright-eyed excitement with the speckled hybrid cores and most especially the shattered core with so much Ice with shards that can at least provide a season or so of much needed water for all. That’s the source of our triumph, and we’ll have good cause to celebrate. But when we head out, after assuring that our friends are either fully mended or on the road to recovery… that’s when we make our way to the palace.”

  Alex nodded, more relieved that he cared to admit that they had made it back without any hostile encounters at all, having kept his senses sharp for anything above or below as his friends shivered before the increasingly biting winter winds. It was a bitter pill to realize that perhaps this was, in effect, a countdown of sorts. That daring to find a way into that maze had catalyzed a timer unlocking a priceless font of knowledge and fortuitous encounters… and far from racing to unlock those wondrous secrets... he had fled the maze and the mysterious tower locked within entirely.

  Because some things were far more important than unlocking one more esoteric secret that might or might not enhance his potential. Because what was certain was that his friends were unlikely to survive any further encounters, and with a Golden Water Core that, according to Nili, might assure upwards of a thousand years of water and prosperity for this city-sized oasis in the desert sands upon which so many lives counted upon… how the hell could he not do all he could to see this through?

  Because even if his friends had found a priceless treasure of pristine Bronze Ice that would secure them for a decade… the treasure he had plucked free from the Tiger that could have so easily killed them all would keep Wanshi safe for centuries. And, perhaps just as importantly, if a fresh Water or Ice core of any strength would renew Wanshi’s protective wards that Alex still understood too little of… what boons would a Gold tier enhanced caldera allow for? Would it be enough to push back even Dongfang Hong’s hidden Golden elites and assure Wanshi’s prosperity, or at least its independence and self sufficiency, no matter how savage an empire Dongfang Hong tried to forge within these deserts?

  On a happier note, just how sweet and profitable would the delves be then? Could this be a first tiny step to unlocking paths that might one day see an entire desert brought back to rich, fecund life once more?

  He swallowed a pained lump at his throat, humbled by just how much he had to atone for… in a life he still only had the faintest inklings of. Yet he refused to feel guilt for a past he had no control over, after having suffered travesties so great that he and those closest to him had actually felt vindicated in doing whatever it was that they had done. No. Best not to think about it, and risk ripping open old scabs to bleed anew.

  Better to take solace in creating a beautiful future for as many souls as he could… even as he walked ever closer to the cusp of his own wondrous ascension.

  He flashed a smile filled with hope for his friends.

  They had a plan. They knew exactly how to handle what would no doubt be both polite and exceedingly interested Spring sect staff. Even Sun La, should earlier ire have returned, will have cause to think well of him now.

  “Are we ready, guys?” Alex axed as he stood before the shimmering gate between worlds.

  Lao Tie nodded. “I believe we’ve covered all our bases, Alex. Come. Let’s go through. With luck, we’ll be at the palace by sunset, and no one will be the wiser!”

  Alex forced a nod even as his heart began to pound, his body flush with heat and energy despite the howling winds causing everyone else to freeze. Because a peaceful end to this tale after such a miraculous find was the last thing he would ever expect. And if trouble was coming…

  He flashed a hard smile, preparing himself for whatever was beyond the gate as he touched it and stepped through.