I skipped breakfast, heading to the grass field outside the small hut where we planned to meet. I half expected the grassland to be turned into an arena or training grounds found in the Empire’s barracks. Nothing had changed besides the artificial sun acting like the morning sun.

  “There’s only so much I can teach you,” Tom said, raising his head from meditation. He sat cross-legged and wore baggy clothes. His feet were bare, and the legs of his pants and shirt sleeves were rolled up. A strand of grass stuck out of his mouth, which he managed to keep still as he spoke. “Your foundation has been established.”

  “You make it sound like this isn’t good.”

  Tom sighed. He motioned for me to sit beside him, so I did. The grounder eyed my feet, raising a brow, noticing something out of place. He maintained the look until I reluctantly removed my shoes, returning them to Lana’s ring.

  “What do you know about body essence?”

  I struggled to answer the question, debating whether I needed to dive deep into the knowledge I had or give basic answers. However, upon searching the depths of my mind, I found my deep knowledge was relatively shallow.

  “Body essence is one of three foundations of the soul. It can be cultivated by training the body in strength, agility, and endurance. The body is the easiest essence to acquire and is predominately the base essence for cultivators.”

  “Meh.” Tom shook his head. A response I deserved for giving him the most rote answer I could conjure. Figured.

  “In the Empire, the path of body cultivation is simple: Get strong, get hurt, and survive.”

  “And what’s your rank in the path?” Tom asked. It was another lowball question, one that he probably already had an answer for.

  “My body is at rank six.”

  Tom placed a hand on the ground, closing his eyes. “Three ranks in agility. One in endurance. Two in strength. You have nine ranks in the mind path, which has been reforged.” Tom caught his breath, absorbing the information he’d gathered. “The Deliverer be damned. Interesting path for a ranger.” Undoubtedly, he’d noticed my platinum mind essence with his scan.

  “I don’t plan to stay on the path of ranger,” I said.

  “Nor should you… But why bother with any other path than the mind? Build to your strength.”

  “And that is?” My question was more of a test for Tom on whether he believed me.

  Tom hesitated. His eyes remained closed, and both hands touched the ground. I was tempted to close my eyes as well so that I wouldn’t feel so exposed. Which was an odd feeling given the current arrangement.

  “So the loop is real?” Tom opened his eyes, reaching a conclusion to his study.

  “Yes.”

  Tom nodded and stood up as if the ground had launched him to his feet. “There is much more to the body pathway than fighting and getting hurt. The Empire has dumbed down the essence in favor of quantity over quality. Fortunately, you were not born in the Empire but on an island. One which has deep roots tied to Mauna.

  “Still, there will be much that needs to be done in order to get your path straightened. Especially if balance is that path you seek.”

  “Does that mean a reset?” I asked.

  “If you were to continue on your current path of cultivation, your body wouldn’t be able to reforge any further than silver. At that point, it would be of little benefit to your platinum mind. I’m sure you’ve already noticed your actions fall behind your mental capacity.”

  I nodded. If it weren’t for the limits of my body, there was a good chance I could beat Tom in a dual. If I could move my body fast enough, I could dodge his attacks and land several of my own. I might even damage him through his thick armor with a perfect slash.

  “It won’t be a full reset. I don’t have the skill to do that or think it is necessary. As I said, your time in Kukoa started you on the right path. That being said,” a worried expression came over Tom, “there’s a lot that needs to be done.”

  “So…”

  “If you want to pursue this path, it’s going to hurt,” Tom said, his grin a mix of excitement and anxiety.

  “I’m prepared.”

  “Do you have any healing potions in that ring or healing skills?”

  “Both.”

  “Good. In order to reset your body, I need to break it…”

  “Oh. You said it wouldn’t be a full reset.”

  “I also said a lot of work needed to be done. So…”

  I downed a potion and lay down.

  “You need to stay alive through the process. Don’t fully heal, but don’t let yourself slip. If I see you are passing, I’ll administer the potions. If you have a meditation technique to dull the pain, that would be helpful, too.

  “Wait, have you done this before?”

  “A little late to be asking.” Fern-colored energy pulled the ground around me, covering my body and leaving only my head in the open.

  “Tom?”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Feint aromas of musty iron and tangy grass crawled toward my face. I blinked, hoping to fight back the surmounting fear associated with the scent. The faint aroma became richer and more potent, smelling of decayed matter. It was chalky, sour, and had a hint of wood.

  “Well, if I get this wrong, you can teach me to do better in the future.” Maniacal laughter dampened as the rest of my face was buried.

  All at once, the pressure of the entire world crashed into me. The very dirt causing my agony stopped the screams from leaving the mouth I couldn’t open.

  Doubts crept in as I endured the resetting process. Was this even a process? What did I really know about Tom? Should he be doing this?

  Get strong. I tried to cast the doubt aside. This was all part of the path. Tom was a sage-ranked body cultivator. That made him far more qualified in this essence than me. He trained with the Silvers. He taught the marines and established the basis of their current training regime.

  Get hurt. Sogg’s breath. This hurt. I've experienced plenty of terrible things in my life. Most of which happened in the loop. I liked to think I was accustomed to pain. As my body was crushed and broken, I assured myself, this didn’t even qualify as top five… maybe top six. That didn’t help, and as the process drew on, I questioned the whole ranking system.

  Survive. I didn’t know how long I was underground. Every inch of me ached, and the earth kept squeezing. My soul wanted to rip apart. Only a part of it needed to break. Body essence proved to be stubborn, refusing to allow itself to be reset. I nearly blacked out several times, only pushing away the darkness, with waves of cyan energy pumping through my channels. I needed to make it through this.

  “Deliver’s rusted pole.” I couldn’t breathe. I needed to get out. I needed out. Air… I couldn’t move. The pressure lessened.

  Ki—

  Darkness took me…

  I woke up to the sound of feet trampling through the forest. A mana-enriched breeze stirred the forest, unmasking wild energy to the north. The rustling noises rapidly moved away from me toward the chaotic energy.

  My heart beat wildly. I grasped at the pain in my body, hoping to dull it.

  You Died—What in the Great Abyss were you doing?

  Bloody notifications. I knew I had died and exactly how. Definitely top five. Sorry, Cal, I sent the flayen a message. I was trying to reset my body essence.

  Body Cultivation Reset FAILED.

  Thanks.

  I will have you know, Cal said. The clone and I were making significant progress on the system.

  That’s funny. The latest notifications have still had your flair.

  Cal remained silent, which worried me.

  Cal? Cal? CAL?

  This clone was a bit more amenable than I thought it would be.

  What does that mean? I asked.

  Silence.

  What does that mean? Cal, what does that mean?

  “Well... you know how you tested the other splits before assigning them tasks?

  Oh. Shit.

  Sogg’s breath indeed. You might actually want to see this.

  I was in my mindscape a breath later. Cal greeted me with his split in tow.

  The split looked significantly different. For one, minus the tentacles, he shared facial features similar to those of the flayen. The biggest concern was that I was no longer connected to my split as I was to the others.

  “I promise this was not my intention,” Cal said, hand on his heart, face full of worry.

  “Nor mine, Master,” the split said, sounding just like Cal, earning him a crossed look.

  “You hijacked my mind.”

  “Old news.”

  “Again.”

  “Not on purpose.” Cal looked at the split with a hint of fondness and back at me. “Kill it and start again.”

  “Indeed, Master. I am not worthy of your focus.”

  “I… Thi—” That was unexpected. I was stumped. Was I upset? And with who? If anyone was to blame, it had to be me. “Will he work?”

  “Better than expected. He is nearly capable of running the system on his own. I just want to do a little more testing to ensure this works perfectly. We need more feedback.”

  “I don’t care that he sounds like you, but stop wasting my time on Imperial speech. Keep the islander tongue, and I’ll let you keep the split.” Although I was worried about the split becoming disconnected from me, I was more curious about how it would turn out in the end... For the sake of science.

  After sending Cal and Cal 2.0 on their way, I quickly visited Slasher and Bower. Both were still engaged in their simple sword slashes and bow-shooting tasks. I ordered them to undergo stabilization tests and brought the other three splits to supervise.

  Confident I cleaned up all my loose ends, I left my mindscape, grabbed Icy, and headed toward the dungeon.

  ****

  “How am I supposed to breathe underground?” I asked after explaining to Tom the problem last time. He didn't understand or was trying extra hard to be ignorant—a stubborn trait of grounders found commonly in orcs.

  “You’re a dowser,” Tom said, reasoning his logic. “Breathing where you shouldn’t is your bread and butter.

  “It’s hardly signature… and that’s with water. I can’t breathe dirt.”

  “Should’ve said something.” Tom laughed, knowing full well I couldn’t. “Want to try again? I’ll leave some vent holes. They will be small but should suffice.”

  “If this doesn’t go right, is there a way we can cut out the dungeon test next round?” I asked Tom as I lay down. We were only on the second run through this iteration, and already, it all felt repetitive.

  “Do you have any way of preserving my memory through the loops?

  “Not that I know of.”

  “Do you have any Deepwater Sake stored in your ring?”

  “No.” Lana had kept some food and drink in her ring. Most of it was from her home of Lochland and Agoria. There was little from Mauna, none of which was the strong drink created in the City of Deepwater.

  “Then, nope.

  “Damn.” It’d be nice if we could shortcut this process. Especially if we needed more attempts to get it right. However, if I was dying, practicing with the sword and bow during the trial could be helpful. I was torn between faster results or more progression.

  “Look on the bright side,” Tom said. “You won’t suffocate this time. And I’ll be ready to heal you if you need it.” Tom uncorked one of the dozen healing potions I’d given to him and tipped it to me.

  I sank into the ground as the earth crushed my body. The pain was intense and unending. It felt like I was buried for days. I endured it all, feeling confident. Then I wasn’t. All at once, I became aware of the reality that I was being crushed underground.

  Survive. I needed to move. I needed to get out. Air. I needed to breathe. Were the holes clogged? I tried with all of my might to claw at the earth.

  “Deliver’s rusted pole.”

  I woke up to the sound of feet trampling through the forest. A mana-enriched breeze stirred the forest, unmasking wild energy to the north. The rustling noises rapidly moved away from me toward the chaotic energy.

  My heart beat wildly. I grasped at the pain in my body, hoping to dull it.

  You Died.

  Body Cultivation Reset FAILED.

  I breathed in deep and heavy.

  ****

  “The holes need to be bigger,” I said to Tom.

  “They can’t.”

  “I’m not sure you can do this,” I said, voicing all the doubt I had been trying to bury.

  “It’d help if I had notes.”

  “I knew it…”

  “It can be done,” Tom said. “How do you think the Silvers take in applicants outside of Mauna? It’s the very technique… I’ve just never done it. Watched it plenty of times, though. They also always had a healer at hand… and potions… and a good amount of liquor.

  You Died. Memory loss incurred .017%

  Body Cultivation Reset FAILED.

  What in the…?