A scream of absolute agony tore itself from Roy’s throat as the core sank into his hand. He felt as though his body were on fire from the inside, and he could feel the core burrowing deeper into his skin. His body was locked in place, however, and he didn’t so much as twitch as the burning pain traveled up his arm. It eventually settled in the center of his chest, but the pain didn’t stop there.
Roy saw, in his mind’s eye, as the core shot out hundreds of thin white tendrils. They traveled throughout his body, searing lines into his bones, muscles, skin, and nerves. They traveled up to his head and all the way to the bottoms of his feet. Then, a loud, crunching, popping sound came as his legs began knitting themselves back together.
An almost unbearable itching followed a moment later, and Roy felt as though something was crawling from the side of his head. His skin burned white-hot, and a foul black liquid began oozing from his pores. Through it all, Roy was frozen, stuck bearing the pain as channels were seared into his flesh, his body fixed of all its physical damage, and years of built-up impurities were simultaneously expelled.
When this process happened at the age of five or six, there would be no pain, and only a small amount of impurities would be ejected from the body. The channels were not formed right away either but were set up by the Martial Artist over the next few years as they cultivated on their chosen Advancement Path. For Roy, a twenty-year-old who had never even formed a core, it all happened at once.
The entire process took roughly fifteen minutes, but to Roy, it felt like an eternity. Finally, the pain began receding to a dull ache, and after a few more moments, it faded entirely, leaving Roy panting on his back in a pool of foul-smelling black liquid.
6
Roy took in a deep, shuddering breath and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. The first thing he noticed was the smell. Putrid and rank, it overwhelmed him, until he felt something else brushing against his senses. He gasped as he was suddenly overwhelmed by his surroundings. He could feel several different things vying for his attention, all pressing down on him at once, and when he opened his eyes, the cave lit up in brilliant, multicolored light.
He flinched back, blinking rapidly until the light faded from his vision. Once the lights faded, the stench hit him once again, but Roy found that despite that, he felt better than ever. Looking down at his legs, he felt his heart skip a beat. Both legs stuck out straight before him, his right a mirror to his left. He stared, moving his ankle around just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
It moved without trouble or even an ounce of pain. With a whoop of joy, Roy sprang to his feet and was shocked when he leaped a full two feet off the ground before landing. He let out a disbelieving laugh, stomping his right foot on the ground and not feeling a drop of discomfort. He laughed again and ran to the opposite side of the cavern, marveling at how easily he moved. He could feel the core pulsing lightly in his chest as he ran and wondered if this was how Martial Artists felt all the time.
Coming to a stop, Roy flexed his knees and leaped straight up into the air. His jump carried him a good five feet off the ground this time, and he threw his fist into the air, laughing the entire time. He landed back on the ground, his knees flexing to absorb the impact as he did so. The test of his newly enhanced and repaired body was interrupted; as a voice sounded in his mind.
“It seems that everything is working just fine. I was worried that my plan would fail, and I’d turn you into a pile of sludge. Guess it worked out though, so… woohoo.”
Roy stumbled as the voice of the Dungeon filled his mind.
“You’re still alive in there?” he asked, more than a little shocked.
“No need to talk out loud,” the Dungeon answered. “Now that we’ve combined, you can speak to me with your mind, much as I am doing right now.”
“So… I’ll be stuck with you inside my head forever?” Roy asked out loud. He preferred to do so and would keep doing it. Hearing voices in his head was strange enough as it was.
“You did say that you’d be willing to pay any price for power, didn’t you?”
Roy was about to retort, when he realized that the Dungeon had a valid point. He had said that he’d be willing to pay any price, and if having a constant companion that lived in his head was the price he’d have to pay, he would do so gladly.
“Oh, there’s one thing I forgot to mention,” the Dungeon spoke up again. “Not a big deal at all really, but if you don’t advance to the next Dan within the next thirty days, your body won’t be able to handle the strain, and you’ll explode.”
“What?!” Roy exclaimed, suddenly feeling his excitement of finally having a core evaporate in an instant.
It took most people nearly a year to reach the 1st Dan. If he had to do so in a month, he was a dead man walking.
“I know what you’re thinking,” the Dungeon said as if reading his mind.
Could it read my mind? Roy wondered. It may very well be possible.
“No, I can’t read your mind,” the Dungeon put in a moment later. “I can hear your thoughts when they are directed at me, but not at any other time. I was just making a few educated guesses. Now, I know that you’re worried that you can’t advance in time, but don’t be. You forget that most White-Belts are children who still need to build a foundation for their cultivation. I’ve already seared the channels into your body, so all you have to do is pass the Trial of Beginnings and find your Advancement Path. After that, all it will be is a matter of collecting enough Essence to move you up to the 1st Dan.”
Roy let out the breath he’d been holding, feeling his heart rate beginning to slow down.
“So, I’m not going to die in a month?”
“Not unless you’re planning on goofing off for the next thirty days.”
Roy nodded in response, now feeling just a bit more hopeful. To distract himself, he began practicing long-memorized martial combat techniques. He’d been unable to do these before, due to his lame leg. Now his body flowed smoothly through the motions. The rank smell of the black ooze still clung to his body, but Roy didn’t care.
For the first time in his life, he actually had a chance. A chance at a better life, a life he’d been dreaming of for as long as he could remember. He stepped forward, feeling his body’s response as he drove a closed fist forward in a straight line. He followed this by allowing his trailing back foot to move up as well, throwing his back fist in a straight punch.
His hips pivoted to lend the strike extra power, and he used the momentum to spin in place, lashing out with a spinning hook-kick at near head height. He grinned madly as his leg came back down, landing just a bit off-center. The technique had been far from perfect, but just a few hours ago, would have been completely impossible.
“You seem to have a knack for that,” the Dungeon said as he performed another technique shown by the book. “I’ve only rarely seen Martial Artists bother with the combat techniques of the Arts. They like to focus more on the techniques involving Essence manipulation.”
“I’ve never had any way to channel Essence before,” Roy replied, pivoting on his left leg and kicking out sideways with his right. “So I read books that mainly focused on combat techniques. After all, you don’t need Essence to perform them.”