He spun in place, throwing an awkward kick and cycling Essence down to his leg. He got the same result, though not what he was expecting. His shoe was blown clean off as the Essence exited through the channels in the bottom of his feet, and he winced. It would be a problem if that happened every time he used an attack.
Placing his bare foot on the cobblestone, Roy found that he didn’t feel even an ounce of discomfort. Eyebrows going up, Roy jumped a few times, making sure to land on the roughest stones he could see. He felt the impact running up his knees as he landed, but other than that, it felt just as comfortable as walking with shoes.
In fact, he noticed that the foot that still had the intact shoe felt the impact more than his other one. Curious about this peculiarity, Roy took his other shoe off and planted it on the ground. It felt right somehow, though he wasn’t sure why. Did the Path of Power also require that the Martial Artist not have shoes? It seemed odd, but then again, the Shah clan Water cultivators would always wear small vials of water around their necks.
He’d thought that it was in case they got into a fight and there was no water nearby. But now that he thought of it, they were more than capable of forming water with their Essence. Shrugging to himself, Roy decided to test what it would feel like to flood his entire body with Essence. He still had a little left before he would have to cycle to recover it, not to mention that he had no idea how to even go about strengthening his core so he could advance.
He figured that Geon might have some idea- or at least, he hoped he would. Otherwise, he was as good as dead. For now, though, he just wanted to test out his new Essence. Taking a deep breath, Roy began cycling all the Essence he could throughout his body. It was slow at first, but after a few minutes, he got the hang of it.
Instead of allowing it to pour outward, he kept it contained, allowing it to fuel his body instead of a technique. This was the most basic of empowering techniques. Anyone who had an affinity and core could do it, though it was different for each Martial Artist.
Roy exploded forward, the cobbles beneath his feet splintering into a thousand pieces. He suddenly found himself a good fifty feet from where he’d started, and with a completely empty core, to boot!
He questioned if he’d accidentally used a Movement technique instead of a basic enhancement.
As far as he could tell, the Path of Power was a more physically inclined Path. The only comparison he had to draw on was Water, as he’d never really had the opportunity to study the other types of cultivators. He knew water gave the body fluid movement, making avoiding attacks and redirecting an opponent’s techniques easy.
Power essence seemed to strengthen the body itself. He’d witnessed what the pure Power Essence he’d ejected through his fist earlier had done and thought he understood its nature. It was power, destruction, force, and probably momentum as well. It would lend itself to up-close fighting and probably wouldn’t do great at range. He might have a few more options once he advanced far enough, but he was guessing that for the near future, this would be his main focus.
Roy continued up the path, expecting to have to walk for a few more hours and learn his last lesson. To his shock, the path opened up no more than thirty seconds later, revealing a new stage. Apparently, he’d already learned whatever lesson this trial had to teach him. Perhaps there was no lesson to teach if he’d found his affinity.
The stage looked much like the others, with the exception of the multicolored portal standing on the other side of the open area. Dark clouds swirled around overhead and lightning flashed across the sky. The entire area felt even more charged with static electricity than the rest of the trial, and Roy could sense the overwhelming amount of Power Essence lingering in the air.
A large pool of golden light sat in the center of the stage, and he could see sparks of electricity flickering across its surface. Having the feeling that a golem would form as soon as he entered, Roy sat down on the ground to replenish his core. It didn’t take long - only about five minutes - as the area was so dense with Power Essence that he didn’t even have to try to pull it in.
It came pouring in eagerly, flooding his core and refilling it. Soon enough, it was full to bursting. He’d been expecting to advance or something, but all he’d gotten was a sense of danger, so much so that he’d been forced to vent the excess Essence through his skin to prevent his core from rupturing. He’d been careful to do it only through his hands though, making sure to keep them pointed away from himself.
Shaking out his still tingling palms, Roy rose to his feet and entered the last trial. He’d guessed correctly. As soon as he entered, the golden pool began glowing brightly and a moment later exploded upward.
He could see chunks of dark stone and flickering blue electricity mixed into its composition, and when the energy formed itself into a golem, Roy actually took a step back. It was by far the most intimidating out of all the ones he’d faced so far.
It was mainly composed of pitch-black stone, but its joints glowed with golden light. It carried the same general shape as a human, like all the others. This one, however, seemed to be at least a head taller and a foot wider than the others. Its head was a mass of roiling golden flames, and a pair of glowing red eyes shone through. Blue lightning crackled over its body, and when it moved, the sound of grinding stone filled the open area.
Well, I guess it’s only fair that the last trial is the most challenging, Roy thought as the golem stretched its hand out to the side.
A moment later, a long-handled ax formed entirely of golden Power Essence formed as though from thin air. Roy felt his excitement for the fight ebb somewhat at seeing that. None of the others had carried any weapons. Before he could think much longer, blue lightning abruptly sparked out from the golem’s hand, traveling up the haft of the ax and crackling along its blade.
Roy dashed forward, afraid to let the golem have any more time to prepare additional attacks. The golem opened its mouth, as well- a crack splitting the golden flames beneath its glowing eyes and it roared, shaking the entire area with its fury.
10
Roy was absolutely terrified. He felt his heart racing a mile a minute as the eight-foot-tall, two-ton monstrosity charged at him. He didn’t alter his course at all, instead running right at the golem and cycling his Essence to his fists. He had no idea what this golem’s abilities were, but he knew that he didn’t want to find out.
The golem swept the massive ax up, sending a shower of gravel through the air as it tore up the cobbled fighting area and brought it across in a two-handed slash, aiming for Roy’s torso.
Roy knew he had only seconds to act before he’d be cut in half. He didn’t see the golem hesitating for even an instant and knew that this fight would not end if he gave up.
No.
This fight was to the death.
Dropping to his knees, Roy felt the whoosh of air as the ax blade passed mere inches above his head. Then, using his forward momentum, he pushed himself back onto his feet, closing with the golem. He didn’t have any weapons on him, so he drew his fist back, cycling Essence up to his hand, and threw a powerful punch right into the center of the golem’s chest.
Golden light exploded out in a bright flash as his fist made contact, and unbelievably, the two-ton construct of stone and Essence staggered back under the force of the attack. However, as it recovered its balance, Roy could see only the faintest hint of damage. The attack hadn’t been a proper Physical technique, so the power had been greatly reduced as a result.