License to Cultivate [Progression Fantasy Tower Climber] (FOUR books completed!)

When the time came, it was like a weight Chang-li hadn't known he was carrying came off his shoulders.

An army scout raced from the military encampment over to the Darwur training camp, bringing word from outside the tower. He saluted and said, "Brigade Commander Nin sends word. We've spotted strange cultivators approaching the tower."

That was one of the two conditions to start their ascent. Chang-li acknowledged, and the camp burst into a flurry of excitement. Khan Temaj was organizing his people for the march toward the mesa. Chang-li reached back to the tents. He snatched up his pack, which was filled with scrolls.

Min was there too, securing her own gear, including the cultivation texts Chang-li had brought for her. They both carried a few supplies, though they planned to forage as they went. Min's eyes were alight. She grinned at Chang-li. "About time, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Thanks for all of your help teaching the Darwur. I promise we'll work on your training as we go."

"Oh, I know we will," she said. She leaned forward and kissed him, before pulling back and grinning. "I'm so excited. It's like being a kid at festival time. I feel like I'm finally going to get to be a real cultivator, challenging floor guardians and ascending my way through a tower. Hard to believe."

She hesitated and her face clouded with concern. "But are you sure you'll be all right?"

He nodded. "I've got my sword, I've got my scrolls, and I think I have a pretty good grasp on what the Lens is doing to me." He still had no idea how to rid himself of it, but hopefully that would present itself as they went. Maybe one of the floor guardians would offer him a boon that would give him the key. Regardless, they were here, and it was time to climb.

They rushed out and met Joshi near the front of the camp. Min was shading her eyes, looking around. "Something amiss?" Chang-li asked.

She pointed. "There she is."

Hurrying across from the Imperial War Camp carrying a satchel at her side and wearing the less stylish but more practical Darwur woman's clothing came Hiroko. Chang-li blinked. "What's she doing?"

"She's coming with us," Min said, as though it had been obvious. Chang-li felt surprise, then acceptance. Hiroko was a cultivator, after all, and she'd pulled her weight in Golden Moon.

Joshi was frowning. "I'm not sure that's wise."

"Her father forbids it," Min said casually, "but Hiroko wants to advance her own progression, as she rightfully should. We had an excellent conversation about it the other day, and she pointed out how she's done this before, after all."

Chang-li glanced at Joshi, expecting him to protest. Joshi's eyes were narrowed. He seemed to think, then he gave a firm nod. "Yes, you're right. It's Hiroko's decision. If she wants to come with us, we know that she's more than able to pull her weight."

Chang-li shrugged. "The more the merrier," he said. "Min, keep her back with you and the archers while we face the floor guardian, all right?"

"Understood," Min said, and as Hiroko joined them, she went and spoke quietly with the other woman.

Khan Temaj, over at the head of the Darwur, bellowed across, "We are ready, brother cultivators."

Joshi snorted. "Let's go," Chang-li said.

They had made this plan days previously, hashing it out in several different councils, Chang-li letting Joshi and his brother do most of the planning since they knew how the Darwur fought, while he threw in suggestions of how to use the cultivation scrolls most effectively.

The forces split into four, with the archers and a small section of Darwur set to guard them, heading for the closest approach to the mesa, and the youngest and fastest of the warriors going all the way around to the far side. In the past days, groups of Darwur cultivator students had cleared out every tower beast they could possibly find from the floor, and they were undisturbed as they went along.

Joshi and his brother had organized the men into smaller fighting units. They called Thaigs of five men, with one Hunt Leader for every two Thaigs. Joshi and Chang-li brought ten Thaigs with them as they headed for the far side of the mesa, what they were calling the north. Most of the rest were split between the east and west sides. Coordinating would be difficult, but with Magen to help, Chang-li hoped it would be possible.

Right now, he concentrated on keeping up with Joshi and the Darwur. He had been relying on his cultivator's body making it easy for him to keep up, but he hadn't counted on the fact that all of them would be using red lux while he couldn't. They were, after all, hardened warriors, used to riding in the saddle all day and into the night, and even on foot they had more endurance than he'd hd as a scribe. Now, with lux in their veins, their strides outpaced his, and he found himself falling behind.

Chang-li inhaled, feeling the lux all around. He allowed just a little to slide into his veins and then cycled Purification of Mind and Soul twice. It was such a simple pattern, so instinctive to him at this point. He listened closely and didn't hear an off note from the lens. Maybe he could get away with a tiny trickle. It strengthened his limbs and refreshed his lungs.

Now with a spring in his step, he kept stride easily with Joshi and the fifty Darwur. They reached the access point on the north side. Here, the smooth rock of the mesa was dimpled inward with a thin chimney of rock about four feet across, leading all the way to the top. The chimney wasn't straight but was broken up at intervals by ledges and narrow points where bare logs stripped of branches lay wedged across the chimney, offering a tricky climb. They weren't quite enough to form a ladder, but meant that there was a good footing every ten or fifteen feet.

Joshi began at once to climb, Chang-li on his heels, looking for hand and footholds as they went up.

By using the wedged logs and searching for grips, while in places bracing against the rock, they could make their way up. Several of the Darwur had scouted all four channels over the last week, making sure they were navigable.

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Chang-li tried to keep an eye on what Joshi was doing. His friend called down once or twice, advice about where to grab a handhold, and Chang-li swarmed up behind him. His arms burned. Chang-li cycled Purification of Mind and Soul just once more and felt the cleansing strength of red lux in his limbs.

He kept climbing. The chimney felt far taller than the mesa had looked from the outside, but at last Joshi scrambled over the lip onto the top and turned back, and reached a hand down to help Chang-li. They assisted the next couple of men out before leaving the Darwur to their own devices and striding forward.

"Most of the archer group has reached the top," Joshi reported, as Magen scouted out the mesa for them. "Hiroko and Min are both there. Min seems to be coordinating their deployment. The east and west groups are almost to the top."

Chang-li grinned. "We had farther to go and we still beat them."

"I shall remember to tell my brother that," Joshi agreed. Khan Temaj was leading the western group.

They looked toward the center of the mesa, where the black pavilion rose into the air.

Though they had contingencies plans, Chang-li and Joshi had emphasized to Temaj that the Darwur were not ready to face a floor guardian themselves. Once the army was defeated, they were to retreat, perhaps even all the way down off of the mesa, and let the more advanced cultivators handle things.

Chang-li bit his lip. "Should we have told Min and Hiroko to retreat with the others?"

"You think they'd listen?"

"Too late for that now." Chang-li resumed his study of the about-to-be battlefield.

"Everyone is up," Joshi said, as their own squads organized themselves behind them.

"Then let's sound the signal."

Joshi called an order to one of his kin, who unslung a curly ram's horn from his shoulder, put it to his lips, and blew a long low note, then a sharper one, then another long note.

Answering calls sounded from the other three squads, and the attackers began to advance.

Chang-li was looking ahead sharply, so he saw when the enemy began to stir. What had looked like small and dark mounds rose up, revealing themselves to be the enemies Chang-li had seen from a great distance off. They were much more impressive in person.

There were three types. First were the eight-foot-tall dark humanoids with the body of a man and the head of a lion, their arms long and ending in great fists, most of them clutching enormous clubs. They wore loincloths, but their bodies seemed as though they were carved out of granite. The way they moved was like statues brought to life.

There were two different sorts of four-legged monstrosities. The most common were something like jackals, about waist high on a man, with a pointed head and sharp ears. No tail Chang-li could see. Long, lanky limbs. They huddled in packs of three or four, slinking in and out amongst the humanoids.

The rarest of the beasts were shaped like horses, but with the head of a woman, long hair flowing out behind them. The horse body seemed to be made from the same sort of granite as the rest, but the head and hair looked disturbingly human.

"Those are odd," Chang-li said.

"Which?" Joshi looked forward, just as some of the men with him began to cry out in horror.

Joshi swore long and loud. "Ekafana!"

"What?"

"Those..." Joshi shook his head. "Those are creatures out of Darwur myth and legends. They are the souls of young women who have died from violence due to a warrior's failing. They come at night and feast upon infants in their cradles. They are a horror to me and my people."

Chang-li took a deep breath. "They're tower beasts created by the floor guardian, just like the others," he said. "Is this going to be a problem?"

Joshi seemed to shake himself. "No. It will not be," he said firmly. "I'm sending Magen to remind the other groups what you say." After a moment he laughed. "The women with the bows tell me that they have nothing to fear from these horrors, and that if the men cannot face them, then the women will shoot them down." He repeated, Chang-li assumed, in Darwur. The men with him laughed and looked reassured.

"All right," Chang-li ordered. "Hunt leaders, forward. Everyone else, apply your weapon venom." Underlining his words, he took a scroll of his own, drew Liar's Blade, and applied the Bloodflame Venom technique from the scroll to the blade. It sunk in with a satisfying solidity, the blade glowing briefly green. Now he felt ready.

Meanwhile, the hunt leaders had their Earth Shaker scrolls in hand. All five, along with Joshi, stepped out ahead of the rest, ranging out in a loose line as the enemy raced forward.

The plan was that the eastern and western groups would converge with the southern to make for a main front and hopefully draw most of the attention. From Joshi's quick mumbled words, it sounded like that had happened already. With the pavilion between them, it was hard to make out.

Meanwhile, Chang-li and Joshi would break through whatever attack the floor guardian sent their way and then fall on the main force from behind.

But if this was only a quarter of the guardian's forces, it must have more than they had guessed.

There were at least thirty of the humanoids approaching, and twice as many of the jackals, with ten or so of the nightmare horsewomen. Those had broken into two packs and were galloping up the sides.

"Focus on the main group," Joshi instructed the hunt leaders. "We need to break their massed attack. Hold... hold... hold... now!"

Together, six blasts of Earth Shaker shook the battlefield, catching the front row of the enemy in their impact. The jackals caught by the blast disintegrated, their front legs crumbling into dust, their heads cracking into pebbles, rolling away, leaving their rear ends more or less intact.

Two of the great humanoids stumbled and fell to their knees as their feet were demolished, but the blast was too low to have caught their heads.

The rest came on.

"Forward!" Joshi shouted and the Darwur warriors sprang into action.

Chang-li was at Joshi's side as they raced to the melee. He and Joshi let the Darwur handle the two humanoids already fallen, and instead turned their attention to the nearest of the still-standing giants.

Joshi lashed out with Binding Chains. There wasn't much of color of lux here, but there was enough. His chain wrapped around the giant's torso and yanked it forward.

Chang-li was waiting. He angled Liar's Blade upward and stabbed it deep into the giant's midsection, letting Bloodflame Venom do its work. Joshi leapt up, his legs strengthened by red lux, and smashed his heavy gauntlet into the behemoth's face.

The creature made no sound, but silently fell backward. It was still struggling, trying to get up, but the Bloodflame Venom was going to work. Now that it was down, the Darwur swarmed it, and he and Joshi turned their attention to the next of the giants.

Chang-li had to let in little trickles of red lux to keep his body going during the fight. They took down another giant and another. The Darwur kept the jackals off of their backs. The horse creatures were circling around the edges of the melee as the hunt leaders told off some of the Thaigs to harry them and keep them off of the main fighting force.

Joshi and Chang-li had downed seven of the behemoths. A few of their men lay crumpled on the ground. Chang-li would try to see to them once they were done here. Right now, he and Joshi had to take out the biggest of the threat.

He was exhausted, his body sore in pain. Joshi was a machine, pushing past pain and terror, red lux fueling his fire. Chang-li allowed another trickle in and cycled Purification of Mind and Soul a couple of times.

Twice wasn't enough. He went for a third, and this time he heard a faint discordant note. He retreated, but it was enough. He was refreshed again. Together, he and Joshi hacked through the attacking crowd.

Darwur on the outside of the circle were pulling Firepots and lobbing them at the horse creatures. From the shrieks, too loud and sharp to be those of women, too human for a horse, it sounded like they were working.

And then, abruptly, heaving and gasping for breath, Chang-li stood back to back with Joshi, looking about, and the battle here was over. The Darwur were taking out the last few stragglers of the jackals. A pair of the horsewomen had galloped off back toward the pavilion, but the force that had come to attack them was defeated.

"Check the wounded," Chang-li said. Joshi spoke quickly in his native tongue, and a couple of hunt leaders sprang forward. The rest of the men consolidated themselves.

Chang-li found his waterskin and drank deeply. He wanted more red lux to wash away his weariness, wanted it desperately, but held off, at least for now.

"Right," he said. "Time for part two. Let's go break the back of this horde."