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

Chang-li's heart raced as they approached the final oasis.

Up ahead, a great orange circle jutted out of the landscape, its circumference formed by jagged orange slabs rising out of the ground at slightly tilted angles to form an enormous arena. The path they were on led straight to a gap between two of the orange slabs. It was clear where they should go.

Chang-li stretched out his senses, and Joshi sent Magen scouting ahead. He reported back quickly. "Magen cannot enter the arena," Joshi relayed, sounding unhappy.

The little lux creature returned to Joshi and alighted on his shoulder. Chang-li frowned. He had found a few places that kept the lux creature out, though generally he was able to pass once Joshi had. This might be one of the same.

"I guess we don't get a look at what's ahead of us," he said. "Everyone ready?"

All three of the others returned determined nods. Min was pale, but her face was set. Hiroko, still quiet, looked better than she had a little while ago. Both of them had regained their normal good complexions, the red blotches fading away, leaving unscarred faces and hands.

They were truly progressing. Chang-li was glad to see. As for him, it was hard to say, but at least he had his cultivation back. He nodded. "Let's do this."

The gap between the slabs was wide enough for all four to walk abreast. As they stepped through, trumpets resounded, and a great wave of cheering went up.

They stepped inside the ring.

Chang-li half-expected stands full of watchers, but the orange slabs were featureless. In the center of the ring stood a man, or a man-shaped creature, three times as tall as he should be.

He was orange, like everything else here, though hinted with different shades. His hair fell down his back in a long braid. He was shirtless, wearing orange trousers tied with an orange rope and wore nothing on his feet. Now he crossed his arms against his bare chest and looked down at them.

"Welcome, challengers, to the Arena of Exaltation. Have you come to challenge for passage?"

"We have," Chang-li called back.

"Tell me, which of my brethren have you defeated? I must know so I can prepare an appropriate challenge."

Chang-li and Joshi glanced at each other.

"This might be like Golden Moon Tower, where because we completed the challenge excellently, we got a better boon," Joshi mumbled.

"Or it could be a trap," Chang-li said. "Maybe we'll get an easier fight if we only say one."

"I say we play this straight." Joshi pulled the two medallions he was carrying and held them up. Reluctantly, Chang-li dug out the third.

The great figure clapped his hands together three times. "Well done," he said. "Well done indeed. Since you have gone about this the right way, I shall give you the honor of a true challenge. If you beat this, then my father will reward you properly."

"Your father?" Min asked sharply. "You mean the floor guardian?"

The tall man nodded. "Hmm. An interesting lot you are. Swordsman, archer, pugilist, and..." He looked at Hiroko. "You're a tricky one, aren't you? In your honor, little illusionist," he said to Hiroko, "how about a bit of an audience?" He snapped his fingers.

At once, the crowd that Chang-li had been envisioning appeared, along with stands. Again, everything was orange. The roar of cheers filled the air. Chang-li felt the gaze of thousands of eyes on him. They might be illusions, but he felt as though he was fighting for his life in front of a crowd. It terrified and thrilled him all at once.

He summoned his Mirage Blade, then infused both with fresh Bloodflame Venom. At the very least, it was a good way to start the fight. It felt so good to be using lux again without the Lens interfering.

"And now," the man called, "meet your opponents. The only true opponents you will ever face." He laughed and vanished.

Smoke began to rise from all around them, filling the arena, stinging Chang-li's eyes and mouth. Hiroko and Min coughed. Chang-li channeled Purification of Mind and Soul, abating the effects, but the smoke itself clouded his vision. It swirled all around. Now he couldn't see his friends. He took a step forward to where Min was standing. She wasn't there. Another step. Yet another.

He called out, "Min? Joshi?"

He got no reply. Straining his ears, he heard nothing. He stretched out his lux senses all around, trying to find the others. He felt something and whirled just in time. An arrow whizzed past his head. It thunked into the sand of the arena, then disappeared.

His senses flared a warning.

Chang-li leapt out of the way as a man came hurtling down out of the sky and landed right where he'd been, with an enormous crash, sending up a wave of force and dust all around him in a circle.

The man raced forward, throwing a punch with a heavy, gauntleted hand. It was Joshi, attacking him. Chang-li opened his mouth to cry out, just as another arrow shot in from beside him, a peal of laughter as he whirled out of the way. The mist parted, and there was Min, fire in her eyes, her bow raised as she knocked another arrow and aimed it straight at him.

Chang-li swatted the arrow aside with one blade as Joshi raced at him, fists pummeling. He swung. Joshi deflected the blade with an orange shield.

Chang-li's mind raced furiously. Had his friends' minds been ensnared? How had this happened?

He had to find a way to defeat them without hurting them.

Where was Hiroko? Hiroko's skills would be uniquely good against this sort of thing. If he could find her, perhaps she could break the spell on the other two.

Hiroko had been putting on a brave face.

This whole level, she felt horribly out of place, dragged along by much better-prepared friends. In the last few months, she had gone from almost on a level with Joshi and Chang-li to being left far behind.

It was her fault, not theirs. She had allowed other things to get in the way of her cultivation. She had decided that her duty to the emperor was more important than her own advancement.

And what had it gotten her? Kidnapped, dragged across the empire to be used in a scheme against her father. Then, thanks to her own efforts, she'd escaped, gone to her father, only for him to decide to keep her in reserve, not even to use her in a scheme of his own, but to hold her against the chance that he might find a use for her.

He wasn't going to have her marry Joshi, or anyone, unless it suited him. And he wasn't going to have her advance. As far as she could tell, her existence barely mattered to him. He was so focused on his own advancement, and perhaps his revenge.

Something in it had sparked a fire in Hiroko that had led her to joining the others on this climb. They had accepted her, willingly enough. But every step of this floor, she had known she was a drag on them. Without blue lux, she could do very little. The environment was a constant threat, forcing her to do everything she could just to stay on her feet.

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She knew she was slowing them down, holding them back. She wanted to apologize, to offer to go back. Every time she thought of it, she seemed to see Joshi's expression. He would be so disgusted with her.

No. She had to find a way forward.

It had gotten a little easier with the pockets of blue lux they'd found, and the lux battery Chang-li had given her was heaven-sent. With the steady trickle of blue lux, she was able to fortify herself and keep her cultivation up. Now at least she could move with the others.

But she still wasn't much help. As the orange smoke rose in the arena, she felt nothing but despair. The despair pressed in hard on her mind.

"That's right. Give in," it seemed to whisper. "You are no help to your friends. They hate you. They think you are worthless. Why not show them what you're capable of?"

The idea tickled at her mind. What did that even mean?

"You're stronger than any of them, especially with that blue lux you're carrying. Let's show them just how strong you are."

She could see her friends now. They were wandering around in a fog, stupefied, their minds caught in an illusion. Joshi and Chang-li were fighting each other as Min fired arrows indeterminately at them all.

"Look. Look how easy it will be for you to win this fight. If you win, the boon you receive will make you strong. Stronger than any of them. I promise you this."

"How?" she demanded. "How could you even offer me such a thing?"

"My reward is to be split among the victors. I have prepared one strong enough to honor two cultivators at the Peak of Spiritual Refinement. If I judge you to be the only winner, you will receive that boon."

It was the protector's voice in her mind. Now she realized what was happening.

The protector here was using some sort of spiritual lux technique. They hadn't expected that. There was so much orange around, it was concealing everything else. The other three had been ensnared before they knew what was happening.

But Hiroko had, ever since meeting her supposed tutor Parvah, kept a protective blue lux shield around her mind at all times. It was like a tiny cycling pattern that she ran just upon her mind. The protector's wiles hadn't been able to get through it.

"I don't need to," the protector told her. Now he stood at her side, a normal man-sized figure, arms folded across his chest as he looked at the fight still unfolding. Joshi had thrown out a pair of Binding Chains, snagging both Chang-li and Min. Min was shooting arrows wildly at him, but Magen darted back and forth, knocking the arrows off course. Chang-li was hacking at the Binding Chains with his orange lux blade.

Right now, it was a standoff. Sooner or later, one of them would hurt the others. She had to stop this.

"Why do you care about them?" the protector asked bluntly. "They're perfectly happy to leave you behind. All they want is to keep progressing themselves."

"No," she shook her head. "No, that's not true."

She, Chang-li, and Joshi had fought together too long for her to ever believe that. Whether or not the betrothal was over, she cared about Joshi. She cared about Chang-li and Min too.

Hiroko focused on the blue in her lux battery. She had so much available to her. She had to be able to do something with this.

But what? The technique the protector had used didn't seem to be one he was maintaining. No, he had taken their minds, and was leaving them to fight it out.

So, if she was going to break this ensorcellment, she would have to push against each of them.

Hiroko focused her attentions on Chang-li. Three times now, she had seen him check his strike and not actually land a blow on Joshi. He was fighting against this mind control, remembering who his friends were. He might be the easiest to break out.

She thought about the pattern Parvah had used on her. Could she try something like it? Except instead of implanting a false belief, she would show Chang-li what was truly going on. There was plenty of blue here. Hiroko braided together three strands of blue lux and formed a loop. Then, moving softly as she could through the smoke and dust, she approached Chang-li.

It was dangerous to get too close. He swung his swords as he was racing toward Joshi, deflecting arrows from Min as he went. He stumbled right past Hiroko. She flung the loop over his shoulder, then quickly drew it tight around his neck. The blue cinched down. She felt it pushing against his mind, gave just a little more blue.

Chang-li's eyes opened wide. He glanced around. "Hiroko? What's going on?" It was nearly a disaster. Joshi came barreling straight for him. Hiroko stuck out a foot, and Joshi, not seeing her there, tripped over it. He landed sprawling and leapt up to his feet, whirling around, fists ready. Quickly Hiroko wove a blue shield, screening her from his view, and a moment later she heard him race off in the opposite direction.

Chang-li stared at her. "What's happened? I see you now. Why are they attacking me?"

"It's a mind technique," Hiroko called. "We have to break them out of it."

Chang-li nodded. "Right. What do I do?"

It was so nice to have someone listen to her this easily. "Min will be easiest," Hiroko said. "You grab her, and I'll weave a counter-technique again."

Chang-li didn't bother with acknowledgments. He raced ahead toward Min, who was still firing her arrows blindly at him. Chang-li dodged them, making it look so easy as the arrows zipped past him.

Hiroko prepared another weave. Chang-li darted around Min, then grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms. Her lux bow vanished. She struggled, kicking and shouting, and Hiroko tossed the technique over her.

A second later, Min sagged against Chang-li. "I'm all right," she said.

But now Joshi came barreling in, like an angry bull, his head down, a shield of orange lux projected out in front of him. He was going to crash into them. Chang-li shouted and thrust Min to one side. Hiroko scrambled out of the way. Joshi barreled down on Chang-li. It was too late for him to escape.

Hiroko wove together one last illusion technique. As Joshi crashed into Chang-li, she threw the technique and caught him in it. The two men collapsed into the dust.

A moment later, Joshi scrambled up. He looked horrified. "Are you alright?"

Chang-li sat up, coughing and spluttering. He shook his head. "You hit like a fully laden ox cart," he groaned.

Joshi helped him up. Hiroko was already spinning a healing technique, something to help his body regain strength. He hadn't been badly injured. At the Peak of Spiritual Refinement, cultivators took a lot of damage before they were out of the fight.

Chang-li looked around at the dust and smoke. "There," he shouted. "We've done it. Show yourself."

There was a long, quiet pause. Then a wind came up and blew the smoke and dust away. The protector appeared, back to his taller size. He wore a sour expression on his face.

"Very well," he said, sounding grumpy. "I suppose you've beaten my challenge. I hope you have learned my point here."

"What point is that?" Chang-li demanded. "That a guardian will lie and scheme?"

"That the mind is the most powerful weapon," Hiroko whispered. "And that any time it's clouded, the cultivator is fighting with one hand behind her back."

The protector nodded. "Well done. Here." He tossed her a token with the symbol for North. "Tell my father I approve." And he vanished, leaving them standing in an empty orange circle.

Chang-li turned to Hiroko. "Well done," he said quietly. "I could see through the illusion a little bit, but I didn't know how to end the fight without hurting someone."

Joshi was hard to read. He coughed. "I… my mind was clouded. I did't know."

"It's alright." Chang-li held up a hand. "It was a very powerful level of illusion. Also a good reminder. We've been facing these challenges a bit too literally, pitting strength against strength. Instead, we should find a way to pit strength against weakness. Because we weren't prepared for a mental attack, it caught us off guard and nearly killed us. But if instead, earlier, we had found ways to use illusions on our enemies, it might have been an advantage."

"We don't have enough of the right lux," Joshi pointed out. "But yes, I agree with you."

Min sighed. "Well," she said, "at least that fight didn't take too much out of me. Shall we go and meet this floor guardian?" She rubbed her hands together. "I'm eager to get my boon."

Chang-li nodded, and they started out of the arena. Hiroko began to follow, but Joshi caught her arm. She turned and looked at him. His face was full of something she couldn't quite read. "You did very well there," he said quietly.

Hiroko felt herself turn bright pink. "Thank you."

"Listen," he said brusquely, "your father doesn't want me to have anything to do with you anymore, and I'm sure he doesn't approve of you being here. He may be angry when we get there, but I swear to you, I'm going to help you in any way I can. You, your progression matters just as much as mine. Your future shouldn't have any limits on it, not even the ones you've let other people set."

She met his gaze. It was challenging, but for the first time, she didn't feel like quailing or turning away. "You're right," she said quietly. "I have let other people set limits on me. I'm ready to shed those chains. You seem to be an expert in slipping free of chains. Maybe you can help me figure them out."

"Too much of an expert," he whispered. "And I'm starting to see now what a double-edged sword that can be. But yes, if you're ready to break free, then I want to help you. Tell me, Hiroko, what do you want from your life?"

She stared at him, searching for words, for her own answer. For all of her life, the answer had been simple. To serve the emperor. To do her duty. To marry a powerful cultivator and so keep the empire strong. To be an honor to her father.

None of those seemed to matter very much. Nor, though she still felt her heart rush when she looked at Joshi, was the answer as simple as that.

"I want..."

She hesitated because she had almost said to stand on her own two feet. But that answer didn't feel right.

She raised her chin.

"I want to progress alongside my friends," she said. "I've never been happier in my life than when we were in Golden Moon Tower together. That's what I want, Joshi. I want to be part of..." She made a gesture. "All this. What you and Chang-li are doing with Morning Mist. The way you're defying custom, and rules and officials and anything that stands in your way to make it come to pass."

A smile crossed Joshi's face. So rare to see him smile. Hiroko's heart pounded a little faster. "Alright," he said quietly. Maybe she wasn't over him after all. "Now that is a scheme I can get behind."