Reflections on the Warpath - [An Isekai Progression Fantasy]

"-ne."

As if the scene was plucked from his mind, Jay watched a younger-looking Karis charge through a jungle, sprinting over a channel of trodden plants before ducking behind a tree root as the Three Legger stomped past.

The Frontiersman began hyperventilating, crystal eyeballs darting side to side in panic.

"Not my bravest moment, that's for sure."

Jay spun around to see a second Karis standing beside him, appearing exactly as he did inside Caesar's Palace.

"Is it actually you, or just a projection?" asked Jay.

"It's me," Karis replied. "As well as containing many scenarios, this memory crystal also lets multiple people view them. Anything that requires interaction between souls inside the crystal makes the crystal itself a lot harder to attune to, however."

"Fair enough, where do you want to start?" said Jay.

The rainforest vanished, replaced by a more temperate woodland filled with singing birds and chirping insects. Beautiful, single-storey, wooden buildings stood amongst the trees in a clearing of sorts that had a giant crystal monument in the centre. As Jay studied the buildings further, he saw that they too were adorned with crystalline decor, with tiny glowing stones gilding their window and door frames.

"This is my home, the Crystal Grove," said Karis.

He walked along a dirt path lined with stones, circling the imposing monument. The majestic, quartz-like crystal was the largest gemstone Jay had ever seen, towering at least twice as high as all the buildings surrounding it. The air almost seemed to twinkle whenever Jay looked at it, like its crystalline essence was bleeding into the rest of the world.

Jay silently followed Karis, letting the man enjoy a seemingly more faithful recreation of his hometown than he had.

"The Grove uses the essence of history to store the memories of every harmoniser that walks through its gates. All that information is stored underground in crystals similar to the one we're using right now."

"And people just give up their memories?" said Jay. "I'm surprised everyone agrees to that."

"It's a requirement to enter the Grove."

They entered one of the larger buildings and Karis immediately led Jay down a spiralling staircase. They emerged into a basement lined with dozens of glass covered bookshelves, crystals arranged compactly inside them.

"People enter the grove for information. Should it not be commonplace to share knowledge as a price for receiving it? It's what we're doing right now."

You're not wrong…

Jay wondered why Karis was showing him the Crystal Grove. Perhaps it was simply a kind gesture, but Karis knew that Jay was searching for an elusive ex-gladiator; one that was allegedly searching for rare artefacts. There was a good chance someone who'd visited the Grove knew Julian.

There was a good chance he'd visited himself.

"The people that live in the Grove, me included, are its sworn protectors. But there's only so much you can learn within the confines of its crystal memories so five years ago, I left. If I wanted to become a better steward, I had to leave the Grove to learn how best to protect it. I needed to see the world with my own two eyes."

A slight smile tugged at Karis' cheek, the diamonds embedded in his eye sockets flashed emerald green for a second before the two gladiators left the grove as quickly as they'd entered it.

They spawned into a similar forest, although this one was sparser and warmer than the one the Crystal Grove inhabited. Again, Jay saw a younger Karis squaring off against an animal, except this time it was a metre-tall armadillo-like creature. It had barbed spikes poking from its segmented shell and its curved claws were nearly half a foot long.

It wasn't the friendliest animal Jay had ever seen, but it looked a far cry less dangerous than the Three Legger they'd seen earlier. Absent of the primal fear from that previous memory, this version of Karis looked more frustrated than terrified.

"This encounter from shortly after I left still irritates me, what do you think?" said Karis.

The young Karis lunged at his opponent, swinging his machete downwards. The animal tensed, tightening its armoured plates together and bracing for impact.

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The sword bounced off the animal's shell, forcing Karis to retreat to avoid a counter swipe. He dodged easily, and launched another attack yet couldn't break past the armadillo's segmented armour.

"What about it annoys you?" asked Jay. He watched young Karis attempt to jimmy two of the animal's plates apart using his sword before giving up once the blade began to bend.

"I should have easily defeated this animal; I was stronger than it and it didn't threaten me once during the fight. But I simply couldn't defeat it. Were I to face it now, I believe I'd win using my crows to attack while its shield isn't securely formed. However, that strategy seems off to me, and I can't figure out why."

Jay mulled over Karis' question while his younger version tried a similar tactic. He'd obviously enhanced the crow technique since the current fight. The past Karis spent over ten seconds crafting just one crow in his palm before hurling it at his opponent.

Instead of attacking alongside the bird. Karis sat back and watched it attempt a strike. Predictably, it couldn't get past the armadillo's shell and vanished into a cloud of crystal dust after the animal's claws impaled its torso.

"If you wanted me to give you a strategy, then I'm afraid you might have learned the wrong lesson from this fight," said Jay.

Karis frowned, he tilted his head slightly but waited for Jay to elaborate.

"Strategy is most effective as a means to elevate yourself above an equal opponent," Jay began.

He told Karis about his gauntlet during the trial by fighting, how he'd changed the way he approached each fight based on each opponent. Or more specifically, based on each opponent's skill level.

"When you're against a much stronger opponent, strategy is meaningless since you don't stand a chance anyway. However I think the opposite is also true. You shouldn't have to rely on strategy to defeat a weaker opponent. If you do, you're a limited fighter incapable of fighting whoever's put in front of you."

The young Karis targeted the Armadillo's limbs in his next assault, however his attack was too slow and the creature rolled into an armoured ball, unable to be harmed by the Frontiersman's swings.

"Based on what you just told me, you'd use a strategy to defeat this creature—even now. But if you compare yourself to similarly ranked gladiators, would any of them need a strategy to defeat it? I know I wouldn't. I'd probably just punch through its plates.

"That might be the source of your annoyance. Although you're effective against similarly strong opponents, your reliance on strategy means you struggle against weaker ones. Not because you can't defeat them, but because you expend too much time and effort in doing so. If victory relies on defeating multiple weaker enemies rather than a single equal one, somebody like Akira would be many times more effective than you. It may seem inelegant, but overwhelming strength is a useful weapon to have, even if it can only help you punch down."

Although he was effectively teaching Karis, Jay enjoyed reminding himself of the things he'd learned over his time as a gladiator. As a boxer, raw strength was simply not an option to Jay and his weak fists. Now that he had some power to match his speed, it wasn't something he could afford to overlook.

Karis' frown eased and he began nodding to Jay's words.

"That's a very nuanced way to look at fighting, I'd never considered that myself," he said.

Another emerald flash lit up Karis' eyes and Jay's surroundings became the newbie arena. Familiar gravel crunched beneath his feet and liminal blue-grey stretched across the entire horizon, blocked only by the occasional iridescent shimmer of the barrier wall. Karis stood beside Jay as a different, younger version of himself faced off against a heavily armoured man.

"Do you mind watching a few more?" he asked.

"Not at all."

After watching through the highlights of Karis' gladiator career, Jay had told the Frontiersman everything he'd noticed about his fighting style. Karis' crows and his lack of overwhelming force meant that each of his fights were a chess match filled with scenarios for Jay to analyse and unpack. Jay was glad that Karis had asked him to watch the fights since he probably would've spent the time analysing them alone anyway.

"You said you had a big ask too… what was it?" said Jay after they'd finished with the final fight. Instead of returning to Caesar's Palace, Karis teleported them back to the Crystal Grove. The buildings and trees all looked identical to before, yet the air didn't shimmer when Jay looked at the monolithic courtyard crystal, and the insects deeper in the forest chirped ever so slightly louder than before.

"Yes, but it's more long term. I don't think you'll have the time until you're closer to the peak of D grade."

Intriguing…

"As you know, I left the Crystal Grove because I wanted to become stronger. But I wanted to become stronger because the Grove is under threat.

"The Verdant Frontier operates under the motto 'The only constant is change'. However, the motto isn't prescriptive, and things in the Frontier only change because that's often the most efficient way to overcome a problem. The Crystal Grove largely eschews this philosophy. Permanence and continuity are intrinsic properties of the essence of history and therefore the Grove. Because of this, it lacks the adaptability of many other organisations and townships across the Frontier.

"The Grove is currently under attack by a swarm of harmonising beetle-like creatures that have already ravaged swathes of the Frontier like a blight upon the land. A regular Frontier organisation would simply avoid the swarm and wait for it to cannibalise itself or get swallowed by a bigger fish. We don't have that luxury. We have to fight."

"And you want me to join that fight?" said Jay.

Karis nodded gravely.

While saving the grove sounded like a noble goal, Jay couldn't let it interfere with finding Jules. However, if the crystals inside the Grove gave him a lead towards finding his brother… fighting the oncoming swarm just might be worth it.

"I'll think about it," said Jay. "But as you said, it won't be happening any time soon. I don't know how long D graders get between fights, but I don't think it's long enough to fit a trip to the Verdant Frontier in."

The grove vanished. A squad of red-uniformed ceremonial guards marched past Jay and Karis, bearskin helmets bobbing with each stride.

"I thought as much," Karis sighed.

"Ask me again when you're closer to leaving," said Jay. "It's not a no, it's a not yet."

Karis smiled politely back at Jay.

"Of course. You have your own battles to fight before you can even think about mine.

"Good luck next month, Jay. Hopefully you won't need it."