Krestus was deposited on the floor rather roughly as the emergency teleport spat him out. He groaned in pain. His shoulder felt like it was being torn apart and blood spurted out of the wound. With his good hand he reached back into his satchel and felt blind for the right potion. He had different bottle shapes for each different potion, so he could find them quickly. His armored fingers closed gently around the glass as he pulled the potion to his lips. He drank a deep swig and grimaced at the artificial strawberry flavor the alchemists insisted on using. It was horrible, but he could feel the potion work and turned while he huffed in pain. He poured the rest of the potion through the hole in his armor on top of his shoulder. The sensation was burning and itching at the same time. He groaned and shuddered before carefully removing his gloves.

With a soft pop and screams Mistrix appeared with Koslin, who was the one screaming. Krestus looked over and saw quickly why the man was screaming. He had lost his hand, his entire wrist actually. Mistrix looked terrible as well, coughing up blood before he drank a potion.

Krestus wanted to help them, but with one arm he was barely any use, so he continued with his own first aid as quickly as he could. He slipped his fingers into the segments of his armor and searched for the latches holding the armor in place. He opened the latches after some tedious searching and grunting in pain, before he was able to remove his shoulder armor, his epaulets to be specific. He studied his shoulder, but could barely see anything there was so much blood. He wiped it off with a hiss of pain and saw that the wound had barely healed. It was like someone had scooped out flesh in that area and he could not use his arm because the bone had gone too. Krestus was done. This was not an injury healing potions could easily heal. Healing bones was freakishly difficult. Even if the wound could be closed, his bones would still be broken. He dumped another potion on the wound and drank the rest of the horrible tasting mixture. But it was barely any help. He cursed and hurried over to the two archers to help them instead. He would be fine for a while.

"He is gonna bleed out if we don't do anything Mistrix." Krestus said after taking a look at the wound spurting blood.

"You don't look so good either, you are still bleeding Krestus." Mistrix said during his coughing fits.

"I am a warrior, I am fine, why have you not stopped the bleeding?"

"I tried, the potion barely did anything. Damn it. Besides I think the bastard broke half of my ribs through my enchanted armor."

"Hold him still Mistrix. We need to cauterize the wound."

"What? Fuck no!" Koslin groaned.

"Its gonna be fine, if we survive this we will go to one of the healers and have them regenerate the hand. No big deal." Krestus tried to assure the man, but considering the cost it was unlikely their organization would cough up the money for a healer capable of regenerating limbs.

Mistrix helped Krestus make a tourniquet for the man's arm and only then did Mistrix start a fire. Krestus felt damned useless and continued to chug expensive healing potions, pouring them on top of his wound and ignoring the pain and discomfort of healing. It took 6 potions in total to close the wound and another 3 to make his arm somewhat usable. The bone had not regenerated properly and it would be a terrible ordeal to fix it, but at least he could hold something. But he would not be lifting anything heavy any time soon. Not without breaking his arm again.

Mistrix drank only another potion until he was fine. In the time this took them Koslin lost consciousness and Krestus was fairly sure that was a bad sign. They fed him potions and Krestus had soon realized he had run out of the lifesaving medicine.

He walked over to Barus corpse and took the potions from his pack. He stared at the headless corpse and then checked on Harux. Harux had the hole, that Krestus had in his shoulder, in his face. He was gone too. But Krestus had known that from the moment he had seen that the big warrior was not moving at all.

How the fuck had this gone all so wrong?

"What the fuck happened, Krestus?" Mistrix asked, echoing Krestus own sentiments, while he fired up a small burner and heated up a small knife to cauterize the wound.

"I...don't know. Barus went crazy and I thought he killed the Cultivator in one strike."

"So you order us to attack him? Why? To be sure?"

"What else could I have done? You think the Cultivator would have let us be, if we did not do anything?"

"Maybe?! How the fuck would you know? Why did Barus attack him in the first place, for fucks sake?"

"He…" Krestus started and then paused. He turned his head to see a streak of black leap towards them. The blood drained from his face as the Cultivator came charging at them as fast as an arrow in flight, his dark clothes stained crimson. Krestus was in no state to fight the man, Mistrix did not even have his bow and Koslin was almost dead.

"Wait! Please. I can explain." he shouted desperately.

The Cultivator crashed into his armored form and sent Krestus flying on his back. Krestus grunted as he found himself pinned down to the floor by a boot on his throat and looked up at the Cultivator who had two fingers raised like he was about to stab into him with his invisible blade. Hot fear made Krestus freeze and he called out desperately, choking through the boot on his neck.

"Wait...wait wait… Please."

To his surprise the Cultivator stopped moving and cold gray eyes stared down at him.

"Explain what?" he asked and looked up to Mistrix who froze and stopped moving towards his previously discarded bow.

"I would stop that if you want to live." the Cultivator said and then looked back down at Krestus.

"Who are you people?" he asked and lifted his foot off his throat, allowing Krestus to speak properly.

"We are with the Half Moon Gang, from Ambition. We are just here to get our delivery of crystal dust. Barus attacked you on his own. I never thought he would do that. I just reacted in the moment." Krestus said in a quick babble and looked up to the Cultivator considering his answers in terror.

"Right... One of you just happened to attack me on his own accord." the Cultivator said with a sneer.

"Stop fucking with me. I only need one of you alive to answer my questions, so you better be quick about it."

"I swear its the truth. We did not even know you were here. The fifth floor never changes and nobody fights behemoths. It was strange so we investigated. We had no idea you were behind it until Merix spotted you."

"Hmmm. And where is that Scout of yours? How did he disappear like that?"

Krestus hesitated and swallowed. The cultivator noticed his hesitation and instead of standing on top of his throat, he shifted his weight so that he stepped on his shoulder. Krestus groaned in pain as the half healed bones in his shoulder ground against each other.

"How?" the Cultivator asked dangerously.

"His cloak. It has a rare enchantment on it. He can escape into a pocket dimension for a while." Krestus said with clenched teeth.

"Huh, fascinating. Okay, now tell me why you attacked me?"

"Barus family was killed by a Cultivator. He lost his eye to the Ghostblade and it would never heal again. He hates Cultivators with a passion."

The Cultivator scoffed.

"That is the reason?"

"I think so."

"I was not even in the Tower when that happened. I have nothing to do with the Ghostblade. What a load of shit." The Cultivator snapped.

"I swear its the truth. He hated Cultivators. He even used a sacrifice skill."

"A sacrifice skill?"

"It consumes levels and stats, but allows you to move and attack with abilities far beyond your level. Nobody really uses them unless they are about to die. Barus must have used it because he hated your kind so much."

"My kind? Fucking bullshit. What is it with you people and your irrational hate? What, you think every mage, every Vessel, every Cultivator is the same? A mage burns down your home and you kill every mage you see from then on? No, of course not, but when its a Cultivator its different, right?" The Cultivator huffed and then sighed. "But I believe you. Its not the first time this shit happened to me. It still does not excuse you all coming at me."

"I was afraid when you started to move. It was the best decision I could make after Barus already attacked you. But I am sorry, okay?" Krestus said.

"Sorry?" The Cultivator's face darkened and Krestus quickly continued.

"Merix will be halfway down to the first floor by now. He knows the way and he is fast. You may not know the Half Moon Gang, but you do know the red-light district I hope?"

The Cultivator frowned and stared down at Krestus.

"I do, so what?"

"The Half Moon gang is the districts direct superior. They work for us. Merix will call for aid and...and even if you don't fear the district, if my group does not go back to Ambition with the crystal dust we are supposed to deliver they will send an army down here. We are just errant boys, okay? There are dozens, hundreds of stronger Vessels in the HMG. This does not have to end this way. You can still let us go. It was our fault that we attacked you. We will not seek revenge, I swear this on my honor."

There was a pause while the Cultivator considered the situation. Nobody moved. The Cultivator did not even seem to breathe. Sweat trickled down Krestus scalp as the tension grew unbearable. Then the Cultivator relaxed.

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"Well... I planned to kill you all, but maybe I can make a better deal with the district." he said calmly and then stepped off Krestus. The warrior grunted and shifted so that he could sit up, while only pushing himself up with his good arm.

The cultivator walked over to Mistrix who shrunk back, walked past him and Koslin and picked up the enchanted bow as well as Krestus greatsword. Then he began to pile up the weapons from Harux and Barus. He turned around and looked at the two men sitting there watching him.

"I have decided to let you live. For now. Maybe the district will pay me a nice sum for you and maybe they won't and I will be back with bad news. But I can't just leave you here like this. So, strip out of all enchanted gear you have."

"What?" Mistrix said.

"I don't want you to leave this place. This is a safe zone right?"

Krestus nodded curtly with a frown.

"Good, then I will take all of your armor and weapons with me and you stay here and try not to die."

Krestus hesitated, but it was clear he could kill them whenever he wanted. His miraculous healing abilities were something else. The Cultivator moved like he had not been injured at all. But the rips in his clothes still remained as well as the blood. The skin underneath was unblemished though and that truly terrified Krestus. He had fought rapidly regenerating monsters like those on the 15th floor, but this man was ten times worse. There really was no choice, so he scrambled to his feet and started to remove his armor. It was a tedious process, especially with his bad arm and Mestrix helped him after he had thrown his gambeson in front of the Cultivators feet.

It took almost 15 minutes for them to strip Krestus of his armor and when they were done a small pile of enchanted metal laid in front of the Cultivator watching them carefully.

"Good, now the amulets around your necks, that dagger in your boot ranger and cauterize the wound of that archer already before he dies."

Mestrix hurried over to his comrade and soon Krestus could hear a scream when he cauterized the wound.

"Now the armor of the two warriors." The Cultivator ordered. Krestus grunted, but they went to work. What other choice did they have?

It took forever to strip the two dead men out of their armor and when it was all done they watched the Cultivator extract a huge rope out of a bag and tie the huge pile of enchanted armor and weapons together. Krestus stared at the dead bodies of his comrades. He had not really been friends with them, but seeing them like this still hurt.

"Alright, stay here and try to survive. Of course you could try to cross the 5th floor or go up." The Cultivator said with a scoff. "But I doubt you will. Either way I can find you, wherever you go. I would prefer you stay alive though, better ransom from the district."

Then the Cultivator lifted the giant bundle of weapons and armor he had created like it weighed nothing.

"Wait." Mistrix called out and the Cultivator paused.

"Give me at least my bow, we have no food. It will take days for you to return to the fifth floor."

The Cultivator considered them and then shrugged.

"True." then he leapt off with his bundle and Mistrix stared after him.

"Fucking asshole." he muttered.

Krestus sighed and sat down on the hard cold ground. The Cultivator had left them their unenchanted tools. A knife each, the burner, their supplies of potions and even some basic rations they carried with them. Most of their supplies had been on their pack animals. What would they do now?

To their surprise the Cultivator returned a minute later without the bundle of weapons and armor. Instead he carried two antelopes as he leapt towards them defying any laws of physics Krestus knew. The Cultivator threw the two dead antelopes in front of them on the ground.

"There, food. There is enough water here." he pointed towards the river close by. "Anything else?"

Mistrix was silent and shook his head and Krestus followed suit. Then the Cultivator jumped away for good.

Aaron returned to the bundle of weapons and enchanted armor he had dropped in the savanna and considered his options. The fact that the group was part of the Criminal Organization that was Mars superiors made things complicated. He did suspect Mars was helping him in part because he wanted to overthrow that exact organization. The Half Moon Gang. But they were not ready for that yet, Aaron guessed. Which meant this little skirmish was a bad look. He was not sure how Mars would spin this, but either way he had to return to the first floor before that Scout of theirs managed to get their first. He doubted that Mars would act against him, but there was a possibility he was forced to if he did not know beforehand and prepared to act in both of their interest.

Luckily Aaron knew a shortcut. Instead of crossing the fifth floor again, he went towards the nearby wall of the floor. He made sure he was far enough away from the three survivors so they would not notice what he was doing. When he reached the wall of the tower he placed his hand on the stones and sensed for Qi in the wall while closing his eyes. He walked along the wall for a few hundred meters before he found what he was looking for. A Pulse of Qi within the wall.

Aaron responded with his own Qi and the wall swung inwards to reveal a tunnel. It was awkward to take the armor with him, but he did not really want to leave it on the fifth floor or in this tunnel. While it would be safe behind this wall, it was not easily accessible. He had studied the armor and guessed that even with some enchantments broken this was worth hundreds of mid grade mana stones. It was a nice windfall and somewhat compensation for the pain and loss of two important pills.

He closed the door behind him as he awkwardly shuffled the bundle towards the edge of the elevator shaft. Then he grabbed it tightly by the ropes he had slung around the bundle, before he jumped down into the darkness. It took forever for him to fall down to the first floor. At least half an hour and Aaron used the time mostly to ensure he would not bump into anything with his bundle of enchanted gear. He also thought about the situation.

Once he had a talk with Mars he could plan how to deal with this mess. But things like this would keep happening. The Tower was at war with Cultivators and they were hated because of that. But that would usually not end up hurting him. People could hate all kinds of things and not do anything about it unless it was convenient. But he was getting attacked because of how his predecessors had acted. They had made a whole bunch of enemies that Aaron was facing if he wanted to or not. It was impossible to change this fact.

People who had a grudge against Cultivators would always attack him or work against him it seemed like. It was like it was ingrained in their culture and it probably really was. He remembered the spirit ranting about how horrible Cultivators were when he had come to the tower. So it looked like it was inevitable for Aaron to be hated for what he was. But again, unless someone saw an opportunity nothing would come from this hatred. The whole situation had come from Aaron not being able to predict how they would attack him and when. He had thought he would be safe even against the fastest attack that could reach him, which he had guessed was an enchanted arrow. But the sacrifice skill that warrior had used had allowed him to move faster than Aaron could react to. He had barely even perceived it and it had been too late to do anything about it when he had. He was sure this was due to a lack of experience facing higher ranking Vessels. Aaron simply did not have enough knowledge about their skills and abilities to guess their strengths and weaknesses.

Fact had been that the warriors were physically stronger than him, but he had been faster than them all. Except maybe a dedicated rogue. Speed and power went hand in hand, but it was a different kind of expression of combat strength. Aaron could rapidly close the distance, could dodge and move in the air and when he was fighting hand to hand, he could dodge even quicker thanks to the Unceasing palm kata. All of this was speed, but the sheer strength difference he would experience compared to the warriors native in Ambition meant he could not simply overpower them. Which meant that someone with comparative speed or reaction speed had to be overpowered with his strength that should be above a rogues at least. Either way Aaron needed to spar with some powerful people to get used to them. Stab had been one of those people and if the man went all out, who knew what would happen.

Even with his first triplet completed Aaron had gotten a very painful reminder that he could never underestimate Vessels in the tower. He thought he had taken this lesson to heart, but it seemed like he had not. The problem was that he was vulnerable to Vessels if they had sacrifice skills and he did not know how to find out if they had any. A sudden burst of speed could hurt or even kill him if he was unlucky. The only way he could overcome that was by getting better using the Unceasing Palm kata, which meant just a whole lot more fighting. It would take time and effort and he did not know what kind of boons breaking through to the foundation realm would bring. But he hoped it would make him a whole lot more durable or faster and stronger.

That his bones had protected him like armor had been a nice surprise and Aaron guessed this was the fiend-god art at work. His body greedily absorbed Qi at all times after all so it was not too outlandish to think he would reap some benefits from that.

After what felt like an eternity Aaron landed on the bottom of the elevator and followed the light into the Prison of the Cultivators. It was a strange fact that all elevator shaft like tunnels ended in the same spot, no matter from where you came from originally. It was probably some teleporting magic or some such. But Aaron had not felt anything during his fall so it was a curious thing. Not that he wasted any time on investigating this for now.

Aaron passed empty cages as he walked forwards towards the distant blue light of the great master's cage. Most of the Cultivators were sleeping or meditating. Which was what they were usually doing. But Mortag opened his eyes when Aaron passed.

"Well lad, did ye rob an armory?"

"Something like that. Spoils from a stupid skirmish with people I should not fight, but who came at me anyway." Aaron said with a huff.

"Ah well, looks like you won." the small man said with a chuckle.

"I did, do you have any use of any of these weapons or armor?"

Mortag stepped closer to the barrier surrounding his cell and peered through it to study the pieces of armor and weapons. He snorted.

"I could make something out of them, but its just enchanted steel. Nothing fancy. I can do much more with just raw ingredients." Mortag gave Aaron a look.

"Ingredients you told me you would bring. For a Cauldron, remember?"

"Yes, sorry. I believe those metals are in a warehouse somewhere. I forgot to deliver them. But I will do that as soon as possible." Aaron said actually feeling a bit embarrassed. He had been pretty good juggling different responsibilities before, but he was getting lost sometimes.

"I am bored, laddie, give me something interesting to work on. You are my only possible customer so make it worth my while. A great alchemists cauldron is just what I need to tinker with." Mortag said with a sigh. He sounded tired, but at the prospect of doing something he perked right up.

"Alright, I understand. I promise. You want any of these enchanted weapons or armor?"

"Probably not, but I can inspect them if you leave them here."

"Sure, no problem. You want me to put them in the box?" Aaron asked while he set down the bundle. But Mortag shook his head.

"Unwrap the bundle and place them close to the barrier. This will keep my busy. Always interesting to see the tower's smith work, even though they have no clue what they are doing." Mortag said and got out his monocle as he peered at the items Aaron deposited at the Artificer's feet.

"Alright, I have some business in the Town, but when I will bring you the metals if I can as soon as I am done with that."

"Sure…" Mortag said peering at the hammer one of the warriors had used with his monocle as he leaned on the metal bars of his cell, his nose almost touching the light screen separating his cell from the outside world. Aaron got the distinct feeling the man was already deep in inspection mode. So he left him to it.

Now unburdened by the arms and armor he walked towards the exit. Sylus stood up and studied him with interest when he passed, so already anticipating a conversation Aaron stopped in front of Sylus cell.

"I see you learned the third kata. How did you enjoy the trial?" he asked with a smirk.

"It was frustrating, but amazing. Not having to worry about Qi expenditure was really nice! But how do you know I learned the third kata?"

"Its in the way you move. You are no master of three yet, but you are an adept at least, its in your every step. Surprising. Did my tips come in handy?"

"Yes, absolutely. I went a bit overboard when I finally managed to learn the kata, almost wrecked my camp as I went though the whole kata. Cost me a lot of Qi."

"I have added some help on which intent to use with which stance as well as which stances do not use much Qi." Sylus said with a frown.

"I know and I will try hard to use the less lethal moves more often in the future. But being able to have range and lethality even against armored and enchanted foes is incredible. The Qi darts and the sword form are absolutely amazing."

Sylus nodded with a small smirk.

"You should still not rely on them before the foundation realm. Do not skip steps, learning how to fight with the first triplet without the most lethal stances is very good for your foundations."

"I assume you learned to fight that way?" Aaron asked, remembering Sylus being told not to use these forms in sparring by that master of nine.

"Yes, well mostly. We went out to fight wild beasts too. A dangerous opponent for children, but totally safe with supervision." Sylus paused with a slight smile on his lips. "Those were happy days, fighting against monsters, being afraid, but certain someone would come bail you out when you are in trouble."

Aaron nodded, although he never had that luxury, he imagined it to be true. Sylus only paused for a moment to reminisce before he looked back to Aaron.

"Well, then show me how far you have come in your mastery of the first triplet. But keep your Qi contained and your intent sharp."

Aaron hesitated because he was in a hurry, but not that much in a hurry. He demonstrated the first triplet, weaving between stances of different katas with both hands, showcasing every stance with his feet and than the different expressions with his hands. It was intricate, flexible and a marvel to himself. He fell into the exercise like he always did. The options and possibilities seemed endless and each stance provided with an optimal solution to a problem. All Aaron had to do was teach his body to find them automatically. There was no hesitation and he flowed through the forms with grace, unconsciously using Wind Steps as he recreated the forms he had used early this day to fight off the group from Ambition. When he was done Sylus nodded.

"Not bad, I would not call you a master of three, but you are an adept at least. Impressive work, your intent does need some more work though. It is great for what you are doing right now, but honing your intent is something you should never stop doing. It has depths that are unfathomably deep and difficult to parse. But the rewards of an intent fused into the heavenly Kata is a move no martial artist can take. Its the perfect harmony of mind, body and Qi." Sylus chuckled. "I guess that is why the great master took a liking to it."

"Indeed." the wispy voice of the great Master said in their ears.

"Study the memory core of the Piercing Finger thoroughly, it has many of the techniques and ways to find and refine your intent further in it."

"I will thank you. I am sorry, but I am in a bit of a hurry. I had a little skirmish with some fools and need to make sure it won't be a problem in the future. I will be back once I have solved that issue."

"Go, go. Don't let me keep you. If I have learned anything while being trapped in this damned prison then its patience."

Mei snorted at that comment and Sylus gave her a glare. Aaron smirked, bowed to his masters and hurried out of the prison into the pitch black tunnel towards the first floor.

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