Trial of gold, Learning to swim

"Look Nand got away, there is still hope!"The second elder of the eastern group rejoiced.

"...He still has to survive, the battle isn't over" the third elder felt a glimmer of hope but pushed it down.

"We must believe in him now" the fourth elder said with closed fists.

"NO! we can do more" the first elder chimed in.

"How?"

"We cannot enter past the air wall have you found a way?"

"Maybe, the witches seem to be ahead of us in this regard" the first elder said.

"?"

"What do you mean?"

"...ah!"

"Have you finally figured it out? We will use our warriors glory to pierce the barrier!" Grabbing a cane to his side he stood slowly from his sitting posture looking grandiose.

The other elders looked at him in shock.

Elder Qez far away from them sighed.

'Just from looking at them I can tell they aren't strong, the oldest among them seems to be in the 11th layer of Qi gathering while the youngest at the 7th layer. The barrier protecting the lake would at worst have the power to block someone in early golden core, the difference is simply staggering'

Unable to read minds the critic coming from the elder went unheard by the eastern group.

"First elder do you need our assistance?" The fourth elder asked.

"We will gladly help should you ask!" The fifth among them was the most eager to help, he had been the one to train most of the children sent inside the lake and as such felt a personal loss like no other here.

"No need, I alone should be enough. Save your strength for anyone that dares to stop me!" The first elder slightly stretched his back grabbing a copper battle axe that weighed him down.

Unlike the children that struggled to infuse any semblance of Qi into their weapons the old man had no such problems.

With a thought what he called warriors glory covered the battle axe and with a single stride he approached the invisible barrier with a mighty swing of an axe.

The amazonian elders to the side only saw a hollow light briefly flash like a firefly.

"!"

"The air wall is still intact! Is the first elder not strong enough?"

"How can this be!"

"Fools, it only makes sense! If the air wall could so easily be pierced would we be seeking such power for ourselves?"

"The third elder is correct, the reason why users of warriors glory are so valued is not simply from their great strength but their ability to survive what would otherwise be lethal injuries with ease. What we just saw now was simply proof of that" the second elder explained.

Simply to say, a good defense was more valuable to a warrior then a good offense.

If you could survive a battle that would otherwise kill you hundreds of times over wouldn't that be a better result then simply killing your opponent only to die right after?

Even if you failed to kill your opponent with both sides having received injury, wouldn't the next fight be different? You could regroup, restrategize, and come back with more help.

For them warriors glory wasn't simply an offensive tool but a final line of defense when all other options fail.

Now while warriors glory could block from mortal blows even from unseen targets, it only worked if the person was actively trying to defend against said unseen target.

That is to say, should the person not know of the affliction they must defend against then this 'Defense' was simply meaningless.

For example smallpox, it could be defended against with ease should the person with warriors glory know of it and it's affects but if they incorrectly judge even one aspect of this disease then the 'cure' would instead cause adverse affects otherwise unintended to their body, worsening their condition instead.

In the past this virus ravaged the lands claiming the lives of many of their best warriors but now not only the common populace but the warrior caste aswell knew of it's affects.

While they couldn't outright defend against it, they could mitigate the damage it did on them thereby successfully avoiding what may have otherwise been certain death.

Spiritual Qi, warriors glory, mana whatever you may choose to call it, it could do anything you can think off as long as you had the willpower and ability to make it so.

It wasn't as simple as imagining a building and making it so, you had to have the knowledge of every aspect that goes into that building from the windows, to the glass, to the bricks, to the very ground the very bricks are made off, it all stems from the knowledge the person envisioning the building has.

So in the case of these old men, warrior glory was a defensive art used as a bulwark against even the worst of odds.

As such, the spiritual Qi reacted in the most basic way that they could think off, gather power to attack, gather power to defend.

Elder Qez looked slightly peeved.

'Fools, not even a single ounce of skill in that strike. Just a plain and simple mortal slash, no different then the children smashing the staff into that creatures back. These old man may know how to fight in hand to hand combat but it seems they lack all knowledge about Qi control'

Indeed, the old men had not gained spiritual Qi through countless years of cultivation through a cultivation art but simply from their own nartual talent over the course of countless years.

When they used Qi it was generate more force in their strikes or likewise to defend, any aspect of advanced control was basically non existent to them.

The first elder was not done just yet, he infused Qi into his weapon once more to make the next attack stronger.

In the process of infusing more Qi into the weapon more then half of the Qi was 'lost' thereby forcing the old man to infuse greater amounts of Qi.

It was the same concept as when Bran Ai tried to combine his Qi strands into one, the stronger energy took precedence over the weaker one, causing the weaker one to be split.

In this case the old man having greater amounts of Qi in his body was able to forcefully combine weaker Qi with stronger Qi simply due to sheer quantity.

With a great smash light crashed into the barrier and with a great thud the elders hands shook nearly dropping his battle axe.

This did not dissuade the elder gripping his axe firmly and swinging once more, each strike shaking his bones, each strike affirming his will to pierce this barrier.

"I will not watch as my people keep being considered the dregs of society, I will not be the one who simply sat down and watched as the last hope of our people died before his eyes! I will make all those who see us a simple savages regret! They will reget everything!" The first elders emotions were running high.

If they lose everything here their empire will never rise again.

This was their final chance at changing their fate, changing the course of history in their favor.

"First elder!" The youngest amongst them reached out to stop him, to him the first elder represented more then just simply a figure head but a representstion of what he aspired to be.

The first elder had lived during the time of the final defense of the incan empire, he was not simply ancient in his eyes but a hero among heroes for his people, at least those that knew of him.

At over 140 years old this old man was to many a living legend.

"Calm down first elder, we can find another way!" The second elder helped the fifth calm down the first elder.

The first elder stopped his attacks breathing heavily.

Turning his head in the direction of the amazonians for a slight second before turning in elder Qez's direction.

"Do you think he will help us if asked?" Having no other options left available he could only hope to rely on others.

The second and fifth elders looked at each other then at elder Qez wondering the same.

Elder Qez sighed internally once more, his inner thoughts became more disorganized.

'A reckless bid for survival... our goals may be more alike then I initially thought. Am I not aswell just another relic from the past striving for even the slightest advantage for the sect?'

For the first time in a while he opened his eyes to look directly at the happenings inside the lake.

Limbs shredded, knees tucked in while their heads are buried inside, groups huddled together attempting to avoide the rising water, the bodies of several small figures lay unmoving in the water floating away in whatever direction the water took them.

Bran Ai walked away from the edges of the lake, he moved closer to a group of children that attempted to activate their given weapons.

The kid that activated the staff was infusing the various spears and daggers with his own Qi, he didn't have much Qi to begin with but he did what he could.

"It's getting harder to push my Qi out, I think I may be running out" the child said feeling light headed.

"Wha? But you said you could do it!"

"My dagger still needs to be activated!"

"So does my club!"

"Well I can't do it no more!" the child answered.

"Liar you just don't want to help us!"

"I'm not a liar! I really can't do it anymore!"

Having activated several spears and daggers his Qi had run dry, the side effects started to overtake him making even his legs feel like noodles.

The girl that threw the skeletal hand really wanted to retrieve it but as the image of her floated in the water she could only watch as it floated into deeper water.

"Need some help?" Another girl walked up to her.

"What can you do?"

"Watch" the girl held a long string with a small blue stone wrapped on on end.

She started swinging it until eventually it spun in a circle fast enough to leave an image in the air.

"Hyup!" With a single swing she let go of the hand swinging the rock sending it in the direction of the girls mirror image.

With a splash she narrowly missed hitting the skeletal hand.

"...Let me try"

"Wait I can get it, just give me a second" She retrieved the rock by pulling the string back to her.

"Can you put Qi in this strong also?"

"I don't know? I can't use Qi like you" she grabbed the blue stone again preparing a length of string to swing it again.

"Why? Just push Qi in"

"Thanks for the advice let me just do that then" she replied sarcastically.

"Want me to do it for you then?"

"Sure, but you have to let me use that hand later ok?"

"Okay" the skeletsl hands owner took the string from the other girl and focused for just a second.

"Done" the stone started to shine blue while the string had an ever so slight glow to it.

"...You're really good at this" the other girl took her string back.

Like a remote controlled snake the string moved without the need of interaction.

"How do I use this then?" The girl asked.

"How would I know?"

Bran Ai unable to find someone to charge up his newly gained bone dagger could only rely on himself.

'Just control the flow of Qi, in the direction of my hand and out'

By instinct Bran Ai closed his eyes attempted to invision the flow of Qi.

'Ah! No I can't close my eyes here, what if those things suddenly attack? I need to do this with my eyes open!'

With the pressure of an unexpected attack he could be leaving himself wide open if he closed his eyes, having to imagine the movement of Qi inside his body while seeing the surroundings became rather difficult.

With the method of closing his eyes he could feel his heart beat inside his chest with ease, he used this beat and the wave it pushed across his body as a medium for how he viewed Qi to travel.

Now with the ever lowering temperature of his body it became rather difficult to feel even while closing his eyes as his body shivered from head to toe.

'Just focus, the beat in my chest is still there it's just the wave that comes with it that I can't feel'

Momentarily looking at the dagger he thought 'Wouldn't it be great if this dagger was longer?'

Without a second to think twice the dagger grew three times over.

'...'