Kade turned to the source of the taunt, the alluring figure of his only friend in the sect greeting his weary mind that had tired of the constant interruption by the usual bullies and snooping seniors.
Catarina Snowlily had joined Mystic Solar Valley in the cohort after Kade’s, part of the same group as Aaron.
He had been assigned as her mentor, a common practice where the new disciples had a partner to show them the comings and goings of the sect and to help integrate them.
The mentorship only lasted a few weeks as there wasn’t much the senior outer sect disciples could teach their underclassmen, especially when those new faces were now competing for precious cultivation resources alongside them.
However the two of them had hit it off during those early weeks when she was new to the sect and had forged a lasting friendship.
Truthfully Kade had always questioned why someone such as Catarina decided to stay friends with him despite his underwhelming cultivation ability and talent for getting picked on constantly.
The girl was an exceptional all rounder, charming beauty that allowed her to manipulate her peers, an extraordinarily rare physique, the Fullbright Furnace Physique, that combined with her knack for cultivation had allowed her to skyrocket through the martial refinement realm and overtake many of her seniors.
Even Aaron had tried to court Catarina, failing miserably and publicly embarrassing himself when she brutally rejected him after insulting his lacking work ethic and appearance.
It was thanks to his failure that Kade had taunt ammunition to use against him the day before when they’d approached him in their failed attempt to beat on a weak victim.
While she was a rising star of the sect, pegged as the most likely disciple from the outer sect to make it through the inner sect examinations this time around with rumours that she may even get into the fast track to becoming a core disciple, Kade wasn’t even counted among her average peers.
It was pointless to worry about such things too much or one would go insane stressing over their various relationships with the myriad people they encountered in life, besides, Kade was no longer the stagnant water of the past and might be able to stand alongside Catarina as a true peer soon enough.
Her offer of a beating was deadly serious, though there was no malicious intent behind it unlike the various assholes who enjoyed such cruel pastimes, she simply enjoyed sparring with Kade.
In fact he often suspected she did it so often out of pity for her weak Senior Martial Brother, in a misguided attempt to try and polish his combat skills.
Today though, he was excited to test his newfound strength against his only regular sparring partner to see how he measured up with the number one disciple of the outer sect.
His current record against Catarina was zero wins, two hundred and four losses and a small part of him had always detested his inability to best here even once, despite knowing how outmatched he was.
“I see you managed to find a decent weapon at last, but have you never heard that it’s foolish to hold on to treasure without sufficient strength to defend it?” She giggled while lunging at him with a wooden practice sword she grabbed from a nearby rack while he was lost in thought.
Kade was able to react quickly to the surprise attack thanks to his exceptional spatial awareness and combat instincts, jumping backwards while unstrapping the Resonant Echo Staff from his back and adopting a defensive stance upon landing.
There was little time to breathe as Catarina immediately recovered from the missed strike, pivoting onto her other foot and kicking up a cloud of dust that obscured Kade’s vision.
He whipped his staff through the dust to clear his view, in the process leaving his guard open slightly, a mistake caused by his lack of experience with the weapon and one that his opponent exploited by slicing at his exposed neck with her wooden blade.
Strangely, his thoughts and movements seemed a little more fluid since he’d experienced the two spells of dizziness, not to a ridiculous degree but enough that he could notice the change.
Kade was unable to move his neck out of the path of the blade in time, so he instead thrust his staff at Catarina’s ankle, forcing her to dodge and give up on her lethal blow or suffer reduced mobility for the remainder of the fight.
However, the mind of a genius was hard to fathom and she instead opted for a third course of action that he hadn’t predicted.
She hopped off the ground, avoiding his thrust entirely and landing on the body of his staff, balancing delicately on the balls of her feet, pinning the weapon to the floor.
Despite her lithe frame, she was surprisingly heavy and Kade was unable to move his staff or knock her off balance.
Taking advantage of his lack of a weapon, Catarina dashed up the body of his staff, closing the gap between the two of them in just two steps before thrusting her weapon at his heart.
There was only one option left to Kade and so he sacrificed his weapon, releasing both hands and causing it to fall, her thrust falling short as she fell with it.
Before she could recover he executed a roundhouse kick with perfect form, catching her wrist with his heel and knocking the sword from her hand.
Thankfully this time she responded as he predicted, jumping from his staff to grab her sword as it fell to the ground, allowing him space to retrieve his weapon.
Having survived the initial melee, he felt a little more confident of his chances against Catarina, especially since she was unaware of the hidden function of the Resonant Echo Staff.
Unwilling to give him a moment’s respite, she charged in once more, unleashing a torrent of slashes and thrusts at Kade, every single movement of hers practised to perfection without any wasted effort and targeting his vital points.
He wasn’t sure of how far she’d progressed in her cultivation, but if he had to estimate he would guess that she was at least close to the fifth stage of martial refinement.
Thus far he’d held on against her frenzied barrage, managing to block, parry or deflect each of her strikes, but the weight of her attacks was causing his arms to quiver.
Just when Catarina was reaching the climax of her attack, Kade noticed that his hits were slowly starting to have more of an impact, to the point that a slight crack appeared on the wooden sword.
Suddenly she dropped out of his vision, her athletic prowess allowing her to instantly spring from the squat and unleash a two handed stab at his stomach.
The awkward position meant he was only able to exert half his strength as he moved the staff to block, but the Resonant Echo Staff’s ability more than made up for the difference, the wooden blade of the practice sword exploding into fragments as his weapon made contact.
Catarina tossed the useless handle away while raising her arms to protect her eyes from the rain of splinters, giving him the prime opportunity to claim his first win against his longtime rival.
His weapon swung in a tight arc, the metal tip on a course that would shatter her skull if this was a real battle, though he fully intended to stop his strike short before causing any damage; it was only a spar after all.
Thinking that his victory was assured, Kade allowed his focus to slip just a little, though Catarina was in no position to counter attack even if she still had her weapon.
The staff stopped just beside her ear, the tip quivering from the recoil of suddenly being brought to a halt. He couldn’t stop the wide smile from spreading across his face as he exclaimed, “FINALLY! I Bet you don’t feel so smug now, Little Miss Snowlily. Two hundred and four losses, one win!”
Catarina was a prideful girl and such a taunt would normally have her at least a little frustrated, so the mischievous grin and glint in her emerald green eyes was highly suspicious.
“Tut tut Lawney, how many times have I told you not to let down your guard until you’re sure your opponent is defeated. Look down,” she said while wagging a finger at him.
It was then he noticed that her other arm was held to his neck, a small dagger gripped firmly in her hand, pressed so gently against the skin he hadn’t felt it until now, a single drop of crimson blood trickling down the blade.
“That makes two hundred four losses, one draw,” she corrected before withdrawing her weapon and wiping the blood on a handkerchief she pulled from a hidden pocket in her robe.
Kade sighed and slung his staff on his back while cursing himself for making such an elementary mistake. Where had the dagger come from?
She must’ve pulled it from somewhere and managed to strike at the last moment when he allowed his concentration to slip.
“I guess it’s better to make that mistake in a friendly spar than in a real battle,” he lamented, “a draw is still better than a loss and I’ve had enough of those to last a lifetime.”
He strolled over to where he’d left his waterskin, taking a large swig and wiping some of the sweat off with a towel before tossing the water to Catarina.
Somehow she still looked flawless, just a few strands of hair out of place despite the fact he’d had to exert every ounce of effort just to bring the match to a tie.
A few beads of sweat trickled down her forehead but they only served to highlight her beauty as the sunlight refracted through them.
Kade allowed her to finish her drink, catching the waterskin as she threw it back before asking the question that was in the back of his mind.
“Why’d you really look for me?” He asked, “I’m sure sparring with me is a pleasure in its own right but a girl like you has better things to do with her time.”
There was a pause as Catarina figured out an intelligent comeback, but surprisingly the expected jab never came, only a cheerful laugh.
“You caught me,” she replied, throwing her hands up in the air in mock surrender, “I overheard some of the disciples gossiping about how the stagnant senior had been hiding his strength for years and Aaron managed to get his prized possession completely destroyed by pushing you too far. One of the assistants in the medicine hall said there was no chance of recovery. He deserved it for sure, but I just had to come and check with my own eyes if the rumours were true. I don’t think you’re the type to hide your strength, but you’ve definitely improved. Spill the beans.”
Stagnant senior. He hated that nickname, though his own disgust didn’t stop half of the outer sect from jeeringly calling him it, with even some of the crueller elders getting in on the fun.
Well, he was stagnant no longer and the results of his spar with Catarina proved it. Being able to pull off a draw against one of the strongest disciples in the outer sect was no joke.
“To tell the truth, I finally managed to break through to the third stage of martial refinement yesterday. Aaron just happened to piss me off at the wrong time so I used the opportunity to get a little revenge,” he answered, a smile creeping in at the memory of Aaron crying on the ground.
“You’re lying,” she stated flatly.
Damn. She was always so insightful when it came to these things. They’d been friends for long enough that Catarina could practically read his emotions like a book.
“I guess I can trust you to keep a secret,” he sighed, “I actually reached the fourth stage, but I kept it under wraps because I don’t need the extra attention with the examinations happening so soon.”
He was caught off guard as she ran over and pulled him into a tight hug, nearly squeezing the life out of him.
“I’m so happy for you! I was worried I’d be promoted to the inner sect alone and you’d be stuck here for life, or worse, get expelled. Took you long enough you stagnant bastard,” she joked.
Kade smiled at the praise and returned her hug, the two of them just enjoying the other’s company for a brief moment before she slipped out and lightly slapped her own head.
“Ah! I almost forgot. There was another reason I wanted to find you. One of my sources found out that a spirit well appeared on the Demon’s Fang. Me and a few other disciples were planning to head out and explore before it gets looted completely and I wanted to bring you along to see if it would help you break through. You don’t really need to anymore but now that you can actually handle yourself we might have a chance to claim the spirit well itself before another group does. Come to my house tonight, we’re going to run over our plan and head out tomorrow morning,” she explained before flicking him gently on the forehead and running off.
