I gave Zhang the official version of how I’d ended up in this mess — a half-true story about demons erasing my memory, only to mess up the body transfer. While telling it, I finished cooking the steaks and invited her to the table.

  Over food, she finally started to rex a little, and I tried to ease her paranoia. I’d been through it myself, still had fre-ups from time to time, and I knew just how exhausting it could be.

  “It’s not so bad if you take precautions.”

  “What kind of precautions?” Zhang asked.

  That’s where I hit a snag. Telling her the specifics of my own methods wasn’t exactly a great idea.

  “Look,” I said, “it all comes down to poisoning or surprise attacks. Come up with something to handle that. Besides, they’re limited to Stage Three. All the more reason to cultivate.”

  “They don’t give ten years for the third period without reason,” Zhang reminded me. “Plenty of time to get killed a hundred times over.”

  “Then don’t go looking for trouble like Soro did.”

  Zhang frowned. She didn’t like the way I’d mentioned her te friend. But instead of apologising, I pushed harder.

  “This isn’t just a personal vendetta anymore. People will be relying on you. So if you have a brilliant idea, don’t go chasing stars. Share it first!

  “That way, at least someone can avenge you properly.”

  We shifted to talking about Soro and what she might’ve uncovered.

  I told Zhang guessing was pointless, we’d find out soon enough.

  I wasn’t allowed to disclose the details, but I could tell her that the demon she supposedly killed was now in our custody. That triggered a new barrage of questions, most of which I could only partially answer.

  “You’ll have to level up a bit more in our ‘Order’ if you want those answers,” I joked.

  In general, I advised Zhang not to stick her head out, no matter how tempting it might be. Demons rarely made the first move. They preferred keeping a low profile. Besides, a lot was happening behind the scenes on both sides, ours and theirs, so they were busy.

  She didn’t like that, but if I wasn’t mistaken, it took some of the edge off the paranoia clouding her mind.

  After Zhang left, I sat for a while in silence, soaking it in.

  This time, the silence wasn’t hostile or full of danger. On the contrary, after carrying someone else’s paranoia, I could breathe easier. The air in the room felt lighter, fresher, and who cared if just two days ago a corpse had been dragged out of here and paralytic gas sprayed around?

  I wasn’t in a rush. I had plenty of free time left. Just not much desire to spend it on anything.

  I’d had enough of the Gardens for one day.

  But resting without purpose was impossible, there were too many thoughts swirling around.

  And all of them circled around the choice I’d come here to make. Fire or Bde — my two favourites.

  Truth be told, neither felt quite right at the moment. The rolling waves on the fake window dispy lulled me into calm. If only I could be there, under the sun, on the sand. Just to lie back, bask, and do absolutely nothing.

  I’d have gone with something like Qi of Calm Waters, if it existed. It would’ve suited me perfectly.

  Lying to myself. Just a moment of weakness.

  My choice shouldn’t be based on a fleeting mood, but on a rational analysis of the future. And if Novak was to be believed, that future was screwed. But it’s fine. We’ll manage. Somehow.

  Chill Qi would be a thing.

  Still, if we were all doomed and the apocalypse was coming, a bit of rage wouldn’t hurt. Same goes for Fire. Apocalypse and fire should have some synergy, surely.

  I thought about the rage I’d felt in the Fire Garden, that itch in my fists...

  I closed my eyes and focused.

  Fire meant rage, drive, exhaustion.

  In battle, it could be invaluable, especially when paired with Fist. But outside of combat, it was, at best, dangerous.

  That slight euphoria of rage could turn into a trap. And I wasn’t sure I could maintain bance. Not yet, anyway.

  Bde, though... Bde was different. More chill, even cold. Deadly cold. Focused. No less dangerous, but in a different way. Stable. Reliable.

  There was too little stability in this world to dismiss that.

  Still, the st demon I’d spoken to hadn’t had many good things to say about Bde. “Point Lite,” I think he called it.

  That surprised me at the time. I saw potential in it and didn’t want to let it go. But the demon hadn’t been wrong. Bde cked the precision and mobility of Point. It turned inward, spiralling into itself.

  If you looked closely, you could call it self-sufficiency instead of a fw.

  That same demon had hyped up Fire like a second-hand car dealer at an end-of-month sale. Well, his kind clearly didn’t have a problem with too much rage.

  Me? Rage repelled me.

  There was something there, on the edge of déjà vu, from another life, telling me I’d had more than enough of it.

  Fire wore down the enemy’s defences.

  Rage wore me down.

  I looked at the peaceful surf outside the window, the waves, the gulls...

  It was so calm. That was what I wanted. That kind of peace.

  Although I’ve always liked mountains more.

  I opened the menu and started scrolling through the categories. Mountains, but with water.

  I found a view of a small waterfall, more of a stream, really. The trees were twisted, even broken in pces, as if they'd taken a beating from a recent storm. But the storm had passed, and now things were calmer.

  I didn’t mind a ‘storm’ in combat, but that would mean training. Feeling that rage every day.

  To hell with Fire. Odds were, it would burn out my soul before I managed to adapt.

  That brought my thoughts back to Earth again.

  Now that was stability. I’d deliberately avoided that Qi. Even scratched the Earth Garden off my visit list, despite pnning to try every Garden just to get it over with as quickly as possible.

  Deep, slow, cautious, it didn’t match my style. I preferred speed.

  But now...

  Maybe the perfect choice didn’t exist. Something had to be sacrificed.

  If Bde had its fws, then Earth definitely wasn’t what I needed. Even without visiting the Garden, I could say that with confidence.

  Still, to clear my conscience, and to tick all the boxes, I’d visit the Earth Garden tomorrow.

  The Earth Garden was also located in a cave.

  Not the tallest, not the widest — the Bde Garden was at least twice the size. But this one was spacious enough to forget you had several hundred metres of rock above your head.

  The lighting was fine: soft, slightly warm, with no harsh shadows. It looked like daylight, though it came from ceiling panels.

  The atmosphere was controlled: warm but not damp, the scent of soil but not of dust. The air was heavier than in the Bde Garden, but lighter than in Disco Cave or the Water Garden.

  Having learned my lesson from the Bde Garden, I came in wearing armour. And that made me stand out immediately. Clearly, I’d drawn the wrong conclusion.

  Should’ve asked around before jumping to conclusions based on limited data.

  Most cadets were in bodysuits. And, to my surprise, barefoot. Just walking directly on the ground, on the soft dark soil and stone paths, as if they were seeking direct contact.

  This Garden wasn’t about spectacle. No steel columns, no ornate statues, no bright flowers. Everything here moved slowly, steadily, with purpose.

  Cadets stood or sat by garden beds, touching soil or stones, or burying something in the dirt using nothing but their hands and techniques.

  No one was throwing rocks around, no explosions or loud impacts.

  In fact, the cave was retively quiet. Few felt the need to speak at all.

  The first impression was unpleasant and unsettling like I’d just walked into a sect. Not a Xiansa sect, but some barefoot fanatic cult of Earth-worshippers.

  I sted exactly one minute under the sideways stares and one visit from an administrator.

  “Cadet,” said the man in a brown bodysuit, sporting Stage Four rank patches on his colr. “Armour?”

  “My apologies, sir,” I said. “I’m from Bck Lotus. Still touring your Gardens. The armour’s in case of a Qi detonation.”

  “In case of a detonation here, we don’t put armour on, we take our shoes off,” he said.

  And only then did I notice, he was barefoot too. What’s more, he was kind enough to expin the entire logic behind it.

  “Of course, you’re expected to sense Earth Qi. You do feel it, don’t you?” he asked.

  “Nothing deep. Just a surface impression.”

  “That’s enough. Earth Qi detonates slowly. With direct contact, you’ll feel the danger in time to step away.

  “Armour actually puts you at a disadvantage here. So welcome to the Garden, just without the iron.”

  He was the politest and calmest administrator I’d ever spoken to. Usually they were all strict and authoritarian...

  A proper cult!

  One more visit and I’d leave this pce as a full-blown Earth cultivator.

  I left, went back to the Armour Hall, took it off…

  And spent half an hour convincing myself not to go back to that creepy Garden.

  Didn’t work. The pull was too strong. I had to see what it was really about.

  So I returned. Took off my shoes and socks. And went to touch some dirt.

  Most of the work was happening around the beds, so that’s where I went.

  Nothing exotic was being grown here. The main crops were ordinary: potatoes, carrots, and something vaguely beet-like.

  Oddly, the barefoot thing wasn’t even the most unusual part. The real exotic factor y elsewhere, there were no drones. This was the first Garden where I hadn’t seen a single automated helper.

  Instead, all the work was being done by hand. Bare hands, no tools. Wheelbarrows, sure, you had to pile the harvest somewhere.

  Carrots and beets were being pulled with such precision, it felt like they’d spent their whole short lives preparing for this moment. Even the potatoes practically climbed out on their own. The entire process radiated Qi. Earth Qi, specifically.

  I could already feel it. But to me, it was just hardness, like my Fist.

  Maybe it was because I was sensing it through my feet — an unfamiliar conduit. Or maybe I’d grown, and this firmness wasn’t the same one I’d known before.

  Beneath that firmness, there was density. Like my Fist was hard but hollow, but the Earth… the Earth had yers. It wasn’t even just firmness.

  It was solidity. A calm, confident solidity, not just in mass, but in everything.

  I don’t know how old this Garden is, but it felt eternal. An eternity behind it, and an eternity ahead.

  In this pce, it was simply impossible to believe the demons would ever succeed in wiping us out. In destroying something like this.

  Is that what had been bothering me all along?

  Apparently so.

  It seemed this Garden was affecting my emotions too. Damn it...

  I tried to get angry, but couldn’t.

  I didn’t want that extra agitation.

  I needed to get out of here. Stay much longer, and I might just decide to settle down for good.

  And to hell with it. I choose Bde.

  Right here, right now, it felt like the only right choice.

  MaksymPachesiuk