I gasp awake with a violent shudder. Liquid ice crashes over me like a tidal wave. I bolt upright, my breath hitching as the freezing shock spreads through my clothes, over my limps, and into the sheets and mattress beneath me. Where am I? I try to blink the water out of my lashes; my sluggish brain is clawing its way to reality. My gaze snaps upward, furious, dripping, and wild, onto the grinning foxkin above me, empty bucket in hand.

  “You!” I growl, my voice still rough from sleep and outrage. “Was that necessary?”

  A grin, smug and unrepentant, curls across Bae’s lips. “Rise and shine, honey!”

  “Ugh!” I try to disentangle myself from the soaked sheets. Why doesn’t it smell of wet feathers? What is the mattress filled with? Shredded bamboo-fibers? Whatever. “You need to work on your awareness,” chastises Bae. “If you sleep like that out in the wilderness, you won’t last long.”

  I glare at her. I know! But I am not in the wilderness, am I? I’m indoors in one of the coziest rooms I’ve ever slept in, in the same house as two of the strongest beings I know. It is supposed to be safe! “Why the hurry?”

  “Master Wen is back!” Her eyes seem to gleam in excitement. "Come, he is waiting for us outside. Your pills are ready.” Bae waves one of her hands, and all the water streams back into the bucket. Huh? Convenient. Freaking mages!

  The rich and earthy scent of tea hits me first. It feels welcoming and familiar. Hints of cinnamon and citrus curl through the air. The quiet clink of a spoon hitting porcelain pierces the silence. I step outside, and there I find Wen. My absent master sits at a table under a flowering jasmine vine twisting through a bamboo frame. It feels almost as if he never left. Kylo, the snow leopard, is curled up in the shadow under the table, dozing the morning away. One of his eyes opens, looking at me. He huffs in recognition and goes to sleep again. At least we seem to have come to an understanding. Since I started feeding him leftovers when nobody is looking, he no longer growls at me whenever he sees me.

  Master Wen drums his fingers against his mug, his gaze lifting to meet us. “There you are, good, good.” He takes a sip. “We have a lot to do today.”

  Bae sits down beside him, snacking on ripe, deep purple figs. I reach out to take one myself, but Bae stops me. “No breakfast for you today, sorry. You won’t be able to keep it in.”

  Ugh! What now? The day keeps getting better and better. I watch her break open the soft, velvety texture of the figs, exposing the lush flesh and crunchy seeds. They must be melting on her tongue, sweet and yummy. No! Don’t look, or it will be worse.

  The lazy cat shifts and leans against my shins. I can distract myself by petting warm fur while those two torturers finish their breakfast. His pelt is so smooth and soft. He yawns, showing his finger-long fangs, then looks at me before closing his snout again. His purrs vibrate loudly under the table.

  Finally, they finish their meal. The table and remaining food disappear with a snap of Wen’s fingers. “Are you ready, Minae?” he asks.

  “Yes,” I grunt, feeling wary. Let’s get this over with.

  “Good,” he says, rubbing his chin. An unremarkable grey marble appears in his hand. “We will start with this one. It’s called a crucible of the body pill.” He looks me up and down before handing it over. “Whatever you feel after taking it, you need to power through.”

  “They also call it the Eternal Anguish pill,” remarks Bae, a pair of training swords tugged under her arms.

  “The what?” I gasp, shifting uneasily on the spot. “Is this necessary?”

  “Don’t scare the girl, Bae,” scolds Master Wen. “Don’t worry, it isn’t as bad as it sounds. Those who call it that are weaklings without willpower.”

  “Okay.” I hold the pill, fingers trembling. It almost feels like a ball of clay, slightly wet. I take a deep breath. I swallow it down before I can reconsider and lose my courage.

  For an instant, nothing happens. I can feel the clay melting down into a slimy pudding. Is that it? What is all the fuss about? Then it starts burning. It’s hot, hot! My insides are melting, my stomach cramps in rebellion. I shudder. My body tries to retch. “Be strong, hold it in!” commands someone, somewhere, compelling me to obey, even if I’m breaking apart. The retching stops, but the pain remains. It is spreading fast and relentless. It presses into every inch of my body, seeping into muscle, bone, and marrow. It goes in waves, following the galloping beats of my heart. It spreads, sharp and searing, then dull and grinding, never relenting nor leaving an instant of peace.

  My limbs are heavy. My chest is too tight to breathe. I wheeze, trying to draw in fresh air. It burns. My lungs burn. My skin burns, and jolts of fire race through my nerves. There is no escape, no stillness, only raw, merciless ache.

  Tremors race through my body, tearing and melting my muscles until I lose control over them. My knees buckle, my breath hitches. I’m vaguely aware that I’m not standing anymore. I’m crumbled between the dust, languishing under the tyrannical pressure of gravity that glues me to the ground. Pain roars through me like wildfire, searing its way into my spine and my skull until I only see red. The world is fading away.

  “You need to circulate!” Voices come from somewhere distant, maybe outer space or the strange world between portals. “Minae! Circulate!” Why do they sound so urgent and loud? Let me sleep. “Circulate!” The command leaves no room to disobey. Okay, whatever.

  Mana flows through me like a flood. It makes the pain slightly more tolerable, returning my awareness of the surroundings. Bae is leaning over me, hiding the sun behind her back. “Good,” she says. “Just like that. Now, stand up and take a sword. Let’s resume our training. We need to engage in physical activity to get the maximum benefit out of the pill.”

  Training? What is she talking about? I can’t even stand. I can barely move. I want to laugh, but my muscles lock, having other plans. So, I wheeze again. My nerves scream as if I am trapped inside myself, helpless and clumsy like a toddler. The world blurs at the edges, reminding me to continue circulating my mana. It would be dangerous to lose consciousness now. Somehow, I can feel it. My vision swims between hazy light and unending darkness. Is this supposed to happen? Somehow, I think it is. The name gives you a hint. Crucible. Eternal anguish indeed. I can understand why this pill isn’t bad for your willpower. No pampered noble would take this.

  I circulate and circulate until my breath comes easier. My body still hurts, but I’m regaining a sliver of control over my muscles. My fingers twitch, and my knees bend, even though they still feel bland and wobbly.

  “Come on, stand up,” commands Bae again.

  I roll and try to lift myself to my feet. Circulating, without stopping to circulate. It has almost become instinctive, a light in the darkness. An oasis of calmness, flooding the desert of my flesh. I start crawling, having forgotten how to walk. My muscles aren’t strong enough to support me, and my coordination barely exists. That won’t do. I sit and slowly stand up, using the training sword Bae left beside me as a crutch.

  The moment I stand, the world lurches sideways. Anguish floods my head. The courtyard dims and swims at the edges of my vision as if someone had turned up the brightness of the sky. My knees wobble again, feeling like wet noodles beneath me. I reach out, blinded by the dancing lights, resting my weight on the training sword to steady myself.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Good!” acknowledges Bae. Her figure seems to dance and shift. There are two of her. “Now, prepare yourself.” The two Baes merge into one fuzzy image and rush closer.

  She wants me to defend myself? Is she crazy? I need the sword to stand!

  A sharp pulse echoes through my skull. My heartbeat is too loud, too fast. It drums through the waves of pain like distant thunder in a storm. I close my eyes, inhaling slow, measured breaths, willing the floor to stop tilting beneath me, the gravity to calm itself. Then I lift my sword, trying to get it between us. I try to lock my legs, to remain planted firm, like a tree about to weather the storm, even as the world threatens to slip away again. My sword flies into the dirt with an ear-splitting clang, and I sag to the ground.

  “Again,” commands Bae. She returns the blade to my hands like a merciless avenger. “We need to beat the weakness out of you.”

  I sigh, pulling myself together to stand up again. In a moment of clarity, I can see Master Wen and the freaking leopard watching us with interest from a distance. Then the anguish floods back, leaving no place for distractions. There is only my pain and Bae’s lightning-fast strikes. Each time our blades meet, I can feel the impact vibrating through my bones, hammering the mana and the pain deeper, threatening to tear me apart if I stop circulating. I feel like I’m hot iron, being reforged between the hammer of Bae’s sword and the anvil of the ground. Tense and rigid and then bland and wobbly again. A cycle that repeats until I lose count.

  An eternity later, the weakness starts retreating, leaving only a lingering dull ache and battered flesh that slowly recovers sensibility. The courtyard around us reappears. I can hear the chirping birds again, the purrs of the leopard, sunning itself like the lazy cat he is.

  “Well, that went great!” comments Bae, sheathing her sword. I almost lose my balance at the sudden lack of another strike. She snickers. “You can stop, silly. We won’t get any more benefits out of it.”

  “How do you feel,” asks Master Wen.

  “I feel…,” I was about to say that I feel horrible, but that isn’t true anymore. “Not that bad.”

  Both of them start laughing.

  Do I feel bad? I don't know.

  My body feels wrung out like a rag left in the sun to dry, every muscle stretched too far, pulled too tight. The last reminder of that torture settles deep into my limps, but it is not sharp and unbearable anymore. It is more like the dull ache you feel after an intense training session, a reminder of the effort. Each movement sends a dull burn through my muscles, but I’m not trembling anymore. Only weak and unsteady. And yet, beneath the fading exhaustion, there is something satisfying about the last traces of the pain. It's proof of my efforts and of pushing past my limits.

  “Come inside, let’s check your gains. Your stomach needs to settle a bit before you can have breakfast.” Master Wen looks up to the sun, hiding between slow-drifting clouds. “Lunch?”

  I follow him inside. Crossing the doorstep makes me feel like diving into a pool of fresh air. The contrast is almost shocking. I didn’t even realize how relentless the sun outside is. I step back out of curiosity. Now, I feel the heat pressing down on my shoulders, baking the dirt beneath my feet, turning every breath into something heavy. It wasn’t like this when we started this morning.

  I step back inside into the crisp and welcoming freshness. Relief floods against my sweat-dampened skin, washing even some of the pain out of my aching muscles. A shiver traces down my spine as the chill wraps around me, soothing and refreshing. I stand still for a few heartbeats, letting the heat fade and the coolness seep into my bones. My pulse slows. My body remembers how it feels to breathe without pain again. Is this some last side-effect of that pill I took? I’m not sure.

  Master Wen is already waiting for me, sitting next to the jade tablet he uses to assess attributes. I walk over and channel some mana into it.

  Huh? Even if it felt like hell, I can’t complain about the pill’s results. It’s almost equivalent to a month of Bae’s crazy physical training, maybe more. Gains from training are supposed to get increasingly difficult the closer you are to your potential. It’s the first time I have seen increases in potential, too. Even though they seem a bit underwhelming, considering the grinder I had to pass through to get them. Bae’s mental and mana training exercises are also starting to bear fruits.

  “Good, good!” comments Master Wen. “If you reach this level of training and advancement quality each time you rank up, you will claw your way into the peak, attribute-wise, before you reach immortality.” He grins, widely. “That would be quite a feat, knowing that you were born only at the high end of the average.”

  “Hmm,” I mumble. Master Wen seems way more excited about it than I am. It’s not like I have a frame of reference to appreciate what that means. My stomach rumbles, reminding me I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.

  “Good, good! That went even better than expected. It must be because it was your first time using alchemy,” he ponders, almost like he is talking more with himself than with me. “You will need to rest for a few days before you take the mind and mana crucible pills.” Shit! I forgot there are more. Do I have to pass this torture all over again? “Why don’t you tell Bae to prepare you something to eat? Hmm?”

  Sure, why not? I’m starving.

  The figs are absolute bliss, a marvel of texture that melts into syrupy sweetness. They taste of earth, berries, honey, and warm orchards.

  Bae hums quietly in the kitchen, preparing me a simple meal. It's nothing fancy, only flatbread with goat cheese, but I feel almost like a pampered noble. Is she trying to make up for the abuse or something?

  I take a bite of the warm bread. Its crispy edges shatter beneath my teeth. Yet the insides are soft and chewy. It carries the comforting taste of toasted grain, simple but rich. It is wheat bread. I thought they only grew rice here. Strange.

  The cheese melts and oozes, stretching lazily with each bite. Its salty and buttery tang coats my tongue. A hint of sharpness hides behind the smooth texture that sinks into the bread's warmth as if they belong together. Every mouthful is a perfect balance. Earthy and creamy notes melt with a slight hint of char. A nice contrast to the sweet figs.

  The leopard purrs at my feet, begging me for a portion until I relent.

  I could get used to this. Don’t think about the future pain that waits for me. Those pills can’t be worse than the one I took today. Can they?