Soulforged Dungeoneer

The yogi who was my challenge boss sat on a flat piece of rock in the middle of a snowy hell valley full of ghosts, spiders, and bandits, but he was serene in the face of all of that. The storm didn't reach, and the volcanic vent below us provided enough warmth that a human could plausibly survive here long-term, though they would probably prefer to wear more than this guy did. He was shirtless, bony and wrinkled, his skin a deeply tanned south Asian brown, and in general, he looked like the kind of guy who was not actually a martial artist, but more of a meditation guy instead. He sat there with his eyes closed, unmoving, as I did my best to calm down and recenter myself.

When I finally approached, the man spoke without opening his eyes. "You've come a long way just to lose a fight with me, Mister Applebee."

I felt a little put off that the guy knew my name. I wasn't sure if that was the Administrator interfering, or if it was a mechanism like the rescue bunker that just took that information and used it automatically. "Well," I said after a moment. "I suffered my first loss recently, and wouldn't you know it, I'm just no good at losing. Maybe I'll be better with some practice."

I thought that was only a little funny, and I was prepared for the old man to have no sense of humor. He cracked one eye and looked at me for a minute, and then, surprisingly, smiled. "Maybe so. Tea?"

"I'd hate to leave the rest of my group waiting..." I looked back over my shoulder, but Louise was giving me a thumbs up. "...maybe one cup."

So I sat before the man, and he produced a teapot and two cups from nowhere, presumably an inventory if NPCs had that. The tea was some special blend that had tangible effects--mostly, relaxing, but I could tell it was also doing something to my mana, or something similar. It felt good, not like some kind of poison, not that I'd expect that here.

"Better tea than the Administrator gave me," I said quietly, and laughed.

"I will take that as a compliment," the old man replied, his eyes once again closed. "Which Administrator did you meet?"

"Oh, I've met two of them by now, and one of the Gods, sort of, and I'm on my way to see Kalamitus. The one who gave me tea was... I don't know her name. Pudgy woman, flames painted on her nails."

The yogi nodded sagely, as though that made sense to him. "You're awfully weak to be in a place like this."

I took a deep breath and let it out as an exhausted sigh. "I was overambitious. I thought... I thought I'd learn to 'cultivate,' and that I should probably keep my level low... and I have a Dungeon pass... all the excuses fall flat as I realize how much danger I've put myself in."

"But you still wish to fight."

I looked at the teacup in my hands. For whatever reason, I figured I might as well be honest with this guy, since he had no stake in anything and was just a quiet old man willing to listen--really, less even than a man, less than a human, right? "...part of the point really is that I have so much to learn. And now... with Julius gone, I still need something to remind me how far I have to go. I've won a lot of fights just by being stronger, but all of that strength came from the fights where I was weak. I've never really been on an equal playing field, not since the very beginning. I was too strong or too weak."

The old man hummed politely. "More tea?"

I shook my head. "I appreciate the opportunity to speak--I really do--but I don't want to inconvenience the others."

"They are safe where they are." He gestured to the teapot. "Not all strength comes from fighting, Mister Applebee."

"No." I reluctantly poured myself a little more tea, maybe half a full cup. I didn't drink it, though. "I think that most of my strength came from realizing what I was fighting for. When I was first... about to die for my mistakes, I realized that letting the world be unfair wouldn't solve anything. I repented my sins and fought to save myself." I wondered if I could really say that, though. I was fighting now to protect Louise, and yet... wasn't I? "...or maybe, I became strong when I realized what I was fighting against. And now... I'm not so sure."

"That is an interesting distinction." The yogi's voice sounded a bit more energetic, though he didn't move a muscle or open his eyes. "To fight is both to protect and destroy. If you know what you are fighting for, you will know this in your heart; you destroy in order to protect. But when you know what you are fighting against, you protect so that you may destroy. One is the means, and the other, the ends. But which is which?"

I studied the old man. The Devil, when I'd talked to him, also seemed so much deeper than a mere dungeon spawned creature should be, but why? Did the Dungeon just naturally create entities of such depth and complexity, or was it something an Administrator had to do? With the Devil, it had been a thing with this stats--Wisdom, as I recall--or that was how I understood it at the time. But did that explain it, really? "And why do you fight?"

He chuckled, and got to his feet, still keeping his eyes closed. "I fight to destroy, and to protect."

I finished the cup of tea, and set it next to the teapot, and stood. Where those items were, they'd be in the way, but I didn't see a reason to consider that. "So... I should not use weapons, but--"

"You have heart, Mister Applebee. I will make an exception, because you do not threaten in the slightest bit. Come at me with whatever power you deem useful."

With whatever power... I frowned, and mentally nodded at Merry. But... since the man kept his eyes closed, on a hunch, I also closed mine, and focused all of my attention on my telekinetic sense. And then, when I felt dissatisfied with the relatively low clarity I felt there, I plunged headfirst into the deep connection with my Telekinesis that I'd had before I got the separate skill. There, in the razer-sharp edge where I activated the power but didn't use it, I found that swirling world of pain and confusion that I still knew by instinct, all too well.

Something in the tea, I think, soothed the connection a bit. The skill still bothered me, making me irritable, but it wasn't like I was cutting myself, wasn't like I was somehow losing control in order to make contact. The stress demon that tended to show up wasn't there, or it was quiet. I studied the senses that the Skill gave me, and after a moment, tried sinking even deeper, becoming one with the senses, one with the mental hands and fingers that didn't exist until I called them up. It only sort of worked.

I lashed out with a telekinetic hand toward the Yogi anyway.

Too slow. Instead of lashing out with his body, the Yogi seemed to summon mental hands of his own; he looked calm as he deflected the skill. Instants later, they faded like they had never been, while my own telekinetic probe left a thicker fog that didn't so easily vanish. Was he also telekinetic? Or was it some kind of ascended skill? I sent three fingers of force at him more or less at once, trying to minimize the setup time and launch the the moment they were ready, but I still wasn't fast enough.

I could swear time slowed down as he deflected each in series, but a moment later I understood--he somehow passively resisted the second and third long enough to deal with the first, slowing their progress through space, but he didn't rely on that resistance to completely defeat each shot. When his defenses let up, my telekinetic attacks went off to nowhere.

I tried an attack with more weight, like I was throwing a big heavy anvil at him. I felt the space warp slightly, but he took two mental hands and caught it, then tossed it up lightly and bopped it back like a volleyball. Although the weight was my own creation, when he redirected the weight at me, it was just as heavy, just as hard to block.

Not that I'd put all of my force into it.

This time, I created a pole instead of a bullet, my physical hands wrapping around the fake weapon. He deflected my thrust as though it were a real weapon, and the strong push not only deflected the weapon but made me stumble a step to the side. I discarded that idea and reached out, trying to imagine many telekinetic teeth snapping shut like a bear trap around him, but he didn't seem to care as he erected a small cage to block it.

I didn't even see the exact form of the counterattack, and only knew that it knocked me out of my trance. I couldn't keep my eyes closed as I tumbled over, now no longer able to sense everything.

"You are young to have reached S-rank with your Skill, my friend," said the Yogi conversationally, his eyes still closed. "But there are ranks beyond it."

I didn't feel like an S-rank compared to the guy, but for the moment it didn't matter whether he was above me or if I was making mistakes. I forced myself back into the trance, not able to go all the way back to that slightly deeper state, then screwed my eyes shut to focus on my senses, and nodded mentally at Merry, who came at the guy with a lance of hot furious Psychokinetic power.

That was probably the first time the people watching could tell what was going on, but it didn't play out any differently.

Merry's aim was pretty good, though I think her speed was lower than mine, probably because she was going through me to use the skill. Although I added my own skills at the same time to throw the guy off, the two of us together seemed just as easy, if not easier, for the old man to deflect as my earlier attempts. We went fast, we tried structures and formations, we tried spamming a lot of things at once, and the most we could do was slightly annoy him, as far as I could tell.

"This assistant of yours, she is good," said the Yogi when I had to stop to catch my breath. "But your teamwork is not. You resist her, and she resists you. You are not yet ready--"

I threw a telekinetic cage at him, and he caught it, and shattered it. Although many of the pieces remained in the air between us, I had no control over them. I frowned as I examined them--they should really have disappeared when I lose contact, right?

"--to be facing a master of anything. Regrettably, I cannot call you the winner of this fight, though I admit I am impressed given your level. You simply lack the experience that you need to fight this kind of battle."

I think you're right, said Merry suddenly. The fog you saw from the earlier attacks, too. Your mana is still in the air, it's just not connected.

Could I reconnect with that? I frowned and pushed as deeply as I could back into the skill, trying to find that slightly deeper level that the tea had brought me to, but I just couldn't do it.

"You should admit your defeat," said the Yogi, calmly, "unless you'd really like to test out my martial prowess as well?"

There was no part of me that thought I would win that fight, but I decided there and then to give it a shot. Even with my martial arts boosters and telekinetic trance, I knew how it would end, but I had to give it a shot.

It was actually incredibly clear to me, as I tumbled ass-over-teakettle, that he had actually been using Telekinesis or a similar skill to enhance his strength in the bare half a moment that I'd been close enough for him to actually use his body. Although he definitely had some strength of his own, power had flooded his limbs that matched the mental hands he'd used against me, power that I could sense through my Telekinesis skill. What else could it be?

And then my face made contact with the rock plateau, followed shortly by the rest of me.

"Ow." That really hurt my neck, and it jostled my brain well enough that although it wouldn't be damaged, it completely broke my train of thought. I rolled over onto my back and rubbed my neck with one hand, my nose with the other. I'd just been amazed at something, but then I'd lost it.

I'll tell you later.

"You did well, young man, but this fight is over." The yogi sat back down where he'd been. As far as I could tell, he'd never opened his eyes, except for the one moment where I'd told a joke. "There is nothing else here for you. Please leave."

I lay there for a moment longer, mostly feeling frustrated at how my neck hurt, and then stood up and bowed to him.

"If I may ask one question, sir?"

He turned his head towards me, but didn't technically give permission.

"...What exactly was in that tea?"