Kael did not sleep.
Not because he couldn't but because every time he closed his eyes he felt it again.
That moment the instant when the pressure passed around him instead of against him.
It had been fleeting and fragile, gone the moment he noticed it.
And now it haunted him.
He sat cross legged on the cracked stone floor of the ruined pavilion eyes half lidded breathing slow. The city of echoes lay silent around him broken towers leaning like corpses frozen mid fall.
Shen Yao had not returned.
That more than anything unsettled Kael.
Normally the tower was impatient, usually it pushed, it demanded progress, objectives, movement.
Here? Nothing.
The tower did not give any prompts, timers and warnings. It was stillness.
"This is worse than fighting" Kael muttered quietly.
He raised his hand, the urge came instantly.
A line wanted to be drawn, its making him consciously and deliberately and it was instinct now like clenching a fist when threatened.
Kael forced his hand down.
"No, not yet".
He closed his eyes again, breathing in and breathing out.
The world pressed closer.
At first it felt like anything. Then gradually the air thickened not with hostility but with presence. The fractured authority of floor 6 seeped into his awareness like broken boundaries, half erased definitions, structures that existed only because no one had bothered to define their end.
Kael's jaw tightened.
This time he didn't react.
Minuted passed.
Then a footstep.
This time Kael knew who it was and had not opened his eyes, its like his eyes has turned into matrix where he can see matrix world even when the eyes is closed.
But still Kael moved a little.
"You moved a little but that is already a improvement".
He walked closer stopping just outside arm's reach.
"Stand".
Kael rose.
Shen Yao circled him slowly like a craftsman inspecting flawed work.
"Tell me now" Shen Yao said "After all this training what do you think your power is? wrong answers are accepted".
Kael thought a little and hesitated.
"I define boundaries and decide where things end".
Shen Yao hummed softly.
"That is what it does, not what it is".
Kael clenched his teeth.
"Then what it is?".
Shen Yao stopped in front of him.
"Answer me this instead, when you draw a line where does it exist?".
Kael blinked.
"In reality?"
Shen Yao shook his head.
"Its in the concept and later it follows into the reality".
Kael felt silent.
Shen Yao continued.
"Most warriors act within the world where they can do it with their physical might and techniques, Mages shape energy in their body using their mana from inside and outside, Assassins exploit blind spots within its rules".
He tapped the ground lightly with his foot.
"But you interfere with the rules themselves".
Kael swallowed.
"So?"
"So, why are you still behaving as if you must strike something".
Kael had no answer.
Shen Yao stepped back.
"Today, you will not attack, you will not erase, you will not cut".
Kael stiffened.
"Then what am I supposed to do?".
Shen Yao smiled faintly.
"Walk".
Kael stared "That's it?".
"Yes".
"This place is full of hostile entities, echo stalkers, residual constructs and -----"
"They will not attack unless you invite them and if they do that is your failure".
Kael frowned deeply.
"That doesn't sound fair".
Shen Yao met his gaze.
"Authority never is".
He turned and began walking into the city.
"Follow me".
Kael hesitated only a second before obeying.
They moved through narrow streets choked with debris. Cracked vehicles lay overturned their mental frames half phased into the ground. Windows flickered with ghost light showing reflections of a city that no longer existed.
Kael felt it almost immediately.
All eyes were on him.
Their pressure and the movement in the periphery.
His instincts screamed.
A shadow detached itself from a nearby wall an Echo Stalker its form unstable claws flickering in and out of existence.
Kael's hand twitched.
Don't.
The Echo stalker jumped.
Kael stepped forward instead of back.
Kael moved forward without attacking and defending.
The monster passed through the space he had occupied before, claws tearing empty air.
Kael's breath hitched.
Another Echo Stalker emerged.
Then another.
Shen Yao continued walking as if nothing were happening.
Kael followed heart pounding.
One monster swiped too close.
Pain flared along Kael's arm as partial scar which was scraped against his skin.
[HP -47]
Kael hissed but did not stop.
This time as master said just do nothing and walk with authority, he did not draw a line and did not erase, not even tap.
Slowly and deliberately each step was measured.
Something shifted, the monsters hesitated.
Their movements stuttered, their forms flickering more violently.
Kael felt it then, its not the power but the Recognition.
The space around him began to accommodate him. It started to adjust around him simply.
The Echo Stalkers recoiled.
One dissolved entirely and its existence collapsing without being struck.
Kael's eyes widened.
"What just happened" Kael was shocked.
Shen Yao stopped walking.
He turned.
"You stopped forcing the world to obey and instead allowed it to decide how to exist around you".
Kael looked at his hands and the aura he was releasing "I didn't do anything".
Shen Yao nodded.
"Exactly".
They continued.
By the time they reached an open plaza, Kael was shaking not only from exhaustion but from restraint too. Every instinct he had cultivated screamed at him to act to define and to end.
Shen Yao finally raised his hand.
"Enough".
Kael nearly collapsed, its hard to maintain that authority and the aura for long time.
"That was torture" Kael muttered.
Shen Yao chuckled softly.
"No, what you have done is correction".
Kael looked up.
"You're teaching me to exist as a boundary and not a weapon".
Shen Yao's eyes glinted.
"You're learning faster than I expected" he said "But do not misunderstand".
He stepped closer.
"This is only the surface".
Kael frowned.
"There's more??".
"There is always more, right now you are learning to not interfere".
He raised a finger.
"Next you will learn when to interfere".
Kael's pulse quickened.
"When?"
Shen Yao smiled not kindly.
"When the world cannot resolve something on its own".
A distant rumble echoed through the city.
Both of them turned.
From the deep within the ruined streets something stirred.
This pressure was not from the Echo Stalker but feeling of something heavier, older and more defined..
Shen Yao's expression sharpened.
"Good, the floor is responding".
Kael straightened.
"Is that a hidden boss appearance?".
"No, its something different, similar to a contradiction".
Kael swallowed.
"And what do I do?".
Shen Yao looked at him.
"This time, you may draw out your power".
Kael's heart raced.
"But" Shen Yao added "Only if you understand why?".
The rumbling grew louder.
The city seemed to lean inward, building creaking as something massive moved beneath the surface.
Kael steadied his breathing, why this was not mentioned anything in the forums, does hidden bosses exist in every floors and no one found it or there are some conditions to be met?
Kael felt the space, the pressure, the unresolved boundary at the heart of the disturbance.
For the first time he didn't think about cutting.
He thought about ending something that should not continue.
His hand rose slowly and carefully.
A line formed and which was stable, quiet and waiting.
Shen Yao watched closely.
And for the first time since meeting Kael.
He smiled like a man who had found something worth staying for.