The next morning, Seth went to the library after breakfast. The compound felt eerily empty, with most of the initiates still training. There were, however, some initiates who are also excused from the training. Most of them looked to be about his son's age, and the way they carried themselves reeked of money and power.

  Seth didn't know what he expected from the library, but this felt too ordinary. The floors were not carpeted, but there were rows and rows of tall bookshelves, with small islands of low wooden tables for reading. The lights on the ceiling and walls gave off a warm, pleasant glow; a welcome change from the harsh fluorescent lights he was used to in the library back home. The only weird thing that stood out is some bookshelves were slightly shorter than the others. He didn't bother looking for computers, but couldn't even find anything that looked like a card catalog.

  Librarians were fortunately easier to find, as there were two older men sitting behind a wooden counter. As Seth approached and started to perform the greeting ritual they learned yesterday, one of the librarians smiled sadly and said, "I'm sorry, initiate, but we are not allowed to assist in any way." He pointed to the library rules, which the translation magic instantly seared into his brain:

  1. No violence

  2. Books may not leave

  3. No loud conversations

  4. Initiates may not request help from the librarians.

  Well, that was bullshit. Still, Seth didn't think it would be wise to waste time arguing with a man who could probably kill him with a sneeze. He bowed respectfully, and started wandering the shelves. Maybe today would be his lucky day.

  The next couple hours were frustrating, as the categorization scheme here made no sense. He found histories next to anatomical textbooks going over human anatomy in great detail. It shocked him to see all of the humanoid creatures who, in this society, were classified as humans. It was fascinating, but it definitely was not what he came here for.

  "Why are ya wandering around the mundane observational sciences section?" a quiet voice asked from five feet behind Seth. Startled, Seth tried reaching into his coat pocket for his brass knuckles, only to remember he had sect robes on now. By the time he actually found the knuckles in his robes, he was facing a smiling youngster.

  The kid was about Seth's height, with blue-grey skin and silver hair that went down to his shoulders. He was grinning at Seth with his head cocked to one side. Remembering the rules about violence in the library, Seth lowered his guard and chuckled.

  "Is that what section I'm in?" Seth asked, continuing, "This library isn't ordered like the ones back home, so I'm a bit lost."

  "I thought I was from a remote principality, but you must really be out in the middle of nowhere. To not even have a proper library..."

  He didn't know how safe it was to reveal too much info to a stranger, especially with the initiation they were a part of, so he said, "Something like that. Can you help me figure the place out? I asked the librarians, but..."

  "I'll help you, but two things. First, spar with me later. Second, bring me dinner from the cafeteria for the next week."

  The first request was not too strange, but the second one confused Seth. Still, it wasn't too bothersome, so he agreed. The kid led him to one of the bookshelves at the front of the library that was shorter than the rest. Apparently, these short bookshelves were these libraries equivalents of a card catalog. Except instead of cards, everything was recorded in various tomes. The tomes in this part of the library were just a listing of what was on all of the other sections of bookshelves.

  After a few minutes of explaining the system, the kid went back to his own studies, leaving Seth to his own research. He found some beginner manuals on qi manipulation techniques. Complete with pictures, as these were children's books. The children's manuals hurt less to read, which he was grateful for. Still, after a few hours, he found he understood the fundamentals. It also allowed him to understand why everyone fell flat on their asses when they had their power ripped. Still, he couldn't find any references to diseases that stole qi in his reading.

  Abandoning that line of thinking, he he looked out a window to see the sun low on the horizon. Taking a few minutes to put the books back where he had found them, he went to the cafeteria to get dinner. Twenty minutes later, he had returned with two bowls of a delicious smelling stew. Maybe it looked delicious to the locals, but chunks of purple and orange meat with blue vegetables swimming in a fluorescent green liquid made it look more like poison than food. He found the kid in a back corner of the library, reading, when he saw Seth bringing the food.

  "Thank you," he said, starting to eat.

  "No problem," Seth said, digging in. It tasted much better than it smelled, and Seth found himself smiling. The last year or so had been food pantry supplies on good days, and dumpster diving on bad ones. The stew was hearty, filling, and all too quickly gone. Thankfully, Therus was also a quick eater.

  "Well, shall we get to sparring?" asked the kid.

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  "Sure, but one question. What's your name? I'm Seth."

  "Therus," he replied. They walked toward the door, but stopped short when they heard a commotion.

  "No, wait, please..." a male voice pleaded, then screamed as the sounds of bones breaking echoed from the streets. When Seth got close enough to the door to see what was going on, he stopped. He saw a group of six kids mercilessly beating another kid. *Going to have to stop thinking of them as kids,* Seth admonished himself. One of the attackers threw a rock and missed, the stone heading for Seth. When it reached the threshold of the library, it bounced as it hit an invisible barrier. He couldn't get a good look at the attackers, but he heard one of them mocking the battered man.

  "My, isn't this shameful? A child of the great Khalen house, begging like a peasant."

  A few mocking jeers and kicks later, they finally left the half-dead man. Therus was silent, looking away from the broken man, his fists and jaw tightly clenched. Seth didn't like the situation either, but he couldn't afford to stick his neck out for a stranger. That kind of behavior got you killed.

  "Is there a place you'd like to spar?" Seth asked Therus.

  "Y-Yup," said Therus, who started walking. He led Seth down a small alley that was easy to overlook. Toward the end of that alley was a small, empty building. There were no windows, and only had one door. Once they both entered, Seth heard the sound of the door locking behind them.

  Seth wheeled around, making a small leap back from Therus as he pulled out his brass knuckles. He was stupid enough to trust the kid. Now, they were locked in a room together. As Seth prepared to defend himself, Therus' mouth dropped open.

  "Wait, Seth, what are you..."

  "Unlock the door, and move away," Seth said, not taking his eyes off Therus. Not even daring to blink.

  Therus froze in place for a couple seconds, then put up his hands and started laughing. He unlocked the door, and moved to one of the far walls of the room before saying, "Sorry. Didn't really think about how bad that looked. Maybe we can do our spar some other time?"

  Seth kept his guard up while walking toward the door, but asked, "Then why did you lock us in here?"

  "You saw what happened a few minutes ago, right? Would you want them just walking in while we're sparring?"

  The more Seth thought about it, the more it made sense. Now that the tension was gone, a coughing fit racked him, and the familiar taste of iron flooded his mouth. He tried to keep his eyes on Therus, but his vision swam, and all he could do was brace for an attack. An attack that never came. Eventually, the coughing stopped, and his vision returned to normal. Therus hadn't moved, only having a look of concern on his face. Seth's mind was racing trying to figure out how to explain this.

  "If you're not feeling well, we can spar another day," Therus began.

  Remembering some of the jargon in one of the books he skimmed, he said, "I'm fine, just my...constitution acting up," Seth said.

  "Really! What kind? Is it an elemental constitution, or something even stronger? Wait, you were coughing blood, so it must be a special blood related constitution!" Therus asked, with an excitement and intensity that made Seth take a step back. He didn't realize that constitutions were things that empowered people; he only saw the term in passing. Still, for now, best to play along. Seeing a man beaten to within an inch of his life a few minutes before didn't put him in the most trusting of moods.

  "I wish it was that special. Back home we call it Cancer. Was trying to find a method for dealing with the coughing, but couldn't find anything in the library."

  "Hmm, I've never heard of this kind of constitution before. What benefits does it provide? Wait, first, why were you looking in the qi manipulation techniques section for information on that? I thought I was from the sticks, but you're just...clueless. What family leaves one of their members this poorly prepared?" The more Therus spoke, the louder and more animated he became.

  "One that only finds me a burden," Seth said, letting a bit of truth mix in with his lying, "one that would be all too happy for me to vanish."

  That got Therus to stop talking for a moment, which let him cool down. Soon, Therus forced a smile and simply asked, "Well, let's get on with that spar then. No weapons work for you?"

  Seth nodded, and they both got into position. After a brief nod, Therus took the initiative by launching himself forward impossibly fast. Seth got his arm in the way of the blow, but couldn't completely re-enforce it with qi, so it was knocked out of the way. He managed to get some qi to his abdomen to cushion the second strike. As he feared, what he read about worked, but he wasn't fast enough to apply it effectively.

  Therus was one of those kids who had trained endlessly, but had no actual fighting experience, so left a bunch of openings. Normally, Seth would be able to take advantage. Their difference in qi control, however, meant that Seth was always just a little too slow. Therus was looking a lot more comfortable now, and had even had a confident smile on his face. That was when he overextended on his next attack.

  The punch came in high. Seth knocked it out of the way and took him to the ground with a qi-powered headlock. Therus' put up no meaningful resistance, his lack of grappling training showing. He started swinging wildly, while Seth's headlock quickly became a chokehold.

  Seth let go when Therus started panicking and flailing, and used some qi to quickly jump backward. Therus struggled back to his feet, glaring at Seth.

  "That was not honorable." Therus said, volume rising.

  "There's no such thing as an honorable fight. Only fights you survive," said Seth. He understood where the kid was coming from. Heck, when he first became homeless, he spent nights agonizing about how unfair it was that he'd beg for money, just to be robbed by some thugs.

  "With how badly you move, I guess you have to fight dishonorably," said Therus with a cheeky grin.

  "Hey, I may move bad, but you're not exactly a fighting genius," said Seth.

  "True, but how is it that you move so bad? Another constitution thing?"

  "Something like that." Seth didn't like where this line of questioning.

  "So what does does it do? With all those downsides, it has to have an amazing benefit, right?" asked Therus, getting more and more excited.

  "If you were me, would you answer that question?" Seth asked. He wasn't sure, but he hoped that these kinds of questions were considered rude. If not, he'd have to think of something else.

  "No," Therus said, deflating a bit, then perked right back up, saying, "say, would you like to spar again tomorrow? I know I'm not the best fighter, but..."

  "And I move bad. Sounds like an even match," Seth answered. They spent some time after going over specifics about what the other should focus on for next time, then went their separate ways.