Six damn years.

I still couldn’t get my head around it. Although I trusted Master Koh, in that was how long it would actually take to reach mastery, I didn’t know what going through that would be like. Normally my response would be, I don’t have the time for it.

But apparently, now I did.

And then some.

As Master Koh led us through the village, I slowed down a bit to have a word with Blue Rose and Mal’Kira. They were looking as shellshocked as I was, but none of us had said anything yet.

“Alright, let’s talk about this, guys,” I said. “This six years thing is kind of blowing my mind.”

“Time is time,” Mal’Kira said. “If you must train for six years, then I am here to stand with you.”

“Well I’m not,” Blue Rose said quickly. “No offense, Max, but I just got out of prison. I can’t stay in this village for six whole years!”

“No one says you have to,” Master Koh called out from up ahead.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “There’s some other way to speed up my training?”

“Not for you,” he said. “But for them, yes. They don’t need to stay within the village.”

“Well, I can’t slum it for six months out in the wilderness or go back to civilization either,” Blue Rose said. “Someone from my home world will have bound to have seen me within that time.”

Koh chuckled. “A fugitive, are you? Fear not, you can remain within the village and not experience the regression of time. If you wish to wait only six days instead of six years or even six months, you can do this as well.”

I stopped. “Say what?”

Koh looked back and smiled. “It would be easier to simply show you. Come with me.”

We headed back towards the village entrance where a simple Paifang made of bamboo was erected. It was in stark contrast to the elaborate omni gate versions we had traveled through to get here, but something told me there was just as much Qi running through those sticks as those massive structures back in the Golden City.

Koh proved the point when he stepped through the Paifang and his body instantly blurred. We all hesitated a second but then stepped through as well. A different sort of sensation hit me. Where the village once filled me with energy, now it seemed to be draining. On the other side of the Paifang, Koh was waiting for us and merely pointed for us to look behind ourselves.

When I did, I was struck with shock and awe for a second time.

It was like looking through a portal, except the world on the other side was moving at breakneck speed. People ran to and frow in fast forward, while the sun rose and set in a matter of what seemed like minutes instead of hours. Koh then gestured about himself, and I noticed there were at least four or five different Paifangs, each with time moving at a different pace within them.

“Do you understand now?” Koh said. “You can choose how quickly time may pass for you. Chief Muraboshi made these different fragments of time so that we can craft all manner of weapons and armor. Some things, like dragon leather take decades to age, and you don’t want to be waiting around a century for that to happen.”

My mind was blown yet again.

“So, I can speed up my training by—?”

“No, not you!” Koh said annoyed. “Now come on. You’ve wasted close to a week already by me just showing you this.”

We stepped back through the bamboo gate and I felt the sudden rush of rejuvenating energy again.

“Now then,” Koh said, turning to Blue Rose and Mal’Kira. “Make your choice, you two. Do you wish to stay and learn with him? Or wait it out within the Crossroads and let this fellow age by himself for six years?”

Silence fell as Blue Rose and Mal’Kira looked to one another and then to me.

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“You don’t need to answer,” I said. “There’s no way I’m going to have either of you spend that amount of time in here with me. Both of you stay on the outside. I’ll be done before you know it.”

Blue Rose looked suddenly relieved. “Thanks, Max. I don’t think I could handle it.”

In truth, I didn’t know if I could either, but my path had provided this rare opportunity and now I had to put in the hard work to earn my skill and knowledge the old-fashioned way. One real day at a time.

No short cuts.

“I’m staying with him,” Mal’Kira said.

“Hey, you don’t need to—”

“It’s my choice, Max,” she said. “You think you’re the only one that craves this knowledge?”

She then turned about and kneeled before Master Koh. “Please sir, I know the deal you bartered with Chief Muraboshi did not include me, but if you allow me to learn alongside my master, I would be most gracious indeed.”

It was weird to hear her refer to me as her master, but technically I supposed that’s what I was to her. But it was even stranger to hear her want to stay six years with me.

Koh just shrugged. “Well, you’re the strong sullied type so you’d do well picking up the trade. I have no issue.”

Blue Rose sighed, folding her arms. “Thanks a lot, Mal, now I feel bad for opting out.”

“Hey, I told you not to worry about it,” I said.

“There’s nothing to even worry about,” Mal’Kira said as she clapped Blue Rose on the shoulder. “She can make herself useful while out there, can’t she?”

I thought on that a moment. If I was going to be stuck in this time portal or whatever it was, I would need some eyes and ears in the outside world. It would be six years for me, but only six months for everyone else and a lot could change while I got lost in the village.

“Alright Blue, here’s the deal,” I said. “Your payment for not getting locked in here with me is to go check in with Xi Xha, Mu Lin and Ling Wei once a month at the capital and then report back here. Master Koh, you can see too it that she is granted access in and out of Ri Ben, right?”

He sighed exasperatedly. “I suppose.”

“Great, then it’s settled,” I said. “Blue you have your marching orders. Find out the latest and report back in a month.”

“Alright then,” she said, straightening herself. “I should be able to manage a quick in and out without being seen.”

“And as for us,” I said smiling at Ma’Kira. “I guess we’ll both see you next year.”

* * *

We saw Blue Rose off, leaving her within the Crossroads.

It felt strange leaving her within that weird place, looking frozen in time from my point of view, but I guessed for her, she was seeing me speeding off with Master Koh and Mal’Kira in fast forward now.

The whole thing was a trip and a half.

“Alright, enough playing around,” Master Koh said. “You two are now my students and I will teach you in both our ways and the weapon arts.”

“Wait, you’re a weapon master too?” I asked.

“Of course,” he said. “We all are.”

“I thought they would be a special group within you or something.”

“If you test each weapon you’ve made for thousands of years on end, you’ll have no choice but to become a master of the damn things too.” He then chuckled. “At least these next six years will be interesting for me. Watching you struggle to just become a smith will be highly amusing.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but I could tell he was being good natured about it.

Still, becoming a smith was never in my plan, but I supposed I had to go with the flow now. That reminded me of something else.

“Master Koh, could you take a look at these?” I materialized my Axe and Glaive, now tinted blue. “These got superheated when I went to retrieve the Fallen Star. I cooled them down as fast as I could, but I’m not sure if they’re damaged now or something. Do you think they are still okay?”

Koh’s eyes widened as he looked at the blades.

“Let me see that,” he said and snatched the axe out of my hand as easily as if it were made of plastic. He examined it closely, the metal just inches from his nose. “This is made of corrupted steel. You actually managed to Blue Temper corrupted steel? How hot did this become?”

I shrugged. “I dunno. Pretty hot, I guess?”

“Boy, this is the work of a master smith already. You need the heat of the living forge to get corrupted steel this hot. It is now a hundred times harder than it was before.”

“Oh damn, really?” I said. “That’s awesome!”

“Not if you wish to sharpen it,” Koh said. “These things are as dull as clubs now, but do not worry. We have the tools for sharpening them here. And you’ll learn to do it yourself. It will be a great goal for you to work towards.” He then handed the axe back to me. “But for now you learn the basics. That goes for smithing as well as weapons training.”

Master Koh stopped by one of the numerous clusters of bamboo and casually broke off a trunk. He trimmed it to about six feet with his bare hands, breaking off the ends, and then shoved it towards me.

“This shall be your only weapon for now,” he said. “Master it and you will move on to the spear, then the halberd, the club, daggers, sword, and finally your axe and glaive.”

“Damn, all that? Can’t I start with my axe first?”

I gave him a cheesy grin, letting him know I was only joking.

He chuckled.

“When you manage to sharpen it perhaps.”

“What about me?” Mal’Kira asked.

Koh broke off another piece of bamboo. “You’ll both start with the Bo staff. The simplest weapon you can find. Smithing training in the morning and weapons in the afternoon. That will be the schedule.”

As Master Koh handed Mal’Kira the bamboo staff, we smiled at one another, and I could not help but feel grateful for her wanting to stay with me. I still couldn’t get my mind around spending six years of my life in this place. I was planning on being away from Fia and Bryce for a fraction of that time, but such was the price of progress now.

The isolation.

The sacrifice.

I dug deep with my [Struggler’s Resolve].

It was time to begin my training for real.