Kaida continued moving... She winced at the sky's brightness—clearer than Earth ever was, with no pollution, considering this place was in the industrial age. It was a lot brighter; still, a spiral galaxy, but the planet they were on was a lot closer. She could even see that the planet had a moon as well. Of which she also simply calls Luna instead.
Kaida had reached the peak, not knowing how much time had passed, only that it'd been a few hours. When the sect just came into view on the horizon, she realized only an hour or so had passed, with the moon going to set by now.
Once she had reached the entrance after about thirty minutes, she had quickly run to the peak, wanting to view the sunrise perfectly. Right as she got back, she detected Wenxu sitting on the roof of his home. Along with the girl he was with before. They looked closer.
Kaida would've moved ahead, but let out a soft smile and eased her mind. Now reaching the edge of the peak, she stopped skidding slightly. The sky wasn't black but a deep, luminous indigo, flecked with fading stars of the galaxy. A faint shimmer now, from the tens of millions of stars.
The Low Horizon, a Blood Orange, and deep crimson as the sun rose, with the sky a pale gold and glacier blue, the stars gradually fading out. For a moment, she could see the Corona, only visible during the eclipse on Earth. It was only visible for a few seconds.
"The Corona... Only saw it during the eclipse. How beautiful."
Kaida took a breath before looking back and seeing Wenxu, who saw her and spoke loudly.
"Kaida! You made it back. Thought you were gone again."
Kaida's voice became softer. "I'm doing well, but I'll be doing a spar now, so I'll have to go." She hoped he'd have a better time with the lady next to him, so she wanted to end the conversation right now.
Wenxu was confused, but he waved as Kaida passed by, with her only a silent nod.
"I should probably talk to him later, I've been avoiding him or something..."
Kaida finally stopped by at her home, walking inside as she saw Vael eating what looked like meat, which was cooked and coated in a thin layer of Qi.
"Could've just shown me what you like to eat." She looked at Vael deadpan with the bird nervously eating as if it could understand.
Kaida walked over to Bear, gently touching his fur and rubbing it. As he woke up and turned slightly, she continued to rub his fur and even his belly as it rolled over. She held back a smile, still not trusting everything.
Kaida glanced over at her manual, which she had left behind. She hadn't read much of it, only the parts about birds and a few other things that were now a blur, so she'd need to refresh her memory. Flipping pages, she stopped over to the Realms. She was in Foundation Establishment, but she saw the difference between a False Foundation, a Perfected Foundation, and a Cracked Foundation.
She read the small snippets of information.
'To access the Foundation and view it within oneself, one must remain in silence, disturbed, and you have to try again. Once a Foundation is viewed, the difference between a False and a true foundation is minuscule. Still, a True Foundation either runs like a Fountain, a River, and rarely shapes something else, but a True Foundation is one with true color.'
Kaida stopped rubbing Bear's stomach and closed the manual. Her hands were moving to her legs as she took a small breath. Cinder didn't speak, nor did Bear make much noise. Vael, who had just finished eating, felt a flash of color, but she didn't react quickly. Her eyes winced at the bright flash, but it wasn't too much.
A circular, spherical object of considerable size, rivers, and what appeared to be oceans, formed the Foundation. The color there was so vivid that she knew it was a perfected world.
A slight hint of happiness lingered, yet she wished it could be false, allowing her to discover a Perfected Foundation for herself. She wanted to find a way to make it better than a perfected one, if possible, but she sighed. If that wasn't possible, she wanted to see the fastest and most efficient method to achieve a perfected Foundation.
The green patches within there, a shape which she shifted softly, and her Foundation shook, ever so slightly. Yet she tried no more; she would not want to accidentally hurt herself in the process of testing.
After leaving the position, she attempted to stretch, but found her body to be a little less flexible. Even the subtle change was noticeable, prompting Kaida to go on high alert.
"...Do they not learn...?"
Kaida didn't think of it any longer, she had to go fight the guy and couldn't be missing it, even if she didn't care for insults, she just didn't want them directed to her over something as trivial, she couldn't tell the time fully, it was almost impossible to her since there didn't seem to be a clock.
She was strolling towards the arena location where she previously fought Akari. Her face was calm as she became more vigilant again, relapsing into her paranoia. Finally reaching there, she noticed a large crowd as the guy who challenged her was flexing his muscles like a strongman, with Kaida showing little concern.
Of course, he noticed, with him seeing Kaida completely disinterested in him, giving not even a glance. Which ticked him off, at least a little. Kaida reached the other side while pushing away the disciples who were watching him, even though the audience wasn't needed. She wouldn't expect less from him, even if that was harsh.
"Wanna make a bet on who wins and loses? They already picked me, obviously." He was snarky, taller than her, standing at 5'10.
"Go ahead. What is it? Don't do anything moronic like making me your wife." Kaida spoke without much of a filter, letting some of her anger out, though she controlled the rest, taking a soft breath.
Kaida stood still, eyes scanning for sabotage. Always a possibility. She planned to try a new move that she thought would be better suited for him, and she also wanted to use it, even if it was inefficient.
"BEGIN!"
Kaida's eyes widened in surprise. It was random, with no countdown, but she assumed it was to ensure they were ready, since a fight wouldn't actually count down; it would just start.
In less than a second, he closed the five-meter gap. As he stepped in, he dropped his shoulder and tilted his weight forward, throwing his right fist upward in a hook aimed for her cheek.
"He's gonna hit my face-"
Kaida was going to move to stop it, shifting her weight back and raising her arm, just a singular one. She notices him moving to slide —a Feint!
The crowd around her looked in evident joy that Kaida was caught off guard by the feint, but it didn't mean she was going to let that get to her head. But the noise stalled her for a second too long. She hated crowds during fights and would need to get used to them.
His foot slid in low from her left, hooking behind her front leg at the ankle. Her balance shifted too late, sending her weight tilting backward—too far off-center to resist. She also expected this world to have martial arts, given its differences. Instead of the one-dimensional stories she'd read.
Her leg swept up, compromising her center of gravity. However, she let the fall carry her, rolling over her left hip. A hand slapped the ground—just enough to steady her landing, landing in a low crouch. She took a long breath to calm herself before managing to get back onto her feet, albeit with some physical pain.
She was near the edge, about ten meters away from him at most, and close to the edge, which was cleanly cut. A half step to ensure she didn't get cornered or baited into moving closer.
"You've got that look. Like you're already writing excuses in your head." He spoke in a snarky tone, mocking her.
She didn't let it stop her. Moving her weight to her rear leg, she built tension in her hips, channeling a pulsing warmth that surged down her spine and legs—not fire, but like compressed breath pushing through tightly coiled muscle. The Qi flowed thick, steady, and ready to snap.
The Qi threaded through her joints in pulses—tightening tendons, stiffening muscles, sharpening her balance. Even the soles of her feet vibrated faintly, as if the ground answered back, hot like fire yet soothing as a fresh bath.
Her back foot planted hard into the stone. She twisted her hips and drove forward in a straight line, the momentum bursting from her core as her right arm snapped upward—aimed directly at his sternum.
"..." A pause. "Don't let his words get to your head." She thought to herself, as she refocused her line of sight, as her hand moved, to hit directly at his chest to knock the wind out of him. Though before she moved, there was a hint of hesitation.
He'd just barely block part of the damage using his hand to cover it in a cross guard position. However, the force was still strong enough to knock him back and leave actual damage on his body.
"Shit, I'll have to take her seriously." His expression stiffened with anger boiling up due to how she's actually able to fight back, but-
She gave him no time to rest; immediately, she spun low, sweeping her right leg in a wide arc toward his ankles—not to trip, but to force him to hop back or lose footing. This was also because her legs were long enough, despite her being somewhat lacking in height.
The crowd cheered harder. The fight was different from usual, considering the guy never usually struggled with people in a battle; they were both rooting for him and rooting for it to become more intense. "I BET ON YOU, JINHAI, YOU BETTER WIN!"
The sweep forced him to fall over. Kaida stepped back, noticing the ground slanted slightly—dust piling up near her feet. She could use that. Fair or not.
As he rushed over, He burst forward, leaving an afterimage that collapsed into a gust of Qi—dust kicked into her path as she stumbled back, adjusting her stance. She moved back, her expression calm, and, still barefoot, she almost stepped onto a slightly sharp edge, but shifted her foot slightly to the right. Now at the edge of the Arena, she stood still, knowing he wasn't behind her, but he wasn't here, as he was basically invisible.
As he suddenly appeared to her left, she turned, her hand moving at the bullet speed. Her fist was coated in Qi—one layer to absorb shock, one to reinforce bone, from that her punch directly went to hit his hand, though right before making contact, she turned the coating into water, as she had two layers of Qi coating, one to actually activate her attack and the other to protect her body.
"Looks like it's going to work... And he hasn't used Qi to harden his body. At least yet." She got her chance to strike.
The water formed an extremely thick layer, and as her hand pushed through, it created a bubble, accompanied by a loud... Sickening thud with the sound of his bone breaking, he didn't have time to harden his hand with Qi, so it didn't reduce the damage, and even then his tendons would've torn.
Still, she sustained damage, with her hand shaking in pain. But she kept her emotions internal, and she'd reason on why she felt the emotions.