Training

A full day and night passed before her weary uncle summoned her to the courtyard.

It looked much the same if not for the pulsing white portal hovering a foot above the ground.

A faint, exhausted smile graced his face.

Katania felt extremely moved as she embraced her Uncle and thanked him so many times that she lost count.

"I didn't know there were still people in this world I could count on," she thought, Katania was truly touched, she knew it definitely wasn't a small favor her Uncle had done for her, in fact this could be considered an extravagant gift, the sheer number of resources it had likely required...

Katania hugged him tighter.

"Yes, yes, you're very grateful," he smiled, "Don't you dare waste this old man's efforts," he laughed.

Katania gave him a serious nod, and after giving him one final kiss she sprung towards the portal and disappeared inside it.

After she was gone a wave of fatigue struck the old man, he was on the verge of collapse after expending so much of his power.

Servants rushed to his aid but he waved them off.

"It's nothing!" he said sharply "leave me be," he collapsed into his chair.

Meanwhile, Katania was immersed in her surroundings, as she took in the lay of the place her mouth hung open, she was beset with a feeling of indescribable shock and wonder, and more than that, awe.

"Uncle truly went all out for me," she thought and tears filled her eyes.

In this patriarchal society, the love and acceptance of men was worth its weight in precious gems.

And while she had always got along well with her Uncle, he'd never done something so grand for her before.

"The best way I can repay him for this is to not waste this opportunity!" saying so, she threw herself into her training.

She battled monster hordes at the peak of the Earthly realm day after day, she didn't eat or sleep, training was all that mattered.

40 days quickly passed, Katania already felt an opportunity for a breakthrough to grade 1 Martial Soul realm.

She paused for the first time and sat cross legged and began to comprehend her star path.

In her mind, thousands of interconnecting pathways were lit up like stars in the night sky, each one revealing a little wisdom in martial cultivation.

Katania watched the stars connecting as her comprehension deepened.

When her eyes fluttered open again she was already a grade 1 Martial Soul realm cultivator, but the reservoir of energy welling up within her was immense.

Katania reached back into the pool of energy and felt another breakthrough.

There was something like a barrier preventing the energy from filling her completely.

She mentally hammered against it, again and again, until it shattered.

And as if a dam had burst, pure, dense energy exploded inside her dantian.

Her cultivation began to rapidly increase!

Grade 3 Martial Soul realm...grade 4...grade 5....grade 6...

Katania's cultivation hit a bottleneck at the upper stages of a grade 6 Martial Soul realm cultivator.

Her battle spirit soared as a new sense of power filled her, causing her to experience an intoxicating feeling of euphoria.

Full of energy, Katania once again exploded from her position, diving headfirst into the monsters.

Beast souls fell to the ground like a summer rain, her rapier shined like a silver needle in the midday sun and beautiful streaks of blood streaked through the air.

Soon all the monsters in the area Katania had been killing in had been destroyed, she could either move to another area or wait for them to respawn.

Since Katania had to comprehend her martial path she chose to wait for their revival.

Suddenly a thick guttural roar resounded within the small clearing Katania rested in.

It was a wailing cry that was filled with both anger and pain.

A huge black gorilla stormed out of the trees, flattening them as he went, it was a grotesque, dirty looking thing with a pig-like face, Katania was filled with disgust to look at it.

It pushed off its arms to stand as if bipedal and beat its chest savagely with a roar.

As it did so it emitted its aura of a grade 9 Martial Soul realm cultivator, however, Katania was still only a grade 6 Martial Soul realm cultivator.

She felt fear flush through her system, signals in her brain were erupting causing heat to fill her face. She was panicking, and at the worst time too! Katania slapped herself in the face, hard, jerking herself back to the present.

She retrieved her rapier and settled herself into a stance that suited her fighting form.

"If it's fortune it won't be a disaster, if it's a disaster...it can't be avoided." She comforted herself with this thought right before she flew towards the demonic gorilla.

Her rapier flashed as she darted in and out of range of the demons swinging fists.

Katania's golden hair was like a taut whip as it twirled with her movements, whipping from side to side as she sprang and pivoted on either foot.

"Faster, I need to be faster," she thought, and her pace quickened, she stabbed with a speed that seemed to transcend time itself, stabbing dozens of times in a fraction of a second.

This of course was only possible due to her grade 6 soul realm cultivation base, however, it still was not enough.

"As I thought," she lamented, "No matter how fast I am, it is not enough to close the gap of 3 levels," Katania felt a slight amount of despair at this sight, she was clearly dealing only superficial damage to the demon.

However, Katania was extremely unwilling in her heart to allow it to end here.

She fought on, her rapier singing a melody as it sliced the air.

She adjusted her tempo, "Too predictable," she berated herself, her movements becoming more erratic, "More power!" she urged, and her attacks became more fierce.

A heavy fist landed violently on the stone floor below where she had previously stood, having leaped into the air to avoid it, the fist had dealt a lot of damage, badly cracking it.

However, Katania paid no attention to this, instinct took over and she landed lightly upon the demons fist, she ran up the gorillas arm with her rapier drawn back as if she had pulled a bow to its limit, screaming low and deep in her chest, her eyes were wide open and she displayed a slightly crazed expression that made her look devastatingly beautiful, her hair swung wildly a dense explosive energy suddenly erupted around her airborn body, it flashed like a dazzling light, a heavy pressure filled the space she occupied as she plummeted from the air, she was so close to the demons face she could smell its pig breath, with a scream she plunged her rapier toward its head and the rippling explosive energy discharged from the tip of rapier, obliterating the demonic beasts head, it keeled over on the ground, black blood spurting from its upperbody where its head and neck once were.

Katania collapsed exhausted.

"I-I won..." was her final thought right before she blacked out, a faint smile upon her lips.