The steady breathing of Sword Demon, Drunk, and Lecher carried through the night. Somehow, I’d ended up on watch. I tossed the firewood Drunk had gathered into the flames and stared into the campfire.

As the flickering flames reflected in my eyes, I tried to control the turbulence in my mind with the aesthetic of letting go.

Like some homeless gang leader with no house and no coin.

If the fire had stirred up my madness, I might’ve dashed off into the night and scoured the dark for that ventriloquist bastard babbling at us–but tonight, I didn’t.

It wasn’t easy, but the mindset of don’t wake the sleeping villains had combined with this newfound calm, and somehow, I managed to endure.

Quietly feeding the fire, I gazed upon the villains resting. Then I took stock of myself and the others.

Was this journey going well?

I found myself muttering, Not bad. I’d left to catch Mulungja, but it didn’t really matter if I found him or not. This wasn’t the life of crazed monkeys locked away, obsessed with training. We, unlike our past lives, were living differently now–and encouraging one another.

And that wasn’t such a bad thing.

As I lost track of time staring into the flames, morning crept in.

With dawn came a lifting of the darkness within me.

As shapes began to form–stones, weeds, pitch-black trees–Drunk spoke from behind.

“Jomju, go get some sleep. Good job.”

I looked up at Drunk rising.

“You could’ve slept more.”

“I slept plenty. If you’re not tired, do some internal circulation.”

I met his eyes, then sat down and began channeling my Hundred Battles, Tenfold Tempering Technique in a seated meditation. Maybe it was because I’d stared at the stars and fire for so long–when I closed my eyes, constellations floated in the darkness and the flames danced.

As I centered myself and cultivated energy, a hallucination drifted over from the far side of the Milky Way I’d conjured.

[Hundred Battles Technique, Sixth Tempering–The Sixth-Stage Carriage is departing shortly.]

[Hold tight, Third. This ride’s a fast one.]

[Why is it so fast today? Is it the air in Juksan?]