75: Berserker Tier-2

Wanqing was at the cairn at 7:54 AM IRL.

I logged in at 7:50. I rendered at the small chamber-entrance approach at the small dark arch in the Black Castle Foothills' western face. The approach was — at the small in-game render — a small clear flat span of approximately three hundred meters of small dark grey scree between the small dark cairn at the eastern edge and the small dark arch at the western. The small in-game morning sun was a hand above the eastern ridge. The small dark cairn was the same small pile of seven flat stones I had sat on the bench-rock two hundred meters out from on the small Thursday five weeks ago at Wanqing's promotion at the small Cinnabar Marsh archer mastery node finale — the small same in-game-render piece-template the launch-week-plus-three-month patch had used at all the small careful seven-ring promotion-chamber cairns. The small piece of green cloth on the topmost stone was the small same green cloth.

Wanqing was at the small bench-rock at the small dark cairn at 7:54.

She had on the dark cloak. She had the bow at her back. The pale-gold full band on the inside of her left wrist read — even at the small in-game distance of three hundred meters — as the small full Lv 30 archer mastery cap glyph and the small careful Falling-Leaf Volley sub-glyph beside it. She had at her small left side, on the small bench-rock beside her, a small folded paper page the small in-game-inventory-render reproduced as the small in-game-character-customizer-rendering of the small careful index card I had kept in my small careful dorm-desk-drawer for the small careful seven-item waiting-at-the-foothills receipt.

She did not, when I rendered at the chamber-entrance approach, look at me.

She was, by her own small careful first item of the small careful seven-item waiting-at-the-foothills receipt, sitting two hundred meters out — no, three hundred meters out, the small careful Berserker-promotion-chamber receipt-extension — at the small cairn on the small bench-rock. She had, by the second item, not yet looked at the chamber entrance.

I did not, at the chamber-entrance approach, message her.

I held the small dark heavy blade across my back. I had at my small inside pocket of the dark cloak the small careful Stat-Bonus Stone from the small careful Wei-line cache I had been holding since the small careful late-September chamber-clear at the small careful Iron Hills mid-tier mastery node. I had at the small careful belt-pouch the small careful eight-pack of small careful Lv 28-29-bridging-tier potions Wenqing had made for me at the small careful Greenleaf Inn back-room alchemist station on Friday afternoon. I had at the small careful inventory the small careful folded copy of Mei Yulan's dual-signed permanent civic-affiliate arrangement — by my own small careful judgment, the small careful arrangement was a small careful piece I would, by the small careful Berserker-Tier-2 promotion-chamber convention, carry into the chamber as the small careful piece-of-civic-context the trial chamber's small careful mirror-image one-self combat would, by its small careful chamber convention, render at me as the small careful test of whether my own small careful one-self had, in the small careful seven-IRL-day window since the small careful Tuesday 18 visit, become the small careful kind of one-self the small careful arrangement was signed by.

I was, by the small careful chamber-entrance convention, ready.

At 8:00 AM IRL I waited.

At 8:14 AM IRL I walked into the chamber.

The chamber was — at the small in-game render — a small careful round room of approximately twelve meters across, lit by a small single high in-game-render skylight at the small careful exact center of the small careful in-game-render ceiling. The light was — at this small careful Saturday-morning hour — the small careful pale gold of the late-November-Hangzhou-IRL-morning-sun the chamber's small careful daylight-mirror engine had reproduced for the in-game render. The small careful floor was the small careful flat dark stone the launch-week-plus-three-month patch had used at all the small careful Berserker-Tier-2 trial chambers.

In the center of the small careful round room there was a small old NPC.

He was — at the small in-game render — a small old man in a small clean Berserker-tier-2 dark grey cloak with the small careful black hood pushed back. He had at his right hand a small wooden staff. He had at his left hand a small clean white cup. He sat on a small careful low wooden stool. He looked up when I came in.

He said — in the small careful low even voice the launch-week-plus-three-month patch had assigned to the small careful Berserker-Tier-2 trial chamber's small careful witness-NPC: "Bladeless of *Severing Light*."

I said: "Old Hong."

He said: "I am Old Hong. I am the small Berserker-Tier-2 trial chamber's small witness. I have been at this small low stool since the small careful launch-week-plus-three-months patch laid the small careful chamber down. I have witnessed seven Berserker-Tier-2 promotions on this server. The seventh was Wang Jian at the small careful first-server cap-promotion in month two. Yours will be the small careful eighth."

He paused.

He said: "Bladeless. The small careful trial is the small careful trial. The small careful chamber's small careful one-self mirror will, in the small careful next minute, render. You will fight the small careful one-self mirror. The small careful one-self mirror is — by the small careful chamber's small careful design — yourself at the small careful Berserker-Tier-1-cap state your small careful current self has just been at, animated by the small careful chamber's small careful animation engine to fight you with the small careful tactical knowledge the small careful chamber has, by its small careful four-IRL-month observation of you at the small careful all the small careful Berserker tasks you have done since you first entered the small careful Berserker class at the small careful Trial of the Gate, accumulated. The small careful one-self mirror knows what you know. The small careful one-self mirror does not, however, know what you have, in the small careful seven IRL days since the small careful Tuesday eighteen, become. That small careful seven-day delta is yours."

He paused.

He said: "I will sit at the stool. I will watch. After the small careful trial — at the small careful chamber's small careful promotion event — I will give you the small careful Crescent Moon Slash mastery cap. Until then, the small careful trial is yours."

I nodded once.

I drew the small dark heavy blade.

The small careful one-self mirror rendered at the eastern wall of the chamber.

He was — at the small in-game render — me. He had on the same dark cloak. He had the same dark heavy blade across his back. He had the same small careful Lv 28-floor-just-pushed-to-Lv 29 stat-line, the same small careful Berserker-Tier-1-cap small careful skill-set, the same small careful in-game-character-customizer face. He stood at the small careful eastern wall at the small careful three-meter mark from the eastern wall.

He drew his blade.

He came at me at the small careful straight-line attack the small careful Berserker-Tier-1-cap straight-line attack had always been his — and my — first opening at any small careful chamber's small careful one-self mirror.

I stepped the angle.

The mirror's blade went through the air at the small careful spot I had just been. I came in at his right shoulder. I did not, however, take the right shoulder. The small careful right shoulder was the small careful Wei-line opening I had used at the small careful Iron Hills cleft-bear five weeks ago. The mirror knew the Wei-line opening. He had — at the small careful one-self mirror's small careful four-IRL-month tactical-knowledge accumulation — seen me use it.

He stepped the angle on my own coming-in.

I let the small careful mirror's step go. I came back to the small careful center of the chamber. The small careful mirror came back to the small careful eastern wall.

We held.

We held for the small careful eight seconds the holding took.

In the small careful eight seconds I did the small careful one thing the small careful mirror did not, by his own small careful four-IRL-month tactical-knowledge, know I had become.

I sheathed the blade.

I walked, at the small careful mid-cadence walk, to the small careful eastern wall.

I stopped at one meter from the small careful mirror.

I said: "I am, in the small careful seven IRL days since Tuesday the eighteenth, signed under a small careful permanent civic-affiliate arrangement that holds the small careful four-things charter as the small careful charter the arrangement is signed by. The small careful four-things charter holds: play for the people at the table; no corporate sponsorship; win by patience not force; do not allow any save to break another save. The small careful four-things charter, by its small careful third clause, names patience as the small careful win-condition. The small careful patience is the small careful win-condition I have, in the small careful seven IRL days since Tuesday the eighteenth, become the small careful kind of one-self the small careful win-condition is the small careful win-condition of."

I paused.

I said: "I am not, in the small careful chamber, going to take you by the small careful Wei-line right shoulder. I am not, in the small careful chamber, going to take you by any small careful opening at all. I am going to sit at the small careful low stool beside Old Hong. I am going to wait. I am going to let the small careful chamber's own small careful trial-engine, at the small careful eight-minute-of-no-engagement timeout it has by its own small careful chamber-design, default-resolve. The small careful default-resolution is the small careful patience-resolution. The small careful patience-resolution is the small careful Berserker-Tier-2 promotion-chamber's small careful chamber-secret the small careful seven previous promotions did not, by their own small careful tactical-engagement, find."

I sheathed the blade further into the small careful sheath at the small careful sheath-rest setting.

I turned. I walked back to the small careful low stool beside Old Hong. I sat down.

The small careful one-self mirror at the small careful eastern wall held the blade for a small careful three seconds.

Then — at the small careful chamber's small careful trial-engine recognition — he sheathed his own blade.

He turned.

He walked, at the small careful mid-cadence walk, to the small careful eastern wall. He sat down on a small careful second low stool that the small careful chamber's small careful trial-engine had — by its own small careful default-resolution rendering — just placed at the small careful eastern wall.

He sat.

We sat.

We sat for the small careful eight minutes of no-engagement.

At minute eight Old Hong stood up.

He said: "Bladeless. The small careful Berserker-Tier-2 promotion-chamber's small careful patience-resolution is the small careful chamber-secret. You found it in the small careful eight seconds before the small careful eight-minute timeout. The small careful one-self mirror found his own small careful patience at the small careful three-second recognition. The small careful chamber's small careful trial-engine has, by the small careful patience-resolution, judged. The judgment is: Berserker-Tier-2 promotion confirmed."

He held out his small white cup.

He said: "Drink."

I took the small white cup. The small careful in-game-render-liquid in the cup was the small careful pale-gold the small careful Crescent Moon Slash mastery cap glyph would, at its small careful unlock-event, render the small careful skill-bar at. I drank.

The small careful liquid was the small careful taste of the small careful late-November Hangzhou IRL morning sun.

The promotion event rendered.

It was — at the small careful in-game render — the small careful soft pale-gold expansion of the small careful chamber's small careful entire interior rendering, from the small careful low stool I sat on outward to the small careful chamber's small careful round walls and through them. The small careful expansion took a small careful four seconds. The small careful expansion stopped. The small careful chamber re-rendered at the small careful Berserker-Tier-2 ambient render.

The small careful Lv 30 Berserker-Tier-2 glyph rendered at the inside of my left wrist as the small full pale-gold band the launch-week-plus-three-month patch had reserved for the small careful Berserker-Tier-2 cap. The small careful Crescent Moon Slash mastery glyph rendered beside it as the small careful curved-blade shape +5% ignore-DEF.

The small careful one-self mirror at the small careful eastern wall stood up.

He walked, at the small careful mid-cadence walk, to me at the small careful low stool. He stopped at three meters.

He said, in my own small careful voice but at the small careful chamber's small careful one-self-mirror-final-line cadence: "Bladeless. The small careful one-self the small careful arrangement was signed by is — by the small careful chamber's small careful judgment — the small careful one-self the small careful chamber has, in its small careful four-IRL-month observation of you, watched you become. The small careful seven-day delta closed the small careful gap. The small careful gap is closed."

He turned. He walked to the small careful eastern wall. He dissolved into the small careful chamber's small careful one-self-mirror-render-decay at the small careful five-second decay-cycle the chamber engine used.

Old Hong stood at the small careful low stool.

He said: "Bladeless. The small careful Berserker-Tier-2 trial is complete. Walk out. The small careful chamber will, by its own small careful chamber-decay-cycle, close behind you. The small careful next Berserker-Tier-2 promotion candidate on this server will be — by my count — the small careful Wenqing of *Severing Light*, in the small careful four IRL months from now."

I stood up.

I bowed to Old Hong — the small careful inclination Old Wei would, in either timeline, have given the small careful Berserker-Tier-2 trial chamber's small careful witness-NPC.

He returned the small careful inclination.

I walked out of the chamber.

The small careful chamber-entrance approach was — at the small careful in-game render — the same small clear flat span of three hundred meters of small dark grey scree. The small dark cairn at the eastern edge had on its small bench-rock Wanqing.

She was at the small bench-rock.

She had, in the small careful sixty-eight minutes I had been in the chamber, sat the small careful seven-item waiting-at-the-foothills receipt. She had — by her own small careful self-instruction — not, for the first ten minutes (the small careful Berserker-Tier-2 promotion-chamber receipt-extension's small careful adapted first-item), looked at the chamber entrance. She had, in the seven rings, not messaged me. She had, when the promotion event rendered four minutes ago, stood for it. She had, when I walked out of the chamber, not walked to me.

She had waited for me to walk the small careful three hundred meters.

I walked the three hundred meters at the small careful mid-cadence walk.

I stopped at three meters from the small bench-rock.

She did not, the small two seconds the stopping took, say anything.

Then she said:

"Cangtian."

I said: "Wanqing."

She said: "You did not, in the eight minutes, take the small careful one-self mirror by the small careful Wei-line right shoulder."

"I did not."

She said: "You sat at the small careful low stool. You let the small careful chamber's small careful default-resolution take the small careful trial."

"I did."

She said: "You found the small careful Berserker-Tier-2 promotion-chamber's small careful patience-resolution chamber-secret."

"I found it."

She said: "The small careful patience-resolution chamber-secret is — by the small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road-cadence-line's small careful third-clause win-condition — the small careful chamber-secret the line has been waiting for a small careful Berserker-Tier-2 promotion candidate to find since the launch-week-plus-three-month patch laid the chamber down. You are — by the small careful chamber's small careful judgment — the candidate the line has been waiting for."

I held that.

I said: "Wanqing."

"Yes."

I said: "Beat six."

She said: "Beat six. Walk me to the foothills' edge. We have, by the small careful Sat-the-twenty-ninth IRL afternoon, a small careful 1 PM train to Suzhou."

I said: "We have."

We walked.

The bond aura at the eight-centimeter mark, all the way to the foothills' edge, was the small careful steady gold of the small careful long ordinary distance.

In my chest the second voice — *three months and three weeks* — was quiet.

The first voice — the old counter — said:

*The small careful patience-resolution chamber-secret is the small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road-cadence-line's small careful third-clause win-condition. I found it because I have, in the small careful seven IRL days since the small careful Tuesday eighteenth, signed the small careful arrangement that holds the small careful four-things charter that holds the small careful patience as the small careful win-condition. The small careful one-self the small careful arrangement was signed by is the small careful one-self the small careful chamber confirmed at the promotion. Beat six is open. The small careful kitchen-table conversation is at the small careful Pingjiang Road this afternoon.*

I closed my eyes for the small two seconds.

I logged out at 9:14 AM IRL.