3 A New Home, A New Hope

After arriving in Myrhhwar and seeing just how massive this merchant city was, a port official showed up and introduced himself to their father before guiding them to their new home on the southwest side of the city. They were within a short distance of the port and the market, making it a great place to live for obtaining goods, work, and travel accommodations. He told them that after a few hours a military official would come by with the stipend and help them purchase some home goods to put into their space. As a former military officer who was retired due to injury he had a great deal of prospects in this city for work, any official position with the government would gladly hire someone in his situation. Before long he had purchased all the home furnishings they needed and had them delivered to the small home they would be living in, and before he left the official gave him a list of positions that were available which would definitely hire him.

After a few more days of rest and acclimation to the new city life they began to really explore the city and learn what was available and where. It appeared the city had three major martial sects that were taking disciples, and each of these was also a recruiting ground for other larger sects that had their own land out in the forests. The three available sects all had their own focus.

The first one was a sect that tried hard to raise talents that could become crafters such as Alchemists, Refiners, Gem Masters, and Rune Crafters. The second sect targeted the great fighters, those who wanted to be seen on the battlefield protecting the innocent or selling their power to the merchants who need protection. The final sect focused on those who seek to master skill and finesse, no matter what their goal. This sect was also the hardest to enter, and the one with the least information available.

After spending a few hours roaming the marketplace and seeing what each area was selling they began to roam further out into the city, where they saw a poster advertising the disciple selection tournament was set to take place in a month's time. Both children looked expectantly at their father, pleading with their gleaming eyes, until he gave in with a sigh.

"Alright, you two, I'll be your instructor until then. The pension they gave me will cover our living expenses at least that long. When we get home don't expect me to take it easy on you, these disciple trials will certainly include a combat portion and you both are younger than the average Small Success fighters."

With that they were led home to eat a hearty dinner and go to sleep for the next day. Brooking no arguement, their father had them sleeping before the sun had even set.

The next day they were woken quickly before sunrise and dragged half-sleeping out the city gate to the sandy shore of the river they arrived on. There they were given many agility tasks to perform, with whoever was slower having no time to rest. By noon they were both completely out of breath and fell down panting on the cool sand in the shade of the trees when their father told them it was time to take a break for food. Little did they know he was only giving them ten minutes to rest and eat before they had to do sprints in the woods. By the time the sun went down, both children were so exhausted he had to carry them home, smiling from ear to ear about how well they had done as they snored in his arms and on his back.

The next day was combat drills, and they spent the first half of it memorizing fighting stances and forms. The afternoon was then spent on a distance run in the woods before they had to demonstrate they retained their training from the morning.

The following day they sparred as a team with their father, practiced basic fighting techniques, and sparred with each other.

This three day cycle repeated for the entire month, and by the end they were both able to jog home after every one of the three days.

The disciple selection tournament quickly arrived, and on that day they left in the early morning as a family and arrived at the martial field in the north of the city. When they arrived the children were both awestruck at the crowd present. So many Canis, Vulpis, and Felis of varying sizes and ages all gathered in one place, packed in tightly around the fringes of the massive field. In the center of the field were numerous stages and some large unknown stones, as well as a few dozen adults in varying uniforms.

The whole crowd was just waiting for one of these people to do or say anything, and an hour after the Huli family arrived they finally spoke in booming voices, "Welcome to the disciple selection for our honored sects. Anyone here who is not participating, please step outside the field now. When we begin the selection the disciples will have no communication with anyone outside this test." After the proctor announced this, a large number of people began shuffling off the martial field and taking places just outside the boundary.

A few moments later another of the uniformed people spoke up, "These stones in the center will determine where you will compete and with whom. They will measure your bone age and cultivation, which only we will see, and we will then split you into an appropriate group for fair competition. Our goal is to see what you have to offer, not to see who can defeat all others. If such was our goal then undoubtedly certain people would have a huge advantage over others. Please, line up orderly behind the nearest measuring stone."

At this time everyone left on the field began to move inward, slowly filtering into a few lines between the arena stages based on what was closest. As each person came to the front they would be directed to place their palm on a depression in the stone where a set of small gems were inset, following which they would be directed to go stand with a group on a specific stage based on what was listed. When it came time for the siblings, Fenglong went first.

The proctor for their stone tipped his head inquisitively as his ears twitched excitedly, but other than that there was no outward signs of what he saw, "Young man, head to that platform over there, you will be number 16 in that group when we declare sparring partners." He then pointed to a platform full of slightly older youths who all started to have excited looks on their faces, like they'd been given a gift. Finally Yun stepped up to the stone and placed her hand as well, to which the proctor was unable to contain his excitement and directly called over one of the others to confirm what he was seeing.

After a few moments of nearly silent consultation they both nodded in agreement and directed her to an even older group than her brother, giving her the number 25. This group, however, didn't have the same opinion as her brother's group. As she approached they all looked apprehensive to see someone half their age mounting the stage, as if there was some kind of monster approaching.

After another hour the proctors finally finished sorting everyone into groups, the largest was over 200 people crowded around a single stage, the smallest, the group just behind her brother's, was only 20. Her group numbered 100, his 78, and both groups started to look apprehensively at these two young people who were so obviously different than the rest of their groups. Again the proctors stood in the center and announced the rules, "This will be a two fight arena for each of you. You are not to intentionally cause severe injury, and if you are caught being malicious we will revoke your privileges to participate in this or future recruiting tournaments, effectively cutting off your access to the major sects. In each round we will call out two numbers, each arena will have the members that correspond to those numbers enter the stage. After the first round, the smaller groups will have different numbers called out to them to accommodate their lack of people. Now, let us begin."