9 The Future, Defined?

As Yun sat next to the elder, respectfully silent, he began to tell her many things about where they were. Unlike just about any other building created by the Lynhär, this one was mostly underground. The vast majority of Lynhär were forbidden from building underground for fear of encountering Volvaka tunnels and giving them a direct path into the center of a city, but the greater sects were permitted to create such buildings as they would be the ones to defend the city first either way. This particular building was beneath the unassuming bar that she had waited in, and only fifteen of the fifty potential disciples had managed to find their way to the final destination. All told, this was a better result than most recruiting years, but the overall quality of talent this year was also lower than typical. The only exception to this was Yun herself, who the elders of the sect believed had great potential to be one of the greatest disciples in years. The elder next to her then told her that she could refer to him as Elder Lei, and that she was being taken as an inner disciple for the time being, but if she proved herself she had a very good chance of becoming his personal disciple.

All of this didn't mean much to her, as she grew up without knowledge of sects and the like, but she could tell easily that being a personal disciple of an elder was significantly better than just being an inner disciple in the sect. After a few more minutes she asked the elder the question that was burning in her chest, "Elder Lei, what do I need to do to prove myself? I'm merely at the Fourth Change of Meridian Opening. I'm not strong, nor am I amazing." "Little child," the elder chuckled, "You don't know how impressive you are, do you? Did you look around the martial field when you were testing? Nobody out there but your brother was in your age group, and even in terms of cultivation the greater majority of those present were closer to the Second Change. We had to build a group of people almost around you in order to have a chance of testing your potential instead of seeing your cultivation base dominate your peers." The elder's words shocked Yun for a few moments while she considered what he had said. It was true that the vast majority of the testing field was full of children who were nearly five years older than her. At her level she was unable to judge other's cultivation, but she could certainly tell she didn't have an advantage in her own group, which all supported what the elder had just said; she was early, and she was strong.

After a few more minutes sitting with Elder Lei he stood and gestured her to follow. He then took her down a few turns of the stairs to another area of the sect. In this area was a room full of weapons and a disciple behind a desk at the front. Elder Lei explained to her that once she received her first stipend from the sect she would be able to come choose one suitable weapon here to train in. Afterwards he took her around to the other side of the stair, half a turn down again, and showed her another room, this one piled high with many things that she couldn't identify. They appeared to be stones of some sort, but they had a strange energetic attraction to her and she had to struggle to bring her eyes away from the stars glistening within them. "These are called Heavenly Stones and they are a stone made of condensed Heavenly Qi. The more stars you see inside them the higher quality they are and the more energy can be extracted from them before they become dust. Remember this place well, because each month you'll be provided a stipend depending on your status of these stones. They'll be especially useful to you in breaking barriers in Meridian Opening, and even more helpful in trying to condense your Neidan later." Elder Lei explained patiently.

Again he drew her out and down a half turn on the stairs, this time to a small room with a desk and a door behind it. This room was the rations hall. All rations for the month would be distributed here, mostly in dried and portable fashions, unless you were in possession of a spatial artifact that could store fresh products. The room behind was a large space that she was not permitted within. Inside were the workers who separated all of the rations from the corpses of the stock animals and vicious beasts that were brought in by older disciples on missions, and also the two rooms for fresh ingredients being processed and ready ingredients that were fully processed. After this he took her up the stairs instead of down and showed her to a large room with many shelves and scrolls, again with a disciple minding a desk at the front. This room was explained to be the room of various techniques and cultivation methods that could help her condense her Neidan with particular future abilities in mind. Depending on the cultivation method chosen, one could develop a Neidan that makes them extremely good at handing and creating poisons, or one that has a great deal of the Dao of Thunder, allowing you to control the energy of the thunder element.

While this sect was not one of the Big 3, it was a strong sect beneath them and still had a great variety of inheritances to study. Elder Lei informed her that her status would determine how long she was allowed each week to study. Finally, Elder Lei took her back to the floor where she woke up, "The room you awoke in will be your room for now. If you become my disciple you will change your status significantly and, as such, be afforded much different space and privileges. I do hope that you can live up to my expectations on this matter, as I do think you can be quite a powerful investment. But that's all for another time, just the fact that I have personally guided you on this small tour is very different than a normal disciple would be treated. Later today you will join one of your seniors as a junior and they will be responsible for your well-being and actions for the next few weeks. In that time you will be tasked with all sorts of menial things and they will likely not treat you well on account of your age and circumstances. The world of cultivation is vicious, if someone thinks that they deserve something they will try and destroy anything they perceive to be in their way. With you here, having the chance to be my disciple, people will believe that you are attempting to usurp their rightful place. They will try to destroy however they can. Sabotage, abuse, direct attacks, they'll believe that any action they take against you is justified because you've stolen what's theirs. Keep this in mind as you live here. We might be a smaller sect, as we do not accept many disciples each year, but do not mistake that as a lack of competition. With that warning I've done my duty as your elder, I pray that you are successful." At this point Elder Lei turned and left, each step of his lithe Vulpis legs taking him farther than they should, without a single sound. Yun was surprised at this, she had no idea how he accomplished this, but she thought to herself that she would have to find out.