Exam Day

The day for departing for the sect finally arrived. Li Kai told me the entrance period would be brutal and I wouldn't get to see my family much even though the sect was close. The day prior to the exam I didn't do any training. Instead, I visited with my mom and dad in their respective labs as I had done in the past. I even convinced Vivian to take a day off work and we walked around town sampling the food in the nobles district.

The morning of my departure, the entire house gathered to see me off—all the cooks, guards, and servants. The head servant seemed to be crying more in joy than sorrow that I was leaving. I have my parents and sister big hugs. I even gave the old man, Gregory, a squeeze. While he was at the mansion, he had bathed, trimmed his hair and nails, and ate heartily. His gaunt figure was starting to figure out and he no longer smelled like horse manure. He now looked like an older version of my father. I still hadn't made up with him, but I had begrudgingly accepted him as my grandfather, even if I didn't like him.

Fred and Juniper were leaving with me. Li Kai anticipated I'd at least be an inner sect disciple, and members of the inner sect were entitled to bring one servant. I chose Juniper without hesitation. Despite her grumbling, she was the best servant I ever had, plus she entertained me. I only managed to convince her to come by telling her that I would hardly have time to boss her around once we got there. Serving at the sect wasn't without benefit to Juniper either. Even though she would be less than even the outer sect disciples, she would gain access to cultivation techniques. Nothing extravagant, but without talent, she wouldn't be able to learn anything fancy anyway. I could also pass her any techniques I wanted. Juniper still didn't know of the opportunity that awaited her, it would be fun to see the surprise on her face later.

Fred was returning to the sect after his long assignment guarding me. He couldn't wait to cash in the contribution points. He would soon be my senior brother. Andrew had already left for the sect. He didn't like me and didn't want to travel with us. He might get docked a few contribution points for terminating his assignment early, but that was a risk he was willing to take.

The three of us journeyed by foot. Rosie did not journey by foot instead she spent the journey riding in the hood of my robes, peering out excitedly at new sights.

As we were departing I sensed something rapidly approaching the back of my head, I dodged, and soon water splashed on the pavement. I turned around to see every servant, guard, and even my own family loaded with water balloons, many of which were already in the air. I pranked them for so long, now it was their turn to prank me. I could've dodged all of them, but I chose not to. I played happily amongst the barrage of water grenades for several minutes. Rosie was not happy however and soon let us know by detonating a fireball in the water balloon-filled air. The servants acted swiftly and before she could even glare at them, all traces of water balloons disappeared.

Fred and I warmed and dried our little fur ball of rage before she went on a murderous rampage. I tried to explain to Rosie that it was a joke and we were having some fun. I advised her not to go for extreme violence as the solution. Rosie insisted she had responded proportionately. Ever since she had ranked up I could understand her thoughts better. It wasn't as perfect as speech, but she could now convey most ideas to me without difficulty.

I packed my ring with essentials before we left. All of my techniques were packed away along with various books with important information about cultivation, beasts, and geography. I snuck a few of my favorite fiction and romances inside as well. I had all new sets of regular robes in addition to the Shadow Silk Robe, all of them had been modified to accommodate my fox demon form. And though I wasn't very hopeful, the legs and arms had an extra 2 inches of hem if I needed them. I had a robust set of outdoor gear thanks to Li Kai's training. I had all of my allowance money, which was quite a hefty sum, and lots and lots of snacks. I greatly enjoyed the feature of this ring which placed items in stasis, so I could have hot and fresh food whenever I wanted. I learned from Li Kai that this feature wasn't standard and I could easily abuse it to make friends at the sect.

The sect was in the mountains South of town. So first we traveled to and through Market Town and out the East gate. A few miles after leaving town, an overgrown path led South. The sect grew most of what it needed and did very little trade. Other than the annual entrance exam and subsequent Junior Cultivator Tournament, Li Kai was probably the only one who used the path with any regularity.

The journey up to this point was smooth. Only Juniper was suffering from some blistered feet. Fred had mercy on her and carried her the rest of the way. To us cultivators, the burden was nothing, it just may be slightly indignant is all. Even so, I traded Fred every few miles so we each could stretch. Juniper warmed up to me a little during the journey. Up to this point, she thought I was only a stuck-up rich miss. She was right, but ouch.

At the fork, we were joined by a girl also headed to the entrance exam. I could detect her middle-stage qi-gathering realm clearly. She had blonde hair and bright hazel eyes paired with pale, freckle-be-smitten skin. She wore sky-blue robes paired with brown trousers. There was no crest visible on her clothes. Paired with her lack of entourage, I assumed she was a commoner who had tested well when the sect visited local towns. She had probably been given an extremely basic cultivation technique so she could take the entrance exam proper. I felt kind of bad for her, even if she made it in and received a better technique, her foundation was now weak. She had 6 meridians open. Perfectly average. I hoped she had something better going for her than her cultivation base. At least, that's what I thought at first. Several miles into the journey I was secretly hoping she failed the exam brilliantly.

She wasn't a bad person, but she would not stop talking. "Hello there, I'm Hannah Weathersby, looks like we're both taking the exam. I hope we can be good friends. Look at all these butterflies, aren't they fascinating? We might have rain today, so we better hurry. When I was younger we'd try to predict the weather by sacrificing a goat. I'm so glad our village tradesperson purchased something called the Farmer's Almanac. We no longer have to sacrifice goats. Which is good because I hate the taste of goat."

I never even got a chance to introduce myself. After a few minutes, I no longer wanted to introduce myself. I secretly hoped the chance to introduce myself would never appear and she would soon forget me. Alas, that's when she realized the butchered introductions.

"Oh how rude of me, I never asked for your name." She suddenly stopped in the middle of a monologue about crickets to ask me this.

I looked to Fred and Juniper for help and they both smiled maliciously at me. I was forced to name myself. I thought for a moment about giving a false name but quickly dashed that idea. "I'm Zoey Seeker of the Seek-," I began to say.

"You're a Seeker. We purchased the Farmer's Almanac from one of your family's traders. You must know all about the greatness of the almanac." She spent the next several hours of our journey explaining my own family to me. At first, I was flattered, but I quickly became annoyed. It turned out that a disciple tasked with testing local villages for talents was traveling with the Seeker merchant when they visited Hannah's town, resulting in Hannah being discovered. Ironically, Hannah may only have been given this chance due to my own desire to be a cultivator. Part of the deal worked out between my father and Li Kai included having disciples accompany our traders on their routes. If not for that, Hannah's village may have received the wonderful revelations of the almanac, but not gotten anyone to test their young for talents.

Fred and Juniper thought they had escaped being identified by Hannah, but soon they were asked for their names as well. Fred was thanked for being a gentleman and carrying Juniper, and then given a lengthy tirade about how chivalry is dead. Juniper was told about the importance of not overworking.

Soon we arrived in front of the sect. Somehow during the dozen-mile-long walk, Hannah had never stopped talking. By this point I was impressed, how were her vocal chords so working? Even with the constitution of a cultivator, this was too much talk.

It only took us around three hours to get to the sect. The sun was now high in the sky as several hundred juniors were eagerly chatting and awaiting the beginning of the exams.

I took one last look at my system to review the hard work I had done to prepare for this moment.

NAME: ZOEY SEEKER

AGE: 13

LIFE-FORCE: 192

LEVEL: QI-GATHERING (PEAK - 122/14 MERIDIANS)

TECHNIQUE: HEAVENLY QI DEVOURING (DIVINE GRADE)

PHYSIQUE: LUNAR 9 FORMS BODY (SUPREME GRADE) [UPGRADEABLE]

BLOODLINE: SEEKER FAMILY BLOODLINE - SEEKER OF POWER (CURSED-SUPREME GRADE)

SPIRIT ROOT: YIN-FIRE ROOT (DIVINE GRADE) [UPGRADEABLE]

TALENT: DIVINE* GRADE [UPGRADEABLE]

PROVIDENCE: DIVINE* GRADE [UPGRADEABLE]

HP: 57600/57600

QI: 496/496

STR: 288 (576)

AGI: 288 (576)

CON: 288 (576)

CHA: 108 (216)

LUK: 78 (156)

EQUIPMENT: TIGER-RABBIT FOOT BRACELET (SUPERIOR) LUK +8, SHADOW SILK ROBE (SUPERIOR-SPIRIT GRADE) DEF +128, ETERNIUM NANO-LINK ARMOR (LEGENDARY-SPIRIT GRADE) [GROWTH] DEF +256, WRATH OF THE VIXEN - FOLDED ETERNIUM SHORTSWORD (LEGENDARY-SPIRIT GRADE) ATK +256

TECHNIQUES: STATIC SLASH (LEGENDARY-SPIRIT GRADE) [GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT], FROSTFIRE SUTRA (SUPREME-SPIRIT GRADE) [PERFECT], KINETIC BURST (SUPERIOR-SPIRIT GRADE) [MINOR ACCOMPLISHMENT], SHROUD OF SOLOMON (LEGENDARY-SPIRIT GRADE) [PERFECT], MUTED PRESENCE (SUPREME-SPIRIT GRADE) [GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT]

ABILITIES: FOX DEMON FORM (DIVINE GRADE), DIVINE SIGHT (DIVINE GRADE, 1000M), QI-SENSING (COMMON GRADE), FORBIDDEN REALM UPGRADE (CURSED GRADE), S<null > @! WR@TH (<div0 >)

SKILLS: FROSTFIRE MARTIAL ARTS LVL MAX, ATHLETICS LVL MAX, SURVIVAL LVL MAX, CENTAURIAN LINGUIST LVL MAX, CENTAURIAN CARTOGRAPHER LVL MAX, ENGINEERING LVL MAX, CHEMISTRY LVL MAX, FOUNDATIONAL ALCHEMY LVL MAX, ANATOMY LVL MAX, DIPLOMACY LVL 3, MISCHIEF LVL 3, LANGUAGE(ENGLISH) LVL 3*, PHYSICS LVL 4*, GEOLOGY LVL 1*, FOUNDATIONAL MARTIAL ARTS LVL MAX, FOUNDATIONAL SWORDSMANSHIP LVL MAX, EMOTIONAL MASTERY LVL MAX*