Chapter 13

It was the morning after Aurora had received advice from her elder, and she'd already acted on it. In fact, her schedule had changed tremendously. She had dropped some of her classes and replaced them with introductions to swordsmanship and alchemy. Besides that, she'd also graduated from the basic combat class to the advanced one, which Aurora would get started with today.

The day's first class was, in fact, advanced combat training. This time, the instructor was a woman wearing an outer elder's badge. This class was basically basic combat training, but, well, advanced. Instead of one-on-one fighting, they fought in groups or one against many. It was similar to the sparring class but paid more attention to tactics and form. Compared to the basic class, Aurora stood out less, though.

It made sense. The advanced class was composed of the elites of the outer disciples. Everyone there had a good chance of becoming an inner disciple in the next tournament. And even if they didn't make the cut, two tournaments were held yearly.

After the class, it was time for Aurora to work. Really, she couldn't wait until she made it to inner disciple. Her time as an outer disciple in her old sect had been much the same as this. Working every day, just without the sex work. After becoming an inner disciple, most sects would give you more free time.

Aurora's work as a model was somewhat less embarrassing than filming porn had been, even if she still had to get naked. Her workday mainly consisted of making marketing material for several products, ranging from lingerie and bikinis to beauty products. She even had to get topless for many of the lingerie shoots, and all the beauty products had her naked for some reason. And it wasn't the tasteful kind of nudity. Her nipples were completely visible in all the pictures.

But it was nothing less than what she had expected. Advertisements made use of the womanly body, and nudity was no rare thing. After all, this was a world where a sex cult held immense power.

After she was done working, it was time for Aurora to learn how to be a swordswoman. This was actually her first time using a sword outside of playing as a kid. Compared to Basic Combat - Hand-to-hand, this class was even simpler. It didn't focus on combat at all but instead attempted to lay the foundations for swordplay.

Basically, it was doing drills on the most fundamental movements of the straight sword. Aurora learned the basic swipes and stabs, how to do her footwork, blocking motions, and dodging. It was the most boring class Aurora had attended yet and the most necessary one. Aurora had no experience with fighting with weapons at all. She could be called an expert at unarmed martial arts, at least for her stage of cultivation, but that only translated into footwork when it came to swordplay.

Aurora excelled most at kicking, but in basic swordsmanship, there wasn't any kicking at all. At higher levels, she could incorporate kicking into her sword fighting, which was her intention, but it was still far off.

Thus, with her future in mind, she focused all her attention on the instructor. By the end of the two-hour class, Aurora had at least acquired a basic grasp of what the sword entailed, but she still had a ways to go.

'I should have focused more on the sword back at Northpeak. At this rate, I will have to waste too much time just learning the basics. Maybe I can convince elder Vara to tutor me a bit. She does use the sword,' Aurora thought.

In fact, elder Vara's house wasn't too far away, so Aurora decided to see if she was home. Aurora had never paid her a house visit, but she had been invited several times. After arriving at the house, Aurora knocked on the door, and just a second later, it opened.

"Oh, it's Aurora. What brings you here?" Elder Han asked. Aurora was startled by the sudden appearance. She knew Mura Han also lived here, but she hadn't expected him to greet her at the door.

"Elder Han," Aurora bowed.

"Is elder Kiera home? I was hoping to pay my respects to her," Aurora said. The way she spoke to elder Han was how she'd been taught when she first entered the Northpeak sect at age sixteen and how it was all over the world. Only elders and disciples with a very close relationship would speak more casually.

"Yes, she's around here somewhere. Come on in," elder Han said before stepping to the side. Aurora entered and looked back at elder Han, unsure of what to do now.

"Come with me. I'll help you find her," Han said. The two started walking, with Aurora standing slightly behind elder Han.

"Say, Aurora, I never got your family name. Mind telling me?" Elder Han asked.

"Of course, elder. My full name is Aurora Boralis," Aurora said. Han stopped when he heard the name.

"Boralis? It sounds familiar, but I can't quite place where I've heard it. Are you from a noble family?" Elder Han asked.

"Oh no, not at all. My family is just my parents, my sister, and me, and we're from a tiny and poor village in the rural area around Northpeak. At the outskirts at that. We've always been destitute, so me entering a sect was kind of a huge deal for everyone there," Aurora said.

"The outskirts of Northpeak? Oh," Han said, his expression remaining emotionless.

"Is something the matter, elder Han?" Aurora asked when Han didn't say anything else.

"No, it's nothing. I suppose I must have mixed your name with something else. Let's continue our search," Han said. Aurora followed elder Han for a few minutes before they found elder Vara in a lounge, enjoying some snacks with tea.

"Aurora? Do you need something, my dear?" Elder Vara said when she saw her junior.

"Yes, elder. I wanted to ask you about something," Aurora replied.

"Come sit with me then. You can have some tea. How about you, elder Mura? Will you join us?" Vara asked.

"No, not today. I actually have to go on a trip. I'll be gone for a day or two. Would you tell the others?" Han said.

"You're going out? Sure, I'll tell the other two," Vara said. Han bade a quick farewell before leaving Aurora and Vara alone.

"So, what do you need, Aurora? I'll help you any way I can," Vara said.

"It's about the sword. My timetable is only so big, and I can't waste too many slots on the basics of swordplay classes. But at this rate, it'll take too long before I can go on to a more advanced class and learn an actual technique for it. I was hoping you could tutor me a bit in the evenings. Only when you have the time, of course, but I'd really appreciate your help," Aurora said.

"Oh, Aurora, I'd love to help teach you the sword. I've told you several times already that I'm here to guide you. I think we can set off an hour every day, no problem. How about you come here at eight every evening?" Vara suggested.

"That'd be amazing elder Vara! Seriously, thank you so much!" Aurora said. She even hugged the older woman, completely unable to hold herself back.

"It's nothing much, dear. Teaching you is my job," Vara said as she hugged the younger disciple.

"But we'll save the training for tomorrow. Let's enjoy our tea for now and have a nice time together," Vara said as she took a sip of her tea.

"Yes, elder Vara. Then, there is something else I'd like to ask you about," Aurora said.

"Go ahead," Vara replied.

"You and elder Han, you're basically partners, right? Like, in life?" Aurora asked.

"Yes, that's true," Vara answered.

"Do you love him?" Aurora said.

"Do I love him? Of course, I do. We're engaged. Hm, guess I haven't told you that," Vara said.

"Really? That's incredible! When's the wedding?" Aurora asked, suddenly very eager.

"In about half a year, after the tournament. That's in the summer when most disciples go on missions, though, so you'll have to wait until after the wedding. As the sole member of my martial family, I definitely want to be there when I start my familial family," Vara said.

"Of course, I wouldn't miss it! But about you and elder Han. Did you always love him? From when you met him? Or did that come later?" Aurora asked.

"I'm guessing you're asking because of Koren. Listen, even if you don't love him now, you could grow to love him in the future. Or you might not. No one can tell. But don't mistake that you will have to marry him, just because he's the man in your house. But our situation wasn't the same as yours. Elder Mura is much older than me. When I fell in love with him, I was a disciple, and he was already the punishment elder. When I became a core disciple, we had sex for the first time and became lovers. And when I became an elder, he proposed to me, and I moved in with him and his two other wives," Vara explained.

"Oh. I just assumed you were both disciples together," Aurora said.

"Mura is pushing a hundred. I'm thirty-two," Vara said, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, when I think about it, you two being the same age doesn't make much sense. A new elder wouldn't become the punishment elder. But elder Han has two wives already? How do they feel about you coming into the picture all of a sudden?" Aurora asked.

"Oh, it isn't sudden. Mura and I were together for years before I became an elder, and all four of us decided that we'd marry as soon as I graduated," Vara said.

"That makes sense. Then, will you two be having any children soon?" Aurora spoke.

"Indeed, I'll be going off birth control after the wedding. Mura already has two daughters with, Hana and Marina, his wives. They're both sixteen and just joined the sect as outer disciples, so they don't live here anymore. Their names are Giya Han and Miya Han if you ever meet them. They're quite a bit weaker than you, though. They only broke through into energy storage after losing their virginities. If they weren't in our sect, they'd still have been a year or two from breaking through," Vara said.

"Must have been weird for elder Han to have to let another elder have sex with his daughters. Makes me wonder about one thing, though. If I get with one of my fellow disciples, my child would have our constitution, right? And we're all really into sex, so I imagine the pregnancy rate should be high. How come we have so few members in our sect compared to the other big sects? The Golden Celestial sect has over a hundred thousand disciples, right? And that's just the main branch. With all the side branches, they're more like a million," Aurora said. The Golden Celestial sect was the number one sect in the kingdom. The Blossoming Rose sect was number three, on the other hand, which just showed the quality of the disciples and elders.

"Well, if you're going to count the branches, we're also a lot more than just ten thousand people. More like a hundred thousand. But much like all other sects, the branch sects aren't as high quality as the main branch. The disciples sent to branches don't have as pure a constitution as you and me. But to answer your question, as you know, when cultivators get stronger, fertility drops. You can still easily get pregnant at your stage, but when you reach Condensing stage, it'll get harder, and after reaching Core Building, it gets even harder. And the thing is, most of our disciples don't want children before reaching Core Building. It would just interfere with their training. Hana, Marina, and Mura have been married for over twenty years, but they have only two children. And then there's also the problem of the low number of men in our midst. We have to be careful to not do too much inbreeding," Vara explained.

"I see. I guess the whole breeding punishment thing makes sense," Aurora said.

"It does. It isn't as rare as most people think, either. A good portion of the babies born in the sect every year is due to breeding punishment. And the sect gives a lot of support to mothers, so it isn't all that bad. Only those nine months leading to the birth are a bit of a bother. After the baby is born, it's all up to the mothers if they leave the kid with the servants all day or not," Vara said.

The disciple and elder pair spent well over an hour discussing various topics pertaining to the sect and life. Aurora always had enough questions to ask to sate her curiosity, and Vara really seemed to enjoy spending time with Aurora. When Aurora finally returned home, the sun was already setting.