Aqua

"Thank you for the explanation.", Ivan thanked her. "Is there anything else I have to know?", he then directly asked her. She should know more than him what was necessary knowledge.

"I don't think there is much. Tomorrow I will show you around. The only thing you should be aware of is to not anger anyone. From your robe, it is clear that you are only an in-name disciple of the sect so your status is about the lowest it could be in the sect. So you should greet everyone you meet first. But I will tell you if there is something special you have to take note of."

"Thank you.", he once again thanked her. It seemed like having her by his side during his stay here would truly make things much simpler.

"Then I'll prepare the bath, please wait here.", she told him before going into the bathroom.

Curiously as to how she would prepare the bath, he followed her. From Miss. Klein's words he had gotten the impression that the living standards were really primitive and the only solution to many things was formations. So how would Clara who couldn't cultivate fill the bathtub and heat the water?

Clara didn't say anything to him not listening and instead of waiting, following behind her. She just silently did her work.

The bathroom was dominated by a large Marmor bathtub. It had more than enough space for two or even three people to relax in it. Besides the bathtub, there was also an area to just wash up, which consisted of a table, a sink, and a mirror.

The large bathtub was currently empty and while he was still wondering how she would fill it, she pulled out a small bag from somewhere. She then opened it and a small sea horse appeared above it. This sea horse was about ten centimeters high and had a beautiful blue color. It levitated in the air when it appeared and was able to move up to rub its face against Clara's cheeks.

In response, she smiled beautifully and too petted the sea horse. From their interaction, it was clear to see that they were close to each other.

"Could you please fill the bathtub for me?", she asked in a sweet voice.

The sea horse didn't answer but under Ivan's surprised staring, the bathtub instantly filled with water.

"Thank you."

After receiving another pet, the sea horse vanished and she closed the bag again.

Sensing his curiosity, she then explained, "This is Aqua an Aquatic Sea Horse. Aquatic Sea Horses are a type of spirit beast that the sect raises. They are very useful since they don't require much food and space but can summon up to twenty cubic meters of water with a temperature of up to 100 degrees Celcius.

Many servants will get one since it removes the need for hauling water and it requires only one Servant Point each month in maintenance."

"It sounds like something extremely useful.", Ivan agreed while thinking about whether or not to try to get one as well. But since he didn't have any Sect Contribution Points at the moment this was a moot point to think about.

Having finished preparing the water, Clara took out some fluffy towels from one of the cabinets and positioned them in arms reach from the tub. "Would you like me to help you wash, Master?", she then asked.

This wasn't something Ivan was used to so he politely declined her offer and waited for her to leave the room.

Sinking into the warm water he could feel his body and mind relax. The water had the perfect temperature and she seemed to have added some oils which improved the effect even further.

Because he had used up so much mental energy he had felt tired and stressed, but now he could relax while closing his eyes, enjoying the feeling of the warm water surrounding his body, giving him an extremely comfortable feeling.

He didn't know when he had fallen asleep but when he opened his eyes he found himself on his bed. "Seems like someone had to carry me to bed again.", he muttered while sitting up. This wasn't the first time someone had done so. And it wasn't the first time someone had to put his pajamas on him. He guessed that Clara had done so this time.

He didn't know how but he had barely gotten up when the door to the small side room opened and Clara appeared before him.

"Master, good morning.", she greeted him with a bow, before going to a cabinet and pulling out a robe which she then carried over to him.

"It is morning already?"

"Yes. You have slept through the whole night.", she confirmed.

"Oh." Well, it didn't really matter. Even if he hadn't slept until today, he wouldn't have been able to do much yesterday anyway. Not with his mental strength exhausted.

He quickly changed into his robes in front of Clara. Since she had already seen his naked body yesterday he didn't think to do so mattered. Now that he was rested and felt full of energy he decided to go exploring. But first, it was time for breakfast.

As if reading his mind, Clara said, "Master, the kitchen has already prepared breakfast. You can either eat in the canteen or I can get your breakfast."

"Let's go to the canteen.", Ivan decided. It would be interesting to see how the other disciples were.

It wasn't far from the canteen and they soon arrived at a hall that could easily fit tables for at least 500 people. But there were only around 200 available and behind many of the disciple seated on them stood either woman in maid uniform or man in a butler uniform. But while not every disciple had a servant with them, all the servants were standing and not eating.

"Don't the servants eat at the canteen as well?", Ivan asked in surprise. From his experience, he had somehow gotten the feeling that it was common for servants and masters to eat at the same time and table.

"Of course not. We servants will either eat beforehand or later.", Clara explained.

"So is there a rule against eating together?", he asked. He didn't want to make a mistake and get into trouble. After all, he was only like a visitor here.

"Technically no. But it is how it is commonly done."

"Then let's eat together next time.", he told her. He was unwilling to stand out here by eating together with her but this didn't mean that he liked this differentiation and since there was no rule against it, he could just do it the next time in his room. "Let's find a good spot in the garden to do it.", he then continued.

He was unable to see it but behind him, Clara smiled happily. She had heard how others treated their personal servants and she was glad that her master seemed to be very affable.

The food was nothing special and with nobody talking the breakfast was extremely boring. It seemed like everyone just saw it as a chore, which was necessary but undesirable.

After leaving the canteen, Clara then showed him around.

This complex consisted of many buildings that housed rooms just like his. These were the apartment buildings and they were arranged to surround a central block, consisting of a large plaza as well as some shared buildings.

Some things had to be shared by all apartment buildings, unlike the canteen which was present in each of them. An example of such a shared space was public workrooms. While it was possible to install a workroom in your own room if you had enough Contribution Points that was, most disciples had to use the public workrooms. They were well equipped and using them only cost a small number of Contribution Points. One point would allow one to use any of the rooms for 24 hours. It used a charging system so it wasn't necessary to use it for 24 hours at a time.

"All the workrooms are equipped with Earthfire which can greatly help with refining materials.", Clara explained. She knew that he was a pill refiner, so telling him this information was useful. "But I don't think you will be able to use them. They require a large amount of strength to control.", she then continued.

"Besides the workrooms, there are also training rooms which provide simulated environments for training and cultivation rooms which have a higher energy density and can speed up cultivation. Both of them are much more expensive than workrooms."

It made sense for them to be more expensive. The workrooms didn't consume resources to function, besides the initial investment and the small amount needed to keep the Earthfire at bay. But the training rooms needed energy to maintain the simulated environment and the cultivation rooms would surely needed some resources for them to maintain the higher density of energy.