Scholars Guild

He stepped inside, people with scholar's clothing were running around doing their stuff, some were mortals, some were cultivators.

someone bumped into him, looking at Astar he gave an apologetic smile and went to do his business, it was a very lively place.

there was a stand, there sat an old Scholar who appeared to be the official in charge, Astar went there and said seriously "I want to become a scholar and join this guild.", the old man opened one of his eyes and replied "do you know how to read and write ?".

Astar's answered sincerely "I don't know if I can.!", The old man chuckled and murmured "that's a new one.", "follow me."

he obediently followed the old man toward the back room where the old man tossed him a bunch of papers, "see if you can answer them if you answer 20% right, welcome to the guild, if not pay a fee of 100 silver coins."

Astar gulped and smiled nervously, he silently sat down, his heart was pounding in his chest ' Don't fail me now unfaithful System ', silently praying in his heart, he looked at the papers and realized he could perfectly understand the writing, he could easily imitate it and write, it would take him some time to master writing this language but it didn't stop him from rejoicing in his heart, he didn't show any of that on his face though, he appeared calm and focused.

after reading a couple of the questions his expression turned strange, ' are these really made to test people ?!, they are so easy ', then he sighed ' of course it's easy, I am from earth, a more technologically advanced world, these might seem easy for me but its hard for others.'

The first paper was filled with simple math questions, in the end, they were a bit more complex but Astar answered them all easily, the second one was about the history of the world which he skipped, the third one was about general knowledge like the society and such, he skipped again, the last one was to recite and analyze poems, he skipped that too, strangely there were no questions about alchemy and plants, they were for higher-level tests.

He gave the papers to the old man, The old man looked through the pages from the last one to the first one, at first his face was expressionless until he reached the math section, his eyes widened and his face went still.

He kept looking at Astar and the page, he coughed into his hand and smiled towards Astar and said with a sincere voice "welcome to the Scholars guild, your excellency, I have a question may I ask, please?'.

Astar was inwardly shocked but he didn't show it on his face, he calmly nodded, the old man became more assured of his suspicion asked " why do you mock me, your excellency, only a Grand scholar can answer all these math questions as you did, not answering the others is obviously you mocking me, why dress like that and act lowkey, if I have ever offended you somehow before we met, please forgive me."

Astar didn't know what to say so he continued acting calm and composed, " I needed identification and money, I lost them on my way to this city in an unfortunate accident. "

A look of understanding appeared on the old man's face, he cleared his throat and said: "I see, I see, a beast attack happened, nothing to be ashamed of, I will personally take care of your needs as long as you are in this city, my name is Zi bai."

Astar was feeling very happy inside but didn't show it on his face, he said "thank you then, I will repay you in the future.", he didn't hold back and continued " I need a place of residence, Some money, and suitable clothing, of course, I need food too, I am famished."

Zi bai's nearly gawked at Astar's shamelessness but didn't show it on his face, he nodded and went to prepare what Astar asked of him, he was 90% sure that Astar was a Grand Scholar mainly due to his calmness.

' is this the legendary Main character luck they talk about, well not exactly per se, I mean, I solved those questions myself, even went as far as acting to get the job done, well whatever I will enjoy it, for now, after resting I will begin reading books and gathering intelligence.'

'even if I didn't know how to write and speak this language, I could have always learned it, it would have taken 6 months or so I think but by then I would have achieved the same mastery over it, it would have been hard though, communicating with only signs, I guess I got lucky on this.'

A day went by, Zi Bai gave Astar everything he asked of him, Astar feeling quite guilty asked him if he had any questions in math, Zi bai was filled with elations and learned from Astar as much as he could, in his opinion it was a great fortune learning from a Grand Scholar, it didn't even occur to him that Astar was a fake because his math skills were proof enough for him.

Zi Bai had a strange personality, oftentimes he would be silent and somber, some times he would start bragging about random matters, he even liked gossips, Astars expressions grew stranger and stranger as he came to know more about him and spent more time with him touring the city.

Zi Bai was an Elder in the Scholars Guild tasked with recruiting new Scholars, his standing was quite high and people respected him, he had gathered quite a bit of fame through his life, even though he was mortal no one looked down on him.

Zi Bai gave a temporary small but respectable residence to Astar, he loaned him 500 gold coins, and everything Astar asked of him, this made Astar feel warm in his heart and he began to view Zi bai as a close friend.

The city was called Dragon Horn City, mainly because it resided on a horn of a Gigantic Dragon which was buried beneath the city, it was said that the Dragon was not dead, it was merely slumbering, it would only awaken when an unsolvable crisis was imminent.

The population of the Dragon Horn city was 7.6 million, consisting of 7 million mortals and six hundred thousand cultivators to oversee and guard it.

The city was close to the Golden Wildlands and the Empty forest, apparently the forest Astar slept in was called The Empty forest because no beast would step a foot inside it for some mysterious reason.

The Dragon Horn city was located in the Everbright Dynasty, it was an important city because cultivators would go temper themselves in the Golden wildlands and stay at the city to recuperate, every decade or so a beast horde would attack the city, the last one was 8 years ago.

The north of the city led to the Toxic marshlands, the east to the Golden wildlands and Empty forest, the south to the Saint heart city which was the 2nd biggest city of the Dynasty, Saint heart city was like a spear point, threatening the Evergreen Dynasty, the two countries oftentimes waged wars against each other.

The west led to the Radiance Sect, one of the most powerful sects in the world, not much was known about it by the mortals or low-level cultivators, but it was forbidden to journey west.

The Dragon horn City had 5 Districts, from afar it looked like the tip of a horn, the 1st District was on the top, cultivators resided there, the 2nd district was where the Mortal army resided, The 3rd was where the merchants resided, it was filled with shops and bazaars, the 4th was where Scholars resided, Astar and Zi Bai where here, the 5th one was were the rest of the mortals resided, the main workforce of the city plus the slums.

Around the City existed a massive wall, 150 li tall and 50 li wide, the city looked majestic and emanated an aura of power and stability, it looked like a city built on a mountain from afar.

Astar realized there were other races in this world, but not much was known about them, he also searched around and realized for some reason 90% of the population had Chinese names, there were very few people who had unique names, and cultivators who were strong enough had Daoist names, and nicknames.

the most strange matter for him was the fact that 60% of humans looked similar to Chinese of his home and the rest 40% were from all the other human races he had seen on earth, although all of them shared a unique aura and racial trait about them that made them seem similar to each other, there existed all sort of hair and eye color with most common being black and brown with a 95% share, other colores were rare but they existed, it reminded him of anime.

people were slightly better looking than those on earth especially cultivators, he contributed this to the spiritual qi that didn't exist on earth.

the language of this world was a mix of 10% Chinese and 90% something unknown to him, it still felt strange for him to talk with it.

After learning all this and more, Astar was confident enough to start reading books about cultivation, alchemy and all manner of things, provided by Zi Bai.

Astar had an epiphany that if he read all the books, he would find a way to get a spirit root and finally embark on his path of cultivation.