Ch. 4

- Antony -

"What a nightmare," Antony thought, as he trained yet another batch of new recruits, "Elder Babbot is an absolute nightmare!" Antony knew that the only reason Joseph Babbot had been promoted to Elder was so that he could take the position as head of recruitment. Antony also knew the reason nobody else wanted the position. It was a notoriously tedious and boring position that involved traveling all over the rural countryside with barely any time for cultivation. Elder Babbot claimed to have a solution to this problem, but his solution was to make it Antony's problem.

Now, instead of just training one big batch of new recruits, he was having to start over every week with another group, and each of these groups was only one to four children! "It's ridiculous," he thought, "I can't complain, since Babbot's an Elder now, and nobody else wants to complain, since they don't want the job either! And to top it off, he keeps teaching them the Basic Intense Focus Breathing Technique. The INTENSE FOCUS technique!" The technique was meant for adult cultivators who were struggling to increase their spirit root growth, and it should only ever be taught under close supervision. Today, he had to interrupt two of the recruits who were using the technique to feel their chi pathways. "Of all things, these children were using it to feel chi pathways! Any basic breathing technique would be fine for that. Is that madman TRYING to kill these children, before they've even learned the basics of cultivation? Judging by their expressions, they don't even know what a dantian is. 'Elder' Babbot is probably so satisfied with himself. It's easy to feel smug when nobody's willing to tell you you're wrong."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Antony continued to fume in silence while he watched the children practice the new, more appropriate, breathing techniques. "One of them is only six years old, for crying out loud. He's barely old enough to start cultivating. Ridiculous. Ridulous! It's absolutely ridiculous!" Antony took a calming breath before interrupting the children. It was time to send them back to the dormitory, so that he could spend time training the group who had come in last week. The inconsistency was chaotic. He had wanted to wait until all of the recruits had been gathered, then start their training at the same time. Unfortunately, some asinine bylaw, or code, or some other gibberish stated that new recruits must begin training within one day of arriving at the sect. Antony would have liked to have found the Ancestor who wrote that piece of legislation, and hang him up by his toes. Or perhaps hang Elder Babbot up by his toes. All this so he didn't have to spend as much time out in the world. "It would be a waste of my time to follow my disciples around," Babbot had said.

Well when Antony suggested that he simply allow the disciples to gather the recruits themselves, since they were doing all the legwork anyway, what did that lunatic say? "Nonsense, how will I meet the recruits, if don't at least pick them up myself?"

"He's insane. That must be it," Antony decided.