In another testing area, the Martial Arts evaluation was wrapping up. The prime candidate was a foreign young man who towered above the other contestants named Agung. He had the highest talent of them all and his spar against the examiner had been the most impressive. The runner-up was someone who had tested at the same time as Felix, the small yet surprisingly strong Aaron. There were 39 successful candidates to the 11 successful candidates of the alchemy branch. The group of Martial Arts disciples were now on their way to the Admissions Office, guided by a young disciple wearing black robes with a turquoise trim which identified him as a martial arts student of the Green River sect.
“You are strong, let’s be friends!” said Agung to Aaron while they were walking together behind their guide.
“Sure,” replied Aaron.
Despite their difference in build, both of them were of similar character: straightforward, intense, and loyal.
Their group arrived at the Admissions Office at the same time as the alchemy group. A middle-aged woman wearing the dark green robes of a sect Elder was awaiting them. Upon seeing her, none of the energetic new disciples dared utter a sound.
She welcomed them with a smile and said, “It is good to see that the Green River sect has a bright future ahead of them. You may call me Elder Moonblade and I am in charge of overseeing the various offices that manage the day-to-day life of the disciples. A manager will usually be in charge of announcing the monthly ranks, but I chose to welcome you on this joyful occasion.”
The Elder did not speak loudly yet every word was heard clear as day by the disciples. Her aura and the way in which she carried herself gave the students a feeling similar to an ocean, as if she carried an unimaginable depth of knowledge and experience on her person.
She began by announcing the rankings for the martial arts students. As expected, the top student was indeed Agung with Aaron coming in second place.
Unseen to everyone except Elder Person, three old men were observing the scene. One of them was giving an account of the martial arts evaluation to the other two who had been observing the alchemy evaluation.
“… a rare talent, the best in three years. I am quite satisfied with him. Aaron as well has potential to be as strong as last years most promising disciple,” he said.
The older of the three nodded his head in satisfaction.
“How was it on your side Urius?” asked the one who had been giving his account. His words were respectful, but it was clear to all who knew them that the two were competing with each other over the results of the current evaluation.
“You will be surprised Rion,” he answered with a smile, “Our first-place candidate has a talent that will require borrowing a high-level testing artifact to assess. He also has the ability to produce a quasi-perfect mind-clearing pill.”
“Impossible!” exclaimed Rion. He turned to the eldest of the three and asked, “Is this true, Sect Master?”
“It is true,” replied the Sect Master serenely, “Let’s watch, they are about to announce the rankings for the alchemy disciples”.
Elder Moonblade had announced that the fifth place had went to Kayla and the fourth place had gone to Garrett. So far, none of the students were surprised.
In the crowd, Lance could barely contain his excitement. He was looking forward to the looks of admiration of his fellow students.
Meanwhile, Coraline and Felix were looking at each other with mock suspicion, both of them wondering if they had out-placed each other.
“With a mind-clearing pill containing 4 milliliters of impurities…” said the Elder.
‘Wait… that’s my pill,’ though Lance, bewildered.
“… the third place goes to Lance Abbott, congratulations!” finished the Elder.
Rather than applauding like they had for the previous contestant, most alchemy disciples turned to look at Lance, shocked. His previously benevolent smile was gone replaced by a grimace. Only Felix and Coraline were unperturbed and applauding softly, not bothering to look his way.
“This year we have two exceptional students! The runner-up would normally have easily taken first place with their achievement of concocting a rare-level pill,” said the Elder emphasizing the word ‘rare’ and pausing for dramatic effect, as the students gasped. She then continued, “With a pill containing 1.9 milliliters of impurity, the second place goes to Coraline Purdue, congratulations!”
The disciples were no longer calm as they all looked at Coraline in awe. She herself was feeling a mix of emotions, satisfaction with a hint of disappointment but mostly curiosity about Felix’s results.
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“Wait!” shouted Garrett, “If that is only second place, then what kind of monster got first place?” The rest of the students went quiet. They had forgotten in their awe and excitement that Coraline’s amazing result was indeed only worth second place.
“A quasi-perfect pill with trace amounts of impurity,” said the Elder suddenly, baiting the student’s reaction. It seemed that despite her austerity and high position she enjoyed a little bit of showmanship.
The students who previously had been awed were now dead silent. If the previous revelation had been comparable to a punch to the chest that would make them gasp for air, then this one was a clean uppercut resulting in a complete knock-out. Lance himself was no longer grimacing, he was simply despondent.
‘I am fool,’ he thought.
“The one taking the first place is Felix Green, congratulations!” announced Elder Moonblade.
The crowd looked to Felix who was smiling in satisfaction. Even the martial arts student who had only a cursory knowledge of alchemy understood how rare a perfect pill was. To achieve a quasi-perfect pill as an apprentice was not something they had heard of before. While they were not sure how impressive it was, they knew it was impressive.
The commotion died down and eventually the students received their robes, list of rules and miscellaneous affairs. They were then directed to their dorms.
The dorms themselves were quite nice. The students were separated into groups of four, each one living in a small house containing a common area as well as four rooms. The men and women were separated but the martial arts and alchemy students were mixed. Felix ended up in a room with Aaron, Agung and Lance.
‘Seems like they consciously put the top performers together,’ thought Felix.
It was indeed so, for her part, Coraline was sharing a room with Kayla as well as the third and fourth ranked martial arts students, two young women named Elisabeth and Catherine.
Felix arranged his affairs in his room before taking out the rules that had been previously handed to him and memorizing them. They were not too restrictive or unexpected. The rules could be summed up under the principles of taking studies seriously and respecting others.
Most new disciples including Felix’s roommates went to say their goodbyes to the people who had accompanied them for the test. Having nothing better to do Felix decided to go explore the sect. Class would start the next morning and there was nothing planned for the remainder of the day.
Felix took out the map of the grounds he had received at the Admissions Office and decided to head to the Qi Tower. Despite its name, the Qi Tower was only two stories high, but it was quite elegant and most importantly, a formation master had installed a qi gathering formation underneath it. This allowed students to train at an accelerated pace. Due to the limited space and qi however, the new disciples were only allowed 1 hour per week. As the first rank disciple, Felix had been given the privilege of using the tower up to 4 hours per week. He did not plan on using it today, but he did want to take a look at it.
As he approached the tower, he saw a tall, lanky, disheveled disciple wearing alchemy robes coming his way. Felix’s attention went to that disciple’s collar which had three stars. Some elders were only two-star alchemists, to see a three-star alchemist disciple was astonishing. As the disciple came closer, Felix noticed he was wearing a pendant with a book and sword, somehow reminding him of his own leaf and sword pendant.
Felix was looking at the approaching disciple but so was that disciple observing Felix. His eyes were focused on Felix’s own pendant.
When they were close enough, Felix greeted him.
“Felix Green greets Senior Brother,” he said.
The Senior Brother in question paused a bit, looked at Felix’s necklace once more and said, “the mind is the key…” and then waited, as if expecting Felix to answer.
Flustered, Felix hesitated before responding, “I will keep Senior Brother’s teachings in mind.”
“Tch… never mind,” was the answer. He did not linger any longer and left without giving his name.
Felix was too confused to be offended and he stood there watching the unnamed Senior Brother walk away. After a while he decided to move on. No matter how hard he thought, he could not make sense of that interaction.
He finally arrived at the door of the Qi Tower. He was merely standing near the building, yet he could sense a vibrant energy coming from inside. As he was observing the tower, the door opened and Felix was pleasantly surprised to see his friend Arthur walk out.
“Senior Brother Arthur!” he greeted.
“Look at you, acting all polite, just call me Skip when we’re alone,” Arthur said, smiling. “I’m glad you made it into the sect, and I hear you even created a quasi-perfect pill and took the first spot?” he inquired.
“How do you even know that?” asked Felix.
“When it comes to gathering information there is no one comparable to me.”
“Then could you explain what just happened to me?” asked Felix, describing his previous encounter.
Skip listened to the story and nodded understandingly, “That is Senior Brother Trelos. He is the most talented disciple of the Alchemy Branch, he is insane, and everyone avoids him, even certain elders.”
At that, Felix had a look of worry.
“Not that he’s malicious or anything,” Skip quickly added, “He is just hard to understand.”
They continued chatting for a while before saying their goodbyes as the day was nearing its end.
On the way back, Felix decided to go lie down by the river. The day had been tumultuous and some time alone in the nature was needed. He watched the sun set in all of its glory, feeling bittersweet. He held his pendant and thought of his encounter with Trelos and about his own origins. Eccentric or not, Trelos knew something about his pendant. Felix would find out one way or the other.
He cleared his thoughts, accessed the flame, and started training his martial arts. Tired or not, momentous day or not, Felix would not allow a day to pass by without sufficient training if he could help it. He reminded himself that while being able to perform well today had been quite pleasant, it had only been possible due to constant effort.
The sun set and the night fell, prompting Felix to get up and return to his room. He did not want to wake up tired or late for the first day of his new life. He would learn much of alchemy and medicine. He was even looking forward to the martial arts lessons. Ever since he had mastered his flame, his martial arts had kept improving at a rapid pace and even though he would never love martial arts the same way he loved alchemy, improving was a wonderful feeling.
‘I grew up an orphan and studied alchemy as an apprentice under my adoptive father in a remote town. Yesterday I was an applicant to the Green River Sect and now I am a disciple of that sect. I wonder what else my future holds?’ he wondered before falling asleep.