Felix had stayed in Elder Rong's guest room for only an hour when the bearded disciple stormed into the room. Before he could react, the disciple enveloped him in a hug.

"Brother Felix," said the teenager, tears glistening in his eyes. "You should have told your senior Brother Martel you were having issues. Don't worry, I will help you through these hard times. You always looked up to your senior brother and this senior brother won't let you down."

Felix just stood there in a daze as Martel kept going on and on about how hurt he was and how he would bear the burden. Felix then gave Martel a quizzical look and said "Um, sure thanks. Sorry, but are you sure you’re the senior brother, that doesn't sound right."

Martel paused and Felix watched as his eye twitched. "Junior brother, you wound me. This senior brother will forgive you as he is most magnanimous. Do not worry, your mighty senior brother will lead you through these hard times of confusion. You even forgot I am your big brother. Most worrisome. Most troubling"

"Okay, well now I am sure you are not the big brother," said Felix. A grin crept up the corner of his lips at Martel's antics. “Um, no offense but are you sure you are my friend? This doesn’t really seem like a time to pick on me, Martel. Excuse me, I mean Junior Brother Martel.” Finished Felix with a smirk

Martel seemed to deflate and then shrugged with a grin to match Felix's.

"Can you blame me for trying? Do you know when we first came to this sect, you convinced me that you had to find your Dao partner within a week of starting cultivation? Otherwise, the cultivator would lose his cultivation when he first had sex. Elder Jin nearly kicked me out of the sect for bothering our female disciples so much. Though she forgave me when I told her why I wouldn't leave them alone. She also laughed at me for ten minutes straight. I've never seen a core cultivator out of breath before."

"Holy shit Martel, it sounds like I was an ass. I am sorry." Said Felix. He had found enough memories of this body that he felt responsible for Poe’s actions.

Then am I really just Felix who merged with Po? Argh, why can’t I just remember!

"Ah don't sweat it." Said Martel. He found a seat by the table under the far window. Felix sat across from him. "I got you back a week later. After a few more back and forths we bonded together on a mission.” Then he jabbed a finger in Felix’s direction. “And don’t you start calling me junior brother. I am certainly not going to let you downgrade me after you lost your memory.” Shaking his head, he looked Felix in the eye. “More importantly brother, what DO you remember? I suppose you must be confused about a few things."

Organizing his thoughts, Felix decided to tell Martel as much of the memories as he had from this body. He went over the scant memories of his family. The first day in the sect and his memories of his fellow disciples. Even the little he remembered from cultivation. Although, as he interacted with familiar memories, a few more things came back to him. After it was all done Martel just sat and stared at him for a few minutes.

"Wow, just wow. That is not much. No wonder you were so off this morning. You must have... I don't even know. Either way, we can crack this." said Martel. “Well, I suppose I should start with what I know of your family. To be frank you only have your elder brother left and you didn’t seem to be on good terms with him from what I could tell. Your parents passed a year before you left for the Sect.”

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I am not sure whether to be sad or grateful.

“Okay, that seems to match pretty well with what I remember. What about the rest of it? Give me a brief summary of what we do here."

Martel blinked at him and then scratched his beard for a second. “Well… let me break it down as simply as possible. We use spiritual energy to cultivate or in other words, make us more in some way. We do this to live longer and become powerful. That is as layman as I can make it brother.” Said Martel in an exaggeratedly slow manner.

Felix resisted the urge to retort and encouraged Martel to continue.

"So we are part of the Thousand Season sect. The Sect is only a few decades old but most sects are much older. Despite that, the Thousand Season Sect is considered equal or greater to the other local powers. Twelve independent cultivators joined forces to found it and they are now our twelve elders. We disciples come in two ranks. Inner disciples and outer disciples. You were just about to take the inner disciple test with me.”

Felix nodded. That seems simple enough.

"Well, you always looked up to me and called me boss. You would bow to me in the morning, twice at lunch, and-

"Martel stop it right there," interrupted Felix, "I seriously need your help."

Martel chuckled, and Felix would swear his laughter sounded like a pig. A very ripped bearded pig but still a pig.

"Sorry, sorry. Habits die hard. Anyway, we cultivators pursue immortality by cultivating. The Sect helps our cultivation and we help the sect. The sect provides cultivation resources, manuals on how to cultivate, fight, and various skills. In return, we do various tasks for the sect. There is also a contribution system that works like a miniature economy. Very important for obtaining additional resources. Also, there are five mandatory classes: Cultivation Theory, Body Building, Cultivator Etiquette, Shameless Class, and Morality"

"Um, shameless class?" Asked Felix.

"Oh ya. It’s officially called diplomacy but that’s what most of the elders actually call it. It is the funniest class. Basically, it is a combination of practical lessons to keep yourself free from being trapped by social norms. It focuses on what actions you should take to achieve this and your ability to predict when others will be shameless. Apparently Elder Ja didn't like the class but Elder Kang insisted on it. Honestly, after listening to some of the ridiculous stories of the elder’s adventures, I am glad we have it. The extreme nature of cultivators makes conflict over idiotic things easy. So, learning when to use proper etiquette and when to be shameless is important. The morality class was insisted on by Rong because, and I quote, 'We are not raising a bunch of scammers and frauds to make the world worse. Otherwise, you will end up like Elder Kang. So we must temper your shamelessness.' I still don't fully get it but they are the experts" said Martel with a shrug.

"So, is that it? We just cultivate and nothing else?" said Felix. A little horrified at the prospect

"Yep," said Martel. "Brother, I can't wait until my beard grows out more. I could have been slightly tugging on my beard this entire time. The burdens I must bear." He gave a dramatic sigh and leaned back in the pose of an expert. Staring off into the distance with a profound expression. After a minute of doing that, Martel glanced at Felix to realize he was falling asleep.

"Alright Brother, I didn't know I was so boring." Getting up he placed three books on the table. "Anyway, I know you are probably going to need to sleep. I got permission from Elder Rong to bring the manuals of the cultivation method and technique you were using while you wait for your soul to recover. Even if you think you remember most of them, you don't want to try cultivating an incomplete technique. Though he also said you can choose a different technique because your body has been emptied. "

With those final words, Martel took his leave with a wave. Felix sat there, taking in everything he had just heard.

This situation doesn't seem too horrible all things considered. Perhaps the other shoe will drop soon but for now I should just focus on gaining some strength. Now let's look into this cultivation thing.

He decided to focus on the cultivation manual first which was simply titled Falling Earth. As he read the title, a ding sounded in his ear and a bright green word appeared in his mind’s eye.

[Welcome!]