CHAPTER 06 - APTITUDE AND AFFINITIES
First up the platform was Percival and his friend, both of whom appeared to be in their late teens. While Percival's character looked handsome, his friend's looked rugged, with a lot of facial hairs hiding his youthful features.
“Name and age?” Inner Disciple Xiang asked, holding a scroll and a quiver in his hands.
“Percival, 18.” “Nathan, 18.” The two players answered simultaneously.
Nodding, the Inner Disciple jotted down their details in his scroll before abruptly producing a crystal from out of nowhere.
“A spatial ring?” Instantly, my interest was piqued as I stretched my neck to see what was unfolding on the platform.
Then, the two players were each told to touch their respective aptitude crystal.
Their hands touched the crystals and, subsequently, a luminous light manifested in them. With the two crystals right next to each other, it was easy to tell the difference between the two. Percival’s was brighter, albeit barely.
“11-star talent, nature and wood affinity.” Inner Disciple Xiang said disappointedly, looking at the crystal in front of the rugged player.
“12-star talent, ice and spear affinity.” The lead cultivator said with a smirk, shooting a quick victorious grin at his peer.
“They…” I quickly realized what they were doing. “They are competing over who gets the most eligible disciples.”
“Fail. But I'm sure the Verdant Spring Sect would accept you.” Inner Disciple Xiang said to Nathan, whose face immediately paled as blood was drained from it
“Pass. Wait over there.” The lead cultivator said simply, batting Percival away like a fly. His eyes were already searching for the next pair of aspirants.
“Next!”
As the leftmost aspirant, Lilac went to Inner Disciple Xiang, while her female friend went to the lead cultivator.
Noticing the pattern, a weight accumulated in my stomach.
“I'm going to the lead cultivator.” I realized.
“13-star talent, water affinity.” Inner Disciple Xiang exclaimed, a happy look on his face. “Pass.” He announced triumphantly as Lilac was directed to stand with Percival.
“12-star talent, wood and… harp affinity.” The lead cultivator’s face soured before ultimately shaking his head.
“Fail.”
“What?!” The red-hair exclaimed, looking over at Percival who also has a 12-star talent. “Why do I fail?! I have a 12-star talent, don't I?”
Frowning the lead cultivator was about to retort when Inner Disciple Xiang beat him to the punch.
“You are talented enough to join the White Tiger Sect, that is true.” Inner Disciple Xiang sighed. “But your affinities are non-combat oriented.”
“So?!” The redhead’s face matched her hair colour.
“So, you're dismissed.” The lead cultivator’s expression brokered no objection.
“But-”
“Jinx. Enough.” Even Inner Disciple Xiang’s face darkened. “If you think you have been unjustly assessed, compete in the inter-sect tournaments and prove you belong in the White Tiger Sect. Until then, you are dismissed.”
The redhead, whose name was apparently Jinx, nearly continued retorting until she spotted the scared look on her friend's Lilac’s face.
“Fine.” She spat as she removed herself from the exam. “Wait for me Lilac, I'll join you soon, okay? And Percival, you better take good fucking care of her, you hear me?! I'll fucking kill you if you don't!”
“Next!”
Under the attention of dozens if not hundreds of players, I advanced up onto the platform.
“Was it always this large?” I thought as I approached the lead cultivator who suddenly seemed a lot larger than he actually was.
“Name and age?”
“Bishop, 15”, “Raven, 14” The black-haired teen and I said simultaneously. Like he'd done with the others, Inner Disciple Xiang scribbled down our names on his scroll.
“Go ahead.” The lead cultivator said emotionlessly, gesturing to the crystal embedded between us.
“Man I haven't been this nervous since Emma was born…” Nevertheless, I stubbornly tried to remain stoic.
As soon as the bright light manifested, I released a pent up breath of relief.
“14 star talent.” The lead cultivator said with just a touch of surprise evident in his voice. “Water and…” A dark expression appeared on the cultivator’s face as he looked up from the crystal to look me in the eyes. “Sword.”
[“Through the usage of a 1-rank aptitude artifact, you have unlocked 1-rank access to the cultivation tab. Open the cultivation tab to check the progress of your cultivation.”]
[“Notice! Your proficiency tab has been subsumed by your 1-rank cultivation tab.”]
An awkward silence ensued as the lead cultivator continued to stare me in the face.
“-and darkness affinity.” Inner Disciple Xiang finished his assessment with a smile before turning to look at his colleague.
“Anything wrong?” He asked when he noticed the awkward atmosphere.
“That's what I want to know!” I screamed inwardly but did my best to remain unperturbed outwardly.
“Pass.” The lead cultivator gritted his teeth and proclaimed, but he definitely didn't seem happy about it.
Or me for that matter.
Not knowing what I had done to deserve the cultivator's ire, I didn't notice the jealous looks Raven and Percival were giving me as I joined them on the platform.
…
While the recruitment tests resumed in the background, I took the opportunity to scrutinize my new cultivation tab.
[Cultivation]
[Name: Bishop]
[Age: 15]
[Cultivation Aptitude: 14 ★]
[Affinities: Water, Sword]
[Affiliation: White Tiger Sect (Rank 4)]
[Rank: Provisional Outer Disciple]
[Cultivation Stage: Mortal]
[Cultivation Method: N/A]
[Qi: N/A]
[Proficiencies]
[Swordsmanship - Beginner Lv. 5]
[Meditation - Beginner Lv. 1]
Ultimately, as I finished reading through the cultivation tab, I realized it hadn’t actually revealed any new information. Instead, it merely compiled and organized what I already knew.
“Still, pretty neat.” I allowed myself to reveal a faint smile. This was the first official prompt that contained both my name and the word “cultivation”. Slowly but surely, I was becoming a cultivator.
As for my affinities, I couldn’t have been happier. Sure, there were many other compelling affinities I probably could’ve gotten. For example, since spatial rings existed, it was safe to assume that the spatial affinity also existed. And if the spatial affinity existed, one could argue that the time affinity had to exist as well. Furthermore, with there being affinities for tools such as the sword and the harp, the number of available affinities could potentially be limitless.
Thus, I felt like I really had lucked out with two useful affinities.
Satisfied, I directed my attention to the ongoing recruitment.
So far, including Percival, Lilac, Raven, and me, six had passed the initial examination. Yet, similarly, over a dozen had been asked to leave, albeit with recommendations to subsidiary sects.
Interestingly, everyone who failed either displayed indignant anger, or morose sadness. There was no in-between. Yet, even the angriest player had wisely chosen to retreat when faced with the lead cultivator’s impatient gaze.
“5-star talent.” The lead cultivator scoffed, not even bothering to read the person’s affinities out loud before dismissing him. Not surprisingly, the teenager left with tears in his eyes.
That was another discovery I had made. So far, the assessed players had unanimously possessed aptitudes ranging between 10 and 14 stars, while the native NPCs (easily distinguishable with their Chinese names) often possessed worse.
“I guess that’s reasonable…” I mused to myself. “No one would want to play a cultivation game if they couldn’t cultivate.”
Nevertheless, I couldn’t figure out what had led the developers to decide that different players would have different innate aptitude levels. And who decided which aptitude a player should have? Was it really all arbitrary?
“Then again…” I thought about Pokémon IV’s and other instances where luck dictated the player’s success. “If one isn’t satisfied with their innate aptitude, one can just re-roll their character.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Still, it sure wasn't easy to ignore the hateful looks I received by those who failed the exam. But since I was powerless to help them, I did my best to look unperturbed.
“10-star talent, lightning affinity. Fail.”
“11-star talent, sun and fire affinity. Fail.”
“12-star talent, metal and earth affinity. Pass.”
“11-star talent… Fail.”
“13-star talent… Pass.”
“8-star talent… Fail.”
Then, as the next pair stepped up to receive their assessment, something shocking happened.
“12-star talent, wind affinity.” The lead cultivator smirked maliciously. “Fail.”
“What?” The smile on the player’s face froze. Until now, every single 12 star talent had passed as long as they hadn’t possessed what was now widely considered a “useless” affinity.
“Why?” The player asked with clenched teeth. “I have a wind affinity, surely it’s-”
“I told you in the beginning didn’t I?” Suddenly, I remembered where I had seen his expression before. It was the revengeful expression I had seen on the lead cultivator’s face when some random player had interrupted his introduction. “The White Tiger Sect does not accept garbage.”
“What a vindictive bastard…” I thought to myself. Sure, the player had admittedly acted immaturely. But to block his entrance to the sect…
Shaking his head, the player stood his ground. “No, you can’t. I got both the talent and the affinity.” The player looked at Inner Disciple Xiang for support. “He can’t fail me, right?”
Inner Disciple Xiang shook his head remorsefully.
“Are you refusing to remove yourself?” The lead cultivator asked, an impassive expression on his face. Though I could swear I saw a hint of malicious glee flash in his countenance.
After a brief moment of hesitation, the player spat. “Yes I am. I obviously passed your useless little test. Fucking bastard NPC should just-”
A flash of light and, subsequently, a beheaded corpse keeled to the ground. Two seconds later, the body dematerialized into crystalline pixels. The only trace left of the player was a shabby-looking sword laying on the ground.
The fact that the player’s severed head had landed at my feet was just a coincidence, right? When I glanced at the lead cultivator, I wasn’t so sure it was.
After a quick pause, the recruitment exams proceeded.
“11-star talent, hammer and lightning affinity. Fail.”
“13-star talent, fire and earth affinity. Pass.”
“9-star talent… Fail.”
“11-star talent… Fail.”
“Fail.”
“Fail.”
“Fail.”
…
At least half an hour passed before an assessment sparked another boisterous reaction from the crowd.
“14 star talent, blood and poison affinity. Pass.” Inner Disciple Xiang said with a satisfied smirk.
Envious sighs escaped the spectators as they watched the most recent aspirant join our exalted group of provisional disciples. Standing where we did, the arbitrary unfairness of the recruitment test was really hammered into us. In this world, you were either a winner or a loser, the deciding factor? Luck.
“Then again, is the real world really all that different?”
Including myself, this man was the second person to pass with a 14 star talent, accruing even more jealousy and hatred than I did.
“Blood and poison huh…” With an aptitude and affinities like those, this person should just log out and buy a lottery ticket already.
“But who am I to complain…” I smiled mirthlessly. The elation I had felt in the beginning of the exam had slowly been whittled down after suddenly being transformed into public enemy number one. Even the lead cultivator hadn’t stopped sending dark looks my way. Nevertheless, an indelible sense of malicious satisfaction slithered in the pit of my stomach.
“And with that auspicious sign, we shall end the first recruitment session of today.”
Groans and complaints erupted from the line of players and NPC natives, but they were quickly stifled when the lead cultivator scoffed irritatedly.
“The next recruitment session will start an hour after noon. Note that this will be the last recruitment session. Don’t be late.”
And so, the remaining players began to scatter.
On the platform, excluding the two white-clad cultivators, 31 provisional disciples remained. Out of over a hundred aspirants, 31 passed.
“Less than a third passed.” I remarked inwardly. Even if the majority of the people who hadn’t passed would find success in other sects, I couldn’t help but feel like the process had left a bad taste in my mouth.
Out of the fortunate ones who did pass…
2 were 14-star talents.
8 were 13-star talents.
And 21 were 12-star talents with combat-oriented affinities.
“In the end, neither Atom or Dark showed up.” Luna had, but she'd unfortunately failed the evaluation. Moreover, the look she had given me after failing could've made a grown man cry. She acted as if it was somehow my fault that she only had an 11-star aptitude.
“Congratulations.” The lead cultivator said as he looked at us: the arbitrary winners of the first recruitment session today. “You have proven that you have the potential to be marginally better than garbage.”
Someone murmured softly.
Yet, the lead cultivator surprisingly chuckled. “Oh? I can see that some of you disagree with my assessment.”
Immediately, the ones who’d unconsciously displayed their disapproval paled in fear of retribution.
“No, no, as provisional outer disciples, I understand your need to reassure yourselves.” When the lead cultivator said the words ‘provisional outer disciples’, I imagined he used the same tone and intonation as a Nazi talking about Jews.
“Since I’m feeling particularly generous today, allow me to share something with you all.” The impassive expression returned to his face. “The average aptitude rating of an inner sect disciple of a rank 4 sect is sixteen. To me and other inner sect disciples like myself, you might as well be rats, barely a notch above insects.”
“So,” For some reason, the lead cultivator’s gaze singled me out in the crowd. “For those of you feeling proud of your so-called talent, know that you are trash that we graciously picked from the side of the road.”
“Then why did you pass us?” A 13-star talent whose name I could not remember bravely - or foolishly - interjected. “If we are so worthless, why bother with us at all?”
When the lead cultivator didn’t respond, Inner Disciple Xiang took over.
“Albeit difficult, aptitude can change.” Inner Disciple Xiang’s response had an immediate and bombastic effect on the group. The majority of which were 12-star talents and often looked enviously at me and the other 14-star talent.
“Also, every sect needs servants.” The lead cultivator frowned at his fellow disciple.
“There is that too.” Inner Disciple Xiang said with a laugh.
…