Kevin’s first stop was the general services building. He had friends waiting to hear how his entrance examination had gone, and he’d left them waiting long enough. Yesterday might have been too full, but he didn’t have any such excuse today.

The mail department was a single, massive room reminiscent of a bank with rows of little service windows. Lacking any writing materials, Kevin purchased some for a few squares before taking a spot at one of the tables littering the otherwise open floorplan.

His first letter was to Travis, letting the agent know he’d made it and that the OIM should start making tuition payments. Of course, it would all add up to more debt for him, but it was the only way he could afford to stay at the sect.

He also asked how long the OIM would continue letting him wrack up debt before they ran out of patience. The agent had said it shouldn’t be a problem before he got into a sect, but now that time had come, he needed to find out.

That information would be key to figuring out how long he had to start making some money. That, or somehow find a way into the inner sect.

The benefits of that lofty position were plastered all over the promotional materials left in his room. One of the most enticing was no longer having to pay for the privilege of staying.

After that, he moved on to notifying the rest of his friends. First up was Vannessa, who got her own dedicated message. In it, he informed her of how it went and included some information on sect life and the food they had here.

He was sure she’d be interested in their menu-based ordering system, though it would likely be out of her price range to set up. At the end, he asked her to share the next message with as many members of the cultivation group as she could track down.

They had their examination almost the same time as him, so he had no way of knowing if they were still in Ostale. If all went well, they’d have made it into the Severing Sword sect, while Amy and Ethan, at least, would have moved on if they failed.

The single message he wrote for the group focused more on the trials of his exam and how incredible it had felt to get in. Ultimately, he also asked how they’d gone with their own tests.

He was sure Emily would get in, while the rest were more of a wild card. All he could do was wish everyone the best and hope they achieved their goals.

With those three done, he almost got up to send the letters before settling back down as a thought struck him. Grabbing a fresh sheet of paper, he quickly penned a fourth letter for Dr. Grange.

Without the ancient cultivators’ help, he’d have never made it this far, so it felt important to let the man know that his method worked. Beyond that, the information might be useful in the man’s medical practice.

He’d proven that the Sealed Land could be useful in his situation, so the next time an outsider showed up with the same issue, the doctor would know what to prescribe.

He couldn’t remember the man’s exact address, so he included it with the letter for Travis and added a request to pass it along. That left him with four letters, but only two addresses to send them to.

The sending process was straightforward, though a little different from what he was used to back on Earth. Instead of sealing them in envelopes, he gave the two sets of papers to one of the service workers, along with the destinations.

What happened after that, he couldn’t tell, though he assumed it wouldn’t be too different under the hood. Surely, there were only so many ways to transport mail. After paying the bill, only a few of his small squares, he moved on.

Next on his list was the pill dispensary.

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May had told him that part of his tuition payment went toward cultivation resources, but he’d never asked for more detailed information with everything going on. Since he’d heard nothing about it, it was time to track them down himself.

Here, his map and other pamphlets came to the rescue. The alchemy building was a massive construction rivaling even a few of the smaller buildings he’d seen in the inner sect.

Both the roof and sides of the building were dotted with belching chimneys and smoking exhaust pipes. Smoke and fumes were released in a dazzling array of colors, accompanied by an occasional burst of fire.

If he was going to find cultivation resources anywhere, then it would be here.

The pill dispensary was housed in a large, rectangular room wider than it was long. It looked somewhat like a pharmacy with no over-the-counter products.

A long window at chest height extended the length of the room and was split up into a dozen sections by little wooden dividers. White-robed cultivators stood behind each section while more hurried back and forth, delivering mysterious little bags.

Many of the sections were already servicing disciples, but a couple at the end were free. Mid-morning had to be a quiet time for them; that or the other new disciples weren’t as slow at figuring this out as he was.

A white-haired woman in the third stage of the Body Cultivation realm stood behind the first empty section he found. Her face had more wrinkles than he’d seen since arriving at the sect, but she still looked younger than he’d have assumed based on her hair color alone.

Then again, that was the case for most cultivators.

“How can I help you?” Helen, going by the nameplate on her window, asked with a bright customer-service smile.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Hi Helen,” Kevin began, smiling back. “I’m a new disciple, and I’ve heard that I should have been allocated some cultivation resources. Is this the right place to come?”

Helan’s smile shifted into something more genuine at his polite request, and she nodded in response. “It is indeed. Did you ask your guide or track us down yourself? We’ve got a bit of a bet going on.”

Kevin blinked, thrown by the sudden conversation shift. Were they betting on how the fresh disciples arrived here? “May mentioned the resources yesterday but didn’t give me any more information.”

“I had something else that needed to be handled, so I forgot about it until today. Then I just checked the map, and this was the place that made the most sense.”

Come to think of it, wasn’t it odd that neither Elder Ming nor May had given him directions? Or Foster could have directed him after the meeting. Even a message with the other information in his department would have been more efficient than this.

Pursing his lips, Kevin asked the question on his mind. “Is it usual for new disciples to have to track you down?”

Helen chuckled, shaking her head. “Yes, yes, it is. We aren’t looking for unthinking drones who just follow instructions; the Twisted Path wants independent, responsible disciples who think for themselves.”

“If there’s a problem, or you’re missing something, then it’s up to you to track the solution down.”

“I see,” Kevin responded, eyes narrowing. So it was another test then, or perhaps more of a learning moment. May had likely been instructed to drop the hint and see if he did something about it.

He’d have to remember that the Twisted Path sect was even more individualistic than the general cultivation culture. That first day of guidance with May and Foster’s help picking classes might be the last support he got for a while.

Or at least the last support he didn’t ask for. Foster had told him to report to the admin building if he ended up blocked again, so it wasn’t like the sect withheld support when it was needed. They just wanted you to be the one driving the process.

Helen was watching his face with amusement, clearly enjoying his reaction. As if reading his thoughts, she spoke again the instant before he could ask another question.

“Anyway, the important thing is you’re here now. Let’s get this handled. Name, please?”

Thrown again, Kevin responded without thought. “Kevin Blake.” He wasn’t used to being the one off balance in conversations; this woman was good. Helen might never have reached the Energy Gathering realm, but she’d clearly developed her skills in other ways.

‘Be wary of old cultivators’ would be the saying, he was sure. Something about them spending more time developing a single skill than most people had lived.

Helen slid her finger down a list, tapping a name a third of the way down. “Got you, Kevin Matthew Blake. A fresh disciple and you haven’t already received your supplies.”

“Do many people try to get multiple sets?” Kevin asked, as much to catch back up as out of genuine curiosity.

Helen smiled again, a flat expression that didn’t reach her eyes. “More than you’d expected, but they only try once.”

Kevin suppressed a shudder. He’d been right; this was not a woman to cross. Which was probably to be expected, given she was the gateway to a bunch of cultivation supplements. Who knew how much wealth was sitting behind this counter?

“James would get you Kevin’s pills, please?” Helen asked, turning to a man waiting behind her.

“Yes, Ma’am,” James, a younger man in the early stages of Body Cleansing, responded before jogging deeper into the room behind the window. The man passed through some kind of veil as he did so, keeping whatever was back there hidden from view.

Perhaps pill gofer was a job you could get as an outer sect disciple? It would make sense for an alchemy student to learn about various supplements.

“Now let’s see,” Helen said, looking over a page she’d pulled from somewhere while he was distracted. “In most cases, we provide a mixture of Qi Storage pills and Meridian boosting pills to fresh disciples.”

“This provides two avenues for extra Qi outside of their cultivation practice. However, I see a note here from Dr. Vaughan that we should avoid the Meridian boosters in your case.”

Kevin winced. Without the note, he might have missed how dangerous those could be. With his shriveled Dantian, pushing his Meridians further could cause serious damage. It was a good thing the doctor was on top of the situation.

“So for now, we’ll just give you the Qi Storage pills and place the rest as credit on your account. If you need something else, you can return and cash your credit in.”

“Thanks,” Kevin grinned in response. That was a bonus he wasn’t expecting. He’d no doubt run into more issues over time, so having a way to get the right pill for the situation could be a massive help.

A moment later, James jogged back, holding a ribbon-tied bag. It was no larger than the palm of Kevin’s hand, and he couldn’t imagine it holding too many pills.

Helen untied the opening with deft hands, looked inside, and nodded. Tying it closed again, she handed it over. “Fifteen Qi Storage pills; you’re allocation for this month.”

“The average is one per two days, but it differs per person. Go by feeling, and don’t take a fresh one until the last is finished. Don’t lose them either; you won’t get another allocation until next month, and it would be a waste of your credit to replace them.”

“Thanks, Helen,” Kevin responded, giving a quick bow. “I’ll come by in a month then unless I find a use for that credit. Thank you as well, James,” he said, waving to the man further back.

“You’re welcome, Kevin. Good luck with your cultivation,” Helen said in dismissal, echoed by a simple “goodbye” from James.

With a last wave, Kevin left the building. He still had hours before meeting Gerard, so it was time to get some cultivation done.

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On the way out, Kevin swallowed one of his new pills. It blazed like a tiny sun as it hit his stomach, lighting up his spiritual senses. Tiny flakes of Qi split off after a few seconds and floated out into his body.

Yeah, there was no way he was going to be done with the pill in two days at this rate. Like the Spirit fruit before, his blocked Stomach Meridan was slowing the process down. Unfortunate but not a complete loss.

Any extra Qi was welcome, and having spare pills could be handy on its own. If two days were an average, there would be people who needed more than the standard fifteen each month.

Now, he had resources to trade or to lose in a duel if needed. He’d prefer to avoid that kind of thing, but if he ended up stuck in one, he could lose a lot of his allocation without it actually hurting him.

As for the limited Qi, that just meant he needed to cultivate more. Or, if possible, cultivate faster. There were still the two cultivation courtyards to try, one Fire aspected and one Earth aspected.

Given they were in different directions, he needed to pick one to try. Biting his lip, Kevin thought it over. Hadn’t there been a cycle of some kind in cultivation stories back home? He could remember looking it up at least once, but not the specific details.

After a little searching, he found what he needed at the sect’s sprawling library. To his surprise, much of the information required merit to access, but a basic copy of what they called the Generative Cycle could be viewed for free.

Fire created Earth; Earth birthed Metal; Metal produced Water; Water nurtured Wood; Wood fed Fire. There were more complicated suppressing and controlling interactions, but this was enough for his needs.

Given that, he could reason that his tattoo let in both Fire and Earth Qi because the Fire would convert to Earth. Going backward in the cycle was problematic, so Metal and Water Qi were out. Even worse, Wood disturbed Earth, and so was the destructive energy he’d been warned about.

He couldn’t tell if taking in Fire Qi would provide more of a benefit with this simple description, but it was worth a try. If nothing else, the Fire area should also contain a lot of created Earth Qi.

On the other hand, the Earth courtyard should have a partial Metal composition, which wouldn’t be as useful to him.

Off to the Fire courtyard it was then. Barely more than twelve hours had passed since his breakthrough, and Kevin was already itching for more advancement.

It was time for some focused cultivation.