There isn’t much to be said for the Darkwoods, it’s big and it’s dark. Few flora can survive here, with those that do being highly coveted. Which is why Tantra is on her knees, combing through the shrubbery with a straw basket on her back. Yorin sits on a root just a few feet away, scrunching his brow at the book in his lap.
“C-A-T” he says, “cat?”
“Correct” Tantra says as she picks a flower and throws it into her basket, “you’ve progressed disciple Yorin, you can finally recognize some of your letters. I would be proud if it didn’t take so long.”
Yorin preens as he ignores the latter part of that comment, Tantra chuckles at his antics. He’s…refreshingly innocent, compared to what she’s used to at least, merchant life is filled with polite hyena’s. Even at her age she’s been exposed to the need to measure words and calculate benefits. If there were one good thing that came from coming to this sect, it would be the ability to speak without worry.
A small smile plays on her face as she breathes in the surrounding Qi. The DarkWoods is a focal point, meaning that the deeper one goes the thicker the Qi they’ll find. This, on its own, would be enough for Tantra to justify coming here. The real prize however, is the merits that can be earned here through the collection of vegetation.
“Are you sure you don’t need any ass-as-” Yorin stumbles over himself and huffs, “these words are dumb.”
“It’s assistance,” Tantra says blandly.
“Why can’t I just say help? It means the same thing” he protests.
“Proper cultivators interact with high society on a regular basis, Yorin. Learn how to speak like them and they’ll see you as an equal rather than prey to feast upon.”
Yorin raises a brow, “how are they gonna do that with no foundation?”
“There are other ways to hunt than the physical.” Tantra says, being purposefully ominous.
Yorin looks at her sceptical and shrugs, “sure,” he says, “anyway, do you need ah-sis-tense?”
“No,” Tantra shakes her head, “this is my task, you focus on your book.”
Yorin sighs but continues reading.
Merits are the currency of a sect, which isn’t normally all that relevant so early into the journey, considering resources are only really required later down the path. That is not the case for Tantra, unfortunately. It takes too long to gather Qi, no matter how much better she gets, a whole evening still isn’t enough to fill her core. The optimist in Tantra likes to think that perhaps her core’s just gotten bigger, the realist grabes it by the collar and shakes some sense into it
Long story short, she needs Qi stones. The condensed Qi stored in the precious mineral would be enough to last her months at her level, and by then she’d have enough merits to buy another. Then she can tackle the issue of expediting the speed of her circulation.
One thing at a time.
She’s never picked flowers and fruit before, so the first few deliveries weren’t exactly stellar. But she’s gotten the hang of it, mostly. She’s still pretty slow but at least she does it properly. The alchemist still looks disappointed whenever he sees her haul, but it’s enough to get her some merits, and that’s all she needs.
“Why can’t we just go hunt some mongrels?” Yorin pouts, “it’d be funner than this.”
Tantra shakes her head, “you mean it’d be more dangerous. I have no intention of risking my life if I can get the same result doing simple tasks.”
“But we could have gotten a stone with only a few hunts!” Yorin protests.
Tantra raises a brow, “I see you are a mathematician now, disciple Yorin.”
Yorin blows a raspberry at her.
-
Lessons are fairly simple, they cover algebra, history, and language. All things she’s already rigorously studied. The only outlier would be alchemy, but she doesn’t attend those. She has no desire to dedicate what precious time she has on a frivolous pursuit. Although alchemy could be quite lucrative…no, don’t get tempted Tantra, stay the course. The other kids seemingly haven’t received a proper education beyond folk tales and how to count crops, which naturally makes her the highest achiever among her peer group, and she’d likely outmatch quite a few seniors as well. Not that it matters, intelligence is secondary to strength in the world of cultivation.
Still, it does wonders for her pride.
“How did you learn so much so young?” Yorin says with a mouth full of sausage. It was his reward for progressing in his studies, just because the cultivation world doesn’t care for the power of the mind, doesn’t mean she can’t encourage intellectual pursuits.
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“Don’t eat with your mouth full, it isn’t proper” Tantra scolds as she balances a stack of books in her arms. Yorin grumbles but complies as he munches through the meat with renewed vigor, taking one big swallow and letting out a belch.
“Yorin!” Tantra exclaims.
He smiles smugly, “that was a pretty good one wasn’t it?”
“It was disgusting!”
Yorin chuckles, “there has to be a word for how strict you are about manners.”
“It’s called being polite,” Tantra grumbles.
He ignores her and takes a swig from his wineskin.
“So,” he starts, “how’d you get so smart?”
“It’s nothing special” Tantra shrugs, “while I’ve never toiled the fields, I spent my time with tutors or helping my father with his business. If I didn’t learn I would have truly been a fool, all things considered I’m quite average.”
“Is that why you like reading so much?” He points at her books.
“The pursuit of knowledge is a noble thing, disciple Yorin, a sharp mind can cut better than a blade.” Tantra recites.
Yorin gives her an incredulous look, “Tantra, minds don’t get sharp.”
“It’s an expression.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
Tantra sighs, “An expression is when-”
“Honourable disciple Tantra!” someone yells, “I challenge you to a duel!”
Tantra blinks and turns to her right so she can see whoever just spoke beyond her books. They’re a rather young boy, even compared to her, graced with a short mop of messy brown hair and a face that hasn’t lost its baby fat. He’s bowing with a fist in his palm.
Tantra blinks multiple times in bewilderment as he stays perfectly still, Yorin breaks her trance with a poke to the ribs.
“Apologies honourable disciple…?”
“Kisrin Cao, honourable Tantra”
“Honourable disciple Kisrin.” She nods, “I appreciate your interest, but I am no martial master. Surely you would be better served challenging someone with more experience than one such as I?”
Kisrin gets up from his bow with a twinkle in his eye, “It would be my honour to teach disciple Tantra, if that would suit you better.”
Yorin pokes her ribs with an elbow and gives her a thumbs up.
Tantra is confused.
-
She organizes her newly acquired books on her shelf and sighs, she was hoping to start reading through them as soon as she arrived but now she has to entertain a child. No, this is part of cultivation culture, the sooner she adapts, the better. She just has to look at it from that perspective, and it becomes much less annoying. Just another lesson to learn, that’s all. She sighs again, she doesn’t want to participate in this lesson though, she’d prefer to have been left alone.
As she goes to exit her room she finds Karaz standing just outside her doorway with a sly little smirk playing on her face. Tantra sigh’s for the third time in as many minutes.
“Don’t be like that,” she throws an arm over her shoulder, “I’m just trying to be friendly, like the fabulous housemate that I am.”
Tantra suppresses another sigh, “what can I do for you, honourable senior.”
“Well,” Karaz says, tapping her lips, “you could tell me why there are two boys waiting outside our house.”
Tantra raises a brow at the girl, “one is a friend, the other is a nuisance. We’re going to go training in the field, I just had to organize my books first.”
Karaz raises a brow of her own, “a nuisance? Now that’s just heartless little Tantra. At least give him a chance.”
“A chance at what?”
Karaz sighs wistfully, “Oh to be young and dumb again.”
“Forgiveness, honourable senior,” Tantra starts, “but you are still both those things.”
Karaz stares at her for a moment before breaking into a guffaw.
-
Tantra is dumbfounded by the scene in front of her.
“Onwards! Noble steed,” Ranya proclaims from her perch on Yorins shoulders. “The great Ranya of a thousand blades must reach her allies before it is too late!”
Yorin neighs as he runs in a circle around a very embarrassed Kisrin, who is hiding his face with a hand in shame. They’ve gathered quite the crowd. Tantra blinks, then blinks again. Nope, that’s a thing that’s happening now, she hasn’t lost her mind or been spiked with Dream Shrooms.
“Heh,” Karaz says, “looks like they’re having fun”
Ranya jumps off Yorins shoulders, doing a front flip and landing in front of Kisrin in a stance appropriate for a rapier.
“Enguard fiend!” Ranya yells, "Ranya will skewer you as a gift to the demons of the hells to cook and savour!”
Kisrin reluctantly gets into a similar stance to the encouragement of the crowd, hand behind his back and positioning himself to reduce points of contact.
“Enguard,” he says devoid of joy or passion, “once I am done with you, I will torture your friends one by one in the most brutal of fashions,” he says lamely. The crowd gasps and murmurs.
Ranya squints, “prepare to meet your end!” she bellows.
-
Tantra checks a kick.
She’s been doing this for the past half hour and her legs are starting to hurt something fierce. Kisrin twists his front foot and brings his leg up for a roundhouse that Tantra checks again. She’s starting to get the hang of it, timing her checks with generally correct timing. Now she just has to ask whoever she fights to kindly only use specific kinds of kicks. Hmmm, she’s being unkind to Kisrin, although he is acting strange. Offering to train her out of the blue? For free? If there’s one principle to live by it’s that everything has a cost. To waste his time training her must have some ulterior motive.
Kisrin twists and brings his leg up, and she prepares to check.
Yorin’s studying, as he should be, she had to stop training a few times when she caught him slacking. The boys already got a solid foundation, now Tantra just needs to get him a brain. Damn, she is pissy right now, must be her aching legs.
Tantra checks another kick.