The trek to the massive courtyard at the center of his small town was hell on Samuel’s weak body. By the time he was there, he was wheezing unable to even stand up properly. In that thirty-minute travel, no one had come out and greeted him, but that was fine, he was used to being alone.

After a moment while his group was in front of the entrance, their guide started speaking.

“Hello, everyone. While I know most of you already know, I must state these facts for those who were not privileged enough to learn of this before today.”

His voice had authority despite his awkward speech pattern. He scanned the whole crowd as he continued.

“Today is a big day. While most of you will fail and go back to your mundane lives, for some today will be the start of something great. Today will be the day you become cultivators.”

As he said this his hand shot up in the air. In mere moments it started crackling with electrical sparks before a bolt of lightning flashed into the sky causing the air in the resulting boom of thunder.

The crowd cheered at his words but Samuel was just left confused though he dared not voice his thoughts. Bad things happened when he did.

“Now, more about the specifics. For the uninitiated, there are two ways to become a cultivator. One is to take up a partner and go through the normal route. The other is an attempt to become a master by yourself. Word of advice, if you do try to become a master, know that you are going to die. I don’t care how special you are. You are going to die and, if you have a family, I need a written word of approval from your legal guardian.”

The man continued, his tone very grim. Out of everything he had said Samuel picked up on what was most important. That was the fabled master path, in which only 1 out of a hundred people survived.

He continued listening.

“With that out of the way, I need you to stand in three lines. If you want to do the regular process and do not have a partner form a line. If you already have a partner stand side by side with your other while in a line. Finally, form a line if you do not respect your life and wish to attempt to become a master.”

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The crowd slowly started shifting around and a warning shout from their guide sped up the process and soon there were three lines. The longest was the group the regular with no partners. Then there was the paired group which was much shorter. Finally, there was the group Samuel was standing in which only had four people standing in it.

The other three were also boys who looked like orphans. Samuel could tell, especially given their clothes. Like himself, they were little better than rags. Also, they were from the same orphanage so he was familiar with the group.

These three liked to beat him on occasion but had stopped when they almost killed him at one point and had received a severe beating from Mother. Afterward, they kept their distance, so much so that they started acting like he did not exist. Honestly, Samuel had preferred when they had beaten him. At least then, there was a group of people who paid attention to him. Also, it is from them he had learned about the master path before today.

To see how distant they still ended up being was sad even if it was expected. They were the only four people in this line and there was a visible distance between him and the rest who stood much closer together.

The man in blue gave them all a nod and said.

“Expected.”

Then he turned around and said follow me.

With that, he entered the courtyard where there were even more people his age.

Samuel had always thought he lived in a small town, but seeing so many boys and girls his age made him question that idea. They were also from very different walks of life. Others wore rags like him but they did not make the majority, if anything they made less than half of the group. There was another group that wore clothes similar to Mother and looked much more presentable. Looking at the girls in that group made him feel off. In a way, he could not quite describe.

The last group were the ones in the smallest minority but they somehow had the largest presence. Some of them even had weapons and armor on their person. He was almost physically pulled to the girls of this group. They had a presence about them that attracted him like a magnet.

He was pulled out of his reverie when the speaker shouted.

“The group without partners joins the crowd to the left, a group with partners joins the middle and finally suicidal master group joins the five on the right. There is still time if anyone wants to back out, join the left group at any time before the process officially begins.”

Samuel blinked at the statement. He had thought that there were only two groups. He timidly made his way to the third group which had three girls and six boys. Oddly, this was the only group where boys outnumbered the girls. In group one, girls handily outnumbered the boys. Given that the amount of boys and girls in the orphanage was roughly equal this seemed odd to Samuel.

But he did not know any better and simply waited for the next step. He did not have very long to live after all, why waste it on trying to understand such fruitless things? He would best serve to take his thoughts back to the garden, the one bright spot in his life that allowed him to wake up every day. Today might as well be the last time he would be able to do so.