“Dear Tsukiko,” James muttered. “You’re probably wondering why I’m sending a letter to you instead of coming home. Well, it’s a long story.”

The man leaned back. No, that wouldn’t work. He looked back down at the paper he was using to write his best friend, maybe lover, definitely family member. The soft white cream paper looked back at him silently, black ink from James’s pen dripping downward. He sighed and reached for the dull-yellow bar nearby, waving it over the paper. The eraser collected the ink, leaving the paper as pristine as when it was bought.

“So, don’t be mad,” James muttered again. “But I kind of got roped into the biggest job in my life.”

The man nodded. That was more his style. Tsukiko would know it was him sending the letter. She’d still be angry, boy would she be angry, but at least the anger would pass after a time.

Probably.

Maybe.

It had been a week since James accepted Nadia’s offer of discipleship, the two finishing their oath seconds before the elevator arrived. Osman, the wheedling researcher, and two others James hadn’t seen before walked into the room. Osman had tried to demand James, but Nadia showed them proof of his discipleship.

James didn’t know how, but apparently whatever Nadia did to the nodes on his back was enough to convince the two newcomers with Osman. He later learned they were the heads of the training hall and formation hall. They were skeptical of James’s ability to learn, but apparently politics prevented them from acting in any formal capacity.

That didn’t stop informal actions, however.

This past week had been something of a whirlwind for James. Once Osman and the others left, Nadia led James to a hovering wooden palace further in the Mirror Lake Valley, causing James to question just how big this place was. It felt like this Valley was the size of a floor in Tower Ten, but James was loathe to believe that cultivators would waste so much space.

The palace Nadia led James to reminded him of the grand structures in the shows. The wood was carved in ornate patterns, splendid paints and shimmering glass making it sparkle in the light. The inside was just as beautiful, a mix of natural decor and luxury that kept James staring the whole way.

So he was surprised when Nadia showed him his room.

It was a little thing, she said, to help reduce greed, but James had never lived in anything half as nice. The floors were solid, made of fine polished wood smoother than glass, and wasn’t covered in dirt. There were no nails sticking out, rusted over from shoddy maintenance and disuse, and the place already had furnishings. It was by far the best thing James had ever seen, he’d immediately jumped onto the puffy bed, earning a laugh from Nadia.

She had then given him the letters, showed him how to call the servitors, and then left to prepare the teachings she would show him. It was when she left that the overwhelming events of the past finally dogpiled his nerves. James was glad for the soft bed and smooth floors, or else he would have wounded himself in the fit he threw.

Apparently he was special. Him, a nobody from a farming Tower. He had a special ability that made him desirable, but apparently in all the wrong ways. The stories on the viewscreen would have made his ability a positive thing. It would have told the tale of his rise in the dark times ahead. Instead, James felt like he had leaped out of a frying pan and into the fire.

When Nadia returned, with a frown on her face, James could tell things were starting off on the wrong foot.

“I have been refused to grant you the general teaching materials of the sect,” Nadia said. “At least for the foreseeable future.”

“And that means?” James asked.

“All members of the Blue Mountain Sect, whether personal, inner, or outer disciple, are allowed use of a primer material that grants knowledge over our preferred method of cultivation. It would impart upon you cognition into the righteous path.”

James made a face of ignorance. “…and that means?”

Nadia sighed. “Apologies. I am,” she paused, “bad at explanations. It doesn’t help that the majority—that most others I talk to are proponents of esoteric—excuse me, are people who like to talk in mysterious ways. I believe it has colored how I talk.”

“No, it’s alright, master,” James said hurriedly. “I understand that I’m going to have a lot to learn.”

“The both of us do, disciple,” Nadia said. “I shall have to learn a better way of communicating in order to ready you for what’s to come. I had hoped that the sect would allow me their materials in order to bridge this gap but it seems that politics are now at play. Ironic, considering that much of the sect believes themselves above politics.”

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James scowled. “The more I learn about cultivators the more I wonder how they have such a good image.”

“I would not be qualified to tell you that, disciple,” Nadia said. “In the past, I would have said moral character, but in light of past incidents I must re-evaluate my foundations. I’m afraid we will not be able to begin your training until I have acquired the necessary knowledge and materials. In the meantime, I shall leave you with some paper and other materials for you to get familiar with your new station.”

“Would it be possible to send a letter to Tsukiko?” James asked.

Nadia nodded, and that was how James found himself in his room a week later, still trying to come up with something to say. It turned out that trying to actually put into words the insanity that was his new life had been hard. Harder than he expected, what with how easily he had accepted the whole situation after a good day or so of panic.

It was likely because he had a lot of new information to distract himself with. Nadia had made good on her promise, sending a servitor with piles of guides to the megacity James now lived in. Propaganda, mostly, she had said. But it was useful to at least understand how everything worked.

The Blue Mountain Sect lived inside Cyber Crane Megacity, which seemed like a mouthful to say in James’s mind. He liked the simple numbering naming system better. Plus, it sounded less pretentious.

Cyber Crane Megacity, more often called Seesee by the citizens, held approximately one billion people, give or take a million. The number caused James’s eyes to bulge and call his orphanage schooling into question. There was no way a place could hold that many people. Tower Ten held only a few hundred million, and that amount tended to strain the city’s already sparse housing.

One billion seemed to be the truth of it, however. Though, James still couldn’t wrap his head around it. He was used to the uniformity of the tower. Everything there was built to support the farms. Cyber Crane Megacity seemed to support any manner of industry, from entertainment, to sports, to factories covering entire floors.

The one thing he did understand was that everything seemed built to cater to cultivators.

One tenth of a percent of Cyber Crane’s population was apparently cultivators, or one million residents if James’s math was correct. However, according to the guides, the cultivators were the sole reason Cyber Crane was so prosperous. James doubted that, but Nadia did tell him it was propaganda.

The cultivators divided themselves into sects, buildings tall as the agritowers that passed through multiple megacity floors and were ‘attuned’ to natural energies that benefited cultivation. The taller the sect’s tower, the more influence they held. Each sect had a different belief in how to attain enlightenment, which required different methods of practice as well as materials. There were thousands of sects, but only ten were listed in the guides James was given.

The Blue Mountain Sect was one of the ten. The path to enlightenment, according to the description, was to work toward doing the most good while attuning to the natural world. It sounded hollow after what James went through.

The sect James found himself in prided themselves on producing upright officials for the emperor, their moral character allowing them to determine right and wrong. There was a whole school for it and everything, though it seemed the sect performed a multitude of other tasks.

From the way it sounded, James was now part of an organization that policed, produced, procured, and performed a multitude of other p’s for the prosperity of the city. James thought it was a load of piss. However, he couldn’t deny that cultivators held a lot of power.

Most of the other major sects listed in the guides were similar to the Blue Mountain Sect, so James paid them no mind and moved onward. He read about the various market locations, for both mortals and cultivators, and the multitude of sporting arenas on the various megacity floors. The voidball arenas appealed to James, but apparently the sport wasn’t as popular here as it was back home. Something called skateball was the dominant sport.

James flipped further through the books, learning what he could before his master came back. Whenever he grew bored, he tried to write another letter, only to pick up more guidebooks when he hit a wall. Eventually, he ran out of guides and was forced to actually get something on the page for Tsukiko.

“And that’s how I’ve now found myself in Cyber Crane Megacity,” James finished reading, the last bit of ink drying on the page. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry. James.”

The man nodded. That was probably as good as he was going to get. He used the eraser on the few splotches of ink that fell from his pen and then called a servitor. The robotic servant wheeled into the room, obeying James’s order to send the letter.

And then suddenly, James found himself with nothing to do. He tried to flip through the guidebooks his master had given him one more time, but the enthusiasm wasn’t there. He allowed his mind to wander, eventually settling on his apparent special ability.

James didn’t think it was that special. Though he admitted he might be biased considering the circumstances. The more he thought about it, the more he could see how important it might be.

There were other demonic cultivators out there, and there was no telling what cruel powers they had. Possession sounded like one of the worst ones, and James could understand the fear of the idea. He remembered the weird feeling of being two people at once, and shuddered at the thought of that being his new reality.

“Doesn’t mean they can just use me like that,” James argued to himself.

The man sighed, settling into his comfy bed to wait for Nadia to return. “So, now what, James?” he asked himself. “How do I treat all this? Is it just a new job like I wrote to Tsukiko?”

Or was he actually going to try his hardest to cultivate, to learn this righteous path that Nadia had talked about. He’d have to learn no matter what, it was only a matter of how hard he tried.

The guides had described instances of disciples leaving the sect to work in other positions. Safe positions. Positions where one could easily raise a family. But there was still the risk that the sect might kill him for his special ability.

He still didn’t know what they had meant by special code, or a number of other things. If it turned out that he was too unique, James would need to throw himself into cultivation, if only to try and escape his predicament. That probably meant no life outside the sect. Cultivators were supposed to live a long time.

James argued back and forth with himself until Nadia returned, a slim device in her hand.

“I believe we can now begin your training, disciple,” she said as she offered him the device.