The crowning feature of the sect house would be a mana-reinforced glass dome equipped with a host of useful magical features they had politely declined to describe to their regular military visitors. Creating this was Laurel’s next project and she was quite glad the blueprints they were following included specific instructions. She had only ever been a passable enchanter and the plans she was looking at were intimidating to say the least. The mana flowing through the build site would cover for her shortcomings.
No one else in her little class had broken through to active cultivation after Trip, but everyone reported they felt closer. The ambient mana had been tamed enough that Theresa could begin to touch the deeper flows, with Laurel acting as a spiritual anchor. It was good progress by any measure. Despite that, she went to bed at night feeling wholly inadequate. She did her best to channel the anxiety into her projects, spending hours reading on new cultivation methods for her students to try. It was exhausting. Not physically, or mentally, or even spiritually. But the weight of her responsibilities was slowly wearing her down. She just needed her friends to get stronger and for the sect house to be finished. It would all be perfectly fine. The summer solstice had come and gone months ago to little fanfare, which Laurel found surprising. Adam explained that modern beliefs put much less emphasis on some of the classical holidays. Laurel in turn let him know that they would be celebrating the upcoming winter solstice in a grand old style. Planning for the celebration, still months away, was another project keeping her busy.
Their lives had settled once more into a routine. Morning cultivation lessons cycled through a variety of styles, though they had all gravitated towards those that resonated most. Adam had joined Trip at the crafting tables, though it wasn’t a perfect fit. Annette and Theresa both preferred more classic quiet meditation, while Reina and Reynard kept to the physical side of things. Occasionally Laurel would also let the watching children join in, and Adam had worked his way up to suggesting the previous evening that his new friend Leander join them as well.
There were some surprised looks, therefore, when they all showed up to the next practice to see Laurel standing next to a pile of books, some cloth, and some rope.
“Sorry L,” Reynard was always the first to comment on the day's activities, “not sure I’m up for early morning bondage.”
Laurel laughed it off. “If you aren’t interested in this one you can of course always continue with the previous lessons.” Trip didn’t even pretend to care and went over to his mechanics table. He had slowly been growing his abilities and could now cultivate actively for about two minutes every hour. He had put together some sort of miniature train from the cart he had started with, one that ran on mana. It was extremely inefficient but represented the first intentional enchanting he’d ever done.
“It tends to be a more obscure practice” Laurel continued to lecture the others, “but some sects would use sensory deprivation combined with stimuli to get students to a state where they had to use mana since their physical options were limited. I thought we could recreate this by blindfolding you all and tying your hands behind your back, then I could toss little sparks or tiny lightning bolts at you and see if you react.”
Dead silence. “I’ve also brought some books and blank paper if anyone would like to attempt reading or writing.”
Theresa and Adam both relaxed at that and went over to collect the books. Laurel looked hopefully at Reina, Reynard, and her newest pupil Leander. She winced internally. The first week of cultivation lessons for a suspicious street kid might not be the best time to tell him to put on a blindfold and wait to be shocked.
“It won’t do any damage, and it won’t really hurt” Laurel hurried to reassure her obviously skeptical students. A moment later they saw sparks bouncing between Laurel’s fingers. Leander in particular went wide-eyed at the first real sign of magic. A miniature lightning bolt then flashed out of Laurel’s right hand and into her left, with absolutely no effect. “See? It will be fine.”
“Didn’t you tell us before that one of your specialties is lightning skills?” Reina was clearly not yet convinced.
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“Yes! Laurel enthusiastically replied. “And these last months with the City Core have done wonders for my control. But we can use other elements if you prefer. I can toss rocks at you if that would make you more comfortable.” Reina stood there bemused at the most sincere offer of rock-throwing that had ever been uttered in the history of cultivation.
It was Leander who broke the stalemate by walking over to the table and tying a blindfold on. Laurel went over to help him with the hand ties and placed a stone in his hand. “If you need to stop, squeeze the stone three times and it will let out a loud noise.” That spurred the soldiers into joining them, unable to be shown up by a child. “You two can just shout.” She led them into a level part of the field outside the tent and made sure there were no rocks or divots for them to trip on. “Great, let's get started.”
The next hour proceeded with Laurel tossing pebbles, sparks, small bits of electricity, glass beads from the jewelry table, ice, and pieces of cloth with equivalent ease and accuracy. She had been correct in that nothing hurt, but not knowing what was coming or from what direction was wearing on all of their nerves. The anxiety was almost palpable, the soldiers letting out more than a few creative curses that Laurel tucked away for future use. She added wood to her missile rotation, and found a way to toss water so that it flew through the air and splashed onto them. She even was able to manipulate the air so that small puffs were released against patches of exposed skin.
When they were on the verge of taking a much needed break, Reina let out a wordless shout as the rock heading her way was deflected. She then collapsed and would have hit the ground hard had Laurel not manipulated the air to cushion the fall. At almost the same time they heard Adam scream in triumph from the tent. Laurel hurriedly sent threads of mana to untie the boys and rushed to where Reina was groggily sitting up.
“Two at once” Laurel announced, slowly leading Reina to the tent to sit down. “My methods must be improving.”
********
Reynard and Leander shared a commiserating look, but went into the tent to congratulate their friends. The group once more made their way to the Rifle and Crown for a celebration. There was a slight scuffle when the owner tried to keep Leander out of the establishment, but Laurel’s hushed assurances she would look out for him, along with a few silver, smoothed everything over. Once everyone had food and drinks and they had gone through a round of toasts, Laurel sat down next to Adam with a gleam in her eye. He felt a chill down his spine at the sight
“You know, now that you’ve started active cultivation, you’re almost ready for the really good parts of the library.” Laurel said.
“What do you mean the good parts? What you’ve shown me would already be enough to redefine our understanding of the ancient world. I’m writing three papers. Now you tell me you've been holding out on me?” Adam was already fantasizing about first hand accounts of the fall of Carillion. Or the creation of the Pillars of Azareth.
Laurel waved her hand at his comment. “Those are just the mortal books. Useful and important for sure,” she quickly added the conciliation, seeing Adam’s mouth open to expound on the importance of primary sources. “But the real treasures of the collection are the spirit tablets and the legacy stone. Cultivators can leave instructions, stories, or even memories in crystal tablets that other cultivators can access later. It's one of the main ways we pass on cultivation methodologies or techniques. Maintaining their integrity will be one of the tasks you get to take on as Loremaster. The legacy stone has all of the cultivation knowledge of the ascended elders of the sect. When a cultivator reached a point where they could leave this planet and explore the wider cosmos, they would first put a copy of all their knowledge in the stone. Remaining elders would extract pieces into spirit tablets for sect members to study.”
Adam had been rendered speechless. He stared at Laurel in silence for a full minute. Leander slowly leaned in from the side with a finger extended to poke his cheek, jolting Adam out of his shock. “You’re telling me cultivators can pass on memories like that tablet from before, but with facts and crafting knowledge. There are some academics who might actually send assassins after us when they hear about that. This could revolutionize virtually every field…” he trailed off.
Laurel slapped his shoulder. “I wouldn’t worry too much. You need to be able to cultivate at least a little to get anything other than a random mix of impressions out of them without help, or avoid having your brain turn to mush at the overload. That’s why I helped the first time. We’re probably still a ways away from fending off assassins.
“Now we just need to find something that resonates with Annette. Reynard will need more physical options I think, he always seems closest during the Stone Temple katas. Maybe I should have everyone spend a day running the obstacle course at the fort. It might be good to do that anyway, build up some muscle, eh Leander?” She hadn’t forgotten the quiet boy sitting with them. The look on the lad’s face made it clear he would be happy to avoid the infamous obstacle course. Laurel barreled ahead anyway “Annette doesn’t seem to be as close though. Not sure what the best options for her would be.”
A tugging sensation brought her attention to her arm, where Leander had pinched her sleeve between his fingers. “You have ideas?” she asked him. His response was to pull more insistently on her sleeve. He then plucked at his own shirt and then Adam’s. “Oh” she realized what he was trying to say “Clothes. Interesting. Annette does seem to have an eye for fashion. You know she got us all sect uniforms?” Laurel was lost in thought at the idea. “Hmm, maybe sewing? Arranging a clothes shop might work but that would be hard to source.”
She turned back to the conversation at hand. “Great idea, Leander! Say nothing and see much, eh?” More of their friends drifted over at this point and conversation drifted towards the present and away from future concerns.