There was little stopping us as we moved through the stone corridors to arrive back at our room. Somehow, in the time it had taken us to bathe and be initiated the room had been fully furnished. It was probably hired help from Gutura civilians, they had done a good job for the most part.

The room felt more cramped with the added furniture but it was certainly more homely. There was a bed in each room, just about big enough to be called a double bed, but, only just. There was a cabinet which upon further inspection held more disciples' robes for each of us.

Finally, there was a table, a chair, and a floor mat for meditation. Considering the culture of this sect, I was expecting worse. Safi nodded in approval as she examined her own room, there was an indescribable feeling of pride sitting in my room, I had no doubt Safi was feeling the same thing. Everywhere I looked I saw the progress that I had made, a significant milestone that had taken a physical form that now served as my place of residence. A place of comfort that kept the new places and faces of the sect from overwhelming us.

I was thankful for the test, however, this was only the beginning. There was little I could accomplish inside the confines of my cave, and Safi even less so. I had not seen the sky for far too many days, I could see my skin getting slightly paler, my eyes had fully accustomed to the dim mountain innards.

Safi was exhausted, she had no time to rest since her final rock blasting session and was almost immediately excusing herself in favour of her newly placed bed. I set about beginning to establish myself within the sect. I asked Chit to show me around, whilst not entirely the most talkative person meant she was not the ideal guide I was at least able to read the book the Elder had given me which gave me enough information for the time being.

I could always ask Jamie or Ta’oma for help if I needed a more vocal guide. We were forced to a stop outside a room as it’s doors burst open and two desperate disciples sprinted out, blood covering their robes.

“What the…” I said, admittedly a little startled.

“Medical,” said Chit.

“Do you mind if we take a look?” I asked, she shook her head and held the door open for me. I thanked her and walked in, it looked exactly how I thought it would. Beds laid against the walls in neat order, a good enough distance apart. A few of them were occupied, all of the people I could see had reasonably inconsequential injuries which were definitely not capable of producing the amount of blood I’d seen on the two disciples.

I pried a little further in but was stopped quite hastily by a disciple. “Are you here for an injury, you don’t look injured?”

Stolen story; please report.

“I’m here to join you,” I stated openly. Being as well versed in dual cultivation techniques as I am, you learn a lot about the body. If you live as many lifetimes as I have you also get hurt quite a lot. I figured it prudent relatively early on to learn all there is to know about medicine.

“Come back at the start of next month for recruiting,” the disciple said as they carried on their way. “And, don’t go any further in!”

I shrugged helplessly, especially considering I had no idea what the current date was. I asked Chit, next month was seven days away. I asked her the time and date as well, just to see if I could balance out my body clock.

“Thanks for showing me around,” I said. I asked Chit to take me to the gym where I could finally start training this frail body into something more respectable. Fortunately, the journey to Gutura and the sect’s test had already worked wonders, I was already starting to feel a little more robust.

Chit only nodded in response. “Do you want to train with me?” I asked. She looked away for a second then back again. She shook her head then turned around and left.

“See you then!” I said a little louder than normal as she was already halfway across the room. I must have really spooked her because I’d never seen her move that fast.

I exercised unperturbed by the snub, finally with some decent equipment and looking around, I could see the various fighting mats around the large gym. I was curious to see the standards here in the Hall of the Mountain Gods. For such a showy name, I was expecting some good techniques.

The gym was steamy, an unfortunate side effect of being in the belly of a mountain was no windows. I had to take off the outer layer of clothing to stop the copious sweating. After finishing I bathed and headed to my cave.

Walking around the hollow cylindrical chamber of caves, I finally saw mine, outside was Safi. She was sitting down with her legs dangling over the edge, she was looking down into the cavernous depths of the pitch-black hole with a worried face.

“What’s the matter?” I asked when I was close enough. I sat down alongside her.

“There’s something down there,” she said.

“Down there?” I repeated, taking a closer look at the hole, still managing to see only darkness; I probed her a little. “How do you know?”

“I can feel it like I felt that creature soul in the tomb,” she said, certainty behind every word.

“You think there’s a creature down there?”

“I know there’s a creature down there,” she corrected. “I can only feel it if I really concentrate. I was finally nice and relaxed in bed and all of a sudden I felt it.”

“It’s that vague?”

“It’s extremely vague, even just talking to you is enough for me to lose it completely.”

“Shall we have a look?” I asked jokingly as I pretended to push myself off the edge. Safi jumped and yelped a little before realising my tease.

“You know, I would not put it past you…” she said.

“Well, let’s give it some time and maybe we can ask someone if they know anything about the creature under the mountain,” I said with all the dramatism I could muster. She looked at me with faux anger and stood up.

“I’m going to bed,” she said.

“Good night,” I responded. I listened for her to close the door then looked below. I truly could not see, hear, or feel anything. But, I did trust Safi, and if she said there was a creature down there, then I had no reason to believe otherwise.

I picked myself up and got changed for bed. Excited to see exactly where the next few days would take us.