Clyde’s payment brought her total wealth to 8 gold, 60 silver, and 4 coppers. Although she returned to the shops to do a bit of browsing she opted not to buy anything right away. She reasoned that it would make more sense to make purchases after she completed the job and was given shop discounts. Instead, she took note of the items that interested her to get an idea of how much money she’d need.
After visiting all the shops she wanted to, she made her way to the Registrar’s Hall. Though apparently registering as a cultivator wouldn’t update her quest, she reasoned it would still be important for taking official cultivation jobs and earning money for training.
The hall was located in the oldest part of Yivesh: the city center. When Yivesh was founded the first buildings were erected here. As the population grew and the boundaries of the city expanded, these original structures were rebuilt or renovated to be more architecturally grand. This area was now home to the City Lord’s Palace, a slew of imposing government buildings, and looming manors of the ‘Big Three’–the wealthiest and most powerful cultivator families.
In short, the ‘Big Three’ had established themselves as an integral part of city infrastructure, trade, and rulership since early in Yivesh’s history. The Granvich family’s domain were civil services such as the judicial system, city permits, and other regulations. The Braxands were mostly involved with city security, which included spirit beast research and culling, supplying materials for qi infused armaments, and providing combatants for Yivesh’s Enforcer ranks. The Tarlocks kept the city economy running smoothly by managing banks, minting new coins, and coordinating trade with other cities.
While the influence of these families was practically impossible to escape in Yivesh, Samantha could still hardly believe that she was positioned to potentially anger two of the Big Three. Though her run in with the Braxand brothers might be brushed over, the fact that she had learned the Granvich cycling pattern absolutely wouldn’t be if it was ever discovered she found their manual. She only hoped that she’d be able to avoid causing more trouble for herself until it was time to ascend.
After a few wrong turns and getting directions from strangers, she finally found the correct building.
The Registrar’s Hall was impressive even in comparison to the surrounding structures. It had only a single floor to navigate, but was at least as tall as a regular three-story building. The foundation appeared to be raised up above ground level by several feet and was surrounded on all four sides by wide steps of polished obsidian. These stairs led up to pristine, gleaming white pillars that held up a roof carved entirely from an incomprehensibly large slab of marble. The gracefully sloping trim around the roof looked like a solid stretch of stone from a distance, but upon closer inspection was covered in recessed carvings of cultivators fighting off fantastical beasts or dueling with other cultivators.
She stepped into the extravagant building and was amazed that the interior was even more lavish than the exterior. Stained glass windows cast beams of rainbow light through the entire space, and the ceiling was painted with a mural so captivating that Samantha couldn’t help but gawk. Undeniably, the mural was crafted using some sort of qi art. It did not depict anything material she could describe, but the ever-shifting colors and shapes evoked a tangible feeling of power and vitality.
You have viewed the painting ‘Dauntless Spirit’. +1 qi regeneration per hour while in the vicinity of ‘Dauntless Spirit’
“First time?” a female voice asked.
Samantha tore her gaze away from the mesmerizing ceiling and nodded to the only other person in the building: a girl behind a marble desk that looked to be close to Samantha’s age. She was tall and slender, and the combination of her elegant dress and easy poise made Samantha suspect that she had an aristocratic upbringing. After Samantha reached the desk, a quick glance at the nearby nameplate that read ‘Tabitha Granvich’ confirmed that suspicion.
Her spiritual senses told her that Tabitha was a Low Copper, but Samantha still gave the lower-ranked woman a shallow bow of greeting in respect to her familial heritage. Tabitha returned the gesture, the bow dipping slightly lower than Samantha’s to similarly acknowledge their rank disparity.
“Was it the stunned staring that gave me away?” Samantha joked, pointing upwards. She took a small risk by acting less formal with Tabitha than was strictly proper, but the casual language seemed to go over well. Tabitha ever so slightly relaxed her posture and chuckled.
“I can’t fault you for the reaction! Even working here I haven’t completely gotten used to seeing it.” She looked up to appreciate the painting herself as she spoke, “This painting is actually the reason why I asked to work here in the first place. There’s not much information about who the artist was, but I did discover that they were coming through Yivesh on a pilgrimage a couple hundred years ago and they were paid a fortune for this piece. There’s even rumors about a second painting which is kept privately in the City Lord’s palace.”
“It’s genuinely incredible! I didn’t even know art could have such an effect. It really makes you think about what other wonders are out there, doesn’t it?” Samantha mused, caught up a bit in the girl’s obvious enthusiasm.
“Don’t get me started or I’m liable to go on for hours!” Tabitha laughed. Turning her attention back to Samantha, Tabitha smiled warmly, “I appreciate you humoring me, though. It’s refreshing! Most people come in and want to get straight to business. Anyways, what brings you to the Registrar’s Hall today?”
“I’d like to officially register as a cultivator.”
“Oh? I would’ve thought a High Copper like yourself would have registered a while ago.”
“I’ve just come back from my cultivation quest not long ago, actually.”
“Wow! You mind letting me in on whatever secret cultivation method you’ve discovered?” Tabitha asked playfully, “I’d love the chance to outshine some of my older brothers.”
The mention of a secret cultivation method sent a brief twinge of nervousness through Samantha, but she continued the banter without missing a beat, “It’s easy! All you need to do is fight terrifyingly powerful spirit beasts and almost die… a lot.”
“Oh, just that? I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of that sooner!” Tabitha said with a laugh, “Let me go fetch the registration papers you’ll need, and you can tell me more about some of your adventures.”
Samantha proceeded to fill out a seemingly unending stream of forms while telling Tabitha stories about some of the beasts she’d encountered while out in the Eastern Reaches. By the time the final form was finished and Samantha was given a Jade token, she felt that they had developed a friendly rapport.
“Using the token is really simple, and if it ever gets damaged you can come back here and get another one.” Tabitha explained. “All you need to do is inject some of your qi into it to activate its enchantments and connect it to you. If you want access to cultivator buildings, touch the token to the jade plaque near the doors. You’ll also need the token for accepting contracts posted on the cultivator job board, but I’d recommend asking an employee there for more information about how that all works. The Cultivator’s Association sometimes switches up the process, and I don’t have the most up to date instructions.”
“That’s really helpful, thanks!”
“Are there any other questions you have for me?”
“Maybe…” Samantha said thoughtfully, “I wasn’t planning on asking when I first came in, but I figure it can’t hurt.”
“Well, you’ve got me curious now! What is it?”
“Do you know why the core quest doesn’t update, even after registering here?”
Samantha watched with concern as Tabitha’s demeanor shifted from open and amiable to cagey. Worried that pushing the question too hard would seem suspicious and sour their interaction, Samantha added, “Hey–I don’t want you to get in trouble or anything. If you can’t say anything about it then that’s alright.”
Tabitha shook her head slowly, “We get that question a lot, and I was wondering if you would ask. Truthfully I don’t know much about it. Some of the oldest and most powerful cultivators might know something more, but getting them to speak with you is a challenge all on its own.”
“But you do know something.” Samantha pressed, catching Tabitha’s specific wording. Deciding to try and appeal to an aristocratic sense of superiority, she added, “The Granviches have always held positions of power in the city. Perhaps there have been rumors or stories you’ve heard?”
Tabitha gave her an appraising glance and seemed to be considering how to respond. After a few seconds she leaned in conspiratorially and spoke in a low whisper, “I can tell you this much. This Registrar’s Hall was only constructed in the city about 250 years ago. That was around the same time when the quest stopped being completed by the masses. The rest you’ll need to figure out for yourself. I’d suggest maybe… reading up on a bit of history.”
Samantha gave a small bow of thanks, “I appreciate the information.”
Tabitha stood back up and gave her a wink, “What information?”
After saying their goodbyes, Samantha left the Registrar’s Hall and activated her token. The registration process had taken around an hour, so it was still early afternoon. She wanted to start asking around about Ol’ Man Whisper for Jacob today, but she had no idea where to even begin. Overwhelmed by all the possibilities, she decided to seek Thomas’s advice on the matter when she saw him next. Asking random people on the street certainly didn’t seem like the best way to go about it, after all. Instead of going straight back to his house, she asked for directions to the Athenaeum. Since she was in the area and now had a means to access the cultivator-only library, it was as good a time as any to pay the location a visit.
The Athenaeum was two stories tall with modest looking stone walls and covered a wide area. The trim of the flat roof was made from dark, polished wood, and combined with the function-over-form walls gave the building the appearance of a cube half-buried in the earth. The unusually simplistic building made it stand out as one of the more interesting structures around, given that it was situated in an area filled with grandiose architecture. At the entrance were two slabs of stone with no visible handles serving as doors, with a Jade Plaque off to the right of the doors. As Tabitha instructed, she placed her token against the plaque and the solid stone doors slid soundlessly inwards. Once Samantha crossed the threshold and stepped inside the library, the doors closed behind her.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The Athenaeum, unlike the Registrar’s Hall, utilized every inch of its multi-story height. Bookshelves neatly packed with books and scrolls of various sizes seemed to sprawl like the walls of a maze in every direction. The interior was dimly lit by qi-powered lanterns hanging like ripe fruits from the beams of the ceiling. Looking around, there seemed to be some areas that required the use of her token to access. From her position by the front door she could see a door near the back with another jade plaque, as well as a staircase with a jade pillar beside it.
An employee promptly greeted her and, upon hearing it was her first time visiting, seemed a little surprised. “Really? You look familiar, so I thought for sure you had been here before.”
Now that he mentioned it, the Low Copper man looked familiar to Samantha as well. Without [Prey’s Awareness] enhancing her vision to see better in the dim light she hadn’t noticed at first. He had a very scholarly look to him–appropriate given his work at a library–and looked thin to the point of frailty. “I’m sure you’ve met a lot of people working here! Maybe I have a common face.” she joked, his identity tickling the back of her mind.
“Actually, I’ve just started working here a few days ago. My name’s Anthony Braxand, by the way.”
Oh no.
Knowing that this man was a Braxand, she immediately placed him. He was the brother that she had nearly killed a week ago. Fearful that her sudden recognition would give her identity away, she immediately dropped her head into a polite bow to hide her expression.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir Braxand.” she lied. Remembering that she had never given her name to the brothers–and not feeling as though she could come up with a convincing alias on the spot–she gave only her first name, “My name is Samantha.”
“Yes, I know. Of the Cray family.” He gestured to a jade tablet sitting on a nearby desk, “Your identity was logged here when you scanned your token.” he elaborated, seeing her surprise that he knew her full name. “Perhaps that’s where I know you from… I recall my family selling some of the lower quality materials to Cray’s Creations now and then. Are you familiar with the shop?”
Thank goodness I didn’t try to lie about my name.
“Yes, I worked there for a time when I was younger. You have a great memory!” she praised, hoping that this would be enough to satisfy his curiosity and he wouldn’t dig any deeper.
“My intelligence has always been a point of pride for me,” he boasted, “but I don’t think I’ve ever visited the shop in person. I must have met you somewhere else… ah–that’s going to bother me all day. I’m sure it’ll come to me. Anyway, let me give you the spiel and I’ll let you return to your task.”
He proceeded to inform her that the first floor of the Athenaeum held all the available study materials for Copper Ranked Cultivators while access to the second floor would only be granted at Bronze. He warned against trying to sneak into an area above her allowed access on the heels of other patrons, as an alarm would sound after detecting her Copper aura. Lastly, he instructed to treat the books with respect, return items to where she found them, and not to take anything with her when she left. Study tables could be found throughout the floor for extended research periods, and she was welcome to sit wherever there was open seating. He offered her a lantern to make her exploration easier but Samantha declined, afraid that the increased lighting would be the trigger he would need to remember her.
Samantha left as quickly as she could without appearing overly suspicious, and had never been more glad for the physical changes she had gone through recently. Her increased height, more grown out hair and eyebrows, and proper gear in combination with the dim lighting had likely shifted her appearance enough that any passing acquaintance would have difficulty recognizing her. She only hoped that the effect would hold up to further scrutiny from Anthony.
Rather than draw more attention by leaving as soon as she had arrived, she did her research as planned. Though the layout of the bookcases was intimidating at first, clear signage led her to the desired areas without much difficulty. First she browsed several bestiaries and compiled information on the Verdant Stallion. If she needed to fight the High Copper, knowing his bond’s strengths and weaknesses would give her an edge. For fun she also looked up information on Lunar Jackalopes. To her surprise, the only thing she found was a sketch of what they looked like. It seemed if a future opponent were trying to research Silas, they’d have a much harder time than she did looking into the Verdant Stallion.
Next, she looked into the history of the newly constructed Registrar’s Hall. Tabitha’s words had been very vague, but that seemed to be the best starting point for finding answers. She combed through all the city records that she could find from that time period–even checking some of the rank restricted areas–but the information she was looking for was notably sparse.
While most of the documents were detailed to the point of being painfully boring, she only found a few mentions of the new registration building being constructed. Samantha couldn’t find anything at all about the registration process or why the hall was being built–even trying to find information about registration from before the new building was erected seemed impossible.
Tiring of reading, she began to leave the Athenaeum and noticed that Anthony had been replaced at the front desk by a wizened, elderly man. The man’s stiff, knobbed fingers combed mechanically through his long gray beard as he frowned at some book he was reading in his other hand. Feeling his Low Bronze aura, she was struck with an idea. Maybe she’d have better luck asking an elder directly.
Samantha approached the employee with a deep bow of respect, “Excuse me, sir. I’m trying to find information about the original Registrar’s Hall. Would you happen to know anything about it, or be able to direct me to the appropriate book?”
She figured that this man could be up to 150 years old depending on how quickly he had ascended to Low Bronze. As such, there was a good chance he would actually have more information about this situation–especially if he came from a family line of cultivators who may have lived through the event themselves. She was hoping that a mention of an ‘original’ hall would at least elicit some small reaction from the man, and give her evidence that her guess was on the right track.
“The current Registrar’s Hall is the original.” he answered without looking up from his book.
“I suppose it’s more accurate to ask how people registered before the hall was built?” she asked hopefully.
He snapped the book shut and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “Young miss, why would you want to know about that? That’s practically ancient history to someone as young as you, no?”
“Academic curiosity?” Samantha pitched.
He gave her a wry smile, “And, what inspired this bout of academic curiosity?”
“I… I just registered at the hall earlier today, and my quest didn’t update. I was wondering why.” she admitted, deciding to be honest after not getting an outright hostile reaction from him.
Like a flip had been switched, the man slammed the book in his hand violently down on the desk. Samantha jumped back and prepared to defend herself, alarmed at his actions.
“I’ll tell you why it didn’t update! Because some spoiled, rich pricks couldn’t mind their own business and let people make their own choices! Are things more peaceful now? Well… maybe. But still! Back in my grandfather’s day…”
The elderly man went on a nonstop rant for the next 10 minutes completely unrelated to the question that Samantha had asked. He spoke about his youth and how much the city had changed since he was a boy. He lamented the ‘declining moral values’ of the latest generation and how cultivators were getting lazier and softer, among many other trite complaints about modern society.
“...and that’s why I’ll never shop there again!” he finished, panting slightly with the passion of his speech.
Seeing a chance to cut in, Samantha urged, “But what about how people originally registered?”
“My grandad told me he had some fancy ceremony at the Lord’s Palace when he unlocked his cultivation. Registration’s the same place it’s always been–right next to the ascension obelisk. Too bad the only people who get to use it now are criminals. We’ve been shoving so many murderers and rapists through that obelisk for so many years, I would be shocked if the second floor wasn’t just some desolate wasteland with villains plucking up and enslaving anyone who comes through! If this generation…”
Samantha shuffled slowly away as a fresh round of ranting began. She bowed in thanks to the oblivious elder as she scanned her token to leave the building. She took a deep, calming breath as the sounds of his tirade cut off with the doors shutting behind her.
Looking to the sky, she noticed the sun setting and the first stars peeking through the veil of night. She couldn’t believe she had spent so much time researching, but it was worth it. She’d need to hurry a bit if she wanted to make it back in time to catch the cultivator she’d been hired to deal with, but before she could hit her stride someone called out to her.
“Samantha Cray!” a male voice shouted, sounding angry.
She turned and saw some unfortunately familiar faces.
“Oh no… Silas, I need you to get here as soon as you can. It looks like I might be in trouble.” she sent to her bond, her worry emphasizing the message.
“Coming!” he assured her.
The Braxand brothers were strolling up to her at a rapid clip alongside a High Copper cultivator she didn’t recognize. The oldest brother, Liam, was looking like a cat who had cornered a juicy mouse as he stalked behind the High Copper woman (who was looking somewhat disinterested). Anthony and the larger, scarred man she still didn’t know the name of walked side by side at the back of the procession. When they were about 20 feet away from her, the group stopped and the High Copper stepped forward.
“Are you Samantha Cray?” she asked, indifferent.
“That’s me. Why?”
“You’re accused of attacking these three lower ranked cultivators while they were gathering herbs in the wilderness, leaving one so wounded he nearly perished. Furthermore, your ruthless attack resulted in a valuable talisman being destroyed! Your cowardice is a shame to all cultivators, and, having insulted my family’s honor, I formally challenge you to a duel.”
----------------------------------------
Silas pawed at the closed shop door anxiously after Samantha called for him. He chirped to get one of the human’s attention to let him out, but Martha was thwarting his efforts.
“Samantha’s not here, sweetie. I can’t in good conscience let you outside. Do you want a treat? I have some more carrots!” Martha cooed.
Silas didn’t understand a word the woman said, other than ‘carrot’. Although more food was tempting, helping his bonded human was more important. He could feel her stress and tension rising every second he wasted here.
He headbutted the door with a little more force, looking up in irritation at the woman who kept shooing customers away from letting him out.
“Silas! I can’t let you out. Spirit beasts need to be attended by their bond! You can’t just wander…”
Not willing to wait any longer he gathered the dormant energy that lived within him. He pushed it up towards his ears, letting the power gather at his temples until it exploded outward in a burst of growth.
The humans shouted and jumped back at the growth of his horns, but he wasn’t worried about them. Taking two hops back to get some distance to run up, he faced the door.
“No! No–wait–” Aldon begged.
Silas activated [Thump] and slammed his foot into the ground, cracking the wood beneath as his body hurtled through the air and slammed straight through the material. His antlers tore through the wood as easily as his teeth through a tender herb sprout, and he ignored the cries of alarm as he rushed through the streets in Samantha’s general direction.