Sikta was in charge of driving the carriage. But seeing as how the horse just followed the road, he mostly just sat in the driver's seat staring at the passing scenery. The horse itself also took little to no care. All he had to do was unhook it from the carriage, and the horse would clip-clop around eating grass and drinking from the stream that ran parallel to the road.
Having had no contact with a horse before, he didn't know how smart they were supposed to be. But this particular horse seemed oddly intelligent. Whenever he tripped over something, he would hear the horse make a sound, its lips flapping, which he took as horse speak for ‘Haha’. It might have just been a coincidence if it only happened once. But it had happened more than once.
An attendant's duties also included cooking. But seeing as how he was horrible at brewing tea, which was literally putting leaves in hot water, you could imagine the state of his cooking. After the first horrifying meal, Okaha had taken over.
So really, all Sikta did was sit in the driver's seat. Watching scenery pass by, over and over, tree after tree, bush after bush.
Thankfully a new sound broke the monotony of his own carriage creaking. A new carriage creaked.
Looking behind him, he could see a large carriage with a pagoda-style roof, etched with gold. The body of the carriage was made of rich reddish wood, and lanterns hung off the four corners.
It was a lot fancier than the simple brown carriage with a flat roof that he was driving. The other carriage even sported some kind of horse animal pulling it. He hesitated to call the animal a horse because around its eyes were scales, like some sort of lizard.
“Hey there! Where are you folks headed?”
The driver of the other carriage frowned at him.
“My master and I are headed to the Blue-Sands Sect.”
“Same. Pretty boring on this road, am I right? I mean-”
Sikta gave a tree to his right a slap.
“Come one tree, move a little. You know?”
“... I suppose?”
The driver responded with a head turn.
“Yeah.”
If only trees could move, this trip might have been much more exciting.
…
Sikta found the other driver to be aggravating for some reason. Perhaps it was the driver's pompous attitude. Thankfully, the other carriage passed him, speeding onto the Sect. The driver had left while mumbling something about arriving early. Which honestly just sealed the deal with Sikta's opinion of him.
Screw arriving early! He would get there perfectly on time.
Without a clock, perfectly on time was hard to achieve. Of course, he had his unfailing internal clock that had been honed by years of counting seconds. But he was never given a specific time to arrive at the Sect. Choho had just said that he should arrive at noon today.
Looking at the map and counting the time vs the distance they had travelled, he was able to calculate the correct speed of their journey so that they would arrive at 12 o'clock.
The trees along the trail began to change, taking on a more tropical feel. The trail underneath the carriage also began to soften with sand. And call him crazy, but it was blue! A light blue, bordering on white, but blue nonetheless. When he had heard the name Blue-Sands Sect, he had thought it meant blue water, but apparently, it was literal.
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The air began to get muggy, and the sounds of bugs became noticeable.
Soon enough, the trail was joined by other carriages and people on foot. The people of this world were certainly colourful, as he could see a rainbow of colours on the trail.
…
Standing on the stage was an old man with a long grey beard. He wore long blue robes and, most noticeably, had on a pair of flip-flops.
“Welcome, aspiring immortals. It is my pleasure to welcome you all to the Blue-Sands Sect.”
There was a smattering of applause from the gathered crowd.
Sikta was standing next to Okaha as the old man continued his speech.
“Now, we will begin testing right away. Please form two orderly lines, one containing non-initiated to my right, and another containing those who have already taken the first step to my left.”
The crowd split. Sikta turned towards the non-initiated, but Okaha’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“You already have a spirit. Come with me.”
Right, he had almost forgotten. Good thing Okaha remembered.
They both made their way to the first step line. It was the more colourful of the two lines. It seemed that cultivators really enjoyed dressing up.
Soon enough, they were at the front of the line where a bored-looking woman sat with a paper and brush.
“Name?”
“Gren Okaha.”
“Links?”
“Private.”
“Circles?”
“Private.”
The woman sighed.
“Go to the sensing formation on my left. It will give us a general idea of circle amount and link elements. If you choose to not comply, the sect will not accept you. Do you Agree?”
“Yes.”
The woman gestured for Okaha to go forwards to the sensing formation.
Sikta could see no formation. Although he also had no idea what a formation was. All he saw in the spot the woman gestured to were a couple of odd-looking flags stuck in the ground.
As Okaha walked into the middle of the flags, there was a flash. Then ink appeared on the woman's paper as if she was writing it herself.
“Oh?”
The woman raised an eyebrow at the results and shot another look at Okaha. Then she turned to Sikta.
“Name?”
“Now, just a quick question. You guys do given names last and surnames first, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ok, I guess that confirms it. My name is Strangur Sikta. But I prefer you just call me Sikta.”
“Very well Strangur.”
Damn it. He knew he should have switched his names around. Now everyone here would be calling him by his last name.
“Links?”
“Don't know.”
“... You don't know?”
“Yeah.”
“... Fine. Circles?”
“Don't know.”
“Ugh. Go in the formation.”
Wow. Rude. He would go to the formation, but not because she told him to. It was his own choice!
Is this the treatment the handsome get compared to the bordering-on ugly? He didn't take cultivators to be so vain. Although he had to admit that every cultivator he had met so far was top-notch looks-wise. But rarely personality-wise. No. The majority of cultivators seemed to have their heads up their asses. He preferred a head in the clouds, no shit smell up there.
“Move along before I throw you in there.”
Jeez! Fine!
Sikta walked into the middle of the flags where Okaha had stood. There was a similar flash, and he felt like something was looking at him, and then the feeling disappeared.
He exited the circle of flags and ran a bit to catch up to Okaha, who had continued on the sandy blue path.
“So where are we going now?”
“I don't know.”
Sikta looked at Okaha.
“You don't know? I thought you were all over this stuff.”
“I am 16 years old. I have never been to a sect before.
“Oh, right. You know, with your silver hair, it makes you look like an old man.”
“Wow. Thanks.”
He could tell Okaha was being sarcastic, but Sikta just shrugged his shoulders. Facts are facts. His employer looked like an old man. And he drank like one too. What kind of 16-year-old drinks tea? None that he had ever met. Sikta himself was all about that juice life at 16, suckin' back bottles of liquid orange like nobody's business. Perhaps a few splashes of vodka here and there, but nothing excessive.