Ultimately, while running toward the Inner City, I decide to go to the Martial Hall. Not because I think I’m lacking when it comes to being able to actually do anything in the arena, or because I’m worried that I’ll make myself look like ‘that guy’ who claims to know how to fight but doesn’t, but because there is supposed to be a class taught by some city-famous talisman master that seems to be a fairly popular attraction. I have no clue what it is supposed to be, but I figure I won’t be completely lost in the sauce considering I can understand the spoken and written languages, which includes runes— at least from what I’ve seen so far—, due to the Omega Browser.

While I recognize that studying runes and talismans aren’t exactly immediately beneficial to me, I figure that the guy will likely know a lot more about writing than me. If that’s true, then I might be able to pick up a few tips for writing the cultivation manuals by watching him. I doubt it will be anything as good as the video I watched on the old man drawing the whirlpool, but I couldn’t understand much of that anyways; studying something less… insane, will probably be a good thing.

Even if it is only something extremely simple but obvious when you think about it kind of thing, that’s perfect. I need stuff like that right now. I don’t want endanger-the-world levels of shit right now, I want to make money!

So I run to the Martial Hall. And it takes me more than two hours because fuck this overly large city. What idiot decided a city this big was a good idea anyways?

It is immediately noticeable that I am… immediately noticeable the second I enter the Inner City. It isn’t just one or two people looking at me, it is everybody. Some people hide their laughs, others don’t, more people quickly look away and pretend that their shoulders are stiff.

‘Holy crap,’ I think to myself. ‘These people seriously need to introduce some different colors to their wardrobes.’

I hadn’t really cared about the colors of everyone’s clothes before, but that old man, even if he was a big piece of shit, knew what he was talking about. Most of the older men around are dressed in brown robes while many of the younger teenagers are dressed in white. There are still a great many of them younger crowd dressed in brown, but white does seem to be a prominent color here.

Or is white a hue? Or was it gray that isn’t a color? Fuck, this is why I failed art class in middle school… this and drawing chainsaw-turtles.

Regardless, I begin seeing the color-scheme of everyone here as being fairly pretentious. I could understand it if they just happened to wear practical colors, like if everyone wore brown, but there is nothing practical about white! It is the worst possible thing to wear and it is cursed! Only insane people and people who want to show off their body one time before their clothes are ruined wear it! Haven’t these people heard that white clothes are cursed to get dirty? Don’t they know how expensive nice clothes are? What buffoons! At least wear a reasonable color that the universe doesn’t want to spit on!

I scoff at all of the pretentious teenagers laughing at me and silently hope that someone drives by and splatters mud all over their clothes… not that there is any mud, or even a tiny bit of dirt, on the roads. The Inner City is eerily clean. Like, grand-opening of a suburban shopping center clean. So obviously fake as fuck but still trying anyways.

‘Wonder where these assholes hide their dirt.’

I’m a little bitter after seeing how they reacted to my clothing. In addition to the terrible crime rate in this city, I’m beginning to see a connection between the exquisite living standards in the Inner City and the… I actually don’t know enough to proclaim the people living in mud huts are living in destitute conditions, but they live in mud huts in the same city where people spend a fortune on a single dish made from vicious beast.

I continue making my way through the Inner City to a building that makes a very obvious landmark. It is a tall, dark pagoda with seven floors. Each of the pagoda’s sections is tiled with jade and the building itself is made from a mixture of a dark wood inlaid with gold and a dark stone base that provides the foundation for such a monstrous building to continue standing. If I had to guess, I would say the building is at least one hundred forty feet tall with each section of it being an even twenty feet high. Plus, the roof of the last floor is completely covered in gold, so there’s that. What’s more, each section is probably about fifty to sixty feet wide, so that means the roof of the last floor is covered in a LOT of gold.

I don’t know whether I’d say the green of the jade tiles matches the gold roof of the last floor, but this building is definitely a status symbol if I’ve ever seen one.

There are many buildings surrounding it, including the one I am headed to, and all of them are currently hidden behind a very large wall. The very same wall that I am traversing in order to reach the area’s southern gate.

This ‘Martial Hall’ is about as big around as any of the many university campuses I’ve toured. It’s huge, and needlessly extravagant, but at least its size is reasonable. Considering that many campuses I’ve been to have been capable of teaching around thirty-ish thousand students per academic year, I’m actually surprised it is so relatively small in a city this large.

As such, it only takes me a minute or two to arrive at the southern gate.

Unfortunately for me, it seems as though there is a reason why Physician Bing told me that the Martial Hall only allows nobles and people who have reached the fourth level of the Mortal Foundation Realm and above. And that reason, those three reasons, stop me at the gate.

“Halt!” A guard wearing armor similar to the city guard’s but in a gold-coloring shouts at me. He is standing directly in the middle of a gate with another guard, in similar attire, on either side of him. All three of them are bearing polearms, but their precise name eludes me. They have axes on one end and a sword-edge on the part touching the ground. Other than that, I have no clue.

I look at the guard in the middle and ask, “Uh… can I go through? There’s this lecture thing that I’m going to and I don’t really want to be late.”

The guard stares at me, his eyes squinting beneath his helmet, and he asks, “Do you mean the class taught by Talisman Master Hui?”

“Yeah,” I say, sounding more sure than I actually am. I have no clue what the guy’s name is supposed to be. I just know he’s a talisman master so it’s probably the same person. Maybe.

“No entry to unauthorized civilians!” The man shouts at me and I wince. He is loud, and I also don’t understand that weird transition. What was the point in asking me if he turns around and shouts at me right after?

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Well why not? I was told that I could come here, why can’t I go in?” And that’s true! Physician Bing did tell me I not only could come here, but even suggested that this is a place I should go to to figure common-sense shit out.

“Only the nobility and advanced cultivators are allowed entrance!” He shouts again. “Do you fit either of those criteria,” he asks, his voice still obnoxiously loud.

“Uh…” Definitely a no on the first part, but Physician Bing wouldn’t have sent me here to waste time, right? “I might qualify as an ‘advanced cultivator’,” I respond.

“Might?” The guard asks, annoyance clear in his voice.

“Probably,” I confirm.

The central guard and I continue watching each other for several long seconds before he taps the sword-end of his polearm on the ground twice and scrapes it across the ground toward his right.

I’m unsure what the exact purpose of this was, but the guard on his right taps his polearm on the ground once before marching forward to retrieve me.

“You will follow him, you will not leave his side, you will not speak unless spoken to, and you will follow his instructions as given, when given. If you stray from these orders, you will be treated as a criminal trespassing in the Martial Hall. Do you understand?” The middle barks at me in a fairly intimidating tone of voice and I nod my head once.

“Yeeeup,” I reply.

What the hell is the issue with me going into a freaking school? Why do I feel like I’m being indoctrinated into some weird military group instead of going to a lecture?

Completely disregarding my frustrations, possibly due to the fact that he’s not willing to wait for me, the guard who had been ordered by the other guard— I really should have gotten their names— barks, “Follow me,” and then marches through the gate.

Naturally, I follow him.

It’s a weird experience. All I’m doing is walking, but with such a strict guard leading me through the place it feels like I’ve done something wrong.

I know I haven’t, but the thought is there as he takes me down one long road, we turn right, and he leads down another, shorter, road and toward a large pavilion.

Inside the pavilion is an old man with a little less qi than the clothing store guy, but a lot more qi than most other people I’ve spoken with. Like many older men in the city, he is wearing brown, has graying black hair, and brown eyes. He also has earth qi, but that’s practically a universal thing in this city as far as I am concerned.

He watches me closely as I walk down the path and into the entrance of the pavilion and, when the guard and I approach him, he looks at the guard scornfully and asks, “Why is someone here for testing outside of a designated testing day?”

The guard immediately responds with a salute and a stiff posture saying, “Pavilion Master, sir! He came for the Honorable Talisman Master’s lecture! He claims to have been informed before-hand that he would be allowed into the lecture!”

‘Uh… wait a second…’ I do remember saying that I’d be allowed in, and I mentioned the talisman master thing, but they were definitely two different topics.

The ‘Pavilion Master’ guy turns his head to look at me and I am suddenly very, very glad that most of my face is obscured by a hat.

‘What’s with this asshole trying to get me into trouble? I only said I should be able to get into the Martial Hall! I was never trying to leech off of some lecturer’s fame!’

“I see,” the Pavilion Master responds curtly. “Stand aside. I will allow him to perform the tests.”

‘Fuck me! What tests?’

I try to keep a neutral look on my face, but internally I am freaking out. I’m pretty sure it hasn’t mattered what I say from the moment I entered the gates, but I really wish I could explain that the guard misunderstood something. The only problem is that I don’t know how to do it without being treated like a criminal!

‘Was I really so misleading with what I said?’

***

The Pavilion Master leads me further into the pavilion where I come across a very familiar sight. I find myself hoping that it’s the test, because I can bullshit the living hell out of this one!

I find myself relaxing a tiny bit as the Pavilion Master leads me to a stone monolith not unlike the one I used at Physician Bing’s the other night. I remember that I did, arguably, not bad at it. At least, I did less bad when I finished than when I started.

Turning to me, the Pavilion Master says, “This is a stone to evaluate your level and dantian quality. Should you perform adequately, I will allow you to continue testing. Are you familiar with the process of using a Foundation Stone?”

“Yes,” I respond, inwardly glad that my voice comes out evenly.

“Good,” he replies. “Then proceed.”

I walk up to the stone monolith and place my hand on the circle I’m familiar with. Immediately, I feel the rush of qi entering my body from my breathing technique absorbing the qi crystal’s energy.

Unlike the elemental qi that I typically absorb from the environment, this qi is neutral. That isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy it any less than I had the first time. After all, qi is qi.

Still, it does get quite a reaction from the Pavilion Master and the guard who followed us in. The Pavilion Master chokes on his breath while the guard lets his jaw drop as he watches me.

‘Awkward,’ I think as I continue absorbing. ‘Physician Bing didn’t seem nearly as impressed with my results. Is this another one of those things I just don’t get?’

I have a decent amount of time to ponder upon this question as I continue absorbing the qi from the qi crystal. While I have surprised Physician Bing quite a bit, it also seems like there are a few things that ought to have surprised him even more if he were ordinary.

Foremost among those things is divination. He obviously knows what it is, but if he did, how come the city doesn’t use any divination to prevent crime or arrest criminals? I’m obviously not the only person capable of divination given that there were so many different types available on TheDaoGuru.Omega, so why are things so bad here?

‘Maybe I have gaps in my logic?’

It’s hard to figure out the reasons when I don’t have the proper context to work with, and my thoughts become something I push off until I have time to look into it.

While I’m busy with my thoughts, something else happens in my dantian. The egg, which so far had been casually nomming on the qi sent its way by the umbilical cord, finally had the first of its runes fully illuminated.

Thought I recognize the rune to mean ‘Devour’, I don’t actually understand what that means or how it has to do with becoming a dragon. Nevertheless, I use some of my soul energy to activate the rune and something probably-a-little-not-good happens.

The formerly static egg actually does something is it lights up and the free qi running through my body is rapidly absorbed by it. While I wouldn’t say it is dramatic enough to impact the illumination of the second rune to a great degree, there is noticeably more light coming from it than I’m used to.

Of course, with the qi in my body completely absorbed, my breathing technique begins to work overtime to absorb all of the qi in my surroundings.

The qi crystal at the base of the monolith?

Uh… Well, it shatters instantly.

All of the qi inside the qi crystal? Nommed on by my body and, therefore, the egg.

I quickly stop using the ‘Devour’ rune as I realize that I just turned my useful ‘bloodline ability-esque’ thing into a ‘this is going to put me in trouble’ thing.

‘But seriously! Why the fuck is the first rune something like this? How much energy does a dragon need for this to make sense?’

I curse the rune for existing as I look at the Pavilion Master under the lip of my hat. He seems stunned, far more so than Physician Bing did, but he doesn’t seem angry or upset. More like he is focused in on a television show and confused why it ended so quickly.

‘Actually, how much of this was the ‘Devour’ rune and how much was my breathing technique? The rune definitely ate everything in my body, but I can’t actually say for certain that it did anything else.

Maybe it increased the breathing technique’s efficiency by a bit, and only indirectly at that, but not so much that anything really changed. I’m pretty sure I would have shattered the qi crystal either way.

The only real difference here is that my body needed to absorb qi faster in order to replace what the egg snatched.

But, if it isn’t really affecting the outside, why is it so strong inside my body? Qi comes from the world around me, right? So what’s the deal?’

I inwardly groan and think, ‘Dammit, now I have another thing that I need to figure out.’