After they left Darkhaven's office, the two of them slowly walked to Ai's rooms, Ren still clutching the manual to his chest, with a stupid smile on his face.

When they entered her rooms, Ai immediately sighed, as if the day was already torture enough. "OK, Ren let's show me how you cultivate, we'll go to the meditation room and I will sit in front of you sensing if everything is going well. Sounds good?" Ren nodded. "Ah, where should I put my manual?" Ai pondered for a moment, but then just shrugged. "You can just shelve it by my other books, next to the bed."

Ren secured the manual, gingerly, while kneeling on the bed with one leg.

As he was entering the meditation room, Ai was already sitting down, and gestured for him to do the same.

The room was, in contrast to Ai's other rooms, very sparsely decorated. A few mats lined the ash coloured floor, all in a matte red that reminded Ren of nosebleed. And while the ceiling was lined with glass marbles, that illuminated the room, much like Ai's other rooms. These were somehow dialled down, making it look like perpetual twilight in the room.

Ren sat down in front of the girl, thinking back to the patterns of the art, he fell into a deep meditation. Ai just wanted to tell him, how he would still have problems starting out, as he had not cultivated before, but seeing him sitting down, and feeling the surrounding spirit rushing to him, stumped her. Had anyone else sat down, and witnessed Ren's first attempt at cultivation, they would surely have been disheartened. It was as if the art was made for him, the patterns flowing smoothly, nourishing his spirit and body in equal measure, and even slowly changing how he felt. Whereas before, Ren gave of a slight impression of sharpness, if you focused hard enough, now, while he was sitting in front of her, cultivating with a smile on his face, it was like someone was holding a naked blade to her throat.

A few minutes later, Ren opened his eyes. He looked at his own hands in wonder, as if they were completely alien to him.

"I feel so good, like I could take on anybody. Do you feel like this every time? Is this why you don't sleep that much, 'cause I think I can see why now?" He said, while looking at her with big eyes.

Ai sighed, before forcing out a little laugh. Making a sign with her hand, she said. "You won't feel like this every time you cultivate, but you will always feel refreshed after meditation. As for sleeping, well you don't have to if you meditate through the night, but I recommend a full night of sleep at least every week." She raised her index finger at this, looking like a big sister lecturing her little brother.

"As for staying in the inner sect, I suppose you could stay with me for at least a few days, until I have sorted out where you should be placed. Sound good?" Ren nodded to her absent-mindedly, still fascinated by his new art. "You look like you can still not take it all in, Ren. Let's get some fresh air. I still have to show you around the premises. You don't want to just stay in the pagoda all the time, right? Come on."

Going down, they saw many disciples, of varying ages, moving about. Ren had not noticed before, but most greeted Ai almost deferentially, while she only gave a sharp nod in response most of the time.

He did not follow this train of thought, though, as they just left the pagoda, and made their way through the surrounding gardens. They crossed a small, intricately worked, wooden bridge and made their way down a gravel path. Flanking both sides of the path were all manner of different plants, from majestic trees, to miniscule flowers. Walking even farther out, Ren could see, multiple open areas, presumably also used for some sort of training. Some places even had additions, like shooting posts, or areas, that looked like they were hit one too many times.

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Making their way down the path Ai had chosen, they crossed multiple branching paths, and Ren could even see the occasional disciple flowing through sword forms, or flashing about like a ghost. They eventually made it, to a more solid road, leading through alleys filled with different houses made from stone and wood. All of them looked like palaces to Ren, with each having an expansive garden and more than one floor.

Ai explained, that this was the residential part of the weapon division. Further down the road was even a market, with different stalls, selling outlandish food and drink, as well as all manner of trinkets that had different spirit patterns running through them. Ai called them artefacts, and apparently the alchemist division of the sect was specialized in making them.

After visiting the market, she showed him the mission hall, as well as the book reserve of the weapon division. Though she said, that he did not really have to worry about taking any missions for now, but he should visit the reserve, to read about not only cultivation, but the rest of the world as well. Ren made a mental note to do so at a later time.

"All right, that should be all the important places in this part of the sect. Did you get a good feel for everything?" Before he could answer, she continued. "Not that you need to right away, of course. We will come back here every once in a while to get some supplies. How about we do some more training, before we head back?"

"That sounds good, Ai. What are we going to do? Maybe you show me how to use a longer sword, or how to move around so fast?"

Ren was already picturing himself flying through the air, like Adept Ji, and exploring the world with a sword strapped to his side.

But before his imagination could run completely wild, Ai shut him down. "Nothing of the sort. We might train in swordplay the coming days and weeks, but for today, you will just be running." And before Ren could protest, she continued. "After all, our cultivation arts strengthen our bodies, but generally not to the extent of the body divisions, and a strong body is paramount." She told him authoritatively.

This took a little of the wind out of Ren's sails, but the promise of swordplay still held him up.

The two of them then moved to a free area, and Ai told him to just start running while trying to circulate his spirit. She sat down on a bolder that she jumped on in one fluid motion, overlooking the meadow Ren was running on, and started meditating.

An hour later, she opened her eyes again, as she didn't hear Ren complaining yet. What she found instead was him still happily running rounds with not a care in the world. "Huh?" Was her eloquent reaction to this situation. "Ren, stop for a second, and come over!"

She jumped down from her rock, and landed smoothly on the soft grass, while Ren came over. "How often did you take a break while running, Ren?" She asked him conversationally. Ren just looked at her like she was joking. "I didn't. You told me to run and cultivate, so I did just that." He told her, while beaming.

Ai did a double take at this. "You said, that you cultivated, while running? I told you to just circulate it. You were not supposed to draw spirit in. How were you even able to do that in the first place? Sensing the spirit around us while not meditating is a skill of Adepts or advanced Novices."

She crossed her arms, and was looking at him expectantly.

"Ah, well, I think that I can sense it just fine?" Ren answered her hesitantly.

"Well, damn." Ai was at a loss for words. 'This boy.. well he did already have an Intent, so it is only logical, that he can sense the surrounding spirit without any problems. But damn, how long do most people take for that?' She thought to herself.

Aloud, with a devious grin, she said. "We can up the training a little more then, don't you think?" And Ren of course happily agreed.

The next few hours were spent running, at different speeds, through different terrains. Ai regularly stopped him, to make sure he was fine, as well as to drink and eat. They continued till the sundown and Ren was completely drenched.

Breathing hard, Ren was looking at Ai, elated and eager to continue.

"Let's head back for now, Ren. Tomorrow, we will get you started on learning the sword, but at least until you become a Novice, you will mostly just be cultivating." She said, with a satisfied smile. Ren was reluctant, wanting to still do more, or better yet, learn sword fighting, but looking at the vanishing sun, he agreed.

After they returned to Ai's room, the both of them washed themselves. Though the both of them wished each other a good night, they did not sleep, but instead meditate, throughout the night.

And so his first day of cultivation, came to an end, with muscles and anticipation burning.