As I stepped through the archway, the world twisted once more. I looked around. From the landscape, it looked like I hadn’t moved. The mountains were in the same place they were before, and the sun was in the same place in the sky, but the workbenches with busy young alchemists had utterly vanished.
I felt like I had stepped back into the same courtyard I just left, like I had stepped through a mirror, but just as I was thinking that, the world expanded in front of me. Trees vanished and were replaced with a series of squat buildings. In front of me stood a sect disciple surrounded by half a dozen of the hopefuls from the previous trial.
“Wait here,” he said, “we need ten before we can get going. It shouldn’t be long.”
It wasn’t. Within ten minutes, three more hopefuls had joined us.
“Alright, everyone is here, let’s begin. Congratulations on passing the first test. Having done so, you will be given the privileges and responsibilities of a nominal disciple of the Twin Mountains Sect. Please remember that you are not full disciples. If you happen to break any of the rules your status might be revoked, and we really don’t want that to happen.”
He looked at us with a serious expression, trying to emphasize his point.
“Regarding the rules, they haven’t changed. One, pills you turn in must come from the sect's ingredients. Two, absolutely no fighting. No bullying, no duels, no secret brawls, nothing. Three, no pressuring people to give or sell you pills they concocted. Four, no interfering with someone else’s pill-making. The elders take this all seriously, so do your best, okay?”
After looking us in the eyes one by one, he nodded and continued.
“Okay, let’s head to the apartments. Each of you will have a roommate that will fill you in on the rest of how the sect works. They have all been here at least a year, so they will be able to get you up to speed in no time.”
The disciple began leading down the street. The more I looked, the more amazed I became. There had to be hundreds of buildings here. I hadn’t been able to see any suggestion of such a place when we were in town. Now, as I looked, I realized a thick cover of trees completely walled off this entire place in all directions. It was like we were in our own tiny world.
There were people everywhere. Most of them were very young, only a few years older than me in most cases, but there were a few old men and women walking around too. The entire place was bustling with activity.
“How many people live here?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“I don’t really know,” said the disciple, “I guess every year we get five or six thousand newbies. Most don’t last too long, unfortunately. At least half are gone by the end of the first year. Still, the numbers add up over time. If I had to guess, I would say we got around eighty or ninety thousand living here, but I could be way off.”
“They’re all members of the sect?”
“Oh, no, only about half. Most of us are just nominal disciples, like you. We aren’t really members of the sect. Those that are full members are just servant disciples though. Really, it’s a little better to be a servant disciple than a nominal disciple, but if you head down that route you are giving up the chance to become an outer sect member someday. Better to keep the dream alive, right?” He smiled.
We kept walking and were brought to what could only be described as a block of apartment buildings. That's what they obviously were. The architecture was a bit different, they had a façade of traditional Chinese style, but they wouldn’t be completely out of place in a modern city. They were tall, seven or eight stories each, but they weren’t to the level of a high-rise.
I could tell I wasn’t the only one stunned by the sight. These buildings rivaled the Blue Wind Pavilion in Dragon Gate City for height if not for elegance. The rest of the hopefuls with me had probably never seen a building larger than two stories.
“Impressed?” asked the disciple. “Space is tight around here, so we had to build up instead of out. Got a few guys with earth qi who were able to make some really great buildings for us. That was before my time, of course.”
He reached into his robes and pulled out several large keys.
“Anyway, these are the keys to your rooms. They have your room number on them, so you should be able to find the right place. The first two numbers are for the building, next is the floor, last two is your room. Simple, right? Alright then, I’m ‘a take off now. Your roommate will handle the rest.”
After he left, our group began to break up. My room number was 18 7 12. It seemed like most people were in building 18 since we all began heading the same way. Building 18 was on the edge, right next to the tree line. When we got there, I realized that all the other hopefuls were also on floors 7 or 8. That seemed strange. Aren’t the top floors usually the best? Why would they give them to newbies?
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A few minutes later, I had a pretty good idea. With elevators, yeah, high floors are very nice. But walking those stairs every day was going to kill me. I needed a cultivation technique to help me out here.
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I found my room and opened the door. It was surprisingly spacious inside. Bigger than my old college dorm room, and my roommate and I got through that well enough.
“Welcome, come on in!” boomed a jovial voice. “I’m Bao Wen, nice to meet you!”
I was startled by the warm greeting. “Hi, I’m Su Fang,” I managed.
“Ah, so it’s Brother Su, great, great. Well, this is the room. Not much to see, right? There’s your sleeping roll, and if you need to store anything you have a chest over there. If you want a proper cultivation mat, you’ll have to buy one yourself later, they aren’t provided. I never have the extra cash, so I just sit on the sleeping roll. It works well enough. Other than that, well, we got a balcony with a pretty view, but that’s about it.”
He spoke fast, but the meaning was clear enough.
“So, that’s the grand tour. Have you eaten?”
“No, we just got done with the exam.”
“Great! Follow me. The cafeteria has great food. Well, I don’t know what you’re used to but it’s much better than what I’d ever eaten.”
I followed Bao back down the stairs and past the rows and rows of apartment buildings. Again, it had become very clear why that place was for the newbies. He brought me to a building that was right next to the residential block.
Inside was a large, open room filled with countless small dining tables. Many of them were filled with people enjoying a meal. Along one side wall were several partitioned spaces where workers were serving up meals. Bao brought me to one of the serving areas.
“This one’s got my favorites. You got your identity jade, right? Just pop it here on the reader,” he said, doing as he instructed. The reader gave an audible beep, and the worker began filling a tray with food before handing it to Bao.
“It’s that easy. You can find some different food if you want, but this is pretty good. Rice, tomatoes and eggs, shredded potatoes, and a bit of pork curry.”
We both grabbed a meal and sat down. We kept the conversation at the table pretty light, not talking about sect business. Bao told me about his background, and I gave him a mix of half-truths and blatant lies. He was friendly, but best not to say too much.
Bao told me he came from a poor family in a small village. While he was growing up, his parents struggled to even put food on the table. Things changed for the better when he turned 16 and got his blessing though.
Bao’s family were peony farmers. From what he explained, most of the poorer families in these parts worked on peony farms, or farms for other low-level herbs. After getting blessed, Bao found that he had a supernatural understanding of herbs. That led him to trying to join the sect as an alchemist.
Well, he succeeded on his second try, after having learned the cultivation technique the first year and going back home to practice. That was five years earlier, and he had been a nominal disciple since.
“So, do you know why you were chosen as my roommate?”
“Hah, let me bring you somewhere,” he laughed.
We left the dining hall, and he led me to another block of several large buildings. He pointed at the largest ones, which were the size of multistory aircraft hangers.
“Those are the Alchemy Workshops. If you want to concoct some pills, go on in there. First two floors have an open layout with plenty of workbenches. It might get crowded around midday, but there are usually at least a few spaces available. Using benches in the general area is free, but if you want a private room, it will cost you contribution points.”
He pointed to another building. “This is the Provisions Hall. It is more or less the most important place here. If you have pills to sell, you sell them there. If you need ingredients, you buy them there. They only deal in contribution points. And, don’t try to sell anything made with outside ingredients, easy way to get into trouble.”
“What are contribution points?” I asked.
“In short, they’re money. Here, gold is worthless, contribution points are king. Alright, so, you’ve gotten a bit of a tour, seen your apartment, and eaten the food. Time for the harsh truth. Nothing here is free. It all costs points. Everything looks nice here, but honestly, most of us are just scraping by.”
As we walked and talked, a hint of worry creeped into his voice.
“Every month you will be charged 30 contribution points for food and a place to stay. If you don’t have the points, you will be expelled from the sect. You asked why I’m your roommate. I volunteered. Living with you, helping you out for the year? That gets me a 10-point discount on room and board. As a new recruit, you get three months free, but then you will take a hit every month. For me, 10 points isn’t too much, but at least it’s a mosquito leg.”
He pulled a jade bottle out of his robes and waved it at me.
“For nominal disciples, there is only one way to get points. You have to sell pills. Pricing is the same as that test, for Basic pills it’s 1, 5, and 10 for low, mid, and high purity. Damn peonies will cost you 5 points each though. Outrageous price, right? But that’s the price they sell it for. According to the guy who runs the Provision Hall, it’s because everything but High-Purity is worthless to the sect.”
I was confused. “How are new disciples supposed to survive? They let in people who could only make Basic pills. Aren’t they going to be bankrupt immediately?”
“Well, they have three months to learn to make High-Purity pills. Generally, it’s recommended to study before jumping into constant pill-making. If they study for a few months, the talented among them should be able to survive.”
“Still, it seems like most would run out of points and be expelled…”
“Ah, yes, but also no. You did listen to the rules, right? About how you can’t force people to sell you pills? They are practically telling outright that you can sell your pills. Well, I am decent as a nominal disciple. Not great, but I can make Basic pills easy enough. So, you want some points? How much gold you got? I’ll sell you some pills.”
“Wait, I thought you said gold was worthless.”
“Sure, here it is, but outside it isn’t. There are plenty of disciples willing to hand over a few of their pills for gold. We can’t go out and spend it until we become outer sect disciples, but no harm planning for the future.”
“Anyway, let's finish up the tour.”
He took me to one last block of buildings.
“Those,” pointed Bao, “are the lecture halls. There are occasional public lectures you can attend, or you can get a private tutor if you really want. They mainly focus on alchemy or cultivation, but it’s possible for other topics to come up. Of course, learning costs points, especially private lessons. The next few months there will be free public lessons for you new guys, but they are just focused on getting you to be able to produce High-Purity Basic Qi Gatherers consistently.”
He pointed to another building. “That’s the Technique Hall. They got the basic cultivation manuals, from Low-Yellow to High-Yellow, along with a lot of other techniques for controlling fire qi. You’ll probably be spending everything you earn there. Lots of great stuff inside.”
Bao turned to face me.
“Well, that’s about it. Any questions? Nope. Good. I got some pills to make. I’ll see you later.”