Everyone was guided back to the plaza and their desk. Instead of being empty, there were now packets of papers placed on top of them. Shiga sat down, and began to work his way through the packet. It asked questions that were designed to help people realize what their values were and through that clarify their own Dao. Shiga began to steadily make his way through the test. He had already lived his own life, and the 13 days that he spent watching time go by, were not wasted. He had spent majority of those days reflecting. Shiga knew that this was not a settled and peaceful world like modern Earth had been. He knew that he would definitely have to kill people and yet he also didn’t want to become a heartless killer.

Shiga was a kind person. It is just who he was raised to be by society in his past life, but that didn’t mean that he was an infallible agent of good either. In his opinion, Karma was real because if you do something to someone they don’t just disappear, they will stick around and remember it. The world is in its own way a cage, keeping people together and because of that, the repercussions of actions will eventually come around.

As he took the test, Shiga never truly paused, his writing always smoothly going onto the page without end. Other people would pause and frown at the paper, or sit and ponder, but Shiga always kept writing. Eventually the written portion of the test came to an end, and everyone set down the packets. Everyone was silent, and slowly pondered on their decisions and their values. Soon everyone was broken into groups and lead to a door. There was a door for each group, and other than a strange seal on the front, they looked like normal doors. Each group sent one person in and about half of an hour later they would come back. Many of them were shaking or had pale faces. Eventually it was Shiga’s turn; he got up and calmly walked to the door. As soon as the door shut, a grey mist began to swirl around Shiga. When the mists settled again, Shiga was in a rocky gorge standing in front of a boulder. Suddenly a voice boomed out.

“You are one man. You cannot do anything! This boulder is all that it takes to stop your path!” Shiga stared thoughtfully at the boulder. He was not a stubborn or bull-headed person who would simply push the boulder out of the way, but he also wasn't willing to simply give up. Placing his hand on the boulder Shiga could feel it, and he knew it would not break easily. Shiga knew better than to push the boulder, he was too weak to destroy it, and he was unwilling to go another way. There were few options to begin with, and his decisions were limiting him even more. After a few more moments ponder the boulder, Shiga turned around, walked several steps, and turned back to the boulder. He ran forward and jumped. Landing on the boulder, Shiga used his momentum to continue forward until he had completely surmounted the boulder.

The swirling mist rose up again, obscuring the rocky gorge. When they settled again, Shiga was standing on a forest path. Ahead he could see a merchant and slave held by bandits while one searched through their cart. Shiga calmly walked forward, making sure to get a full view of the situation. There were only 5 bandits, and they all looked like they were partially starved. The merchant was alternating between blubbering for his life and cursing the bandits. The slave was merely standing there while not moving. Eventually Shiga reached the cart.

“You here to save this merchant?” one of the bandits sneered with obviously false bravado. Shiga simply looked at him without talking. The merchant chose this time to go back to cursing the bandits.

“Of course he is here to save me you degenerate! The heavens have sent someone to save me from you filthy mongrels! It is about time you got here. Quickly take care of these bandits and I will reward you well!” Shiga looked at the merchant while he talked on about how horrible the bandits were and how much he was going to reward Shiga after he was saved. The bandit going through the cart suddenly popped up his head.

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“Alright! I got the food and seeds! Now we just need to get away and we can go back to our lives! Hey guys why are you-” He cut off mid-sentence when he saw Shiga. Everyone was frozen for a few moments, when suddenly the bandit in the carriage drew his sword. The other bandits grabbed their daggers and swords and held them to the necks of the merchant, the slave, and at Shiga.

“Who will you save, because you cannot save them all!” the archaic voice boomed out. The others didn’t even blink, so they probably hadn’t heard it.

“Let’s all calm down here. This doesn’t need to be violent.” Shiga said soothingly.

“Nonsense! These poor barbarians deserve to die for what they have done to me!” The merchant objected.

“Like you will let us go if we don’t do something!” One of the bandits interjected as well. The slave that had done nothing up until this point looked up and made eye contact with Shiga. Shiga stared at him. These bandits clearly didn’t want to be doing what they were doing, the merchant was offering him money, and the slave was silently pleading. Shiga made eye contact with everyone else and came to a decision. He jumped forward, removed the dagger from the bandit’s hand, and freed the slave.

The mists rose once more, but this time they didn’t dissipate immediately.

“Why? Why did you save the slave?” The archaic voice softly questioned.

“I saved him because he was the only one who truly needed to be saved. The bandits weren’t going to kill the merchant, and they were going back to live their lives. The merchant was rich and would survive as well. The slave though, had nothing. He was not going to move on nor was he going to get to live.” Shiga replied after thinking for a moment. Instead of a response the mists melted away. Shiga was now standing in in a small cultivation room. The door to the room slammed shut and the voice boomed out once more.

“Cultivate! No distractions are allowed!” Looking around the room, the walls were bare except for a window opposite the door. It was shut and only let in a small amount of light that gloomily lit the empty walls. Shiga walked to the window. Throwing it open, the sun poured into the room, lighting it completely. Shiga sat in the sun spot on the ground and began to meditate.

“No Distractions! Cultivate only!” The archaic voice boomed out once more as the window slammed itself shut. Shiga opened his eyes, and irritatedly looked at the window. Sighing he knew that he would need to do this himself. He sat down to meditate once more. He used wind qi to move the air in the room, giving a pleasant breeze. He used earth qi to soften the ground so that it was as comfortable as thick carpet. Then he used life qi to make grasses and flowers to sprout making it seem as if Shiga was in the middle of a meadow. The voice did not boom out again. Using elemental qi to perform tasks was the simplest method of cultivation and yet, Shiga was also pleasantly relaxing in the miniature meadow. The mists rose once more, and Shiga opened his eyes as soon as he noticed the illusion dispersing. When he opened his eyes, he saw the door that he had entered. Shiga confidently opened it and stepped outside.

~~Author Note~~

Sorry for getting this out late. I had family over and was low on time. Next week I am going to get out my explanation chapter out so please ask any questions below.  I might also get out a regular chapter if I have time for it.