It was three hours past midnight when Laude awoke from his slumber. It had reared its ugly head again as if to provoke him. No matter how hard he tried to forget, that condemned nightmare would not stop haunting him in his sleep. He wanted to forget that memory, but it seemed that forgetting wasn't in the cards for him…
Laude let out a soft groan when he awoke and cursed himself before he got up and dressed. He knew from experience that he wasn't going to fall asleep again after that, so he opted to spend his time studying rather than mulling about in his bed. It'd been about a month since Vateria had left Laude with her stinging rebuttal atop Windell Temple.
Since that day, Laude had not spoken to her, or rather, she had begun to ignore his existence.
Not that he cared much about her in the first place.
He did not care about being given the cold shoulder in particular, but he still worried a little bit that angering the patriarch's adopted daughter would get him in trouble, but in the end, nothing happened to him.
It still ended becoming a topic of gossip among the younger folks, though, not that Laude minded it. He understood it was only natural that his spat with Vateria turned into gossip, as barely anything ever happened in such an isolated and slow place as White Dew Society.
Unsurprisingly, there wasn't anything fun to do in the middle of nowhere, atop a mountain range no one ever visited.
It went without saying that White Dew Society did not have any bars, taverns, brothels, restaurants, pavilions, and the like. The closest thing White Dew Society had to 'entertainment' was an old fellow called Populus who often played old folks songs on his harp in the main courtyard of the Milkwood Sanctuary. 'Fun' was a rarity in these parts, that much was for certain…
In any case, Laude cared not for fun. He considered mindless distractions such as partying, drinking, and chatting with others a waste of his precious time. The faster he learned what was required to become a cultivator, the sooner he'd be able to leave White Dew Society with a certain degree of safety.
Nothing else mattered to him. As a result, Laude had practically been living in White Dew Society's main library — the Spring Pagoda — located atop Cherry-Heart Mountain, one of the five mountains that each held a section of the entire sanctuary.
Acadia-Soul Mountain belonged to the Patriarch of White Dew Society, Alnus Magamantro, and was the largest of the five mountains. It was used to grow medicinal herbs, livestock and held a couple of large sections of land for disciples to practice their self-defense skills and Exorcism Arts.
Ash-Tree Mountain belonged to the Head Elder Fraxinus Witherbone, the old bag of bones that disliked Laude. He was in charge of teaching disciples the mystic practice of Consolidation. Aside from a large lecture hall and a small storehouse that had beginner-friendly spirituals tools and other items, it had nothing else of note.
Laude's destination was currently in Cherry-Heart Mountain, which belonged to Shaia Highgrove, the Head Elder in charge of teaching disciples 'mystic arts' — better known in the mundane world as the art of Exorcism.
Shaia Highgrove was an odd woman. For one, she always wore a veil on her face, no matter the time of day. Her voice was also peculiar in the sense that it had a low, buzzing ring to it. It made her sound like both a man and a woman simultaneously, which disturbed Laude the first time he heard her voice.
Still, he liked her far more than he did Fraxinus — at least, she didn't refer to him as an ominous sign of the apocalypse. That was enough for him to enjoy her strange, albeit fascinating, lessons. As he was completely behind his peers in terms of fundamental knowledge and skills, Laude had been given the special privilege of having extra one-on-one sessions with every Head Elder whenever he desired it, given they had free time.
He had also been granted something only senior disciples had the right to — the ability to access White Dew Society's main library past curfew hours. And yes, much to Laude's chagrin, there was an actual curfew imposed for all junior disciples.
"…My god, you'd think that they'd loosen up the rules for older disciples, but even they have to follow the rules. I mean, I get it. There are a lot of kids in this Society, but why the hell do we have to play along too? The last time I had a curfew imposed, I was thirteen!" muttered Laude under his breath as he quietly strolled into the Spring Pagoda.
An old lady who was sitting at a tiny wooden counter in the entrance of the Spring Pagoda blandly replied, "Because if we gave you older kids special privileges, the younger ones would cry foul and throw a tantrum. Simple as that, kid."
Laude turned toward the old granny and scowled at her before he started heading upward to the upper levels of the library. Her name was Tilia, and she was the caretaker of the Spring Pagoda, responsible for everything within the library. She wasn't much of a sociable person, but she'd answer any question you'd throw at her before returning to reading her books…
It'd been tough adjusting to life in White Dew Society, truth be told. Even though everyone had been quite friendly in White Dew Society, it had still been a difficult thing for Laude to adjust to his new life. One day he was helping his family out on the farm, and the next day… he was beginning his studies in the mystic arts.
Nevertheless, one thing in his life remained the same — heaven-altering tribulations aside — and that was studying.
Whether one was a farmer, a useless politician, or a cultivator, there was always something to learn, something to study. Laude thoroughly believed that one could never learn too much and that old dogs could learn new tricks. Only fools and the ignorant thought otherwise.
Laude's current personal heaven was located on the third floor of the library, a floor that only Elder disciples were allowed to enter. The only reason Laude was allowed on the third floor was because of a deal that he had made with Tilia — that he was not permitted to touch any of the books and scrolls on the floor.
It was a shame that he couldn't read anything on the third floor, but Laude settled with that loss by enjoying the fact that he would no longer be pestered with questions by the youngsters on the second floor during the day. He knew they meant no harm and were curious about the outside world, but it got kind of old Laude after the second day of endless questioning…
Up here, the only thing that existed was Laude and his beloved books… or so he had thought. Today would not be one of those days, however. Because when he made it up to his paradise, he found that someone had already intruded upon it.
A beautiful young lady dressed in a luxurious, lavender floral robe sat alone on the empty third floor as she focused on a small red book in her hands. The first detail that Laude noticed about her was the veil covering her face, though. It was of the same variety as Head Elder Highgrove, granting observers a faint outline of the person's face and nothing more.
When the girl heard the creaking sound of the third floor's wooden stairs creaking under his footsteps, she turned upward toward the source of the noise and stared at Laude in confusion for a brief moment before she said, "..Ah, greetings. I did not expect to meet anyone at this hour. Please don't mind me."
Her voice buzzed with both an air of masculinity and femininity — the work of the same mystic art that Head Elder Highgrove utilized to mask her voice. It caught Laude off-guard, and he replied, "Are you perhaps a personal disciple of Head Elder Highgrove. I apologize if I disturbed you."
The last thing Laude wanted was to get off on the wrong foot with an Elder disciple, let alone a potential personal disciple of a Head Elder. If anything, befriending such an individual would benefit him immensely in the future if he was able to. No matter where anyone went, being able to talk well was a priceless tool in one's belt…
The girl slowly shook her head and said, "The Head Elder and I just share… similar circumstances, so she taught me how to do what she does. Also, you're mistaken — Head Elders don't have personal disciples. There is a division between experienced disciples — Elder disciples — and less experienced novices — Junior disciples — though."
Laude nodded his in acknowledgment and said, "Oh, so they're lying. Well, I don't blame them for that, though. Any good parent will keep secret which child they love more. Only real way to keep the peace between siblings. I didn't catch your name, by the way, Miss…?"
"...You have a way with words, don't you? My name is Belladonna, but my friends simply call me Bella. And you… are the infamous Mr. Tellstar, are you not? You're the talk of the town these days, though I suspect all that popularity has not been enjoyable for you as late, I wager."
A thin, bitter smile formed on Laude's lips as he began to pull out his books from his bookbag and said, "You'd be right. It's been a painful couple of months, to be quite honest…"
Belladonna gestured for Laude to take a seat next to her and said, "It is not every day that someone like you — a worldly person — shows up on our little mountain range. Most of the kids here have never left the confines of this mountain range since they were bought here, so please understand that they mean no harm."
Laude chuckled and said, "You should've seen their faces when I tried explaining to them what a 'train' and 'flying gondola' were and how they operate. They stared at me as if I had come from another world or jumped out of a fairy tale book. And when I started telling them about gramophones… ooh, boy. The sheer wonder in their eyes was priceless."
Belladonna turned quite knowledgeable about the outside world, but Laude expected that since she was almost certainly an Elder disciple. She was allowed to travel outside and explore the world, unlike junior disciples; Laude envied her in that regard.
They ended up taking far longer than he expected. For almost an hour, they discussed various subjects, and Laude gained something he desperately lacked; an in-depth viewpoint of the cultivation world. Despite what he had picked up about the world of cultivation, Laude had a vague understanding of how things functioned between Societies.
Apparently, relations with other Societies weren't too pleasant these days. At least, not what it was like back during the golden age of cultivation. Back then — when Spiritual Qi wasn't a precious resource — societies were quite friendly, even to the point where one could transfer to another society to learn under a resident expert on a subject they were interested in.
"Let's say you really like greater defensive mystic arts, right? It's your favorite type of mystic art, but White Dew Society didn't have a Head Elder that specialized in them, or you learned everything they knew about them and wanted to learn more," said Belladonna.
Laude attentively nodded his head.
"Well, back in the day, you could just travel to another society that had an expert in defensive mystic arts, walk into it and sign yourself in as a guest disciple. It was that simple. Nowadays, that system doesn't exist anymore. Societies are all wary of foreign disciples and refuse to let outsiders in. Societies fear each other; they all fear losing their ley lines. If they lose that, a Society is practically doomed."
The word "paranoia" best described the current state of affairs in the world of cultivation. It wasn't on the level of an all-out war between Societies, but it was arguably worse in a way. The bickering, lying, and fighting between once brotherly Societies had eroded almost everything good about being a cultivator...