Isaac breathed the crisp air of the outdoors. The fresh snow and pine trees smelled so sweet he'd never forget them.
He just stood there and soaked in this moment of success. He'd finished all 3 trials: he was a member of the sect. He'd finally earned the right to become a cultivator.
The moment he thought this, he immediately focused again and began analysing what he could've done better during the trial. He drifted off to his own world and didn't bother with any of the others who had passed the trial.
Isaac only snapped back to reality when the instructor arrived.
"Congratulations on passing the 3rd trial. Follow me back to the sect and I'll arrange new accommodation for you."
Only 6 people had passed the trial, including Isaac, Erik and Johan. The others were a boy with long hair covering his face and 2 girls called Eleanora (though everyone just called her Nora) and Ingrid. Nora was blonde while Ingrid had long, raven black hair. They both had jade green eyes and cold, hard stares.
Isaac shared a word or two with Johan as they followed the instructor. Johan, with his near photographic memory, said Nora and Ingrid finished 4th and 7th respectively in the second trial. They weren't to be underestimated. However, even he hadn't noticed the boy before.
Isaac nodded but he didn't see himself becoming their enemy or ally in the near future, so their strength was irrelevant. He was more interested in what would happen next. He knew the sect only awakened people at least 16 years old, and they would only be accepted as official members after that.
He was curious about what would happen during the 2 years until then, but he didn't ask the instructor. Speaking to a superior in the sect without being spoken to would be disrespectful and he could be punished.
Rank and hierarchy were extremely important in the sect. They helped maintain order and motivate sect members to grow stronger to earn higher positions.
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After a couple hours of walking, it was nearly dark. They'd emerged from the forest some time ago and were walking through the open tundra.
The snow-covered ice sheets extended like an endless white blanket. The only sign of life in this featureless land was a spire in the distance.
As they drew nearer, they could see the spire more clearly. It was tall, thin and silver like a metal lance piercing the sky. The tower had no decorations other than a large half-moon symbol. It was a sharp contrast to the opulent palace below the tower.
When they got even closer, Isaac could see buildings other than the huge tower and palace. He could also see a 6-metre wooden wall encircling the sect.
Of course, he'd seen it all before: he'd grown up within these walls. However, there was something magnificent about returning to it all whilst knowing he'd earned his place here.
When they reached the gate, the instructor flashed his badge and gave the password. The guards on the wall nodded and opened the gates.
Bustling streets opened up right before Isaac. Stalls selling medicine, cultivation resources, and other goods crowded the entrance. Merchants tried to target adventurers just returning from missions, but there was so much noise that nobody could properly advertise their wares.
The instructor brought the 6 of them away from the market. Isaac had grown up in a very small part of the sect, so it was only now he had a chance to walk through it that he realised how big it was.
Tens of thousands of cultivators and even more commoner servants lived here, yet there was still room to spare.
They walked through the residential district and past some stables. Then they reached a large three storey building.
"This will be your school and place of learning for the next 2 years. Here you will develop into proud and competent members of the sect."
Isaac and the other 5 all fixed their firm, determined gazes on the academy.
For 2 years, they would strive to better themselves here.
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2 years later, in the academy courtyard.
There was the clashing of swords as Isaac and a grown woman exchanged blows. Isaac lunged forwards and the woman went to deflect his strike. However, it was a feint. Isaac's sword suddenly changed directions and went towards the woman's neck but she read it well and moved her head left at the last moment.
Then she went on the offensive, slashing towards Isaac's extended sword arm. Isaac reversed his grip on the sword, flipping the blade around to block the incoming attack. However, his new grip was weak. The woman's powerful swing knocked the sword out of his hand and sent it clattering to the floor.
Having predicted this, Isaac punched out with his free hand. He connected with the woman's stomach, sending her reeling back and giving him an opportunity to pick up his sword.
Isaac relentlessly attacked weak points and utilised his free hand to create an advantage in fights. In comparison, the woman used the classic 'honourable' sword style, keeping her free arm behind her or out to the side to help her stay on balance. That meant she could be more aggressive with her sword but struggled to defend against Isaac's punches, grabs and kicks in close quarters
When he looked at the clock on the courtyard wall, Isaac ended the bout and thanked the woman; she had been one of his swordsmanship teachers these last 2 years. Of course, not everybody could get one-to-one lessons. In fact, Isaac was the only one outstanding enough to get special teaching in swordplay.
Not only was he a skilled swordsman, but his physique had also progressed by leaps and bounds in 2 years. With proper nutrition and a training plan, he was no longer the skinny kid he once was. He was still lean, but now he had compact muscle rather than just skin and bones.
However, his main improvements were in stamina, not strength. He had placed great emphasis on endurance training and was now able to fight, run, or do physical work for extended periods of time.
Today was an important day but he hadn't skipped training: that was the attitude that allowed him to show such improvements. However, it was already midday and he was forced to stop here. He would finish up later.
He put his sword back in the courtyard's weapon rack and walked out of the gate to find Johan waiting for him. The pair greeted each other, then left the sect's academy district for the first time in 2 years.
The sect was split into several areas depending on cultivation rank. There were separate areas for Rank 1, 2 and 3 cultivators around the sect. Any Rank 4 cultivators and elders of the sect lived and worked in the huge Silver Palace at the sect's centre. In the middle of the Silver Palace was the Lunar Tower. It was easily the tallest building in the sect and was its most important place. The four Rank 5 members of the sect, known as the senators, lived there and it was a mysterious, secretive place.
Finally, there were 3 areas for non-cultivating commoners: the area for servants, the 'farm', and the academy.
Isaac, Johan and a throng of other academy students were leaving the academy district and walking through the Rank 1 district towards the Silver Palace.
Of course, they couldn't actually enter the Silver Palace. Instead, they were heading for one of the ceremonial halls nearby.
The hall was huge. It was mostly blue and white, but was also covered in patterns of gold leaf. After entering the hall, Isaac saw several alcoves in the wall with statues in them. Each statue had a name plaque underneath it, describing how the statue represented an important ancestor of the sect.
In less than 20 minutes, the ceremonial hall had filled up with 2,500 people. This was the number of new disciples the sect accepted every 2 years.
They had all gathered here today for the sect elder's announcement, though they all knew what it was going to be.
At precisely 1:00 pm, one Rank 4 sect elder and twelve Rank 3 sect officials walked onto the stage at the front of the hall.
The officials stood either side of the elder with solemn expressions. When the elder shouted "Glory to the sect!" using an Anima to enhance his voice, everybody including the officials saluted and shouted "Glory to the sect!" in response.
Then they all stood with their heads held high, their hands by their sides and their backs as straight as spears. After observing the crowd for roughly 20 seconds, the elder nodded.
"At ease."
Everybody relaxed their shoulders and got into more comfortable positions. However, their eyes were still extremely serious.
"Today is a great day for each of you, and the beginning of a very long journey. This journey will be different for all of you: for some, every step will be difficult to take. Others may progress with ease in the beginning but hit a wall later on.
"Regardless of which group you fall under, you will experience difficulty at some point in your cultivation journey. However, it is how you deal with this difficulty which will determine your success as a cultivator. I mentioned that today is a great day for all of you, but whether today is a great day for the sect will depend on your efforts."
After the elder finished his speech, a faint spirit-like entity flew out of his throat and towards the official on the left – it was the Anima he had used to make his voice louder. Even though Isaac had learnt that Anima existed as ethereal spirits which dwelled in a part of the human body, this was his first time actually seeing one.
After that, the elder left by the back of the stage and the official took over.
"We will be helping you awaken your Qi Core and officially become cultivators. Please stay in formation and we will call you up row by row to be awakened."
The first row came up onto the stage. Most of the row stood in a group near the stage edge, waiting awkwardly. Meanwhile, one person stood in front of each official.
Isaac watched the official on the left who seemed to be in charge. She looked at the youth in front of her, then placed her right palm on their stomach. In her left hand, she held a mechanical pocket watch, seemingly timing the event.
Even the non-cultivators at the base of the stage could feel the movement of Qi in the air – it was flowing towards the youth like a tide. After 20 seconds, the Qi was so dense it formed a thin mist. After 45 seconds, the fog was so thick it began to condense.
After 74 seconds, the Qi stopped getting denser. In fact, it quickly dissipated. The official read the pocket watch and Isaac could lip-read her saying, "1 minute, 14 seconds. 3rd class talent."
The other youths on the stage exhibited similar phenomena when they awakened, all taking various amounts of time. After the 1st row had been awakened, most of the Qi in the hall was gone. The officials had to use various resources to replenish it, then they called the next row.
The 2nd row came up, and then the 3rd. Isaac was in the 7th row so he still had a while to wait. However, something happened to a person from the 3rd row that everybody dreaded. When the official placed a hand on their stomach and used the Rank 3 Anima necessary for awakening, the youth screamed in pain.
The Qi in the room did not flood towards them – instead, it seemed to actively avoid them. The person collapsed to the floor in a heap and had to be carried away by some of the disciples who had already been awakened.
Unfortunately for them, they had been crippled. Nobody knew why, but you could only awaken your Qi Core after 12 years old. However, trying to awaken at 12 had less than a 1% success rate. That rate rose exponentially the older you got, and the sect disciples awakening at 17 and 18 had a 92% and 96% success rate respectively. However, the consequence of failure was becoming a cripple who could never awaken or cultivate. They were doomed to be a commoner who served the sect as a servant for life.
In fact, Orthodox sects only awakened their disciples at 20, when they had a 'safe' success rate of 99.5%. However, the only truly safe success rate was when one reached 30 or older. Then you would have a 100% chance of success. The Orthodox sects would not set their disciples back 10 years just to raise the success rate by a measly 1 in 200, so they simply advertised 20 as the safest possible age.
Isaac believed this perfectly demonstrated the hypocrisy of Orthodox sects, who often used age of awakening to take the moral high ground over Blood path and Neutral path forces. They claimed they waited for the safest possible time to awaken their disciples since they wanted the best for them, but it was mostly a front.
It was quite fortunate that nobody in the first 2 rows had been crippled, but the law of averages always came into play. After the first unfortunate youth, more disciples dropped like flies. 12 were crippled in rows 3 and 4 alone. Meanwhile, Isaac had been observing some of the awakenings and estimating how long they took.
From what he saw, roughly 3 out of 4 people were 4th or 5th class talents. Most of these would be stuck at Rank 1 or 2 and would become cannon fodder for whenever the sect fought a large-scale battle. 1 in 5 people were 3rd class talents. These could become Rank 3 cultivators and would make up the main portion of the sect's higher ranked fighters. The final 5% of people were 2nd class talents who had the potential to reach Rank 4 but could struggle to do so. Rank 4s would be generals on the battlefield or elders in the sect. As for 1st class talents, Isaac hadn't seen one yet.
You would only be a 1st class talent if your awakening took under 20 seconds. In comparison, 2nd class talents would take under 45 seconds, 3rd class would be less than 2 minutes, 4th class was below 5 minutes and 5th class was anything above that.
A shorter awakening time would mean you had a small Qi Core, making cultivation easier. Trying to fill your Qi Core with Qi would take less time and effort, and compressing your Qi when attempting a breakthrough would be much easier, since you had less Qi to compress.
All 6 rows ahead of him passed and Isaac still didn't see a 1st class talent. Of course, there could've been one he simply missed, but that was unlikely as the officials probably would've made a fuss about it.
Now it was Isaac's turn, and he walked up the stairs onto the stage, just behind Johan. They were near the front so Johan went straight to an official to be awakened. Isaac, however, had to wait for his turn.
He watched intently as Johan closed his eyes, sensing the Qi flooding towards him and settling in his stomach. Isaac could see the hand on the official's mechanical watch tick over 20 and heard the official sigh lightly. However, the Qi stopped rushing to Johan just 16 seconds later. Isaac could hear the official announce, "36 seconds. 2nd class talent."
Then the official beckoned for Isaac to come and be awakened.