The next morning, Elder Tang was back. Just like the last time he came to the first-years, he was waiting near the huge bodhi tree in the courtyard. Some servants rang a bell and his voice echoed throughout the compound.
"Line up in the courtyard!"
As the disciples left their rooms, Cao Yun saw some familiar figures, Ren Chao and Sun Liao. These last few days he almost never saw them. He should talk with them after Elder Tang's speech.
"Fine. Everyone is here, so I will be as brief as possible. Your first month in our Wubei Sect is over. This is the last time I will come to bother you before the end of the year. I'm here to remind you of two things.
The first one is the allocation of resources. The first day of every month, you will receive resources based on your merit points. They will be delivered to you directly in your rooms by servants. The resources are based solely on the number of merit points you have the day you receive your resources. So be mindful of how you handle your points as I know some of you have already begun to use the Wubei Merit Market.
The sect will not interfere even if you give out all your points. These are yours, so tread carefully. Also remember that you gain merit points according to your ranking in the different scrolls. These are given in different ways depending on the scroll. For example the fighting scroll will give 100 points to the first fighter, 50 points to the top 10, 20 points to the top 100, 10 to the top 200, 5 to the top 300 and finally 1 to the rest. So, congratulations, you all earn 1 point.
Ranking scrolls such as the alchemy scroll give way more points because alchemy is more rare and coveted.
Then, my second reminder. This month will be the first one during which you'll be able to issue challenges. I already gave you the pamphlets with the rules, but let's review them, in case some of you did not read them properly.
Just before the end of every other month, you will be able to fight against other disciples to try and gain some ranks on the fighting scroll. It's pretty straightforward, you obtain the rank of the person you beat, and that person loses one rank. You can only challenge someone who is higher than you, never lower. And you must issue your duel at least two weeks prior. Indeed, some disciples will often leave the sect, so you need to give them enough time to come back. You may not challenge 3rd-years either, for the simple reason that they're not within the sect.
It sometimes happen that the person can't come back in time. In which case, the duel will happen at a later date and you'll be able to challenge someone else instead. You can only challenge one person, but several people can challenge you. If you get issued several challengers, they will always begin with the strongest challenger. If the fight is lost, the other challenges are canceled. If the fight is won, there is a time of rest before the next one. There are also special rules about that, but considering you're only first-years, these shouldn't be too important and you'll be responsible to look them up.
You also earn merit points each time your ranking gets higher, similarly to the points you earn for your ranking itself. To issue your challenge, you must register to the martial art pavilion in time.
Now, the servants will give you your monthly resources. I will not come back until the end of the year. You should know all the important rules. So I hope you can all train hard and make great progress until the time I see you again."
While the servants were giving out the resources, Elder Tang left without waiting. A small servant came toward Cao Yun.
"Young Master Chen, here are your nine small spirit stones."
"Thank you." By computing quickly in his head, considering his ranking in the fighting scroll and the alchemy scroll, he should have have 841 points now. Thus, Cao Yun had now a lot of resources compared to the first month. These stones would be more than enough to cultivate the whole month. Maybe he could even gift one to Huang Cixi as payment for her work. She seemed to be very close to a breakthrough, maybe three or four months. That could be very helpful to her.
"Brother Chen!" As he was thinking, a tall and burly man came to him with a very loud voice.
"Brother Ren. It's been a long time since we've spoken."
"Yes. I heard that you were shaking the foundation of the factions. Even my small Lake Turtle Faction is a bit scared of you."
"Well, Brother. I have no bad intention. I just needed a pill and the Dragon's Fire Faction made things difficult for me. I would rather be low-key and cultivate with calm and peace of mind."
"Sadly, I happen to have the same problem within my faction. Blacksmithing requires a lot of materials, just to train. Luckily I can make do with scraps and things like that, but when I will want to make a real weapon, things are gonna get tough."
"Brother, if you want to forge a weapon, I can buy you the materials in exchange for the weapon. I'd be curious to see your craft."
Ren Chao paused a bit and burst into laughter. "My craft is not worthy of being wielded by you yet. To speak the truth, I'm in some kind of a slump right now. I don't seem to make much progress..."
As they were speaking in the open, Sun Liao joined their conversation.
"What's difficult about blacksmithing? You just hit hard with a hammer."
Just by hearing his voice, Ren Chao's nostrils flared. "You! And what's so difficult about array formations?! You just put flags and you scribble some drawings on the ground!"
Letting out a small "humph" Sun Liao kept his arrogant posture. "A hammer-head like you could never understand the subtleties of array formations. They're way more elegant and intricate than your trinkets."
Cao Yun was helpless as the two young men were getting on each other's nerves.
In the distance, even Elder Tang could hear the voice of Ren Chao and shook his head helplessly.
The back and forth between the two was speeding up when Mei Hua came to them. "Brothers! You should maybe take this conversation inside..." The two of them were so engrossed in their talk that they had completely forgotten the people around. Even Sun Liao got a little embarrassed as he had started to yell as loudly as Ren Chao.
The four of them went to Cao Yun's room to keep talking.
-
The first to talk was Mei Hua. "Brother Ren, what's your problem with blacksmithing? I happen to have gone through a bad period during my alchemy studies, maybe I can help you find some solutions."
Despite his embarrassment to ask for help, Ren Chao really needed a new perspective. "I'm very good with shaping the materials with a hammer..."
Before he even finished his sentence, he got interrupted by Sun Liao. "Of course you are..."
While Ren Chao was going to erupt again, both Cao Yun and Mei Hua calmed the both of them. "Please, please. Brother Ren, go on."
"Fine! I have real difficulties with controlling the temperature either during the heating process or the cooling phase. Right now, I'm only a 2-star Earth blacksmith but to get to the next level, I must really master these principles. There are many new techniques I never knew existed and I get lost. I don't really know where to start or what to do. So in the end, I mainly focus on my hammer skills." He turned toward Sun Liao. "Now you can laugh at me."
"Not at all, Brother. It's natural that you only train your hammering given that you seem to be in love with your hammer. Even when you wield a mace, you use it as a hammer." After this little jab, Sun Liao talked seriously. "But believe it or not, I had this same problem when I started getting to more advanced subjects. At first, setting up array formations seemed very straightforward, but then, I discovered innumerable ways to set them up. There are thousands and thousands of techniques and they can vary for every environment. So you easily get overwhelmed. My advice would be to get an instructor who can tell you what to prioritize."
All the people around the table were surprised by this very accurate answer. "Well, I'd like to, but I lack points to see a personal instructor. I can only join group sessions and I don't get much help."
Cao Yun was the only one surprised. "You need points to get a personal instructor?!"
"Brother Chen, you're too cruel by saying this. We're lucky all three of us. Guest Elder Xiao is Sister Mei's master. She also appointed a personal instructor to you and considering he has no other student, you can see him whenever you want. I, on the other hand, have been chosen by Chief Elder Suxian to be his future disciple, so I can train with him everyday too."
"Brother Sun, I thought Chief Elder Suxian would have taken you as a disciple by now. Is it still because of the entrance examination?"
Sun Liao got embarrassed when Cao Yun mentioned the entrance examination, during which he had sabotaged an array formation to try and humiliate the guy who was now his friend. Apart from Cao Yun, no one here knew what he had done and he was to ashamed to talk about it.
"Not really..." He remembered the hellish training he had to suffer through. He later discovered that Chief Elder Suxian had lost an Exquisite Purple Jasmin to Guest Elder Xiao in a bet regarding him. When he did, he wondered whether Chief Elder Suxian was punishing him for his actions or for the loss of a precious cup of tea. "It's just that I'm still a bit far off in my mastery. Chief Elder Suxian has accepted to officially recognize me as his direct disciple when I'll be able to set up a Pristine array formation and become a 5-star Earth array formation master."
"Pristine?"
"Oh, you don't know about that? Array formations are ranked according to the same system as the alchemy pills. But even the same array formation can have several levels of quality, just like the pills really. This level depends on how much energy can be circulated in the array, how much is lost and how much you need to activate it. The lower your consumption and your loss, the higher the energy you can circulate, the better your array formation is. An array formation is said Pristine when less than 5% of the energy injected in it is lost and its effects are at least at 95%.
I'm working on the easiest 5-star Earth array formation and I'm at 7% loss and 97% of the effects. I just need to work on the loss of energy and I think I'll officially become a 5-star Earth array formation master before the end of the week. Then I'll become Chief Elder Suxian's direct disciple."
"You're all very lucky..." Ren Chao seemed depressed by hearing this conversation. "But you're also very talented. I'm just a commoner. I trained myself and I thought that I was really good, but everyone here is better than me..."
It really was painful to watch Ren Chao when he was down. Usually, he was all joyful and loud, he brought life to every place he went. Sun Liao was the first one to break the silence, as he was the one with the darkest face. "You really are a commoner!"
Cao Yun and Mei Hua were about to stop him. "And look where you got! Without any army of experts to guide you, without huge family background, you learned your craft alone and you got into the Wubei Sect, one of the most, if not the most powerful sect in the entire kingdom. What do these so-called geniuses have on you? Only a head start, but certainly not talent nor determination."
Just like everyone else, Ren Chao's eyes were about to pop out from the surprise. "So stop lamenting and brooding. Get up and show them your worth. But if you really think you're worthless, maybe I'll help myself to your sweet Wang Mei."
"You!" Hearing the last sentence, Ren Chao jumped where he was.
"Well, are you worthless?"
"I'll show you worthless! By the end of the year, I'll be a 5-star Earth blacksmith. Watch as I surpass your ranking. My weapons will be known throughout the kingdom!"
With a satisfied smile, Sun Liao sipped a bit of his tea and left. "I have many things to attend to. Brother Chen, do not hesitate to call me if you need anything. If you had asked me when you got into trouble with the Dragon's Fire Faction, I could have helped smooth things over. Do not treat me as a stranger."
After he left, Mei Hua and Cao Yun were pretty disconcerted. During the entrance examination, he was the most vehement against commoners and now he defended them against the 'so-called geniuses', but he was one of them. Apparently, his way of arguing with Ren Chao was really a show of affection between the two men. Mei Hua just thought that men were weird. "I'm sorry. I'll have to take my leave as well. I have a lesson with my master."
"So, Brother Ren, tell me more about blacksmithing, I can probably help you if it's about controlling heat and cooling. After all, we need to control the flame in alchemy."
"Well, blacksmithing can take many forms but the most fundamental steps are the Seven Iron Transformations: Drawing the Palace, Fetching the Iron, Burning the Three Fires, Shaping the Earth, Freezing the Sky, Suffering the Seasons, Unifying the World.
Drawing the Palace is pretty advances as it's about drawing your own plan for the weapon. At my level, I just use an already existing plan and then make some adjustments.
Fetching the Iron consists in choosing the right materials for your weapon. For now, I only train with scraps and second-hand materials, so nothing much to it.
Burning the Three Fires is where I have some problems. You must heat your materials to work with them. But you must control the temperature and even the nature of the heat to keep or alter the structure of your materials.
Shaping the Earth is where I'm the more confident. You shape your heated materials through various means, such as hammering.
Freezing the Sky is the cooling process. Right now I'm working on some quenching technique where you need to cool down your weapon in various liquids and even some kind of powder as well. But you need to alternate very quickly according to the temperature of your metal. That's where I have problems with it. I don't seem to find the right rhythm.
Suffering the Seasons is another problem for me. You must heat and cool your weapon to give it some more properties. And once again, you must be able to really control the temperature to master it.
Finally, Unifying the World consists in assembling the different parts. For example, you assemble the blade of a sword with the different parts of the handle."