Man, this day had brought all kinds of memories back for Aurora. Dawn was Aurora's cousin, and the two had grown up together. Aurora's mother and Dawn's father were siblings, and the two cousins even shared the same family name. Aurora was an out-of-wedlock child, so she'd taken her mother's last name. Her sibling had their dad's last name, though.
Aurora had been named after the Aurora Borealis, as was a long family tradition of theirs. Aurora's grandmother had the same name, but in her case, it was actually a coincidence, as she'd married into the Boralis family.
Aurora couldn't wait to hang out with her cousin again. Her family moved away from the village Aurora was born in when she and Dawn were only ten years old. Dawn's father had received some sort of job opportunity in Rose city but had eventually lost the job due to an accident that had left the man unable to work for more than a year.
The accident left the family in financial ruin and deep debt, making it impossible to move back home, so they decided to just struggle in the city. They had sold the house they had bought when moving there, allowing them to get rid of the mortgage loan and make a slight profit on the house. Then they moved into a cheap apartment in one of the city's mega housing complexes.
When Dawn had grown older, she applied for a scholarship in many of the city's cultivation schools. Her talent was lower than Aurora's, but it was still pretty good, and several top-tier schools offered her scholarships.
She could have joined a sect in the countryside but had decided against it, instead opting to get a job and help her family. That's how she became a student by day and a topless waitress by night. With all three adults in the family working as much as they could, things were more stable. The debt was still growing, but at least it had fallen to a much lower speed of growth.
As Aurora waited for her cousin, the woman who guided her earlier in the evening approached her.
"Aurora, you can go home now, you know? The rest of the staff will clean up before leaving for the day. It's not something a disciple needs to concern herself with," the woman spoke.
"Oh, I'm just waiting. My cousin works here, and we're going to hang out for a bit. I haven't seen her in so many years," Aurora explained.
"In that case, have a nice evening. I will be going now," the woman said. She was an outer elder and the manager of the brothel.
The public sex department was led by elder Birenna, but the rest of the leadership was composed of outer elders. Other than leading the department itself, nothing else was fit for an elder to do. The public department ran the modeling and porn studios and the brothel. But there was also a marketing division, human resources, and the production team in charge of making deals with various companies for modeling gigs and, to a lesser extent, porn. The staff in these divisions comprised outer elders for management positions and civilian workers for almost everything else. There were also a few disciples who might get assigned to work in desk jobs, but there weren't many. The sect preferred using the disciples for jobs that took advantage of sex appeal, like porn and prostitution.
"Sorry for the wait," Dawn said when she was finished.
"It's okay. Let's go," Aurora said, taking her cousin's hand and leading her away.
"Make sure you stay close to me. You probably know this already, but guests aren't allowed to walk around here without a sect member around," Aurora said.
"I know, I know," Dawn replied. The two walked in silence for several minutes before Dawn figured out what she wanted to say.
"You mentioned you'd improved a lot since coming here. How strong are you now? Last time we met, neither of us had even started cultivating. I remember hearing you became a first-level Body cultivator on your thirteenth birthday and that you broke through to the Energy stage two years later. That's way faster than me. So, where are you at now?" Dawn asked.
"It took me two and a half years, actually. But now I'm at the seventh level. I expect to reach the eighth level in a month or two if things go well," Aurora revealed. Dawn, though, looked like she wanted to die when she heard Aurora.
"For real? You're almost an entire realm above me! I'm at the ninth level Body Tempering and a few months older than you! I always knew you were very talented, I mean, my mom wouldn't stop gushing about her darling niece when you were accepted by the sect two years ago, but this is a whole other level," Dawn said.
"Don't feel bad, cousin. It's not as crazy as you think. If you had joined a sect, you would have broken through to the Energy stage by now. Sects have better techniques and resources than schools, but you made the right choice in not joining a sect, though. Family is more important. And I'll definitely help you guys as soon as I'm strong enough. Right now, I can't do much, though. My pay for working is all contribution points, and our monthly allowance is meager compared to what a worker makes," Aurora said.
"It's alright. I am still in one of the top schools in one of the top three cities in the kingdom. When I graduate, I'll get a good job. But if you become an elder in the sect, I'll still appreciate your help. Anyways, even if I did enter a sect, there's no way I'd be anywhere near your level. You're almost at the eighth level already, and it's been, what, a bit more than a year? No matter how humble you are, you're still super talented, cousin," Dawn said. Dawn wasn't the type to get jealous. Instead, she was proud to be a direct cousin to someone like that. They'd even been like sisters in the past. Hopefully, they'd be able to repair their relationship to that level now that they had been reunited.
"Actually, about that, it's all thanks to the Blossoming Rose sect that I was able to get this good. I can't speak to you in detail about this, but basically, the sect only recruits people that have a special talent, and they can unleash this talent. In my case, I had an especially great locked-away potential, which they could help me realize. I broke through two levels just days after joining the sect, and less than a month after that, I broke through again. Thanks to the sect, my cultivation speed has increased several times over. I was only a fourth-level Energy Storage cultivator when I left Northpeak," Aurora said.
"Wow. I guess the Blossoming Rose sect does deserve its spot in the top three sects of the Raine Kingdom. That goes way beyond anything I've ever heard," Dawn said.
"It's something. But don't go telling too many people about this," Aurora warned. The fact that the Blossoming Rose cultivators could increase their strength through sex was not common knowledge, and the students weren't supposed to tell people about it. It wasn't exactly a hidden secret, either, though. People with higher status, like Rila and Mila, might know about it. But to the common public, the Blossoming Rose sect was just a very powerful sect that worshiped sex for some reason.
"My lips are sealed," Dawn promised. The cousins walked for a few more minutes before arriving at Aurora's house.
"Shit, you guys live like queens. This place looks amazing," Dawn said.
"I know, right? I could hardly believe it when I moved in. Let's go inside," Aurora said. Aurora introduced Dawn to Koren and the others, but surprisingly, elder Vara was there, too.
"It's nice to meet you, Dawn. I'm glad I can finally meet some of this girl's family. Anyways, I'm just here to discuss a small matter, then I'll leave you be," Vara said.
"What do you need, elder Vara?" Aurora asked eagerly.
"Well, since you're working evening in the brothel now, we have to reschedule our alchemy and sword lessons," elder Vara said. Vara had also begun instructing Aurora in alchemy after she was finished learning theory in class. Thanks to the elder's help, Aurora was at the top of her class of beginners; as it turned out, she had some talent for it. And since sexual energy helped with comprehension, too, she was learning at an incredible speed.
"Oh, yes, of course! I hadn't thought about that. I suppose I was too preoccupied with the whole selling my body thing," Aurora said.
"How did that go, by the way? It wasn't so bad, was it?" Elder Vara asked.
"It was okay. In the end, sex feels good, and there are no cameras now. And it's a pretty easy job, as the guys usually prefer being dominant. Getting experience with men from outside the sect is good, too. I did it with seven guys today," Aurora said.
"See, I told you it wouldn't be bad. But no matter. About your training. Since your evenings are occupied, we'll just have to do it in the mornings. How about you come to my place after your first class?" Vara suggested.
"That sounds good, elder Vara," Aurora replied.
"That's good, then. I will leave you two cousins to catch up now. Have a good night," Vara said. Aurora and Dawn went together to show Vara out.
"You sure you weren't blessed by a god or something? An elder is actually showing you this much attention?" Dawn asked.
"Elder Vara is pretty special to me. You could say she's a mother figure or like an older sister. She's the one who took me from the Northpeak sect, and she was there when I lost my virginity. Uh, don't ask about that, though. She took me into her martial family, and we've grown quite fond of each other ever since. She feels like family to me, just like the guys I live with. Even if it has only been three months," Aurora said.
"Sounds like you really like it here, even if you have to be a sex worker to stay," Dawn said.
"I do like it here. And that's why I'm so willing to do all that stuff. I don't care if I have to do porn or if I have to have sex with people for money. As long as I can stay here, I'll do anything," Aurora said.
"I get that. This place is amazing. And as you can see, I would also do anything to help my family. Even though I know that it would break their hearts if they found out that I had to whore myself out to get this money I'm about to give them," Dawn said.
"I would do the whoring part for you if I could, but we aren't allowed to work in other brothels, and we can't keep any of the money we make here," Aurora said as she grabbed her cousin's hand.
"Thank you, but that's not something I could put on you. I appreciate it, though. I always loved you, and I still do, despite not having seen you in eight years. We were best friends, and it hurt when I had to leave you, so I'm delighted we can be together again," Dawn said, a few tears appearing in her eyes.
"I know, and I love you too, cousin," Aurora said, taking the slightly older girl into a tight hug. Aurora's strength was so far above Dawn's that she had to beg her to let go. There was so much emotion in that hug that Aurora had a hard time holding back.
"Let's go eat," Aurora laughed, wiping a tear away from her eye and running towards the dining room.