Zeng Meirong woke up sitting at the table in her dining room, with disheveled hair, wrinkled robes, and smudges on her face. It only took a second to remember, she had been studying the runes required for a class 1 apprenticeship in talismans and discovered she had only known about a quarter of them. She had opened the scroll and started to memorize the runes late into the night when she had fell asleep while studying. She stretched her arms and stood up as she walked over to make coffee. As the artifact brewed the drink she had come to like, she cleaned the table of the study materials, putting them in her storage. She took out a plate of fruits to eat for breakfast and sat down with her coffee.
'I always thought that as I reached higher realms I would no longer need to eat. I guess that's still true but it feels faster to cultivate eating at least one or two meals a day than just sitting and meditating', she told herself.
She took a bath, got dressed, and hailed a taxi to travel to school. Arriving at the Education Center, she went to the room and went to her chosen pod. The other students filed into the room over the next few minutes, and the instructor entered with less than a minute left before the start of class. A bell rang on the hour and the teacher spoke, "Welcome back students, I'm sure you either didn't look at your scrolls yesterday or were studying them seriously. As you are aware, this is runes 101 and during your time here you will be learning all the runes. We will not be getting into talismans, artifacts, arrays, or alchemy, but we will be often looking at those items. When this course is over, I do not expect you to be able to analyze or decipher how professionals create their products. I only expect you to be able to identify every rune and it's purpose", Lui Yijun introduced the purpose of the course to everyone, "Now, at this time, everyone please enter your pods, log in, and enter the workspace app."
The room became noisy as all the students were closing their pods, and then it went silent again. Meirong had already entered the workspace, and was waiting as everyone else quickly arrived as well.
"I'm sure most of you have seen the schedule and realized that this is a rather short class. That's because this class, formulas 101, and calligraphy 101 are all classes meant to build a foundation for the profession that you will enter later. You need to know all the runes, arrange them, and be proficient in writing them no matter if it's with a pen or a tool. Now I'm sure our alchemy students here might feel like this is a waste of their time since they are talking in the back while I'm explaining things", Lui Yijun spoke loudly.
A group of men and women suddenly realized that everyone was looking at them and stopped chatting as they started turning red.
"Daoist Xu De", Yijun called out.
"Yes Instructor Lui", De answered back.
"Suppose you have increased your rank to class 3 expert alchemist and your current furnace can not handle the amount of Qi anymore. Now it's time to purchase a new one, and after selecting what you have been told is a suitable furnace and taking it home, you find it doesn't work correctly and the one who sold it disappeared. Is it possible that the being able to understand the runes used in the formation might allow you to avoid this situation?", Yijun three out a hypothetical scenario.
"Yes, Instructor Lui", Xu answered again.
"Student Cai Su", Yijun called out again.
"Yes, Instructor Lui", Su said.
"You enter a alchemist's secret realm and a furnace is found, since you recognize it as a high realm artifact, you decide to use it. When you began operating the furnace, you discover an unusual control you never seen before and decide to test it. You find you can refine higher level pills faster but then you die. What could have caused this?", Yijun proposed a different scenario.
"I don't know, Instructor Lui", Su quietly said.
"You don't know? Guess what? It turns out that furnace belongs to a demonic cultivator and it requires soul energy to enhance the pill refinement process. But since you didn't know how to read the runes, you gambled your life away and lost. So do you think it's worth learning runes now?", Yijun replied.
"Yes, Instructor Lui", Su responded.
"Let me make this clear to all the students here, the two ways to finish this class is to learn all the material and your done or not learn it and then you fail. Failures are allowed to retake a class but this time you will have to pay the tuition fee. So don't waste my time, pay attention, and everyone will be successful", Yijun finished his speech.
Chen Zihao, Jia Feng, Mao Bao, Long Wen, and Fang Niying had arrived at the QR pod cafe and quickly entered.
"It feels like long ago since the last time I was here!", Zihao exclaimed.
Wen softly laughed and Nuying said, "It's only been a few months from the last time we were here."
Feng defended Zihao, "Perhaps that's true, but it does feel like we were stuck in a haste array where time inside moved faster than outside."
The girls just rolled their eyes when they heard Bao ask, "What's going on there?"
None of the five knew the answer so they walked closer to one of the larger screen sitting behind the reception desk and began to listen, "This week is the first ever Battle to the Top event in which anyone can register. Think your the strongest by yourself or a five man team? Are you the most knowledgeable and skillful hunter of monsters? Are you brave enough to challenge a new one hundred man battle arena where only the last one left takes it all? See a clerk at the front desk to register for an event. One person can only register for one event only due to scheduling conflicts. QR pod cafe is not responsible for any gambling that may occur during the event or feuds that may form due to it."
The five of them were in awe as they watched the screens and saw one vs one battles, five vs five battle arena matches and a small island with one hundred people running around fighting with each other but occasionally someone would use an artifact to fire a projectile at another. Just as the three boys were about to run to the counter, the screen started the next advertisement, "Looking for a different kind of experience other than constant battles? Want to show your strategic vision but you don't want to play board games? Introducing The Dao of the Sage, a collectible card game where you and your opponent build a deck where you start as new cultivator, beastkin, monster, or demon. Play different cards to gain strength or find opportunities as you follow the path of your chosen, you can gain fame or infamy and you'll gain or lose karma. Karma will change how you and your opponent play and how the battle will end. New decks include the sect disciple, independent cultivator, demonic cultivator, the shadow wolf cub, the armor snake, the snow crane, the Lupine, the Felinus, the Avians, the Asurans, The Devas, or the Indras. More will be added in the future as you continue to outwit your opponent. Warning, The Dao of the Sage is only a game and not a tool for cultivation, Do Not attempt to cultivate any techniques or methods represented in the game or it will affect your cultivation negatively. This shop will not be responsible for anyone who ignores this. Also all people and places represented in the game are fictional and not based off real living people even if they resemble each other greatly."
Mao Bao and Long Wen eyes brighten as they watched as two cultivators dueled using cards that summoned people, environments, weapons, and more. The other three looked at Bao and Wen before Zihao asked, "Are you going to register with us for the tournaments?"
Bao spoke first, "No, I have to apologize, I like the look of Sage, I think I will explore that today."
Long Wen nodded her head in agreement, "Please excuse me as well."
Zihao, Feng, and Niying walked to the desk and started the process of registration. Zihao and Niying signed up for solo battle arena, while Feng signed up for the one hundred man battle royale. After everything was completed, they rented a five pod room and stopped by the refreshment counter before heading to their room. The three immediately started training in the mode they signed up for. The other two opened the Dao of the Sage app, and watched the opening cinematics. They picked their first free deck and started the tutorial battle. As the five friends played, more customers entered the cafe, heard the advertisements, and made similar plans to prepare for this big event.