Chapter 165 - 20-25

Chapter 20: Enjoy Peace, prepare for war

Considering the ridiculous focus that had been put on developing Outlast for nearly half a year now, suddenly being done with the job was in its own way slightly daunting.

The Mad Monks had gotten their new disciple with all of his brimming protagonist energy, no matter how much of it was potentially negatively directed at Jin.

Jin had stopped being plagued by nightmares the second that he had stopped having to deal with the scenario and Elder Flower had praised him in the privacy of their rooms about the increased goodwill they were likely to experience from their allied sect and the future if his scenario offered a long-term solution to their problem.

Everyone was a winner, but the fact of the matter was that from working 16 hours a day for half a year, Jin suddenly didn't have much to do anymore. He'd quickly but surely codified his new combat skills into Dragonslayer Ornstein. He felt very grateful as he saw its improvement caused by his training with sect leader Shen.

However, after that was done, he didn't have much to do other than cultivate in silence in his rooms. He was still visiting a foreign sect where he didn't have freedom of movement after all, especially now that his lessons had ended. All in all, it was a rather sad state of affairs that he had just finished an incredibly tough project but was already wanting more. If nothing else just so he wouldn't be so fucking bored.

This was one of the things they didn't tell you about when they discussed Isekai stories, the sheer boredom-inducing nothingness of a mediaeval society.

Jin had gotten so used to the internet, having access to millions of books on demand, living in a city that had a higher population than the entire Empire.

Now? In a world without freedom of movement, unless one was strong enough to enforce it oneself, no entertainment... Just the seriousness of a Confucian society based on magic meditation? He was literally feeling himself regaining the spiritual capacity to produce dopamine from just watching a leaf fall beautifully, it was crazy.

He hadn't noticed this as much before, because he'd jumped right into a deadline after his insertion into the new body, after which he had basically been forced to come to terms with a new environment and now for the last six months had been grinding his ass off.

But now, he had nothing, which was why when Elder Flower came to him to announce they were leaving, he was actually glad, even if leaving probably meant that he would have to go back to work in some manner or form.

"We'll leave tomorrow," she said, standing next to him on the platform overlooking the valley in which the Mad Monks Sect was stationed.

Giddy with excitement Jin simply nodded as he looked at the remains of the encampment where the mortals had been staying until very recently. From one day to the next, they'd simply vanished. Failed the test and left.

From what he had heard Outer Disciple Xiao had already started his lessons on the mantras of the sect along with some light physical conditioning that would prepare him for becoming a vessel for qi.

Jin didn't really want to know what the Mad Monks considered light physical conditioning. After all, the tutoring he had gotten from sect leader Shen had also been referred to as light training and it had brought him to the brink of physical and mental exhaustion every single day.

"I'm glad. I really missed the library, to be honest," Jin said relieved, already thinking about how he was going to test out more and more of the Illusion Rooms. They were even more fun now that he wasn't dying as much as he had in the beginning.

-/-

Once their departure had been decided it truly didn't take long for them to finally leave.

It was as if Jin blinked and suddenly he was once again standing on the stone platform looking almost nostalgically at the Buddhist architecture of the sect, while next to him Elder Flower dropped her sword to the ground where it hovered in its place and expanded in size.

There to send them off was only Elder Zhang, who was thoughtfully running his fingers through his long grey beard.

It seemed like now that the job was done the sect leader did not feel like dispatching one of his clones to send them off, and Elder Kwang also saw no reason to further oversee their actions. Jin, personally, was glad. Had the sect leader been present it would have indicated a too high interest in his own humble person. From his experience, such things always ended up hinting at troubles to come. All he wanted was a quiet life "developing" scenarios for the sect, eating three meals a day, hanging out with the friends he would hopefully make once he went back and maybe having a girlfriend.

"I see that your time to depart has truly come," Elder Zhang spoke up. "It is curious how much has changed since your arrival, and how much more will change after. The new disciples we will gain from the selection process for the next 100 years will likely be very different from the ones we've accepted in the past. I imagine only time will tell if it was a good or bad change."

Not knowing what to say to that statement of fact, Jin simply clasped his fist in his hand and bowed. "It was an honour to receive tutelage and to work towards the greater good," he said with his head bowed.

"I think we certainly both benefited from that work," Elder Zhang said with a bit of humour in his voice. "Your improved version of Dragonslayer Ornstein will be added to the meagre amount of Illusion Rooms that we have available for our outer disciples. Another thing for them to break their head against and improve," he said with a grin. "Regarding that, actually, the reason sect leader Shen is not here is because he used his wood mantra this morning to make a departing gift. Time will tell if it will be a curiosity or something of real use," the Elder continued as he put a hand in his robe and pulled out what looked to be a miniature wooden spear in the exact form that Dragonslayer Ornstein wielded.

Just before Jin could express his thanks, he suddenly felt a rush of qi envelop the Elder and rush towards the little toy in his hands which suddenly grew in size into something which was decisively not a toy anymore.

It was still slightly smaller than what Jin's "creation" wielded, but that was simply because Jin himself was smaller than the Dragonslayer.

He marvelled at the artefact as he saw with his improved eyesight that the edge was actually sharp. But how did they manage that considering it was made entirely of wood? It was a beautiful thing in fact made out of what appeared to be, if his sense of smell was correct, sandalwood of all things. This was usually the wood that monks used to make their prayer beads out of.

"Considering the skills that you will later learn once you ascend higher in your cultivation, we thought it fitting that you gain a weapon which can be used with those skills," Elder Zhang explained as he idly spun the lance in his hand to show off its balance. "Additionally, the calming properties of the wood should make the weapon a good focal point for formations designed to suppress an enemy."

Jin nodded as if he knew what that meant. A glance sideways at Elder Flower gave him the impression that she would explain it to him later.

Of course, had he received any gift he would have had to do the usual bowing and scraping, but in this case he was actually amazed. He bowed again fist in his palm. "Inner disciple Jin thanks the Mad Monks Sect for their incredible gift," he said genuinely, at which Elder Zhang smiled and threw the lance at him. In mid-air, it turned back into its miniature form causing Jin to catch it in between his forefinger and his thumb. He would have to make a necklace to hang it off, or a handband in the future, but for now, he simply stowed it in his robes where he knew it would not get lost.

It was here that Elder Flower stepped forward and inclined her head. "To future cooperation and the peace of your sect," she said.

Elder Zhang inclined his head as well and repeated the words while adding on a mysterious: "And we shall see each other soon enough." After that, both he and Elder Flower mounted the flying sword and shot off into the skies without any preamble.

A hole in the array protecting the Mad Monks Sect opened once again letting them out and they quickly ascended above the sparse clouds to where Jin could enjoy the unparalleled view of the world.

"Was it a fruitful visit?" Jin asked out loud once they were fully out of the hearing range of even the sect leader.

Elder Flower nodded which he could see from the shifting of her hair. "You did well. Well enough especially in your training with the sect leader that I prepared an award for you."

Jin puffed up his chest. He'd known that he did amazingly, but hearing it repeatedly still managed to improve his mood. "Thank you Elder Flower," he said graciously.

"That is why I have decided to award you with an opportunity that inner disciples usually get towards the end of their tenure and before their promotion to core disciple."

Jin's mind ran as he considered what the reward was going to be. What was it that inner disciples would get towards the end of their tenure? Was it an artefact or was it perhaps access to a spell. In this case, the only spell that made sense to use as a reward was, considering his acquiring of a replica of Ornstein's weapon, the templating spell, no?

Elder Flower bashed that idea with her next words. "Dragonslayer Ornstein has improved a lot, however, you still lack something which could be necessary for finally perfecting it and that is combat experience."

Jin's heart dropped and he started shaking his head nervously despite knowing that she couldn't see his gesture. His hands clasped together in a prayer motion hoping that what she was saying was not going to come true.

"The Illusion Room Sect might not be combat-oriented," Elder Flower continued, refusing his refusal of reality, "but we still send out our older inner disciples to the inter-sect tournament of our region. There they can be put into the bracket of outer disciples from warrior sects and other inner disciples with creation-based foundations. It's a necessary experience for our disciples so that they can create better products in the future, but also for them to experience combat in a non-threatening scenario that is not an Illusion Room."

Jin's heart calmed down somewhat. It was just a tournament in the end, wasn't it? It was not the same as fighting the bandit lady who could have actually killed him if Elder Flower had been a second late with her interference. Sure, he didn't like fighting, but this would be fine.

"We need to grasp opportunities like this where death is uncommon and crippling relatively rare. It's all been calming down a lot in recent years. In fact, the last time only resulted in five different blood feuds," Elder Flower explained gently as if reassuring him.

Jin meanwhile buried his face in his hands and tried not to scream.

"The tournament is happening in a month, after we return to the sect you will naturally work on your combat abilities first and foremost. After the tournament is when you can perhaps revise Ornstein with your experience wielding his weapon, put it in the library and start a new project."

A singular tear fell out of Jin's eyes and ran down his cheek. But, if this was a gift then maybe he could still refuse?

"Of course, you cannot refuse as this great honour is something that if stricken aside will likely forever bar your advancement to core disciple due to doubts of your character," Elder Flower finally finished, stabbing him fully in the back once again.

Jin felt the dagger enter his heart and slumped together. Yamete Sensei…

Chapter 21: Next Level

"And that's basically what happened," Jin finished, recounting the full story of what had occurred since he'd last seen Ting.

His fellow inner disciple kicked her legs out from where they were sitting on the wooden platform jutting out of her tower, which was there for others to land on when they came through the air.

"It sounds like you had an interesting visit, perhaps too interesting. Sect leaders, crazy people, disciple selection ceremony…" the girl trailed off.

"May you live in interesting times is technically considered a curse, I guess," Jin muttered thinking about the Chinese proverb.

"It sure sounds like it. Interesting is never good. Stability is what makes for an easy life and cultivation."

Jin hummed thoughtfully. Perhaps what she said was true for those talented enough to progress to the end without any fortuitous encounters, but he doubted that many such people existed. Those born with too much talent often faced greater heavenly tribulations to make up for their better starting point, or so he'd read.

People of only slightly above-average talent like him and Ting would likely get stuck at a bottleneck of cultivation. Perhaps in between one of the stages of Foundation Establishment. Perhaps when they were supposed to form their core, or maybe when they were supposed to explode it to create a nascent soul.

Spending long enough at such a stage without any idea when progress would come would likely make anyone obsessed enough with cultivation wish for their life to be interesting. With chaos, after all, came opportunity.

Jin would remain uninterested in any chaos regardless. Fighting demonic cultivators for obscure texts that might help one breakthrough if one sacrificed the middle testicle of a literate goat to the god of blue cheese wasn't his vibe.

"I think it's impossible to live a truly uninteresting life," he said. "No matter how much one tries it. It is better to simply accept it and to become better at dealing with the dangerous."

Ting bobbed her head. She was wearing a ponytail, this time seemingly not feeling the need to do anything special with her hair. It seemed like now that the crisis in her village had been resolved she had quite literally put her hair down.

"There is never any true peace anyway. Even here in the middle of nowhere, I keep hearing about stirrings at the border. There is a larger mass of dark forces approaching and the cultivators stationed there cannot really make out what they are. To be a cultivator is to walk with death, I guess."

Jin shrugged. "To be a mortal is also to walk with death in a world such as this. Everyone is affected by circumstances beyond their control, no? Even those who truly become immortal simply pass on to the next plane where they most likely repeat the cycle."

"I hope there's no border conflict at least. The last one I remember was 50 years ago and already then it delayed the release of an Illusion Room I was working on." Ting tutted. "Every time it happens, until the resolution of whatever conflict there is, the sect always prioritizes making Illusion Rooms of the enemies currently making issues. If they conform to some sort of standard of course."

"How's your wyvern coming along anyway?" Jin asked, wondering how relaxing it would be to just make an Illusion Room based on a real monster that he could simply use memory jade slips to observe. He would only have to tweak how the inputs of the user translated to outputs from their avatar and perfect the combat system of the monster. Even though he was technically just recreating material he was slowly starting to realize that he was making it more difficult for himself than if he'd simply done it the normal way.

After all, in the end, he still had to live through everything again in his mind, at which point he really could have just gone to the library to experience the memory slips. Similarly, everything had to be translated into the game engine stuck in his head and then be made to fit the consistent reality of the world rather than some sort of twisted video game logic.

Considering that the things he was bringing out were then usually richer in story than any traditional scenarios he was likely putting in more work than people who weren't plagiarizing.

Which was sort of funny when he thought about it. Although, considering that Jin had created Outlast while Ting's wyvern still seemed unfinished, there was an implication of something more complex going on.

Maybe Jin was just big-brained, or the other people simply worked tirelessly on every pixel.

He'd only been trying the Illusion Rooms fit for outer disciples back at the sect library so it wasn't like he knew what the peak truly looked like. His cultivation and thus his perception simply wasn't advanced enough to work through Illusion Rooms that had more complex scenarios and more detail.

"I hope there isn't stirring at the borders either," he said tiredly. This whole Mad Monks trip had exhausted him beyond compare and even now that he was done with all of it, feeling very happy about it, while also feeling unhappy about the upcoming tournament, he was still experiencing the consequences of some of that burnout he had been about to have right at the end there.

"Elder Flower signed me up for that fighting tournament or whatever, but at least that means I won't have to make an Illusion Room for a month right?" he asked aloud.

"Signing you for that tournament is a great honour", Ting said out loud without any seeming conviction.

"Is it though?" Jin asked.

"Well the Elders usually say so and if they do they are likely correct," Ting replied taking care with her words to not appear negative in opinion towards the Elders of the sect, which was important because Elder Flower with her advanced cultivation, no matter how she said that she would go into the bamboo forest to take a walk, could likely still hear them.

"You don't sound very jealous," Jin complained quietly.

Ting didn't say anything but simply gave him a look and a smirk.

She obviously wasn't very jealous, she just wasn't brave enough to say it out loud.

Jin buried his head in his hands and let out a loud sigh.

-/-

Xiao walked back to his house feeling more peace than he had in a very long time. Who would have thought that simply shaving his head and meditating for one hour a day for a week could give him such a new perspective on life?

He'd only been at the Mad Monks sect for eight days, but he already immensely appreciated their different approach to life. The morning started with an intense bout of physical activity, being led through a kata by an instructor along with the other outer disciples.

Those who had joined more recently and were thus lower in skill were at the back of the large square of disciples, while those more senior and thus more likely to ascend to inner disciple stood in the front filing away the last imperfections before potential advancement.

After that, they all ate a nutritious meal which while lacking any meat, usually tasted better than anything Xiao had ever had before. He suspected that the monks simply used better ingredients, perhaps vegetables infused with spiritual energy. He'd heard that some plants could absorb qi from a senior whom he'd found munching on some purple bamboo.

After the meal, Xiao was guided through a meditation session. It was a skill that he was still perfecting, so he needed a teacher for the moment.

Exercise, good food, a sense of progression and a calm mind had made him feel for the first time in many years truly tranquil and thus happy.

He breathed out a gentle sigh as he entered his little cottage which was simpler than any residence he'd ever inhabited for a longer period, but because it lacked the cohabitation factor with his greatest enemies, the Baos, he already felt at home.

He wondered what the sect wanted to announce. He had been informed by his meditation guide that there would be a general assembly of all disciples because some sort of news had come in. Xiao didn't know what kind of news, but it must have been big if they were willing to mobilise everyone to hear it.

After freshening up at the cottage with a bucket of water and a rag, Xiao made his way to the outer disciple administrative pagoda, which he had been shown as a part of the orientation a few days ago.

It was a quiet walk, the outer disciples walking beside him seemingly intent on not talking. It was a very peaceful place, the sect. Xiao would admit though that in time it would perhaps get a bit boring.

Nevertheless, still in the honeymoon phase of the relationship, he walked in silence with the other disciples until he reached the courtyard in front of the pagoda. Once everyone had gathered, the Elder he recognised as responsible for the outer ring floated down from the sky and stopped a few metres above the ground so that everyone could see him.

"Disciples of the Mad Monks sect," he greeted. "I am unhappy to announce that we are entering a state of preparation for potential conflict," he said without any preamble and suddenly the outer disciples were not so quiet anymore.

But what did potential conflict mean in this case? Xiao wondered.

"This means that all extracurricular learning and tasks you have been given will be cancelled and replaced solely with combat practice and meditation. The sect will handle your living conditions for the moment so that you may focus entirely on improving your combat ability. Cultivation is currently not advised as maximising one's ability to fight while at a certain realm is a faster and better investment than trying to break through to the next one. The pagoda shall now become the centre of illusionary training as it will host a variety of Illusion Rooms, which most of you are already familiar with. They will help you familiarise yourself with life-and-death combat. You will be required to complete one scenario a day, and everything further will be discussed with your direct supervisor."

The direct supervisor in this case was the oldest disciple in every enclave of cottages. Xiao instinctively looked around and found the burly woman heading his group standing not far away from him.

"There is no need to panic as states of potential emergency are announced regularly every hundred years or so, however considering the lifespan of outer disciples most of you have not experienced this. I will say here that the majority of these alarms do not result in any of our disciples seeing actual combat, but we do see it as our responsibility to prepare you as best we can to raise not only your chances of surviving whatever might come but also those of the sect at large," Elder Zhang finished and with a consternated face turned around and went back into the Pagoda.

-/-

A few hours later after a much more exhausting training session in which they had also been asked to spar against each other, Xiao stood in a large room containing more of those devilish metal artefacts that he had been so tormented by before being selected as a disciple.

"This one seems relatively new, probably for a more niche threat. It's why you can get it to fulfil your quota, everyone else is doing the tried and tested ones, meanwhile, you're the least likely to be sent out since you're the newest member of the sect," the group leader murmured next to him as she guided him into touching the Illusion Room assuming he had never done so before.

Oh, but he had, he had done it before.

Mistaking his trauma for anxiety the group leader gave him a small smile which didn't fit her muscular face. "Don't worry, they're harmless and any injuries you sustain within them can be easily healed. Quite frankly, considering how scripted some of the enemies are I don't understand why we're practising with them instead of against each other. I don't quite know what this one contains, but it's likely just another heavenly beast that you already know. Like a two-tail tiger or something, although I've never heard of a Dragonslayer Ornstein before. Just fight it as you would a normal enemy and you'll likely succeed."

Xiao gritted his teeth and entered the Illusion Room despite the protests of his heart and his mind.

-/-

Meanwhile, Jin and Elder Flower advanced on the mountain inhabited by the Illusion Room sect and in the same speedy manner as they had left it, zooming through the air. However, before they'd managed to arrive over the mountain, the sword suddenly ground to a halt in mid-air, ripping Jin out of his musings.

He'd been thinking that it was funny that he left two different scenarios at the Mad Monk sect. But, because perfecting Dragonslayer Ornstein had only taken him a week or two, which in comparison to the suffering he had to endure with Outlast was nothing, he mostly remembered the latter.

But, he still had enough thought to spare to wonder how the outer disciples were faring against the armoured knight. It was a much less stressful scenario than Outlast so he hoped they were having some fun.

He looked up as the sword abruptly stopped, not being able to see much from his position behind Elder Flower.

"Have we arrived?" he asked curiously.

Elder Flower shook her head.

This prompted Jin to tilt his head to the side and to try to see what was going on.

His heart skipped the beat as he saw that the mountain he'd been reincarnated on was surrounded by what appeared to be a large army. His cultivation-enhanced brain counted at least 30,000 men, bedecked with different insignias and weapons, but who all shared a black helmet with a red plume of feathers trailing down the back, albeit the length varied.

"It appears that we have a problem," Elder Flower summarised rather accurately.

Chapter 22: The Incredible Mr Burnout

"It appears that we have a problem," Elder Flower summarised rather accurately as she looked down at the huge army surrounding the mountain of the Illusion Room Sect.

Jin's heart skipped a beat and he almost wanted to puke blood at the calm air of the answer. Their mountain, their home, their sect, was surrounded by a gigantic army and her reply was that it appeared they had a problem? For fucking sure they had a problem, they were being invaded!

It was only the strict hierarchy of the cultivation world that stilled Jin's tongue from giving a biting retort.

However, the next words made him calm down somewhat.

"I wonder what they want this time," Elder Flower muttered seemingly to herself as they stood still in the air on her floating sword.

"Has this happened before?" Jin asked confusedly, trying to think of reasons why they were currently being besieged.

"The red plume and their insignia are quite obviously marking them as a unit of the Imperial army. It's an organisation primarily responsible for defending the realm and enforcing the law on mortals. They mostly end up working at the border, however. Them being here now likely means that there has been an issue," Flower answered.

Jin's heart rate lowered itself to a somewhat acceptable level of approximately 250 beats per minute. "So they're not here to invade us?" he asked, just to clarify.

It was at this that Elder Flower's composure broke and she actually turned around to give him a flat look, as if asking him how he could have ever been so stupid as to believe that.

Jin personally didn't know what other reaction he was supposed to have when he unexpectedly found an entire fucking army camping at the doorstep of his sect, but excuse him.

"Of course not, what would an army even be able to do against our sect? It's mostly just composed of mortals, alongside a few imperial cultivators to fill out the command structure. I could probably beat their general without even using my sword," she muttered as if chastising Jin for his idiocy.

The inner disciple meanwhile just looked to the sky close to his eyes and released the frustration he was beginning to experience from this stupid situation.

Of course, it made sense that an army wouldn't be able to beat even a crafting-focused cultivation sect. Armies were primarily made out of mortals, as no single sect could field more than even at most 5000 cultivators.

Mortals fought in grand battles where hundreds of thousands lost their lives and fields were turned to mud and blood. Cultivators meanwhile fought one-on-one battles in which entire landscapes were rearranged and physics itself lost meaning as they exploded alongside the rest of the surroundings.

"Anyway we should probably just go. They're likely meeting in one of the pagodas," Elder Flower suddenly decided before the flying sword jetted again through the air towards the peak of the mountain, which Jin had not seen before in any great detail.

It was a surprisingly modest affair which he knew was reserved exclusively for elders and the occasional core disciple. Some caves were hewn into the rocky tip of the mountain and simple huts along with more elaborate large buildings looking to be either libraries or workshops littered the space sparsely. Despite the area being smaller than the bottom parts of the mountain the elders had much more space available to them.

It looked beautiful and all, however, Jin wasn't really sure what he'd lost there. After all, he was still only an inner disciple and thus very far away from reaching the halls of power of his sect. 

"Shouldn't I perhaps be deposited elsewhere before you join the doubtlessly important meeting where it might be considered insulting for me to partake?" Jin asked dubiously as they continued their approach, feeling comfortable enough in his relationship with Elder Flower to voice his opinion.

The woman in front of him simply scoffed loudly. "Are you trying to waste my time? We have to debrief the sect leader on how our mission went. I'm not going to drop you off and then come get you again just to do that."

"Okay," Jin whispered in a low voice and closed his eyes.

Why was he suddenly starting to feel as if simply preparing for that martial arts tournament would have been the easier option in comparison to what was about to happen?

Regardless of any of his hesitations, their flying sword continued pointing stubbornly at a small one-floored pagoda where Jin's enhanced eyes already saw a rather large assortment of beige-robed Illusion Room sect Elders facing what appeared to be a trio of the soldiers that were besieging the bottom part of the mountain. The only difference was that these soldiers were dressed in more fancy versions of the very same black chitin armour and uniform and had a more imposing air about them as if they were cultivators as well.

It was as they drew closer that many of the people present in the pagoda, painted as it was in a creamy white paint topped with golden oriental accents, turned towards the two quickly approaching intruders.

Jin clenched his butt cheeks and tried to pretend that he was not starting to feel supremely uncomfortable about the situation as the flying sword ground to a noiseless but somehow deafening halt in front of the little white staircase leading into the roof-covered structure where a meeting was being held.

It was just as Jin reluctantly stepped off the flying sword alongside Elder Flower and she shrunk the weapon back to normal size to clip it at her belt, that an annoying and nasal voice spoke up.

"I see that you finally deigned to join us as well Flower," Elder Lung, the Elder who had judged rather unfairly Jin's attempt to join the inner Disciple ring back in the day, spoke up. Upon having addressed Elder Flower he turned to Jin and turned up his nose, making his moustache look ridiculous from the new perspective that it was being shown in. 

Moustaches weren't supposed to be seen from below.

Elder Flower at this simply glanced blankly at the man, down to the ground, back to the man before tilting her head to the side. "Huh, did you say something?"

Jin coughed into his elbow in a very futile attempt not to break out and laugh at the face that Lung long made at that particular response.

The sour old man was just about to reply something ungracious when a more authoritative voice interrupted the squabble before it could devolve. 

What had Lung been thinking anyway starting a pissing match like that in front of what were presumably outsiders? Jin wondered as a simply dressed older woman who looked for all intents and purposes as if she was approaching 90 years of age stepped forward and waved her hand and the air.

"Calm down you two. We have visitors," she said first to Lung before turning to Flower. "Join us and observe, we have things to discuss with General Shroud."

"I agree, sect leader Chun, who would ever be so crass as to waste the time of our precious visitors," Elder Flower said silkily before walking over to the line of elders standing there. At the same time, she dragged Jin behind her with one hand like a plush toy so that he stood behind her on the left.

Elder Lung simply huffed and crossed his arms, looking away.

The soldier with the most impressive plumage on his helmet coughed into his fist to restart whatever he had previously been talking about while sect leader Chun gave him an encouraging look, similar to the one an elementary school teacher gave her students when they had to present in front of class for the first time.

"Anyway, as I was saying," the tall man started as he brought one hand onto the pommel of the ornate sword that hung at his side. He looked remarkably young for someone in his position, but of course, that never meant anything in this world. "The borders have been stirring and perhaps as a response to how the last conflict was resolved, there seems to be a lot of signatures being picked up that are below the level of even an outer disciple. However, these beings are being accompanied by more powerful demons which will likely serve as interceptors for any large-scale eradication attacks and use the opportunity to counter. After having examined the situation the consensus from the higher command is that we shall let the mortals face the weak masses while a select number of cultivators will be sent to dispatch the demons."

"A hard balance, always sending out just enough cultivators to win the battle, but not enough to reveal all our techniques," one elder close to Jin muttered, before the sect leader spoke up and they all shushed.

"I assume that due to your presence here, you are somewhat interested in modelling some of the threats approaching?" the sect leader asked, her wrinkled face pulled into a small smile. It seemed that she liked the idea of more business coming their way. "Are there any identifiable markings on the demons with which we could prepare a specific scenario? Just like last time maybe," she suggested.

The general shook his head. "It is not the demons which we were able to group into some sort of class, which we could then prepare against. Rather it is the smaller threats that are appearing in recognizable multitudes. One of our cultivators was able to break through and capture some of them. It nearly cost him his life. We were able to figure out that this entire group, nearly 99% per cent of the actual incoming invasion, is composed of reanimated corpses."

One of the elders spoke up here, an old man in a blue robe. Perhaps one of the elders who didn't make scenarios, but rather the Rooms they fit into. "We already have so many Jiangshi scenarios, it wouldn't be too difficult to dumb a few of them down so that even mortals could work with them."

The general empathically shook his head. "The only similarity is that they are reanimated corpses, seemingly from the lost civilization of the Dark Side. They are very different in the sense that they do not jump, but rather walk and run. The term we are considering to classify the general category is zombie."

Jin swallowed his spit at the utterance of that particular phrase and nearly choked. Thankfully it was only Elder Flower who seemed to have heard the small conundrum occurring within his throat as she tilted her head slightly to give him an odd look.

"If the only scenario you wish for is to do with the mortals, then us elders will be unlikely to be able to help much. We are too advanced spiritually to understand their limited perception," sect leader Chun mused.

"I do not care who makes the scenario, as long as it accurately reflects the threat at least somewhat, and as long as we can make a multitude of Rooms so that at least the army under my command can cycle through the training," the general replied calmly with a glint in his eye.

"I assume that as always it is only your corps which will undergo the training?" sect leader Chun asked, at which the general nodded.

"The others still refuse to see the use of preparing the lower ranks. This time I am preparing to hold a census to see how effective it truly is. If they do not trust me, perhaps they will trust the numbers. I consider it greatly fortuitous to have been born in the Illusion Room sect and to thus know the value of its products," the general muttered flatteringly. 

The sect leader waved him off. "We are similarly lucky to have sprouted a seed as good as you, even if your fate drew you elsewhere in the end."

She turned to the blue-robed elder who had spoken previously. "How is the progress on the multi-access Room modem?" she asked brusquely.

The elder in question tilted his head down and smiled. "Nearly finished, it will be even easier to progress if the users are mortals or lower-level cultivators. However, the progress should perhaps be measured in years, not months."

"Good, you can't rush things like these. Then the only thing we have to decide now is which disciples will have the privilege of working on this contract," sect leader Chun declared.

Suddenly all eyes turned to Jin. The general also turned in his direction, although he seemed more focused on Elder Flower instead.

"There is only one way, no?" General Shroud asked aloud. "We have only a few months before the conflict, so let's do it the traditional way. Announce the competition."

Chapter 23: Ain't no rest for the Proletariat

It was a mentally confused Jin who returned after so long to his little apartment building and the outer reaches of the inner disciple enclave. Elder Flower had dropped him off at the food hall, so he'd eaten one meal before meandering towards home. The home he'd spent cumulatively less time at than at the Mad Monks Sect. He had to shuffle his feet, tired from standing all day but managed to reach his destination. Once in front of the cheery yellow apartment building slash house, he opened the front door and started going up the stairs.

However, even the simple pleasure of entering his apartment after so long, laying face down on the bed and screaming into a pillow was taken from him by the inevitable reality of living in a shared building.

After he'd ascended the flight of stairs, he heard a noise to his left just as he was about to put a hand on the doorknob of his apartment, causing him to look to the left where he locked eyes with an older-looking girl who was coming out of the other apartment on the floor.

Before he could think too much of it, his right hand which had previously been hovering over his doorknob was promptly ripped away to be vigorously shaken by the dark-skinned woman now standing opposite him. Had she teleported? he wondered as he desperately tried to take his arm back before it got dislocated.

"Oh my Heavens, it's so nice to meet you. To think that I would get promoted to an inner disciple today and get to meet my neighbour," the girl babbled, her beige robe swinging with erratic movements revealing that she was if nothing else adult in body, if not in attitude.

"What a day it's been as well, an amazing inner ring truly, what a nice place to live. I don't mind at all that I'm a bit away from the main buildings as it means that the walk I'll need to take to get to the amenities will be invigorating every single day. Did you hear by the way that due to the stirrings at the border, a development challenge has been announced for all inner disciples?" she continued rapidly not letting Jin get in a word edgewise.

"Apparently there are some of these so-called zombies down at the base of the mountain where the army is camping out. We can go visit them to base our scenario on their behaviour. I heard the winner of the challenge will get the necessary amount of sect credits to jump straight into having a servant even if we only got promoted from outer disciple recently. Isn't this amazing?" she asked but didn't let him answer the question before she continued.

"By the way my name is Himashi and I come from a long line of painters based in the outer reaches of the Balkit mountain chain in the south of the empire. I was scouted by a passing Illusion Room cultivator a year ago and was brought here to begin cultivating and creating scenarios. I worked hard to pass the promotion examination and I'm very happy to continue working on my art here. I am 23 years old and was born in the year of the rabbit while Saturn waned. I like to spend my time painting and swimming. My favourite food is Natto but I dislike pickled radishes. I am 182 cm tall and I weigh approximately 72 kilos. What about you?" she asked and finally her mouth stayed closed after the verbal assault that she had just committed on Jin's fragile psyche.

Jin for his part stared blankly at the girl, and finally now that she stopped being so agitated managed to slowly pull his hand out of hers and gently massage it with his left to return the feeling it had lost being bullied around the airspace during that entire one-sided conversation.

"I, -uh, ah- Jin," he eventually said tentatively.

Himashi blinked slowly once as if processing the shortness of his answer.

Jin meanwhile noted that she was taller than him. He'd never measured his new body, but if she was accurate, then by comparison he'd be about 1.75 metres tall. She had long brown hair tied into a very messy bun with two bangs framing her face and chestnut brown eyes that seemed to have more energy than a nuclear reactor swirling inside them. The pupils suddenly widened to a comic degree as his answer was finally processed.

"Are you the one favoured by Elder Flower, the leader of the coalition of Elders who want to increase the combat training for disciples so that we might better protect ourselves in the future during altercations rather than only relying on our allies? I heard that you were integral to the diplomatic mission sent to one of our allied sects, the Mad Monk sect, that happened recently. Is it true that you're going to be participating in the intersect fighting tournament after this whole border conflict has been resolved? Are you glad that you have more time to train now that it has been delayed? Are you planning on participating in the challenge of creating a scenario for the zombies? I feel I am because due to this one-year grace period where I don't have to contribute any sect points I think it would be a fascinating challenge to make something that directly addresses a currently existing need rather than making something and trying to anticipate the needs of others," Himashi shot out rapidly, moving her mouth as Jin slowly but surely took small steps backwards towards his door and put his right hand behind his back on the door knob.

How did this girl even know all of that? His meeting with the sect leader, which had occurred after the general assembly meeting with General Shroud, had concluded only an hour ago! He'd only stopped for one quick meal at the cafeteria before making his way here.

"I think you might be confusing me with someone else," he said kindly, before quickly using whatever qi he had running through his body into his physical stats, opening the door and slamming it shut in the surprised face of his new neighbour.

Once inside his apartment which was quite dusty, he sank to his knees and questioned reality. "What just happened?"

First the talk with Elder Flower, and now this?

-/- One hour earlier

"I guess our original plan, the tournament was delayed. What do you think about the scenario challenge?" Elder Flower had asked Jin as she was transporting him back to the inner disciple ring. The flying sword was going much slower than he knew it could, implying that she had something to discuss.

"The soldiers have some of the zombies captive in their camp, I'd have to see them before I make a decision," Jin said. If he even wanted to participate, of course. Did he have to participate? Quite frankly if the tournament was delayed and he didn't participate in this zombie nonsense then didn't that mean that he could finally snag some months for himself to relax? Maybe further explore his cultivation?

Elder Flower shook her head. "You will participate of course. If for no other reason than for the fact that Lung and his ilk will try their best to win. They don't know yet what you achieved at the Mad Monks Sect, so they cannot prepare against you in particular."

"What's the issue with Elder Lung anyway? He seems to have a problem with me, or you, or us," Jin asked directly. It had been bothering him recently. What exact side had he joined when he'd agreed to the offer of tutelage from Elder Flower all those months ago? Ting had implied that Elder Flower, being the most martially gifted of the Elders in their sect, was a proponent of them developing in a more martial direction but what did that mean?

The woman in question hummed thoughtfully. "I guess the way you acted in the Mad Monks sect was admirable enough for you to know a bit more. One certainly can't say you're not mature enough after that fiasco" she decided, before explaining. "Me and Lung have never seen eye to eye, but recently it's come to a head. What do you think about the amount of Illusion Rooms present in the library, in particular those that have been deemed unnecessary?" she asked.

The disciple pondered the question. "Well, there's a lot of them and they're quite fun to go through," he started slowly. "Other than that it's impressive how many little variations have been made to improve a product further and further until perfection."

"Fun, most wouldn't refer to it like that but I agree with you. It's the same way I see it. It's a fun way to train and fight without any of the risks. What's not fun about that? The injuries don't even hurt as much as they do in real life." Elder Flower mused. "However, it is the second thing you mentioned that I would say is at the core of this issue. The Illusion Room sect is production-based. We take contracts to develop scenarios for specific situations, as we did with the Mad Monks sect, and we develop our scenarios according to what we think people might be interested in and put them in our library demanding tribute for access. There's an inordinate amount of energy being put into perfecting every single scenario and turning every single possible enemy anyone could meet into actionable training."

"Is that not a good thing?" Jin asked. "From what I understand the disciples have to hone their craft on something so that they can advance." He didn't quite understand where this conversation was going.

"Is it a good thing?" Elder Flower wondered out loud. "Perhaps it is a good thing for Lung and his family who make most of their contributions through how other people use their environmental templates. At higher levels, they even provide the internal logic of the system all written out and ready to use. If the process ran according to their wishes, every Illusion Room Creator would simply change a few of the combat interactions and make one Illusion Room a day and use as many templates as possible."

"That obviously doesn't work, that would simply mean that we'd be producing so much garbage that it would become not worth the effort. Creating the artefacts in which the illusions are placed also requires labour," Jin said despite not quite knowing that much about the artefacts and their production. He was decisively on the scenario side of the sect, not that artificer one.

"Isn't that exactly what's happening? Heaps of garbage being produced as an excuse to justify skill gain? You developed a completely novel scenario for the Mad Monks and I would argue that you learned more during that time than if you had created three scenarios containing only a simple beast. No, while we certainly need to continue improving our abilities in creating scenarios, it shouldn't be our only focus. After all, even if we're not perfect in what we offer, do the visitors have somewhere else to go?" Elder Flower argued.

It was then that Jin suddenly understood the issue. "The library. If people had truly been making scenarios for so long and if they'd already covered so many possibilities…" he trailed off. "Couldn't we just stop adding stuff to the library so that we can focus on other stuff?" He then realised why that particular trail of thought would not be well received by Elder Lung, whose family mostly focused on the production of templates. In Jin's opinion, the artist who made the entirety of the work would usually create something of a higher quality than the one who took shortcuts. So, exactly how many of the best Rooms available in the library would be those using templates if the rate of development wasn't so fast?

"I see you've gotten the point, proving further that you have enough intelligence to see what's necessary," Elder Flower said brusquely. "As you could probably tell from today's very sudden change of schedule, our world is not safe and the idea of relying on the protection of our allies when we could protect ourselves is cowardly. The Illusion Room Sect has abilities that make us more suited for combat than one would think, it's just that we are so exclusively focused on the production of scenarios that all else has been ignored for a very long time."

Jin's mind whirled. It became clear now why Elder Flower had been pushing him to learn how to fight. "So what, we split the focus 50/50? That's already what we do with those who develop scenarios and those who develop Rooms, although I heard it's more of a 90/10 split," he muttered.

"Of course, it's not as simple as that, but what I and many others in the sect believe is that if we stop diverting so much attention to rewarding an endless river of contributions to the library and instead start offering rewards for more martial pursuits, then overall the production quality of our goods wouldn't decrease by a significant amount while our ability to defend ourselves will rise greatly," Elder Flower concluded. "The production quality might even increase if you consider that what our disciples lack most is combat experience."

In essence, the argument made sense to Jin as well. Wasn't this essentially the Pareto principle? By putting in 20% of the effort one usually achieved 80% of the result, wasn't it better than to divide one's time into five different pursuits of 20% with an overall result of 400%? However, this was a fallacy when one wanted to discuss the production of quality goods. At the highest level, it was this tiniest shavings of a percentage that mattered in cornering a market, if one was considering a rational consumer. Cultivators whose whole life revolved around combat were probably as close as one could get in regards to scenarios, however. If they could not hold the Illusion Room Sect accountable for the quality of their products, then no one could.

It was at this stage of the conversation that they arrived at where Elder Flower was apparently going to drop him off.

Her last words to him shifted the topic of the conversation again back to the scenario-developing challenge that had been issued today.

"Considering how little time we have before the likely incursion I would suggest finding a teammate or two to tackle this project with," were her departing words of advice.

Jin was not nearly stupid enough to think that what she'd given was advice. It was an order.

Rather than training his martial arts to compete in a tournament, it seemed that now he had to form a team to compete for the lucrative contract of creating the scenario for an entire army of people instead of just one small group of mortal potential disciples.

Great.

He wondered for a second if he should bother listening, before deciding that he was currently too tired to make a choice or to even think.

His stomach rumbled. He hoped he could eat in peace and crash at home, nothing more to disturb him until tomorrow morning.

Chapter 24: Azn Lazy Boys

It was on the next morning that Jin woke up finding himself a participant in a spiritual war fought by man since his inception.

"Ugh," he groaned as his eyes blearily opened to witness the majestic ray of sunlight shining from light years away through his window directly onto his face.

At first, he lay there not even finding the energy to move.

Today was the day that he was supposed to go down the mountain to look at the zombies that the military had brought with them, wasn't it? 

But today was also the day that was the day after two of the days at which he had still been working on Dragonslayer Ornstein back at the Mad Monks Sect.

In other words, today was the day that he was supposed to have started relaxing to regain some of his mental faculties and avoid potential burnout.

Unfortunately, today was also the day on which the previous day Elder Flower had told him that he had to participate in this scenario challenge to make an Illusion Room for the purpose that General Shroud wanted it.

Make the Illusion Room Sect Great Again... Awesome...

Today was also a day on which Jin felt bad enough that he was seriously considering disregarding that order.

His thoughts were sluggish, his limbs were heavy, mom's sweater was on his spaghetti already.

"Fuck," he groaned. He just didn't have it in him to wake up bright-eyed and run down the mountain to look at the shambling corpses that the army held captive. Did that make him an omega, or a sigma? On one hand, he was off that grindset, on the other he was disobeying the orders of a direct superior who could very easily kill him.

What was the point of fulfilling an order that would only entrance him further into Elder Flower's camp, assuring him of further tasks in the future?

Protection? Sure, he knew that cosying up to older more powerful cultivators was one way of staying alive and securing one's progression, however surely the Illusion Room sect wasn't in a position where at any moment they could be wiped out by either a demonic sect incursion or by a war, right?

His thoughts flashed to the conversation of yesterday, where Elder Flower had elucidated very clearly that if any conflict actually occurred, they did not have many ways of escaping it unscathed.

Which left him with the option of cosying up to the one person in the sect who was useful in a fight, and if she liked him enough, might even escape with him if it ever came to that.

And that person was Elder Flower.

Despite his rationalisations, however, he continued lying there staring at the wooden ceiling.

It was a very nice joining of the main support beams, and perhaps an analysis of the local architecture would help him in developing future scenarios.

This wasn't him being lazy, this was just him preparing for any eventuality. Who knew when a scenario in the future would depend on how support beams of an apartment building-like structure were joined together on a structural level?

This was very important business.

He suddenly noticed that he was very thirsty, and tried to use that need to make himself stand up.

The cup of water that he had on the nightstand was empty, therefore his only recourse was the bucket that he'd raised from the nearby well to replenish his source for drinking and cleaning. It was too far away. His body gave up before it could even start.

However, where the human mind and the human body failed, qi came to the rescue. He forced a sliver of it out, now having enough to manipulate it outside of his body and sent it like a tentacle of a particularly molecularly unstable octopus towards the bucket.

It floated in mid-air for a second, extending up to a metre, half of the way there, before it fell flat to the ground, unable to retain its position.

Jin strained himself and imagined a snake, at which the tendril started undulating on the ground, wriggling on the floor, approaching the bucket at a sluggish pace before finally reaching it and clambering over the top. It sucked in greedily until it coalesced into a unit of qi holding up what was probably around a deciliter of the life-saving liquid.

Another struggle brought the tendril back, less strenuous than it had been to get it there even if it now weighed more. The water soon came to hover precariously over Jin's head, which he gently extended, lips puckered, to suck at the liquid.

The first touch of his lips to his qi broke the spell's concentration and delivered onto him a completely localised phenomenon of a miniature shower. He fell back into the bed, now soaked in water...

"That's one way of waking up," he muttered to himself, feeling some energy return to his body from the sudden baptism.

He wondered what time it was, surely as tired as he was he had slept for longer than usual.

"Oh boy, I sure enjoyed that lunch I just ate at the Food Hall 15 minutes ago before I rushed home to have my daily session of painting!" a loud and exuberant voice suddenly resounded from the corridor.

That answered that question.

Now what?

-/-

It was around dinner time that Jin finally managed to leave his abode after having wiggled and laid about the space enjoying every single non-productive moment of it.

He'd made sure that his neighbour wasn't in the corridor between apartments before leaving and was now walking towards the food hall to soothe his complaining stomach before taking a stroll down the mountain to look at the zombies.

He was trying to think of it as a not necessarily non-work-related expedition. It was actually more like going to the zoo, yeah.

Walking around in nature, looking at some weird curious creatures trying to bite one's face off. Wasn't that the epitome of a careless evening for any man of sufficient class to not have to work a day in their life?

He strolled, he shambled and he glided thusly all the way to where the food smell was coming from and consumed a number of calories which got him concerned looks from his contemporary disciples.

They acted like they'd never seen anyone eat meat for the first time after six months before. It wasn't like Jin was against vegetarianism, but after a while, one did develop a craving for more easily accessible protein.

He wasn't all that much of a connoisseur of watching the light leave an animal's eyes or listening to the sounds that they made right before death, but when it came to eating their flesh, he was very much an enthusiast.

After three hefty portions of the meaty stew being served, Jin left the food hall feeling, for the first time in a while, truly human.

The rest, the meat, the fact that he was once again home and free to walk around without an escort. It truly was an amazing feeling.

He didn't even mind that much having to go down the mountain to look at the zombies. It would be interesting after all. But, inadvertently as he passed inner disciples on the long staircase downward, his thoughts inevitably went into the direction of how exactly one could turn what he would see into a game.

The biggest issue that he saw was the fact that what the General Shroud had described to be a zombie, was not necessarily going to conform to his previous world's understanding of what a zombie was.

After all, this world's reanimated corpses, the hopping Jiangshi, were only zombies on a very technical level. Reanimated corpses with a very odd movement ability for sure, they didn't fit his old world's definition because they lacked one defining quality.

Namely, they did not have the capacity to infect others and turn them into zombies.

Each Jiangshi was an entirely individual creation upkept by a complicated talisman with a certain storage of qi that became self-replicating when cycled through a body that could still produce bioenergy.

The zombies from Jin's old world however were more the result, in most fiction, of an infectious parasitic disease which sought to spread through humans.

Even if the zombies captured by the army fit the requirements exhibited by the zombies in Jin's previous world in terms of looks, movement and attack vectors, if there was no infectious attribute then it all became useless. The possibility of becoming a zombie while still alive was where the horror came from. Without it, the narratives of the games that he remembered didn't make a lot of sense.

And if he couldn't transcribe a narrative, simply having to rely on his observation of the monster to create a simple scenario as was common here, then he would inadvertently lose the challenge because there were surely other inner disciples who were more capable than him at creating non-narrative non-innovative Illusion Rooms.

He couldn't even make a game like the ones he knew himself, with his own storyline, if this was the case, because of the very short time frame that they had to actually develop the scenario. Additionally, considering that he was apparently supposed to work in a team, it was very much in the air if he could convince other disciples to follow his creative vision.

"Halt in the name of the Empire," a bored voice suddenly said in front of Jin, causing him to look up at the two soldiers who barred his entrance into the army camp by crossing their bone-white swords.

He'd been so lost and thought he hadn't even realised that he'd traversed the entirety of the mountain during the last hour and had arrived at the bottom.

"I'm from the Illusion Room Sect, here to look at the monsters that you hold captive," Jin said clearly at which the two guards clad in their light black carapace armour uncrossed their swords and let him through without another word.

His momentary blocked passage was just a formality. Who else, other than the disciples working on the scenario, would go all the way here into this relatively obscure valley where only one sect lives, to enter the camp?

For some reason, Jin didn't think that in a world united by the permanent threat of incursions from demons, there were that many people interested in infiltrating the camps of armies which were composed mostly of mortals.

Surely, if one wanted to steal something, there were easier or richer targets abound.

After stepping into the camp, suddenly finding himself standing on a branching path full of neatly organised tents with soldiers lounging in front of them, Jin wondered for a second how he was supposed to find where the zombies were imprisoned.

This was an army of around 30,000 people. It was essentially a small city of tents.

He was just wondering if he should ask someone when a resounding cheer suddenly erupted from a point not far away from him.

Already suspecting what he was going to find, Jin quickly turned in that direction and started walking.

He didn't find the army encampment particularly interesting so he didn't feel the need to linger.

It was essentially just a large assortment of sweaty smelly men who looked at him warily because of his obvious status as a cultivator, and who were unlikely to be dialogue partners of any particular interest.

Even the surroundings themselves were uninteresting in their uniformity and while this was Jin's first time walking through such a place and thus his first time seeing the way that ancient armies organised their camps, it wasn't really anything special.

What was interesting, however, was the large cage made out of overlapping wooden bars that he found upon reaching the source of the noise.

As he had expected, this little clearing in the middle of the tent city was indeed the place where the zombies were stored. However, upon making his way for the crowd who respectfully let him pass, opening up a little circle of space in their midst, he found that it wasn't only zombies in the enclosure.

They were ugly things, looking approximately how he'd expected them to look. Half rotten, in a state of decay with exposed bones and tendons, they shambled and moaned around like Computer Science students after someone had forced them to play sports for longer than five minutes.

No, what surprised him was that inside the enclosure along with four of these badly kept corpses, was a man garbed in the leather armour and cap of the low-rank infantry who danced around his enemies and smacking away their jaws and claws with the flat side of his sword.

"Are they already practising?" Jin asked himself out loud not expecting an answer.

"No, idiot. The general told them to get in there so that we can get an idea of how they move," a voice set from Jin's right causing him to glance there and see that he was standing next to Lung Junior, dressed in his typical non-standard disciple garb, This time an elaborate robe of what looks to be silk with patterns of trees and rivers stitched onto it. His long ponytail had what seemed to be little shards of Spirit Stone woven into it.

The boy, man, grandpa, having noticed who he'd spoken to after Jin had turned his head decisively, looked away and put his nose further in the air.

Jin, not feeling like starting a conversation, also focused back on the zombies.

Both of them ended up observing the way the soldier deftly evaded the snatching attacks of the corpses inside the large wooden prison in which they'd been confined.

The question now was. How closely did these zombies resemble those that Jin knew from his previous life?

Even if the answer ended up being, not very much, being here with the photographic memory still meant that by looking at how they moved he would get the general idea of how he could model them for later.

He settled himself into a comfortable standing position to start the information-gathering process of scenario development.

Chapter 25: The Infection Question

It was perhaps after an hour of watching the zombies attempting to kill the soldiers who went in to fight them in rounds of five minutes, that Jin had gathered enough data to properly make a memory file.

There was just one last thing that he wanted to know.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Lung Junior had already left, so this just left him the option of turning to his left where what looked to be an older more highly-placed soldier was watching the event with observant eyes.

"They don't get tired, do they?" he asked.

The man startled, probably surprised that a cultivator had bothered to talk to him, before slowly nodding. "They don't sleep, they don't rest, if they have something to attack they will just charge at it relentlessly. Leave them alone for a bit and they'll just push their bodies against the walls, scratching at the wood."

Jin nodded thoughtfully. In a more rational world, their state of perpetual motion would have made sense through the fact that the parasitic disease in there was at the same time cannibalising it for energy as it was moving it around. Here, in this world, it could just be explained with magic, so the explanation didn't bring him any closer to understanding the phenomenon.

"Honestly, I don't know why everyone is in such a tiff about these things. They're about as threatening as the average beggar we have to sometimes put in the slammer for public disobedience back in the city," the soldier muttered. "The scratches they leave are annoying though," he said, putting up an arm to show that he had an inflamed lesion covering a small part of it. It looked like it was developing into a painful rash.

"From what I understand, the issue is not that they are individually particularly threatening, but rather that there is a fuckton of them," Jin answered absentmindedly, still using his eyes to process the movement data of the zombies. "The issue will also be that once the main force of them arrives at the borders… They don't have to rest, they can just endlessly push against the walls in a wave of bodies. The quantity has a quality of its own."

The soldier snorted, seemingly talkative now that a cultivator was actually being polite instead of saying something about eradicating bloodlines and face-slapping. "I'm more afraid of those goddamn demons that are gonna be flying above them and fighting with the cultivators. More likely to die as collateral damage than get killed by these stupid things," he said. Then he shook his head, scratching at the wound on his arm. "Whatever, I'm gonna go to the medical tent to get this checked out. It's been itching like crazy for an hour now."

Jin paused in his visual processing. "When did you get the wound?" he asked. Perhaps it would be good to know if he should add some poison damage to the zombies if they weren't infectious. Nevertheless, the fact that the man next to him had a scratch from the things, with his previous cultural experience and influences… he deliberately took a step away and looked at him from the side.

"This morning, I was one of the first. Accident as well, damned thing just tripped into me changing its attack rhythm," the man said. "We were told to start fighting them so that you could observe."

"Yeah, we should probably get that checked out. Rub some alcohol on it, I don't know," Jin muttered and was just about to leave when he suddenly heard a series of screams.

It was a very different sound from the cheering that he had heard intermittently from the crowd around him as people spectated the impromptu cage fights.

It was the sound of terror, not jubilation. He perked up, his enhanced senses immediately locating the source to be one of the non-normative large green tents set up a few hundred metres away.

The man next to him perked up as well, confirming Jin's suspicion that he was some sort of officer.

The other soldiers simply looked around in confusion as a first reaction, while the two of them were already running.

Jin pushed his way through a few other Illusion Room sect disciples who'd just arrived and didn't seem to have much of a measured reaction to the event either and were just looking around confusedly.

Pushing his way through the crowd was surprisingly easy now considering he was more than twice as strong as the average mortal, and it also helped that the soldiers parted for him like the sea in front of Moses when they glimpsed his easily identifiable robes in a sea of black chitin and leather.

He arrived in front of the medical tent, designated as such by the large symbol of healing that it had above its rolled-up entrance, and the scene that he found there chilled him to the bone.

A woman dressed in green high-quality robes was running out of the tent clutching at her hand which was oozing blood. A shambling animalistic form of a soldier dressed in the black uniform raced after her. Jin's eyes immediately identified the fact that there was no intelligence in the movement or in the gaze of the man who was chasing and that the blood around his mouth indicated that he had been the aggressor.

Fuck, was what his mind thought while his body was already moving.

A hand went up to his neck where he released the miniature lance hanging from the chain that he'd fastened. He ripped it off, having no time for niceties and channelled his qi into the construct. It enlarged in a movement that took less than a second. His body shot forward acting on pure instinct and training as the lance, blunt side first smashed out to break the left and then the right kneecap of the infected soldier.

The man fell to the ground, but to further provide evidence he was no longer human, there was no surprise or hesitation due to the injury and he simply started using his arms to move forward. Jin spun his lance again and smashed both elbows leaving a groaning and slobbering mess on the floor.

"What have you done?" a voice suddenly asked from behind Jin causing him to look back to see that the officer he had been talking to previously had caught up and was looking in horror at the mangled body of what had probably once been a comrade on the floor.

Not thinking too much about it, working completely on instinct, Jin's hand shot forward to grasp the man by the neck. He didn't know how or why, but these zombies could infect other humans and turn them into more zombies. Just like in his old world.

As the officer grasped at Jin's arm, trying to release the hold with his feeble strength, Jin channelled qi into the appendage to prevent the man from breaking his skin. At the same time, his right arm shot out to the healer who had found refuge at his side to grab her by the nape of her neck and hold her up facing away from himself so that she couldn't bite him.

That was how General Shroud found him, as he descended from the skies smashing into the earth, and breaking it apart in circular ringlets around his landing spot. He looked at Jin with murderous eyes and released a wave of intent that almost made the disciple faint.

Jin held on through the panic because this wasn't a situation where he could allow weakness. He knew how this situation looked like; two of the man's subordinates grasped his hands trying to break free, while the third one lay crippled on the floor trying to use his teeth to drag himself to more victims.

The other soldiers who had also been present were thankfully standing in a ring around Jin and not approaching their turned comrade, knowing somehow instinctually that things weren't adding up.

"General Shroud," Jin said quickly before a misunderstanding could happen. "I'm glad you've arrived quickly. I have horrible news. The zombies can infect humans, and it is perhaps too late for any of the soldiers who have received scratches or bite wounds from the sparring that has been occurring since this morning." He of course didn't know the exact situation that clearly, but a sense of urgency was to be communicated at the moment. Everything else could come later.

He could see the general's eyes widen as his pupils flickered down to the crippled zombie/soldier who was not in the state of mind that a human should be in and then at the two people held in Jin's grasp, both of whom had for a cultivator easily identified injuries on their bodies.

Jin blinked.

When his eyes opened again, his hands were suddenly empty and two unconscious bodies were held under the general's right arm. A boot held the crippled zombie face down on the ground and the general was looking at Jin more warmly than he had upon first arrival.

"Stay here," the man ordered before disappearing as if he had never been there in the first place, alongside all three victims.

Seconds later, Jin heard orders shouted from different parts of the camp and saw the whole army start mobilising in a cold and efficient manner. He could guess their task.

They were to gather up everyone who had been in contact with the zombies and drag them into a common prison.

Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.

-/-

Baffled once again by the efficiency of the cultivators when they set their mind to something, it was only 15 minutes after the attack that Jin found himself standing in a medical tent cleared of all normal staff along with a few very distinct personalities.

On one side was General Shroud along with what seemed to be his main assistant, a man in the robes of a military scribe. In comparison to how Jin had seen the general the day before at the Pagoda, the man was now clearly agitated and one could feel it in the atmosphere. It was the first time that Jin felt such a high-level cultivator feel distressed in his presence, he noted that it was not a pleasant experience.

Next to Jin stood Elder Flower, who was present primarily because if it was he who was to be interrogated about the events by the general, then there needed to be someone from his faction to represent his interests.

Of course, it hadn't been phrased that way, but had simply been described as 'the boy should be questioned in the presence of his master.' Even though that was not the relationship that he and Flower actually shared.

Additionally present was one woman dressed in green robes of a lighter variety than the one who had been bitten, and the functionally quadriplegic zombie that Jin had created minutes ago. He was tied to a bed, all limbs, broken as they were, restrained by leather straps.

"I think everyone important has gathered here," the green-robed woman said with a frown on her face and a glare towards Jin. "Perhaps the boy can start explaining now? Why exactly one of mine is traumatised," she said brusquely. She was a cultivator of some sort if this was how she dared to talk in the presence of the people present.

Jin coughed into his fist once again confronted with speaking to a variety of people who had the ability to crush him like a bug if they so desired.

"I was watching the soldiers spar with the zombies when I had an interesting thought," he began, only to be interrupted by the green-robed healer and her perilously flared nostrils.

"Get to the point!" she demanded, nearly shouting.

Elder Flower put a hand to the hilt of her sword, causing the woman to pale, shut her mouth and stand at attention.

"Let the boy speak," said General Shroud.

Jin once again coughed awkwardly into his fist. "As I was saying, I was watching the soldier's spar when I became curious about where exactly these corpses were finding the energy to move. After all, we know that mortals unable to access qi require sustenance to generate energy. The zombies are seemingly similarly disadvantaged considering that they have no significant heavenly energy in their bodies. After all, if they had it hidden somewhere, then a mortal would have never been able to fight them to a standstill, let alone four of them. While of course, this could simply be because of some complicated energy systems implanted by the demons, I thought of perhaps another possibility," he paused. "More specifically, about the possibility of parasites."

"I've seen demonic cultivators use them for their purposes before. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to assume that the demons could do the same," Elder Flower mused out loud, a gesture that might have seemed random but was clearly in support of Jin.

Jin nodded gratefully. "Particularly, I thought about those parasites which when they inhabit a host also kill it and then simply guide it along the path of their proliferation like a new flesh vehicle. The energy for the movement is provided by eating the host from the inside. This was at the time simply a hypothesis I was considering to better understand the scenario I could create with the zombies as a focal point."

"It would make sense," the scribe next to General Shroud spoke up. "Of course, the demons would prefer to create simply one disease and let it spread rather than individually turning all of these corpses. A waste of qi which they could better use to fight the cultivators and let their new bioweapon shred into the ranks underneath."

"I was thinking something similar to that," Jin muttered. "Regardless, the soldier next to me, we spoke, I don't remember what about. He showed me a wound that he'd gotten from the zombies after sparring with them earlier. It was inflamed, as one would expect from a wound caused by a corpse. Those things are by no means clean. Then we heard a scream and I rushed to the medical tent to see that a soldier with a similar wound but with no intelligence or humanity left in his eyes was attacking one of the healers. He had bitten her hand, which was a weird priority for someone to have, but also reminded me of the fact that all the zombies in the cage had been simply attempting to scratch and bite people instead of for example punching them, kicking them, or headbutting them. This got me thinking that the goal was not to kill their adversaries, but to wound them and to transfer some sort of…" he trailed off. "You know what I mean. Everything is speculation. I could be wrong and have crippled the soldier for no good reason, at which point I would accept punishment for my stupidity."

"The theory with the parasites is as feasible as any theory, albeit something that will have to be verified by someone qualified to speak on such matters." General Shroud decided. "Naturally, there are many odd and dangerous techniques in the world that you do not know of so there might always be another answer. But what matters the form of the scheme if the result is the same? As for your punishment, if you're correct and being a zombie is an infectious condition then there will be none. If you are wrong, then you shall suffer the same indignity that you inflicted on the two wounded. Being held by the scruff of your neck by someone stronger than you who does not know their strength and who could very easily break something if they're not careful."

Jin looked down in shame, in hindsight, he had certainly overreacted. What was the likelihood that the soldier and the wounded healer would turn quickly enough for his apprehension to be necessary?

The scribe spoke next. "Whereas your intentions were certainly just and I understand and respect your line of reasoning, the issue in your actions lies in the fact that you took into your own hands the justice that is reserved for those in the army's command structure. I understand why you had to stop the rampaging soldier," he nodded his head towards the tied-down functional quadriplegic with a gag in his mouth who was desperately straining against his restraints, "but everything else was an overstepping of your position. Nevertheless, for protecting others I think it is only just that you do not receive the appropriate whipping that your overstepping would have generally demanded on principle. The punishment for that, in particular, will be left to your sect," he decided, seemingly speaking from some sort of rulebook.

Jin nodded and turned his head to look awkwardly at Elder Flower who was standing next to him. Would the sect punish him?

A smack suddenly hit the back of his head making it lurch forward and down. He hadn't even seen her raise her hand.

"Don't do it again," she said. "Idiot," she added after a few seconds of contemplation. Then the Elder turned towards the general. "Now we wait?"

The general nodded seriously. "This one," he started, referring to the gagged man, zombie? "was one of the first to be sent to spar with the zombies. But there were others after him who also carried away scratches and bite marks. We should know soon enough if the boy's theory holds. Let us hope that it doesn't."

"I'm not needed here then. There are people I could be helping instead of wasting my time," the green-robed woman said in a cold voice before leaving the tent as the other four attendees of the meeting sat down on little foldable leather stools.

The mood was sombre, as they waited for the results. While Jin's punishment was one of the things on the line, the other issue was that if the zombie army could infect others, then their threat rating had suddenly shot up by several magnitudes.