A few minutes of chaos later everyone was lined up. I was in line with Zach and Hannah. Once again I was staring at Zach's massive back muscles. They were a thing of beauty.
When we got closer to the front of the line I could see we were headed to an outbuilding. It looked like they'd be examining us behind closed doors so we couldn't pry into each other's secrets.
Soon I was proven correct as Zach was taken into the building. Drat, I wanted to know his secrets. A few minutes later the examiner came for me and I said goodbye to Hannah. I was taken into a small room scarcely large enough to accommodate me, the examiner, and a table. I don't know how Zach managed to squeeze in. On the table was the same orb that Li Kai had used on me when I was younger.
"Name?" The examiner emotionless spat out.
"Zoey Emilia Seeker," I answered.
"Ahh yes, you're the reason the cafeteria food improved eight years ago aren't you?" He asked rhetorically, "Age?"
"Thirteen," I replied, knowing that the inner sect disciple in front of me had probably not been informed of my exception. And my expectations were correct.
"Thirteen? You can't be thirteen. Thirteen-year-olds can't cultivate. What is your real age?" He grumbled. I could practically see my evaluation score dropping by the second.
"Li Kai informed the sect of my condition. I don't know how you keep track of these things, but there should be a record of it with someone here. Long story short, my life was in danger a few years ago. I used a forbidden technique that consumed a year of my life force in exchange for a temporary boost of power. The end result, minus the growth I would've gotten otherwise, I'm now physically one year older than my real age. Zero out of ten, do not recommend. If I had known then I'd be stuck at this height, I would've just accepted death." I listlessly explained my situation.
The examiner, who had been stoic so far, seemed to be stifling giggles as I explained the reason for my cursed stature. At least someone was gaining amusement from my suffering I guess. "Ah, the elder-in-charge did mention there would be an exception. I could run and check with him, but your story sounds believable. I can see you have open meridians, but I also see that you look too young for that. Your story fills in that gap. That being said, you are aware that we frown on the use of forbidden techniques right?" The examiner continued
"I wasn't aware, but it makes sense, the drawbacks aren't worth the results of using them. As for my situation, I wasn't even aware I was using a forbidden technique at the time, I was just trying to survive and somehow discovered it. I will never use the technique again if I can avoid it." I said sheepishly.
"But you could use it again if you wanted?" The examiner inquired.
"It's a thing I know now, etched into my brain by a traumatic experience. I can't just oh so easily forget it. But, as I said earlier, I would probably choose death before using it again."
"Fair enough, we'll test you as a fourteen-year-old, now what's your cultivation level?" He continued the exam.
"Late-stage qi-gathering. Eight open meridians." I responded.
"Really? Eight meridians? Do junior cultivators with eight meridians grow like cabbages now?"
"It's true, you can test me!"
"Very well, but if the test comes up differently, you owe me one hundred sect contribution points." The examiner said sinister.
This senior was trying to scam me. New juniors received an ample amount of contribution points when they joined the sect, but they were often cheated and scammed out of almost all of them by seniors who were running short on points. The sect turned a blind eye. They viewed it as character-building.
The examiner pulled out what looked like an ordinary, blank stone tablet with a groove for a hand. I placed my hand in the groove, and words appeared on the top of the tablet "qi-gatherer. late-stage. 8 meridians."
"Well I'll be, another one of you appeared. What did they put in the water this year to get so many strong juniors?" The examiner seemed to be questioning his life. "How long have you been cultivating for?"
"Three moons to the day. If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure the rest of the crowd has only seven open meridians or less." I replied while reveling in his discomfort.
"Three moons?! That has got to be a record! And no it does not. Do you mean to tell me only I have to suffer these face-slaps, while my fellow brothers do not?"
"Most likely. Zach was the only other eight meridian qi-gatherer I could find aside from a few old fogies who will fail because they're old."
"Well, we better continue the exam before the elder comes to find out why my line stalled."
"Before that, where's my 100 contribution points?" I asked. If he was going to con me, I'd con him right back.
"What contribution points? I never agreed to that?" He exclaimed.
"You made me gamble 100 contribution points against the result of the tablet, naturally you'd have to put up 100 contribution points of your own to satisfy the bet. You lost, so where are my points? I have it all recorded on this talisman." I pulled out a blank recording talisman, I hadn't actually recorded anything, but he didn't know that. Even if I had used it, these talismans were cheap, not even worth one contribution point because talisman students had to create thousands of them.
The examiner looked like a deer caught in headlights. After a moment he finally responded, "You got me, they'll be added to your sect badge before you receive it. I doubt I have to worry about a crafty and strong little bugger like you failing the entrance exam."
"They better be, I've memorized your qi signature. I'll hunt you down if necessary."
The examiner actually seemed a little terrified about that like I was an evil gremlin that would haunt his dreams.
"Next up is your root and physique. We have it down as Lunar Beast Form and a Supreme Yin-5 element root, nice. Just need to confirm that it is correct." The examiner said next.
"There have been some changes, I was gifted a fire lotus and I consumed it before I arrived here. Cultivating it at night with my technique mixed some yin in and so both my fire and yin roots have improved. From what I know of your testing apparatus, it won't detect the other four roots even though they're still there. Make sure to note the previous measurement along with the new one and the consumption of the lotus to indicate the new measurement was artificially obtained. Otherwise, an elder might mistake me for a dual-root genius." I told him.
"A fire lotus? Now I'm jealous. Already got suitors lining up to give you amazing gifts do you?" The examiner teased.
I turned red immediately, "It's not like that! Fred is a friend!"
"And you're even friend-zoning them, how heartless."
I glared into the examiner's soul in response. He decided to swallow his taunts and presented me with the testing orb. As expected, it showed my physique that Eternians misidentified as Lunar Beast Form and the yin and fire roots which were encircled in a bright white prismatic light.
"Divine yin and fire roots like expected. I know you said it would be so, but dang, divine roots? Even if you obtained them artificially, I would not want to be on the other side of any yin or fire techniques you produce."
"What about a combined yin and fire technique?" I said as I lit some frostfire in the palm of my hand.
"That's just devious. I'm sorry I tried to rob you of contribution points earlier. Can we start over and be friends? The name is Dan Derryberry." Dan extended his hand to shake.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, it was just a friendly gamble, right Dan?" I extended my own hand with the frostfire still dancing about my palm.
Dan hesitated, then grasped my hand and shook it. The frostfire was my own, I controlled who and what it hurt. By still grasping my hand, Dan was showing that he was choosing to trust me and hoped I would trust him in return. This was a common gesture among cultivators where one party did not trust the other. If neither party trusted the other, they would both use a palm technique. The important part of the gesture was that the parties had to be capable of hurting each other. If I was just a normal qi-gatherer, my fire would only tickle Dan, but just with what Dan could see he was reasonably sure I could hurt him. When he sensed the chill of the frostfire, he was certain I could hurt him. Dan was delightfully pleased when his hand neither froze nor burned.
"Well that's all for this portion of the exam, you may move on to the next segment. You'll be participating in a battle royally with ninety-nine of your fellow juniors. The first fifty eliminated in each battle will lose their chance to join the sect, the remaining fifty will be ranked according to the time they managed to stay in the ring. Your rank will be converted into a score that will be combined with your score in all of the other segments to determine if you will be joining the sect and, if so, whether you'll be an inner or outer sect disciple. Anyone who ranks less than 100th place will fail, the sect reserves the right to eliminate more participants if they aren't good enough. From one hundred to twenty first place will join the sect as outer sect disciples. Twentieth and up will join as inner sect disciples. First place, may even get to join as a core disciple if they are exceptional enough. Aside from that, inner sect disciples and above may catch the eye of elders and be directly taken as their disciples, receiving resources and training above and beyond what they get from the sect. The file on you says that Li Kai already claims you, should you rank twentieth or higher. Nice job, that old man has a reputation for being hard to please." Dan recited the important information to me.
Dan then tore off a piece of parchment with some information on it. "This is your participant information. Right here is the ring you'll be fighting in, follow the signs." Dan then hurried me out. It seemed he remembered he had a job to do.
Dan had ushered me out the back of the building. Flags seemed to mark a path that went up a Cliffside in a series of switchbacks. The other examinees were already walking up the path. I saw Zach waiting for Hannah and I. It was a long walk, and they wouldn't start the next phase until all the participants completed the first phase and walked up the cliffside anyway. Might as well enjoy the walk with company.