Alina and Sigi gave Jack, and me, the hook-up. We got the contact information for the communication tablet of one of the Elders of a Sect known as the Tree of Passionate Verdance. One of the many branch-sects and subordinate sects that made up, and/or existed beneath the umbrella of the Forest of Life and Death.

If it sounded like we were going to get to join the Forest of Life and Death directly. Well, it sort of sounded that way to us too, but I guess this was like expecting to be able to get a backdoor entrance into the Ivy League despite having no formal background, and no prior formal education.

Honestly, all things considered, the hookup we 'did' get wasn't that bad either. After I looked around a bit, using the ever-expanding data-sampling and data-analysis powers granted to me by the [Tale of the Fool] and the [Tale of the Empty Archivist's Heir], the deal wasn’t all that bad. The Tree of Passionate Verdance was one of the Forest of Life and Death main, or central, branch-sects.

These central branch-sects were the ones that were closed to the Forest of Life and Death, and basically served like junior-offshoots. As such, the connection between the Tree of Passionate Verdance and the Forest of Life and Death, was tight enough that getting high-up in the Tree of Passionate Verdance often meant an admission into the Forest of Life and Death.

For example, the man that Jack and I were going to be meeting in a few days, was an Elder in the Tree of Passionate Verdance, and an inner-disciple in the Forest of Life and Death. According to my research, such arrangements were common for the Forest of Life and Death and its main group of subordinate-sects. Meaning, if Jack and I really wanted to become members of the Forest of Life and Death, it wouldn’t be too hard for us to parlay any results gained in the junior-sect into an admission to the senior-sect.

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Trefor Pradhan, Elder of the Tree of Passionate Verdance, and Inner-court Disciple of the Forest of Life and Death, sat in the modest apartment and office that his status with the Tree of Passionate Verdance afforded him. Trefor Pradhan was a tall, muscular man, with dark caramel skin. Trefor had a lackadaisical feel about him. He had an angular face with a pointed chin, a bulbous nose, large ears, defined cheekbones and full lips. His green eyes were wide, and he had bushy eyebrows, and a well-groomed goatee. His green-brown hair was knee-length and curly, and was worn in long braids.

Trefor was currently killing time by watching a pre-recorded, old-world, drama on television. Old-world devices and weapons became easier to find in the higher-realms due to the higher number of ruins and untouched wastes in the higher-realms. Toss in the tens and thousands of years that folk had been given to try and replace, and/or substitute, circuitry and old world science, for arrays and runic enchantments used today, and Trefor was of the opinion that it’d only take a few more centuries for the Shattered World to enter another technologically golden age. They just needed a couple key breakthroughs.

Trefor’s pocket began to chime and hum. He pulled out his communication tablet. A device that combined simple computers with communication jades, and served as evidence of his beliefs, because for as much as the communication tablets were extremely limited, and extremely expensive, but in terms of function they were “almost” comparable to the smartphones of old. Albeit, the crappiest, most simplistic, ones.

“Yo, who dis?” said Trefor. Pausing the drama because he didn’t want to miss it if Ji-Yeong said yes to Rich Malcolm's proposal.

“Elder Pradhan, this is Wen Chen. I’m calling to remind you of your 3:15 appointments,” said the dry, light, voice of Trefor’s secretary. A junior of his, who had a tendency of acting like an Aunty, despite the broad difference in their ages.

Admittedly, Wen Chen “was” probably one of the major reasons that Trefor had gotten as far as he had over their years together, because her nagging ways had kept him on task, when Trefor’s nature would have him forgetting most of the things that he needed to get done, and getting distracted by trivialities. Trefor had basically just been a porter for the Forest of Life and Death when he met her, and he probably would have stayed as such without her firm brand of aid.

“Oh, shoot...Is it that time already? Fine, give me a few minutes and you can start sending them in,” said Trefor.

The first of Trefor’s five interviews of the day was a young woman by the name of Zhou Weifen. A young miss from the Low-realm. Hailing from the Flame-Wolf Empire of the 15th Pearl. Trefor didn’t spend too much time with her. Nor did he intend to spend too much time with his other interviewees.

Everyone meeting him today was basically a lock for entry into the sect anyway. Cultivation was always a risky and dangerous proposition. Thus if one looks at the resources spent on the unlucky dead, and the wastrels whose talents would never blossom, as a sort of sunk cost, there was no problem with setting aside a few presumptively “sacrificed” positions as a means of building up political stock. Today's interviews were just to decide where the best places to put these so-called "sacrifices" would be.

The next interviewee, Yin Qing was officially just a friend of young Miss Zhou’s, but clearly had been sent along to act as a sort of supporter, and lady-in-waiting. Trefor just went through the motions with her as well. The third interviewee was a girl named by Hong Soomin. The surname was familiar. Elder Trefor didn’t make things difficult for the girl, because he was a personal friend of sect-enforcer Hong Mirae. He imagined that the tough, sharp-edged woman must have called in some favors to get her little niece into the sect.

It was only in the fourth interview that things took a turn for the “different”. Trefor let his secretary Wen Chen know that she could send in the next interviewee. Then in came a demoness. No, not just some mere demoness. A demon lord. A devil. A fiendish dragon in human form. She was tall, fit, and slender. Her beauty was devastating and distinct.

She’d dressed in a simple charcoal pants-suit, with a pair of black flats. Her skin was almost unhealthily pale, and her hair was a waterfall of snow-white waves. Trefor found himself startled into properly paying attention as she entered the room. Her aura wasn’t entirely in full display, but there was enough of it, showing that Trefor felt pressured, despite having already reached the Middle-stage of the August-rank.

They went through the steps of the interview. Trefor got the young woman’s name, and age, and went through the usual questions regarding the woman’s intentions, expectations, and qualifications. Then Trefor asked the question that was really on his mind.

“So, Mrs. Calloway... Why do I get the sense that you’re not really sweating this whole process?” said Trefor.

“Hm? Was I supposed to be? From the impression I was given by our mutual acquaintance, this is pretty much a sure thing...And well, even if that’s not the case, I’m pretty confident in my ability to prove that I’m the kind of person your sect needs,” said the woman.

“Okay,...and your cultivation? What can you tell me about that?”

“There’s not much to tell. My partner and I have managed to make it all the way to either the late Primordial, or early True-Soul, ranks. Now we’d like the chance to earn some further guidance and aid, in going further,” said the woman.

Trefor raised his eyebrows, but something about the woman's confident bearing kept him from questioning her statement.

The fifth interview was the most strange of the bunch. For a few seconds, Trefor found himself uncertain if the interviewee was a no-show. Then he realized that the person he was supposed to meet was present all along. The interviewee had literally been sitting right in front of him, the whole time that Trefor had been waiting. There was a young man that had entered the room at the appointed time. The newcomer’s aura had just become almost completely merged with the essence of heaven and earth. Making it hard to notice the newcomer’s presence if he didn’t go out of his way to make his aura surge.

Trefor blinked as he observed the young man. Dark skin. Dark hair. Eyes so dark and bleak that Trefor found his gaze shying away from the other man's gaze. Trefor ended up needing to take a second to get back into the flow of things.

He was surprised to find that the stranger’s aura was almost thrice as stifling as the pale-haired woman’s aura was. It was more than enough to make Trefor wonder how he’d failed to notice it before. It was as if he was in one of those old sailor’s tales about docking at an island, only to later discover that the island was actually a sea monster. Once Elder Trefor realized what had happened, he went through the usual questions. Then he asked the question that had been on his mind this whole time.

“So...Mr. Calloway, exactly how far have you gotten with your cultivation?”

“Mhm...Late Primordial-rank, or Early True-Soul Rank,” said the man.

“So... you’re saying that both you and your wife have both managed to reach the Primordial-rank before thirty?” said Trefor.

“Yes…” said the man.

“Well, I hope you don’t mind if I ask you to show me? This building and this room, in particular, have been shielded so you needn’t worry about disturbing the environment,” said Trefor.

“Okay,” said the man. A tidal wave of pressure flowing off of him, and all but sending Trefor flying, to the back of the room. Pressing Trefor up against the wall until the pressure was mercifully reduced.