Alistair would have laughed if he wasn't so busy being irritated. The test was completely different from what his father and uncle had said. There was no such thing as "The Trials"! There was no martial arts section, no test on herbal or alchemical knowledge, no tournament between aspirants.

No, the Falling Star Sect was too cheap to spend that much on acquiring outer disciples. Instead, they'd created an artifact called the Stone of Ascension. It scanned your meridians, spiritual root, and physique to see how much overall cultivation talent you had. You'd get a score of 0-100 based on the results, while the test giver would get a jade slip with more detailed information.

Alistair quickly used Eye of Insight on himself, a nervous flutter running through his stomach as he remembered selecting the Random Talent detriment during his reincarnation thirteen years ago. He hadn’t scanned himself for years, having gotten used to the idea that scanning himself was useless. But now his meridians, spiritual root, and physique should be stabilized. Which meant scanning himself would actually give useful information.

ALISTAIR STARFALL Age: 13 Sex: Male Race: Human Spiritual Root: Samsara Flame Spiritual Root Meridians: Ordinary Mortal Physique: Ordinary Mortal Bloodline: None Cultivation Level: None Occupation: Heir of the Starfall Clan Description: A person who reincarnated with his memories intact. He gained a few other prizes from reincarnation, but was also cursed. He tends to be cold and distant towards others due to his inability to truly connect with them. He has a single minded focus mixed with a sharp intelligence, allowing him to quickly master subjects others struggle with. But this same focus and intelligence is the main reason he struggles with social interaction.

Well. That wasn't promising. His Samsara Flame Spiritual Root was fantastic. Probably. Mutant spiritual roots were almost always stronger than ordinary spiritual roots. Which meant that his Samsara Flame Spiritual Root should be of an even higher grade than a normal Fire Spiritual Root of 100% purity. Seriously, with a name like "Samsara Flame," it had better be better than a normal spiritual root!

But besides his spiritual root, everything else was… Well, it was terrible.

Alistair considered for a moment, then bit his lip and opened his Improvement System. He'd wanted to see if there were any arts or techniques for improving his talent inside the sect before spending any of his precious points, but it didn't look like he had much choice. He had no idea if his talent was enough to get into the sect. And he couldn't risk not getting into the sect.

He quickly opened the Improvement System screen.

IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM! Points: 4782 Current rate of point production: +1 per day Selected Target: Alistair Starfall Category: Physical IMPROVEMENTS! COST! Improve Memory -550 Improve Thinking Speed -620 Improve Calculation Ability -670 Improve Spiritual Root -25000 Improve Meridians -490 Improve Physique -750 See different category? Yes/No

Alistair almost grinned at seeing that it would cost 25000 points to upgrade his spiritual root. Almost. But that would ruin his image as an unflappable young master with the other aspirants.

He made a quick decision, having calmed down enough to consider the problem logically. He'd scan the first person to pass to check their stats, then make his decision after that.

“Alright. All of you, form a line!” The test giver barked out. Alistair stayed where he was as everybody else quickly moved. After all, his plan wouldn’t work if he was at the front.

The first person walked up to the Stone of Ascension. It was a massive black and white stone, taller than a man and twice as wide. It was perfectly smooth, at least as far as Alistair could tell from where he was standing. It was shaped almost like a bullet, but with a flat side facing the would-be disciples. When Alistair looked closely, he could see that it glowed with a faint violet light.

Did that mean it had been created by a Violet Palace expert? Or was there a different reason?

“Stand in front of the stone and place your palm flat against it,” The test giver instructed. “It will fully examine you before assigning a score.”

The boy licked his lips nervously. Alistair could see dampness on the back of his robes, probably caused by a nervous sweat. It was a wonderful temperature outside, so he figured it wasn’t natural.

The aspirant clenched his jaw like he was about to be struck, then pressed his palm flat against the Stone of Ascension. Everybody, even Alistair, couldn’t help but hold their breaths for a moment as they waited. Then, a number made of gentle golden light flashed into existence on the stone.

17

The test giver grunted. “Acceptable. Get behind me.”

The boy let out a sigh of relief, then scurried to follow the order given. The test giver waited a moment, then glared at the next person in line until they hurriedly walked up to the Stone of Ascension.

9

The crowd stared at the score, then at the girl with her palm against the stone. Her whole body was stiff and she looked like she was about to cry.

The test giver gave her a cold look. “Failure,” He said, with all the cold, callous weight of an imperial decree.

The girl immediately broke down into huge, chest heaving sobs as she fled. Alistair watched her go, a lump forming in his chest. He quickly scanned her, then the boy who’d already passed.

MARIA TERRENCE Age: 13 Sex: Female Race: Human Spiritual Roots: Earth Root: 14% Purity Water Root: 23% Purity Fire Root: 7% Purity Meridians: Ordinary Mortal Physique: Ordinary Mortal Bloodline: None Cultivation Level: None Overall Talent: 9 Occupation: Farmer’s Daughter Description: An ordinary girl who dreamed of becoming an immortal, only to have her dream crushed after discovering her lack of talent. DEVON ISLES Age: 13 Sex: Male Race: Human Spiritual Root: Fire Root: 81% Purity Light Root: 3% Purity Meridians: Ordinary Mortal Physique: Ordinary Mortal Bloodline: None Cultivation Level: None Overall Talent: 17 Occupation: Outer Court Disciple of Falling Star Sect Description: The son of an Outer Court Elder of the Falling Star Sect. He made it into the sect fairly, but knew that his father would have found a way to get him in even if he had failed. He’s a petty, small-minded person who will gleefully punish others for his own failings and force others to do work he was assigned.

Alistair frowned at the description for Devon. It was honestly pretty pitiful. The sect clearly didn’t have high entrance standards. Perhaps the test was only meant to weed out those who had absolutely no future in cultivation? In any case, Alistair could afford to wait on spending his points. His Samsara Flame Spiritual Root, whatever it did, was certainly better than what Devon had. If Devon could get into the sect, Alistair easily could.

Much more relaxed, Alistair turned his focus on the other aspirants. Only about one in five passed the test, although there would occasionally be periods where nobody would pass for ten or twenty at a time or when several would pass in quick succession. As far as Alistair could tell without actually doing any math, the average score for those who passed seemed to be around fifteen.

The highest so far had been a twenty-one. The girl had been the subject of many gasps and words of amazement, but Alistair couldn’t bring himself to be impressive. She hadn’t even gotten a fourth of the highest possible score. Although she had had a bloodline. A thin and weak bloodline, but still a bloodline. It meant her cultivation base would automatically be stronger than a normal cultivator’s even if she didn’t put in much effort. Add that to her 80% purity Fire Spiritual Root, and Alistair expected her to have a bright future in the sect.

Then it was suddenly his turn.

He walked up to the Stone of Ascension with a carefully measured stride, going neither quickly or slowly. Alistair was, after all, the heir to the Starfall Clan. He always had to keep his public image in mind.

Honestly, Alistair wasn’t expecting all that great of a score. Sure, he was pretty sure that his spiritual root was amazing, but that was it. Maybe somewhere in the mid twenties? That seemed about right, given the other scores he’d seen.

Under the impatient gaze of the obviously bored test giver, Alistair put his palm flat against the Stone of Ascension. He felt something pulse through his body, then a number appeared on the stone.

34

Huh. Would you look at that? He’d been wrong. By nearly ten whole points. Looks like his spiritual root really was something special, if it was able to raise his score by such a drastic amount.

“Wh-what?” The test giver stammered. Then, suddenly realizing his loss of decorum, glared at Alistair. “Test yourself again!”

Alistair obliged, getting the same score of thirty-four. Whispers broke out amongst the crowd, but Alistair couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. It was only thirty-four. He’d barely gotten a third of the way to the top score. He’d understand if he’d gotten above fifty, or even above forty, but he was still in the thirties!

“Is there a problem?” He asked the test giver in his “clan heir” voice that he’d perfected over the years. The test giver, who was clearly somebody’s well trained lackey, responded immediately to the tone without stopping to realize who was asking the question.

“A score above twenty-five is unheard of, at least for a sect like ours,” He said absently, his mind clearly mulling over something else as he spoke on autopilot. “The Viridian Flame Sect will gather a handful every year and the Radiant Heavens Sect only accepts those with a talent of over twenty-five, but a little sect like ours almost never sees them. For someone to get a score of thirty-four… Well, it’s unbelievable.”

Huh. The more you know. Good thing he’d decided to wait on improving his meridians and physique. He might have gotten a lot of unwanted attention if he’d gotten into the forties.

Alistair waited a moment, then coughed lightly, breaking the test giver out of his daze. “May I-” He nodded at the small group of people behind the test giver.

The test giver blinked stupidly for a moment, then understood and flushed slightly. “Yes, yes, please join them. We’ll be going up to the sect as soon as these other four are tested.”

Alistair nodded and walked over to the group. A few people tried to talk to him, but he casually disregarded them. Alistair hated to act arrogant, but he also just couldn’t bring himself to care about a bunch of people who only cared about his talent. Maybe that was a stupid thing to think, given how so much of the world revolved around cultivation. But it was still his choice to make.

Once all the aspirants were finished, the test giver turned his attention to the new disciples.

"There's a few rules you need to know before getting to the sect," He said, his voice deadly serious. "First, you're the lowest of the low. The older outer court disciples are going to bully you. You're going to allow it because you have no choice. You have no cultivation, while they do. If an inner court disciple tells you to do something, you do it immediately and without delay because they can and will make your life hell. And if an elder wants something from you, then you give it to them. It doesn't matter how valuable it is. They can do whatever they want to fresh disciples like you. Understood?"

A mismatched chorus of "yes's" rang out. The test giver scowled.

"Hey!" He shouted, real anger flooding his voice. "I'm telling you this out of the goodness of my heart! You will thank me for it!" He paused, then a frosty smile graced his lips. "After all," He said, "I'm an inner court disciple."

The new outer court disciples glanced around at each other then, in unspoken unison, shouted, "Yes!" The test giver nodded.

"Good," He said silkily. "Now, march! I want to be back at the sect before sundown!"

Alistair blinked, slightly taken aback. He'd expected that the new disciples would be flown to the sect. It was something most sects did as a way to show off their wealth and power. And from what he knew, it was what the Falling Star Sect usually did.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the test giver. Perhaps the test giver had pocketed whatever tool was to be used to fly them all to the sect? Well, it really wasn't his problem. Reporting the test giver would just be a hassle and Alistair would gain nothing from it. No point in bothering.

A few hours of running while ignoring the others later, Alistair was at the sect gates. The run had been nothing special. Scenic, to be sure, but Alistair had experienced plenty of "scenic" back at the clan grounds. The gate was much more interesting. It, and the wall, towered over him. It was oppressive to his mind, body, and soul all at once, something Alistair suspected was a side effect of whatever formations had been woven into it. And it was guarded by a single, enormously fat man with a too-large grin on his round face.

"Alistair!" He boomed. "Good to see you again! But, eh, why do you look so bedraggled?"

Alistair shrugged ever-so-slightly. Enough that the high level cultivator could see it, but not enough for the other new disciples to notice. He intended to have a reputation of an aloof young master. Being seen shrugging at an elder would immediately put a sizable dent in that plan.

"The test giver had us run here, elder," He said truthfully. Just because he didn't intend to make a big deal about it didn't mean he would lie to an elder. Especially not one that was predisposed towards liking him.

The elder frowned. "Is that so?" He considered the problem for a moment, then shrugged. "I'll mention it to Jasper. He'll make sure little Benji doesn't do it again."

Alistair nodded, showing gratitude on his face. He didn't actually care, since Benji (was that short for Benjamin?" had been polite to him. And Alistair didn't mind the run. But since the elder was clearly doing this for his sake, it was best that he show some gratitude.

The elder rolled his eyes at him. "You're such a faker," He said flatly. "Relax! I'm not nearly as full of myself as all the other elders. Comes with being a mobile mountain. You get used to people whispering insults when they think you aren't looking."

"Do they really dare?" Alistair asked, startled. "If you're out here guarding the gate, that means you're one of the strongest people in the sect. Would they really just insult you like that?"

The person guarding the gate was the first line of defense if the sect was attacked. And beyond that, the gate guard needed to be strong enough to completely humiliate any random person who attacked the sect or did something uncouth in front of the sect. If the elder was out here, then he was definitely strong.

"Absolutely," The elder said flatly. "Also, my name is Han. Thanks for asking. You may call me Elder Han." Alistair flushed lightly, making the elder chuckle.

"I'm just messing with you," He said with a full belly laugh. Then his face grew a little more serious. "So. What's your plan now that you're in the sect?"

Alistair straightened instinctively at the shift in the conversation's tone. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that all the other fresh disciples had finally left. Elder Han must have been making small talk while waiting for that.

"First, I want to look through the library. Ever since I was six years old, I've been working on developing my own cultivation scripture. I want to see if there's anything in the sect library that isn't in the clan's."

"There isn't," Elder Han said, bluntly. "At least, not in the sections that a fresh disciple is allowed to be in."

Alistair felt a pang of disappointment, but nodded. He'd known that would probably be the case, but had wanted to check just in case.

"In that case, I'll immediately look for a place to stay. Once I've done that, I'll work on cleansing my body. That will likely occupy me for a month."

"A month? That's all?" Elder Han raised a wobbly eyebrow. "It normally takes even geniuses a few months to get through the body cleansing realm."

Alistair nodded. "Yes, but I've been eating spiritual herbs and medicines since I was a baby. My body is naturally stronger and cleaner than a normal person's. Not enough to be considered a true Physique or anything, but enough to give me a head start in the body cleansing realm."

Elder Han nodded in understanding and waved his hand to get Alistair to keep talking. So Alistair obliged.

"After that, I'll work on opening my meridians,” He said. “I don't expect that to take more than a few weeks, since those same medicines have primed all my meridians so they'll be easy to open and clean. Once I've entered the Qi Condensing Realm, I'll start going out on sect missions."

Elder Han shook his head firmly. "No," He stated.

"No?" Alistair questioned.

"No," Elder Han affirmed. "Take a few missions before opening your meridians. That will earn you a few greater number of contribution points, since you'll be at a lower cultivation level. Your strength will barely change from opening your meridians, so there's no reason not to take missions before opening them.”

Alistair blinked. “I was under the impression that each opened meridian was about a ten percent increase to your base strength,” He said hesitantly.

Elder Hand snorted. “For a normal person, that would be true. But by your own admission, you’ve been snacking on spiritual herbs and medicines all your life. Because of that, your meridians will have already been opened and cleansed enough that they’ll barely give a two or three percent increase in strength. Which is still good and all, but you’ll be able to take missions without needing to open them.”

Alistair nodded hesitantly. Even if it was only two percent per major meridian, there were still twelve major meridians. A twenty-four percent increase in strength was nothing to sneeze at, even if it couldn’t be compared to the one hundred and twenty a person would normally experience.

“Once you do open your meridians and begin condensing qi, you should start working on a profession,” Elder Han continued. “Alchemy or blacksmithing would likely be your best options. Your spiritual root feels like fire, so either of those would make for good professions. And of course, you'll need to work on your martial skills. Body refinement and empty handed martial arts are usually best for fire cultivators, but remember that everybody's path is different. What works for one person might not work for you."

Alistair nodded. "I'd originally planned to start working on a profession after reaching peak Qi Condensing and before forming my Foundation. That way I'd be able to incorporate my profession into my Foundation."

"That's not a bad plan, but doing it my way will give better results," Elder Han said. Then, after taking a look at Alistair’s face, he began to explain. "Even in the Qi Condensing Realm, your Dao will begin imprinting itself into your qi. It’s small and light, as though you’re trying to use a quill to carve a rock. But there is an effect, however small. So having decided on your profession and gained some skill in that profession before even beginning to condense your qi will give slightly better results. It's not much, but little things like this can have enormous effects when trying to advance further in the future."

Alistair inclined his head slightly. "I bow to your greater intellect and experience," He said, with just the barest hint of snark in his voice. He’d have never taken Elder Han for the lecturing type, but it seemed he’d misjudged the man.

Elder Han scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Away with you, cheeky brat!" He cried in mock fury. Alistair smirked as he dutifully scurried away.

He suspected that Elder Han would be his favorite elder.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The sect was enormous. Alistair knew that, conceptually, but he’d forgotten just how big it felt. It wasn’t just the buildings. They were towering, sprawling monstrosities for this world’s standards, but plenty of buildings from Earth were larger in every way. It was… something else. The way everything fit together. It made a person feel small and unimportant. Like they were an ant trying to comprehend a skyscraper.

Alistair watched the people walking through the sect. He could see outer court disciples laughing, talking seriously, ordering servants, taking orders from inner disciples or elders, and one that was just making a sandwich. The servants were quietly cleaning and maintaining the courtyards and statues and walkways and walks.

Everything had a place, Alistair thought. It was like an army of ants. Everyone with their own role, serving for the greater good of the colony.

Or, he thought, his mind turning and swirling with an odd, inexpressible clarity, like a machine. Like they were all just tiny cogs in some unimaginably large machine. A machine that encompassed the entire world. Or perhaps it was the world?

The Great Dao. Wasn’t that what his uncle liked to talk about when he was especially drunk? The sum total of the universe. All things that had ever happened, were happening at this moment, and would happen in the future. Every action taken, every falling rock, every sun and star, every quark. The decisions we make, the things we create, the things we destroy.

All of it fit together, forming the Great Dao.

Sonder. The understanding that all lives are unique. That every person really is the protagonist of their own story. That every living being has their own wants, their own needs, and their own path to walk through life.

Alistair stood in the yard, frozen as he thought. He felt like he was surrounded by a bubble, or perhaps he himself was the bubble. Every thought he had was like a needle poking into that bubble, trying to make it pop, but it just wouldn’t pop! It felt like if he could just pop that bubble, he would be able to understand everything. Like the world would make sense in a way it never had before.

Then the moment slid away, leaving Alistair frustrated and strangely empty. His fist instinctively clenched from frustration and he fought the urge to hit the tree he’d been standing under.

“Horrible feeling, isn’t it?”

Alistair turned his head to see a girl dressed in the pale green robes of the inner sect. She had almost asian features, but with a hint of something else he couldn’t place. Which made sense, given that this wasn’t even Earth. No reason for the people to fit into the ethnic boxes he was used to. She brushed a strand of light brown hair away from her eyes as she looked at him.

“What?” He asked, then immediately felt stupid. But she just smiled at him.

“Not quite reaching Enlightenment,” She explained. “It’s like trying to climb over a wall you’ve been trapped behind your entire life, only to slip and fall right before you see the other side.”

“Yes!” Alistair exclaimed before he could stop himself. “Or like there’s a bubble around that you can’t quite pop.”

The girl smirked. “I like my wall analogy better,” She said.

Alistair raised an eyebrow. “Honestly, I think a bubble describes it better,” He said. “A bubble would distort the entire way you see the world. Sight, hearing, touch-”

“But a wall just sounds so much cleaner,” She interrupted. “I know there’s more accurate analogies out there. But a wall just sounds… nicer?” She finished lamely.

Alistair shrugged, not really caring. “Whatever you like,” He said flippantly. The girl pouted at him, and a thought popped into his head. “What’s your name?” He asked.

She hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Angelina Ulster?”

“Was that a question or a statement?” Alistair said with a smirk. She flushed.

“Yes?” She half asked. Alistair shook his head with a laugh.

“I’m not trying to flirt with you or something crass like that,” He said flatly, making her blush turn an even deeper shade of red. “If you don’t want to tell me your name, then don’t. I doubt we’ll ever even see each other again, so it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

With that, Alistair walked off towards his quarters. He’d stopped a servant earlier and asked them where the new disciples were housed. Apparently they each got their own room, although they slept in dorm-like houses.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Alistair absentmindedly scratched his nose, then scowled as he realized the ink on his fingertips would have spread to his nose from the action. He'd just finished going through his self made cultivation scripture and tweaking it to suit his spiritual root. For some reason, the idea of checking his root before this had just slipped his mind.

No, that was a lie. A silly one at that. He knew exactly why he’d forgotten, even though it embarrassed him. It was the same reason he hadn’t used Eye of Insight on himself until he was taking the entrance test. He was so used to it not being useful that he’d just forgotten to do it.

But that didn't matter now. His cultivation scripture had already heavily leaned towards fire, since the clan library predominantly had fire cultivation scriptures in it. And scriptures relating to things like reincarnation, rebirth, and renewal were a dime a dozen. So all he'd really had to do was tweak his scripture until his Eye of Insight gave him a perfect compatibility rating.

Compatibility ratings were something he'd only discovered a few years ago. Really, it had been entirely by accident. He'd been reading yet another cultivation scripture when he'd seen a note in the margin. It had been a person bemoaning their lack of compatibility with the scripture.

The concept had completely blown Alistair's mind. For some reason, he'd never stopped to consider compatibility. His mental block on the subject had been so complete that even his Eye of Insight hadn't made mention of compatibility. He'd had a hayday scanning various scriptures to see their compatibility with him.

Speaking of which… Alistair scanned his self-made, newly renamed cultivation scripture. It was a very creative name. Alistair was exceptionally proud of it. It definitely wasn't named after his spiritual root. No sir.

SAMSARA FLAME CULTIVATION SCRIPTURE Quality: Peak Mortal Grade Compatibility with [Alistair Starfall]: 100% Core Concept: The Fire of Samsara that brings Destruction and Rebirth Description: A sophisticated, but clearly incomplete scripture. It forms an incredibly strong, dense, and pure cultivation base while giving the innate ability to create and control a Samara Flame. This Samsara Flame is capable of destroying or restoring the target. Despite these excellent features, the various areas where the scripture is lacking or incomplete means that cultivation using this scripture is extremely slow. Just as bad, it currently only has sections corresponding to the layers leading up to the Nine Tribulations Realm, although a foundation for this development has already been laid in the scripture. Further developments will need to be made if it's to be used during and after the Nine Tribulations. Another flaw is that, due to this scripture having so many unique parts to it, it would be extremely difficult to switch to a different scripture after cultivating with this scripture for too long. Having said all that, this scripture clearly has the potential to become something magnificent.

Not bad at all, if he did say so himself. Having the Eye of Insight let him create a scripture that would have normally taken decades or even centuries of careful study, practice, and testing. His ability to just scan something let him skip the most time consuming parts of developing a cultivation scripture.

But it was also far from perfect. By his calculations, it would take nearly two years for him to get through the Qi Condensing Realm using this scripture. The Foundation Realm could take up to twenty years, Golden Core could take nearly an entire century, Violet Palace could take over a thousand years, and he hadn't even bothered finishing the calculations for any of the realms after that.

Sure, he’d be a lot stronger than the average Joe in each of those realms thanks to his super solid cultivation base and the innate abilities granted by the scripture, but he’d also die of old age before he got through the Violet Palace Realm. A Violet Palace level cultivator only had a lifespan of five hundred years. His most generous calculations put him at needing seven hundred years to get through it.

That just wouldn't work. He'd need to keep working on the scripture. Especially since reaching Golden Core automatically graduated him to being an elder of the sect. And if he reached Golden Core at a young enough age, he'd be eligible to directly join the Viridian Flame Sect as an inner disciple. As in, if he reached it before he was thirty. Which was just a pipe dream with his cultivation scripture as it was.

So he didn't really hold out much hope for that. He'd improved his scripture about as much as he could with his current knowledge. He'd need new manuals to study if he wanted to improve it any further. Well, that or he could just start randomly altering stuff until he got an improvement. Which was what he was going to be doing until he got his hands on new manuals.

Alistair sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Then he swore violently as he realized he'd just spread the ink around even more.

Sighing, he jumped to his feet, pushing aside his uncertainty. It was time to work towards cleansing his body!