The following morning Quan showed up in the same outfit he’d been given the day before and found a young girl waiting in the yard before him. She was wearing a similar outfit to his own, if better fit, and looked around thirteen. She looked like a younger Asha, sharing her dark hair and blue eyes. She sat meditating and ignored his arrival until the sun had crested the horizon.

“You will follow me. You will not fall behind if you wish Master Asha to accept you.” Without another word, she sprinted off, through the house and out into the woods behind it. Quan ran to follow in what became a two-hour run around the mountain trails that nearly destroyed him. The girl was impossibly light on her feet and faster than he thought possible. He had just achieved his core and should have been physically superior to the smaller girl. Yet, she did not allow him to catch up as she laughed and ran ahead of him, despite his best efforts. Eventually, she led them back to the house, where he collapsed on the ground and drank deeply from the water waiting for them.

He looked up to see Asha looking down at him from the entrance. “Come, you’re late for breakfast.” At the courtside table, there was a full breakfast of sausage, eggs, cheese and bread. As he filled himself, Asha began, “You are strong from your days at the forge. That is good. From either your cultivation method or your years on edge, you have a body now that is fortified in many ways, but you do not know how to use it. It is a great tool in the hands of an idiot. A cultivator's muscles need to be for more than brute force. This morning's run shows where your muscles are untrained. We must find balance. You will need to learn to be flexible and agile as well as strong. Speed beats strength in a contest. Lo Ren will run with you every morning this week to set your pace. She may spar with you as well, depending on your speed learning with me.”

Lo Ren grinned at that and shot Quan a look as she shoved egg-covered toast in her mouth. Once they had finished eating, Asha walked to the training area and announced, “Today, we will learn how to stand.”

For the rest of the day, she directed him in exactly that. Legs and feet placed just so. Back and arms moved as directed. She’d lightly tap whatever limb was out of place as she directed him to move and slowly transition to other stances. The more egregious the mistake, the stronger the ‘tap.’ About halfway through the day, she’d swapped to a light stick to direct her hits. All the while, she would question him on various topics to gauge his knowledge of sciences and philosophies. He never imagined standing and moving slowly could be so strenuous. Asha declared him too inept to spar with Lo Ren as they prepared for an evening meal.

As servants brought out steamed dumplings and spicy vegetables dishes to eat, Asha queried, “What motivates you, Quan?”

He paused as he moved more pork-filled buns to his plate. “What do you mean, master? Am I not trying hard enough?”

“I am trying to understand you. I’ve spent the last two days considering what I see and what you’ve told me. The gods gave you a gift, yet you squandered years instead of chasing the goals set before you. It makes me wonder if you will squander the training I give you. And so I wish to know what your goals are.”

“That’s a fair question. I’ve had more than a little time to think about this since I was reborn and visited by a god.” Quan paused, taking a sip of tea while he collected his thoughts. “Why am I here? I think everyone asks this question, but for me, the question seems key to my future. I was literally grabbed from my world and placed here by some unknown force that seems to baffle even the gods of your world. Manu, for all his power, could only guess if it was a pure accident or some grand purpose that was behind my transition.

“If there is a purpose, there’s been no revelation of it to me so far. Perhaps part of why I waited too long was to see if there would be a push to action. Steal me from my home, drop me in a crippled body and then not give me a word of explanation if you want something done. Fuck you, Universe, fuck you.

“I don’t think this world has a concept of a greater God like my world does, something outside the universe, or perhaps is the universe, that sees and knows everything. Your gods are really just powerful people. The idea that some supremely vast being picked me out of everyone and moved me here for some purpose is terrifying and ridiculous all at once. Middle management has denied involvement, and I haven’t seen anything from a higher power to guide me, which leaves only accident as an explanation. So I get to live my life as I see fit." Quan took a deep breath before going on, having never articulated any of this before.

"I want answers, and I want control. I'm not sure if that's more naive or more arrogant. But it seems cultivation offers a path to immortality and a form of godhood where I might be able to find out how or why the universe works. Why is earth a protected planet, and why did I have to die? Was it even really death? I'd like to know what happened to my family and friends.

"From what I know, those are goals that will be measured in decades at best, but I need to start now. I want to learn more about this world, its politics and find my place. I want to know why this world seems frozen in time technologically and perhaps change that. When I realized the priests couldn't give me the answers I sought, I just kind of kept to myself and my family. I don't even know why waiting three years was so bad if cultivation grants immortality."

Asha considered his words before replying, "I sense we will revisit this topic in our time together. Let us address the simplest of your questions. You are not immortal. Very few cultivators achieve that goal. By breaking into the core stage, you have reached the pinnacle of ordinary existence. If you reach the peak of the warrior stage, you will have doubled your life expectancy. Many fail to reach that goal. Each stage beyond that will further your life until, yes, immortality is said to be possible.

"There are two main reasons why those years mattered, and they are tied together. First, the speed a child progresses at is often a good indicator of their maximum potential. Some claim starting late actually lowers that upper potential. Second, the resources any sect or family invests are tied closely to that young advancement. Resources that help a cultivator advance are limited. The best go to those with the brightest future. Those who fall behind receive the scraps, even kicking out those that fail to advance fast enough.

"You are now laughably behind others your age. You cannot even keep up with Lo Ren several years your junior. "

"So I may have limited myself already." Quan sighed. "On the other hand, I started at birth, so that may change the equation. I need to make sure I don't make any more mistakes."

“Well, at least you’re willing to admit mistakes, which is more than most teenagers are."

“I’m not really a teenager. I was 24 before I was reborn. That makes me older than you are.”

“It doesn’t work like that. As long as you’re stuck in a teenage body, you’re a teenager.”

“That seems entirely unfair."

“You should take the excuse, or I will have to blame something other than teenage self-control for why your eyes keep drifting downward while we speak.”

Quan let out a slightly strangled sound and chose to fill his mouth instead of responding to that.