"Jay?"

"Jay! Sit up." The voice demanded. The light slaps to my face, increasing in strength as the voice kept shouting my name. It became too aggravating to ignore, and I began reflexively slapping back at the hand that was tapping my face, trying to wake me.

"Five more moments, mom!" I said as I tried to burrow into blankets while ignoring whoever it was that was trying to wake me. Unfortunately, they were more determined to wake me than I was to continue sleeping. I groaned in frustration as I finally opened my eyes, combating a headache so fierce it was making me nauseous.

Trying to understand where I was and why I was in so much pain forced me to examine my surroundings. Something that took a moment or two as I was forced to wait until my vision cleared. Finally, identifying the sterile walls and medicinal smells, I realized that something was wrong. That wasn't my mom trying to wake me, and I wasn't in my bed.

"Why did she pass out? This isn't a normal reaction," A voice I couldn't identify said, concern obvious.

"It happens occasionally, Diane, usually when someone melds with metal past the copper stage. Remember, the higher the electron counts the metal contains, the more connections and channels need to be opened and linked. These additional connections and channels mean that the corresponding meridians will need to be more robust to contain and direct those energies.

"Jay's reaction is nothing to worry about yet. She hasn't really passed out. The healers assure me that she is simply focused inward, learning how her Dantian has formed while bridging the gap between after being woken to the Body formation mortal realm.

"She was beyond lucky and managed a awaken a spirit root that has a high metal resonance. Her body needs to process the changes for such an immense increase in potential. Something very rare among her social class.

"I doubt anyone in her family can trace a spirit root as powerful as she was able to awaken, so she has not been prepared with spirit medicines or Qi-infused beast meat. She needs time to make the connections that will link her meridians and Dantian with her cultivation. She will be fine after some rest and once she assimilates the changes from her beginning enlightenment. She is experiencing an expanded awareness now that her spirit root is active, and she has stepped upon the path of the Immortal.

"The best thing we can do for her is allowing her to finish the bonding process and get some rest. Once the process has been completed, you can visit Jai and reassure yourself that everything is fine.

"So that idiot that interrupted the awakening ceremony when she was channeling the energies of the formation array hasn't damaged her or her abilities as a cultivator?" Diane asked. Whoever Diane was.

"No, of course not. Spirit Roots aren't so fragile as to be damaged or destroyed because of a bit of backlash from a Qi formation array. You would have to make a real effort to even degrade an awakened Spirit Root, let alone destroy one."

"Why do you…" Diane started to ask before she was interrupted.

"Enough, Diane. You can ask all the questions you want later, for now, you have your own awakening and acclimation that needs to be addressed. You should return to the induction center and complete the process of resonance. You have your own Spirit Root to worry about."

I could have spoken up, let them know I was awake and seemed to be in good health, but I decided to wait. I was confused as to what was going on and where I was. The last thing I remembered fuzzy; pieces of memory that seemed to be lost.

Was I just missing part of my memory? That seemed likely. I remembered my life, the work I'd put into my education so my general education scores would be sufficient to enter a Sect. I remember the discussions with my parents and my decision to attend Flowing Water Sect's open enrollment. Why would I remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, but not what had happened this morning? Had something gone wrong? And if it had, what and why?

As I thought those questions my memories unfolded. I was Jai Myche, the oldest of three siblings. My father gathered spirit herbs, his wanderings dangerous as he either fought or escaped from beasts that had high Qi realms.

Here elves had not evolved to become the dominant species. They had been forced to share dominion with beasts that were capable of absorbing the dense Earth energy of primordial forests and plants. Allowing those beasts to form and condense beast cores. Cores that allowed these realm beasts a way to progress and grow stronger.

Elves were resilient. And although sprawling urban blight and deforestation of the planet hadn't occurred, we had managed to tame the world enough to build a niche of relative safety. Once cultivation and the benefits beast cores had on cultivation levels were discovered, cultivation and economy were created based on the acquisition of those beast cores. Alchemy, arrays, and hunting became vital professions and instrumental for the survival of the species.

Just as the beasts had diverged to conform to a world steeped in spirit energy, so too did elves. Dantian, meridian, spirit root. These terms went beyond the metaphysical. The Elven body had evolved with physical manifestations that corresponded to real organs. Healers could trace pathways and administer techniques to repair breaches, clear channels, and open blocked passages.

Elven endeavors had focused on cultivation and attaining higher realms of enlightenment. Dao, body tempering, and Dharmic spells were closely guarded secrets for the higher realms, but common cultivation techniques and weapon training existed, a way to temper the masses so that low-level spirit beasts could be hunted and domesticated by anyone.

The Sects and clans, no matter their size or affinity, were stringent and obsessive about who would receive the wealth of information that thousands of years of experience, research, and deaths had required to fine-tune and perfect higher leveled techniques.

For those not born into wealth, members of a sect, or those that could claim a clan, the only recourse was a life of drudgery, condemned to use the most basic of resources. The only chance to better a person's position and caste happened at the age of Maturity. That age when an individual was considered responsible for their actions and was able to enter into contracts, open businesses, and agree to serve as members of households or the military.

The age of maturity varied, but for most people, their eighteenth birthday was celebrated with the testing. In that year, the test of enlightenment was conducted, each person was examined to determine if they had a spirit root, and if they did, the spirit root was graded based on and tied to earth metals.

Copper, Iron, Cobalt, Silver, Tin, Platinum, and Gold. The metals corresponded to their placement on the periodic table and determined the rank of the Spirit root. The higher the electron count of the metal, the more powerful and risky cultivation became, but the more powerful the potential.

All cultivators started at the body tempering, the mortal realm. Each realm was divided into three stages, low, middle, high, and three levels per stage, low success, middle success, high success. In order to progress to the next realm, the peak level was required for the high stage. This peak level allowed the cultivator to harness the Qi and marshal the forces required to break through to the next realm.

Each progression in level allowed the person to increase their life expectancy, no matter the type of spirit root a person would claim in the beginning. Even the lowest tiered spirit root, copper, that made it to Mortal the middle realm, low success stage, could expect to live hundreds of years longer than those elves that couldn't achieve that stage.

The realms; Mortal, Qi condensing, Soul awareness, and Immortal, increased exponentially the power of the cultivator, their influence, and the ability to protect and claim territory. Spirit gathering and protection arrays helped. But these constructs required vast amounts of resources and powerful beast cores to be effective, and only those cultivators that had advanced into the upper Realms were capable of hunting and claiming cores powerful enough to be useful.

The beasts themselves had evolved down different evolutionary paths. Mammals, Hybrids, Dinosaurs, the types of beasts were varied, and their value increased as their core evolved. T-Rex, with a Soul Realm beast core, was a force of nature.

Dracorex, a dinosaur that may have evolved to become the first of the dragons, was domesticated early. An herbivore, not as large as a horse, its ability to gather spirit energy from vegetation was prodigious. Their meat rich in Qi energy was much more valuable than the small beast-cores they might develop. Farms that grew the ferns needed to feed the Dracorex were established by every clan and sect. Their meat becoming the standard to feed and enhance the spirit energies for those talented enough to enter the mortal realm.

Today I had stepped forth onto the path of a cultivator. My life was about to change drastically. As part of the lower caste, I had woken and cultivated a high-tiered spirit root. Ranked platinum, my potential was prodigious. Technically, it wasn't the strongest bond possible, that designation belonged to gold, but the difference was only one connection, one electron forming an additional pathway, the only difference between the two metals.

What did it mean for me? I wasn't sure. But it would mean adapting. Learning my role as a new highly ranked cultivator in whatever sect accepted me, hopefully Flowing Water as I'd planned.

This was now my life.