"Your housing and cafeteria meals are provided as part of your enrollment. The Sect scholarship is available for you because of your potential. They have gathered enough information about candidates through the years to allow them to make some educated guesses on how well you will do," Tarrah continued explaining.

"It may seem cold and unfeeling, but they have modeled your growth, the costs associated with that growth, and the contributions you will make to the Sect through missions and pill formation to made an educated guess on when and if they will break even, and when they will recoup their investment in you.

"Your ability with pill creation is just guesswork at best, right now. You haven't learned even the most basic Dharmic spells required to establish and control your soul flame. Without that ability, you will never be anything more than a dabbler.

"My Master will be brutally honest with you about your chances of success.

"If you have even the hint of a mid-level talent, he will take you on as an Outer-Disciple. It is rare for Sect Elders to consider new members as a Disciple, but your Spirit Roots and dual affinity will open doors for you that others will have to work hard to break down.

"But be warned, if you have no talent, or your talent can not be developed enough so that you advance past the apprentice level, he will dismiss you. I will be replaced as your Mentor and the Sect will find someone more suitable to guide you.

"He is fair. He won't try to stifle your talents, but if he finds you lacking, he will report those findings to the Sect so that they can work with you to select a different secondary profession.

"He doesn't do this to be cruel, not exactly. He simply prioritizes the ability to create pills above anything else. It is his obsession, his first love. He doesn't care about the workings of the Sect, Power, or wealth. He wants to create pills, experiment with new formulas, and devise new techniques that advance the profession.

"You will have a chance to meet with him tomorrow. Today's schedule is filled with orientation and preparation. For example, today's lunch will include mid-level beasts, spirit rice, and medicinal vegetables. The meal is high in nutrition, Qi, and spiritual elements, and has been selected to allow your body to stock the needed stores required to fuel your first Qi cycle.

"After lunch, in fact for the rest of the week, you are expected to concentrate on cycling enough Qi to fill your Dantian. Your soul energy will begin filling almost by osmosis, each time you cycle Qi a small amount of spiritual energy will be siphoned from the Qi gathered and converted to Spirit," she explained. "That Spirit energy will slowly fill your Soul Ocean."

"What about classes?" I asked. We had arrived at the cafeteria as we chatted. She led me into a room that was teaming with members, the noise a stark contrast to the serenity of the Sect grounds. I followed her down the buffet line filling my tray with those items Tarrah suggested, she explained why they were beneficial in the process.

"As you begin cultivating and step into the Body Refinement Realm, you will be purging toxins and impurities that have built up over your life. These foods that are dense in protein and Qi will supply the building blocks your body needs to repair and rebuild the cells," She explained.

"As for classes. There will be a schedule detailing what classes are available on the desk in your room. You will be expected to take herbology and introduction to pill formation as a potential disciple of Master Tye. The other classes you may choose based on your goals.

"Before we can take a look at what classes are being offered, we have to make a small detour. After lunch, we need to visit the mission hall and activate your identification token, so that you can start receiving contribution points. Once that is done, I'll show you to your room and we can go over the class list and come up with a plan," she explained.

I put the rest of my questions on hold as we ate. Cafeteria-style food preparation was usually bland. Staff was forced to supply vast amounts of food, food that had to be cooked and ready to serve at the same time. Chef's often used dishes that were easy to produce in bulk, in order to supply enough food to meet demand. It meant quantity over quality usually, but that wasn't the case here.

The food served that day was amazing. It could not be compared to the swill that school children would find when eating in those lunchrooms. Instead of a barely recognizable meat paste, there was a beast that had been spitted and cooked using a rotisserie, juices drippings collected so that the rice could be flavored. Fried Rice and vegetables seasoned with fresh herbs and a chili that was so fiery and hot that I spent a minute gulping water. The chili was prevalent in today's menu I found when I bit into a large piece hidden in my soup.

But the most amazing part of that lunch was the Qi that my body began processing from the first bite. I'd only ever eaten domesticated beast meat before, but this was a higher leveled animal, something that had been hunted and harvested especially for cultivation. The Qi stored was exponentially greater than anything I'd ever had, and the boon to Qi was significant.

I felt like I had devoured an entire Thanksgiving feast and wanted nothing more than to nap once I had finished. The influx of Qi soothing instead of energizing. Tarrah began laughing delightedly at me when she noticed I was beginning to nod off, almost face-planting into my bowl of rice.

She tugged at my arm encouraging me to get up and follow, leaving our trays on the trestle tables to be collected by the cafeteria staff. Moving did much to dispel the over-stuffed feeling from eating too much. I was still felt as if I'd just survived a food coma, tummy bulging, and extended. I hadn't eaten a tremendous amount. In fact, my serving size was about a third smaller than I normally ingested. It was the density of the food that made the difference.

The residential area for Outer Sect members required us to traipse back down the mountain. Once we had arrived at the central gardens where we had meditated to resonate with our affinities, I was somewhat aware of where we were. Tarrah showed me a path that extended in the direction between the baths and the entrance. No switchbacks or winding paths needed as the living areas were built on the same level as the main concourse.

The sect provided housing built directly into the side of the mountain. Each dwelling allotted a garden space and a small Koi pond. Members were required to maintain their own space or pay contribution points to hire someone to care for it. Re-landscaping was permissible, but any plants that were removed had to be transplanted somewhere else, not simply discarded. Most gardens had been constructed with both aesthetics and functionality in mind, seeded with herbs, flowers, and spirit plants.

The ponds were not large, each uniformly round and extended about six feet from edge to edge. Mine came with a fountain placed in the center that allowed a continuous stream of water to cascade and cycle. The fountain was more than decoration; it allowed for filtration and oxygenation of the pool, a requirement for the Koi, as well as serving as a reservoir for water elemental energies.

"You will need to inject your Qi into the opening plate," Tarrah informed me once I had stopped examining the garden and pond and moved to the entrance of my new home. "The room will require your Qi to unlock once you do. After today, it will recognize only those you allow and give access."

Using Qi instead of keys and locks seemed fitting, an acceptable adaption to technology using Qi instead of electricity. I didn't know if it was impossible to counterfeit a Qi signature, but I thought it unlikely, or if a technique did exist it was something only a higher-ranked member would possess. And for those individuals, locks were more a social contract than a real deterrent. If they wanted in a room, something as flimsy as a door and a Qi plate was not going to stop them.

Injecting my Qi into a fist-sized plate that was affixed slightly off-center, a pulse of recognition and the click of the door unlocking informed me that I had been successful. Other than the spatial ring I had bound, the ring the Cyntyne Shop had awarded me in the aftermath of the theft dust-up, this was my first intentional use of my Qi.

I know it was a small bit of nothing. But the feelings of success, of being in control were exhilarating.