Leaving the gaggle of women, who she assured she would take dinner with that night as well as a tea the next day, Jessica was stopped by Junior Disciple Jung.

His fur coat was missing as he bowed.

“Elder, this one must advise you of a duty that before only the Elders did,” He said.

Still, the dim light of the tunnels danced along the wall.

“Tell me about it as we return to the surface, I need to start directing the clean-up,” she replied.

As they walked, outer disciples with shovels and pickaxes lined the walkways around them. They were flanked up to the small stairwell where they moved out single file, only pausing briefly for her to exit.

“Elder, we had five elders with different duties. One was the overall leader, but the duties were split up so that the decisions didn’t always fall on one person's shoulder.”

“Some of these outer disciples worked for each of the elders, is that what you’re trying to tell me? And they are itching to advance and take on more responsibility?”

Jung paused briefly.

Jessica remembered getting in place promotions, being awarded extra work for completing her work ahead of time. But most of all she remembers that it didn’t pay her to take on extra work for no additional pay during most of her career. At least those things that she couldn’t automate in python or through an excel spreadsheet, were the real buggers.

“How are students paid?”

Jung gulped.

“Well, the Elders require a certain amount of work to stay here.”

“That would be your tuition, I see,” Jessica said, admiring the view of cultivators around her at work.

A shirtless man with a shovel moved a boulder with a single hand ahead of them.

“Ah! Wait!” She said, trying not to wave her arms.

He turned, the boulder was bigger than his entire body. He held it like it was a pencil. On the other hand, he held the shovel, as if he had no need for it.

“Put this where the wall was, please.”

He nodded, and then walked it over, placing it down gently like it was a kitten.

“He was about to throw that,” Jung said, “It would have been impressive, Elder.”

“Take a note, Junior Disciple. I’m not looking for impressive. I’m looking for something effective.”

“Take a note?” He said, and for the first time, he looked confused.

Jessica sighed and for the first time recognized that even the dankest edibles would not have had her on a trip for so long.

“What did you want to tell me about? Before we came up here I mean?” She asked.

“The uh scouts, Elder. I was one of the scouts and we sent out patrols daily. Usually, we didn’t find anything, but there are about ten of us and…” He trailed off as a female cultivator walked past with two small dense rocks to the open wall. But only for a second until his eyes snapped back.

Another cultivator was freezing snow and ice around the rocks already piled up two stories high in places. Other cultivators were coming in from outside with logs and branches. They were about done with the side of the wall facing frost haven, and the logs and rocks were being moved en masse to the forty-meter hole in the back wall.

“Bring the scouts here, I would talk to them.”

Jung bowed and disappeared.

Jessica watched as piece by piece the cultivators worked as a team putting the walls back together. One could tell that it wasn’t the original wall, but it had a certain look to it. An earthy, homegrown look. The newness of it made her smile.

She studied the two cultivators on top of the existing wall that appeared to be spraying alternating snow, then ice to form a connection between the rocks and wood. That would be a useful technique to master. From at least a soccer field's distance away, the pulsed her spiritual sense out, almost to its breaking point and she could feel their cores pushing out cold qi. She cycled her qi to match their usage, and then she felt a little tingle as she shot out snowcones worth of cold slurry.

That would do for now.

***

Jung arrived with eleven cultivators, all but two men. They were the sect robes and the outer fur coats that Jessica had become accustomed to.

Looking closely she saw that each was a bit leaner than the students working the yard. Jessica thought that they looked a bit more like Cross country runners than the rest of the students.

"Tell me, Junior disciple, what the Elders had you doing?"

She waited for Jung to speak but instead he turned to another cultivator on his side. He cleared his throat.

"This one is Hu, Elder. The most senior of the scouts."

His bow from standing nearly scraped the floor.

"The Elders- before the tragedy- had us run around normal spirit beast grounds, and check the roads between here and the clans. We looked for bandits, rogue beasts, and other unusual things. I cannot explain how we didn't see the divine beast until it was upon us, but for at least a day before our scouts found absolutely nothing out of order it was like the beasts knew to not be around."

Concern for the fallen had been Jessica's main thought for the dead before this but she was also thinking that perhaps being an elder cultivator was bad for one's career plan. Perhaps she could pass it off quickly? Unfortunately, she wasn't quite ready to do anything approaching feeling even comfortable here.

"How often do you send out a scouting party?" Jessica said.

"Daily, elder."

"What did today's report say?"

Hu blanked, and Jessica realized that he had never been in quite this situation. He had a tiny mustache that made his face look bigger than it should. It would have been funny in any other context, but the man was deadly serious.

Hu gathered his thoughts and bowed once again.

"In the absence of orders from an elder, we didn't...I...this one means. Please, elder this one stands ready to accept any and all punishments."

More and more Jessica realized that the culture here was going to need a bit of a shift. The rest of the scouts, including Jung, prostrated themselves on the floor.

"Stand up."

Hu stood. The rest of the scouts remained down.

"All of you. I am not mad," Jessica said, "but from now on consider it…."

She searched for the right word. Doctors had a word for certain situations in which they didn't need to be called for. Perhaps this was such a situation.

"Consider it a standing order. Do your scouting every day as you would and just send the representative to brief me. If I require more, then I will let you know. This means that you, Junior Disciple Hu, are going to run the scouts until I deem it fit to appoint a replacement."

So help him please guys.

"Of course, gracious elder! This one will serve with honor and discretion under the dao, and hereby swear to the immortal heavens that your will shall be done."

Small mustache or not, he knew how to make a girl feel special. The scouts sprung to their feet as Jessica dismissed them.

***

"So you see, once some of these can begin their qi condensation, they can reach the first stage."

Jessica snapped out of it. She was back having tea with the group she affectionately called the gaggle of nanas. It was good tea and it was getting cold as she listened to concern after concern from the women.

"I'm sorry, say that again?" Jessica said.

The torchlight flickered in the sect's largest underground tunnel, as the woman- Elaine- had brought out a child's guide to cultivation.'

"In this book which I borrow from a student, it breaks down the steps one would need to pass to be considered for a cultivation school like this."

"So the first stage is qi cultivation, eh? Then what do these children have to do?"

"Foundation establishment is next and they have a cute diagram. They condense their qi and use it to create their dantian."

Elaine held the book, displaying the picture to all the nanas, who oohed and ahhed.

"So these second realm cultivators, they don't quite have a core yet," Jessica said.

She thought back to how different Jungs core felt from An-Yongs. Jung was more small and compact, while An-Yong had a larger less defined area until his advancement.

"Right and then you're sure you're not a demon trying to steal our secrets?" Elaine said.

"I am sure."

She thought back to how she got her core, it was a gift from the dying elder and it pushed her immediately to the fourth realm, and then she was able to reforge her body at the fifth realm almost immediately. How did the elder do that, and was it something that others could do? Jessica had yet another question for herself and took a mental note.

A while back she had inhaled some cultivation novels and she was sure that she was at some level being punked. At any moment now she expected an arrogant young master to show up and try to claim something- leadership in the sect? Something else?

She wasn't playing a character, she was being herself.

Being herself meant that she wanted to talk to the nanas frankly and honestly.

"Sister Elaine, would you like to hear about where I am from?"

All conversation in the group stopped as teacups were set down.

"Elder sister, I believe that we are all quite interested in that story."