“So the cultivators just go in there and they fight against fake spiritual monsters?”

“Yes, it’s great for beginners, which is why I sent for it, do you not love the idea, Elder Jessica?”

The large black building looked like a child's drawing of a villain's lair, taken seriously by an architect. The only thing missing was gargoyles on top.

“It gets progressively harder as you go up. Only fifth-level qi gatherers should be able to pass the first floor. It won’t hurt them physically, and it will be easier for more advanced cultivators.”

Fa Za, for all intents and purposes, was treating it like he was a cat who had just brought home a bird. His pride showed through his posture as he demonstrated to Jessica how to start it up and how to disassemble it. She was surprised to learn that it required the touch of at least a fourth or fifth-level cultivator to adjust.

“So this will train them to be better, but the things that they are fighting are shadows?”

“Essentially yes, Elder Jessica, the pagoda draws in qi from the surrounding shadows and over the night and then uses that qi to produce the shadow beasts. It’s quite ingenious. Care to give it a try?”

Jessica paused to flex her arms pushing one elbow across, then the other. Then she cracked her knuckles.

“I’ll have a go.”

Jessica stepped into the room, her back fully sweating from the exertion as a group of five shadow beasts formed. Around the room, a mostly opaque wall let in enough light for her to work with.

“The only thinking missing here,” she said to a fully formed shadow cultivator, “Is some good rolling music.”

The shadow cocked its head at her and then ran right at her.

A classic haymaker passed over her head as she dodged left. Then she was on him, kneeing the cultivator in the groin, and then tossing him directly into the next shade.

“Well come on boys, don’t make it easy on me!” She said.

Four shadows charged.

Jessica nodded.

All of them went straight for the head.

“Typical boys, always thinking with one head or the other,” she said, ducking and sweeping four pairs of legs.

They all fell like sacks of flour, turning into smoky mist and reforming on the other side of the room.

The shadows fanned out, this time taking their time to circle her. Jessica reached out with her spiritual sense, realizing that she could see them as approximations of living qi sources.

Rather than moving in quickly, this time they all slowly plodded into the center, closing the gap. It felt too slow for Jessica so she picked one and just went for him.

He never knew what hit him as she froze the air around him. The shadow briefly looked around before it had a chance to defend her punch. Her arm went through, returning as a smokey mist.

Her qi rioted as she got into a rhythm. It felt right to be working through this.

Her palm pressed a shadow's head into the ground as the other caught an errant leg. The shadow attempted to juke her off, but she held firm, crushing a smoky femur in half.

Qi rushed faster through her meridians as she caught a blow in the stomach with both hands. The shadow looked down and if it had a face, it probably would have been horrified. Sadly, the dark front of its face gave away no emotion as Jessica twisted the shade over and tossed it into a corner.

The qi rushed through her meridians faster as she actively cycled, looking for an enemy to attack.

Nothing showing, Jessica stood up as the mists disappeared, and a stairwell formed on the side of the room.

“I guess it’s time to move up, then.”

Taking the steps at the run, Jessica popped up to the second floor to see ten shades waiting for her.

“An increase in difficulty? Excellent.”

Jessica charged the shades.

The amorphous mist looked for the first time as if it could be uncomfortable.

“Let me slow you all down,” she said, expending a large volume of qi to slow their mists. Little crystals of mist glooped into shards around her as she looked to the first one in the ranks, “and see if I can test this new technique out on you.”

The misty forms, not slow menacing snow beasts, or rather snowmen kept trudging forward. Each step drew grimaces across their new white faces.

So they do have mouths!

Jessica cycled, imitating the grinding pressure that she has seen Sa Kon use. She pushed her core to react to the qi of the first misty snowman.

For the first time in the weeks since she’d arrived, she felt a pang of hunger as she smashed an open palm into the central core of the snowman. She used that hunger to pull the qi from the monster, and a dribble of qi returned along her channels, mixing with her core.

This was pure natural qi, and in her shock, Jessica was nearly covered in snow angels before she jumped over and around to the outside. The mound of snow where the snowman was and the little amount of qi she drew made her shiver with anticipation.

Then it was under one punch, over a kick and down the first shade went. These had no fear of her.

They should have.

They all really should have.

The entire floor fell to her blows one by one, their movements getting faster as Jessica let up. Each time she pulled the energy out of a shade and drew it into her channels.

Shades were the oranges and she made juice. Bit by pulpy bit.

Where one fell, another faster shade popped up. In instinct, she popped it in the jaw, sending it flying.

The room brightened as the last of the shades was downed.

On to the next floor, maybe there will be a bit more or a challenge?

***

A half of an hour later and Jessica had finished climbing the tower and had slain the final foe before the room blinked and then reset.

None of the challenges this far had ever reset, which to Jessica's mind meant that she’d either completed the challenge or something harder was about to appear.

Right on cue, a large smoke wyvern popped up in front of her.

“Perfect.”

Jessica dove right on top of the wyvern as it formed, beating at it with her fists. The smoke repeatedly formed solid and then was beaten back.

She searched desperately for where the core was as the beast threw her off its back.

She tumbled, righting herself in midair until her heel hit the far wall.

Opening her spiritual sight, she finally had a target.

The wyvern slashed up at her, missing by inches as she slammed into its lower neck. Unfortunately, she was on the wrong side.

She would have to punch through and as the wyvern decided that now would be an excellent time to grab her, she just punched through the solid creature.

She didn't stop as the smoke creature gasped and held her close. Then she activated her absolute zero technique and the extremities of the dragon fell one at a time.

First, the inner arm fell, shattering underneath her, then the other arm fell, and then she had made contact.

In one trained motion, she juiced the poor dragon, not pausing until the entire beast collapsed.

"At least you tried," she said, trying to console the smoky remnants of her foe," and I am certain that your energy will be useful to me. So thank you."

Her core sloshed around, almost full of qi she had gathered. The stairs down popped up as the pagoda lit up entirely.

Jessica took her time going down the steps. When she got to the bottom a few aunties were waiting right outside. She let herself out and nodded.

Mary and Elaine both stood, probably waiting for Jessica to let them in.

Three junior disciples stood next to the aunties, all sheepishly waiting around. As if someone was going to tell them what to do.

"Elder sister," Mary said, bowing.

"Initiate Mary, this pagoda was a gift from our guest, Elder Fa Za. I have tested it and I believe that it will be suitable work for our martial students. I'll be sending in some of the juniors first to see how far they can make it before they're overwhelmed."

The unspoken words drifted in Jessica's mind.

Because you'll try to beat them if I don't make some arbitrary cutoff.

"I imagine that there might be some issues with students trying to speed run it like I just did. Rest assured that shouldn't happen. At some level, the challenge will be sufficient or too difficult for the cultivator and they can leave."

Mary looked stricken.

Jessica worried that she had said the wrong thing. Her mother was always on her about keeping her stories 'PG' and not cursing like a sailor. Especially around family, Jessica had learned to guard what she said. She had a flashback to telling one cousin about the birds and the bees and getting grounded.

"Mary, do you…?"

Mary's face was once again the stoic calm of someone who has cultivated extensively.

"Want to be in charge of who goes in and out?" Mary said.

Jessica couldn’t help but smile. She forgot that the aunties loved to run things.

"This one can vouch for her character," Elaine said.

Jessica's look told them that there would be no need.

"In that case, gather around all of you- yes you. And let's talk about how to make this work."

With her students around her in a semi-circle, she couldn’t help but feel at home. This time at least she wasn't grounded.

***

One by one the aunties kept a strict schedule for pagoda training. Ko Sa and the healers inspected each cultivator that came back out, probing their dantians, and their physical bodies.

It took three days for a junior cultivator to make it to the top, only to get smashed by the final boss. Curiously, it appeared as a tiny cat to Hu, rather than the one large dragon that had smashed into bits for Jessica.

Hu was adamant, with his large frame that the thing had been running circles around him and it had ruffled his mustache quite, ‘inelegantly’.

“Elder, you should have seen the kitten! It was like zoom, zoom pow! This one could only wish that he was that fast.”

“Ay, try some of my Lai Las hurry tea, it’ll make you hurry up,” Lai La said from the aid station.

“It’ll make you more attractive!” One of the nurses sang to him.

Ko Sa blushed.

“You’re not supposed to tell them that! We don’t know that! Lai La’s tea probably can’t do that, right? Also are you sure that it was a kitten? Elder Jessica said that she fought a dragon-”

Hu ran over to Jessica.

“A DRAGON? The elder fought a dragon? Was it after the kitten? Please tell this one that it was after the kitten, Elder sister! Because that kitten it was like, meow meow pow!

The giant, yet somehow bendy scout crawled around unbidden like a cat.

Jessica could barely hold back her laughter. Hu had reached the apex, lost to a shadow kitten and now was making fun of how it walked?

“I supposed that you’re going to try to act like the kitten to beat it next time,” she said.

“Gotta go faster!”

Hu mimed running, and the assembled aunties chuckled.

The line around the pagoda, and the fact that they could generally guess how the cultivators inside were doing via shadows cast against the walls meant that a little cookout had developed by the end of the day.

Jessica considered it the most refined tailgate she had ever gone to, and enjoyed the show. She was certain to put it on again the next day as well.

Two initiates took the opportunity to rise to the occasion and had begun their body reformation to the second realm upon the completion of their attempts. That they had been so close spurred everyone else to work harder.

Once the scout leader had made it to the top, all of the scouts attempted to do the same, going in between the initiates who never made it past level three, and the aunties who generally did the same. The second-level cultivators never made it to the top either. For three days, her cultivators threw themselves at it, and in the end, two more advanced each from first to second, and second to third.

It was when she looked at the numbers in the end that another decision was easily made for her.

It was time to recruit more students.

Total Sect Disciples/Followers: 218(+1 temporary guest)

Inner Sect

Fifth Realm: 2(+1 temporary guest)

Fourth Realm: 2

Outer Sect

Third Realm: 35(+2)

Second Realm: 88(-2,+1)

First Realm(or lower): 92(-2)

Daily Tasks or Special Jobs

Aunties: 22

Daily Upkeep (general pool): 20

Library Specialists/Quartermasters: 3

Alchemists: 5

Scouts: 10

Artisans/Craftspeople: 6

Emissaries: 4

Healers:5