“So, where are we going now?” I ask Lena.

“Back to the temple. Master called for you.”

The priestess did? Odd, if it was something that she already had to do why not tell it this morning?

Hmm?

What?!

I don’t think this should be the time for such a joke.

I ignore her last statement as I walk with Lena towards the temple. We’re walking fairly leisurely, looks like there is no hurry in reaching there, maybe the priestess is preparing something.

Lena seems to be, fidgeting? As if she’s confused whether she should do it or not.

I let out a sigh. Maybe what Patricia did earlier made her a little jealous, so I suppose it’s fine. I reach out and hold her hand. I see a blush instantly creep onto her face but she doesn’t do anything to reject.

It wouldn’t make a difference for you.

We hold hands all the way till the temple where I let go since it would be weird if someone else saw that.

Lena leads me to another room in the temple, this time a different one from the one we went to this morning. The room itself isn’t filled with much, there’s a door here that connects it to another room other than the door for the hallway. One whole wall at the side of the room is missing and it leads to a garden, a more typical garden this time instead of a medicinal one. And it has a patio connected to the room.

The priestess is sitting on a chair in front of what seems to be a small table full of etchings and marks, and with another chair directly opposite to her.

“Come, Gray, you should sit here.”

I do as she says and sit on that chair. I glance towards Lena who is still at the room’s entrance.

“Ah, she has a job to do outside the sect which is what she’ll be going for now, which is what the message from earlier was about.”

That makes sense I suppose.

“So, what did you call me here for?”

“What’s the hurry? Let’s play-”

“a game of Go.”

I thought this small table in front of us looked odd. Since there was something like a grid marked on it. So, it’s a game board. I’ve heard of ‘Go’ before, but I’ve never played it.

“But I don’t know how to play it.”

“Oh, it’s alright” She passes what seems to be a rulebook, I glance over it. Yup, I still have not much idea how to play this game.

I suppose I’ll just place the pieces as my intuition tells me to.

She starts first and places her black stone on the board. Mirroring your opponent’s moves is always a fine strategy as long as you know what you’re doing.

Yes, but I’ll mirror hers anyways since I can’t do anything better.

I mirror what she did and place a white piece on my side the same way she did.

She continues by placing her black piece at another spot and this time I tweak the move a bit and place a white piece not at the exact mirror opposite of hers. This continues for a while.

“So, did you see the rest of the sect?”

“Yes, it’s quite good.” Though I have no idea what to compare it with since this is the first sect I’ve seen.

“Did you choose a weapon yet?”

“Yes, it’ll be a crossbow for now.”

“A crossbow! Ah, an intriguing choice.”

We start to take a bit longer to place our stones on the board, it seems the strategy part has kicked in. Though I’m just pretending to think harder because I still don’t have much of a clue on how this works.

I’m sure if I had enough time and will, I would be able to come up with an advanced strategy using the help of my smartphone but I have neither of those right now.

“So, what is Lena to you?”

“What do you mean?”

I’m pretty sure she knows that Lena likes me but still…

“I think she likes you.”

I know that she likes me but…

“It’s still a bit too fast. It hasn’t even been a day since we met.”

“Ah, but she met you yesterday in the forest.”

Was just my unconscious face enough to make her interested? That’s… mildly weird.

She’s fine but I still don’t feel like going any further.

“I don’t think it’s the time yet.”

“Oh, what are you saying! You’re the young hero with impeccable talent. You haven’t even started cultivating but are at the top of mortal realm.”

Odd, I wasn’t referring to my cultivation strength though.

But still… Could it be that she can sense my strength? It’s possible but I don’t think that is it, could it be…

“Did you hear about the fight in the training area?”

“Of course, I did. Even if Lena didn’t tell me, I know the instructor would have.”

“I was just lucky to get easy opponents.”

“No, you didn’t. You beat the strongest warrior at the mortal realm there.”

The Go board is getting quite intense too. I need to act as if I’m spending time thinking even more. I have no idea why she hasn’t won already, since I have no clue what I’m doing.

“Think about it, Lena has a good family background too. She’s the daughter of a noble of the kingdom. And has very high talent.”

Let’s try to divert the topic then.

“Noble families of the kingdom? What are they?”

“Ah, you don’t know, how could I forget that. There’s 5 noble families in the kingdom, each one of which supports and is supported by a corresponding top sect.”

“I suppose they keep each other in check?”

“I knew you were smart. Yes, the families and sects keep each other in check, which is what the king and the royal family would want too. But recently it’s been quite odd.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s movement as if a few of the sects are colluding together.”

“Should you be telling me this?”

The Go board is about 50% full. And somehow, I’m winning? I’m pretty sure that just half the game doesn’t tell anything, the end result is still variable.

“Ah, that is where you come in, you see. There’s 3 sects colluding together to capture our sect and all the resources with it, thus effectively destroying the sect. You’re the one who’s prophesized to help us against this, and help our sect grow stronger.”

Hey, Gaia, what is this really?

What…Why doesn’t she answer?

“I am?”

“Yes, you are. But the sects are moving way faster than initially anticipated.”

“Why is that?”

“Maybe they got hold of some clue that we were making preparations against them or they’re being overly cautious and trying to end it as fast as possible.”

The Go board is about 75% done but she stops on her turn.

“And you are the key, but right now you’re too weak to combat them directly.”

“Then should I learn cultivation now?”

There’s a feeling of unease inside me.

“It would still be a bit too late if you learn it now. We have to use some other method.”

“There’s other methods?”

“Yes, a ritual. It could boost your strength straight to near the end of Nascent realm stage 10, and from there you should be able to jump into the Earth realm before they’re able to attack.”

“A ritual?”

“Yes, we’ve already made the preparations for it. Come.”

She stands up and walks inside the room, towards the door connecting this room to another one beside it. I get up too and follow her.

As I near the door, a smell of rusted iron enters my nose. I don’t particularly like it.

(Here's the part where you should stop reading if you're particularly squemish and instead directly skip to the end chapter author notes.)

She opens the door and the first thing I see, a pair of eyes staring at me lifelessly. It was the servant girl from this morning. Her mouth is open as if in a scream that I couldn’t hear. Hair matted, soaked in something.

Her entire torso cut open like in a dissection, a crimson liquid slowly seeping down the body and staining the floor red, the skin held apart by nails on the wooden cross.

Organs slowly slipping out. White bone with jagged ends showing through. The smell of blood permeating the air and its dribbling on the ground eroding away on my mind.

I wish I were weak hearted so I could just faint from this sight, but unfortunately, I can’t.

I look a bit more carefully towards the revolting scene in front of me.

The hands of the corpse are soaked red. The cut itself isn’t clean, the knife used for this wasn’t sharp. It seems she was alive while being dissected, and tried to stop the culprit with her hands. She’s nailed to the wooden plank using white stakes that are most likely her own ribs.

The blood flowing down the cross is collecting in a puddle.

“Come, Gray, you have to complete the ritual.”

“Ahahahaha” A laugh escapes me.

There’s a circle drawn on the floor using the cross as the center. Odd patterns all over the circle, with what seems to be a star inside it. Faintly visible black silhouettes moving around the cross as if in a prayer.

She hands me over what looks like the heart.

It feels slippery and warm, and is staining my hand its color. The arteries and veins visibly stretched, as if it was forcefully pulled out from the body. It’s deceptively soft, not what I would expect from a heart that is entirely muscle.

No, no no no no.

“Take a bite while it’s still warm, it’ll boost you straight to the end of Nascent realm.”

I don’t care.

I let the object in my hands fall to the floor, covering my ears and closing my eyes.

Any more and I feel I’ll never recover my sanity.

A warm liquid slowly flows down from my eyes as I could feel it on my cheek.

It’ll be best for me if this all just, disappears…