"Good going, girl!" Yelled an old man from the sidewalk.

Niva smiled at the man before she continued to carry her can of water to Ms. Gia’s house. She called it a can, but it was more like a large container. If not for her reaching the early stage of body cultivation, Niva didn't think she'd be able to manage to haul it along as she did. So, she understood why Ms. Gia posted a job request like more members of the settlement.

The village didn’t have access to the technology of the sect, which meant they had to acquire their sustenance the old-fashioned way. However, older men and women populated the village. Thus, they asked sect disciples to help them out. In return, the students received sect points.

Currently, Niva had three sect points, and with the near completion of this job, she'd have four. It had taken a week to gain this many sect points, which made her rethink her decision to forego finding a site. If this trend continued, it would take her approximately ten years to complete the practice of her water arts. Still, she only needed to visit the green zone of the mountain after this so she could finally buy her first stone.

Speaking of the green zone, she’d have to make sure she didn’t enter the other zones in the mountain. She had never seen the markers the sect placed before. But according to what the job registration office told her, the sect used flags to split the zones. They divided the first half of the mountain range into green, yellow, orange, and red, with the second half being purple and black. The yellow zone already formed a danger zone to her, and if she entered any of the other zones, she’d be dead meat.

Turning a corner, Niva returned her attention to the present and arrived in front of the home of Ms. Gia.

“Ms. Gia!” Niva yelled when she entered the yard, “I brought the last can of water.”

A jolly lady of short stature walked out of the home with a walking stick. “Oh, so fast? You must be tired after all of that carrying. Why don’t you come in for some tea?”

There it was, Niva thought. The classic old people move.

“I would love to,” Niva said, trying her best not to sound ruthless. “But I have to go towards another job right away.”

A gleam appearing in her eye, Ms. Gia’s face stooped, which made Niva feel horrible. Although she didn't want to spend a lot of time with Ms. Gia, she didn't want to hurt the lady’s feelings more than necessary.

Niva understood the madam’s situation; she lived with her son. He was a successful merchant, however, and went on many trips away from the village. In effect, the lady essentially lived by herself.

“Ah,” Niva said, biting her lip, “I intend to do jobs around the village for a while. Perhaps, you can ask for more water next week? I promise I will pick up the task if I see it.” Niva didn’t know how Ms. Gia would empty four large containers of water by herself, but this was as far as she would go. She was already reneging on her promise not to waste more time than necessary.

Immediately, the old lady's mood lightened up, and she told Niva she would make another job request soon.

That settled, Niva left the old lady behind after Ms. Gia gave her the slip that verified that she finished the job and went on her way to her second task of the day.

Animal species that ran the moment they saw people filled the green zone; as a result, picking berries amounted to taking a stroll in what was essentially the backyard of the sect, albeit one that spanned a few hundred kilometers.

Finishing her job quickly, Niva returned to the sect registration office. The office, like the name suggested, handled registering and processing job offers from the villagers or other disciples. The job offers were interesting because you could also offer tutorship for sect points or whatever else you wanted. Needless to say, the office fulfilled an important function. Yet, if you saw the building, you'd think it did anything but.

Many people frequented the building. Still, instead of looking dazzling, or even normal, the building looked ready to fall apart at any moment, which Niva hoped wouldn’t be when she was inside.

The walls were painted with two different kinds of paint. One the original, where you could in some places still see the care that went into it. The other, a hastily done patchwork to cover up cracks. Certain parts of the roof were caved in, and Niva swore that she saw rubber tape on one of the windows on the upper floors.

Regardless of her misgivings, she entered the building and was pleasantly surprised since there was no queue for the counter. Lucky, Niva thought as she stepped up to the clerk. By far the most fascinating thing in the building, the fully sentient raven perched on the bird stand behind the reception desk was the bonded spirit animal of the female Elder that had greeted them on the first day of the sect, Elder Iome.

Its silver-colored fur resembled Luneil's glow at night and accentuated the golden necklace made of serrated animal teeth that it wore. However, the most disturbing part of it all was that the raven was the equivalent of an early Skin Realm cultivator, which meant it could end Niva without breaking a sweat if it wanted to. She had to consciously remind herself of this fact since the small size of the raven made it almost look cute.

To avoid getting her butt cheeks handed to her, Niva bowed to the raven respectfully before handing him her two slips and sect badge that stored her tally.

“I've finished my two tasks, Elder Bert.”

Calling the raven an Elder wasn’t technically correct, but nobody would fault her for it since it was bonded to one.

"I can see that, child," Elder Bert said as he gave Niva a look that she interpreted as amusement. "There's no need to be so tense around me. I'm not going to bite you."

Niva didn't believe a single word the raven spoke, so she kept her body in a prime position to run.

“Have it your way,” Elder Bert said. He took the two jade slips in his claws, and her badge lit up.

“Your current balance is five sect points.”

“I would like to buy a water attributed stone, Elder,” Niva said.

“Are you certain?” Elder Bert said, turning his head sideways in a decidedly human gesture. ”Buying attributed stones so early on is generally considered a waste of points. Instead, you could save them and buy art manuals or meditation techniques.”

Niva had looked over the art manuals. They were essentially guides on how to execute techniques. She had seen one manual in particular that piqued her interest, The Fish Walks On Land. Even though she couldn’t see the contents, using her superior brain, she guessed it was a movement technique.

“I’m certain.” She wanted art manuals, but she didn’t require them.

Elder Bert shrugged his shoulders, at least that is what Niva thought –bird movements were hard to decipher– before he flew away to the back to get her requested item. He returned shortly afterward and handed Niva a blue-colored stone.

It had veins running through it, and Niva felt her dantian react slightly to the stone in her hands. She didn’t do anything, yet her body was already emitting a pulling force?

This revelation aroused excitement that quickly turned into impatience.

“I can sense your emotions. Go and use your stone, silly child.” The raven got back on his perch behind the desk and closed his eyes.

Bowing to the raven gratefully, she left the registration office in a hurry and went home.

Niva checked throughout the house but couldn’t find Tia, so she went straight into the kitchen, where she quickly ate a meal before rushing upstairs into her room.

After taking the stone out of her pocket, Niva fell into her meditative pose and let the stone rest in her palms.

The moment of truth, Niva thought as she softened her tight grip on the stone. Her family had already examined whether she held a water affinity; She did. However, they didn't know how much of an increase it would be. Reason being that that required a special tool that cost a fortune to rent, let alone buy.

However, discovering the benchmark of your affinity was easy once you entered a sect. When a cultivator absorbed a large quantity of essence that they had an affinity for, their body would react in a certain way.

There were three possible reactions. First, on the lowest level, essence would flow toward your dantian without you needing to control it. Secondly, A level two affinity would cause your soul to vibrate. Not only was this a great sign in and of itself, but it would also give you a head start since you would be more in tune with your soul, which further levels of cultivation required. Finally, and this was what Niva hoped would happen, the third level would give you a vision of the element.

Going through a soul vibration and having essence that moved by itself was great. But, it all paled in comparison to a vision. Depending on your talent, visions would reveal the beginnings of a concept. The concept could be powerful, or it could be weak. Nevertheless, it was a boon.

Her heart started to pound in her chest. If her water affinity was strong enough, then she could cast her mother's element out of her life for good, and Niva wanted nothing more.

To not let her incompetence influence the results, she suppressed all her emotions, focusing whole-heartedly on her breathing.

Like the removal of a dam, essence burst from the stone into her meridians and flowed unimpeded. The chilly water essence expelled all residual tension in her body, soothed her soul, and made her feel as if she reunited with an old friend as her soul started to shake.

Suddenly, Niva opened her eyes. She panicked. She tried to breathe but couldn't. She tried to move, but her limbs didn't listen. She tried to sense anything, but no stimulus reached her.

Instead, a deafening silence and an even more horrendous darkness enclosed her from all sides.

What happened? Where was she? Did something go wrong, or was she dying? Her thoughts raced as nothing seemed to happen until something penetrated through the void.

Pressure the weight of a mountain descended on her in the next moment. Not on her physical body. On her soul.

“Hoh, I never thought another initiate would enter my realm,” a drumming voice spoke. Niva experienced the words more than she heard them, as her entire being trembled with the rhythm.

In front of her, an eyeball the size of a mansion opened. Its iris was wholly orange, while its pupil was Death black. "…and a human at that. Fascinating”–the eye moved around her in a circle, fixing Niva with a stare–“Perhaps I was wrong, and you may not be a lost cause after all," whatever it was spoke.

Not a single word stuck in Niva’s brain since she was too busy figuring out what was going on. However, before she could improvise a response, a blinding white beam of light shone down from above.

The being looked upwards, after which a sound Niva couldn’t make heads or tails of permeated the space.

As fast as it came, the light disappeared, and the being returned its gaze on Niva. "Rejoice. At first, I wasn't going to give you much–"

Niva felt a pulse traveling through her in periodic bursts...was it laughing?

“–but it does amuse me to get one up on the crone.”

Her surroundings illuminated for a single moment, and what she saw was enough to drive fear deep into her soul. Eldritch horrors, the likes of which she thought were mere fiction, pervaded what she now understood was water.

Shortly after her realization, a scalding hole seemed to come into existence near her lungs. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out, and the entirety of the water around her rumbled, speaking as one before her mind got pushed away, “Beware the depths.”

Niva woke up panting. She laid on the floor, her tunic drenched. Still feeling the eye’s stare on her, she curled into a ball and closed her eyes. But she quickly opened them, as it only made it worse.

A rather strange sensation in her hand made her look down. Welcoming the distraction, she saw dust covering her palms.

So, they crumble after when they are empty? Niva thought before she started maniacally laughing. She had no idea what happened just now, but her mind had trouble dealing with normalcy at the moment.

Closing her eyes again, Niva tried to come to terms with herself. Whatever was down there couldn't hurt her right now. There was no need to fear it.

However, life was often cruel, and it gave Niva no time to recover. “What a fucking dipshit!” Tia shouted.

Please not now, Niva pleaded. Let’s just pretend I’m not here.

“Niva!”

She sighed. Her emotional storage was empty. Moreover, she didn't remember doing something to anger Tia.

Ignoring her roommate after she called her out didn't seem wise, though. As such, Niva consciously made herself appear smaller as she made her way downstairs with slow, agonizing steps. "Yes?"

She looked Tia over. Grime covered the female nomad from head to toe, and Tia crossed her arms while veins showed on her forehead.

“That pig you were talking to during training–”

“Dino?” immediately said. She only spoke to one other person during training.

“Him. Are you friends with him?”

Niva was certain Tia's stare would've sent a chill down her spine had she not come face to face with the monster for what felt like hours. Although she didn't feel frightened, she sensed a bloodlust in Tia's eyes. One that spoke of Niva's blood in particular, so she decided to tread safely.

“...No?” Niva faked a whimper.

Tia’s eyes turned even more red in response.

“I mean,” Niva said, waving her arms in a disarming gesture. ”I know him, but we’re not close. We simply grew up on the same side of the city, that is all. I swear.”

The nomad kept her gaze on Niva for a while before she huffed. “Good, because I feared that I needed to kill two people. That would've been a shame.”

Not having any energy left, Niva simply looked her roommate dead in the eyes.

"Don't worry,"–Tia must’ve misinterpreted her visage–"I believe you. Just make sure you don't enter the crossfire after these violence-free three months are over."

“Okay...”

Tia stormed up the stairs and left Niva in the living room by herself to contemplate what in Luneil’s name was going on.

Well, honestly, she did have an idea. Dino had been eyeing Tia during the entirety of the entrance day since he hated nomads with all his heart. Case in point, he called them barbarians rather than nomads.

But that didn’t explain why Tia hated Dino. How badly did he insult her to enrage her to this extent? Can you even insult someone you don’t know to where they legitimately want to murder you as soon as possible?

Turning toward the hat-stand beside the front door, Niva debated in her mind. She longed for a shower, wished for her head on a pillow even more, but this felt urgent. And while she and Dino weren’t best friends, she still knew him…

Curse my luck, Niva thought as she removed her coat and went outside.