2 months is a lot of time, but also not that much time. Using any two adjacent months that aren’t February, the average number of days in two months is 61. In the grand scheme of things, not a whole lot will happen in 61 days. Sweeping changes rarely happen that quickly, unless one happens to be talking about Roman Emperors. At the same time, 61 days is an ample amount of time for numerous smaller changes, or large changes on a small scale to occur. Alvin for example, in the 2 months he had been at the Sect, had managed to change himself from a below average human prior to the System, into what would have been the peak of humanity at that time. He had been at the peak of the mortal realm for nearly a week now, honing his skills and waiting for the others to get to the same point. Oriana and Sasha peaked 2 days before and a day after him respectively, and the last 2 days saw 4 of the people with tier 7 Affinities make it to the peak as well. Elder Song had told the recruits that they would be helped to advance in groups of about 10, which meant that only 3 more people needed to make it to the peak.

In the meantime, everyone continued training, especially their skills. As everyone started to get skills closer to 10, the results became more and more tangible. The Hall Masters had shared that the first 30 levels of a skill were considered to be the Beginner tier, and that skills had a maximum of 100 levels. At each transition between tiers, the skill would hit a bottleneck, and they would have to increase their understanding of the skill to progress further. The next 25 skill levels were Apprentice, the following 20 levels were Journeyman, then the 15 levels of Master, and the final 10 levels were Grandmaster. It was rare to find people with more than one or two skills at Master tier, and experts with Grandmaster tier skills were fought over by Factions more powerful than the Boundless Sea Sect. In fact, in the entire Sect, only the Sect Master had any skill in the Master tier, and it was his weapon skill, Spear Arts, which is a combination of the Spear Mastery skill and his Path.

Alvin was anticipating the day’s training, hoping that a few more of the tier 7 people would reach the peak, so that the small group, and more importantly him, could finally advance their Cultivation. All of them had already been taught how to sense Qi, but it took almost no effort to feel the energy, as it was completely alien to them. Alvin would have spent time working on sensing and maybe even trying to move Qi, but Elder Song asked them not to do so, as it may cause them to advance before the Sect was ready for them to do so.

Alvin laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling, far too excited to go back to sleep. He was only waiting for the abomination to signal sunrise, after which the day would officially begin. And all too soon, but not soon enough, the creature screeched the beginning of the day, and Alvin shot out of bed, got dressed, and practically flew through the halls, down the stairs, and out in front of the building. The elders didn’t need to guide them to the training field anymore, but the recruits had gotten into the habit of walking together. Alvin tended to focus more on training, and only really talked to Oriana and Sasha, who were pretty good conversation, even if Sasha was still quiet and Oriana was still extraordinarily overbearing.

Before too long, the rest of the recruits had gathered outside, and the group began to head to training. Alvin was antsy, and felt like everyone was walking too slow, and spent part of the trip walking circles around people, until Oriana got irritated and made him stop. Luckily, some of his nervous enthusiasm rubbed off onto some other people in the group, because the pace picked up, and everyone made it to the training field slightly earlier than they would have.

Elder Song, Hall Master Ibu, and an unfamiliar man were waiting for them, alongside an addition to the training field. All the normal physical training equipment was there, as were all of the strategy games and brain teasers, but the far half of the field had been changed into a mutant combination of an obstacle course and a maze. On the side closest to the recruits, there was a circular mini arena with a flag, and inside of the arena were several entrances into the maze. As everyone started towards the equipment, Elder Song spoke.

“Those who have reached the peak of the mortal realm, come to me instead.” The elder’s voice was as calm and gentle as always, and Alvin wondered what it would take to rile him up. That aside, Alvin, Sasha, Oriana, and the 4 tier 7 people moved to stand in front of Elder Song. He appraised them for a moment or two, before explaining why he called them to him.

“You have all reached as high as you will be able to in this realm, purely based on stat. Utilization of them, especially in combat, will take for more practice, of the live kind. We have constructed this maze based on the Earth game ‘capture the flag,’ and you will be divided into 2 groups to compete for the flags. Unlike the original version, there is no territory in the maze. If you come across members of the opposing team, you can either flee or engage in combat. Hall Master Ibu and I will be watching, and will inform you when you have lost or won the skirmish, and when one team has successfully taken the other flag back to theirs. Of course, to push you to use all of your stats, most of the maze has obstacles, and flat space is a premium. You can never assume terrain will be favorable, so you must be capable of exerting as much of your capability as possible in disadvantageous areas. Now, before we can begin, you must create teams of three. Proceed.”

Alvin started toward Oriana and Sasha, to form a group with the people he was the most familiar with, but was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. When he looked back, it was the unfamiliar man, who shook his head.

“You will not be participating in this exercise.” His voice was a gentle, rolling bass, and even the low volume and soft tone couldn’t disguise the power and authority intertwined in his voice. It baffled Alvin, because the elders and Hall Masters all had a palpable presence, even before he had Qi Sense, but especially after when they felt like roaring bonfires to his burgeoning sense. But this man, though his voice spoke of untold power and his hand felt like steel, had almost no presence, as if he would fade away into mist if one were to stop paying sufficient attention.

“Why won’t I be participating? I could definitely use the practice, just as much as the rest of them,” Alvin was flummoxed. He had no idea who this man was, what he wanted, or why he was stopping Alvin from joining the maze exercise.

“I would have words with you, youngling. And I am not keen on sharing those words with those to whom they aren’t intended, useful, or needed, so you will have to accompany me to where we will not be disturbed.” The man sounded absolutely paranoid, and just a bit sinister, in spite of, or maybe because of, how his voice maintained the same gentle, even tone as before.

Alvin looked at Elder Song, unsure of what to do, and the elder looked up, smiled and nodded, then went back to managing the violent game of capture the flag. Alvin shrugged, looked at the strange man, and nodded. The man gave a small smile in return, and tapped Alvin’s shoulder, and suddenly the open forest field had transformed into a surprisingly well furnished cave that probably overlooked the sea, judging from the sound of waves and the heavy smell of salt. The cave was indeed well furnished, for a cave, with a table and 4 chairs of decent quality, and not yet corroded by all of the salt in the air.

The strange man plopped himself down in one of the chairs, and gestured for Alvin to sit as well. He decided to sit in the one on the other side of the table, as he was still rather wary of the man, especially given the display of the man’s power, either teleporting them to the cave, or moving so fast that it didn’t register in Alvin’s mind. Personally, he thought the former was the more likely of the two, because moving at that kind of speed would leave traces, even if it somehow didn’t break him like an expired condom.

Alvin and the man sat there for a few moments, just looking at one another, Alvin uncomfortable and the man slightly amused, before he finally started to talk.

“Suspicious little thing, aren’t you? I’m sure you can tell that if I wanted you dead, you would be, but I find it often helps to remind humans of that fact. My name is Jebsa, but you would be more likely to know me as the Sect’s Guardian Beast, the World Serpent.” Here Jebsa paused, seemingly to savor the cocktail of awe, terror, surprise, and confusion that danced across Alvin’s face.

“I brought you here because of your Affinity. Not the tier, 8 isn’t bad, but you’d have to be at least a high 9 to get my attention in that regard. No, you caught my eye because of the alignment of your Affinity. Ocean. Having that specific Affinity is rarer than a tier 9, but still many times more common than tier 10. It is also the Affinity that I possess, and my master, the Sect’s Founder, used to possess.” Again, Jebsa paused, though this time less for enjoyment and more for the situation to sink in. Alvin’s expression had changed from that of confusion, to one of consideration and deep thought. When he realized that Jebsa had stooped, Alvin looked up, and received a gesture that asked for his thoughts.

“Well……. You’re obviously much more powerful than me, so you probably don’t need me help for anything.”

“Correct, I’d just make the Sect Master do it!”

“And my Affinity isn’t a high enough tier to be worth your time…..”

“Yes, just said so.”

“And we share Affinity alignment….”

“And with the Sect Founder!”

“Then do you want me to be your disciple?” Jebsa was completely blindsided by the question, before he burst out laughing and nearly fell out of his chair.

“I can see how you arrived at that conclusion, but no. My techniques, my Path is not well-suited to humans in general. Rather, it is the connection to the Founder of the Sect you should be more focused on. He left Paths specifically for those whose Affinity matched his, and were, at the very least, tier 8, preferably 9 or 10. You just make the cut to receive one of these Paths, Affinity wise, so it is just a matter of getting your Cultivation and stats to the requirements,” Jebsa explained, still wiping tears of joy from his reptilian eyes.

Alvin had gone from joy, to dejection, then back to joy faster than he could fully process what was happening. Then he frowned, and asked a question born of his Status sheet.

“But then, who WOULD be my master?”