With nothing left to prove I stepped off the sweaty, blood-soaked mat. I approached the spluttering woman, she was clutching her side in desperate pain. She grimaced when she saw me.

“I...” she coughed. “I don’t know who it was,” she managed to say. “Give me 2 days to find out.”

“How about you do it in 1?” I threatened.

“If you wanted me to do it in 1, you shouldn’t have incapacitated me,” she shot back snarkily.

“I think I can do something about that if you’ll let me?” I asked, calming down significantly.

“Oh and I suppose you’re deceptively good at that too?” she asked sarcastically.

“Well I’m certainly better at making people feel good than I am at making people feel bad,” I said cryptically.

“And I’m supposed to believe that?” she scoffed, understandably angry at my bold proclamations.

“How about this then, you let me help you. If it doesn’t work I’ll give you my first 3 mission rewards?”

“If you make it worse, I want your first 5,” she said ruthlessly. I just shrugged and placed my hands on the sore spot. She yelped in pain but quickly shushed herself by biting her lip down.

I channeled my qi into her and soothed the oncoming bruising. She gasped as her pain receded. Unfortunately, she got angrier as a result. “You actually…” she gasped as she clutched her side, poking around to find that it no longer hurt. “Are you mocking me?” she asked with undisguised venom.

“I’m trying to help you,” I assured her. I did not mind what she thought I was trying to accomplish, I just wanted the name of the person who managed to get into my room without me noticing.

“Just, meet me here tomorrow evening. I’ll tell you the name,” she said before storming away, the crowd watching her the whole way.

A red-faced man with his arms swinging exaggeratedly burst into the room as the girl walked out, he got even angrier when he saw the state she was in.

“Who is fighting?” he shouted with a slightly hoarse voice. I was still separated from the group, I was covered in sweat, I had blood stains on my shorts and smears on my body. I was about to identify myself but he noticed me and continued his furious march towards me.

“Come with me,” he growled. I nodded my head and followed him out, winking at Safi as I walked past her.

“Get some clothes for me too, please.” I hurriedly whispered, she just sighed.

I was told off quite dramatically by the fuming man, eventually, my mind drifted to the successes of my plan and the potential ramifications. There was also the matter of my solo cultivation rapidly approaching the end of its effectiveness.

The man shooed me away eventually so I walked back to my cave, finding a few new sets of clothes laid neatly on my bed. Tucked neatly inside the collar of the top set was a single feather, it was a solid emerald colour. I couldn’t feel any lingering qi, nothing to indicate identity nor motive.

I was not familiar with the world and therefore if there were any subtleties or subliminal messaging that involved a green feather, then it was lost on me. I put it on my table, resolving to let it sort itself out.

My first priority right now was finding an Elder fit to be my Master and to find a girl willing to become my partner as my solo cultivation was quickly reaching expiration.

There was a knock on my door then Safi swung the door open, she was excitable and began speaking far too quickly for me to pick any of it up.

“Slow down Safi, relax.”

“The soul, can you help me with it?” she asked after a deep breath.

I laughed, then agreed. Not that I had much choice in the matter, there was no way she was going to let me escape.

Leaving her to think and cultivate, I set about my gallant, if slightly perverted quest. I was seeking information so Chit, the Silent was not going to be the right person to go to. Now was the right time to find Jamie and Ta’oma, my seniors from the bath.

They had told me where to find them, the numbers above every cave allowed me to quickly navigate to the correct one. I knocked on the door and after about 2 minutes Jamie opened it. He was slightly out of breath and his hair was disheveled, I peered inside to find Ta’oma sitting uncomfortably on the bed.

“Oh, hello Sen’o.” said Jamie awkwardly.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I said with a wink. “I needed some teaching, and you’re still the only friends I’ve made.”

Jamie perked up quickly. “How about we go and eat? We’ll tell you what we can.” Not long after, we were walking out of the stone tower that sheltered the Hall of the Mountain Gods. It was as busy as when Safi and I entered for the first time. Meanwhile, I was slightly struggling with the guilt of entering the city before and without Safi. Luckily Ta’oma began talking which served as a suitable distraction.

“So, what do you want to know?” he asked as we crossed the central bridge connecting each side of the gorge, people generally letting us by without trouble after spotting our clothing.

“I need to find a Master, I was wondering who my options are, the more eccentric the better,” I said, entirely seriously.

“You welcome eccentricity? Well it’s not hard to find in this sect so, lucky you,” replied Ta’oma.

“Tell him about Laaka,” interjected Jamie as he nudged Ta’oma.

“She’s not eccentric, she’s just an idiot,” said Ta’oma who received a much more powerful nudge from Jamie in turn.

“She’s not an idiot, just very picky. She’s the lowest ranking Elder we have purely because she hasn’t found a disciple good enough. Or so she says,” clarified Jamie. They continued their recommendations but I decided she would be my first visit regardless, even if it was just to satiate my curiosity on whether she was an idiot or just picky.

We ate in a Guturan restaurant and it served as an acceptable impression of this world’s cuisine. It was quality, loaded with spices with juicy meat aplenty accompanied by steamy beans. We barely talked, I had become used to the Teteli’s travel food which whilst not inedible certainly left a lot to be desired.

Forcing down the ever-increasing guilt I was feeling for even dining without Safi, I resumed the conversation. “Not to be intrusive, but I am curious as to how you sound-proofed your room,” I said which afterward I realised sounded much less elegant than I had intended.

Ta’oma cringed a little but Jamie took it in his stride. “You’ll have to visit Ayoub, he studies arrays. He’ll sort you out with the soundproofing, it’ll cost you a good few imal though. He’s a greedy one.”

“Where can I find him?” I asked. Jamie told me the location as we wrapped up our meal. Jamie paid, thankfully as I had not brought anything with me. Innocently of course as I had no idea we were going to be leaving the sect.

We walked back, undisturbed. My first stop was a certain Elder who I was dearly hoping would not turn out to be an idiot.