I wake up, a beam of light filtering through the window, landing directly on my face. I struggle for half an hour before realizing things are futile. I start getting ready for the day, showering to remove the stink of the past days of traveling. After getting out of the shower, a marvel of engraved shower formations, that I spent almost as much time studying as I did actually showering. After getting out, I began noticing more engraved formations throughout the room. While slowly getting dressed in one of my finer formal outfits, as I was “addressing the court” today, I slowly flitted around the room studying and determining the functions of the various formations. I found a magical version of shades on the windows, as they tinted the glass to a near pitch black, which I wish I had done earlier today. Next, I came across a large panel of formations, realizing that in this city, they had a magical variant of smart homes. There were temperature controls here, a wind formation that acted as a fan, a sort of paging system for servants, and even a clunky “text” function that allowed messages to be send to a centralized receiving center for the Clan.

I gained some more respect for how this world was able to imitate technology, waiting for the chance to advance my formations knowledge, as well as glad for more modern conveniences. I had missed them back in the village, almost expecting advanced formations knowledge to only be militaristic in nature, or unable to achieve what I am seeing. Glad to be back in civilization, I finished getting ready, just in time to hear a knock at the door.

I open the door to see my trio of bodyguards, where Duanlu informs me of the “summons” by the Branch Head. I say “summons” as it was impressed upon me it wasn’t so much of an order, as it was an invitation with the understanding formalities dictate it be considered an order. I gather up the small trunk containing the organized documents, take my place behind my guards, and began heading out. We walk through a couple corridors before encountering the first bit of “traffic”. After plodding along in the slower, but busier corridors, where administrative likely occurred, and where I would spend more time in, we arrived back in a slower corridor. I say slower, but there were still dozens of people flitting about, but everyone was still moving with purpose.

Duanlu knocks on the door, where the equivalent of a Butler opens it, notices who is at the door, before opening it and letting us through. A couple people stand off to the side, clearly appearing to be some personal secretaries. They nod to the trunk, explaining they will do a quick initial check to ensure everything is there, as well as some brief notes to the Head about the organization, before he checks it for himself. Shortly after handing the trunk off, the butler moves us through another door, into a private office and lounge area, very clearly an area to have work conversations under a level of casualness. We walk in to see a youngish man, clearly looking like he was in his late thirties to early forties, but with cultivation affecting how old you could be while looking much younger, I wouldn’t doubt if he was past one hundred.

"Hello there Young Master Mingzie, I am Zhou Youhao, the Gungzhou Branch Head. It will be an interesting couple months for you here. I have been advised to give you all the tools you need to succeed, but to not coddle you” I hear from the man, who has a smirk on his face at the end. I reply that I am willing to meet the challenges head on, and with the necessary knowledge at hand, will make great strides in my studies and in the practical setting. He goes on to explain that the first half of my day, pretty much from 8 in the morning to just after lunch will be dedicated to administrative duties, while the afternoon will be reserved for studies. I will have a tutor or two depending on how my studies go after the first couple days. Additionally, my administrative duties will be somewhere on a spectrum to secretarial duties to an actual position on the “Scholar Squad”, a nickname he gives to more prodigious youths who show practical promise for administration. Depending on how I do, my position will reflect the grade, but either way my duties will be on the slower scale, to not unduly affect my studies.

Shortly after, the butler arrives, the personal secretaries in tow. The secretaries whisper a few things into his ear, placing a sheet in front of him with some notes, before stepping out. Youhao spends a second reading through the list, another one of his smirks appearing, before he walks over to the trunk that was brought in by the butler. He spends a few minutes randomly perusing through the trunk, writing down times it seemingly takes to find things in particular. He seems slightly surprised for a second before questioning me.

“Were you told of how I like things organized in advance?” he asks. I respond “I was given a hint that it would be better if it was more intuitive rather than a more comprehensive organization. I took that to mean whoever would be judging it likely preferred having access to a smaller subset of documents quickly, rather than a decent length of time for everything”. I went on explaining that after I noticed a lot of these documents seemed like they would be heavily referenced, it seemed like an easy initial organization method. Continuing with that, it made sense to assume the “discipline” associated with keeping a comprehensive organization system wouldn’t imply, so to build it into the system by making highly referenced and important documents in the front of the dividers, as well as in the front as much as possible.

He went on to talk about how impressed he was, as not many consider less complicated methods, disregarding who else may be needing access to documents. Before he sent me off, he said I will likely be assigned to the “Scholar Squad”, with the advice that I will likely be using a more traditional organizing system.