The inside of my new home was in stark contrast to the colorful garden and lively pond that framed the house. Whitewashed walls. Minimal furniture. There were four rooms; a study area, a bedroom, a meditation room, and a bathing chamber. The space was large enough, but it was utilitarian. There was nothing to soften the harshness of the white walls. Even the floors had been set with limestone to extend the blandness of white.

Nothing was hanging from the walls, no splashes of color used with carpets, pillows, or bedding. The white was so institutional as to give rise to a headache. The only relief was recessed lighting that diffused and muted the lack of color.

It explained some of the items the Sect had allowed us to bring as part of our belongings. They had not forbidden clothing, but uniforms and robes would be provided and required to be worn. Uniforms that had enchantments woven into them, they were much better than anything I owned, but the real reason for the requirement was so that we could be identified at a glance. The clothing would mark us as Flowing Water Sect members.

The Sect did encourage new members to bring blankets, tapestries, and paintings, as well as throw rugs, knick-knacks, and meditation mats. Which suggested the sterile palate that had been applied to housing was one of efficiency instead of preference. It was probably cost less and it was easier to paint each dwelling the same uniform white.

I had a nice turquoise desk set that would help in the study room, but I knew what I would be purchasing or scrounging from my parents the first time I had a chance to visit town and home. Unfortunately, my bedding and sheets were white. At home, my room had been painted in shades of yellow, so the white made for a sharp contrast, here it was just lost in the sameness. For now, I intended to make liberal use of the gardens and select cuttings that would bring not only color to my new domicile but also life.

My bags had been delivered and stored on the bed while I’d been busy that day. Now that I had injected my Qi, the lock was keyed to me. This would be the last time anyone would be able to enter the house without my permission. Deliveries that I wasn’t there to accept would be left outside.

The tour of my new home, as short as it was, ended with Tarrah and I sitting at my new desk examining the schedule that listed those activities and classes I could sign up for. The Sect wasn’t a University, it was a place to train Dharmic spells, martial techniques, and cultivate. Because of this, there wasn’t a large selection of classes for me to choose from. We were considered Adults and as Adults self-reflection and self-study was expected. If there was something I wanted to know or learn, I needed to find a mentor that might be willing to teach.

The Elders did schedule a series of topics that could be attended by all. Roman-style assemblies. Lecturers would broach subjects of interest around a myriad selection of topics. Sect members could sit in and attend those lectures that would provide enlightenment.

After some discussion with Tarrah, we decided on herb identification and gathering, introduction to pill formation, Bow Martial technique, Dharmic Spell and hand signs, and beast taming. Martial and Dharmic practice would be part of my Cultivation routine and would be done daily. Herb and Pill formation could be combined because I had a foundation of knowledge in herbology, my parents drilling me in herb lore almost my entire life.

Beast taming class was more hands-on, working at the stables. Those who trained animals would impart wisdom, wisdom that would help me to choose a suitable animal to bond with. Once my choice was made, they would point me to the area where I could find the animal I had decided on.

Beast Taming could be done in one of two ways. If you were lucky enough to find an animal that had yet to open their eyes, then you could imprint with that young animal. By isolating the beast and restricting interaction to just the two of you, the animal came to know and depend on you. Once the eyes had opened and the beast knew you from sight, smell, and taste, the animal was as tightly bound as possible.

The other method required a Sect member to engage in battle. Fighting and healing, over and over again, until the beast submits. This bond is tenuous at best in the beginning and depending on how you treat the animal can be broken, often with disastrous results. People who abused the animals they bonded with and that they had come to rely on them, often found themselves savaged and killed. Their pet joining an attacking beast to kill the cultivator and regain their freedom.

Stolen novel; please report.

That freedom barely lasted longer than seconds as the recoil from the bond-breaking left the animal confused and vulnerable. They were almost always killed by something in the surrounding area if that happened, unable to shake off that vulnerability and escape before they were killed.

If I couldn’t claim a newly born beast companion, I wanted one that was still considered a juvenile, the bond the young formed before fully maturing was the most stable. I had no intention of mistreating the animal, that wasn’t the issue, but I did think that it would make for better teamwork if our bond was as firmly established as I could make it.

If the information I’d been given was correct, the companion bond was empathic, so any mistreatment on an owner’s part was reflected in emotional pain. Pavlov proved that animals could be conditioned, it would take a real masochist to withstand that type of bio-feedback pain more than once or twice.

All of the classes were conducted daily, there were no days off, no weekends I could spend in hedonistic pleasures. If I wanted a day for myself, I would just take it, no one would be taking attendance, the success and value I received from any endeavor was commensurate with the effort I put in.

I would need to be up at the break of dawn to help feed and clean the kennels and stables, at least until I was proficient and knowledgeable enough to know how to maintain and care for an animal. The Beast Taming class was considered hands-on, and the lessons and advice happened while conducting daily cleaning and grooming for Sect owned beasts.

Once finished with Beast Taming, and after breakfast, I attended martial training, then lunch. Dharmic spell and hand sign were self-study, knowledge dispensed by a series of jade tokens that increased in difficulty. Each subsequent test had a testing array that required the Sect member to pass to unlock the information contained within the slip. Pill formation and herb lore would take up my entire afternoon. Depending on how involved I was in the creation of pills or assisting someone, dinner may need to be skipped.

There were Martial arenas and practice yards I could use to perfect martial techniques or places where I could reserve a shielded room to refine Dharmic spells. The Library offered rooms where I would be able to study recipes and techniques for pill refining and the properties of herbs, but the actual practice of could only take place in a cauldron room located in Alchemical Hall.

And with all of that, I still needed to find time to cultivate. That was a never-ending progression for cultivation, filling my Dantian and soul ocean, condensing those energies to breakthrough into the next realm, and then doing it again, over and over until I reached the Immortal Emperor Realm. What happened when I attained the peak level in that realm wouldn’t be known until and if it happened.

“We need to stop at the Mission hall to get your token keyed into the system,” Tarrah said once we had finished discussing the schedule of activities the Sect was offering.

“We can drop this off at the registrar’s while we are there,” she suggested as she beckoned for me to follow and bring my schedule. “Most of the administration offices are in the same building as the Mission Hall. It’s more convenient to maintain records when the clerks can be shared across departments.”

There was a line when we arrived, the other new initiates, those that had gone through orientation with me that morning and been assigned mentors, were gathered and chatting amiably with those around them. That we all arrived at the hall at the same time was either poor planning or intended. We would have to wait for our turn, but those processing the new members would get the needed information processes and accomplished in one burst of activity. They could then get back to their normal duties, the mass confusion, and the influx of data sorted.

If I were organizing the induction procedure, I’d have organized processing with exactly that purpose in mind. Busy for an hour or two and depending on the time of day, either close up shop and return in the morning to take up those tasks that contain normalcy and order or get back to assigned tasks as quickly as possible.

Registration was as efficient and easy as Tarrah had promised. A quick scan of the document and I was given a new form listing time, place, and instructor as well as a Sect map so that I could find my way around. This map much more detailed than one I had been given earlier. It included information on areas of the Sect that were restricted, and I was cautioned not to lose or misplace it.

Tarrah was already registered. As my mentor, she would be available if I had problems, but that did not mean she would hold my hand and solve every minor issue. She would have priorities and interests that she would need to spend time and effort on.

“May I have the jade token you were issued the day of testing,” a Sect member said when we’d finally made it to the head of the line. There was no greeting, the member perfunctory, certainly bored with the duty of the day.

“I didn’t think to mention that you should bring your token,” Tarrah apologized. “When I joined members Sect token and Mission tokens were unique and separate.”

“Why did they change,” I asked as I injected Qi into my spatial ring and withdrew the requested token and handed it to the clerk.

“Efficiency, I’d like to think,” Tarrah joked, “but it came down to expense. Too many members lose or destroy them when out on missions. Replacing two tokens each time that happened was a waste of time and money.

“I think the runemasters that crafted them finally got fed up at the extra work and figured out a way to merge the two data streams into one token.”

“Your token has been activated,” the Sect member said interrupting Tarrah and claiming our attention. “Ninety contribution points as the Sect gift to all new members have been deposited as well as five hundred contribution points awarded by Elder Shadow.”

The Sect member seemed much more interested then he had been a moment ago. Tarrah shared that interest. But both were too polite to ask me to explain how I had five hundred contribution points awarded on the first day. I was happy they didn’t because I was as confused and surprised as they were. I had had no idea that Elder Shadow was planning on awarding me contribution points.

It had to be related to the events concerning Outer Sect member Braun and the theft attempt that I had given testimony about. I was more worried than delighted at the unexpected windfall. Somehow, I knew these points would come back to bite me in the ass.