Cultivation Fever

We walked up some steps to a building on the right side of Little Yard.

"This is House Grace, the dining hall"s just at the back!"

"House Grace?"

"Ah, yes, I should explain a little. Student accommodation is separated into six Houses. Scholars live in College," he peaked over his shoulder at me, "that"s where we live! Then there"s Grace, Ashen, Dragon, Harlequin and Regalia."

I made a note of the names. They seemed quite eclectic, as with everything in this strange school.

"Of course," Dong continued, "the Houses aren"t just where you live. They are individual communities, and there are several inter-House compet.i.tions throughout the year."

Dong swung open a set of double doors into a large vaulted dining hall. The first thing that hit me was the cacophony of sound from hundreds of chattering students.

They sat on benches facing each other across long tables. There were obvious cl.u.s.ters of friend groups scattered around the hall. Green pillars filled the room, holding up the high ceiling.

Dong walked to the front of the queue for food. I hesitated to follow him, not wanting to seem out of place. Instead, I joined the back of the queue.

Dong took a look behind him and seemed to realise what happened. He served himself then walked to a far corner of the room.

The group of students in front sent a glance my way, then continued chatting among themselves.

After a few minutes, I got my food and looked for where to sit. I caught Dong out of the corner of my eye, waving for me to come over.

Part of me wanted to join the other students… but I realised that this was a chance to grill Dong about the school.

The bench creaked as I sat down, and I noticed how beaten up the tables were. They were a rich golden brown but pitted with dark holes and deep scratches.

Dong noticed my gaze and perked up,

"The historians say that these tables were taken from ships that sailed on the first eastern expedition. Though I find that a bit hard to believe."

"So," he continued, "I imagine you have some questions about the school. Fire ahead!"

"Well, I mean, what do we learn here?"

"What we teach is a bit different from other military schools," he said between mouthfuls of food, "most schools focus on combat training, with a little bit of core military knowledge."

"But we don"t want our students to be mindless foot soldiers. We only teach exceptional individuals and we hope that they become intelligent leaders. We teach you an hour of history, geography, ethics and anthropology a week."

"What does anthropology mean?"

"It"s the study of other cultures. I believe it"s the most important recent addition to the curriculum. After all, Eura.s.sa is incredibly diverse. Knowing how all types of people live is important."

"But why is it important for soldiers?"

Dong leaned back slightly and sighed.

"That is how we prevent disasters like the last conquest of the northern front. You need to know how your soldiers think to lead them."

Dong seemed to think for a second, then furrowed his brows.

"Oscar, your family name is Schwarz, no?"

"Yeah?"

Dong leaned forward; eyes wide.

"Is your father"s name Carlo?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you know if your father was a soldier?"

I saw the same expression on Dong"s face as earlier, ready to gossip. That face instantly put me off telling him anything.

It was only today that I learned that father was the Divine Weapon of the North, and I still didn"t know what that meant. For now, I didn"t want to say anything.

"I dunno…"

Dong leaned back again, slightly disappointed, but an inquisitive twinkle stayed in his eyes. It was probably only a matter of time before he found out himself.

"Ah, never mind."

He went back to scoffing his food, and I dug in as well. It was basic, but not unpleasant. I paused for a second, asking Dong a question.

"What about the tradition thing that the Chairman said?"

"Ah yes, hunting season. I find it somewhat barbaric, but it does serve a key purpose. We actively encourage combat, so you grow up resilient."

"For regular students, it"s an occasional chance to test their strength, and, most often, experience defeat. On the other hand,"

Dong"s words sharpened and he stared at me intensely.

"for you, it is a gruelling but crucial lesson. It is the best simulation of war. You will face fight after fight and cannot let yourself slip at any point."

"Every injury or moment of exhaustion is a chance for them. You are forced to become an invincible fighter or experience relentless defeat."

His words set my blood boiling, my heart racing in antic.i.p.ation.

Dong startled slightly.

"Ah, dear me."

I realised that my fists were clenched, and I felt a grin tugging on my face. My body"s excitement surprised me. I didn"t know that I wanted to fight that badly.

"Well, I would say that you shouldn"t worry about that, but you should. Whenever you"re training during this term, think about what"s to come. Prepare yourself."

"How long is this term?"

"It"s two months, but you go back home for a week in between months, and two weeks after."

I had almost 3 months to become unbeatable among my peers. It was satisfying to finally have a tangible goal after 8 years of independent motivation.

"I"m going to head back, and you probably want to get cultivating."

I nodded in agreement and we walked to College. Getting back to my room, I started thinking about the mysterious force.

In one way or another, my qi was being attracted to something. I took some time to test it on different materials and I found similar effects on all materials.

I had a theory. My qi had acted on its own to consume the demon, and it seemed to be "drinking" qi. Perhaps these materials had qi of their own.

Simply trickling qi into my eyes wasn"t enough to see anything. I needed more power.

I gathered all the qi into my body, and sent it surging through to my eyes. It seared a burning path, tearing open my qi channels.

Biting through the pain, I forced my eyes open, antic.i.p.ating what was to come. With a flash of light and a bolt of pain, it reached my eyes.

I recoiled in agony and my eyes snapped shut. They felt as if they would split open, but I pushed through. Cracking open an eyelid, I looked at a new world, dappled by tears.

The room glowed with beautiful greens, blues and golds. Light streaming through the window shone an even more brilliant white, striking against a dark black mist which curled from the shadows.

I could only see this for a second, before the burst of qi decayed and the world dulled.

So, qi was everywhere, and that opened up a possibility. Perhaps I could absorb the world"s qi to boost my recovery, finally making use of my demon band.

I sat on my bed and meditated, bringing my focus to the tattoo. In contrast to the rest of my body, I could see twisting spires piercing my wrist.

My qi channels had wrapped around the spires like vines creeping up a tree. I imagined a suction force, pulling in qi from my surroundings, but nothing happened.

I kept picturing this force for a few minutes, when finally, a tiny white glow drifted into one of the spires. It flitted about, like a firefly in a jar.

I observed one of my qi channels drilling into the spire, piercing a tiny hole. A tiny tendril whipped out, striking the glowing light.

Unlike with the demon, there was no struggle, and the tendril absorbed the light. I could feel it drifting through my body, making its way to my soul.

When it reached my soul, I could sense that it had already become my own qi. With some relief, I couldn"t sense any memories like with the demon. Instead, I felt a little brighter.

It was possible! Progress was slow for sure, but my room couldn"t have been the most qi dense place.

Now I had a new mission in mind. To find a place with dense qi so I could speed up my cultivation.