The next morning, I woke up at 5:30 am. It was kind of funny in a sense. Slowly but surely, my sleeping schedule was reverting to its original state, from when I used to work full-time as an electrician.

  Only, what used to be tiresome and stressful was now something I did voluntarily.

  “Thank god for coffee…” I sighed in relaxation as caffeine roused me from my drowsiness.

  After finishing all my morning rituals, I immediately returned to Cultivation Online.

  My consciousness was like a candle in the wind as darkness whisked me away from reality. The next thing I knew, I found myself in a dark confined space that smelled faintly like earth.

  It took me a couple of seconds before I realized I was in my new dormitory room.

  “I have to get a candle or something…” I thought as I stumbled towards the door. With the door ajar, I had sufficient light to switch into my new outer disciple attire.

  The material was smooth like silk and incredibly resilient. It felt like I was wrapping myself up in a cloud made out of marshmallows and tangible comfort. The outer disciple robe was black at the bottom but got more and more white details the further up it went.

  “I wish I could’ve showered or something before I took it on.” I didn’t stink, but I felt icky.

  To my surprise, when I vacated my room, I found that the dormitory was remarkably active, with several young outer disciples frolicking around the halls despite the lack of daylight.

  Most of the people I stumbled across were “older” NPCs who didn’t so much as dignify me with a glance.

  “Feels like high-school all over again…” I smiled mirthlessly.

  I saw one other person whose mannerisms and appearance disclosed his identity as a player. And though I failed to recognize him, when he caught me looking at him, I greeted him with a nod anyway.

  The bastard proceeded to ignore me.

  “Whatever.” I shrugged. If he wanted to be the lone wolf, be my guest. I wasn’t exactly playing this game to make new friends anyhow.

  When I finally arrived at the dormitory exit, Lana was nowhere to be seen. But in one of the more secluded corners, I did find one person who I recognized.

  “Lilac, right?” I greeted one of the few outer disciples from the same town as me.

  The young woman looked positively startled as she turned to look at me. I found that she was a stereotypical beauty, with long silky-black hair, a mix between caucasian and asian features, and dark brown eyes. Her appearance wasn’t bizarre or unnatural looking, like some of the other players.

  “G-Good morning Bishop.” She greeted me slowly and awkwardly. “Y-Yes, my name is Lilac.”

  When she didn’t say anything else, I nodded with a smile.

  “You came here with Percival and Grim, right?” I moved so I positioned my back towards the wall, adjacent to Lilac. “Was it difficult? The trial I mean?”

  Lilac nodded immediately, her eyes moving as if remembering the experience.

  “Y-Yeah, I probably would’ve died if it wasn’t for Mat-, uhm, I mean my friend Jinx. She died because of me.”

  “Oh?” I remembered the red-head who’d made her displeasure heard during the evaluation ceremony. “Jinx went with you? I thought she didn’t pass the evaluation.”

  “Yeah, you’re right…” Lilac agreed. “But she and a few of Percival's friends went with us anyway.”

  “Yet still… only three of you made it.” I thought quietly to myself. We’d been thirty-one in Durnatel, adding Jinx and Percival’s friends, they were probably more than that.

  “Most didn’t make it.” Lilac stated the obvious. “We were ambushed by players at first, and then NPCs.” Lilac shook her head in sadness. “Many people died.”

  “They’ll respawn.” I shrugged, perhaps a bit callously. “And it’s not like the death penalties are that serious.” Based on what I’d read online, dying meant being forcibly logged out for twelve hours. After the cooldown expired, one respawned in the last visited settlement with a cumbersome movement debuff lasting differently depending on the manner of your death. So far, I hadn’t read anything about people losing proficiency progress or any permanent ramifications.

  “Y-You’re wrong.” Lilac shook her head in disagreement. “My friend says that dying was one of the most traumatic experiences of her life. She almost quit the game saying that she couldn’t risk going through it again.”

  “...” I admittedly hadn’t thought about that part. If killing someone in the game was realistic enough to make me want to empty my stomach, dying would be even worse.

  Again, I couldn’t fathom what the game developers were thinking.

  “But she still relogged?” I asked curiously. “Jinx, I mean. Even after dying?”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Yeah…” Lilac nodded slowly. “Matilda’s strong. Stronger than I am.”

  I didn’t know how to respond to that so I chose not to.

  Five minutes later, a familiar silhouette suddenly waved at me from one of the upper floor balconies.

  I smiled as I returned the gesture, not overly concerned with the disapproving looks some of the more uptight disciples were shooting us.

  A moment later, Lana joined us with a curious look on her face; after a brief introduction, we offered Lilac to join us on our excursion, but she declined and claimed she’d promised to meet up with Percival and Grim.

  Naturally, neither Lana nor I tried to persuade her.

  And so, Lana and I left to explore the sect premises.

  …

  Despite being only a small portion of the White Tiger Sect, the outer disciple district was positively massive and it would take a lot more than a morning to explore the entire area. However, I did find that there were more than one dormitory catering to outer disciples. Moreover, located in between the dormitories, there were so many training grounds that I lost count.

  Some of which already had outer disciples practicing martial arts. Needless to say, Lana and I stopped to look at some of them.

  Of course, there were other facilities as well. Apart from the dormitories, some of the ones we found were tea houses, eateries, libraries, treasure houses, and several administrative buildings with various functions attached to them.

  Fortunately, we found the outdoor education facility just in time for the symposium to begin. It was easy since there were so many outer disciples clustered around the outdoor auditorium. The circular rows of seats were all occupied already so we had to remain standing in the back. I found a couple of players present, but none that I recognized.

  Additionally, unlike in ancient Greece, there were no drinks or beverages being served at this symposium, not that I was complaining.

  When the morning sun revealed itself in the eastern horizon, an older cultivator suddenly descended from the sky.

  Furthermore, unlike Elder Fang, Elder Mao descended with a grace that made flying seem effortless. It was like the wind seemingly catered to his every whim as it carried him to the center of the auditorium. With the sunrise behind him, it truly looked like a scene from out of a movie.

  The silence that ensued was daunting. Even the players knew not to offend this high-standing NPC.

  “I’m glad so many disciples found the time to attend my little introduction seminar.” Elder Mao smiled at the crowd, making him seem like an approachable neighbor. He was a great contrast to all the other cultivators I’d had the privilege of meeting in this game.

  “The path of cultivation is both mystifying and arduous, and though each path to immortality is unique, I’ve always found that there is foolishness in being too self-reliant. And though some of my peers like to vehemently disagree with me, I believe there is wisdom in both the art of teaching as well as learning from others.”

  Elder Mao flung his sleeve, producing a gentle breeze that swept through the crowd, causing some of the outer disciples to gasp in surprise.

  “With that said, allow me to introduce myself.” Elder Mao’s eyes glittered as he scanned the enraptured crowd of teenagers and youths. “I am Inner Elder Mao Jie. I’m 489 years old and I’m a Golden Core Cultivator.”

  This time, the gasps were definitely audible. Even I couldn’t help myself from raising an eyebrow in surprise.

  “489 years old…” I shook my head in disbelief. In comparison, even at forty-five, I was barely an adolescent.

  “For those of you unfamiliar with the cultivation tiers.” Elder Mao clarified. “After finding a suitable cultivation method, something I will assist you with today, and once you start cultivating, you’ll enter the Qi Refining tier. Once you ascend all the nine stages, a portion of you will become Foundation Establishment Cultivators, like Outer Elder Fang from the welcome ceremony yesterday.”

  Elder Mao revealed his colleague’s cultivation tier like it wasn’t a big deal at all. He was either suicidal, or beyond repercussions entirely. Based on his demeanor, however, I reckoned it was the latter.

  “Out of every hundred outer disciples accepted into our prestigious establishment, we’re lucky if three successfully make it to the Foundation Establishment tier.” Elder Mao shook his head disappointedly.

  “After reaching the Foundation Establishment tier, the average mortal doubles their lifespan, meaning you can live for approximately two-hundred years if circumstances permit it.”

  “At the Golden Core tier, however…” Elder Mao smiled cheekily. “Your lifespan quadruples, with the average Golden Core Cultivator living for 800 years.”

  “For your information, as a rank 4 sect, the White Tiger Sect boasts of cultivators at even higher tiers than that. Monsters capable of living for thousands of years…” Elder sighed animately; the envy evident on his countenance.

  “Today, I will teach you all the history of our sect. Afterwards, feel free to consult me if you have any questions about cultivation.” Taking a deep breath, Elder Mao began.

  …

  After listening to Elder Mao’s surprisingly riveting history lesson, filled with stories about wars and political treaties, I summarized what I had learned internally.

  Two thousand years ago, four divine beasts sundered the boundless world in a fight that shook the very fabrics of reality, consequently tearing the land into five fragments. It was said to have been a calamity that transcended mortal comprehension.

  The four divine beasts responsible for this travesty were the White Tiger of the West, the Black Tortoise of the North, the Azure Dragon of the East, and the Vermilion Bird of the South.

  After their fight, the divine beasts vanished mysteriously. Some claimed they died, their corpses waiting to be found by enterprising cultivators, while others claimed they were enlightened, ascending into another plane of existence, and subsequently leaving the boundless world in shambles.

  Additionally, as decades turned into centuries, the fragments were renamed into the western, northern, eastern, southern, and central continents.

  Yet, despite being disproportionate in size and population, the continents remained surprisingly equal in overall strength and influence over one another.

  It was only recently that the largest fragment, the central continent, had surpassed the others in strength, ruining the status quo.

  The White Tiger Sect history was one of the few remaining organizations dating back to before the Sundering. It had been established by the fierce descendants of the White Tiger: the Ancestral Guardian of the West. And out of the four divine beast sects, the White Tiger Sect was famously known to be the most righteous.

  Elder Mao seemed particularly proud of that fact.

  When Elder Mao finally finished his monologue, he reminded everyone of the importance of reading up on the sect's rules.

  “I guess I have something to do…” I sighed. I’d never had much love for reading anything other than fiction.

  Naturally, when he finished his lecture, nearly everyone chose to stand in line for some one-on-one cultivation consultation.

  Seeing the number of people waiting impatiently in front of me, I knew I had a long wait awaiting me.

  Still, I remembered what Elder Fang had said about usually having to pay for this privilege; as such, I stuck to it.

  ...