After scouring through the bookshelf where the sword affinity cultivation methods were stored, I counted a total of 23 booklets. Most of the manuals were Mid-Yellow ranked, but a good portion were Late-Yellow as well. Surprisingly, not a single one was Early-Yellow.

  “I wonder if it’s because they are sword affinity manuals…” Ultimately, it didn’t matter. In these sorts of situations, the higher rank, the better. Thus, I wasn’t planning to use an Early-Yellow ranked cultivation method if I could help it.

  “The problem is the price.” I winced as I checked out the price. With the 19 sect points I had available, I was limited to a minority of the Mid-Yellow cultivation methods.

  From what I could tell, Early-Yellow ranked cultivation methods were obviously the cheapest, costing at average between 2-5 sect points to borrow.

  Yet, the gap between Early-Yellow and Mid-Yellow struck a nerve. On average, a Mid-Yellow cultivation method went for 20 sect points; heck, the most expensive one I could find went for a mind-boggling 45.

  “Could I have amassed that many sect points in the trial?” I mused but shook my head. There was no use crying over spilt milk. Maybe I could’ve been more proactive in my hunt for other disciples, but with everything on the line, I was satisfied with my performance.

  “And Elder Mao did say that there were plenty of missions available for outer disciples.” Based on Elder Mao’s description, sect missions were basically quests that awarded sect points instead of money. This was how the average disciple earned their keep.

  Out of the 23 booklets, only three interested me.

  The first one was the Rain Dance Sword Method (Mid-Yellow) - 18 sect points/month. The cheapest option and one that evidently suited my affinities nicely.

  The second one was the Whetted Blade Sword Cultivation Method (Late-Yellow) - 52 sect points/month. Overall, I liked that this one appeared quite neutral in comparison to the other lavish cultivation methods. A whetted blade was a sharp blade, and I wouldn’t mind centering my cultivation around the concept of sharpness.

  The third and final one was the Vicious Conqueror’s Sword Art (Late-Yellow) - 85 sect points/month. One of the pricier options but one that evidently matched my somewhat aggressive brand of swordsmanship. The only downside of the cultivation method was that it didn’t appear to incorporate my second affinity “water”. But based on Elder Mao’s symposium, it wasn’t strictly speaking necessary to find a cultivation method that covered all your affinities.

  The affinities were what you were naturally gifted at, nothing more, and nothing less. They didn’t restrict you from learning anything on the opposite side of the affinity spectrum.

  In other words, a fire cultivator wasn’t necessarily awful at using water-based martial arts and vice versa. To my knowledge, there weren’t any detrimental effects of having an affinity.

  Nevertheless, opting to learn a martial art or a cultivation method that didn’t somehow take advantage of your affinities was generally considered a foolhardy decision. The reason being that all cultivators, no matter the path, had one resource they had to utilize efficiently if they wanted to progress and attain immortality.

  Obviously, that resource was time.

  And when given the choice between learning a method you had affinity towards versus one without, the majority smartly went with the former since it’d be faster.

  In the end, this was the reason why I decided to borrow the Rain Dance Sword Method. Since it incorporated both my sword and water affinities, I was betting on it being more efficient in comparison to the other ones available.

  Naturally, my choice had nothing to do with the fact that I couldn’t currently afford the other cultivation methods that struck my fancy and that I was incredibly impatient to begin cultivating. Absolutely not.

  Additionally, I learnt from Elder Mao that it wasn’t like you were permanently stuck to your first cultivation method either. As long as the characteristics and focus of the cultivation methods didn’t differ too much, one could switch relatively easily without suffering any crippling detriments.

  Thus, I handed over the booklet to the manager who’d initially registered my entrance to the cultivation hall.

  “Though you’re still a mortal, I must warn you that a heavenly oath is both omniscient and omnipotent. The heavens do not discriminate between mortals and cultivators.” The cultivator droned. “And if, for some inexplicable reason, the heavenly oath does not smite down an oath-breaker, know that the White Tiger Sect isn’t known to be merciful towards its enemies.”

  “With that said, since this is your first time visiting the treasure pavilion, repeat after me.”

  The manager took a deep breath.

  “I, Outer Disciple Bishop of the White Tiger Sect, swear on the heavens that I will not consciously or unconsciously disclose the contents of the Rain Dance Sword Method to a third party. I will not copy the method and I will do my utmost to ensure its contents remain confidential until I die or am permitted otherwise by my benefactor. If I fail to uphold these terms, l readily accept death as retribution.”

  Under the scrutinizing eyes of the cultivator, I repeated the oath word by word and shivered as I felt an uncomfortably conscious presence press down on me, meticulously analyzing the intentions behind the oath.

  [“New Heavenly Oath registered! The oaths section has hereby been added to your cultivation tab.”]

  Clutching the scroll copy in my hand, I exited the treasure pavilion with cold sweat trickling down my back.

  “W-What was that?!” I wasn’t embarrassed to admit that the memory of that enormous, otherworldly presence shook me to my core. In the Xianxia novels I’d read up until today, the heavens had always been an abstract construct functioning similar to a law of nature. It wasn’t supposed to be conscious.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Or aware.

  “S-Shit…” I smiled mirthlessly as I basked in the sunlight outside the pavilion. Slowly, the fear ebbed away as I basked under the sun and felt the breeze caress my skin. Before long, the fear was gone, leaving a void for excitement to fill.

  After a quick look around, and failing to find Lana or any other acquaintances, I hurriedly moved in the direction of my dormitory.

  Before I could get there, however, the familiar sensation of hunger emerged from my stomach.

  “That certainly feels real…” I sighed, realizing I had another pitstop to make before I could start cultivating in earnest. “And I should probably log out and eat in real life as well.”

  Thus, with not a negligible amount of reluctance, I turned and headed towards the nearest mess hall.

  …

  LanaekilI’s point of view

  “That moron…” I grumbled as I headed towards the treasure pavilion, leaving Bishop behind to enjoy himself in his little elitist group.

  Of course, Bishop’s talent didn’t go unnoticed by the elder. The sect probably had people observing all the provisional outer disciples during the trial, keeping record of all our actions and accomplishments.

  And as soon as I first laid my eyes on it, I knew that Bishop’s skill with the sword wouldn’t go unnoticed by the sect. Whenever he threw himself into battle, Bishop arbitrarily went from being a calm and relatively prudent individual into bloodthirsty sword savant who had a penchant for beheading his opponents.

  Then, there was his supremacy to take into consideration.

  “Lucky bastard…” Despite searching for information online, all I could find were people claiming that they were in the progress of developing their nascent killing intent. Some players even revealed that they had killed dozens of NPCs and players but still hadn’t unlocked it.

  Which begged the question: How many people had Bishop killed? So far, he hadn’t struck me as a murderous maniac, like Carlos and his friends had turned out to be. But then again, how well did I really know my new ally?

  I shivered as I remembered the feeling I’d gotten when Bishop had activated the supremacy. At first, before he learned how to use it properly, Bishop hadn’t been able to direct or target others.

  So, whenever he activated the supremacy, it was like I was doused in cold water. The temperature plummeted as a twisting mass of worms started biting into my stomach, screaming at me to run or hide.

  It was incredibly off-putting. My brain knew I wasn’t in any kind of danger. But my body screamed at me otherwise. It was a gut-wrenching sensation that I definitely looked forward to being able to inflict on others.

  “Like that fucking shithead.” I couldn’t help but to grit my teeth at the memory of what happened in the courtyard. After Bishop killed the player who’d attacked me, I pocketted the talismans he’d dropped. As such, I knew his name was either Harvey, Kylex, Yan Chang, or Papercut.

  The thought of that shithead still being out there somewhere, potentially hurting others made me wish that Bishop had taken his sweet time killing him. Of course, I wasn’t a fan of torture, but some people deserved it.

  “Okay, calm down Lana.” I soothed myself by focusing on my breathing. “Nothing really happened in the end.”

  I winced remembering how I’d panicked, dropped my sword, and flailed my arms around uselessly. The disgusting feeling of his frisky hands touching me clumsily and greedily. I hated myself for not being able to kill him like I should’ve.

  “At least Bishop ensured he wouldn’t pass the trial.”

  Of course, I hated how that moron’s angry yet compassionate expression still flashed in my mind. His concerned, pale eyes asking me if I’m alright as the shithead’s corpse transformed into pixels had haunted me more than I cared to admit lately.

  “Yeah I can’t do it…” I sighed, thinking about the message I’d received last night. Derpman and Chromo had messaged me privately and asked me to help them enact their revenge on the moron who inadvertently had been the cause of their deaths.

  And it wasn’t like I didn’t understand their anger. They’d lost their chance to join the White Tiger Sect without going through the subordinate sects’ promotion tournaments, after all. Even if they eventually succeeded in joining the White Tiger Sect, it would take them months of effort.

  “Still…” Bishop had saved me twice now, and I couldn’t find it in me to just betray him like that, even if my friends wanted me to.

  “I’ll have to explain myself to them later…” I thought as the outline of the treasure pavilion appeared before me.

  “Lana?” My eyes widened as I suddenly heard my name being called. Turning around, I saw them.

  “You’re Lana, right? Bishop’s friend?” A young man with blonde hair and a kind smile approached me along with two others, one of whom was the young girl, Lilac, this morning.

  I recognized the leader of the trio as the one who’d tried to smooth things over yesterday, though I couldn’t remember his username.

  “Are you here for your cultivation manual as well?” The blonde man asked, gesturing towards the treasure pavilion.

  I hesitated to answer. Though Lilac seemed like a sweet girl, the rest hadn’t exactly given me the best impression yesterday.

  “What’s wrong?” The blonde man leaned forward, swiping some hair out of his face. “Cat got your tongue? Or did-”

  “Percy…” Lilac muttered in protest, but I wasn’t about to let someone else talk for me.

  “You guys should cut Bishop some slack.” I interjected, unwilling to beat around the bush. “He–”

  “He–” The ugly bastard, a young man with long silky-black hair and a spindly physique, rudely interrupted. “He basically sacrificed us to save himself. He ran away with his tail between his legs and left us to fend for ourselves when it was HIS idea to gather to begin with. People died while he ran off on his own.”

  I frowned in response. I hadn’t been present, so I didn’t know what had really happened.

  “Bishop might act like a nice guy around you.” The spindly man continued with a sneer. “But don’t forget, he’s the type that doesn’t have any qualms about leaving allies to die if it means he can survive.”

  “Grim…” Lilac suddenly spoke up with a frown. “It’s not like we’d agreed to be allies. And you heard what Bishop said yesterday, if he really was being followed…”

  “Still, Lily.” The blonde man, Percy, shook his head. “You have to agree that what Bishop did was a pretty dickish move.”

  “I don’t care.” I heard myself say, feeling a bit of warmth heating up my face as I remembered my ally’s concerned pale eyes looking down at me. “Bishop’s a nice guy. And it’s your loss if you don’t feel the same.”

  Percy was about to say something but I'd had it with this conversation.

  “I’m going to head in.” I announced, meeting the trio’s eyes without fear. “And if Bishop’s still your enemy after this, then so am I.”

  What that, I ignored the sad face Lilac was making and left the two morons behind.

  Not long after entering the treasure pavilion, I exited it again carrying my new treasure albeit five sect points poorer.

  In my hand, a scroll read: Falcon Gale Cultivation Method (Early-Yellow).

  …