Elder Swan tapped the back of her hand and a book appeared in the air in front of her. She caught it deftly before saying, “One of the most popular fairy tales is the story of Origin. Have any of you not heard the story of Origin?” 

Only a couple kids raised their hands; I was not one of them. Of course I’d heard the story of Origin... It was, like, the story everyone knew — it was both as widespread and as interpretive as religious texts I’d known from my previous life. Multiple times, the story of Origin had even been put into collections of stories called the Books of Origin, but, well, that was nowhere near as widespread.

“Since some of you haven’t heard it, I’ll recite it,” Elder Swan said, opening the cover and flipping through a few pages. She cleared her throat, then, and began:

 

Book of Origin:1

 

¹ In the beginning, there was Origin. 

² Origin is nothing, but Origin is also everything: Man and woman; heaven and earth; love and hate; death and rebirth.

³ Origin is perfect, but Origin is not without flaws.

⁴ For Origin was alone, and thereby lonesome, and would be for all time.

⁵ First, Origin sacrificed their flesh and blood. From the flesh and blood of Origin came life.

⁶ Man and woman walk the earth, split evenly in five. Fauna, flora side by side; reside where man won’t thrive.

⁷ Origin was not alone. Within themself, upon their earth, was everything they had strived to create. But to it, Origin was blind; unable to look within. Origin was unsatisfied.

⁸ Second, Origin sacrificed their earth, creating the land in which man, woman, fauna, and flora walk.

⁹ Origin was not blind, and the land was beautiful. But it was static; unchanging; stagnant. Origin was unsatisfied.

¹⁰ Third, Origin sacrificed their vitality. From the vitality of Origin came change.

¹¹ Death arrives, and sweeps the land; the vines of change are black and red. Nought grows nought vitality; but with it will grow until dead.

¹² But without a place to strive, without a reason to grow... none could understand Origin. Though not alone, Origin remained lonesome. Origin was unsatisfied.

¹³ Origin sacrificed their heaven. Origin sacrificed their love, their hate.

¹⁴ A heaven for life to strive, in lives filled with love and hate. Stars emerge; heaven is vast; lessers look up to the greats.

¹⁵ But for Origin... Without love, and without hate, there is only ambivalence. Origin was ambivalent. Origin was unsatisfied.

¹⁶ For man, for woman, for fauna, for flora, Origin sacrificed everything. For beauty, for ugliness. For life, and for death. 

¹⁷ Origin was gone, and with the end of Origin came the world.

 

 

Closing the book and storing it once more within her storage vi, Elder Swan looked up at us. “Can anyone tell me what vi plants are now?” she asked. “Don’t be shy.”

So the answer to what vi were was somewhere in the Story of Origin? But it was all so vague and confusing... it was just another creation myth, wasn’t it? Why would something like that contain the... ‘true nature’ of things, or whatever? 

Was the author of this myth someone that understood the ‘true nature?’ Was that why? Could the myth have been created by... an immortal, maybe? If they were real, they would understand everything, right?

Then again, maybe it didn’t really matter who wrote it — maybe it was actually all true, as weird as that would be.

Anyway, so, Elder Swan was still asking the same question, that being what vi plants are. And the story’s got some entity sacrificing bits and pieces of themself until everything is created, right? Therefore, something in the story has to describe the true nature of vi plants? 

Was it one of the bits of Origin? Did one of the bits of Origin become vi plants?

I lost my chance to figure it out, though, because Elder Swan pointed to one of the kids who’d hesitantly raised his hand. “Mister Pits? What do you think a vi plant is?”

The boy squeaked. “Umm... is it... the flora that came from Origin’s... flesh and blood?”

Elder Swan shook her head. “No, but that’s a fair guess. That flora is just the normal plants around us. 

“Does anyone else have an idea?”

She pointed to another, a girl that asked, “Are they Origin’s vitality?”

A few other kids that had been raising their hands sighed, as Elder Swan smiled and nodded. “That’s it! Take one Merit,” she tapped the back of her hand and spun a disc over to the girl.

“The ‘vi’ in vi plant is actually short for ‘vitality,’ even though we pronounce it ‘V.’ I could take some time — actually, years, potentially — to describe the full meaning in this passage; what it means for vi to be Origin’s vitality... But it’s better for a vi master to come to understand it themself.

“The main point is this. By being alive in this world — standing on the earth, the heavens above — we are given a chance. Through vi plants — the vitality we’ve taken for ourselves — we grow, we flourish, and we reach for heaven. Many will falter. Many will die. Some do it alone, the demonic vi masters; we do it together, the virtuous vi masters.

“Regardless of the path we take in life, vi plants are our strength, and our path to growth. They are not just Origin’s vitality... they are our vitality.”

Elder Swan smiled one more big smile. “I think it’s about time we talk about core vi now, mm? Tell me, if our vi are our vitality, what would a core vi be?”

A few people raised their hands hesitantly, but she dismissed them. “Rhetorical question. Each vi master, at any given time, has a singular core vi. This vi plant is much more important than any other, because the aperture of the vi master is tied to the vi plant. It is what allows the vi master to tame other vi and incorporate them into their strength. It even dictates the environment within the vi master’s aperture.

“The biggest reason we call it your core vi, however, is that if your core vi perishes, for whatever reason, your cultivation may fall back to the previous tier. In other words... your core vi must be protected at all costs, or years of progress may be lost!”

Elder Swan then gestured to all of us, saying, “Now, very soon you all will be getting your very own core vi, though you won’t have quite as much risk. Being still at tier zero, it’s not possible to regress further.

“However, there are other things to consider — For instance, how will you choose which vi to take? Well, it’s not quite as complex as choosing a cultivation manual, but also harder and requires more luck.

“Can anyone tell me ways to get vi plants?”

A few hands went up, including mine. She didn’t call on me, though, instead choosing a girl in the front row. I didn’t quite hear what the girl said, and Elder Swan nodded. “Yep, one way is to simply find them in nature, where they may or may not be blending in with other plants. These natural vi plants are usually called ‘wild vi.’”

She called on another kid, a boy behind me. “From the academy treasury?”

Elder Swan chuckled. “Yes — you can get vi plants from other vi masters or from storage. Speaking of which, can anyone tell me the main difference between this and other methods?”

I put up my hand again, being relatively sure I knew the answer to this one... and this time she called on me! “I... uh, is it that you don’t need to tame them? Because they’re already tamed?”

She gave me a small smile. “Yep! Precisely, they don’t need to be tamed because they already are. I will note, though, that they have to be freely given to you; you can’t just take tamed vi from someone and assume they’ll work.

“Anyway, getting back on track, what other ways are there of getting vi plants?”

She called on a boy in front of me, this time. “Inheritances?”

“Yes! That’s a good one, I hadn’t even thought of that. For those of you that don’t know, before a vi master dies — due to lifespan, injury, or simply a desire to spread their techniques — they can leave what we call an ‘inheritance.’ A simple inheritance could be a storage vi plant containing other vi plants, information, resources, or more. A more complex inheritance could be a series of clues or a test to determine whether the inheritor will be the kind of person they intend.

“Both the academy and the village as a whole have inheritances stashed away for when the right person comes along.

“Anyway, can anyone else think of ways to get vi plants?”

Hmm. Well, I, for one, was out of ideas, and looking around it seemed like everyone else was, too. Inheritances were the most exciting way to get vi plants, for sure, so that was probably what most of us had been thinking about. (Including me.)

Elder Swan sighed and shook her head, smiling. “The last way to get a vi plant is to create it yourself!”

Right! Of course! I’d heard about that! In fact, thinking about it, I’d even heard other fairy tales specifically about the creation of some vi plants, usually something like... a person or some kind of beast does a thing, and then as a result a vi plant is created. Sometimes it would consume resources or other living things, too.

Elder Swan explained. “Creating vi plants is an artform and a skill you can train just like combat... It also often requires mastery of the component vi plants. We call the act of creating vi plants formulation, and recipes — sets of instructions for creating them — vi formulas. Our academy and village treasuries are filled to the brim with vi formulas of all kinds, sometimes multiple formulas for a given vi plant.

“Anyway, I won’t go too in-depth on that now. To go back to the topic at hand... core vi are special. Only one of these methods is suitable for getting a core vi... can you guess which it is?”

She called on Azure Cloud, who said simply, “Only wild vi can become core vi.”

Elder Swan clapped. “You’ve got it! This is the big problem with core vi, and why so many people get stuck in their cultivation. See, you can’t cultivate your aperture to a tier higher than your core vi. This means that to proceed to the next tier — an act we usually call ‘breaking through,’ you need to attract a compatible wild vi of a tier one higher than your own, and then tame it. On top of that, it needs to be suitable for you, or else you’re hurting other aspects of your cultivation.

“Of course,” she noted, “since you all are still in tier zero, you have no core vi. This means you can attract and tame any old vi plant to be your core vi. Provided it’s compatible with your aperture — which it will be, if it’s attracted to you — it will be perfectly suitable. In higher tiers, though, you’ll want to be a bit choosier, obviously, and find a core vi that will suit your skills and essence type.”

Elder Swan finished with a flourish, gesturing to all of us once more. “Any questions?”

At least six people raised their hands immediately, and the elder frowned. 

“If we need to attract a wild vi, how do we do it without being able to defend ourselves?” a boy asked, sounding a bit annoyed. “There’s really no way to do it? Can’t you give us vi plants now and have us get core vi later?”

Elder Swan shook her head. “No, you won’t be able to use other vi plants without a core vi. That’s why it’s so important. As for defending yourself — that will be important later, but for now, that’s our job.”

Morning Rain asked, “What if the wild vi we attract isn’t suitable?”

“It will be,” Elder Swan assured.

“With all due respect, Elder Swan, I intend to do the best I possibly can, and I believe that means being choosy about my core vi from the start.”

Elder Swan sighed and nodded. “If you somehow attract a wild vi that isn’t suitable, as long as you don’t tame it, it will eventually move on.”

The green-haired elder then rubbed her temples. “See, the reason we say it’s not worth it is because tier zero is so short. It’s good for learning how things are done, and experimenting, before settling on a single path later. If you’re already dead-set on things, though, I suppose it makes sense to try for the most suitable tier zero vi plant to form your core.”

Morning Rain nodded back, satisfied.

Elder Swan called on one last person, Azure Cloud, who asked, “Where and when are we attracting these wild vi plants?”

“I’m glad you asked,” our elder smirked. “It’s time for us all to spend a weekend in the northern woods!”