The next day, Rieren moved began moving into the Sect properly. Her father was a little disappointed not to have her near him, but they decided it was the best move. The greater the distance between them, the more Rieren made sure her enemies couldn’t connect her to Atelen, the safer her father would be.

Of course, there were quite a few people who had already seen them together or knew they were related. For a moment, she considered silencing them all. But then, that would draw far more attention, defeating the purpose behind her silencing in the first place.

No. They’d have to make do with trying to avoid being seen in the same vicinity.

“You will visit, yes?” Atelen asked. “You won’t forget this old fool on a mountainside?”

Rieren smiled. “Of course, father. I will come as often as I can.”

She truly intended to do so. It wouldn’t do to let him grow too lonely or depressed, and she would have to ensure his safety periodically.

There was also Avalien. He promised that he would take care of Atelen as though the bearlike man were his own father—at a distance that didn’t arouse suspicion, of course. Rieren appreciated it, but she knew one lone guard wouldn’t be much against her true enemies. Nevertheless, every little bit added up.

Atelen smiled back. “Excellent. Now that I no longer have my fishes to talk to anymore, I am afraid you must suffer my conversations instead.”

Rieren laughed along with her father. “Fret not, father. Perhaps we will find a way for you to fish again.”

Batcat nuzzled her feet, looking up at her with a mournful expression. She hadn’t spent much time with the winged kitten the last day or two, too busy attending to other matters to spend time in the tent. Even her nights were occupied with cultivating. But she had always made sure to snuggle up and sleep next to the kitten.

“I think it wishes to accompany you,” Atelen said.

A part of Rieren wanted to deny that. It wasn’t uncommon for disciples to bring in bonded Spirit Beasts along with them, but it always tended to attract attention. In her last life, Rieren hadn’t been known to be associated with any Spirit Beast in any way. For those who knew her, Batcat’s presence would undoubtedly make them wonder about her and her past.

In another sense, she would be relieved if the kitten decided to stay with her father. After all, every little bit of assistance added up to the whole effort of protection.

But those big, adorable eyes were difficult to refuse.

Rieren knelt down next to the winged cat. “Do you truly wish to accompany me to the Sect?”

In answer, Batcat leaped into her arms. The action made Rieren chuckle. Maybe she had been ignoring the cat a little too much, and now it was claiming the debt of attention she had to pay.

“Alright,” she said. “We will go together. But there are rules you must follow, understand? Things will not be the same there as they have been here.”

Batcat stared into her eyes with such intensity, Rieren wouldn’t have been surprised to hear it verbally acquiesce.

Once she had established the security matters for her father, Rieren focused on her cultivation. She had continued to cycle Essence in the little times she found between everything else going on. This usually meant late at night, when nearly everyone had gone to sleep. Her waterfall was still welcoming as ever. Rieren was certain she was nearing a breakthrough.

Especially since she had now acquired all the resources she would need to make the Core Raising pill.

As the Sect’s instruction was about to begin soon, the Elders had been busy preparing the exact courses and classes the disciples—and everyone else with the system—would be taking. This made Elder Olg consult Rieren’s expertise about system matters more.

She had shared a lot of the basic information regarding someone who was just beginning to explore their classes and skills. There wasn’t too much to cover, but the base was vital, and recognizing the value of her information—or simple confirmations, on occasion—Elder Olg had granted Rieren the ingredients she needed.

So, the next evening following the discussion with Elder Olg, Rieren found herself at her little waterfall hideaway.

A pot was burning on a little fire she had constructed behind the stream of water. She had thrown all the ingredients into it—the Starshard Emblem, Purifying Ginseng, three Storm Wisps, and an Eldertree Covenant—and then added pure water to the mixture.

The water coming down the mountain’s peak wouldn’t do. Rieren required a solvent that hadn’t been tainted with any Essence yet. Thus, she had been forced to take some of Sect’s drinking water. Not a move she appreciated, considering that she had intended to bolster her father’s drinking rations with it, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

With the mixture prepared and the right amount and pattern of stirring administered, it was only a matter of waiting until the pill was ready. So, Rieren once again situated herself in the centre of the pool and continued to channel Essence bit by bit through her body.

It took nearly an hour longer, when the smokeless fire had nearly burned down, until the concoction was ready. Rieren didn’t bother drying herself when she went back behind the waterfall.

“Finally,” she said, gingerly picking out the green pill out of the murky mixture in the pot.

Its surface was rough. Rieren didn’t have anything to swallow it down with. She had learned first-hand that using the remaining liquid in the pot wouldn’t be appreciated by her guts.

 

New Achievement!

First cultivation pill concocted! After a painstaking gathering of ingredients, you have finally acquired your own cultivation pill for the very first time. Ensure others have not seen you, however. The skill is valuable and may make others attempt to take advantage.

Rewards

• 1 Level
• 1 Skill Point
• 1 Credit
• 1 Technique Slot

 

Rieren smiled. Another achievement. But she didn’t bother attempting to allocate the different points just yet. Another level was well within her grasp.

Preparing herself for the distaste, Rieren swallowed down the pill.

It went down hard. Rieren had to struggle to swallow a bit, but she knew that she couldn’t bite into it or separate it into easier-to-devour chunks. There was a specific absorption process that her body needed to follow to maximize effectiveness. This required the pill to be perfectly whole in her guts.

Rieren hurried outside and sat down in the middle of the pool in the lotus position once more. The pill was already burning inside her. She ignored the feeling and focused on her breathing technique—long, deep breath inside, then short bursts of exhales, her Essence channeling following a similar path within her.

Soon enough, the sensations within her intensified until she could no longer ignore them.

The burning had spread outwards from the out of her guts to envelop her completely in invisible flames. When she had first tried the Core Raising pill in her last life, she’d been certain she had done something wrong and would be turned to ash in moments.

There was, of course, no such danger. Rieren continued to draw in Essence, absorbing as much as she could from her surroundings. The pill was using Essence to clear her meridians, and it would need as much as she could provide it. That was part of why she had been focusing on channelling bit by bit so far, helping her elixir field expand and accumulate more Essence.

It took a few minutes, but eventually, Rieren’s skin started feeling as though someone was peeling it off with a melting knife.

The agony made her eyes open, and she had to struggle not to scream. She had faced this before. This pain was nothing new. Nothing worse than what she had suffered through her life. She would not give herself away.

Rieren focused on her skin, on the sensations surrounding it. This entire process was about condensing Essence throughout the exterior-most surface. That meant forcefully cleaning her skin of all its impurities and replacing them with Essence, filling every pore, every little interstice with as much Essence that her elixir field could absorb.

The knifing, peeling sensation started to decrease in intensity. Now, it began to feel as though her skin was being reapplied on her defenceless flesh, keeping it safe from further harm. It was uncomfortable everywhere, but it grew horrifically vicious in sensitive areas.

During the procedure, Rieren focused on her inner harmony. That was also part of what her recent cultivation had been about. She had needed to reconstruct that inner balance she had been forced to neglect before arriving at the Sect. Now, she imagined herself living in its void, free from all thoughts and emotions, free from physical space entirely.

Rieren hadn’t counted how long it had taken her last time, and she was in no position to do so this time either. But eventually, the process ended. She opened her eyes.

Her skin had been fully infused with Essence.

 

New Achievement!

First physical Essence condensation accomplished! You have infused your skin with all the Essence you can handle, opening many meridians to channel your Essence through. But beware, all the filth you rid yourself of might draw unwanted attention.

Rewards

• 1 Level
• 1 Skill Point
• 1 Credit
• 1 Perk point

 

Rieren smiled, before the stink hit her and she was forced to grimace. Opening her eyes revealed that she was covered with black dirt from head to toe. Only her hair was spared, which she had secured above her head in a bun. Still, the dirt coating her made her feel filthy beyond belief.

She had known that clearing her meridians and condensing Essence would cause all the impurities her body had built up over the years to come pouring out. There was… a lot.

One of the reasons she had chosen this waterfall was because it cleared away the muck rather quickly. Rieren rose, feeling more limber than she had in a while, and placed herself right under the descending stream, letting it wash off all the impurities. Thankfully, the flow was powerful, and the dirt didn’t cling to her body too much.

It couldn’t, not when her Essence-infused skin rejected all impurities.

Once she was clean enough, she focused on her [Status] again. Having levelled up twice in quick succession, she now had eight points to distribute across her stats.

It was tempting to put most of those stats in Body as that would be her primary fuel for strength for the near future. But Rieren had to remind herself that she would be opening her Domain eventually—when she hit the Awakened Realm, which would need a bit of work—and that would require a decent helping of Spirit.

So, as before, she put a point in Spirit, while spending the rest on Body and Mind. The bit of balance she clung to would also ensure the system wouldn’t rebel at her spread of stats. Too unbalanced, and one tended to suffer such consequences as splitting headaches, unresponsive movements, and similar backlashes.

As for her other rewards, those were more straightforward. She had only one perk, so that meant the perk point went straight to Divine Resilience. The perk’s aura flashed gold around her, expanding by around a handspan. She smiled, then checked focused on her perk until its description popped up in her view.

Perk: Divine Resilience [D]

Provides medium physical healing of wounds, slow healing of illnesses, and medium regeneration of garb.

Regeneration of garb would ensure that anything she wore would always return to its peak condition when damaged. This worked for amour, robes, even jewellery, according to the testing she had performed in her last life.

There were also limits to how much damage it could restore. At Grade D, the perk would fix all tears, broken seams, and loose threads in clothes, while fixing dents and missing plates on armour. However, it couldn’t regenerate a lost sleeve, for instance, or a reproduce an entire lost gauntlet.

Not a big issue. As Rieren received more rewards when she levelled up more, the perk would improve and become quite powerful.

For her skills, she couldn’t use the point to get a new one. Rieren would need another skill slot for that, and she wouldn’t receive it until she hit level ten. That would take a little while.

She had obtained a technique slot, finally, but it also wasn’t useful. Her access to techniques was limited at the moment, and besides, the ones she had relied on in her last life were truly useful only after she had access to her Domain. So, that slot would have to wait for now.

But the skill point was still useful in raising the tier of Ground Truth. The other two skills didn’t need it as much, just yet. Fray Passage already covered a tremendous amount of ground, and between Gale Blade and Ground Truth, Rieren favoured getting two chances to survive powerful attacks over unleashing the same ability twice on one opponent.

After all, Rieren was aiming to take on far stronger foes than herself. That was one of the important parts of her accelerated path to power. And to do that, she would need to survive long enough to land a Gale Blade on them.

For the moment, Rieren took a look at her [Status].

 

[Status]

Rieren Vallorne

Race: Human

Class: Divine Bladereaver

Profession: [N/A]

Realm: Adherent [Early]

Level: 7

Perks: Divine Resilience [D]

Titles: [N/A]

 

Stats

Body: 19

Mind: 10

Spirit: 7

 

Skills

Fray Passage [D]

Gale Blade [D]

Ground Truth [C]

 

Satisfied at the pace of her current progress, Rieren decided the night had gone well. She could rest easy, for the time being.

The only problem was progressing even farther. She would receive another achievement for breaking through to the next stage of her current realm—Mid Adherent. But after that, she wouldn’t receive any more achievements until she reached Peak Adherent, which would take some time. Well, she would get no more achievements from her cultivation, to be exact.

Thankfully, she had plans to acquire them via other means. They might not exactly be pleasant and harmonious, but at least they would be relatively fast. That was all she cared about.

Rieren was resolved to grow stronger before her enemies destroyed her and all that she had strived to accomplish.

---

Before moving in properly into the Sect’s dormitories, Rieren recalled she had another appointment to keep. She had promised she would perform a ritual of remembrance with Avalien.

They met the evening following the one where she had successfully condensed her skin with Essence. In most circumstances, it would seem odd for one young woman to head off with a man on her own. She certainly received no small number of stares when she met Avalien near the edge of the encampment, despite the growing cover of darkness.

Thankfully, to prevent gossip—which would lead to unnecessary attention—she had invited Amalyse to join them. She arrived like a storm. There was thunder in her eyes and her footfalls seemed to make the world tremble. Any stray onlookers were quickly scared off.

“Let’s get this over with,” Amalyse said.

Rieren nodded in gratitude that she had arrived. Amalyse knew what purpose her presence served and didn’t approve of it. Or rather, didn’t approve of the need for it. People should ideally mind their own business, and anybody thinking otherwise deserved to have boots planted upon their hindquarters.

In a proper world, Rieren certainly agreed. There were many moments when she had rejected the lure of giving some of the villagers a small taste of what she really thought of them. But then, they didn’t deserve that sort of attention from her. Anger, hatred, even disappointment to a point, all required effort, and she had more important things to spend her energy upon.

Such as manipulating the villagers into thinking Amalyse, a powerful disciple of Lionshard Sect and a scion of an important noble family, was here for business that was too important and above their heads to concern themselves about. It just so happened that business included a guard and Rieren.

The ritual itself was simple. Avalien led it atop a lonely outcropping on the eastern side of the mountain. He recalled the name of the fallen woman who had given her life in the village—Ketal Strid—and listed what he had known about her. It hadn’t amounted to much. Rieren knew even less, and Amalyse nothing at all.

But still. In the chill of the night, with no sound but the distant waterfalls and the wind blowing past them, it felt appropriate to remember someone who had given her life.

“I never knew her in person,” Rieren said. “But the fact she kept her blade in a good condition speaks well of her dedication to her duties. The fact that she died in the village instead of living here in the Sect is proof of her courage in the face of overwhelming adversity. She will be missed.”

“Yes,” Avalien said. He sounded truly sad. “Yes, she will.”

The last part of a traditional ritual of remembrance was what was generally referred to as setting the soul of the deceased free. Usually, this involved tying a possession of the dead with a consecrated thread knot, then tossing it into an irretrievable distance. Legends had it that the knot tied the deceased’s soul to the object and allowed them safe passage to the Beyond.

For their specific ritual, they used the sword. The knot could be done using any old thread, so long as they formed the correct loops and ties to create the exact consecrated pattern.

Avalien raised the sword high, and after a moment of solemn silence, he threw it into the dark mountainside. They stood quiet, hearing the dull clangs of the sword’s descent slowly dwindle to nothing.

“It is done,” Amalyse said. Avalien turned to her with a frown, possibly expecting her to act as though she was now free of a dreadful event she had no wish to be part of. But while she had her faults, blatant disrespect wasn’t one of them. “Her soul can finally sail on in peace,” she said, ignoring the guard’s look and holding onto her funereal air.

Rieren nodded. “It is time we departed.”

They left their little ritual site, still sombre from the ceremony. But the mood quickly shifted when Avalien erupted with questions. He asked Rieren about the system, how his skills and classes were going to work, and where exactly he ought to put his stats in.

“Most importantly,” he said with undisguised anxiety. “How do I raise the level? I feel as though it’s quite low…”

“Did you already pick your class?” Rieren asked. “If so, what is it?”

Avalien nodded. “It’s called Reverend Mercenary.”

Rieren stared at him. He had taken up an… interesting class, to say the least.

“You already picked your class?” Amalyse stared at the guard, then shook her head with a disappointed sigh. “Couldn’t even wait till the Sect began instructions. You could have made an informed choice if you exercised a little bit of restraint.”

Avalien turned a nasty expression on her. “Well, I had no guarantees the Sect would deign to instruct lowly guards along with the oh-so-vaunted disciples.”

Rieren frowned at him. It seemed he still harboured significant resentment towards anyone involved with the Sect. Amalyse’s eyes had widened, anger flashing in their depths, but Rieren cut her off before she could start a proper argument. Or worse.

“Bicker later,” she said. “We should not attract unnecessary attention.”

A vein pulsed on Amalyse’s forehead, but she displayed remarkable restraint in not arguing any further. Rieren was glad she contained her anger to just pretending Avalien no longer existed.

“As for you Avalien,” Rieren said. “You are to not antagonize anyone any further. Is that understood?”

Avalien looked mortally offended. “Antagonize? I was simply stating my thought process, mistress.”

“Acting purely at the behest of one’s emotions is one the surest ways of getting killed. You are to excise them from yourself. It is clear that your cultivation is lacking to a great degree. While I can provide advice about how you might best construct your class from here on out, it will be useless if you do not support it with cultivation.”

“I must… cultivate?”

“Yes. What of it?”

Avalien cleared his throat and looked away. “Nothing at all, mistress.”

Amalyse had taken a few steps ahead of them. She made a scoffing noise, which the guard scowled at.

“For your class,” Rieren said. “It’s an adaptable one. It doesn’t specialize in any specific weapon type, nor does it prefer any specific type of skill. Tell me, what is your perk?”

“Uh, it’s something called Weapon Art.”

Rieren nodded, recalling the last time she had faced people possessing the same class. “An interesting perk. It imbues any weapon you have with its own, specific skill that is separate from the skills you see in your [Status].”

“Ah, I see. So I get an extra skill depending on what kind of weapon I wield.”

“Correct. Also, whatever skill you picked for your first one, for the next, make sure you have a focus. Pick ones that synergize with how you wish to fight.”

They talked for a little longer as they neared the encampment. Avalien had a lot more questions, and Rieren gave him very short lessons, but in the end, emphasized that his only chance of levelling up would be to cultivate. It was a good thing that Sect intended to help everyone advance on their paths of power.

Eventually, they reached the edge of the refugee camp, where they parted. Rieren looked forward to simply going to bed. Tomorrow, her life at the Sect would begin again.