PftA Book 2 - Chapter 17

A/N: This will be the last chapter before tier changes will be implemented on Wednesday. I'll only be posting one chapter per week to RR (Wednesdays) until things are settled. It shouldn't take very long, since you'll be getting three per week here on Patreon. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 17 – Reconnaissance

My return to the past had brought about many changes thus far, though I doubted many extended much beyond my personal life. An exception to that belief was a change to the way weeks were measured in the Junction. Though I hadn’t done anything in particular to effect the change, Atlas had shifted weeks to reflect Earth-standard with the New Year.

The change might not have been huge, but the effects were massive for my schedule. Now, instead of needing Lisa to keep up with what day it was and constantly needing to rearrange my schedule to accommodate classes, I could establish an actual routine.

I’d taken advantage of the shift this semester by scheduling all my classes on odd weekdays, which freed up my evenings since I no longer needed to split my workday to attend class. An added bonus was the freedom to take a nap after dinner.

And I sorely needed a nap after the day I’d had.

But first, I needed to cook dinner.

The temptation to pick up food from the awakened cafeteria had been strong, but I hadn’t wanted to risk running into Xavier again so soon. Instead, I’d picked up some mana-infused ingredients from one of the small shops housed in the restricted section of the building. I wasn’t sure if the food would help Bell – or anyone else – awaken early, but it wouldn’t hurt. There was also no restriction on sharing food from rifts with unawakened natives.

I hoped it worked, though. I was tired of being unable to talk about anything with the people I cared about.

“Jeez, Duo. You look rough,” Bell said when she exited her room and saw me standing in the kitchen. Glancing up, I saw she was still wearing the same pajamas she’d been wearing the day before.

“It’s been a long day,” I replied tiredly before turning my attention back to my task.

“Do you want a hand?”

I looked at the small counter, not seeing much left to do aside from mixing the salad. I pointed at it. “You can take care of that if you want. The alfredo is almost done.”

I chose the meal because it was quick and easy to make, even from scratch. I had to use regular cream cheese since the shop didn’t have any of the mana-infused variety, but I doubted it would matter all that much. Everything else – including the noodles – was mana-infused.

“Oh, you’re doing crab alfredo again?” Bell asked excitedly. “That’s one of my favorites. Whatever you season the meat with makes it soooo good.”

I smiled and nodded, continuing the façade that the meat I’d added was crab meat instead of giant spiders. It really did taste like crab. I’d been freaked out the first time I came across it in Pylos, but once I’d gotten over the initial ‘ick’ feeling, I’d grown to love the abundant protein.

“Good, I made enough for both of us to have lunch tomorrow as long as you don’t overdo it,” I said with a smirk as I handed my roommate a plate.

“Mmmm, we’ll see,” she replied noncommittally.

After the meal, I packaged the leftovers into two containers. As I put them in the small refrigerator, I glanced at my roommate, who was busy washing the dishes.

“I’m going to be playing in Hadier for a while. One of the guys I work with suggested I try the sects since I have a rare affinity,” I said casually. “I never tested that aspect of the game, so I thought it might be fun.”

Bell stopped and stared at me in surprise. “Really? The little workaholic is going to play for fun again?” she asked with raised brows.

“Oh, come on. I’m not that bad.” I dropped contentedly onto the soft couch. I felt the food coma starting to build, but I didn’t want to disappear immediately after eating. “Besides, it’s not that I don’t want to hang out. Even with the change to my schedule, I still don’t have much free time. Between classes, work, and staying healthy, I hardly have time to sleep. I’m lucky I can take advantage of time dilation.”

“Yeah? So, when are you going to check out the sects then?”

I tried – and failed – to suppress a yawn. “Not right now. I’m going to get some sleep first. If I go to sleep now, I’ll have a couple of hours to play before classes start.”

“Do you have any information on sects in your game guide?” Bell asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t. That’s an oversight on my part, I guess. I was mostly focusing on the magic system, skills, the system, and build information. You know—” I waved a hand “—the basics everyone would need to know when they are just starting out.”

I really hadn’t thought much about anything more advanced since it didn’t seem relevant to the initial transition. Considering it for a moment, I still didn’t feel information on sects or political structures was critical for newly awakened people to know. But it wasn’t bad to know either.

“I should probably do some research before I head off to see things for myself.” I yawned again before shaking my head. “After I get some sleep. I’m exhausted.”

With a tired wave, I forced myself off the couch and into my room. After taking a quick shower to wash the worst of the day off, I donned my haptic suit and headgear before having the system put me into a forced state of sleep.

= = =

I felt much better when I awoke in my VPS a short while later. I still wasn’t fully refreshed, but it was a start.

Reflecting on my conversation with Bell, I used the kiosk to access the internet and had Lisa pull up the most relevant sites for the information I sought. Being the amazing interface assistant that she was, Lisa immediately directed my attention to a blog post discussing the Epikairos Sect.

The blogger had a Time affinity and had joined the sect in-game, and there were several articles outlining their experiences, complete with images and videos. After reviewing everything available, I expanded my search to other sects, finding a few minor differences between each one.

None were the over-the-top Wuxia novel settings that I somewhat expected. However, there were enough similarities that I wondered if the Alliance hadn’t seeded the whole genre in the years leading up to the reintegration. They’d been watching and monitoring Earth the whole time. It wouldn’t have been difficult to influence the stories or histories that inspired the genre.

From what I’d seen of the articles so far, Hadier was heavily influenced by sects, and interestingly, much of the population shared Asian characteristics. Was that a coincidence or something else?

At least Magical Girls weren’t a real thing.

When I felt like I had a decent grasp of what to expect, I transferred my avatar into the game and had Lisa reserve the transportation necessary for me to travel to the sect on Hadier. The sect was located in one of the bigger cities, so it wasn’t a very difficult journey. I made it there with time to spare before I needed to log off.

When I returned from classes several virtual hours later, I spent the short amount of time I had allotted to observing the sect members as they interacted with the locals when they left their massive compound.

There was no ‘Young Master’ behavior, but it was obvious that members of the sect considered themselves superior to most of the non-sect members they encountered. That wasn’t very surprising, all things considered. But even with the general sense of superiority, none of the sect members were overtly rude or abusive toward the non-sect members of the community.

That was a good sign.

I continued my observations during the small snippets of time I could grab throughout the week, wanting to wait until I could dedicate more time to playing before I attempted to join the sect. During that time, nothing of note happened at work or in class. Xavier didn’t approach me again, nor did any newly awakened appear.

Wanting to make the most of my time, I had Robert meet me Friday evening for a delve since it would be nighttime in-game, and it didn’t make sense to attempt to join a sect in the middle of the night. It wasn’t our scheduled week to access the local rift, so we headed to Antarctica to gain some experience toward our next levels.

As soon as we were finished, I didn’t bother selling the loot before hurrying to my apartment to log in to the game. It was early enough in-game for the sun to rise, and I didn’t want to miss out on the daily recruitment I’d watched a few times already. It always started once the sun fully crested the horizon, which left me rushing to get to the gates in time.

Most of the potential disciples were NPCs, with only a few players mixed into the group. A few were turned away at the gate when the testing crystal failed to show a Time or Fate affinity. When this happened to one of the players, they became enraged and started yelling at the NPC sect members.

I watched silently from my place in the small crowd as the girl yelled at her companion, a male player who’d already been accepted and looked like he really wanted to stay. The girl was upset that she was being ‘discriminated against’ for not having the right affinity while her friend – or maybe boyfriend – had been allowed to join.

It was obvious she hadn’t done any research on sects.

After making a few threats, her companion slunk to the woman’s side with a look of annoyance and disappointment. He followed morosely as the female player stomped away from the sect compound while still griping about the game's ‘unfair’ and ‘obviously biased’ practices.

I didn’t even try to stop my eye-roll at their behavior.

When it was my turn to be tested, I placed my hand on the small crystal – which looked exactly like an awakening crystal – and pushed a small bit of mana into the item. As it had when I’d registered at the tower, the crystal began glowing, first displaying the shimmer that represented Time, followed by the dark purple of Space.

“Congratulations! You’ve met the initial entry requirements. Please step to the right so we can get through the rest of the applicants,” the tester said politely, motioning me to the side where a handful of other individuals stood.

With the other two players’ departure, only one other player remained among the sect hopefuls. The girl smiled as she stepped closer.

“Are you a solo player like me?” she asked with a hint of excitement.

“Not always. I have a group of friends I play with sometimes, but none of them have Time affinities,” I replied.

“Oh,” she said, looking a bit disappointed. “That makes sense.” She stuck out a hand. “I’m Callie.”

I glanced at her floating user tag.

[Callie Fae – level 35 – Time]

“I’m Duality, or Duo. I answer to either,” I said as I shook the girl’s hand. My in-game Identify had already progressed to the point that I could see affinities, which was nice. Hopefully, my real spell would reach that point soon. It was a handy upgrade.

“You’re kinda low-level. Did you have to reset your avatar a couple of times?” she asked.

I chuckled. “Yeah. It doesn’t help that leveling slows down so much with each tier.”

“It doesn’t,” Callie agreed before falling silent as the remaining hopefuls proved they had Time or Fate magic. “So, why are you joining the sect? I’m joining because I’ve always been a huge fan of Wuxia novels and couldn’t pass up the chance to experience it. I can’t wait to scream, ‘You Dare!’ and act like an entitled Young Mistress. It’s going to be great!” she said with a huge grin and excited eyes.

I watched as the other player animatedly acted out the scenario, strutting around like a peacock with her nose in the air before cracking a smile.

“I’m not really after that. I just wanted to see what sects were like in the game,” I said, trying not to laugh at the girl’s antics. “Since qi isn’t a thing in Atlas Online, I was curious how they’d handle the concept. I did a little research, but there’s only so much you can gain from other people’s experiences, ya know?”

“Exactly! Though, that’s probably a good thing. I doubt I’d have fun if we were forced to meditate for hours, trying to absorb spiritual energy or something. That sounds super boring.”

The tester and the nearby sect members stepped toward the decorative door in the wall beside the tall gates.

“Come this way, supplicants,” the tester called out. “Just having the correct affinity isn’t enough to join our illustrious sect. Next, you need to prove you are worthy of access to the teachings and resources we can provide.”

“Ohhh, I hope I get it this time!” Callie whispered from beside me.

“This time?”

“Yeah, I tried joining like a month ago, but I couldn’t pass the combat test. I’ve been training all month for this, so hopefully, I pass this time! If not, I’ll probably have to give up on my dream to experience life in a cultivation novel. That would suck,” she said with a small pout.

“I’m sure you’ll do great. If you trained for it, you should have no problem passing,” I said confidently, though I had no idea about the difficulty of the entry test. It was something I’d have to ask Master Kairos about when I saw him next.

I was pretty sure it wasn’t something I’d have to do in real life, but I didn’t want to assume incorrectly. As the Patriarch’s personal disciple, I shouldn’t have to go through any entry tests, but not doing so might be worse for me in the long run. It would probably be better for me to prepare regardless. If sects really were martially oriented, I’d undoubtedly have to fight. I doubted being the Patriarch’s disciple would help with that.