Ascension: Online

Soon, 8 PM rolled around the corner. All of the disciples had gathered back here at the Temple of Flowers 15 minutes earlier, since they didn't want to be late or last-minute. Most of them had excited expressions on their faces, probably having discovered many interesting things about the sect through today's orientation period.

Naturally, they wanted to begin their new life here at the Blessing Nature Sect as soon as possible. I wanted to as well, since the sooner I get stronger, the better.

"Alright, disciples!" the patriarch's familiar voice rained down upon us, and we all turned up to look at his figure in the sky, riding a Star Shuttle.

"I hope you all had a great exploration experience here at Evergreen Peak," he said. "But this, is just the tip of the iceberg. The other peaks you see above you are all far better, more advanced than this one. However! In order to access them… you need to become a proper disciple of the sect first."

At this, the disciples all looked to one another, murmuring in confusion.

"Settle down, I will explain," the patriarch said, instantly quieting the crowd. "Right now, the official term for you all is 'trial disciples'. As you can tell from the name, the lot of you are not yet formal ones. That will happen after a certain test that will be given to you tomorrow.

"As long as you pass it, on January next year, you shall be made a real disciple of the sect," he continued calmly, then turned in my direction for whatever reason. "Beware, however. This test will be extremely difficult, much more so than the ones you've done so far."

"What… I was never told about this…" some guy among the crowd muttered bravely/stupidly.

"You are welcome to leave the sect now if you are unsatisfied," the patriach added coldly. "Just remember: once you leave, there is no room for regret. If you wish to leave, just say so anytime before the test begins."

"What is the point of this extra test?" I asked daringly, raising my voice.

The patriarch turned to me and frowned once more, as if trying to search for something on me, but Elder Ning, who was beside him, quickly tapped on his shoulder with a glare in her eyes. The patriarch appeared uncomfortable faced with this expression, and cleared his throat.

"There are two main reasons why this test is set in place — the first of which being that the exams you all took to enter this sect evaluated physical strength, academic intelligence, and quick wits. But are you able to combine the three and turn it into a means of survival? That is what is most important — and it is also what this exam will be testing."

"And the second reason?" I prompted, not showing any change in my expression.

"Tradition," the patriarch replied without any hesitation. "Since this sect was founded, this was just how we did things, year after year. I see no reason to change it now."

"Hm. I see. Thank you."

"Now then, as for what the exam will be… put simply, you are to survive for two months under harsh climate and a dangerous environment. The exact details can be found in a rules sheet explaining the exam, which there are copies of inside the temple before you. And one last thing… get some good rest tonight. The exam will start tomorrow."

"That is all," the patriarch concluded after a deep breath. "There is also food inside the temple for those who did not eat dinner at a restaurant already. Grab yourself a rules sheet and come back out here to await a sect staff to lead you to your temporary home for tonight!"

*****

"Hina-nee."

"Hm? What is it, Kaze-kun?"

"Can you pick up a rules sheet for me as well? I'm going to go check something."

"Check… something," she echoed, dubious.

I tried winking at her to signal what I meant without actually saying it out loud, since Furuwa and Nadeshiko were both here, but it ended up being harder than I expected to pull off a proper wink.

"Y-You know, I need to go use the bathroom…" I lied, scratching my head awkwardly.

"A-Ah, no problem!" Hina-nee quickly laughed. "Sure, I'll pick up a rules sheet for you. Though, we could just read one sheet together too…"

"Thanks," I said briskly, before running off.

Furuwa seemed to completely buy my lie, but Nadeshiko followed my disappearing figure with her eyes, a peculiar smile on her face.

*****

I soon reached the entertainment quarter, which was where Long Yaqing had headed off to after parting ways with me. At least, that's what I guessed, since the direction was roughly the same.

"C'mon… where the hell is he…" I muttered, looking around frantically. And then, my gaze landed on the figure I was looking for, standing in front of some sort of arcade stall with a female disciple by his side.

"What a bastard… so the 'urgent business' you had to do was a date with some girl, huh?" I scoffed under my breath, then smirked. "Time to ruin it, I suppose."

Striding up confidently to him, I patted him on the shoulder heavily on purpose, causing him to suddenly spin around in shock.

"W-Wha-?!"

"Hey, Senior Brother Long. Remember me?"

"U-Uh…" he turned to the girl beside him, who had a surprised expression on her face, then looked back at me. "No! Who even are you?"

Agh, how troublesome. Playing the fool, huh? Fine, fine, fine… you leave me no choice.

"Oh, such bad memory? How unfortunate. You showed me around this peak earlier today, remember?"

By saying it like this, I was secretly threatening to expose the truth. Naturally, that wouldn't be good for him. Of course, it wasn't good for me either, but at least the consequences for him were far greater than the ones I would have.

Long Yaqing seemed to understand that as well, and laughed awkwardly as he scratched his head.

"A-Ah, yeah… how could I forget? Sorry, Junior Brother. Was there something you needed? Got lost, maybe?"

"Yeah… could you lead me back to the Temple of Flowers, maybe? Sorry to interrupt your… uh, date like this."

"It's no problem… really," he gritted his teeth as he tried keeping a kind smile on his face, then let go of the female disciple's hand. "Follow me, I'll show you the way out. Mu'er, just wait here for me for a bit, okay? I'll be back in a few."

The female disciple nodded. "Alright, it's no big deal. Junior brother, be more careful next time, okay? Don't wander around too much in this quarter — it's very easy to get lost here unless you've been here many times already."

I nodded in return, slightly impatient. "Thank you for the advice, Senior Sister."

"Come on. Let's go," Long Yaqing muttered, brushing past me.

I turned around and began following him, a triumphant grin on my face.

*****

Once we reached an isolated spot where no other disciples were, he suddenly spun around and grabbed my collar.

"Alright, you little shit… just what do you think you're doing?!"

I blinked nonchalantly. This was nothing compared to what Ichigo and Horiya have done to me in the past.

"I just wanted to talk to you, Senior Brother. Privately. You wanted to play dumb, so I had no choice but to go into detail, you know?"

"Tch…" he let go of me and sighed in frustration. "Well? I'm here now. What do you want?"

"I want to know about the test for new disciples," I replied truthfully. "You know… the one in which Trial Disciples are made into real ones."

"Oh, the Acceptance? Yeah, what about it?"

"How does this sect usually do it? A written exam… tournament…?"

"That… I can't tell you. It's forbidden to leak anything about tests to new disciples."

"Forbidden, huh? Then…" I leaned in closer to his ear. "Is accepting bribes also forbidden?"

He paused. "No one will be able to find out I accepted a bribe. But if I tell you about the test, the sect will know someone leaked information to you beforehand, which is why you did so well on it."

"No one will be able to find out… how naive," I sighed, before opening up my System and switching to my inventory. Then, I pressed on the recording I had made earlier today and clicked 'Play'.

"So? How much are you going to pay me? My help doesn't come cheap, you know. You're lucky I'm even offering you it."

Long Yaqing fell silent, eyes bulged in shock as he listened to his own voice. To him, who wasn't a player (I checked via Inspect), it just seemed like his own words had came out of nowhere.

As the conversation in the recording moved on, he noticed all of my dialogue parts were edited so that no one would be able to tell whose voice it was.

Slowly, he shifted his gaze and met my eyes.

"… You wouldn't dare…!"

"Oh, but I would," I shrugged nonchalantly and closed the recording. "So? What will it be? Tell me about the Acceptance, or get expelled from the sect?"

Long Yaqing had introduced himself to me during the recording as well, including his full name, so he knew he couldn't get away with this one.

"… Tch."

I waited patiently as he made up his mind. I already knew his answer — after all, I won the moment I recorded that conversation. He had zero ability to refuse.