Ascension: Online

"Kaze, Hina, Chiaki, and Nakano. Follow me," a female voice suddenly said, interrupting our conversation. We turned to see Elder Ning, an uncomfortable expression on her beautiful face.

The four of us exchanged glances wordlessly, and decided to just do as told. I looked up into the sky and saw the patriarch glare down at me, a strict look in his eyes.

Goddamn it, geezer… what do you want from me?

Elder Ning led us towards the public facilities quarter of Evergreen Peak and eventually stopped before a large hotel. Various groups of other disciples were also gathered here, though there were more at other hotels further away.

Without any hesitation, she headed inside and we followed her. The receptionist stood up and bowed upon seeing Elder Ning, but our master seemed to be in no mood to reply and instead boarded an Essence-powered elevator, by the looks of it. The light within, however, still ran on electricity.

We were silent the whole way, and to be honest, I was perfectly fine with that. Being an introvert, remaining quiet was easy.

We got off at the 32nd floor. Elder Ning headed for a room at the back right and unlocked it.

Sighing, she swung the door open, then turned back at us.

"Come in. There's something I need to talk to you all about."

I had a good idea what she wanted to discuss, but I pretended not to know anyway and complied with her instructions. The others did the same.

I shut the door tight behind me and locked it, then went over to where Elder Ning was, the couch.

"Take a seat anywhere," she said.

I sat down beside her, Hina-nee to my other side. Nadeshiko and Furuwa each pulled out chairs from the table nearby and sat on those instead.

"Alright… to be honest, I'm not supposed to be telling you all what I'm about to say. But since you all are related to it, I figured it would be wrong to hide the truth from you. It's regarding the exams that will be happening tomorrow."

I raised an eyebrow. "The patriarch is okay with you telling us this?"

Her eyes widened. "You… knew?"

"Between the death glares he was sending me and the silent conflict you had with him up in the sky?" I snorted. "Yeah. I mean, I could guess."

I purposely said this to avoid them from finding out the truth that I had blackmailed Long Yaqing into telling me everything.

"I don't know the specifics though," I quickly added. "In other words, I'm very confused on why your dad hates me so much, so do explain."

"That is… well, you know how I've never taken in any direct disciples before, yeah?" she sighed. "He's… just worried. He thinks I don't know the importance and responsibility of choosing direct disciples, and that I'm just picking them at random. Most other elders only have one or two direct disciples, so me having four is…"

"Guess we're causing trouble for you…" Hina-nee murmured quietly, feeling guilty.

"No, no, it's not your fault. I don't think the decision I made was wrong. The four of you are all great seeds, worthy of being direct disciples. It's just… I can see where my father is coming from as well. Taking in four students in one go, and as my first ever teaching experience, no less…"

"What does that have to do with us…?" Furuwa asked, still not understanding it.

"When my father asked me to just make you four into normal disciples instead, I stubbornly refused. So, he took matters into his own hands."

"Who told him in the first place?" I couldn't help but wonder. "If you didn't tell him yourself, then he shouldn't have found out until the sect year actually began."

"I didn't," Elder Ning quickly said. "But… who else would've spilled the news?"

I chuckled. "Then there's only one answer: Elder Zhang."

"Wha… Elder Zhang? But… what's his motive for doing so?"

"It's simple. He doesn't like me," I replied. "Can't you tell?"

"It's true, I did notice him acting quite coldly towards you, but he does that to everyone, so… and besides, I don't recall you doing anything in particular to piss him off."

I couldn't tell if this girl was acting dense or if she really was, but either way, this was quite annoying. I didn't see a point in explaining any further if she was going to be like this, so instead, I just changed the topic.

"Whatever. You don't have to apologize, but… can you bring Aisa over? I want to talk to her before leaving for two months."

Elder Ning nodded. "Understandable… I will be back in fifteen."

Saying this, she exited the room and set off for her own peak to get Aisa.

"All of us here know the culprit of this is Elder Zhang, right?" I asked around once she left, making sure we were all on the same page here.

Hina-nee nodded. "Jealousy is a powerful emotion. I would… know."

"I can see why Elder Zhang is envious," Furuwa sighed. "Elder Ning talks to you a lot more than him, despite the fact that you just met her while he has known her for years. In reality, it's not because she likes you, but instead just because she read your mind and found out about certain things, but Elder Zhang doesn't know that."

"So? What do we do~? Kill him?" Nadeshiko licked her lips and smirked. "No one gets in the way of my Kaze~"

"… Killing an elder is not as easy as just saying it out loud. If possible, I would like to avoid going through all that trouble, but if he tries to act against me again…" I took a deep breath.

"… I will be left with no choice but to respond in turn."

*****

Elder Ning returned soon after that. I asked to speak with Aisa privately, so she left the room and shut the door behind her. Just to be safe, I used Silencer around us so that she couldn't hear what we were saying.

"It's safe to talk now," I said, leaning back on the sofa.

"What did you want to discuss, human?"

"It's about Blights and erasing more of my emotions. Are reality rifts the only way to do so?"

"… Why are you so eager? I already said, you have plenty of time."

"It's less the emotions being erased and more the benefits I gain every time I consume a Blight," I replied. "An increase to all stats? Give me more."

"Be careful not to let greed consume you," Aisa muttered.

"I'll just erase the emotion of greed as well," I chuckled. "But jokes aside, I want to know whether or not there are more methods because I will have to use them eventually. Reality rifts aren't a viable option, after all."

"That is… logical, I suppose," Aisa sighed, then told me what I wanted to know. "Blights can be located in places with high Essence… but not the Essence you're used to."

"What?"

"The Essence you know of has a full name: Life Essence. However… there is a different form of energy that is similar to this, yet completely different at the same time: Death Essence."

"So… Blights are commonly found in areas with lots of Death Essence?" I concluded.

"Indeed. In Ascentia… the continent of Necromopolis will be your best bet."

"Necromopolis… the City of Death, huh?" Hina-nee folded her arms. "Looks like we'll have to head there eventually, in the future."

"In the very distant future," Furuwa muttered. "We're nowhere strong enough to enter yet. Back before I got trapped in this world, I saw some articles online saying even the top players of the game were unable to enter at their current level."

"Naturally~ it's meant to be endgame content," Nadeshiko giggled. "Apparently, within Necromopolis, there's some sort of mystery, waiting to be unraveled… oh, but this is all information I found online~ don't take my word for it."

"Aisa, can you confirm?" I asked. "What kind of mystery is it?"

"The plot I had planned out for that part of the campaign was the Law of Death, but… explaining everything to you right now would take a long while. That elf outside will get suspicious."

"I agree," Furuwa said. "Best to just explain everything when we actually reach there. This is still a fantasy world, after all. I would like to enjoy it to the fullest without any spoilers of what is coming next."

"Alright… thanks, Aisa," I sighed, rubbing my nose bridge and trying to think of what to do tomorrow. "Oh yeah, by the way… do you know anything about what's going to happen tomorrow?"

"Normally, yes. But my powers have been severely limited. Therefore… will not be there to help you for the next two months. You may die, but that is fine as you can just respawn."

"We'll be the only ones who can respawn there, right?" I asked. "I mean, logically speaking, we should be the only players in this batch of new disciples, since the only method for players to enter the sect following the main questline is through the Qilian Annual Regional Tournament which we all attended."

"Correct," Aisa replied. "Everyone else there will be natives of this reality plane — you can take advantage of that, wielding your player abilities to the fullest."

"Got it. Thanks again."

Aisa stood up and began heading for the door, but then turned around one last time and looked me in the eyes.

"I will not be there to help you for the next two months, human. Best of luck — and remember my words: where there is danger, there is also opportunity."

I nodded. "Don't worry… I know."