Of Hunters and Immortals

The job hall was busier than he expected.

In hindsight, Jiang wasn't sure why he expected that it wouldn't be busy – there were, after all, hundreds of aspirants all hoping to gather enough contribution points to pass. Actually, now that he thought about it…

"Did the Elders ever say exactly how many points we needed to get to pass the entrance exams?" he asked.

"No, they didn't," replied Lian. "I think it was on purpose, you know, to make sure that no one gets complacent."

"Well I think it's because the points don't matter," Wei interjected, throwing an arm around Jiang and pulling him closer conspiratorially. Jiang resisted the urge to push him away. "They just want to see how we act. If you don't manage to get enough points, but you catch an Elder's eye," he nudged Jiang pointedly, "then you might be able to get in anyway."

"Don't listen to the idiot," Shen grumbled from behind them. "He's just lazy and wanting an excuse to take things easy."

"It's true," Wei announced shamelessly. "I am very lazy. That doesn't make me wrong, though."

Jiang absently wondered how his roommates were already getting along so well. They'd only known each other for, what, a day and a half? Was this how quickly normal people made friends?

Lian, seemingly ignoring the back-and-fourth, turned to him. "Anyway, you'll need to get a contribution token of your own before you can accept a task."

Jiang glanced around. "And how do I do that?"

She gestured toward the long counter near the back of the hall, where a disciple in pale blue robes sat behind a thick ledger, dealing with a steady line of aspirants. "Go to the counter, give them your name, and they'll issue you a token. That token gets updated whenever you complete a task, and at the end of the week the Elders will check your total contribution points to see if you've passed."

Jiang eyed the line. "That's it?"

Lian nodded. "That's it."

"Picking a task is up to you," Wei added, finally stepping away and stretching his arms behind his head. "Everything's posted on the boards. Manual labour pays the least, errands are middling, and hunting and gathering are better. Combat tasks pay the most – bandit exterminations and the like." He shot Jiang a grin. "Alternatively, there's always duelling if you really want to rack up the points quickly. So, naturally, you should challenge one of the stronger aspirants to a duel. Or a full disciple if you're feeling particularly lucky."

Jiang gave him a flat look. That sounded like terrible advice – he didn't know the first thing about fighting, and even if he did, it would be fighting as a mortal. For all he knew, every other cultivator here could just hit him with a lightning bolt before he could blink. The bandit exterminations, on the other hand…

No. As much as he wanted to – and he really, really wanted to – he knew he wasn't at the stage where trying to take on bandits was a smart idea. After a few months of training, though…

Wei laughed at his clear disinterest in duelling. "Hey, you might be good at fighting! You'll never know if you don't try."

"Or," Shen cut in, tone dry, "he could pick something that actually guarantees points instead of getting his teeth kicked in."

Wei tsked. "So unambitious."

"I like my teeth where they are, thanks."

Jiang tuned out their bickering in favour of looking around the room at the task slips he could see on the various boards. It looked like the tasks were divided into separate categories – one board might only contain hunting-related tasks, another gathering-related tasks. He wondered how that worked with what the Elder had said about the higher-value tasks being closer to the counter. Maybe the room was divided into sections relating to capability, with each section being further divided into task categories?

It also begged the question of what sort of task he wanted to take. His skill set was pretty narrowly focused on hunting, so logically he should take those tasks – but this was a Sect full of cultivators, not a small village. It was possible, even likely, that the sorts of prey cultivators hunted were far too dangerous for him to tackle – at least, not until he advanced a couple of times.

He turned to ask what tasks the others were planning on taking, only to find them looking at him a little awkwardly.

"Alright, well," Lian said after a moment. "We… uh, should probably get going."

"You've all already picked tasks?" Jiang asked, getting an inkling as to where this was going.

"We're, uh, working together," she explained, glancing at Shen and Wei. "We figured we could take on some of the bigger tasks and share the points."

And I'm not invited, Jiang wanted to say but didn't. A flash of hurt ran through him for a moment before petering out. It wasn't like he could blame them – they were strangers, had only known each other for a day or so. Granted, they had only known each other for a day or so as well, but in fairness, he'd sort of… hidden in his room instead of talking and making connections.

It was fine. He didn't need them anyway.

Wei winced, clearly reading something in his expression. "It's nothing personal," he said hurriedly, "Just that… you know. You don't even have a token yet, and we don't really know you, and you don't know how things work here yet, and…" he trailed off, clearly unsure as to how to finish his sentence.

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Jiang wished he hadn't started talking in the first place. This was getting terribly awkward.

"It's fine." He said shortly, turning to head towards the counter. "Good luck."

Jiang turned on his heel and strode toward the counter before anyone could say anything else. He didn't need to see their expressions to know how they felt. Awkward. Guilty. Maybe even a little relieved. It didn't matter.

The line moved quickly, and soon enough, Jiang found himself standing before the inner disciple at the counter. The man barely spared him a glance, his brush still scribbling in the open ledger before him.

"Name?"

"Jiang Tian."

The disciple flipped to a fresh page and wrote it down. Without looking up, he pulled a thin, rectangular wooden token from a small stack and slid it across the counter. "Attune your Qi to it."

Jiang picked up the token. It was smooth, slightly cool to the touch, with the faintest engravings carved into its surface. He turned it over in his fingers, glancing up.

"…How?"

That, finally, got the inner disciple's attention. He looked up, raising a single, unimpressed eyebrow. "You have ignited your dantian, haven't you?"

Jiang blinked. "Yes."

"Then you know how to move your Qi. Focus a thread of it into the token. It will register as yours."

Jiang exhaled through his nose and did as instructed. He closed his eyes, searching for the small flicker of warmth in his core. It was easier to find than before, and with only a little effort, he nudged it forward, directing a thin strand into the token.

The wood pulsed faintly beneath his fingers. A moment later, the engravings shimmered with a dim, silvery glow before fading back into dull wood.

"There," the inner disciple said, already returning to his ledger. "It's attuned. You may now take tasks."

Jiang didn't linger. He stepped away from the counter, slipping the token into his belt, and moved toward the task boards closest to the doors. These would pay the least amount of contribution points but, conversely, would be the easiest to complete. Considering how little he knew about how things worked, he figured he should find the easiest task possible just to get some points on his token. Once he had a better understanding of the process, he could pick higher-paying tasks better suited to him.

He took his time scanning through the slips of paper on each board, mentally sorting through his options.

The combat tasks were immediately ruled out, for obvious reasons. The hunting-related tasks weren't much better. Every single one involved hunting spirit beasts and harvesting their cores. Jiang had no doubt he could track and kill an ordinary deer, but a spirit beast? That was another thing entirely. He wasn't stupid enough to assume the skills carried over.

The errand tasks were more feasible—delivering messages, assisting inner disciples, running supplies—but the problem was he had no idea where anything was. The last thing he wanted was to take a simple task and fail it because he got lost or didn't understand what he was supposed to do.

Which left the menial labour tasks.

He found the board tucked into the farthest corner of the room, barely given a glance by the other aspirants. These tasks were basically chores, the kind of thing that Jiang was sure the Sect had servants to do. Most only paid 3 to 5 points, a laughable amount compared to what a successful duel or hunting job would grant. He didn't even know why these tasks were here at all – was it a test of some kind to see if the aspirants were willing to throw away their dignity in exchange for a few points?

Good thing he didn't really care about his dignity.

He scanned the board, ignoring the grumbling of a nearby aspirant who was staring at the postings in horror, as if personally offended by their existence.

Floor sweeping.

Stable mucking.

Well cleaning.

Laundry.

The choice was obvious. Jiang snatched the slip containing details of the laundry task off the board. He'd helped his mother with laundry when he was younger—he knew how to do it. It wasn't hard, it wouldn't take all day, and it was something he could finish without worrying about failure.

Plus, as an added bonus, he could probably ask the servants a bunch of questions about where everything was located, which meant he should be able to take one of the delivery tasks next.

The nearby aspirant gaped at him before shaking his head and walking out of the job hall without taking a task, muttering something about honour. Jiang watched him go, confused. It was hardly ideal, but surely any task was better than nothing, right? If it meant he passed the entrance exams and was able to gain the power to find and save his family, he didn't care how many clothes he had to wash.

What was dignity or honour in the face of results?

Jiang glanced down at the task slip, skimming its details.

Assist the servants with laundry. Report to the east river by second bell.

Reward: 3 contribution points.

That was it. No additional instructions, no point of contact, just an expectation that he knew what he was doing.

Which he didn't.

He exhaled sharply through his nose, scanning the hall for someone who could give him a straight answer. East river—he could guess the general direction, but the Sect grounds were enormous, and the last thing he wanted was to wander around aimlessly until he stumbled across it.

He spotted a servant carrying a bundle of neatly folded robes and stepped toward him. "Excuse me."

The servant immediately spun to face him, bowing at the waist. "How may this one be of service, honoured aspirant?"

Jiang blinked. That was… formal. Uncomfortably so. Before he could figure out how to respond, the servant's gaze flicked over his robes, then down to the task slip in his hands.

His posture shifted.

The stiff deference melted into something significantly more casual, his back relaxing as he gave Jiang an assessing look. "Oh. You're one of the new ones."

Jiang wasn't sure what to make of that. Did… did the man think he was a new servant? He glanced down at his own clothes, the rough patchwork tunic contrasting starkly with the robes everyone else was wearing. In fairness, he did look more like a peasant than an actual cultivator. After a moment's thought, he shrugged. He was more comfortable with this than the bowing, at least.

"Yeah, just got here a couple of days ago," he said.

The servant nodded toward the task slip. "You're doing laundry?"

"That's what it says."

"Lucky. You're gonna want to hurry, then. Second bell's in—" he cast a considering glance up at the sun's position, "—not that long. You're cutting it close."

Jiang frowned. Why was doing the laundry lucky? "Where is the east river?"

The servant snorted. "Where do you think? East."

Jiang resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I gathered. But where exactly?"

The servant grinned, but at least had the decency to answer properly this time. "Follow the path past the southern dorms, take the third fork toward the terraced gardens, then keep going down the slope. The river's right at the edge of the outer grounds. You'll see the laundry station once you get close—look for the massive washing basins."

Jiang committed the directions to memory with a sharp nod.

The servant gave him one last once-over, then chuckled. "Well, good luck with that. Just try not to drop anything important in the river. Though you look like you could use a wash yourself."

Jiang didn't dignify that with a response – mostly because he knew the man was right. Instead, he turned on his heel and strode out of the job hall, slipping into a brisk walk as he followed the servant's directions. Laundry wasn't exactly going to be a test of his abilities, but at least it was a simple task.

What could go wrong?