The Phoenix [Cultivation, Reincarnation, Tower Climber]

In the past week, our Batch has been separating into distinct groups, and the common area has gotten more and more segregated, so I immediately find it odd when almost half of them are all grouped around one place. They're packed together so tightly I can't see what they're gathering around. Normally, I would just ignore them, except that right now, they're gathered around my table…

Whatever. I'll just sit somewhere else.

No one pays attention to me as I slip into the dining hall and load up a plate with eggs and sausages for myself and another with ham for Trinity, because she seems to like that. I balance them both on one arm using some of the waitressing skills I picked up at a part time job a couple years ago, then grab a glass each of water and this weird citrus-like juice that I've come to enjoy, and head back out.

The crowd is still there, so I look around for another place to sit, ultimately settling on a spot in the corner where the definitely-a-hitman usually sits. Unfortunately for him, he's not here yet, so this spot is mine now. I eat in peace for a few minutes before I'm joined by another person.

"G-good morning," says Timmy the no-longer-homeless man.

I nod in response as he takes an awkward seat somewhat close to me. We eat in silence for a few minutes longer, and I take the opportunity to observe his cultivation progress. It's… disappointing. I figured he'd have some level of talent since his sensitivity seems good, and even now, the ki in the air still hums a bit, but he's barely any different from the way he was when he entered. He's taken the purification pill, and he seems to have gathered a bit of oum in his body for cultivation, but he's nowhere close to forming a core. It's almost like he hasn't even been trying.

Wait.

"Timmy, have you been cultivating?"

He flinches slightly.

"Hmm?" he asks innocently.

"Have you been cultivating?" I repeat.

"Well, during the practical lessons I did a little bit…" he says, trailing off. "But I've been taking Lessons! There are lots of really cool plants in the Tower! I was talking to Gloria and she says that there are some plants on the higher Floors that can talk!"

I don't know who Gloria is, but that's not important now. It looks like he hasn't been cultivating really at all. I don't care that much about him, but if he doesn't form a core, I might never find out why the oum around him acts weirdly.

"Timmy," I say. His head droops a bit. "If you don't cultivate, you'll never reach those Floors and see those talking plants."

He doesn't respond. He looks a bit sad, but he doesn't look motivated to cultivate yet. I glance around the room, my eyes settling on a small potted flower, and an idea springs into my mind. I get up and grab the flower, bringing it back to the table as Timmy watches in confusion and curiosity.

"Watch closely," I say.

I gather some oum in my hand and reach out to touch the flower's stem near the roots, and I start infusing it. The flower is already well-cared-for and quite healthy, so the results show almost immediately. The addition of my oum causes new growth. First a leaf, then a small new stem, which grows and thickens before forming a bud which then blooms. I stop there because that small demonstration took a full half of my reserves, but I'm satisfied with the result. Actually, I'm more than satisfied. That felt unusually easy.

"Woah!" exclaims Timmy, the oum around him trembling. "How did you do that?"

"You can do this too if you form your core," I say.

"Really?"

"Of course," I say. "And if you still think cultivating is boring, think about it this way: cultivation is just like being a plant. You sit still and gather oum from around you, just like a plant uses its roots to take water and nutrients from the soil. You are the plant, your oum pathways are your roots, and the oum itself is the water and minerals."

"Oh, I see," he says, nodding seriously. "So if I want to be able to grow plants like you, I need to become a plant."

"...Basically."

"I see…"

He sits still, staring at the flower I grew for a few seconds, then closes his eyes, forgetting about his food as he begins drawing in the oum. Within seconds, he's like a whirlpool, drawing in ki almost as rapidly as that Yuri person from Griffin Hall. It's extreme enough that he actually manages to draw some attention away from the commotion in the center of the lobby, which is mildly annoying, since that means I finally get spotted.

"Bella!" exclaims a voice.

I sigh and turn to see the crowd parted with Kat running toward me, Vanessa and Jacob hot on her heels. She's wearing something ridiculous, and I'm pretty sure it's my fault. Until today, she always just wore the normal robes, so I can only assume that I caused this by showing her that the clothes can be altered. I have opened a can of worms that should have never seen the light of day.

She's wearing a latex bodysuit with a cat ear headband. I don't even know how to respond. I'm just going to ignore it.

"Bella, I formed my core!" she says.

I ignore the outfit for a moment to focus on her oum, and she has indeed formed a core. An excellent one too, if I'm not mistaken. It's a bit surprising. She's clearly talented, but Jacob was closer to forming his last I checked, and he still feels like an ordinary person right now. Either he slacked off while she worked hard, or she got some help.

"I see that," I say.

"We should do a Quest together!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to."

She is way too high energy.

Kat looks like she's about to say something else, but Vanessa jumps in, changing the subject.

"Bella, you seem stronger than you did yesterday. Did something happen?"

"I took the cultivation pill," I say, shooting her a grateful glance.

"You hadn't taken it yet?" asks Jacob.

"It would have made the spars too easy."

As I think back to the spars, I also remember my dream, and decide to change the subject again.

"Does Ganyu know you formed your core?" I ask Kat.

"Yes!" said Kat. "I told him as soon as I formed it! He said we would be doing a special lecture today because of it."

"Affinities?"

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"Yes! Do you already know about them? What are your affinities? What are my affinities?"

"Yes, none of your business, and even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."

"Well that's rude."

"Yes. Now go away. I'm trying to eat breakfast."

"Hmph," she says. "Not even going to comment on my outfit?"

"I don't care."

"Well, since I have my core, I'm basically a superhuman now, right?" she continues. "So that means I should have a superhero identity, right? So, I decided that I'm going to be Katgirl! Get it? Because I'm Kat, and-"

I concentrate oum in my ears to completely block out whatever she's saying and start digging into my food. After a minute or so, she gives up and returns to our usual table, taking most of the crowd with her. Vanessa stays behind with me and Timmy, while Jacob hesitates before following Kat. Vanessa doesn't bother me and just starts cultivating in the seat next to me, and between her and Timmy, the oum is getting a bit violent in the area. Trinity seems to enjoy it though, sitting on the table right in between them and enjoying the metaphysical breeze.

I wonder who sponsored Kat. From what little I gathered during my semi-seclusion the past week, foundation pills are rare. Vanessa was telling me about how a few others from our Batch went out to look for them, just to check the prices. They only found one for sale, and the seller refused to part with it for less than a million Tower Credits. I assume that this person's target buyers were probably the large forces, since the only new Climbers who could afford such a thing would be the ones who had already formed their cores and done many Quests.

Anyway, that means that she has to have a sponsor, but I'm still confused about the logistics of it. She's obviously talented, and it wouldn't be hard to see that, but it still seems like a bit of a rapid decision to spend so much on a new Climber. Unless they know something about her that I don't.

Well, whatever. It doesn't concern me anyway.

I finish up my food, then join Vanessa and Timmy in their cultivation until it's time for Ganyu's Lesson to begin. Jacob arrives to let us know the time, and Vanessa and I instantly get up before he even says anything. Timmy takes a bit of effort to break from his meditation, but he reluctantly follows and joins the swarm of people funneling into the lecture hall.

"Hey, Bella!" says a voice from somewhere in the crowd.

I stifle a groan as the people in front of me part to reveal Kat again.

"Did you hear what I said earlier?" she asks.

"Probably not."

"Well, Ganyu has been teaching us some basic martial arts these past few days, and he sets the middle of the lecture hall up as a little arena. Wanna spar with me? Since we're the only ones with cores?"

My gut reaction is to say "no," but when I stop to think about it for a moment longer, I change my mind.

"Sure."

"Yay!"

I'm sure I made a splash yesterday, but none of these people were here to see it. Plus, Kat's been getting a little too friendly. Jacob is one thing. Despite his repeated attempts to get closer, he actually seems to have a healthy fear of me and knows when to back off. Kat though… Well, I'll sort her out.

"I've been practicing really hard," she says. "You're gonna be so surprised. By the way, where did you learn how to do all this stuff? Were you part of like a super secret supernatural government agency or something? You remind me of like a movie character, acting all mysterious. Like imagine if you were wearing a black tactical suit thing and sunglasses and an earpiece. She'd make a good secret agent, right, Vanessa?"

I must have been making some kind of facial expression, because Vanessa grimaces for a brief moment before smiling again as Kat turns to face her.

"I guess," she says. "But let's get inside. Didn't you say Ganyu wanted you to present or something like that?"

"Oh, right!"

Kat starts babbling about how excited she is or something like that, as she and Vanessa force their way through the crowd, so I tune her out and focus back on Timmy.

My words seem to have had some kind of effect on him beyond just motivation, because the oum around him is different. It's subtle, but the way it vibrates is much less erratic. Not quite controlled, but definitely calm. In fact, it looks almost familiar. I can't quite place it, but I think I actually have seen something similar at some point. I'm sure it will come to me eventually.

We take our usual seats in the lecture hall, and in the minute or so between sitting down and when Ganyu starts speaking, I look around and notice that a few people are missing. I have no idea who they are, but they're idiots. The history lectures aren't quite as useful, but they still contain a lot of good-to-know information, and the practical ones are priceless. They're not the most useful for me, since I already know the stuff, but as Ganyu warned, the ones cutting class are definitely going to regret it later.

For the past week, Ganyu's early morning lectures have mostly covered the history of the Tower. I have indeed learned about the Phoenix, and he is correct that I probably wouldn't have chosen the name if I had heard about her first. He called her "legendary" in their private meeting, but after hearing more details, I think he was severely understating it.

The First Ascendant took about 2000 years to reach the top of the Tower. The third was faster, coming in at closer to 1000. The fifth Ascendant, now known as the Sword Supreme and one of few active Ascendants, completed it in a mere 700 years. For a while, everyone thought his time couldn't be beat. He was already known as the Sword Supreme even back then, and people thought that even the First Ascendant wasn't a match for his skill.

Then, along came the Phoenix. It took her less than 400 years to reach the top. In the more than a million years since, no one has even come close. The current second place for speed is Jin Hilan, patriarch of the Jin family, who managed to do it in just over 500 years.

Honestly, it makes me feel a bit competitive. I know I told myself I'd be less reckless and actually try to develop a proper sense of self-preservation, but since I've already chosen such a name, I should at least try to live up to it, right? I'll definitely be able to blow through these early Floors faster than just about anyone. I'm not sure if I have the talent to go the rest of the way on my own, but there's no harm in trying, right?

Well, there probably is, but I'll burn that bridge when I get there.

Unlike the previous lessons, today's isn't about history. Rather, we jump straight into the practical section. At the beginning of the lecture, Ganyu brings Kat up to the front. He grimaces at her outfit–or at least I think he does, but it's hard to tell with his face–but still congratulates her on forming her core, and then brings out the familiar dotted orb and begins explaining affinities.

He gives roughly the same explanation he gave me, then has Kat take her affinity test live in front of everyone. Before he does this, he mentions that keeping your affinities secret can have some benefits, so anyone who wants to can come to his office privately to test theirs after they form their cores.

Kat apparently has quite a strong Augmentation affinity, which isn't what I expected. I'm not sure what I expected, really, but she doesn't strike me as the musclehead type, which Ganyu made the augmenters sound like. I guess she'll get her wish of being a superhero though, since enhanced strength and whatnot sounds like it would fit perfectly with that.

After she sits back down, Ganyu also begins explaining self-imposed limitations. This section is also largely the same as what he taught me, though it takes a bit longer because he has to dumb it down a bit for the inexperienced oum users. Funnily enough, I actually make a few connections now that I didn't before, in part due to the dumbed down explanations.

He mentions that limiting yourself to only a few moves and techniques can make each of them stronger than they otherwise would be, which reminds me of the martial arts techniques back on Earth. Is it possible that the reason that aligning yourself with a particular school of martial arts made those martial arts stronger, simply because you only used those martial arts? And is the reason that you could only learn one style wasn't incompatibility, but rather that by expanding to other forms of martial arts, you were breaking your own restrictions, and not only weakening yourself, but also incurring the backlash of an abandoned restriction?

That's probably exactly what it is. I can't believe I never realized this. Oum did only exist on Earth for a few thousand years, so maybe I just didn't have enough time to come up with such theories? The Tower has had it for far longer than I have. Then again, I have an unfair advantage of my memories carrying through to multiple lives, so I'm still a fool. Well, it's never too late to learn.

After he finishes his lecture on self-imposed restrictions, he sets us free for our break, and for the first time since coming here, I don't just disappear to my room. I didn't do that blindly, and always double checked with Ganyu first to make sure I didn't need to be present for the practical section, but even though I still don't need to be here for the practical part, I stick around.

When we return, the room has been re-organized. The nice cushy armchairs are gone, replaced instead by rugs with cushions on them. The stage and screen at the front are gone, with the wall now further back to create room for a small training ground, and on the far side of the training ground, there's a fenced-off section that I can only assume is the sparring arena.

Kat practically dances toward it in excitement, and when she arrives, she turns to face me, sticking her tongue out. A few people laugh at her antics, and she smiles, enjoying the attention. Ganyu says something about how he'll be walking around, helping people with their cultivation or their form, but I ignore him as I join Kat at the arena. She has an excited, almost smug expression, and is chatting with Vanessa and the quiet girl, Jenny. To her credit, Vanessa is very clearly not excited, and is trying to politely dissuade Kat, and whenever her eyes meet mine, she seems to be silently pleading for something.

And me? Well, I guess I'm a bit excited too. It's a different kind of excitement though. The kind that comes from knowing that I'm about to drastically reduce any chances of being bothered in the future.