The Phoenix [Cultivation, Reincarnation, Tower Climber]

"The Shin family currently has 3 active Ascendants," Aurora explains. "The matriarch, the Unkillable, who is half-retired, her granddaughter, the Revenant, who takes on most of the matriarch's former duties, and the Revenant's son, the Silent One, who handles business. The Revenant generally follows the Unkillable's will, though they don't directly interact much. The matriarch spends most of her time in meditation, or training the most promising of our young talents, and the Silent One believes them both to be fools."

"So there are two factions, and they don't get along," I summarize.

"More or less."

"That wasn't a very long story."

"Well I haven't finished explaining everything yet."

I can't tell if she knows I was joking. Maybe I should change my inflection when I'm joking so that people know.

…Nah.

"We're all one family, so technically, we should all get along," continues Aurora. "And we used to. Supposedly. Most of this happened long before I was born. The Silent One ascended about two thousand years ago? Maybe three? The celebration was huge and the Shin family supposedly hosted a festival that lasted a full seven years to congratulate him. He was given a position just below matriarch, on the same level as the Revenant, and for a few centuries, things were peaceful.

"I'm not sure exactly what was going on behind the scenes, but he and the Revenant got into a lot of disagreements. When it finally all boiled over and became public a lot of people were surprised. No one close to either Ascendant though, because anyone who's spoken to either of them at length knows that they would never get along. For a guy who can't speak, the Silent One has a really foul mouth, and the Revenant never takes insults lying down."

An image pops into my mind of a mute man flipping off an angry woman.

"The main gist of it is that the Silent One thinks that the Unkillable and the Revenant are too passive and uncaring about their family members. Talent trumps all, and if you have it, you'll receive support, regardless of what you do with that talent. The Shin family has a terrible reputation because of the way some of our Climbers act, and a lot of the less fortunate members live in pretty horrible conditions. He wants to make it more equal for everyone, and bring some discipline to the family.

"The Revenant, on the other hand, thinks that's absurd. The Shin family has more Ascendants than any other group besides the Jin family, and she believes that is largely because of the way the family is run. It encourages competition and striving to be better."

"Which side do you agree with?" I ask.

"Neither," she replies. "I was one of the untalented ones. I was treated like a servant for my more talented older brother. When I was chosen by the Tower, everyone was shocked. Their shock was proven correct when I couldn't even make it to Peak 1 star before my first four years on this Floor were up. By all rights, I should support the Silent One, but I'm also unfortunate enough to know him personally."

"How so?"

"He's my father."

"Ah."

"I don't know which of his kids I am. He doesn't keep count. I know he's well past 10,000 by now though. Most of my siblings lived like me. He never visited us once. So I suppose I don't actually know him personally, but I know what he's really like. He doesn't actually care. He just pretends to care as a ploy to gain more power. And it's working. He has almost half the family's higher-ups on his side, and probably a large majority of the weaker members.

"When I first got to the Inner Tower, I was still on his side though. I thought I wouldn't make it very far. My talent might not even have been enough to take me past this Floor. And if I did make it past, I wouldn't make it much further. I wanted the family to support me, even if I left the Inner Tower on the second Floor. Then, I met the Stray King.

"He's even less talented than me. He's been here a century longer, and even I'm now at the same cultivation level as him, but he doesn't care. I went deep into the Jungle region searching for a miracle herb or something that could help me breakthrough as a desperate last resort. I almost died, but he saved me. I stayed with him for a while. He gave me some much-needed wisdom, and when my four years were up and it was time for me to try the Ascension Test, I just didn't show up.

"I've been living in the Outlands ever since, and you wanna know something? Ever since I stopped caring about the family and its stupid disagreements, life has been a lot nicer. I've relaxed, and made some real friends. Family, even. The Stray King is more of a father to me than my father ever was. And even though it was dangerous at first, I've come to love this place. It's dangerous, but beautiful. The sunrises, the storms, the creatures…"

She pours herself another glass of mead, and starts sipping with a far-off look and a faint smile.

…That was a nice story and all, but did she forget my question? That doesn't help at all. I still have no idea which parts of the Shin family I should be looking out for, or whether Nadia was someone she should be avoiding, rather than going to her for help.

"That's nice…" I start. "But-"

"Oh!" says Aurora, sitting up straighter. "Right! I forgot. Your question. So, basically, there are two main factions: the Loyalists and the Reformists. Each of them have their own subgroups. Nadia is a Reformist, which is why she took me in and tried to tutor me, despite my lack of talent. Generally, the Reformists try to be easygoing and pleasant with the goal of building a good reputation, so a normal Reformist would never try anything like what you described.

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"However, there are smaller factions within the Reformists with more extreme ideas. 'The ends justify the means' and things like that. They believe that if they can just get a single Ascendant on their side, they'll be able to tip the power balance of the family, and the Reformists will take over. The matriarch largely stepped back and is keeping out of the debate, so if one more Ascendant joins the Reformists' side, it would be two against one. If I had to guess, it's one of those Reformists that tried to forcibly recruit you like that."

"And you're certain that Nadia isn't one of those extremists?"

"No," she admitted. "But I don't think she is. And if she is, she's too smart to try something that dumb. So I'm sure that at the very least, that attempt wasn't her doing. Probably. Actually, how long has she been trying to recruit you?"

"She hasn't even started. Not explicitly, at least."

"Then it definitely wasn't her. She would try diplomacy first."

That's mildly comforting. I'll definitely need to say something to Nadia, but it's good that I at least have some kind of assurance that she's not trying to kill me.

"Thank you," I say.

"Of course," she says. "Sorry for going on that tangent. I haven't had any guests in a while and I get talkative when I drink."

"It's fine," I say, sipping some of my tea. It's delicious. "So the ginseng. It looks like you've already claimed that one. Do you know where I can find any others?"

"Not off the top of my head, sorry," she says, shaking her head. "I'm sure there's one somewhere around here. There are lots of other mountains and I haven't gone out exploring much in the past few years. Especially not to the ones by the edge of the Floor. There are 3 star beasts there, and I only broke through to 3 star recently, and just finished stabilizing my cultivation."

"Shame," I say.

Sounds like I'll have to do some more manual searching. And it sounds like it might have to wait, because as weak as I am right now, I won't be able to move around freely, and searching even a single mountain will take a long time. Searching dozens of mountains in my current state simply isn't feasible. Especially when I need to start heading back within the week.

"Why are you so interested in it?" she asks. "You seem to be cultivating something related to heat, not cold. And your pet… That's a void beast, right? She shouldn't need it… Well, she seems to want it though."

Trinity has relaxed in my lap, and is laying still, but both Aurora and I can see that she's clearly looking at the exit, probably ready to spring into action as soon as I take my hand away.

"Actually, it is for her," I say, gesturing toward the cat. "According to Nadia, it will expand her voidspace."

"Oh, interesting," says Aurora leaning in to get a closer look at Trinity. "Can I pet her?"

"Go for it."

Trinity leans her head into the other woman's hands, enjoying the ear scratches, but her eyes all still remain pointed outside. A minute or so of silence passes before Aurora pulls back and pours herself another cup of mead.

"So what are you going to do now?" she asks. "Going to keep looking?"

"I need to get back to the city soon," I say. "For the Starter Quest."

She stares blankly at me.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing. I just forgot that Niccolo mentioned you were from the newly integrated world. Middle 1 star in weeks…" she trails off, shaking her head. "So, are you leaving immediately after we're done talking then?"

I shrug. I think I see where she's going with this, but it would be rude for me to say it.

"I guess," I say. "I doubt I'll find another Hundred Year Snow Ginseng in the few days I have left."

"You could stay here if you wanted," she offers. "Conditionally, of course. Don't try to kill me, don't try to take the ginseng, and don't try to disturb my cultivation."

"Easy enough," I say. "But what about her?"

I nod toward Trinity.

"I have a formation set up around the ginseng to hide it. It got messed up a little while ago, and I never bothered to fix it, since there was no one and nothing else around, but I can go fix it up again and she won't be able to find it anymore, no matter how hard she looks. You won't be able to find it either."

"Sounds good to me then," I say.

Yes, I will gladly accept an invitation to stay at the warm and cozy cultivation cave instead of braving the frozen wilderness.

"Great!" she says, looking excited. "How long will you be staying?"

"Seven days at the most," I say. "Any longer and I'd be cutting it too close."

"That's good timing for me too," says Aurora. "Seven days should be the last I need to stabilize my cultivation, and then I'll be able to go out more." She suddenly stands up. "I'll go set up the formation so you can move around more freely."

"Thank you," I say, but she's already gone by the time the second word is out of my mouth.

I focus my senses downward, and about fifteen minutes later, I think I can vaguely sense when the formation activates. The ginseng is too far away for me to properly sense it at this point, but the oum in the area feels marginally less cold. A few minutes later, Aurora returns.

"You can let go of her now," she says.

"Are you sure?"

Trinity still looks like she's ready to leap away as soon as I take my hand away.

"Absolutely."

"If she finds it anyways, it's on you."

"Of course."

I lift my hand and Trinity immediately blinks out of existence.

"Well, there she goes," I say.

"Yup. Anyway, since you're going to be staying here for a week, you can just pick any bed and I'll set up a privacy curtain around it. I'm going to be cultivating most of the time, so you won't have to worry, but I know it's more comfortable to have."

"Thank you."

"I have another smaller cave that I use as a food storage. Just go out and turn straight to the right and it's fifty paces away. There's some frozen meat and things in there, so if you're hungry feel free to take that. I don't think you'll be able to find the ginseng, but if you somehow do, and you then take it, I will kill you. Same if you try to kill me. The bounty isn't worth it, so don't try."

"Wasn't planning on it."

"Then welcome! I hope you enjoy your stay."