The Phoenix [Cultivation, Reincarnation, Tower Climber]

The first three days in the cozy cultivation cave pass without incident. Mostly. Trinity gets frustrated that she can no longer find the ginseng, and takes it out on Aurora by leaving a corpse on the floor, but the other woman is so engrossed in her cultivation that she doesn't notice, so Trinity gives up, deciding she'd rather keep the corpse in her voidspace than leave it out. I clean up the blood on the ground, and when Aurora finally opens her eyes again, she is none the wiser.

Other than that though, all three of us spend pretty much the entire time cultivating. Aurora does her three days nonstop, while I, unfortunately, can't yet ignore my human needs of sustenance and sleep for that long.

On the fourth day, she finally gets up with a frown on her face. I already know why. I kept a vague eye on her while I was meditating, and I could sense the internal turmoil of her oum. She was correct about lacking talent, because what she is currently struggling with is not something that anyone who reached that level on Earth ever struggled with. After all, the only people who could reach that level were the supreme talents.

Her current problem is that upon breaking through to 3 star, her core was reforged as a perfect one, making it many times more complex than it was before, and she's struggling to map it all out. I've noticed her slowly moving her oum through her body, trying to track the way it moves, and repeating the same motions over and over again to no avail.

Of course, that's just the manifestation of the issue. The actual issue is her mindset. She's so used to having finer control over her body that losing it like this is sending her into a mental downward spiral. If she doesn't figure it out, it may eventually become what we called a "heart demon," and it could have permanent consequences for her cultivation. All she needs to do is take a step back and look at the situation from a holistic perspective, seeing her body for the whole, rather than just the parts. The fine control will come back once she understands this. However, in her current state, I expect she may instead fall deeper into her own confusion and self-doubt.

It's not really any of my business, but that doesn't quite sit right with me. While she hasn't done anything over the past few days, she's certainly earned my respect. She's a kind and generous host, an uncompromising, but reasonable person, and most importantly, she's spent decades working hard to overcome the natural limits of her talent. Steadily spiraling down until she ruins her own cultivation base and fading into obscurity on the First Floor is a sad fate to follow a life like that.

Of course, if I just tell her the issue though, that will only be a partial fix. She will be able to resolve her current issue, but it's possible that her understanding of it will be shallow compared to if she figures it out herself. If she does it entirely on her own, that would be the best, but given her talent, I'm not confident in that outcome. It's a bit of a conundrum, but I think I have a solution. I don't want to just leave without giving her something in return for her hospitality.

So, when she opens her eyes, I am already standing up with teacups in hand.

"Join me for some tea?" I ask.

"Sure," she says with a shrug. "I needed a break anyway."

"Let's go," I say, walking toward the exit.

"Where?"

"I want to see the view from the peak."

"It is a beautiful view," she says with a hesitant nod. "But it can get windy up there. I know you were struggling just on the climb up this high."

"I'll be fine," I say. "At least for a little while."

"...Alright," she says with a shrug.

Outside, it's morning, and the sky is clear and blue. The artificial sun glints off the snow, making the mountainside sparkle and the icicles on the trees look like they're glowing. As Aurora mentioned, the wind is intense. I even put on an extra layer in preparation, but when the gusts are more intense, it almost feels like I'm wearing nothing at all, and the cold bites down to the bone. I circulate fire-transmuted oum to keep my body warm, and strengthen my eyes to be able to hold them open.

The entire hike up, Aurora says nothing. She struggles less with the cold than I do, but she's clearly not comfortable with it, and beyond that, she seems a bit lost in thought. She's probably still stuck on her cultivation troubles. Good. Having her mind there will help with what I'm about to do.

It takes about an hour to reach the top. The actual peak is a pointed rock spire, so we stop just below it to set up. Aurora closes her eyes for a few seconds while circulating her oum, and then forms a crude, but effective shield to block the wind. With the air suddenly still, the howling in my ears stops, and an eerie silence forms. I look out from the mountaintop, and for a few minutes, I just take in the view.

Aurora was right. It is beautiful. While not the tallest mountain on the Floor, this one is still taller than everything to the south, and since there's no curvature, I can see all the way to the opposite side of the Floor. Directly in front of me, the snowy mountains get steadily smaller until they end and then the snow vanishes, turning back to grass as it approaches the city. On the opposite side of the city, the grass continues for a bit before turning yellow and disappearing and being replaced by sandy dunes. To the west, on my right, the grassy hills turn into a light forest, and to the east, it turns to a dark jungle.

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Separating each biome is an unnaturally perfect straight line cleanly dividing them into their own areas. From here, I can also see the edge of the Floor, and it looks… odd. There's a point in each biome where the land just… stops. Beyond that is nothing but blue sky. Or at least what looks like blue sky.

"It's been a while since I've been up here," said Aurora, breaking the silence. "I forgot how incredible it looked."

"It's quite something," I say. "Here, I'll get the tea."

I fill both cups with snow from nearby and start heating them up with my oum. She looks a bit surprised that I'm able to do this, but doesn't comment on it. Once both cups are steaming, I hand her one and put a teabag in each. We sit in silence for another minute before I speak again.

"The Floor looks so simple from up here," I comment.

"Hmm, yeah," she says. "It's simpler out here. No people. No rules. No drama."

That's not quite the point I was trying to get at.

"It's simpler on the surface," I say. "But not if you look closer. And there are still rules. Just different ones."

"I suppose…"

She still isn't quite getting it. Time to lay it on a bit thicker.

"When you're living in the city, things often feel overwhelming. There are so many different people moving around with their own opinions and agendas that navigating it all can feel impossible. You can retreat out to the wilderness, but then you have a different set of rules to follow. There are millions of other creatures still, from insects to birds to deer to fish. You may not have to deal with people, but you have to deal with all of them, and you need the knowledge of how to navigate them. Which plants or animals you can and can't eat, which are docile, which are hostile, which are dangerous, which are harmless…

"But it doesn't have to be so complicated. Even living in the heart of a city, or in the depths of the wilderness, surrounded by unknowns, there are still rules you can follow to navigate it. In the city, it might be etiquette. Manners. Recognize the power dynamics and act accordingly. In the wilderness, it's things like where to find water, how to make sure it's safe to drink.

"When you walk down the street, you don't pay attention to each and every person you pass, thinking about how they personally might see you. You just worry about your general look, and that it fits within the norms.

"When you dig up an edible root, you don't think through the long life it's lived, or the animals that have died to fertilize the ground it grew in. You just think about the root and how you need it to survive.

"It's the same with the Floor. Each part is complicated. Navigating the Administrators, figuring out which Lessons to take, cultivating, practicing martial arts, going on Quests… There's a lot to do. And then when you do any of those things, there's even more to consider. To come out here to the north, I needed to prepare to handle the weather, buy rations, plan my route, check the dangers of the local wildlife… But from here, all of that disappears. It's just a Floor. Four biomes, one city. And I have to get stronger. That's it."

I exaggerated a bit, but that should be enough, right?

I glance over to find Aurora lost in thought. There's a far-off look in her eyes, and I can sense her oum moving about inside her just a little. I think it worked.

I sip my tea for a few minutes as she continues to stare blankly off into the distance, and then she suddenly sits down and starts cultivating. Even now as she just starts, I can already tell the flow is better. It's moving through her whole body, sometimes slower, sometimes faster, but always steady, and no one part gets more attention than any other.

I smile and finish the last of my tea. I watch over her for a minute or so longer, then grab her already cooling tea from the ground where she set it and start walking down the mountain again. As soon as she started meditating, the wind shield vanished, and in Aurora's own words, "it's fucking cold."

She doesn't return until late that night, and while her control was already excellent, her oum feels much calmer. It looks like she succeeded in stabilizing her cultivation after her breakthrough. I'm in bed, and pretending to be asleep, but I hear her whisper "thank you" before she flops into her own bed and starts softly snoring.

For the rest of my stay in the cave, she acts almost like my personal servant. She keeps a pot of water perpetually hot for tea, she cooks for both of us at mealtimes, she plays with Trinity when I'm meditating alone, and she even spars with me a couple times. She doesn't use oum, of course, but with her reforged physique, she doesn't need it. Even with all my oum, I doubt I could do much damage to her. Her martial arts are quite a bit behind her oum control though, having spent most of her time alone in the wilderness, so I end up incidentally giving her a few pointers there too.

While she doesn't say it out loud, I can tell that she at least sees me as her benefactor, if not teacher. I'm glad she doesn't say it out loud. She may not be talented in cultivation or martial arts, but she's pretty good at reading the room. I don't want or need a student. I gave her some help as thanks for her hospitality. It's as I should have done as a good guest. That's all. Our relationship does not need to go any deeper than that.

When the day comes for me to leave, she gives me a deep, respectful bow.

"Thank you for everything."

"It was nothing," I reply. "Thank you for your hospitality. I didn't think I would have such a pleasant stay so far north."

"I'll be looking through the outer mountains for more ginseng," she says. "If you stop by again after your Starter Quest, I might have some good news for you. And even if I don't, you're always welcome to stay here."

"I will definitely be back then," I say with a smile. "I'll see you then."

"Good luck on your Climb," she says. "May you reach your goals."

"You as well."

I bow toward her as well, then start making my way down the mountain. It was a surprisingly peaceful and pleasant vacation. It's almost sad that I have to go back. I wouldn't mind spending more time out here.

But, if I want to break my curse, I need to Climb. Ganyu said the rewards for the Starter Quest were good. I can't miss out on them. It's time to head back.