There’s a good feeling flowing between the four women before me.
Something I honestly didn’t expect.
Considering Ai and Lin’s background, I expected them to be warier of the others. Especially of Mei Lin since she is an outsider to their group. Shi, I could imagine them having some idea of, especially as I had talked and walked with her during her time with the Yellow Sashes.
On the other side, the other two women know nothing about each other and are walking into a situation with two sisters.
But they honestly seem to get along.
I think I get it, though.
Ai and Lin have had to work with several people before to survive. When things are good, their position is secured, and everyone’s under contract, why would they need to worry too much about things?
For Mei Lin, she has that special ability to see the auras of people and their intentions. Which is part of the reason she was so effective as a merchant. She’ll try to bridge any gaps and form close relationships.
… and she’s still 12. The others will probably see that and try to be softer with that in mind. They will quickly clear any confusions up. I would hope, at least.
Last, Shi was a guard for the Yellow Sashes. She definitely worked with countless women and is likely skilled at setting others at ease. Adding to that, based on how she handled previous situations and is already facilitating many of the movements of the overall group, she’s likely made in-roads on communication during this time.
Huh, now that I think of it… I haven’t talked to them much during this whole trip, but they’ve been still moving together and talking since we’ve been traveling. Plenty could have already happened. Especially since they were near each other when I went to pick them up at the Yellow Sashes building. They probably already introduced each other and sorted things out before I even got there.
I’m curious about what was said…
Of course, I can still sense a slight cautiousness to each of their actions to each other, but it’s muted. Strangely enough, they are watching me more than each other.
And then I realize.
Of course. It’s been such a large amount of time since we’ve had a chance to actually interact with each other. And now there are other people mixed in.
Who do I approach first? That will set the tone of the relationship.
I walk toward Ai and Lin.
Since they were the first people I met in this world and my sworn sisters, it’s obvious who I would choose.
My scan picks up a hint of smugness from Lin and knowingness from Ai, showing they expected this. Disappointment, but understanding, flashes through both Mei Lin’s and Shi’s eyes.
I speak up to smooth any background stuff out.
“Looks like you all have already met each other. Glad to see you all seem to mesh well together.”
They each give a mysterious smile, but still nod.
Not sure I want to know what that means. Especially since we all already have enough to deal with.
“Awesome. Well, I know everyone else is already heading to their rooms in this tower, but I actually wanted to show you to your floors in the other one.”
Now at this, they all seem surprised.
Ai cautiously speaks up.
“You said floors, not rooms?”
I can’t help but to flash a smile at her, as I’m a little excited to show what I have in store for them.
Normally, baseline sect servants would share large rooms with up to 14 other servants.
Outer Court disciples in the sect bunk in a room with up to 5 other people.
As they get stronger, grow their cultivation, and perform merits to the sect, they will move into rooms with fewer and fewer people. Finally, if they reach mid Qi Condensation, they can have their own room.
People will apply to go to the Inner Court, if they’ve shown themselves to have promise or have made connections. Unless a person was on the cusp of getting into the Inner Court with their spirit root, though, that typically won’t happen.
With that being the case, if they don’t have the chance to get into the Inner Court, they will have to chance to gain more rooms as they continue to grow their cultivation.
Alternatively, they could just buy a piece of land somewhere else to live and cultivate in, with their personal funds. Most people who want to leave will go this route, for the obvious reasons.
However, finding a place that has the same quality of ambient qi as the sect grounds is quite difficult. Many people stay since being in the sect is more beneficial than most other alternatives.
Inner Court disciples have an entire floor of a tower to themselves. As they grow stronger, they can petition for additional floors or gain access to specific areas in the towers that have special benefits for their cultivation.
The servants of a Core Disciple would typically room with one other servant, despite being ranked just below Inner Court disciples, but above Outer Court disciples. If they were especially liked, they might get a room for themselves. Their status and the benefits they receive from it is a reward in itself.
Finally, Core Disciples get an entire tower to themselves. With all the benefits contained therein.
But, there’s a difference between the sect providing that and me doing it for 600 people myself.
The group knows that I likely have a ‘limited’ amount of space available to me, but that I’m still spending it on them.
People following someone else give up on such things, even if they originally would be in the inner court, in exchange for the other benefits of the relationship. Not to even mention the ones that are being provided in this one.
So, while in all technicality, they all count as Core Disciple Servants and could expect bunking with another person, each of them got their own separate rooms.
All 600 of them.
For the 4 women in front of me, they are getting a full-on floor.
So, this is like having your cake and eating it too.
I get them moving to the outside of this tower and even after we climb in a carriage and set off to the second of the three towers, it still takes a good 15 minutes to ride over to the other tower.
There’s a deceivingly large amount of space between the three of them. Making me admire Senior Tian’s work earlier, that tied all three towers into one large formation.
Soon enough, we arrive at the tower I plan on having them at. All three towers are relatively the same, so I mentally sort them as Tower South, East, and North.
The south tower was the one holding all the new people.
The east tower here will have those with promise or that are important to me. I’ll be slowly moving over the people I am most familiar with over here, as I want to things somewhat standardized and tiered.
Finally, the north tower will be all mine… with the closest people to me being able to stay or take temporary residence somewhere in it. But they’ll always have their own space in the Tower East, just in case.
It takes almost no time to quickly leave them to their devices in picking their individual floors and I walk over to the north tower myself.
Being able to move at absurd speeds has its benefits. So, if I need, I can quickly move between the towers.
But taking a casual walk allows me to figure out my next steps.
Namely, with where I move from here.
Figuratively, of course.
There’s a good feeling flowing between the four women before me.
Something I honestly didn’t expect.
Considering Ai and Lin’s background, I expected them to be warier of the others. Especially of Mei Lin since she is an outsider to their group. Shi, I could imagine them having some idea of, especially as I had talked and walked with her during her time with the Yellow Sashes.
On the other side, the other two women know nothing about each other and are walking into a situation with two sisters.
But they honestly seem to get along.
I think I get it, though.
Ai and Lin have had to work with several people before to survive. When things are good, their position is secured, and everyone’s under contract, why would they need to worry too much about things?
For Mei Lin, she has that special ability to see the auras of people and their intentions. Which is part of the reason she was so effective as a merchant. She’ll try to bridge any gaps and form close relationships.
… and she’s still 12. The others will probably see that and try to be softer with that in mind. They will quickly clear any confusions up. I would hope, at least.
Last, Shi was a guard for the Yellow Sashes. She definitely worked with countless women and is likely skilled at setting others at ease. Adding to that, based on how she handled previous situations and is already facilitating many of the movements of the overall group, she’s likely made in-roads on communication during this time.
Huh, now that I think of it… I haven’t talked to them much during this whole trip, but they’ve been still moving together and talking since we’ve been traveling. Plenty could have already happened. Especially since they were near each other when I went to pick them up at the Yellow Sashes building. They probably already introduced each other and sorted things out before I even got there.
I’m curious about what was said…
Of course, I can still sense a slight cautiousness to each of their actions to each other, but it’s muted. Strangely enough, they are watching me more than each other.
And then I realize.
Of course. It’s been such a large amount of time since we’ve had a chance to actually interact with each other. And now there are other people mixed in.
Who do I approach first? That will set the tone of the relationship.
I walk toward Ai and Lin.
Since they were the first people I met in this world and my sworn sisters, it’s obvious who I would choose.
My scan picks up a hint of smugness from Lin and knowingness from Ai, showing they expected this. Disappointment, but understanding, flashes through both Mei Lin’s and Shi’s eyes.
I speak up to smooth any background stuff out.
“Looks like you all have already met each other. Glad to see you all seem to mesh well together.”
They each give a mysterious smile, but still nod.
Not sure I want to know what that means. Especially since we all already have enough to deal with.
“Awesome. Well, I know everyone else is already heading to their rooms in this tower, but I actually wanted to show you to your floors in the other one.”
Now at this, they all seem surprised.
Ai cautiously speaks up.
“You said floors, not rooms?”
I can’t help but to flash a smile at her, as I’m a little excited to show what I have in store for them.
Normally, baseline sect servants would share large rooms with up to 14 other servants.
Outer Court disciples in the sect bunk in a room with up to 5 other people.
As they get stronger, grow their cultivation, and perform merits to the sect, they will move into rooms with fewer and fewer people. Finally, if they reach mid Qi Condensation, they can have their own room.
People will apply to go to the Inner Court, if they’ve shown themselves to have promise or have made connections. Unless a person was on the cusp of getting into the Inner Court with their spirit root, though, that typically won’t happen.
With that being the case, if they don’t have the chance to get into the Inner Court, they will have to chance to gain more rooms as they continue to grow their cultivation.
Alternatively, they could just buy a piece of land somewhere else to live and cultivate in, with their personal funds. Most people who want to leave will go this route, for the obvious reasons.
However, finding a place that has the same quality of ambient qi as the sect grounds is quite difficult. Many people stay since being in the sect is more beneficial than most other alternatives.
Inner Court disciples have an entire floor of a tower to themselves. As they grow stronger, they can petition for additional floors or gain access to specific areas in the towers that have special benefits for their cultivation.
The servants of a Core Disciple would typically room with one other servant, despite being ranked just below Inner Court disciples, but above Outer Court disciples. If they were especially liked, they might get a room for themselves. Their status and the benefits they receive from it is a reward in itself.
Finally, Core Disciples get an entire tower to themselves. With all the benefits contained therein.
But, there’s a difference between the sect providing that and me doing it for 600 people myself.
The group knows that I likely have a ‘limited’ amount of space available to me, but that I’m still spending it on them.
People following someone else give up on such things, even if they originally would be in the inner court, in exchange for the other benefits of the relationship. Not to even mention the ones that are being provided in this one.
So, while in all technicality, they all count as Core Disciple Servants and could expect bunking with another person, each of them got their own separate rooms.
All 600 of them.
For the 4 women in front of me, they are getting a full-on floor.
So, this is like having your cake and eating it too.
I get them moving to the outside of this tower and even after we climb in a carriage and set off to the second of the three towers, it still takes a good 15 minutes to ride over to the other tower.
There’s a deceivingly large amount of space between the three of them. Making me admire Senior Tian’s work earlier, that tied all three towers into one large formation.
Soon enough, we arrive at the tower I plan on having them at. All three towers are relatively the same, so I mentally sort them as Tower South, East, and North.
The south tower was the one holding all the new people.
The east tower here will have those with promise or that are important to me. I’ll be slowly moving over the people I am most familiar with over here, as I want to things somewhat standardized and tiered.
Finally, the north tower will be all mine… with the closest people to me being able to stay or take temporary residence somewhere in it. But they’ll always have their own space in the Tower East, just in case.
It takes almost no time to quickly leave them to their devices in picking their individual floors and I walk over to the north tower myself.
Being able to move at absurd speeds has its benefits. So, if I need, I can quickly move between the towers.
But taking a casual walk allows me to figure out my next steps.
Namely, with where I move from here.
Figuratively, of course.
