Consequences

The next day, while performing his morning chores, Thirteen heard a clear voice echoing down the halls much like it did when they were forced to gather at the Cultivation Hall for the first time.

"Generation 8, Cultivation Hall, three minutes."

Thirteen didn't need to think twice. He feared losing out on dinner for being late more than whatever punishment Dormmaster Meggot may have for him, so he abandoned the mop in his hand and ran as quickly as he could down the halls, however, remembering Nicholas' advice last time, he soon slowed to a jog and maintained that until he reached the hall.

Entering the large cultivation hall, Thirteen was surprised to see a few of his fellow students on the stage together with Nicholas. Grabbing a cushion from the back wall, Thirteen found Four, Ten, and her new friend Forty-Five, and sat by them.

When everyone had gathered, Thirteen was fairly certain no one was late, and if they were, the Head Instructor said nothing of it.

"You have all lived within the Clarke Estate for eight days now. You have learnt the rules and met your instructors. Some of you, are giving it your all to earn a name and prove yourself worthy of the chance laid before you. Some of you, despite your ages, are making an effort to grow and meet our expectations.

The four with me on the stage today, as well as one other absent, have not.

These children each have violated our rules in the worst way, giving into childish greed and fantasy, they each either begun practicing the arts they were told not to, or have inappropriately consumed the resources provided despite our commands.

These four with me now are lucky.

The fifth, number 8-46, was not. He attempted to cultivate the Thunderclap Body Art based on diagrams alone and consumed a thunderlily like cabbage. The fool died a painful death as the rampant energy of the flower tore him apart in his own dorm.

His roommate, 8-41 has been sent off for medical treatment as he too was injured.

You will not see these four with me now ever again. They will never cultivate, they will never become anything worthy in their lives.

If you wish to avoid this fate then grow up." He paused for a moment.

"You can return now."

As Nicholas finished his speech, he had a few helpers drag the four children off stage and out of the hall. Most of the eighth generation remained seated, shouting, whispering or simply trying to understand what had happened. Those who were close to the dead child, or those exiled from the estate made a ruckus but didn't dare step out too much.

Thirteen's mind was blank.

'Forty-six died? Just like that?'

Thirteen was not ignorant to the concept of death. Though he himself had no contact with it, he was aware that people in the village died of hunger, cold, or animal attacks during a hunt. He knew what that entailed, and had assumed it natural.

Only now did he become pale with fright, only now did he realise that it could be he that dies one day. If he had cultivated his Grand Life Tome, who knows.

Looking to his friends, he could see that they were each as pale as he. Forty-five was sobbing, ten had tears in her eyes despite not knowing the dead child, but tried her best to comfort forty-five. Nine looked shell shocked, his whole body shaking.

Only Four seemed able to keep somewhat calm despite his clenched fists. The older Four turned to the rest of their little group and said in a soft but firm voice "We should go. Come on." as he patted them each on the shoulder and helped them to their feet.

At this moment, Four reminded Thirteen a lot of Farmer Noll from his village. Farmer Noll was a very warm and caring person, but had this strength to him that Thirteen didn't really understand.

'This place isn't that great after all.' Thirteen thought. 'When I earn my name, I'll be sure to take my friends back to Rehall where we can live freely.'

With these thoughts in mind, he followed Four's encouraging guidance to the dining hall where he made them all eat the warm food provided.

The rest of the day passed slowly in somewhat of a blur. Instructor Piers seemed to understand as he was only half as strict as usual, which was saying a lot.

Instructor Diores though, showed no compassion. He made the children work double time, made them throw everything they had at their workout. Perhaps that too was intentional.

Come night time, Thirteen and Nine felt exhausted more emotionally than physically. Neither stayed up long to do homework, opting to extinguish the lanterns early and go to bed.

Deep into the night, as Thirteen remained awake with his eyes closed, he heard Nine calling out quietly from his own bed.

"Hey"

"Mn?"

"Do you think... Fourty-one will be okay?

"I don't know. Probably"

...

Thirteen spoke up a while later.

"What do you think will happen to those four?"

"What do you mean?"

Do you think they'll be sent... home?"

...

"No.

That's not the feeling I got."

"What do you mean?" Thirteen inquired.

"It felt like... The instructor's didn't care.

I think... they may be left in that town. Beckton."

...

A long moment passed in silence before Thirteen spoke once more.

"Nine."

"Yeah?"

"Did you also feel like... The adults expected it?"

...

"Yes."

Thirteen didn't speak again.

He curled up beneath his blankets to hide from the cold and begun to focus on his breath,

--

Thirteen's daily routine continued mostly unchanged after that day.

He was no longer given as much homework from Theory Hall, but instead was required to practice meditation in his own time. The mornings were still filled with chores, followed by Theory Hall, then Cultivation Hall, and finally Physical Training.

During Cultivation hall, Head Instructor Nicholas would continue to explain the different ranks of refinement as well as share information on the world of cultivation as a whole.

According to him, It has been only three centuries since the beginning of cultivation. This shocked Thirteen somewhat as the lectures often included talk of 'ancient' beasts or millennia old sects, whatever they were.

Thirteen had asked about this when Nicholas allowed questions at the end of his lecture, but received no answer, simply being told something to the effect of "Its complicated and you don't need to know that right now".

Aside from Cultivation Hall, Physical training also continued, with a marked improvement in the children's capabilities. Gradually, Thirteen learnt to deal with the stifling atmosphere and grew to love meditation and the peace it brought him. All the more so whenever he thought back to forty-six and the four children who never returned.

There were still times he dreamt of home, or had to stifle tears so as to not embarrass himself in front of his roommate. In fact, he knew Nine could hear him, but it didn't matter much as he did the same on occasion.

Like this, two months passed very slowly.

During this time, Thirteen's body had lost the scrawny appearance it had. By no means did he look like the instructors, but he didn't look unhealthy anymore. In fact, the same could be said for all the children.

After all this time meditating, Thirteen could enter that state of emptiness every time. He could also sense that tingling, needle like feeling every time, though he never again felt the hot streams centered on his chest.

He believed that soon, Instructor Nicholas or Instructor Diores would have them begin cultivating for real. For now though, his meditation mostly consisted of performing control training as shown in the fundamental manual. This was training to be able to push and pull qi within his own body using nothing but a combination of breathing techniques, muscle movements, and the application of his will.

As far as his less exciting studies went, Thirteen had made great progress in learning to read and write and had been studying both his cultivation manuals every day, using the dictionaries and other learning tools to work out whatever he couldn't understand.

Of course, he never cultivated the Grand Life Tome, and never practiced something he was unsure about.

As these two months passed, Thirteen grew closer to his new friends and more accepting of his new life. While he still felt as if this place were a weight on his shoulders, he truly treasured his companions. Four, who had grown even larger with the physical training, had been like a big brother to them all, and Thirteen on occasion called him such.

Nine, his roommate had opened up completely to them and despite being a year older than Thirteen, very much fit the image Thirteen had of a younger brother, making him want to look out for the bookworm.

Ten had begun growing taller with proper food, though she was still a shorty, and Forty-Five had become a friend to them all.

According to what Thirteen had been able to read of the Grand Life Tome, it seemed a technique for refining and expanding one's life force, and then baptizing the body with that. However it seemed Thirteen would need to complete the first stage of Body Refinement first.