Applied Immortality

Immortal Alliance’s admission trial, officially known as Immortal Alliance’s Divine Province standard sect admission trial, was the procedure by which the Immortal Alliance’s registered sects — besides Heavenly Sword Palace tasked with serving and protecting — could recruit new disciples. 

Every first month of the lunar year, Immortal Alliance’s branches sent out low cultivations to teach basic knowledge to those seeking immortality. By mid-summer, the Immortal Alliance’s testing phase would be held, the result by which the admission of the disciples would be assessed, as well as their sects and position. 

There were exceptions, as always. It wouldn’t be fair for officials with clout and rogue cultivators who already had this knowledge to be put to the same test as the common people. As for the particular genius rogue cultivators that found ancient inheritances, with the seniors considering them great seeds, it would be a waste of time to drag them through the average learning process. Furthermore, those who had attained Reaching were exempt from going through it at all. All these cases were handled differently.

Per Immortal Alliance’s regulations, any freshmen found in the above five situations were to be brought to the Immortal Alliance’s center or its nine main branches, like Lude or Leyan. They would take at least one year of classes before taking the trial the next time with everyone.

Wang Qi made a tearful face upon hearing about this system. [Are you for real? They’re forcing the geniuses to take exams with the rest to crush the competition. It’s inhumane!] 

He was considering whether to ask Yan Heyi to put him in a branch, but due to ticking two of the five boxes, or maybe having taken Zhen Chanzi’s teaching and relying on the ancient system to attain modern cultivation, there was no point in denying him entrance. Xiang Qi also raised a valid point.

“Immortal Alliance’s five best sects, Myriad Arts Sect, Harmony Coalition, Heavenly Spirit Range, Scorching Metal Valley, and Elusive Palace, choose their true disciples from Immortal Alliance’s center or the nine main branches. Other outposts’ top disciples would at most enter Landscape Metropolis, Drifting Cloud Sect, or any such top groups.” 

Since he crammed in some basic common sense of modern cultivation, Wang Qi had an understanding of today’s institutions. The modern sect disciples were split into four categories, initiates, outer disciples, inner disciples, and true disciples.  

The initiates were in charge of menial work, from cooking to paper-pushing. The sect would give them a basic Qi Refining cultivation method as well as magical arts suited for their jobs. The resources they obtained could be understood as a laborer’s wage. It was equivalent to a high school diploma on Earth. 

Outer disciples didn’t do many chores, with the Immortal Alliance offering them the choice to pick their jobs in exchange for payment on top of the resources the sect offered. That was equal to a bachelor’s degree.

Inner disciples had an extra advantage over outer disciples, allowing them to participate in certain research jobs. These tasks were easy, well-paid, and deepened a disciple’s understanding of Dao. They were around Master graduates. 

As for true disciples, they needn’t worry about resources, being entitled students capable of conducting research under any master. Wang Qi called them whole-package researchers, the targets of everyone’s envy.

The sects were also classified as well. Of the best five, Myriad Arts Sect, Harmony Coalition, Heavenly Spirit Range, and Scorching Metal Valley had fought hard against ancient cultivation and laid the foundation of today. Their cultivation methods and magical arts had gone through many trials to reach perfection. Elusive Palace was packed with experts, the Immortal Alliance’s forefront when it came to deepening their understanding of Dao and the world’s nature. Contraption Pavilion, Landscape Metropolis, Drifting Cloud Sect, and many other top sects’ cultivation methods brought one to the Unfettered Stage. As for the smaller sects, Eminence was a dream with their arts. Their true disciples were worse than the best five’s outer disciples.

Wang Qi was excited, “Isn’t this just college admission? Nothing to it.”

Senior Sister Xiang gave him an odd look at the weird wording but appreciated his boldness against adversity. Having gone through life and death together, she patted her chest and promised to guide him.

The five days were neither short nor long. Xiang Qi had recovered and oversaw her new little junior brother’s homework. Junior Wang consolidated his Qi Refining cultivation, though the biggest achievement, by his account, was getting used to the constant spilling of his guts over the boat’s railing. 

Wang Qi was now accustomed to go to his boss lady for tips and hints.

Four green flames circled Wang Qi, his face grave, “Senior Sister, by your leave.”

“Go ahead.”

“I’m now at late Qi Refining cultivation… Illusion Hand.”

Xiang Qi smirked, “Weak! Illusion Hand works on contact. Take this, Fire Guard.

“I end my turn…”

“My turn! I draw two cards and place two cultivation cards down. With the two I already have, I can reach Foundation Establishment! Then I tap two cultivation cards and activate First Cosmos Cycle!” 

Two of Wang Qi’s ten floating green flames burned out. He frowned, “Why so serious…”

Xiang Qi sighed, “Says the guy who beat me five times yesterday. You started it!”

[I just got excited over the immortal version of Magic the Gathering, is all. Wait, not that! How did cram school turn into a vicious card battle?]

Wang Qi felt like crying.

Having done his homework last night, Xiang Qi proposed a game to pass the time. Wang Qi thought the boss lady meant Go or Backgammon, classical immortal games. But he soon came to know that talking about poetry, paintings, and drab stuff would get you the boot in no time flat.

“Senior Sister, you’re the picture of classicism, but taking out cards is messed up. I get coming up with Mahjong or something like that, but Cultivation the Gathering?”  

Xiang Qi came at Wang Qi to play Cultivation the Gathering. These cards were similar to the ones on Earth and even the rules were the same with Magic the Gathering.

Each player deck could only have a maximum of eighty cards. Five cards were drawn at the start, then two at the beginning of a player’s turn. The limit of the cards in hand was determined by cultivation. Each set down a cultivator card at the start, holding five life fires. At their respective turn, a cultivator could activate one or two cards. Three cultivation cards meant Qi Refining Stage, four to six meant Foundation Establishment, and so on. Activating magic, arts, and items required spiritual power — tapping cultivation cards, which recovered at the start of the player’s next turn. A player’s life fires would increase with his stage.

Wang Qi was a seasoned tabletop game player before, throwing himself into the game the minute it was shown to him. Xiang Qi only did it for fun, crushed before an Earthling’s passion for tabletop games, acquainted with the Earth’s entertainment culture. Senior Sister Xiang was not one to back down from a challenge. She felt her dignity insulted when this newcomer beat her on the very first game.

Wang Qi was better at this than Xiang Qi, but he couldn’t find it within him to throw in the match as the seasoned player against a casual. Xiang Qi never got her honor back, wanting a rematch the next day. 

Once Wang Qi finished his homework, the battle resumed…

Losing once more, Wang Qi figured Senior Sister ought to be in a good mood, testing, “Senior Sister, I’ve been meaning to ask you for a long time…”

Xiang Qi shuffled the cards and nodded, “Go ahead.”

“Didn’t you say my time is precious and that I should work hard?”

“Yup.”

“Why are we playing instead…”

Xiang Qi frowned, “Strange, isn’t it? This is also a compulsory lesson, an extra topic on the trial.”

“Eh?” Wang Qi gasped, [Holy shit! This world is so enlightened to put tabletop games as an extra topic on exams?]

Zhen Chanzi asked, “Is it because the game simulates a cultivator battle? Identifying the activation and restraining of magical arts, teaching disciples to manage their spiritual power?”

Xiang Qi nodded, “That’s just one aspect.”

Wang Qi asked, “And the other?”

Xiang Qi mulled before placing the deck down and taking another deck from her storage bag, “We’ve been playing with basic decks, excluding specialized magical arts. All known magical arts, even the ultimate skills of the five best sects were made into cards.” She flipped through the deck and took a card out, “This one, for instance, is an ultimate skill of Myriad Arts Sect, a seventh-grade rarity.” 

Wang Qi gapped, “Holy shit! You even created expansion packs! This card is called White Marsh Algorithm. It taps three cultivation cards and makes the opponent declare their actions for the next three turns and they must follow them. What’s so special about it?” 

Xiang Qi shook her head, “It’s not the card that’s special, but the White Marsh Algorithm. There’s an old modern age tale. Myriad Arts Sect had an Unfettered senior from the northern wilderness, White Marsh Laplace. We address him as Lord White Marsh.”(Tamon: White Marsh, or Bai Ze, is a mythical beast that understands the feelings of all things.)

[Back up… that name…]

Xiang Qi went on, “Lord White Marsh had a saying ‘knowing all the karma, one can see all causes and know all effects.’ He was convinced cultivator battle results were predetermined at the beginning. Each cultivator’s skills and abilities can be quantified. By comparing the numbers one can determine the outcome without even having to fight…” 

“You’re shitting me…”

Wang Qi and Zhen Chanzi reacted the same way. Taking into account the countless variables in a cultivator fight and reduce them down to just two numbers? 

Xiang Qi saw his reaction and explained, “There’s nothing impossible about determining the outcome of a fight when an Unfettered can assess many aspects of the situation at the same time. But it’s not a general rule either. However, Lord White Marsh’s research helps understand their strengths.”

“Their strengths?”

“It’s an algorithm that weighs a cultivator’s cultivation method, magical arts, martial arts, magic items, and so forth. The higher the weight, the higher the value. Take the average fireball as an example. It has a value of 0. By mastering it, the value becomes 0.5. My Celestial Blade Discs is a decent sword art, with a value of 6, with the potential of reaching 7 once mastered. Let’s say for the sake of argument that a modern rogue cultivator with the lamest mental art has grasped Fireball and Thunder Palm. His weight would be 0.

“A value of one is attributed to every minor stage. For example, early Qi Refining cultivator with a value of 1 can defeat a mid Qi Refining cultivator with a value of 0. When it comes to jumping stages, the value is divided by 3. For instance, by deducting 2 from a mid Foundation Establishment cultivator’s value of 8 to turn him into an early Golden Core cultivator, then divide the rest by 3, we get an early Golden Core cultivator of value 2.”

Xiang Qi chuckled in her speech, recalling something funny, “This algorithm is known as Lu Renjia Quantization, as gratitude to Sir Lu Renjia who assessed the defeat of countless cultivators in his mind. Later on, someone did a nice thing by turning the algorithm into a game, growing in popularity throughout the cultivation world. There’s a rumor saying the Myriad Arts Sect was behind it, that this game, in conjuncture with other calculations, is the basics to White Ze Algorithm…”

Zhen Chanzi chuckled, “Interest-, I mean fascinating. Girl, I’m not laughing because I didn’t get the joke.” 

Xiang Qi was stiff, “I think even getting it wouldn’t be funny…”

Wang Qi cracked up then and there, laughing until he cried.

“What’s so funny?”

“Ha-ha-ha, so even this spoof trend gets shot, ah-ha-ha-ha!”

[I’ve been dying of curiosity about how Earth’s scientists matched Divine Province’s. How would Laplace be included in this immortal setting? Knowing all the information in an instant, able to deduce the past and present, Laplace ended up a demon, a White Marsh, ah-ha-ha-ha…] 

As Xiang Qi and Zhen Chanzi wore blank face, Wang Qi laughed by himself.

Yan Heyi sent, “Get ready, we’re here.”

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