Bella opened her eyes around an hour later. A few more cultivators had piled into the chairs around them while she’d been meditating, but none of them paid her or Chance any mind. Only a few minutes after she woke up, one of the Dancing Cloud sect members walked into the center of the square and raised a hand to get their attention. The light chatter fell away as everyone turned their gazes to the man.
“Thank you all for coming,” he said, letting his hand drop. “My name is Jerrin. I’ll be overseeing the trial for the cultivators today. Unlike the normal trials, there’s really no need to force you all to go through a dozen hoops just to get to the point where we examine you personally. You are eligible to join our sect by virtue of being cultivators.”
Chance and Bella exchanged a glance, but Jerrin wasn’t done. He lifted a finger into the air.
“Of course, that is provided that you are actually cultivators. To my disappointment, I have found that some people occasionally try to sneak past the trials by pretending to be stronger than they are. For this reason, we will be measuring the amount of Essence in your body.”
Two sect members walked out of the tent behind them carrying a man sized marble pillar. They slowly brought it over to the center of the square and set it down in the grass with a thump. The pillar was carved with intricate designs and covered with runes that glimmered with faint white energy. A clear orb sat at its top, as clear as glass.
“This,” Jerrin said, placing a hand on the pillar, “is a quaint little device called a Feedback Resistor. It was designed by an Earthling several years ago, and we’ve found it to work to great success. You pour Essence into it, and the device will return your Essence to you. It will gradually make it more difficult for your Essence to pass through it until you are no longer able to send any more. That will give us a rough estimate of your strength.”
“I’ve never heard of something like that,” a thin, wispy haired cultivator asked. He adjusted a pair of miniscule glasses on his face. “How is it made?”
“Yexal, right?” Jerrin asked, glancing at the man. “We are not opposed to talking to you about its design after the trials are over, but I don’t want to waste any of our kind visitor’s time.”
“I’m a visitor.”
“One of many,” Jerrin said with a smile. “But, since you’re so interested, would you like to go first? Please try your hardest. Insufficient Essence will result in an immediate disqualification.”
The thin man sighed and walked up to the pillar. He put a hand on the orb and raised an eyebrow. “Like this?”
A tiny tendril of green smoke curled out from where his palm touched the orb. It swirled within the orb, slowly expanding to fill its space. Yexal’s eyes narrowed and he pressed his lips together. He pushed his hand harder against the pillar. The green smoke turned a slightly darker shade, then gradually shifted to a faint yellow.
Sweat trickled down the side of the man’s face and he gritted his teeth, letting out a snarl. The smoke turned the slightest bit darker, then dispersed with a faint puff. Jerrin pulled Yexal’s hand off the orb. “The Resistor has determined you were not increasing the amount of Essence flowing through it, so there was no point for you to continue.”
“Quite an interesting device,” Yexal said, rubbing his palm. He opened his mouth to say more, then closed it and walked back to take a seat. The rest of the cultivators quickly rushed to form a line in front of it.
Bella and Chance joined in, making it roughly around the middle of the group. Chance leaned to the side to get a better view of the orb as people tried their hand on it. The vast majority of them only managed to get the color of the orb into the dark green or light yellow, though one man couldn’t activate it at all.
He was taken back to the tent by a Dancing Cloud member, protesting the entire way.
“Idiot,” one of the cultivators in front of Chance muttered. “Just because there’s less competition to get in as a cultivator doesn’t mean it’ll be easier.”
The line continued onward. Like Jerrin had said, it was quite efficient. Chance spotted James giving him a small wave as the large man approached the orb and casually pressed two fingers to it.
Red smoke instantly bloomed in the center of the orb. It spread throughout it, turning the translucent sphere completely opaque within seconds. Jerrin’s eyebrows rose when James dropped his hand before being instructed to.
“Good enough, yes?” James asked.
“Quite,” Jerrin said.
James strode back to his chair and sat down. He spotted Chance watching him and gave him a small nod.
“Who’s that?” Bella asked.
“Someone I ran into while you were cultivating,” Chance replied. “He seemed nice enough.”
Bella frowned. “I see.”
“What? Is something wrong?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Bella shook her head. “I didn’t realize anything had happened while I was practicing. You should have woken me up.”
“It’s no problem. I didn’t want to interrupt you while you were working,” Chance replied. “There was another pretty rude cultivator, but I think she’s dealt with. James was pretty nice.”
“That’s good,” Bella said, but she didn’t sound too convinced. “In the future, don’t worry about messing up my cultivating. I’d rather be able to help you out in case you need it than find out something bad happened while I was basically sleeping.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Chance said.
The last cultivators in front of them finished up at the orb and went back to their seats. Jerrin’s eyebrows twitched as he saw them.
“Please put your hand on the Resistor,” he said.
Bella stepped forward and laid her palm against the device. Green smoke filled it, quickly darkening to yellow. It slowed, but continued changing shades until it was a dim orange. Bella narrowed her eyes, but the color of the smoke didn’t change any further.
“That’s very impressive,” Jerrin said, giving Bella a second look over as she let her hand drop. “Especially for someone of your age.”
Bella just nodded and stepped to the side to make room for Chance. He approached the orb and laid his palm against the glass. It was surprisingly warm to the touch, like an oven that had just been turned on a few seconds ago.
Chance cycled his Essence and heat bloomed in his Gate, spreading out through his body and toward his fingertips. He pushed it out of his hand and into the orb. The smooth glass grew warmer as he felt the Essence return back through his body.
That feels kind of nice, actually. Like a miniature massage.
Green smoke poured into the orb, pooling at its bottom and quickly rising to fill it. Chance increased the amount of Essence he was channeling, forcing the device to match his intensity.
It was much easier than he’d expected. Chance continued to increase the amount of power flowing through him. There wasn’t much resistance coming from the Resistor at all. But, just as he was starting to get comfortable, what felt like an invisible wall sprouted in his Essence’s path.
The smoke darkened to a dull yellow, then turned dark golden, just a shade below orange. More and more resistance mounted against Chance’s palm, struggling to keep him from pushing any more Essence into the Feedback Resistor.
He gritted his teeth, pushing even harder. The smoke shifted to orange. It grew a few shades darker, turning to a ruddy, burnt dirt color before draining away. Chance dropped his hand and let out a breath.
“Both of you?” Jerrin asked, staring at them and shaking his head in disbelief. “That’s impressive indeed.”
“Thanks,” Chance said. He and Bella sat back down and Chance flexed his fingers, pursing his lips as he stared at his palm.
“What?” Bella asked. “I’d say we did pretty good. Well above average.”
“Yeah,” Chance said. “That’s true. Did you notice any sharp increases in resistance when you were using that device? Or was it smoother?”
“Pretty smooth,” Bella replied. She lowered her tone to a whisper. “It steadily ramped up until I didn’t want to put any more Essence in. It probably isn’t a good idea to show the full scope of our strength, so I stopped early. Why?”
“It didn’t feel very smooth for me. I think something might be wrong with the device. Did you break it?”
“I don’t think so.”
They looked up at the line, but it was proceeding as if nothing had changed. Another man managed to get the smoke to turn orange, and the one after him got it to a light shade of pink before giving up.
“You’re sure something was off?” Bella asked.
“I mean, it certainly felt like it. I don’t have any way to know for sure.”
“I guess there’s no way to know for sure now.” Bella scrunched her nose. “That’s not good, though. It looks like it’s functioning perfectly fine now, so that means someone might have been trying to mess with you. When you said you had some trouble with a rude cultivator, just how bad was it?”
“She might have tripped and fallen into a mud puddle.”
Bella scanned the crowd. “Where is she?”
Chance looked up, then blinked. He looked over the group again. It wasn’t very large, so it shouldn’t have been too difficult for him to spot the girl, but there was no sight of her.
“That’s weird. I can’t see her anywhere.”
Bella’s frown deepened. “I don’t like this. Keep your–”
“Guard up,” Chance finished with a nod. “I know.”
The rest of the line went by quickly, and all the cultivators took their seats again. Dancing Cloud members dragged the Resistor back into the tent.
“Thank you all,” Jerrin said. “Please hold your breath for a moment.”
Confused, Chance followed the man’s instructions. There were several pops as roughly half the cultivators sitting in the circle vanished. Chance shot a panicked glance in Bella’s direction, but she was still there.
“Feel free to relax again,” Jerrin said. “We have undone the Essence binding the cultivators that failed to make the cut on the first trial. This should also serve as warning for all of you. You are not full members, and we can send you away from this place at any moment. There will not be second chances.”
“Does this mean we all passed?” one of the remaining cultivators asked.
“You’ve passed the first stage,” Jerrin said with a nod. “In a manner of speaking, you have all been accepted into our sect, should you still wish to join.”
“Will you tell us more about it now?” Chance asked. “We’re still a little in the dark about what exactly it is that you expect from us.”
“Soon,” Jerrin promised. “I assure you that we are a very open ended group. We require little from you and will not restrict any activities that you do in your free time. Our only restrictions are that you must respect the city while you are in it.”
“So what are we waiting for?” another cultivator asked.
“As soon to be members, we will provide all of you with cultivation supplies,” Jerrin said. “However, we want to ensure that only the most competent cultivators receive our aid. There is no point spending money on someone who lacks strength. All of you will receive an equal amount of cultivation pills. However, if you challenge one of the cultivators around you and defeat them in a fight, you will earn their reward.”
Chance’s eyes widened, but none of the other people looked surprised in the slightest. They just nodded, as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
“You are not required to fight, but refusing will result in the immediate forfeiture of any pills you have earned,” Jerrin said. “Would anybody like to begin by issuing a challenge?”
The cultivators eyed each other, all trying to figure out who the easiest target would be. Several of them looked to Chance and Bella because of their age, but they’d also seen the color the orb had turned for both of them.
A cloaked girl stepped out of the thin crowd, mud stains still on her face and clothes. She strode straight up to Chance, stopping several paces away and pointing at him. “I will. I challenge this cultivator.”