Mei Shan and Fey Lin Fo sat opposite each other.

They were in Chin's living room and having a hefty conversation about Ah-Marin's world politics.

"This continent is called Fol-Amon and it is ruled by the Void Blade, The Eternal Darkness, and the Ever Living Fey. Their territory is split between the east and west. The Void Blade on the east side and the Ever Living Fey on the west."

"They are a sect exclusive to the Fey?" Mei Shan asked.

"Yes, elves, dwarves, fairies, and such. The Eternal Darkness Sect has a city in the middle of the two territories. It is the most naturally dense place within the continent."

"What are their inner empires like? Are the Ever Living Fey racially split?"

"All the empires are. The Ever Living Fey favor the Fey over any other humanoid, but even within that classification, its mostly elves and dwarves ruling in the higher courts. And while there are a number of Fey within the Void Blade's territory, most of them can't find the right technique to cultivate."

Mei Shan nodded.

Fey was a term used for the celestial being within the Cosmic Forest. But just like how the primordial man had mortal human counterparts, so did the celestial fey have their mortal counterparts. They were much stronger than humans as mortals, but their nature was more restricted. Reproduction was a much more difficult thing, and ofcourse, they were bound by certain rules.

"Are you part fey?"

"I'm a quarter elf on my mother's side. Its the reason I look the way I do and the reason for my name."

I sat in a corner and listened passively. I was still thinking about arrays, about all that I had learned from the Tome.

I was also waiting.

"Do they do anything?" I asked. "Or do they just fey around and stay in their lush green forests all day?"

"They keep out of most things," Fey Lin replied, not missing a beat.

"Classic fey. But they didn't act when they heard about what you went through? Normally they're a little more protective of their own."

"No. My mother disavowed her heritage in order to join the Eternal Darkness Sect, and since that granted her freedom from their rules. But that meant that they excommunicated our entire bloodline. Have you dealt with the fey before?"

"Yes," I grumbled.

I could sense her aura flux. She was curious but she kept her face still and didn't ask me any questions.

Then the door opened and the people I had been waiting for came in.

Chin, followed by Medin and Po, along with a shuffling Cai Xuin entered the room.

"Ope, there's my class, right this way," I waved.

Cai bowed slightly. Po Pen gave me a casual wave. Chin didn't frown, and Medin smiled.

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All here, all in an okay mood.

"Alright. Today is the first day of cultivation class."

The door opened again and a dog peaked its head around the corner, panting and carrying a baby with wide and observing eyes.

Chin went and gathered some chairs for everybody. There were always people here so there were always excess chairs.

After everyone was seated and Medin had forced a few dumplings and a cup of tea into our hands, we finally started.

"Alright. Everyone here is at the first rank or higher. The goal is that by the end of the month, we will all have reached the second rank, is that clear?"

Everyone nodded understandably, except for all the true cultivators within the room. Even Fey Lin looked a bit skeptical. Mei Shan said nothing and looked down at a piece of paper in her hand.

"And Cai, we're aiming for the third rank with you, alright?"

Cai looked alarmed, as if a heavy burden had suddenly been tossed onto him.

"Relax, its not a deadline, just a goal."

He gave a pensive nod.

I pulled out a scroll and passed them over to the four cultivators.

"This is a personal cultivation technique I've handcrafted for every one of you. You just have to follow it through and you'll hit the second rank in no time, understand?"

They all nodded.

"But there are of course, bottlenecks and struggles. So today, I'll explain exactly what the second rank is and how to go about getting it. Questions? Raise your hand if you have any."

Cai raised his hand slowly.

"Yes?"

"How can we reach the next rank so quickly?"

"Ah, good question. Yes. As most of you know, reaching the next rank is a celebrated achievement and takes a great deal of effort and difficulty, even if you are just going from the first rank to the second. But there are exceptions to the rule. Generally, the difficulty in rank change is measured by three things. There are more things, ofcourse, but these three things must improve consistently throughout the whole cultivation journey. Does anyone know what these three things are?"

No one raised their hands.

"Quality, quantity, and nature. Those are the three things that must improve with each growth in rank."

Cai seemed to be paying so much attention that I thought he might run out. Medin smiled calmly and sipped her tea. Po was quiet but alert and Chin was just sitting there.

"Quality is a hard thing to explain, but it's like the very density of your qi. It's the first thing to improve when you have a breakthrough. But wielding higher rank qi does not mean you have attained that higher rank. Quantity by itself is one thing. You also need enough of the higher rank qi to fuel your breakthrough. And of course the last but arguably most important thing is nature. That is something you'll have to worry about in the future, but its essentially the definition of your being. Your dao. Your laws. It is what you think of as yourself.

"Now there are other things necessary for a growth in rank, but these three will always have to change in some regard. They never stay still from one rank to the other. And that's mainly because they're the very foundation for existential weight, but you won't be touching on that till you're at higher ranks.

"But now to answer Cai's question, the first five ranks are what's commonly known as the mortal stages. They are the easiest to cultivate and if you know what you're doing, you can run through them fairly quickly."

I pulled up a stone and changed it.

"Does anybody know what this is?"

"A-- a spirit stone," Cai whispered.

"Correct, what rank?"

"I-- Of the Immortal stage."

"Correct. Now what would happen if I broke the qi within this stone down to the fifth stage?"

"We would die," Cai stated, eyes still wider than dinner plates.

"Well, yes. But what else? Chin? Did I see you raise your hand just now?"

"No," Chin answered.

"Cai?"

The kid gave me a blank stare.

"It would break down into an infinite amount of lesser qi," Fey Lin said.

"Ding ding ding!"

I threw her one of Medin's dumplings.

"Correct! One unit of immortal qi is made from an infinite amount of fifth rank qi!"

"How?" Chin finally asked.

"Well, this is only true for the immortal realm and beyond, but you should think of it less in amounts and more in quality. How many squares can you fit into a cube? How many lines can you fit into a square? And how many dots can you fit into a line? One thing is qualitatively different from the other, and its the same for the mortal ranks though less so. If you broke down fifth rank qi into fourth rank qi, you'd get a lot of it, but not an infinite amount."

Chin still looked confused.

"You can take earth, sun, water, and seeds, but you can't feed anyone from those alone. You plant the seeds and give it sometime and you get plants, something qualitatively different from their sums. Something infinitely more than their original parts."

At this, he nodded.

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