4 sPassing” The Affinity Tes (1/2)
After Jam left the Sect Head's mansion, he walked with both the lecturer from the Principle Lecture Hall and Rina. After the lecturer showed Jam to his courtyard, Jam was left alone with Rina. Rina, still reluctant with regards to talking to Jam after his outburst towards her, only looked at him with endless questions running through her mind.
Jam broke the ice ”So... Where do you want to 'discuss daoist etiquette?' My courtyard?” The duo were currently just outside of his courtyard, so Jam thought his question was just for her to begin talking to him. He never expected Rina would react to his question in such an aggressive way.
”Are you dumb? What kind of guy just asks a girl to go to his house? Obviously we're going to go to a public place, so no one gets the wrong idea.” Jam didn't understand Rina's response; more specifically he didn't understand the meaning of ”getting the wrong idea.” But somehow he knew not to ask any questions about this topic as it would, in one way or another, bring him more unnecessary trouble.
Rina on the other hand was completely overreacting. What did she expect Jam to do? And what would people think about seeing her in his house? They are, after all, just a couple of ten-year-olds; though to be honest, they could pass for seventeen-year-olds.
And so the dynamic duo ten-year-olds began their walk to the cafeteria; the public place Rina chose. Along the way, Rina decided to tell Jam about the various important places in the academy, before beginning the lesson on etiquette.
”Here's a map of the entire academy grounds. This place is so large that we would be walking for days if I showed you every building so I'll only tell you about the most important places before heading to the cafeteria for some lunch.”
Rina made a circle gesture around the center of the map, the circle made up 30% of the academy grounds. ”This circle right here is where we are heading, all the important building of the academy are located here. The area outside of the circle is where disciples and residents of the academy, the elders and disciples, live.”
Rina made a gesture and the map enlarged itself to only show the circled area. She then pointed at several locations and said ”This is the Hall of Affairs, here is the Teaching Department, these are the Training Grounds, over there are the Occupational Divisions, where each secondary occupation has its own building, and the rest of the courtyards inside the circle are for only the highest ranking members, you know? Like the Sect Head's mansion, where we just came from.”
By the time Rina finished her explanation, about all the important places in the academy, Jam and Rina were standing before the cafeteria. Of course, this wasn't some trashy mall cafeteria, but a five story tall gourmet connoisseur's paradise. Jam was obviously broke so Rina had to pay for his meal begrudgingly.
Jam could be considered a social retard as he didn't even attempt to leave a good impression on Rina by picking some of the cheapest food. Instead he copied Rina's order making her pay double. Of course Jam didn't know how much the food cost and he didn't ask either.
Jam thought 'if you said it was on you, then I'll gladly accept it!' His actions might come of as shameful, in reality he truly didn't believe he was doing something wrong.
Rina gave him another glare, but she refrained from commenting on his behavior, before starting her lesson on etiquette. After a three hour long talk, Jam's new-found knowledge of the etiquette between cultivators made him shed a layer of cold sweat. 'Thank goodness these people are patient; especially Rina. I'd expect a kid like her to feel annoyed by a newbie like me.'
A small thing that Jam found funny, was that the reason the academy had to call their head as Sect Head; basically, it boiled down to social ranks and politics. A Sect Head was, according to societal norms, much more important than a Headmaster. In the cultivation world — where respect was about as important as your life — the Cultivation Academy would have to choose between renaming itself or awkwardly accept calling the Headmaster, ”Sect Head.”
Rina had finished her lesson and was just about to leave, and go about her business —happy that she no longer has to bother with Jam. When, all of a sudden, Jam stopped her and gave his appreciation with the bows and gestures the Rina taught him. This, along with the various apologies he had given her, as she explained how the cultivation world worked, improved Jam's image in Rina's mind significantly.
...
Now, Jam had a general gist of what opportunities were available to him in the academy. After he finished the food that Rina bought for him, Jam headed to one the academy training grounds. Even though it had been three hours, Jam hadn't eaten much as one of the first things Rina taught him about etiquette was that it was disrespectful to eat while listening to someone directly talking to you.
It was less about etiquette and more about common sense, but seeing how Jam really did start eating as she was talking, Rina figured she might as well tell him now, along with all the common sense things she could think of. Otherwise, their talk about etiquette wouldn't have been three hours long.
Rina told Jam, that after entering the academy, he should visit the training grounds and complete the various potential-determining tests. In the training grounds, there were a multitude of test to determine the academy disciples' potential, with regards to the various secondary occupations, as well as the aspects of normal cultivation.
The willpower test evaluates how well a cultivator's willpower resists pain to the mind, body, and soul. Along with the test of willpower, there was another test to measure the soul's strength, one where a cultivator would have his heart demons challenged by all manners of illusions. Heart demons were various negatives aspects brought on to a cultivator through their fears, or emotions that can negatively affect them.