Mira stopped reading about mythical beasts until it was about time to go to the mandatory weekly classes. She was able to gather quite a bit of information regarding mythical beasts, but linking that information to Rhydian seemed difficult to her. She will need to experiment to see if Rhydian can really mutate and evolve into something even greater. But also the habits of baby mythical beasts are not like how Rhydian behaves. She's very playful, not very intelligent for such a domineering species, and as long as Mira says something is okay then it's like she throws her beastly instincts out of the window. Only parts of her body resemble these mythical beasts.
Mira shook these thoughts away as there is no point in speculating. She put the material back into her storage ring and got up from the bed. Dominique woke up and greeted her with a tired, but happy smile. They walked out of the bedroom and found Maria also coming out of her room. Maria and Mira then left to go to where the class is being held. Maria decided to chat with her on the way there.
"What do you think today's class will be about? I'm excited to learn more about the world and also some of the jobs there are to choose from! I feel like I'd enjoy either alchemy or inscriptions! But Alchemy seems more useful since I'm always getting hurt and the cost of rejuvenation pills are only going to increase!" Maria said and Mira just shrugged her shoulders lazily.
"It'll probably just be an introduction day. Having a job other than fighting is a great way to gather Spirit Stones for cultivating. But all of them cost a lot to get started, but once you are proficient enough in them, the return you get is insane." Mira said and Maria just nodded her head happily. She was really looking forward to trying out new things and learning more about the world.
It didn't take them long before they entered a large room that had 100 seats in it. Both Maria and Mira sat near the front of the room next to each other and waited for everyone else to enter. After a few minutes, more and more disciples started coming in but nobody sat near Mira or Maria. Almost like they were avoiding those two at all costs. Nisha, Audra, and Celaine ended up being the ones to sit next to them as they waited for an Elder to come up and start the class.
Not long after, Elder Kendra showed up and Mira started to feel like this Elder had literally nothing better to do other than babysitting them for the next 6 months.
"Good Morning, new Disciples! I'm glad that all of you showed up today and are taking this seriously. Today is just going to be more of an introductory day where I'll be going over some of the finer details of the sect as well as going through the geography of the area and upcoming events as well." The Elder explained and everybody nodded.
"First, I'd like to spark some rivalry between you all and our other disciples. I've told you before that Core and Inner Disciples have more privileges than Outer Disciples and Core Disciples have a lot more privileges than the others. Well, I've also briefly mentioned our cultivation caves before, but I've never gone into detail about them. A Cultivation Cave is a cave that we've made where the Qi in it is 15 times denser than it is outside of the Sect. The privilege of using this place is strictly reserved for Inner and Core Disciples. Inner Disciples can only have 1 8-hour session per month, but Core Disciples can have 2 8-hour sessions per week. To put this in perspective, a Core Disciple might be ahead of an Inner Disciple by 3-5 months in just a single month. So work and fight hard haha! Of course, we also have tokens for sale at the treasure hall to enter a Cultivation Cave for a session and this is open to every Disciple." Elder Kendra dropped a bomb on all of the new disciple's heads. There is such a place here!! The need to rise higher in status started forming in the new disciples and they started whispering each other before the Elder shut them up.
"Let's move on from this. You can go try to climb the ranks after class, but for now, you need to pay attention to me. I'll now move onto the next thing. Geography!"
"As you all know, there are 5 Major Sects that surround Lunar Fox City and we happen to be one of them. But what surrounds us the Sects? I don't know if you all know this or not, but we live on the Western Continent. There are 5 continents in the world. The Northern Continent, The Eastern Continent, The Southern Continent, The Western Continent, and the Central Continent. Each continent can almost be considered a world in and of itself, being hundreds of thousands of kilometers big, but for cultivators who travel at extreme speeds and live long lives, they are not too big. Each continent is separated by a large ocean. This is the same for the Central Continent that is right in the middle of the other 4 continents. The Central Continent is completely surrounded by the ocean, which we call the Abyssal Demon Sea. This is because the ocean separating the 5 continents is recognized as the most dangerous place in the world. But our knowledge out here of the ocean is very limited and we only know that it's extremely dangerous. Also, in case you all were wondering each continent has its own climate as well. The Western and Eastern Continents are pretty similar, but the Eastern Continent gets more rain and storms, while the Western Continent is a bit cooler with more forests and mountains. The Northern Continent is generally extremely cold, while the southern continent is generally extremely hot. If you want more specifics then you'll have to go there and see for yourself." The Elder paused to let everyone soak this information in before continuing.
"Now, onto what's around us. First, we have the Dark Moon Forest and SkyTop Mountain. Those are the closes to Lunar Fox City and are also where we get most of our resources. But we also have more than just a forest and a mountain range close to us. We actually have almost every biome within a week to a month's journey from us in every direction. To the East, a few thousand kilometers away there is the Torrential Rain Forest. It rains nonstop every day here and just surviving the rain is already hard enough, not to mention the beasts that live within. I don't recommend you going there unless you know how to survive and hide because most of the beasts here are skilled in assassination along with their being a lot of insects. To the north, there is a Tundra and if you go even further north then you should find mountains made of ice. The Tundra is called The Sparkling Expanse and the Ice Mountains are called The Glacial Ridge. To the South, we have large grasslands that lead into an almost desert-like area. We just call this area the Dead-Zone. This area hasn't been explored too much since it even seems to drain cultivators at a rapid pace and the Qi there is almost non-existent. But there is a rumor that there is a volcano to the south of the Dead-Zone. And if you are wondering what is to the West of us, then there is not a whole lot there. Just more grasslands, but they don't have a name. Now, any questions?" Elder Kendra asked the class and a few hands were raised.
"I have a question. So, if we are on the Western Continent, does that mean if we keep traveling to the west we will reach the Eastern Continent?" Mira was actually the one to ask this question as she was extremely curious.
"Good question. But no, you cannot reach the Easter Continent if you keep traveling west. We don't exactly know why, but there is a barrier that prevents us from going any further west. This also goes for all of the Continents. We call this the World Barrier. Some people have speculated that we are only a small part of the world and the World Barrier prevents us from having any contact with the rest of the world. Others have guessed that the world we live on is just flat, almost like a plane of existence, and what lies beyond the World Barrier exist other planes that differ from ours, but we just aren't physically connected. There have been reports about people going to the other side of the World Barrier, but this has never been confirmed and we've labeled the people that say this as only wanting attention." Elder Kendra explained which shocked Mira a bit. When she lived on Earth, she remembers learning that planets were generally round, but definitely not flat. Also, there were definitely no World Barriers.
'I guess I need to stop comparing the Cultivation World to the other ones I've lived on. Things here work differently as even the elements that make up the world work in different ways as well.' Mira thought to herself as she nodded her head in understanding.
Audra also raised her hand as she had a question as well. Elder Kendra pointed to her.
"What's the rank of each biome? Are they stronger than here?" Audra asked.
"We don't know. But just based on the strongest that we've seen in each area, they are generally all Rank 5 or 6. But the closer you get to the Central Continent, the stronger the magical beasts that reside in the area. So keep that in mind." Elder Kendra said with a hint of melancholy. Everybody dropped their hands since it seems that their question was already answered. Elder Kendra waited for someone else to have a question, but none came.
"I'll go ahead and show you a rough visualization of the world we live in so you can get a better idea." Elder Kendra said as she took out a large map. And when she said rough, she really meant rough. The map basically was basically just a large square. It had a circle in the middle of it, name Central Continent. It also had 4 large pieces of land on it that were labeled Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Continents. There was also a line that went from each corner of the square towards the Central Continent but stopped right before it to form a circle around it. This represented the Abyssal Demon Sea. There was then a small 'X' on the Western Continent to demonstrate where they are located right now. They were truly close to the Western World Barrier and might be tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the eastern side of the Western Continent. Everybody in the class got a good look at this and Elder Kendra spoke up after they were all done.
"This ends today's class. You are free to go! Remember to fight for higher status! Haha!" Elder Kendra said with a light chuckle.
Mira left the classroom with Maria.
"Are you going to the Cultivation Cave?" Maria asked.
"Yeah."
"I'll come with you then!" Maria exclaimed happily while Mira just nodded her head. Though she wasn't sure if Maria needed a token like her or if she could get in due to her robe and badge.
