4/24/26 A/N: Your author is being lazy this week. I ended up going to bed at 6pm last night, so I didn't get a chapter done. And tonight, we're going to see British comedian Michael McIntyre. I've seen a bunch of his acts on YouTube, but this is the first time in person. The guy is funny.
Writeathon Status: 30 Chapters, 63,254 Words
Lin Tao was quite excited. He’d done many tech setups to connect new villages to a hub, but Azure Dusty Hills Village was the first time he got to be the lead. The job wasn’t just for him to get the IDTA portal running but also to guide the entire process by interfacing with the locals, which was why he was currently with Mayor Jin Jianjun and the five members of the village’s council of elders on a rocky overlook watching waves hit the beach.
“The sect leader’s idea of setting up resort areas on the beaches is really gaining popularity. This particular one is mainly for members of the Rising Tide Sect, and both the other factions have set up their own,” Lin Tao said, aware that he was probably speaking too fast but unable to stop himself. “Not that mortals are excluded, of course, but we figured out pretty quickly that most mortals find it hard to relax with a bunch of cultivators around. That’s why we established four resorts just for you guys.”
He paused. “There are cultivators stationed there, though. Our barriers are pretty darn good, but sometimes something slips through. Believe me, you don’t want to mess with an aquatic spirit beast. Those things are nasty!”
Lin Tao shuddered, thinking about a time when he’d watched a fight against a fifty-foot shark. “The guards monitor the barriers and take care of any problems.”
For some reason, the elders didn’t seem re-assured. That was fine, though. The sect had started the initiative about five years prior and had learned a lot. Young people seemed to adapt to the changes a lot faster than the elders, and the good experiences of the early adopters brought the most of the others on board over time.
“You ready to head back to the village?” he said eventually.
The elders were, so they walked back toward the portal.
“My job is to help you learn about all the new technology that we’re introducing,” Lin Tao said, “so do you mind answering a few questions for me?”
“These lowly ones would be happy to help in any way possible, Esteemed Cultivator,” the mayor said.
Lin Tao cupped his hands. “Gratitude. First of all, do you think you could navigate back to the Village all on your own?”
The elders all looked at each other, and the mayor appeared reluctant to speak. One of the women, Xiao Chuntao, stepped forward.
“It seemed easy, Esteemed Cultivator. The Esteemed System made the proper arches turn green. I believe that all this lowly one has to do is follow the path laid out.”
Lin Tao grinned. It was shocking how often elders were flummoxed by such a simply concept, but that lady got it. “Absolutely. Would you be willing to try it yourself?”
She hesitated, clearly weighing the risks. “What would happen to this old woman if she made a mistake, Esteemed Cultivator?”
“Nothing, really. If you get lost, simply wait where you are, and I’ll come get you. It’s no problem at all.”
Xiao Chuntao nodded. “What would happen if another traveler entered a … hub at the same time as this old woman, Esteemed Cultivator? How would I know which green arch to go through if they were not going to the same one?”
“Great question!” And, in Lin Tao’s opinion, it really was. Not many ever thought about issues like that one. “Only you can see the green glow for your arch. For anyone else, it will simply appear normal.”
The woman took a step back.
Lin Tao immediately understood the problem. “Don’t worry. The System doesn’t do anything to your brain. It uses a simple Illusion array to project the glow to your eyes and only your eyes.”
The array work was quite sophisticated, way beyond something a journeyman like him could have created. As a certified expert on anything network related, however, he could diagnose and fix any issues even on the most complicated formations.
She cupped her hands. “Gratitude for your explanation, but what would happen if someone tried to enter at the same time I exited, Esteemed Cultivator?”
“For the Dimensional travel portion, nothing. It’s impossible for two people to be in the same place at the same time, so there is no possibility of colliding in the space in between leaving and arriving. The System is pretty good about staggering entries to attempt not to have that occur, but even during high traffic times when the System can’t prevent it, the only thing that happens is that one of you is prevented from entering the portal.
“A more tangible problem is running into someone at the destination or inside the hub. At first, we had lots of collisions between people about to enter the portal and those leaving, but the sect leader fixed it by having those exiting come out the back of the arch.
“As for inside hubs, it’s important to move away from the portal as soon as you come through. There have been broken arms and legs and other assorted injuries, but all our endpoints have healers available. A healing pill will immediately fix those issues.”
“All endpoints, Esteemed Cultivator?” the mayor said.
“Yep, your village will get a healer. That’s one of the things on my list to talk to you about when we get back.”
There were lots of excited murmurs at that announcement.
With her questions exhausted and presumably answered to her satisfaction, Xiao Chuntao said, “This one is willing to travel back to the village on her own.”
“Fantastic.” He cupped his hands toward her. “Gratitude for being so willing. Just one more question—would you let me register you so that you can do it totally on your own?”
Another round of questions ensued in which Lin Tao calmed her fears and walked her through the process. He’d conduct a non-invasive and completely painless scan using his tablet. Even though she was a mortal, the combination of her spirit roots and qi aspect produced a unique qi signature. Once registered, the System would use that qi signature to ensure her identity.
“It offers some really cool advantages,” Lin Tao said. “For one thing, you can have any money you earn credited to you digitally instead of physically.”
From their expressions, the group did not understand why that was a good thing.
“If I gave you a silver tael, can I take it from you using force?”
“Yes, Esteemed Cultivator.”
“Can you lose it?”
Their eyes went wide, probably at the thought of carelessly misplacing something as valuable as an entire silver tael, but they said, “Yes, Esteemed Cultivator.”
“If you want to buy something and your silver tael is at home, can you buy the thing you wanted?”
“No, Esteemed Cultivator.”
“Digital money solves all those problems. The System won’t lose your money, and no one can take it from you; the System won’t let them. And you can simply transfer money in your account to a vendor just by telling the System to do so. Cool, huh?”
“Yes, Esteemed Cultivator.”
Neither the mayor nor the elders had any objection to being registered, which was nice. Some in other villages and towns hadn’t agreed, which had been a bit of a annoyance for the person in charge. Eventually, though, a lot of those came around, and Lin Tao suspected that all of them would eventually.
He was very pleased that he didn’t have to deal with that issue, though! So far, his people were doing great.
After he scanned all of them, Xiao Chuntao confidently approached the arch. “Esteemed System, this one wishes to travel to Azure Dusty Hills Village.”
“Acknowledged,” the System said. “Transport prepared for one to Azure Dusty Hills Village.”
Without another word, the woman disappeared into the arch. Lin Tao did so love early adopters!
As an administrator, he had access that users didn’t, and he pulled up her progress on his tablet.
“You can watch her move here,” he said, showing the screen to the rest of the group.
The blue dot representing her quickly made its way through all the hubs and soon terminated at the village.
“She did a great job,” he said.
With her having been so confident, it would have been difficult for the others to show fear. They needed a bit of handholding as he went over the process once more, but eventually, all of them made it back on their own.
Lin Tao hurried after them. His first day as a conversion leader was going fantastic! Less than an hour in, and all the town council was registered and knew how to use the IDTA portal network.
The next step was to give them a tour of the SHRU, so he led them all to the blue building, eagerly anticipating their response as they walked inside. They entered to find a large foyer, easily bigger than twenty feet by twenty feet. A one hundred foot long hallway set in the middle led down the length the building. On the left side was a storefront with a sliding window, and on the right was a room with a fortified door. Neither of the spaces was manned, of course, but supplies were already in place waiting for the personnel to arrive the next day.
The entire council stood stock still, gawking.
“Is there something wrong?” Lin Tao said.
“The interior is so big, Esteemed Cultivator,” Jin Jianjun said.
The old woman, Xiao Chuntao, actually exited the building. Lin Tao waited for her to come back inside.
“All this cannot fit into that small building, Esteemed Cultivator,” she said.
“It can’t? Are you sure?” Before the group got too rambunctious, he continued. “The inside is larger than the outside. There are a lot of functions this building needs to serve, but it also needed to be small enough to fit in even a tiny village.”
“But… But….” The mayor was having a difficult time adjusting.
“They’re cultivators, Jun’er,” Xiao Chuntao said. “This young man flew in the sky, and we’ve already traveled from our village to the ocean and back in minutes. Why is this so surprising?”
It took several minutes, but the group finally calmed down enough for Lin Tao to continue the tour.
“The one on the left will be my office as the lead administrator. If you have any problems regarding basically anything, you can always come to me personally.” He pointed to the room on the right. “That’s the guard’s ready room. Two members from my sect will monitor spirit beast activity and resolve any issues before the village can be impacted. Two members from the Poison Claw Sect will also use the room, and they’ll be responsible for an problems caused by visiting cultivators.”
“Two different sects, Esteemed Cultivator?” Jin Jianjun said.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to worry about conflicts. Our respective seniors would punish us severely if we let any disputes even be seen by a mortal. There are many, many rules in place to handle just about any situation.”
The mayor cupped his hands. “Gratitude, Esteemed Cultivator. What about bandits or the like?”
“Good catch,” Lin Tao said. “The three factions have established different areas of influence. As I alluded to, the Rising Tide Sect is responsible for keeping mortals safe from spirit beasts, and the Poison Claw Sect has authority to punish any misbehaving cultivators. Emperor Han Shu’s faction is responsible for protection from other mortals. They should be reaching out to recruit you to their faction within the next couple of days.”
“Me, Esteemed Cultivator? They’d want me to join their faction.”
“With the portal being established, the Azure Dusty Hills Village is coming up in the world. As mayor, you are definitely important enough for the honor.”
Lin Tao continued the tour by leading them down the corridor. “These next two areas will probably be the most important for you. On the left is the Alchemist’s Distribution Area. Any registered citizen can obtain vitamin pills and fasting pills anytime they need to at no cost.”
“Free, Esteemed Cultivator?” Jin Jianjun said.
“Absolutely free. Vitamin pills supply your bodies with any nutrients your diet is missing. Eventually, your diet will hopefully transform in such a way that the pills are no longer necessary, but for now, they are crucial. Any help you can provide in making sure all your villages take one daily would be greatly appreciated.”
“Of course, Esteemed Cultivator,” Jin Jianjun said.
There would be holdouts because that was just the way of things. Some people would think the pills harmful, and some wouldn’t want to use them because they were simply stuck in their ways. Lin Tao hated that those people would miss out on an easy, painless way to extend their lives, but the sect leader’s Prime Directive was that no one could be forced to accept help, even if that meant that the person died years or decades sooner than they otherwise would have.
“On the right is the clinic. Any registered citizen can be healed there at no cost. And no one, even those not registered, will be turned away if lifesaving treatment is needed.”
Registration was important as it really helped with record keeping and all kinds of administrative tasks, or so Lin Tao had been told. That wasn’t his area, so he didn’t know for sure. But the sect leader made sure that everyone understood that people were more important than paperwork.
The alchemists could be sticklers for not handing out pills to non-registrants because anyone else could take as many as they wanted. Thus, it wasn’t hard to get your registered friend to pick up whatever you needed. The clinic, obviously, had to operate differently.
Throughout the tour, one of the elders, an old guy whose name Lin Tai didn’t remember, had been growing visibly more agitated. Apparently, the man couldn’t hold in his complaints any longer.
“This one is sorry, Esteemed Cultivator, but this simply is not believable. You cannot truly expect us to be so gullible as to think you’ll really just give out free healing. Either the healing is worthless, or there has to be some hidden scheme.”
Oh boy.