"Maybe we can invent a backstory in advance, and if they notice and press us then I can swear them to secrecy about that—like my father was a master alchemist from far away who experimented on me, and they mustn't tell anyone, and I can let it 'slip' that I ran away and he'll hunt me down if he knows where I am, so if they don't want trouble they'll keep their mouths shut... does something like that sound plausible? We'll still say nothing if possible, of course. Just as a back-up plan. Even just to imply it and let them make their inferences."

"...Should mention ahead of time that you have an 'unusual constitution', which explains many oddities, and be prepared to pay extra for discretion, and I think that'll cover it. We don't explain it, obviously we're both sworn to secrecy as well."

"That sounds fine if they'll accept that explanation. People from my world aren't usually as willing to leave... loose ends lying around like that."

"Ah, but there's too many old monsters hiding in plain sight and mysteries who prefer to stay mysterious for that to work under these Heavens, Rebecca. It does depend on context, if we were pushing for something secret or more momentous than weapon basics... It wouldn't. But for weapon basics, it's not worth the risk to 'em."

"I do get the impression. The world here feels a lot... larger? More depths unplumbed."

"There are more things under Heaven and Earth than mortal eyes may ever see, or so it's said."

"And we had a fleet of satellites orbiting the world at all times, capturing complete imagery of the surface of the entire planet, sky, land and ocean, with detail enough to make out individual trees in any forest, nation or city." Not to mention at least three capes constantly observing entire Earths in clairvoyant totality. "And that imagery public for any peasant to browse."

"Er... What is an 'orbit'? I think I've heard that in reference to politics?"

"It means a stable path traveling around a planet or astral body, like the Earth is in orbit around the sun, and the moon is in orbit around the Earth... unless that's not how it works here."

"......No. So... Like an enormous gravity formation, drawing everything in, but stable, because anything unstable would have been crushed already?"

"Something like that. There's an old thought experiment of"—she quickly sketches the Newton's cannonball diagram—"trying to fire a cannonball over the horizon. Since the Earth is a sphere, and gravity points towards the center, a cannonball can overshoot the curvature of the Earth before finally hitting the ground. A fast enough cannonball wraps around entirely and forms a self-repeating orbit."

"Like dashing around a fixed point of force? Well, the Earth here is not a sphere. It's flat. You'll see if we get a flying boat ticket, when we're four, five hundred li up the horizon goes on for seemingly ever. You can see all the way to the Great Demon Desert from a flying boat if the weather in all the intervening regions is good!"

"That makes as much sense as anything. It's probably not the best use of my time to venture into a deep study of natural philosophy." Unless it counts for Time Enough For Love. "Is there an end to the world? What's supposed to be the end? What is there straight up and straight down? I must sound like a child."

"Most children just get told 'the world is vast beyond all imagination, you could travel for a million years and not see it all'. If you keep going up the cloud beasts kill you, and if you keep going past that the Heavens strike you down. If you keep going down, you find caverns and minerals and all sorts of that sort of thing and eventually fall into a Hell."

What wonderfully literal heavens and hells they have here.

"I'm suddenly tempted to try flying east as fast as I can for a few days to see where that takes me. Surely some powerful immortal has done that and written about their journeys... ah, it's not too relevant."

"Mere days would take you over the Misty Lake, and if you're very fast, not only will you annoy people with shock waves, but you might reach the Culling Pit, a nigh-lawless island where qi is highly concentrated for the region and dangerous monsters and natural treasures lie."

"I can go higher so the shock waves don't bother people—or is that cloud beast territory? It's a terrible idea, but I'm curious if I win that fight. With the cloud beasts, and with the Culling Pit. It's such a hard question to answer without drawing undue scrutiny. If there are talismans or techniques to nullify the shock waves..."

Though she does have Battle Angel and Battle Maiden, so it would likely be fine,  really?

"The Blood Tree Sect leader was able to hurt me a bit, so I'm probably not at that level. If I had to guess, my problem is I'm too narrowly specialized both offensively and defensively. Not so much a specific level as good and bad match-ups."

"I'm not stopping you from doing something flashy either, it's just, any amount of risk taking will add up over time. And if there's no solid reason or benefit to it, why risk rolling snake eyes? I've heard of techniques for dulling shockwaves as - not very hard to figure out, just taking an amount of qi control and influence that tends to come with Foundation Establishment or higher?"

"Yes, I'm not going to do it. Slow and steady wins the race, as they say."

It's just all so new. And taking it slow itches at her. She was glad for the change of pace for a while, but somehow it's looped around to feeling like there's something else more important she ought to be doing instead of reading books and sitting in a chalk circle.

She sighs.

"How long are we staying here? What do our next few days look like?"

"I was thinking two or three weeks? Cultivating. Being seen in the city, socializing, arranging meetings for our purchases.

Slow and steady. I've been at this for a while, and that's more true than you know. If you're frustrated, why don't we explore the city a bit?"

"May as well. We've been sitting here reading for a while. Maybe find an even more basic manual so I can make progress while you sleep; I've been sleeping full nights but I don't need to, really."

"Huh! I think it's just a matter of reaching the first level of qi gathering, for your quicksilver steps, you're still what I would consider not technically a cultivator... Which isn't surprising on a single day's effort, but you're close, surely. The problem is, you really want a better, more suited method. Three Jades might have some decent ones but they won't be eager to part with them. There's always Five Phases. It's universal and I think specifically designed to be easy, but it's low potential. If you say that's what you cultivate but you lost your copy, they'll price-gouge you a bit to get a fresh one but acquiesce."

"I don't have all of my meridians identified and controlled, is the main blocker. Maybe we'll speed up with practice, but I think there is some value anyway in understanding the basics everyone else is working from; in other fields I've known, being coached by a veteran gives fast progress but can leave gaps in one's theoretical foundation. Five Phases sounds good—that's the one you said is widely considered nearly useless, right?"