Lone Cultivator In Another World

When all the students left classroom 204, the four a.d.u.l.ts stayed behind. There was no reason to put off the big decision, and Jones was eager to be done with the chore. His colleagues, Mr. Apoll and professor Kamyshov could lose what meager interest they had, and then he would have to rouse it again.

"Well, Helen, did you like anyone especially?" he began, with the intention of removing the head librarian from the discussion.

"Oh yes, I enjoyed several reports very much. To name a few, Marco Reed had a very impressive paper for a 7th-grader, I even doubted he wrote it himself at first. I won't go into detail about the younger kids, I think that's up to you to decide, but the older ones weren't as impressive…" she pursed her lips in thought.

"What is it?" nudged Jones.

"Mikhail Severniy. I- I know!" she defended herself against the scalding looks Apoll and Kamyshov gave her, "I noticed that his speech was unnaturally eloquent. His wordplay was not on the level of a normal child. I think, disregarding his behavior, he is someone our school could benefit from".

"There is no way I'm voting in favor of that little punk!" rebuked Kamyshov, straightening his tie, "If he talks back before his first day, what will he do later?"

"Alright, let's put off that discussion. Thank you for being here today, Helen. You've been very helpful".

"Anytime, Mark".

After the librarian left, Jones made sure to change the topic, lest old Kamyshov would explode.

The younger Mr. Apoll who looked like he hadn't taken a shower in a week, took a few minutes to shuffle some of the 5th-7th-graders' reports around and made three piles, for kids to accept, to refuse and to consider further. Professor Kamyshov did the same with the older students. All Jones had to do was supervise. He taught 8th-9th-graders seeing as Kamyshov was used to teaching in university and Apoll was actually good with kids when he wanted to be.

Looking at the piles, almost all students were rejected. They didn't get that many 5th-graders this year, most of them preferring Maths department and Biology department for their second part of the entrance exam. All other grades were already formed, so the principal suggested small quotas for 6th grade and above, to be filled only with the most talented applicants.

"I see you've decided on our7th-grader here, Marco Reed?" Jones inquired after seeing neat stacks of reports.

"Yes" hummed Apoll, "His report was something else, don't you think?"

"I would agree with Helen here. It is indeed something else. There is no chance he wrote it himself. I'm not sure that a cheater is what we need".

"Be serious here, Mark. Some of the children we chose most likely accepted help from their parents as well" laughed Kamyshov.

"You think so? I don't. I'm confident that every child we chose to accept wrote his report himself" Jones replied with a poker face, "In fact, there is one more that caught my eye".

He fished several pages stapled together from a pile or rejects.

"Mikhail Severniy. I think that kid is going places".

"Please, Mark, you know that I would never agree to this. He is disrespectful, he is a loudmouth and many students thought so too. Did you see their reactions?" asked Kamyshov.

"You mean those we rejected? They were so happy they had one less competitor for the quota they were jumping out of their pants! His report is decent, simpler than Marco's, but then even 10th-graders' reports were simpler than that cheater's. And his impromptu speech was eloquent indeed. A bit rough around the edges but I doubt I could compose a better one even if I had more time."

"There is nothing you can say that can make us change our minds. I vote in favor of Marco" rejected Kamyshov, stubborn as a mule.

"Same here" echoed Apoll.

"You guys are ganging up on me! Two against one, huh?" in response to the two's confident smiles, Jones frowned deeply.

…

After fighting off his mother's attempts to feed him, Michael went to his room to talk to Glory without looking like a lunatic. He fell on his bed, exhausted in the best way, not because of his body's condition, but after a long day of physical and mental exertion.

"Glory" he began, "What was that? How does me loving my mom make me a cultivator?"

"Perfect being does not only mean power and longevity, host. Following along with the virtues established in your world is also a way of bettering oneself. Host has an impression of many virtues, such as kindness, helpfulness, generosity. All of these ideals will draw positive response from infofield".

"So I have to run around helping people now? Get cats down from trees, helping grannies cross the road, washing dishes and taking out the trash – does all that count?"

"In case of uncertainty, host is recommended to try".

"Don't you troll me, Glory!" Michael put his hands behind his head, "How valuable are 5 points anyway? What can I buy with 5 points?"

"Access restricted. Host, please reach cultivation of 1-stage, 1-star to open the shop".

"Wait, how can I cultivate without the relaxation technique that I have to buy in the shop?"

"Basic set of relaxation techniques is provided without access to the shop".

"Fine. Then tell me, Glory, what exactly is the World Tree?"

"Access restricted. Host's cultivation is too low".

"Whaaa?!"

After several attempts, Michael wanted to bash his head against the wall. Glory betrayed no information. Whether he asked about the soul seed, the potential system upgrade, the number of cultivation levels and how much energy was needed to reach the first one – his cultivation was too low. When he asked how he could provide Glory with more energy, it responded that it drew its energy from his infolink which strengthens when he cultivates. Basically, yes, it wanted him to cultivate first. Again.

The only real result he got from that discussion was when he asked whether Glory was an AI.

"Glory's intelligence may be described as artificial".

That meant that Glory was not an organism and was indeed a program. On the other hand, he was pretty sure of it already.

"Glory, what would be the quickest way for me to get the other 5 points needed for cultivation?"

"Host should do his best to better himself".

"Glory, you sure are tight-lipped about everything I'm interested in".

"Host is mistaken. Glory is not equipped with lips".

'Great, I'm being trolled by a freaking space Siri'.

A sudden phone call distracted him from his thoughts. His mother left the house to sightsee a bit, so he had to take it. However, he didn't want to. At this point, anyone who knew this phone number had to work for the school, which meant that this call would deliver the bad news Michael knew he would get sooner or later.

"Good evening, is this Michael Severniy's residence? I would like to speak to him".

"It's me. Good evening, Mr. Jones".

"Ah, Mikhail. Hello. I'm just calling to personally inform you that you, my friend, have passed the second exam. And let me tell you a secret, you would have to try very hard to fail the third part" Mr. Jones sounded nonchalant, but Michael could tell he enjoyed delivering good news.

Wait, what? He got in?

"Aaah, wow, this is so unexpected, sir. I- I didn't think I would pass after I lost my cool so spectacularly this morning".

Jones laughed on the other end of the line, "Yes, my colleagues and I discussed this in detail and it turns out as the head of the History department, in the end it's up to me to decide who passes and who doesn't. They chose Marco Reed and I chose you, and we passed you both".

"So it's you I have to thank for this, sir?"

"There is no need for thanks, Mikhail. Let me just leave you with something to think about. First of all, as you are being enrolled in 7th grade, your history teacher will be Mr. Apoll. And you are not his favorite person at the moment. And one more thing I hope you realize is that you owe me now. After the school year starts, please, pay a visit to me one day in my office, room 211. We'll have some tea and biscuits, discuss some great historical figures. Get to know each other a little bit".

"Oh, sir, I'm not sure…"

"That's settled then. My door is open for you anytime, Mikhail".

Listening to the beeping sounds, Michael thought about what had happened. Mark Jones's invitation sounded like a pedophile's, but he was indeed interested only in tea.

He wasn't a bad person, that Jones, just that he was a bit too honest and never knew how to compromise. He enjoyed operating on a system of favors, which he was not shy about. Anyone could hear "you owe me now" or "I owe you, what do you want?", be it a teacher or a student. Rumors of his openness were popular, with some older students swearing that they were able to buy a good grade from him with a bottle of wine. Others cursed him for not only refusing the bribe but also adding "I will not report you to the principal, but you owe me now".

Michael was never one of Jones's protégés, but he heard some of his classmates talking about it. Jones helped them while they were at school and shared some of his contacts with them after. In return, he expected introduction to their contacts and fulfillment of his requests. The key was to never get in too deep with Jones, because if he felt cheated, he would stop at nothing to get back at you.

An example of getting in too deep was enrolling in school thanks to him.

"Ding! 20 glory points earned for enrolling in a good school. Good education is important in becoming a valued member of society. Host, please study hard in the future".

"Oh, Glory, you colossal troll".