Aki knew what to expect based on the name of the talismans. Still, he could not quite keep his composure as Passionate Seeker finished activating her own talisman, then hopped back onto her dagger and flew off away from the hill, causing Aki to be jaunted along for the ride.

It was a rather thrilling journey, far more intense than any roller coaster ride he had ever been in. To his luck, Aki found that he did not have to hold onto the talisman too tightly. The force carrying him felt like it was attached to his spine, rather than the talisman. The wind rushed past him as they left the hills behind and began to fly over the many lakes and trees dotting the region. The small, serpentine lakes slithered across the landscape, weaving between rocky cliffs and sparce evergreen forests. The massive lake which stood opposite the hills shone brightly under the noon sun, and Aki thought he glimpsed some giant beasts slithering into its depths. He also saw a few other white-robed people gliding through the sky, who nodded respectfully towards him as they passed.

Aki realised that it was not quite flight that they were doing. It felt more like falling slowly, with their height steadily dropping as they continued their journey. Passionate seeker guided their glide into a crescent loop, angling back towards an opening further along the hills. As they flew through the opening, they passed over a grand gate which led into a valley nestled in the hills. The valley was also dotted with dozens of small lakes, eventually leading into a dense forest at its other end. Their flight angled towards a grouping of buildings that stood near the entrance to the valley.

Passionate Seeker slowed and hopped off her knife to land near a field next to the buildings. Aki’s landing was quite a bit less elegant. He stumbled unsteadily onto the ground, waving his hands around wildly and just barely managing to stay standing.

“Disciple Passionate Seeker, you failed to account for how an inexperienced mortal would handle a landing like that. It was decidedly not elegant, and even a tad bit unsafe. I expect better than that from you”

Aki felt a bit bad about playing the strict teacher, but he though that in matters where his very life hung in the balance, it would be best to make a strict precedent. Passionate Seeker at first seemed a bit surprised to be chastened so, but her expression soon turned regretful, and she replied glumly.

“Ai, of course I would forget to account for such a thing. Apologies master, I shall learn this lesson well.”

Aki nodded at her, then turned to observe the situation he had found himself in. On the nearby field, 10 people in white and blue robes stood in a line, patiently waiting. Aki noted that their robes had no highlights like his own or Passionate Seeker’s did. Perhaps a symbol of lower status? In front of the line stood a small, ornate wooden table, behind which were three seats. Only one of the seats had an occupant, a woman whose robes had a black highlight. She wore her brown hair in a long braid and had spectacles on her face. The woman nodded towards Aki, and he began to gather his thoughts.

Let’s see, I was brought here to judge a contest at the behest of an “Elder sister Spring Melt”. That would probably be woman on the chair. That would make those ten fellows the contestants then. I do wonder what kinds of contests organisations like this hold? Hopefully its something easy to understand so I can actually judge it.

As Aki approached the table with Passionate Seeker at his side, the woman rose from her seat and offered a formal bow.

“Master, Disciple Spring Melt offers greetings. Apologies for the mishaps in scheduling, we mixed up the dates and have been waiting here since yesterday evening. Luckily, I eventually managed to get Passionate Seeker to bring you a message.”

Aki turned a shocked gaze to the patiently waiting contestants. They have been waiting here since yesterday evening? Right now, it seems to be about noon, so that would make... Way too long! What are these people thinking?

Aki eyed the contestants and noticed that none of them seemed to be excessively tired or bored. It almost seemed like they considered standing in lines for such times to be a perfectly normal occurrence. He turned his gaze back to Spring Melt and noted that her eyes seemed to glow with a supernatural fire, and subtle patterns of blue energy rippled across her skin. Her spectacles were also clearly supernatural. Figures and symbols were flashing on the lenses at a rapid pace.

Perhaps the supernatural powers these people have make them immune to tiredness and boredom? Well, I have to remember to act natural, as if this was a normal occurrence. I guess it’s time to judge their contests.

“Greetings disciple. Do not worry, now that I have arrived, we can begin the judging. Let us proceed promptly.”

Aki sat down on the central chair, and Passionate Seeker sat next to him after offering her own greetings. Spring Melt sat up to address the contestants.

“Disciples, Elder Thousand Lakes himself has arrived to judge the overall results of the contest. Prepare your talismans and get into line.”

Huh, so that’s my name. As Aki watched the proceedings, he noticed that Passionate Seeker had dug out a notebook and was writing into it rapidly. The symbols she was writing were definitely different from any writing system that he knew of, but somehow, he was still able to grasp their meaning. Well, at least I got language and writing comprehension as freebies. Without that all this would be a lot more difficult. I wonder what language I am even speaking. Everything seems like English to me, but I doubt that is what people here are really speaking. I’ll have to investigate this more later. I know quite a few languages, so I could conduct some tests...

Aki’s musings halted as he realized that he recognized what Passionate Seeker was writing down. She was recording all of their conversations so far! The dialogue was annotated with what appeared to be attempts at parsing the deeper wisdom behind his words. Somewhat disturbed, Aki turned back towards the contestants just as the first of them approached the table.

“Elder, Disciple Steady Toil offers greetings.”

The disciple placed a wooden talisman onto the table, after which Spring Melt handed a jade slip to Aki.

“Here are his results in the previous stages of the trial.”

Aki stared intensely at the jade slip in his hand. Nothing appeared to happen, so he decided to plaster a solemn, pondering look onto his face while desperately trying to activate it. He tried to pinch it really hard between his fingers and somehow channel the energy he felt within him into the slip. He even tried thinking really hard at it, all to no avail. Eventually he admitted defeat and nodded as if he had come to a decision, before handing the slip back to Spring Melt.

Next, he picked up the talisman and studied the carvings made into it intensely. Regrettably, as a beginner in arcane matters, his knowledge on the subject of mystical talisman crafting was rather lacking. The symbols definitely carried some meaning, but he could not divine what their purpose was, nor the amount of skill that had gone into crafting the talisman. Eventually he set the talisman down and restrained a sigh.

Well, looks like this is going to get tricky. I hope this contest is not too important in case I muck the results up too much. I have to be careful to avoid making bizarre judgements though. My cover must be maintained!

He began to study the only part of this contest that he could actually judge: the face of the disciple in front of him.

Hmm, seems like a stocky middle-aged man. I can definitely imagine someone like him being good at wood carvings. Back when I was into hiking, I bumped into this type of lad all the time. Always handy with their knives, they were. Not much nerves on his face. He even seems somewhat confident. Perhaps he really did do a good job.

Judging that he had found all the insight he could, Aki handed back the talisman and gestured the next contestant over.

He judged the following disciples in the same manner, pretending to study the jade slips and talismans presented, while actually only studying the faces of the contestants. Sadly, it did not prove to be an easy task. None of the contestants were blatantly nervous and they all had an eery calm about them.

Confidence shone through the calm with many of them. For one contestant, a man with a slightly weaselly face, the confidence even twisted with a hint of a dismissive sneer. Well, I’m definitely not letting that one win. Once all the contestants were finished, Aki found to his dismay that he was not much closer to making a judgement than he was at the beginning.

The contestants, Spring Melt and Passionate Seeker were all looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to reveal the winner. Aki once again looked through the contestants in a desperate attempt to find any clues to help make his decision.

That woman definitely seemed calm and collected, but then again, did she have enough confidence? That guy’s carvings kind of looked like a stretched-out dragon if you really squinted, maybe that makes them really powerful? What is the expression on that face supposed to mean, has he figured me out? No, it looks like his face was just a bit itchy.

After finding that he truly did not have the skill of judging people’s mystical talisman crafting skills by their faces, his mind changed tracks. Does it really matter who I select? I can probably make up some vague reasons as to why they won in the end. These seem like the type of folks who put a lot of value on things like “Fate”, “The proper timing” and other such things. Alright, lets just make a selection!

In the end, he chose the man who had been the first one to be judged, solely because he seemed to be the oldest of the bunch. It had a bit of the feeling of a story to it – “The old man finally receives his reward after years of toil”. Of course, he did not know whether that man actually had toiled for years without reward. Perhaps he was actually a grandmaster of talisman carving, who shows up to every competition to crush the dreams of all the whippersnappers.

Aki stood up dramatically as his eyes shone with wisdom.

“I have made my decision. It was a tough contest, but I must choose disciple Steady Toil as the overall winner. His work was best attuned to the destiny of the moment. Congratulations and good work.”

The announcement proved to be quite the shock for everyone involved. Disciple Steady Toil himself appeared very surprised at first, but a celebratory grin quickly appeared on his face. The other contestants seemed to be disappointed, and mildly confused. One of the participants took the reveal particularly poorly: The man who had sneered with confidence earlier was so surprised that he ended up spitting out blood. That can’t be healthy. He now appeared to be simmering with barely veiled rage and was gazing contemptuously at the winner.

Passionate Seeker was writing furiously in her notebook, while Spring Melt had raised a curious eyebrow at first, and then levelled a calculating gaze at the celebrating disciple while lightly tugging on her braid. Despite the tension, no-one spoke to comment on the matter. It appeared that an elder’s judgement was not to be questioned, at least at moment like this.

Aki realised that he had perhaps made a strange choice and judged that a timely retreat might be in order. He stood up and turned to address Spring Melt.

“Well, I think my role in this is done. I leave the rest in your capable hands. Passionate Seeker, it is time we be off. We shall leave using the same method we arrived with”

Before he could pry Passionate Seeker away from her notebook and make his escape, Spring Melt rose to address him.

“Master, I once again apologise for the scheduling inconvenience. I understand that you have many matters to attend to, however have you made time for the water cultivation lesson we discussed previously?”

“Do not worry Disciple, all is planned. We shall discuss this more later, but now I must truly be on my way.”

Passionate Seeker had finally finished writing in her notebook and stuffed it back into pocket, so with her help Aki managed to escape the scene.