The First Cultivator - Changing Existence

Looking through a window, he saw a woman in uniform. Clearly, she worked at the building she was inside of. Curious, Skymender walked through the wide open glass doors and looked around.

The restaurant seemed very advanced and even a bit futuristic.

The woman looked up as he entered.

"Welcome, young scholar."

Skymender nodded. "Hello. What is this place?"

The woman explained. "This is a coffee shop. Here, we sell many types of coffee, some of which would be hard to find even in the Imperial Capital. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me, but there is a menu right over there."

She pointed behind her, where a counter stood. Above that counter, hanging on a wall, was a menu. It didn't have prices. After all, all the food here was free, and Skymender was aware of that.

Since it was free, he decided to try one.

There were a lot of names he did not understand. In fact, the only one he understood was the black coffee.

"I'll try a… Frapuchino." 

"You mean a Frappuccino? Would you like chocolate or caramel?"

"Chocolate." Skymender said after hesitating a moment.

"Coming right up." She said.

Skymender watched as she took ice, poured something in it, mixed it up with some sort of blending machine, and added some stuff on top.

"Here you go."

Skymender looked at it. "Aren't coffees supposed to be hot?"

"Not all of them. As I said, even the Imperial Capital may not have some of the drinks here. This campus, obviously, doesn't count."

Skymender nodded and took a sip. It was surprisingly good. He had never liked coffee, but this tasted more like ice cream.

Skymender walked out of the shop, drink in hand, and made his way around. He saw a few more buildings, some restaurants, some stores, and some closed down.

The streets actually felt quite desolate. Skymender entered a few shops and asked some questions about their products. The non-food stores required something to buy their products with, and not money.

He didn't feel like eating anything, so he did not stay at any other food places.

Skymender eventually returned to his room without seeing another person participating in the Imperial Scholar Camp.

He stayed there for a while, occasionally looking out his window at the scenery below.

Eventually, he did get hungry. Venturing out of his room, he stopped at a restaurant he had inquired at before.

This place sold steak, among other expensive meats.

Skymender got to sit at the top of the building, a place with a great view of the surrounding areas.

He ate steak and drank water, looking down below. Suddenly, someone entered his vision. He was instantly able to tell that she was a participant of the Imperial Scholar Camp.

She looked around 16 years old.

As if sensing his eyes, she looked up and saw him. Skymender saw a bit of surprise flash in her eyes before she looked away. She was most likely surprised by his age.

Skymender did not look at her any longer either. He wasn't particularly interested in anyone else here. Not unless they proved themselves to be worthy of his attention.

He took his time eating, before returning to his room. The few days before the start passed like this. As more time went on, he saw more and more people, though never two others at the same time.

He never interacted with them, and they never interacted with him.

That was until one morning, when Skymender received a knock on his door.

Opening it up, he saw Scholar Ming.

"The Imperial Scholar Camp has begun. Allow me to escort you to orientation."

Skymender nodded and stepped outside his room. He was led outside of the building by Scholar Ming, and they began to move towards the many buildings. However, Skymender knew that their destination was not the area with shops and restaurants, but the largest building, the teaching building itself.

It had been gated off before, but now, it was wide open. Skymender saw many others as he walked along. He thought he would be the youngest by a lot, but surprisingly, he saw someone seemingly the same age as him.

When that person saw him, they were similarly surprised. Their gazes met for a moment, but quickly turned away as they neared the largest building in the Imperial Scholar Camp Campus.

According to the information he had received, it was known as the education building. This was where all the teaching and learning would be done. This was a place even more advanced than the Imperial School, and for one simple reason. The Imperial Scholar was here, and he would be personally teaching everyone.

Skymender and everyone around him were led inside of the building. It was large, fancy, advanced for the current age, and clean.

They were all led through a series of hallways until they arrived at a large door. 

Opening it, stairs went down, with seats on them, and a large podium was at the bottom. There was a large board with writing on it. Skymender saw his name and fifteen other names. Presumably, these were the names of everyone in the Imperial Scholar Camp.

There was also a leaderboard with 16 places, though it was empty.

On the podium was a desk, and sitting behind it was the Imperial Scholar.

"Find a seat. Good luck." Scholar Ming said with a low voice before exiting. 

Skymender walked down the stairs until he reached the halfway point. Then, he took a right and found a seat.

He would be able to see and hear everything clearly, but without being around others. Most of the people, ten in total, sat in the front row despite there being at least twenty rows.

The other six were dispersed across the others. Skymender was the farthest back.

When everyone was seated and all of the scholars left, the Imperial Scholar stood up.

"Welcome to my Imperial Scholar Camp. For those of you yet to meet me, I am the Imperial Scholar of the Faceless Empire. From now until the end of the camp, I will be teaching you in hopes of finding a worthy successor, no matter the age."