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All the gathered inner disciples and the sect's elders, plus General Shroud, awkwardly watched on as, after the end of The Last of Us, Elder Lung went on a lengthy diatribe on the faults that he had identified in the work.
Amongst his accusations that it represented a disgrace to all of the principal beliefs of the Illusion Room sect, a waste of time and an uninspired sham, he also added that whoever created it had nothing in their brain other than dust and that the person teaching said empty-headed individual should immediately step forward and kow-tow a few hundred times while also stepping out of any possible sect leader promotion.
While Elder Lung seemingly lost his shit on stage, Jin was curiously looking at Yang, the soldier who had just exited the Room and thus initiated this rather ungracious sequence from the Elder.
Yang, for lack of a better word, looked destroyed, like someone had gone up to him, showed a fist into his chest, and pulled out whatever made him human.
Nobody other than Jin and General Shroud were looking at the soldier, as most others were awkwardly listening to Elder Lung prattle on about how The Last of Us was a shitty game with a shitty sequel with no redeeming qualities.
"And if you ever heeded my advice on what should be done to make this sect great again, then listen now," the man continued.
Yang, meanwhile, gently lowered himself on the floor, where he sat in a kneeling position for a second before fully laying down and spreading his arms out amongst the Illusion Rooms he'd already gone through.
Once there, he simply stared at the blue sky with a lost look in his eyes.
General Shroud really looked like he wanted to go up to his soldier and ask if he was okay, but was seemingly considering that the situation had already lost too much decorum and that he didn't want to make it lose further dignity by kneeling next to his fallen soldier.
That was of course when sect Leader Chun stepped forward and authoritatively coughed into her hand just as Elder Lung was getting to the 100th scenario that in his opinion would have served as better adaptation material.
"I think we understand that Elder Lung votes against this particular scenario," she said, sweeping over all of the other stuff he had also said about the number of chromosomes that the author had, the marital status of his parents when he was conceived and the number of times he was dropped on the head as a baby.
The sect leader then turned to Elder Qin to ask for his opinion. The kind master of the outer ring had seemingly started spacing out, or as they called it in this world, contemplating the dao while his neighbour prattled on and needed a second prodding to start talking.
"Well, obviously, the scenario has several positive qualities, such as the high levels of emotional immersion elicited by its cohesion and attention to detail. In fact, I would say that it has so far been the most detailed of any work presented, even if I hesitate to say that the details serve the purpose we are aiming for," he said kindly, hedging his bets in neither direction. The Elder then turned to Elder Flower, who had her arms crossed and seemed to be considering the matter at hand very deeply.
Eventually, however, she simply raised her hand and chopped it down. "It contains zombie varieties that have not yet been observed, and the combat, while good, is second best. In other words, perhaps Inner Disciple Jin needs to relearn some of the basics of scenario design from a patient and gracious Elder," she said in a non-threatening way that still somewhat came over as threatening.
"All very valid points," Sect Leader Chun said, not awkwardly at all.
Elder Lung had essentially just raved, Elder Qin had been noncommittal and Elder Flower had simply stated that it was the second best in terms of combat.
"The overall integration of all the pieces, such as emotional immersion, combat and terrain, stands out as perhaps the most complex submission today," she said slowly. "Even if it lacks some of the singular qualities, the overall composition is strong. The main problem I see is that it does not necessarily fulfil the requirements as dictated by the situation. Firstly, while the sect does have access to enough Rooms for several armies, it is questionable if a 12-hour introduction before the repeatable combat instance was the wisest decision. Similarly, I am sceptical of the zombie varieties that do not exist." She genuinely seemed confused that Jin had included that part. To be fair, he could not have done that. But he'd already changed soooo much…
"Overall, I think while it is a good standalone project showing exactly the pieces that our sect can create if they apply their creativity fully, it does not fit the context," she finished relatively politely but dismissively.
Jin, for his part, wasn't that dissatisfied with the result. Winning would have always been a gamble, but it seemed like at least he hadn't completely bombed.
"General Shroud?" the sect leader asked, turning to the soldier.
The general, in his imposing full military regalia was contemplatively listening to a hushed whisper coming from the soldier still lying on the ground, that he was now kneeling down to. Having apparently fully received the message, he stood up, and, ignoring the sect leader, pulled out a little piece of parchment from somewhere within his armour to speak softly into it.
The parchment promptly folded into a small crane and zoomed off into the sky.
"My opinion?" the General said. Amongst all the cultivators on stage, he, along with Elder Flower, looked to be the youngest. "I liked it, quite frankly. But I think there's one person we should be asking before I make the decision," he said, turning to Yang, who had managed to get up to his knees.
"Private Yang," he started. "The consequences of failure that you saw today. What would you be willing to do to prevent such an outcome?"
Yang opened his stubbled mouth and closed it again. "I'd walk to hell and back, flay my soul and lay down my life."
General Shroud hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps you didn't know this," he said in an almost conversational tone, seemingly less strict now that he was in the presence of mostly fellow cultivators. "But Private Yang was, up until recently, a few hours ago, in fact, recognised as the least enthusiastic and dogged soldier in the entire division. In fact, his testing of the Illusion Rooms was somewhat of a punishment."
Confused murmurs ran through the crowd of watching disciples.
"I came to the Illusion Room sect to improve single-digit percentages. It is not necessarily about the combat ability, just that the average soldier would improve their combat ability by preparing against a specific enemy and working through their fear of injury or death in a low-risk environment. However, there is another factor, which, if it could be achieved, would improve the combat efficiency as well, and that is having the willingness to fight in the first place," General Shroud started, causing Jin to perk up.
Was the man saying that?
Since he couldn't compete on the combat level, Jin's whole bet on the narrative of The Last of Us had been on increasing general competence, thinking, and morale.
"It is hard for cultivators to comprehend this, considering that we are by necessity very well educated," the general continued, "but most mortals do not in fact have the education to realise that giving it their all individually, raises their chance of surviving collectively, and that their death is preferable to the breach of the border. Also being better for their families…" he trailed off. "A scenario that can motivate them and confront them with their enemy so that they may acclimate, rather than improving their individual combat ability to the maximum, is just as valuable."
Elder Lung looked like he'd swallowed a lemon, just that when he bit down, it turned out it had been a lemon-shaped piece of shit coloured yellow. Flower raised an eyebrow, and the sect leader seemed to be considering something.
"At the end, it is up to the army to decide which scenario they like more and how many they are willing to pay for," she said in a relatively mercenary fashion.
Jin understood her positioning. If the army liked two scenarios, it would likely pay twice the amount to secure them. For the sect, this was a great deal.
"Perhaps we should now continue the testing, we only have a few scenarios left after all," the sect leader continued kindly.
That was when she was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of an Imperial cultivator from the army camp. The cultivator appeared next to General Shroud alongside another rank-and-file soldier and the man's assistant, who seemed a bit ruffled.
"Excuse me," General Shroud said, coughing into his hand. "But Private Yang is too tired to continue with the testing, so I have called for a replacement." He then bid the stone-faced Imperial cultivator to take hold of Yang, who seemed, if nothing else, resolute. He had the facial expression of someone walking to their execution.
Meanwhile, The scribe hurried over to the general and whispered something into his ear. The man froze, looking more out of balance than he had at any other given point during the day. He woodenly turned to Sect Leader Chun.
"The zombies have evolved again," he reported simply. "They can now throw the infection and explode, sullying the air around them." he then turned to look at Jin with a grim look, and sent him a nod.
"Wait," Hashimi muttered next to Jin. "Didn't we include exploding zombies in the scenario and also in the last battle selection tool? Bloaters, right?" she asked.
A confused smile hushed over Jin's face. This didn't make any sense. The timing was… too convenient. Was he, dare he say it, getting lucky?
"We did," he answered quietly and couldn't help but realise that as other disciples came to the same realisation that Hashimi just had, more and more eyes were turning to look at him. "99% of gamblers quit right before they hit it big," he muttered. "I think we just breached the 1%."
Hashimi beamed next to him. "You were right, Jin; gambling was the right decision," she said. "We should do it more often."
Jin somehow got the feeling that his teammate was learning the wrong lessons from this.
"I object," a loud voice suddenly came from the podium, causing the gathered inner disciples to start muttering.
Elder Lung had stepped forward with a red face and seemed to be breathing harshly. "If the parameters of the briefing changed, then the competition becomes invalid. We have to reset the submission."
Sect Leader Chun looked at him, and if Jin wasn't hallucinating, there was a disparaging element in her eyes before she closed them and smiled tightly. "Perhaps we should confer privately on what to do with the new information," she said.
A second later, the inner disciples were alone in front of the podium. The Elders, the sect leader, and General Shroud had disappeared.
"Sooo, how long are we supposed to wait here?" Jin drawled out.
"I think the general etiquette, considering our relatively low station, is until they come back," Hashimi replied.
Jin sent her a thumbs up, before promptly sitting down on the ground, the taller girl quickly joining him.
"What the fuck was that," the two of them then muttered in unison.
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Omake: The uncensored Lung rant which would have broken immersion lmao
Amongst his accusations that it represented a disgrace to all of the principal beliefs of the Illusion Room sect, a waste of time and an uninspired sham, he also added that whoever created it had nothing in their brain other than dust and that the person teaching said empty-headed individual should immediately step forward and kow-tow a few hundred times while also stepping out of any possible sect leader promotion. He said that the MC had an underdeveloped frontal cortex, the author had a low IQ, and that Resident Evil, World War Z, or even Left 4 Dead would have all been much better choices. He urged Jin to commit seppuku 1000 times.
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