Code Ling Qi

With full acknowledgement to the awesome original source:

Yrsillar https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/forge-of-destiny-xianxia-quest.35583/

~

She was going to a Sect. She apparently had the talent to become an Immortal herself, or at least to walk that path. It was apparently why she sometimes heard invocations no one else could hear, why she could feel home when she ventured to the outskirts of the city where the hackers' flailed on their terminals. The smell of rolls of paper spooling out their command results made her smile. She had always assumed she was just a bit crazy really.

~

So she would owe the Empire eight years of service instead, once she was done training. Not very long at all in an Immortals lifespan, she had been assured. Really she couldn’t say that the idea of being a figure from a story, facing off against the micro haxors didn’t excite her. She just hated not having a choice.

~

The large room is built with a series of long desks full of terminals placed on descending tiers, broken up by steps descending down to the pit where the lecturer’s podium stands. The desks are almost completely full though, and Ling Qi felt more than one curious, dismissive, or assessing look from the crowd of chattering young people already present.

They didn't even have printers, just long rows of the CRT displays which must have cost the sect a fortune.

<<>>

It comes to her then, Golden Fields is the easternmost province of the empire, and more importantly, “...Oh, the Grave of the Sun. I didn’t think someone would come from so far away,” She trailed off as she noticed that his smile had gone rather stiff. Did she say something rude? Golden Fields was once home to Sun Systems. Before the dark times, before the scheming Oracle, and the tide of endless micros, Sun Systems had been far more than it is today.

She couldn’t really think of a reason why mentioning it would offend him. Maybe his family sent him away and he didn't like being reminded how far away he was?

He gave a slightly forced laugh. “Yeah, that’s the one. I guess most people only really remember us for that old story these days.”

Like the others in the room her attention was drawn to the source of the sound. It came from below, where a tall, thin man had appeared at the lecturer’s podium. He was even now lowering his hands back to his side as if he had simply clapped for their attention. Ling Qi frowned as she studied the man, there was something about him which set her on edge. Perhaps it was his almost unnaturally bland and thin features, clean shaven down to the eyebrows, or the slightly gray tone of his skin. If she didn’t know better she would think him ill.

It was bizarre, seeing what looked like the robes of a high minister in such an undignified shade. How had someone wearing such loud colors gotten past her like that? There was no door down there, so he must have come through the same entrance she had. She glanced over at Han Jian, but he didn’t seem particularly surprised. She forced herself to relax a bit, it was some form of hack obviously, and not something which anyone else seemed concerned about, though a few of the students had been startled out of their seats.

“Welcome to the Argent Peak children,” the strange, bald man said as he finished lowering his hands. His expression was one of careful neutrality, but she thought she could see amusement twinkling in his grey… no, green, no… In his eyes, which seemed to rapidly change colors. “I am Sect Elder Sima Jiao, current head of the Gear Department, and it seems that it is my turn to greet our new arrivals.” So this man was in the one in charge of all the computer equipment? He must be incredibly wealthy, no wonder he could get away with dressing so outlandishly.

Then she remembered the ridiculous hat that her driver had worn. Perhaps becoming Immortal just compelled one to dress strangely? While Ling Qi was pondering the fashion sense of hackers Elder Jiao had clasped his hands behind his back and was giving her and the other students an assessing look. “I am terribly busy on the best of days, so I will not ramble on. To be honest, it is likely that the majority of you will never amount to anything beyond the outer sect where you stand now, and are thus not particularly worthy of my time.”

His blithe dismissal draws a grumble from the gathered students, Ling Qi among them. 

“It is simply reality, nothing to be ashamed of,” the Elder continued, not unkindly. “In any case, your first years here will serve the purpose of separating those with only minor potential from those with true talent. Which is why there will be no leaving this mountain for any of you during the first year, nor will any correspondence in or out be allowed in the first three months.” That finally seems to surprise some of the other disciples, setting off a wave of whispers, though none dare openly question the elder.

“Be silent,” Elder Jiao said then pulling her attention back to him. “You will have time enough for mortal concerns later. Today and in the future you are disciples of the Argent Peak. The foundation you lay in the first steps of your path will inform the rest of your lives. There is no need for distractions from the outside world.”

~

“The only other rule is that you may not destroy or permanently wreck your fellow disciple's user access, nor damage or steal sect property. Many online resources are not marked as Sect, and may be used as you will, however, there is to be absolutely no hostile coding between you for three months. Conflict is important for your growth, but it would not do to allow potential to be cut off before it can even begin to bloom.”

~

“Each of you will be granted an allowance of five red timesharing stones per month, and access to the Argent Soul art to begin with,” he continues, confusing her, as she had no idea what either of those things are. “For those of you not aware,” he adds, and Ling Qi was suddenly all to aware of the way his unsettling gaze rested on her for a moment before passing to a handful of other students in the room. “Timesharing stones are the currency of Immortals, more valuable than gold or silver. Access to the System requires the consumption of the time allotted in said stones, at least until one masters certain other arts. I would suggest frugality. As for the Argent Soul Art, it is the foundational approach and Way of our Sect, if the lowest form of it. It is exceptional for early growth, if somewhat less effective for mature hackers.”

~

"Rooming arrangements will be up to you, but expect to room with at least one other disciple. For the first three months, two Elders will be on the mountain to provide beginners training in the Programming and SysAdmin aspects of our arts respectively. I suggest you seek them out, because you will need to earn such attention later. All else will be up to you, your skill and your talent.” He unclasps his hands and places them on the keyboard of a terminal. “Now, if you would, file up in an orderly fashion. I will be allocating first month's allowance. Best hope your User Account was properly prepared."

~

+5 Red Timesharing Stones (Red = 20 hours, Transferable Terminal Access Authority Level 1

MINGW64 ~/codelingqi/argentsect/rsc
$ cp argentsoulart.txt ~/codelingqi/home/u1069lingq/argentsoulart.txt

~

The squat stone building was only a single story, but in addition to a fairly spacious front room with a well kept hearth, there were also a pair of bedrooms, a tiny kitchen, and a third room with a terminal and hard copy printer.

She had printed out the first few pages of the Argent Soul Art, and later that night she was sitting in front of the fire while Bai Meizhen quietly tended to the tea she was brewing in the clay pot they had found in one of the kitchen cubbies.

Ling Qi had the printout for the Argent Soul technique open in her lap and was frowning down at the odd diagram and the text around it. To her eye it seemed like no more than a collection of practice exercises and commands interspersed with flowery philosophical nonsense. She was beginning to feel irritated, she knew she was missing something, but couldn’t quite understand what.

She was pulled from her thoughts by the whistle that signified the water for the tea was beginning to boil. As much as she wanted to figure this out on her own… she should probably ask. Bai Meizhen had made no indication that she was willing to help her, but after spending most of the afternoon with the girl collecting necessities for their home, she felt she was beginning to get a feel for the taciturn girl. She would never offer help on her own, and probably wouldn’t ask for it either. It seemed against her nature. “Bai Meizhen,” that didn’t mean that Ling Qi couldn’t ask. “Do you know what this part means?” She asked, pointing to a paragraph talking about breathing and 'flow'.

The other girl took a moment to look up from the brewing tea, looking faintly surprised that you were speaking to her. She didn’t really engage verbally unless prompted you were noticing. She did lean forward, narrowing her creepy golden eyes to study the scroll, which you helpfully turned to make easier for her. Several seconds of silence, less awkward now, passed before she looked up. “It is describing the state of mind one must reach to approach the System,” she responded a bit condescendingly. “It is the first step in the simple exercises for the first stage of the technique, once you have mastered the first breathing method.”

The breathing method was a silly exercise before you start using the terminal, but Ling Qi just wanted to start typing, but she didn't have the first clue of what to type.

Ling Qi let out a breath, not letting the other girls tone bother her. She told herself again that the other girl didn’t mean any harm, and that she was being helpful. “What is a System exactly?” Ling Qi asked keeping her tone even. She hated even more that she felt she earned the condescension with her ignorance.

Bai Meizhen frowned, pausing as she poured herself a cup of the newly brewed tea. “It is the origin of a hacker's power. The core from which you attempt all manner of actions, through the connections topology of the terminal. Understanding the System is required to awaken and begin production of your own code. You'll never completely grok it, but a beginner's sense is needed to start.” She pauses a beat staring at you again. “Code is the energy which allows us to do… everything beyond the ability of mortals.”

“I know that much,” Ling Qi responded defensively. “But how am I supposed to understand something that's invisible, and somewhere else? It’s not like I can sense my own organs, and I use them a lot more”

The pale girl pursed her lips, seeming to consider something for a moment. “Go to the terminal,” she said brusquely after a moment, following Ling Qi into their terminal room.

"Log in."

Ling Qi sat down at the terminal.

Logon: u1069lingqi

Password: flute

Bai Maizhen took over, as she stood up, and began to type.

Ling Qi could barely register what she was doing.

$ cp argentsoulart.txt vimtest.txt

MINGW64 ~/codelingqi/home/u1069lingq
$ ls
argentsoulart.txt  vimtest.txt

MINGW64 ~/codelingqi/home/u1069lingq
$ vim vimtest.txt

(C) 19 BD Argent Peak Sect
Authorized for Argent Peak Sect members only

<<lines skipped>>

vimtest.txt [unix] (14:35 29/05/2020)                                    1,1 All
"vimtest.txt" [unix] 8L, 133C

"What is this?"

Bai Meizhen answered. “Exit from VIM. It is painful, but my Aunt did this for me when I was eight. It should be no trouble for you.”

Ling Qi found the experience bewildering. She had heard about Control C, though never used a terminal before today. It didn't help. She tried typing the ritual phrase kill, but the K caused the screen to flash, the i went away, and the ll showed up in the middle of the Argent Soul Art text.

It had been strange. Ling Qi had never liked sitting still for too long before, but after she had shut the thick door to the terminal room and sat down to practice breathing as the text file instructed, she found that her mind did not wander nearly as much as she expected it would. Rather, she seemed to fall into the pattern that the text described with ease, as if she had been doing it for years.

There were two modes, Insert and Escape. The i from k i l l entered insert mode. After pressing keys and causing text to go into the Art textfile, she managed to press escape. Twice more she went into and out of insert mode, before she noticed what was going on.

When she tried letters on the keyboard, w entered some weird recording mode. She almost panicked before stumbling upon the :, and then eventually, some time later, into :help.

She didn't know how to get out of recording mode, but right there, in :help was the instructions:

Get out of Vim: Use ":qa!<Enter>" (careful, all changes are lost!).

Aha! It was good that changes were lost, as she thought she had ruined the Argent Way text. Maybe she could have found the answer in the Argent Way, after scrolling through the more philosophical prose.

Back at the terminal, vim help created a new file called help, but Ling Qi was prepared, using :qa! to get out again.

She went back into the vimtest.txt file. Remembering that Bai Meizhen had actually been kind by copying the Sect's way to a test file before throwing her in the deep end.

Hour after hour she worked on the terminal, learning about vim and trying out that cp command. Maybe tommorrow she could learn how to delete. Eventually she passed out at the terminal.

Waking up in the dark pre-dawn morning, She stood and stretched, quietly leaving the room, she felt better than she had in years, and despite some initial setbacks… she felt like she could do this.