She Dressing Rooms a silver crown set with a dozen of the blue spirit stones from the reward pouch, thirty blood-and-qi pills strung into string bracelets, and a berry wreath of crimson rose hips.

She's also remembering she never Backchannel-verified Wen, which is a considerable oversight, and uses it to gauge the sincerity of "I should hope we become something that can be called friends"—

Huh. She does want to be friends, insofar as that's the way she prefers their relationship to work out instead of—employer and employee, resource and leech, glorious leader and shoe shiner—but also she's trying to probe Rebecca's boundaries. And also she just sort of likes the idea, detached from all other concerns. There's more subtext, but Backchannel doesn't quite let her dig that deep past the text of the message.

Rebecca already has a fairly good picture of how she wants their partnership to work, but there's no reliable way to hurry that along. For now, this is a good sign. She should have noticed the disconnect, though, and she doesn't like that she didn't. She's too used to working in familiar contexts.

"I'm done," she says. Once Wen is looking, she tosses the spirit stone crown at her and says, "And yes, you're right. They come out qi-active, but you should check if I made them wrong in a way I can't tell." She's still wearing the wreath on her head, and the bracelets are dangling from her left hand. "If there are any other consumable aids, I can figure out how to copy them."

She catches it, befuddled. Peers closely at one.

"This is so ridiculous, you know? I know how to do a very basic qi-gathering formation thanks to- Well, I'll tell that story later. I mean, telling stories might even be strategic, if this mysterious power requires us to be friends. ...I can test if it does anything weird when we make camp, and that'll also be a good time to teach you. I... Guess it'll have to be my own method. I also have something called the five-phases method but it's widely known and widely considered nearly useless. If you want to advance quickly, anyway."

"I probably don't appreciate how much it is here. But even back home, it would be. I can duplicate... 'power armor', we call it, which lets baseline, unpowered people hit much harder among other customizable capabilities. The best power armor I know of could take down anyone I saw from the Blood Tree Sect except maybe their leader." That's including only models designed for non-parahuman use. "And I can make infinite of them. I obviously can't start pass them out here because nobody can maintain it and it'd draw attention, but if there's something analogous local, we could look into it.

"I think stories are good, not only to enable the friendship powers, but because it helps me learn background knowledge about this world so I can fit in. I also have a power that can make time pass slower when I'm engaging in a friendship or relationship activity, even for aspirant friendships. If we get it to trigger, we can get a lot of progress out of that. And I have another po... I should just make a list later for you instead of telling you my powers piecemeal like this."

A redacted list, obviously.

"'Power armor' might be useful in the qi gathering realm, but not against serious powerhouses, it sounds like. I don't think there's any rush for me to learn everything you can do? It'll all come out over time, and it's healthy to keep things back sometimes. Well, the story is, I thought this guy was making fun of me for being a diremonster so I challenged him to a fight, I really trounced him and I was still super mad."

"Buuuut it turned out it was just a misunderstanding and he was understanding about it, and like... It was nice to see someone empathetic instead of stupid? It seemed genuine, and it was my fault, so we talked and, ah, we did some bed exercises, and we stayed together while waiting for this tournament, and he taught me to do a dirt-simple qi gathering formation somewhere in there. We both got to the third round of the tournament before falling out. Fan Yong, from White Lotus, of no particular sect, he was. Don't know what he's up to now... But we both knew it wasn't serious."

"I was thinking of a redacted list containing anything that's relevant to planning and strategy. If you're happy getting things piecemeal I'm happy do that; it's just I've worked with people who absolutely hate not being able to keep neat and tidy notes all the time." She smiles drily.

"That's a sweet story. I was skimming the town's book on imperial law just yesterday and the carveouts they had for cultivators did not suggest particularly good things about their general conduct, so it's good to know there are friendly people out there. Did you often encounter trouble with people making fun of you for being a direbeast? I'm not too clear on how the beast ascending path goes and what the... cultural concepts are, around each step."

"I think that's fine. I don't need all the answers, I'm never going to be bookish. And, oh, sometimes. They tend to keep it quiet, or use backhanded compliments. 'Oh, she's strong despite... You know'. It's a matter of face, is the thing. Everyone is giving face to their betters and expecting it from those lesser. It becomes a matter of survival, almost, if you let insults slide, maybe you're actually weak, maybe someone can make you disappear and face not a whisper of complaint from anyone. And even if things don't devolve into violence, everyone's... Competing for resources all the time, and appearing weak means you get less, and therefore become weak. And diremonsters are known to cultivate slowly in general, to simply be less talented than humans. I think it's a real effect - some of our essence is devoted towards bloodline abilities, like my skimming and fire breath and shape-shifting, but exaggerated by there being a lot more humans in human sects. So the best of the best stand out more. And a matter of jealousy, too.

-Please don't insult people if you can avoid it. If someone much weaker than you openly disrespects you, you're pretty much expected to smack them around a bit and it would be weird if you didn't. You'll develop the ability to roughly gauge strength in qi gathering, unless people are hiding their strength for one reason or another. You can limit it to a dismissive kick as long as it hurts. And being whacked really hard is preferable to embarrassment! Pain is temporary, loss of face is forever."

"That makes sense. One of the things I wanted to do was run through a set of scenarios to ask—if each event happens, how would the typical cultivator react, and what's the least they must do and the most they can do without compromising their status or getting into trouble."

"I can answer that. Sometimes the answer is 'it depends', though. Lay 'em out?"

"For I'm guessing many of the answers may be different dealing with a normal civilian, a cultivator weaker than me, one on the same level, and one stronger than me. And there's the confounding factor that other cultivators might not be able to tell if I'm stronger than them, since most of my current power isn't qi-based. But to start..."

She didn't have a full set prepared yet, but she some of the central cases:

1. Someone accidentally/deliberately bumps or trips you in the street. (And the reverse case.)
2. Someone insults you or someone you know indirectly/directly.
3. You catch someone trying to steal or pickpocket something from you.
4. You catch someone trying to scam, underpay, or otherwise make a fool of you.
5. Someone tries to break the word of an agreement, e.g. not pay up after you perform a service for them.
6. You catch someone trying to poison, sabotage, injure or kill you.

"For the first one... Hold on, this'll be easier if I make up people to tell it with. Uhh, Bao is a mortal who sells dumplings, Xian is a low-level qi gathering cultivator who's part of a major sect, Wen is a foundation cultivator who's not part of a sect, and Elder Jian is a fourth realm elder with a lot of authority in Xian's sect.

Bao might apologize to Xian for tripping her, or just ignore it if she had accidentally tripped him. But for an elder, even if he reached out and kicked him deliberately, Bao just apologizes for being in the way. Trading insults is, you know, almost traditional? And doesn't have to escalate past banter? The best response to avoid escalating things is aloofness most of the time- 'as if I care' type of attitude. If Bao insults Xian, she'll insult him right back. If Xian insults Bao, he'll probably hold his tongue. If Bao insults Wen- Not necessarily me but someone in my position- It depends on if she wants to make a thing of it. You pretend not to hear mortals at all, or you decide this insult cannot stand and smash one of his cooking pots into the street... I'm finding it hard to entertain these as hypotheticals. It'd be easier as stories or playacting."

"I think that already gave me a lot of information. Trading insults not being a big deal is a surprise to me. Is there any case where aloofness might work against you? Say if Jian insults Wen, saying she's—weak and untalented and should have stuck to being a farmer—I suppose in this example her parents were mortal farmers. Could Wen acting aloof invite further escalation, or would Jian doing that be showing himself to have a thin skin?"

"There's two kinds of insults, see- Ones everyone knows is just banter - 'your sword might as well be a toothpick!' or 'oh, don't worry, I'm sure your skills will improve soon', and ones that are actually serious - 'your mother was a whore' or 'you're a gambler who will never amount to anything'. And that's only between those on the same level, honestly. Insults between levels tend to end in blows. If Elder Jian says that to Wen, she has to grit her teeth and complain to her peers out of sight later. Since she's not part of the sect or directly under his authority, and not currently trying to curry favor either, she doesn't have to make a massive show of respect, just can't show disrespect. She can frown and glare, maybe say something polite to defend herself - 'this humble farmer will see what she can accomplish', like, slightly sarcastic, but... But Elder Jian continuing to berate her could reflect badly on him- For caring so much about a petty matter. I agree that it's hard, I spent years watching humans when I first found them and I was still... Weird, when I first shape-shifted."

"Interesting. I see the difference. In my culture, you might trade banter like that between friends, but not strangers. But you're saying cultivators on the same level of power would casually trade insulting banter between strangers, even from a different sect? Is it like a social game, where you need to give insults as well as you take them to be respected, or is it more of a sideshow you can ignore?"

"It's kind of a fighter thing. Especially during fights. If you become a refiner or talisman maker or something you can mostly ignore casual banter, I think. Not that I've ever been a refiner or talisman maker."

So it's like high schoolers trying to "burn" each other? Or something. Rebecca's concept of high school as absorbed by osmosis from her subordinates may not be entirely accurate.

She'll understand better once she sees it in action.

"Tell me about fights. In my world we have sparring between allies, where the objective is to learn and improve, and injuries are avoided wherever possible; we have competition fights between allies, where the objective is to win the match for status or a prize, and minor injury is permitted but discouraged; we have standard live combat between enemies, where the objective is incapacitation or capture, and anything short of permanent injury and death is fair game; and we have rarer lethal combat, where both sides fight to kill or worse. Can you give a similar summary for types of fights in this world, and also when and why they're invoked?"

"Friendly sparring between allies or acquaintances, to learn and improve or simply for the joy of fighting. Often to first blood, usually holding back considerably.

Unfriendly sparring between allies or acquaintances, with the objective of embarrassing or hurting someone you don't like and getting away with it. Basically bullying. It's... If you don't have backing and can't avoid it, too bad for you?

Competition fights of all sorts, either between allies or among strangers, these can often lead to bad injuries, though usually not permanent ones. Some disreputable fights like that are to death. The prizes tend to be grand- Thousands of spirit stones, admission into a select group or access to a secret method. The better kinds have sect elders place barriers on the participants- If the barrier breaks, it's assumed you would have died without it, but it protects you.

Beatdowns where one group who is obviously more powerful is avenging an insult or theft or similar, with the purpose of injuring and humiliating the 'opponent' and displaying power but not escalating to killing. Or taking things from them. Usually done as a matter of face or if one refuses a 'tax'.

Standoffs between two groups of comparable power, where one group is trying to intimidate or extort or drive away another, and they fight to demonstrate seriousness and strength, but without necessarily having lethal intent. Conserving resources.

Suppression, fights where a powerful and experienced group sets out to exterminate or drive away a minor threat that doesn't pose a serious challenge. Qi condensation versus mortal bandits, or foundation establishment against non-sapient spirit beasts.

Open war, fights with the express purpose to imprison or kill whatever you're against, burn and steal whatever you can. Anything goes, ambush, poison, using up pills and talismans or exhausting techniques."

She nods, taking some time to digest.

"What are the usual pretexts for unfriendly sparring, a beatdown or a standoff? Are the former two less likely to progress to permanent injury than a competition fight? What are the signs that someone is coming at me with serious intent to kill or injure? Or that someone is burning scarce resources like talismans and pills? I want to avoid a situation where I retaliate with too much force when they're just trying to send a message, or where I misgauge how hard someone is trying to kill me and make mistakes because of that."

......

"Gen! Oh, how good to see you practicing diligently! How about I give you some pointers so you can improve."

"I wouldn't want to waste your time with one such as this, senior."

"No, I insist! It's my duty to help the juniors see the light! Now, stand guard!"

"...If they're making a show like that, or they challenge you openly, it's probably for face and not with lethal intent. Probably. If they're just attacking out of nowhere, that's a much worse sign. But it's hard to tell, which can make every potential fight nerve-wracking. If you want to de-escalate, grappling someone and being unimpressed, or applying pressure with your presence - it'll make sense once you have some - is a way to show your annoyance without doing violence. Talismans are small paper tags or pieces of jewelry, and usually you can feel them activating with qi sense. Pills are not always obvious unless you see people taking them, but if they seem like they're not used to their own strength, or they smell funny - I smell better than you probably - that's a strong sign of such."

"Understood. That was a useful way of demonstrating. At some point we should think about what useful talismans I could easily get access to to copy—I should only need to hold one for a while to duplicate it later.

"Back to the scenarios: if I catch someone stealing from me, what's an appropriate response? Say I'm walking along the street and I've been pickpocketed, or my residence has been burgled. I'm particularly wondering who I'd want to escalate the issue to, if it's another cultivator, or if I'm supposed to deal with it by myself. What would be proportionate force to use in retrieving stolen belongings?"

"...So, there's a thing I don't entirely understand, where the affairs of juniors tend to be left to juniors. Old monsters and sect elders don't just go out and kill their favorite pupils' rivals, or even rob them. If the young'uns get themselves killed starting stupid fights, they kind of deserved it. I guess."

"If someone successfully pickpockets you, and they happen to be from a strong sect, just going up and saying you have evidence of theft will get you laughed at and thrown out. Also, haha you were lax enough to get pickpocketed at all- Grabbing their arm as they try and scaring the shit out of them is perfectly acceptable, it's just chasing down after the fact that... If you go find them - outside of the secure parts of the sect - and beat them a bit and take your stuff back... Eh, juniors being juniors. But you might just not get it back, especially if someone indicates that they're not going to let you do that. House robberies... You're mostly just kind of screwed, if it's a larger group. Which is why you want to rent places that are backed by someone strong or locally respected at a premium, so they can be offended on your behalf if someone robs them. This is a lot of why people band together in sects and put their valuables behind a shared guard and defensive formation."

"So, if I discover my room at a random inn has been broken into and my stuff is missing, I'm just screwed. I can look for who did it, but unless they're a loner with no backing, nope. But if I discover my villa sponsored by Elder Jian has been broken into, I report that to the managers and they won't just compensate me freely, but they'll at least make a decent effort at investigating and getting the stuff back because it impacts their face. Such an event would end in either a beatdown or a standoff, too."