It was nearly a week before Elder Catherine got back to John about his request to visit the Inner Sect, and about his reward. John spent almost every waking moment training during this time. From the second he woke up 'til right before sleeping he would extend a tenuous web into the air, capturing as much water qi as possible. John had managed to snag another mission dealing with Weird infected plants, but it was a pittance compared to the first mission--other Weird kids were grabbing missions as well and the spread of Weird infestation was well maintained in the Outer Sect now. Still, he welcomed the contribution points and extra qi.
John started doing some rudimentary strength training in accordance with the Lethal Bite Spear as well. He would need a martial arts instructor to truly begin training in the technique, but the manual described some basic movements he could perform without a spear to condition himself, along the lines of pushups, sit-ups, lunges, squats, etc. It was something to do while waiting for qi to get caught in his consuming web.
Speaking of things to do; John had been enjoying his time with Chloe far more than he liked to admit to himself. A part of him wondered why he bothered to wait so long. Chloe became very affectionate now that her desire was better controlled, but her enthusiasm for him never faded. John was suspicious early on at the sect whether she liked him only for his position as leader of the group, or in response to the traumatic experiences they all shared. Now, he felt foolish for those thoughts. It didn't hurt that cultivating together was far more effective than cultivating normally.
Elder Catherine walked into the compound one morning while John was doing his exercises.
"Good morning John, the Sect Leader and I have worked out what we think is an appropriate reward for you. Additionally we have come up with terms for you to use the Inner Sect."
"Great! What are they?" John was quite eager to explore the Inner Sect, he believed that his progress would get a lot faster with some improved infrastructure.
"First, take these." Elder Catherine held out five spirit stones, each radiated a distinct Weird qi.
"How in the world did you get these?!" Normal spirit stones were basically useless for John's cultivation since it was so tame. The pressure radiating off the Weird stones was identical to the infections found on living hosts. Somehow these stones had gotten infected, or otherwise trapped a Weird infestation, they would be extremely useful.
"I'm not privy to the details, the Sect Leader gave them to me to pass on to you. If you get the chance, you can ask him yourself." That seems unlikely John thought. The Elder continued, "As for the Inner Sect, you will be permitted to the Inner Sect from ten in the morning each day until three in the afternoon."
Damn. That was not nearly as good of a deal as John hoped to get.
Elder Catherine must have noticed his mood, because she relaxed her tone a bit. "Once more of your comrades enter Foundation Establishment, and there are new recruits to your division, they will open up the Inner Sect to you entirely. Just put up with it for now, it's a temporary measure the Leader came up with since you advanced so much faster than anticipated."
While John was happy to hear he wouldn't need to put up with a curfew for long, it did disturb him to hear about new recruits. John and the others went through months of preparation before getting fully inducted. Were there more disciples in those awful chambers right now? Something needed to be done about that eventually. John had some ideas for preparing new recruits that might be less traumatic. He would need to meet the Sect Leader after all, to discuss better recruitment methods and to figure out how they had found Weird spirit stones. If John had more access to those, he would advance significantly faster.
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After talking with Elder Catherine, John focused on these unique spirit stones, he could feel the energy within them writihing around, creating minute flucuations in the air. John wasted no time and directly swallowed the stones with his qi, pulling them into his dantian to absorb over time. Most Weird qi sources John had absorbed while sleeping, but he estimated this would push him from around four percent full to around seven percent full. It wasn't much on its own but each leap early in the process would lead to exponentially faster gains later, not to mention the possibility of getting more Weird spirit stones.
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It was almost ten so John wrapped up his remaining training, taking a quick shower and changing into fresh robes. At ten on the dot he was standing before the gate to the inner sect. The large wooden gateway was open, but covered in a shimmering veil, just like the exit to the outside world. It gave off a slight pressure that turned away Outer disciples, but John could feel as it shifted and he was allowed into the Inner Sect. John took a breath to settle himself, and then strode through the portal.
The first thing that hit him was the massively increased density of qi in the air, at least four of five times as dense as in the outer sect. It felt as if he finally was able to breathe, the Outer sect had been suffocating in a way he didn't realize until his circumstances changed. He also wondered why they didn't create such nice conditions for the Outer disciples. John had seen a number of old disciples working in various administrative positions, and it stood to reason that there were more that he simply hadn't noticed. Not to mention how much faster his cohort would improve if they had such resources. After complementing it for some time, John reasoned that the Sect considered it a waste of resources. From their point of view, the Outer sect was a place for those with sufficient talent to prove themselves worthy, as well as a labor force. John hadn't been able to see it until this moment, but the Outer sect produced tons of low grade resources through the labor of the disciples. Bundles upon bundles of herbs, cartfulls of low grade spirit metal, all manner of spiritual woods, beast parts, and more. In return, the sect granted its disciples things a rogue cultivator would find difficult to source on their own. Refined pills, formations, artifacts, techniques, and more. These resources were crafted by the labor of elders or disciples of the Inner sect, and repeat all the way to the top. Eventually there would be a few peak individuals, who strove for the highest of goals. Ascension? Immortality? John couldn't be sure, he didn't have line of sight to those lofty heights.
John had seen the opposite side too, when he returned to his family. In the eyes of the cultivator world, mortals were like grass. Every once in a while they would be reaped for those with cultivation promise, or whatever mortal goods they could find a use for, or maybe it was something else, but mortals were surely the bottom of the pyramid. Maybe some would rage at the injustice of this system, and maybe some would look down smugly from their high position, but John was satisfied with knowing his place in the machine. Only through the awareness of things could he best make use of his circumstances, and he had already experienced being a much smaller cog in a much more sinister wheel.
The sect wasnt his friend, or his family, he would take what he could from them and give as little back as possible. John wasn't under the illusion that he was a heaven defying talent, but he was the best in his cohort and he would go as far as he could. At least far enough to take revenge on the sect for their mistreatment of him, they would strengthen him by their own rules and heaven only knew if they would come to regret it.
John took a deep breath and strode forward confidently, looking for the Inner Mission Hall.