Unfortunately the boys along with the rest of the crowd had to wait for an explanation for some time and only when the sun was over the treetops the impatient crowd was rewarded.
Straight from the top of the Spirit tower the floating figure of their beloved sect master arrived causing everyone burst out in loud cheers. Lady Evelyn looked as beautiful as ever in her usual red attire with the enormous claymore on her back.
“Good morning, Sacred Order!” She said with a smile, but even though she wasn’t particularly loud, her voice reverberated through the sect.
When the second wave of cheers died down, she continued, “After observing all of you for the past months I’ve come to conclusion that it has come time for a change!”
If there were some murmurs in the crowd beforehand, it became dead silent after the last sentence. The fact that the sect master wasn’t unconscious all this time, but secretly inspecting everything that went on in the sect made some people terrified.
Not that there were serious incidents, of course, but many did slack off and maybe ‘borrow’ an item or two. Mostly it was just that the idea of a Nascent soul stage cultivator witnessing all they did was scary.
After a short theatrical pause lady Evelyn continued, “We have been complacent for far too long and from now on we’ll all work on making the Sacred Order an invincible existence … and, of course, you all will become strong alongside of it.”
She noticed the confusion on the faces below, therefore immediately continued,”We’ll start with the administrative change. Every member of our sect who successfully forms their core becoming a Core Formation stage cultivator will automatically be granted the position of an elder and will become part of the Elder council led by me and in my absence – grand elders Powell and Walters. Don’t you stare so dumb at me – the two elders are still alive although it’ll take them some time to recover.”
Indeed, the two elders that were caught in the final blast of Voodoo sect leader’s and his father’s soul detonation managed to survive, albeit only in their Nascent soul form. Since possessing another body was against Immortal Alliance’s and Sacred Order’s rules, they would regenerate their bodies themselves, but it might take a long time.
But it didn’t matter. The news of two more Nascent soul cultivators being alive officially made the Sacred Order the strongest sect in Aurora mortal realm once again and the crowd loudly cheered in joy.
“Alright, alright!” Lady Evelyn interrupted with a wave of her hand.
Only she knew how weak she currently was and every second floating above the plaza brought her agonizing pain. Obviously no one needed to know that.
“While the Sacred Order will still be divided in the outer and inner sect, there will be considerable changes in this area as well. From now on the inner sect will have four divisions – Combat, Artisan, Enforcement and Administrative with the elders Payne, Cooper, Cross and Willis leading the respective divisions. Our pride – the Spirit tower and the sect’s Treasury will remain independent. The Combat and Artisan divisions will have their subdivisions, but your elders will later explain you in detail.”
“What does that mean – you might ask. Why go thought all this trouble?” Lady Evelyn said what many had in mind, “From now on we’ll put the emphasis on grooming our disciples in areas where their strengths lie, not try to thoughtlessly create combat machines out of everyone. It will go like this – for the next two days you, bunch of slackers, will be granted an opportunity to rest for the last time and afterwards I’ll do my best to make something out of you! The inner sect disciples will report to their respective elders and they will explain the next steps, but the outer sect disciples … finally the time has come for you to shine! We’ll test and examine each one of you and determine your future path of development. Those with enough talent will immediately become inner disciples and join the divisions you are suited for. Of course, you’ll be able to choose as well if you are good enough!”
This time the sect master couldn’t calm down the crowd easily since most of it consisted of thousands of outer sect disciples who finally received a ray of hope to turn their life around. Fortunately lady Evelyn was still a Nascent soul stage cultivator and after twenty odd breaths of time suppressed the crowd with her voice alone.
“Don’t get too carried away! And that goes for the inner sect disciples as well!” She said, “From this day on there won’t be any free spirit stones for anyone. You’ll be able to receive only quality cultivation resources in exchange for a real contribution to the sect. On the stone slate here will be the list of rewards you can receive and their respective price. Don’t worry – you won’t be disappointed.”
The crowd became restless since most of the people were too far to see the contents carved on the slates, therefore lady Evelyn decided to wrap the whole thing up, “As you can see – the rest of the slates are empty, for now. Here you will see the rankings of our members – Earth Dragon rankings for those at the Qi gathering realm, Heaven Dragon rankings for the Foundation establishment realm cultivators and Hidden Dragon rankings where even those without cultivation might take the top spot with enough luck and perseverance. At the end of every year there will be handsome rewards for the top disciples in each rankings, so thrive hard! Alright, my beloved disciples! That will be all! Do your best!”
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She vanished after saying the last words and while the crowd cheered again, she appeared inside on the top floor of the Spirit tower pale and completely spent.
Etessa arrived a moment later and in concerned voice said, “Mom, are you sure you had to …”
But Evelyn interrupted her with a wave of hand and sat down cross legged in the middle of the rune formation that was crafted in the room, closed her eyes and said, “I had to. You’ll proceed as we planned – during the next two days verify the elders are doing fine and then join me in the tower. Even though you technically are elder now, your core is still considered a fake one and I want you to spend your every heartbeat cultivating.”
“Ok!” Etessa seriously nodded.
She knew her mother wished for her to form the golden core as soon as possible so she could step into the Nascent stage afterwards and, to be honest, she wanted it even more.
When the sect master left, a complete chaos broke out on the main square. No one really knew what her plans were exactly, but everything seemed grand. Of course, there were those who disliked the change, but most, especially the outer sect’s disciples continued to jump and cheer in joy as if they were guaranteed to become immortals after the festival ended.
Leo was still in daze when Jack pulled him away from the crowd and excitedly shouted, “God damn, man! We’re gonna be rich!”
Only when he punched Leo’s shoulder in excitement for who knows which time, the pain finally registered in the boy’s brain and woke him up from stupor.
“Why? And how?” Leo asked rubbing his shoulder.
“Didn’t you hear? The sect master told us we’re going to be able to choose our division!” Jack couldn’t calm down, “And the two of us are going to become alchemists! Didn’t you tell me you had the fire affinity? That’s probably the only requirement! And my folks back at home also tested me back then – both of us are fire buddies! Probably because of that we became such friends!”
Leo did let the last part fly by, but the idea of becoming an alchemist was not the worst. He would be able to process his own Firewater and to become rich also sounded nice – he could buy a nice sword then as well.
Unfortunately when two days later boys came over to the newfound alchemy division they were forced to realize that Jack’s idea was nothing unique. Hundreds of the outer sect’s disciples were gathered here awaiting the elemental affinity test and the several elders responsible for that got tired expressions just by looking at the crowd.
Fortunately discipline was the Sacred Order’s forte and each outer sect’s disciple patiently waited for their turn.
Only in the afternoon Jack and Leo finally got to see how the procedure was supposed to go.
There were several elders performing the same test – disciple had to put their palms on a gray stone in a form of halved water melon and after a while the thing began to grow with a feint light indicating the elemental affinity of that disciple. Afterwards disciple was suggested different areas they could develop their skills in and then assigned to elders they had to report to the next day.
“Jack Brown!” Jack proudly stated and put his palms on the stone when it was his turn.
As expected the stone slowly began to turn slightly reddish and the elder noted, “Fire, average.”
“I’d like to practice alchemy!” Jack immediately said and elder nodded in understanding – there had been too many of these today.
“Tomorrow morning report to elder Fisco. Next!” Elder expressionlessly said.
“Leo Renaud!” Leo did his best to sound as confident as his older friend.
Unfortunately the next part didn’t go as smooth. After putting palms on the stone, Leo felt the warm sensation, but just when the stone began to turn dark crimson, it suddenly gained slightly purple shade.
“Fire, potential mutation.” Elder said raising his brows in surprise.
Elemental mutations were quite rare and while often they tend to be useless, sometimes they could propel the cultivator levels above their peers. The nearby crowd also heard him and turned their envious eyes towards the blushed kid, who kept inwardly cursing.
‘Damn it! Purple again!’ Leo thought in distress, ‘And all these people stare at me condescendingly … this is bad!’
But after quickly gathering courage, he said, “I’d like to practice alchemy, please!”
“Are you sure? You could have decent results if you focus on developing your combat abilities.” Elder said.
“Thank you, sir! But I’ll do my best to become a great alchemist!” Leo tried to promise as seriously as he could.
“Alright!” Elder said, “You can always change your mind later.”
With a sigh of relief Leo joined Jack who excitedly patted him on shoulder. Of course, the former translated it to be an attempt of consolation.
The next day Leo and Jack along with another bunch of hundred fifty to two hundred disciples reported to elder Fisco at the Alchemy subdivision.
The elder didn’t intend to waste his time and immediately began instructions the moment he arrived.
“Just having the affinity for the fire element doesn’t make you alchemists nor inner disciples. First you’ll have to step into the Qi gathering stage and then you can finally begin to practice. As you may know, you’ll have to go through body refinement and bone reforging stages first, but luckily our sect master has granted you the opportunity to gather the necessary ingredients for the cleansing procedures yourself.”
He ignored several raised hands from disciples who had questions and continued, “Starting today you’ll be separated in smaller groups of twenty and your senior brothers and sisters will show you the basic exercises for you to perform to achieve better results. Also you’ll be taught some basics of herbalism so you could go out and earn contribution points. That is it for now. If you have questions, ask your seniors.”