Kraven's vision swiftly shifted from the small room with Elder Silverstorm to a large hall containing too many people to count.
"Go and stand by Jason and James I have to go report to the Elder in charge I will see you when you enter the sect," Elder Silverstorm said before disappearing and reappearing in front of a woman who looked to be at most 30 but was definitely in the high tens of thousands.
"Elder Swiftshadow I'm here to report that all disciples in my section are here," Elder Silverstorm said politely.
"I see that you are late, Please explain why," Elder Swiftshadow said quietly but it gave Elder Silverstorm shivers.
"I apologise, I was having fun talking with my new disciple about cultivation," Elder Silverstorm said truthfully.
"New disciple, don't tell me you chose one of the new disciples," Elder Swiftshadow questioned.
"Indeed I did it's the black-haired boy over there," Elder Silverstorm said pointing towards Kraven who was talking with Jason and James.
"A Fire Spiritual Body, Would I be correct," Elder Swiftshadow said.
"Yes Elder he does indeed possess a Fire Spiritual Body as you said but what truly attracted me to him was his personality," Elder Silverstorm said not getting into details.
"Well I hope his talent is as good as his personality," Elder Swiftshadow said dismissively as she did not know much of Kraven.
"Thank you Elder," Elder Silverstorm politely thanked the Elder.
"Who is my master talking to," Kraven asked Jason and James.
"That's Grand Elder Swift Shadow, a mighty Elder in the Martial Saint realm, she's someone even your master can't talk informally to. James responded.
"ATTENTION"
Everyone in the hall turned to the stage where all the Elders were.
"Now we have everyone's attention it's time to begin," An Elder said not shouting but her voice reached all corners of the hall.
"Congratulations on entering the
"First I will go over the rewards, the top 10 will enter the sect as 1st Grade Outer Disciples places 5-10 will get to choose a Mid-Tier Body Tempering Martial Art, top 5 get to choose a High-Tier Body Tempering Martial Art and 1st place will enter the sect as an Outer Sect Prodigy and get to choose a Peak-Tier Body Tempering Martial Art, the rewards for the lower ranks will apply to the higher ranks as well so 1st place will get to choose a Mid, High and Peak-Tier Body Tempering Martial Art." The nameless elder continued.
"Now we will deal with places 5 to 10,
10th place belongs to Aaron Belhaven
9th place belongs to Jasper Thorne
8th place belongs to Logan Heathcliff
7th place belongs to Simon Belhaven
6th place belongs to Sabrina Wesley
5th place belongs to Anna Weston
Congratulations you will receive your rewards when you enter the sect.
"As usual all the rankers will be from cultivation families no chance someone talented could be among the slaves" Kraven heard a group of people talk with hushed laughter.
"Now 4-2," the Elder said.
4th place belongs to Kassidy Aldrich
3rd place belongs to Shane Fenton
2nd place belongs to Jake Aramis
With the announcement even some of the Elders were shocked as the Aldrich, Fenton, and Aramis families are all Martial Saint families and to think none of their descendants managed to rank 1st was incredible.
"Last but not least 1st place, and for the first time in history it's tied with 2 people getting 27 stars," The Elder said knowing how insane 27 stars were.
"27 stars to think there are monsters of that level in this batch of disciples means that the sect will be very lively for a while," the elders said while laughing.
"How can someone get 27 stars I've had the personal training of Martial Emperors since I was a child and even my Grandfather would occasionally give me pointers but I only managed to get 23 stars, who the hell could get 27 stars!!" the man shouting was Jake Aramis a boy considered the best talent in his family by his grandfather a Martial Saint.
"1st place belongs to Kraven and Silvia, both of you come to the stage," The Elder said.
"No surnames means they were slaves, how the fuck could some lowly slaves get a higher score than me," once again it was Jake Aramis.
Upon reaching the stage, Kraven noticed the woman who had matched his score. He observed that she was slightly taller than him and had pure white hair that reached her shoulder blades. What shocked them both was when they looked into each other's eyes, they realized that their eyes were the same color: blood red.
"I know that it's very unusual to have a tie at the top spot but it was quite hard to call either one of you less talented, you both got full marks in two tests, achieved the Intent realm in the second test and finally were both accepted as personal disciples of core elders before even joining the sect, so we decided to make an exception and have you share the 1st place spot but don't worry you'll each get the same rewards," The elder answered something Kraven wanted to ask.
"Well that's the end of the ceremony, so now you'll have to go and collect your items and officially enter the sect but don't worry the elders will take you where you have to go," The elder explained.
"Kraven come here I'll sort out your sect items don't worry so just come over here," Elder Silverstorm said as Kraven was about to follow the crowd, space warped and they appeared in a spacious luxurious room that was pure white.
"Come meet my old friend, Elder Eternal Snow, she is one of the best alchemists in our sect and the master of the girl who tied with you," Elder Silverstorm instructed Kraven.
"Hello, Elder Eternal Snow, my name is Kraven," Kraven said quite woodenly as the only experience speaking formally was from when he was trying to avoid being beaten up by the maids.
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"No need to be so formal with me when we are not in public especially if you're that old man's disciple," Elder Eternal Snow said chuckling at Kraven's wooden introduction.
"Oh, good because I'm not very good at formal I've had zero practice," Kraven said with a smile.
"Child you should introduce yourself," Elder Eternal Snow said nudging her newest disciple.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Kraven I am Silvia," Silvia said extremely formally.
"Um yeah you too I guess, but why are you being so formal it's so weird we're the same age just talk normally," Kraven said not understanding why she was speaking to Kraven like he was some prince.
"I was always taught to be polite to people of a higher standing to avoid bringing shame onto our family," Silvia answered clearly she was from a well-off family and had gone through intense manner training.
"Higher standing I'm not at a higher standing than you at all, we both ranked 1st and our talents are both so high they couldn't even choose one to knock down to 2nd, so I am absolutely not of a higher standing than you," Kraven said very annoyed at what she had said.
"But my family always said that women were always below men at the same level and that we should always be meek and subservient when around men of a similar standing," Silvia said the mental conditioning she had undergone at the hands of her family was not easily broken.
"What utter shit gender doesn't play a role in how strong you can become or how influential you can be, you're talking to someone who spent his entire life being tortured by women so believe me when I tell you that their gender didn't make the attacks hurt any less, so stop being blinded by the words of some idiots and realise that the only limit to how strong you can be is your talent. Kraven said getting annoyed at the idea women were weaker than men he had suffered at the hands of women so he knew that was damn wrong.
"I...I...I don't know what to think," Silvia said, becoming disoriented.
"Let me tell you this if you enter the sect the way you are now you'll become some weakling's resource and then what the family that abandoned you get keep going on living their happy lives while you rot in the ground," Kraven said not understanding why she didn't hate the family that sold her.
Just as the girl was about to speak Kraven felt something familiar welling up inside Silvia.
"Isn't this the first awakening thing that I went through," Kraven said.
"Yes, it is I knew she had a Spiritual Body but she hadn't undergone her first awakening yet so she couldn't feel the benefits yet, likely due to her bottling her emotions up and never allowing herself to truly feel," Elder Eternal Snow confirmed what Kraven said.
"I told you Fire and Ice tend to get a reaction out of each other," Elder Silverstorm said.
But Kraven wasn't listening he was just focused on observing Silvia's first awakening which lasted about ten minutes.
"That took way longer than mine does it vary between people," Kraven asked his master.
"No, ten minutes is the standard mine was ten minutes and so was yours but you were being attacked so it didn't feel as long for you since you were focusing on not being hurt," Elder Silverstorm explained.
"What exactly is a first awakening you've mentioned it several times but you've never explained it," Kraven asked as despite his master telling him about cultivation he hadn't mentioned what a first awakening actually was.
"You're right I completely forgot to tell you," Elder Silverstorm laughed.
"Before you have your first awakening your affinity to your respective element hasn't yet awakened, it transforms your whole body but especially the veins and heart to activate your 100% affinity, if you tried to cultivate a fire attribute technique before your first awakening the results would be okay but nowhere near as good as after the first awakening," Elder Silverstorm explained.
"But what causes the awakening, I was being attacked when it happened but for Silvia, it just happened after a conversation, "Kraven asked not understanding the logic.
"It's quite simple, heightened emotions, that's the trigger for all Spiritual Bodies to awaken, my mother was killed in front of me and that caused my Lightning Spiritual Body to awaken," Elder Silverstrom said bringing up a painful memory from his early years.
"But during my life, I've been filled with rage the entire time I was kept captive but my Spiritual Body never awoke then only after I got to the sect did it awaken," Kraven asked confused.
"I'm afraid your father was behind that as well," Elder Silverstorm said as a set of what could barely be called clothes appeared in his hand.
"Those are the clothes I was wearing when I was brought here," Kraven said recognizing the rags.
"Indeed they are but what you can't see is the formation on the inside of them, after analyzing it the effect is to stop Qi from entering the body that's probably why your first awakening was so violent and could have killed you, your body has probably been trying to awaken for years now," Elder Silverstorm said bringing another thing his father had done to the surface.
"Why would a Father stop his child from awakening, it would be a massive benefit to have a genius in his family," Elder Eternal Snow said confused.
"Oh that's right you don't know so basically," Kraven said before recapping his life from the long long time ago of at most 24 hours.
"That's horrible to think he was keeping you alive to use you as a human sacrifice to become a sect leader," Silvia said both sad for Kraven and angry at his Father.
"Well you've certainly changed in such a short time, and don't worry I'm planning on killing them all," Kraven said with killing intent oozing out of him at the thought of killing his family.
"Yes I certainly have changed, thanks to you making me realise how my family mentally messed with my head, but are you sure you should have done that considering we're equal in talent I might become a big obstacle for you," Silvia said chuckling not even responding to the second half of what Kraven said.
"Nah, sounds like fun to have someone to actually compete with," Kraven said accepting Silvia's challenge.
"We are coming to the end of our time so let me give you some advice Kraven, when you pick your Body-Tempering Technique don't choose a Fire attribute one," Elder Silverstorm said seriously.
"Why not with my Spiritual Body won't I speed through and easily reach the 4th layer," Kraven responded confused.
"Yes, you would but you would gain nothing from cultivating it as the main effect of elemental attribute Body-Tempering Techniques is to strengthen the cultivator's affinity to the respective element and you can't improve your affinity to Fire Qi, my recommendation is to choose a physical series Body-Tempering Technique to make you heal quicker or enhance your physical abilities, this is the advice that is given to all Spiritual Bodies, but ultimately it's up to you choose a fast advancement or greater strength for later realms, it is your decision," Elder Silverstorm said explaining the same thing his master said to him an incredibly long time ago.
"But if I choose a Body-Tempering Technique that makes me heal quicker won't that be useless in the Qi Gathering realm?" Kraven questioned back.
No, the Body-Tempering Technique will increase your healing factor, and the breakthrough to the next realm will further enhance the aspect that your Body-Tempering Technique focused on," Elder Silverstorm said answering Kraven's question.
"I see," Kraven said having a lot to think about.
"You both need to go now but first here are your storage rings with the technique tokens inside I'll send you to where everything else is handled.
Kraven and Silvia stood next to each other after getting the same advice from her master then their vision turned black and they appeared next to a man in a sect robe.
"If I'm not mistaken you are Kraven and Silvia the tied 1st place winner correct," The man said.
"Yes," They both answered at the same time.
"I've been informed that you have both received your disciple storage ring along with the 1st place rewards, Is that correct," The man asked.
"Yes," They both answered at the same time but Kraven was starting to get annoyed at the questions despite it being only the second one.
"Excellent," the man said as two boxes appeared in his hand.
"These are your outer sect uniforms there are 3 pairs inside, and this is the key to your residence due to you both being ranked 1st you have both been given a single-person house with a training area and yard," the man said as 2 keys appeared in his hand.
"Is it not normal to have a single-person house," Silvia asked.
"No, it's not 3rd Grade Outer Disciples have to share a 4-person house," The man said sadly clearly he had suffered this in the past.
"That is all I have for you if I could make a suggestion it would be wise to head to the Library Pavilion to choose your Cultivation Technique and a Low-Tier Martial Art are free so it is wise to go and choose it now," The man said.
Thank you we will head to do that now," Kraven said.