Joining The Strongest Sect!

Seeing the little boy almost raving about, the woman before him lowered and tilted her head, not finding the words right away. At the same time, small footsteps sounded from behind the woman but at a distance of hundreds of meters. Once the person behind the woman seemed to have finally realized where was what did she rush towards Ciemnosc's general direction.

"And what do you want of me, then?" Asked the boy towards the woman, who was slightly speechless momentarily as she saw his face darken, ready to stake everything that came against him. She said with her most calm tone, "You have nothing to worry about, child. The reason why we are taking these places down in the first place is due to them stealing much of the talent that could have gone to my sect and doing so without permission."

"..." But Ciemnosc did not respond to the woman’s explanation. He tilted his head to the left, low, then looked back up at the woman. Before he could speak, a certain Senior Sister’s voice came into Ciemnosc and the woman’s ears, directly attracting Ciemnosc’s attention like never before.

“Wait, Little Ciemnosc! Please wait, Grand Elder!” The Senior Sister then appeared in Ciemnosc’s ‘awareness’, becoming sluggish after the events that transpired and the current ‘reveal’ right before his eyes. While he said something to the incoming Senior Sister, the woman before him said something to him as well.

“You!...” - ”Is that your Spirit Sense? How come it is so advanced already?!”

While the woman had surprise coated by elation all over her face, Ciemnosc frowned when he spoke. The Senior Sister then ran faster towards them and stopped to the right of Ciemnosc in-between the little boy and the ‘Grand Elder’. Clasping her hands and bowing at the woman respectfully, she then directed her words at Ciemnosc, who was momentarily expressionless.

“Little Ciemnosc, I was the one to place an imprint on you back then.” The ‘back then’ from her words was more than enough, his first day of training and his first time meeting this Senior Sister…well. Ciemnosc looked at her for a few seconds before looking at the woman, waiting for more words to come his way, while some flying pelicans seemed to have been ordered to stand in their position in midair, going back up instead of coming down with the woman.

“There are many things that a tiny place, criminal and uncaring for the people they could hurt could never attain no matter what. One of those things is the Spirit Tracker on your body, which was used with the help of a tool. For that, even one’s Spirit Sense wouldn’t notice it unless they knew what kind of tool it was and how it worked.”

The woman’s words gained her Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes, which he didn’t take away from her, and waited for even more words. The woman signaled the Senior Sister with a flick of her robe’s sleeve before taking a step towards Ciemnosc. “Little Ciemnosc, was it? Ciemnosc, then…skipping any more needless words and explanations…would you like to join my sect?”

The senior sister in question looked at Ciemnosc in a bit of worry. But as if knowing what he would face now, she calmly bowed at the ‘Grand Elder’ and then marched to the back, where another man on a pelican came down to pick her up. Suddenly, a pelican came out of nowhere with the actions of the man. Before that pelican then became the senior sister’s mount.

“C-can I still join…your sect?” Ciemnosc asked ‘nervously’, feeling as if he was way too hesitant and the people from such a sect, powerful people, would no longer want him because of being dissatisfied. The woman took this, then said with her left hand landing on his right shoulder, pinching him without pain. “Of course! What a silly boy, the sect even sent me, the Grand Elder, to come pick you up. If we suddenly decide to not bring you up, what would it be of our sect then? Hahaha…”

“Ah, w-what is it?” Ciemnosc suddenly felt as if the skin on his right shoulder was being ripped off, but it was not his skin or his body that was being peeled off, it was instead a small rectangular bright red piece of paper that became visible only after the woman pinched his skin and pulled it off.

“This is the Spirit Tracker, a talisman. Tracking one’s Power Energy, technique’s properties, or Arts is useless, as many have Power Energy and similar techniques,, and all Arts are based on the flow of Power Energy and use of one’s Spirit Sense. Only one’s Natal Spirit is unique in all that exists and there is, boy.” The woman explained patiently, then added as if she knew he didn’t mind that at all.

“She was a spy for us here, it had been 3 years, and yet we were ignored completely by such a weak organization. Maybe for you the title and status of ‘Grand Elder’ might not be much. But in my sect, it has been my seat for more than a thousand years despite having to kill some fools here and there every decade or so.”

“Ciemnosc, I know this is very fast for you, and we can take time walking if you so wish to. She has also given information about the way you’ve been behaving, and having taken notice of your Spirit Sense, I can tell for sure that you are a very talented little boy with a potential that can make you a brave and glorious monster in the future.”

“Ciemnosc, my name is Jing Zhu. You don’t have to call me Grand Elder in the future if you’d like to. Do you have a last name?” The woman was being really soft with Ciemnosc. He couldn’t not notice her concern for him, not just as a talent but as some kind of hope as well. To answer her question, Ciemnosc lowered his head, which made her nod a little a couple of times.

“That’s alright. All that matters is that you’re known for who you are. Hm? Why do I no longer feel your Spirit Sense. Are you alright?” The woman ended up asking Ciemnosc that question when she realized that the Spirit Sense that was coming from him had been gone for almost a minute by now, Ciemnosc looked up at her, though, and said.

“Can I…at least bury these?” He pointed towards his right, where a tiny piece of skin from Parpa was…all that remained of her, and to his left shoulder where a few pieces of his fur remained stabbed against his bloody neck, whose neck was quickly drying up already. The woman looked at the ‘traces’ of what he seemed to consider worthy of preoccupation on his part, and said with lowered eyebrows, “My condolences, Ciemnosc.”

Quaaaack~.

The ground suddenly split open with an invisible trace of Power Energy coming out of her left palm, which was in turn, aimed at the ground. And with a swift motion, an 8 meters long, 1 meter wide crack was opened on the desert’s ground 10 meters deep.

“Our spies are allowed only 2 tokens which allow our tools to know which are allies but not from the sect, and she could only give 1 of them to you, she selected you.” The woman said while Ciemnosc picked up that little bit of space. The remaining fur from his neck, and softly tossed them properly into the crack. The woman then finished her words with, “Usually, such a tool isn’t really used. It might only be seen 3 times out of 100 missions such as these.”

“...” Ciemnosc said nothing in return, the woman allowed the silence to be the mediator between him and this terrible collateral. And when Ciemnosc was ready, for what was actually a few whole minutes long of waiting for him to speak first, the woman was given a pair of indifferent eyes, like the darkest pools, and with a calm, soft, and quiet voice.

“So what sect did I join?” Ciemnosc asked blandly, the woman grinned good naturally at last, and holding the back of his hands softly, she said with vigorous pride on her tone and as glints in her eyes. “The Self-Mutilating Honores Sect.”

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. . .

“Grand Elder, this is the kid?” A man from one of the pelicans asked when he saw Grand Elder Jing Zhu being followed by no one other than Ciemnosc. She had changed from a grandma-like woman to a strict and bossy chief as she didn’t even look up at the man who spoke and flatly said in return. “Elders, if you keep trying to grab this child away from me, you’ll have to spend triple your salary of Supreme grade Power Energy to not die on your wounds.”

“Ak…” The man who spoke was directly choking with air, the rest of the elders around him glaring at him, glaring very unfriendly. Below, Ciemnosc stopped stepping forwards as the woman remained on the spot and took out a smallish bag, barely about 2 times the size of his fist. But from it, a glow of translucent Power Energy came out of her little bag to…

Crriiiiieeee!

…allow for a huge, completely white eagle with a yellow beak and brown eyes having a wingspan of 13 meters and a length of 7 meters - to appear right before them and be launched into the skies!

“!” At once, Ciemnosc became impossibly intrigued, not for the eagle’s marvelous beauty, spotless white like the starless nights but white instead of black. Instead, Ciemnosc was like this because of the tremendous ability that that little bag of the Grand Elder had for storing a living being!

“You think it's pretty? Hum, this is a Cloudless Eagle. They have the capacity to only cultivate to the Conflagrate Realm. If you like it, or even want something better, in our sect you might just find it one day.” The Grand Elder said, her smile when looking at her mount was affectionate, and unlike their mercilessness from the pelicans as well as the indifference and even hunger to the blood of a few thousand around, the Cloudless Eagle dignifiedly remained in the air without even needing to flap its wings and looked down at Grand Elder Jing Zhu with confused questions popping out its facial expressions.

“Oo ooh, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Tranquilizing the mount, Grand Elder then slowly extended her hand low and towards Ciemnosc, to which he slowly came to send his own left arm to. But the moment that Ciemnosc’s arm was close, she instead grabbed his left wrist and before he could even tell, he was floating in the air!

Whooooosh~.

All he could see now was the sight of his open left hand being forcefully moved towards the feathers of the Cloudless Egle. Meanwhile, and as his hand then came into contact with the soft feathers and the Cloudless Eagle’s guttural sounds made his skin tremble. Grand Elder spoke to him softly as well.

“When one cultivates to the Conflagrate Realm, one is able to fly. It is very limited, but it is at least flying. Breaking through the Obisidiafying Realm is then going to enhance one’s flight, but very little still, and the change will only occur when breaking into the next Realm,. Breakthroughs between stages aren’t helpful at all.”

“Mn.” Since it was learning time, Ciemnosc did not object, he calmly heard the Grand Elder’s words and memorized them without even trying to. The whole matter of the Arielende Sect’s wipeout was already out of his mind. He had buried the person and animal he got to interact with, regardless of their disastrous deaths. They were over now, and he was still there.

“I’m sure that you, Ciemnosc, will have a lot of questions. Don’t worry, in the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect, we value strength and intellect equally, and our reserves of information will be there for your curious nature, I assure you.” The Grand Elder said while bringing Ciemnosc to hop onto the back of the Cloudless Eagle, who was so unusually calm and at ease with a stranger that the Grand Elder spoke to him in marvel.

“You’ve become a good boy now? Or is it just in front of the children? Hoo, what a funny buddy you are, eh.”

“...” There seemed to have been some sort of communication as the pelicans above made way and began to fly in the distance in a widespread arrowless arrowhead formation, zooming into the distance over a minute before even their dots became no longer visible. Meanwhile, Ciemnosc looked back while the Cloudless Eagle ascended, a flap of its wings every now and then.

‘...’ He really had nothing to say. It was impossible to say though, that he felt attached to such a weird composition of an organization, being poorer than even the people with ordinary lives at the Warmlord City. Such management was truly terrible even if it was totally safe for all disciples and higher ups of the Arielende Sect ‘from the past’; in risk, there was gain - and victory; glory.

“Grab yourself very well, Ciemnosc. We will start going very fast…and even faster when we get back to formation with the rest of the Elders.” Grand Elder’s voice sounded and, instinctively, Ciemnosc felt a premonition of danger as he held himself dear with his hands harshly grabbing at the feathers on the back of the poor Cloudless Eagle, who shrieked out of pain from having its scalp twisted. After all, it had strong and durable feathers but not so much for its skin, and Ciemnosc was impossibly strong too.

WHOOSH! Pffhh, pfffh~~...

Ciemnosc felt around his ears, right after the sudden, insane increase of flying speed, as if they were being slowly bombarded to annihilation. When he felt Power Energy covering his ears, he could also finally open his eyes and see how some tiny dots suddenly became human sized figures all around him in less than 30 seconds.

“Gasp!” Was all that Ciemnosc could do and react with, as in the next moment and thanks to his valuable experience of…well, many things; he directly grabbed at the Grand Elder from behind over her shoulders, his hands clasping each other tightly as he closed his eyes. Meanwhile, the Grand Elder and the other 15 Elders on their pelicans suddenly changed their stance.

The Elders and a few young ones were instantly crouching down on the backs of their pelicans. While the pelicans themselves aimed their beaks and the ground but their wings and backed up ahead. And then, and then there was a strand of translucent Power Energy coming from 15 different pelicans each, all of them forming a kind of inscription around the Cloudless Eagle under the Grand Elder’s command.

“Ciemnosc! Hear this well, and hold yourself as best as you can!” The Grand Elder’s ‘excessively’ easygoing mood surprised everyone around, but remained silent and concentrated on their work at hand. She added at last before going silent. Ciemnosc’s grip never loosened though. “This is an Array, and it is for multi diverse uses. It’s called the Rychly Transporting Formation Array!”

‘An array? Array formation? What’s that?! Wait…!’ Ciemnosc’s eyes became big, his head still against the Grand Elder’s back when he suddenly felt an ever so strong pull against gravity, against magic, and against all damn laws! His hair fluttered backwards almost as if he was going bald, and his cheeks threatened to flaccidly extend backwards which didn’t happen only because of his powerful raw strength.

PEUWM!!... WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISTLEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-... BFH BFH BFH BFH…

“W-...Wwaa…Waaaaaaaaaaaheeeeeee~!” While Ciemnosc was grabbing his own hands as hard as he could to not die from a terrible height, he slowly became used to the extreme speeds and the gravity that his body was now going through, almost similar to when he was training his body for the first time, but it even helped him study and practice bodily strength much better than on the training grounds!

For 15 minutes straight, Ciemnosc couldn’t even remember when was it that the desert became a most lively and vigorous grassland, possibly just the first few seconds when the Rychly Transporting Formation Array was barely initiated. All he could feel and see were shadows of cities, of smaller settlements, and of even what seemed to be other organizations. Passing by as he became invigorated by the sensation of speeds.

As for the amount of distance traversed, Ciemnosc could obviously not be sure at all of how much was traversed and much less in what amount of time; he could only tell that they probably crossed over what could’ve been 10 or 40 times the desert that previously took the Arielende Sect almost half a day to go through.

The Cloudless Eagle and the pelicans around were also never needing to stop, take a break, eat, drink, shit not even beware of possible accidents. Wherever they passed. They went through it seamlessly, with a quietness that simply showed how at ease every single Elder was at these moments.

Futomp!

Suddenly, the Cloudless Eagle stopped when the glow of translucent Power Energy stopped empowering the Rychly Transporting Formation, and along with the pelicans and elders on top of them, they regained a much more ‘viable’ speed.

Whoosh, whoosh… whoosh…whoosh.

The Cloudless Eagle began gliding through the air, enjoying the passing of the air on its feathers and spending this time together with its master. Ciemnosc was still with his chin buried into the Grand Elder’s back that he didn’t notice that a huge, colossal sect’s territory was right before his eyes. It was only when the ‘helpless’ voice of the Grand Elder spoke that he managed to wake up from his stupor and stopped making the Grand Elder lose face.

“Wow! What is this?! Is this the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect’s territory?!” Ciemnosc had an awed expression on his face, he even had to lean his body backwards, yet he still couldn’t tell where did the width of this territory ended. Only when he returned his face to the Grand Elder’s back and saw her mocking, the teasing face did he become embarrassed with her craft answer.

“If this isn’t the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect. Then what is it? Do you really think you’re that cute, boy? You’d only manage to hook little girls. What more from an adult person?”

Ciemnosc: (๑ơ艸ơ๑) !!!

…