Starting Development
“I…” Todoro Kalavera knelt with his right knee, facing the statue, as Heian Ciemnosc stepped to stand before the statue again. He watched the young man fall silent before declaring his allegiance, seemingly no longer as dull and dejected as before. “I swear my loyalty to the Forbloffende Traes Sect and the Sect Master.”
“…” Heian Ciemnosc silently stared down at the young man as this one remained half-kneeling on the ground. The silence seemed to be become eternal in the young man’s mind, but the stare he felt from Heian Ciemnosc, without lifting his eyes to take a look, made his blood thump heavily as his body trembled.
The notion lasted for 10 minutes, with Heian Ciemnosc giving the young man no choice to stand up, remaining kneeling on the ground that shouldn’t have been so difficult for a cultivator. But, by now, Todoro was sweaty all over his body. When, suddenly, he felt an object flying through the air towards him.
Todoro lifted his head as his right hand instinctively moved to catch an emblem and a circular, black medallion. The emblem had 3 shades of darkness. Pure black in the upper, largest section, taking half the emblem. Black grease color in the middle, like a bending light, taking 10% of the emblem’s, and black jade color in the lower, second-largest section, taking 40%.
The medallion was perfectly circular and smooth, almost as if it could slip from one’s palm even if they were wide open and facing the sky. When Todoro held them, he felt his body shudder as something within him formed a connection with this whole place he couldn’t discern.
“From now on, you’re the Sect’s First Disciple. Do well,” Heian Ciemnosc then threw some paper sheets towards the young man. These flew directly through the air without touching his hands. When the young man awoke from his stupor and looked at the sheets, Heian Ciemnosc added, “You have 3 days to learn these. The Sect’s empty for now, so missions and responsibilities will be unnecessary. You’ll still have to do your personal cleaning duties.”
“Meet me in 4 days from now. I’ll guide you. Do well, and I might choose to guide you further.” Heian Ciemnosc calmly said, wearing an indifferent expression. He motioned to turn around, when Todoro felt the urge to call out to Heian Ciemnosc. “Wait, Sect Master!”
“Hm?” Heian Ciemnosc stopped and looked at the young man. Todoro gulped before cautiously saying, “My cultivation talent is poor. I’ve been in the same realm for nearly 10 years. Am I still welcome?”
“Indeed. Your potential is utter garbage, but that’s your problem. If you want to curry favor with me, keep your place clean. The array formations won’t help you do it, even if you replace me as the Sect Master. There’s nothing else for you to do, besides practicing and learning in the Disciple Quarters.” Heian Ciemnosc nodded and said, placing his hands behind his back.
Todoro felt his pride hurt, but Heian Ciemnosc basically told him not to worry. Then, Heian Ciemnosc added, “If you want to remain here, at least do your duties. That’s the same for everyone. Either way, as the First Disciple, you have a lot to learn. When you’ve uncovered yourself, you’ll understand how important it is to be in your place. You can’t run from it.”
“I… I understand, Sect Master,” Todoro said, lowering his head as he gave the paper sheets a few glances. Heian Ciemnosc imperceptibly nodded before turning around, walking away. After a few minutes, Todoro looked into his medallion after putting his emblem on his heart, as mentioned by the paper sheets.
He followed the instructions and presented himself to the Outer Promotion. He automatically received a uniform, indistinctive from any other he had ever seen before. Instead of gray clothed, with a set of his chosen type of clothing, he received robes, pants and shirts, and loose pieces of clothing. All were lavish but simple black clothing, besides a black luster armor.
The armor was a complete surprise, and more so as it was his perfect size. Todoro didn’t wait to find his room and immediately tried it on in one of the bathrooms of the Outer Promotion. He took it off, marveling at these welcoming gifts, before resuming his reading while walking towards his bedroom.
He had to walk for an entire day before finally glimpsing at his place. It was already past 25 and the next day had arrived, but he still spent another 25 minutes walking to his bedroom before opening the door to his new life.
Every Disciple Quarter’s residential building was surrounded by natural, lush, and seemingly more alive and vibrant grass. The buildings were constructed with a unique cement, also black from the outside, that glowed with or without sunlight. It was quite fascinating.
He opened the door with his emblem and medallion heating a little, placing his hand on the door’s key, replacing the knob, which was a square hand-sized spot on the door. It opened with his practically 0 range Spirit Sense. When he entered it, he was surprised.
The walls, ceiling, and floor were all wooden. But this wasn’t just any wood. These were all black, smooth, midnight color, and obscure gray, smooth flooring without a pattern. There was a praying mat directly to the left of the door, near the opposite corner, with a shelf between it and the individual bed.
Atop the bed’s head, there were several small chests where the disciple could place his belongings. Todoro immediately opened them all up and was excited to see their empty, lavish, clean interior. Then, he sat on the bed after putting his 3 sets of lavish but simple clothing and black luster armor away.
He noticed 2 small desks on the right from the door’s entrance, and another door facing the entrance. He walked out, only to find natural, living grass in a small compartment. Todoro’s bedroom was in the center of the Outer Disciples. He felt slightly helpless, especially after seeing that the floors at the utmost bottom had a little garden, although their bedrooms looked slightly smaller than the others.
Now he knew why. But he still felt saddened. It was more comfortable to have a garden out in the open than surrounded by other bedrooms' walls. However, according to the paper sheet, even if there were other disciples, and he was in the very center of it all, they were all soundproof.
In the backroom, he found 2 stumps to sit on and a well. There were also many barrels. 2 for storing food and 3 for drinking, whichever the drink was. Reading more through the paper sheet as he returned to his room and sat on his bed. Todoro decided to accumulate enough Inferior Low Stones before exchanging for another compartment of naturally growing grass, amplified to the entrance. Those from the middle to the top of the residential buildings didn’t have it but could order them.
Then, Todoro Kalavera felt everything process in his head. He was finally an itinerant cultivator no more. He had found his new home, and his world had changed. Todoro had promised his mom. Now, he ought to do everything in his power to help the Sect. It was already stupidly rich, he just needed to use its resources and not worry at all.
With this, Todoro smiled and dropped his back on the comfy bed, not even bothering to cover himself. But he didn’t last more than 25 minutes before feeling too active to let himself fall asleep. He grabbed the paper sheet he left below his pillow and read through it again.
He was astounded to see that, to become an Outer Disciple, one must become a cultivator. But to become an Inner Disciple, one must break into the Spirit Gathering realm. Lastly, to become a Core Disciple, one must break into the Obsidiafying realm. From the latter, those in the Ashes Perception realm who were valued the most could become Acting Elders.
The subsequent Elder, Ancestor, Grand Elder, and Grand Ancestor or Vice sect master positions were even more tight, besides cultivation base. Because, although the Sect puts such emphasis on cultivation base, if one’s battle prowess showed otherwise, they could be promoted beforehand.
Of course, the punishment for falsifying information in any possible way could lead to death 8 out of 10 times. Either way, with his nature, Todoro Kalavera wouldn’t bother with such things. He continued to read through everything as another military rank sheet became more important the more he read…
. . .
2 years passed.
In the other organizations, their positions are spread through their Step’s realms accordingly. The Forbloffende Traes Sect didn’t vary from this, at least not that much. What it did differed to was the military forces.
Instead of having commanders and those direct subordinates in a pyramid, the Forbloffende Traes Sect had three different military ranks systems with their assigned purposes, war instruments, and roles.
The land forces were divided in 15 possible military units.
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The first was the Team. This one consists from 5 to 20 troops, and are led by either a Pvt. 1st Class, Corporeal, or Sergeant.
The second was the Squad. This one consists from 18 to 48 troops, from 4 to 2 Teams depending on their size, and is led by a Corporeal or Sergeant.
The third was the Section. This one consists from 36 to 102 troops, from 2 to 5 Squads depending on their size, and is led by a Sergeant or Staff Sergeant.
The fourth was the Platoon. This one consists from 112 to 210 troops, from 2 to 6 Sections depending on their size, and is led by a Warrant Officer, or a 1st or 2nd Lieutenant-
The fifth was the Echelon. This one consists from 180 to 540 troops, from 2 to 5 Platoons, and an extra Platoon, depending on their size. It is led by a Warrant Officer, Master Warrant Officer, Captain, or Staff Captain.
The sixth was the Company. This one consists from 540 to 1,620 troops, from 3 to 9 Echelons depending on their size, and is led by a Master Warrant Officer, Chief Warrant Officer, Captain, or Lieutenant Major.
The seventh is the Battalion Regiment. This one consists from 4,860 to 14,580 troops, from 9 to 27 Companies depending on their size, and is led by a Lieutenant Colonel.
The eight is the Regiment. This one consists from 15 thousand to 45 thousand troops, from 3 to 9 Battalion Regiments depending on their size, and is led by a Colonel.
The ninth is the Brigade. This one consists from 97 thousand to 225 thousand troops, from 2 to 5 Regiments, and is led by a Colonel Brigadier or Brigadier General.
The tenth is the Division/Legion. This one consists from 200 thousand to 560 thousand troops, and from 2 Brigades and extra. It is led by a Major General, Lieutenant General, or Division General.
The eleventh is the Corps. This one consists from 350 thousand to 1.5 million troops. From 3 to 2 Division /Legions depending on their size, and is led by a Lieutenant General, Colonel General, General, Corps General, or Army General.
The twelfth is the Army. It consists from 1.2 million to 4.5 million troops. From 3 or 3 and an extra Corps, and is led by an Army General, General, or Field Marshal.
The thirteenth is the Army Group. It consists from 6 million to 14 million troops. From 3 to 5 Armies, and is led by a General or Field Marshal.
The fourteenth is the Region. It consists from 33 million to 80 million troops, from 6 small to 5 and extra Army Groups, and is led by a General or Field Marshal.
The last, final military unit is the Armament Race. It can be divided into 2 different interpretations, which are all official and perfectly functional. There is the leading and subsidiary forms. The former is the Leader, whose Armament Race brings about all forces under his name. The subsidiary part of these two are the Leader’s Dictators, who are above the supreme commanders. An Armament Race is thus started at 14 billion troops. And a Dictator’s Armament Race consists of at most 100 billion.
Their numbers alone can result from any Galaxy, by training the only, very best of the army. Selecting and training those who’d be otherwise considered elite troops, from soldier units to garrison units, but they’re just that, ordinary soldier or garrison units. There is a lot of room for elite troops in any military unit.
But those were only from the land forces. The air forces, which are grouped with the land forces or navy, have a different and unique system to themselves. It is divided into 9 military units, and are comprised by Fighters and troops and engineers.
The first is the Flight. This one consists from 5 to 10 Fighters, and from 30 to 80 personnel. These are led by a Junior Senior Officer.
The second is the Echelon. This one consists from 8 to 16 Fighters, and from 24 to 128 personnel. These are led by a Captain or even Staff Captain.
The third is the Squadron. This one consists from 24 to 240 Fighters, and from 120 to 1,920 personnel. These are led by a Lieutenant Colonel, or Squadron Head.
The fourth is the Wing. This one consists from 720 to 2,160 Fighters, and from 6,480 to 17,280 personnel. These are led by a Colonel or Captain, and are formed from 3 to 6 Squadrons.
The fifth is the Alta Wing. It consists from 6,480 to 19,410 Fighters, and from 50 thousand to 155 thousand personnel. These are led by a Wing Commander or Air Commander.
The sixth is the Air Division. It consists from 58,320 to 174,960 Fighters, and from 524 thousand to 1.4 million personnel. These are led by an Air Commander, Major General, or Division General.
The seventh is the Air Army. It consists from 524 thousand to 1.57 million Fighters, and from 4.7 million to 12.6 million personnel. These are led by an Air Chief Marshal.
The eight is the Major Command. It consists from 1 million to 2 million Fighters, and from 6 million to 16 million personnel. These are led by a General.
The ninth is the Armament Air Force. It consists from 1 million to billions of Fighters. It is led by an Air Force Marshal.
Then, the navy and armada take the same military ranking system. In a navy or armada, there are military units from Small, Medium, and Large Flotillas to Small Fleets, Fleets, Mothership Fleets, Grand Fleets, Small Expedition Fleets, Expedition Fleets, and Grand Expedition Fleets.
In the world, there was only Fleet, Mothership Fleet, Grand Fleet, and Expedition Fleet. The latter was the largest, strongest, and self-sufficient military force that could traverse the entire world. But in the Forbloffende Traes Sect, not only were their military forces about 3 times the usual number, they also had many more war instruments everywhere.
A Mothership Fleet to the world is a Mothership surrounded by numerous Flotillas, and a Fleet consists of several Large, Medium, and Small Flotillas. To the Sect, all Small Fleets had at least Large Flotillas. And their Mothership Fleets isn’t just 1 Mothership surrounded by Flotillas, but by Fleets…
Either way, that was how the Forbloffende Traes Sect would develop, surely slow, but surely so. And as these 2 years passed, Todoro Kalavera could understand it the more he learned about the knowledge in the Book Instruction and practiced what he learned in the training grounds.
The loneliness no longer struck him, letting him feel the focus of cultivation a proper cultivator must have. Furthermore, as soon as he became an Outer Disciple, he also became the Sect’s soldier unit. He knew what this meant. Every cultivator always pondered about how this feeling was like in the first years of entering an organization. Few joined a new organization when the latter was at war.
Entering the Forbloffende Traes Sect was equal to betting. They could be attacked by any group of cultivators, and it was even more so when considering there were only 2 peak First Step powerhouses in the Sect. This made Todoro want to protect the Sect from any espionage, and evil vermins.
However, with how unpopular the Sect was, that wouldn’t matter. The influx of recruitment per year was null, let alone per month or week. There was just nothing. However, the recruitment process was at least always opened. Yet, as Todoro felt left out because of this, he also became exhilarated. Because he broke into the Spiritual Condensation realm after 3 months!
Unfortunately, that didn’t last long, as he spent the remaining 21 months in the Spiritual Condensation realm 2nd stage for the rest of the time here.
Every day, Todoro Kalavera wondered if Heian Ciemnosc would kick him that day. After several months of forcing his body to training and endless torture with his exhausted body still in the training grounds. He no longer worried about when he would fail the Sect and the Sect Master. Instead, he thought of making the most out of this before he was kicked out.
Like this, a month passed. It was the 4th day of the second month, which meant that Heian Ciemnosc would give him a lecture in the Concourse Lesson open halls. It was just early morning, and the now adult young man was just training the heaviness of his open palm lower sections’ hits when he felt something from his medallion and emblem.
He looked towards the recruitment area, which was from where his head gained images of people walking outside the forest more than 1,000 kilometers away and were now nearing the Sect from the south. The notion marveled him, but he knew what he ought to do.
Todoro walked to a little child-sized puppet holding his thick lavish but simple black jacket, used what tiny bit of Power Energy he had to clean his sweat and odor, and put it on before heading to the southern entrance.
… Heian Ciemnosc was calmly seated behind the statue when Todoro Kalavera arrived there. He bowed deeply and was about to head to the recruitment zone outside the barrier, when Heian Ciemnosc opened his mouth and calmly said, “You’ll do the assessment all by yourself. I’ll take on once the new disciples are taken in.”
“Yes, Sect Master.” Todoro, who once thought of the Sect Master as silly, deeply respected the young man seemingly sitting cross-legged like a homeless person behind the statue. Heian Ciemnosc nodded, letting Todoro walk to his duties.
When he arrived at the recruitment zone central office and read the descriptions of the people, with recordings and live footage of their assessment, the First Disciple sucked in a breath and felt his body heavy.
A couple of dozen people arrived here, surrounding the rich girl like bodyguards, but most of them were civilians. Only 3 of them were cultivators, with their status higher than anyone else in the Phrenic realm, while the rich girl was at the peak of the Phrenic realm. They didn’t wear an emblem or showed their medallion, writing their information and answered the sheet’s questions while chatting with each other. The rich girl was first and was treated like a princess.
Once everyone was done, the rich girl brought everyone to the door leading to the testing grounds. They had been chatty and talking about this Sect like they could do whatever they wanted. If they didn’t like the atmosphere, they would leave.
When they went through the door, they were shocked to realize they were separated into different zones with buildings of the same size and shape. There was a staircase in the exterior leading up, with a panel with a strangely shaped caved hole before stepping on the stairs.
Not able to find the girl, they stepped up the stairs, wanting to get things done before looking for her. Many were struck when they fell down the roof. Their bodies weren’t penetrated much, and the puppets were thrown to the side with ease before these people ran away with all their might. But in the end, if they weren’t knocked out or forced to shout surrendering words, they did so when they found the floors where the puppets acted strangely.
Todoro could see it. Everyone’s tryouts and different talents and qualities. The rich girl was, by far, the best among them. She had the best results by far. Her agility was tremendous, her action response swift and brief, and her methods to push her way through and down the floors were commendable.
When Todoro compared himself to her, besides admiringly, he felt the shortcomings from back then were similar but more obtuse than hers, but he no longer had them. Although he was still in the Spiritual Condensation realm 1st stage, his knowledge far surpassed any of these people’s.
…
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Let It Rain's note: In case I lost it for the umpteenth time and forgot: Forbloffende Traes Sect ---> I googled the danish out of it = Amazing Trees Sect. I know, I'm a genius.