Benton smiled as all the kids enjoyed the dinner. He had plenty of boar meat to leave for them to eat while he was gone, but he’d need to figure out some variety for long term. Ah well, the upcoming shopping trip would take care of that. Best of all, he should be able to buy them some candies. They’d love that.
Some of them looked like a stiff wind would blow them over, and it was a joy to see them eat until they were full.
The other thing that made him happy was how well Yang Xiu was getting along with Wan Ai. Given his star pupil’s initial reaction to the presence of a new valued sect member, he’d been slightly worried that the two would be hostile toward each other. Instead, his lecture to Yang Xiu had worked like a charm. All it took was a few words from him to set her on the right path.
He didn’t remember parenting being so easy back on Earth. There were definitely a few advantages to the culture of a cultivation world, and the high level of respect given to elders sure was one of them.
After everyone had finished eating, he had all who were not yet disciples leave the room.
Once a technique or method was created, the System didn’t charge him anything extra to create a duplicate jade slip, simply making one appear in his spatial ring upon request. As he had done with Zhong Wen, Wan Ai, and Xiao Rong the previous night, he handed a copy of the Supreme Growth of Heaven Method and a rank one spirit beast core to each of the eight children.
Excited chatter filled the air, but Benton didn’t mind. The kids surely knew the value of such a core and had probably read about jade slips in stories.
“Both of those are yours to keep,” he said.
The children were nothing if not resilient. Much must have gone wrong in their little lives to end up in such a situation, but a good meal and a couple of trinkets had them all smiling and laughing. Benton had to surreptitiously wipe away a bit of moisture forming in his eyes.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “Quiet down. That is … if you want to become real cultivators.”
That proclamation did the trick. One young guy physically clamped his hand over his mouth.
Benton led them through the necessary steps to sense qi, but it obviously didn’t go that easy. He circled through the room spending a few minutes with each child, guiding them. It was actually that little guy who’d silenced himself so comically who was the first to trigger a notification.
Host’s Disciple, Xiang Qigang, has reached Qi Gathering – Minor Realm One
Host is awarded one Sect Point.
Host has 37 Sect Points available.
Over the next hour and a half, that message repeated seven more times, and with all of the children having become actual cultivators, he sent them out of the room, leaving him with only Chang Xioadan.
Since she wasn’t nature aspected, she couldn’t use the cultivation method he’d given the kids, which meant Benton had a choice to make. One of his options was to simply abstain from inducting her into the sect until a future date. Sure, that might hurt her feelings, but it was by far the most economical decision. The next least expensive was to spend ten points to create a method just for her, but her F rank just didn’t justify it. He could also create a metal aspected method to fit her for twenty points, but she was literally the first person with that element that he’d seen. Finally, he could simply create a universal method for twenty-five points that anyone could use. It was the most expensive option, but the ability to use it for any new disciple would surely save him points in the long run.
No matter the explanation he gave her for doing so, not inducting her immediately would cripple her confidence and even make her lesser in the eyes of the children. He couldn’t do that to her. Likewise, there was no way he was creating a unique method for an F rank.
Eliminating those options made his final decision pretty simple. The only reason he’d created a nature specific method was because he had so many disciples with that aspect. Doing the same for metal made no sense. Even if having her use a universal system cost him a bit more immediately and resulted in her being a little weaker and slower to advance, it was the right call.
Lamenting the loss of another twenty-five points, he quickly created the Supreme Foundations of Heaven Method, and after the tea ceremony and a little time for her to sense a mote, he received the pop-up telling him she’d reached Qi Condensing Minor Realm One.
Awesome! That was his thirtieth point earned. He mentally pumped his fist at the chance to spend another point on himself. Following the same reasoning as his most recent level up, he quickly navigated through the menus and upped his cultivation one more minor realm.
Sect Name: Not Chosen Sect Members: 0 Disciples: 14 Sect Points: 19 Shop Points: 18 Host Cultivation: Qi Gathering - Minor Realm Seven Qi Available: 80 Host Body Cultivation: Bronze - Minor Realm Two Host Techniques: Basic Spear Combat - Large Success Basic Archery - Large Success Menus: [Cultivation Method] [Technique] [Quest] [Perk] [Advancement] [Shop - LOCKED]
Yikes. Only nineteen Sect Points remaining.
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He took a deep breath. That low number wasn’t as worrisome as it seemed. He already possessed cultivation methods and techniques he could distribute to new disciples without requiring any additional resources. The only major issue in the near term was that he was a bit lacking if he needed to make a specific technique for someone, but he could deal with that eventuality.
He turned his focus back to the status screen. Going from minor realm six to minor realm seven took him from mid Qi Gathering to high Qi Gathering, doubling his available qi to eighty. He almost laughed at the fact he finally had a bigger pool than the talented siblings.
Not for long, though. Not for long. And that was a good thing. When he sent them out to face the world and other cultivators, he wanted them to have every advantage. Very few opponents would have access to more qi at a similar minor realm.
Overall, Benton felt really good. It wasn’t so much the straight up increase in qi or the augmented strength and agility and toughness that came along with it that truly made him feel better about things. It was the sense of movement.
On the trip to the village with the siblings, he’d felt like he was stagnating. Sure, the kids were slowly gaining in power, and all the experience they gained both in fighting spirit beasts and in internally manipulating qi were invaluable in building them into the cultivators they were starting to become. But he had personally changed very little over a comparatively long period of time. Worse, he knew he needed more disciples, and he didn’t have an opportunity to recruit any.
The village changed everything. In just a couple of days, his fledgling sect went from two disciples to fourteen, and each of the twelve new ones had already gained him a point.
He hated counting chickens before they hatched, but it was hard not to do so. If a member of an average sect took ten days to reach minor realm two cultivating ten hours a day… Hmm. The kids surely would cultivate at least five hours daily, right? That would put them advancing in about twenty days. But they weren’t nearly as talented as the members most sects would admit so figure twice as long.
In forty days, he’d get another twelve points. That quantity in that time period wasn’t great, but it was very likely to happen. And after they hit the second minor realm, they could learn the spear or bow technique, too. That was another dozen points soon after the first dozen.
He could count on Sect Points slowly accumulating. Even if an emergency hit and he had to use a bunch of them up, he would no longer be trapped. At some point, he might even shift to a higher percentage of points going to himself, though he’d much prefer to first see his income versus outlay once the twins reached Foundation Establishment.
Twenty points per cultivation method and six per technique was going to add up fast, thirty-eight per sibling assuming he gave them three techniques each. That amount was a huge chunk compared to the total Sect Points he’d earned thus far. Ugh!
If he doubled or tripled or quadrupled the number of disciples…
Benton took a deep, calming breath. Before his sect mentally expanded to thousands of members and hundreds of buildings, he probably should go back to the beginning. The whole thing was just like one of his projects when working for the company. The first step was always to do a risk assessment.
With the Sect Leader System, his ultimate success came from the ability to acquire Sect Points, and the village certainly had an excess capacity of potential generators, making the business model of setting up the sect nearby seem sound. He needed to think deeply about failure points, though. What issues could arise that could cause the sect to collapse?
Off the top of his head, he could think of three—one, being discovered by a more powerful sect; two, a beast tide; and three, the village turning against him.
Well, four, actually. A demonic sect could attack just like the one that attacked the Su’s Flowing Tiger Sect. There wasn’t much Benton could do about that, though.
Honestly, if either of the first two hit before he was ready, the results would also be catastrophic. A random cultivator from a sect could wander to the village at any time, either looking for the spirit wood or for some esoteric reason. Once that happened, the next steps would mostly be out of his control. His only way to mitigate the possible damage would be to have his and the siblings’ cultivation as high as possible and be prepared to flee at a moment’s notice.
That risk, however, would be present no matter where they settled. He’d just have to trust that the System had made the village his Advantageous Starting Location for a reason.
The second risk, the beast tide, was more specific to the village. Benton wasn’t positive they’d experience one, but the conditions were ripe. Such events were like a natural disaster comparable to an earthquake, tornado, or hurricane. He’d be stupid not to take precautions, but it would be equally stupid to move or put off founding the sect because he feared it happening.
The third risk, training people using the very good cultivation methods provided to him by the System and having those people turn on him, was much more immediately concerning to his plans. He had no idea how deep the loyalties of the villagers were to their mayor or to the harvesters or whoever else might have hooks in them. If he ran around town tossing jade slips at anyone who would listen to him, it would greatly increase the risk of the mayor or some other entity rising against him.
Just as a cultivator needed to build a proper foundation so did a sect, and just like how one created the proper foundation for the economics of the sect, diversification was the key.
Benton did feel that the orphans had a chance of becoming loyal to him. Everything he saw indicated that they were struggling before he came along. They didn’t get nearly enough to eat. Zhong Wen had trouble finding apprenticeships for them when they aged out. Their housing situation wasn’t exactly the best condition ever, either.
If he treated them right, treated them like they were his own children or grandchildren, there was no reason for them to betray him. Considering how the System professed to be giving him top notch cultivation methods, it wouldn’t be all that long before the eight he trained tonight would be stronger than the harvesters with whatever weak method those guys used.
Just hoping that the children would stand by him wasn’t enough, though. He needed sect members who owed loyalty only to him. During the shopping trip, he would need to scout possibilities, ideally returning with five to ten people. More would be better if he could find them but at least that many.
Proceeding in batches was also wise. Take things slow. Give Yang Xiu and Yang Ru time to seriously outclass the new disciples.
Yeah. The siblings. The orphans. The newcomers he’d recruit on the trip. All those would have strong ties to him, and once he’d founded the new sect, that would help strengthen those ties as well, especially if he could give it many of the trappings of more established sects.
The System gave him a lot of advantages, but it wasn’t holding his hand. If he grew shortsighted or made a lot of really bad investments, his whole portfolio could easily collapse in the next market downturn. Planning. Hedging his bets. Risk management. All those strategies were key to him successfully building his sect.
Benton had taken the first step. Fourteen disciples were a good start. The shopping trip was the next big opportunity. He’d need weapons both for training and for fighting, cloth to make robes, a good supply of food, building materials, crafting supplies like herbs for body cultivation and flags to learn formations, and pills. The more he could purchase with regular funds in lieu of Shop Points, the better off he’d be.
Most of all, though, he needed recruits, but he also had to keep things low key. He didn’t want other sects to discover he was establishing his near the source of the spirit wood. Really, he didn’t want sects to find out he was establishing one at all.
Benton and the siblings had to play the role of wandering cultivators, just passing through and taking advantage of the wood to make a quick buck. But that image conflicted with trying to recruit new members.
It would be a difficult balancing act, one that was crucial to starting his sect out on the right foot.