As Benton waited for the crew to reset the arena from archery range mode to the normal bare sandy floor for the upcoming duel, he wondered if the spars would be as tilted in favor of the Poison Claw Sect as the contests had been. He found he didn’t care all that much. As long as his disciples had an opportunity to advance, a loss was fine with him.
His mind drifted to the future, though, and the heights the twins could achieve. First, he had to get back to the village, though. Thoughts of founding his sect reminded him of his dwindling point total. He soon, hopefully, would have two new inner disciples, and so far, he’d given personal cultivation techniques to all the kids he’d found who had spiritual roots in the D rank and above. It seemed unfair to not provide Zou Tian and Shi Long the same advantage.
The problem was that Benton literally only had twenty-three points remaining. Individualized Qi Gathering cultivations methods ran ten Sect Points each. After that expenditure, he’d only have a measly three points remaining.
That wasn’t nearly enough for emergencies.
Granted, it felt like threats of immediate danger had calmed down a lot with his budding friendly relations with the Poison Claw Sect, but he didn’t like running on such thin margins.
It occurred to him that the System was a lot like a pyramid scheme, requiring a lot of shmoes at the bottom in order to pay out the ones who’d made it to the top and, of course, for him to skim his share, too.
And okay, the analogy wasn’t perfect. The most important difference was that he wasn’t scamming his future sect members. They really were getting benefits no one else could provide. Additionally, no one was drawing more out than they put in for the long run. The ten points he invested in each of the two new inner disciples would eventually return him fourteen points. He had to put in the investment up front, but barring something really unfortunate happening, it would pay off.
For Qi Gathering realm, anyway. With the quality of his cultivation methods, he felt positive that even an F- could reach Foundation Establishment eventually. He suspected that the lower ranks would struggle to reach Golden Core—if it were even possible at all. Still, fifty points for a cultivation method that any of the outer sect disciples could use would eventually be paid back given enough people.
If he were to actually think of the sect as a pyramid scheme, though, it was a good one. For most of his members, he only had to buy a product once and sell it over and over again to the folks at the base. Every low ranked person he brought in was pure profit.
In order to realize those profits, though, he needed time, and to survive long enough to gain that time, he needed more points. Which, in turn, necessitated that he treated the situation just like he would in administering a pyramid scheme—recruit more people on the bottom.
“Esteemed Elder,” he said to Kang Ya-Ting, “I am reluctant to admit it, but this one seeks another favor.”
“This one is willing to entertain such a request, depending on what it is.”
Benton cupped his head. “Of course. I have six wagons of materials to travel with, and while we can manage that number, it occurs to me that hiring drivers might make the trip much more convenient. I could obviously find willing employees, but…”
“Say no more. This one understands that the Esteemed Master Cultivator truly doesn’t care about the talent of his recruits, but for political reasons, it would be much better if the Poison Claw Sect acquired them for you.”
Benton cupped his hands again. “Much gratitude.”
There. Six more people to potentially convert to point earners.
He sure had come a long way from the encounter where he’d convinced the twins to join him. Back then, he’d thought about his future sect a lot like a board-gaming club he’d helped some friends of his start back in college. The university required twenty-five people before you could officially register the club, and they’d had to beg and plead with people to join.
When he had talked to the siblings, the thought running around in the back of his head was, “Hey, would you like to join this club I’m starting? It’s really cool, but well, I haven’t actually formed it yet and who knows when I’ll be able to and I know I don’t seem like I’m much now but I’m going places…”
He’d since learned differently.
Asking someone to join a sect and be made into a cultivator was more like asking a youth from Earth if they were interested in a contract to be a social media influencer and, oh yeah, you start with a million followers. Only, the sect was even better. You potentially could live forever, and your circumstances definitely would be better than all the peasants you currently hung around.
Benton’s sect—yet to be formed as it was—was even better still. It gave out top heaven grade techniques and cultivation methods like candy. The world was a really big place, but he was willing to bet that very few, if any, sects could say the same.
Of course, people were weird. If you asked enough of them, one would eventually turn him down, but Benton suspected the rarity of encountering someone like that to have the same chances of meeting a G rank or an S rank.
His approach for the near future was going to be different than his start with the twins. Each potential recruit would be told what was expected of them, and they would be required to commit to meeting those expectations before he’d allow them to join. No more begging.
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Benton was broken from his thoughts by the two duelists entering the arena, and he scanned the slight young man holding a pair of daggers who took the position of Yang Ru’s opponent.
Affiliation: Poison Claw Sect Age: 15 Cultivation: Qi Gathering - Minor Realm Six Qi Available: ??? Techniques: Slashing Wave Daggers, Dashing Waters Spiritual Roots: B Qi Aspect: Ocean wave eroding a boulder
Interesting. Benton wasn’t one hundred percent sure how that qi aspect would play out in fight. Relentlessness maybe? The water element was obviously known to be highly adaptable as well. Maybe absorbing attacks somehow?
Looking at the kid’s techniques, it was apparent that the Poison Claw Sect really went all in on giving even Qi Gathering cultivators ones that matched their qi aspect. Both his weapon and movement techniques were water aspected.
His guess was that the two kids matched up well, meaning both sides had a good chance of winning. He was looking forward to a challenging fight.
The rules were the same as the last duel he’d witnessed in the arena, a fight to the “death” with the exception of there being no wager involved, and soon, the two were facing each other from across the sand.
Yang Ru began by charging, and Benton groaned. The same reasons he’d told the kid not to do that last time still applied.
Oh well, failure was just as good a way to learn as success. Maybe even better.
Yang Ru built up quite a bit of force as he sprinted across the arena. His feet barely even touched the sand, leaving not so much of a footprint behind to mark his passing. Still, Benton couldn’t imagine anything good coming out of the headlong rush.
Turned out, Yang Ru was full of surprises. He stopped on a dime right before reaching his opponent and transferred his momentum into a devastating spear thrust.
Well, it would have been devastating had it connected. His opponent used what was clearly his Dashing Waters movement technique to dive forward, hitting Yang Ru with three quick dagger strikes in the process.
“This one thinks the Esteemed Master Cultivator’s disciple came out ahead in the exchange despite taking a few small cuts,” Elder Pan said.
“Really?” Benton said. “How so?”
“The Esteemed Master Cultivator’s disciple is much more efficient in his qi usage than Lang Yuhan and has a larger available pool as well. Meanwhile, Lang Yuhan’s movement technique consumes a relatively large amount of his qi.”
“What about poison?”
“The sect does not allow poison usage for sect members below Foundation Establishment,” Kang Ya-Ting said.
Okay. Benton could understand that precaution. Wouldn’t want the kids accidentally killing themselves or others.
Two more exchanges took place. Yang Ru tried to swipe at his opponent. His opponent dodged and inflicted small stabs in return. The Poison Claw Sect kid definitely won those.
Death by a thousand cuts.
Ahh. The qi aspect made sense—using a movement technique to flow around an opponent while eroding him with a bunch of small wounds. Once the boy added poison to the mix, he’d be dangerous indeed.
Yang Ru was quick on the uptake, though. Allowing his opponent to move out of the way without paying a cost in qi was clearly a losing battle as long as he was taking hits. Instead of small swipes, he switched to fast, powerful lunges targeted at center mass.
Lang Yuhan’s only choices were to take the strike, surely ending the match considering the force used, or to use his movement technique to get out of the way. Which he did. Both times.
“He doesn’t have much qi left,” Elder Pan said. “Only one or two more uses of that technique remain.”
Benton nodded. The problem with backing an opponent into a corner was that it forced them to fight with everything they had.
His thoughts turned out to be prophetic.
Lang Yuhan used his technique one more time but not to dodge. He went on the offensive. Almost quicker than the eye could see, he darted toward Yang Ru, one dagger targeting his heart and the other his neck.
Both hit.
Benton thought it was over. And it was, just not the way he expected.
When the action cleared, Yang Ru was standing over his fallen foe. His spear had struck his opponent in the chest at full strength, blowing Lang Yuhan back several feet.
But the daggers had struck.
Yang Ru sank immediately into the lotus position, and soon, a box that explained everything popped up.
Host’s Disciple, Yang Ru, has reached Large Success in Stone Skin.
Host is awarded one Sect Point.
Host has twenty-four Sect Points available.
Benton laughed out loud. His disciples really were the best.
He cupped his hands toward Elder Pan and bowed much more deeply than was necessary due to their supposed cultivation difference. The man acknowledged his gratitude with a smile.
Zou Tian, on the other hand, looked completely confused.
“Are you wondering why I did that, Zou Tian?” Benton said.
“This lowly one does not understand. Sorry, Master.”
“It’s fine. I was just giving props to Elder Pan for being very, very, very good at his job.” Seeing that the kid was still confused, Benton continued. “Not only did he arrange for a very challenging match that either one of the participants had a chance to win, but his choice to select an opponent focused on lots of small cuts helped Yang Ru reach Large Success with his defensive technique.”
Zou Tian cupped his hands and bowed respectfully to both his master and to Elder Pan.
“The Esteemed Master Cultivator allows his wards a lot more leeway with asking questions than this one is used to,” Kang Ya-Ting said.
“How are they supposed to learn if they can’t ask questions?”
“By watching and observing.”
“I guess that method would work,” Benton said, “but it does seem inefficient. On the other hand, a lesson learned by figuring it out for yourself does tend to stick better.”
While he supposed that Kang Ya-Ting’s approach to teaching had merits, Benton wouldn’t be changing his process any time soon. It had always worked for him in the past.
The crew down in the arena prepared for the next fight, the one between Yang Xiu and her Poison Claw Sect opponent. Curiously, they were placing many obstacles around the arena—walls, stones, wagons, etc.
Benton supposed that made sense. If Yang Xiu had clear line of sight across the arena, her opponent would sprout more arrows than a pincushion by the time they reached her.
The upcoming spar should be interesting.