The ten outer disciples, as well as my personal disciples, all just stared at me in confusion for a few seconds.
“Wait, we’re starting now?” one of the outer disciples asked.
“Yes,” I said. “We’ve begun.” I held up my wrist. “Try and take this from me.”
Before I even finished speaking, Carina, the female twin, rushed towards me using Air internal magic. She didn’t specialize in it, but that didn’t prevent her from using it. However, since her body wasn’t in good shape, she wasn’t as fast as a true specialist in Air internal magic. It was easy to evade her grasp as she tried to take the wooden token.
Even if she had been, it wouldn’t have mattered. With my divine sense, I could easily predict her movements. Since I was now in the Second Rank of my body cultivation technique, I wasn’t that much slower than a Second Circle wizard using Air internal magic when I used my body enhancement technique.
Carina reached for the wooden token, but I pulled away from her before she could grab it and kicked her in the stomach. Unlike Jace, she used a shield spell to protect herself, so the kick didn’t hurt her. It sent her flying however, and she crashed into her twin brother. The two fell down in a tangle of limbs, flailing and cursing at each other.
That was when the other outer disciples realized that the game had indeed begun, and sprang into action. At the same time, Lorelei and Leroy rushed towards me while Corie drew her bow and nocked an arrow.
I let out a grin as my opponents rushed at me from the front and from behind. Yeah, this had been a good idea. This was going to be so much fu-…I mean, this would be a good exercise to evaluate the capabilities of Clan Sturm’s first disciples. I wasn’t doing this purely for my own amusement.
[Mist Arts: Beguiling Mist]
I breathed out and mist blanketed a large area all around me. Since I was still just at the fifth small realm of the Energy Condensation stage, my Beguiling Mist wouldn’t be that useful here, since most of my opponents were Second Circle wizards. However, it would catch them off guard for a few seconds, which was all I needed.
Rather than running away, I rushed forward to meet the outer disciples. None of them had expected this, so they were slow to react. I grabbed the nearest one and threw her back at Leroy, who I considered my biggest threat at the moment. Since the two of us sparred frequently, my Beguiling Mist didn’t faze him at this point.
Leroy caught the outer disciple I tossed at him, distracting him for a second. In the meantime, I weaved my way through the others, striking out to keep them off balance. Like Carina, they used shield spells to keep themselves safe. However, that didn’t stop me from overwhelming them with swift and sudden violence, though this wouldn’t last for long.
I jumped up, used Jace’s head as a springboard, and leapt into the air. To keep things fair, I wouldn’t use Sky’s Dream to fly away. However, I was still an Air wizard.
I used Air magic to push myself higher and landed a considerable distance away from everyone. Thanks to my Beguiling Mist, they hadn’t realized I had left yet.
Their spirit sense allowed them to see through the mist, but that didn’t mean they would be able to distinguish me from the others. In their confusion, they struck out and ended up in a brawl with each other.
The only exceptions were the twins, who rushed out of the Beguiling Mist since they were squishy wizards, and Leroy, who was used to my bullshit.
“There he is!” Cameron said.
Water Darts formed in the air around him, before he launched them at me. Despite the mild name, Water Dart was still a Second Circle spell and could cause a lot of damage. However, I could tell that he held back to avoid accidentally hitting me too hard.
At the same time, his sister launched a barrage of Wind Blades at me. Like her brother, she held back as well.
[Mist Arts: Dancing Mist]
I dodged most of their spells, though two managed to get through. A Wind Blade struck my wrist, almost cutting the silk ribbon, while a Water Dart tagged me on the shoulder. Since the twins had held back, the spells just stung me instead of causing any actual injury. They hurt like hell, and would leave me bruised, but otherwise I was fine.
If the twins had hit me at full power, that would have been a different story.
Good. I was getting a better idea of my current limitations. That was another reason why I decided to go with a game of Keep Away. Not only would it give me an idea of the outer disciples capabilities, but it would also give me an idea of my own.
Corie launched several arrows at me with her Multishot Bow. Unlike the twins, she didn’t have to worry about holding back since she and Lorelei were much weaker than the rest. Three arrows came at me from three different directions, each one enhanced by Corie’s magic.
I wondered when she would realize that she could also use the Spirit Arrow technique to coat physical arrows with her mana. Should I give her a hint? I couldn’t give her all of the answers, otherwise she would become too dependent on me, but it wouldn’t hurt to point her in the right direction.
As I pondered this, I drew Sky’s Dream and slashed out, cutting the arrows down before they reached me. However, I soon realized that she was just trying to distract me. The mana in the environment shifted, and an Earthen Rampart rose out of the ground behind me, cutting off my escape route. At the same time, Lorelei and Leroy rushed out of the Beguiling Mist.
Lorelei stomped down as she ran, using her Earth Spike spell with every step she took. I dodged her Earth Spikes, which gave Leroy a chance to reach me before I escaped.
I jumped into the air, landing atop the Earthen Rampart, with Leroy right behind me. He wasn’t an Air wizard, but he could jump quite high given his physical prowess. The two of us clashed on top of the Earthen Rampart as Leroy attacked me with Crimson Fang. The sound of our swords colliding echoed throughout the training yard.
I had more skill and experience than Leroy, but he was still stronger than me when he used Earth internal magic and he had a shield spell up, so things were even between us at the moment. However, his goal wasn’t to beat me. He was simply trying to buy time.
Lorelei climbed atop the Earthen rampart to help him, while Corie continued to fire arrows at me. It was actually very annoying to deal with all three of them at the same time, though I was proud of my disciples for working together like this.
At the same time, the other outer disciples realized I wasn’t in the Beguiling Mist and came after me as well.
As Lorelei reached me to help Leroy grab the wooden token, a Fire Lance hit Leroy with enough force to knock him off of the Earthen Rampart. Due to his shield spell, it didn’t hurt him. The attack came from Carina.
“No fair!” Corie exclaimed. “That’s cheating!”
“It’s not cheating if it isn’t against the rules,” Carina said with a smirk.
Lorelei ignored them and tried to grab the token from my wrist. With almost contemptuous ease, I grabbed her and tossed her off the Earthen Rampart. However, when I saw her smirk, I knew something was wrong.
The Earthen Rampart crumbled beneath my feet, destabilizing my footing. This allowed the outer disciples to catch up to me before I could make my escape.
Jace, who was in the lead, tried to grab the wooden token from my wrist. Rather than waste energy dodging, I made it seem as if he would succeed. However, before he could, another outer disciple slammed into him and knocked him away. The two ended up getting into a fist fight, getting in everyone else’s way.
While they distracted the others, I decided to stop playing around and make things more interesting. After all, the game had just started. I couldn’t let it get the token too early.
[Lightning Arts: Lightning Rush]
I dashed away from everyone In a burst of lightning and reached the edges of the training yard.
“He’s getting away!” Cameron yelled, launching several Water Darts at me as he did so.
I fled into the Gloom Mist Forest, using the trees to shield me from his attacks. Since Cameron was a Second Circle wizard, his Water Darts caused considerable damage to the trees, causing splinters to fly everywhere.
I grinned as I fled into the dark, dreary, and mist-laden forest.
----------------------------------------
For the next while, I led the Clan Sturm disciples on a merry chase. At first they chased me in one big group. However, since I was faster and more nimble than them, they couldn’t catch up to me. It didn’t help that they kept getting in each other’s way. Whenever it looked like one would grab the token, someone would interfere and prevent them from doing so.
After a certain point, they lost track of me and spread out to try to find me. The outer disciples ended up forming multiple teams, following my personal disciples’ example, since it was clear that none of them could take me on one on one.
All in all, I ended up with five teams chasing after me. Leroy, Lorelei, and Corie made up one team, while the twins made up another. Jace and two others formed their own team, while the other five disciples split into another duo and another trio.
I spent fifteen minutes hiding as the five teams combed through the forest looking for me, before I decided to come out and play again. After all, part of the reason I was doing all of this in the first place was to evaluate the outer disciples. I couldn’t do that if I spent the entire game hiding.
So I observed the teams for a bit, before I picked my targets and approached them. I chose the other duo, which consisted of a Metal wizard and an Air wizard.
When it came to internal magic, Metal wizards and Wood wizards were at a disadvantage. Since they didn’t get the enhanced toughness and strength of Earth internal magic, or the speed of Air internal magic, they relied on their weapons to make up the difference.
It still baffled me that magic that affected external objects would be called “internal magic”, though I kind of saw the point. After all, internal magic enhanced the physical in some way, though what was enhanced depended on the elemental affinity of the magic.
Honestly, I still thought Metal and Wood wizards were better off focusing on external magic.
The Metal wizard was a young man in his early twenties, with black hair and a solid build. His skin was tanned, suggesting that he was from the southern end of the Solarian Empire. He wielded two chains with hooks on the end, reminding me of a certain video game character with anger issues.
His name was Jack Neville, which I only knew because of Captain Jeffers’ file. He had served as a retainer for House Sturm for four years, which wasn’t all that long as these things went. Most of House Sturm’s retainers were born into families that had served us for generations. Still, Mother made him an outer disciple for a reason, and I trusted her judgment.
Apparently Jack won a tournament a while back and caught the eye of Captain Jeffers, which was how he ended up working for us.
The Air wizard was a young woman who was also in her early twenties. Her light hair, which straddled the border between brown and blonde, was cut short. She had fair skin, sharp features, and a lean build. She wielded a pair of daggers as her weapon of choice.
Her name was Delia Wells, and she belonged to one of the families that had served House Sturm for generations. I had actually met Delia before, albeit briefly. Her father had been one of the people who helped train me in Air internal magic, way back when, and she arrived to greet him after one of our training sessions.
I found it somewhat amusing that both members of this duo dual-wielded weapons. Was that why they paired up? Or had they had some kind of relationship prior to this? Friends? Lovers? Rivals?
Since they dual-wielded their weapons, I decided to do the same. I put away Sky’s Dream and drew my pair of magical daggers.
Jack and Delia searched through the forest. I kept an eye on them with my divine sense, while making sure to stay out of their spirit sense range. When they wandered far enough away from the other teams, I made my move.
I rushed towards them. The moment I entered the range of their spirit sense, their heads snapped in my direction.
Delia ran towards me, nimbly making her way through the trees. Somehow she didn’t end up tripping on a rock or a tree root sticking out of the ground. Jack followed not far behind her.
Delia and I met and clashed with each other, exchanging a flurry of blows. She was faster than me, thanks to her Air internal magic, but I managed to keep up with her due to my body enhancement and my Dancing Mist techniques. However, we both took care not to seriously injure each other, which took a bit of the sting out of our attacks.
Like Leroy earlier, Delia didn’t fight to beat me. Instead, she fought to distract me. While the two of us clashed, Jack flanked me from the side. He swung one of his hooked chains at me. I twisted to avoid a blow from Delia, while also swinging one of my daggers to parry Jack’s attack.
Sparks flew as our weapons collided. Sword mana coated my dagger, while Metal internal magic enhanced his chain.
Delia took advantage of my distraction to aim one of her daggers at the silk ribbon tying the wooden token to my wrist.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[Lightning Arts: Lightning Flash]
I dashed away just before Delia’s dagger touched the silk ribbon, though I remained within sight of the pair. To stay or to run? The other teams had heard us, and were on their way.
Delia let out a frustrated scream.
“Ugh!” she said. “That is such a cheap move, young master!”
“It’s effective, no?” I asked with a smirk.
While the two of us exchanged words, Jack attacked me with both of his hooked chains. I parried them with my daggers. While he kept me occupied, Delia circled around to attack me from behind. Just before she reached me, however, I controlled Sky’s Dream with my mind and used it to fend her off. I couldn’t hurt her with it, due to my lower cultivation level, but it was enough to keep her off my back. Literally.
For the next several seconds, I fought both of them at the same time. It wasn’t long before I noticed the twins closing in on us. When I did, I switched things up and attacked Jack with Sky’s Dream while I whirled around slashed at Delia with my daggers. The sudden change threw them off balance for a moment. I took advantage of this by kicking Delia away and running off, with Sky’s Dream flying beside me.
Jack whipped one of his hooked chains towards me. Like before, I parried it with one of my daggers. However, the moment I did, I sensed a surge of mana come from Jack and the hook at the end of his chain exploded. Metals shards flew everywhere. They stung where they struck me. Since the chain had exploded, I expected the shards to feel hot, but they still felt cool.
Huh, I hadn’t known Metal internal magic could do that. Now I felt that calling it internal magic was even more bullshit.
The explosion distracted me long enough for Delia to recover and come after me again. She didn’t bother using her daggers to attack me. Instead, she rushed towards me at full speed, intent on tackling me. Unfortunately for her, that wasn’t going to work.
Her lean body collided with mine and bounced right off, while I budged nary an inch. However, her goal hadn’t been to take me down. Even as she bounced away from me, her hand whipped towards the wood token. At the same time, Jack used his remained hooked whip to attack me.
I grabbed Delia and used her body to block the hooked chain. Since she still had her shield spell up, the chain bounced right off and didn’t hurt her. She struggled to break free from my grip, but to no avail. Air internal magic enhanced her speed, but not her strength. I tossed her at Jack before running away, forcing him to choose between catching her and going after me. He chose the former.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get far before the twins caught up to me. Carina carried her brother on her back. While she didn’t specialize in internal magic, it was foolish to underestimate her speed. However, I noticed her struggling to maintain her pace. Sweat poured down her face in rivulets, her cheeks were flushed, and her breathing was labored.
As the twins chased me, I calculated the sorts of exercises I would have to them go through. They were powerful spellcasters, but by the ancestors their physical stamina was abysmal.
If I wanted to get away from the twins, all I had to do was keep running. Eventually Carina would collapse in exhaustion. Since Cameron didn’t have Air magic, the pair wouldn’t be able to keep up with me. Still, that went against the point of this game.
After putting some distance between the four of us and Jack and Delia, I turned around.
[Lightning Arts: Lightning Flash]
I appeared right in front of the twins. They must have expected this, or Cameron did at least, because as soon as I appeared, the forest around us groaned. Tree roots exploded out of the ground, reaching for me like grasping claws. At the same time, several Fire Lances appeared in the air above my head.
Controlling Sky’s Dream with my mind, I slashed at the tree roots reaching for me. Since they weren’t enhanced by Wood internal magic, my flying sword cut right through them. At the same time, I kicked Carina in the chest. She and her brother flew backwards.
The Fire Lances rained down upon me. Using Dancing Mist, I dodged all but two of them. Carina must have put more power into them than before, since the two that hit me hurt like hell. It felt like Leroy had hit me with the full force of his Earth internal magic. The impact staggered me.
The mana in the environment surged and the temperature around me dropped as Cameron used his Water magic to create ice. The ever present mist solidified, coating the forest floor in a layer of frost. I jumped up to avoid getting stuck.
At the same time, branches from the surrounding trees reached for me. Carina launched several more Fire Lances, as well as a barrage of Wind Blades.
I used Lightning Flash to dodge Carina’s attack, stopping not too far from the twins. It wasn’t difficult to maintain my footing on the layer of ice by using the Spider’s Feet technique. The tree branches continued to reach for me, but I slashed at them using Sky’s Dream. Despite this, they kept on coming. Carina continued to pressure me by bombarding me with spells, while her brother used the trees against me.
Don’t fight a Wood wizard in the middle of a forest. It never ended well.
Jack and Delia, who had chased us this far, showed up right around this time. I expected them to go after the twins, who were wearing me down with their constant attacks, to keep them from getting the token. However, they ignored them and came after me instead.
“Let’s work together and split the prize,” Jack yelled.
The twins nodded, their eyes burning with determination.
Well, fuck. The two pairs had become a quartet.
Delia rushed towards me, but the ice coating the forest floor slowed her down. Jack swung his hooked chain at me. I couldn’t parry it, since the twins kept the pressure on me, so the chain wrapped around my left arm. Jack tugged, trying to throw me off balance.
How cute.
I dropped my magical daggers, grabbed the chain, and yanked Jack towards me. The Metal wizard let out a surprised yelp as I pulled him off of his feet. Since he didn’t let go of his chain, I smashed him into Delia. The two of them fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. They tried to untangle themselves and get up, but kept slipping and sliding on the ice.
The tree branches continued to try and grab me, but I kept them at bay using Sky’s Dream. Carina’s barrage of spells on the other hand was starting to get to me. While I was distracted by Jack and Delia, several Fire Lances and Wind Blades hit me. While Carina held back from causing serious damage, I staggered under her attacks.
Right, time to change things up.
I grabbed Sky’s Dream in my right hand.
[Sword Arts: Rain of Blows]
I sank almost all of my remaining mana into this attack, and lashed out with one hundred arcs of sword mana in the blink of an eye. Instead of aiming for any of my opponents, however, I deforested the area around me as I used the arcs of sword mana to cut the trees in my immediate vicinity.
Wood dust filled the air and trees toppled to the ground, sending up shards of ice as they hit the frozen mist. My opponents hunkered down as the forest collapsed all around them. I took advantage of this to make my escape.
Fuck, that was close. This was what happened when I played around.
My relief was short lived as the other teams finally caught up with us, coming at me from all sides. Arrows peppered me from afar as Corie used her Multishot Bow to full effect, while Leroy and Lorelei closed the distance. Jace and his companions, as well as the other trio, spread out to cut off my escape route. My only way out was to head deeper into Gloom Mist Forest, which would put me out of bounds, thus forfeiting the game.
“Work together to catch the young master!” Leroy yelled out.
Et tu, Leroy?
The other disciples all nodded. Like the twins earlier, their eyes burned with determination. My antics earlier must have pissed them off. Good.
While I would like to say that I played around some more and fought off all thirteen of my opponents, no such thing happened. They were all powerful enough that I had to make a serious effort just to escape.
I used one last Lightning Flash to reach the edge of the deforested area of Gloom Mist Forest, dashing past my pursuers, and moved through among the branches to evade my opponents.
The entire time, they kept the pressure on me. The twins used spells to harass me from afar, while everyone else hounded me. Jace, Delia, and the others who specialized in Air internal magic nipped at my heels as I ran through the branches. While they couldn’t travel up here like I could, they still managed to keep up with me.
Corie continued to pepper me with arrows. However, I noticed something different about them. She enhanced her arrows with Wood magic, but coated them with the Spirit Arrow technique. Oh, she had figured out how to do that in the end. I hadn’t needed to give her a hint after all.
Creating arrows purely from mana was difficult. Using a physical arrow as a base was much easier. While it wasn’t as good as using arrow mana or bow mana, it was still pretty powerful in its own right.
The synergy between her Wood magic and the Spirit Arrow technique multiplied the effectiveness of her arrows. While none of them could hurt me because of my physique, they were still really annoying. It didn’t help that she shot three of them at a time.
The disciples continued to chase me as I fled back towards the training yard next to Sturm Hill Hall. I noticed Mother walking in our direction with an annoyed expression on her face. While her presence was unexpected, it worked out perfectly with what I had in mind.
When I reached the edge of the training yard, I leapt forward, putting as much as my strength into it as I could. My pursuers burst out of the trees as I landed. However, before I could run away, the ground beneath me rumbled and I fell. It felt as if the earth itself grabbed my ankles and yanked me down. I sank into the ground, until only my upper torso remained free, including my arms. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t break out. It felt like a giant fist was squeezing me.
I searched around with my divine sense to figure out who did this, and found Lorelei leaning against Leroy not too far away. She looked wan, with sweat beading along her forehead. Despite that, she looked in my direction with a savage smile on her face.
Atta girl.
The other disciples didn’t give me a chance to escape. They swarmed me, pinning me down while someone ripped the wooden token free from my wrist.
“I have it!” Jace yelled, holding the wooden token up.
Everyone cheered at that. Their celebration was short-lived, however.
“What is going on here?” my mother asked, her voice cold enough to freeze lava.
Everyone stilled, before turning towards Mother as one. She stood not too far away, glaring at us with her arms crossed. Silence filled the training yard as no one moved or said anything in response to her question. They all looked like a bunch of children who had been caught doing something naughty.
“Jace,” I said, breaking the silence. “Help me out of here.”
I reached for him. Jace looked at me, a nervous expression on his face, before he grasped my hand. The earth’s grip on me disappeared as the two of us worked together to pull me out of the ground.
I dusted myself off, which was pointless since dirt covered most of my body, before stepping forward to face Mother. I must have looked like quite the sight. In addition to the dirt, I was battered and bruised, with my clothing torn.
“Gabriel,” she said in a sweet voice that promised danger. “What is going on? Why are you and the others running around and causing a ruckus? The servants told me that it sounded like there was a war going on out here.”
“Oh, we were in the middle of a training exercise,” I said, sounding nonchalant.
“Training exercise?” Mother pointed to the area I deforested. It wasn’t within sight, but was well within her spirit sense range. “You call that a training exercise?”
“Well, yes. I wanted to evaluate our new disciples’ capabilities, but sparring with each of them individually sounded boring, so I decided to make a game of it. To motivate them, I turned it into a competition with a prize for the winner.”
Mother closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“In short, you wanted to play around and have fun.”
“Yes,” I said, giving her an incredulous look. “Didn’t I just say that? No one said that training had to be boring and serious all of the time. It’s okay to enjoy oneself in the process.”
Mother didn’t reply right away, and continued to pinch the bridge of her nose.
“For a reincarnated Immortal,” she said, switching to Spirit Tongue. “You can be pretty immature at times.”
“Maturity is overrated,” I said, also speaking in Spirit Tongue. “Besides, in this life, I am a teenager. Immaturity comes with the territory.”
Mother opened her eyes and gave me a withering look.
“If I had known that you were going to use the mana stones for something like this,” she said. “I would have never agreed to give them to you.”
I shrugged.
“I mean, yeah. That’s why I called it a training exercise.”
Mother just stared at me for several seconds, releasing a bit of her aura to add a little extra pressure. After a while, she sighed and retracted her aura.
“Fine,” she said, switching back to Common Tongue. “It’s over and done with. There’s nothing I can do about it now.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Next time, be a bit more…dignified when it comes to these ‘training exercises’ of yours. You’re a scion of House Sturm, Gabriel. Act like it.” She gestured to me. “Clean yourself up after you finish with this. You look like a mess.”
With that, Mother walked away while shaking her head. I let out a sigh. Okay, that could have gone better. However, it also could have gone a lot worse. I considered this a win overall.
I turned back to face the disciples. They all looked pale, and wore terrified expressions on their faces.
“Lady Sturm is going to kill us,” Delia Wells whispered.
Several of the other disciples nodded. A few even visibly swallowed.
“She won’t kill you guys,” I said, waving their concerns away. “If she had wanted to, she would have already done it.” I shrugged. “Besides, I’m the one she was angry at. You’re fine.”
I clapped my hands together.
“Anyway, congratulations! You took the token from me, and I believe the hour is up. If not, it’s close enough that we might as well end the game here. You win! Now I just need to award the prize.”
Jace lifted up the token and stared at it for a few seconds, before looking back at me.
“As I stated earlier,” I continued. “The prize for this little game of Keep Away is six hundred and fifty mana stones. However, since all of you teamed up in order to take the token from me, I will have to split the prize among you.” I grinned. “And would you look at that? Six hundred and fifty divided by thirteen means that each of you will get fifty mana stones. Funny how that worked out.”
Each of the disciples gave me a funny look, as if realizing that I might have pulled a fast one on them.
Lorelei covered her mouth as her shoulders started to shake. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Someone unfamiliar with her might have thought that she was crying, until they saw the mirth in her eyes. She was holding in her laughter.
Leroy just rolled his eyes and shook his head; before looking up as if to beseech the heavens to deliver him from me.
Corie narrowed her eyes at me.
“You planned for this, didn’t you?” she accused. “You knew that we would end up working together.”
My grin widened.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Corie,” I told her. “How could I have predicted that all thirteen of you would be needed in order to pin me down and take the token away?” My grin faded away. “All jokes aside, you are right. I prepared for the possibility that all of you would work together in order to win the prize. It was one of the likelier outcomes, but it was in no way set in stone.”
I gestured to all of them.
“Now then, to soothe any hurt feelings, I have good news for everyone,” I said. “In addition to the fifty mana stones you earned for winning the game, each of you will also receive an additional sixty mana stones as well as four low-grade Energy Condensation pills to help boost your cultivation. You won’t be able to use them right away, but there’s no reason not to give them to you now. Consider this a welcoming package for becoming disciples of Clan Sturm.”
This was rather generous by Spirit Earth standards. An average mid-sized sect back on my original home world would award newly recruited disciples with ten mana stones and a single Energy Condensation pill. After that, the disciples would have to earn their own resources, in addition to the monthly stipend they would have received.
We could afford to be this generous for two big reasons. The first was that we received a lot of cultivation resources from Grandfather Gabe when we traded the drop of Shattering Thunder’s blood to him. The second was that Clan Sturm only had ten new disciples, bringing us to a total of thirteen if I counted my own. We could afford to splurge a little.
“Thanks to our little game,” I continued. “I also have a rough idea of what each of you is capable of, though I will test each of you individually later on. This will give me a better idea of what fighting style will fit you. Yes, I know that most of you already have fighting styles, but those are suited for internal magic specialists. You will all need fighting styles more suited to cultivators. Any questions?”
The disciples all looked at each other. While they still seemed unsure about what was going on, that would fade in time. They would get used to this strange new world that they had found themselves in.
Most importantly, at least for me, none of them looked down on me any longer. I think I more than proved myself.
“I have a question, young master,” Cameron said. “If we practice this ‘cultivation’, will we be able to move and fight like you?”
This caught everyone’s attention, including his twin sister’s. Carina looked particularly interested by the answer to my question. I guessed I made an impression on her.
“Not quite,” I said. “The fighting styles and movement techniques that I used suited me best because of my elemental affinities and personal strengths. However, in a general sense, you’re correct. It will take you some time to reach my level, but it is possible.”
The disciples murmured amongst themselves. While they still seemed a little unsure, they also looked excited.
“Now then,” I said. “I’m leaving to get myself cleaned up. We will begin training proper tomorrow. If you have any more questions, ask Leroy. When I’m not around, he’s the one in charge of you all.”
With that, I walked off before any of them could say a word.