Laying it all on the table.
During breakfast Valter and Julie gave each other a knowing look before they started to eat. Viktor on the other hand did the same thing he did yesterday, stuff his face with food. The entire time Viktor was oblivious to the looks his brother and cousin were giving him. After the food was gone Valter made a move to clean up but was interrupted by Collin.
"Valter, Julie, you two have other things to do, Viktor can clean up." After hearing what Collin said the two of them looked at Collin before giving a look at Viktor before leaving. Viktor on the other hand was confused by this turn of events, it was supposed to be Valters turn on food duty. His confusion grew when he saw Collin place a small box in the middle of the table.
"I guess you find the food to your liking, since you missed the looks your brother was giving you at last night's dinner. And the looks he and Julie were giving you during breakfast.
Yesterday after breakfast your brother asked me to help him become a cultivator, and after seeing your brother's success, Julie also asked for my help becoming a cultivator and like your brother, she easily succeeded.
Now, all that remains is you. The box contains a guiding pill, it's not a pill that gets made outsides of medium to large sects very often. It has the effect of allowing those with cultivation talent to sense the natural energies around them and draw it in to begin cultivating. If you can draw in energy by yourself, then do it. But if you can't, you can use the pill to help you become a cultivator.
You are on your own. You don't need me to watch you in case of injury, you don't need an array to forcibly pull in energy, and since I am not your mother or father, I will not be using the guiding ritual to help you become a cultivator.
You don't have to be in a hurry to become a cultivator, but I would prefer you to not wait too long. I would like you and the others to help when our other cousins come."
After saying what he wanted to say to Viktor, Collin went about his day and let Viktor stand there looking confused. Meals for the next two days were quiet and slightly awkward, but on the third day, breakfast started with Viktor having the stupidest cocky looking grin on his face. He had become a cultivator sometime after last night's dinner. All during breakfast Viktor talked about process of him becoming a cultivator, but to Collin his epic struggles seemed trivial and boring to listen to. The only thing that Collin found interesting that came out of Viktor's mouth, was his insistence that it the three of them teamed up, they could fight against him.
"No. You are a very unstable 1st layer Qi Condensation cultivator, and their cultivations are still slightly unstable as well. While I am an extremely stable 6th layer cultivator, that has learned a movement technique, a weapon technique, several spells, and has trained a body refinement method for almost half a year. I also have a 7th layer blood marsh raptor, a 5th layer silver bone titan ape, and a 4th layer stone badger at my command. I not even sure you could defeat my 2nd layer solar boar, and its greatest power comes from its incredibly accurate projectile urine attack. If we were to fight, I would crush you with ease."
Collin could have added the fact that he was skilled with poison, and that he had already killed a bunch of people, but he didn't need too. Viktor shut his mouth and stayed silent till they were all ready to leave to begin today's training. But Collin reminded them to choose a soul art and a body refining art to train, he also told Julie and Viktor to choose a weapon that they wanted to use and look for the corresponding manuals from the library.
In a couple of weeks Collin was planning to speak to the trio about their goals as cultivators and what type of cultivator they wished to be. While he wanted them to be able to fight to protect themselves, but if one of them wanted to become an alchemist, or inscriptionist, or a treasure refiner instead of a fighter, he wasn't going to force them. As long as they had a skill that was beneficial to the clan.
At the moment, Julie was the only one that could make that choice. Valter's planning to become a sword cultivator, and making any true progress would require him to engage in many life-threatening battles. As for Viktor, he lacks the temperament needed to practice any of those arts. If Julie wishes to make any real gains in her cultivation without spending long periods of time, she will need to feed her dragons beast pills. Collin did give a large jar full of beast pills, but he wasn't planning to become her personal pill maker. He was going to suggest she learn some alchemy to make her own beast pills. She could learn enough to make her own beast pills or try to become a member of the Alchemist's Guild.
Not to mention twenty or so cousins that are still at the farm. Of that group he knew at least one that would prefer not to fight, but there might be more. That is if all his cousins chose to take Collins offer to join him, he couldn't guarantee that there weren't any like Viktor in that group. There might be one or two that would pass on a golden opportunity just to spite the clan in an idiotic mixture of pride and sheer stupidity.
He also needed to have the trio start to check the inns within the city owned by the Monten clan around the time his cousins were set to return from the farms. The more he thought about inviting his cousins to join him the more he had to think of all the little things that come along with these things. Like where are they all going to sleep, right now there are Collin's house, the guy's house, and a girl's house. And since Collin didn't want anyone living in his house, and Julie and the other girls that would be joining her, wouldn't want guys living in their house. The left around twenty people to live in a house meant for twelve people to live in.
This wasn't some unsolvable problem; he could just buy another house. The only thing he didn't like about that idea was that he would have to let workers inside the walls of the villa to dug out the basement of the new house. Even though the one coming wouldn't be cultivators and would only come in and do their job before leaving right after they were done, he didn't like the thought of outsiders being in his sanctuary. This led him to make a mental note to work on his paranoid tendencies, so that he doesn't end up as the city's crazy shut-in hermit that yells at young cultivators to get off his lawn.
After leaving the trio to do their own things, Collin came to the storehouse. The normal smell of pickled vegetables, now had the strong smell of earth mixed in. The back room of the storehouse now had a large round hole in the floor. The tiles around the hole were chipped and cracked, like something had clawed at them. Collin took out a light stone, and a disk-shaped flying treasure and flew down into the hole. After flying fifty feet underground, he flew into a cavern several times bigger than the library in his house. And sleeping among the piles of freshly dug dirt was the stone badger.