The Two Stars

Gareth knew he was one of the two she was addressing, he had an idea who the other person was. Brother Olive had mentioned this person to him. He was the first person in this recruitment session to have appeared with a perfect grade five talent. Gareth hadn't met him during the time he had been in the sect. Today would be their first meeting.

Gareth walked forward. He wasn't far from where Lunara was. He had almost reached the podium, when a commotion broke at the back of the gathered disciples. People were getting out of the way for a group who were surrounding a young boy of fifteen.

Gareth watched the young boy who seemed to be unaffected by the commotion. His eyes straight ahead, his chin up at an arrogant tilt, as he walked forward with a confidence that eclipsed those around him. His sycophants continued pushing people to make way for him.

Gareth heard from one of brother Olive's friend that the boy was from a small aristocratic family with a Spirit Strengthening Realm patriarch. The family managed a small city in the territory of the Martial Seekers sect. There were also rumors that he awakened just after the end of the last recruitment session in the past year, and he had been cultivating since then.

Gareth got on the podium. The young man was not far behind him as when his entourage reached the edge of the gathered disciples, he glided onto the podium light as a feather.

As he stepped on the podium, his arrogance toned down a bit. He gave a respectful nod to the young lady, Lunara. He didn't bother sparing a glance at Gareth.

Since he got up here, Gareth had been observing Lunara from the side, trying not to be obvious with his actions. The young master of the aristocratic family hadn't captured much of his attention. Being on this podium with the young lady, he felt an invisible pressure bearing down on him. It was light, but it was noticeable. Almost like an unconscious action of this young lady.

"These are the two people with the highest talent among the two thousand and forty-eight disciples that are joining us this year. I am sure most of you here must have heard of them. Why don't you introduce yourselves to all of us."

"Qian," The boy said.

"Gareth."

Lunara nodded.

"You have heard their names."

Lunara continued, this time her words were mostly directed at the two.

"Both of you will each receive a perfect three star cultivation technique."

The new disciples were shocked at this. The senior disciples were calm, this was something they knew would happen.

"There will be other benefits you will receive. You will know about them soon. What the sect wants from you two is simple. Achieve perfect completion at the Spirit Condensation Realm. I am sure you both know what that means." A smile was on her lips.

They nodded.

There was no chance to go for less in any of the preceding realms. Even if there was no such requirement, Gareth was never settling for anything less than a perfect completion.

"There is also an opportunity for everyone here. The sect is fair to every disciple, provided they work hard and don't slack."

Her eyes twinkled, anticipating the reaction to what she was going to say next.

"Any disciple who can defeat either of our two stars here, will be the one receiving the benefits the sect is giving to each. Of course, those who have completed their realms are excluded."

The new disciples froze at her words. The implications of her words stunning them. They could receive the same benefits as these two.

"Once they have been defeated, they will stop receiving the benefits. There is also an extra benefit for anyone who defeats them, you can not be challenged by anyone. Except, of course, our two stars."

She turned serious after that.

"This opportunity will only be available two months from now. Everyone of you should get prepared."

She looked at Gareth and Qian.

"There will be a limited number of people who can challenge you in a day, and the time during which they can do that is also limited. However, the bad news is that you can not refuse any challenge. And sometimes, you might have to fight up to ten challengers at a time. So, good luck."

She grinned as a gentle aura from her pushed them both into the crowd of new disciples who were eyeing them in a different kind of way.

Most of the older disciples, however, seemed to be actually pitying the new disciples who were no doubt moved by the 'opportunity'.

"This ends all I have to say to you all. I hope we all meet again, stronger than before. Good bye."

She seemed to disappear off the podium. No doubt she was moving too fast for any of them to notice how she pulled it off. Gareth found that even he couldn't catch a trace of her.

A group of senior disciples from the outer court were the ones in charge of taking them to tour the sect.

The young master, Qian, was still surrounded by his entourage. There were also some of the newer disciples trying to butter up to him. The boy no doubt had quite the bearing of a noble. He must have worked hard to gather this entourage of his. Even though some of them might be his challengers in the coming months.

Gareth was not alone as those new disciples who were with brother Olive and his friends were with him. They knew each other already. There were also others coming up to him once in a while as they toured the outer court of the sect.

There were the library, the management buildings, the repository of techniques which contained the many and varied techniques the sect had collected and created, the mission hall, the resource hall, the special cultivation grounds, and many more.

As a sect that focused on martial prowess, there were many places that focused on this. Different sort of arenas and challenge grounds. Everything here being for the outer court of the sect only.