Team Building (1)

Mina was in a cheerful mood as she dusted away the cobwebs in her new room. Having been a village girl, she never thought that she would be able to stay in such a nice place then started to wonder if she even deserved to be this lucky.

Ryu and Old Lao would share a room so that Kai could have his own room as well. This would only be temporary since Kai had planned on transforming the basement into his private sanctuary/ workshop so he would move down there once it was properly renovated. Mina had already helped him clean up the dust so it was already somewhat livable. "Looks like things are coming together, but there are a few things that I need to take care of before it's too late..."

The first thing was to finally turn Old Lao into an Internal Cultivator. It was no secret that Kai was quickly becoming reliant on Old Lao despite the short amount of time that they have been together. The old man was not only business savvy, but he also had a wealth of knowledge from his life experiences and travels as a merchant's servant. Kai would hate to see the old man pass on from old age after he had gotten so close to him, so the sooner he could extend his life, the better.

"Everyone, please gather in my room". Kai said in a low voice that echoed throughout the upper floor. All three of his companions heard him and immediately stopped what they were doing. Mina was the first to enter the room as she sprinted in and immediately dropped to her knees in front of Kai.

"Master!, Am I useful to you?", Mina said loudly as Ryu and Old Lao walked into the room behind her. Ryu was shocked by her sudden shout and looked between his sister and Kai curiously. He knew that his sister wasn't the type to randomly act like this so this must have been bothering her for a while.

Kai was dumbstruck by the sudden question and didn't know what to say.

Old Lao quickly pulled Ryu out of the room by his collar and closed the door. "I think we should give them some privacy, yes?. I'll go make some tea". He dragged a curious Ryu back down the stairs.

In the room, Kai looked at Mina and somewhat understood what she was asking. Kai was openly grooming his people for specific roles where he felt they would be most useful. He had given Lao Ren and Ryu roles, so she probably felt left out.

"Mina, are you aware that you're really strong?..." Kai said calmly as he looked her in the eyes.

Kai saw the confused look on her face and sighed. She may not have noticed it, but Kai did. Not only was she quick to think on her feet, but she also had an almost scary level of instinctive battle sense.

Kai had been in a lot of fights ever since coming into this world and one thing he had noticed about his fights was that they were messy and chaotic. Very rarely would he come out of a fight not completely covered in his enemy's blood and guts. Kai also relied heavily on overwhelming his enemies with sheer power or speed rather than any type of skill, however, Mina was the complete opposite.

After having watched her fight the Qin guard, he knew that she was born for battle. Not only could she exploit the weaknesses in her enemy's defenses, but she was also able to punish them for leaving any gaps in their attacks. In short, Mina could fight with her head which was a skill that Kai valued. This combined with her natural [Divine Yin Physique] made her interesting to watch. Kai would carefully groom her into his best warrior no matter what it took.

"You're already quite strong and have good potential. I'll be counting on you to protect them when I'm not around. Sort of like the Guardian or Sentinel of the group." Kai said sincerely.

"Guardian-SentineI..." Mina murmured as her eyes shone. "I will guard all that is yours with my life!" Mina said solemnly as she found a new lease on life. Her serious face quickly turned into a sweet smile "Thank you"

"Haha, I'm glad you're happy. But just know that it won't be easy. Being the Guardian-Sentinel means you'll have to work two or three times as hard as everyone else so you can keep protecting them."

"I understand Master, I won't let you down". Mina said, full of determination.

Kai nodded his head happily and asked her to go fetch Old Lao and Ryu. She had sidetracked him, but he was glad that she was now happy. She also inadvertently came up with a cool title of [Guardian-SentineI] which Kai approved of.

Mina lead Old Lao and Ryu back into the room and they all sat in front of Kai. Old Lao had brought tea which he served to the group while Kai spoke.

"Now that we have a base of operations, I would like to reiterate my ambitions to you three".

Ryu looked at Kai full of excitement. Kai had always mentioned his ambitions in passing, but this was the first time that he formalized it to them.

Mina also paid close attention and slowly moved closer so she wouldn't miss a word.

Old Lao was as calm as usual and quietly sipped his tea while listening.

"I have already told you that I want to establish a sect, however, I feel that I am still quite far from this goal. That is why today I will be taking the first step towards that goal by establishing us as a hunter team!"

"Hunter? you mean those people who hunt beasts for money?", Ryu asked nervously. He hadn't been in a real fight despite the fierce scar over his eye which was now fully healed.

Kai heard the nervousness in Ryu's voice and knew he made the right decision. The quickest way to get them battle-ready was to throw them into a few life-and-death fights. While they were 'training', they might as well make some money and collect a few beast hearts for him to level up his Body cultivation manual. Kai felt it was a win-win for everyone.

"That's right!. From today onward, we will be known as Team [Sleeping Serpent]". Kai smiled as he looked at their confused faces.

"Mina will be the Vice-Leader as well as the main combat force. Old Lao will be our strategist and also in charge of logistics. Lastly, Ryu will be in charge of path finding and intelligence gathering. Use this as an opportunity to improve your cultivation as well as your teamwork"