015 Mystical Turtle Sanctuary

When Liam woke up, he found himself sitting in a carriage, in the seat in front of him was Ralph, who was already awake.

"Stay calm, they are elders from the Mystical Turtle Sanctuary." Ralph said to Liam calmly.

Liam looked around him, he wasn't in cuffs or anything similar. "Is their strength so great that they don't even fear the possibility of us running away?" The two men looked laid back; they were chatting happily among themselves.

"They are taking us to enroll and become outer court disciples of the Mystical Turtle Sanctuary. All the other sects are full. Because of the harsh environment in the Mystical Turtle Sanctuary, most students either gave up and transferred to lower rated sects while they had space available, or they." Ralph didn't finish his sentence.

"Or they died. I don't know if you two will be lucky or unlucky that you've ended up in our sect." The man, who was an elder , sitting next to Ralph said.

"If a place does not free up for them to transfer, I give them until the next month. They won't survive the expedition." The man sitting next to Liam said. "This is a disgrace, what is the royal family thinking. Our Mystical Turtle Sanctuary is for the best of the best, a prestigious sect for the talented from our southern continent. Not for every little twerp that can cultivate."

"I don't want to hear anything from you two, stay quiet." The elders said and Liam and Ralph obliged.

The journey wasn't too long, about a day and a half. Liam could tell that the carriage was constantly moving and he was greatly surprised. Even though Ralph told him about the grandness of this world, it was still hard to believe.

"We've arrived." The person driving the carriage came to tell them.

"You two stay here." One of the elders said as he got off with the other one

After a few moments, a sound, like a gate opening, was heard. The two elders came back in to the carriage and it continued moving for a bit.

"Now you can get off."

"She will show you around." The elder said as he pointed at a girl wearing a green robe with the Emblem of the Mystical Turtle Sanctuary.

"She is an inner court disciple." Ralph whispered to Liam.

"Follow me. I shall explain you the basics as we walk." The beautiful girl said as she turned around and started walking in a certain direction.

"We are currently on Outer peak. This is where the outer court disciples like you live. There are homes for a hundred thousand people here and you are assigned one based on your ranking. Since you just joined, you'd be at the bottom. The first ninety thousand are made for 5 people. If you want to have your very own home you better move up the ranks and reach the top one thousand." The girl started explaining the ranking and housing system in the sect

Your current rank is 73, 152, which was given to Liam and 73, 153, which was given to Ralph. "Other than outer peak, you are only allowed in serene valley where your classes will take place, every morning from 7 to 12. The classes are mandatory unless you are in the top ten thousand. That's all I'll say, I recommend you read the book, where you'll find a map of the sect and all of its rules.

The girl said before giving each of them an inscripted scroll, which was like an Id card. It showed their name and ranking and could also be used as a key to their room.

"The girl said that we would find the book she mentioned at our house." Ralph said.

"If the bottom 90 000 are in houses of 5 and we're 73 152 and 73 153. Doesn't that mean that." Liam started saying

"That we'll have a roommate." Ralph finished his sentence.

"I guess, I hope he's nice." Liam commented as they were nearing their supposed accommodation.

"To still be in last place after two months, must be quite the character.

"So, this is our home."

The two boys used their IDs to enter the small unkept yard. It had overgrown grass and the fence surrounding it was in worse condition. Liam opened the door and it squeaked all the way through.

"Who's there?" a girl's voice was heard.

"We're the new residents here, along with you." Ralph said.

When they entered, the two boys saw a short, brunet girl with a timid white cat in her arms. Just like her cat, the girl looked rather scared.

"Don't worry, we want to be friends. Do you mind me asking, why are you still at the bottom even after two months here? I can see that you're at the third human realm, you couldn't possibly be the weakest here." Ralph said as he sat down on the floor.

The Layout of the house was very simple and compact. the hallway from the front door led to 5 separate bedrooms and one bathroom. Ralph did not have anywhere else to sit.

"I don't like fighting. If I could choose, I would spend all my time with Molly here." The girl said as she slightly lifted the cat in her arms.

"Is that a soul pet?" Liam was very interested and he instantly got so close to the girl and Molly. The girl's face got red and she scurried back to her room and closed the door.

Ralph laughed at her behavior while Liam stood there in shock, he did not know what he did wrong to scare her away like that. Only Ralph saw how close Liam got to the girl.

"Can you at least tell us your name? I'm Ralph and this is Liam." Ralph asked the girl.

"I'm Aria." The girl said. The door to her room remained closed and no sound could be heard from the inside.

"Let's give her some space, she is a timid girl, but she'll get used to us." Ralph said before he entered one room.

Liam entered another room himself, but the two boys did not stay separated for too long, as they quickly exited their rooms to discuss the book they found on their beds.

In one of the empty rooms, Liam said. "So, this is the book that, that girl mentioned."

"The map of the sect. 5 peaks, The outer court peak, one for the inner court disciples, for the outer court, for the elders and one for the sect leader. The five peaks are in a circle and there are five valleys in between them. Market valley, where the disciples can buy and sell everything they need or don't need. A valley where our classes will take place. One valley with general buildings, like the sects banking system or the ID system. That's where you'd go if you want to be promoted to inner court disciple." Ralph started explaining the map that he was seeing, so he could better remember it.

"There are two more valleys, one where they keep the tamed and untamed live beasts and one where they farm spirit herbs for alchemy." Ralph finished.

"You said they are all in a circle, what's in the center?" Liam asked Ralph.

"That's the training and battle grounds. It requires the most space and it can't be close to any building as not to damage them."

"And it looks, as outer court disciples, we're only allowed on outer court peak and in the general, marker, class, and battle valley. The other are off limits." Liam read what was written on the next page, next to the map.

"It says here, that we must complete at least one quest per week. And that we will not be allowed to exit the sect, unless for special expeditions like the one next month, while we are outer court disciples." Ralph read the rules in the book. "We better go and check that out tomorrow after class."

"Oh, look. This is more interesting. For the bottom 90 000, the five, or rather three of us have to fight together to achieve a better rank. If we want to get a better rank it will be really difficult when we're only three people and we have to fight against one. Liam was a bit faster than Ralph, as he skipped over what he found uninteresting.

"She said she doesn't like fighting. We'd probably be the only two." Ralph said to Liam.

"I'm sorry that I got us into this situation." Liam said to Ralph, as the two elders were in town looking for him.

"You aren't to blame. I was reckless and went out too early, it's fine. We'll manage." Ralph did not know what had happened that day, as he was only active during the night.

Liam was glad that he had a friend like Ralph. He felt bad that he got his friend into this mess too, but in the end, he was happy he was at this sect. This meant there was just a tiny chance that he could save his sister.

"Let's rest for today. We'll have to wake up early tomorrow." Ralph said as it was almost midnight and class started at 7.