Sect Business

Sho, upon basking in the tub of water, didn't immediately feel something trigger. Instead the water seemed to calm him down. Within seconds, his mental state had entirely settled down as he focused on feeling for his Path.

He didn't really have a way of knowing what that would be like but it soon presented itself to him. It was like feeling yourself work out a muscle you didn't primarily focus on. It was a strange feeling but it subsided as Sho fully delved into his Path.

An energy moved through his body, surging through his body. His senses went into overdrive, wherever the energy went. His arms felt the intricate movements of the water as it rippled around his body.

It got even more sensual as the energy surged farther throughout. While it had started in his abdomen, it had reached his feet by now. The minor movements of the air against his exposed body parts was extremely present to him. Deeper in his body, he felt the churning of his blood and inner organs.

Still, when the energy finally reached his eyes and brain, everything changed. The sight of the simple room suddenly transformed into an amalgamation of objects. He could see all of it.

Sho realized that it wasn't simply the walls that transformed. Looking at his hands, he saw his tissues, cells, macromolecules and even further. It was disconcerting at first but he quickly adjusted. It was similar to looking at a series of objects each farther behind each other. If he focused on the farther ones, he'd see the closer objects more as blurry outlines, and vice versa.

Still he remained focused, in order to see the infinitesimal particles. He still didn't know what they were and after wracking his brain for a couple of seconds, he gave up and relaxed, limiting his depth of vision to normal.

It was only then that he noticed that his mind had also changed. Before, he would've been absolutely consumed by the amount of sensations hitting him at once. However, just now, he'd felt a shift in his mind as if it had grown to encompass all of what he'd been sensing. Of course, it was most likely the water influencing him and keeping him stable. Because of the temporary shift in his mind, he didn't really feel tired, and as such, he launched back into exploring his Path.

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Eleven men sat down in a room around a roundtable, some of them fidgeting as if they'd been sitting a long time.

"That bastard Lahon is late."

"He always shows up eventually though, doesn't he?"

"So? He's a core elder, one of the core members of our sect, and he can't even show up to a meeting on time?"

"I heard he was dealing with an issue about outer disciples killing one another."

"He considers a bunch of talentless children more important than this?"

"Yes, I do."

Discussion ceased as those at the roundtable looked at the door to see the man himself walk in, his beak-like nose held high up in the air. "After all, aren't those talentless children the blood of our sect? No matter how talentless they are, they bring the resources we need. I suggest you should mind your words, Grie. Is it not also disrespectful to the sect to refer to our standards as bringing in those with no talent?"

Core Elder Grie, at this point, was familiar with Lahon's word games and began to engage with him. "Given the resources and training of our sect, should we not consider those who cannot take advantage of them, talentless? This is not the fault of our sect's standards but of those complacent disciples who refuse to put in the work to grow."

"Then, it's the fault of the elders for picking and not being to discipline such 'complacent' disciples, is it not?"

"You cannot blame the teacher for failing to make their student into a genius. No matter what good values we may try to instill into them, it is not our fault if they refuse to listen."

"That's true. However, in the case we have an obstinate disciple who refuses to use the resources we have given them, to support the sect, we should punish them, correct? That is an incredibly important duty we, as elders, must have. To strengthen the willing and straighten out the unwilling, and revitalize the blood of our sect."

"Of course." Grie nodded, confidently.

"That is exactly what I was doing, Elder Grie", Lahon said as he walked over to his seat and sat down. "I, again, suggest you mind your words and make sure that you do not diminish the good work I do for the sect's wellbeing."

Grie, noticing the trap he fell into, began to backtrack but at that point, one of the men clapped. He seemed to be younger than Lahon but with a graying beard and a decreasing amount of head hair, it didn't really matter. "Welcome, Core Elder Lahon. Yes, it is very important that you sort out any difficulties that the outer disciples are facing. However, this meeting is of grave importance."

This man was the sect master of the Southern Bosque sect, Sect Master Gaston. Despite the more egalitarian roundtable, the sect master's chair was more elevated, and he was also directly facing the door, placing him in the "front" of the room.

Lahon nodded, focusing on this man.

Gaston nodded before looking around the table. "Now that we've all arrived, let's get to the important matters. There's been a rise in the amount of chaos beasts that have been spotted."

The men nodded. All of them had, in some way, seen signs of a chaos beast appearing. One had even popped out in the middle of the sect a week or two ago.

"With this rate of increase, at best, the trip to Silp will be in jeopardy. It is very likely the stability of the sect will be harmed."

With that, the sect master stopped talking. However, his unspoken question was clear. What could they do?

"What do you mean that the stability of the sect will be harmed?" A certain short elder spoke up.

"It is possible that the amount of chaos beasts roaming around will dissuade further growth of the sect. Which outer disciple would leave the sect if they were likely to be ambushed by such an apathetic, destructive creature? This is not a matter of discipline or talent."

Besides Grie who winced at the slight, the rest looked at the sect master with a grave expression. If their sect master took such an idea to be plausible, they had to, as well.

They were wracking their brains on how they'd deal with a horde of these beasts when Lahon spoke up. "It's simple. I'll take the group to Silp regardless of the length to which the chaos beast population has grown to. As for the sect itself, there isn't much that can be done. Lock down the sect and focus on rationing resources."

Grie, ever eager to regain face and control, responded. "Rationing is a temporary solution. What makes you certain this is a temporary problem?"

"Nothing. However, I never said rationing was my only solution, nor did I say it would be a permanent solution."

Grie stared at Lahon intently, prompting him to continue.

Lahon obliged. "Right now, we need to send more elders on missions with disciples to get resources. We must essentially loot the forest."

Such an idea was immediately met with silence. Lahon, seeing this, decided to explain further.

"Assuming that this beast issue does grow out of hand, we cannot operate normally, sending disciples out on missions. As such, we close down the sect, focusing on preserving what we already have. It would be foolish if we, knowing that preserving our resources was important, did not take steps to increase the amount of resources we had. Of course, this is not the only solution. This is simply the only one I can think of to protect the sect as it currently stands."

While Lahon believed his case to be solid, only hours of discussion would follow.

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Sho's sweat glistened off his tanned face as he picked up the ball, now in the Physical Strengthening Room.

He had, indeed, made progress in his Path, now more confident in using it. However, he still didn't know what it really was or what to call it. How was he supposed to use such an ability? Unless he was put in some sort of combat environment, he didn't really see the use of his Path especially since it drained him so heavily.

He hadn't planned on strengthening his soul as he didn't see the point of it, so after an hour, or so, of tinkering with his senses, he went to the Physical Strengthening Room.

The balls and tools that had been on the side all seemed to be some sort of weightlifting tool.

Sho, at first, found this strange. The term "physical strength" was a bit of a misnomer. It referred, rather, to one's internal strength, the amount of energy one could store and manipulate. Truly physical sources of strength like muscles, while helpful, were not the main determiner of how powerful your punches were. Because of this, he didn't think that he'd see something mainly meant to build muscle.

However, he didn't dwell on it. After all, weights did not only develop muscle but also served as a measurement of how strong you were. Thus, these tools could measure one's internal strength as well.

Sho, who hadn't awakened his internal strength, didn't necessarily care about that aspect yet anyways. He'd been working out for a while now. It'd be better for him to build muscle before he went for internal strength anyways.

After thoroughly exhausting his muscles, he drank one of the concoctions on the table. They turned out to be a sort of protein shake, capable of quick regeneration of his muscles. Fatigued, he took a shower, before heading out to eat. It was somewhat dark out but he didn't have groceries. He wasn't the only person out at this time though. The paths were somewhat busy with boys taking their girls out. Of course, some were just like him- unable or unwilling to cook.

Finding the closest restaurant, he walked in. It wasn't luxurious but it was clearly high class. This was part of why it was so busy. Still, it appeared that the place was used to such business at this time and food came promptly. Sitting at a table, he looked at the menu. However, it didn't take too long before he started shaking his head. Nearly everything was too expensive. He'd just eat some seasoned rice.

The server gave him his food. However, before he could dig in, he heard angry yelling.

"You serve that poor prick before me?! He's an outer disciple. You should have chased him out this store upon seeing him."

Sho sighed before taking a bite of his rice.