Chapter 16: The First Thank You

- Basic information for beginners. - Lady ointed to the first slip. - Basic rules, map, descriptions of main Outer Sect facilities.

- Got it. - Yee Rhys put the identified slip in the bag.

- Sect rules. All of them. - With a smile, the Grand Elder pointed to the other slip. - I highly recommend you learn it by heart.

Mm-hmm. With her enthusiasm and his "good luck," the Outer Sect will soon know the horror of the Untouchable in all its glory.

- Permission to learn a first-intermediate level technique or two first-lower level techniques. Standard procedure. Usually the Elder brings all newcomers together to choose techniques. But those transferred from the workers have to go on their own. Oh, by the way. - As if she remembered something, Dra Jae took out another jade. - I thought you might want to develop your body. "Hot Silver Chimpanzee", the first-higher level body development technique. Do you want it?

- No. - After thinking for a while, Yee Rhys shook his head. - My body has changed under the influence of the bloodline and the normal techniques are no longer suitable for me.

The lady froze for a moment.

- Finally decided to tell? - Beauty smiled at him, pleased with herself.

- No. - He shook his head in a negative way. - I'm just going to start cultivating my body the other day. Since my techniques are tied to my bloodline, there's no way I can hide it.

- If you don't want, okay than. - The Lady pouted angrily and put the slip back. - You can do with the usual techniques.

Yee Rhys held up a last slip.

- Permission to enter the Puppet Coliseum. - She explained. - It's an illusionary array for battles. It's hard enough for outside disciples to get in. But you're so eager to do the deeds, and I can't let you out. Think of it as compensation.

The young man's eyes lit up. Such an array would be very useful to him now. Especially in light of the fact that the Lady clearly intends to lock him in the sect up until the hunt.

- I'm glad I guessed that. - The Elder smiled. - One last thing.

A small jade with a beautiful pattern fell into Yee Rhys' hands.

- Communication jade?

- Yes. - The Lady nodded seriously. - I want you to be able to communicate with me. Once you show your talent, you will immediately find yourself caught up in the competition and intrigue of the sect. I hope you'll be clever and manage on your own. But if you have no choice, call me. I can't watch you all the time. And keep in mind, if the situation turns out to be non-critical, you'll be the first to suffer!

- Understood. - The young man nodded seriously. He knew from his own experience how murky and multi-layered the intrigues within a sect can be. And the larger the sect, the more relevant this statement is. In the past he had been lucky enough to find an elder teacher right away, so much of the intrigue had bypassed him, allowing him to focus on the competition between the best geniuses.

But this time he is unequivocally thrust into the very depths of that mud, as if wanting to see if he swims or drowns. Though he has even better actual support this time, but the Lady clearly hints that there will be no official support. And just joining some faction would be shortsighted.

This seems to be another test. And an attempt to reveal the cards. And a little revenge to go with it.

The Lady clearly thinks he needs "deep" training. And the way of the spoiled genius is not for him. And if he cheats, that spider-woman will find a way to pull the strings.

Yeah. He's not a genius being bred. He's a weapon being forged. And the more hits, the stronger the steel gets.

Except, why communication jade is the female model?!

- Beautiful. - The Beauty's smile blossomed like scarlet tulips. The next moment there was a wind all around and the two figures flew up into the sky. Yee Rhys only smiled sadly; he longed so much to reach the Soaring Core Sphere again and start flying himself. He was simply fed up with being dragged everywhere like a sack of rice.

***

They landed in one of the Outer Sect's courtyards. The Outer Sect was divided into districts. There were ten districts in all. Three elite, six circular, and one old.

The first, second, and third districts were considered elite. They were inhabited by disciples ranked in the first, second, and third thousand places, respectively. Naturally, the conditions there were also the best. From the fourth to the ninth were circular districts for ordinary students. Traditionally, newcomers were settled in one district. Most reached the Soaring Core Sphere in four or five years and moved into the Inner Sect. When it was time for a new recruitment, the inhabitants of the corresponding district were moved to the tenth old district, and the district itself was repopulated. Obviously, the residents of the tenth district were considered losers, unable even to move to a more prestigious district in six years, let alone advance into the Inner Sect.

Yee Rhys and the Lady landed in the seventh district, now populated by newcomers. The courtyard appeared to be on the outskirts. There were six houses inside.

A private courtyard? What do you mean? That's the privilege of the First District and the first thousand ranking. District Two is two cabins per courtyard. District three, four cabins per yard. All others had six cabins per yard. Is it bad? But the workers live in barracks, two people per room. After that, a private house is nice.

- This one's yours. - The Beauty pointed to one of the huts at the back of the yard.

Altogether, looking from the gate, there were three houses lined up on the left and three on the right. The young man got the one on the far right. There were also decorative shrubs between the houses, a green meadow in the center, and a paved white stone pathway, starting from the gate and branching out into six paths, each leading to its own house.

- Hmm? - Yee Rhys looked around. - And where are the other residents?

Well, he could not believe that he would live here proudly alone.

- Soon will be. - Dra Jae smiled meaningfully.

Aha, so the courtyard would not be inhabited by just anyone, but under her keen guidance.

Suddenly a guess crossed his mind. He went to the wall of the courtyard and put his hand to it. He concentrated on the sensation. A soundproofing formation. Blocking noise from inside the courtyard. What on earth was the Lady planning that she'd bothered to keep the neighbors from noise in advance?

Oh, also a protective formation. Also for internal problems. Is she going to put a herd of elephants in here or a group of young cultivators?

- Something wrong? - Interested in his actions beautiful woman asked.

- I'm just not sure it would be noisy enough to soundproof it.

- Do you understand something about formations?

- Just enough to identify the main types. - He shook his head. After all, he had been trained as a cultivator since childhood and knew the basics. After thinking a little, he said. - May I ask you a question?

- Yes. - The Lady nodded graciously.

- Was it you who started the rumors?

- What rumors? - She didn't understand.

- How Untouchable found a girl in his house, chased her all over the village for ten minutes, and then raped her. - Forcedly explained the young man.

- Was there such a rumor? - Lady's eyes flickered with interest.

- I see. So it wasn't you. - Yee Rhys summed up.

After that the young man approached his new house. It was a small, three by three meters white house with a gable roof.

- Put a name slip on the door to identify yourself. - The Elder prompted. - The defense will be able to identify you by your aura.

- Thanks. - Yee Rhys sincerely thanked. The sect didn't bother with protecting houses for Outer Sect disciples. If you can set it, fine, if not, that's your problem. And interrupted cultivation has never made anyone happy.

- You're welcome. - The Lady smiled. - I'm supposed to help you reach the Soaring Core Sphere. I don't want the process to be slowed down by something as stupid as rolling back a cultivation. By the way, was that the first time you ever thanked me?

- Uh... I guess so. - He was confused.

- It was nice, you know. - She smiled slyly. - Do it more often. Goodbye for now. I hope you won't be in any trouble before the tournament.

The Grand Elder floated gently into the air and disappeared into the darkness.