After he met Ato, Maren decided to roam around the mountains for a few more days, finding some uncommon and some occasional rare spiritual plants hidden in the forest. But because of the absence of powerful experts over the years, not many plants had succeeded in creating spiritual auras.
Maren, of course, wouldn't bother about some rare plants, since he could easily buy seeds for more powerful variants in the system's shop. In his mind, he already started taking notes of where to put different facilities and marked the different corners of the valley.
The mountains around Ato's golden pine tree formed a perfectly oval shaped natural wall, making it a good place for creating a hidden, but large force.
'System, do I need to build my sect manually or can I buy houses in the shop?'
-Information: [Host] is advised to open 'Beginner's bag' lootable
'Oh right, I nearly forgot about the quest rewards!'
He couldn't help but inwardly lament about his carelessness.
'Then open the bag System!'
-Affirmative:
[Host] obtained:
External Scan Function: (Scans for not recruited individuals)
Design-Mode: Create Sect facilities for Shopping Points
1 free Design-Basic Disciples Abode
1 free Design-Basic Inner Disciples Abode
1 free Design-Intermediate Core Disciples Abode
1 free Design-Intermediate Elder's Courtyards
1 free Design-Intermediate Sect Leader's Courtyard
1000 Shopping Points
He was surprised by the amount of loot the bag gave, but then remembered it was his first big quest reward, so it was only to be expected.
'Design mode huh? System, activate it!'
-Affirmative
His vision turned blurry, and the next moment he already flew above the valley, having a perfect view into every corner, with a slight see-through effect when looking at trees and the like. He even saw Ato snoring at the foot of his hill peacefully. He decided to play a little prank on him.
'System, use the Elder's courtyard design.'
-Affirmative
In Maren's mind, a greyish-blue version of a nice complex of courtyards surrounded by a white and tall wall appeared. He twisted it a little, making the courtyards completely surround the tree.
When he clicked on the big 'apply' button that appeared, he just saw the building complex and the wall spawning in midair, crashing down onto their assigned positions. When they hit the ground, a giant explosion sound rang out, making Ato nearly die of heart attack.
After he got forcefully woken up he was obviously disgruntled, but after looking around and seeing Maren flying high in the air, looking in his direction, his temperament calmed down. He then decided to seize up the newly created courtyards.
"Is that your doing, sect leader?"
His voice boomed through the skies. It even reached the ears of some roaming Cultivators around the valley. 'This voice?!? Did the old snake finally wake up? And what did it just say?' All roaming Cultivators started to pale in sync. 'Not good, I have to report to the esteemed master city lord!' They then sped away.
Ato had been on the island for the last 60 years, so it was a given that the various forces there knew about him. But that he, an esteemed lord Stairs-Ascension Cultivator actually called somebody sect leader meant that the person in question was stronger than him, probably at the peak of Stairs-Ascension, or maybe even... nobody dared to continue that train of thought. To most of them, even a Perfection-Practitioner was an untouchable existence, not to mention a master, that was one, or possibly two major realms above that.
While the scouts of all those forces started to worry, Maren fooled around with the Design-Mode some more. He obviously noticed the many ant-like existences in the surroundings but couldn't care less about them.
"Hey Ato, how do you like those courtyards?"
Ato glanced around more seriously this time and noticed many complex arrays carved into the white wall surrounding the complex.
"Are those aura gathering Arrays?!?"
This time his voice slightly quivered with excitement. An aura gathering array, although a small one, in this case, was a tremendous help for Cultivators below the Divinity-Realm.
"Nah, I don't mean them, they are just add-ons. I've still got a better one which I'll use after establishing all sect facilities.
Maren's casual attitude nearly made Ato pop a vein. Those were aura gathering arrays, not some cheap cabbages goddamnit! But then again, maybe they really were like cheap cabbages to Maren...
Ato once again was relieved by his wise decision to join this newly founded sect.
"Well, the design is pretty nice isn't it."
He didn't actually care about the look of the courtyards too much, as he thought it'd be the personal living space of the sect leader. Maren's next word though, knocked him out cold.
"Good then, because you and my future sect elders will live in them."
Seeing Ato's spirit visually leave his body, Maren chuckled slightly. He then decided not to bother with him anymore and continued to create the other buildings.
After he was finally satisfied, the sect grounds layout was like that:
At the entrance of the valley in the direction of Sea's village, was the normal disciple's abode, after that followed the inner disciple's homes and then a big piece of forest for the ambiance and possible future hunting activities for sect tests and the like. The core disciple's abode surrounded the elder's courtyards, as core disciples were allowed to receive direct teachings from elders if they encountered a major problem in cultivation. Successor disciples of possible elders would live together with them in their courtyards. After a little bit of more forest, the sect leader's Courtyard throned majestically.
After he used up all of the system's free designs, a message popped up.
-[Host] has unlocked the Designer's shop
'Designer's shop? I can probably buy designs there then. System, open it.'
-Affirmative
Once again a long list of items clogged his field of vision. Seeing the prices Maren frowned. A basic facility cost 100 points, and an intermediate one 500? So expensive! Then again, for saving the hassle of building and engraving self-made arrays the price was actually quite cheap.
'System, I want the basic arena (4 rings) and the basic mission board. Also, put in an intermediate alchemy hall and forgery.'
-Affirmative, deducting a total of 1200 points, remaining points 350
Seeing his points drop, his heart felt the pinch, but remembering only two quests already brought him this far, he cheered up again.
After placing the arena and mission board between the inner and core disciples abode, and connecting the alchemy and forgery hall with the elder's courtyard, he decided to return back to the village.
After waking up Ato, and reminding him to properly guard the place he went on his way to fetch his disciples.
He started running at a normal human's speed, gazing at the refreshing scenery of the sect's buildings in the valley. While he was crossing the considerable distance towards the fishermen's village, a few dark clouds started gathering in the sky. In but the blink of an eye a downpour started, similar to the one back on earth, on the day he transmigrated. But this time he didn't mind the water at all, it wouldn't make him feel cold anyway, as it was mid-summer currently.
Stopping for a moment he faced the skies and opened his mouth to let out a loud and heartfelt laugh.
"It feels so good!"
His voice boomed, even drowning out the thunder in the background.
Having vented his feelings he started running again, still at a relatively slow pace.
...
Two days later, he finally reached the village, still drenched, as the storm only receded only a few minutes ago.
When he entered the village, there were many people looking suspiciously at the unknown and mysterious looking man, but they soon recognized him, as the village head personally came and welcomed him after receiving the news.
"Sir Immortal you are finally back!"
The man gave Maren a big and sincere smile.
"Judging from your mood, your son must have returned safely to the village?"
"Yes, indeed! Zhi is safely back, and although he is injured it's nothing serious, and he'll recover in two days at most."
Maren obviously knew that already, through the soul links he had established with Mark and Tori, but in front of the villagers he still needed to play the concerned, mysterious master.
"Good! Then, would you mind bringing me to my disciples?"
"Yes yes! Please follow me Sir Immortal!"
The village head started to walk towards the deeper parts of the village, where his house was located too. After walking for a bit, they arrived at a magnificent looking mansion.
"This is the Lord Envoy's residence, he is the spokesperson sent by Koda city, who makes his way around to collect taxes once a year. He arrived only a day after you were gone. After your disciples arrived he instantly went out to receive them personally, making them stay in his mansion."
"I see."
Maren was obviously clear of the envoy's attempts to form friendly relationships with him.
'I guess I'll need to pay Koda city a visit in the near future.'
When he stepped through the mansion's gate, two figures instantly came out, and bowed to him.
"We greet master."
Mark and Tori's voices sounded in unison.
"Hm, I've come today to fetch you, and show you around our sect grounds."
Their eyes had the excited glimmer again. Maren then turned towards the village head.
"I'll leave a spiritual Jade inside your village and engrave a basic cultivation technique on it. In 6 years, the stone will also unlock the map to our sect grounds, for every person who reached the Understanding-Mortal realm. You can send every lucky youngster who accomplished that feat to us."
He smiled. Getting some free disciples this way was exactly the way he liked it. After buying the necessary items, he engraved the first 3 levels of the 'Mantled in Night Skies' technique he earned from the quest on it.
After that, he left the village, leaving two interesting personalities he wished to mess with behind.