"Are the two of you determined to walk down the paths you've chosen?"
The older brother Shawn remained silent and nodded, the younger brother Pawn on the other hand was saying yes excitedly while nodding his head.
"Shawn, the best I can do is refer you to alchemist Clarissa to learn alchemy under her, the rest would be up to you."
"Yes, sect master." Shawn cupped his hands and said with respect.
"Pawn, to be honest with you, I do not have the means of raising an array master. The best I can do is give you the freedom to pursue the array path out there alone. Do you want to?"
Pawn hesitated, his gaze travelling to his brother, then to the outside world.
Shawn who was always observant realised this and gave his younger brother a pat on the back. "What are you thinking about? Remember our dream to reach the apex together! If you stop here just to accompany me, wouldn't you have given up on our dream before it started?"
"Brother, I understand." Pawn said with his eyes closed, when his eyes opened again, all that could be seen was determination. The determination to pursue the dreams of his.
"Sect Master, please permit me to go out there and pursue my dreams. As long as I'm alive, I promise that I'll return to the sect regardless of where I am." Pawn promised before turning around to leave.
"Brother, when we meet again one day, the world shall remember our name."
After Pawn left, Shawn took a quick moment to calm himself down before saying, "Sect master, when the time is ripe, you'll know the answer."
"You may leave."
"It seems like the best I can do for now would be to recruit more talents, but where can I find them though?" Left without a choice, Ace could only return to his apartment to cultivate.
Half a month passed in the blink of and eye, and over the past few days, a few more talented geniuses have joined after hearing about the Nirvana sect when the disciples went out to complete missions.
The disciples who went out for missions have maintained the reputation of the Nirvana Sect by completing all of the missions through righteous means and wits that the nearby towns and cities.
This led to people having a good impression of the Nirvana Sect and since it was nearby, there were still quite a few youths who were talented enough to be considered geniuses that enrolled into the Nirvana Sect.
Nirvana sect (272/1000) EXP
Sect points: 272
"100 sect points have been deducted, 172 system points balance, lecture hall has been built!"
Lecture hall: Lessons can be held by the elders to guide disciples with cultivation.
"50 sect points have been deducted, 122 system points balance, alchemy stations have been built."
Alchemy stations: 4 individual low-grade alchemy rooms with basic equipment provided.
"50 sect points have been deducted, 72 system points balance, blacksmith stations have been built.
Blacksmith stations: 4 individual low-grade blacksmithing stations with basic equipment provided.
Ace then informed his elders about the new alchemy and blacksmith stations, so that they can utilise it to take in disciples to learn these crafts under them, which will allow the sect to nurture their own batch of alchemists and blacksmiths for the years to come.
Cidd could also teach music to the disciples who were interested, after all, he had proven that there's much more to music than it seemed on the surface.
Music might seem like an entertainment only for the mundane world, but it can also be a lethal weapon as well, as proven by Cidd. But most importantly, it's because he wants his disciples to always remember that they were once nothing even after they grow stronger.
A cultivator could be arrogant, but one should never forget one's roots or they would have lost themselves in the conquest for strength and longevity in the path of cultivation.
In this half a month, Ace's cultivation also soared rapidly and after making full use of the system points, he managed to awaken the first two layers of the foundation tower. Yet this was the reason behind Ace's worry.
If it took him half a month for the first two layers, just the third and fourth layers might take him two months. The fifth might take him four months and the sixth layer would be the limit for him. He needed to find a way and the only thing he could do right now was to strengthen his sect and seek opportunities through the fame of his sect.
It was selfish, but if he manages to gain profound strength through the sect. then he would use it. Now, it's also about the time he went to a city and recruited talents there and there was one way.
A method which Charlotte had mentioned without the intention to during their daily conversations. Making use of the meeting hall's message system, Ace quickly sent a message to his three elders to manage the sect as he would be away before leaving.
"Ace, I'm going to cultivate and try awakening the third layer, be back as soon as possible." Charlotte said in concern before returning to her cultivation seclusion. In terms of cultivation speed, she was equal to Ace and for every second she spent on cultivation, she could sense her affinity with ice increasing.
That in turn, led to an increase in her cultivation speed. Charlotte herself was determined to awaken the ninth layer of the foundation tower as well. Only at that point of time, would she be capable of standing alongside Ace at the peak.
The disciples of the sect also progressed rapidly under the assistance of the stronger cultivation environment due to the spiritual root of the root, the cultivation rooms cost about 10 merit points for an hour of usage, but it was worth it since the one hour of double cultivation speed, would help the disciples subtly.
The martial skills were redeemed by most disciples and the Martial pavilion alone now has hundreds of martial skills with disciples exchanging their family martial skills or cultivation techniques.
It was an equal trade and most disciples were willing to do so, some on the other hand even exchanged the martial skills for just merit points in order to spend them on the cultivation room. For this, some of the affluent disciples even got workers from their family to build training grounds for everyone.
With Cidd overseeing their overall progress and behaviour, the sect has been developing rapidly without any conflicts between the disciples. Cidd just needed more comprehension right now and his gut feeling that guiding these disciples would be the key to his breakthrough.
He had a reason for this, he wanted to awaken the music soul which is comparable to the realm beyond the intents.
In just half a month, most of the disciples made a minor breakthrough. This short period of time was already comparable to a month or more of cultivation time back in their own family. Of course, the elixirs and the sect merit points from the bounty missions were also a motivation reason.
It wasn't announced that the merit points had other uses yet, but it was clear to the disciples that it was only a matter of time before the merit points became useful.
*Swoosh*
Entering the Badger city, Ace realised that the Badger city stayed true to its name. Not because people were pestering each other, but because badgers could be seen everywhere. Almost every resident or citizen of the Badger city has their own badger.
Thinking, he suddenly bumped into a person who was walking in his opposite direction.
Stopping in his tracks, he was about to apologise when that man flared up first.
"You don't know how to make way for me?" The man smirked as he signalled for his lackeys to make a move,
Adding on, "Don't kill him, just breaking his legs would do."
The passersby turned a blind eye. Some wanted to help but were stopped by Ace with a smile as he asked. "Who is this person?"
One of the men who was playing around with a rose coloured dagger casually explained, "He's the only son of the Ever family, of course, such an idiot shouldn't even have his name known to you."
"To put it simply, he abuses the authority of his father to show dominance in this city?" Ace asked, receiving a laugh from the man.
"That's right, I was going to kill him personally, but it seems like you can settle this yourself. We'll meet again one day."
The man said through his laughter, vanishing as though he never appeared in the first place.
With a single movement of his sword, he easily knocked out the two guards with the blunt edge before grabbing that idiot who tried to cripple him by the neck.
"I won't do anything to you, but considering your identity, you should be quite rich, am I right?"
"Yes...yes...I can give you all the money I have right now...just let me go!" Screaming, he ran away as he threw his spirit stone towards Ace without giving regard to those guards of his.
Leaving with a smile after prying into the contents within the spatial ring, Ace continued to make his way towards the place he came for.