If he were honest Leo was leaning more towards the adventure guild. They offered an incredible amount of freedom and had enough resources to be satisfied by. They only called their members in if there was an emergency and mostly it was emergencies that would threaten their community.
The adventure guild was highly sought after and were almost welcome by anyone. It was hard to dislike someone who was going into the thicket for you to pick some flowers or helped you with a pest. Of course, they were also respected as much as glorified pest control as some might say.
They also often dealt with dungeon crawlers to explore some cave or beast nest. They were the very description of the adventurers Leo had read about in his past life. However, that was also why he hesitated to push their decision towards it.
He knew that he was being bias. There were obvious flaws in pursuing an adventurer career. Even on the high-end, adventurers weren't earning as much as their mercenary brothers and contracted cultivators from sects were.
Their resources were enough to be satisfied by but that was only for the average person. The talented people's growth would be stunted by the lack of surplus in rare resources. Considering that their group was talented according to the reference guide, they had to decide their course of action.
That was why he didn't pursue it as much as he wanted to. He knew that he wouldn't be able to grow there as much as he would in other factions. Their conversation went back and forth for quite some time until they concluded their discussion.
In the end they decided to split up for the next 4 months. This was the period of the usual initiation, afterwards one could be considered a firm member. They would have to fulfill some duties after becoming a full-fledged member, but it wouldn't keep them from seeing each other as much as in the initiation period.
Besides after a year they would be going back to earth anyway as they only had planned to take a trip for 2 years before returning home. They still wanted to have their world tour after all.
They figured they could do their world tour first and then explore a completely different world, but now they were just too intrigued by the mysterious new world. They wanted to satiate their initial curiosity before following through with their plan.
They each had chosen their respective faction that catered towards their strength. They didn't want to wait too long with joining a faction as every minute without a backing would be a dangerous one, at least according to Leo.
He also warned them about how newcomers would likely be treated, especially attractive young woman like they were. His stories honestly horrified them, but they hoped that he was exaggerating, though he rarely misjudged this kind of 'cliches'.
Fortunately, Laura and Shunlei were very capable and couldn't be messed with by normal thugs. Of course, this was a cultivation world, in which even a normal person with a little bit of effort became peak human warriors, at least to earth's standard.
They just needed some time. They needed to avoid the young masters and they should be good with some disguise, Leo advised. There was also the fact that all the factions had reputable images in the eyes of the commoner.
It usually was worse than they could see but no one heard of any scandals involving murder or rape. The thing that sealed the deal for them was after they enquired some advice from Terra. According to the guards they were policing not only the city but the nearby sects and guilds as well.
Honestly, considering their attitude Leo wanted to reconsider and just join them. After hesitating for a bit, he asked if he was able to join them if their life in the sects were going downhill.
After they readily agreed, he was quite reassured to let the girls go. He felt like a proud father seeing his children spread their wings and enter the wide world.
Some might think that he was being stupid for letting them go into this unknown and dangerous world and Leo was inclined to agree, alas his common sense won against his possessive nature.
He could keep them close forever, but they had to live their own life. Many young men like Leo didn't understand that in a healthy relationship the world doesn't solely revolve around their partner. They lived their own life and supported each other wherever they could.
They wouldn't be able to spend most of their time with each other for the next 4 months. The sects had rather strict curfews, which meant that they would only be able to spend time with each other occasionally.
The first months of the initiation would take a lot of their time. The beginning of joining a faction was always time consuming and exhaustive but they would manage.
As for the potential rapists and murderers in this world, Leo wasn't truly concerned about them as he appeared to be. This world mirrored earth in many aspects unlike the stories he read about in novels. Admittedly, he was only here for a day and only asked around but from what he heard it couldn't be that bad.
There were laws the sects had to abide, they had a reputation to uphold, and it wouldn't do them any good to irk their own potential recruits. There was also the fact that the sects selected not the strongest but their most capable member as the sect leader, making most leaders highly competent.
It was inevitable to do so if they wanted their sect to prosper, especially with the amount of competition they faced. After some time, he put his concerns away as he stepped towards the tower of Arcanum. In his hand was a small emblem with four stones on it.
Coincidentally a guard from the night before had given an emblem to each of them. Apparently, the corresponding gem would break if the other desired to trigger it. It seemed to be an ancient item for worrywarts like Leo.
The only one Leo wasn't really concerned about was Sarah as Holy Light made an effort in putting the holy into their name. They were always on their best behavior, it seemed.
The members were mostly polite and helped around where they could. It also helped that most members where female and the few males weren't in very high positions, Sarah had assured Leo after he asked.
He could only shake his head and put them out of his mind for now. He didn't need to worry about them, they could take care of themselves, and he was confident that they would be able to enter their factions with ease, if the reference guide were right about their supposedly talent. He was sure he wouldn't even miss their nightly activities with his entry to the illustrious Arcanum.
After all, he was hoping for a whole new world of possibilities. This time, he believed that he wouldn't be let down like the previous times. This time it would be real supernatural meditation/cultivation techniques that he could master to ascend the heavens as some authors had put it.
He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he looked at the ominous looking tower ahead. The things that he had only read about before were now in arm's length. It wouldn't be long until he too would reach a strength unbelievable to his past life's knowledge of the possible.
The tower had a thick metal door and Leo could feel the weight of it when he pressed his hand against it. He felt the cold of the steel invading his hand as he stood there hesitating to push the door open. This would be a new chapter on his path to power and an undeniable important one at that.
Just as he managed to gather himself and put strength into his body to push the door open, he heard a feminine voice coming from behind him.
"Are you just going to stand there feeling up the door or knock on it like a normal person?" Leo turned around and saw a woman in dark purple wizard garbs that had some gold linings decorating the sleeves.
At least, they looked like wizard garbs if it weren't for the person wearing it. A large bust woman and a sensual allure to her. Shunlei had strong legs for days and a beautiful behind. Laura looked elegant and graceful with her silver hair, even though she was more akin to a hotheaded and spontaneous girl, while Sarah was a bombshell who had inherited her mom's look.
Sarah was the closest one to compete with the woman's bust standing in front of Leo. The woman's hips weren't losing to her bust either, which made her body unbelievable sinful. Leo had instantly made the connection to a hentai or doujin he had seen in the past. Her body was made for sex and if Leo were a young boy, she would probably 'Ara ara' him.
The woman didn't seem to appreciate his stare though if her scrunched eyebrows were anything to go by. Fortunately, his gaze didn't linger anywhere particular to avoid being called a pervert.
"Oh, sorry about that. Just nervous since I want to join Arcanum." Her eyebrows relaxed after he explained. She then gave him a glance over his body, before shaking her head.
She waved her hand and the door opened by itself. Leo followed her figure as she passed him when she went inside. "You aren't stuck to the ground, are you?"
"N-no." Leo quickly said as he stepped inside the tower. Inside were many people and like the woman they all wore wizard garbs, although theirs were a muddy brown. He guessed that the woman must have a higher standing and/or was more experienced than the others.
The atmosphere became somewhat unruly when the others saw the woman in her purple wizard robe. Most were excitedly whispering to each other as if they saw their idol but were too shy to go talk to her.
No one spared a glance at Leo, who was looking around inspecting everything like the bumpkin he was. "You." The woman suddenly said with an authoritarian tone. Maybe she fit the trope of a beauty CEO better than an older sister, Leo thought as he looked at the interaction between the woman and the receptionist.
"He wants to join. See to it to test him." She shortly said before exiting the entry hall of the tower. Leo watched her back for a moment before turning his attention to the receptionist that had watched the leaving figure as well.
She sighed before distractedly looking at Leo. Her eyes slowly focused on him, and she had the decency to blush as she was caught daydreaming about the strict secretary onee-san like woman. "You want to join, right? Fill these out and then we can go for the assessment."
'Great, more paperwork.' Leo thought as the receptionist pushed the forms and a pen into his hands. He did notice that she gave him a glance over his body not unsimilar to the one the woman gave him outside of the tower.
It looked like she suppressed a sigh from coming out before she pointed at a chair on which Leo quickly filled out the forms. He finished it quickly before following the pink haired receptionist to a side room.
"So, who was she?" Leo couldn't help himself from asking. The receptionist answered professionally unlike her previous dreamy state.
"That was the Archmage of Mysticism. Probably one of the most knowledgeable one inside the entire guild of Arcanum." She started with hidden reverence in her voice. "She could be said to be running this tower most of the time." Oh, so she is the CEO type.
"Although, most idolize her, she is more like an older sister to most of us." … "She is strict with us, but we know that she just wants the best for us. She sometimes helps with…"
'I think I lost her.' Leo thought as the receptionist started to tell him about any and every story of Ms. Alina Magenda.
"Have you cultivated before trying your luck with Arcanum?" The women asked as she sat down with Leo's form and a pen in hand.
"Nope." Leo answered curtly.
The inside of the room looked the same as the one in Terra. The assessment went through exactly the same which seemed to have completely flabbergasted the pink-haired receptionist. Her jaw had literally dropped as she looked at the recorded results.