'Ahh, I guess I forgot to go to the council, well, no worries, everything sorted itself out'
After cultivating constantly for a week in his mana-infested room, Rio got decent results so far however, it's far from enough
'System'
[Ding!]
Name: Rio Casmir
EXP - 75,800
Class: 4th Rank Mage
Subclass: 4th Rank Hachidan Martial Artist
Strength: 80.0
Agility: 80.0
Endurance: 80.0
Mana: 406.7
After analyzing his progress, Rio once again sensed someone in front of his gate, after determining it wasn't anyone dangerous, Rio let them enter, and what he saw was a girl. However, she didn't have a disciple robe, she was wearing a silk pink robe.
'Must be a servant' Rio thought as she approached him at his door
"Good morning, young master Rio, I'm here to drop off your monthly allowance given by the academy," she said in a friendly manner
After acknowledging her, she pulled out a pouch and handed it to Rio, after looking inside the pouch, around 50 low spirit stones were in the pouch.
Rio looked up at the girl and nodded at her, after confirming there was no problem, she bowed and left.
'Well, I've been cultivating for a while, let's see what type of facility this place has' Rio thought before putting on the robe and leaving the manor
Along the way, he came across different places such as a library that seemed to have more books and information that the ones found on the main site.
There was also a smaller arena, well compared to the main site's, it was by no mean small. There were even cultivation rooms that can be rented.
'I wonder how thick the mana would be in there if the mana out here is already thought to the point cultivating here is 4x more effective than cultivating anywhere else' Rio pondered and made a mental note to check this place out later
After coming across several facilities, Rio somehow found himself at a market, there were several booths selling different things from fruits to meat to even weapons.
'Do these people belong to the sect or are they brought from outside' Rio wondered how they were able to sell here but didn't ponder for long before buying a couple of things that he could take home
After he finished his tour that turned into a little shopping, Rio planned to head back home, but he could sense he was being followed, not sure how many but the feeling was definitely lurking
'This place is the core disciple's area, so anyone aiming at me shouldn't be higher than a 1st rank mage master…and that's if we're talking slim possibility'
As Rio was guessing the ranks of the people following, he was deciding whether it was best to go to a secluded place and see if he can deal with them or go to an open place and see if it would scare them away if there were witnesses.
In the end, Rio chose none, he will go back to his place, and nearly forgot his manor had a protective barrier, since they were following, they were either thieves, which is unlikely since core disciples are well taken care of, or targeting me, which is more probable.
Rio was still quite the distance from his manor, and they might attack me before then so…Rio exploded with as much speed as possible to try to catch them off guard because of the sudden sprint and buy himself a couple of seconds head start
Everyone knows how important head starts are in a race, and since they probably think Rio didn't notice them, the sudden sprint did catch them off guard, reacting late they started chasing, not bothering hiding anymore
But it was too late they couldn't catch up to Rio, they couldn't even close the gap that much and after around a minute Rio ended up at his manor safe and protected
'Tch, this is annoying, I'm already getting targeted by goons of Xander' assuming it's him since he's clearly the only one with a grudge against Rio
After they saw Rio enter his manor, knowing they couldn't forcefully break in, they decided to retreat
'It matters not though, as I said, I'm a seclusive person, I'll just focus on cultivating, luckily, core disciples don't need to go classes, so they can focus on their cultivation and that is what Rio did for another week
'Hmm?' After a week of no disturbances, a disturbance ends up at his gate
'A core disciple?' After seeing the purple-robed person right in front of my gate, Rio grew suspicious
As Rio was thinking this as if he knew he was watching, he lifted his eyes up to the second floor and we locked eyes through the window. He smiled and waved as if showing he came in peace
Nothing seemed wrong or out of place, so Rio allowed him access to enter and met him at the door
After seeing him closer, he had brown, short, and rough hair and matching brown eyes, he was well built, not bulky but not too lean either
"Hey, you must be Junior Brother Rio, I've heard about a new core disciple, although it's a bit late, I thought I should introduce myself" he paused and looked into the house as if wanting an invite in
Rio ignored his silent request and just stared at him
However not getting annoyed, he scoffed and said "Heh, it's just as Elise said, you are difficult to talk with, it's fine we can know ourselves better as time passes, I'm also on the Academy Leader's faction, my name is Luke Breton if you need anything you can always contact me if need be"
"Thank you, Senior Brother Luke, for coming out your way to see me," Rio said respectfully as he invited him in
Not that Rio had respect for him, but from what he could see, being alone in a place like this wouldn't be wise, and from what he could tell, he was stronger than him
Rio invited him in since It didn't seem like he had bad intentions, but he could be putting an act, but it doesn't seem like it, but he naturally stayed cautious
'System'
[Ding!]
Name: Luke Breton
Class: 4th Rank Mage
Subclass: 1st Rank Kudan Martial Artist
Strength: 110.8
Agility: 118.9
Endurance: 112.0
Mana: 420.0
'And unlike others I've come across, he trains his body as well, is this just him, or is it, other core disciples, I haven't checked since I never felt the need or I was cultivating' Rio thought before a concerned voice with hints of anger hit his ears
He sat at the table and went to go make tea for both of them
'Junior brother, don't you have servants? Why make the trouble to go make the tea yourself?' He asked confused
"I was too busy cultivating I didn't have time to look for some yet" Rio gave him his cup and sat down with mine in hand
"Don't worry junior brother, I'll send some over for you, so you don't need to stress" he said
'I don't know if he's sending someone because he's kind or he's planting eyes and ears here, but whatever the case…
"It's okay senior brother, I like the quiet here anyway, and I cultivate most of the time, so there's no need" Rio paused
"Excuse my former behavior, been on high alert ever since I had people following me" changing the subject
"What? People were following you; they didn't harm you, did they?" he asked with a concerned expression
"No, I felt their presence before they attacked so I just rushed home," Rio said not really caring about the unknown people
"That's good, although it's forbidden to kill here, there are other nasty tricks these people pull and since they have Xander backing them, as long as it's not crippling or killing, they can basically get away with it" Like said in an annoyed manner
"Seems this situation occurs a lot, is there not like a boundary set," Rio said
"Nah, although most core disciples live here, the island is basically broken into two, the majority of the place is given to ordinary core disciples, which would include me and you and Xander's people. And the third one is the upper echelon area; where the most prominent ones live, they're the ones with the best talent and expectation would be high to meet, both Xander and Elise would be placed there"
'Since I've decided to quit the low-key protagonist, I should at least get as many benefits of being high-key right?'
After Rio and Luke talked for a while, he took his leave. Well, let's get back to cultivating, Rio's body wasn't going to cultivate itself