The Sect Leader System-Chapter 160a: Arc Epilogue
Benton shook his head. Kang Lin and every single one of his sect members had all chosen to embrace the pain in order to improve their spiritual roots by a single minor step.
Every. Single. One.
They were all in the stands in front of him in the lotus position, suffering. Occasionally, a grunt or a cry would escape from one or the other of them, but overall, they were mostly silent, the most intense expression of their agony a quiet writhing when they couldn’t quite keep still.
On one hand, he was so very, very proud of them. They’d accepted whatever cost was necessary for a small but crucial improvement in their status. On the other, he was horrified. Was the gain worth the pain?
He wished he could suffer for them. Instead, all he could do was stand watch over them as they endured.
Benton had waited for a little while after the cultivators began experiencing the intense pain before he released the villagers. He wanted them to see for themselves just how much the process hurt because they’d all be making that same decision for themselves in the future. It was better they went into it with open eyes, and he was quite serious about not looking down on anyone who chose not to take the improvement.
Not that he believed anyone would decline based on recent evidence.
Cultivation worlds were crazy.
If he’d made the same offer on Earth, some percentage would surely have taken him up on it. There were always driven people in any crowd, willing to overlook momentary discomfort for future gain. But he was positive most would have simply told him, “No thanks.”
The process took around twelve hours, and he stood there, watching over them, not doing anything else other than scanning with his spiritual sense the entire time. If they were willing to undergo such agony, the least he could do was to remain vigilant.
Finally, though, all of them finished, and viewing the status of several of them revealed that they had, in fact, improved their spiritual roots. Kang Lin was now a B-, and he hoped that making a jump to the next major rank would soothe her feelings about a potential match with Yang Ru.
Not that Benton planned to push that particular relationship any more at all. He’d got them started talking. If things worked out between them, he approved. If not, they were both great kids, great catches. He was sure that both of them would eventually find happiness.
Jin LiJuan advanced to F, which was actually quite a feat considering the state of her channels. He held her hand to check her cultivation and found it improved but still in bad shape. She would find cycling a bit easier, though. That was something.
Overall, everyone was quite happy when he told them the results. Despite their ordeal in obtaining their new rank, they apparently found the outcome worth the suffering.
He shook his head again. Cultivators.
Wan Ai and the three Foundation Establishment level cultivators all looked to have come through the experience just fine, but the low to mid ranks appeared to be absolutely wiped. It was nearing noon of the next day, and they hadn’t had any good rest for a while. He sent everyone back to the village with street food from his ring and instructions to eat quickly and go to sleep.
After the arena cleared out, Benton remained behind, directing his attention to his To Do list. With the beast tide complete, there was little danger remaining. It would be a while, months probably, before even rank ones started returning to the area. Most of the sect members could fight such a beast one on one. By the time beasts became a threat, the wall would be finished, and his sect would be even bigger and his members more powerful.
All of those factors meant there was nothing preventing him from moving the sect to the grounds. He just had to start placing buildings. That was one task for him.
His other major goal was to get to Nascent Soul. The fight against the rank ten beast had been an eye opener. Benton was very powerful for his realm, but auras were no joke. A strong enough opponent could end him and everything he was trying to build.
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He needed to get his sect to one thousand members quickly. That was his second task.
There were other smaller goals that needed accomplishing, and he would work on those as they came up. For the moment, though, it was good to keep his eyes on what the most important priorities were.
It was time to increase the number of sect members by adding another fifty. The mayor was indisposed, having just improved his spiritual roots, but he and Benton had worked out lists many, many inductions in advance. Everyone knew exactly when their turn was, so Benton only had to return to the village and find one of the mayor’s still mortal administrators to get the word around.
Soon, he completed the ceremony, and as expected, each of the new sect members had received the option to increase their spiritual roots as well. And also as expected, each of them had chosen to do so.
Cultivators!
Benton didn’t know what the future would bring. He was positive there would be new dangers and new challenges. Overall, though, he couldn’t think of a better group of people to have standing next to him as he faced all that was to come.
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They were his new family. Obviously, no one could replace Evelyn or his children or his grandchildren, but he was … happy.
He pulled up his status.
Sect Name:Rising TideSect Members:262Disciples:57Sect Points:840Shop Points:138Host Cultivation:Golden Core - Minor Realm NineQi Available:5,647,745Host Body Cultivation:Gold - Minor Realm NineHost Mind Cultivation:Higher - Minor Realm OneHost Soul Cultivation:Manifestation - Minor Realm OneHost Techniques (Qi Gathering): Basic Archery: Mastery Basic Spear Combat: Mastery Expert Golden Core Cultivation: Mastery General Knowledge of Mind Cultivation: Mastery General Knowledge of Soul Cultivation: Mastery Knowledge of Rank 1 Formations: Mastery Knowledge of Rank 2 Formations: Mastery Knowledge of Rank 3 Formations: Mastery Nascent Soul Cultivation Knowledge: Mastery Pill Basics: MasteryHost Techniques (Foundation Establishment): Absolute Speed Enhancement - Mastery Analysis: Mastery Aura Defense - Mastery Automatic Reaction Variable Shield: Mastery Chain Lightning: Mastery Folded Space Quickstep: Mastery Extreme Area Temperature Manipulation: Mastery Foundation Excavation - Mastery Healing: Mastery Layered Variable Shield Breaker with Void Finisher Weapon Augmentation: Mastery Meditation: Mastery Pause Time: Mastery Perception: Mastery Rank 1 Formation Construction: Mastery Rank 2 Formation Construction: Mastery Rank 3 Formation Construction: Mastery Rank 1 Formation Construction Acceleration: Mastery Rank 2 Formation Construction Acceleration: Mastery Rank 3 Formation Construction Acceleration: Mastery Rank 1 Inscription: Mastery Rank 2 Inscription: Mastery Rank 3 Inscription: Mastery Seeking Speeding Arrow: Mastery Stealth: Mastery Variable AoE Gravity Burst: Mastery Variable AoE Shield: Mastery Variable Spirit Coin Manifestation: MasteryHost Techniques (Golden Core Concepts):Anti-Tribulation - MasteryEarth - MasteryFire - MasteryGravity - MasteryHealing - MasteryIce - MasteryIllusion - MasteryLight - MasteryLightning - MasteryMetal - MasteryMomentum - MasteryPoison - MasterySmell - MasterySound - MasterySpace - MasteryTemperature - MasteryTime - MasteryVoid - MasteryWater - MasteryWood - MasteryMenus:[Cultivation Method][Technique][Quest][Perk][Advancement][Shop][Sect]
