Selheira's large blue eyes sparkled as she nodded. Using Ryu's Inner Disciple badge, she finally officially registered him.
This was a process that didn't seem like it would cause much trouble at all. Even the elder that processed it only raised a brow and nothing else. After all, he was quite aware of Selheira's identity, and he also knew that only an elder could provide a new disciple badge, to begin with.
However, as Selheira began describing some things to Ryu, a huge commotion had already broken out.
…
In the disciple square, or more accurately, the Inner Disciple square, a tall pillar took up center stage. Upon that pillar, a list of names that sometimes fluctuated appeared. It could be said that this list was one of the greatest entertainment features of the Sect. And it was precisely because of that that no one knew how to react when a new name so suddenly appeared without forewarning.
The pillar grew an extra inch out of the ground, causing the square to rumble for a moment before everything settled back down.
Ryu Tatsuya? Who was that?
Those that had seen Selheira enter with Ryu earlier put two and two together and settled down. Realizing this, everyone found it easier to accept. Though it wasn't time to accept new Inner Disciples yet, someone who could be personally escorted by Selheira probably wouldn't be too bad. Plus, he was at the bottom of the list anyway and it didn't affect them much at all.
However, what no one expected was for there to be another individual in the ground that was looking toward where Ryu had disappeared with Selheira with wide open eyes. This young man was none other than Linus, the overseer of the first round of selections.
"Holy shit…" he mumbled under his breath.
A friend by his side caught wind of his reaction, and soon information about this Ryu Tatsuya was spread for all to know.
Participated in disciple selections? Three years too old? Failed to make it through the second round?
These sort of rumors spread. However, it was still fine while the news was still within the walls of the Inner Disciples. When things spread to the Outer Disciples, though, it was like a nuke had been set off, resulting in exactly the sort of reaction Old Wan had been expecting.
The Outer Disciples were furious enough, but the top ten and most hopeful to become Inner Disciples during the next round of selections were especially furious.
When news of Ryu's Peak Immortal Ring Realm cultivation spread, it was as though oil had been thrown into the fire. Who had ever heard of an Inner Disciple of their Radiant Star Sect not even being in the Path Extinction Realm?! Even the weakest of the Inner Disciples in terms of cultivation was in the 4th Stage Path Extinction Realm! The strongest was already a few steps away from the Dao Pedestal Realm, approaching the Peak of the Path Extinction Realm!
But then another nuke followed. Due to Ryu's appearance, the quota for Inner Disciples this year would be reduced by one.
This was like the straw that broke the camel's back. Without even laying eyes on Ryu, an overwhelming majority of the Outer Disciples wanted to see him skinned alive.
…
"… Right, there are a few benefits you get as an Inner Disciple. You get to pick two techniques from the vault on this level for free. Of these two, you can only pick one cultivation technique. As for the other, so long as it doesn't break this rule, you can pick whatever you like.
"Some cultivation techniques are restricted to certain peaks. If you would like to learn one of the seven Radiant Star Cultivation Techniques, then you will not only have to become a Core Disciple, you will also need to pass the test of the Peak Head."
Ryu would usually not pay much attention to this as he didn't have any intention of breakthrough through to the Path Extinction Realm until he could find a Cultivation Technique that suited him. However, he had no idea how long such a thing would take.
In the meantime, he would have to at least pretend as though he was invested in this Sect. Plus, he needed something to mask his Chaos qi and Primordial Chaos Qi. He couldn't just keep pulling out powerful qis when it was obvious he was using neutral cultivation techniques. Plus, he wanted to see just what was so special about this world's cultivation technique.
If he didn't understand this world first, then how would he know he came across a good cultivation technique when he finally did?
"—In addition to this, you will receive ten Body Refinement Pills, ten Qi Refinement Pills and ten Flesh Mending Pills every month. If you want more than this, you'll have to exchange with merits. You can gain merits by either trading in Qi Stones, though the exchange rate is not very good in order to de-incentivize such actions, or by completing missions.
"On the topic of missions, you'll need to complete at least one a month as well. The only way to dodge this responsibility is by climbing up either ten ranks within a month or by being within the top ten itself."
Though Selheira said this, given Ryu's cultivation, he really would just have to complete the mission. A rank jump of ten, even though there were more than a thousand Inner Disciples on the list, was a tall task. Every leap of ten was like a watershed, and every skip of a hundred was like entering an all new world.
"… Alright, I think that's everything," Selheira said, handing the 30 pills to Ryu.
Toward these pills, Ryu didn't have much of a reaction. In his world, the names of these pills were assigned to Common Grade pills. But, they obviously wouldn't give Common Grade pills to inner disciples, so it seemed that he had far more to learn about this world.
"Then, I am off. Here's a map of the Sect, it should help you navigate. Hm… if you need my help," Selheira took Ryu's badge back and tapped her own badge to it. The disciples inside who saw this almost fainted from shock, "you can contact me with your badge like this. Good luck!"
Selheira smiled and seemed to almost flutter away.
When she and Ryu walked out from the registry, though, the commotion had reached its peak.