Elder Bloodhound wasn't the only one who recognized that name. The other new members had also heard of Arthur Red Mane. After all, he dominated the top of the ranking list right from the start of the sect examination.
Actually, some of them already suspected that he was Arthur when they first noticed the wild red hair and mummy look. They had heard that that's how he looked, but it was only until now that they were able to confirm that it was truly him.
But no one said anything or bothered. It is because Elder Bloodhound had forbidden talking and disturbance of any kind.
After everyone was done checking their classes, Elder Bloodhound took them to their accommodations. Every one of them would live in the same mountain.
Every member of the sect that came into the sect in the same year would live on the same mountain. The mountain had been carved into a giant pyramid. The houses that the members would live in were built on each level of the pyramid.
The accommodations weren't the same for everyone. They differed in size and the quality of the energy and the energy-gathering array in each house.
The size and quality increased from the top to the bottom. The C-grade has 100 floors to choose from. The quality of the accommodations on the first floor is poorer than the ones on the 100th floor.
The members of the B-grade have 20 floors. Those at the A grade have 10 floors. Finally, the few at the S grade have one floor.
The single floor for the S-grade members has 100 rooms. This floor is not the best. The best floor is above the S-grade floor.
The highest floor has 10 rooms, and it is for the best and most outstanding students of this year. Anyone, regardless of their grade, can get access to it. They just have to perform well.
Even beyond this floor is the house of the protector. An elder is living at the top of the mountain. This elder is in charge of maintaining order and security on the mountain.
There was a crowd of people at the foot of the mountain. They were people from different alliances vying for new members.
The targets of most alliances were the menial disciples. This was probably because menial disciples made up the largest proportion of the population of the sect.
Another reason was that alliances were made by rich and powerful members who want a group of menial disciples who will cater to their needs. In exchange, the menial disciples will be paid.
Elder Bloodhound told them about this. Apparently, alliances can be created for any reason and can be established by anyone. This is because alliances have too much freedom.
Alliances aren't under the control of the sect. But they have to answer to the sect just like anybody else, and the members of an alliance have to abide by the rules of the sect.
Elder Bloodhound left them at the foot of the mountain and left. He had finished his job as a tour guide, so the rest was up to them.
Many people took that opportunity to approach Arthur. They wanted to get to know him, and they wanted to get his contact. But he ignored all of them.
Even though his face was covered with the white second skin, they could tell when he was glaring at them through his fierce and narrowed eyes. Roar also growled at them when they tried to get close to him, so they became frightened and left him alone.
He looked around for a while but didn't see anything special. There were only tables and banners for the various alliances.
There were too many people shouting about their alliance for him to tell anything specific. So he gave up and decided to go to his accommodation.
He still plans to join an alliance. But he will make his investigation and decision after everything has calmed down. There is just too much noise and very little useful information before he can make a decision.
An alliance can be bad, but most of them are good. Besides, there is no binding contract tying down people to alliances. People can leave and join an alliance at any time.
Actually, one can join more than one alliance, but it is frowned upon. Apart from offending the people in an alliance, there is not much else in the way of repercussions for quitting an alliance.
Still, it is best that he find a good alliance and stick with it. A good alliance will grant him information and connections. It will make it easy for him to achieve the things that he would rather not waste time on.
So he plans to join an alliance. He will stick with it as long as the benefits are more than the trouble caused by the alliance. After all, he is joining an alliance to make his life easier, not more difficult.
He thought about these things as he climbed the mountain. The path he was on led straight to the top of the mountain but it branched off to the floors around the mountain.
The floors are more like rings around the mountain. A portion of the mountain was carved into a flat and smooth ground. Then houses were built on this ground around the mountain to make a floor.
Since the mountain becomes narrower at the top, the floors become smaller the higher he goes. On the other hand, the size of the houses becomes larger the higher the floor is. These two factors make each subsequent floor have fewer houses.
The mountain was very tall. It stood at more than 7,000 meters tall. It wasn't as tall as the tallest mountain on earth, and he was glad for that.
By the time he reached the floor for S-grade disciples, he was already wishing for the umpteenth time that he was at the second mortal coil and could find a way to fly.