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Chapter 196 – Debt and Payment
🕑 Added 2025-02-14 15:53:20 +0000 UTCA/N 2/26/25 - Status screen added today. Note that I found two small mistakes prior to this chapter. The numbers in this chapter and going forward should be correct.
Benton was happy with the techniques he’d given Fatty Ren. The flying sword technique would allow the big guy to travel between Vermilion Incomparable Rain Town and the village in well less than an hour and the weapon technique would make his attacks much stronger. He wouldn’t truly be a powerhouse until he developed his Concept, but in the interim, he was more than a match for lesser Golden Cores and, depending on how far away Benton was, might be able to hold off against those higher in minor realm long enough for help to arrive.
“Are you satisfied with your choice to join the Rising Tide Sect?” Benton said.
Fatty Ren cupped his hands. “Very much so, Friend Su. Everything I’ve been given has been of a quality that the Righteous Rain Sect couldn’t begin to provide, and I don’t know if I would have ever broken through my bottleneck without that trial. I owe you and the sect a debt.”
“Good, because you may be called on to pay it.” Benton handed him a large stack of spirit coins and another bundle of blank papers primed to be converted into origami message dragons. “I’ll keep you informed of everything that happens with the Jade Chameleons and any other threats as well as getting you instructions as soon as possible. Be prepared to either defend the town or come here on a moment’s notice. Keep your people ready to move as well. If things devolve into an all-out war, they may need to relocate here fast.”
“Of course, Friend Su.”
Benton frowned. Now that he’d said that last part out loud, he began to consider the situation, and the more he thought about it, the riskier it seemed to have so many vulnerable people so far away. It would be so, so much better if all those people joined him here.
For one, they’d be safer. It was easier to protect one big group than two smaller ones. Another benefit was that they could integrate into the pavilions a lot easier. Finally, they were much more likely to develop loyalty to him if they actually saw him on a regular basis.
But the counterargument was just as strong. If he wanted more people in the main sect, he could have simply added more villagers. He hadn’t done that for a reason. The sect main branch simply wasn’t established enough to handle huge influxes. They hadn’t even moved into the building yet.
In a way, leaving the two hundred people in the branch sect more or less to their own devices was a jerk move, but it gained him needed sect members without hurting the main sect. His best bet was to continue on as he planned. Accelerate recruitment as much as possible without jeopardizing organization and morale and simply do his best to make sure the branch sect was safe and did right by its members.
“Is something the matter, Friend Su?”
“Just thinking. Sorry,” Benton said, returning his attention to the actual purpose of the conversation. “It should take the new recruits around three weeks to reach Qi Gathering minor realm three.”
Fatty Ren looked skeptical.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Benton said. “Most of the inductees were trash tier. There’s no way they can cultivate that fast. As a rebuttal, I have three words for you—Top. Heaven. Grade.”
“It makes that much of a difference, Friend Su?”
“Absolutely. I’ve been running groups of fifty villagers through the process, and three weeks plus or minus a couple of days is exactly what I’m seeing.”
“Understood, Friend Su.”
“I don’t want them doing anything other than cultivating ten hours a day until that point. No practicing with weapons. No exercising. Nothing. Cultivating only.”
Different sects had various ways of intaking new members. Some insisted on intense physical training like something out of a military bootcamp. Others wanted them sparring immediately.
The idea wasn’t crazy. Straining the body could help make it stronger which, in turn, could provide future benefits for those focused on fighting. Considering that Benton planned for at least all his martially inclined members to do Body Cultivation, such an approach was wholly unnecessary.
“Yes, Friend Su.”
Benton quickly purchased one hundred ninety-five Qi Condensing Pills from the Shop for sixty-five Shop Points and handed them all to the Town Lord. “Give each of them a pill as soon as they’ve consolidated their advancement to the third minor realm. These are perfect purity pills that are guaranteed to take them to minor realm four in the course of less than a day.”
Fatty Ren was less impressed by the pills than with everything else he’d been given. It wasn’t uncommon for a major sect to provide such boons to sect members, and he probably didn’t realize what perfect purity meant. He didn’t strike Benton as the type to have studied much about alchemy.
“After they reach minor realm four,” Benton said. “They can start learning a weapon technique, which brings us to a decision point.”
The big guy tilted his head quizzically.
“The sect officially uses two weapons—the spear and the bow,” Benton said. “You and the other experienced sect members in Vermilion Incomparable Rain Town all use swords. I’ve already got one member here who prefers the sword as well, not the mention the fact that I’ve been known to use one as well. Should I give in and just make it so the sect officially uses three weapons?”
Fatty Ren’s expression basically said, “You’re asking me?”
“I really would like your input,” Benton said. “You are a branch leader and the highest realmed member other than me.”
“The Righteous Rain Sect focused strongly on the Water element, Friend Su. Everyone who joined understood that anyone whose aspect was Water based would find better cultivations methods, techniques, and training. Cultivators such as myself obviously still joined, but there was never any effort to make any other element an official focus. Concentration of resources has advantages.”
The big guy’s point was well made. Having only two official weapons increased efficiency, especially when they were recruiting groups of low ranked people in large lots. Everyone would take either a spear class or an archery class, and even with the small size of the sect, there were enough people at any one level of expertise that it was easy to find fellow sect members in a similar position no matter how slowly or quickly one advanced.
“The sword is a fine and noble weapon, Friend Su, but that is no reason to make it an official weapon of the sect. Convenience is not a reason, either.”
“I understand and agree, Friend Ren. We’ll stick with the two we have.” Benton cupped his hands to the Town Lord. “That does leave us with the problem of teaching your new sect members, though. Should I arrange to have instructors from here travel to town when they’re needed?”
Fatty Ren appeared deep in thought, so Benton gave him a few moments to consider the question.
“The whole point of the branch sect is for us to be as self-reliant as possible, right, Friend Su?”
“Yes.”
“The better idea, Friend Su, is for me to have Song Yongliang and the other three experienced sect members learn the techniques, so they can teach the inductees.”
That was a fantastic plan, much better than anything Benton had come up with. He quickly had the System create two hundred jade slips for both the sect’s foundational spear technique and the foundational archery technique.
“Fantastic, Fatty Ren. You have exceeded my expectations. Take these techniques back with you.”
Four hundred slips made quite a big pile, so he pulled a table out of his spatial ring to put them on in order to facilitate the big guy transferring all of them to his own ring.
Once the Town Lord had stored all the jade slips away, Benton said, “My preference is to have more spear users than archers by a ratio of around two to one, but I feel strongly that each person should choose which resonates with them the best. Do not dissuade anyone from picking the bow, but if someone is undecided, you can push them towards the spear if you want. If the balance gets wonky, though, it's not that big of a deal.”
“Understood, Friend Su.”
“Once your inductees start hitting Small Success with their weapon technique, it will be time for the next decision,” Benton said. “If they want to proceed on a martial path or they are undecided on a path, they should keep training with the weapon until hitting Large Success. If someone has a strong desire to enter one of the other pavilions, we’re going to have to move them here. It’s just not efficient to set up learning for specific professions.
Benton hesitated for a moment, thinking. “Well, not for the cultivator specific ones, anyway, like formations and alchemy. If you have a blacksmith who wants to continue smithing, I can supply you with appropriate techniques for that, and you can keep the blacksmith in town. The same goes for farmers who want to grow herbs and for healers, etc. They can all learn at least the basics there, and then we can do exchanges to make sure that everyone is learning the same things.”
“Yes, Friend Su.”
“Great. Take these, too, then.” Benton had the System create fifty jade slips for Hammer Time and handed them over. “Blacksmiths can choose this instead of the spear or bow.”
Fatty Ren cupped his hands.
“The last thing I have for you is a new mission. Start looking out for new recruits. Not nearly as many as last time, but if you find fifty to a hundred worthy people, that would be a help. And no rush this time, either. Under no circumstances will we add to the branch sect numbers in less than a month, and only then if you think you can handle the extra people.”
“Yes, Friend Su.”
“I think that’s it for now,” Benton said. “We’re going to have a memorial service for Ye Zan tomorrow morning, and it would be good if you were there. I’ll leave it to you whether you want to head back to town and return tomorrow or if you want to stay.”
As the big guy left to do whatever it was that he wanted to do, Benton decided to check his status. There had been a lot of changes lately. Just over the last several days, five sect members had improved their techniques, twenty sect members had moved up a minor realm in Body Cultivation, and they’d actually had some advancements in Spiritual Cultivation.
Each of the sixteen original guards had moved from Qi Gathering minor realm five to minor realm six. Which was great progress. Even better was the very talented Xun Wu had moved from minor realm six to minor realm seven. In a couple of days, the blacksmith would be given a Qi Condensation Pill to propel him to minor realm eight.
It was awesome to see another sect member closing in on Foundation Establishment, though that advancement was still at least a few months away.
At a thought, a pop up appeared.
