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Chapter 93 – For the Good of the Sect
🕑 Added 2024-10-21 10:01:01 +0000 UTCWith Kang Lin having departed, it was time for Benton and his council to get back to work.
“Alright, everyone,” Benton said. “Let’s move back to the arena floor. There are a few more important issues to discuss.”
No one groaned as he led them back onto the sand and set up the tables and chairs again. He wouldn’t have blamed them if they would have. The meeting was becoming a marathon.
“After Body Cultivation, the next most important step is preparing for the defense of the sect grounds by building a wall around about five acres or so of the fields around us. Until we get this crucial structure constructed, we can’t move to our cool new digs. I have dozens of buildings from houses to specialty pavilions to dining facilities in my ring just waiting to be set up, and it’s killing me that I can’t move all of us out here, yet.”
Benton had expected them to be just as blasé about the announcement about the buildings as they had for most of the other things he told them. He was wrong.
“Dozens, Master?” Yang Xiu said.
“Well, I didn’t really count them, but I’d say around sixty to seventy?”
Most of them seemed shocked. He didn’t get what the big deal was. They’d seen how big his ring was, but apparently, fitting enough actual buildings inside to flesh out an entire sect grounds was a bit much even for them.
“If it helps, some of them are small?” Benton decided to move past the issue. “Regardless, the point of the whole thing about the buildings was the importance of building a wall, which is a multistep process. First, the twins and I will do purges every morning of the area around where the Orange Vigor Spirit Wood grows.”
“Yes, Master,” they chorused.
“Ye Zan, you’ll be in charge of providing guards for the harvesters while they work. Yang Xiu, Yang Ru, help out on the first day to make sure nothing goes wrong, and the three of you can decide from there if your further assistance is required.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Going forward, the wood will be a big source of revenue and resources for the sect, one we’re going to share with the village. Zhong Wen, try to find me one or two recruits who might enjoy being lumberjacks. Relying solely on villagers is a bad idea, so I’d prefer that we have at least someone from the sect who knows how to do the job.”
“Yes, Master.”
“The wood will need to be transported back to the village daily. I’ll handle that part.
“Peng Zhen, you’re going to be under-utilized for a while. Would you mind coordinating with the mayor and birddogging the process of converting the wood into planks and then having large sections of the wall constructed in town?”
Benton envisioned something like how tilt-up concrete panels were used. Big trucks transported entire prebuilt walls to a building site where cranes lifted them into place. His storage ring would play the part of the eighteen-wheeler, and cultivator muscles would fill in for the crane.
“This one can fill that function, Master.”
“Gratitude,” Benton said. “There will certainly be issues that arise for all the projects we’re working on. Never be afraid to reach out for help if you need it. It’s far better to ask than to struggle and create inefficiencies.”
From Su’s memories, a focus on saving face sometimes led to people failing at a job because they feared looking bad by admitting they didn’t know something. Benton figured he’d have to deal with that some because deeply ingrained cultural instincts didn’t disappear overnight. He could only hope that everyone would learn over time and that the mistakes wouldn’t be too costly.
“Remember, the watchwords of the day are safety and speed. If you can’t do the task without someone getting hurt, figure out another way to do it or draw in more resources. The second biggest consideration is speed. We’re on an unknown timetable but make no mistake about it. The clock is ticking. Push everyone to work safe but also hard and fast. Those two directives go for literally everything we’re doing at the moment.”
The faces of his council looked both determined and excited.
“The next topic is somewhat happier,” Benton said. “I told some of you that I might be able to access high quality alchemical pills when I reached the village, and I’m pleased to announce that I do, in fact, have that access.”
A few of the council grinned, notably Ye Zan, Xun Wu, and Peng Zhen.
“Buying the pills requires me to use a special currency. For a single unit of that currency, I can buy three Qi Condensing Pills of perfect purity that are strong enough to advance disciples from the beginning of one minor realm to the beginning of the next minor realm.”
There were even more smiles at that announcement.
“Each disciple can use two pills with no significant impact to their progress beyond a massive boost in speed. Ideally, I’d dispense one pill at the beginning of minor realm three and another at the beginning of minor realm eight. For anyone who missed that first one, I’ll determine when to give it to them on an individual basis. Each disciple will receive two pills regardless.”
Benton didn’t necessarily like spending Shop Points, a limited resource, in such a manner, but Qi Gathering sect members were a lot less valuable than ones who had reached Foundation Establishment. For the time being, he judged that the acceleration in cultivating time, more than five months total, was worth the cost. The sooner he got that Alchemy Pavilion producing the pills, the better, though.
Everyone was nodding along, clearly enjoying the great news.
“There are two logistical elements involved. First, I need to determine when each disciple gets it based on where they are in their cultivation. That’s purely my ball in court. And second, the process of advancing using such a pill will leave the disciple basically helpless for several hours. Each will have to be in a safe place and guarded while they assimilate the pills.
“Ye Zan, I hate to put even more on your plate, but that second burden is on you.”
“Understood, Master.”
“On that same happy note,” Benton said, “Xun Wu, I have your Spiritual Root Refinement Pill, so figure on dedicating time later today to get that done. Talk to one of the twins about what to expect and, of course, Ye Zan about the when and where.”
“Yes, Master,” the blacksmith said, smiling.
“The next case requires a decision.” Benton met Peng Zhen’s eyes. “One of our fellow sect members, Peng Hanying, possesses a unique qi aspect that has the promise of being extremely powerful, but his talent is so poor that he is extremely unlikely to ever realize that potential. Xun Wu’s pill cost me one unit, the same as three Qi Condensing Pills, and thus, purchasing it is a no brainer considering the benefits. In contrast, Peng Hanying’s will cost ten units, ten times more, the equivalent of thirty pills. Should we do it?”
“Yes, Master. Absolutely,” Yang Xiu said.
Zou Tian frowned. “How powerful would he be versus fifteen other sect members whose cultivation will be sped up or versus other pills that could perform equally miraculous feats, Master?”
“Well, at Golden Core, he’ll be able to speed up and slow down time itself,” Benton said. “Imagine trying to punch him, and relative to him, your fist moves as if in molasses. He’d have minutes to react to your punch instead of just an instant. His power would literally only be bound by his imagination. And if he reached Nascent Soul, he would literally be able to stop time, allowing himself to move when the rest of the universe is still. He’d be a nightmare to fight, a force which anyone moving against our sect would have to take into account. A major deterrent.”
No one spoke for a moment, probably imagining how to counter such an opponent.
“Of course,” Benton said, “there’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip. We’d be putting in a moderate amount of resources up front in the hopes of a return on investment later.”
“It seems to me,” Peng Zhen said, “that it all depends on how hard this special currency is to obtain. If it’s extremely difficult, then the magnitude of the proposed spend is amplified. If not, then maybe this is a trivial expenditure? Of course, it’s difficult for me to be completely objective, Master, considering that we’re talking about my son.”
“That a good point, and your voice is valid whether you’re objective or not,” Benton said. “I’d say the currency is somewhat difficult to attain. It doesn’t grow on trees, so to speak, but neither is it so scarce that I’m watching my spend of every bit of it closely.”
“It sounds like the gamble is worth the risk, Master,” Ye Zan said.
“Anyone disagree?”
No one said anything, and Zou Tian just shrugged.
“That was my thinking as well,” Benton said. “We’ll proceed with giving the pill to Peng Hanying. Note that this is likely to be very painful. All things involving pills and cultivation tend to be so.”
“This one understands, Master,” Peng Zhen said, beaming.
“Okay, there’s one more resource decision to be made.” Benton explained Jin LiJuan’s situation. “I can heal her enough that she can cultivate, but she’ll never be anything more than the least talented person in the sect. The cost will be fifteen units, which we could use instead to buy forty-five pills.”
“I’m sorry, Master, but that just doesn’t seem worth the expense,” Zou Tian said.
Benton looked to Yang Xiu.
“I feel for the girl, Master. I really do, but I have to agree with Zou Tian.”
He met Zhong Wen’s eyes. She shook her head.
“Okay. Decision reached. Jin LiJuan will always have a home in our sect, and she can fill any role she wants. But becoming a cultivator just isn’t a possibility for her any longer.”
Benton hated that decision, but it was the right one for the sect.
“On to less depressing topics.” He explained the deal between him and the village. “Basically, the mayor is going to help us fill twenty-five needed positions in the sect. We need to figure out our priorities.”
Benton paused to let them assimilate that information before continuing. “To get us started, I’ve come up with some needs. First, food prep. We’re all going to be busy with a lot of tasks, too busy to worry about cooking for ourselves. I want dedicated people making our meals. I’m not sure how many, though. There will be multiple shifts, and it’s not something I want a lot of our other members dedicated to unless it’s something they’re really interested in. My thought was five villagers and fill in servers from sect members needing an easy way to earn contribution points? We can also straight up hire some villagers to fill some of the needed roles.”
No one had any problems with his suggestion.
“One big need not being served is formations. All our buildings have arrays that need to be figured out, and if we’re going to need to grow more herbs for body cultivation, we’ll probably need to design for that purpose, too. I’m thinking of asking the mayor for the three villagers who are best at math. Same thing from you, Mistress Zhong. We’ll need two of more of the children who excelled at that part of their education.”
None of them even questioned how skill at math translated into learning formations.
“Speaking of growing herbs, I figure we’ll need farmers for that. Maybe two plus two of the children?”
Since the ones from the village were all nature aspected, the fit with growing things should be a good one.
Mistress Zhong nodded.
“Obviously, prep for Body Cultivation is going to be a major lift. If we can find four villagers and a couple of kids who have experience cutting and using herbs or simply have an interest, that would help.”
The alchemy pavilion was starting out much more heavily stocked than any other than the martial pavilion. That might be a problem long term, but it was necessary now.
“The other big need,” Benton said, “is fletchers and bowyers. Three of the first and two of the latter would fill out our Woodworking pavilion nicely. I’m not sure if we want any of the kids on these specific tasks, but if they have any interest in working with wood, they can get some experience with these jobs and move on to other tasks later on.”
“Yes, Master.” Mistress Zhong said.
“That leaves us with six positions to fill. Thoughts?”
“The Blacksmith Pavilion only has the one expert and one apprentice at the moment, Master,” Xun Wu said. “I know it’s not a priority, but…”
“No, you’re correct. The goal is a minimum of five people assigned to each pavilion, and I’d missed yours. Say one blacksmith and one journeyman from the village and supplement with at least one new apprentice from the kids.”
The big man smiled. “Gratitude, Master.”
“Master,” Yang Xiu said, “we’re going to be killing a lot of spirit beasts that will need processing…”
The girl had not enjoyed learning that particular task. She hadn’t complained, of course, but he could tell that it wasn’t exactly her favorite activity.
“I’m not opposed to that idea. Actually, I’d like a Beast Pavilion at some point, but for now, organizing two of them under, maybe, the Contribution Point Store might make sense? Peng Zhen, what do you think?”
“That would be acceptable, Master.”
“Great, for now use them however you need when they’re not busy processing beasts.”
The merchant nodded his head.
“That leaves us with two villagers to allocate,” Benton said. “Any ideas?”
A few got tossed around, mainly martial oriented, but Benton didn’t want to add any more fighters from the village yet. He was looking to fill support roles.
One thought did occur to him. He’d never been important enough to have an admin assistant, but all the big bosses had them. And he was a big boss now.
“The sect will require a lot of paperwork and administrative tasks,” Benton said. “I’ll take the last two spots for people to work on those.”
With their agenda complete, Benton let everyone break to discuss their tasks going forward. His next mission was to go talk to mayor about getting villagers inducted into the sect, but he had a little bit more immediate business to conduct first.
“System,” he said internally, “I’d like to purchase both the Spiritual Root Enhancement Pill and whatever is required for the cheapest method you mentioned to increase one’s spiritual roots by up to three major ranks.”
“Xun Wu, Peng Zhen, I have something for the two of you…”
