Everyone stared at Sect Master intently upon hearing her words, especially Mira, who was a little confused as she thought the Prime Disciple position was hers as long as she proved herself. She didn't know there would be a competition for it.
"Originally, I was just going to have Mira immediately become our Sect's Prime Disciple. I'm sure you can understand why." Everyone nodded, so Aelina continued, "We are running out of time, and with Mira's low cultivation, we can't waste a single day, but after discussing this with the Elders, we concluded that that decision was too rash."
Nova and the other disciples looked at Aelina with complicated expressions. They were grateful that she decided to give them a chance, but it almost felt like she didn't believe they'd make it very far in the Central Continent Competition, which hurt.
Since only those under 100 can participate in the Central Continent Competition, none of them have seen what the people from there are capable of, but they felt like they shouldn't be too far behind.
In fact, if they reached the Mortal Shedding Realm, they'd stand a pretty good chance against them!
To them, with their hard work and talent, becoming the Sect's Prime Disciple is a straight shot into that Realm! Not to mention, they are less than a major Realm away, rather than Mira, who is 2 Major and 5 Minor Realms away.
If it were possible for anyone to break through into the Mortal Shedding Realm in 20 years, it'd be them.
"The competition will be divided into 3 stages, with the first stage being you all having to steal 5 Mid-Grade Spirit Stone Mines from the Unorthodox Faction with Mira," Aelina announced, and she could tell Nova, and the other disciples were about to go into an uproar.
However, she wasn't done talking, so she waved her hand, signaling them to stay quiet, and continued, "I know a few of you are probably confused about why this is part of the competition, and truthfully, it's not. This is mainly a way for Mira to gain experience and prove herself to you guys."
"Although she's shown how vast her raw power is, I'm sure that's not enough for you to acknowledge her as a competitor. It's the same for me. Everyone here has contributed so much to the Sect, yet Mira has not done anything. What right does she have to hog all the resources?... or so you're probably thinking."
"That's why after completing the mission, I want each and every one of you to report back to me about Mira and whether you think she is eligible to compete with you for the Prime Disciple position," With a large smile, Aelina gazed at the disciples, her violet eyes shining, "Does that sound fair?"
"..."
Nova and the other disciples could only stand there, staring blankly at Aelina's face. They didn't expect this at all!
Aelina is the Sect Master, after all! Since when did she need their opinions? If Aelina really wanted to make Mira the Sect's Prime Disciple, who are they to complain? No, can they even dare to complain? They, who only want this position out of greed?
Meanwhile, everything Sect Master Aelina does is for the betterment of the Sect. Can they really sit there and say they have better insight about the future of the Sect than someone who has lived for hundreds or even thousands of years in the position of Sect Master?
No, they weren't arrogant or foolish enough to think that way.
Clearly, Aelina saw something in Mira that they didn't have, which is why she's been pushing for Mira to be the Prime Disciple. In fact, with how much emphasis Aelina is putting on Mira, it's as if she's already chosen her in her mind.
However, then that begs the question, why is she putting up with this farce? Why is she making Mira go through all this?
For some reason, those violet eyes looked even more mysterious to them than they did before.
Nova was the first to snap out of her daze and answer, "I think it's fair for us, considering the work we've put in and the contributions we've made toward the Sect, but I don't think it's fair for Mira. What if we don't like her and lie to make her look bad, but in actuality, she's the perfect candidate?"
That was the question on everybody's mind, including Mira's, as she knew she didn't have the best personality.
Aelina, however, chuckled, "Fufufufu~ That's a good question, Nova," Then her violet eyes shone brightly, and she glared at Nova, who flinched and froze on the spot.
*Gulp*
She and everyone else in the room gulped and turned stiff.
Seeing this, Aelina's smile turned fierce, and she asked in a deeper voice, "But, do you really think you have the ability to lie to me?"
"..."
The room turned deathly silent for a few moments as those violet eyes glimmered as if they were gazing right into their souls.
Everyone, including the Elders and even Mira, shook their heads. Lying to the Sect Master?
'Hah! What a joke!'
Nova cursed herself for asking such a stupid question and bowed her head, "I apologize for saying something unnecessary, Sect Master. I will do as you say and objectively report back to you about Mira after the mission."
"I will do as you command, Sect Master."
"If that's what you want, Sect Master."
"Leave it to me, Sect Master!"
"Understood."
The other four disciples in the room agreed along with Nova.
Aelina nodded and continued with the final two stages of the Competition.
"The Second Stage of the Competition will be something special and will involve all of the Top 7 Orthodox Sects… hopefully." Just that sentence was enough to shock them, but Aelina didn't stop there, "Although I'll have to discuss this with the other Sect Leaders, I'm sure they'll agree. I want everyone under the age of 100 in all the Top 7 Orthodox Sects to compete in one giant Battle Royale!"
"My plan is to give everyone under 100 a token, unique to their Sect, that can't be placed in a Spatial Treasure and send you down the mountain to attack other Sect's disciples and steal their token! These tokens are not only important to the competition but can be redeemed for resources after it's over. For example, if you steal an Immortal Sword Sect disciple's token and keep it until the end of the competition, the Immortal Sword Sect will owe us a certain amount of resources afterward. However, this goes both ways. We'll have to pay the other party resources if you lose a token."
"After the competition is over, only the Top 10 disciples with the most tokens will be able to move onto the last and final stage. Does anyone have any questions up til this point?" Aelina asked after she finished explaining.
One of the disciples with vibrant green hair and an aura of life and nature raised her hand.
Aelina pointed to her, "What's your question, Eden?"
The green-haired girl, Eden, lowered her hand and asked in a serene voice, "What will the resource allocation be like? Do we get all the resources obtained from the tokens, or do they all go toward the Sect?"
Aelina smiled, "They will be split. You'll get 25%, while the Sect, or more specifically, the future Prime Disciple, will get 75%. So, technically, if you become the Prime Disciple, you'll receive over 75% of all the resources obtained during this competition!"
Eden closed her eyes and nodded, "Thank you, Sect Master. I'll be sure to win, so no resources go to waste."
The other disciples glared at Eden with veins popping out of their foreheads, but now wasn't the time to start a fuss.
Aelina waited to see if there were any more questions but moved on when nobody spoke up.
"I haven't decided what I want to do for the final stage yet, but it'll be something that tests your strength and potential against the other disciples. The details will have to come later once I know who those participating will be."
After saying all this, the room turned silent. Aelina just finished telling a lot of information, and there was a lot to think about.
For one, the Battle Maiden Sect has mostly kept to itself over the years. Why did Aelina now decide to declare war against the other Sects? Why is she even involving the other Sects in this matter? Does she have some sort of larger goal by doing all this, or is it simply whim? How will she get the other Sects to agree to this?
Even the Elders didn't know the full extent of Aelina's plans as it was too difficult to read her intentions.
All they knew was that the Western Continent is that chaotic times were about to descend on the Western Continent, and in the center of it all stood the Battle Maiden Sect.
Nobody knew whether this was a good thing or not, but they trusted their Sect Master! If there was one person who could take advantage of the chaos, it was Aelina!