The whale and Liumi walked through the corridors of the arena slowly, and the whale listened attentively to everything happening in the stands.
’It seems like we taught her much more than we intended. She mixed our way of acting with an irrational method. Maybe the fact that she reached this level so quickly has affected her a bit.’ Alm spoke coldly.
Bruno sighed, understanding what Alm was thinking. ’We’ve always been ruthless, but we never killed without real gains. Maybe because we came from Earth, a completely mortal place; that’s why killing always left an instinctive bitter taste. But she was born and raised in this chaotic world of cultivation and suffered a lot for most of her life. We really need to correct that...’
Liumi glanced at the whale and felt the weight in his eyes. It seemed like they had done something painful and unimaginable; was that just a correction to a disciple? She thought, feeling the emotions through his hand.
Then the whale turned to her and spoke. "Shall we walk? Or shall we use the same method to go back?"
She thought quickly. "Walking... activating the teleportation costs 100,000 spiritual crystals, no matter where; the laws within the sect are hard to pierce, making it expensive. It was an emergency, and you seemed desperate, so I don’t regret it, but now it seems like a waste."
The whale nodded. This Grassrunner helped him without even knowing him, so he could give her credit for now. Then he made a detour out of the arena and said, "I think it’ll be strange if someone sees you holding my hand like this."
Liumi jumped and quickly let go. She, being a dedicated forger, never fought and was very weak. Just seeing that human kill so many coldly and fly in their direction made her instincts alert, and she grabbed onto the closest thing she felt proximity to. Bruno didn’t mind, and Alm didn’t either. They clearly felt that she had no strange intentions and felt nothing different. She just acted openly, without ulterior motives.
They walked slowly towards the forge castle, side by side. They didn’t see anyone nearby. The sect was gigantic, and the number of cultivators couldn’t even occupy 5% of it; everything seemed like a vast emptiness and a waste of space. Soon, the whale asked calmly.
"I have six free months. How do I get resources here?"
"Hm? You’re a forger, right? Just make things and sell them." She replied casually.
"That will take too long, and I can’t sell things I really make; is there another method?"
She thought for a few seconds. "As a member of an institute, you have a few advantages over the disciples. You can become a teacher in any institute and sell your knowledge... or do specific sect missions..."
"Can I go to any institute and take the test to be a teacher? What’s the reward?" They cut in with an excited tone.
"Yes, you can do it for any of them. Being a teacher is something exclusive for institute members, as we can’t become elders. And it’s still forbidden for someone without the title of teacher to teach and earn for it." Liumi said gently.
"To gain more status and resources for us in the institute, most specialize in other areas. It’s not uncommon to find someone attending two institutes. The reward for becoming an external teacher is two million spiritual crystals. When you move up to internal, you have to retake the tests. To apply for a test, it’s five hundred thousand. It’s very expensive, and no one passes in less than three attempts; all the institutes make it as difficult as possible to compensate for the losses."
She finished with a strange smile. The forging institute surely did the same as all the others. But they didn’t mind. Soon, Bruno hardened his face and asked, "I don’t have that, can you lend me some?"
She didn’t hesitate. "Sure." In the same second, they arrived at the forge castle and crossed the gates.
"Let’s just get this test done then," the whale replied, and she turned to him hesitantly but nodded.
One hour later...
The whale was in the forge, surrounded by five forging professors. Liumi was also present, and one of them spoke up. "The test measures all aspects of forging: Your fire control, shaping technique, purification, metal handling, etc. We’ll give you the test recipe, you must perform it, and each of us will give you a grade."
The whale nodded emotionlessly, and the professor continued. "Don’t be surprised by the grade, we all passed with less than 5 on average. The parameters are pre-established, it’s nothing personal." The whale just nodded again, indifferent.
Two hours later...
"Average... perfect average... 10 in everything..." One professor muttered, completely stunned.
The whale just turned without caring, and Liumi was petrified looking at him. After a few seconds, she snapped out of it and tossed a ring to him. Upon catching and taking a part off, they returned it.
"I don’t want to waste time, so just take what I owe you. Now, bring me to the other institutes; the night has just begun," the whale said lightly, turning to leave the room.
Liumi couldn’t wrap her head around what he said and stood still. The whale at the door saw she didn’t move and turned back, grabbing her hand and pulling her out.
One hour later, they stood in front of a reddish castle radiating laws of fire, with a symbol of a furnace and golden pills in front. It was the external alchemy institute.
There are seven in total: Alchemy Institute, Forge Institute, Formation Institute, Beast Tamer Institute, Five Elements Institute, Bestial Institute, and God of War Institute.
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The closest to the Forge Institute was the Alchemy Institute. Alm and Bruno acquired the Alchemist God’s Dao for Almin, and even though they didn’t practice it, they read the entire Dao and had it in their minds. They could easily pass with an average close to 5. After all, this was a mortal world, and the pills were simple.
Liumi still couldn’t understand what Denil wanted to do there. But when they entered, and he requested a professor test, she froze. It was his first day in the sect. Sure he couldn’t pass this one just like that, right?
Three hours later...
"Average 8, approved!" exclaimed an excited alchemy professor.
’We nailed the theory and repeated the method described meticulously... but without practice, it’s impossible. Luckily, the requested pill was a basic Yin pill... something we are experts in.’ Bruno commented excitedly. Then they received the spatial ring full of crystals and turned around again, grabbing Liumi’s hand, who was petrified, and dragging her out.
The God of War Institute was next. And here, they had to... fight.
"Maximum score, 10!" exclaimed a shocked muscular professor. He was beaten like never before in his life, as were twelve other professors.
In the Five Elements Institute. "Average... perfect! 10, approved." The five basic elements were variations of Yin and Yang. Nothing could be easier for them.
Beastial Institute. The test was simple. You just needed beast blood and endure the bloodline suppression of three professors for two hours. Alm and Bruno had no patience to waste two hours. As soon as the test began, they activated the Behemoth bloodline... and the three professors collapsed, suppressed. Perfect again!
Formation Institute. This one was complex, but...
"Average 7, approved!"
The mortal formations were divided into formations with basic uses of Yin or Yang without variations. Alm nailed almost everything in Yin because of his extensive training with the evil cultivators. Bruno had more difficulties, but it wasn’t that bad. They were familiar with divine formations from their universe, never studied, but knew their structure. Mortal formations weren’t a big deal.
The last one was the Beast Tamer Institute. They had some prior knowledge from the previous universe. They helped Ruri with Deryu and then heard an explanation from Ruri about the taming technique Leafar gave her. Since most taming techniques involved enslaving the beast’s mind, and that was something close and possible with Yin laws, Alm had some confidence in this aspect.
"Average 4.5. It’s on the edge, but it’s approved." A teacher spoke lightly, looking at the whale.
So, when the day was already clear in the sky, they dragged the stunned Liumi back to the forge castle. She was honest with words and actions; when she got scared, she clung to something she knew; when she got stunned, she simply froze. So, they just dragged her by the arm without caring. Both floated ten meters above the ground, and the whale seemed to smile mentally, which slightly showed in their aura.
Several meters away, completely out of Alm and Bruno’s senses... a violet shadow clenched its fists so tightly that blood seemed to drip from them; the shadow looked at the sky, seeing the two moving with tied hands. And the strange feeling of joy from the whale made the shadow use all its strength to control itself.
Alm commented calmly. ’13 and a half million for a day, it was satisfactory. Let’s suck up as much as we can without attracting too much attention in these six months. Meanwhile, we have to investigate some things.’
It was in that second that Bruno became alert. ’Watch out!’
He turned suddenly and grabbed Liumi, and earth laws covered the two in half a second. The woman was confused, but suddenly, there was a crash, and the earth’s defense collapsed violently. Then, the two fell like a meteor to the ground.
They had barely fallen when a smell of poison covered the whole place. The whale stood up and saw in the sky a winged beast entering the clouds and fleeing.
’A beast in the Body Destruction Realm...’ Bruno commented dryly.