Hearing those words, Alm and Bruno’s expressions turned tense. "What? Almin? I just got to the sect a few days ago; I don’t know anyone with that name," Bruno replied, clearly incredulous.
"Yeah... it’s really strange, even the way he talks seems similar," the elf retorted, and the others nodded in agreement.
"Maybe I know why you think that," the young man said suddenly. "My master told me that you were helped by a neutral human. He used you and then left you here to fend for yourselves. When I saw you, I thought I could help a bit since I’m a human too."
"No! That’s a lie!" one elf shouted furiously. "We were useless and forced him to help us. Then we became such a burden that he had to leave and join the barbaric disciples who like to fight."
"I see... But I heard he had a group with him, and there were elves among them," Bruno continued to probe.
"Those elves are the sisters who met expectations... we’re not good at fighting; he tried to teach us but failed. Almin said that if his brother was there, he could handle it. So, for now, he had to leave, or we wouldn’t be free," an elf explained with a sigh.
At that moment, Alm and Bruno understood the situation. Almin had done something unnecessary by helping too many people. Then he realized that not everyone had the ability to defend themselves and tried to teach them. Unfortunately, not everyone had the knack for it, and he couldn’t turn that around.
That’s when he decided to take the test for the Phoenix Wing to divert attention away from these people, making it seem like he had no connection to them anymore. He likely spread the rumors that he just used them. As a human, it was easy for people to believe that.
Seeing the melancholic and regretful looks on the elves’ faces, Bruno sighed and asked, "What do you want from life? To reach the pinnacle of alchemy?"
"No..." one replied, and they all agreed.
"Alchemy is just what we’re good at. We just want to live. We came from different planets where the pursuit of power and wars were intense. As soon as we showed talent for alchemy, our parents did everything they could to get experienced alchemists to take us as disciples."
"Those who were lucky and won the quick recruitment tournament only saw their families being exploited by their masters. Many others and I had to sell ourselves to get proper teaching. Our families, knowing this, chose human men with a background to teach us. The cost of knowledge is very high, and we came here at the expense of our families. Even with talent, life is tough."
Another elf quickly spoke up: "We want to change that, to compensate for our families’ losses, and to prevent others like us from facing the same fate."
Alm and Bruno sighed slightly. Where were the elven men? They never had the chance to learn alchemy properly. To any human, an elf was something beautiful; and, as they said, they had to sell themselves to receive teachings. They unfortunately had to use that weapon to be able to study.
Life was hard, and alchemy depended on a master willing to teach, along with many resources for learning.
It was impossible for someone to rise to the top alone. Almin, in his previous reincarnation, went through this, and seeing what these women did to get where they were, he decided to help. However, since he wasn’t allowed to teach the Dao of the God of Alchemy, he could only teach the basics and tried to help them defend themselves, but he failed.
"Okay... Well, you’re right. Almin is my brother, but nobody can know I’m here. Not even he can know."
Bruno accepted the situation, and immediately all twenty elves froze, then their hearts raced with excitement.
"I’m not gonna prove anything. I won’t trust you immediately either. If you want to achieve something, you’ll have to show your worth," Alm declared bluntly.
In that same second, some elves instinctively trembled in fear. Bruno scoffed; they probably had traumatic experiences in the past; hearing similar words from abusers, their reaction was natural.
"Stop thinking nonsense. Let me be clear: I’m married, and my wife is a bit wild. If she suspects anything, even Almin will be running for his life," Alm said dryly and turned away. "Is the group Almin helped still together? Where are they, and how many are there?"
"We’re just over 50,000 considered useless. Our central base is near Yin Lake, but we need to explore the continent to gather herbs and practice," an elf explained. "Sister Celilia is the oldest and has contact with everyone in the neutral faction."
"Great, take me there," Alm said flatly.
There was no point in pretending ignorance anymore; their brother had done something unnecessary. Without him, they would’ve just been internal or external disciples of the sect and could’ve focused on alchemy for the rest of their lives.
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If they were really talented, they wouldn’t need to worry about being exploited. But, with his help, they all entered the Heroic Pill Hall and were thrown into the sect’s internal competition.
Sometimes, not interfering was the best choice. Having the Dao of the God of Alchemy and being experienced in combat, Almin thought he could carry them. But he found out he had taken on a much bigger responsibility than he could handle.
’Don’t be so hard on him. He did what he thought was right; our role as a brother is to support and help, not judge,’ Bruno thought to himself, trying to calm Alm.
However, he also found the situation a bit irresponsible. Just because he had a little power didn’t mean he should always use it. Even in misfortune, there’s teaching. Things needed to flow naturally, even if it wasn’t ideal.
As the elves carefully guided him along a winding path, they passed many mountains, revealing beautiful scenery. He saw people napping, playing chess, and even maidens playing the lyre. Everyone seemed pretty chill.
He noticed that these people were trying to relax, doing their best to shake off the tension in their bodies.
The folks also saw the group walking along the path and gave the elves a little wave in greeting. They weren’t from the neutral faction, but they weren’t looking for trouble either.
But there were also those who looked at them coldly, ignoring them afterward and going back to their activities. Some even showed clear hostility.
After a few hours of walking, Alm and Bruno found themselves near a river with crystal-clear waters, radiating a strong Yin aura. It wasn’t long before a figure approached calmly.
It was a human, the leader of the neutral disciple faction named Celilia. She had delicate, beautiful features, with almond-shaped eyes and cherry-colored lips. As an alchemist, she was very thin and lacked volume in some areas, but with her petite figure, she was definitely charming.
She smiled slightly and said, "Please, have a seat."
A wooden table and two chairs appeared from her spatial ring. They settled in without hesitation. Celilia received a mental introduction about the young man from an elf and was quite surprised to hear he claimed to be Almin’s brother.
"You just arrived, right? Do you know this place?" she asked gently, and he shook his head.
"You’re in the Heroic Pill Hall, and you have two months to improve yourself. You should use this time to enter the Sacred Pavilion and study. There are countless ancient tomes that will be very beneficial for you. Plus, competition between factions can be tricky and sometimes bloody. If a newbie joins a faction, they won’t be able to establish a base and will have to work for them," Celilia warned, her tone serious.
Alm and Bruno immediately understood why Zemuo hadn’t announced their faction from the start. He even sent them without the clothing that marked their faction.
It was a way to give them a chance to establish their own base. As a newbie, if he expressed which side he was on from the beginning, the other side would immediately try to suppress his rise, turning him into a target.
That’s why he was left alone initially. Anyway, he had his status as the last apprentice of the vice-leader, which exempted him from being shy. Now, that High Elder was just watching silently, waiting for news.
The radical faction hoped that Raoni would grow explosively, even without support and under pressure. After all, they didn’t need a useless coward.
"Alright, I get it," Bruno nodded.
"Both factions will use subtle and aggressive tactics to force you to join them. As long as you refuse to side with either and stay neutral, they won’t intimidate you too much," Celilia continued. "Do you know how to check your ranking?"
"Uh, I really don’t know," he replied, so she stood up and asked for her badge.
When she received it, she pressed a protruding part on her back. The back of the badge actually flipped around, revealing a small mirrored crystal that popped out. There were carvings on it that Bruno couldn’t make sense of.
"What? Rank 666? How can your ranking be so high right after you join?!" Celilia exclaimed, full of disbelief.
It was important to know that there were five hundred thousand disciples in total in the Heroic Pill Hall. All newcomers usually had low rankings.
However, as a special treatment for newbies, as long as they weren’t too weak, their rankings didn’t show up in the last positions. This was a chance for new disciples to temporarily benefit from the place and study. Normally, their rankings would be among the bottom ten. That’s why a ranking in the top thousand was so shocking.
"How are the rankings determined?" Bruno asked.
"The rankings are set by the supervisors through a comprehensive assessment of the disciples based on tests. When Almin arrived, he ranked among the top hundred thousand. That was historic and never seen before... sorry for doubting; you really are his brother," Celilia said, her smile brightening.
Alm and Bruno just scoffed. If Almin had been a bit bolder and braver, he surely would’ve stood out much more in the entrance test. After all, they weren’t even alchemists and made it this far.
Before Alm and Bruno could respond, Celilia and everyone around noticed something terrifying. Suddenly, over ten thousand disciples surrounded the area.
Among them were nearly a hundred Elders... Seeing these people, Celilia and all the elves paled, clearly frightened.