"I'm but a slave... but thanks to this work, I got the meet with the master of formations," the Elder stated, his eyes clouding up a little. "That alone made all my former efforts worth it," the man said, his mind ascending somewhere far away.
"Yeah..." Mia nodded her head and muttered, unsure how she was supposed to react to this reveal.
'Master? What kind of Master? Did a genius formation master appear somewhere in the world recently?' Mia attempted to make sense of the Elder's words but gave up halfway.
She heard and knew too little to pass on any real judgment. For now, she was stuck with nothing more but wild assumptions, hoping that by analyzing them, she could figure out what the truth was.
That's why, when the formation master started wetting himself at the thought of yet another master, Mia kindly didn't bother to stop him or ask more.
In due time, if she was to know, someone would explain what this Master was or whatever. And if it wasn't her fate to know it, what was the point of thinking about the topic in advance?
"I was looking at those formations," Mia said, hoping to change the topic. "I never really learned about formations, but why do those look way different than the arrays we had here before?" Mia asked, finally referring to the question that she had thought of before.
Why were the formation plates covered in those simple markings instead of some kind of complex runes?
Was it really a good idea to hire this man if he clearly wasn't going to use high-end formations to fulfill the job? Mia couldn't help but wonder.
"It's because of this new discovery I mentioned," the Elder smiled, clearly aware of how strange his behavior was. Yet, from his wide smile, it was clear that he was always happy to discuss his field of work. "It's a revolutionary discovery," the man sighed. "A genius method," he added, a hint of craze appearing deep behind his eyes.
"Right," the look in the formation master's eyes changed a little as he glanced over at the girl. "What cultivation stage are you on if I might ask?"
'Where did that come from?' Mia shrugged, surprised by the sudden question. But she saw no harm in sharing the answer.
In the end, her current rate of growth was her greatest weapon against any and all bullying. Only by becoming an openly recognized rising star of the Tuxi disciples could she ensure the safety of her own and her group.
"I should be able to break into the sixth stage soon," Mia revealed, her eyes glued to the man's face.
'His reaction could tell me something,' Mia thought, attempting to read just what kind of impression her answer would make on the formation master.
"Oh, I see," the man replied offhandedly as if he didn't care about the answer in the slightest.
But Mia noticed the small detail. For a second, when he heard her answer, the man froze.
He clearly was interested in the question yet pretended that he wasn't.
'Just as I started to think I could trust in this guy,' Mia thought, her mood swinging towards the sourness. 'Wait, am I in the wrong here?' Mia thought. 'The fact that he does have some agenda doesn't necessarily mean he is against me,' she thought, too tired of assuming that everyone is a potential enemy.
For a moment, Mia just wanted to drop all those suspicions away.
'I guess there is only one way to judge this man's worth,' she ended up deciding as her eyes moved towards the construction site.
'And it's by judging the fruits of his work,' she thought before turning silent once again.
Soon, the day neared its end. Even though she first appeared at the training ground in the morning to send everyone off, and even though the clerk at the auction hall was even quicker than Mia expected...
The job only truly started when she brought monsters' bones to the side. And even despite this massive delay of nearly half of a day, by the time the sun started to go down, the project actually neared its completion.
"It's basically done, now," the formation Master muttered under his nose before glancing over at where Mia observed the progress. "Hey, girl!" he shouted. "Do you want to try it out?" the Elder asked with a wide grin adorning his lips.
'Why is it so hard to suspect this man?' Mia thought as she released a heavy sigh.
The sheer, nearly childish excitement visible in the Master's eyes made it hard to treat him with suspicion. He was just too honest in his passion for his job.
"Sure thing," Mia finally replied, jumping down from a small wall that she seated herself upon.
Yet, as she approached the new floor of her training ground, the girl couldn't help but hesitate.
This place was covered with five different layers of formations stacked upon each other. And as a complete novice to the topic, she couldn't understand the purpose of most of the runes, not to speak about deriving the purpose of the entire thing.
As such, whether she would step into the formation or now would be the greatest test of faith that she had in the man.
Did he really prepare a potent formation for her and others to train? Or was it a trap aimed at hurting her in some way?
'Fuck it,' Mia thought, swallowing the gulp of saliva that gathered up in her mouth. 'If I just get suspicious over everything and everyone, then I won't be able to progress at all!' she noticed as she pushed her body forward.
"Oh, not so fast!" the Elder shouted, stopping the Mia right in her tracks. He then pulled out several cores with a shine that greatly outweighed the shine of any core that Mia saw before in her life.
"Consider this a token of trust that I have in this work," the man said before placing the five of the most magnificent cores that Mia saw in her life into five different circles around the formation.
"Whenever you want to cultivate in the future, just stack cultivation resources in those five rings," the Elder instructed before gesturing at the biggest ring off them all. "Now, step here," he ordered.
'Well, here goes nothing, then,' Mia thought, swallowing her saliva once again before finally setting her foot in the right spot.
But nothing happened at all.
No energy rushed towards her. No quality of the air changed, indicating that some forces were at work.
She made the leap of faith, and it paid off with absolutely nothing.
"Don't make such a face," the Elder laughed off, amused by Mia's shocked reaction. "The formation isn't running yet. We still need to add some finishing touches, so the self-activation doesn't work yet," he added before falling to his knees and meddling around the last plate of the entire array.
"Elder..." Mia muttered, looking at the cores that the Elder placed within the formation. "I'm happy for the token of assurance," she muttered as she glanced over to the cultivation resources so potent; their aura alone made her feel like it could rip her apart. "But aren't those too strong?" she asked, pointing with her chin towards the stones.
"Don't worry," the Elder waved his hand away without even raising his eyes away from the plate. "I'm not stupid enough to forget about the limits," he added before suddenly raising his eyes. "Are you ready?" he asked.
Mia swallowed her saliva for the third time. From how theatric the man was about this entire thing, clearly, something big was going to happen.
'I guess I won't know what will happen unless I push forward myself,' Mia thought before looking down at the man.
She then nodded her head, only to see the Elder erase a single line that intruded on the opening rune of the entire formation.
In an instant, the entire thing came to life.
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