Cain stepped out of the tent with a small girl holding his hand, looking like the picture of innocence embodied. Her smile was gentle and delicate, and the other Elders, who knew her savage and gruff personality, were tempted to believe that Cain had actually sent the Elder away through a portal and abducted another young girl to be his follower.
"Everyone, I would like you to meet Solara. My newest Disciple. Her cultivation journey is just beginning, so please be kind to her during our stay here." Cain introduced the Elder to her old friends and acquaintances while the girl blushed, not yet used to the looks that she was getting.
It was a far cry from the scared or reverent looks that the was used to, and Solara was beginning to feel a threatening look being cast her way, despite the lack of any enhanced senses.
That feeling was coming from Luna, who was staring at her like a Predator stares at its favorite prey, and the look alone was enough to make the former Elder shiver.
"Luna, you are scaring your new sister. You can cuddle her later." Cain reprimanded.
Tena gave Solara a commiserating look, having gone through the same experience, being much weaker than Luna and small enough for the girl to wrap her arms around after she was first changed.
"She won't hurt you. She just treats everyone like a stuffed animal when she wants to sleep." Penny explained while the other Elders hid their amusement.
"Oh, that doesn't sound so bad. At the Shattered Moon Sect, all of the new disciples share rooms with one bed. You can either learn to share, fight over it, or sleep in shifts. It is a bonding experience and quite the eye opener for many of the new Disciples that come from wealthy families and were spoiled because of their talent." Solara replied.
"You give them beds? We just put mats on the ground." Elder Ling asked, curious about the other Sect's practices.
"With the boys, the competition is fierce. If you don't force them to compete for everything, all of the time, they form gangs where only a few strongest even attempt to get stronger. So, with competition, even against their roommate, they wake up in a competitive mood, which helps prevent alliances and builds the average strength. That way, we don't have to cull the cultivation of as many and send them away as failures." Solara explained.
"Not a bad idea. Our disciples don't need much encouragement to compete with each other, though. One casual comment about a disciple becoming more beautiful or overtaking a spot on the rankings is enough to keep them at each others' throats for months." Elder Ling thought out loud.
"The storehouse goes through level 1 beautification pills like water after competitions and field trips." The Kitchen Elder laughed.
"Don't those have diminishing returns every time they are used?" One of the other Elders asked.
"They do. By the fifth or sixth time, they are no more than a placebo. But we let them keep buying them anyhow since it keeps them motivated." The Elder replied with a wink.
"You're all strange in the head. We just discourage all forms of vanity since they take away focus from cultivation." A younger Elder at the end of the table added.
"At least we're not the Forbidden Treasure Sect, which turns all their disciples into lovely young women with Secret Skills." The Kitchen Elder shot back.
"No offense, Elder Cain."
"None taken. My disciples were lovely even before they were transformed."
"Since we're all here still. Why don't we get past the easy part? Who is here for their personal appearance, and who wants skill books for their Sects?" Elder Ling asked.
The remaining Elders, other than the Shadowed Blade, all looked guilty, having come there for their own personal vanity.
"Bring out the interesting objects, and I will consider your proposals." Cain agreed, more eager to have a long chat with his new Disciple.
She hadn't said anything about her new class, and Cain saw her notice and then ignore the messages, so there was a good chance that she thought she had received a Divine Inheritance and that she had hidden it from him. As fun as it might be to play up that pretense, it would be better to explain how the System worked before she did anything strange.
She didn't have any skill points at the moment, so there wasn't a huge risk, but the Class did have a few base Skills as a Second Advancement Class, and she still had her knowledge and storage devices. Who knew what she would get up to if left unsupervised?
The items were all simple trinkets, each of them holding an unusual power. But one, in particular, stood out from the others when Cain scanned it. It was damaged, but it was a Mythic homing beacon, which would let those with the knowledge and power open a portal to the designated location marked on the otherwise plain ring.
That alone was worth the effort to change everyone's appearance.
On the off chance that the Mythic Dungeon, or pocket dimension, that the ring led to contained good stuff after all this time, Cain pocketed the offerings and activated [Modify] on everyone at the same time, bringing them all back to their early twenties in appearance.
"That just leaves me with a few books to make. If you lovely ladies can wait for a few hours, I will finish them up and bring them out to you." Cain offered while the Elders examined themselves.
"Take your time. You will be busy tomorrow, I am certain.
The vain ladies might have gotten here first, but tomorrow all of the Elders who have heard about your technique manual inscribing methods will be harassing the border of the Lotus Blossom Sect beginning at dawn." The Shadowed Blade Elder reminded him.
"You just had to bring that up. Maybe I should head into the city again to keep things quiet here." Cain sighed.
"Why don't we set up a station for you at the edge of the camp? You can sit under a pagoda on a comfortable cushion, and they can come to beg you to make skill books for them. It will be more organized than making them all beg for you to come out, and if they're only waiting on those who got there first and not our Disciples to talk to you, they won't bother us as much." Elder Ling suggested.
"That's not a bad idea. Miss Solara is an excellent inscriptionist as well, so you can use her as a front if you get a request to make something simple." Elder Dragon Fang of the Shadowed Blade laughed.
That was quite the mental image, letting the little girl fill out the requests of a bunch of pompous busybodies who should have been able to do it themselves if they had managed to attract talent to their Sects.
"You can bring Luna as well since she can use Rune Crafting. That should really shock them. It would look like a training Symposium for your Disciples." Penny suggested, moving the most energetic of the Sect to a spot where she wouldn't be able to bother the rest to do fun things all day.
"Your Disciple can Craft Rune Items? Then what am I, chopped liver? I spent a thousand years learning the technique, and I still haven't mastered Rune Crafting." One of the Elders grumbled.
"Come and watch tomorrow. I am sure that at least a few of them will come with substantial payments in order to get weapons made or repaired for the next round of the Inner Sect Competition or for the Core Disciples." Cain offered.
"In that case, I should get going to meditate and refresh my mind for tomorrow's excitement. If you will excuse me, Elders, and thank you for the hospitality, Lotus Blossom Sect."
The Elder, who had been trying to learn to rune craft, said her goodbyes and left, followed soon after by the others, with only two left behind for Cain to make their books.
Cain retired back to his tent, where the Elders took a seat on his bed while he sat at the desk to write. Neither book was a hard one, and they only took a little over a half hour in total, but by then, Luna was already dragging Solara to the other side of the tent to sleep.
"Be gentle, her cultivation has just been reset, so she is fragile. I don't want to hear anything about bullying or injuries." Cain warned her.
"If I don't bully her, she will run away again. Have you hugged her yet? She's so soft without cultivation. It's like holding a pillow. Not even Penny's fur is this soft." Luna pouted.
"I warned you. Don't make me punish you for not behaving." Cain threatened, pointing to the kitchen area outside, then making a slashing gesture to warn her he would cut her off from the ability to make sweets from her new cookbook.
"Now, here are your books. Enjoy your evenings, and I will likely see you tomorrow since it seems I will be running an impromptu vendor stand at the edge of the camp." Cain told them.
Both Elders bowed politely, then walked out of the tent as the rest of the Disciples came in.
"Boss, have you seen Luna and Solara? She grabbed the new girl and took off." Penny asked.
"They're already in the tent. Keep her out of trouble, will you? I will keep her busy tomorrow so you can relax." Cain instructed the Lycan Druid.
"No problem, Boss. I think I have come up with a new path for my development as well. We can talk about that tomorrow night." Penny replied, waving as she headed through the flap separating the two sides of the tent.
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