Though his disciple lost, the look on Sect Master Mooney's face was pure amusement. The giant demon had only been there as a distraction, but his mere presence was enough to limit the Disciple's movement and drive him into a corner of his own making, where the tiny Disciple outclassed him from the Forbidden Treasures Sect.
"Why don't we take you down to a nice calm spot along the shore and help you with your swimming skills?" The Elder, who claimed to be their water skills instructor, asked Luna now that the match was over.
"You go ahead. We will catch up to you after our matches." Penny told her with an indulgent smile while Luna was already halfway across the arena and heading for the door.
"Thanks. I'll learn quickly so we can go swimming as soon as you're done."
"Does she actually think she can learn to swim in the next hour?" One of the Seaside Sect Elders asked Cain, who was overseeing the rock paper scissors competition, to see who went next.
"She does. But she's probably not wrong either. Luna has an uncanny ability to pick up new skills." Cain informed the Immortal.
"To think someone really made it to the Spirit Realm without learning how to swim. What absolute dedication to her cultivation. Perhaps our Disciples could learn a thing or two from her about single minded devotion." The Elder replied, not understanding Luna's personality.
Elder Mariel smiled at the misunderstanding. "Well, you're not wrong, but somehow you're also not correct. The only thing that Miss Luna is single-mindedly devoted to is food. That is followed closely by physical affection, but the food is the true devotion of her psyche."
"Using hunger to drive herself toward her goals? How admirably self-sacrificing for such a youngster."
"No, that is even more incorrect. The mere thought of missing a meal would put her into a panic. She loves to cook and eat. She doesn't starve herself for motivation." Cain explained.
"Then how did she keep motivated enough to progress so fast?" The Elder asked, confused.
"Bribery. Making her favorite foods as a reward, letting her cuddle the Lycan while she sleeps, you know, the sorts of simple things that all youngsters like." Cain shrugged.
"You know what, never mind. I'm even more lost now than I was before. I have no idea how a Lycan relates to cultivation motivation."
Mariel laughed and looked over at the Sect Master. "Perhaps you could ask him to let you cuddle one of his daughters in lycan form for an evening to test the solution?"
"You forget, I've been here long enough that I actually know them. That would not be in any way relaxing or motivational, and that is even before their husbands found out that I had asked."
"Why don't we hold a group match? Four on four?" One of the Seaside Disciples asked after seeing how small the group Cain brought was.
His thoughts said that the sooner they finished the ritual part, the faster they could get to trying to convince Cain to leave the Arena up for the duration of his stay so that they could fight here.
After seeing a nearly decapitated fighter rescued and fully healed in seconds, they were willing to try almost anything for the chance to test their skills against their chief rivals within the Sect.
"I don't have an issue with that. Pick any four of your friends, and we can spar." Jen agreed.
The group arrangement was far better for her skills, and she really wanted to join Luna in the water before she had completely mastered the muscle coordination necessary to swim smoothly.
Awkward Luna wasn't a sight that they got to see very often, after all.
The Disciple grabbed three of his friends, and they hopped down into the water, ready to begin the match.
Cain looked into their thoughts and saw the true intentions behind the plan. The Forbidden Treasures Sect wore white robes made of light silk in this heat, with a transparent peach outer layer, and they would be fighting in the water. There was no way they could know that the robes were magical armor and wouldn't turn transparent when wet, so the Disciple had picked all students who specialized in water skills.
"Not a bad plan, but I don't think it's going to end the way they were hoping for." Cain chuckled as he listened in.
"They have a way around it? I don't need to read their minds to know what they are up to." Mariel asked.
"The robes are enchanted. No matter how wet they get, that silk won't turn transparent. It was a good plan. They were just missing vital information." Cain replied with a smile.
"To think that Sect Master Cain, lover of practical jokes, would make Disciples robes out of white cloth that prevents accidental slips. Perhaps your Disciples have a more reliable mentor than I had thought." Mariel joked.
"Or I just have a specific taste in practical jokes. But if they try, they could wear the outer layer as a beach wrap over their swimsuits, so the boys might still luck out once we're at the beach." Cain replied.
"I think that's on everyone's mind. Either to see Luna learn to swim or just to get to hang out with your Disciples. We have a fair number of women here, far more than Crushing Mountain does anyhow, but it is still less than a fifth of the number of men, and we haven't taken in too many in the past few decades, so the ones that are here are mostly Inner Sect Disciples or Elders." Mariel replied.
"How do you even decide who moves to be an Elder and who moves to the Core Disciples?" Cain asked.
"Either they reach their potential and choose to teach instead of going on a journey to find an opportunity to improve, or they earn enough respect in the Sect as a whole that they are given the Elder title. The Core Disciples are simply the most powerful of the ones that aren't Elders." She explained.
"I thought you would be out watching your daughter learn to swim." One of the other female Elders asked as Mariel finished speaking.
Cain opened the viewing spell he was using to watch for the others to see, showing her splashing in the water with the Elder holding her hands as she built up the coordination to swim on her own.
She was already halfway there and given another two hours, she would likely be swimming on her own, without relying on the skills of the Water Elemental to help her, though she was likely still taking its advice to speed up the process.
"Remote Viewing. I should have realized that you wouldn't let her out of sight." The Elder said, realizing her mistake.
"Watching her learn to swim was too important to miss, even if I needed to stand here to show my support for the rest of the Sect." Cain agreed.
As a Hatchling World Dragon, he could view thousands of places at the same time without any issue, and each would feel like he was seeing them with his own eyes, so where his physical body was didn't make any difference to the experience. To his mind, it was as good as standing there. He could feel the sun, smell the breeze across the ocean, and see Luna working on her swimming technique with mild frustration on her face as her body didn't perform in the way she intended it to.
In the arena, the two teams squared off against each other, with Jen in the lead of the Forbidden Treasures Sect formation and Sabbat in the rear. Even Solara had joined them today. Though she was at a much lower level of cultivation still, Cain had granted her Mana Transformation, so she had increased her level quite a bit and was already back to Mythic Awakened by using her own stored materials.
She was only level 150, though, so the Awakening wasn't enough to bring her on par with the others, only enough to keep her from getting squished right away.
"Oh, this is going to be good. See the little Alchemist in the middle, the one who clearly can't fight? She's got a most excellent prank prepared for the Seaside Sect Disciples." Cain chuckled as he saw her plan in his mind.
All of the nearby Elders turned their attention to her, and as soon as the Seraphim started the match, she threw a potion in the water near the enemy team, spreading quickly through the Seaside Disciples' side of the arena.
For the first second, the effect wasn't obvious, but the Seaside Disciples were moving strangely, and their Uniforms fit somewhat strangely.
"She didn't." Mariel laughed.
"Better believe she did." One of the other Elders giggled as Jen used [Shield Slam] on the water to drench their now female opponents.
They were soaked, and the thin, ocean-blue robes were clinging to exaggerated curves. The sight made Sabbat's eyes narrow, but she was glaring at Solara and not the enemy team.
"Trouble in paradise?" Mariel asked.
"Solara didn't tell Sabbat that she had a way to increase an A cup to what are those, triple F? Sabbat has always been a bit annoyed about her excessively slender figure, but I haven't relented and agreed to change her body shape since she's not fully grown yet." Cain explained.
The confusion among the Seaside Sect Disciples meant that they were eliminated in seconds but refused to exit the recovery room for some time after that.
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