One Wish to Own the World



Three months ago in the Serene Lotus Sect:

"Welcome to our sect. Follow me, I will get you to the inner sect's area and have someone show you around. I know that you're friends with the kid Elmer likes, so you can start as inner disciples, but to become core disciples you'll have to display your talents and be at the top."

"Thank you, Elder Theodore." 

Alaric and Tiara bowed to the elder and followed him out of the airship. The two felt somewhat worried about entering a new place without having anyone to rely on. Tiara was used to having her clan behind her while Alaric was used to having a master that cared for him.

The three arrived at the inner court, and soon a disciple wearing green robes appeared after Theodore called for him using a communication token. 

"Hello, Young Brother, Young Sister. I'm Liam, I was instructed to show you around the sect." The man cupped his fist and smiled amiably.

"Hello, Senior Brother, I'm Tiara."

"Hello, Senior Brother, I'm Alaric."

Liam showed them around, starting with their new residence. Because of their different sexes, they were placed in different houses, each sharing a room with 3 other disciples from the same gender.

"Do the ranked disciples have better houses?"

"Yes. How old are you?"

"I'm 28 years old."

"30."

"Well, the top 1000 share a room with only a single roommate while the top 500 have a house of their own. You get better accommodation for being in the top 100 or top 20, and the top 10 get the best treatment."

The man explained shortly the hierarchy while he showed them the way to the Mission Hall.

"Do you have commoners in the top 10?" Alaric asked in surprise when he heard the top 10 got houses. He was a commoner himself, but he was a special case since he was raised by an elder as an inheritor, which helped him get as many resources as an elite descendant would.

"Commoners? Oh… right, you come from a different sect. Here, there's only one elite family at the top, and they ensure that all of us have equal opportunities to get stronger as long as we have the correct talent and resolve. Make sure to remember the name of the leaders, it's the Stormborn family."

Alaric and Tiara exchanged surprised looks before asking the questions on their minds.

"How can they stop the elders from forming their own elite clans? I can't believe so many elders belong to their family in the first-ranked sect of the continent," Alaric asked.

"The elders and the Stormborn family have an agreement to keep it that way. Obviously, the offspring of elders enjoy more resources, but they don't own or control the resources of the sect like in other sects. That's why we are ranked first, we don't oppress talents here. Even the Stormborn family is rather small and does not have branches."

"Doesn't it grow with time?"

"It does not because of the agreement. Each Patriarch and Matriarch can only have two children and there are a few other rules that prevent them from expanding too much."

"Interesting."

"Senior Brother, what's your rank?" Tiara asked, always ready to see if anyone was worth being used or not.

"I'm unranked."

"Oh. Alaric, let's go back and discuss our future here," Tiara lost any interest in Liam instantly. 

The pair thanked their senior one last time and headed to the small courtyard of Alaric's house. He had to share it with his three roommates, but they were not there at the moment.

"We have enough resources to cultivate for a few years, but we would get bad names if we can't enter the top 1000. However, how can we compete with the cultivators who are almost 40 years old and got to the fifth stage already?"

Tiara raised their problem. In the Phoenix Feather Sect, the ranking was between age 25 to 40, so only those at the peak of the fourth stage could enter the ranking. As for the top 50, all spots were taken by fifth-stage cultivators. Here, in the Serene Lotus Sect, the whole top 1000 might be taken by them.

"Huh? It does not matter. Their stage will be suppressed to the peak of the fourth stage by the formations in the arena," Alaric said in a confused tone.

"There is such a thing?"

"Of course, didn't you have it in your former sect? It's the standard in the Divine Sword Sect. I thought it was the same everywhere. The sect paid the masters from the Infinite Wisdom Sect."

"I guess that's a top 5 sect for you. We were both among the strongest core disciples of our sects, so we should rank high among inner disciples. But let's first learn our inheritances instead of wasting our time on challenges."

"That sounds good. There are some interesting techniques that Team Leader had made for me. Unfortunately, I need to buy a new weapon to use most of the inheritance."

Tiara looked at Alaric in surprise when he mentioned needing a new weapon. They both purchased a seven-grade weapon at the Labyrinth of Blood in the secret realm with the BP they earned by slaughtering the various groups in the final room.

"You will see, it's interesting. I just need a lot of practice first." Alaric smiled, prompting an indifferent shrug from the ice princess.

The two of them spent the next three months training diligently every day, practicing their new techniques. Since Ken created everything based on their existing techniques, they didn't start from zero, and they were both talented youths.

They'd train by themselves six days a week, and spar at the weekend, trying to help each other digest their gains and improvements.

"You barely use your Sound Qi. I thought it was one of your main powers."

"It is, but it is quite irrelevant now until I can control the inheritance well. I can't bring out its true power with a spear."

"Aren't you in trouble if you need a new weapon? You don't have that Qi."

"It's fine, I don't need a new type of Qi for it."

"I see."