Clop clop, clop clop.

  The carriage was a bit quiet at first, the only sound being the muscular horses stepping on the ground outside.

  Ling Yun did not want to allow for a very quiet carriage ride, but nobody had any complaints. They were waiting to hear the information they had longed for.

  "First things first, we will send some of our outer sect disciples for your things. That is only if there's anything you want or need from home. If that is the case, please let us know,” Ling Yun said.

  All three boys shook their heads. Orien and Haruki already knew they would be whisked away immediately. They had prepared for this moment. Orien had the delicate box with the remainder of the spiritual medicine and the golden brooch within his clothes.

  "Okay, great. Then allow me to begin by telling you all about the sect. This information isn't exactly classified, but there is nothing mortals would be able to do with this information. Please keep it to yourselves, lest someone get hurt trying to act upon information they should not have,” Ling Yun continued speaking.

  She smiled and clasped her hands. This time, the boys all nodded. She giggled to herself, thinking that these boys were all quite obedient, unaware of her own charm.

  "You will become outer sect members of our Casting Line Sect. We do have basic rules, such as no fighting each other within the sect. No stealing, and so forth. Anything you wouldn't do in your school or village, don't do at the sect, as the punishment may be even more severe,” she warned.

  Orien momentarily thought about fighting with Geno and shook his head.

  Ling Yun continued, "Once you're enrolled, you will study with almost all of our resources and facilities. I say almost because there are still many things you will need to earn. The better stuff won’t just be handed to you freely. You will train, but the first step will be touching our advanced stone stele to discern anyone's affinity that the ordinary stone stele could not. Unfortunately, it cannot be moved from our sect, and it's too precious, so we wouldn't hope to move it regardless."

  Ling Yun turned to see if everyone was listening and was pleased that they were all very focused before continuing, "There will be opportunities to earn cultivation resources as I mentioned before, such as spirit grass, spirit stones, even spirit pellets and some other unique items. They will come in the form of missions, whether it's subjugating monstrous sea creatures or assisting with underwater mining for blacksmithing and gathering of materials off the coast."

  She paused momentarily to see if any of the boys had questions that they’d like to ask and then continued, “I’ll give you a couple more details regarding what I just said. Firstly, does anyone here know what those cultivation materials do?”

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  The carriage was met with silence, even though Orien knew. Wisp had already been training him to remain lowkey. There was no reason why he should be knowledgeable on cultivation resources when he wasn’t even at stage one of the Mortal Path.

  “Okay, that’s fine. So, I'll start with spirit stones. That is a currency you can say, but it is possible to cultivate with them. We use low quality spirit stones here on Castaway Island, but you will be able to cultivate with them if the need arises. One spirit grass is equivalent to one spirit stone, but the spirit stone’s energy is much easier to absorb and has less wastage than a wild spirit grass. This is why refining materials is important,” she said, very educated on the topic.

  All three of the boys were very immersed in what she was saying, so she continued, “I’ll stop at spirit pellets for now, but spirit pellets or spirit pills as some call them, are an entry level medicine consisting of two to three strands of spirit grass. You’re able to identify them by the color, as the dark blue ones are two strands, and the dark red ones are three stands. You need to be careful with these, as at your level, if you consumed an entire pill and don’t know any cultivation breathing exercises, then you’ll likely swell up and explode. Scary stuff, huh? Don’t worry though, one of the first things you’ll learn during the lectures is how to cultivate and breathe in the natural spiritual energy that is invisible to the eye but all around us.”

  Each of the boys' eyes were filled with wonder, and many thoughts raced through their heads, each thinking of their own fantasies after hearing the in-depth description as well as a tidbit of what their lectures would entail.

  “Very interesting stuff, hmm?” Ling Yun was happy with the reactions she was eliciting from the boys, feeling that she did a good job explaining the entry level cultivation materials that they would be encountering.

  Wisp whispered to Orien, "This takes me back to my old days. Orien, we need to have a serious talk once you have some privacy. By the way, be sure not to overreact, but my affinities are for sound, light, and wood."

  Orien struggled to keep an ordinary expression in front of Ling Yun, but he was greatly shocked.

  'What the hell are those affinities? Also, Wisp is rarely this serious. What are we going to talk about?'

  His brain flipped over internally, but externally he nodded and continued listening to Ling Yun.

  "Oh, before I forget, every two years there is a tournament in the sect unlike any other!” Ling Yun exclaimed, knowing that this would surely get the boys excited, “All disciples in the Mortal Path may participate, and the top participants will be given many rewards but most important of all, it has become a tradition for disciples that are qualified to leave the island to compete in the tournament one last time. They do their best to secure valuable materials for their future adventures.”

  Haruki raised his hand, “Excuse me, when you say qualified to leave the island, you mean...?”

  Ling Yun responded, “Every disciple must reach stage five of the Mortal Path at least before they’re allowed to leave. Because of this, the strongest competitors in the tournament would typically be stage five. There have been anomalies where stage six competitors appeared, but most disciples can’t wait to leave the island after reaching stage five, so it’s rare.”

  Ling Yun suddenly straightened her posture and put on a proud expression. Her fair neck was truly captivating at this angle, but her next words caused an uproar.

  "I was the number one disciple from four years ago, by the way."

  The boys stared at her like wooden chickens. This reaction made her laugh out loud, and the carriage continued down the pathway.