Chương 26: The Nether World Sect

Nero woke up to find himself under a new, more well-made wooden roof. Instead of just getting up and starting on his 'new' life doing the chores he was assigned, he just lay there. His heart had been in turmoil the previous night after his smart-ass plan backfired on him spectacularly. But now, after mulling over the whole situation with a clearer, less emotional head, he felt like it wasn't all so bad. He'd gotten into the Nether World Sect, easily one of the top three sects in the City of Silver.

Its equals were only the Sword World Sect and the Heavenly World Sect—the Heavenly World Sect being the top sect in terms of age, resources, and military might. After being admitted as an outer disciple, Nero had a good private talk with the most senior outer disciple. Fortunately, the man was decent, neither a creep nor a stuck-up prick. The conversation had also gone very smoothly now that he recalled it.

"Ah, you're wondering why the elders accepted you into the sect so easily, are you?" he asked with a faint smile, as if reading his thoughts in real time.

"Yes, senior. Shouldn't it be harder to get accepted into a sect as reputable as this? I don't even have a family, much less a relative with a beast core." The senior shook his head.

"That'd be wrong to assume, disciple Nero." Nero gave the senior a perplexed look.

"How so?" The senior leaned back in his chair, gently massaging his temple as he explained.

"First of all, that girl, Sylvia, I believe, was just brought into the sect via a sky barge. Do you know what that implies? The sect sending a sky barge to bring in a new disciple who'd just awakened her core?"

"That she's important?" he answered, still not sure where this was going.

"Not just important—significantly important. In fact, even when a young master from an inner disciple's family is brought in with their core already awakened, the sect at best sends a group of senior outer disciples like myself to escort them in—never the inner disciples, and certainly never a sky barge, which is often operable only by a senior inner disciple or an Elder." He sat straighter in the chair, resting his hands on its armrests as he continued.

"The fact that she was escorted and admitted directly into the inner court as an inner disciple, and the fact that her father was a former Direct Disciple to one of the Great Daoist Masters, means that you—a mere nobody with just the slightest association with her—will reap benefits." He stood up and headed toward his cottage's inner quarters.

"As the old saying goes: when one attains the Dao, even their chickens and dogs may ascend to Heaven. And you're her village's savior—don't be hard on yourself. Expect a reward." And now here he was, ascending to heaven despite being a rat. The news of Sylvia's arrival, and her subsequent aptitude test, had spread everywhere—she had Heavenly Grade aptitude! The first disciple since the seventh branch's founding to possess aptitude of such a level.

So naturally, it wasn't an exaggeration at all when their senior told him she'd attained the Dao. After a bit more contemplation, Nero finally rose from his bed. It was a good bed compared to the one he usually slept in.

"Though, the bedding in the Saru's accommodations wasn't bad either." It was morning, nearly five a. m. to be precise, and he could already hear yawns drifting in from outside his room. He'd apparently been given this room, one of four inside a single cottage. They also had a shared kitchen and bathroom! So Nero went over and washed himself up. The other disciple didn't even bother glancing at him, and retreated back into his room, most likely to cultivate. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site?

This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The thing was, since Nero hadn't yet tested his own aptitude, he didn't have the luxury of going back inside to meditate. Today, he'd have to return to the same elder and have his aptitude tested. After quickly swiping a few bread slices from his roommate's food stock, he hurried outside toward the elder's hall, a distinct spring in his step. An aptitude test was a huge deal in a sect.

They usually came in five grades: Yellow, Profound, Earth, Heaven, and Saint.

"If I can acquire anything above Yellow grade, my future would be something else! Maybe I'd finally rise above the status of a mere rat!" [Half an hour later.]"You have Yellow grade aptitude," the elder informed him with an almost bored expression.

"Now, go ahead and tell me your official name, surname, and any titles you may hold, official or unofficial." Nero froze at the revelation of his aptitude, until the elder coughed to snap him out of his stupor. Nero straightened up instantly, coming back to reality. He unnecessarily smoothed out his clothes for some reason and began listing the information as the elder wrote each piece down in a notebook.

"And as for titles," Nero sighed and added his unofficial one, "it's Rat Slayer," he added listlessly. The elder raised an eyebrow, clearly thinking he was joking. But after studying Nero's face, he caught on and wrote it down too. So much for ascending beyond mediocrity. He then signed a small wooden plaque with red ink, which turned black the moment the elder lifted the brush. He handed the plaque to Nero, who took it respectfully with both hands.

"This is your outer disciple ID. Keep it safe—a replacement will cost you contribution points." Nero offered him a bow and turned to leave.

"Also," the elder called out, "it's the sixth of January. Be sure to awaken your dormant core by the first of February, or you'll be expelled from the outer court." Nero nodded and left the hall. As he did, the elder's gaze turned disdainful.

"An insect taking advantage of an innocent flower," he murmured.

"Wouldn't last a day with that attitude." The next task after obtaining his identification card was heading to the transaction desk, located inside the Grand Hall. He quickly climbed the stairs, taking just about a second less time than the guardsmen to reach the top. It wasn't the best way to gauge his strength against theirs—they'd already awakened their beast cores and had bodies naturally enhanced as a result.

But climbing the stairs faster than them without much effort, without even using Pristine Aura's enhancement, still left him slightly ahead. This gave him at least a small assurance that he wouldn't be curb-stomped by them if it ever came to a fight. He entered the Grand Hall. The floor was polished marble, painted red to reduce slipperiness. Several disciples moved back and forth on the left side, so he headed that way.

The area to the left held a large, brown wooden desk, manned by bronze-cuffed disciples handling the transaction of various materials. Nero eyed the table for a moment before approaching. He intended to sell the lesser Oni's core here. Sure, he'd told the elder that the lesser Oni had disappeared by the time he woke up, but normally the core of such a powerful monster didn't fade along with its dead body—the energy within was simply too dense to break down quickly.

The elder probably expected him, or Sylvia, to eventually sell the item to the sect. Now, if he went out of his way to sell it elsewhere and the sect somehow caught wind of it, their suspicion that he also possessed the Gene Talent would spike enormously. Nero wanted no such attention. So he pulled out the large beast core and set it on the desk manned by a green-haired senior who looked to be in his forties. As the item clicked against the wood, the senior's attention snapped to it.

He tentatively picked up the crystal and inspected it, his eyes glowing yellow—likely some kind of inspection-related Gene Talent at work. After inspecting it, he set the item back down on the desk, his full attention now on Nero, who showed his respect with a bow first—which, for whatever reason, seemed to raise the other inner disciples' eyebrows.

"Explain. How did you get your hands on such a valuable item? You're just a dormant-core vegetable, after all." Nero inwardly flinched at that description but replied politely anyway.

"Senior, my name is Nero. The beast this core belonged to was killed by inner disciple Sylvia's father. He later gave it to me for safekeeping until the senior recovered from the trauma of losing her father."

"Oh? Then why are you here? Want to sell it behind her back? If so, this isn't the place to do that." The entire hall's attention snapped toward them as onlookers gathered to see what was going on. Nero shook his head.

"Negative, senior. I'm here mainly to sell it and send half the proceeds to senior Sylvia. I believe she'd prefer the money to help her villagers back in the slums."

"Then why do you want the other half? Didn't her father kill it?" Nero smiled plainly.

"The other half was given to me by Elder Zyran himself, as compensation for my services." He placed a hand to his chest.

"After all, it was this solo adventurer who saved the elder's remaining villagers from death."