Rean and Roan weren't expecting it, but it was good news nonetheless.
Old Worm noticed that Roan wasn't paying attention to him, though.
"Are you okay?"
Roan came back to himself before looking at Old Worm.
"I'm fine. So I can be considered an Earth Low-Level alchemist now, yea?"
Old Worm nodded.
"Correct. I'll pass your results to the Alchemist Guild. You will get your badge done by the end end of the day. By the way, what are you going to do now?"
Roan pondered a bit.
"I'm going back to rest a little. Tomorrow I'll be back to practice alchemy again. I need to learn how to make Foundation Estabilizing Pills for my cultivation, so I'll bother you in the repository again if I get any doubts."
Old Worm faintly smiled and began to make his way out.
"As long as you keep practicing alchemy, that's good enough."
Roan then slightly bowed to Old Worm to thank him and left as well. After that, he went straight back to his room. However, Rean still had a few more duty hours before coming back, though. Rean already finished his obligatory duty days there, but he insisted on continuing it. Since he wouldn't have to do any other duty anytime soon, the elder supervising the place allowed him to continue happily.
Roan decided to wait for Rean to come back when suddenly, the sound of a bell began to echo in the entire sect. Obviously, something important happened.
Roan exited his room and asked an older disciple on his way out.
"What was this bell about?"
The disciple was in a hurry to leave, though.
"Since you don't know, come with me. I'll explain on the way."
Roan was puzzled by that but followed the guy nonetheless.
"This bell only appears when the Sect Master has an announcement to make. Everyone who is free has to gather in the main field to hear what she has to say. Even those on Duty or in closed cultivation would try to come out to see what is happening. After all, the sect master only calls everyone out when something important happened."
Roan nodded and kept following that disciple. Soon, he saw several more disciples coming out from their rooms and running in the same direction as him. Sure enough, the entire sect wanted to see what was happening. On the way, Roan encountered with Rean. Of course, it wasn't a coincidence. The two of them arranged it through their soul connection.
"What do you think it is about?"
Rean pondered a bit before saying.
"There are only two possibilities, but I believe you already know both of them."
Roan couldn't help but nod. He already had an idea about what it is.
Outer, Inner, and Core disciples and elders gathered in the field one after another. The field for this kind of announcement was enormous, so it could hold several tens of thousands of disciples. That was to be expected since the sect really did have this amount living inside.
In the distance, everyone could see the elders in the privileged areas for them. The further ahead it was, the higher their position in the sect. Finally, there was the Sect Master and the core elders on her sides.
The gathering only took ten or so minutes. That shows how important the bell sound was for the sect disciples.
Mia Orzute, the Sect Master, then came forward on the stage. She gathered Spiritual Energy on her throat so that her voice could be augmented too.
"The sect has three things to announce today. First, thanks to elder Hulian's efforts, the sect has discovered a new way of communication. We will be implementing this communication system between all the cities in our territory in the next few months. Several missions for the disciples will be issues to finish building this as fast as possible, and there will be good rewards for it."
Mia continued.
"Second, as the majority here knows, the Jialin Country is part of the Sasamil Empire. Our elders went to the capital of the empire and presented this new system to the imperial family. Thanks to that, our sect will be highly rewarded for its service to the empire. It's not a secret that our Jialin country is a small one at the empire's border. That being said, I believe you understand how incredible it is for the Imperial Family to reward us. In the future, expect the conditions of our sect to improve significantly. This will be a new era for our Dalamu Sect."
"Third, Inna Malaka, step forward."
Rean and Roan immediately paid attention to the petite figure walking up the stage. As she went up, she tripped quite a few times as her legs trembled. Rean couldn't help but laugh out loud at that scene. It was apparent how nervous Malaka was feeling at the moment. Even Roan showed a faint but sincere smile on his frozen face.
"Hurry up!"
"Y-Yes, Sect Master!"
Malaka then ran forward and quickly stopped beside Mia. The poor girl was sweating rivers in the presence of such a powerful person. Malaka heard from her senior sisters several times how strong the sect master probably was. That she could kill their Faction Leader, Elder Zaia, with just a finger. That and several other stories were told inside between the sisters. Malaka learned that she should never disrespect the Sect Master, least she gets killed on the spot.
"Pa-Paying respects to Sect Master."
In fact, Malaka didn't know what was happening. At some point, Elder Zaia came forward and brought her to the side of the stage. Then she simply said to wait for when the Sect Master called her up. As one can expect, Malaka was as lost as she could be.
Mia looked at the girl in front of her with a cold expression and simply nodded slightly.
"Inna Malaka, from today onwards, you are my direct disciple. Kneel down and accept me as your master."
Instantly, the entire sect went in an uproar! Mia had never taken a disciple before, so everyone was shocked after hearing the news.
Malaka froze at that moment. She, too, never expected that she would hear such a thing. However...
"Bu-but... M-My big brothers had always been the ones teaching me. I-I don't know if they will be happy if I become your disciple. I-I can't accept it."
Everyone's eyes opened wide! That was the Dalamu Sect Sect Master! Was there even a need to compare which one would be better for her future? Who would ever be reluctant in front of such a great fortune? If it was anyone else, they would probably even disregard their own parents for the opportunity!
Rean and Roan, obviously, were just as stunned. Roan wanted to knock her head for thinking about such an idiot reason to hesitate. Rean felt like Malaka didn't really know how to measure the pros and cons of life.
However, it would be a lie if they said they weren't at least a little happy that she considered their feelings more important than the sect master's offer.
Surprisingly, Mia Orzute smiled after hearing that. She didn't have much of an impression of Malaka. Mia was only taking Malaka as a direct disciple because of the favor she owed to Rean. But now, she had to admit that she was quite pleased by Malaka's reaction. She then sent Malaka a Divine Sense message.
'Don't worry, child. I already asked for their permission. If you don't believe me, turn around and look over there.'
"Ah!"
Malaka was taken aback and quickly looked in the direction that the Sect Master pointed. There, she found Rean and Roan, looking back at her. The twins also received a Divine Sense message from Mia at the same time as Malaka, so they understood what that meant. When Malaka looked at them, they nodded at her expressing their approval. Only then did Malaka stop to hesitate. She quickly kneeled in front of Mia before saying.
"Inna Malaka pays respect to Master."
Mia nodded, satisfied.
"Very good."
Then, she returned her attention back to the rest of the disciples and elders and said.
"This concludes the three announcements I had to make today. More details about the new communication system construction will be released in the next few days. Everyone is dismissed."
The Sect Master left with Malaka right after. But at the same time, she sent a Divine Sense Message to Rean and Roan.
"Come see me at the peak. Hulian will bring you there."
