"Staying here to watch brand new applicants? While that does sound entertaining, I am not sure it is entertaining enough to delay my journey." Cain shrugged.
"We don't mind if you play with them a little. A number of the Deities have noticed your activities already, and Elder Dragon Fang of the Shadowed Blade Sect is a friend of mine. I haven't gone to see her yet to find out what you did, but she is having an amazing time with it, pranking and bullying the other Elders." Mariel told him with a smirk.
"Yeah, that sounds like her. It was only a little change, but she loved to prank the others, to begin with." Cain laughed, wondering what the assassin turned Witch had come up with to annoy the other Elders of her Sect.
Cain thought about the offer for a while. If actual Gods and Deities would be willing to turn back time to make sure he arrived at the proper moment before his twins were born, there really wasn't any harm in remaining here for a while longer.
"I suppose I can stay for a while. I'm not looking for more disciples though, so don't get your hopes up too high on me intervening to do wonderous things for your initiates." Cain reminded her.
"Oh, I didn't expect you to take any more in, but since you're a World Dragon, you could do incredible things for the trials if I showed you a few new skills." She suggested.
Luna perked up at that. "Fun new skills?"
"A bit above your level, little one, but once you're fully grown, I think you'll be able to do them as well as your father, despite the difference in species."
"How did you know that? It's supposed to be a secret?" Luna asked.
"I might have used clairvoyance to watch the past and saw the moment when you entered the Sect Council chambers and were forced to transform. I will even tell you why since I can tell it bothered you both.
The spell is not based on recognition of what you are but on Truth. You both knew that you weren't humans, so you were forced to return to the shape your mind identified as the true form you belonged in."
Luna thought about that for a while. "That can't be right. I should have been bigger and more glorious with proper breasts."
Elder Mariel burst into laughter. "No, that is what you wish to be. Deep down in your mind, you know you're still a growing young lady, and it will take some time for your body to catch up to your wishes."
Luna was clearly pouting but began to relax when Cain petted her head, which made the rest of the Disciples smile.
"You will find that her emotions are actually very easy to manipulate if you have what she wants. The Sect Master has fatherly affection, and it works basically every time." Penny whispered to the Elder.
"Can you blame her? I bet if he gently petted your ears, you would be asleep in seconds."
The Lycan chuckled at her assessment and shrugged. "That's why I keep my ears hidden. They're weak against petting to begin with, and I have a suspicion that the Sect Master has a lot of experience with gently stroking animal ears."
She wasn't wrong. Between Nemu and the bunnies, Cain had a LOT of experience with animal ears.
Cain briefly considered calling for a new copy of his Companions to see what would happen but dismissed the thought for now since he had a large enough group following him around, and adding a plethora of new species in an almost all-human world would only cause more trouble than it was worth.
"Sect Master Cain's skills don't only extend to combat skills. Be careful, Elder, or he might attempt to charm you." Jen warned the new arrival in a very serious tone.
"He is a bit young for my tastes but rather sweet with his devotion. I don't think it would work out in any romantic sense, though." Elder Mariel replied, brushing off her concern.
The Disciples looked at her strangely after that comment before remembering that at the Divine Realm, appearance was malleable, and if she had reached Immortality early enough, she might have never had to in order to maintain such a youthful figure, appearing to be barely into her thirties.
"I still want to know what fun new skill you mean, though." Luna requested, with much more polite sincerity in her voice this time.
"As a World Dragon, he can operate on many levels at the same time. If I teach him a new Illusion Skill, he can individually set trials for every Applicant and Disciple and grant them a reward or ranking at the end." The Divine Elder explained.
"He could be his own Dungeon? How freaking cool is that? Where would the rewards come from, though?" Luna asked.
"Most of the rewards would be in the form of Blessings unless he chose to have the illusion make an actual physical item for him. At his level, I could teach him [Pocket Dimension], which combines well with the illusion spell [Trial of the Gods], and would let him have a summoned being create a reward individually for every champion.
Time is mostly irrelevant inside a Pocket Dimension and can be up to a hundred times different than the normal flow of the world you're in. It's a Divine Rank Skill, but I am certain that he can use it without issue, being a World Dragon." Elder Mariel explained.
"Is that how you usually test Disciples?" Cain asked.
"Oh heavens no. Most of us can only cast one at a time. Until we're True Gods, keeping an active pocket dimension up prevents us from opening another. But your body is different from humans, and you could make one attached to every scale on your body in dragon form." She elaborated.
"That's actually not a bad plan, but how do you plan on teaching me a Divine Skill when I am still an Immortal?" Cain asked.
"That's the easy part. Since you've got a Divine Body, you will be able to use the necessary Divine Power to operate the skill, and that's all that actually separates most Divine Skills from their Immortal Realm counterparts. Once you know the skill, I can transfer you the knowledge on how to use it properly, and the problem should be solved." Elder Mariel insisted.
"Well, it sounds like fun to me. If worst comes to worst, I can create the illusion in the [Battlefield] skill area and test them that way. It runs at the normal time, and it's not quite a separate space in the sense of a pocket dimension, but it is very close." Cain agreed.
Mariel tapped Cain on the forehead and transferred the knowledge of the new skill and its proper use directly into his brain. At first, the System seemed like it was going to reject the skill completely, but after a few minutes, the skill sunk through the resistance, and Cain received a notification.
[Divine Skill Learned: Pocket Dimension]
[Immortal Skill Learned: Trial of the Gods] Human Edition
Cain chuckled at the bit of snark from the system, as if the human gods' trial was somehow incomplete or lesser than the version it would have preferred, but the most important notification was still to come.
With the new skills learned, he should be getting one more notification.
[Awakening Complete] Divine Realm [Demigod]
[System Error] Invalid Rank. Please Imbue your body with Divine Energy to finish ascension.
[Begin Tribulation Now?] Y/N
"Oh shoot. I might have forgotten about the side effects. Sorry ladies, I need to borrow your Sect Master for a short while." Elder Mariel panicked, then grabbed Cain and tossed him through a portal, chasing right after him and closing the portal behind her.
"What just happened? Did she steal him? He's got all the spare cake." Luna's panic actually calmed the others down a little and gave them a reason to think about why the Elder might have needed to move Cain somewhere else.
A storm was brewing over the Crushing Mountain next to the Sect, drawing the attention of every cultivator in the area.
"Is that a Divine Tribulation? Who ascended? Did we have someone on the cusp?" One of the Disciples in the arena asked in awe, staring up at the rapidly growing black stormcloud.
"I think it was that Forbidden Treasures Sect Master. He was talking with the Seaside Sect Elder about something, and I think he had an epiphany." One of the older Disciples suggested from the bleachers.
"You realize he's going to be totally insufferable now, right? The number of Divine Realm Dad Jokes he will be able to unleash on us will take him decades to get through." Penny sighed.
"A small price to pay, I suppose. But do you think that he will be alright? You're supposed to prepare for centuries before the Tribulation, and he literally just became an Immortal this year." Jen asked.
"That I can't say, but that cloud looks pretty ominous. I wonder how to tell if it's a good one." Penny replied, then tossed a small rock at the Core Disciple further down the bleachers.
"Do you know how to tell the strength of a Tribulation?" She asked.
"Anything over ten kilometers is supposed to be top-notch. Anything under two kilometers has a chance of failing, and anything over twenty kilometers usually kills the one taking it." The disciple answered politely, realizing that it was their Sect Master they were concerned about.
