"Jane, Ken, I found someone!"
Diana shouted to them as she paced in their direction with a female disciple adorned with the same yellow robes by her side. Although she was wearing yellow now, Ken saw all the disciples back in the sect and he remember she wore white robes back then.
"Ken, this is Tiara, she is also a core disciple of our sect. She's slightly stronger than us and she's at the Peak Core Formation Stage. Tiara, this is Ken, you've probably heard of him before."
"Hello Junior Brother Ken, I've heard you were a promising disciple of our sect."
Tiara offered a polite smile and cupped her fist. However, she didn't bow even slightly, showing her disinterest in Ken.
"Hello, Senior Sister Tiara. It's my honor to meet you."
Ken bowed as he cupped his fists. He could also notice her indifference to his presence by the way she addressed him. While Jane and Diana addressed him as "Little Brother" to show closeness, she called him "Junior Brother" which showed she only saw him as any other junior disciple.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt'I was worried all the core disciples saw through my façade, but it seems only Jane and Diana hold me in high regard.'
Ken felt relieved by this revelation. If nobody knew anything about it, maybe even the other two girls only speculated he had talent they should watch for without any concrete facts.
The four of them proceeded and chose an unoccupied house where they decided to make themselves at home. Being three from the start, they managed to form their group more swiftly compared to the other groups.
"It's quite cramped inside. Ken, do you want to sleep between your two big sisters to feel safe and protected in your sleep?"
"I will take the sleeping bag next to the western wall."
There weren't beds; only 4 large sleeping bags placed one next to the other across the room, covering the whole floor of the small bedroom. Tired after the long travel, Ken and the girls went straight to sleep that night.
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"We took a short tour in the area we're limited to. We found out there's one office where we can make requests, one market we can buy ingredients, pills, and formation scrolls from, and one exchange office for using MP." (A/N: Merit Points)
Diana told the duo who were sitting in front of her. Although Ken liked the two girls' company, he needed some privacy and asked to be left alone that day. As for Tiara, she headed to the central zone as soon as the sun rose.
"How are the prices for the ingredients?"
"Market value for exported merchandise. The prices are around 20% more expensive than those in our sect. We can spare a bit of money by buying from alchemist disciples that came with us, but they will also sell for more than usual since their ingredients will cost more."
"I can make some pills for us, I'm also an alchemist."
Ken chose to reveal a bit about himself. He wanted to check their responses and see if they know about him more than the others. He didn't consider it a huge secret anyway since there were already people in his family and in the Alchemy Division who knew about it.
"Really? That's impressive! What rank are you?"
They asked him with curiosity. On one hand, he didn't have enough time to learn Alchemy unless he started studying diligently as soon as he was born. On the other hand, he also didn't have time to get to the fourth stage, so everything was bizarre about this child.
"I hope you can keep it to yourselves. I'm a starting fourth-rank alchemist."
"At such a young age? Haha, I knew we were right in approaching you!"
"So it must mean you also have powerful Alchemy Qi in addition to Sword Qi!"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmKen scrutinized their expressions carefully and deemed it an honest surprise.
'So they don't know everything about me, but I can't rule out the possibility that they know I was faking my difficulties in my duel.'
Ken wasn't easy to convince, so he considered them guilty until proven innocent. He smiled and took out a few normal pills he concocted in their absence. They were all perfect pills, but their recipes weren't improved. They were regular pills anyone could find on the market.
"Here, I made those. You can have them and check whether the quality is good enough for you."
They didn't need the pills yet since their stock was still full, but they needed to know they could trust his pills to be effective.
"They are all perfect. Good job, we will consume your pills once we are out of the pills we brought with us."
Diana declared happily and returned the pills to Ken. She didn't want to take advantage of him by using his pills before consuming hers since he gave them to her at production cost.
"I visited the exchange office today. Here's a copy of the wanted list; we can get a hefty reward for killing the disciples in the top 10,000."
Ken gave the two girls a token and the two had the list transferred to their minds. It was achieved with a special formation on the token that allowed it to contain information.
The ladies saw a long list of disciples including names and pictures. The top 100 even included a short description of their main abilities and affinities to prepare them better. Ken only gave them the list of the fourth-stage disciples, but he also memorized the list of the fifth-stage ones.
"We planned to travel and enjoy the sights of a top 5 sect, but apparently we can only be inside the campus or go to the central area."
Diana complained with annoyance. Even Ken was expectant to see the resources and splendor of a powerful sect, yet they were imprisoned in a small area.
"There's no point in delaying it then."