Chương 44: Chapter 43: The Merit Obelisk

The two direct disciples, one of them being Sylvia, walked out of the Grand Hall, a thick rainbow colored aura emanating from her in waves. And although Nero couldn't see her face due to the skull mask, her exposed body parts—her hands and shoulders—appeared several shades cleaner, more vibrant than before.

And unlike the first time, when she'd needed the help of senior direct disciple Earl Long to fly, now she did it by herself, effortlessly rising over the sect building and standing beside the Merit Obelisk itself. At the same time, a telepathic message rang in his ears, and judging by the reactions of others, Nero wasn't the only one who'd received it. Your Senior Martial Aunt has broken into the realm of silver core. Maintain your decorum and show the necessary respect! It was an elderly voice.

And Nero quickly understood its implications. The whole compound's worth of outer disciples immediately lowered their heads into a deep bow, speaking in unison.

"Congratulations to Martial Aunt on her breakthrough!" The inner court disciples, on the other hand, only slightly dipped their heads, speaking in unison as well.

"Senior Sister's talent is indeed heavenly." Nero could see her visibly recoil slightly at the blatant show of respect and praise. He smiled. She's yet to fully sink into a cultivator's mindset. And although it seemed a bit excessive, to the current Nero—who'd consumed a large chunk of guides regarding sect etiquette, talents, and the normal progression of disciples along the path of cultivation—it made quite a bit more sense than it would've before he'd read all that.

Reaching the realm of silver was no small feat. The gulf between being at Copper Core's Peak stage and Silver Core's Initial stage was immense. For example, a copper core disciple wouldn't even have half the energy required to use the flying arts that Sylvia was now using almost effortlessly. Silver core disciples almost always belonged in the inner court, regardless of their lineage.

And being an inner court disciple while possessing a silver core was a rare feat, because only a few among the inner court disciples were actually in the realm of silver themselves. They weren't admitted to the inner court because of their core stage, but because of their talent and connections. Both were immensely important to advancement.

Usually only disciples with profound-grade talent and claims to their high-born noble family's patriarchy, or disciples with earth-grade talent and connections to a noble family, were allowed into the inner court directly. Because with a profound-grade aptitude, and being heir to one's clan and family, one could access immense amounts of resources—resources that could be used to grow rapidly and give one a genuine chance of reaching silver core within a lifetime.

And those with earth-grade aptitude could make the journey from copper core to silver core far more easily, but they still needed access to a noble family and its resources to climb fast enough to matter to the sect. The sect, and the whole of the Twelve Circles, existed—according to the sect itself, at least—to manufacture silver-cored sapient beings. The reason the books mentioned "sapient" instead of just "human" was simple: each sect held a variety of races.

Even their Netherworld Sect, particularly known for being made up mostly of humans, held a large portion of elven and dwarven disciples. Though, since dwarves liked to cultivate using their unique racial method of metal forging, they kept to their workshops more and weren't seen much at all. But Nero himself had managed to spot a few elves among the outer disciples. In fact, at the frontlines of their compound stood five senior inner court disciples who hailed from the elven race.

And behind them, among the twenty senior outer disciples, three were elven and two were dwarven. There were no dwarven inner disciples present in this branch. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It makes sense why Sylvia was taken in immediately as a direct disciple, too. Initially, he'd thought it was because of her connections—being born to a former direct disciple and all that.

But as it turned out, it was a bit more complicated; she had a lot of things going for her simultaneously. Her father had once been a direct disciple, and a disciple of Daoist Master Asura himself. That meant Master Asura favored her—plus, having heavenly-grade aptitude was the stuff of legend in these parts of the slums. Even in the City of Silver, it was rare for one to be born with such a high level of heavenly favor. For one with heaven-grade aptitude, reaching the realm of silver was practically guaranteed.

And they'd have a real shot at making it to the realm of gold, too! Pulling Nero from his thoughts came Senior Disciple Earl Long's booming voice.

"Now, let me explain to you lot what this is." He pointed to the Merit Obelisk to his left.

"It is the Merit Obelisk, a heaven-grade treasure—actually just a single piece of a much larger slate. It was sent by the Reverend Council of Seven. It displays the names of all sect disciples across the twenty sects, including the three major sects. The names rise and fall in ranking based on one's contribution points. The more one contributes to the destruction of that Ascended Dungeon, the more Merit they'll earn, and the higher their name will be displayed on the Obelisk."

He turned toward Sylvia and gave her a gentle smile.

"Even the direct disciples in training will be participating in this expedition, as I've previously mentioned, so naturally, their names will be displayed here too. And those participating in this expedition can go ahead and take a badge from the Grand Hall's transaction desk. It can be used to check the rankings on the Merit Obelisk, and to track their share of contribution points."

"The Merit Obelisk also possesses the ability to send items across massive distances. So you'll be able to easily purchase any battle equipment and supplies necessary, using your contribution points directly. The Merit Obelisk will keep track of the amount you've earned, and decide the rankings based on that—not the amount spent."

"The ones whose name would remain at the top ten of Merit Obelisk by the end, will receive the privilege to have one of their wishes be granted by the Council Seven!" The whole courtyard gasped visibly at that last piece of information. And Nero too felt a tinge of pain now. Having one wish granted by the Council themselves, this is immense! …. The deployment for the expedition began right after Direct Disciple Earl Long's speech. As the ceremony ended, a listing of names immediately emerged on the Merit Obelisk.

At the very top came Sylvia's name, followed by the names of inner court disciples, then the senior outer court disciples, and finally the general outer court disciples. It also served as a call for duty, as those whose names surfaced had to immediately report to the transaction desk and take their Merit Badge. The reason for that specific naming was interesting, too—because even the mere act of joining the expedition was a merit in itself. So each person who joined was immediately given ten contribution points.

Nero checked the Merit Obelisk for his own name, but sure enough, it was nowhere to be found. I'm not even an official disciple yet, so I guess this makes sense. He shrugged and went back to his duties, tending to the garden. After completing his duties, he returned to his cottage to continue his cultivation. But before he could begin, he overheard something interesting.

"Did you hear that? Apparently, the Senior Martial Aunt personally imposed a new rule." One of Disciple Shen's lackeys spoke.

"Ah, yes—you can apparently pay a silver mark to get the badge and join the expedition, even if your name didn't initially come up on the Merit Obelisk." Shen explained.

"But why would she bother making this specific rule? Would anyone whose name wasn't judged worthy for this expedition even be capable of doing anything?" Nero felt odd about that. Indeed, why would she go out of her way to establish such a rule? The conversation in the other room continued.

"I heard she even commanded the elders to keep at least one portal to the South Forest of Hira open, so anyone else who wishes to join later can do so." Shen huffed.

"Frankly, I can't tell what's going through her head, making the sect waste valuable resources to keep that thing open. Seriously." Nero thought on the topic for a bit, before his lips curved into a smile of understanding. Shaking his head, he got back to cultivating. After spending nearly six hours cycling elemental energy through his lower dantian, he finally began to see a glint of something shining from its center.

He focused the elemental energies around that specific source, as the glint slowly gave way to more and more of a glossy, round, glassy surface. Before he knew it, the elemental energies he'd gathered thus far had already been consumed. He ended his cultivation session and took some much-needed rest. … As the next day arrived, a commotion similar to the previous day's rose from the sect compound.

He quickly freshened up, and as he was about to head outside after grabbing all the necessary tools for garden work, he heard a knock on the outer door of their cottage.

"Coming," he said, quickly gathering everything and heading over. He twisted the doorknob, and it clicked open. The figure on the other side made his eyes go wide.

"May I come in?"