Benton pulled up the relevant portion of his status.
Sect Name:
Rising Tide
Sect Members:
1,012
Disciples:
57
Sect Points:
1,203
Shop Points
599
Host Cultivation:
Nascent Soul - Minor Realm
Nine
Qi Available:
289,164,544
Host Body Cultivation:
Platinum - Minor Realm Nine
Host Mind Cultivation:
Expert - Minor Realm Nine
Host Soul Cultivation:
Nirvana - Minor Realm Nine
Host Techniques (Nascent Soul):
Gravity Aura - Mastery
His biggest takeaway from the information presented was the massive increase in available qi. He'd gone from a bit over five million to more than two hundred eighty-nine million. That was an increase of over fifty times.
Nice. Very nice.
The only question remaining was what he'd have to do to qualify for advancement to the next major realm for each of the four cultivation types. If past results were any indication, he'd need ten thousand sect members and an Average Loyalty of seven.
Luckily, he didn't have to wonder.
"System, what requirements do I need to meet to advance to Nihility?"
To ascend to Nihility, Host must meet the following requirements:
Have 5 sect members in the Nascent Soul realm
(1/5)
Have 25 sect members in the Golden Core realm
(1/25)
Have 125 members in the Foundation
Establishment realm (4/125)
Have 625 members in the Qi Gathering realm
(625/625)
Have a Modified Average Loyalty exceeding 7 (7.9)
Okay. That answer was totally unexpected and left a lot to unpack. Obviously, advancing to the next realm would be a bit more difficult than simply rounding up a bunch of villagers and inducting them into his sect. Instead, he'd need to either recruit from other sects or, better, build up his people.
Actually, Benton liked the change in criteria. His purpose was to make his sect members stronger, and the new metrics provided were a better measure of that process than the previous one. He just hoped he didn't encounter any hostile Nihility cultivators before he could meet the required goals.
Another detail on the popup drew his attention.
"System, how does Modified Average Loyalty differ from Average Loyalty?"
To calculate Average Loyalty, each sect member's loyalty to Host is represented as a number between 0 and 10. Those numbers are summed and divided by the number of sect members.
To calculate Modified Average Loyalty, the Average Loyalty for Qi Gathering cultivators, Foundation Establishment cultivators, Golden Core cultivators, and Nascent Soul cultivators are computed respectively. Those four values are then averaged to produce the Modified Average Loyalty.
The egalitarian Earthling inside Benton liked the previous version better, but he understood the change. Average Loyalty treated each sect member, whether a new inductee who literally just reached Qi Gathering by circulating their first mote or a Nascent Soul with the power to shatter mountains, as complete equals. If the loyalty of the weakest sect member was a ten and the strongest was a 1, the Average Loyalty of the two would be five point five.
The new method weighted things differently. Each sect member was still counted, but the Average Loyalty of the more than one thousand Qi Gatherers was treated equal to the Loyalty of the one Nascent Soul. Thus, in practice, Yuan Yaozu's loyalty factored a lot stronger than a random villager who was just inducted.
In the end, though, Benton figured that it didn't really matter all that much to him either way. His philosophy had always been to treat people with kindness and respect whether they were the janitor or the CEO, and he didn't intend to alter his behavior any time soon.
With his advancement complete and his major questions answered, Benton sought his next course of action. It was deep into the night by that point, and as a Nascent Soul, he needed even less sleep than before. An hour every month or so was more than enough, and those who entered long-term cultivation trances didn't even need that much.
His first impulse was to use his Time Manipulation to speed the preparation of the logs for his tower bases, but honestly, those defenses were no longer necessary as long he was present at the sect. If he was right about his advantage regarding his Aura, he'd be able to singlehandedly defeat every known Nascent Soul on the continent attacking as a group.
For the first time in a long while, he had nothing to worry about, so he took a few hours and just … vegged. Did absolutely nothing. Didn't read. Didn't plan. Just existed.
It. Was. Glorious.
The only thing that could have made it better was a television.
Sometime after dawn, though, he started getting notifications. His newest sect members were starting to take their first steps on the road to challenging the heavens and, in doing so, were earning him Sect Points. He also got another surprise—Jin LiJuan must have completed the process of taking the pills to expand her qi pool because a notification informed him that she'd reached Foundation Establishment minor realm one. Nice.
Finally, the moment he'd actually been waiting for happened. Yuan Yaozu finished improving his spiritual roots.
Benton immediately teleported next to the man. "Wanna spar?"
Yuan Yaozu's expression fell somewhere right in the middle of amused and bemused. "Sure?"
"Great. Follow me to the arena."
One really cool thing about the Nascent Soul realm was that flight no longer required a technique or a flying sword. Simply willing one's body to move was enough send one hurtling through the air.
When the two arrived at the arena floor, Benton could tell that Yuan Yaozu was curious.
"Weird that you didn't sense a technique, huh?" Benton said. "Almost like I moved by will alone."
"It was. Very weird."
"But that can't be the case because only a Nascent Soul could do that and you're sure I haven't reached that realm yet."
"I am."
"Hit me with your best shot," Benton said.
"Excuse me?"
Benton tapped his shoulder. "Right here. Hit me. Hard. With whatever attack you want. Don't hold back."
"Are you sure, Sect Leader?"
"Don't worry. I have a reason. And you're not going to kill me by hitting me there. You've seen me heal, right?"
Yuan Yaozu sighed. "Very well, then. Prepare yourself."
Benton had a lot of things that he needed to test. His Aura, for one. First, though, he simply wanted to understand how strong his new body was. A normal Nascent Soul wasn't tough enough to stand against a full on attack from a fellow cultivator of that realm, but he was also at the peak of Platinum Body Cultivation. The combination of the two should be able to withstand an attack from someone who hadn't even reached minor realm one yet.
He willed his shield not to activate and pulled aside his robe so as not to ruin it.
A small burst of puke green qi shot from Yuan Yaozu and fizzled against Benton's chest.
"That was not full strength. Not even close," Benton said. "Do it again."
"Fine, Sect Leader. Here goes…"
A much larger burst of qi flashed from the man and closed the distance between them fast. It, too, fizzled as it struck Benton, not even penetrating his skin. Not even bruising it.
Yuan Yaozu looked shocked. "Sect Leader? That didn't harm you? How? It was full strength, I swear. My Aura is active."
"That's weird," Benton said, hiding a smile. "Maybe you messed it up somehow? Try again."
Benton activated his Aura, suppressing his newest disciple. The green qi burst came out puny and anemic. It barely even reached its target, much less did any damage.
Yuan Yaozu was visibly upset by that result. "I don't understand. Something must be wrong with my cultivation, Sect Leader."
Benton decided it was time to come clean. He enjoyed playing pranks, but the fun ended when his victim became upset. "Calm down. I suppressed your Aura with mine." He surrounded his disciple with his Aura and let the local gravity increase, bearing down on the man. "Feel it?"
"What? You can't! And that's not possible anyway! And you're not … not…"
Oops. The guy's mind was officially blown.
Benton sank into a lotus position and patted the sand next to him. "Come. Sit. I'll explain."
As Yuan Yaozu trudged the short distance between them, Benton willed inscriptions for several privacy arrays to appear in the sand around them. So cool. He could definitely get used to being a Nascent Soul.
"I was wrong, wasn't I, Sect Leader?" Yuan Yaozu said once he, too, had sunk into a lotus position. "You're a good actor. I considered that you might be actively working to fool me into believing you were still a Golden Core, but I thought myself too clever to be deceived."
"No, you're definitely clever. Too clever. And I'm glad that you're on my side now." Benton blew out a breath. "I'm not ready to reveal all my secrets, but I'm willing to trust our Master/Disciple bond."
Yuan Yaozu laughed. "Considering that you not only raised me to Nascent Soul but also somehow improved my spiritual roots, I can't imagine being more loyal to you."
Benton held back a laugh. His new Modified Average Loyalty rating let him see the individual numbers for each of the four groups. Nascent Soul was at six point zero. Considering that there was only one Nascent Soul in the sect, it didn't require much calculation to know exactly where he stood with Yuan Yaozu. Still, anything above five meant that the person felt some loyalty, so for an experienced cultivator to be at six after so short a period meant something.
"The truth is that I was a Golden Core up until just a short while ago," Benton said.
If anything, the new disciple looked even more surprised at that statement.
"The real truth is that I'm a prideful idiot," Benton said. "Considering how easily I went through all those Golden Cores, I thought I could take out a couple of measly Nascent Souls with no problem. Instead, I nearly got killed. I nearly got all my people killed, and I have no justification for my utter stupidity."
It felt good to actually admit his faults to someone so bluntly. The kids all put him on such a pedestal, one he'd admittedly had a hand in intentionally building. His newest disciple certainly didn't see him that way, though.
"We all make mistakes, Sect Leader. If you're looking for someone to call you out on yours, you've got the wrong man. I'm still smarting from the giant light my trial shed on my failure to advance."
"No help for it but to move forward for both of us, then," Benton said.
"I agree, Sect Leader."
Benton felt good about the conversation. He liked speaking to an equal and not having to be perfect. "Tell me about your Aura technique."
"Aura technique, Sect Leader?"
The question led Benton to believe that he was right about the sects not knowing about them, but he needed to probe further to make sure. "Yeah. Have you been practicing with yours? How long do you think it will take you to get to Large Success? As your master, I think it's important for me to know these kinds of things about your development."
"I don't have an Aura technique, Sect Leader. I've never even heard of a technique for an Aura."
"Your sect didn't tell you? Huh. Maybe they were saving that information until after you advanced."
"Sect Leader, I guarantee you that no one, absolutely no one, in the Poison Claw Sect knows more about the process of advancing to Nascent Soul than I do. If anyone knew of an Aura technique, I would have known about it, and I've never even heard a rumor of such a thing."
Benton schooled his face to maintain an absence of expression while internally doing a happy dance.
"What is an Aura technique, Sect Leader? I mean, beyond the obvious."
"You have one," Benton said. "It's given to you automatically when you create your Aura. And it starts out at Small Success. As you advance it, you gain greater control and more abilities, just like with any other technique. If your skill with it is greater than your opponent, you can suppress theirs. It also lets you manipulate that associated qi element with your will alone."
"Are you sure about this, Sect Leader?"
"Absolutely. Its existence is not even a question. You did note that I was able to suppress your Aura, right?"
"But… If this is true and you know how I can improve my skill… This is a huge advantage. This is as important as the Trial Pagoda. This…"
Yep. Mind completely blown.