You've won this round

Veila sat down in the exact same spot as the one she took during the selection. It was a small alcove, a dent within the otherwise round hedge that enclosed the garden.

She liked this spot because it gave her a perfect wide look at everything that was happening in the garden. And thanks to how remote it was, it allowed the girl to stay out of everyone's way.

It didn't take long for Veila to feel gratitude over the selection of her observation spot. Because once Theo's new disciples started to run, they kept on going for hours.

Seconds turned into minutes. The sprint turned into a long-distance run. Minutes turned into hours. The long distance-run turned into a marathon.

And as hours went by, Veila could see her enthusiasm for her activity falling.

'Is he really going to keep them running to no end?' Veila asked herself, struggling to keep her eyes wide open when absolutely nothing of interest would happen.

'He is not trying to explain the basics,' Veila thought, looking up at Theo's frozen figure sitting down in the very middle of the entire garden.

'He didn't even try organizing them,' Veila thought, biting down on her lip in frustration.

'He is not doing any of the steps one would do when accepting disciples!' Veila wailed inside of her mind.

There were some strict steps one was supposed to take upon accepting a disciple.

First came registering the disciple in one's name. With that, a freshly baked master could gain half of the fees that the family of their disciple would pay for their tuition.

It was with this money that a newly made master would secure lodging, food, training facilities, and cultivation resources.

A master was free to decide every step of their disciples' regime freely, even as far as picking up which techniques they would need to learn. In exchange, it would be the master's responsibility to let his disciples grow, as failing to meet their designed rate of advancement would result in the withdrawal of the fees.

In other words, all of the mundane parts of having disciples started with a visit to the local division's office. And for the great majority of all the cultivators in the sect, the fees from accepting disciples were the first major source of income that allowed them to truly explore their own options.

After all, as long as the disciples grew stronger, no one would have the right to ask how much of their fees their master used to groom them!

'He doesn't look like he has a lot to his name,' Veila thought, gritting her teeth as the boredom was threatening to take over her mind. 'So why is he wasting time here?'

'Or maybe he is set on abusing the filial service?' Veila tried to guess, escaping to the very extremes of how one could use the disciple system of the sect.

It was a system that was in place to promote the growth of the disciples. Because while the master would have some deadlines to how quickly he needs to help them grow… The longer they spent under their master's tutelage, the longer they would then need to perform filial servitude.

'Is he trying to lead them astray so that he could milk as much time as he can from them?' Veila thought… only to shake her head. 'No,' she thought, squinting her eyes as she looked at the motionless figure of this darn enigma of an outer disciple.

"He doesn't look like someone who would do that," Veila whispered to herself, unable to tear her eyes away from Theo.

The system of discipleship was the core rule of the sect, a sense of organization that defined its entire structure.

The patriarch of the sect was the master of all the district governors. Each of the governors would be the master of the sect elders below him. Sect elders would then pick a bunch of direct disciples to create a hierarchical structure below them.

Thanks to this pyramid-like scheme, every two or three generations, a new cadre of competent cultivators would raise, ready to venture beyond the sect's borders, claiming more and more civilian towns into the sect's sphere of influence.

And yet, while great for expanding outwards, this system led to extreme competition on every level along with complex factional play between nearly everyone. And for Theo, it meant that all of his elder's direct disciples would be eager to cut him off!

'Well, it's not like that system works, seeing how things are going on the frontier,' Veila thought as her mind wandered off.

She had her eyes open, but she could hardly notice anything.

Theo continued to sit in silence. His disciples continued to run laps around the garden.

Veila then shook her head, forcing herself back to her wary state.

'I'm here to figure him out, not to daydream!' Veila scolded herself, blinking her eyes a few times to refresh her sight a bit.

By now, Luo and Tiana have long since started to tire out. Narid and Kaya held up their spirits nicely, not showing any signs of extensive exhaustion despite several hours' worth of running behind their belt.

Surprisingly, it was the youngest of Theo's students that turned out to be the most relaxed about the task.

Not only he matched pace with his seniors, but he also didn't seem to be out of breath at all, as if the hours of running didn't phase him at all!

'It's been like this for three hours already…' Veila then thought. She took a deep breath, and then gulped down her saliva. And then, it struck her.

'Wait, isn't it because… I'm here?' The moment of realization was so bright it nearly blinded the girl despite there being no actual light involved!

'Seeing how he reacted before, having me sit down and watch every last move of his…' Veila looked at the situation from a different perspective than before.

All the blood flew out from the girl's face as she finally realized the possible reason behind Theo's odd lesson.

'Is he trying to bore me out?!' Veila thought, slightly riled by the idea… but also mortified by the perspective of being a pesky spy that held back Theo's plans. 'He didn't react kindly to me before. And at this rate, he might hold a huge grudge for keeping his plans at bay,' Veila thought as she gently bit down on her bottom lip.

The girl closed her eyes and held her breath. She clashed all of her potential moves in her head, quickly fishing out the one that appealed to her the most.

Veila released the breath that she held in a long sigh.

"Fine," she whispered to herself, "you've won this round," she admitted in a fluttering voice as she stood up.

"It seems I forgot about an important appointment," Veila raised her voice and called out. "I will take my leave now," she then added, instantly cutting the potential small talk.

'He's been sitting without a word or even the smallest move for hours,' Veila thought as she moved towards the exit of the garden. 'I guess it's better if I don't force him out of his focus,' she decided, cutting her presence in a way that excused Theo from actually accompanying her to the exit out of courtesy.

"I wish you all the best for your lesson," Veila spoke some more as she reached the exit. She then turned halfway around and bowed her head to Theo. "Junior…" she muttered, raising her face only to then gently bow it towards Theo's disciples, "Young ones," she added before turning around and leaving the place.

'Let's hope I didn't just kill all the chances of having his cooperation,' Veila prayed as she stepped towards the headquarters of her division.