Ch-16:Next Step

As the 100-year competition ended with 4.929 participants being recruited in the Daiyu Sacred Land, the Elders from all powers were happy as they would be rewarded with more resources due to the large number of acceptees as well as their bets against their neighboring or rival powers(Titled Empires).

As the day soon ended, all the new disciples went to the registration office to get themselves their new clothes, information jade slip, soul contracts, and then the Sect Badge.

Just like everyone else, Raon also wanted to go there as he had surprisingly passed all tests whereas only Raelyn, Ziya, and four others from their main bloodline had passed all the tests.

Both Nerlo and Aria had failed in the illusion tests as their mind wasn't tempered enough to last through the entire duration but their injuries were on the lighter side.

The two had become part of the reserve warriors but they had also met Raon, stopping him from going to the Sect Registration building.

Ziya, Raon, Nerlo, and Aria had just met when the other four from the main bloodline as well as Raelyn arrived near them.

Antonia naturally went to meet the ones from her own Tenk clan as she had also passed but her absence here near Raon was quite obvious due to Lia's death.

As the nine people met and shared their experiences, it turned out a tad bit awkward as Raon and Aria were meeting their blood sister for the first time but she was too...or was she?

In a little bit of time, the only ones remaining were Raon, Aria, and Nerlo because both of them wanted to ask how Raon had passed the illusion test but he just looked blankly for a while after hearing their question before he answered in a harsh tone.

"You haven't been in as many life-and-death battles as me. Nor did you have to survive for 5 years with your life on the line every single damn day" said Raon as he went quiet.

The two talked a bit for a while before leaving as they contemplated their future paths as they would need to prove themselves to be able to become even Outer Sect Disciples from their current position.

The only reason all Titled Empires formed big powers was to allow their younger generation to go out and see the real world for what it is and not just stay caged in the advantages produced by their elders.

They wanted their youth to face more life-and-death battles as only those could bring out the true potential of a genius because any genius who doesn't fight and only cultivates is nothing more than a waste of resources for any power.

While having such thoughts, Raon arrived at the sect registration building where he met a boy sitting before the desk who was guiding the new disciple at the front of the queue.

As Raon was waiting in line to get his sect registration done, his thoughts drifted back to when he used the demon beasts in the forest to eliminate his competitors as well as save himself.

Surprisingly, Elric and Rodric both died in that same test but since all the Elders were watching, he didn't do anything to either of them yet they died.

Heck, he didn't even know Rodric was the cause for Lia's demise as he didn't have enough time to find that out with his plans in motion recently.

"Hey, you. Are you even listening?" such a shout brought Raon back to the present from thinking about his plans as he looked at the one guide in front of him.

"Alright. You are back. Listen carefully, this jade slip has all the rules so go through each one and remember them carefully"

"This is the soul-binding contract that states you can't betray the Sacred Land as long as you aren't gonna die"

"Go through it and sign it before I give you the badge. You... You signed it without even reading..."

"Well whatever, my job is to give the badge after it is signed"

"Drop your blood on the badge so it can be bound to you as it will be activated and can be used anywhere on the continent to identify you"

"As long as you adhere to the rules, you can go to any power and use their teleportation formation for free or cheaply"

"Remember this is your identification from now on as it can be used by you and only you. Even if you die, no one can use it as it will brand your soul aura as well"

As the guide was busy explaining what he did to every single new disciple, Raon cut his palm and his blood dropped on the badge, activating it.

Raon left as soon as the guide finished his explanations about the rules of the Sect and left straight to his residence which he had already been informed about.

It was similar to what he had in Arcane Academy except the size, formations, and energy density here were way better compared to what he had there.

Raon spent the next few days sifting through the missions to find one inside or near the Arcane Empire and finally, he got one from the Cloud Sea Empire.

The Cloud Sea Empire was their neighbor as well as rival due to their proximity but they were unique in the sense that they had two leading powers instead of one, unlike other Titled Empires.

One was in the water while the other was on land or rather mountain peaks. Their entire Territory was spread across water bodies and surrounding mountains.

They lived either on the peaks close to the clouds or underwater as the two powers had long since agreed to form their Cloud Sea Empire together to protect from outside invaders.

The only reason Raon was aware of it was the Aqua Pearl that Aria got as well as the fact that he was forced to study about their rival Titled Empire by Nerlo's mother, Tria.

As Raon left for the Cloud Sea Empire using the long-distance teleportation formation available in the Daiyu Sacred Land, he arrived there just a few minutes after the mission was noted against his name.

He was surprised by the easygoing nature of things here but more of the fact that he wasn't forced to reveal his identity which helped him cover his face before departing.

Obviously, the activation of such an expensive formation occurred in the Capital City on an island as that was the only place where it could be built safely without incurring any extra cost for maintenance.

Raon didn't complete the mission but rather used his identity to travel to his destination from where he disguised himself to reach the borders.

As he quietly left the borders, it took him nearly 3 months to reach a remote city of the Arcane Empire from where he took back his identity as a disciple of the Arcane Academy to use teleportation formations to arrive at the 6 kingdoms that he controlled from the shadows.

He met his messenger in one of the kingdoms investigating the recent situation after taking his other persona and talking about his next move which was to unify the 6 kingdoms.

He ordered them to marry their descendants amongst each other while he asked them to strengthen themselves but at the same time attack one of their weak neighbors if they declined to join their alliance.

After he gave the exact orders, he vanished as he left to meet Altair after almost a year which was the longest he had gone by without seeing her but unfortunately, the time gaps would only continue to increase.

It took him more than six months after joining Daiyu to reach Altair's location, but only three months to return to the Cloud Sea Empire as he configured the teleportation formation near Altair to teleport him near the remote city of the Arcane Empire near the borders he had stopped by.

It was a very costly method, but he had no other choice as he would be spending many rank-2 stones for paying fees in his disguise and also using them as an energy source for the formation near Altair.

As he returned to Daiyu after completing the mission within one year, he went straight into the huge cultivation technique repository.

He read about all kinds of cultivation techniques, body cultivation techniques, weapon techniques, side occupations, soul techniques, and anything he could read about.

He spent the entire century reaching at least the basic level in all the side occupations but his focus on formations as well as his cultivation still was more than others as only his pace decreased.

He had reached the Inner Sect after a century as he ranked in the top 100 in his cultivation realm which was the lowest amongst his peers as they were already in the next realm but unable to join the Core Sect.

Meanwhile, his 6 kingdom alliance had also spanned across 14 kingdoms now, while more than 40 kingdoms were being attacked by the beast tides as a few had already been destroyed and absorbed by his 14 kingdoms.

The only reason his kingdom had not become a Tier-2 Kingdom was the average level of cultivators had decreased due to the large-scale wars going on with the neighboring kingdoms.

Even though so long had passed, only the initial 6 knew they were under someone and deeply wished that he died because Raon had not visited them once in the century.

He had gone to meet Altair every five years as he took missions that were near the Arcane Empire during that time, but his other missions were spread across the continent.

He tried to make them look random, but anyone could tell he preferred missions near his home Empire which was pretty uncommon among those at his level.

He didn't care about it though, as he had gotten access to a lot of the knowledge that he wished to know related to side occupations and cultivation.

Finally, he decided to leave and let the new joiners know about his existence before they become a bit too lax and do something stupid.

Naturally, Raon would have all the information regarding not only the 14 kingdoms but also the ones that they had attacked and annexed including the ones that were destroyed by them or others.

Even at this point, the only unranked Empire nearby was wary of the events around this place since the rest couldn't care less due to such events being too common across the massive lands.

Raon's goal this time was to annex this Empire as he heard they had some ties with one of the kingdoms near his new territory that he had yet to visit.