James sat in front if his master. Neither had spoken yet, just sitting on their respective mats inside Faldon's pavillion. The more minutes that passed in this silence, the more nervous James became.
'I don't see any indications of this golden glow on him. Truly perplexing.'
Faldon had been examining James for nearly 10 minutes with his Nascent Soul, scanning to try and find anything abnormal but couldn't find anything. James being several major realms weaker and never having cultivated his soul before had no idea this was happening.
"Uhhh master? Senior sister Liz said you wanted to see me?"
Faldon came back to his senses and smiled, "That's right, I heard there was some abnormality during your sparring yesterday and you passed out. I don't detect any issues but if anything comes up in the future, make sure to tell me and I will help you look into it."
"Thank you master, I will definetly come to yoy if I notice any issues!"
"Good, now with that out of the way, are you ready for the gathering of the newer generation of our sect today? Remember that you are a Direct disciple and so you have a much higher status than the Outer, Inner and Core disciples. Make sure to keep yoyr status in mind when interacting with others. Outside this mountain you represent our Enlightenment peak wherever you go and so you must always make sure to never sully our name. Do not bully others, act righteously and be the Senior brother that others in the sect can look up to."
"No need to worry master, I have no need to show off and bully others. Honestly if you had not asked me to, I would have much prefered to stay home and cultivate instead."
"Hahaha good to know. This is a good opportunity to make connections with others, especially those your own age as nothing good will come from you becoming isolated from the rest of the sect. Ok, you should get going, the gathering will begin soon."
"Yes, thank you master."
With a bow, James got up and left his master's pavillion.
The gathering was a meet and greet sponsored by the sect. It was designed to promote unity within the sect and ensure the disciples forged strong bonds early on in their cultivation journey. The location was on a small mountain within the sect's territory, located around a 2 hour walk from Enlightenment peak.
James made his way down the mountain and headed towards the gathering location. When he got there, he saw that a handful of others had already made it. The disciples seemed to naturally congregate into groups by status. The Outer disciples, those that were bewly accepted into the sect and generally had lower talent stayed more around the periphery of the gathering. The Inner disciples, those that either passed certain tests or were descendants of higher ups within the sect chose a location closer to the center of the gathering. While the Core disciples, those that had taken Elders as their masters, could be seen talking near the summit if the mountain.
'While I expected status to cause some divide, I did not expect it to be this severe especially not when we're all just 10 years old.'
James moved to the Outer disciples. He wanted to talk to each group and see how everyone was feeling and get different perspectives on the gathering. As he approached the group, a rough looking boy with scars covering his arms, legs and part of his neck noticed him.
"Hey! Are you also new to the sect? We're all in the same boat so don't be afraid to ask if you have any questions. My name is Eric, nice to meet you!"
Eric smiled and threw his arm around James' neck. James noticed that Eric was exceedingly muscular for a 10 year old boy.
'He must be one of those cultivators that focus on body training. He's gotta be as strong as a 15 year old at least. What a little monster.'
Smiling back, "Hey, I'm James, nice to meet you too. Could I ask why you guys aren't hanging out with the disciples over there?"
James pointed towards the group of Inner disciples not too far away. The 2 dozen Outer disciples surrounding Eric all turned and then turned pale. All of them subconsciously inching away from James, hoping no one noticed his disrespectful pointing or at least that they wouldn't think they were associated. Eric looked over and then quickly pulled James' hand down.
"Are you crazy?! Those are Inner disciples! If they saw you pointing at them like that they would make your life in the sect hell. Every one of them has connections to the sect's higher ups. That means if they don't like you they can take away your cultivation resources, assign you the worst missions to complete or just straight bully you in broad daylight. If their connections are high enough, nothing you do will make them stop. You'll either have to lower your head and beg or leave the sect and try your luck somewhere else. Believe me, it happens more than you know."
Saying that last part, Eric showed an expression of both sadness and anger.
'Looks like there's some personal story about that. He's too you g to have it happen to him so probably someone close to him. I don't really feel like getting into that right now so i'll try to change the subject.'
"I'm sure they aren't that bad, besides we're all the same age so we should get along, that's why the sect set this gathering up no?"
"Hahaha damn you're naive. You really think the sect set this up for us to get along? Think again. It's designed for us to clearly recognize our status within the sect."
"Haha well, we'll see"
At that, James started walking over to the Inner disciples. Eric and the others tried to stop him but were too late as some Inner disciples had already noticed James walking over.
"Hey Outer, what do you think you're doing? The trash are that way."
What seemed like the leader of the group spoke out and pointed back towards the Outer disciples.