United We Stand

As Frank waited patiently for the newly appointed leader to emerge, he found himself engaged in small conversations with his fellow disciples. The atmosphere was filled with a mix of anticipation and excitement, as everyone eagerly awaited the leader's return.

When the leader finally emerged from the meeting, a sense of urgency swept through the gathered disciples. With a flurry of activity, they rushed forward to greet him, their enthusiasm palpable as they clamored for his attention.

Frank joined the throng of disciples, his curiosity piqued by the developments unfolding before him. Eager to learn more about the leader's plans for the demonic rat hunting ground, he listened intently as the disciples crowded around, eager to hear what news the leader had to share.

"My name is Lex, and I've been appointed as the leader for the development and practice of the intermediate commutative elemental Qi absorption technique," declared the appointed leader, his voice ringing out with authority and determination.

As the initial excitement of the disciples began to subside, Frank seized the opportunity to approach Lex and inquire about the outcome of the meeting. With a curious expression, he listened intently as Lex shared the details of their discussions, providing insight into the decisions made and the plans for the future.

Among the information divulged by Lex was the allocation of funds for the establishment of the new training ground, as well as the unveiling of the map detailing its design. Frank absorbed this information eagerly, his mind buzzing with anticipation for the opportunities that lay ahead.

It had a flat training ground in the middle, surrounded by rooms for the disciples to rest, and a kitchen to provide food, and other daily necessities for the disciples to live there.

As Frank requested to make some alterations to the map, he couldn't help but notice the suspicious looks from the surrounding disciples. Understandably, his lack of experience in creating new techniques might have warranted some skepticism from his peers. After all, they had placed their trust in Lex as the appointed leader, and Frank's sudden request for changes might have seemed unwarranted or presumptuous.

Feeling the weight of their scrutiny, Frank took a moment to address their concerns. "I understand that my request might seem unusual," he began, his tone earnest and sincere. "But I believe that with some adjustments, we can optimize the layout of the training ground to better suit our needs. I'm not suggesting major changes, just some minor tweaks that I believe could enhance our training experience."

Though the surrounding disciples remained wary, Frank hoped to convey his genuine intentions and his desire to contribute positively to the project.

"You started all of this, so go on," said Lex handing him a blank sheet of paper, referring to Frank voicing his opinion to the sect leader.

Frank sat on the ground drawing out the required map for improving the cultivation technique, it was the same everywhere except the training ground, instead of it being flat there was a large shallow inscription to be dug out on the ground, the inscription had risen circular platforms for disciples to sit and cultivate and the liquidized excess Qi to flow to the well in the middle of the training ground.

All the disciples were gathered around him looking for him to draw the map, he handed Lex the map asking if this was possible within the budget, and Lex replied by he would ask the elder for confirmation.

Frank had an idea of what to do with the gathered disciples before they dissipated, building the courage up he yelled,

"Does anyone want to go team up to complete sect mission" he remembered how all the disciples had fought with him at the demonic rat hunting ground.

Everyone started mumbling within themselves, this could be an easy way to earn merit points.

"Everyone who wants to join me, go take on the goblin hunting sect mission, we gather in front of the sects entrance in an hour" Frank walked toward the training ground.

As Frank awaited the arrival of the disciples in front of the training ground, his mind buzzed with ideas on how to improve their hunting techniques. With his spear in hand, he began to contemplate his fighting technique, envisioning various scenarios and potential strategies.

Curious to test the capabilities of his earth elemental spear, Frank infused it with his Qi and executed a powerful upward slash. To his satisfaction, the ground responded, forming a spear-like protrusion nearly a meter high, brimming with lethal force.

However, he noted the significant depletion of his elemental Qi with just a single use of this technique, prompting him to reserve it as a hidden trump card for dire situations. With this newfound skill at his disposal, Frank felt a surge of confidence, knowing he had a powerful weapon to rely on if needed.

As disciples gradually gathered around, armed with their best equipment and eager to begin their training, Frank observed their preparations with keen interest. Despite the initial skepticism from some, he remained determined to lead them to success, leveraging his skills and knowledge to guide them toward improvement and growth.

Everyone was excited and nervous at the same time, this hunt had many people participating in it but still was a life-threatening situation to be in.

He walked towards the highest place outside of the training ground preparing a motivational speech to give, he caught the attention of all the disciples around him.

"Have any of you asked yourself why are you even here? why are you cultivating? have a moment to think about this" asked Frank wanting to motivate the disciples.

"Isn't it because you want to reach a higher plane, a better living condition for your family, or be part of something special and be something more than cannon fodder for someone else" Frank shouted louder than before, making sure his voice reached everyone.

"Why not take this opportunity to create something special," he said flaring up the disciple's spirit, the look in the disciple's eyes could even intimidate the fiercest of breasts.

Raising his fist into the air Frank chanted.

"United we stand, divided we fall" all the other disciples chanted at the same time. The shouts of their chant echoed throughout the forest, there was nothing better than a chant to raise someone's spirit.

Once all the disciples calmed down from their high horse than did they decide to strategize on how to fight. Some of the disciples who had previous experience or studied strategies came forwards thinking up the best strategy for their hunt.

After a while they decided on a strategy, there were one hundred and twenty outer sect disciples gathered there, and they were to form twelve teams of ten people each, six teams would hunt at a time while the other six would rest.

Twelve leaders were picked up by voting, one for each team, Lex and Frank being two, Lex was liked by everyone so he was a sure favorite for a leader, while everyone had seen how demonically Frank had fought at the training ground. Frank was selected as the leader of team seven, while Lex was team one, all the leaders who were voted for seemed strong.

They were given thirty minutes to discuss their team strategies, and after thirty minutes all the disciples walked into the hunting ground.

One hundred and twenty disciples entering the hunting ground armed to the teeth looked quite intimidating, reaching the flat ground in the middle of the hunting ground, the first teams went out to hunt while the other six waited for their return.

The wait was quite uneventful, the first team came back about thirty minutes later with some minor injuries and no casualties. coming back they had another meeting about how well each of their strategies had worked against the goblins. The second six teams took on the best strategy that the first six teams had produced going forward with it.

The Second six teams went towards their hunt, reaching deep into the hunting ground, team six saw their first goblin pack to attack, these goblins were about shoulder length in height with the scrawniest bodies. Each person took in their respective position in the team, they consisted of three archers, three tower shield users, and three others with spears.

There were six goblins in the pack, the archers took their first shots at the same goblin dealing enough damage to kill the goblin, the rest of the goblins ran at them with all their might, and the shield wielders stood like a tower absorbing all the raw impact from the attack, stunning some of the goblins throwing them back.

The spear wielders taking advantage of the stun trusted their spears impaling the spear into the goblins.

The other two remaining goblins had broken into their formation, standing in between the shield and spear users. The goblins raised their rusted daggers trying to attack any random person who was unfortunate enough to fall into their range.

Frank and the two other spear users didn't have enough space to pull back their spar and slash at the goblins, letting go of the spear Frank took the first stance of 9 continuous fist technique, and the dagger grazed Frank's thigh, due to the large swinging radius of the goblin Frank had enough time to strike the goblin with the 9 continuous fist technique leaving the goblin in a goory mess.

Not resting Frank looked at the other goblin preparing to attack, but that wasn't necessary because one of the shield users had crushed it into a pulp.

Sitting back down he asked the other team members for their condition while bandaging up his wounds, figuring out if they could hunt any longer.