The Heavens Shall Fall

The exciting news of the newly formed Spirit Wardens got an immediate second wind when their alliance with Fire Ring became public.

“That's bullshit!”

That was what many first exclaimed, not believing the news, but the more it spread, the more it seemed to be true. What really gave people a fright was that, with it confirmed, there was now a joint entity among the disciple groups that was capable of producing seven Paragons. Against a hundred on the list, that may seem like nothing, but when most Paragons were fiercely independent and liked to run their own groups... Now that was a problem.

On the second day, right after the alliance was made public, people began wondering when the Wardens would start to recruit. Nobody believed they would make such waves, only to fail to capitalize on them. And if they do recruit... Those who get in may finally find where they are headquartered, because Kal Val refused to discuss it, even with his own members. Apparently, he was bound by a contract to keep silent about it, being part of their newfound alliance.

Thus, somewhere, some people had even begun insisting that their magical compound didn't exist at all, and that the Wardens were using a rented room somewhere, spreading rumors to make themselves look mysterious.

Weirdly enough, that made neither party react, letting all the bizarre gossip and accusations spread and further obfuscate everything.

Besides those, one group that got the biggest scare, of course, was the Burning Banner.

“Seven fucking Paragons...” Kal groaned, rubbing his still shiny head, while sitting with Rovan, going over the news.

“Your ability to count has improved considerably.” He answered, but even if he tried to smile, he couldn't really... not to mention, he actually ignored the jab.

“If they decide Ruben beating me wasn't enough, and both groups come after us...” Kal continued, showing a rare moment of foresight, “We lose."

“We can fight heroically.” Rovan chortled, shaking his head. "But yeah... We are done for if that happens. Luckily for us, it is still an if and not a when."

He said that a bit more confidently because Rovan had spent most of the day confirming the information through three separate brokers, and had also found a new source named Golden Scroll, which kept giving him the most detailed information of all. According to them, Spirit Wardens had no interest in instigating any faction wars, and Golden Scroll even offered an option to get the confirmation from the Wardens themselves. However, the price was way too high, so he refused, choosing to believe their words.

"The good thing is," Rovan continued, playing with his sleeve, “Fire Ring is four hundred years old, and we can infer their usual style and stance from their history. They are a competitive bunch, but they never stooped low enough to bully those smaller than them. We should be fine.”

"Are we?" Kal asked, making Rovan shrug.

“We are going to send a polite request, with no threats or demands. We congratulate them on their alliance and ask for a meeting with the Wardens. It is best if we, you and I, go and meet them in person and smooth things out.”

"Do I have to go?" Kal's mouth twisted when he heard that. “Do I have to congratulate that fucker, Ruben?”

“No, you don't have to congratulate anybody, but you have to come with me. We will clear things up, and, if they seem amicable... maybe we can open talks about forming a triumvirate."

"A what?" Kal asked, drawing a blank, which showed on his eyebrowless face.

"Sorry, it's a term from where I'm from. It means we can form a triad."

"A what?"

"For Heaven's sake! It shows that you are from the gutters if you keep talking like that, you know that? Haaah... It means we can form a three-way-alliance. You can count to three, can't you?"

"A what?"

"Oh fuck off!" He laughed, making even Kal grin, as their mood was finally lightened considerably, compared to how it had been only a few hours ago.

While they were getting ready to word their request, the reaction elsewhere was somewhat less nervous but just as surprised.

“Fire Ring?” Darius looked up from the cultivation manual resting across his knee when one of his subordinates came to deliver the news.

“Yes, Senior.” He bowed, cupping his hands.

“Hm.” He furrowed his brows a little, scanning the manual again. "They can't challenge me in a group fight; that's against the rules, so it is not aimed at me. They could go against us, though, but with me at the helm, the chance of them bringing us to ruin is nigh zero."

"So... not zero?" The disciple asked cautiously, making Darius smile.

"My Master's first lesson was to never say anything is impossible." He explained in a silky tone, and then waved a hand at him. “Keep an eye on the developing situation and send me reports when something happens. I'll keep an eye on this.”

"Yes, Senior." The disciple nodded, but his voice sounded a bit off, because he didn't expect him to care about something like this. There were enough movements amongst the other Core Disciples to worry about what the silver-sashed compatriots of theirs were doing, so it was... a bit alarming. Naturally, Darius caught it and looked up at him questioningly. “Something wrong?”

“No, Senior.”

“Then go.” He uttered, getting a bit annoyed, throwing the thoughts out of his mind, returning to study the manual, and continuing his preparations to enter the Flesh Morphing stage.

...

....

......

The morning after fixing the terms of their alliance, mostly about handling future joint missions and protecting each other's backs, the Spirit Wardens met again, for a different reason this time around. It was time to set the rules for opening their doors to new recruits.

“Can we recruit fun people?” Arya asked the moment they sat down at the table.

“You know, that's not a bad idea,” Ruben agreed with a smile, but it was hard to tell if he was sarcastic or not... And if not, his version of fun was most likely different than Arya's.

“We will have to make sure those who join have similar views to ours.” Siu said, half-agreeing as he placed both hands on the table, "But I also have been thinking a lot about it. Thanks to Toban."

"You're welcome." The man himself smiled, not sitting at the table, simply handing out stacks of papers to everyone. "Here is all that the Golden Scroll had gathered. We marked the potential threats against the Wardens, based on who asked for what information from us. I listed them from highest to lowest, but right now I would say you are in the clear. That will be all from me, though. Have a nice meeting."

"Not staying?" Joren asked, but he just shook his head.

"I told you, I don't need a spot in your leadership." And with that, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Weird guy," Joren muttered, flipping the first paper over, scanning its contents.

"Let's focus," Siu continued. "I have already told you all how the Wardens are in the outers, and how most just thought joining would somehow result in me giving them a Spirit Beast or making their lives easier without them doing anything. The same thing is expected to happen here, and Toban's findings prove that. So, we need to make some changes and avoid all the bumps I went through before. We also need to keep what worked, like the internal mission board. With our alliance with Fire Ring, we can take joint missions, and the rewards from there could be much better, because we can tackle harder ones than just us alone.”

"Mhm," Nokoh nodded slowly. “That makes sense. Heh, this is my first time being part of a group like this. Maybe Cho'Wa's change is closer than I expected!”

“We will work on that,” Siu nodded with a smile. “That would also be great news to spread around."

“So the system worked,” Ruben said, yawning a little. “Then just copy it.”

“No.” Siu shook his head at once. "That won't do. We have to improve and fit it into this place. Once again, what we keep is that members will pay a fee into the group's vault each month, and they will receive better benefits the longer they stay and the more they contribute. We have to keep an emergency reserve for our own people. Mostly for injuries and to coordinate group missions. But we need a stricter acceptance... If someone walks in owing fifty thousand CC to an association we dislike, I would prefer to discover that before accepting them. I don't want to invite trouble into our group.”

“I second that.” Ruben and Joren said at once, then Ruben continued, “Also, Inner Disciples' debts aren't always financial, so we have to be extra careful. Someone may even owe a favor to a Paragon.”

"Or," Seloryn's expression tightened at the same time, “They may be sent here.”

“I had enough of those, so I am well aware.” Siu said with a shrug, "And it may happen, but we will deal with that then. We will impose harsh punishments for it; this will require all members to sign a sect-enforced contract. Knowing that those things work well here, I am going to use them, so they will mostly filter out the really bad apples from the get-go.

“Hopefully.” Seloryn smiled, but it wasn't as pure as it seemed.

“Let's talk about the money!” Ruben interjected, "How much are we asking from members? What was the outers' fee?”

“Five Ember Crystals monthly,” Siu answered, making the others look at him like he was an idiot.

“That was it?” Ruben snorted, making Siu simply smile.

“We were Outer Disciples; what did you expect?”

“Okay, okay... Fair.” Ruben conceded at once, but then continued, “However, that would be a laughing matter here. Make it one Sun Crystal.”

“Too high for new Inner Disciples,” Seloryn argued at once.

“If one Sun is too high, they shouldn't join.” Ruben shot back, not backing down.

“That's exactly the kind of attitude that gets us only wealthy bastards.” Joren chimed in, too, making Ruben grimace.

"I agree with Joren. However... Five Sun Crystals." Siu said suddenly, making everyone look at him; even Ruben was surprised that he sided with him, and more than that, raised the price.

“That is... substantial,” Seloryn said cautiously.

“I know.” Siu said, adding more to it, “And they pay three months upfront.”

"Oh boy!" Joren whistled. “That much just to walk through the door?”

“No.” Siu said in a strong voice, “That's just the fee to join. They don't walk through this door at all; they won't even get invited to this place at the start.”

"Nobody will sign up, then," Joren continued after looking at the others. "You are asking a lot for nothing in return. That's pretty much money out of their rent or days' worth of meditation. On a monthly basis, no less!"

“I am perfectly aware of that," Siu answered without flinching, "Val told us yesterday that nobody can locate Gemstone Terrace unless they are invited, which is going to stay like that. That's worth more than what we ask for as a fee. I have been thinking about this, and even with the three months upfront, it is very cheap. So, even after the trial period passes, an invitation to this land is not guaranteed. If we begin accepting people and instantly authorize every one of them to come and take a stroll here, then we've defeated half the protection we have ourselves. That's stupid.”

"True." Seloryn nodded, her eyes flashing. “Especially because the easiest way to infiltrate an association is to join it. I'm in favor of it, no questions asked.”

"So... how are we deciding who gets to come here after they join us?" Ruben asked, already in a good mood, thinking about the passive income the Wardens could have just from that alone.

“We need ranks inside the association.” Siu continued while Nokoh nodded, asking a question.

“Based on strength?”

“No.” Siu said, pointing at Seloryn, making her chuckle, “If strength decided it, Seloryn would outrank almost everyone here. I think we will go by two factors: Time and Contribution. We will make up the core as Founders. Then, there will be the new recruits, who will be Outer Wardens, still in their probationary phase. I think a tiered contract system will go perfectly well with it, because when they get accepted to the next rank, becoming proper Wardens, they have to sign it. It would prohibit them from sharing any information about the location and design of our headquarters. I don't care if someone gets offended; it is not mandatory to join us."

"Building a mystery around ourselves like that will be very... enticing." Ruben grinned, clearly liking the idea more and more.

“Naturally, the Outer Wardens,” Siu continued in the meantime, “get access to Warden-organized missions, group matching, basic information at Toban's discounted price, allied opportunities we choose to share, and limited use of shared resources. The basics, copied from before. If they contributed enough, and not only in CC, but earning prestige for us, putting in the work and raw resources, they can become a Warden, and that is when they will be invited here. From then on," Siu added, stopping for a moment as he looked at the others, "they can have access to our future facilities."

"I guess their monthly fee will be raised, too?" Ruben asked, making Siu nod.

"Yes, but they will have the ability to pay it with their work, instead of CC. Honestly, we are doing the same thing as every other association, just openly. Even then, we should establish further ranks for Senior Wardens and future Veterans, and maybe even special ranks later on, along with awards. As I said, I have been thinking, and I don't want to create a massive group that brings everyone in, ending up where we will know no one among us."

"I also think we should have a member limit," Seloryn added. "We can recruit in waves if we are ready to expand, but we need a limit."

"We can do that," Siu nodded after thinking it through, "But even with a limit, there should be one exception. Those who come up from the Outer Disciple branch would start as a Warden, skipping the trial period and instead get their three months waived."

"What?" Ruben gawked, blinking his eyes like he was just slapped.

"This is my conclusion after everything I thought about." Siu said firmly, "I studied Toban's reports and read enough of Quillian's notes on how things went inside the sect for centuries... And I noticed one point: Even if an association has a branch down at the outers, they don't really use it."

"They do?" Ruben asked, but Siu shook his head.

"They scoop up those who get promoted, but they don't cultivate their subordinate factions. We will do exactly that." He continued, looking at everyone while speaking, "I remember how much it helped when Seloryn crafted those bombs for me, even if they were of 'sub-par' resources. That is why I said proper Wardens can turn their monthly fee into work and pay with their actions. It saved my life back then. Exactly, that is why all our members, including us, will send resources, crafts, and CC down."

"What?!" Ruben repeated, now much louder, but Siu just continued, his gaze firm and commanding.

"Every Warden will have the obligation to do it in one way or another. We will establish a proper line between us and the outers' branch. We are going to live up to the name of cultivators, and cultivate future members from there. I looked it up; it is NOT against the rules." He added, slowly smiling, "I may not be able to trust recruits from here from the start, only after they proved themselves... but I can trust those who come up from below. Their loyalty will already be strong, and that's worth more than a monthly subscription."

"..."

Everyone fell silent as they listened, and while they were shocked, the first to start to smile was Seloryn, her eyes turning into slits as she looked surprisingly... happy.

"I knew I chose well!" She said, her voice actually ringing like a melody, her affinity resonating with her mood, going beyond her control.

"I know it sounds weird for you all," Siu added, unable to hold back his own smile, "But I believe that this is the proper way. Maybe because I am still fresh in a way, but... This will build the Wardens' future, so we may outlast all the other groups."