One Last System

'They should be the focus of the next step of my plan,' Mia thought, recalling the moment when this reality first struck her. 

It happened before anyone even approached the training grounds, right as she sent her team members off for a mission. It was then that Mia realized that by focusing on only four other people, she was leaving an insanely strong and untapped source of potential strength. 

'Even if I turn all four of them into devastating monsters, it won't be enough to challenge whatever is happening at the sect,' Mia thought back then, perfectly aware of her status. 

Even if she reached the top of the strength within the outerpost of the sect, she would still be just an insignificant nobody in any other place of the Tuxi domains. 

Only by turning herself into the head of a massive party that was widely recognized within the sect as a whole could Mia hope to achieve the political stability and power necessary to fend for herself. 

"Is there something wrong with letting them use this formation?" Mia asked, finally answering Arganar's question. "It's not like I'm losing anything by letting them train," she said while shrugging her arms. 

'And if I succeed in helping them get stronger than the sponsored disciples, then the sect won't be able to refuse but to rework this broken system,' Mia added in her thoughts. 

She didn't laze around during her time off from the training itself. And as little as it was, she managed to learn a little about the official theory before the conception of the sponsored students. 

Back in the past, the resources were far harder to come by than they were today. Unless one was willing to risk their lives to go to the forest and hunt for the monsters, there was hardly any chance for cultivators to grow. 

Tuxi sect decided to change that by forcing a part of the wealth gathered by the stronger cultivators to be used in helping their weaker colleagues to grow stronger. 

For a cultivator of a tenth or eleventh stage, killing a monster in the forest to obtain its core wouldn't be a problem. And at the same time, the benefits he could get from a single monster's core like that were abysmal. 

On the other hand, just like Mia's exploits proved, even just a single grade one monster core was enough to bring forth a massive boost in cultivation for someone who worked hard enough. 

'Yet, how did that formerly beneficial system degraded into what it is today...' Mia pursed her lips, a short spasm of annoyance flashing behind her eyes. 'Well, it doesn't matter what caused it. What matters is how I can fix it,' she decided, raising her eyes on the elder. 

Arganar didn't bother to comment on the situation ever since he heard Mia's explanation. He simply stared at the situation, as baffled by the sight of many people training hard just as he was satisfied by it. 

'If I truly want to have some real power, I need to become someone on par with the elders, not just someone capable of defeating other disciples.' Mia continued to think, allowing her brain to shed all the unnecessary parts of her plan. 

'And if I want to become a powerhouse like that, I need to have a solid support behind my back,' Mia thought, reaffirming herself in her own plans. 

Right now, there wasn't any force that would support her without demanding anything in return. As such, the easiest way to circumvent this problem was to create a force that didn't exist formerly in the sect and have them indebted to her from the very beginning!

The simplicity of this solution shocked the girl. Even though she made some attempts to increase the normie disciples' strength already, it wasn't a part of a formulated plan. Just a preparation that Mia deemed possibly profitable in the future. 

And right now, she couldn't help but praise her guts from before. 

'What do I need to do to have the sect recognize me?' Mia asked herself, resting her back against one of the several construction pillars that were left erected from the floor. 

Apparently, they were also a part of the formation, although Mia couldn't see through their usage at all. As such, the one role she could use them for was resting her back against it. 

"You see," Mia finally muttered some words as the prolonged silence between her and Arganar was slowly getting uncomfortable. 

This elder was clearly not satisfied with her previous answer. And from the looks of things, his support could prove crucial in her attempts at raising in the ranks of the sect. 

"I don't want to keep all the benefits of my situation to myself," Mia said, raising her eyes towards the sky as if she fell deep into her thoughts. In reality, though, she did nothing but recite the words that she came up with during the pause in their discussion. 

"I was lucky. I have a man that supports me from afar, and I was lucky enough to catch your attention," she pointed out before raising her hand and showcasing the collection of storage rings decorating her fingers. "Those are the only reasons why I was able to obtain so many resources. The only reason why I could afford to remodel this formation," she claimed as she moved her eyes on the training grounds. 

For a moment, Mia turned silent. She did her absolute best to appear as if she was deep in her thought, analyzing her own situation. 

"I saw the plight of the normie disciples here," she stated. "I saw how little they can do to change their fate, a fate decided by the fact that no one bothered to help them out on their path of cultivation," she stated as she raised her eyes to look Arganar directly in the eyes.

Poof!

The air shook. Right as Mia finished her last sentence, someone managed to breakthrough. 

"Huh?" Mia shrugged, surprised by the sudden feeling. She then turned around and scanned the area, only for her eyes to rest on the body of her female colleague. 

"She advanced," Arganar said, directing his eyes in the same direction. 

Out of everyone, Veila appeared to be the only one not aware of what just happened. As if it was the same moment as any other, she continued to swing her hands and legs, completing the four-stroke rotation of Arthur's over and over again. 

"This is..." Arganar attempted to say something, only to turn silent when the air shook again in the exact same manner. 

Mia turned her eyes to the side. This time, rather than looking for the source of the breakthrough, she looked for a specific person. 

And without much surprise, it was Sander who followed right after Veila's footsteps, barging into the fifth stage of cultivation. 

"This is insane..." he muttered, looking down at his knuckles, bloodied from all the hitting of the training pillar that he did. 

Between Sander at Veila, the man at least was aware of his own breakthrough. 

'I guess the sect will be more likely to accept my raise if I bring an entire army of talented disciples along, isn't it?' Mia thought, smiling at her own thoughts as she looked at Sander with satisfaction. 

Sander noticed Mia's stare, even if it wasn't focused on him anymore. His smile widened before he straightened himself and executed a proper, cultured bow. 

For a moment, Mia thought that those two consecutive breakthroughs would be the high moment of the day. Maybe, if the couple of her team that was still away would return promptly to cultivate here, they would have a shot at advancing today as well. 

But then, all Mia's expectations shattered when the air around her went into a frenzy. 

One by one, the disciples on the training ground started to breakthrough. 

It felt as if Veila's advancement infused some sort of energy into the air that made it easier for others to follow in her footsteps. 

Someone advanced to the third stage. Someone else reached the fourth one. One of the disciples that were pretty talented and just slipped under Mia's radar when she was picking her teammates managed to break into the fifth stage as well. 

"What the hell is going on?" Arganar muttered, shocked by the development. The development that, instead of slowing down, continued to accelerate.

With each passing second, more and more disciples continued to advance until not a single one of them didn't reach a higher stage than they were on when they started their daily training. 

'Wait a second,' Arganar suddenly noticed one element that didn't fit the place. 'Aren't they using the resources to power up the formation right now?' he thought, noticing several monster cores located in the vital points of the formation. 

But what was even more surprising was the quality of those stones. And while for Arganar, those stones were a pretty common sight, it was something that the girl in an outerpost should normally never be able to get her hands on!

'Those are grade three cores,' Arganar noticed, pursing his lips into a thin line when he noticed the peculiarity. Yet, as he looked at the girl, he noticed something far more important. 

'She is on the verge of breaking into the seventh stage already?!' he noticed, shocked by his own findings. 

'No, I have to be wrong,' Arganar thought, desperate to find an answer that would conform with what he knew about the world. 'Maybe she just has a better foundation for her cultivation than the others?' he attempted to find any logical explanation. 

But then, a new thought entered his head, chasing away all the other problems out of it. 

'If I want to be the knight on a white horse for her... isn't my time quickly running out?' he asked himself. 

While it couldn't be named a reason for Arganar's willingness to help Mia, it definitely was one of his motivations behind being as active as he was. And while he truly wanted to fix the problem that this outpost of the sect clearly had, tasting some of that youthfulness and beauty that this girl offered was still one of the things that he couldn't help but consider. 

'After helping her a whole damned lot... I don't think she will oppose my advances much,' Arganar thought, finally casting away all the fake morality that he shielded his mind with previously. 

"Right, I think that's enough of shocks for me for today," Arganar said, shaking his head and turning his body around. "Oh, and before I go," he said as a glint flashed in the back of his eyes, "if you could visit my place a bit later to discuss the current situation, it would be lovely!"

He made a lot of effort to help this girl. Surely, she wouldn't refuse him a tiny bit of pleasure to reward his efforts, wouldn't she?