"Senior Brother," Jean called out as she walked alongside Markus to their upcoming lesson on magic theory and application with their Teacher Larks. Or should she refer to him as Sect Leader Larks now? Jean had heard of the plan to create a new Sect. She seriously considered it, and also evaluated Sect Leader Larks' intentions behind moving for such an initiative, and she was all for it. As she saw her cultivation advancing and saw the positive impact she had on her community with the help of her magic, her mother's research, plus the new knowledge she accumulated from Sect Leader Larks' lessons and |Soul Imprint| sessions, she very much wanted to recruit more potential mages who could walk with her in her path and help the world beco a better place.
"What's the matter?" Markus responded as he slowed his pace to match Jean's.
"I've noticed that the lessons on magic theory and application have gotten a little bit more aggressive as of late," she comnted.
"How so?" Markus probed with a slight frown.
"Well... In the last lesson, we talked a bit more about inducing magnetic fields," Jean started. "About how passing an electric current through coils of wires can create an artificial magnetic field. Usually, Teacher follows it up with an example of where it can be applied. Before, it would be practical uses in terms of utility. Maybe like using it to separate iron dust from an impure mixture or sothing like that."
Markus agreed with a hum.
"Instead, he talked about how it could be used to create an extrely lethal projectile launcher that can propel objects are Mach speeds."
"You're right," Markus responded. At that instant, Jean stopped moving forward and remained in place.
"What's wrong?" Markus asked.
"That's it?" Jean said with a hint of disbelief in her monotone voice. "Just 'You're right?'"
"What's up?" Before could continue his inquiry, Marie popped in and slung her hand over Jean's shoulders. "Why're we waiting here? Is the lesson cancelled? That's weird, I didn't see that in my divination..."
"It isn't cancelled," Markus corrected. "Jean had sothing to talk about, so we just took a pause. That's all."
"What's it about?" Marie probed excitedly. "Wait a minute. Is it about you two..." She entangled her two index fingers and wobbled her eyebrows provocatively.
"What are you doing?" Markus responded with a scrunched-up face filled with confusion. Jean would have done the sa, except her emotion-evoking centre was rusty and her facial muscles wouldn't listen to her.
Marie clicked her tongue, "You guys are no fun. You'll understand what I an when you grow up."
"You're a year older than I am," Markus shot back. "What difference does a year make?"
"A lot!" Marie scoffed. "Anyways, stop deviating from the topic. What were you guys talking about?"
"Jean pointed out that the recent application cases of concepts covered in the lesson have beco a bit more aggressive," Markus reiterated.
"Oh, this is about the Gauss Rifle!" Marie expertly pointed out. "So what's the issue?"
"Well..." Jean stretched. She didn't know how to phrase her response. Sothing was gnawing away at her. Recently, the malicious voice in her head had gotten much louder and more enthusiastic with the flashy and destructive displays from the lesson. It was becoming harder for her to concentrate.
"I can understand why Teacher is doing this," Marie continued, attracting Jean's attention.
"He intends to start a Sect. A Sect is basically a rcenary corp with a more palatable packaging. I've travelled in many rchant caravans and assisted through many trade ventures. The organisations prefer to hire Sects to escort them because there is so guarantee of safety and martial support from their mbers. This also happens to be the way sects make most of their money. If we intend to be part of Teacher Larks' Sect - I guess it's Sect Leader Larks now - then we need to have so degree of preparedness and capacity to defend ourselves when we take such jobs," Marie explained.
"Besides, Markus here got himself into trouble just by being present in a location. He was lucky that he had so experience in defending himself with magic. What about you?" Marie asked Jean. "Do you think you would survive in such situations? What if your protector, Josie, isn't there to have your back?"
"I... I don't want to hurt anybody," Jean muttered.
#Your weakness will be your undoing! Then again, it would be better if you just died.#
"Well, Sect Leader is just preparing everyone for the Sect, I guess," Marie reasoned. "But if you aren't comfortable being a mber of the Sect, Jean, you don't have to force yourself. I kind of have to, even if I am not averse to joining the Sect since my Master chose to align himself with it. Markus here is kind of obligated to do so for the sa reason. You don't necessarily have to do that. Your obligation is first with your Clan."
"Father said I can join the Sect if I want to," Jean muttered. "And... I want to. But, I also don't want my magic to maim others. My mother always told that a healer must use their magic for the good of everyone."
"Everyone has their reason to learn magic," Markus humd contemplatively. "You don't have to do what you aren't comfortable doing. If you want, I can talk to Master about it."
"That would be too much," Jean spoke up imdiately, waving her hands.
"He's right," Marie supported. "If you are uncomfortable, make it known. It's as Sect Leader Larks always says, 'Learning for the sake of learning will net you the opposite effect.'"
Jean nodded thoughtfully and followed the duo to the classroom.
"You guys are late," Guy comnted as they entered.
"We stopped to talk. Jean has sothing she would like to say," Marie answered. Guy gazed expectantly at the usually quiet girl and awaited her statent.
"I-I will talk to Sect Leader after the lesson," Jean quickly said with a discomfited expression.
"Okay," Guy shrugged. "Unfortunately, we won't be learning anything today. I actually have another task from you guys that needs work."
"As you all know, I am planning to start a sect. Matron Reva has given her permission to use this location as our base, which solves the primary logistical nightmare. However, we cannot proceed with registering it without..." Guy started to tap his podium to replicate a drumroll, "... a na!"
"So in today's lesson, I want everyone to brainstorm nas for the Sect," Guy concluded.
"You don't have a na already, Master?" Markus asked in disbelief.
In truth, Guy did have nas, but given his modern sensibilities, they reeked of cringe and eighth-grader syndro. He wanted to choose sothing that matched the standards of this world, but everything he ca up with caused his toes to curl and shoulders to shudder when he said it out loud. He couldn't even write them on paper without giggling.
On top of that, most of the nas he ca up with that could hold water were derived from sect nas he'd heard in his past life in novels. Although they were great, their significance stemd from where the sects were located. Furthermore, in truth, Guy did not feel like plagiarising from others' works; even in this life, he would affiliate scientific theories and discoveries with the original scientists even if they did not exist in this world. It just didn't sit right with him to appropriate others' contributions, since Guy was an educator at heart.
To that end, referring to so classic wuxia novels written by Jin Yong, the Wudang Sect was called such due to it being situated in the Wudang Mountains. The sa went for the Huasan Sect, which literally translated to Mount Hua. The Beggers' Sect was comprised of beggars, hence the creative na. Guy would have simply followed these conventions and nad his sect Mount Tai Sect after the mountain the orphanage was built upon, but it also fell under the cringe-worthy category, AND it was also a sword-centric sect from Jin Yong's works.
So, Guy decided to let his students co up with sothing. At least if it fell from their mouths, he wouldn't shudder so frantically, and they would also provide a fresher perspective to his writer's block.
"I'm really bad with nas," Guy confessed. "Based on research, the na of a Sect has a lot to do with the kind of cultivation techniques that comprise its core, and to an extent the speciality of the Sect. For instance, the Cloudstrider Sect specialise in movent-centric cultivation techniques and ritual formations. The cultivation techniques are heavily influenced by how mist behaves, and the ritual formations are geared towards illusions and deception."
"The Sunken Fist Sect specialise in, surprise-surprise, fist-based martial arts and close combat. They also have a strong stake in many blacksmithing ventures. The Sunspot Sect, which ended up going extinct thanks to Marie's Master specialised in area-of-effect and ranged spells. According to a record, the Sect Master could incinerate an entire City to ashes within seconds with just a single spell. Now, I don't know how accurate that record was, most of it was embellished with flowery words and speculations, but it's enough to highlight the main points."
Guy gazed probingly at his students and said, "I know it is early and a bit unprepared, but we need to decide on a na for our Sect. We can use the paraters I discussed before as guidelines, or we can co up with sothing different."
Then, as if it were choreographed, the students in the room brought one of their hands up to their chins and scratched in contemplation. It was comically synchronised which elicited a chuckle from Guy. Luckily, they were too deep in thought to register it.
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