Way of the Knights

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The team assorted everything that received from the resource rewards. After putting the box away, they decided to take a short break before re-grouping again since they have other matters to discuss about. 

"Alright, let's talk about important matters that we need to accomplish as a whole." Jason stated as soon as everyone was gathered. 

"During the distribution of the rewards just now, a couple of matters were brought up by Raven. I think we need to start on those." Jason added, "First, I want to ask. Who amongst you plans on switching their cultivation techniques? Raise your hand."

It was obvious that there were some people who hesitated at first but it didn't take long before some people raised their hands and confirmed the idea. These people were Juniper, Edward, the twins and surprisingly Nelson. 

"Woah." Jason was astonished, in fact it's not only him, even the rest were surprised to see the others raised their hand as well. 

"Well, no offense to you but we kind of understand why you're switching." Jason said to Juniper who didn't take any offense to his words. "But what about you guys? Most specially you Nelson. If I can remember it correctly, you should've received some good inheritance from your family right? What brought this on?"

Hearing what he said caused Nelson to raise a brow. He wasn't expecting this guy say something like that but he remembered who he was so he wasn't surprised. He sighed after that and started explaining. 

"I don't know where you heard that from but it's nothing really much." Nelson stated, "Just because I am from an Imperial Lineage, it doesn't mean that I got something good from them. My situation is a bit…sensitive. If it's my other siblings, then sure. But not me. I got lucky since I was accepted, and since I'm already here, I might as well get rid of the unnecessary shackles on me." 

Nelson's words sounded very cryptic but some people could vaguely understand what he's trying to say. It would seem that there's more to the stories that's being proliferated by the public. Nelson's relationship with his family might not be as great as one would think. However, they're in no position to pry so they'll just have to leave it like that. 

"You twins? How about you?" Jason asked. 

"Nothing much, just don't want to be a burden to you all." Pyra replied before Mira could, Jason could vaguely see that Pyra was doing something to Mira to prevent her from speaking. "Our strength's are mediocre at best, if its outside then we're not that bad but here is a different story, specially after witnessing some of our teammates. We don't want to be the ones holding you back. We have the same goal."

"What she said." Mira simply said before looking away. 

Jason nodded and looked at Edward, he asked the same question to him and he answered:

"Master suggested the idea to me." He said, "At first I was skeptical, but seeing the sheer amount of techniques available here as well as how many looked extremely tempting for me and the pills just now, I decided to go for it. It's better to start as soon as possible so I could get back to my peak just as quick. Plus it would only help me in the long run. So why not?"

His reason's were sound, but Jason couldn't help but look at Franklin and ask: "Did your Master told you the same thing?"

"No, but not because he's not impressed with the sect or something. I have a unique condition which causes me to look like this. It's a clan heritage thing and I've been using a technique that's tailored to us, I'll be in danger if I make any changes so…yeah."

"Oh, okay. Sorry." Jason said. 

"It's fine, you guys needed to know that anyway." Franklin waved his hand and smiled, signifying that he wasn't offended at all. 

Jason nodded and said: "Okay, since you guys have decided to do so, then I think you should go for it. Have you guys chose something already?"

The people who were switching shook their heads in unison. No one was surprised, after all the matter of switching cultivation techniques was only brought up earlier, that's not enough for them to make their choices. 

"You guys should make a trip to the Repository Hall when you have the time." Raven interjected, "The staff there might give you some suggestions, if they won't, then you can ask some of the older disciples there for their opinions. It won't hurt to try."

"Great idea actually." Jason followed, "Let's schedule that later. For now, let's continue our discussions."

"I want to add something, may I?" Michelle raised her hand all of a sudden. Jason then looked at her and nodded. She cleared her throat for a bit before saying: 

"Since we're at the matter of switching techniques, I'd like to raise the point that we should all at least pick some auxiliary techniques, most specifically the ones that helps us scout our surroundings." Michelle stated, causing everyone to focus. 

"There's only a few of us here had spying techniques, all of which are suppressed by some kind of force in the Devil's Cradle. A scouting range of only a couple of miles is quite pathetic to be totally honest, specially when we consider that most of the devils we will encounter are very quick and could totally land an ambush if we got careless. I suggest that each of us should learn a new one, that way, no matter who goes out and how many, they would be able to sense devils and prepare for it better."

"Well said." Jason praised, "I agree with the idea, if you guys can afford it, then by all means buy it as early as you could. Just as Michelle said, this so that we can cover our weaknesses and boost our survival chance."

"So? Anyone else who wants to say something before we move on?" Jason asked this time around just to make sure. No one raised their hand so he nodded and went ahead to discuss the next part of the discussion. 

"Alright, let's move on." Jason started, "The next thing I want to discuss about is the matter of earning both Personal Merit Points and Unit Merit Points."

He paused for a bit before saying: "Just like what Senior Brother told us, even though he won't always be with us, it doesn't mean that he won't be paying attention to us. That means we can't slack off at all. The best way to show him our efforts is by clearing as many missions as much as we could. But that raises the problem of how."

This earned a couple of frowns from the rest but Jason continued:

"What I meant by that is, we can't just expect that we could just grab any mission and run away with it. There's bound to different Mission Grades if you know what I mean. And if that's the case, then it usually means that not just about any Unit can claim a high graded mission. There might be a credibility requirement for each, so that means we have to start from the bottom. Do you guys understand where I'm going with this?" 

Everyone nodded, it's not really that hard to decipher the meaning behind his words. 

"It's just us who wanted to earn Merit Points, others wants to earn as much as they could as well. We're not only competing with the other Units under Senior Brother Henry, we're also competing with everyone else. And if we could realize this by ourselves, then we should assume that they could too." 

"Which means that we have to make sure to grab as many Merit Points under the fierce this fierce environment. If we fall off, then we're bound to get left behind." Jason stated, "I also want us to expect some underhanded tactics coming into play. Even though it is stated that we're not allowed to hurt each other, humans - if they're desperate, could do something unthinkable. So we have to be on guard."

Jason's words caused some of his teammates to feel nervous. Needless to say that it's a necessary evil and a wake up call. Just like what he said, Human heart is one of the incomprehensible thing in this world, especially if it's desperate. All of them had their fair share of witnessing this so it's nothing knew but this is also a foreign environment, which is why their nervousness is valid. 

"Of course it would be for the best if the situation isn't what I was expecting but we can never really tell. So just in case, please be careful everyone." Jason reminded them out of kindness, which made everyone appreciate him in a new way. 

"Okay! Since that's out of the way and we have free time, why don't we go out and explore Tartarus in batches so that we can cover more ground?" Jason suggested. 

This idea caused everyone to be surprised but it didn't take long before everyone agreed. And since the decisions were made, the meeting ended right here for now and the team formed small batches to explore Tartarus.

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