Novel Full Chapter 172: Joining Battle Arts Divison
Chapter 172: Chapter 172: Joining Battle Arts Divison
Chapter 172: Joining Battle Arts Divison
After returning back to his courtyard, Rhain didn’t bother to cultivate or refine pills.
Refining a Mystic-Grade pill for the first time had already pushed his mental state to its breaking point.
Then, without a single moment of rest, he had spent over nine hours on the fourth floor of the Grand Library with his Eyes of Truth blazing at full intensity, meticulously scanning more than a hundred Epic-Grade martial arts.
The combined strain had left him utterly drained — both mentally and physically.
He just wanted to get a good rest.
Rhain just closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
______
Next morning, Rhain opened his eyes, feeling entirely refreshed.
The exhaustion in his mind and body had been completely swept away.
He stood up, adjusting his deep black, gold-trimmed Inner Palace robes, and walked out of the courtyard.
It was time to officially finalize his division.
During Fabian’s briefing, he had been presented with four options: Battle Arts, Alchemy, Arrays, and Forging.
Over the past two days, Rhain has visited both Battle Arts Division and the Alchemy Division, observing their teaching methods, and the value they could offer him.
He had briefly considered visiting the Array Division and the Forging Division as well, but ultimately decided against it.
Arrays and forging did not align with his immediate priorities.
Now, left with only two choices, Rhain had made up his mind to join Battle Arts Divison.
Because, not only did it offer access to profound lectures on domain laws from Preceptors like Krell and Fabian, but it was also the perfect cover for him to operate freely.
As for the Alchemy Division?
Rhain had given it serious thought.
His Grandmaster-level knowledge meant he could dominate it effortlessly, and the herb procurement benefits were genuinely useful.
But in the end, he dropped the idea.
He didn’t like the rigid, troublesome regulations surrounding the purchase of Epic-Grade herbs.
The benefits were simply not substantial enough to justify the effort.
More importantly, he had no desire to reveal his alchemical talent to Academy for the time being.
If word got out that a newly recruited disciple from Outer Frontier could casually refine flawless, pill-veined Epic-Grade elixirs, the resulting storm of attention would be catastrophic.
Every faction, noble family, and ambitious men in Stormveil City would descend upon him like hungry wolves.
He didn’t need that kind of trouble, atleast not until he has enough strength to protect himself, and Seris in this behemoth city.
Rhain made his way toward the imposing pavilion of the Battle Arts Division.
This time, however, he didn’t walk toward the lecture halls.
Instead, he followed the signs to the Division’s administrative registration area, a smaller but equally well-maintained building situated at the eastern edge of the Battle Arts complex.
When he arrived at the registration area, he found a small queue already formed before the main counter.
There were roughly twenty disciples waiting in line.
Rhain’s dark grey eyes casually swept over them.
Most of them wore the plain black robes adorned with a Bronze Badge, while only four of them possessed the Silver Badge.
The moment Rhain joined the back of the queue, the low murmurs in the registration area abruptly ceased.
Twenty pairs of eyes instantly snapped toward him.
Their gazes bypassed his handsome, unfamiliar face and locked entirely onto his chest.
A Gold Badge.
A Gold Badge disciple standing in line at the registration counter was an extraordinarily rare sight.
The top thirty geniuses of the Inner Palace had long since completed their divisional enrollments.
For one to appear here now, during an ordinary registration period, was deeply unusual.
"That’s him... The new Gold Badge disciple everyone was talking about yesterday!"
"I was thinking that rumours might be wrong, but there really is a new Gold Badge disciple. I heard he’s only at the Essence Condensation Realm! How is it possible for an Essence Condensation cultivator to wear the Gold Badge?"
"He must have used some illegitimate path to secure that rank! Bypassing the Outer Palace and jumping straight into the top thirty? That defies all the Academy’s rules!"
"You idiot, keep your voice down! Do you know what kind of background someone needs to pull a feat like that? Even the three great Noble Families of Stormveil City don’t have that much power!"
"I heard a rumor from a senior... He said that this guy has secret connections to the Royal Family of the Solathane Dynasty!"
Rhain’s sharp hearing picked up every single word.
His eyebrows rose a fraction.
’What kind of ridiculous rumors are these people cooking up?"
Royal Family?
He had never even heard of Royal Family before arriving in the Inner Province.
Ignoring their baseless gossip entirely, Rhain continued walking forward.
Seeing the Gold Badge approaching, the queue of Bronze and Silver disciples didn’t dare to block his path.
They instinctively scrambled to the sides opening a wide, unobstructed path straight to the registration counter.
Rhain arrived at the counter.
Sitting behind the wide wooden desk was a middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed beard and discerning eyes.
The registrar looked up, his gaze landing on Rhain’s Gold Badge.
He had also heard the wild rumors circulating the Inner Palace about a newly appointed Gold Badge disciple.
All he knew for certain was that Preceptor Fabian himself had arranged the appointment — beyond that, whether the swirling rumors about the boy’s background held any truth was entirely unknown to him.
Therefore, he did not dare to show even a sliver of disrespect.
"You must be the new disciple," the registrar said with a measured tone. He set down his brush and straightened in his seat. "How may I help you?"
"I am here to officially register as a disciple of the Battle Arts Division," Rhain stated calmly. "Specifically, the Gold Badge Class."
The registrar nodded, completely expecting this request.
"Of course," he replied courteously. "However, to officially enter the Gold Badge Class of our division, possessing the badge is not enough. You must also complete an initiation mission designated by the division."
Rhain had already heard about this rule during Fabian’s briefing. He gave a slight nod. "What missions are available?"
The registrar quickly pulled out a record scroll from beneath the counter and handed it over.
"This is the complete record of currently available entrance missions for Gold Badge applicants," the registrar explained. "You may select whichever mission suits your abilities."
Rhain unfurled the scroll.
His dark grey eyes scanned the dense list of available initiation tasks.
The missions were diverse in nature.
Some required clearing specific beast dens in the surrounding wilderness.
Others were about the retrieval of rare materials from dangerous territories.
A few involved participating in certain inter-division sparring events.
As he read through the details, a flicker of surprise crossed his face.
Every single mission on the list rewarded a specific amount of contribution points.
According to Fabian, these contribution points could be used to purchase cultivation resources, artifacts, and time in specialized cultivation chambers of the academy.
There were many missions that offered a decent payout, ranging from hundreds to a few thousand contribution points.
But as Rhain’s gaze reached the very top of the scroll, one particular mission caught his attention.
The contribution point reward attached to it was exceptionally high.
Astronomically high compared to all the others.
Mission: Hunt the Violet Thunder Panthers.
Objective: Hunt and retrieve ten intact corpses of Violet Thunder Panthers. All specimens must be at the late stage of the Spirit Manifestation Realm.
Reward: 20,000 Contribution points.
The reward was staggeringly high — easily three to five times greater than any other Gold Badge entrance missions.
Rhain’s eyes lingered on the mission for a moment.
’If I have to waste my time running errands just to register,’ Rhain thought, ’I might as well take the one that gives me the highest payout.’
He casually tapped his finger against the top of the scroll.
"I will take this one."
The middle-aged registrar leaned forward to look at where Rhain was pointing.
The moment his eyes landed on the Violet Thunder Panther mission, he looked up at Rhain with unconcealed surprise.
"Are you certain?" the registrar asked with an alarmed voice, "This mission requires you to bring back ten corpses of Violet Thunder Panthers — and every single one must be at the late stage of the Spirit Manifestation Realm.
"These beasts are notoriously vicious, they hunt in coordinated packs, and their innate lightning abilities can paralyze even an early stage Core Formation expert if they’re careless.
The registrar wiped a bead of cold sweat from his forehead.
"This is the toughest mission for joining the Battle Arts Division! In fact, no one has even dared to touch this mission for the last five years since it was posted!"
The surrounding disciples who overheard the exchange sucked in a sharp breath of cold air, staring at Rhain as if he were a madman rushing to his own funeral.
Rhain’s expression didn’t ripple in the slightest.
"I am sure," Rhain confirmed, his tone as calm as ever. "Register it under my name."