“Thank you.” Virus replied shortly.
After the pagoda master was done complimenting him, he looked at Alice and the other male who had also successfully passed the second evaluation before gazing at Virus once again, as he announced, “You three have successfully passed both of the evaluations and thus, you are all now officially disciples of the sect.”
Then, he continued, “As for which positions you each will take in the sect and to which section you will be sent to…”
After a short pause, first, looking at the third ranker in the evaluation, he proceeded, “You barely qualified… so you will be positioned as one of the inferior disciples.”
“Thank you, elder.” Bowing respectfully, that male replied, but at the same time, he stole a glance at Virus before taking his eyes off of him quickly.
Afterward, the pagoda master changed his line of sight toward Alice, as he continued once again, “The rules clearly state that in case the ‘number one’ testee achieves at least pale yellow in the first evaluation and two percent in the second evaluation… he or she will be placed as a Normal Disciple… but since you couldn’t obtain the first place… this rule doesn’t apply to you…”
Listening to his words, Alice began gritting her teeth in hate as her nails were almost making her palm bleed.
“But, since your results are what usually the first ranker achieves… you can be positioned as a normal disciple if… an elder from the Normal Disciples Section agrees to accept you as his disciple.” The elder concluded his words with Alice like that.
“… Thank you, respectful elder…” Listening to the second part of the pagoda master’s words, she couldn’t help but feel hope inside her heart as she thought, ‘I can still be a normal disciple… I just need grandpa to use some of his connections in the sect… hehe… I still have hope… I will definitely get back at you… just you wait….’
Then, looking at Virus, the pagoda master once again began to talk, “And about you, the champion of this month’s Inferior Disciple Recruitment… honestly, your results are something that no one has expected… not even the rules. The champions whose results are extraordinary would be usually granted the position of a normal disciple… but… since your results were too heaven-defying… I will make an exception here and offer you a position in the Superior Disciple Section as my own personal disciple… which would mean… you will directly be a Superior Disciple even without any kind of cultivation base whatsoever.”
Listening to the elder’s words, everyone was greatly bewildered, first of all, because the elder seemed to confirm that he came from the superior disciples section which shocked them very much, and secondly, because Virus was directly being promoted to be a superior disciple just by the Inferior Disciple Recruitment Test… this shocked them greatly because this kind of straight promotion was simply… unheard of.
‘Ahh… he was an elder from the superior disciple section… I can’t believe this…’
‘I would’ve been more respectful if I knew he was an elder from there…’
‘So with talent… this is what happens…’
‘We cultivate for years just to aim to be a normal disciple, but he… he just bypassed the Normal Discipleship and directly advanced to be a superior disciple… I’m so envious…’
After thoughts of astonishment like these passed through the mind of everyone present, they focused on Virus and the elder once more to witness what would happen next.
“What do you say? Do you accept to be my disciple?” The pagoda master questioned.
‘Hmm… it seems this is the highest I can go with the inferior disciple recruitment… though this situation is better and higher than what I anticipated…’ Virus began to ponder to himself after hearing the pagoda master’s offer.
‘But… I can’t bring myself to call him master… especially since his knowledge is clearly lacking and not even close to being compared to me… his strength is also not that out of my reach…’
‘For someone to qualify to be my master… he or she must at least exceed me in the knowledge part… or be so powerful that would naturally qualify him or her to be my master as he or she would have something new to teach me… but even then, me calling that person wouldn’t mean I’m accepting to be inferior, it would mean that I’m acknowledging that person truly has something new to teach me so I would be stronger or know more.’ These kinds of passive thoughts went through Virus’ head for a while.
And soon, once he was done, he replied, “Yes, I accept.”
Listening to his response, the elder clearly felt Virus’ tone which was much less indifferent and cold than before, so he grinned and was about to open his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by the rest of his words.
“But… I have a condition if you truly want me to be your disciple…” Virus continued.
The elder was a little dumbfounded that he actually wasn’t directly accepting him to be his master and was actually putting forth conditions for him.
However, even though this was clearly inappropriate and any other elder would’ve been burning with rage by now, the pagoda master just couldn’t bring himself to be angry and feel offended by Virus’ words. On the contrary, he was kind of starting to like this behavior of him more and more which didn’t just accept him as his master only because he was being offered a higher position.
So, he asked, “What is it?”
The disciples, however, were boiling with rage by now inside as they angrily thought, ‘Is he stupid??? How dare he put forth a condition…’
Virus was aware that in almost all of the worlds where strong ruled over the weak, the matter of ‘face’ was a very serious matter, but even if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t be so insensible to directly state his condition in front of everyone and slap the face of this elder which was obviously trying to just assist and help him.
So, he uttered, “I would like us to be alone for that…”
“Oh… is that so… fine.” Surprised by his words, the pagoda master accepted. Then, looking at the other two volunteers which had passed the evaluation, he informed the two, “Another elder would be coming soon to guide you two, so wait in the library until then.”
After he was finished with his words, he looked at Virus, as he said, “Let’s go.”
.
.
.
Soon, they were out of the library as they began to stroll toward the pagodas in the distance.
“Okay… tell me now, what’s your condition?” The elder inquired with a kind smile plastered on his face.
“My condition is that I won’t call you ‘master’ ever… unless a day comes when I see you worthy to be my master. Do you accept this?” Virus explained with a tone that didn’t contain any malice or disrespect in it.
The elder, on the other hand, froze in his place after hearing Virus’ words, as his smile also instantly disappeared entirely.
Witnessing his expression and reaction, Virus couldn’t help but sigh inside as he thought, ‘Sigh…did I just ruin my opportunity to obtain that fruit in a short period of time?’
‘Whatever, I still don’t regret my decision… the matter of me being someone’s personal disciple is not a simple thing … and if he can’t even tolerate this much… then he truly doesn’t deserve to be the master of I, Virus, even if it’s just in name.’
As he was thinking along these lines, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the elder’s unexpected laughter which surprised him, “Hahahahahahaha…”
His loud laughter continued for a while until the elder finally stopped and stated with a broad smile, “Interesting… you are truly an interesting person…”
