The crowd quickly dispersed after Elder Zhang left, and Noah was forced to search that so called Martial Arts pavillion by himself. Why he doesn"t ask for anyone help? Because even the outer disciples are unsociable fellows full of themselves."No wait, there are the servants." Servants have even lower standing in the sect than outer disciples, they basically are in the sect for do stuff that overly prideful cultivators can"t do themselves like cleaning,washing clothes, etc... Servants are people that couldn"t advance in their realm for a good amount of years and still wanted to remain in the sect, obviously they stopped in a low cultivation realm. There"s also servants that couldn"t enter the sect as disciples because their low talent but still wanted to enter the sect no matter how, servants are paid to do their work.
Noah found one random servant, a teenager he can"t really tell the age. He was sending frightened gazes towards Noah, probabily because disciples despise and bully servants for no real reason at all. A young guy like him probabily gets beaten by some outer sect disciple dissatisfied with life.
Noah quickly calmed him down and told him he just wanted to know some directions, the servant made a relieved face and told the way to the pavillion, before lefting really quick. Poor guy.
Noah soon found the pavillion, it was a ancient chinese building with two roofs.
(Something like this but more wide : entering it, he saw a old man sitting inside a wood counter gazing at him, probabily the elder guarding the place. He got near him,bowed, cupped his fists and started explaining what he came for.
"Elder, this is the first time i came here and Elder Zhang said i can borrow one martial arts manual for free." The Elder caressed his chin and nodded, probabily confirming something. He pointed to a place filled with books in his front.
"Go and choose one technique of Mortal Rank. Don"t try to get to the second floor, a formation is protecting it. Give the manual back after a week and don"t share it with anyone inside or outside the sect, especially outside, or the sect will hunt will down." He said it in a tone like he already repeated this countless times. Noah nodded, already expecting stuff like this.
Inside the pavillion first floor there was a lot of manuals, majority of them being of the so called Mortal Rank. In fact, he only saw one other rank, something like Earth Rank, a incomplete one that the protagonist will probabily master and shock everyone. Noah ignored stuff with names like"16 Heavenly Palms","3 Celestial Steps", or anything that started with a number and a adjective. By his novel reading experience, he knows all these techniques weren"t worth it.
There was a wooden board near the manual with the name, summary, rank and price of it, and Mortal Rank was divided in low,medium and high. The one who named it was very creative. Noah was searching the perfect technique, one that was not ranked very high because he probabily will not be able to master it and not ranked very low to not be completely useless. He soon found something that picked his interest.
"Silent Steps Mortal Rank Medium Level, increase in speed and very little sound when walking. Twenty five Spirit Stones" This technique was avoided by the majority because of its "treacherous" nature and no use in a duel. This manual would only be useful in a.s.sa.s.sinations and sneak attacks. And also because it"s price was a little higher than other Mortal Rank manual of the same level.
"Perfect." Noah gave a smile. Noah choose it because the manual was easier to master compared to other Mortal Ranks of the same level. He will also not admit it, but he is a guy that don"t like direct confrontations and loves taking enemies by surprise, he only plays a.s.sa.s.sin characters in games. He told the Elder who looked strangely at him that he was taking this manual and got back to his cave to start cultivation and training in the manual.