The Witch Hunter System

Chapter 1084: Recruitment

When Vaan exited the Grand Hall of Knowledge, he found a million rehabilitated disciples waiting outside. Most of them came from the Grand Hall of Dilemma, while only a small minority arrived from other Hall of Dilemmas.

Of course, none of them had been truly idle while they were camping outside of the Grand Hall of Knowledge.

Some rehabilitated disciples sat in meditative postures and cultivated with their limited resources, while others studied knowledge saved on their electronic tablets.

In this era of technology, it was normal for disciples to carry their entire collection of knowledge on a single smart device. It was far superior to possessing an interspatial artifact holding mountains of physical books and scrolls.

After all, it was both inefficient and inconvenient to search for specific materials within such a large collection.

Nevertheless, when Vaan came out of the Grand Hall of Knowledge, everyone gave him their undivided attention. Hope, excitement, anticipation—Vaan could feel various emotions through their fixed gaze.

"My Lord, we would like to follow you. Please establish a faction and allow us to serve you," a Black Whale Fishman voiced the group’s collective wish, adding, "I am willing to donate all of my contribution points for the cause."

"I will also donate all of my contribution points, my Lord. Please let me serve you!"

"Me too, my Lord!"

"And me!"

The rehabilitated disciples voiced their wishes one after the other in an unending stream, seemingly going on forever. However, silence quickly beckoned when Vaan raised his hand.

"I understand what you all want. However, neither of us is ready to take on such a large responsibility. Without a solid foundation, a newly-formed faction will easily crumble under the pressure of others," Vaan’s gaze swept through the crowd as he spoke.

"A faction cannot operate just because people wish for it. A faction needs both strength and resources. If you want me to establish a faction, prove to me that you at least have what it takes to defend it and not just let stronger factions absorb it!"

"Overcome your bottlenecks and advance your cultivation! When the time comes for me to establish a faction, I will take you all in," Vaan firmly stated.

"Yes, my Lord!" the rehabilitated disciples answered with renewed resolve and realization.

Indeed, they had been too hasty in wanting Vaan to establish a faction and had not considered anything else. Vaan was just a new disciple of the Outer Palace. He possessed neither a high cultivation base nor the financial power to run it.

If Vaan formed a faction prematurely, it would consume all his time and delay his cultivation.

After all, the competition among factions was much fiercer than between individual disciples. Problems that a strong faction could easily and swiftly resolve would take a weaker faction a lot more effort and time to overcome.

As such, it wasn’t the best time to establish a faction. Vaan was only laying the groundworks for it.

"Hahaha, impressive speech. I was almost moved," a Divine Lord-level Grey Shark Fishman suddenly spoke rudely and sarcastically, adding, "However, Noble Vaan does not need to take such a hard path; there’s a simple choice."

"Join our Zander Faction and swear to support our Lord, Noble Zander. If you do, our noble lord promised to provide you with all the guidance and resources you need, Noble Vaan." ṟÀNƟ𐌱ЕṢ

’The troublemakers are finally starting to obstruct my path, huh? It seems I have drawn too much attention,’ Vaan quietly thought.

Shortly after, Vaan calmly yet boldly replied, "I appreciate Noble Zander for thinking highly of me. However, I am my own master and have no intention of serving anyone. As such, I will have to decline your offer humbly."

"You dare to refuse?" the Divine Lord-level Grey Shark Fishman frowned, slightly exerting his pressure.

However, as his Divine Aura weighed down on Vaan, it was quickly dispersed by another sliver of Divine Aura.

"Hahaha, Noble Zander has some interesting ideas," a sea lion-headed Divine Lord casually chuckled as he mentioned, "Noble Beings have always been each other’s rivals. However, there’s no rule stating one cannot support another."

"Since that is the case, it was truly a good idea to try and recruit Noble Vaan. However, if Noble Vaan had to choose, why would he pick your third-ranked Zander Faction over my second-ranked Leomaris Faction?"

"Don’t go too far, Skipper. I was talking to Noble Vaan. It’s not your turn to butt in!" the Divine Lord-level Grey Shark Fishman stated with a darkened expression.

However, the sea lion-headed Divine Lord ignored him, turning to Vaan, promising, "Our Leomaris Faction is superior to the Zander Faction. If you promise to support our lord, we can provide better conditions, Noble Vaan."

"Appreciate the offer. However, my answer remains unchanged—I will not join anyone’s faction. And to be honest, no one is worthy of lording over me," Vaan boldly stated, despite the risk of offending the other party. His refusal would offend them regardless.

"Kekekeke, such confidence, only to be refused in the end. You’ve made a fool of yourself, Skipper," the Divine Lord-level Grey Shark Fishman snickered, feeling slightly better.

Skipper’s friendliness quickly disappeared, replaced by gloom.

"Noble Vaan, today, you have to choose a faction. Do you think everyone will let you grow in peace if you don’t?" Skipper threatened with a coercive tone.

"Isn’t there still a higher-ranked faction than yours?" Vaan mentioned amusingly, though he had no intention of joining that one either.

Even so, everyone’s attention shifted to the representative of the Ecthelion Faction, a red crustacean Divine Lord by the name of Krills.

"Noble Vaan does not intend on joining any faction. I have no interest in embarrassing myself and my Lord," Krills waved his hand, dismissing any intention of recruiting Vaan.

Meanwhile, the lower-ranking faction representatives had an even more unlikely chance of succeeding in the recruitment. As such, no one stepped forward to make their offer.

"Noble Vaan, the path you are choosing is extremely arduous. Are you sure that you want to go through with it?" Skipper asked again with a frown, hoping for a different answer. He added, "If everyone works together to suppress you, you will not be able to grow."

"I suppose we will just have to wait and see whether that’s true or not, won’t we?" Vaan nonchalantly smiled.

"Hmph! Since you have stubbornly refused our Lord’s kindness, I hope you don’t regret it, Noble Vaan. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor," Skipper spoke some empty words before taking his leave.

The other faction representatives also departed, returning to their lords to receive their next set of instructions.

Meanwhile, Vaan’s Pomposity channel was on fire as his loyal subscribers flooded the chat with their unfiltered opinions over the matter, which had been fully exposed under the ever-recording lens of the Pompos.

"What a bunch of grandsons! How dare they bully Noble Vaan! Do they really think they can stop Noble Vaan’s rise with their power?"

"Hmph, right? Those bastards only know how to oppress new disciples with their overwhelming influence. However, such old tricks won’t work on someone as talented as Noble Vaan."

"Brothers and sisters, a word of caution! I do not doubt that Noble Vaan will rise regardless of their mean tricks! However, it is a different story for us! We might become targets when their old tricks fail to impede Noble Vaan’s growth."

"Everyone, stay safe. It’s going to be too dangerous to venture outside for missions these days."

"No worries! I’m going to enter secluded cultivation. I won’t give those big bullies a chance to play any tricks on me. The day I leave my cultivation chamber will be the day Noble Vaan created his faction."

"Nice. I will do that too."

"Even if I have to take on such risks, I’m going to train in the Extreme Water Realm. Secluded cultivation won’t help me achieve a breakthrough. I refuse to be weak and be looked down on forever! I have to become strong for Noble Vaan!"

"Yeah! I would rather die than become Noble Vaan’s burden!"

"You people are all crazy. Noble Vaan is just a new disciple with little history in the Outer Palace. One act of grace, and you people are all worshipping him like this... Isn’t that insane? This level of loyalty makes no sense! Speak, have ya’ll been brainwashed or something?"

"Brainwashed? Heh, there’s no need to explain to a non-believer like you. You wouldn’t understand."

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