Rise of The Demon General

Amon walked home after that. He had planted the seed for his faction, now he would let them grow. They might need nurturing from time to time, but it shouldn't cause him to neglect his personal growth.

When he approached the foot of the mountain where the top ten's houses were located, he found there to be a group of four people waiting. From their appearance, they didn't look like freshman students. They looked older. Two were men, the other women. One of the two men saw Amon, he notified the others. The four then walked over to Amon.

'They were waiting for me?' Amon thought after seeing the four's reaction.

Amon stopped and waited for the four to approach, all the while paying attention to their small movements.

'All of them might be stronger than me,' Amon thought.

"I thought junior and senior students are restricted from entering the freshman section," Amon said when they arrived.

"It's just a general rule. No one will fuss about it as long as no problem occurs," One of the men said.

"So, you are not here to cause a problem?" Amon asked.

The man who spoke smiled. He then said while gesturing to his companions, "Let me introduce ourselves. I am An Wong. This is Lin Fei. The two lovely ladies here are Xie Muling and Mei Lin."

"Bloodless faction?" Amon asked. Three of them were from clans that were in the faction. He supposed the last one, Mei Lin, was a member of the Unity Sisters Sect.

"You are quite knowledgeable for a freshman student," An Wong said. "Yes, we are all members of the Bloodless faction and I am the leader of junior year."

"It is interesting meeting the freshman leader and junior leader of your faction on the same day, perhaps I can meet with your senior leader as well?" Amon said.

"Who do you think you are? Do you think our leader from the senior section has the time for a worm like you?" Lin Fei uttered. Out of the four, he was the one showing an unfriendly expression toward Amon.

An Wong waved for him to calm down. He then asked Amon, "So, you've met An Ling?"

An Wong's words indicated that these junior members of the faction were not aware of what happened just now between Amon and the five factions of the freshman class.

"I thought she refused to go and recruit him?" Mei Lin spoke to An Wong.

"Well, that sister of mine might be prideful and stubborn, but it seemed she still knows when to put down her pride for the good of the clan."

"She didn't come to recruit me. Are you people here to try to recruit me?" Amon asked.

"We are giving you the chance to join our faction," Lin Fei uttered. "Recruit makes you seem as if you are important. You are not!"

Amon sneered. "Then, why did four members from the junior class have to come all this way for me? Not to mention, one of you is even the faction leader," He asked.

Lin Fei's face turned red. He wanted to talk back but he was stopped by An Wong's laugh. "Haha. There is no need to mince words. We did come to recruit you because we do think of you as worthy. The first ranker in the entrance exam. You joining the Bloodless faction will give our faction more credibility and invite more people to join."

Amon grinned. "Unfortunately, you have wasted your time."

"How dare you make fun of us?!" Lin Fei yelled. "Who do you think you are to dare say no? We have given you face by coming here ourselves, you think you can live a peaceful life in the academy after this?"

"Heh, a peaceful life is at the bottom of the list of things I desire," Amon snickered.

"You...!"

An Wong again waved at Lin Fei to calm down. He then asked Amon, "May I know the reason for your refusal?"

"Go asked An Ling. She will tell you," Amon said.

An Wong frowned. Did her sister do something that offended Amon? He had told her his desire to recruit the first ranker who happened to also be a Lin clan. He even asked her to do it since she was in the same freshman class as Amon. But her sister had refused. She considered it beneath her to go and recruit someone. If Amon came and asked her for a membership, then that's a different matter. An Wong, however, thought it was better to do the recruitment before the other factions snatch Amon away. That's why he was here.

"If my sister had done something that offended you, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. There is no need to dwell on it," An Wong said to Amon.

Amon grinned and thought amusingly, 'It is I who have offended her.' To An Wong, he said, "Go and ask your sister. You will know."

He then walked past the four without excusing himself. But after taking several steps, someone abruptly stood before him. It was Lin Fei.

'At least beginning Transformation stage,' Amon thought after seeing Lin Fei's movement.

"Lin Mo! Don't think you are special just because you are the first ranker in the entrance exam. You are still just a bastard in our Lin clan. Do you not believe I will teach you a lesson here and now on behalf of our clan?"

"Sure, go ahead. We will see how you explain to the tutors about fighting in the freshman section, right after you wake up in the infirmary ward," Amon said. Energy swirled around his body, preparing for a confrontation. He was also paying attention to the three behind him, in case they tried to sneak an attack on his back.

"There is no need for violence," Amon heard An Wong's voice from the back but before he knew it, the man was already beside Lin Fei, holding his arm as a gesture for him to stand down.

'His movement art is very profound,' Amon thought.

"It is a pity that you don't wish to join," An Wong said. "But I will not force it. Since you are unwilling, we will leave you."

Amon resumed his walk again afterward.

"Lin Mo!" Lin Fei's voice was heard again. "I'm glad that you don't join Bloodless, which means I will have a chance to deal with you later. Lin Fen is my little sister, and I know you are the reason she had been disqualified and failed to enter this academy. I also know that it was you who caused several of our clan members to suffer injuries during their journey here. Our clan had given you food and shelter and this was how you repay us. Make no mistake, I will claim all these debts sooner or later."

Amon stopped when Lin Fei called him again, but he didn't turn back. He now replied without turning back. "Come at me any time." He then resumed his walk.

Lin Fei gritted his teeth. He was very eager to teach this arrogant kid a lesson.

"Let's go. This is not the place," An Wong said to him. "We will get into trouble if an incident happens because of us here."

Lin Fei nodded reluctantly before following the three and left.

Amon didn't put the four in his thought. Once he was back in his house, he went to the basement and cultivate.

*

Amon was back to his routine for the following days, joining the theory class when one was available, cultivating and training his arts in the afternoon and night. In the morning, he experimented with poison and also produced more Thousand Dream Powder for his weekly stock.

None of the initial members who joined his faction quit. After consuming Amon's Thousand Dream Powder, they were hooked. Additionally, they still got additional income from helping him distribute the drugs. More and more got addicted to his drugs. Those that came from poor clans opted to join Amon's faction to get the free batch as well as the additional income by helping Amon sell the products.

Amon received a steady income of aer stones from his members and at the same time, his faction grew in number. Amon gave them instructions to either stay within the main section or their territory. It was not yet time to look for trouble with the other factions. He left Xin Wuming in charge of organizing the members on a daily basis.

Amon drafted basic rules as guidelines to keep everyone in line. Every member had to abide by them. Together with the rules Amon also devised a timetable for them to follow and maximize their time in this academy. He prohibited them from taking any missions for now.

In the second week, Amon started to take the specialization class. He tried all of them. The alchemy teaches general recipes. The tutor in the class explained that there was another way to get better recipes aside from using academic points, but one had to be willing to spend more time doing alchemy here. If the tutor considered the student masterful enough, the tutor was allowed to teach them new recipes.

Amon had no desire to become a pill master. He studied alchemy only to help him to better learn his 101 Primal Poison Tome. So, Amon only spent two days dabbling in alchemy before he moved on to the next building.

Inside the engraving building, the tutor also explained the same thing. Aside from using academic points, Amon might be granted new words of power if Amon spent enough time producing products and were deemed to be masterful enough. Amon spent another couple of days and then went to the smithing building.

In the smithing, Amon learned the basics by crafting a simple knife. Amon took the chance to learn how to make a flying knife by using his available ones as a model. The tutor gave Amon advice and pointers to help Amon better learn the craft. He ended up spending almost a week inside the smithing building.

By the end of the week, he was now able to make his own flying knives, as long as he had the tools and materials. Unfortunately, the ones he had made were properties of the academy, so he couldn't take them. He received academic points for them, though.