Bruce was more than two meters tall, he had short black hair, thick and messy eyebrows, and a large nose.

He appeared extremely wild but Noah could see that his mind endured the weight of his faction, he wasn't a mindless idiot.

'Peak of the third rank, no wonder he is wary about being near weaker disciples.'

Noah had faced two rank 3 cultivators in his life.

The first one was the black robe in the valley in Odrea nation while the second one was Alison.

However, the black robe was just in the lower tier of the third rank, Noah with his just obtained rank 3 sea of consciousness was able to fight back his pressure.

As for Alison, she wasn't using her real power or her tattoo would have interfered with her chase.

Yet, Bruce had a dantian in the solid stage and a mental sphere nearing the heroic ranks, coupled with the fact that he found it hard to hold back, it made his sole presence a threat for the weak disciples.

'Not being able to hold back at his level means that even his words are backed with the full power of his cultivation level and mental energy, the suppression was so strong because I was extremely close too.'

Noah a.n.a.lyzed Bruce's power, he would be his captain from that moment onward after all.

The mental sphere applied pressure depending on its width.

Being in the third rank didn't mean having the same power, the larger the sphere the more pressure it could generate.

Noah could be considered a newbie of the third rank while Bruce was at its peak, the difference between their seas of consciousness was simply too vast.

'His words could be considered fully powered attacks due to his peculiarity, I wonder how strong he actually is when he uses spells and techniques.'

"Breath" and mental energy were energies, they could be used in their raw form.

Yet, to express their true power, they had to be channeled in martial arts and spells, Noah couldn't help but be amazed at Bruce's power since just his raw power was enough to suppress him.

"Joining you, what does it imply?"

Noah asked, he was happy that he could stay in the faction while avoiding Alison.

"Let me explain the hierarchy of the faction first."

Bruce answered as he took a blank sheet and a stick from his s.p.a.ce-ring.

"Rank 1 and rank 2 cultivators are p.a.w.ns, they can only be ordered around. They are all a.s.signed to captains that will send them into missions according to their cultivation level."

Bruce drew small dots at the bottom of the sheet, they represented the p.a.w.ns he was speaking about.

"Rank 3 cultivators are all captains, they can form their own teams and pursue treasures on their own when they find a source that is reliable enough in their eyes. My faction has more than twenty rank 3 cultivators, we are quite powerful in the sect."

'More than twenty? If there is the same number of rank 3 experts even in the other faction, then just the human division of the sect has more than one hundred cultivators at the peak of the human ranks!'

Noah was amazed at those numbers, he felt extremely glad that he had joined the sect.

"Seth is above the captains, his words have the same weight as mine when I'm not around, be sure to trust him and don't let the events of today affect you, he is really reliable."

Bruce vouched for Seth but Noah only nodded, trust was something that had to be earned, especially in his case.

"I'm at the Leader of the faction, we can't have the backing of the monsters in the heroic ranks because it will affect the human matters too much so I'm the biggest power that you will meet while you are here."

Bruce continued to draw small dots on the sheet, some of them were bigger according to the level of the cultivators he was speaking about.

Then he made a big circle around those dots while drawing other circles of the same width around it.

"These are the six factions in the Chasing demon sect but not all its members want to join a faction, many of them only want to cultivate in peace and not aim for the precious resources of the inventory."

Bruce drew many dots outside of the circles, the whole sheet was filled with dots by then.

"What is this?"

Bruce picked the sheet from the ground and pointed at it, Noah understood what he wanted to hear.

"The sect."

He answered and Bruce nodded at his words.

"Exactly, the factions might work in different areas of interest and might have some minor conflict between each other but we are all members of the same sect, the good of the sect will always come before our personal interests."

The sheet then caught fire, blue flames burned in Bruce's hand as he fixed his gaze on Noah.

"Always remember: if the sect falls, you fall with it; if the sect s.h.i.+nes, you s.h.i.+ne with it. Also, don't ever forget that we are just humans, the elders in the heroic ranks might appear absent but they are always watching us, they hope to see more of us joining their ranks where the real matters between cultivators unfold."

The sheet was completely burned by the blue flames, not even its ashes remained in Bruce's hand.

"As for now, the sect has more than two thousand cultivators between the first and second rank, more than a two hundred in the third rank, and, for what I was able to understand, at least ten in the heroic ranks. I hope to join them soon but I still lack a proper cultivation technique that allows me to continue training after the tribulations, that's why I'm slowing down my improvements."

Bruce sighed when he finished speaking, techniques in the heroic ranks seemed hard to find even for a cultivator in a large sect like him.

"Now, let's talk about your situation."