John followed the Vice-Sect Leader in silence while he thought about everything he had heard.
'Not only is this mission incredibly risky, its also incredibly difficult. I only have six months to gather all this intel according to the Sect Leader, so I will have to be extra brazen with my actions.'
While thinking about his mission, John looked to the Vice-Sect Leader to ask a question he had forgotten to ask.
"Vice-Sect Leader, how long would it take for the Sect Leader to arrive to aid me once I crush that item he gave me?" John asked curiously.
He would need to know this information in order to use it properly.
The Vice-Sect Leader looked over her shoulder.
"Oh? I already publicly stated that I accepted you as my direct disciple, and still you address me without the proper respect? Do you want another beating?" she replied in an amused tone.
John frowned as he heard this, as he had never accepted such a proposition. However, he knew he was powerless to change it, and didn't want to be beaten up for no reason again.
He grit his teeth slightly before replying with a wry look on his face.
"Master…"
"That's more like it," the Vice-Sect Leader replied in response. "As for your question, his powers are far beyond your reckoning, so you don't have to worry about his response time. As soon as you crush that disk, regardless of distance, he'll appear there within several seconds," she explained.
"So fast?" John exclaimed.
He had been expecting several minutes at the very least, but such a response time was incredibly fast. It had to be known that the Sect Leader would be in the Heavenly Lightning Sect, tens of thousands of miles away from the Bloodfiend Sect, and yet he would arrive within mere seconds.
John sighed out slightly in relief as he heard this.
'Since this is the case, then I can definitely be more brazen with my actions. If I'm caught out, the Sect Leader should be able to arrive before any harm befalls me.'
"We're here," the Vice-Sect Leader stated, and John looked down to notice that he had already arrived at the War Hall grounds.
'I guess since joining the War Hall, I haven't done anything official with them. This will be my first official War Hall mission.'
John followed behind the Sect Leader and landed in front of one of the War Hall buildings. A signboard, carved with ornate wordings, read 'Mission Hall.'
There were two guards stationed out front, and each quickly bowed to the Vice-Sect Leader with full respect as soon as they saw her.
"Greetings, Vice-Sect Leader," they both called out.
The Vice-Sect Leader strode past them, and into the Mission Hall. John followed closely behind, and entered the Mission Hall as well. The Mission Hall was quite large, and spanned a hundred yards wide and long, and several hundred yards tall.
Most of the floors were reserved for administrative purposes, such as intelligence gathering, creating mission documents, and other such things.
The main lobby of the Mission Hall was quite expansive, a signature architecture style of the War Hall.
Hundreds of sect members could be seen going about their business, and John quickly spotted an organized group of about a dozen sect members standing in formation in the front of the lobby.
They spotted the Vice-Sect Leader, and each of them instantly bowed their heads in respect to their War Hall Leader.
"We pay our respects to the Vice-Sect Leader," they each called out in unison.
The Vice-Sect Leader stopped before them, and inspected each of them before turning to John.
"John, this is the squadron you will be joining for this mission. Its led by Elder Rein here, so you will follow any instructions he gives you, understood?" the Vice-Sect Leader instructed.
John nodded his head in understanding, before glancing over the group before him. They inspected him as well, curious about the first year newcomer. First years were not allowed to join the War Hall, or the missions they carried out, but John was the one exception.
Not only that, but his fame within the sect had skyrocketed recently, making those within the squadron even more curious about him.
John glanced over the group, inspecting each of their cultivations. The one Elder of the group, Elder Rein, had a cultivation at the peak of the Meridian Forging Realm, similar to Elder Ragur when John had first met him.
The rest of the group consisted of disciples of the sect, namely second, third, and fourth year disciples. After the four year of being in the sect, disciples had the option to become an Elder if their cultivation was high enough, or carry out other tasks for the sect. This was John's first time really meeting disciples of the sect above him in age, and so he inspected each of them carefully.
'Their cultivations range from the Late Core Formation Realm, to the Early Meridian Forging Realm. A bit disappointing, but expected I suppose. Based on what the Sect Leader revealed to me a while ago, all our most talented disciples to go the Divine Martial Continent, so this bunch is mostly those who didn't qualify for that honor I suppose.'
The Vice-Sect Leader noticed John inspecting the group, as well as his unimpressed attitude.
"Do not look down on them," the Vice-Sect Leader said to John. "While their cultivations may not be impressive to you, their battle prowess is not to be questioned. Each of them has stared death in the face multiple times and come out alive. Each attack is done so with their lives on the line, and I am proud to call them members of my War Hall."
Each member before them felt pride well up inside them after hearing the Vice-Sect Leader speak of them in such a way. They treated her as a god, and getting praise from her was valued incredibly highly by them.
John raised his eyebrows slightly at the Vice-Sect Leader's words, as it was rare for her to talk about anyone in a positive light.
'Seems like she's not a fully terrible person after all.'
John nodded to the group before him, and smiled towards them in a friendly manner. "Then I look forward to seeing the true fighting spirits of my War Hall brothers. I will be in your care for this mission."
John's friendly greeting improved their impressions they had of him. Based on his status as the number one disciple of the sect, they had expected him to be overbearing and prideful, but he had greeted them in a friendly manner.
"It's too early for you to call us brothers. Only when you prove yourself on the line of battle will you be able to call us as such, but we welcome you nonetheless," Elder Rein spoke up.
His deep and grizzled voice boomed out loudly, and the way he carried himself made John sure that he was incredibly battle hardened.
"Elder Rein, your squadron will set out to the Hindelands region and scout for any Bloodfiend Sect excursions into our territory. If you find any Bloodfiend Sect squadrons, if you determine your squadron's combat prowess to be comparable or greater than that of the enemies, you are to engage and wipe them out. The Bloodfiend Sect is becoming more and more overbearing these last few months, and act as if we are too scared to retaliate," the Vice-Sect Leader said to the group.
The eyes of all in the squadron darkened at the Vice-Sect Leaders last line. They were the frontline of the sect, and such an insult from the Bloodfiend Sect was an insult directly at the War Hall itself.
"You and your squadron will show no mercy, and remind them of why our War Hall is feared across the continent," the Vice-Sect Leader spoke out with an impassioned voice.
"Haaah," the squadron yelled out in unison, their fighting spirits fully ignited by her words.
The united battle intents of the squadron exploded out, and ignited John's own fighting spirit as he felt it. He nodded his head in approval at the group, as they truly did seem to be battle hardened veterans. Such was a group John was sure he would get along well with.
"Set out," the Vice-Sect Leader instructed.
Elder Rein nodded his head, and looked towards John.
"Fall in line," he instructed.
John obliged and fell in line with the rest of the squadron. The Elder walked out of the formation and stood before them, closely inspecting every member.
"It's been a while since our blades have tasted Bloodfiend blood. Let us whet our blade's appetites once more. We move!"
"Haaah!"
The group once again cried out a war cry in unison, and John joined in as well.
Elder Rein turned and strode out of the building, closely followed behind by the squadron. John looked at the Vice-Sect Leader.
"Good luck," a sound transmission from the Vice-Sect Leader sounded out in John's mind, surprising him slightly by her sincere tone. John nodded his head, and left with the squadron. The Vice-Sect Leader watched the group leave, before her body vanished from sight.