With the light of the morning sun illuminating the area, the whole sect took on a whole new, almost angelic look.
The imposing yet impossibly light structure of the building now revealed itself not to be made from some shadowy bricks as it appeared during the night, but from perfectly white pieces of polished marble.
The white of the ancient buildings combined perfectly well with the light, lush greenery of the ever-present gardens and occasional accents of brown introduced by the wooden buildings from the modern era.
All of that, however, was just the background for the big event of the day, a morning rally that Narmidor didn't call for in what seemed like ages.
'They are all swarming like bees,' Theo thought as he followed Kato down the sect's main artery to the huge plaza of neatly, short-cut grass situated in front of the main entrance to the patriarch's mansion.
A place perfectly exposed to the massive balcony stretching out across a third of the length of the mansion's third floor, making it the prime spot for the patriarch to address all the members of the sect.
And by now, it was already swarming with cultivators, high and low rank alike, all eager to hear what their patriarch had to say in the morning rally, the first one to be called in over two years.
Before long, the doors to the balcony sprung open… Only for a bunch of Narmidor's servants to come out, sweeping the almost abandoned part of the mansion from all the dust and dirt, only to then cover nearly the entire width of the balcony with potted flowers.
"Do you think he's really going to advance?" Kato asked, pulling on Theo's leg with a total disregard for their respective ranks or how people of their status were supposed to behave.
Here, in the sect, hardly anyone gave a single fuck about the etiquette that was the lifeblood of the actual courts.
'One of the perks of being a part of a de-facto military order,' Theo thought, smirking to his own thoughts.
"What's the point in guessing?" Theo then answered with a shrug. "We are going to find out soon anyway, aren't we?"
The process of the crowd swarming continued until the entire field was filled up to the brim, revealing the true size of the sect.
This kind of announcement wasn't something anyone would be willing or even allowed to miss, for it was the exact method Narmidor would use when their order would be called into a conflict with one of their patrons in the past.
With this massive gathering of over a thousand cultivators, the air soon grew dense with speculation, rumors, and whispers of all sorts as people eagerly tried to foretell what this address was all about.
A mystery that was soon to be revealed as Narmidor finally appeared on the balcony and took his place in the narrow, free area between all the potted plants and herbs arranged by his servants.
"All hail the Patriarch!" A single shout cut through the crowd, putting a decisive end to all the whispers and chatter.
"All hail our lord, Narmidor!" the response to the call that followed was much louder, routinely picked up by pretty much everyone in the crowd.
Narmidor right now was nothing like the man Theo met just a few hours prior.
His comfortable, loose robes were replaced with a suit that only bore a distant semblance to a robe, consisting of more parts of metal plates and strips of chainmail than it did of cloth.
It was a suit designed to protect all his vitals while not limiting the man's movements in the slightest, while somehow still maintaining some degree of presentability and elegance.
And just Narmidor's choice of clothing was enough to start a new wave of whispers in the crowd as him appearing in the battle armor conveyed a certain meaning to all those smart enough to understand it.
Which is why Theo couldn't help but squint his eyes and tense up a bit.
For the patriarch to appear in armor would usually mean that the sect would be going to war. And that, inherently, forced a simple question: with whom?
"Hear me, hear me!" Narmidor finally spoke out, raising his hands as if to bless the crowd below him. "On today's morning assembly I come out to announce…"
His formal voice made some of the sect's veterans shake their heads as they already came to the realization of what this address was all about.
"It's a war, no doubt."
"Who are we going to fight with this time?"
"And here I thought I could stay alive until my retirement…"
Some voices soon rose, even before Narmidor would have the chance to reveal his intentions.
"In the night preceding today's morning, I have successfully completed an elemental attunement!" Narmidor finally broke the news to everyone, news that managed to catch even Theo by surprise. "And on the morrow, I shall be breaking through into the realm of Soul Tempering!"
Not even the hail of the patriarch from before managed to cut all the chatter and whispers as effectively as Narmidor's announcement.
The busy, crowded area instantly turned dead silent as not even the oldest and most decorated of the marquis' veterans dared to utter a sound or make a move.
This didn't make sense!
For such a joyous occasion, why would Narmidor pick a suit that clearly implied a coming conflict?
Why wasn't any of the elites informed about his nearing breakthrough in advance?
In a sect where hardly anything happened nowadays, for their patriarch to drop such a massive bomb of an announcement and for no one to see it coming beforehand was…
It was simply unheard of!
"What?" From Theo's perspective, Kato was the first to react although in a voice too small for anyone to hear him in the dense crowd.
Then, a single clap.
And just like before, with the call for a hail, the entire crowd erupted in cheers as everyone suddenly tried to one-up each other in the intensity with which they cheered up for their patriarch!
"HURRAH!"
"ALL HAIL THE PATRIARCH!"
"ALL HAIL NARMIDOR!"
All sorts of different shouts and screams soon turned into an indecipherable noise, a wave of sound that left all those participating in the event simply intoxicated on the enthusiasm.
For the sect's beloved patriarch to finally advance were truly joyous news! And Narmidor's people held nothing back at expressing their excitement.
Soon, someone started to stomp. A motion that more and more people joined, transforming the messy sound into an unorganized at first and then more and more coordinated mass stomping that sent a valiant rhythm of their hearts into the air.
"All hail the Patriarch!"
Someone shouted.
"All hail Slevian Sect!" Another shout soon joined, enriching the rhythm with a melodic voice.
And then, the entire crowd erupted in a single, spontaneously coordinated shout.
"ALL HAIL THE WHITE EAGLE!"