“Brian Clark, do you have confidence in joining a sect?” Emily asked Brian Clark.

“Of course I do! I think I’ll get into a sect!” Brian Clark nodded as he spoke.

He believed that his chances of entering a sect this time were quite high. This wasn’t just wishful thinking—he had his reasons. Even if he was currently at the bottom, his chances were still good, mainly because he wasn’t picky about which sect or what rank.

He could join any sect, even if it was just a small one. Of course, this meant a small sect within the Seven Stars Nation. For Ashley Carter and Grace Bennett, even the Seven Stars Nation’s sects were considered small and insignificant.

At the same time, he could become a menial disciple, rather than aiming for the basic level of outer disciple that others wanted. With different goals, the difficulty naturally changed.

Within the small power of the Seven Stars Nation, menial disciples served the sect and weren’t the choice for those who wanted to stand out, so the threshold was very low. With Brian Clark’s abilities, becoming a menial disciple was more than achievable.

As for why Brian Clark would still want to join under such conditions? The fact was, even in a small sect, the income and benefits of a menial disciple weren’t something ordinary people could enjoy. For Brian Clark, it was a high-paying job. If these sects didn’t require recruits to be at least fifteen years old, he would have signed up long ago.

“You must be aiming to be a menial disciple,” Emily said. She knew Brian Clark fairly well and could easily guess his thoughts.

Given Brian Clark’s displayed aptitude and abilities, the only thing he could be so confident about was the menial disciple position.

“Yeah, I’m not interested in being an outer disciple. My martial arts skills are pretty much at the bottom here,” Brian Clark said with a smile, not at all embarrassed. It was a fact he had long accepted.

“So, which sect are you planning to join?” Emily asked. Their conversation didn’t attract any attention, since both of them were quite ordinary. People were more interested in the proud “geniuses” in the crowd.

“Me? Any sect is fine. Wherever they want me, I’ll go,” Brian Clark chuckled. That was the honest truth—no matter which sect’s menial disciple he became, he could still earn a decent “wage.”

“Then why don’t we join the same sect? That way, we can look out for each other,” Emily said, looking at Brian Clark. It was human nature—having a companion was always better.

“I’m fine with anything. It just depends on whether they’ll take me. Which sect do you want to join?” Brian Clark waved his hand, looking completely unconcerned.

“I’d like to get into one of the Four Great Sects if possible. If not, then the Qingyun Sword Sect, the Huangji Palace…” Emily thought for a moment, speaking a bit wishfully.

The Four Great Sects were the best in the Seven Stars Nation: Taixuan Sect, Lingyun Sect, Butterfly Valley, and Yanshan Sect. They were all of the Yellow Rank, and although they were at the lowest level of Yellow Rank, at least they had that status. Other sects didn’t even reach that level.

In this world, all sects—or rather, all powers including sects—were divided into four ranks: Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow. Each rank was further divided into sub-levels. Brian Clark didn’t know the exact breakdown, but he knew that Black Rank powers were already quite impressive, making up less than a tenth of the number of Yellow Rank powers!

As for Earth Rank powers, he knew nothing about them—not how many Black Rank powers they equaled, nor how rare they were. They were the places most geniuses dreamed of joining!

As for Heaven Rank powers, there were only a handful in the whole world. Even geniuses could only look up to them, far out of reach!

Brian Clark didn’t know about these things, nor did he need to. He felt he’d never reach that level anyway. Just because you know who the emperor is, does that mean you have to meet him? And even if you wanted to, could you?

Another thing: these powers included countries as well. In other words, a country was also a form of power, along with clans, gangs, and any group that could form a power.

The territory they controlled wasn’t necessarily smaller than a country’s, but it wasn’t called territory—it was called a sphere of influence.

This was normal, because in terms of martial strength, even an army of a hundred thousand might not be a match for a martial artist with seven meridians, let alone someone even stronger.

What mattered most in a sphere of influence was the strength of its martial artists, not the number of people!

Countries also varied in rank and nature. The ranks were self-explanatory, but in terms of nature, some were pure powers, some were subordinate to other powers, and some were alliances of several powers, and so on.

The Seven Stars Nation was an alliance of several powers, but it was also subordinate to a Black Rank power. This mixed nature was quite common—lower-ranked powers would always seek to attach themselves to higher-ranked ones.

The leaders of the Seven Stars Nation’s alliance were the Four Great Sects mentioned above. Naturally, these Four Great Sects were the ones the younger generation of the Seven Stars Nation most wanted to join, though not everyone did.