Death... and me

At the center of the crowd of kids, Roan stood in midair, looking at the kids over eight years old working on the houses. As he mentioned before, the kids would have to work on it by themselves as a way of training. Of course, they were all very clumsy and couldn't deal with the workload very well. Many cried, complained, and tried to escape.

Unfortunately for them, Roan had Celis nearby. If any of them tried to escape, a root would shoot out of the ground, grab the kid, and put them back to work again. As for the orders, Roan was in the Nascent Soul Realm. He simply used his Spiritual Sense to control all of them.

Nevertheless, it was obvious that the work would take forever. After all, it wasn't as if Roan was that good with kids.

Roan then looked above his head as he saw Rean approaching with the humans he captured. Soon, he asked, "Didn't I say to only take ten or so?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders, responding, "I thought that it wouldn't be enough. After all, we have over three thousand kids here. Don't worry. I made sure that none of them had any cultivation or attachments to the tribes they lived in."

Roan nodded not long after, not minding it too much. Since Rean already brought them here, then he might as well use these people. "Alright, so be it." Soon after, he descended to the ground with Rean and the newcomers. "As you can see, we have a lot of kids here. Your work is very simple. You will be responsible for taking care of them."

Burio, Solan, and the others were still somewhat at a loss, but they nodded nonetheless. "Sure...but we will be able to cultivate as well, right?"

Roan nodded as he brought out many manuals. Other than that, he also took out an Aptitude Measuring Orb and an Elemental Affinity Test Orb. Naturally, that was so that he could test their talent and find out which cultivation manual would be the best for each one.

Roan then looked at everyone and asked, "Who here knows how to read?" In fact, Roan wasn't expecting anyone to raise their hand. After all, he already knew that these tribes were quite isolated from the rest of the world.

Surprisingly though, a woman called Kovfei, who seemed to be in her forties, raised her hand and replied, "I was responsible for taking care of the previous chief's kids of my tribe in the past. I lost my position when the new chief ascended, but I still retained my reading knowledge."

Roan was more than satisfied by that as he said, "Excellent. You'll be responsible for teaching the others here how to write and read. You can think over the best schedule for everyone as well. That being said, you don't need to pay attention to the kids until you finish teaching all the adults."

Roan then took a few Spirit Stones out and threw them at the adults before continuing, "You won't go unrewarded. The faster you all finish learning, the more Spirit Stones you'll get. However, I'm only giving you one month to finish. For those who take longer than that to learn, expect the proper punishment."

Burio narrowed his eyes and muttered, "So, we will also be treated like slaves here, huh?"

Rean patted his shoulder as he shook his head, responding with a bitter smile, "Of course not. Roan's punishment couldn't possibly be as gentle as the punishment a slave gets back at your tribes. It's a lot more terrifying."

Burio's mouth twitched as he responded, "Was I supposed to be happy with that?"

It was then that Burio and the others saw a trembling Demon Bird by their side. Obviously, it was Kentucky, trying his best to comfort them. "He-hehe...do-don't worry. Yo-yo-you wo-wo-wo-won't die."

Just what kind of terrifying memories did they just trigger to make a Stage Five Demon Beast that scared?!

Roan snorted in response, saying, "You better crack your heads to learn from her as fast as possible. But before that, come forward and touch the crystals. I need to know how much aptitude you have."

Burio and the others swallowed some of their saliva and began to come forward one by one. Sure enough, they all had average aptitudes. After all, geniuses weren't easy to find. The best one was at the Yellow Color, with most bring Gray and Brown. The Yellow Color Aptitude was a guy called Sans.

Following that, they all tested for their Elemental Aptitude. After that, Roan took a look at the cultivation manuals they had and passed each one of them a specific manual. Rean and Roan had quite a lot of them since they copied those manuals from the Dalamu Sect and the Hazel Clan in the Soul Rulers' headquarters. Of course, only Kovfei could understand what was written there.

"Cultivation manuals! I've only seen the previous chief holding his one once!" Kovfei said as she read through hers.

Naturally, the others were also excited to hear that those were the real deal. Too bad they couldn't understand what was written inside. "Kovfei! You need to quickly teach us how to read!"

*Pah!*

Kovfei slapped the back of the guy's head in response. "Quickly, your ass! It took me over a year to become more or less proficient at it. Don't expect to understand what's written there anytime soon since many of the terms inside are quite complicated," Kovfei said after she checked her own cultivation technique manual.

Roan also gave Kovfei a warning, telling her, "You're prohibited from reading the contents in the cultivation manuals to them. If they want to use them, they'll have to understand them themselves." Naturally, that was a good way to guarantee that everyone would pay attention to the classes.

Rean then warned the newcomers after, saying, "However, don't forget that your work here is to take care of the kids. We're busy, after all. Make sure you share the workload correctly and don't leave the kids unsupervised."

Burio and the others nodded after hearing that. They understood how everything would work. Big rewards for those who work hard, and punishment for those who laze around. They didn't know how terrifying Roan's punishments are, but their lives here were better than their previous ones since there were no such things as rewards in their old lives.