I was currently standing in one of the training grounds located at the Infernal District.

Before me stood two young men, and behind them stood their respective squads.

Of course it was none other than Frian and Liran, who had finally completed their training after all this time.

Both of them looked and felt stronger, having grown in both strength and ability. They were already far more skilled than I could hope to be at the time when I met, but it appears that Elder Zal has refined them even further.

They were dressed in black robes, and carried spears I didn't recognize. I suppose it makes sense since their previous ones were only for the Qi Refinement realm.

Then look at me for a moment and then dropped to their knees.

"We greet the Patriarch."

Before I could respond their squads behind them also fell to their knees and did the same. Only it was much louder due to the fact 100 people all spoke at once.

"We greet the Patriarch!"

As always I never really know what to say so I just nodded and said the only thing I could think of in the moment.

"Welcome back."

A few moments later and I was seated in the office built for me here at the Infernal District. Frian and Lirian were standing before me.

They looked kind of tense.

"Well how was it? And don't just stand there, have a seat."

They did as they were told, before taking a quick glance at each other and then looking towards me.

Then Frian started talking.

It was always so interesting to watch them decide on the spot who was going to be the main one talking.

"The training was good Patriarch, while we didn't manage to progress our cultivation all that much, our ability to fight by ourselves and as a group improved significantly.

"Elder Zal put us through many different scenarios and situations where we had to face think on our feet and come up with tactics on the spot as we led our respective squads.

"Towards the end of our training, a good portion of our daily activities involved our squads fighting against each other."

Oh that sounds interesting. Little squad battles huh. I should probably participate in something like that myself.

"Well don't hold out on me, give me details."

I pressed on for more information, and slowly but surely Frian kept on talking, before Lirian eventually began chiming in as well.

From there we kept talking for hours.

I don't even know if they even realized that they began to open up a bit more as they delved into every little thing they could remember which was technically everything, since the memory of someone in Core Formation couldn't be compared to that of a regular person.

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Listening to them ramble about fighting something called a salamander that lived inside of a volcano was particularly interesting. I'm pretty sure it was that same volcano that the Ash Guard quit the whole thing on.

Anyway, I wanted to go fighting this salamander thing to since it was confirmed to be stronger than the boys. They hadn't killed it and only fought it repeatedly under the supervision of Elder Zal.

Of course, she allowed them to suffer plenty of injuries, with some being worse than others, but that never caused hesitation within them.

Infernals never ran from a fight.

A tactical retreat was one thing, but cowardice was another. It had no place among us.

They even brought up the amount of practice that went into getting better at conjuring their new flames. It was definitely way different than me who practically communicated all my wants and needs and flames simply obliged.

For them, it was literally like a brand new technique they had just learned. The flames didn't listen to them, nor did it communicate. They were Infernal Flames. Destructive yes, but not quite at all the same flames that I wielded.

Either way, it turns out someone like Elder Zal who wielded flames she received from her Matriarch was the best type of teacher. Since I would never be able to explain how it worked for me.

All in all, it was nice to see them excited about something and genuinely talk to me without apprehension. Though some might say it was weird that two boys, not even 17 years old were so excited about risking their lives every day for months all in the name of training.

But I suppose that was normal in this new life of ours.

Especially in the lives of Infernals.

Though while I enjoyed hearing about their training, and I'm looking forward to going to fight the salamander myself, the things that stuck out to me most was the fact they did admin training.

Really? Admin training.

I couldn't believe it.

"Why did Elder Zal put you through Admin training? What did that even entail?"

They then went on another spiel about what it was and what they did. To sum it all up, it was pretty much Elder Zal teaching them how to manage a Clan and it's territories. From finances to warfighting capabilities and everything in between, she went over it all.

They went over the different departments a standard Clan would have and all the different details that being the ones above those departments would need to be aware of.

Honestly they won't ever a whole lot of things that even I would hopefully get educated on too. And now that the training and I guess education of the boys was over, hopefully Elder Zal would have a bit more time on her hands to help me.

Once all of my current priority list is cleared up a bit, I'll ask her for assistance.

But that for was later...in the meantime..

"Well now that you all have been taught a bit about managing a Clan, what are some recommendations you have for me?

"I have a few thousand Internals here, and I've just been having Lidaz keep them organized Or if I needed something then I would let him know and there would be a group ready to handle it.

"What should I be doing better?"

They looked a little hesitant to answer the question and it was easy to figure out why. I was basically telling them to tell their Patriarch what he was doing wrong. I'm sure they would find that a little uncomfortable.

"Remember boys, you two are the pillars of my Clan. Not anyone else. Which means if you notice something is wrong then I need you to tell me. I would hope you wouldn't let me fail if you noticed I was doing something stupid."

That seemed to be enough to push them in the right direction and Lirian hurriedly spoke up.

"With respect Patriarch, we need official organizations within the Clan. There needs to be official roles and positions that each member of the Clan can hold. So, when there are things that need to happen, there is already a department that is responsible for handling it.

"To continue Patriarch, the Clan will eventually need servants, or subordinates that are not official members of the Clan but only employed by.

"The Clan as it stands will soon have no members at Qi Refinement, and while every single one of us will do whatever it is you ask of us, the work of a clerk isn't the best use of a Core Formation Infernal.

"Even then, the members of the Clan need resources, which means we need to be generating consistent income. Especially when considering that the Clan will soon be supporting thousands of Core Formation cultivations and already a few of the Nascent Realm.

"That isn't a cheap expense Patriarch."

...Well.

I'm not sure how it turned into a lecture, but Lirian here sounds like Elder Zal all of a sudden.

In that case.

"Well then here's an order for you. Both of you. Work with Lidaz to come up with a proper organizational structure for the Clan. Come up with departments, positions, and a proper Clan hierarchy.

"I'll review whatever you come up with and once I approve we will immediately put it into action. Understood?"

"Yes Patriarch!"

"Yes Patriarch!"

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