A new skill?

"What do you mean by my hair just turned white?" My mind was in a state of pandemonium as he said those words. I mean, how can someone's hair just turn white all of a sudden?

"Well, then. You better see for yourself then. I don't know how to explain this phenomenon either. If you look closer, it's more silvery than white." Goldy replied.

"That's basically the same, Goldy!" I cried as I opened my eyes. Although I couldn't see the entirety of my head, I could clearly see the tip of my hair, and it did turn white… silver, if you wanna go by Goldy's words. However, I didn't know the entire extent of this change of hair color, so I walked over to the mirror on the wall to assess it. It was completely white. There wasn't a single black strand in my hair. How could this happen? Did I just grow old because the poisonous curse got expelled from my body? Had I known that, I would've never asked Goldy to remove it entirely from my body. Hmm, now that I notice it, my facial features still look good for an old lady.

"That's because you haven't turned into an old lady… At least, not yet. Your hair turned white. Nothing else basically happened." Goldy replied.

"Why would it change colors like that though?" I couldn't help but wonder. It truly is a big mystery.

"The Qi. Are you still force-circulating it?" He asked.

"Oh, I panicked a bit from this, so I continued the Qi flow to get control over myself." I replied. Had I not circulated the Qi, I would be running around screaming and my parents would have been here by now. I guess it's kinda like a panic reductant in my case.

"Hmm, good job with that. However, since you aren't really panicking anymore, I suggest you stop doing that." He replied. I decided to follow his advice and stopped with my forced Qi circulation. That's when a surprising event occurred. I saw my hair color slowly going back to black, live in my mirror. It was pleasant to see. I had never seen something like this in person, so it was fun.

"So, it was like that, huh…" Goldy muttered. I mean, is he intentionally making his sound a bit louder so that I ask him what he meant by that? If that's the case, I guess I'll happily comply with his plan.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When you stopped forcing your Qi flow, it stopped. Which means, it is triggered when you take control of your Qi. You know what that means, right?" He asked.

I got what he meant by that. "It's a skill, right?" I spoke.

"Exactly. But, what the hell is it supposed to be? Is it some sort of hair color changing skill?" Goldy made a guess, which didn't make me even a bit happy.

"I sure do hope that isn't the case since that would mean that one of my ten skill slots is wasted on a trash skill like that." I sighed as I coursed my hand through my hair.

"Well, we'll never know unless we tried something with it." He replied. He probably meant that I should get involved in some light training to understand what this power is. And by light training, I mean fighting random people whose skills I'm not aware of.

"I'm fine with that. But, I got a condition though…" I spoke.

"Condition?"

"We're not gonna rob someone. I mean, there's no need robbing someone to test my fighting skills, right? The cat burglar resurfaces only when I'm in dire need of sacred pills. I don't want that alter ego of mine to just come up whenever I need a light spar." I replied with conviction.

"Then what are you suggesting?" He asked, looking intrigued about what I was planning. Why are you looking so smug, dude? Can't you guess my plan already?

"Ha… You see, I'm a bit guilt ridden after robbing two sects…" I was about to get to the main point, when Goldy interrupted me.

"Your mind doesn't seem like it's guilty though. You like it more than anything. Anyway, continue with your passionate speech." He spoke with a smug smile on his face, which made me wanna punch him right then. You read my mind and know what I'm gonna say, right? Then why do you even want me to explain shite? You really wanna humiliate me, huh?

Anyway, I gave into his request because I knew that I can't land that punch that I planned to land on his face even if I wanted to. But mark my words, I'll hit you someday, and you won't even know the reason why. Maybe I'll forget the reason as well, but that doesn't matter. I'll get that punch on you!

"As I said, I'm a bit guilt ridden after robbing two sects, so I want to do something good this time around and let that sins out of my system. So, I've been thinking about this for a long time… How about I fight the bandits in this area. I've heard that there are a lot here that even the beggar sect has a hard time dealing with. So, why don't we make our little contribution towards society? I mean, not only do we do something good, I can train my skills as well. Originally, I thought that I would train the Dragon's rage like this, however it seems like we got something to check out as well. What do you think?" I asked. I know that Goldy knows about the ulterior motive behind my thoughts as well. Look, I'm all about justice and stuff, but that isn't the reason why I proposed this plan. I just gave out that answer because Goldy was looking for the proper goody two shoes answer from my mouth, so I decided to give him just that.

Anyway, the ulterior motive. Well, most sects around this area might be vigilant about the cat burglars actions and the rumors aren't exactly helping his case either. So, I don't wanna create a mess out of it before getting powerful enough to barge into the Tang sect and steal their stuff. Therefore, I want the cat burglar rumors to subside for the moment and a new rumor to rise. A rumor about some person hunting down bandit groups. People will be so engrossed in that rumor that by the time my sacred pills run out, they would've forgotten about the cat burglar, making it far easier for me. The bandit hunter will shine so bright so that the cat burglar gets to work under her shadow.

"That's a great plan. What a noble thought!" He applauded before breaking into laughter. "I'm sorry. I just can't keep the facade like you. But damn, that's one big brain plan that you got in your mind. Monopolizing the hero and villain roles of this area, huh?" He asked.

"Minor hero and villain… That makes it work. This way, the level of hatred and love I receive will be minimal. Exactly the way I want it to be." I replied.

"Let's see about that." Goldy replied in an ominous tone. I always hate it when he does that. Talk like you normally do! Why do you have to add this extra mystique on it, huh? After all, the future you know is the one I know, right?

I sighed. "Anyway, you're fine with it, right?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's an ingenious plan." He replied.

"Good, let's go for a quick little shopping then." I spoke.

"Huh, why?" He asked.

"Why, you ask? We've gotta get a good costume for the hero character, right? After all, she's gonna have to bask in the glory! We'll buy a really good-looking costume, which makes sense mobility wise as well. And a mask as well. I don't want people to learn of the hero character's identity. I'm fine with them knowing that the person is a female, since there's no way that it's gonna come back to me anyway!" I explained as I dragged him out to shop with me.

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So we were out shopping for the entire day. I was able to buy a costume which looked simple yet elegant. I didn't want the costume to be flashy, instead I wanted it to be comfortable to walk in. And this was the perfect mix that I was hoping for. My body looked good in it as well, which is always an extra.

Anyway, the buying a costume part was simple. However, I never hoped that the mask would end up being the most problematic one. I wasn't impressed by any of the designs that I was shown. I wanted something that looked gentle and eloquent, not straight up ferocious. The image of a gentle warrior heroine fighting bandits will for sure get imprinted in a person's mind. However, finding such a mask was downright impossible… However, that's when some old geezer talked about how the opera masks are exactly the stuff I wanted. I asked him for it, but it seemed like the opera's the only people who sell that mask as a sovereign to the people who watch one of their shows. So, the both of us headed to watch an opera in hopes of getting one such mask.

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