8 **Chapter 8: Reward*
I have not utilized AI in this chapter, at least not to alter any of the wording. Please be honest about your thoughts on it, as it will influence my decision on whether to employ AI again in the following chapters.
Just indulge me and consider this an experiment. I always strive to infuse more detail and vitality into the world.
This is also the first chapter I have scheduled, as I am away from home for the entire day.
As always, feel free to leave a comment or perhaps write a review. Thank you.
Lastly, I want to express gratitude to everyone who has supported my novel with Powerstones. With this chapter, I have reached 15,000 words.
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*Huff* *Huff* *Huff*
My breathing is slow and regular as I run towards the academy. The streets are empty; only some drunk Gu masters going home can be seen from time to time.
'Only 200 meters left, nearly there. 100 meters, 50 meters.'
Suddenly, I come to a grinding halt in front of the Academy gates, look at the guards, and say:
"I came for Elder Chen. I have refined my first Gu."
"Elder Chen said there might be some of you coming around tonight. Come, I will bring you to his room."
"Am I the first one?"
This was an important question because this is the only entrance, hence the guards will know what reward he can expect.
"Yes, you are the first."
I couldn't help but smile a bit. This meant some good things for me.
"Lead the way to the Elder, please."
"Of course!" the guard did not dare dally as the young man before him was obviously a rather talented Gu Master.
It didn't even take us 10 minutes to reach the elder's room.
The guard was just about to knock when none other than Elder Chen opened the door.
'It seems he has expected to be disrupted tonight and did not even bother going to sleep.'
"Oh, Zhen Wei, I take it you have refined your water bullet Gu."
"Yes, Elder Chen!"
"Very well, hit me with it."
'WHAT? Ok, he is a rank 3 cultivator. I should not be able to hurt him too bad, or at all for that matter, but this is a risk I am not too eager to take…. So I maybe should clarify.'
"With my Gu?"
"Yes," the Elder said with calm patience, as if he was expecting this reaction.
"Very well." As I say this, I raise my hand and aim my index finger at Elder Chen. All of a sudden, in a span of 2 seconds, a small ball of water formed at the tip of my fingers and shot at Elder Chen's chest.
And it did absolutely nothing. He must have activated one of his Gu because about 5 centimeters from his chest, it just seemed to hit an invisible wall and dropped to the ground.
'Not like I expected a rank 3 elder to commit assisted suicide right now.'
"It seems you truly are the first to refine the Gu. Congratulations."
'From his reaction, I can tell that this is not going to be some Fang Yuan/Fang Zhen situation, where the teachers try to oppress me just because the A-Grade talent lost to me a few times.'
'Very useful information, although not too surprising since he is not even close to being the only A-Grade in the clan.'
"About your reward, here you go: 100 primeval stones as well as a rank 1 token. Now, good night."
After this sentence, he handed me the stones and the token and unceremoniously closed the door in my face.
'Not a patient one, is he now?'
But whatever, that does not matter to me. I just begin making my way out of the academy. Once outside, I decide that it is not time to go home yet. I walk the same way that I have walked not one day earlier and arrive in front of the treasure hall.
'Pretty convenient that all clan buildings are open around the clock.'
As I walk in, I instantly see that the short Gu master from yesterday has been replaced with a young woman.
I can see from the red armband around her biceps that she is a rank 2 Gu Master. The colors of those bands that every Gu Master in the clan has to wear correspond to the color of the primeval essence that each rank of Gu masters had.
For instance, mine was green. One thing about this is that you only see the rank, not the stage within. So this woman could be rank beginning stage or rank 2 peak stage, and I had no way to know.
I walk up to the woman and greet her respectfully, as is polite to do to people of higher strength and status.
"I would like to exchange this token for a Gu." With that, I give her the rank 1 token.
She examines the token carefully and then responds:
"Do you want to search for a Gu yourself, or do you have one in mind already? If you have one, I will get it for you."
"Are there any rank 1 poison resistance Gu in stock?"
She looks down at her book, turns the pages a bit, reads some, then turns the pages some more.
At this point, she has been looking in this book for 5 minutes, but I do not dare to become impatient.
Abruptly, she looks up and says: "Yes, we have it. Do you want that one?"
"Yes, please."
"Well, you know, this rank 1 Gu is a one-time-use. It is only worth about 200 primeval stones. But with this token, you can get some Gu that are worth up to 500."
"Yes, so what do you suggest?"
"I am suggesting that I buy you the Poison resistance Gu, give you an additional 200 primeval stones, and in exchange, you give this token to me."
'Hmm… she could probably sell that token for 500 really easily. Nah, 100 primeval stones for her is too many. I could just go to my father for this if she does not budge.'
"The plan sounds interesting, but I want 300 primeval stones."
'Let's just be shameless. I mean, she does not seem to have a problem ripping me off, so why should I have?'
Looking as if I had murdered her family and then taken a piss on their graves, she says:
"300? Why don't you just rob me." At this point, she was getting louder.
With a playful smirk, I said, "Well, if I were stronger than you, I would sure try."
'Oh, and I have won. She found that funny, so funny in fact, that she could not help but smile. This just means she can not go back to being so very offended by my audacity. '
'I should strike while the iron is hot.'
"I guess I could go down to, let's say… 298."
"Pff, I will not work for anything under 290."
'Honestly, an acceptable price, but let's see if I can let my charm play in my favor.'
"I don't know, feeding all my Gu has been getting expensive lately. I am sure someone as beautiful as you does not have the heart to see me starve."
"Well, 291, last offer."
'I seem to have made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgment of how charming I am.'
"Okay, let's stop the jokes, 295. You know as well as I do that you will make 5 primeval stones while doing absolutely nothing. If you continue to haggle, I will just sell it to my father. He always uses these things as gifts."
"Fine..." She turned around and goes up the stairs. I could swear I heard her mutter something about "damn brat" this or that. But hey, as long as I get my money, I really don't care.
This time, the slow woman took about 15 minutes before she came back with 6 big bags in her left hand and a medium-sized Gu in her right hand.
'At this point, she has to be taking her sweet time intentionally,' I think while I resist the urge to roll my eyes.
She slams the money on the table and puts the Gu down carefully, then says:
"Here you go. Now, is there anything else?"
I don't answer her as I take the Gu, refine it instantly, as this time it has been refined previously and just changed owners.
Then I take my money maybe 3 meters to the right side from the central desk and start counting it. Because there's no way I am trusting anybody that has tried ripping me off once, or really anybody, period.
'I can tell from her expression that she does not find that funny, but i do not care. I am not getting cheated just because some woman is angry.'
By the time I was done and was certain that she was playing fair this time, the sun had already begun to rise.
'All that excitement is slowly wearing off, and I am getting really tired. I should hurry.'
With that, I made my way home.
*Huff* *Huff*
'The rank 1 poison resistance Gu is a one-time-use Gu that makes a Gu master totally resistant to some rank 1 poisons, while it makes him more resistant to all rank 1 poisons.'
'This is basically my guarantee that I will not accidentally kill myself in one of my fun little experiments. Some of the more obscure poisons might make me violently sick, but I will not die.'
'It takes about 6 hours to take effect, and while it does, it causes mild discomfort.'
'I will use it just when I get home, and then just sleep. I do not think I will notice anything in my sleep because of this all-nighter I pulled.'
'Yeah, that's a good idea.'
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As it would turn out, it was not a good idea.
I woke in the afternoon of the same day. Well, woke up was an exaggeration as I have not slept for more than 30 minutes at a time.
Mild discomfort, whoever made that up, congratulations, you are the first on the list of people that will die a violent death if I ever get my hands on them.
Anyway, I now feel much better, probably because the 6 hours the Gu takes effect in are over.
Now I can start going wild with refining Gu and poisons that are just plain dangerous for everyone involved.
But first, a quick overview of my financial situation.
I had 225 primeval stones.
Then I got 30 from the Academy.
I spent 8 ¼ on the refinement of my water bullet Gu.
For being the first to do that, I got 100 primeval stones as well as the token.
That token was exchanged for a Gu and 295 primeval stones.
All this leaves me with 641 ¾ primeval stones.
When I go to collect my monthly allowance from my father tomorrow, I will have 841 ¾ primeval stones.
This is a lot, enough to even buy a lot of rank 2 Gu.
Or enough to buy the material to try refining a rank 1 Gu around 20 times.
My income each month will be 230 primeval stones, that I am all but guaranteed. As well as any I get from the Academy for completing various tasks. And on top of that comes everything I make by selling Gu I refined.
My expenses, I roughly estimate 50 a month to cultivate without restrain. As well as some pocket money and miscellaneous expenses, let's say 5 primeval stones a month.
On top of that will be materials and Gu that I will use to refine Gu, which I will likely fail a lot. And also Gu that I want to just buy outright. This expense is the one that can be adjusted based on my situation.
As for the one expense I have conveniently omitted until now. Food for my Gu… well…
1901 words
