A Mission

Finally I found the final strand I needed and felt accomplished. I gathered the 11 strands of Qi and guided it towards my heart. As the final strand entered my heart they floated around aimlessly. I could now relax, having no need to worry about what would've happened if I didn't gather the 11 strands on the time it was due.

Flipping through the manual it says the next step would be to send and fuse the 11 strands into the flesh of my arms and legs being the final step before the end of stage one level one.

Seems like gathering the strands is something that needed to be done before the levels can actually be completed. So for the next 3 hours I searched for more strands before going to sleep; luckily I found another strand to add to the collection in my heart.

…

During class today it was the supposed last day he was going to ask.

Once again the elder stood up on the stage and while facing everyone spoke, "Everyone who hasn't gathered the 11 strands of qi please come up here on stage."

After asking so around 13 people stood up and went up. The tokens and manuals if they had any were taken from them, floating out of their outfits onto the elder's outstretched hand. Then with a simple wave the items disappeared into thin air.

"Now I know that there are more than just thirteen people who failed. Those of you who is hiding in the stands come down here now, this is your only warning."

Another 4 people slowly stood up before reluctantly heading down to step onto the stage. Items floated out of their robes as well disappearing into the elders hands.

"Hah!" The elder sighs before directly staring at one of the people in the middle of the seats. "I warned you. Since you didn't listen then then listen now. You won't get the chance to ever come back here as well as a fee of a Spirit Stone will be added to your name!"

When a Spirit Stone was mentioned the whole stand became frenzied.

"W-what! N-no! Please Elder I was wrong! I just didn't hear you those times I'll go with them! Please don't make me pay a Spirit Stone! M-my family can't afford to pay that! We're just a poor family, spare us! We don't even make a Silver a year!" The man who mere seconds ago was completely indifferent to his surroundings began begging.

"Silence!" The Elder shouted. "I'm only asking for the lowest quality of Spirit Stone. As long the Spirit Stone has at least a single strand of Qi lingering within I'll let you go. You have 3 months to accomplish this."

"3 months? I-I... okay I'll get it."

'Is it that hard to find acquire a Spirit Stone?'

Hearing that the elder then faced the people on stage and told them, "All of you failed the second test, now please leave the mountain."

Those people reluctantly left knowing they won't be able to do anything even if they refused.

"Now for the rest of you. You may now go to the mission board a little higher up on the mountain to gain contribution points by selecting a mission on a board. But I wouldn't recommend doing any of the 2 star difficulty ones until you reach around the fifth level.

The missions can range from inside the sect to outside and gathering herbs to hunting a dangerous beast. When you get enough points you can come on over to my store to use it up nearby the mission hall. Alright that's the end of the welcoming class, goodbye now." Finishing up what he had to say he flew back up the mountain like nothing had happened.

Tugging on my arm sleeve Yao Ya asked, "Do you want to go on a mission with me?"

Looking over I saw her staring straight into my eyes with her own which was almost shimmering a little with a cute pleading gaze. "Yeah, sure what about the others, should we ask them too?" Standing up I started searching for them at a moderate pace.

Standing up abruptly she grabbed my right hand dragging me along with her towards where the mission board location "NO! I mean.. they probably have their own plans right? Let's just go by ourselves, just you and me."

Her grip was surprisingly strong and I couldn't even break free if I wanted to so I just let her drag me along "O.. Okay."

Reaching the mission hall There were five different boards set up around the from one star to five stars above each board from left to right and an area with a couple desks where people could accept the missions. The middle three boards were the most crowded especially the third one while the first and last boards were fairly sparse.

As she dragged me in she went directly for the second board.

Noticing where she was headed I tried pulling her back "Wait wait wait, I'm haven't even reached the first level yet, I don't know if I can do this!"

Turning around she "comforted" me by saying, "Don't worry, I'll protect you even if you can't. Just come along with me, we can always turn back and return the mission anyway right?" Saying so she turned back grabbing one of the papers at random.

After had ahold of one she went over to one of the front desks with my hand still in her clutches.

"We would like to take this mission, please." She spoke, gently placing the paper in front of the girl who sat at the desk.

Lifting up the paper she asked, "I haven't seen you too around before are you two new?"

"Yes." Yao Ya replied briefly.

Putting the paper back down she said, "Oh let me tell you guys a bit about the quests then. Only one person or group can take a mission at a time so those people are responsible for completing it for the rewards.

If they fail or choose to forfeit then they have to pay around 20-30% of the original payout since they took it and wasted the slot and time while some more competent people could of completed it. It also helps discourage people from taking missions other people would of wanted to do while doing nothing and getting away without any consequence."

'We can't escape?'

Lifting the paper back up she exclaimed, "This is two star mission I don't think you picked up the right one, why don't you---"

interrupting her Yao Ya says "No, this is right! We want this one."

'Ahh yes, WE wanted that one. WE picked it out. WE looked over it and decided this was good, TOGETHER.'

Trying to change her mind the clerk asked, "Are you sure? Since you guys just joined, you guys should be around the first level. It's not my problem anymore when you accept it."

Trying to exit the mission I say "No, you're right I--"

Squeezing my hand and covering my mouth she answers for me "Yes, we pick this one"

'There it is the WE!!!!'

The clerk looked over at me while slowly stamping the paper to give it to Yao Ya she says, "Well, okay then... here you go. There's no time limit for this mission if that will help you two."

I think she wanted me to say something about it again, but I tried once and that was enough.

"Thank you!" she says grabbing the paper and quickly dragging me outside.

"Why would you do that we don't have any points in the first place, what if we fail?" I asked a little fearful of what could possibly happen.

Leaning her head against my right shoulder "Hehehe, you can't leave me now! I guess we just have to finish this now, together, you and me!"

*Sigh* "Can I at least see what you picked out for us to do?" I extended out my left hand.

"Sure, I didn't read what it was though so can you tell me what it's about?" She said taking out the piece of paper and placing it on my palm.

"Alright so it seems that there is a group of bandits in a forest hiding out somewhere a little northwest of here robbing people who go through. The group should be hiding out in a cave with 13 members and 3 of them are even cultivators, two level 3s and a level 4 respectively." summarizing the task

"Alright! Let's go and kill those scum robbing poor innocent people." Yao Ya said righteously increasing our speed out of the sect.

Once we reached the forest road we slowed down and started to constantly scan our surroundings while being a few meters off the dirt path.

…

The forest is pretty big. We spent the entire day looking for any signs of them without finding a clue. Setting up a single tent to sleep in together, we decided to keep searching tomorrow during the day where we could see better.

I decided to try and get to level one at least before the confrontation with the bandits. Gathering the 11 strands I tried to diffuse it into my arms and legs, starting off with my right leg. As it spreads out it's warm and nice, it doesn't feel bad at all like I thought it would. Spreading out the rest to the other three limbs it's the same feeling and before I knew it I had used all the strands up. I guess I'm level one now, that wasn't bad at all.

In fact that went super smoothly! But I know that won't last long when I cultivate in the future.

Waking up, I went to eat Yao Ya's cooking once again we set off to find their camp.

As I'm still overweight we had to take quite a few breaks because of me, during which we used to try and find more strands within our bodies.

As it turns to evening we were about to set up for the night until we noticed a column of smoke in the distance near a cave.