Chapter 21 - Questions and Contributions
The group traveled further toward spirit beast territory, but the creatures were still scarce. Benton was only able to round up one set of rank ones for the siblings to fight each of the next two days. Neither made a kill on their own, but they improved.
On the third day, the density of spirit beasts was high enough that he found two sets nearby for the kids to fight. Even better, Yang Xiu managed a kill by herself on her second one. As if spurred by his sister, Yang Ru killed two out of the three he fought the next day.
After dinner that night, Benton said, “The first order of business is to determine what you want done with your cores.”
“Our cores, Senior Brother Chao?” Yang Xiu said.
She was getting much better about just asking Benton questions. In fact, she was becoming less formal with him overall. Her relative casualness suited him just fine.
“If you kill a beast on your own,” Benton said, “the core is yours to do with as you please.”
“But Senior Brother, you helped by making the beasts run right to us.”
“I still count it as your kill.” He grew serious. “Responsibilities and requirements will always be part of your life as a sect member, but it’s important to know that risk and hard work result in you gaining what you need. Besides, I’d feel like a huge jerk if I just took them from you. Do you have any idea how much one of these is worth?”
She shook her head, and Yang Ru grunted.
Benton wasn’t quite to the point of speaking grunt yet, and the response could have easily meant either yes or no. Honestly, he sometimes felt like responding to the taciturn boy with "I am Groot.”
In the end, Benton decided to disregard the confusing response and continued with his explanation. “Room and board at a decent inn will run you about a silver tael in a medium sized city. A villager making five taels a week would generally be considered prosperous. Do you agree?”
“Father would have thought five in a week to be a blessing, Senior Brother Chao,” Yang Xiu said.