Chapter 38: Mission
As Seraph made his way to the Mission Hall, Halo explained to him.
["Well, I’ve been suppressing the system messages that have been popping since many days ago. Your light bulb project is getting more famous. You’d be surprised."]
Seraph raised an eyebrow, intrigued. ’Tell me more.’
["I’ll explain better when you’re back to your room. In total, you now have 565 divine credits."]
Seraph paused, a bit shocked. He hadn’t expected that much, and was secretly delighted.
’This means I can get a lot of things from the system shop.’
Carrying a bright smile, he increased his pace as he headed towards the Mission Hall.
In a few minutes, he arrived at the tall building Sylvia had pointed him to.
The building was truly grand and exquisite, having intricate decorations made from beautiful art and designs.
He could see some disciples entering and leaving with either beast body parts, herbs, or just covered in blood.
’Hmm, let’s see...’
Rubbing his palms eagerly, he walked straight to the door and stepped inside like the other disciples.
To his amazement, the interior was even more exquisite. It was painted blue and yellow, giving a bright feeling. Several paintings were hung on the walls, and statues of spirit beasts were scattered around.
’Now where is the mission post?’
Putting his attention off the designs, he soon spotted a section of the building where the Soul Peak disciples headed to.
Some disciples still looked at him weirdly, but no one approached him. After all, his reputation as a sharp-tongued brat had spread faster than he thought.
Approaching the woman behind a free counter, he smiled and asked.
"Good evening. I’m a new disciple here and I’m curious if there are any missions I could take?"
The woman didn’t even look at him. With her hands busy underneath, she asked.
"What’s your cultivation stage?"
"Advanced Stage, ma’am." Seraph answered calmly.
The woman whipped out a paper, presenting it to him. He collected the slip, reading through the content in surprise.
|Retrieve the canines of three Black-furred wolves of the Core Advanced Stage|
’Eh?’
He blinked, astonished. This mission was beyond his own level. Just as he opened his mouth to complain, the woman said impatiently.
"Next."
Another disciple stepped up, pushing Seraph out of the way. Sighing, the boy stared blankly at the mission slip in his hand.
The time limit was tomorrow evening, making him realize it was probably an easy mission on a regular day.
"Ugh."
Grunting, he slipped the paper into his pocket and left the Mission Hall. Feeling his stomach grumble, he headed to the cafeteria.
Thankfully, it wasn’t that hard to find, and observing other hungry disciples was enough.
Upon entering the building, Seraph was assaulted by the enchanting aroma of several types of food prepared.
He believed that if Yelena or Ariana was here, they’d be drooling just from the aroma.
’Yelena...’
Rubbing the pendant given to him by his sister, he sighed softly. He realized that he was attracting attention by standing on the same spot, he decided to walk away. Not like doing that lessened the attention on him.
Everyone still whispered about the newly accepted outer court disciple. Seraph pretended not to hear their conversations and headed to the counter where the attendants stood.
"Your badge?" One of them asked, his expression professional.
Seraph raised the badge given to him by Elder Song for him to see. The young man nodded and picked up a tray with several empty plates on it.
Handing the tray to Seraph, he gestured at the large open trays of different food set up.
The boy blinked, astonished. ’A self-serving buffet?’
He almost couldn’t believe it. Carrying the tray in one hand, he picked up the large spoon and began dishing food for himself. To avoid being too greedy, he only took until each plate had enough content within.
Gulping, he took a bottle of drink and headed to an empty table. Taking an unhurried bite from the meal, he was pleased. The food was truly tasty, even more than his mother’s food.
Though he would never openly admit that.
In less than twenty minutes, he had consumed everything consumable. Taking the last portion of his drink, he suppressed a burp.
Now filled and satisfied, he patted his stomach and left the cafeteria.
’I see it now. This Soul Peak is the most luxurious among the five Peaks of the sect. The way they treat their disciples is really amazing.’
From within, Halo scowled. ["Stop pretending to be concerned about that. You don’t really care. Just focus on what you have to do next."]
Seraph’s smile dropped slightly, but didn’t vanish.
Raising his hands in surrender, he rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. I’m returning to my room now."
The sky had already darkened enough, and lanterns were being lit up across all the buildings.
He entered into the dormitory made for the outer court disciples, heading straight to his room. Thankfully, the lanterns here were still functional and he could light them up.
After undressing himself, he plopped onto the sofa with a tired sigh.
"That’s one hell of a hectic day."
From their travel to the sect, to the selection, to Elder Song’s arrival, then his arrival at the Soul Peak under her suspicion, it had all been tiring.
Yawning lazily, he spoke to Halo. ’Why don’t you bring out the reports you wanted to show me? I want to see the details.’
["As you wish."]
[Ding! Your invention has been recognized by a small power—Silverback Clan]
[You have been credited with 60 Divine Credits]
[Ding! Your invention has been recognized by a large power—Beast Tamer City]
[You have been credited with 200 Divine Credits]
[Ding! Your invention has been recognized by an average power—Cang Clan]
[You have been credited with 100 Divine Credits]
[Ding! Your invention has been recognized by an average power—Roberto Clan]
[You have been credited with 100 Divine Credits]
[Ding! Your invention has been recognized by an average power—Wood Spirit Clan]
[You have been credited with 100 Divine Credits]
Seraph breathed a sigh, astonished. The one which surprised him the most was the Beast Tamer City. He had heard of them, and knew they had a great reputation, even more than Valcom City.
’So they also adopted my invention, huh? Soon, the whole Orchid Province would be flooded by my light bulbs... muhahahahaha.’
["Cringy. Stop, it ain’t funny."]
Seraph clicked his tongue, his expression relaxing into a calm one.
"Now that I have 565 divine credits, let me see the items present in the shop."
The list immediately appeared before him.
[Fire Arrow Skill Scroll - 18 Divine Credits]
[Foundation Stabilizing Pill - 65 Divine Credits]
[Grade Three Protection Talisman - 70 Divine Credits]
[Time Element Cultivation Manual - 3000 Divine Credits]
[Wind Tornado Skill Scroll - 59 Divine Credits]
[Light Bark Roots - 75 Divine Credits]
[Dantian Tempering Pellets - 230 Divine Credits]
Seraph read through the list with a focused expression. After glancing through, he made up his mind and bought a few things. The Fire Arrow Skill Scroll, the Wind Tornado Skill Scroll, the Dantian Tempering Pellets, and the Grade Three Protection Talisman.
In total, everything cost him 377 divine credits, leaving him with 188 divine credits.
["You seem ready to finally learn a fire element skill. What made you change your mind?"]
Seraph shrugged. "Since I have a lot of people being expectant of my affinities, I should show them some more."
["Heh, not bad, not bad. You’re finally growing wise!"]
He ignored its sarcastic comment and picked up the Dantian Tempering Pellets.
In the pathway of cultivation, every cultivator starts their journey by creating a dantian. The Dantian serves as a core for cultivators, and the source of their strength.
Spiritual energy is absorbed through the meridians into the dantian, reinforcing it and making it evolve more. This was how cultivators could advance from one level to another, growing stronger the longer they cultivated.
However, cultivating for too long without breakhad its own downsides too. The meridians might become weak and tired from being overused, while the spiritual energy in the dantian might become unstable.
This was why cultivators took breaks after reaching a new stage or level—allowing their weak meridians to heal and their dantian to stabilize.
However, there were also alternative methods to achieve this rather than pausing cultivation. It was the existence of pills produced by alchemists.
The Meridian Strengthening Pill was meant to rejuvenate the weak meridians, returning them to their original state and making them even sturdier.
Similar to that was the Dantian Tempering Pellet. This particular pill was used for stabilizing the violent spiritual energy in a cultivator’s dantian.
["With this, you would have no worries about advancing to become a Core Advanced Stage cultivator in a few days."]
Seraph nodded in agreement, then took the first pellet. He felt it drop into his stomach like a stone into calm water.
Instantly, he felt a qualitative change in his system. He felt a strange soothing energy flush into his dantian, gently wrapping around it and cooling it.
The process was so smooth and relieving, that Seraph didn’t even know when he fell asleep.
["Tch, what a sleepy ass."]