Yu immediately went to the message center, wrote a letter to her brother, and paid to have it delivered directly to his hand. It cost 10 points but Yu needed the information as soon as possible. Now that she was calm again and not fuming, Yu was not thrilled with how she had handled that situation. She should have just let it go. Why was she so angry lately? She lost self-control when the prince called her a verger and at that last threat. And it wasn’t just anger either. She had been crying a lot too. Maybe she should get checked out. She’d find a trustworthy healer and ask.

Yu found herself back at the mission center where she was planning to join the turn-in line and get rid of all the herbs, meat, and poison sacks she earned. She’d sell the rest directly to the Alchemist Market.

“But boss, I don’t want to just stand here for hours. I have to practice for my challenge.” Yu listened out of habit more than any care of what was going on.

“Shut up. You serve us. Stay and watch for anyone who turns in the monthly food mission.” Yu tried not to react to that.

She made some quick mental changes to her plans. For now she could stay where she was; the herbs and poisons were widely accepted quests so she could turn them in without suspicion. And she did just that. She had to go to two separate rooms for measurement as the leaves, petals, stems, and such for the herbs were counted on type and number while the poison sacks had more arduous criteria that were hand-assessed such as beast source, grade, size, weight, condition and the like. In the end, she turned in the herbs for 849 contribution points and the poison sacks for 1,022. While she didn’t make a profit given the extreme expenses for the special containers, it was only her first day. She still had half a dozen more hunting trips ahead of her to earn more. Of course, the meat for the troublesome food mission also needs to be turned in eventually, but that would require some thought. And on top of all that, she could turn in the non-meat beast parts, but there was no rush on that.

Thinking of the meat made Yu hungry so she headed to the dining hall and got dinner. With it being so late, she ate by herself. As Yu did not have any morning cultivation class, she decided to focus on taste rather than affinity for her infused meal and spent 20 points on some Earth Affinity pork in honor of her finally killing one of the damned boars.

Smiling through the whole meal and feeling the pleasant burn that always followed infused meat, Yu made one stop before heading home. She should have done this sooner, but everything seemed to conspire to keep her too busy. Yu headed to the enchanting hall.

For any cultivator, it was obvious that the six-floor pagoda was filled with Qi. The power exuding out of it was a tangible pressure against her skin as she approached. She entered and found the first floor to be very much like a business. There were various counters with signs that directed people towards their offered services. Yu walked to one that was for general information and she said, “Hello. I’m supposed to pick up some books for my classes. Can you direct me to the right place?”

The young man sitting behind the counter was an outer sect disciple and responded with, “You are a Spiritualist?” Yu nodded and he gave her the up-down skeptical look she had started to expect. She really did look too young. Hopefully, as she increased her cultivation, her body would mature some. That did tend to happen after all; the body aged quicker as the Qi saturation increased. Supposedly it would slow after her Qi compression process started, but the whole concept was confusing. There were certainly a lot of old-looking cultivators after all. In her case, she wanted to age so people stopped judging her by her appearance. Maybe not all the way to what she was shown in the Long’s crystal, but part of the way at least. Yu was severely uninformed on the topic of cultivation and aging thanks to her complicated youth, cultivation speed, and her priorities at the time, but she’d learn in her Day 1 class eventually. Or so she hoped.

Bringing her mind back to the present and wanting to cut to the chase and avoid another absurd argument or lecture, Yu introduced herself. “I’m Fenghuang Yu. Elder Pei asked me to come here and pick up books for my class tomorrow.” She had used a tone that, while not unpleasant, was firm.

The young man’s facial expressions quickly went through a few quick changes as his mind made the connections. It eventually stopped at professional but with some fear leaking through and he cleared his throat. “Yes. Right. Umm. Wait here please.”

Then he wandered off into a back room. Yu decided to enhance her senses slightly and heard the clomping of feet running on stairs. He was really moving. She returned them to normal and waited patiently until he returned with an unfamiliar elder. The first thing Yu noticed and the most obvious aspect of her was that she was tiny. Even shorter than Yu, despite being visually in her 50’s. The second was that she wore white elder robes but had red edges and seams, marking her an inner sect elder. She walked around to the end of the counter, pulled an entrance aside, and gestured for Yu to follow. “Welcome, apprentice. Please join me. I won’t keep you long.” The woman’s voice was high pitched but also slightly scratchy. Yu bowed and did as she was asked.

“I’m Elder Xingwan. Elder Pei told us to expect you and asked that we give you a brief introduction to the Enchanter’s Hall. I promise it will be brief.” Even though she did not come for a tour, Yu was pleased to get one. She wasn’t thrilled with it being forced on her, but in the end it didn’t matter. As long as it really was quick.

The tiny woman took her to the back and said as they climbed up a flight of stairs, “The bottom floor is where we conduct our general business. From a services perspective, we enchant items, repair enchantments, create formations, identify enchantments, and all that. We sell our services to disciples for points and to others for anything from silver to objects. We also buy enchantment information, new runes, unknown formations, etcetera.”

The second floor was the training center and was filled with rooms for both one on one instruction and larger classes. “There are only a few small formations on this floor. They help focus the Qi but not overwhelm the trainees. But you’ll learn about that tomorrow.”

The third and fourth floors were the same, simply with denser Qi which pressed on Yu even more. The fifth floor was a library. “This holds our training material as well as nearly every inscription, rune, formation, and nearly other enchanting structure this sect supports under expert level. You’ll learn about that too. For right now, this is where you will receive your books.” Elder Xingwan took Yu to a counter with an inner sect disciple at it.

As soon as he saw them approach he stood straight and said in a clipped voice, “Senior Enchanter Xingwan.”

She walked up and said, “Please retrieve this new apprentice enchanter’s introduction texts.”

He took a tablet and two books bound in bamboo wrappings from beneath the desk and asked, “Name?”

Elder Xingwan looked at Yu who understood the instruction and said, “My name is Fenghuang Yu, senior.”

He looked down at his tablet and found what he was looking for because he held it out and asked her to touch it with her badge to confirm her identity and receipt of the books. She did and he pushed the books to her. She accepted the texts, looked them over, and saw the first was titled, “The Art of Enchanting, a Preface,” and the second, “Essential Inscriptions.”

The elder said, “Come,” and wandered off.

Yu bowed her head to the disciple and said, “Thank you, senior.” Then she turned and followed the elder who said, “The top floor is for senior enchanters and above and is used solely for master and grandmaster-level work. You’ll learn about the different levels of enchantments in your first class and from your texts.” She then escorted Yu back down and said, “I look forward to seeing you here tomorrow, Apprentice Enchanter Fenghuang Yu. Have a good evening.”

After her departure, Yu headed home. The girls were awake and discussing the close of their first week in the suite. Yu joined them and they asked how their missions went. The twins had decided to take some maintenance missions to start earning points. Jao Lu worked in the animal area doing general clean-up and learning about how it all worked, while Jao Li worked as a cleaner and overall helper in the calligraphy hall. Curious, Yu asked why she chose that location. “It’s connected to my profession. They start cartography there. It turns out that learning about inks and drawing arts is the first step.”

Gui Ai was nodding slightly. She volunteered to be stuck at home with Bai and one of the twins as each did a morning and then afternoon shift. Of course, he had no problem with all the individual attention and seemed to have a personal attachment to the shy girl. Yu was thrilled she found someone she could connect to, even if it was a tiger cub.

Speaking of, he climbed onto Yu and nuzzled her. She scratched his head and petted his soft fur. She felt contentment and happiness in the bond. And also relief.

She whispered to him, “I’m sorry I can’t be around as much.”

He purred and nuzzled closer. Once he got settled, Yu fed him and told the girls about her day shopping, then the events with Zhao Minge.

“Do you all know of the big factions here? Ever heard of a Nobility Society?” The twins shook their heads but Ai didn’t respond nor would she look at Yu when she asked. Letting it go, Yu continued the story with her hunt and then the whole scene with the messenger and their warning. The twins were indignant. Li, in particular, hated being told what to do by anyone, never mind a noble boy. Yu expressed her equivalent disdain and her actions in response. Li was veritably gleeful with Yu’s response and claimed the idea for her future use. Yu closed out the story with her introduction to the Enchanter's Hall and receiving her books.

Li asked about her private classes with her master but Yu had to tell her it was a secret. Yu said, “Sorry. I can’t say. Now, I need a bath and then I’m going to bed. I’m exhausted and I have another full day tomorrow.”