The Mission Center was ridiculously busy as Yu and Li pushed Lu from behind towards the curving jade boards. She was not exactly fighting them, but she also was not entirely thrilled either.

“Stop being such a baby!” Li said as she shoved her sister forward.

“I don’t need this,” Lu insisted half-heartedly. “I can gather enough points doing work in the beast farms.”

“Lu, there’s no way you can make enough points to pay for next month’s rent doing that,” Yu told her. “You need to do some hunting.”

“Yeah!” Li agreed passionately. “Yu’s taken me out twice and just those two trips gave me almost enough points for a full month.”

“I don’t like killing,” Lu insisted, refusing to look at the boards.

Yu rolled her eyes. “We’ve been over this. You can’t not kill beasts.”

With another shove, Li declared, “Grade 1’s are easy! Just bonk them with your staff a few times.”

“That isn’t helping. I don’t want to bonk beasts. I like caring for them, not bonking them!” she insisted.

“Ugh! What’s wrong with you?” Li exhaled with a stomp of her foot. “Everyone kills beasts. They hunt humans! What, are you scared? It’s not that bad.”

Yu rolled her eyes again and headed to the boards. She started reading through the hunting and gathering missions in what she knew was end in utter failure. There had been many times fewer missions in the last month because a huge number of the new disciples had finally figured out that they were running out of time to pay their first month’s rent. One thousand points might not have been a lot to someone like Yu who received a stipend and hunted and sold the materials twice a week, but for those who had waited until the last week or two, they had figured out quickly that the “easy” missions had already been taken by those with a better sense of planning. What remained for missions were those that many were too afraid to do: hunt and gather in a forest rife with demonic beasts. Hence Yu was doing a hunting of her own right now, in this case for any reasonably rewarding missions.

“I’m not scared!” Lu insisted. “I just don’t like violence.”

“Gods, you are so stupid. How can I be related to you?” Li questioned the heavens while looking skyward. Then back at her sister, “It isn’t hard, and it isn’t risky. Especially with Yu there to help us,” Yu nodded silently, still hopelessly searching the sparsely populated boards.

“I ask myself that every day,” Lu groused back at Li.

“I suppose this one isn’t a miserable waste of time,” Yu mumbled while pointing at a yellow words at the height of the beast hunting missions.

Yu felt Li nearly land on her back as she had clearly jumped forward to see. She laughed lightly as she stumbled slightly. Yu had not been the least bit surprised that the little ball of violent energy that was Jao Li had found that she very much enjoyed hunting beasts. The rush of the battle excited her and, of course, she loved hitting and stabbing things. No, that did not surprise Yu in the least. What had though, was how natural the inexperienced girl’s battle instincts had seemed to be. Things that Yu had learned through mostly trial and error, Li had seemed to simply know through feeling or intuition.

On the other hand, Li had absolutely no interest in the dressing of the beast carcasses. In fact, she would turn away and not even want to watch. She had gagged and run away to vomit the first time Yu tried to show Li how to dress a kill. She chuckled at the memory.

“Even Yu’s laughing at you, Lu!” Li exclaimed. “Can’t you just get over yourself?”

Yu laughed out loud at her misinterpretation. “I wasn’t laughing at your sister Li. Just a particularly entertaining memory of our first hunt together. Oh, hey. Look at this. This mission requires parts of beasts. Want to help me cut them open and find the right hearts?”

Li paled and Yu laughed again, reaching forward and touching the mission on the board.

Mission Name: Treasured Hearts

Mission Difficulty: Moderate

Mission Type: Beast Hunting

Duration: 21 Days (21)

Repeatable: Yes

Reward: 10 points per intact grade 1 heart, 25 points for grade 2 intact heart, 500 points for grade 3 heart

Description:

A new body-strengthening pill formula has been discovered by Master Alchemist Jin Wong. This new pill requires the hearts of beasts – a body part often left unused – of all grades as a baseline for strengthening elements of the formula. However, the hearts must be intact. Any damage to them in either the killing of the creature or the removal from the body will result in its efficacy being severely reduced. Therefore, we are only paying for the intact organ. Additionally, the hearts cannot come from beasts who have any level of toxicity as foreign substances will ruin the pill. The hearts must be placed in a preservation device – not straight into a spatial ring – to preserve its strength. The size of the heart is not relevant, only the Qi density, which is dictated by the beast grade.

Mission Center Note: This mission has also been placed in the inner and core disciple Mission Centers with grade 3 through 5 beasts being requested.

“Looks like it was only placed today. We might have gotten lucky. Even if the rewards are a little low, it’s basically free points since we’re hunting them anyway,” Yu told Li over her shoulder.

She nodded and Yu and her tapped their badges, both accepting.

“Your turn Lu,” Yu told her which pointing at the mission.

Lu shook her head. “I said I don’t like hunting beasts.”

Li dropped her forehead onto Yu’s shoulder and shook it side to side.

Yu sighed. “Ok, Lu. How about this. Prove to us that you can make one thousand points in the next week and a half and all you’ll have to do is gather herbs, which is unlimited and for everyone. No hunting.”

Lu looked at Yu for a few breaths. “How?” she asked suspiciously.

“Do the math. Show me the calculations that prove you aren’t going to get kicked out and be forced to abandon your sister in the sect all by herself.”

Lu stared at Yu and then tapped her badge, probably brining up her point count. Then she nodded to herself and went to the board, looking at the top half where all the easy missions were. Or at least used to be. Lu quickly discovered, as she walked around the room, that the boards were basically empty of those missions. Yu noticed how she started to look frantic and sped up her search. She was nearly running after a while. Yu and the smirking Li just stood there silently, watching her struggle with the reality of her situation.

After Lu had gone over the same boards for the fourth time, she slumped her shoulders and walked dejectedly back to Yu and Li. Yu reached up and patted her on her shoulder. “I’ll help,” she told the large girl sympathetically. “Go ahead and grab this mission. They we can take the repeatables and head to dinner. Tomorrow morning we’ll be at the flight area at sunrise.”

***

Late that evening, after everyone had gone to bed, Yu sat on the floor of her room. Her armor, weapons and other gear were laid out neatly before her. Thanks to spending time with the girls and their bonds, she had not had the opportunity or energy to go over the results of her gear identification.

Scanning over each item for flaws or damage, she confirmed that she could not find anything visibly wrong with them. However, she did notice that each item had a small green tag tied onto them with an easy broken string. From the left to the right were her hook swords and their back sheaths, her whip, the armor’s underlayer, her actual leather armor plates, the belt pouch, the waterskin, and finally the boot knife. She left that for last because it had caused the most consternation for Master Mi Gong.

Focusing on the first items, Yu was a little nervous. Based on what he had said the swords were ancient – which she knew from Jiang – but also, at least potentially, very powerful. She almost didn’t want to know, as the anticipation and nervousness warred with each other in her mind. What if they were really strong? What if they were just really sharp and their enchantments were broken?

C’mon, Yu. Just do it…

Taking a deep breath, Yu reached forward and, with a slightly shaky hand, touched the tag on the left sword.

Item: Enchanted Hook Sword “Void”

Qi Type Requirement: None

Affinity Requirement: Unknown

Stage Requirement: Unknown

Resale Value (Est.): Unknown

Description:

This hook sword, and its twin, appear to contain ancient rune structures which are definitely worth investigating. In fact, I would mark them as a must for study. As far as I can tell, they are not broken, but I also am unable to fully identify what they do. Direct Qi injection, no matter the type or affinity, fails to create any result. But the energy dissipates into the blade and not the environment which leads me to believe the enchantments are unharmed and active, but I simply cannot determine how to use them properly. This is a wonderful find that I will study with great interest.

Additional product notes: The material these blades are made of is not normal steel. Bafflingly, I cannot identify it, which also makes it an excellent research product. Recommend this device be reserved for detailed analysis and possible enchantment severing and alloy dissolution. One final note, under the leather (beast also unidentifiable) wrapping of the handle, the word “void” in the ancient tongue is carved into the metal. At this time, I am assuming that is the blade’s name. The sheaths are not enchanted. They do have small thin plates inside of the same unknown metal, and are made of the same unknown beast leather. Also listed for study and potential dissolution.

Yu blinked down at the silver Sign that showed Elder Mi Gong’s analysis of her sword. It was awfully incomplete and, frankly, unhelpful. At least she knew the enchantments weren’t broken. It was just she still did not know what they did, what their requirements were, or how to use them. Great…

Sighing, Yu touched the right hook sword only to find an almost identical finding. The only difference was that he found it also had the word “Void,” which led him to change his assessment of naming to be for the set rather the individual blades.

The next tag Yu touched was the one attached to her whip.

Item: Enchanted Flame Drake-scaled Leather Whip

Qi Type Requirement: None

Affinity Requirement: None

Stage Requirement: Meridian Formation (21 for self-repair)

Resale Value (Est.): 750,000 silver

Description:

A weapon of outstanding construction, this whip actually contains three simple and common enchantments, if older versions of our modern ones. The first is a durability enchantment, which is how it has survived in such excellent condition for so long. The second is a self-repair enchantment. See the armor for detailed description. The third is an adhesive enchantment, which encourages the whip to stick to its target when wielded. Note that his appears to be a more intelligent enchantment than our current version and should be studied. While high quality, the whipe would be a relatively mundane tool were it not for the leather used. I believe the leather is from a Flame Drake, which is an extremely powerful demonic beast. They are born with the strength of a high grade 2 and can reach as powerful as low grade 7, according to our records. The source of this leather speaks to its age as a Flame Drake as not been reported in twenty or thirty millennia. This leather imbues the whip with an absolute immunity to fire. If it was a more commonly-used weapon, its value could be as much as five times as high.

Additional product notes: The durability and adhesive enchantment are powered and maintained by the energy from the leather itself. As anxious as I am to study the enchantments, it would likely result in damage or dissolution and most of the value would be removed. Instead, I reluctantly recommend direct sale to an auction house in the capital to fund more impactful research.

None of that’s a surprise really. Well, the drake part I suppose. But I knew it was going to be a fire creature. The price is certainly a bit of an eye-opener, but whatever. As if I’d sell it... Not happening.

Moving on, the underlayer was next.

Item: Black-furred Volcanic Lynx Armor Underlayer

Qi Type Requirement: Aura or Mana

Affinity Requirement: None, Metal for flame skill.

Stage Requirement: Meridian Formation (21 for self-repair and re-size, 49 minimum for flame skill)

Resale Value (Est.): 15,000,000 silver alone. 75,000,000 silver with the associated leathers

Description:

Even without the leathers that are associated with this underlayer, the power of the cloth cannot be understated. Like with the leathers, the enchantments are quite old. The first three are quite common, if more advanced than our current versions. Durability, self-repair and self-resizing. The latter two require active Qi injection of any affinity and are identical to those on the leathers that accompany this underlayer. The final enchantment requires active Metal Qi for activation, which could be quiet valuable for both battle and especially forging. For someone with a Metal Affinity, the underlayer grants immunity to heat. This enchantment was tricky to interpret correctly. I emphasize that it creates immunity to heat, not fire. Meaning it can catch on fire, but the heat will not actually burn the wearer nor the cloth itself. This comes from the Black-furred Volcanic Lynx’s habit of lounging in the lava streams and pools of its home and setting itself on fire creating an effect similar to the Fire Aura skill, Flame Thorns. Note that immunity exists whether the enchantment is active or not. Only the Fire Thorns capability requires Metal Qi for the enchantment to activate.

Additional Product Notes: Quality enchanted armor is always highly sought after, but I believe this item’s lack of physical protection, or protection from anything but fire really, makes it useful only to blacksmiths when not paired with its leather counterparts. As I, a master enchanter, have no use for it and its enchantments themselves worth less than the rather high sales value, I fully intend to devest myself of this and the leather together at auction. It will help fund my research for years.

It was a good thing Yu was tired and she didn’t want to wake the girls up, because otherwise she might have started screaming swears at that old bastard. He just kept talking about selling her stuff.

What an ass!

Taking a few deep breaths, she touched the tag attached to the chest plate, which was the only piece of leather with a tag.

Item: Enchanted Flame Drake-scaled Leather Armor

Qi Type Requirement: Aura or Mana

Affinity Requirement: None

Stage Requirement: Meridian Formation (21 for self-repair and re-size, 56 minimum for reflection)

Resale Value (Est.): 75,000,000 silver with underlayer (would not sell without)

Description:

As one might expect from a Flame Drake-based product, this armor is immune to any and all fire. This includes Fire Qi which means the wearer cannot initiate any Fire skills that directly touch the skin. I do not feel this will reduce the value at all as no other affinity wielder will find its capabilities limiting. There are multiple rather old but high-efficient enchantments. The first is the same self-powered durability enchantment found on all the leather items. The second is an extremely efficient self-repair enchantment which requires active Qi of any affinity. It might be worth studying this enchantment to improve existing repair enchantments and methodologies. The third is a self-resizing enchantment which can alter the product’s dimensions by up to 15%. This enchantment only requires active Qi injection at the time of resizing and will stay at that size until injected again at a different size. Note: the self-repair and resize enchantments are linked, so one cannot repair without resizing and visa versa. The last enchantment is a reflection enchantment which, with the injection of Qi of any affinity, can redirect an attack. The amount of Qi required depends on the strength of the attack. This enchantment is extremely Qi-heavy, with the reflection requiring two to three times as much Qi as the attack’s power represents.

Additional product notes: While both the common and reflection enchantments are fascinating and definitely worth researching, the financial boost selling the full armor set would provide offers more overall value to my research. I will auction and it will likely go to a deserving noble clan like the Bao.

Yu wondered if steam was coming out of her ears. First and foremost, he wanted the damn Bao to get her armor. No way, no how. Absolutely not. Second, it required way more meridians than she had, or would have access to for a long time. Third, the underlayer required one of the few affinities she actually did not have. All and all, she was not pleased.

Yu lost track of how long she glared at the tags, but eventually got a grip on herself. She closed her eyes and was able to calm herself down enough to think straight. So far, everything was better than she had feared. If she was being honest with herself, her expectations had been rather low that any of the enchantments, assuming they had had any at all, would still be functional. Contrary to her assumptions, so far all of gear had active and fully-functional enchantments, even if they were either unknown or beyond her. And having an understanding of the capabilities of the materials themselves provided a great deal of value. That re-sizing one was a huge weight off Yu’s shoulders, as she had been quite worried that her body’s growth, which had not stopped since she had arrived at the sect, would force her to lose access to the armor.

Feeling a lot more positive about the situation, Yu took another breath and touched the tag on the water skin.

Item: Enchanted Flood Dragon/Fire Drake-scaled Leather Waterskin

Qi Type Requirement: Aura or Mana

Affinity Requirement: Water

Stage Requirement: Meridian Formation (14 minimum for purification, 21 for self-repair)

Resale Value (Est.): 1,000,000

Description:

This odd product had initially fooled me with its design. At first I was confused why one would use Fire Drake scales for a water container. Then I assumed it was for liquor, not water, but no changes to the liquid occurred. However, upon deeper examination, I discovered that the inside and outside layers are made from different materials. The Fire Drake leather offers all the benefits of the other matching pieces, the most beneficial being protection from heat, which passively keeps the water cool. However, there are only two common enchantments on the Fire Drake leather itself, durability and self-repair. I was initially disappointed at this finding. That is until I carefully reversed the product, turning it inside-out, and examined it closely. I discovered that the inner lining is in fact made with Flood Dragon skin. While powerful, the Flood Dragon is not actually a member of the dragon family. It is more a very powerful snake that lives in freshwater rivers, lakes, and seas. They take ownership and responsibility for the care and upkeep of those bodies of water. This capability boosts the single enchantment on the inside of the waterskin. It is a purifier. When active Water Qi is injected into the water inside the container, the enchantment activates and slowly purifies the water. When tested, I found that the requirements are low for simple contaminants like dirt, yet rise for more complicated ones like toxins.

Additional Product Notes: While I do not have Water Affinity, I intent to keep this product for myself. I can simply create a converter rod to inject Water Qi inside. The usefulness of this item cannot be overstated. It may in fact be the most practical of all the equipment in the set, at least for a Spiritualist such as myself.

Additional note: It has become clear that all of the leather pieces were designed to be part of a larger set. What is unclear is whether there are any additional pieces missing that could add other capabilities. On that topic, I do not believe that the hook swords were part of the set, as the leather is not a match.

Yu actually agreed with Mi Gong on all of his notes at the end. The waterskin was an extremely useful and practical tool for her. Or at least it would be when she reaches fourteen meridians. Moreover, that they were a set is obvious and that the hook swords were separate, seemed to fit.

And then there’s one... she thought while looking at the boot knife.

Yu was deeply curious and a bit apprehensive in regards to this item because of the master enchanter’s over-the-top reaction to it. Before she touched the tag, Yu leaned down and examined the weapon. The red-dyed metal blade stood out from all the other items in front of her. It offered a strange contrast of matte color with the highly reflective metal. The handle and guard looked like standard steel to her with short but straight protrusions to protect the fingers. And finally, the now-familiar Flame Drake leather wrapped the handle tightly, the scales offering a strong griping surface.

It was certainly lovely, but with the exception of the red-dyed metal, it did not appear to be anything particularly special. Taking a deep breath, she reached forward and touched the tag.

What she saw caused her to jerk her hand back and gasp in unmitigated shock and terror.