After quickly eating at the cafeteria, Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu arrived at a small plaza located between the districts, slightly to the north of the main road.

Their destination was the Mission Hall, which was visible from afar and not because of the size but the strange fact that it was composed of two different buildings one next to the other. One was a stone building that looked imposing and shared the style of the Arena, Palaces, and Towers that were originally part of the ruins that the Sect occupied.

The other one was completely different, giving a more crude or simple image and built from common grey stone, as opposed to the white stone used for the other half. Their actual destination was the second one, which was the Outer Circle mission hall, or also called the errand hall by the disciples from what Wu Guang gathered after asking for directions.

Inside the building was the same, being simple, and except for the several disciples sitting at the desks used to register or report missions was mainly occupied by billboards. Each of the boards had different missions written on them, but a quick scan through them confirmed Xiao Feng's words, of them being only manual, errand, or maintenance work. The only board that had people nearby was one that seemingly was dedicated to herb gathering missions, and after scanning the options, Wu Guang found out that although the points for them were about the same as for the other menial labor missions this would have some herbs rewarded in the case of the Herbal Hall gardens or would be located outside the Sect grounds, allowing outer disciples to leave for a while.

Although Wu Guang did not really care, he still noted which missions allowed exiting the sect grounds. This was only because, by the rules, no outer circle disciple would be allowed to leave the Sect without being on a mission. So if something occurred and Wu Guang had the need to leave in the following days, his only way to do so would be to take such a mission.

Inner circle disciples did have the opportunity to leave after applying for permission, and normally it would be always approved if it did not interfere with tests or missions.

Their objective was to receive the points for the 'Nascent Pride' so the pair approached one of the tables and Wu Guang explained the reason for their arrival. The disciple quickly scanned their badges and after seeing that they were copper and not wooden, indicating their higher status changed the bored expression he had to a polite and even servile one while explaining that they would need to go to the offices, where Elders of the Mission Hall assigned rewards superior to a total of 300 points. As the disciple indicated them towards a set of doors on the rear of the hall or room they were present and explained that the elders would be notified and would call for them shortly, the pair thanked him with an almost simultaneous nod and walked to stand in front of the row of doors.

Wu Guang after waiting for half an hour without any answer for their request decided to act, so after knocking on one of the doors, he opened it and while politely saluting entered the room.

There was an extremely fat elder sitting in a chair inside the room, who reacted to the appearance of Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu with an angry shout

"Why did you enter without permission?! Do you want to be expelled?!"

"Esteemed Elder, we were ordered to receive our points quickly and then report back to Elder Ku, or we would be punished. If not for the latter, we would never dare to disturb the Elder and enter the room without being invited" Wu Guang lied, but his expression showed such a mix of politeness and reverence that the Elder could not sense the fact, while the mention of Elder Ku, although not a member of the Hall but still an Inner Elder and the head of the Outer circle made the Elder rethink his attitude. After all, if this two were on orders from such Elder, then obstructing them would be a mistake.

"I see, I see. Well, I will forgive you for the transgression. So what points do you need to receive?" Said the Elder more calmly, although with visible displeasure on his face.

"The ones for the 'Nascent Pride' tests"

"All the points for that are rewarded by the disciples outside" Almost barked the Elder while motioned for the pair to leave, but as they did not, angrily asked

"So why are you still here?"

"The disciple outside said that any rewards over 300 points are managed exclusively by the Elders" Wu Guang said without changing his voice, posture, or manner. But internally he was about to explode, after all, their status was far outside the reach of an outer elder, but he still did not want to enter any conflicts, especially with a member of the Mission Hall, which most probably he would need to deal with many times during his stay in the sect.

"Over 300? Impossible. There were only two... Wait! Are you two the inner disciples-in-waiting that got the top score?!" The elder almost jumped from the chair he was sitted in right as his mind reached that conclusion

"Reporting to the Elder. These two disciples are indeed inner disciples-in waiting and got the first two overall places during the test"

"Why did you not say anything before? At least introduce yourselves when entering, I had mistakenly taken you for the outer rabble that comes here to cry about the low rewards they got for a mission. Please come here and pass your badges to me" Making another full turn, the Elder attitude now was polite and even had a similarity to the servile disciple that had directed them here after seeing their badges. Well, this was not surprising, after all, they were not only expected to enter the inner circle but also thanks to their score were congratulated before all the rest of the sect.

With this new treatment, the process was finished extremely fast and the Elder even accompanied them to the door of his office.

After leaving the building the pair was meant to go and receive their uniforms, which they did with no issue after asking one of the outer disciples working at the Sect store entrance. Wu Guang decided to browse the store, which occupied an enormous building, with many five or six floors and each of them dedicated to different things. As Yuan Taotu decided to not accompany him, they separated and Wu Guang proceeded alone.

The first floor looked more like a warehouse and it sold basic necessities, ingredients, and clothes, the latter mainly comprised of uniforms. Wu Guang calculated that he could need a spare one, but as only one was provided for free he bought an extra one for two contribution points. Although his status was a bit special, he was still required to use the light blue outer circle uniform, which was a simple pair of robes and pants. These were made of common cloth, opposed to the inner circle ones that were actually tailored from runecloth, far more durable and with several low-level enhancements for basic protection.

The second floor was full of different low-level consumables for cultivation and after asking the disciple that worked here as a clerk, he was shown the two herb sets for the 8th level sold here. Wu Guang examined them and after finding that they were totally made of non-spirit herbs, decided to not buy any, wanting to find a better option during his visit to the Medicine and Herb Hall store. He also briefly examined the two upper floors, but the basic remedies, ointments, and herbs from the 3rd one were too basic even for his current needs while the training weapons on the 4th floor were about the same quality as his own.

When he intended to leave the last floor, he noticed a weapon that he had not seen in the city and supposed that was not used in the region, so Wu Guang bought it for 50 contribution points. The weapon in question was a medium quality glaive, although it looked more like a foot-long saber blade mounted on a five feet wooden pole. He did not yet know if manuals or techniques for glaives would be available in the sect, but judging that the Martial Palace leader used one, they should be.

Carrying a weapon would be against the rules so he asked a disciple on the first floor if someone could bring it to where he stayed, to which he was explained that if his total was over 70 contribution points, the store would send someone to deliver it for free if needed. Hearing this, Wu Guang walked towards the disciple working as a shopkeeper and paid for 20 points worth of basic ingredients like vegetables, rice, and a bit of meat. With this done, he indicated that he would like all this delivered to Xiao Feng's residence alongside the glaive and the uniforms.

Initially, he wanted to buy some ingredients to cook meals during the time he would need for the 8th level. But as he had no way to operate a holding pouch, he was stopped by the need of transporting them. Luckily this was solved by the offered transport.

Before leaving he also asked about rune weapons, and found out that they would be sold only by the Refining and Rune halls in a specialized store located near the main plaza. Thanking the disciple for the explanation and service, he left the store and continued to his next destination.