“Meerik Planet? Sounds good, the only problem is why would I loan you 50,000 contribution points”

“Please Brother Cain, I’ve been saving up for hundreds of years for this chance. I may still look like a young man but you know best that as genetic cultivators our life spans are massive. I’ve been in the core sect for around 1000 years, and yet I’m still considered the bottom of the barrel. However if I can go to Meerik Planet, I’ll have a chance to break through and finally stand up to those bullies!”

“You still haven’t told me why I should lend you 50,000 contribution points”

Cain and Papin could be considered friends, but Cain wasn’t about to give 50,000 contribution points to someone he had just met, he wasn’t that generous. However maybe if Papin had something good to offer, Cain would change his mind.

“Brother Cain, you should know well how poor disciples are, I don’t own much at all, except for a few things I’ve collected over the years”

“Well, you might as well let me see this collection of yours. Maybe I’ll find something worthwhile”

“Brother Cain, please don’t make fun of me. Those items are useless, and I have no idea what they are, no matter how much research I do, or else I would have sold them a long time ago.”

“Worst case scenario you have nothing, best case scenario you have something good. Just bring it out, I want to at least give you a chance”

Papin eventually agreed, he seemed worried to embarrass himself by showing off a bunch of useless scraps. Cain wasn’t that shallow though, he believed in the saying that one man's trash is another man's treasure, he may be able to find something good in Papin’s collection. Papin had been in the core sect alone for 1000 years, however he had cultivated for a lot longer than that, so his collection was destined to be quite massive. Papin eventually came back to Cain’s house lugging a sack behind him, he dumped it all out on the floor, showing how little value he put on this stuff.

“Go ahead Brother Cain, laugh all you want”

Cain looked down at the pile in front of him and scanned across, it was mostly ores and some materials.There were some very strange things in the pile that intrigued him, but upon a closer look he had to agree with Papin, most of this stuff was pretty useless, at least on a surface level. Cain dug through the pile with hopes of finding something good, he eventually stumbled upon something in the center of the pile. It was an old rusty key, but the key seemed to have been broken into multiple pieces, and this was only one part of it.

Cain didn’t bat an eye to this key at first, but he was suddenly tremendously shocked. He had reached the sight realm in time recently, so he could see time energy in the air. This energy was all around him, but was always in a calm state, which showed that time was flowing normally, but when he looked closely at this key, he noticed that the time around it distorted slightly. It was such a slight change that it was impossible to notice unless you specialized in time like Cain did, which was why Papin never noticed anything odd about this key and merely tossed it in the pile.

“Papin, where did you find this old key?”

“Oh that thing? I visited the Snail Realm Desert in the past out of curiosity. I didn’t manage to get in to deep, but I found it hidden under the sand. I took it since I was wondering if it was anything good, but I couldn’t find a use for it. I tried to sell it but no one was willing to buy an old rusty key, even if it came from a legendary zone like the Snail Realm Desert, so I ended up just tossing it away”

“How much contribution points do you need exactly?”

“Well currently I have 63,770 contribution points, so 36,230”

“Very well, I’ll give you 36,230 for this key”

“Are you sure Brother Cain? Normally I wouldn’t feel bad about scamming someone else, but I consider you my friend”

“Don’t worry, since I’m willing to take it, I naturally have a use for it”

“Heh, I think the truth is that Brother Cain has a soft spot. You want to lend me points but your tough guy attitude won’t let you, so this is your excuse”

“... Do you want the points or not”

“Of course. I can’t wait till it begins, I’ll be able to lay eyes on Senior Sister Mira again”

“Why do I feel like the main reason you want to go is just to look at this Senior Sister Mira girl”

“You’re only half right, it’s 9 parts looking at Senior Sister Mira, and 1 part getting stronger so that I can look at Senior Sister Mira in the future without getting beaten up by Ander’s goons. Anyways, it's still a week away from the trip, I’ll see you then. In the meantime I’ve got to go buy some new clothes so that I can impress Senior Sister Mira”

“...”

Cain watched as this lovestruck idiot left, thinking that he was both blessed and cursed.