[Arrival Day + 7, 7.00am]

It was 7 am now. He entered the room. Shin was there, leafing through one of his books.

They greeted each other.

“How’s it going? Anything worth sharing with your new roommate?” asked Jin.

Shin looked at him puzzlingly.

“”It’s going” is about everything I can muster” - the boy said with a light smile on his face.

“I need to find a reliable way to start earning some house credits or plain old essence stones. Being poor really takes a toll.” Shin sighed.

“Don’t ask me for tips. I can’t be more broke. My balance equal to the roundest number in the world - 0” - Jin replied. He wasn’t in an urgent need of money, but he also knew it’s temporary. By the time he catches up with the basics, that privilege will be gone. Ma Gu will certainly not be sponsoring all his future refinements as well, at least Jin didn’t think so.

“Oh? And there I thought you’re the richest newbie, where did you spend all those credits you’ve been given?”

“Investment” - Jin sighed.

Shin smiled.

“And how about you? Anything interesting to share?”

“I finally got my first Gusu.” Jin grinned. He summoned the beetle and showed it off, his face full of pride.

“Ohh. It’s the Beast Strength Gusu. Good Gusu. Did you get it via the wooden token? It wasn’t on the list when I was picking mine.” - Shin muttered.

“No, I’ve given my token to the master so he can do whatever he wants with it. Master made me refine the gusu, he provided me with everything and all I had to do was to follow a recipe. In the end it was a success.”

Shin looked dumbfounded for a couple seconds.

“Oh, wow. Usually everybody just exchanges the token for their first gusu. Refining it must be quite rewarding.”

“It is. Though I must say, master really provided everything for me, not to mention, he was there during the whole process, correcting me whenever I was about to make a mistake. I received a really simple recipe, which didn’t didn’t involve any expert methods. Smearing my chest with dung was apart of it though, so I bet no girl would want to do that.” - Jin chuckled.

Shin looked at him again for a couple seconds and chuckled as well.

“Haha, you might be underestimating the girls around here brother. Anyway, smearing yourself with dung doesn’t sound half as bad as what I heard. I bet some people might enjoy it.”

They both laughed.

“That might be. That might be indeed.” - Jin smiled.

“What Gusu did you pick by the way?”

“Blade Gusu. As did most others. It’s a good Gusu.” - replied Shin.

Jin nodded.

After they finished talking, Jin checked the gusu encyclopedia for the rank 1 Beast Strength Gusu.

Ability - increases strength by 2 ranks.

Core food - Heartwood Tree Sap, rank 1 material.

Jin frowned. He might need credits a little sooner than he anticipated.

He cross referenced the Heartwood Tree Sap in the Materials book and he found it there. Heartwood wasn’t exactly rare, but it didn’t grow on mountains, but was often part of the flora in the leafy forests.

Acquiring the sap of the tree himself would probably require a multiple day journey, and he’d also need to get permission to do so. Just procuring the material was not a good enough reason. The trade chain between houses, clans and cultivators in general was quite robust after all.

The subject wasn’t so simple when it came to trading rare or high ranked materials. Usually one had to visit large trade centers to acquire those. Another way was to put forward a request to the house’s or clan’s trade hall to add the needed material to the list of materials to purchase - given the requesting person is willing to pay upfront and wait before receiving his goods.

Even then, the supply of specific goods could be inconsistent, leaving a person little choice but to either give up on it temporarily, seek the items himself or to put out a mission to acquire it for him. Granted these options were not ideal.

Jin looked at his beetle again, trying to make itself comfortable on top of his desk. The beetle noticed his attention and shifted it’s head, giving him a curious glance. He smiled and sent the beetle back to the aperture.

Jin thought for a moment.

“Which hall holds the mission list?”

“The Contributions Hall.”

Jin nodded, asked a couple questions how to get there and to the trade hall and left.

First, he decided to visit the trade hall and check the prices there.

The trade hall was fairly busy, when he reached the clerk he asked for the price on the heartwood sap.

The clerk responded after just a second.

“20 ml for an essence stone, 40 ml for a credit.”

Jin nodded. Apparently sect credits were worth twice more than the essence stones. Does that mean he had 240 essence stones just not too long ago? Jin smiled sourly. Bei really demanded quite a lot from him.

“Can I get the list of goods available in the hall?”

“Certainly.”

The clerk handed Jin a booklet. He had a large stack of them by his side.

“What’s the rate of trade ins?” - Jin asked the last questions.

“70% of the listed price” - the clerk answered in his usual tone

“Thank you.” - Jin said, as he left.

“This clerk was definitely an expert.” - Jin thought, as he was exiting the hall.

Jin opened the booklet to checked some of the Gusu prices.

rank 1 blade gusu - 60 essence stones or 30 credits

rank 1 beast strength gusu - 90 essence stones or 45 credits

rank 1 jump cricket gusu - 25 essence stones or 13 credits

rank 1 sticky web gusu - 120 essence stones or 60 credits

rank 1 water bath gusu - 20 essence stones or 10 credits

Jin raised his eyebrows, as he noticed the Sticky Web Gusu’s price. It was quite a bit more valuable than his Beast Strength Gusu.

The prices seemed very standard, it couldn’t be said they were cheap or expensive, at least regarding the essence stone prices. He knew that the jump Gusu’s market price was around 20-30 essence stones. He researched this one while inside the clan.

The next thing he did was looking up the value of the ingredients he has used for refinement of the Beast Strength Gusu.

After adding everything up, the cost in essence stones was equal to 70. It was 20 stones cheaper than buying the gusu. On the other hand, if he sold the gusu, he’d receive only 63 stones, so he wouldn’t even recoup the material cost. This kind of situation was likely the same for most if not all rank 1 gusu.

Seventy percent trade in value usually would be considered neither high nor low, for Jin though it was definitely a steep price to pay for being able to quickly sell whatever he had on hand. It was better to either find somebody who anyway wants to buy the gusu and refine it for him. Both parties would profit in that case. The easiest way to do it is usually to post a mission together with a reward indicated in it.

Of course, if he found the materials, refining the Gusu would only increase their cumulative value, but that was not an option for him.

Jin navigated towards the contributions hall, and requested the list of missions available to the rank 1 gusu experts.

The clerk obliged, and quickly Jin found himself studying the entries.

There indeed were quite a few refinement jobs, either to refine the Gusu given the materials, or to process materials in bulk.

Jin couldn’t really take any of them at the moment, since he wasn’t an expert refiner by any means. He still had no expert methods of processing materials, his Beast Strength Gusu wasn’t particularly useful in that regard.

There were also gathering specific low-rank materials missions, but for rank 1 experts that basically was it. Clearly the sect was a little protective, as there were no dangerous missions available for them.

He could see Shin’s plight now. It was really hard to earn the stones or credits at rank 1 using conventional means, unless you were backed by your family or clan. Perhaps it was possible to borrow some stones, if you knew the right people. And every rank 1 expert knew at least one quite influential person - his or her master.

Jin definitely made a mental note to make sure he has a way to procure the food if he is to claim a new gusu for himself.

[Arrival Day + 7, 10.00am]

It was 10 am now.

The refinement has sucked all his energy dry, he needed to rest to recover some of it. He did want to feed the Gusu as soon as possible though. He knew that the refined Gusu was hungry. He could feel the hunger deep within himself.

Jin decided to pay Bei a visit. He consulted the schedule as to where they should be. Apparently, all five sorts had the same theoretical class right now. Without delay, Jin left for the Training Hall.

Jin was a little curious what the session was like, so he entered only praying in his mind that this will not cause any ruckus.

It was a fairly big room. Trainees were sitting cross legged. They filled up the room from the back up to 3/4th’s room length. At the front of the room there was an expert conducting this class. Thankfully, the entrance was at the back, and so he didn’t garner much attention. Jin sat down near the back, he tried to be quiet without making any sort of ruckus. Couple trainees got distracted anyway and turned their heads around, but that was it.

The expert gave Jin a glance, but never stopped talking to the class.

He was talking about a Rugged Trapdoor Python, a rank 2 mana beast that lives in the Nan Liang Mountain area. The python was earth attributed mana beast, and could dig the earth with ease and launch attacks from underground. It was strong and had good vitality, had a quick launching attack but otherwise was quite slow and didn’t pursue the prey it didn’t manage to wrap itself around. It fed on mostly small animals and lower ranked mana beasts. It was rare for it to have a Gusu on it, since moving underground made it hard for gusu to not get shaken off, if it ever decided to attach itself to the python.

The expert also elaborated on common successful tactics useful to discover the python before it attacks, make it reveal itself and finally subdue it.

Jin found the information quite fascinating, in depth and potentially useful, since the snake did live in the area they were residing in.

After the explanation was done, the expert prompted trainees to ask questions, and so they did. One was about the population in the Area. Apparently the estimates are under 500 individuals. Another about the market price of the corpse. According to the expert, it was around 80 stones.

After the questions were exhausted, the expert continued on to another mana beast, this time it was rank 1 shockwolf. Jin recognised this beast, as his caravan was attacked by a pack.

After a little less than two hours and five or six different beasts and plants, the class was concluded.

Jin stood up and tried to pick up Bei from the crowd. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there. He did catch Yuan and Chi together though.

Jin smiled wholesomely, as Yuan approached him.

“Yuan, I’m glad to see you my friend” - he turned to Chi - “As well as you young lady Kai” - he smile getting wider when facing Chi.

“Jin, you do look happy. I was curious what you are doing here.”

“I was actually looking for Bei, do you know where he might be? I hoped I’ll find him here but there’s no sight of him.”

Yuan shook his head.

“No. He usually doesn’t join the lecture classes. To be honest, it’s rare to catch sight of him.”

“So in addition to practical sessions, he skips all others too. Not making it easy for his best friend to find him, does he.”

Yuan only smiled in response.

“That’s alright then. Maybe you can help me? I need to borrow essence stones or credits. As many as I can. I don’t know when I’ll be able to return them, but not later than a month from now.”

Jin half expected a sneering comment coming his way from Chi, so he looked at her, but it never came. He raised his eyebrows and batted eyelids in surprise. She only had a sour expression on her face as she matched his gaze.

“Didn’t you receive 120 credits for your advancement?” - Yuan was surprised.

“I did, unfortunately I had to “invest” it, almost as soon as I got it, so I’m as broke as anybody can be.” - said Jin, scratching the back of his head giving off an embarrassed expression

Yuan nodded. He knew Jin’s family situation, he couldn't count on their support the same way as he and Chi did, and he also knew the higher the experts rank, the more resources he required. Compared to Jin, Yuan didn’t have a big need for essence stones right now, and it was unlikely he will need them soon.

Essence stones were the basic currency used in human societies. 2 stones was enough value to feed oneself well for a month - unless he’d eat at restaurants. Lodgings were a different matter, 1 stone usually could rent only a room of a house. If somebody wanted to rent a whole house, it was at least 5 stones a month. Of course the price varied depending on many factors, but it was generally considered that with 5 stones a month, a single young mortal man is well off. (1 stone = 500PLN)

Essence stones were valuable not only as a currency. A single essence stone contained essence equal to roughly half of rank 1 expert's essence reserves, the stones could be used as essence batteries for cultivators.

"Would 10 be enough?" Yuan asked, massaging his temple.

"I'll be happy to accept that." Jin smiled. It was no small sum to him, were he not in the house and a rank 1 senior at that, there’d be nobody willing to lend him such an amount.

"Let's go to the dorms, I'll hand you the stones there."

"Alright."

They headed over to the whelp dorms, which were in the direction of the Spire, home of the dragonsort. Chi decided to not leave her brother's side and accompany them. The higher rank a dragon was, the higher up the spire were his lodging and the more privileged his position within the sort. While this is true for other sorts to some extent too, dragons and snakes had especially strict rules, and especially big benefits for the capable.

"How did you find the class?" - asked Yuan, wanting to keep chatting and prevent any awkward silence.

"Informative. I liked it. It's focused around the local area, and since we'll likely be spending a lot of time here, I don't really consider the information useless or redundant in any way. How are you enjoying it?"

"I like it too. Still, the prospect of encountering these creatures seems still a little distant to me." - Yuan sighed.

“Haha, I’m glad. It’s not my dream to be strangled by a python in some underground lair it dug out in my tender young age!”

Yuan chuckled.

"What about you, Chi?" Jin asked, smiling

"I prefer practice." She answered, in what seemed to be her normal tone.

Jin raised his eyebrows.

"Your sister is no longer sneering at me Yuan. Do you think she might have fallen for me?"

Chi visibly made a grimace on her face, but she didn't say a word.

Yuan was startled by the question. Seeing his sister holding it in, he felt relieved. Since Dan wasn't around, perhaps he can risk her snapping and test her limits.

"Perhaps that is so. She is never so quiet and shy as she is around you, you know." - Yuan said, with calmness in his voice that suggested he was serious.

Chi's face started to redden, she was quiet like a mouse though.

"What shall I do? I don't know if I can reciprocate her feelings. Please advice me junior brother, it is your dear sister after all."

Chi reddened with the second.

"My sister is an exceptional talent…” - Yuan started, draggin the sentence -

“She is heavily doted on by clan elder. She is like a swan, doesn’t lack elegance nor beauty.” - he continued, slowly thinking of what to say - ”I can't see how you would be at a loss here, senior brother. It's a match made in heaven."

Yuan teased his sister mercilessly, even though his tone and manner of speaking was his usual composed and calm self. He was also watching her. Chi started fuming, still didn't say a word, but glared at her brother like a hawk.

"I can't see any flaw in your logic junior. I'll still need to think about this before I make a decision."

Yuan nodded solemnly, but inside he was rejoicing. He didn't think Chi would be able to let it go, but her color slowly was returning to normal, her expression a little stiff but who could blame that.

Soon they reached their destination soon. As Yuan was handing a small sack to Jin, he asked a question.

"What are you planning to spend it on?"

It was more out of curiosity than anything.

"Truth is, I just refined my first Gusu, and I need to secure food for it." Jin said after thanking Yuan. Then he summoned the Beast Strength Gusu into his hand.

Yuan nodded.

"That makes a lot of sense. What gusu is this?" - Yuan asked looking at it intently.

"It is rank 1 Beast Strength Gusu." Jin confirmed, as he started playing with the beetle using his other hand.

Yuan was moved a little, giving an expression that Jin hasn’t seen on him yet.

“Beast Strength… “ - Yuan furrowed his brows, clearly trying to remember information on it, while Chi gave a curious look.

"Beast strength. It raises the expert's strength by two ranks, correct?" - Chi interjected

Jin nodded.

Seeing the curious Chi behind her brother, he handed the beetle to her.

"You can pet it."

Chi was slightly flustered as she let the beetle on her palms. The beetle was checking out his new flooring, and then looked at Chi tilting his head to the side.

Chi followed Jin's suggestion and petted the gusu with her thumb. The beetle enjoyed the affection and gave 3 rubs against the base of Chi’s thumb in response.

Chi blushed.

Jin recalled the gusu and summoned it again, startling Chi a little. This time he handed it to Yuan, who inspected it closely and gave it a rub. Yuan couldn’t help but smile.

"Excellent Gusu." He said, handing it back to Jin.

Jin took the gusu and recalled it into his aperture.

They said their goodbyes, Jin thanked Yuan once again for the stones, and navigated toward the trade hall, where he purchased the heartwood sap for 5 stones, which amounted to 100 ml.

He got the sap in a nice closed vial.

[Arrival Day + 7, 1pm]

He returned to his dorm, summoned the gusu and fed it. The beetle had a huge appetite for sap. It drank a little less than 80 ml, and at that point it was full to the brim and very satisfied.

So was Jin. Thankfully, this should be enough for up to a month, and it’ll be at least two weeks until he needs to feed Gusu the sap again. If he needed to do it more often, he’d be in a terrible economic pinch.

Jin took a bath and entered his aperture.

Inside the aperture, the beetle was flying around casually. It looked quite a bit more active now that it was fed.

Soon, the lean boy arrived.

“How do you like our new friend so far.” - Jin poked at the boy.

“I’m thinking of starting up a zoo with guys like that.” - jeered the boy.

“Please don’t. I needed to borrow money to buy food for him. We are broke.” Jin sighed.

The boy grinned, as if the problem didn’t concern him.

“We still have a little bit of essence leftover from the refinement. I want to learn how to trigger Gusu’s ability, and maybe try sparring at least for a couple blows.”

The boy nodded.

Jin knew that this gusu was different from the Not Gusu that he had before. He fiddled with the Gusu controlling it for a couple minutes, and he finally felt it. He found a pathway which activated the Gusu's ability. He attempted to trigger it for another couple of minutes, and finally managed to do so by moving his essence along that pathway.

The beetle's color brightened and became more vibrant. The beetle itself started vibrating, as if unable to contain the entirety of the energy.

And an almost immediate result of that was - Jin felt stronger. Much stronger. 2 ranks in strength weren't anything to sneeze at.

The boy was also ready. They started to spar. If the previous inside aperture show of strength was impressive, this time it was quite inhuman. Jin's kicks held enough power to launch the boy into the air. Of course, Kasm could launch him as well. Jin didn’t hold anything back, he tried his best. With strength, his speed also rose. He could dodge a further distance, he could run faster, and his attacks launched with much greater velocity, and thus were harder to dodge.

After a minute, Jin felt it’s time to finish, he felt the reserves were getting completely dry.

“How was it?” - asked Jin.

“The boy started collecting the refined energy, after nothing was moving, he made it disappear somehow.”

“This is workable.” - the boy said.

“The ratio of damage to essence consumption is quite good, the tempering is still a little on the slow side though. If we spar for an hour, I'll need 4h to refine the tempered energy that was produced in the spar. These are rough estimates though. So if I am to have enough work, we need to spar for 4 hours daily.

The essence reserves are enough for 1h of continuous gu usage. This basically means that you'll need to sleep to recover, and won't be able to do much else if we are to fully utilize the time on refining the energy body."

Jin digested the boy's words.

“What happens if we dedicate 100% on energy body refinement from now?”

The boy was thinking, making calculations in his head.

“We’ll reach rank 1 middle stage in about 1.5 months. It’ll take another 3 months to reach the upper stage, another 1.5 months to reach the peak. Finally, the breakthrough will depend on many factors, it could be done as soon as we reach the peak of rank 1.

“So 6 months? ”

“That is, if we’d fully utilized our time only to temper our energy body. It’d be quite impossible to follow all in all, and unlikely a wise thing to do. Recovering the essence by sleeping takes too long.”

“How come it’s so much faster to go from upper to peak than from middle to upper?”

“The changes between the stages within a rank are more subtle than the ones in between ranks. It’s more like - until the energy body is refined 25% of the way, it has one quality, then until it is refined in 75%, it has another quality, and finally from 75% completion to 100% it has yet another quality. The peak stage does not have any specific quality to it, it’s just an indication that the energy body cannot be further refined aside from transforming it into energy of higher rank.”

“I see. What needs to be done to achieve the breakthrough then?”

“The energies need to be deeply and thoroughly stirred. They must flow like an untamed river. If they’ve been fully refined, and this state is achieved, only then there is possibility of transforming them. It is similar to how you opened the aperture in the first place. You did a great job fulfilling the conditions soon after the body was ready, so I have high expectations that it’ll not be a problem in the future either.”

Jin gave a sour smile. He mostly had Bei to thank for that.

“Alright. Let’s start working towards the middle stage then. We’ll figure out if we can improve the process as we go.”

As long as he breaks through within reasonable timeframe, Jin was probably safe and it’d be unlikely for his master to shun him. Of course the earlier it happens, the better. That being said, Jin doesn’t know what the reasonable timeframes are, he should find out as it should be an easy information to get.

Jin left the aperture space, and immediately dropped off on his bed.

[Arrival Day + 7, 6pm]

When Jin woke up, it was 18 already. He was quite hungry, so immediately after a bath he visited the canteen.

The canteen was quite busy at that time of the day. He’d actually needed to go outside the canteen to find a peaceful spot, but he noticed a familiar group of krakens, and decided to join them.

“Eru, Don and Fin, did I remember correctly?” - Jin smiled, as he was waiting for their approval.

“You got that right newbie. What are you standing for, sit down and eat with us.” - Eru showed a bright smile and smacked an empty seat nudging Jin to sit there.

“I hope you’re finding yourself well in the House, how was your first week? I haven’t seen you around much, and I do pride myself in seeing a lot that other do not.” - Eru asked, a delicate smile still on his lips.

Jin laughed, and conjured his Beast Strength Gusu.

“Here’s the culmination of my first week of work here.”

The beetle was on Jin’s hand, looking around the surroundings and new faces.

Don took a look at it.

“Beast Strength.” - he raised his brows - “Good Gusu. You can’t get it via the token. Did you buy it with your advancement funds?”

“I refined it under and watchful gaze of my master.”

“Refined it? That’s impressive, given this is just your first week. Maybe it’s no accident that Ma Gu picked you up so quickly.”

“Now that you have your first Gusu, you’re a full fledged rank one student here in our sort. We should celebrate sometime, what do you think, fellows?” - Eru asked, looking at his peers.

Don nodded.

“Earth to Fin? EARTH TO FIN!” - Eru waved his hand in front of Fin.

“Wha-What? Oh Yeah, celebration. Yes, for sure.” - Fin finally replied.

Eru smiled.

“Sorry about Fin, he gets like that sometimes. You’ll get used to it. But, since we’re all on the same page, let’s have some fun next Sunday.”

Jin put on an awkward smile.

“Sounds good, let me know what and where. By the way, since you say you pride yourself in seeing things Eru.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know any transformation senior from our sort? I’ve been having some unfortunate encounters with one. He’s never shown his face, but he transformed into a small dragon whelp and a carrier gecko.” - Jin followed up his inquiry with his encounters with this student.

Eru thought for a bit.

“It must be one of Ren Song’s pupils. Just based on your experience, it’s either a peak rank 1 student or rank 2 senior.”

Don chuckled.

“To pick on the freshest rank 1 student possible, you received the attention of quite a bully.” - Don said with a grin.

“You shouldn’t have to worry too much… Ren Song’s methods are a little extreme, and his pupils are quite loose because of that. They can afford it only because Ren Song has made arrangements with other instructors.”

“That being said, they do hide their identities, so the trouble doesn’t follow them outside their training. They aren’t supposed to do any lasting damage, and whatever ill they manage to do, their master will cover the recompense.”

Jin furrowed his brows.

Don chuckled again, and Eru smiled.

“It’s a funny position isn’t? Whoever that was, he just does whatever he’s supposed to do according to his master - you would likely do the very same if you ended up in Ren Song’s hands.” - Eru said, he really seemed to enjoy Jin’s predicament

“Despite all this, it gets your blood boiling. Especially if you get targeted like that, two times in your very first week.in the house. You’d think then, the person does not do it just because of master’s instructions. After all, I doubt Ren Song told his pupil to target you specifically. That means - it’s personal now.” - Eru said, he also spotted a grin on his face.

Jin’s astonishment suddenly transformed into laughter.

“Haha, I didn’t expect all this. Well, maybe now that Ma Gu was involved, I’ll be left alone. If it’s just this much I can let it go.”

“Let us know if it becomes more than that.” - Don responded, taking on a serious tone.

“We shouldn’t let a fellow kraken bully our newbie. We’ll be happy to aid you in one way or another.” - Eru added.

Jin smiled.

“That sounds like a deal to me!”

Jin finished his meal and the boys split their ways. Jin had a lot of mixed thoughts about Rei Mun’s pupils, but they didn’t seem like bad folk and Jin they were starting to grow on him a little.

[Arrival Day + 7, 7pm]

There was no time to waste though, now that he had his fill, it was time to temper his energies again, and so he found a nice place near his krakensort dorms to enter his aperture to start the session.

[Arrival Day + 7, 8pm]

It was like as the Kasm said, the energy consumption of Beast Strength wasn’t huge, and therefore he could keep its effect for a whole hour, and still have a sliver of it left. After an hour. he left an aperture and returned to his room. Shin wasn’t around. Jin simply took a bath and immediately hit the bed.

After He woke up around 22, he repeated this sequence two more times.

It was 8 am the following day.

[Arrival Day + 8, 8am]

The first week was now fully behind Jin. Before he resumed his current string of activities, Jin decided to take a little step back and summarize the past week. See where he still thinks he was moving in the right direction, and where he failed.

Looking back at it, the past week was a little hectic. There were many unknowns, and Jin was a little confused by the new environment. He summoned the feelings that were accompanying him on the very first days, when the sect was a totally unfamiliar place. If he compared himself to a child, he’d be a kind of child that sticks to his parents whenever going out, and only in his own home could he be left alone.

His Guardian, Ma Gu, Kai Yuan. They took the role of a parent to him in the previous week. His life was anchored around them, and he found it good enough. It was comfortable to an extent. It allowed him to progress stably, and achieve his short term goals.

Did he try to get the best of these people? No. He accepted what they were willing to give. He remembered his first talk with Ma Gu. The talk that put him a little on the edge. By now, he’s forgotten the feeling yet again. He was no longer at edge. He was carrying himself as if he knew what he was doing, and things were going just fine. To an extent this was true, but deep inside him he had a feeling. He knew. He got swept with the current of his own circumstance.

It might be the most logical route, but aren’t there plenty of level headed people around? Level headedness can get you only so far. Maybe it’s fine to be more greedy with people? Even if you get trampled over, it is a small matter. You can always pick yourself up, and if you end up dead, you don’t even need to do that. At least you lived strong.

Jin felt a little jolt of electricity go through his spine.

This sounded a little like crazy talk. But crazy need not to be bad. Perhaps it’s worth being a little crazier. Maybe that’s what the Ren Song’s students were? Going a little loose, as Eru put it, seemed to be just that. Not in a loose cannon kind of way though - crazy and in control, at the same time. He wanted to try that. He didn’t want to throttle life, it should flow as wide as it can - still, he needs to direct the current. Maybe it’d be good to challenge what he did for the past week, and see if it was legitimately a better way to be. The results shall speak for themselves, and if he is to try it, it’s better to try it right away, otherwise he could be missing out more and more each passing day.

He let his thoughts quiet down for a couple minutes.

This silence he should take as his companion. If he lets his thoughts run wild, his thoughts will talk him out of everything. They will talk him out of doing anything that he’d so far consider “stupid”, “senseless”, “insane”. Even now, he’s unsure of himself. Things are going alright, aren’t they? If it’s not broken, why fix it? Is he going to start acting like an immature kid now? Is he going to demand everybody to magically pave the way for him, unyieldingly? Is he going to be forceful with people, so they turn his back on him? These were legitimate risks and concerns. He cannot do that. He needs to act responsibly. He needs something else than thought to guide his actions.

What can it be though?

Maybe an attitude? What can he do wrong if he’s guided by the right attitude?

He smiled lightly. Maybe.

He opened his eyes.

Ma Gu said to visit him today. He’s the best target to test his new approach. And the worst one at the same time. Doesn’t matter.

Soon, he stood in front of the familiar house. It was Ma Gu’s.

He knocked. Never was Ma Gu in his house when he tried to find him.

“Come in” - a voice resounded

Jin opened the door and found himself inside the corridor, at the end of which Ma gu was standing.

Jin bowed.

“Come in.”

He followed him into a large guest room. There was already one guest with him. It was the 2nd rank girl with side buns, the very same he had seen before with Ma Gu in practice room 7.

Jin bowed as he saw her.

“Tea?” - Ma Gu asked.

Jin felt surprised, he wasn’t expecting courtesy out of his Master. Then again, this is the first time he was invited inside his home.

“With pleasure.” - Jin replied with a smile.

Jin answered, as he joined his senior at the table.

Ma Gu left, and within a minute he came back, as he placed the third clay cup, this one in front of Jin.

“This is Mu Set. She’s your senior.” - Ma Gu introduced the girl.

Jin bowed his head towards the senior girl.

“This is Zhen Jin. Your new junior.” this time he said to the girl.

“Nice to meet you, junior”. - Her voice was quite firm and concrete.

“So, two of my most Junior pupils visit me in the morning.”

He took a sip.

“Speak up.”

“You told me to come today. I came for a new assignment.” - the girl said plainly and firmly.

“Of course. A new assignment.” - Ma Gu sneered.

The girl furrowed her brows.

Slowly he shifted his gaze to Jin.

“Jin?”

Jin looked at Ma Gu. His lifeline. He needed to see if the man could understand his plight. And if he did, if he is willing to support him. There’s nothing to lose. At worst he’ll shun him, which will be fair.

“Master, I am not happy with my current progression.

I lack resources. I’m forced to sleep to recover my essence. I need a better method of recovery. My current Gusu is versatile, but I need a more efficient Gusu to temper my energy body. It takes 4 hours of usage to temper enough energy for the Guardian to process for the rest of the day. This is not ideal.

I need more Gusu which helps in refining the energy body. I don’t want to ask you to just hand me everything, but common materials, recipes and refinement methods are some things which I’d request of you. If materials will be hard to get, I’ll find a way and not trouble you. If you don’t have a recipe, I will not trouble you. The Gusu, so long as it can be refined, I will refine it. The refinement skills are invaluable and it’ll lessen the burden on investment in my person.”

Jin paused for a couple seconds here, to gather his feelings and try to express them.

“You are too lenient on me, master. I could be pushed further. Much further. I may not be capable, but I will not break. There’s also something about my Guardian. He has explained that the lack of aptitude I have was a price to pay for versatility that the energy body comes with. He is fully sure that he has done an excellent work on the subtler energies weaved into the body, and that its versatility will be hard to match. The main portion of the work he has done will not unveil itself until much later though. My Guardian may be conceited, and oversell his work, but I have interacted with him long enough and trust in his capability. I ask you to invest in your pupil, I’ll guarantee your returns.”

Ma Gu raised his eyebrows.

Mu Set was slowly opening her mouth as Jin continued speaking, and her face slowly transformed from composure to astonishment.

Jin was calm and focused, as he waited for Ma Gu’s reaction. It was the first time he looked him straight into the eyes, face to face. Not with any sort of arrogance, but with a question to be answered.

None of them expected such an unrestrained request. From a fresh pupil no less.

“Now this is the attitude of a Pupil.”

Ma Gu almost chuckled.

“He wants to eat his master whole, but he cannot. He is smacking his lips and begs for boons. Promises eternal allegiance and tries to lure him with benefits.”

“I thought you actually did pretty well last week. I was thinking the very first assignment will take you two weeks. ”

Ma Gu has taken another sip from his cup.

“You’ve just arrived after all, and didn’t go through any trainee classes. For early completion, I award you 2 credits.”

“Up to a month I would still wait.” - Ma Gu continued - ”Any longer, and I’d not have any hopes of making anything out of you.”

He showed a smile.

“Now you’re putting me in a predicament.” - he said, after which he took another sip, and there was a pause.

“You should be aware that if I were to give you this much support, my other pupils wouldn’t like that very much. I don’t *like* playing favourites either.”

He looked at Set.

“What do you think, Set?” - Ma Gu asked casually.

Mu Set furrowed her brows.

“This Junior wants to take you for a ride. is fooling himself or simply is crazy. I don’t approve of his request.”

Ma Gu nodded and smiled again. quite expecting Set’s opinion to be like that.

“A rational conclusion. However, it is most curious… last week you were as meek as a mouse. As a freshman should be. And now this. How not to call it… *curious*.” - Ma Gu paused, sinking into thoughts for a couple seconds.

“And what you mentioned at the end. Apertures are a fascinating subject, and so are the Guardians. I’ll clutch onto your senses, in a similar manner you clutched onto mine in our first lesson, and see if there is any basis to what your Guardian speaks of.” - Ma Gu paused, sinking into his thoughts again.

“Do you still want to proceed?” - he finally asked.

“Yes.” - Jin replied plainly.

Ma Gu waved his hand.

“Enter your aperture.” - Ma Gu instructed.

Jin closed his eyes and entered the aperture.

It was the same as normal.

A single beetle flying around the void.

Kasm appeared in less than a minute. He squinted.

“There’s something latched onto you…” - he said, and waved - “There, gone. It was weird. Some weird energy.”.

“It actually was my master’s method. I’m making a deal with him, he wanted to see my aperture for himself.”

“Oh.” - the boy said uncaringly “You can give him another ride then. What sort of deal are you making?”

“Riches for soul kind of deal” - Jin smiled

“I better go back. Wish me luck, you’ll be the richest Guardian in the House soon.” - Jin said as he left Kasm with a dumbfounded expression.

He opened his eyes.

“Sorry about that, I should’ve entered first and warned the Guardian I’m not entering alone. We can give it another go, he knows now.”

“No need.” - Ma Gu said, deep in thought, but shook it off a couple minutes later.

“Good Guardian. Good aperture.” - he said, a bit contemplatively.

“I’ll give you a chance. Though you should know. I have many methods. If you disappoint... I will collect my investment. One way or another, I won’t lose that much. But if you agree, you’re mine. If I tell you to live, you live. If I tell you to die, you die.”

There was a pause.

“Do we have an agreement?”

“Yes” - Jin replied straightforwardly.

Ma Gu nodded.

“Come here boy.”

Ma Gu placed his hand on Jin’s throat, and a small, thin cobra started wrapping itself around Jin’s throat. Cobra looked at it’s new target and hissed.

Jin looked at it. After looping around his neck thrice, the cobra rested on his left arm.

Jin rubbed his hand against it’s head. The cobra hissed in response, apparently wanting him to leave it alone.

“This is rank 3 Jailer Gusu, if you try to leave the house without my consent, the consequences will be lethal. The same thing may happen if I discover you are not responsible with the resources that have been organized for you, so it’s in your best interest to work hard, otherwise I might have to retrieve my investments from your corpse, which would certainly be unfortunate.”

“Good Gusu.” Jin said, as he nodded.

Set was flabbergasted at the whole exchange. At the end, she involuntarily opened her mouth again.

“Since the rest of the business with you may take a while, let’s go over miss Mu Set’s instructions first.”

She closed her mouth when she was mentioned.

“Yes Master.”

“I have an assignment for you. You’ll make sure your junior Jin is apt at using rank 1 expert material processing. I’ll transfer 300 credits in your name. You have 3 days.”

“Yes Master” - Mu Set answered, but she was surprised. 300 credits was quite a lot, though a good chunk will be spent on materials. She could get a really good haul from this short assignment… Master wasn’t joking around. He really is going to go all out on this junior.

“Go and prepare the materials. The junior’s only Gusu is rank 1 Beast Strength Gusu. Take this into account.”

He looked at Jin.

“Or am I missing something?”

“If we’re not counting the 9 Not Gusu, that is the only Gusu I have.” - confirmed Jin.

Ma Gu nodded.

“You may go and arrange the supplies for the assignment.”

The girl bowed and proceeded to leave the room.

Ma Gu sighed.

“I might be a fool here, but I decided to take this gamble. Your guardian’s assurances to you may not be… unfounded.” Ma Gu paused.

“I would have great uses for a capable assistant in the future. Very great. That is also provided only if you step up to the task.” - he looked at Jin again. As he did, there was quite a cold feeling going through Jin’s body.

“I don’t really know you yet, and I don’t know what you are made of. Some disciples are fed up with cultivation in time and decide to leave the House. Some are satisfied by reaching 3rd rank, leaving the house to serve at some hole who-knows-where.” - he was glaring like a hawk at Jin now - “I can’t have you to become any of that. Since you’ve taken the deal, these paths are sealed off. And neither will I let you slog around here in the House.“

Jin nodded. These were not perfect terms, but he does not seek perfection anyway..

“Do you know when an expert reaches the realm of a master?”

“At rank 4” - Jin replied.

“Correct. Do you know what’s the age of the youngest rank 4 in the sect?”

Jin shook his head.

“It’s a 19 year old, Gu Ha Yun, with the Gu clan backing him.”

“With your help master, he’ll need to concede the title soon enough.” - said Jin, a little amused about this trivia

Ma Gu sneered.

“You probably don’t know anything about the Gu clan. One of your priorities will be knocking some knowledge into that empty head of yours.”

Ma Gu started scribbling a long list of titles on the paper.

“Here are some titles. *NO* skimming, *NO* leafing through. I’ll check how thorough you were.”

Jin received the list.

There were 12 titles, all of them entry level introductions to various subjects.

Some of them looked promising, some seemed to be more of a material for reference.

Jin nodded.

“Can we go over essence recovery issue?” He asked. “Must I refine essence stones or are there more efficient methods?”

“For rank 1 expert like yourself, essence stones are good enough.”

Jin nodded.

“Right now I need to recover my essence at least 4 times if I want to fully utilize my Guardian. It means that I’m going to spend at least 8 stones daily just to recover the essence. This will save me 14-16 hours of sleeping daily.” - Jin summarized.

“Good investment.” said Ma Gu.

“Are there any Gusu that could help the Guardian refine the energy body with tempered energies?”

Ma Gu sneered.

“No.”

“I see. What about the recipes for Gusu that are otherwise helpful in tempering or refinement.”

“Set will guide you and help you refine some of the required Gusu that will be useful in future refinements. Regarding the tempering Gusu, Blade Gusu is the most popular among rank 1 experts due to its effectiveness.”

Jin nodded.

“Are there any mind enhancing Gusu that would could help me in cultivation?”

“There are many, although none do directly. Bookworm Gusu can store information from the books, so it is available to you at any time. It would suit you well, given your dislike of grasping information in a proper manner. There are many more, but application of some needs a little preparation and experience.”

Jin raised his brows for a second and then nodded.

"That's all I needed to clarify at the moment." he finished.

"I'll give you the recipes and materials after Set is done with you."

“Is this snake really necessary?”

“Yes. There are many benefits and no downsides really.” - Ma Gu said amusedly.

“You won’t leave the mountain with it, so you won’t get lost or killed outside. It’s a good protector of my investment, as well as a lucky charm for you, my pupil. I want to see that Mistdwel picking a fight again with the Jailer on your neck.” - Ma Gu almost chuckled thinking about it.

Jin tried to pet the lucky charm once again. Once again he was met with an angry hiss.

Jin sighed. Hopefully the snake will come to like him. Or at least - not hate him.

"You know what you should focus on. Energy, refinement and filling up gaps in knowledge. I’ll be assessing your progress every week. You should pray it's *adequate*.”

He conjured a sack of essence stones.

“50 Stones. I’ll give you the next batch in two days, when I get a report from the assignment.”

Jin thanked Ma Gu, as he received the bag.

“One more thing. Don’t go spreading information about your aperture. I don’t want any competition.” - he pointed at the cobra - “The jailer will let me know if you do, and I’d rather avoid… *unpleasantries*.”

Jin looked at the cobra again, and it looked at him, as if wanting to say.

“That’s right.”

Jin gave the cobra another set of pats. - “What a smartass” - he thought, as he smiled.

“Go wait for Set in the practice room."