Alphonse and Sarah walked for only ten minutes before reaching the mission house. They both entered and Sarah walked up to the desk with Alphonse right behind her. "Hello! We heard that the cultivation level required for registering for missions has been lowered, so we would like to register a group." Sarah said respectfully.
The man at the desk looked at the two. "The age requirement is ten. The boy will likely have to wait." He said.
"We're both ten, actually... His growth was stunted, so..." Sarah said as she trailed off. "In fact, he's older than me..." Sarah mumbled quietly.
"Ah, sorry, he's just shorter and looks younger, so I thought he wasn't ten yet." The man responded as he took out two crystals. "These are contract crystals, they bind you to a completion contract, basically saying if you don't finish a mission, then you have to pay the mission house for wasting their time." The man said.
"We just put our energy into the crystal, right?" Sarah asked. The man nodded.
"Another use of the crystal is to make sure you have the correct level of cultivation, so it acts as a sort of cultivation calculator as well." The man said. The man handed both crystals to Sarah, and Sarah handed a crystal to Alphonse.
Alphonse input his spiritual qi and an interface that showcased his talent and cultivation level appeared. Sarah continued talking to the man for a few moments to ensure she properly understood the system while Alphonse committed the room they were inside to memory.
Once you enter the mission house, there is a desk just ten feet away from the door, to the left is a mission board filled with gathering requests, and to the right is a mission board filled with subjugation requests, both sides have several tables with chairs and a bar counter, presumably for ordering food and drink.
"Alright, let's go take a gathering request!" Sarah said excitedly as Alphonse broke out of his focused state. Alphonse nodded, then followed Sarah to the left. "Hey, what do you think of this one?" Sarah asked as she pointed to a request.
"Gathering cave herbs?" Alphonse asked.
"Yep! It should be easy, after all, a lot of caves tend to have an abundance of spiritual herbs, so there should be plenty to get, plus, it's fifty cowry per Rain Flower brought back." Sarah said
"Okay..." Alphonse said. 'I just hope it's not a beast den...' Alphonse thought to himself Sarah grabbed the sheet of parchment, then rolled it into a scroll and brought it to the counter
"We would like to take this one!" Sarah said excitedly to the man.
"Alright, let me mark it as taken, then." The man responded as he grabbed a glowing crystal from a drawer, after a few moments of the man holding the crystal, it stopped glowing, he then placed it back in the drawer. "Be back as soon as you can as it can be dangerous outside of cities at night." The man said as Sarah and Alphonse left.
After a while of walking, Sarah and Alphonse reached the cave. "Alright! let's eat here so we can use the basket to collect herbs because I forgot to get a sack!" Sarah said as she laid a picnic blanket down. Alphonse sighed as he helped Sarah straighten the blanket out.
"You said that so confidently to..." Alphonse said as he sat down. Sarah laughed a bit.
"Yep. At least we have something to collect them with, right?" Sarah asked.
"I suppose, though it would have been more efficient to bring a sack as well." Alphonse said.
"I guess..." Sarah said. "I don't really think things through to much... I do things as they come up because I have a hard time figuring out what I want and what I should do... I suppose that makes me a bit clumsy, but I don't see anything wrong with that." She said.
{It would appear your words have caused a bit of an emotional reaction.} Prism said.
'Erm... How do I respond to that?' Alphonse asked in response.
{Try to show an empathetic response.} Prism said.
'Hey, Prism, you do understand that I need a detailed explanation on how to do that, right?' Alphonse asked.
{I had forgotten for a few moments since you always seem prepared when it comes to Sarah.} Prism responded.
"Well, I guess that's something I should work on in the future, let's start eating!" Sarah said enthusiastically.
"Ah, yeah..." Alphonse said as Sarah handed him a sandwich. After a few moments of silent eating, Alphonse looked at Sarah. "So... How do you talk to people so easily?" Alphonse asked. Sarah looked up as she finished her sandwich.
"It's pretty easy. I just walk up to them and start talking." She responded. "Actually... I don't know how you can stand being alone for so long... I would be lonely after only three days of isolation, but you've isolated yourself for over a month before..." Sarah said. "Well, overall, it's a trade-off I guess. I easily talk to people, but can't stand being alone most times, but you seem to be the opposite." Sarah said.
"Well, if it's just one person I don't mind talking with them fairly often... That's what's been happening anyway..." Alphonse responded.
{That was a good response, I am sure Sarah will be happy to hear that.} Prism said.
...
"Alright!" Sarah said as she got up. "Let's go into the cave!" She said as she draped the blanket for the basket.
"Okay, let's go." Alphonse said as he started walking into the cave.