I actually slept longer than I used to. To the point that some rooky had to wake me up. It was quite pleasant, cause he did so with a bowl of warm soup and a piece of bread. I was told that I should visit Zhang Yong after I'm done. So I rushed the food and was on my way.
Blue was already there. Looking thru the window, and waiting for me alongside Wuxia's leader.
- Peter - said Zhang Yong, and pointed at the chair.
After he himself sat on the opposite side of his desk.
- Blue figured a way. We discussed it already, and I accepted his proposition.
- Might I know your solution? - I asked glancing at first at Zhang Yong, then at Blue.
- Blue? - Zhang Yong clearly didn't want to explain it all.
- Yes. I proposed that our leader would challenge Mark to a duel. In his position, he will not refuse. I think he will even gladly accept such an opportunity thinking he has a good chance of winning. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't. We are gonna use some of our saved crystals, and make Zhang Yong the strongest person around.
- Yes - Zhang Yong interrupted Blue. - And in the meantime, you are gonna be appointed as hed scout of Wuxia. I already told several people yesterday. Your first task is to go and collect some information about orcs. I would give you a few men, but I can't really spare anybody, and all of our scouts died while following your footsteps. To tell you the truth I already tried to establish such a unit in our ranks, but people prefer to hunt instead of facing the unknown. I had to promise them additional crystals. Fortunately for you, I was the only one to know about their mission, so nobody was blaming you for their disappearance. But yesterday I informed my men, and now nobody wants to become a scout. Even though if you will insist on having somebody with you, I can probably muster two or three people.
- I'll go alone.
- That's what I tought.
- If you need anything, tell me.
- I want you to find as much as possible but don't do anything stupid. Although I doubt I need to tell you something so obvious.
- You don't.
- We need to know how they behave when alarmed. How do they fight, and how many should we expect to battle with when initially engaged - Blue quickly followed after my words.
He was clearly really interested in them.
- I'll try.
- As I said. Don't do anything reckless. We need that information, but we still have time. Take it slowly.
- I know what I'm doing.
- I don't doubt it. But Blue here is very... eager and might give you the wrong idea about your mission.
He gave Blue a look. That made him back off a bit.
- I should really give you few people. As a backup - Zhang Yong continued.
- No. I'm fine.
I didn't want to have anybody with me, who could see what I was seeing, and report to Zhang Yong. I needed to have that information in case Zhang Yong would back off from the whole duel idea. I couldn't let Aisha rot in Mark's hands.
- I'll prepare myself today, and head out tomorrow morning.
- If you need anything come, and ask me.
- I'm good - I said, and got up to leave.
They didn't stop me. Blue stayed with Zhang Yong, probably to talk about their plans. I on the other hand went to the city center, to get my cart, and start preparations. I bought another pudao, just to be safe. I didn't want to end without a weapon if the first one broke, or something else. Then I bought some food. Rations for several days, water, and some clothes. T-shirt, black hoodie, some black combat pants, and pair of shoes with thick leather sole. The T-shirt was 400, the hoodie 800, the pants 1,2k, and the shoes only 200. So 7350 total. I didn't want to starve or have to bother with saving food, so I bought more than I needed.
I still had plenty of points, and fighting with orc for sure was dangerous, so I decided o invest in statistics. It took me a while to decide which ones. In the end, everything was put in strength. I managed to upgrade it hundred times, for a total of 300500 points. So with that, I only had 3645 points remaining.
When the power of the device went thru my body, I blacked out for a while. I woked lying on the ground. Several people noticed, but nobody rushed to help. I picked myself up, put the bought items on the cart, and pulled it all with me. I parked it near Wuxia buildings and went to my room. Telling the guards to watch to keep an eye on my stuff.
There was still plenty of the day left, but I went to bed, foreseeing that next few nights I might spend sleepless. I thought for some time that maybe taking some kind of lantern, or torch with me could be a good idea, but in the end, I resigned. The light could lure unwanted guests, like goblins or even orcs if I were to spend the night close enough to their territory.
Day ended with 3645 points on my account.