3 youths. 1 sinfully handsome male and 2 breathtaking beauties strolled through the busy streets of the Outer Haven.
As they walked to their unknown destination, stares of envy were directed towards them or more precisely at women walking beside the handsome man. However, these stares were not enough to deter these maidens. The woman on the man's right had a look of indifference while the other seemed to be gloating, rubbing salt into the wounds of the jealous onlookers.
Even after walking for 30 minutes they were unable to find the missions hall but Talia and Witney did not seem to be in a hurry as they enjoyed spending time with Vasari. The trio would talk about what interesting things they heard in school or funny moments that occurred in their childhoods.
"Should we ask someone for directions?" Vasari asked, he enjoyed the company of Witney and Talia but he did not like aimlessly walking around.
"Yeah, I'll ask around. Talia keep a look out for any 'hyenas'" Witney emphasised the last part of her sentence as she looked at Talia knowingly. Talia scanned around, noticing the expressions of all the women around them eyeing Vasari like some sort of delicacy, she nodded with resolution and moved even closer to Vasari.
Witney moved with haste, not wasting any time as she entered the building nearest to them. The smell of herbs instantly assaulted her senses and an energetic and youthful voice entered her ears.
"Welcome to Herbies, how may I assist you?"
Witney looked at the boy behind the counter who was short and scrawny looking but he had a decent face that gave him the shy little brother image.
"Hi, I'm looking for the Missions Hall. Do you know where it is?" Witney asked the short receptionist who seemed a bit flustered for some reason.
"Ye-yes I know where it is, Just keep walking north and you'll see a big blue and white building. The Missions Hall is that building."
"Thanks a ton" With this vital information finally obtained, Witney sprinted out of the shop and dashed straight towards Vasari.
"S-so beautiful" The boy stared at the door that Witney just exited from with lovestruck eyes.
Noticing the hyenas creeping ever closer to her treasure Witney upped her speed to another level. She could not allow her treasure to be stolen.
"Vasari I know where to go!" She shouted as she kicked off the ground and jumped 6 metres, landing perfectly in his embrace.
"Run north! I'll tell you when to stop!" Witney urgently exclaimed while locking her arms around Vasari's neck.
Without questioning why he had to run or why he had to carry her, Vasari picked up Talia with his free arm while supporting Witney with the other and shot forward.
Vasari moved at speeds unheard of for a cultivator at the Yin-Yang control stage. His perfect foundation coupled with his control over his innate yin surprised even him with the speed at which he was moving and he felt that, if he wanted to, he could go even faster. Not just Vasari but all of the pedestrians were surprised at how quickly he was moving, the badge on his shoulder signified that he was still in the Cloud Haven School which meant that he just joined the sect and his current cultivation shouldn't be higher than the second stage of the Mortal Ascension realm.
Knowing all this they watched as this devilishly handsome young man showed speed equivalent to an average cultivator using a movement technique at the sixth stage of the Mortal Ascension realm, the Mana Body stage.
"WAAAAHHHH Vasari slow down! I can't see!"
"AAAAHHHHH!!!"
Witney and Talia screamed in fear as well as exhilaration. Although both have been on mounts that move many times faster than Vasari, it felt completely different since Vasari was zigzagging his way around people and their positions were not the most ideal for travelling at fast speeds.
Witney was being carried in a one-arm princess carry while Talia was held by her waist.
Hearing their screams, Vasari slowed down allowing the girls to regain their composure. Talia felt ashamed of her previous behaviour, after all, she was a princess of one of the biggest kingdoms on the continent! She had a reputation to uphold yet she showed such a disgraceful sight. Although she had to admit that it was pretty fun.
Witney took full advantage of the moment and buried her head deep into Vasari's neck, breathing in his intoxicating scent in the process.
She completely forgot that she was supposed to look for a big blue and white building.
Vasari was inwardly surprised when he felt Witney's hot breath tickle his neck and every so often he could feel a small, soft and slimy object poke gently against his skin.
'This girl..." Vasari let Witney do what she wanted as an apology for scaring her...who was he kidding, it just felt good so he let her be.
"Vasari stop. The building in front of us is the mission hall." Talia said causing him to step on the brakes.
"How do you know?" Vasari asked
"The sign on top of the building says 'Missions Hall'"
"Nice, good job." Vasari put Talia down and patted her head. Talia's eyes widened, stunned by his actions at first but she quickly closed her eyes in satisfaction and Vasari could swear that he could hear her purring softly.
'Must be my imagination.'
With one girl in his embrace sniffing and licking his neck and another one purring in satisfaction while he patted her head painted a very comical picture to the people around the Missions hall.
'What a bunch of weirdos'
Similar thoughts echoed through the minds of those who saw them.
Feeling the judgemental stares aimed at him, Vasari put Witney down with much effort due to her reluctance and stopped patting Talia, much to her disappointment.
"Oh, a big blue and white building. Vasari, we are here." Witney regained her senses and looked around only to find the building she was looking for.
She turned to face Vasari with bright eyes expecting some type of reward but was instead boinked on her nose.
"Let's check it out." Vasari walked towards the entrance of the building with two downcast girls following behind him.
------
"Babysitter needed. 15 cloud points for a week, 2 cloud points per day after 7 days."
"House cleaner urgently needed. 15 cloud points."
"The cloud stable is looking for extra hands to help out. 1 cloud point per 2 hours worked."
These were jobs chosen by the trio. Truthfully not many jobs were available for students like them so their options were fairly limited.
Talia decided to do the babysitting job and Witney decided on the house cleaning job. The job helping out in the cloud stables was taken by Vasari.
With their jobs decided the trio split up and went their separate ways. Witney and Talia went together since their jobs were fairly close to each while Vasari headed in the opposite direction towards the Cloud stables. He had to ask for directions a few times to which the people were all too happy to help. Some even offered to walk with him there to which he respectfully declined.
It was not long until he reached the cloud stable. He knew he was in the right place when he could smell a mixture of different smells from hay to leather, horses to birds, manure to medicine and more.
"Stop!" A deep masculine voice called out to Vasari as he walked in the direction the stable smell was coming from. A heavy pressure weighed down Vasari causing him to halt his steps and turn in the direction of a man wearing light blue heavy armour and a long sword sheathed on his waist. Vasari could even hear the clinks and clanks that the armour made when the man did any type of movement.
"What is your reason for being in restricted territory?" The guard asked as he intently observed Vasari. Upon noticing the strip of fabric covering his eyes the guard's expression became a little less hostile but remained firm in his stance.
"I am here for a job that I picked from the missions hall." Vasari calmly answered, he did not mind being rudely stopped by this man since he was only doing his job.
"Do you have the mission card?"
Vasari nodded and took out a palm-sized piece of paper from his sect badge and showed the guard.
The guard took the note and injected a little bit of mana into it causing the piece of paper to turn light blue. The guard nodded and handed the piece of paper back to Vasari.
"You can proceed ahead. Elder Equus should be in the flying mounts' quarters, report to him for further orders." The pressure weighing down on Vasari vanished and he was free to walk again.
Vasari nodded and navigated his way towards the flying mounts' quarters with the help of other stable workers showing him the way.
Vasari eventually arrived outside the flying mounts quarters which was extremely noisy. Chirping, neighing, hissing and roaring echoed throughout the area. In front of Vasari was a large open space the size of a medium-sized city. A transparent dome rising 4 000 metres (2.48 miles) high and 5 metres (16.4 ft) thick enclosed the space ensuring that no mount was able to escape.
As soon as Vasari stepped foot into the enclosed space all the beasts in the area snapped their heads in his direction and not a sound could be heard coming from them. Some cast weary glances towards him, some with indifference and some with amusement.
An old man tending to the wounds of an elegant pure white Pegasus noticed this abrupt change in the surroundings and looked towards the culprit.
The old man squinted his eyes to get a better view of this person and his mind reeled in shock when he saw the most gorgeous man he had ever seen in his long life but it was not his looks that shocked him.
'This bloodline energy is magnificent. It is so pure and thick but there is some type of energy masking it, making me unable to determine what bloodline it belongs to. Even with my cultivation, I am unable to sense through it. Very interesting...'
"Who are you young man and what are you here for?" The old man asked before his feet began to lift from the ground and he rose higher and higher in the air before disappearing into thin air. Although being more than 30km(18.64 miles) away from Vasari, he could hear clearly what the old man said as if he was no more than a few feet away.
Before Vasari could start his introduction the old man appeared a few metres in front of him.
"My name is Vasari and I accepted a job from the missions hall to help out in the cloud stables."
"Ahh, so you are here to help this old man out heh." The old man slowly walked closer to Vasari.
"That is correct."
"Ok good. I am Elder Equus, head of the cloud stables. I am quite busy at the moment so I will give you a few simple chores in the meantime. The colossal rocs need to be fed and you need to pick up all the shit in the cloud Pegasus area. Here take this." The old man threw a map towards Vasari who caught it. "Send a little of your Qi into the map and it will appear in your head."
Vasari did as the old man said and the map of the entire cloud stables appeared in his mind.
'This is useful. It would be nice to have a map of the Outer Haven as well.' Vasari thought as he remembered wasting so much time, searching like a headless chicken in this massive city.
Vasari thanked the elder for the map and turned around walking towards the exit of the flying mounts quarters. His destination?
The food storage room.
------
While Vasari was beginning his new part-time job Witney arrived outside the house she was meant to clean.
*Ding Dong*
*Ding Dong*
Witney rang the doorbell and not long after the door opened, revealing a pretty girl with green hair tied into cute twin pigtails.
"Hello I'm Witney, I'm here to clean your house." Witney warmly greeted the pretty girl who had similar body proportions to herself just being a little shorter in height.
"Yes hello, I thought nobody was going to accept that job. Ahh, I'm so glad that you are here!" The green-haired girl quickly pulled Witney into the house and hugged her tightly squishing their breasts together. Witney was left speechless at this girl's behaviour. Isn't she too forward?
"Sister Witney I need your help urgently. My Big sister is coming over tomorrow and she hates when I don't clean the house but I reeeeaaly don't like cleaning. So please help me."
The girl stared at Witney with puppy eyes as she explained her plight.
"That is what I came here for, wasn't it? Of course, I'll help you." Witney smiled while thinking how cute this girl was.
"Yes!! Sister Witney, you are the best! Oh, I nearly forgot to introduce myself. I am Xena. Let's do our best." Xena fist-pumped the air before she remembered to introduce herself. She put her hand forward for a handshake and Witney smiled raising her hand to meet hers.
"Let's do our best." She repeated while shaking Xena's hand.
------
Not too far from where Witney and Xena were, Talia was currently seated on a black suede sofa. To her left was a little boy no older than 7 and to her right was a little girl that looked less than 2 years old.
She was currently listening to the do's and don'ts of these children's parents who were going on a mission for the sect that would take at least a week or more to complete.
"In the mornings before you go to school, you can drop little Joey and Noelle at the nursery and pick them up after school." The father finished his instructions and got up from his seat.
"Dad, where are you going? Why must I stay here? I want to go with you!" The little boy jumped off the sofa and shouted defiantly.
The woman sitting next to the man got up and lifted her son into her embrace and tried to calm him down.
"Joey we have to leave for a little while so that we can get cloud points for our family." Seeing the boy's attitude not improving, the mother thought of something else to appease the boy. "How about this, once we come back from the mission we can buy that cool sword that you wanted."
The boy's eyes lit up with excitement when he heard what his mother said.
"Really!? You Promise?"
"Only if you be a good boy and listen to this kind lady who will look after you." The mother smiled as she playfully pinched the boy's nose.
"Humph fine" The boy looked at Talia before pouting.
Talia looked at this scene with a gentle smile on her face but her inner thoughts betrayed her gentle expression.
'I hate this job already.'
-----
A week quickly came and went.
Vasari continued working at the cloud stables for 2 hours every day after school and spent his remaining free time mastering his control over his innate yin. By the end of the week, he earned 7 cloud points raising his cloud points from 20 to 27 which was enough to enter the Summer Light field.
Witney finished her job on the first day earning 15 cloud points which put her at 40 cloud points. During the week she also completed another job that paid 10 cloud points meaning she had enough to enter both the Dark Winter field and the Summer Light field.
After having the worst week of her life, Talia was paid her 15 cloud points and the married couple even tipped her for doing such a good job. She went from having 35 cloud points to 55 cloud points.
The trio of hard workers were currently in the school cafeteria having lunch while talking about their job experiences from the past week.
"That little kid Joey is the most irritating thing I know. I wanted to strangle him every time he asked 'How long until mommy and daddy come back?' and ordered me around like some sort of maid. I'm a princess!"
Talia vented her anger to her friends sitting opposite her. It was refreshing to see this side of the girl who mostly wore a mask of indifference. Witney and Vasari just listened to her rant while enjoying their lunch.
"Enough about me. How was your job, Witney?"
"Oh, it was nice. This girl whose house I cleaned was so nice and extremely cute. We had such a fun time cleaning her house and we even exchanged our contact details and followed each other on Managram."
"Well, I'm glad you had a good time," Talia mumbled and grumpily stuffed some meat into her mouth. Witney smiled wryly at her friend's grumpy mood before turning to Vasari, her pupils slightly dilating when she laid eyes on him.
"Vasari, how was it working at cloud stables?" Hearing a question directed at him, Vasari put his fork down and swallowed his food before putting on a thoughtful expression.
"Smelly, a lot of walking and an old man who liked to brag about being a legendary mount whisperer. However, he did teach me quite a bit on how to take care of mounts, so overall it was not too bad I guess."
The trio conversed a bit more while eating their lunch before heading back to class. Miss Covington let them out for lunch early hence why Jiang Xia and the others were not sitting with them.
-----
"So this is your last day working here huh?" Elder Equus looked at the young man in front of him. In the past week, he quite enjoyed this young man's company. Although he did not speak much he was a good listener and picked up his teachings quickly.
"For now yes, but you never know if I might need more cloud points or beast-handling tips in the future."
"Hahaha, you are right. This old man still has a lot more advice to give you but you know my teachings are very expensive. You are lucky I took a liking to you." Elder Equus laughed before puffing his chest out with pride.
"Of course. How can the teachings of the Legendary Mount Whisperer be cheap." Vasari rolled his blind eyes behind the fabric.
"That's right." Vasari could imagine the head of this old man swelling to unimaginable proportions.
"Anyway I wanted to give this little guy to you. His name is Otis, a pure breed cloud Pegasus, he is quite unique since he has hyper melanin." Elder Equus whistled and a 3-meter tall, 4-meter-long pure black stallion with majestic black wings protruding out from the sides of his body flew from the distance towards Vasari and Elder Equus. Otis the black cloud Pegasus landed gracefully next to Elder Equus and stared at his new owner with a appraising almost judgemental look.
Vasari turned his head to face the black Pegasus who defiantly stared back at him.
"Otis had a previous owner who raised him from when he was still a young colt but unfortunately he died on a mission recently. So you are quite lucky since only those within the top 50 of the Outer Haven disciple rankings are given a free mount."
"Outer Haven disciple rankings?" That was the first time Vasari heard about this so he was curious what it was but he could guess just by the name.
"Oh, I forgot that you recently joined the sect. The Outer Haven disciple rankings is a ranking system to determine the strongest cultivators in the Outer Haven."
Elder Equus went on to explain in more detail about the rankings to Vasari.
The higher a disciple placed on the rankings the more resources that cultivator would receive annually from the sect. Cloud points, weapons, mounts, alchemic products and many more rewards could be earned just by placing highly on the rankings but this was by no means an easy feat to achieve.
Every disciple on the rankings could be considered the best of the best within their cultivation stages and all with plenty of combat experience.
Not just the Outer Haven had a ranking system but also the Inner Haven, with a ranking system using a similar layout to the Outer Haven rankings.
However, although the Outer Haven disciple rankings and the Inner Haven disciple rankings got a lot of attention and focus in the Cloud Haven Sect, the ranking that got the most hype amongst disciples and even elders was the League Rankings.
In the Cloud Haven Sect, it was possible to create your own faction. It cost a staggering 10 000 cloud points to create a faction and be able to participate in the League Rankings. There was also a way to create a faction for free but was exponentially harder than earning 10 000 cloud points and that was to become a Core Disciple of the Cloud Haven Sect.
There was a reason that there were currently only 20 Core Disciples out of the Hundreds of thousands of disciples within the Cloud Haven Sect. You had to earn the position by yourself. Outside status mattered little in the Cloud Haven Sect only strength and even if you were the only son of the Sect Master you would hardly get any special privileges. You had to earn it with your own strength.
This philosophy is one of the main reasons that the Cloud Haven Sect was able to become a sect within the top 10 of the world in such a short time.
Vasari now understood the sect a little better once Elder Equus finished explaining the basics of the ranking system.
'This makes things a lot more interesting.'
After thanking the old man, Vasari left, leaving behind Otis with Elder Equus for the meantime while he attended school since he had no use for the unique Pegasus currently.