A prosperous city surrounded the core of Thobar Bionics' HQ. Since the company deliberately set most fees below average, a lot of smaller organizations or even independent cultivators came into this city to trade. The broad main street reflected this prosperity quite well, as it was filled with all kinds of cultivators. The further away from the company's core a shop was placed, the lower and weaker the customers it usually catered to.
The 'Three Lives Tavern' was a small, beautifully decorated restaurant a medium distance from the wall. It was one of the most frequented shops on the main street. Their normal prices were still barely affordable for poorer cultivators, while their premium dishes were just right for higher-grade ones. Since stronger cultivators didn't need to eat anymore, only visiting restaurants to talk in a comfortable environment, the 'Three Lives Tavern' could be said to have hit a sweet spot.
On the second floor of this famous establishment a group of friends were happily dining in a private room. Well, most of them were happy while one was sitting in uneasiness. Two weeks after the fight against Raz Vulcan, Bai Jingshen managed to break through the 4th stage of Qi Gathering. After those two months of training in a stable environment, Bai Jingshen knew he needed real fights to consolidate his foundation. Although in his last life he could have gone into seclusion for countless years, this was only possible because he didn't see any fast way of advancement. Since coming to this New World he was always excited, wanting to explore and grow stronger every day. Therefore, the young man had immediately applied for a mission after his breakthrough.
Since Bai Jingshen would leave the next day, he messaged Kayleen, asking if she was still interested in meeting up. The young woman enthusiastically replied, recommending the 'Three Lives Tavern'. As he didn't know how long he would be gone, Bai Jingshen also decided to invite his friends Sam and Torren. As soon as Thomas knew that Kayleen would meet with Bai Jingshen, the young man felt alarm bells ringing in his head, so he insisted on coming too. This led to the situation right now where Torren was describing Bai Jingshen last fight as if he was really there, while ignoring Thomas' annoyed face:
"Then everyone thought Junior Brother would lose. But you should have seen Raz's face when Junior Brother was suddenly next to him. No one even saw how Junior Brother moved. That guy simply had no chance from this point on!"
Kayleen had been laughing the whole time as Torren was wildly gesturing with hand and feet. She looked at Bai Jingshen's awkward smile and her laughter only grew louder. The former emperor was indeed slightly embarrassed. For him this fight was just one of many. He might have even forgot the details already, but it was completely different for Torren. The young teen had watched recordings of this fight everyday the last two weeks. It definitely had a special place in his heart.
Watching the teen's enthusiasm, Bai Jingshen knew that he did the right thing. Although facing Raz this time would probably bring a lot of trouble in the future, he wouldn't regret his decision. After Torren was done talking, Thomas was almost close to tears. He was always proud about his strength and tought he would have a chance to enter the elite program soon. Then Kayleen would admire him even more. He would protect her as they grew strong together. But now he could only listen in anger as another man was praised like a hero. Why, out of all employees, was it this guy, whom Kayleen was friends with? How was he qualified to directly enter the elite program without doing any hard work?!
Kayleen noticed Thomas lightly squeezing her hand under the table. She showed her boyfriend a beautiful smile as she held his hand, before asking Bai Jingshen:
"So, I heard you gained your own nickname?"
The young woman snickered slightly. On thing that came out of the shouting match between the two alliances after Bai Jingshen's fight was the latter's new nickname. When the former emperor heard it for the first time he almost wanted to go and beat up all the alliance members. Even now he gnashed his teeth as he answered Kayleen:
"You are right."
"Sooo… what is it?"
Bai Jingshen noticed Kayleen's mischievous look. The young woman already knew his nickname, but still wanted to hear him say it.
"It's… Chilling Ghost."
As Kayleen didn't hide her amusement, Sam and Torren tried to hold back their laughter. Bai Jingshen looked at his friends and could only shake his head. Who came up with this stupid nickname? Wasn't this basically cursing him to die? And why chilling?? He had a bright personality most of the time. He was only cold towards his enemies. Wouldn't people have a wrong picture of him it they only heard his name?
Unfortunately, when a name stuck it was basically impossible to change it. Even if he went and explained how the Boundless Illusion Steps worked, it wouldn't be enough to provoke a change now. All the time Bai Jingshen was silently amused by Boiling Destruction's childish nickname, but now he himself had an even worse one.
The young redhead's laughter slowly died down, but she still attempted multiple times before she formed a coherent sentence:
"Are you going on a mission so no one can call you Chilling Ghost? I might have probably done the same. Can you tell me which place are you going to haunt, so I can stay away? I'm not good with spooky stuff."
The former emperor had no way of stopping Kayleen's amusement, so he was happy that she changed the topic herself. Therefore, he quickly answered:
"I wanted to hunt some beasts, so I took a mission for an alchemist. He is doing experiments and needs large amounts of low-grade beast blood. Like this I can simply hunt for a while and then cultivate while he uses the up my stockpile. Rinse and repeat until he has the results he desires."
"Oh, sounds like a good deal. You will even be able to cultivate in a safe town, right?"
"I hope so. Since the alchemist normally wouldn't want any disturbance during his experiments, so he will surely stay at a safe place."
It was common knowledge to not give out detailed information about your mission. In order to safeguard their young elites even the company would only delete missions every three days. You would only know if a mission was already taken after you tried to apply to the same mission.
Although normally only the young elite would see the list of available missions, but Thobar Bionics also knew that no organization was without spies. Especially this company, in which the spies weren't even trying to hide particularly well. Form the outside it really looked like this company would soon be subverted by their competitors. Only Elena's personal environment knew, that the core had always been stable. This was also the reason why some disloyal employees had been silently vanishing over the last two weeks, without triggering anyone's alarm.
Other than Bai Jingshen however, the group of friends didn't think so deeply about those matters as Kayleen asked Sam next:
"You are leaving too, right? Did you find a good mission?"
"Yeah, I think it suits me. A trading company has a temporary camp in a marsh to the south. They are searching for cultivators for all kinds of jobs and I managed to get the job of guarding their camp. Therefore, I can cultivate most of the time and only need to act if the camp gets attacked."
"Sounds like a good deal. However, you will probably be at the bottom of the hierarchy, so be sure to cozy up to your superiors."
"Thanks for the advice. I will try my best."
In a mostly great mood, the group continued to talk about the experiences in the New World so far. Listening to Kayleen's explanations, even some of Bai Jingshen's doubts were cleared this time. He never really understood why the company would go through the effort of setting up a PTC. However, as he got a better picture about Kayleen's superiors he felt like there might be more to their job than it seemed at first.
He couldn't quite prove his speculation, but some of the advice Kayleen got from the other doctors gave a wise and enlightened feel. Sadly he couldn't understand more without talking to those doctors himself. The young man didn't dwell on this feeling too much though. He only felt a growing curiosity about those doctors, but satisfying this feeling didn't have a high priority in his mind.
As their conversation dragged on everyone noticed how Thomas' displeasure seemed to grow continuously. Even if the young man added something to their talk form time to time, it was more or less meaningless additions. The others did their best to ignore him until the meeting finally came to an end. As soon as they spoke their first goodbyes, Thomas already stood up and left the room. Kayleen naturally also understood her boyfriend's problems. Although he was sweet to her, he also wasn't without faults. The young woman sighed slightly before still wishing her friends all the best. She soon left the room a few minutes after Thomas.