The next day, Ming Shin went to the training field to perform his regular combat exercises. "So, how was your first mission junior brother Hai?" Ya Min approached.
"Oh, senior brother Min, the vice commander Hei Lan was leading our three man team, so no surprises there" Ming Shin replied humbly.
"Hehe, if it wasn't junior brother Hai to discover the vague markings, we would not have the cave and so many herbs" Hei Lan replied as she walked towards them.
"Speaking of it, one of the herbs found from your cave seems to be highly valued by the chief. He immediately went to report to the supreme chief about it" Ya Min was partly happy that his new recruit made a good contribution on their behalf.
By evening, news has received that each unit of scouting division has received 200 points. Ming Shin and another woman have received 30 points while Hei Lan received 40 points.
Looking at Ming Shin's confused face, Ya Min explained that around the supreme chief headquarters, there is another building called Contribution hall.
Here, various tasks are available with corresponding rewards. Anyone with trade something which they like with merit points and vice versa. Knowing this, the latter though of visiting the contribution hall soon.
Late in the evening, he sat in the corner and slowly took out the spatial pouch from his robes. After receiving information from the previous fragment, he had little idea of what these treasures were. But he still couldn't figure out about the heaps of black coins and the treasure chest.
Did he also find them in some ancient cave? He tried opening the chest, but his consciousness could not even detect what it is. Any force applied on it seems to be nullified. He let go of it and then brought out the three jade vials with his mind.
One of the vile seem to be so potent that his blood was agitated and burning instantly. He had to put it back into the pouch and gasped heavily. He took some time to recover while thinking about what had happened.
'Was I being too careless with these? but then again, I did not expect there to be something which could almost burn me alive in there'. He carefully looked at the other vials and his body did not have much reaction to it.
He carefully opened one of them and found two pills which emitted strong scent and he immediately broke through Bone forging eighth layer and then ninth layer and was still ascending. He quickly closed the vial and started sweating heavily.
He took a deep breath and meditated for some time to stabilize his realm. 'Damn, one of them burns me, one of them improves my cultivation too quickly affecting my foundation' he was frustrated for while.
He determined that it must be the Boundary dan mentioned in the memory fragment. It could help one to break away from this world and ascend to a higher realm. It is no wonder that such a legendary pill could affect my cultivation even without opening it.
Look at the last jade bottle, he wished it wasn't anything too powerful for his body and cultivation could not afford them. He needed something which could be helpful to him now with his current realm. He opened the last jade bottle and there were five pills in total.
There is no note on them, nor the scent doesn't seem too sweet for it be poisonous. His instinct was telling him to consume it quickly. He quickly acted on it and swallowed a pill. No sooner than that, the potent power withing the pill was devoured in an instant.
Ming Shin couldn't figure out what effect had taken place. He soon took another pill and the same reaction. until he completely swallowed all the pills, his mind gave a cooling sensation.
Noticing a change, he quickly inspected and found that around the Void Soul which was enveloped in the sea of darkness, there seemed to be a thin blue layer around it like a layer. He could feel something had changed around the void soul, and as he extended his consciousness, he could now see another hundred meters beyond his previous 300m limit.
Now that is a good assist, he was excited. Usually only strong men in the sea spirit realm possess consciousness and him already able to develop his consciousness is a rarity itself. Feeling totally content about it, he closed the empty vial and put it back in the pouch.
He also knew from the fragments that these crystal like structures are used for cultivation only once you enter the Imperial King cultivation. Only then did he know that there are so many higher realms above Sea Spirit realm.
Most astounding to him was, there was actually another world and it can be ascended by attaining martial peak in this world. He had to use all the calmness and Void Soul's help to digest such information. He was too young to not even know his current world when he was bombarded with such key information.
He then looked at the few jades placed in one of the corners. After inspecting them, he found out that they were actually pill recipes of various types. 'These must be ransacked from the Flower valley sect and other pill pavilions over the years' he was introspective.
I shall have a look at them in the future as even starting to become a pill master needs great knowledge regarding the process. Suddenly he remembered that there seemed to be two books in the pouch.
As he expected the two books were very dusty and so weary that you could tell they have seen quite a few generations pass down. One of the books was titled 'Journey to Pill Saint' while the other was in a different script.
He suddenly felt that he had not seen pretty much anything in the world yet. He couldn't even fathom how many scripts and languages were prevalent in this world let alone a different world.
Finishing reviewing the contents of the bag, he now considered the Boundless practice method which would be the perfect time to practice before entering Qi transformation realm. In this realm, everyone can begin opening their meridians and channel the energy through them.
Over the next three weeks nothing has changed much and Ming Shin followed the daily routine. Soon with the last of the Ni Dan given by his mother, he finally saturated his realm to the peak. There was only a thin barrier which existed for him to get promoted to the next realm.
This day, he finally decided to visit the contribution hall and also to look around after such boring practice. Soon he arrived at the hall which seems to be mildly crowded. There are few strong people who seem to take missions while there are others who seem to go through the door behind it to another building.
Ming Shin approached the person responsible for receiving in the contribution hall. He looked like a middle aged man with strong vigor.
"Junior Ju Hai greets senior" Ming Shin greeted him.
The latter nodded at him and asked what is his work today at the contribution hall.
"In my previous mission, I have received twenty points. What can i get using these points?" the former politely asked.
The man quickly understood that this junior seems very young and it might be his first time visiting the hall. So he explained the rules patiently.
The merit points can be achieved by completing missions or exchanging them with precious items which may be unnecessary. Similarly, one can purchase certain things like herbs, swords, armor even pills.
Behind the contribution halls seems to be a library with three floors where various skills are located. These skills can be purchased with necessary merit points.
Ming Shin pondered for a moment and asked " I belong to the scouting division. I ask senior if there is any complete map of our surroundings?".
The latter looked at him with a gleam in his eyes "Yes we do, but they cannot be purchased with merit points alone. There is a criteria that you need to be an elder to have the right to purchase that".
Ming Shin looked a little disappointed. Where does he have the time to become an elder. He needs to quickly be on his way to Henji town to get any news about the safety of his mother and friends.
He did not need to worry about his father, because after digesting the memory fragments and seeing true power, he could gauge that his father was far more powerful than sea spirit realm. After all he never saw Ming Jian's full strength.
Since he cannot get a map, he better make good use of the points to gain something before he leaves this place. He has means for escape and agility but he doesn't have proper offense even though he has a sword.
Ming Shin decided to go to the library to look for any skills related to attack using a sword. He still treasures this sword which was given to him by his father.