Next morning, after Yu Ting's lecture, the pair went for a snack in the canteen.
"Feels good to finally not be in a rush. Well, having to prepare so fast is also sort of a rush, I guess. Did you find out who else is going?" - Xin asked.
"Rui Ming, of course. Yao Nang and Murong Zhan. Two rank one masters, one rank two.
Don't know who exactly. And some other people I don't know, internal disciples. Honestly, why not send a rank three guy on a flying sword?"
"Same thoughts. How many rank threes do we even have, though?"
"Four or five, I don't know. And, as you said, Iron Fairy is supposed to break through pretty soon."
"You should call her lady or master Meiling. Her family is pretty influential, don't want to piss her off more than we already did."
"The undercats. They even placed one of their scions into an administrative position in our guild! Word is, she and the administrative faction of the sect competed over who'll lead the joint deal with the Xuanwu, and she lost to them."
Xin's heart skipped a beat. Did my decline hurt her interests this badly? She might not let it go, despite her promise.
"So, what did Feng Chonglin give up to make the deal work?"
"Nothing, really. Lady Meiling would certainly own us, and squeeze every last drop out of us. These guys just need our logistics for the war effort. They'll probably use our lab to produce combat pills and healing medicine, they don't care about our cosmetics and remedy business. They might return to the more commercial side after the war concludes, I guess. Whatever, what do you think we should do now?"
"We need to go and buy some artefacts. We won't be breaking through until the caravan duty ends, but at least we need to get all the materials before their prices jump up due to war."
"I agree. There's a dao shard that I am eyeing, by the way. "
"Which one?"
"Hehe, you'll see for yourself. How's your totem thing going?"
"It's better. I can feel its hunger. It assaults my soul from time to time, trying to break
It's too weak, though. And I feel like my sense of smell has improved a bit."
"Not always a boon, haha. Look, let's go shopping now, before my distant relatives and friends show up, asking for a handout."
"You got any relatives?"
"Not that I know of, haha. But money tends to change this. Let's go."
"Fine, just let me finish these noodles. Mmhhm, I can finally afford the good stuff."
In the Artefact pavilion, Xin and Lei gave the assistant a ledger of stuff they needed to buy. Five minutes later, the man returned from the treasury and gave them his listing.
"Alright, gentlemen. I've also checked your contributions. Wu Lei, one contribution point. Xin of Tealstone, seven contribution points."
"Shit, where did you get these?"
"Two from you, two through studying, three more are a starting capital for the qualifications I've confirmed."
"Ha, imagine studying for years and it gets evaluated at three spirit stones."
"That's not an evaluation, just a bonus..."
"Gentlemen, are you done? Please see the ledger."
Xin:
Reinforcement shell, two elements, custom made - 4 spirit stones.
Conductor paste, element neutral, three units - 9 spirit stones.
Mercury Cicada paste, qi reinforced, intensity enhancing, 2 units - 11 stones.
Snakevine dao shard, wood path, rank one - 19 spirit stones.
Xin was shocked.
"It's a basic, unoptimized wood path shard. Nineteen, seriously?"
"You are invited to explore additional opportunities. No bargaining here."
"Fine. Get me everything but the shard." - Xin was disappointed, this really upset his plans.
He was looking for shards that would synergize with the techniques he already knew.
"Do you have any Steel Sting shards?"
"Yes, rank two. Ninety stones or something, I'd have to check."
"Curses. I'll get just the materials, then. Lei, your turn."
"Sure, squirt."
"Stop calling me that."
"Granpa taught you alchemy, but taught me funny words instead, hahaha!"
"Please take a look at your ledger, disciple." - The assistant looked annoyed at their banter.
"Oh, sorry."
Wu Lei:
Resonating mercury, two thirds of a unit - 7 spirit stones.
Red stone dust, reinforced , two thirds of a unit - 9 spirit stones.
Reinforcement shell, two elements, custom made - 4 spirit stones.
Conductor paste, element neutral, five units - 15 spirit stones.
Crimson song flower extract, two units - 20 spirit stones.
Propulsion dao shard, fire path, rank one - 25 spirit stones.
Chitin armor, full set, light version - 10 spirit stones.
Limb regrowth dao shard, wood path, rank one, expendable - 70 spirit stones.
Xin had got the main breakthrough materials from uncle Luli, and only needed the materials to boost his breakthrough's intensity, along with conflict removal materials, that would protect his wood path qi from his metal qi once he broke through. Lei, on the other hand, had to buy the basic materials from scratch. With fire path materials being more expensive, and his breakthrough method somewhat wasteful, he had to spend quite a sum. His propulsion dao shard was also one of the most expensive rank one dao shards in the sect.
"The fuck? Sorry, master, I meant to say 'what's wrong'? I hoped for fifty spirit stones, at most."
"There was a reevaluation some weeks ago. I can't go into more details."
"Wait, Lei, what's with your ledger? I get the armor, it makes sense, but that expensive propulsion shard, and the breakthrough materials, why these?"
"Look, I need to boost my breakthrough chances, so I am buying some expensive stuff, and that shard fits me perfectly, even if it's overpriced. Those are decent prices, except for the limb regrowth shard, heavens damn it."
"Do you have 160 stones to buy everything?"
"Of course not. Even if I sell my bag and take a loan, it won't be enough. I think I'll go without an arm for now. Once I am rank one, I'll be able to earn more, and I'll find this limb shard elsewhere. There are other methods, frankly."
"So, what are you buying?" - The assistant reminded him.
"Everything but the limb regrowth shard, please. Take the point, everything else in stones."
"Same for me please, everything but the snakevine. Seven points, everything else in stones."
"Sure."
In ten minutes, their orders were assembled. Lei looked at his new suit of armor, astonished.
This black suit of armor was made out of thick, high quality linen fabric, covered in chitin scales. Those weren't chitin carapace pieces, it was chitin varnish, made out of an alchemically reinforced paste, and it gave excellent protection, for its size and weight, of course.
The helmet was angular, and protected the head pretty well, but left most of the face opened. The elbow and ankle protection looked somewhat edgy, with small iron spikes giving the wearer additional striking options.
"Well, this doesn't beat my armor, I'll be honest. But it's lighter and looks rad." - Xin complimented and boasted at the same time.
"My armor is a tier above, sorry. Look at this helmet! I'll look like a menace, haha! And it doesn't block the view. I am a bit worried about protecting the neck, the fabric is pretty thin there, but it will make do for now."
"Maybe try the scarves, like the nomads do?"
"We'll see. Oh, let's go to the Elemental Pavilion and test my new shard!"
"Sure you could activate it?"
"Think I am a retard? It's very similar to my qi augmentation, and I've spent months preparing for this particular shard. I'll be fine."
The pair went into the Elemental pavilion, and occupied one of the smaller training circles.
Lei opened his bag of holding and pulled an orange crystal out. It looked like a thimble, but slightly uneven. Lei wore it on his left pointing finger, then put a glove on top.
"I'll keep it in the core once I break through, but this should work for now. I've already attuned, so it won't be too hard to make it work."
"Propulsion? What does it propel? I've never heard about it."
"Depends on the refinement. At first, mostly me, haha! Look, I'll test it."
Lei stacked some mats on top of each other, climbed them and breathed out.
"Look, the first jump is just qi."
He bent his knees, then expanded them and leaped upwards.
One and a half of his own heights! Still higher than what any ordinary mortal can reach, Xin thought. Impressive.
"Now, check this!" - A bunch of onlookers also observed him. His and Xin's status as seeds gave them a lot of attention, positive and not so much.
Lei bent his legs, then a dim orange light flashed from his shoulders to his thighs,and his leap was propelled by a sudden burst of fiery energy, emerging from his heels.
Three meters tall jump!
Lei elegantly landed on the ground, almost crying from happiness.
"That's very similar to my technique! I don't even have to practice this one! Have you seen this? Have you seen this?! I can also use it with my strikes, or to propel myself the direction opposite to my movement! And with Molten Heart it will be even stronger! Don't even get me started on what happens when I break through! And imagine when me and the shard are both rank two!"
Xin smiled. He found Lei's enthusiasm endearing.
"Shit. That's a nice one, seriously. This jump, it used the shard's qi?"
"Correct! Once it exhausts itself, it will use mine. A jump like this will be around two normal qi jumps in expenditure, so it's still quite effective. And as long as I let it suck on my qi to restore, I don't have to feed it that often."
"What does it eat?"
"Orange Mountain Linzhi, optimally. Or other mundane fire path materials. Or wood path. It's not picky."
"You still have to feed it correctly, it might crack."
"I know this, nerd. Seriously, who do you think I am? By the way, can you break through before the mission?"
"No way, actually. I don't have to lay the foundation, as I already have a bloodline, but I still need to prepare the correct layout. I still have to pass one last exam before they approve my breakthrough, and my method takes several days to prepare. I don't have enough time, sadly."
"Oh. My method takes several days to prepare, too, but takes only five minutes per day. Once it's ready, the breakthrough itself is quite short. I like it."
"Who taught you?"
"Feng Chonglin, Huang Lingbo gave some advice. The elemental instructors, too. Oh, and that old inheritance we've read, it was also useful. I'll be fine, don't worry about me."
"Fine, but you know why I am concerned."
"Sure, but you should be concerned with your shitty haircut. And don't act like you already broke through."
"That's also true. I need to visit the commoners' shop, buy some travel equipment."
"I'll do it in the evening. I'll train for now."
"Are you about to combine the propulsion shard with Molten Heart?"
"Of course. And yeah, I should be careful, I know."
"Good." - Xin nodded and kept shopping.