Chapter 10: Setting Off
The morning light gently filtered through the window, indicating that dawn had come. Xiao Ning'Er hopped out of bed, feeling fresh from a good night of sleep. Making sure that she had all her gear ready in her interspatial ring, she promptly left her room.
There was still about an hour before the time that Ziyun had asked her to meet in front of the library. She decided to drop by the Guild of Inscriptions first to check on their progress with her inscriptions, as well as to see whether she could find anything useful.
Wang Shu greeted her exuberantly, telling her excitedly, "I was just thinking to send someone to ask you to visit but I didn't want to disturb your studies." The old balding man bounced from one foot to the other restlessly, like a child going to a toy shop for the first time, "Come!! Have a look at what we've been working on!"
She followed him into his private workshop and was surprised to see the evidence of his work scattered all over the floor, tables and shelves. 'Just how much has he slept since I last visited? It doesn't look like he's rested at all...' she thought in her mind.
"We've identified a few successful prototypes, which we've started reproducing already, and once we begin selling them, I'll send over the profits to you." He nimbly picked up a few pieces of equipment and passed them over to her to have a look. They were exquisitely made and as she held them, she could feel slight vibrations of power thrumming from the places her fingers touched. Wang Shu wasn't known as a Master Inscriptionist for nothing, he had the skills to back it up, and he must have been at least peak gold-rank in cultivation to produce these beautiful artifacts.
"This first piece of armour we've decided to call Ocean's Ripple. If a user channels soul force into it, any weapon striking it would feel like it was hitting a thick, viscous liquid. No vibration or shock would be able to pass through and the weapon would also not be able to pierce through at all unless the enemy was above gold rank in power." he proudly explained.
"The second is a sword which has a rather interesting ability. It electrically resonates the weapon with the user's nervous system so that they can literally fight as one! The user will find that they can attack faster, react with quicker reflexes, and strike with far greater power as well, essentially boosting overall combat capability. I've never seen anything quite like it! I call it the Unity Sword." he continued.
"Finally, this dagger in the hands of the right person would be utterly deadly. Infused with soul force, the wind energy around it would swirl mysteriously over it, make it very difficult to detect. Thrown accurately, it could hit a vital spot before the enemy even realises anything!" he exclaimed as he indicated towards a sleek knife the colour of black obsidian. "I call it..." He paused for dramatic effect and spread out both hands in front of him, "Black Death!"
"Do you know what this means for Glory City? In all our years, inscriptions have only really been able to boost the firmness and strength of equipment, but have barely been able to harness the elemental power of the attributes. This will usher in a whole new era of influence and prosperity for our guild!" he declared with joy.
Xiao Ning'Er could see moisture in his eyes as he passionately shared this with her. 'What an adorable old man,' she thought to herself. Wang Shu told her she could keep these prototypes that he had created because he had already started making copies of them and they were almost ready to start selling them soon. He couldn't wait to see how much they could raise at an auction, and to see the faces of those who would discern and realise their value.
She thanked him sincerely and left the guild, grateful that she had thought to stop by this morning. This equipment could come in very useful if they encountered anything unexpected on their upcoming journey. She made her way to the library and met up with the group who were going to the Ancient Orchid City Ruins.
Chen Lin Jian, Ye Ziyun and Shen Yue were standing together talking. They had grown up together since they were little and therefore, knew each other quite well. As Xiao Ning'Er walked over to them, she saw Shen Yue notice her as his eyebrows narrowed together in clear annoyance. He was still upset that she would be so audacious to confront and insult his senior, Shen Xiu, which was like slapping the face of his Sacred Family.
'Doesn't she know that she's engaged to Shen Fei and will be part of our family soon?' he thought, with a malicious grin.
Not noticing Shen Yue's hostile gaze, Chen Linjian warmly welcomed her, "It's so good that you could join us. Ziyun told me that you two were best friends and a friend of hers is a friend of mine!"
Xiao Ning'Er appreciated his straightforward and honest approach, and of course it didn't escape her notice that he was exceptionally good looking as well with his wavy brown hair and broad shoulders...She caught herself staring while biting her lip and jerked back to reality, "Hi Chen Linjian, thank you for trusting me to come on this private adventure. I hope I won't be a burden."
'Unless you want me to be a burden...stop it, Ning'Er!' She smiled innocently at Chen Linjian as this embarrassing inner conversation continued in her heart.
He had brought a total of twenty eight people, whilst Shen Yu brought seven. Along with Ziyun and herself, this meant there were a total of 37 people going. Out of this group, six had reached silver rank, and the majority of the others were at 3-star bronze rank or above. Only Ziyun was at 2-star bronze rank and Shen Yue wasn't even at bronze rank yet. To his knowledge, both Ziyun and Xiao Ning'Er hadn't broken through to bronze rank, similar to him.
Before they left, Xiao Ning'Er pulled Ziyun aside and gave her five of each of the talismans she had made, carefully explaining how they were to be used. After her initial shock, Ziyun held a serious expression as she listened intently. Xiao Ning'Er also decided to give Ziyun Ocean's Ripple, who was delighted with the beautiful turquoise-coloured vest and immediately wore it over her clothes.
If Xiao Ning'Er had told her friend that it was a gold-ranked armour that she was wearing, Ziyun might have fainted right there and then! At the very least, Xiao Ning'Er felt that it would be easier to protect her friend with this armour on and was glad that she had made this decision to gift it away.
The group of 37 split up and discreetly took different routes to the different exits of Glory City leading to the rugged mountain road that they were going to take. Once they congregated there, the proceeded to travel for over 10 hours before coming to a stop. Chen Linjian looked around and found a clearing surrounded by tall trees where they could rest for the night.
Shen Yue sauntered up to Ziyun with an attempted impression of bravado, saying, "Ziyun, why don't we set up camp together. Maybe...I could protect if any wild beasts came in the night..." His face inadvertently flushed red as he said out these words. He looked longingly at her face, praying for a positive answer.
"There's no need!" Ziyun replied. "Ning'Er will be more than sufficient to protect me if anything goes wrong." She smiled at her friend. In light of the recent happenings, her impression of Shen Yue had dropped significantly, especially as she observed his overbearing arrogance every time he talked about his 'precious' Sacred Family.
They both decided on an area with a strip of flat ground and camped together with several other girls. Xiao Ning'Er sat next to Ziyun as they roasted some thin strips of meat over a small fire they had built. The other girls had fallen asleep already but they were enjoying each other's presence in the stillness of the night as they heard insects chirping nearby.
"Ning'Er," Ziyun said. "You've really changed a lot ever since we hung out as kids. You suddenly seem so capable and wise, and all these incredible talents keep popping up. I'm not saying this because I'm jealous. It's a good thing to see you doing so well...and yet, you don't come off proud or arrogant at all. Not like that idiotic Shen Yue..." She gently poked her friend's arm a few times. "Ning'Er, I'm glad to be your friend."
Xiao Ning'Er kept quiet as she thought about these words. Then she suddenly twisted her mouth into a cocky smile as she glanced sideways as Ziyun, "What do you mean I'm not proud? I tell you all the time that I'm an absolute genius."
"No...I'm serious. You have such amazing talents. Sometimes I wish I had a little more so that I can help carry the burden that my father carries as the City Lord. I hate it that I'm not good enough, that I'm not strong enough to carry his dreams, until he had to adopt another child just to find a proper successor. A successor I could not be...you know, I've always had to carry this burden completely alone over the years." She looked straight at her friend as a tear fell from the corner of her eye. "Somehow, I don't feel so alone anymore."
Xiao Ning'Er felt the weight of her friend's words and was even more resolved to ensure that all her friends were strong enough to convincingly defeat the Sage Emperor in the future. There were no more words to be said as she lifted her arm and wrapped it around Ziyun's shoulders. They let the sides of their heads gently rest against each other for a long while until they nodded off to sleep.
In the middle of the night, the earth suddenly tremored with heavy vibrations as the sound of loud roars sounded out throughout the forest around the encampment.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AerynSun
AerynSun The contest for the other novel hasn't given the instructions yet for how the first chapter is meant to be written. So I have more time to focus here for a few days! :)
Someone asked for a femslash the other day, and although I'm definitely not going to head in that direction, this chapter felt a bit like that... :P
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone