Capítulo 7: Envoy In Danger!
*Don't be such a dog.* Senior Dogshit laughed. *I'm busy with something, so I will cut short.*
*There are two new things about second-grade missions: Mission Evaluation and Right to Retreat.*
''Oh?'' Li Ao nodded to himself. ''I understand the former, but what is the other one?''
*It means you can leave the mission site without aborting. After all, unlike first-grade missions, second and third-grade missions require at least a few dozen years to solve the problem. There will also be more missions involving the past; in such cases you will need to regularly give reports and let the universe infer the possible outcomes before proceeding to the next stage.*
Li Ao listened without interrupting, forming his own thoughts.
''What happens when I 'retreat'?''
*You vanish all the same.*
''Is that always a liability?'' Li Ao asked. ''I don't think anyone would be deceived more than once if I was gone without any sign.''
''Like this—'' Li Ao pointed at the Third-Grade, 'Protect The Sect' Mission. ''I think the best course to protect the sect would be to become a disciple and rise through its ranks, right? Even if it is an ancient sect, I doubt they don't have soul jades to track the disciples. How would I explain my disappearance to the fellow disciples and elders?''
''Furthermore, If by chance, or I should say when I interfere, and this sect 'survives' the times, would they not be—''
*You are thinking too grand for your level—'' Senior Dogshit cut him off. *You can just buy an avatar art if you do not wish to raise suspicion. Furthermore, and this is more important, you do not even know the circumstances detailing the mission, yet have already formed an opinion on how to deal with it.*
*That might be a good trait for the first-grade missions, but second and third grade are different. You need to gather the required knowledge, have sufficient insight to read into the circumstance, then formulate your plan depending on what you do and don't have. If you are stuck with a pre-conceived plan from the start, your vision will be narrowed.*
*Think for a moment. What does 'Protect' mean? What are you protecting them 'against'? Is it an external threat? An internal threat? What if it is not an enemy, but a tradition, or a practice? Do you need to 'protect' the whole 'sect', or its name, its management, its image, or its disciples, or its land? What constitutes this 'sect'? Does it have auxiliary branches, and does this 'protect' cover them as well? You need to be able to ask, investigate, then answer these questions, and perhaps many more before thinking of a solution.*
*After all, no problem has a single answer in this world.*
''...you can say good things as well? I'm impressed.''
*Fuck off.*
''Ehehehehe~''
Wiping off his smile, Li Ao cupped his fists to the void. ''Thank you, Senior Dogshit.''
*...I'm leaving.* He said, then hummed to himself. *One last advice. Pick the 'Envoy in Danger' for your next mission. It is rare for first-grade missions to have that long of a limit. Time dilution is also barely within your imprisonment.*
Li Ao looked over the familiar mission. Glancing at the difficulty, it still remained 'Hell'.
''Okay.'' He answered to the void, but indeed Senior Dogshit was long gone.
'I don't think Senior Klein would cheat me.'
After bantering with this foul-mouthed fellow for a few days, Li Ao felt much more trusting of this superior of his. There also was the fact that he just passed on his knowledge and advice under the veil of degrading Li Ao. Perhaps he didn't think much of it, but Li Ao thought the man better for that.
As such, instead of jumping onto a second-grade mission he decided to listen to the advice.
'Let me look over again.'
*Mission: Help the scout of Zhu Noble Clan deliver their news to the Imperial Ancestor!*
*Target World: Six-Fold Immortal Domain*
*Timeline: Real-Time Progression*
*Time Dilution: 300:1*
*Mission Time: Thirty Years*
*Estimated Difficulty: Hell*
*Source: Agent ???(Rank ???)*
*Reward: 2000 Spirit Stones(High-Grade)*
'Another poster, and no Coins...but spirit stones are no joke.'
Li Ao had another thought. Would he gain Universal Coins by progressing his mission, or was that something special to Will of The Universe's missions?
Instead of bothering Senior Dogshit again, Li Ao decided to find out by himself.
'What should I do with the remaining coins?'
He had 41 Universal Coins left. After losing one precious %100 purity Qi Gathering pill, he wanted to replenish the stock. But the difficulty of 'Envoy in Danger' did give him a scare. The mission entailed a certain scheme, evident from the description, and this scheme involved the Imperial family of this Six-Fold Immortal Domain. Anyone that wanted to prevent an information from reaching the dynasty's Imperial Ancestor had to be ruthless and strong enough to accomplish it.
Furthermore, given the time limit, Li Ao could guess how hard it was to reach, then deliver the news to a person of authority.
Thinking of the world, Li Ao thought of an ugly baby.
'Is it possible to meet Chu Shu and others?'
The world was wide, indeed, but that might be possible.
Shaking his head, Li Ao opened up the general store. It seemed that general store had miscellaneous items, items made by the other agents, and most importantly served as a convenient search function. It was a pity no agent sold their items for Spirit Stones.
'Or is it that they can't?'
He typed in 'Avatar Creation' and above a hundred thousand techniques appeared in front of him. He passed the greyed out boxes, then filtered from cheapest to most expensive.
'There are several?'
*Three Bodies Avatar Technique*
*Description: The user can separate their Body, Soul, and Spirit to form three different avatars, cultivating as three different entities. When all three of them cultivate to Soul Formation stage, the avatars can merge together to attain a Golden Soul.*
*Required Cultivation: Fifth-Level Qi Condensation*
*Cost: 15 Universal Coins*
It seemed that this was not a true avatar technique, but a way to form a higher grade 'soul'? It cost only fifteen coins, and Li Ao could understand why. Which madman would separate his body and soul, let alone the spirit?
What even was spirit?
'Am I really that stupid?'
Sighing at his lack of cultivation knowledge, Li Ao looked at the next few ones. It seemed avatar techniques were also a way to cultivate to a certain stage, but none of them were useful to him. His family had a solid cultivation manual up to Nascent Soul, and he wouldn't change it anytime soon for such risky practices. What he needed was an avatar, separate entity that obeyed his 'main consciousness', or a separate body forged by materials which could be given orders.
'Oh?'
It arrived right as he thought of it.
*Avatar of the Bronze King*
*Description: The user can forge seven levels of avatars from a myriad materials, up to Nascent Soul stage. The avatar uses a wisp of the cultivator's soul to bind, and can act as another self in case of death. However, the avatar cannot smell, taste, or feel touch, and relies on the cultivation of the soul and the materials of the body to upgrade. It is nigh impossible for the avatar to reach Soul Formation prowess.*
*Required Cultivation: Twelfth-level of Qi Condensation*
*Required Forging Mastery: Journeyman Forger*
*Required Formation Mastery: Formation Master*
*Cost: 30 Universal Coins.*
'The requirements are...ouch.'
Li Ao had a little experience in forging, just enough to consider himself an apprentice Forger—that was the reason he could materialize accurate weapons with Scarlet Path. But being a Journeyman Forger required at least a few years of experience and knowledge of around a hundred different materials.
As for formations? He was a retard when it came to them.
'Should I buy it?'
The thought passed his mind, but Li Ao decided against it. If the current mission required it further down the line, he could buy it. In the meantime, he wanted to progress his Forging and Formation studies to prepare himself.
Who knew, perhaps when he needed such an art he would have more than a few dozen coins?
Li Ao also searched up 'Forging Techniques' and 'Formation Studies', and he found two elementary books for five coins each. He bought them without hesitation and stuffed them into his spatial ring.
Standing up, stretching, Li Ao looked at his bloodied feet.
''Damn, I was about to bamboozle myself.''
He struck a palm at the cell and swept away all blood with his Qi. Its smell woke up the few demons away from him, where he heard rattling chains and howls, but Li Ao didn't react.
''Alright, huuuu~''
*You have a report waiting to be submitted*
'Ah, right.'
Li Ao pressed on the blinking panel, where a scroll laid out together with a transparent brush for him to grasp. He wrote a few lines on the paper, summarizing his experience and observation, as well as the 'being' and how the mission almost caused him to die. All of this, of course, he wrote in a pleasant and playful tone that would garner the appreciation of the finer masters of language.
'You need to compensate me with a billion spirit stones, you donkey!'
Adding the last bit, he pressed 'send' and the scroll blinked out of existence.
Letting out a deep breath, Li Ao opened up the mission interface, pressed his hand on the portrait of a giant city, and breathed in.
A force squeezed him, pressed against his head, then he was gone from the cell.
*********
Smell of roasted meat invaded Li Ao's nose. Opening his eyes from the darkness, he saw a campfire burning bright. There, at the center of the bright light, burned sparkling red flames, dancing inside a wall of thick wood rolls, casting the silhouette of the leaves like tiny fireflies. Under the long trees, seated before the campfire, stood a middle-aged man with eyes wide-open. With a thick black beard, deep eyes, and with his hands above the fire, which held a dead rabbit, he remained frozen at Li Ao's sight.
Li Ao met the panicked gaze of the man, smiled, then took a seat across him on a rock. ''Howdy brother?''
The man stumbled his words, and the rabbit fell into the fire.''Ho-ho-ho...howdy...''
''What a fine evening, don't you think so?''
''Ah...yes, indeed...''
'What the fuck is this situation?'
Two guys, sitting beside a campfire, five meters apart...
''Shit! My dinner!''
The man ran head-first into the fire with a scream.
'System always delivers me next to the target of the mission, right?'
Li Ao inspected the look of the man. He seemed haggard, now that he noticed, and his thick beard was a mess of moss and dirt. His black clothes wound tightly around his limbs, designed to keep close and not get tangled up, generally used by travellers and assassins. Around him were traces of Qi, but Li Ao could barely notice it even this close. That meant he used a kind of skill to hide his traces.
Staring at the burning eyebrows of the man, Li Ao nodded to himself.
'He is the messenger, then.'
''Who are you!?''
Li Ao raised his head and saw the tip of a blade against his nose. The large, silver sword gleamed under the light. Pushing his head forward, Li Ao drew a drop of blood at the tip of his nose.
''If you want to threaten properly, put it up against the throat; or the eye, mouth, heart, whatever.''
Circulating his Qi through his limbs, Li Ao punched the side of the sword. Another force attempted to repel him, almost equal to his own, but alas his speed took the man by surprise and the sword flew out of his hand. With a whoosh the blade flew and pierced a tree, wobbling on the trunk few steps away from the campsite.
''You...'' The man turned into a shadow, then appeared a dozen steps away. ''Who are you!?''
''...''
'Is this man retarded?'
Li Ao was in no position himself to regard others as retards, but alas ignorance was his only sin apart from a few others.
While evaluating the man in silence, he had been thinking of the ways to complete the mission. What kind of attitude should he have towards this messenger? After all, it seemed vital to him that this man must survive. Li Ao did not have the channels to contact reinforcements and the Imperial Ancestor, and he certainly had no idea where to go and how to survive in this world.
In that case, was he to be truthful? Or mysterious? Perhaps a bit of both? Hostility was out of the window— he could not imagine the hurt it would do him and his prospects.
Crossing his legs, still sitting, Li Ao motioned the man to come forward.
He did not move.
''My fellow cultivator, if I wanted to hurt you, you would have been dead by now.'' said Li Ao. ''If I wanted to hurt you 'now', you still would end up dead. Don't make things difficult and sit.''
Speaking so, Li Ao released his eighth-level Qi Condensation realm aura, and the man took a step forward at him. A few seconds later the man took another step, then sat down on the ground beside the fire. He seemed ready to move out at anytime.
''What do you want?''
''Aren't you pretty hostile?''
''You made me lose my dinner.''
''It is just a bit of food.''
''A bit of food? Hmph! I knew you looked like a spoiled brat.''
Li Ao's smile twitched at the remark.
Seeing him silent, the middle-aged man crossed his arms.
''What do you want?'' The man repeated his question.
'What do I want?' Li Ao thought.
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