Three days and numerous baths and soakings later, she emerged from her room looking a little more pink and smelling of herbs. It had taken a whole sack of herbs from the herb store to get the black devil goat's smell off her body. Her clothes were ruined and ended up in the fire. She had a quick breakfast of steamed vegetable dumplings and headed to the mercenary guild with a pep in her step. She found an empty spot in front of the wall of tablets and searched for a mission. She was alone and just starting out as a mercenary so she figured she'd start small. A mission titled arrowroot mushroom caught her attention. It was a permanent mission on the board. The demand for arrowroot mushrooms was high since it was a useful alchemy ingredient. Taking the mission meant she had to provide a batch of fifty mushrooms to fill the mission. 

'The reward is fifty gold after the guild takes its share. As a first mission, it's not bad at all.'

She grabbed the tablet off the wall and left the guildhall. 

It was still afternoon when she joined the multitudes heading into the forest. She oriented herself while checking the detailed map she had bought from a shop for cheap on her out of the city. The arrowroot mushrooms she was looking for, grew on the eastern slopes of the Crane lake area. The shade provided by the trees in the area was a great environment for mushrooms to flourish. 

The crowd broke up and went their individual ways not long after leaving the market situated at the entrance of the forest. 

She was on a mission to find mushrooms so she felt at ease. On the way, she sang a folk song and played with her basket like a village girl going into the forest to collect wild mushrooms. Whenever she sensed savage beasts nearby, she went around them. This was the first time she didn't feel danger aimed at her while in the forest. Her lack of caution came back to bite when she walked into the den of a pack of wolves. The leader howled to alert the rest of the pack and she hastily retreated and fled using the move like the wind movement skill. 

She skirted the dens of a few more packs of wolves as she went on. She found the lake and arrived at the slopes that ended in a rocky cliff. 

According to what she'd learned from the mission details, the arrowroot mushroom grew away from the wind so she headed toward the first tree in her path. She pushed away fallen leaves and found a bone white mushroom. The arrowroot mushroom was identified by its root that was tapered like an arrow head. She carefully dug it out with a stick and saw the tapered root. She counted down. 

'One down, forty nine to go.' 

Humming a tune, she worked on her haunches, crawling from tree to tree. She found a large blood red mushroom growing in a crawl space inside a rotting tree. There were two reasons for something to be different.

'Is this a precious arrowroot mushroom or a poisonous one?' 

She pondered and set it apart from the others. The sun was setting when she decided to call it a day. She had worked hard harvesting upwards of fifty mushrooms. She was tempted to stay, but she remembered the warning in the advice section of the mercenary booklet. Staying late by oneself in the ancient forest at night was asking for trouble. It was much safer to be in a group. Her mission was complete so she packed her basket and began the trip back to the city.

There were fewer people going in and out when she arrived at the guild hall. She walked to the counter and handed in the tablet, her badge and the mushrooms. The guild employee verified that everything was in order and collected the specified number of mushrooms. He counted fifty gold coins in front of her and slid them across to her.

She picked up another mission collecting arrowroot mushrooms and another one for wolf fur on her way out of the guildhall before returning to her room. 

The next three months passed in the same vein. She racked up close to two thousand gold pieces by doing multiple small missions at the same time and  became a regular figure to the night employees at the guild. 

'Bai li yue, you are wasting your talent taking only low level missions. You should start taking bigger missions. That's where the money is.' 

One of them told her again and again. He didn't say anything when she started. Taking small missions was a legitimate way of learning. But seeing her results, he couldn't understand why she was working for scraps when she could join a mercenary group and enter the big leagues.

'Who told you that i am doing this for money?'

'Everyone works for money. You always have a wide smile whenever i give you your reward. Just admit it.' 

He coaxed like one does with a stubborn child. He was right in a way. Bai li yue had outgrown mushrooms, wolf fur and herbs in a week, but kept on taking low level missions. She couldn't justify paying more money for a gold badge when she was only passing through. She didn't plan on being a mercenary for the rest of her life.

'I don't have money to get a gold badge. So give it a rest.'

'There are ways around the gold badge, you know?'

He said with a laugh and glanced slyly around for indiscrete ears.

'All you have to do is join an already established group. Your pay won't be as much as that of gold badge members, but it will be more than you are earning now.'

'Really?' 

She hadn't been aware of that possibility. That was the disadvantage of keeping mostly to herself.

'If you are interested, i know of a few groups that are currently looking for someone. I could recommend you.'

'Tell me about them.' 

She wanted more information before making a decision. He pulled a ledger out from under the counter and flipped to a page. His finger stopped at an entry.

'the Black hawk mercenary company, the Undefeated blades and the Strong bulls are all looking for someone. The black hawks are a large mercenary company. They are the best option but, I don't think they'll take you since you aren't planning to stay a long time. The strong bulls are also a good option. They are smaller than the black hawks, but they undertake some high level missions that pay really well. I know the leader, Da mao. He is fair, but strict with his people. The undefeated blades are on the same level as the strong bulls. Their leader is li yun. He is famous for losing the least men in the field.'

'Which one do you recommend?'

'The undefeated bulls will be leaving on a mission in a few days. If i put in a good word for you, you should be able to join them on the job.'

'Then i'll ask for your help.'

'You don't have to thank me. I get a cut for recommending good workers.'

'I should have known you were doing this for the money.' 

She sighed.

'As i said, we all work for money.'

Bai li yue looked at the directions on the piece of paper he gave her.

'You'll find Li yun in his office at this time. Just tell him that i sent you.'

He added when he saw her hesitating.

'The undefeated blades. The name sounds-'

'Bold.'

She was about to say brazen, but held her tongue.

'Thanks. I'm off.'

She slid the paper into her wide sleeve and made her way back to her room to rest. It was already night time. She wasn't meeting the head of the mercenary group about a job at night regardless of what was acceptable.

The formation inheritance appeared in her hand as she took a seat on the wide window seat to pore over the booklet all through the night with the moon for company.

The next day, she returned to the Treasure pavilion. She walked with purpose up the stairs leading to the first floor and stopped at a glass display containing an archery manual along with an ash wood bow and a set of arrows. She had found the two items a week after her arrival, but the price was too expensive. After months of working hard, she could finally afford both of them. Neither the bow nor the skill manual were as  impressive as the sun killing bow and its associated skill, but it was a good first bow. She passed the money to the attendant and gestured to the bow. 

'Miss may i ask if you have a store slate? Clients with store cards have a five percent reduction on a range of items in our shop.'

'Oh! Really?'

Quickly handing the store slate she had got on her first visit to the attendant, she took a seat while the lady finished the transaction. 

'The long distance arrow skill. Cool name!'

She flipped through the book and was almost done memorising the skill when the lady returned with her slate.

'Thank you for your patience. I put the rest of money on the card. Would you like me to package the bow and quiver for you and have it delivered? Or may i interest you in another archery manual?'

'There's no need for that.'

The long distance arrow skill was good enough for her. She was in a hurry to begin practicing so she did not tarry in the store. Next, she presented herself at a sprawling building housing the offices of several mercenary groups each with the name of the group carved onto a wooden plaque. 

She found the office of the Undefeated blades and knocked on the closed door. It squeaked open to reveal a small office cramped with adventuring gear. Only the desk at the entrance of the office was clear of gear. A man with a short cropped mustache and beard sat down and stared at her with a questioning gaze.

'What do you want?'

'Are you Li yun? Da zhou sent me. He said you were looking for a temporary worker.'

He studied her for a few more minutes, balancing his weight on the back end of the chair.

'What can you do? Can you fight?'

'I can take care of myself.'

'What's the last mercenary group you were part of?'

'I have been working alone so far, i was thinking of trying something else for a while.'

She answered truthfully.

'An adventurer, then. You should have said so.' 

She wasn't aware that there was a difference. He noted her badge number in his ledger and handed it back to her.

'We leave in two days at noon. If you haven't changed your mind by then, meet us at the old gate.'

She was leaving when he added as an afterthought.

'You have to bring your own gear. What we have is for members only.'

'Understood.' She called out as she left.

The interview had been blessedly short and she'd come out at the other end with a job. She didn't know what to make of the man, but then again she was doing it to gain experience. She memorised time and meeting place and put the work out of her mind. 

She found out from the manager about adventurers and understood Li yun's attitude toward her. Adventurers were considered to be temporary workers if one was being kind; opportunists if one was opposed to them. Mercenary companies were not required to treat adventurers who joined them the same way that they treated their members.

'This place isn't so different from earth', 

she muttered. If she hadn't come out into the larger world, it would have her longer to realise it.

'Oh well! I worked as a part time contract worker for years so this should be normal for me.'

The inn had a garden that doubled as a sitting area for guests who wanted some fresh air. She used the garden to practise her archery skill: the long distance arrow. Each arrow shot from the bow packed enough strength to deal a severe blow a low level target from a long distance. If she mastered the skill, she could kill stronger targets from miles away.

But first she had to train her eyesight to see farther than it was capable of at the moment.

Direct spirit energy into the eyes to improve eyesight. 

That was easier said than done. She had grown used to rotating her spirit energy in a particular pattern now after changing to the nameless cultivation technique. It took her several tries before she was able to divert a small stream toward her eyes.

Behind closed eyes she waited for the results. Black tears flowed down her cheeks as the energy flowing into her eyes washed her eyes and cleared her vision. 

In the morning when she finally opened her eyes, it was like being granted sight anew. Shapes were sharper than before. Colours: brighter, more nuanced. Was that a furry worm crawling under a serrated leaf? 

She jumped into the tree and onto the roof to look at the view through her new eyes. She could see further now; to the end of the street. With a bit of effort she could even see the buildings near the outskirts of the city in the distance. 

She saw a caravan leaving the city as if she was standing in front of them.

Amazed by her improvement, she pumped more energy into her eyes. The details of the blurry silhouette of the city limits filled in and the trees of the forest were beginning to take shape. She could just make the lines when she felt a piercing pain in both eyes.

'Aaww!' She yelped, clutching her eyes.

Not good. She stopped the stream of energy and waited for the pain to die down. Fortunately for her it did after a few minutes.

'Okay, that was very dangerous. I almost blew my eyes out. I was too impatient.'

She rested her eyes for a fews hours fearing she'd done irreparable damage to her eyes. 

'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!' I hope you learned a lesson!'

She called herself many unflattering names in the meantime. Once her fears were allayed by the pain finally vanishing, she returned to the garden and practised aiming and firing arrows till the sun began to rise. She continued training after a quick meal. By the next day, her arms were sore from using the bow, but she felt good with her progress. She rested till noon and packed for the mission.