"What type of task are we going to do?" Mei asked, finishing the rest of her vegetable bun.

Wang Wei clearly had experience, so she figured she'd just do whatever he was planning to.

"Oh, I was planning to do the herb picking one. My master said that picking out the aura of herbs is good for practising identification," he said. "And plus I need herbs for pill making anyway."

As he said that, he scrolled through the list of tasks.

Herb picking... it really did feel like one of those 'classic' starting tasks in those books.

"Huh?" Wang Wei said. "Hey! I need help!"

Mei turned over to see what was the matter but couldn't tell.

A few spirits flew close by and seemed to discuss something for a bit. Finally, the blue one from earlier, Tian Lan floated over.

"The herb picking quest isn't here! Is there some problem with this thing?" Wang Wei looked upset.

Mei felt like he might be overreacting a bit.

The spirit flickered, somehow seeming annoyed.

"The herb task is out because too many people took it. Come back next month."

"What! Next month?" Wang Wei shouted. "It's a mountain! Why is there a limit for people going to pick herbs?"

"The sect has imposed a limit because when too many people take stuff from the mountain, it can damage the ecosystem. Please come back again next month or try a different task."

Wang Wei puffed his cheeks but didn't say anymore.

What the spirit said made a lot of sense though. Mei didn't even consider that could happen.

"I'm going back." Wang Wei stomped away. "Bye."

"Wait, you're not going to do anything else?" Mei asked. "There are still quite a few other tasks.

"No."

Seeing him get further and further away, she was speechless. Oh well.

"Since he's leaving, tap this to remove him from your group." Tian Lan said, guiding her to press a button.

"Uh, thanks?"

After the spirit floated away, she started looking through the board.

Cleaning the hall, sorting the library books, helping the chef chop vegetables... the list went on.

All these were nothing but chores! No wonder Wang Wei left, thought Mei. Nobles were too stuck up to do chores.

Mei really didn't like chores much, but two of them seemed alright to her. Chopping firewood or vegetables. 3 jade every 2 hours for the firewood one and 2 jade every hour for the cooking one for some reason.

She felt a bit of relief. Previously, she was afraid the pill might be expensive, but it seemed like it was just 1 hour of work.

 

---

 

Mei felt a bit of excitement as she tapped the staff door on the kitchen. What sort of crazy ways of cooking would cultivation add?

She headed in.

Rows of cooking equipment were hung on the wall, ingredients put neatly in bamboo baskets. Many disciples were hard at work chopping vegetables at the tables, wearing some kind of weird hat that covered their hair.

"Put on a hat and get to work!" a gruff voice said. "Extra pay if you do good, less if you don't!"

Oh, that must be the chef. Mei looked to the source of the voice. A giant octopus floating in the air?!

He was very busy, each limb tending to various pots, woks and pans. The aroma of delicious food filled the air as he cooked with incredible efficiency.

The chef... was an octopus? She thought he was sweating for a moment, then realised it was just a thin layer of water encasing his mottled grey skin.

For a moment she wondered how he would taste but quickly shook off the thought. Then she wondered if he had ever cooked any dishes with octopus or squid.

"What are you doing dawdling around? Get to work!" the octopus yelled.

Hurriedly, she put on one of those weird hats before looking around for a table. Next to one of the empty ones, she saw Xiuying chopping diligently, surprising her. What were the chances?

Heading over, she grabbed a random leafy vegetable she couldn't recognise and started chopping. The knife was unexpectedly sharp, cutting through the entire thing as if it were made of butter.

"Oh, hi Mei Xiu," Xiuying whispered.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" Mei whispered back.

She thought Xiuying would be diligently cultivating or something.

"Uh, to make some money?" Xiuying said. "Also I guess I was hoping to see how the chef made the food so good, but it's not easy to see from here."

"You like to cook?" Mei asked.

"Somewhat. Back at home, I cook for my family, so I figured it would be nice to surprise them with better cooking."

How considerate. Mei figured she wouldn't care that much if it was her.

Xiuying chopped the vegetables very neatly and quickly, impressing Mei a lot. She was a bit too scared and cut slowly because of how crazy sharp the knife was.

It was almost scary. If she let go of the knife, it would probably cut through even potatoes and carrots from falling alone. She was sure the knife could slice through her fingers as easily.

"When you're done cutting the vegetables, just toss them into the respective trays," Xiuying explained. "I don't know how it works, but apparently it sends them to the chef. Also from time to time, he'll tell us what he wants cut."

 

---

 

"Alright, that's enough for today!" the octopus said.

Mei let out a sigh of relief, putting down the scary knife. It had been 3 hours since she started chopping.

She happily received 8 jade from the octopus and slid them into one of her pockets. They were pretty little white jade coins.

Then she realised Xiuying got 12.

"Why did she get more?" she asked, trying not to grumble.

Didn't she manage to cut a lot more veg? After she got over her fear, she started chopping at a decent speed. It helped that she was a lot stronger after the initial cleansing, so she didn't feel tired at all.

"Xiuying may not have been as fast, but she cut the vegetables very neatly. Most of your cuts were acceptable but a amount was either too big or too small." said the chef. "I would have deducted your pay a little if not for how fast you were."

Mei supposed that made sense.

Come to think of it, why was the octopus paying so much attention to all of them if it was busying cooking with all 8 limbs? Weirdo.

The octopus went to the sink and flipped the pots over before pressing a button on the handle. All the grime fell out.

"Whoa! How does that work?" Xiuying was in awe.

"Of all thing you get impressed by that?" the octopus sounded amused. "There's a thin qi barrier over the metal, so things won't stick."

"Where do I get one?"

Saying goodbye to Xiuying who seemed a bit too interested in the pots and pans, Mei decided to head back first.