Trading for contribution points was easy and done in the mission hall. This was only one story but stretched out to accommodate all the disciples busily darting in and out. Manned by inner disciples at the golden core realm these men and women were at the cusp of becoming elders. There was a large board covering both the southern and eastern walls all lined with paper stamped into the cork board.

Interested I walked over for a closer look. ‘Slay wild demon beast plaguing riverside town, recommended mid foundation building level’, ‘retrieve sunset orchid for alchemist Patil recommended low golden core’, ‘looking for formation adept to enter hidden cave abode recommended high foundation building’. A huge variety of tasks and missions was laid out before me, sadly I only saw a couple for those at qi refining realm, so I would have to come back when I was stronger to find a suitable job.

I joined the back of the shortest queue and soon got to the desk.

“I’d like to buy some contribution points.” I placed two small crystals and a small pile of ten golden bars, each worth a hundred coins, on the table. They shined slightly in the light and appeared to almost hum and pulse with hidden power.

“Worth three thousand gold altogether, that’s one hundred and fifty points, do you have a point token yet?” Not knowing what that was I assumed the answer was no and shook my head.

He retrieved a small jade slip with delicate lines and etchings on the surface.

“This is a small formation artefact and will record the number of contribution points you have, each can store up to fifty thousand and every new one after this will cost you twenty contribution points.”

“Understood senior brother.”

“To trade points just place two token touching each other and send some qi into it, the rest is intuitive and you just pulse your qi in certain patterns that the omen will guide you through to trade points. To check how many you have just place it on your forehead and inject some qi.”

Following that he unlocked a small compartment in the desk that must have had a formation judging by the way it flashed with intricate white lines. I couldn’t see inside it from my position, but he took out a jade slip much like the one I was given, he placed them together and gave me the contribution points in the exact way he described.

“Please check.” He said passing me my new token.

I placed it on my forehead and let a small trickle of qi leave my dantian and flow up to my head. Instantly I felt my senses expanding and encompassed the token and I saw the number one hundred and fifty written clearly in my mind. Deciding this must be how it worked I nodded to the receptionist and left, overhearing the shout of “Next.” as I walked away.

Now it was time to enter the alchemical book pavilion and retrieve two manuals. Indeed I decided to only get two instead of the three that I could afford if I converted my last thousand eight hundred and sixty gold, but I wanted to try and use some of that to buy some herbs and ingredients from the market to improve my cultivation.

Entering the pavilion, I walked up to the desk and easily traded my points for two new new tokens and this time with two hours to search began the arduous task of searching through the colossal mound of texts.

This time I made sure to bring notebook with me and wrote down a short exert on what each manual did and where to find it. Frankly something like this should have been there already, but it seems it’s tradition to root around blindly in case you find techniques mysteriously fated with you. Whilst this may sound like nonsense, supposedly fate and luck are real tangible things that higher level cultivators may come into contact with. Not putting my stock in my own luck, I’d rather do it this way however.

My notes were pathetically brief and said something like ‘M L top flame thrower’. This was my shorthand for middle left column, top row, flame projecting manual, I didn’t have the time to write more than that and still hope to get through most of the stacks in my allotted time.

In left the floor two hours later on the dot, and had two manuals in my hands. The first was an alchemical flame controlling technique that uses a series of hand signs to burn away impurities in a furnace, much like my previous alchemy technique I could see this easily carrying across to spiritual cheap work. The second was a dagger or short sword manual. In the end I chose daggers over swords as they fitted my smaller build better. I was currently a little short for my age and my stature was slim and slightly androgynous so I didn’t hold hope for being a big macho man in the future either. This specific set of moves was meant to reach the basic dagger forms and strikes and learn to use them efficiently in battle. The books name was ‘Leaf in the Wind’ a bit obnoxious sounding, but was focussed on getting evasions and quick strikes accurate and fast until you moved through battle unpredictably like a leaf falling from a tree on a windy day.

I returned to my thatch hut excited to begin practicing. To start with, put some sticks and a log into my fire pit and lit it with some tinder and a fire starter. Soon scarlet flames flickered and danced and small sparks sprayed and jumped at random instances. Slowly I injected my qi in the specific way taught and the fire started to shift to a more golden colour, and it’s passionate thrall moved faster emanating fierce amounts of heat. I decreased the amount of qi being released and it steadily calmed down. Taking out some meat skewers I had resting after being seasoned with a spicy rub and placed them above the flames. Soon fat dripped out and a nice charred crust began to build up. This specific meat was from a demon ox so I had to be careful to prevent it being tough and unpalatable. Finally I glazed my kebab with a barbecue sauce and dug straight in.

The deep flavour from the crust of the beef alongside the tangy seasoning was delicious and just after eating I felt a warmth fill my belly before spreading through my body and into my muscles. Clenching my fist I felt slightly stronger, it may only be part of percent, but that just meant I needed to keep eating more and more until I had significant gains.

After some cultivation to absorb the excess qi from my meal, I cleaned up and headed outside. There was ample space between the huts for me to practice. But first I had to go buy a weapon to use.