Forgotten One

The librarian was an old man that looked like he was in his 70s. His face was long and long wrinkles followed his face downwards. His skin was a bit dry and his clothes had acc.u.mulated dust. He hadn't moved in a very long time His eyes were a gentle and warm turquoise when he finally opened them. It seemed like a calm breeze in the wind, even his words sounded fleeting.

"Young boy, you come with the wind, is there anything this old man can help you with. Oh, you seem to be doing a mission."

"Okay, okay, 100 contribution points for you."

Lei Shu picked up his contribution points and was about to leave until he stopped and turned around. The man was now back to his original posture, he was slouched and had his eyes closed. His long frizzy grey beard connected to his grey mustache. His skin had a gentle red glow, he had white skin and looked archaic.

"Librarian, is there a name I could call to you by instead of just Librarian?"

"His old eyes remained shut. "Hmph, no one's asked me for my name since my long time here. If you really want to know, my name is Ling Yu. I have no family, so this is my home."

Lei Shu turned to say goodbye. "Thank you, Senior Yu, if I have the chance, I hope to visit you often, maybe I can even keep you company hahaha."

Lei Shu let out a jolly laugh. Ling Yu's voice echoed through the library, "If you want to gain strength you will need resources at your current realm. You can search for spirit stones; I see that your cultivation base pales in comparison to your peers. However, your power isn't simple, it isn't restrained by a realm. You can do menial tasks and use the contribution points to get spiritual stones or you could kill 2 birds with one stone."

Lei Shu wanted to know of such a method. "Senior, what can I do to make this come true and for your other statement. Cultivation realms are merely social constructs, in the end, no one's power can be categorized perfectly. There are even smaller realms within a large realm, and each person's realm may not house the same level of power. I may be special but that doesn't mean others aren't as well."

Ling Yu replied. "A young man who carries tremendous power for his age is also someone who is so humble and wise. Your future is bright." Ling Yu pulled a page out of his robes, it looked just like the other mission page Lei Shu had.

"Junior, these types of missions go up once a week at random times. It is a mission that asks you to acquire spiritual stones from the mining cave. The only way to access the spiritual stone mine is with this specific mission page. It also says that if you gather more than 10 spiritual stones, you can keep the rest of the stones you gather. This mission already helps you a lot and it isn't too hard. The reward is 200 contribution points so what do you say. I was about to send this off to be placed on the mission board but if I give it to you then it'll save some time. What do you say?"

Lei Shu bowed, "This Junior's name is Lei Shu and I will surely complete this mission right away, thank you." Lei Shu reached for the page and took it from his hands.

Ling Yu spoke before Lei Shu left, "Good luck, I'm looking forward to seeing your rise in the sect, or maybe even your downfall."

Lei Shu left the library and took the mission page back to his room. "Right now, Ansu is my biggest rival. Even if I gave it my all back during the final trial, I still wouldn't have been able to beat him. His movements are unorthodox, his blade work is mysterious, and his cultivation is high. He is also the disciple of the First Elder, Elder Hansa. With that many benefits, if I don't do anything I'll fall behind."

Lei Shu took a bath and put on a fresh set of robes. He left and walked down to the left side of the sect. There was a forest with low lying vegetation. It had a man-made path with twists and turns galore.

This path was apparently the one that Lei Shu needed to walk along in order to get to the mining cave. Lei Shu took his time walking the trail. He looked out for any potential dangers. However, there was no spiritual beast at least not any with any real capacity for damage. Lei Shu enjoyed the fresh air until he made it to a large tunnel.

Smoke was leaving through the entrance; it was black and drifted off into the air. By the entrance there was another man, he was in working clothes, he wasn't a part of the sect.

He walked to the man and cupped his fists. "I'm an outer disciple of the Jade Dragon Sect, I came here in order to mine some spiritual stones."

The man had a rough voice, but he was nice. The smoke in the air wasn't that good for non-cultivators to breathe in, it caused his voice to become raspy.

"Yes, young man this is the mining cave. Low-grade spiritual stones can be mined and if you're lucky you can even find a few high-grade spiritual stones. The picks are on the left-right when you get it."

Lei Shu nodded and walked into the mouth of the cave. It looked darker from the outside looking in, but it wasn't too dark for Lei Shu. The darkness even decreased when you stepped inside. On the left were a rack full of picks.

The picks looked normal, just like the ones on Earth. The only difference was that the striking end of these picks had a dull blue glow around them. These were also spiritual weapons. The old man from outside walked in. "Yeah, didn't expect normal items to also have spiritual gems huh? We may not cultivate but that doesn't mean we work at a snail's pace. We added the spiritual gem for speed into these picks for a reason. The picks with the red glow over there increase the power. Those picks are used if the rock can't be broken using the blue pick if it's hard it's usually a high-grade spiritual stone or a rare material."

Lei Shu picked up the pick, there was obvious wear and tear throughout. He raised it and smashed down into the cave walls. He had to dig but he couldn't use too much strength. If he hid, the wall might cave in and ruin everything. Doing this simple task also helped Lei Shu learn how to control his power. Throughout the process he was getting better at using a specific amount of power, holding power back and distributing power throughout his body. Lei Shu was aware of these benefits.

He barely even focused on the mining; he was focusing more so on training.

"Young man, you know you can take a break, right? You work at a pace greater than 3 of my men. How about joining us and helping out on your time off. We won't be stingy with your payment either."

Lei Shu finally stopped striking the wall, he swiped the sweat from his forehead. "3 times the reward."

The man replied, "Huh?"

Lei Shu smirked, "You said I work at the pace of 3 men? I can work faster than this, so I want at least 3 times the rewards. It's only fair. If I can complete double the work in the same amount of time, I should be given an increased pay."

The man put his hand under his chin, he had a long straight body with dirty mining clothes on His face had a protruding b.u.t.t chin and his forehead was quite large. His eyes also bulged out a bit, looking like a bug's. "Umm, yeah I guess that's fair. At least it sounds fair. How about you come back tomorrow and finish that mission page in your hand. After you finish and collect your reward, you can come by and sign a contract."

"Before you sign the contract, we'll talk about the big details in it. Obviously, there isn't any danger so take your time. Even grown men won't be able to do anything against a sect disciple, even if he's only a new outer disciple."

Lei Shu nodded his head towards the man and made his leave. He went back to his room and before he made it into the door, he bumped into Ting Ting.

"Brother Lei, what have you been doing lately? I haven't seen you around the sect at all."

Lei Shu rubbed his head from the impact, "I'm in a hurry, I think I might have a new job."

Ting Ting pouted, "Ohhhhhh, so you're getting a job without telling us. I know you need to catch up, but you can't just leave us behind." She brought her face closer to his and spoke quietly into his ear. "Listen up cause I'll only say this once. I've been walking around and apparently there's a festival coming up, it's called the Dragon Lantern Festival. It's a festival where the guys and the girls within the sect can get together and unwind. Opposite genders can get together and expose their true feelings for each other. We're all dressing up for it so make sure you're presentable. Hopefully, you can find a girl for yourself. There's going to be battles during the festival. A lot of the girls will be looking out for the strongest of the outer disciples so make sure you perform well."

As Ting Ting finished speaking, she pranced off. "Dragon Lantern Festival hmmm, will Ansu be there?"

Lei Shu went back into his room and rested his body. It was taxing controlling your energy to the point that Lei Shu was. He needed to relax, he was a bit sore and his mind was rampant with far too much. He laid down on his back and held out an open hand to the air. "There's so much that I can do, and I've just begun. There's so much that I have to do, will it always be like that?"

Lei Shu closed his eyes and thought about the upcoming future. Should he just miss the festival and focus on training? Should he enjoy and train after, he didn't have too much enjoyment in his past life. Countless things were flooding his mind until he fell into a deep sleep. His eyes fluttered open and he spun onto his side. He jolted up and hurried to get his robes on. "F.u.c.k, I'm almost late for the morning lectures."

Lei Shu barged out the door while putting his robes on. He was running, a bit of dust collected on his robes, but it wasn't too bad. He walked into the classroom and everyone else was already there. He walked in and a few eyes were on him. He ignored it and walked up to his usual seat and sat down.

The lecturer was the Librarian. "Hello, my name is Yu Ling and I will be teaching your morning classes from now on. Please call me Master Yu, I will begin your lesson for today. If you have any questions about anything just raise your hand and I'll get to you. If all of your questions aren't answered, then you may stay behind, and I can help you then."

During the lecture, they spoke a bit about everything. The librarian spoke about the nearby facilities, herbs, and medicine as well. Near the halfway point he switched to teaching about cultivation. He spoke about talent, disciple, dedication, passion, and the Dao Heart among other things. Lei Shu never had a class this expansive and beneficial.