The Perfect Specimen

In the kingdom of Shangri-La, inside of a room where many people in power are gathered around a table with a map on it.

The map has many red marks over it. While in the center of it is the human civilizations, outside of the fleshed out civilization parts of the map is complete emptiness. The red marks become more and more cl.u.s.tered the farther away from the cities the map gets.

The people around the table are in a heated debate, forming two main sides.

A heavyset noblewoman speaks up, "As I said before, we need to focus on expansion of the territories now while we still have a chance! There are resource deposits just outside of our walls and yet we hold ourselves up in our turtle shells waiting for some disaster to come for our throats!"

She slams her fist down on the the table with her face turning red from anger. The group of people on her side speak up in agreement with her.

"Yeah!"

"That's right!"

"Don't be naive!"

As the people on her side are just about to increase their fervor, a very regal woman who is the epitome of grace and class raises her hand to quiet them. The rabble immediately silence themselves.

She looks towards the other party who is leaded by a lean middle aged man with gray peppering his black hair.

"Reginald, speak." The classy woman commands the man.

"Yes your grace. The fact of the matter is that if we expand now, we are solidifying our own destruction."

He starts slowly, while the rotund noblewoman was just about to interject she receives a sharp glare from the classy woman and recedes back into silence.

He looks thankfully at her and continues, "If it were a days before, I would agree with Lady Margaret s' view on expansion. However," He points his finger at the red marks on the map that are cl.u.s.tered the most at the border of their city.

"A few days ago, an ascended company was sent into action to implement expansion procedures on our borders but have not all returned....alive." He swallows slightly recalling the scene.

"A monster that can blend into the environment so flawlessly that even magic can not detect it, appeared out of nowhere. It toyed with the group in plain view for me to see... It kept it's eyes on me the entire time while they fought and after killing one it just laughed and faded into darkness. That was the last we saw of it."

He shivers and wears a slightly frantic expression, "I kept hearing it's laugh next to me as the company and I ran back to safety. We were completely outmatched."

The rotund noble lady speaks under her breath, "Just a monster that can conceal itself. That's no reason to get so hung up on it. Who knows if it's even still out there? Probably got bored and left"

But that doesn't escape Reginald's ears as he snaps back in a yell with ferocity.

"If it was just some monster that could conceal itself then I would be enough to handle it myself! That monster...is not something our city can handle. We need to request help from Heaven!"

The rotund woman does not shy away and yells back,

"How dare you suggest that! Do you know what kind of position that would put her grace in?! There are countless unimaginably strong monsters that we haven't even seen yet! Just because a strong one shows up out of the blue doesn't mean a thing! If it was really persistent it would have finished you off or followed you here and cause a havoc in the city!"

The classy woman raises both her hands to each party and speaks up softly saying, "Thank you for the report Reginald. We will take caution while expanding and I will formerly request aid from Heaven for reinforcements."

Reginald's face lights up as Margaret's falls. However, The classy woman's next statement causes their smiles to swap.

"In the meantime, you will be an adviser for preventative measures in case that monster returns. While you set them up, Margaret will be heading the expansion project. Expect reinforcements within the week."

The two of them along with their parties bow as the classy woman finishes her statement and then leaves the room. As she is leaving they all shout in unison,

"Yes, your Grace!"

...

Back at the Mission Hall, Alistair snaps out of the the sudden realization of new possible ways to get stronger and asks, "How many points do I have in total right now?"

The attendant asks him to wait a moment while he checks and returns shortly afterwards, "In total you have 250 points and one mark of completion."

Alistair then states, "I'll take the list!"

The attendant hands over a book to Alistair while subtracting the points from his account. Alistair looks over the book as Michelle asks for the same. Sharing materials gained on school grounds is forbidden.

[Clothing], [Techniques], [Materials], [Food], [Accessories], and more sections are labeled in the books index.

The first thing Alistair looks at when he sees this, is the food section. He searches each selection but does not see any fresh meat. His eyes light up suddenly when he comes across sushi. He despairs a moment later when he sees the price of it at 700 points.

He read that fish are able to be eaten raw so he had his hopes up for seeing that on the food menu. However, due to the difficulty of sustaining marine life in an area with no water, fish is a luxury even among ascended.

Failing to be able to afford his main objective, he sighs as he tosses the book into his bag and decides to peruse the full contents of it some other time. He realizes that points are things to be treasured if one wants to survive here.

Michelle on the other hand, "I would like to get this, this, this, a few of these, and one of those but make sure to tailor it precisely."

The attendant nods and says, "Ah, no problem student. That will bring your total to....1,450 points. May I see your card to process this?"

She hands him her card and after fulfilling the order he hands it back to her. "Thank you for your business!"

Alistair's jaw drops at the astronomical sum she just paid and remembers that they started at the same time. He imagines that she must have done an amazingly crazy quest to get so many points.

He walks over to her and asks, "How did you get so many points? Just how strong are you to earn that many in so little time?"

Michelle hears this and is slightly taken aback before she catches herself and does not miss the opportunity to show off.

"Well I am very powerful! That's not how I got the points though, that would take too long. I just have them because my family is rich and they bought them for me."

Alistair's eyes resemble a dead fish as he hangs his head and mumbles repeatedly.

"...That's not fair..."