Days had passed since Ailsa and Ryu decided upon a path. Ryu was currently heading deep into unmarked Pedestal Plane territory with a knew badge hanging from the hip of his black robes.

Moments ago, Ryu had registered for the Mercenary Guild of Valor City. Thanks to his Honor Card, he received a great many privileges – namely, he could take missions regardless of their Order.

Though Ryu was committed to his Mental Realm’s improvement, he hadn’t forgotten about his deadline of two years. He had to somehow accumulate enough Qi Stones to open the barrier to the Moon World, and the Mercenary Guild was just one method of doing so.

In truth, Ryu’s best bet was his Herbology. However, he decided against it after a stern warning from Ailsa. She reminded Ryu that there were definitely people looking for him now because of her and that it would be easy to dodge those individuals as long as he kept those who were aware of his status to a minimum. The reality was that those of the Inner and Core Rings, and those of the Blossom Plane, cared little for a so-called Honor Card. But, a Black Grade Herbologist of younger than twenty years was a shocking thing recognized by all.

Ryu solemnly took Ailsa’s advice, realizing he had been too rash. If he wanted to take advantage of his herbology to make money, he had to do so covertly.

‘Don’t worry too much about making money.’ Ailsa said confidently, enjoying the rushing wind caused by Ryu’s agility. ‘You have this noble Big Sis by your side. The places we’ll be frequenting very soon will be some of the most dangerous areas this Plane has to offer. With danger, comes profit. If worse comes to worst, you can always sell some of your Breaking Ore and Spirit Seeking Lilies, they’re worth far more.’

‘Speaking of which, you still haven’t told me.’ Ryu responded, leaping from tree to tree. ‘Just what are the abilities of the Black Vein Lilies?’

Ailsa was a Cultus Faerie and there was a reason her trial to find her Life Partner was an Herbology Exam. They had a very special connection to life. Ailsa could see through the potential of not only beasts, but Spiritual Herbs as well. Even if the knowledge wasn’t in her mind immediately, she would only need to meditate on it for a moment. Of course, this was restricted to some extent by Ryu as usual.

‘I can sense that the Black Vein Lilies are helpful for your pupils, but exactly how is vague to me.’

Ryu nodded, he felt so as well. When he first laid eyes on them, he felt his pupils throb. But, that could be for any number of reasons. His pupils also throbbed when danger was nearby, so it was possible that the Black Vein Lilies were poisonous. Hearing Ailsa assure him that they weren’t was a relief.

‘The question is whether the Black Vein Lilies are specifically helpful for your pupils, or if they’re helpful for all Heavenly Pupils. I believe it’s the latter… And if that’s the case, the answer is even more vague.

‘Alright! Focus. By my calculations, the closest lightning dense region is in this direction. We can kill two birds with one stone. You can complete a Fourth Order mission as a Qi Refinement expert to help the Awoken Moon Sect’s Faith, and you can begin to cultivate Tribulation Nine Clouds. Plus, there should be some lightning affinity beasts nearby that will have very helpful Spiritual Roots.’

Tribulation Nine Clouds was most effective with true tribulation lightning, however, such places were obviously incredibly rare. Even with Ailsa’s abilities, they would take a lot of time or luck to find. Luckily, with Ailsa’s guidance and Ryu’s level of comprehension, normal lightning could be used as well. In fact, it was probably better if Ryu took this path for now. With his current Mental strength, a single wisp of true tribulation lightning could eradicate him in body and soul.

The Fourth Order mission Ryu had taken was a request from the Alchemy Association. They needed an Earth Grade Herb known as Striking Weed. It grew in lightning dense areas as was colloquially known as the lightning rod herb. Though the mission was actually quite dangerous, the pay was decent at ten Lower Mortal Qi Stones. Considering a single stone of that quality was worth a million gold coins, ten was worth Valor City’s revenue in a whole quarter.

Of course, these revenue totals only tallied normal gold transactions and not Qi Stone ones.

With Ryu’s speed now bordering on the Divine Vessel Realm even without evoking his Northern Wind’s Phenomena, it only took him a few hours to reach his destination.

The Outer Ring of the Pedestal Plane was controlled by nine major cities and twenty-seven Fifth Order Sects. However, there were major gaps within their territory that acted as havens for beasts. Though Ailsa was correct in saying that the beasts of this Realm were relatively weak, that was only in relation to the top experts on the Shrine Plane, now known as the Martial Plane. There were plenty of beast territories on the Pedestal and Blossom Planes that human experts were hesitant to enter. One example of them was the very lightning dense area Ryu was now entering – Flash Mountain.

The mountain range had an ominous looming aura to it. It didn’t look as though it was formed of normal rock. Instead, it seemed like the perpetual lightning strikes it suffered had turned the mountain’s surface into a reflective obsidian. It was very easy for one to lose their grip or slip on such a surface.

Dark and large cumulonimbus clouds hung in the air. Though it should have been midday, it felt as though it was midnight.

Strikes of pale lightning coursed through the black clouds ominously, as though daring a target to come forward.

‘Alright Little Ryu, be careful from here on out, especially when you near the Striking Weed. I’ll point out the direction so that you don’t need to wander blindly.’

Ryu took a step forward, feeling the crunch of fine ash beneath his feet. ‘Looks like they’ve already come out to greet me.’

A glaive appeared in Ryu’s hand as beast stepped from the forest that surrounded the base of the obsidian mountain.

It took the shape of a raging bull, but the eerie calm in its eye could shake the soul of even calmest man. Its horns had a menacing curve to them and there was a subtle spark of lightning that arched between them, sizzling the air with an out-of-place heat.

A slick coat of black covered its large three-meter-tall body. Objectively, it was quite a beautiful creature, if you overlooked the bulging muscles beneath its shining coat of fur, that is.

In truth, Ryu didn’t know what this beast was either. Luckily…

‘This creature is known as the Thunder Bull. You can tell by the subtle hints of golden fur just above its hooves that it recently entered the Fourth Order. It has high short burst speed, but low agility…’