Straw@hat publication: Chapter - 10; The northern forest::
"I have finished all my preparation here now I should start my first adventure" Huo ling closed a book in library and went towards the mission hall.
He arrived before a building simmilar to the library but was not as big as the library. It was the mission hall, here disciples selected different missions posted by acadmy members and surrounding people to complete and in return they earned merit points, which can be used to buy resources.
Huo ling looked around after entering and saw many disciples talking about their missions. He looked at some disciples with a slightly different uniform then others.
These were the second year disciples , both year disciples could accept missions here and it was among the few places where first and second year disciples met.
He went to the mission board and began to look at the tasks:
" Need the fangs and bones of stage two monster shadow wolf found in inner parts of northern forest. Hundred merit points. "
" Collect moonlit herb from the caves. Thirty merit points."
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" This one seems right for me " Huo ling looked towards a mission pamplet while thinking.
" Collect 100 stalks of frost dew flower found in the forest regions of high altitude. Time limit is 8 months and four hundred merit rewards."
He needed time to complete his hunt and he remembered reading that northern forest had these flowers. They were used to feed ice type third rank celestial worms, But finding them was very time consuming. Good thing was that 50 stalks could last a year of feeding.
" I wonder who needs so much lf it, anyways the person is quite rich to afford four hundred merits." He laughed.
This was the solo mission board which meant all the missions here could be done alone so he registered the mission at the counter.
" Kid you look new, i suggest you to choose another mission and leave this for the second years. You will miss the year of teaching while doing it" the instructor at the counter suggested.
" I have decided to do it, so please let me take it instructor. I am anyway too dumb to understand what they are saying at class" Huo ling said.
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The instructor gave him an odd look and approved the mission.
" Alas the new kids," he sighed.
At the entrance of academy:
A youth exited the gate and started to move towards a direction. It was Huo ling.
" I should travel on foot with the help of my Swift Gale I will probably be faster than a horse and it will be a good practice" he thought while running through the streets.
Soon he reached at the city exit and after confirmation with guards he left towards the northern forests.
He used the swift gale Celestial and his speed increased by a huge margin. He kept running through various places with different scenes.
" Such beautiful views, it feels good to see the outside world " he said admiringly.
Hus speed became normal after traveling some distance: " so i can manage to run non-stop for 20 minutes while using the celestial worm."
He looked backwards and thought " but it is awesome enough to think I covered about 40 km in such a short time. This swift gale celestial is too amazing " he then reduced his pace to recover Celestial essence.
After about two hours he finally recovered his celestial essence. Then he again used the celestial to run at speed till exhausted of it.
Finally he reached the North forest outer boundary. The was yet to go down. He stoped and started to check the surroundings while waiting fir his essence to recover, it was not wise to enter the forest without preparation.
It was a beautiful and lush forest full of trees and other vegetation. There were many types of herbs here. Huo ling could spot a few wild celestial worms too but they disappeared as soon as they noticed his presence.
After sometime he recovered his essence.
He activated his Silent shadow Celestial Worm and began moving quietly aming the shadows of the huge trees.
" First of all I should search for a feng tree to collect my sword and food for the swift gale celestial" saying so he sprinted towards the deeper forests.
Suddenly he saw a group of Lightning boars running from a stage two beast. He quickly stopped under a shadow.
" God, it was too sudden and i was just going to move from an area without shadow good thing I spoted them and stoped. That stage two best can probably notice me if I move too much" he felt a chill as he thought about it.
He observed the pack till it left his vision and then again started moving.
" Finnally I found one" he looked towards a tall tree with fluttering leaves, the leaves were of sky green colur and looked very pretty, it was a feng tree. He reached the tree and looked around.
The tree was besides a huge cave, which had a well hidden entrance. He collected some leaves from the tree and fed them to his Celestial.
"That branch seems perfect for a sword" he broke a straight branch which was neither too thin nor too thick and with his dagger he managed to create a good grip and a little sharp edge with pointed end.
" Now it looks a little like a sword , i had not thought this wood to be so tough i barely manged to scratch it to this form." He sighed.
Smokey gray coloured essence flowed through his arm and then it entered the base of the branch then it moved within it to slowly reach the tip.
" Nice it can easily circulate essence through the body. Lets try to make the essence sharper at the edge and point" he focused his essence condensing it at the end the edge became sharp as it condensed.
" Lets check this cave if it is empty I can use it as my base for my time in the forest" he activated the Silent shadow and searched the cave.
" Don't tell me it is what i think it is " his eyes were full of shock when he stared at a small puddle of water at the centre of the cave.
He hurriedly ran towards it when he saw something in the water and stoped.
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