Will headed towards… Actually, he didn't know where he headed towards. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't even know what the place would look like. Other than that it was big. It wasn't like he'd heard or been told anything about the size, but he knew. Because it was obvious.

He headed back out and asked the receptionist lady for directions, copying them as she spoke. It almost felt like he traveled back in time if not for Li Yingran and Xu Lanhua not being here.

Following the directions, he quickly arrived at the building. It was big. Obviously. He wasn't even surprised at how big. He already knew how big it'd be. Annoyingly big.

He headed to the gate and talked to the guards.

“I have impowtant infowmation. I need to come in.”

“No.”

That was blunt. Whatever, he'd hoped to be all dramatic and pull out the badge while they were being mean to him, but it seemed they didn't plan to do that. He pulled out the badge and showed it to the guards.

“Go in then.”

The guard who spoke was the same one that told him no.

He walked through the gate, and to the front door. The front door guard spoke.

“State your business.”

Will held out the badge to show the guard. If it wasn't for the fact that he had to hold his arm up at a 45° angle, he'd almost feel like he was a secret agent or something.

“Infowmation on the Demonic Wightning Sick Fweak.”

The guard's eyes widened a little bit. Then he pulled out a piece of paper that burned when he looked at it. It sounded weird as hell when described like that, but it was just a talisman. Will remembered them from a comic he read in the hospital.

The guard turned back to Will as he spoke.

“I've let them know. A servant should be arriving shortly to guide you.”

The guard wasn't lying about the ‘shortly’ part. Less than a minute later, the door was opened by a young man who Will assumed was the servant who would guide him.

The young man confirmed his guess.

“Please follow me. I'll bring you to meet the patriarch.”

Will nodded, and followed the servant through the halls. There wasn't anything that Will was surprised about during the journey. If he'd made a fake map of the building made to look like it was made with the Copy function before even going in, just through guessing what it would look like, cut out the real section of map he'd made through the Copy function as he went, and put them side by side, he felt like he'd actually be unsure of which one was the fake. It was incredibly predictable.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at their destination. The servant opened the door for him, and he entered the room.

It seemed to be a tea room of sorts. Or not, Will wasn't up to date on his room naming skills. Three comfortable-looking couches sat around a rectangular table in the middle of the room, one on each side except the long side closest to the door, with the width of each couch corresponding to the length of the side. On the table was a tea set, tea included, which meant the room was kind of a tea room even if it wasn't actually a tea room. The walls of the room were decorated pretty predictably, with some paintings of flowers and landscapes and whatnot on them. There was some furniture as well, none of it particularly notable.

On the shorter couch on the left side was a middle-aged-looking man. His hair was red with streaks of orange throughout, done up in a bun. He had sharp features, his face framed by a short red beard, but he didn't give off an overly serious feeling. His attire seemed expensive, but wasn't overly ostentatious. Though he didn't look muscular, he appeared to be in good shape for his age. It was clear to Will that this man was the patriarch of the Dragon Flame Clan. His head has been turned towards Will ever since the door had first opened.

Once Will was fully inside, the man turned his gaze away from him to the servant behind him. He gave a small nod to the servant to signal that he was free to go. Will heard the door close behind him as the servant left. Will couldn't hear the servant's footsteps even with his enhanced hearing, so there was probably a noise cancelling array of some sort.

Once the door was closed, the man turned towards Will and started speaking.

“I see that old dog finally found himself a good disciple. Sure took him long enough.”

Will was a bit confused but he felt like he understood the misunderstanding here.

“I'm not his disciple or anything wike that. I only met him once.”

The man looked perplexed and a bit doubtful. The kid sure as hell looked like the old man's disciple. The man waved it off for the moment.

“Feel free to have a seat wherever you'd like.”

He seemed to remember something.

Will took him up on his offer, climbing onto the couch opposite the man. Once he was comfortably seated the man spoke again.

“So, if you're not the old man's disciple, who might you be?”

“I'm Will.”

The man tried saying Will's name a few times to himself, trying to get the pronunciation right. After a few tries, he felt like he had it.

“Will? Is that right?”

Will smiled and nodded.

“Yep! Will!”

“Alright then, Will. You claim not to be the old man's disciple. In that case, why would he send you to deliver the information he obtained?”

Will shook his head.

“He didn't. The infowmation is mine. He just towd me I should bring it to you. Or one of these.”

He took the paper scrap from the ring he put it in and placed it on the table so the man could see it.

The man only glanced at the paper. He already knew what would be on it considering the context. Instead, he stared at Will inquisitively.

“You mean to say you gathered this information on the Demonic Lightning Sovereign yourself? Elaborate.”

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“Would you wike the full stowy?”

The man nodded.

“Go ahead.”

“When my pawents were on the wun, they ended up being chased into the wightning fowest near Wising Dragon Viwwage. They ended up finding a hut, whewe they stayed until we ran out of food and they went out to get mowe and pwobably died.”

“I'm sorry for your loss.”

Will shook his head.

“It's fine. I didn't like them.”

“Fair enough.”

“After a whiwe, I stumbled upon a door weading into a basement. In the basement was a chest… wait, befowe I continue, I need some paper and ink.”

The man waved his hand and a stack of paper and an ink jar with a quill in it appeared on the table in front of Will from out of the man's storage ring. Will exported the note from the chest into the paper. Since he had all the materials, it didn't cost anything. The man’s eyes showed surprise as he saw the paper change.

“What did you just do?”

“Exported the note fwom the chest.”

Will passed the note over to where the man could reach. The man scoffed as he read through it.

“Do you know anything about the ‘first test’ it refers to?”

Will nodded.

“When I opened the chest, it shot out a wed wightning bowt, but I opened it fwom the side so it missed me.”

The man chuckled. When he thought of the Demonic Lightning Sovereign's plans being foiled like that, he couldn't help but take joy in it.

“Smart move, kid. Do you have the other stuff it mentioned?”

Will nodded, pulling out the pillowcase bag from his storage ring.

“Hewe.”

The man didn't comment on the bag. Instead he stood up and pulled out the things inside. He placed the compass down and quickly flipped through the book. Will could actually watch his revulsion grow in real time. He put the book down and turned to the kid.

“Did you end up going to where this compass leads?”

Will nodded, then added context.

“Befowe I continue, you should know that beasts in that fowest act strangely in response to spiwitual energy gathewing arrays.”

He brought out his cultivation doors.

“Wike the ones I made on these.”

The man was impressed. Even as untrained in arrays as he was, he could tell that the array pattern wasn't very good, but to be able to come up with it alone at such a young age was impressive. Will continued.

“When I weft the hut, a bunch of beasts stawted following me. None attacked. The compass led me to a mountain. A tacky mountain. The twip took twelve hours because I didn't have enough hands to howd the compass and I kept passing it because of the fowmations.”

The man felt like something was off with what the kid said. Then he got what it was. They said they couldn't hold the compass, but they still got there. Shouldn't that be impossible? How would they have gotten past the formations without relying on the compass?

“You mean to say you got through what are supposedly immortal-level formations without using the compass?”

“Ah. Yeah. I just had to keep checking I was going in a straight line.”

The man laughed boisterously. When he calmed down, he motioned for Will to continue. Will did so.

“Inside the mountain were thwee twials. Since the beasts always stayed behind me, I tried turning awound so they'd bweak the twials when they twied to get behind me. It ended up working and I was abwe to skip them.”

The man laughed even louder than the last time. Will continued after he calmed down. He exported all the books that were on the shelves at the Sick Freak's house. It cost points this time since he didn't have book binding materials.

“These wewe on the bookshewves inside his house. Thewe were mowe too but they were too disgusting to wead.”

The man looked at the stack of books that had just appeared in shock. How did the kid even do that? He also noticed that the stack was slightly embedded in the table. Will had ended up using the wood of the table in place of paper by mistake at the end.

But more importantly, did he just hear the word ‘house’? Shouldn't it be ‘inheritance site’?

“What do you mean house? I thought it was an inheritance site?”

Will shrugged.

“Oh, can I get some mowe paper?”

“Sure.”

The man took the stack of books into his storage ring and left a stack of papers in their place. Will exported the Demonic Lightning Arts manual. Then he asked Sarah a question.

“Go ahead.”

“Oh. Yeah. I can do that.”

Now that he had Sarah's permission, he continued speaking.

“Along with the manual was this. The “Demonic Wightning Dagger”.”

He undid the clasps on the sheath and pulled it off.

“Except it's not a daggew.”

“I'm a sword.”

The man looked surprised. The Demonic Lightning Dagger was a sentient sword? How could that be possible? Sentient swords don't exactly grow on trees.

“Which sword are you?”

A sentient sword wasn't the kind of thing that just went under the radar. Even if its status as a sentient sword isn't known publicly, it would still be well-known as a powerful sword. At least, it was unlikely for it not to be. Sarah responded to his question.

“Do you know about the cursed sword that kills anyone who contracts it? The one that provokes any men who see it to try to contract it at all costs?”

“You mean the one that caused the death of fifty immortals before it was sealed?”

He really didn't like where this was going.

“Yeah, that's me.”

The man noticed a few things. Things that became incredibly terrifying when that context was added. The sword certainly was not in the sealed state. He knew what the Demonic Lightning Dagger looked like, and this looked quite different. And if it was unsealed, any man who saw it would be tricked into contracting it. The only time that wasn't the case was when it was already contracted to someone. When it was already blasting them with storm qi that could kill an immortal after enough time. And the one holding it was this little kid who looked to not even be three years old?

A monster! This kid was a monster!

Will and Sarah watched as the man turned pale with fear, looking at Will like he was a monster. Will was a bit worried about him. Sarah was laughing.

“He just figured out that you contracted a sword that killed even immortals when they tried to contract it.”

“The context clues make it pretty obvious if you think about it a bit.”

“Well, you can abuse your new status as a terrifying monster to extort him for stuff, or you can just give him the info about the Sick Freak moving out of the mountain and then leave.”

Will was faced with a tough decision. On one hand, this guy was pretty chill, and he had nothing against him. On the other hand, he liked having things. He decided on the middle ground. He would just ask for a reasonable reward for the information he provided.

“Well, um, the Sick Fweak ended up moving out when I wast checked. Oh! And he also thinks I'm welated to the Beast King.”

The man tried to compose himself. If he didn't compose himself, he might die. His whole clan might die. Maybe even the whole city. He made full use of his acting skills and pretended like everything was normal. Maybe the kid didn't even realize how scary they were. Yeah, that was probably what it was.

“I'm sure you're expecting a reward, right? I'll let someone know and have it brought over, okay?”

Will smiled. Then he thought of something.

“Oh, uh, you don't have to empty out your entire treasury or anything.”

The man went pale again. The kid knew. That wasn't something someone would say if they didn't know they were a terrifying monster. But at least he didn't have to choose between being broke and risking death, anymore.

Will realized something else. Wouldn't it be really bad if this spread? Sure, it was cool to have a bigshot following your every order, but it would get really boring after a while. It was fine if people thought he was monstrously talented, that just meant opportunities and praise and being cool and stuff. But monster (talented) isn't the same as monster (dangerous), and he was currently being perceived by the man before him as the latter.

“Hey, um, could you keep the sword thing a secwet? I don't wanna scawe everyone.”

The man thought about Will's request. The answer was pretty clearly yes. Even if he spread it, what would it matter? It's not like anyone would be able to do anything about it. And it's not like he really had a choice either. If he refused, the kid could just make the whole city go away.

“Of course I can.”

“Thanks.”

He remembered the reward he still owed.

“On the matter of rewards, do you have any in mind that you'd prefer?”

Will thought about it. He needed a bigger space ring. He had too many of them and it would be a lot better to cut that number down to two or three. He also wanted knowledge. He was mostly looking for arrays and a better guide to making them than the one he had. But after that, who could say?

Wait. He could say. Because he had an excellent idea. And that idea was getting a bunch of garbage too dangerous to the user for any sane person to even think of making use of them.

“I actuawwy have a few.”

“Alright. What might they be?”

“First is a better stowage wing.”

The man could see why when he looked at the kid's hands.

“Consider it done. Next?”

“I want a few books on awways.”

From the doors the kid had brought out, he could tell the kid was probably a big fan of arrays.

“I'm guessing you'd like both premade arrays and guides on designing them?”

Will nodded. Then he froze. He didn't actually need to take the books for them.

“If you can just let me wead them once, you can keep the books themsewves.”

The man didn't question it. With the book making trick the kid had, he had a feeling the kid could make as many physical copies as needed.

“Alright. Anything else?”

Will nodded, then asked a question.

“What do you do with things that are too dangewous to use?”

The man felt like he understood the intention. The kid had already managed to handle the sword, so they were probably planning on taking the powerful treasures he had and trying their hand at using them. Sadly, powerful items were hard to come by, regardless of how hard to use they were.

“I'm sorry. I don't have any dangerous treasures like your sword in my treasury. Powerful treasures are hard to find, even dangerous ones.”

Will noticed that the man had completely missed his meaning.

“No, you misunderstood. I'm not talking about powerful tweasures. What do you do with garbage?”

The man paused. He felt like he understood now. He didn't get why the kid would want them, but he understood what the kid wanted. And he happened to have them. A good few of them, actually.

The cultivators of the Dragon Flame Clan would often go out to explore the wider world. They'd also often bring back treasures when they returned. If they didn't have need of the treasure themselves for whatever reason, be it incompatibility, already having a better one, or any other reason, they could turn the treasure in to the clan in return for spirit stones. Those treasures would then be given out as rewards, used in crafting, sold, or used in a number of ways.

But this also meant that clan members would collect any treasure they could, even if it was awful garbage. It wasn't like the bad treasures sold for much, sometimes even less than a single spirit stone each, but if a clan member had room in their storage ring, there was no reason not to pick them up for a quick buck. They could always be tossed out later to make room if needed.

Most of these garbage treasures ended up being used in crafting. But some simply weren't suitable for crafting anything other than different useless garbage. And why would anyone make useless garbage out of useless garbage? Especially when oftentimes the useless garbage product would need garbage that could be used to make something not garbage. So, over time, the amount of truly useless garbage piled up.

The treasury was organized based on how useful or powerful a treasure was, with different rooms for each tier, organized all nice and tidy for whenever they were needed. The low, middle, high, and special tiers needed special reason to enter, the garbage was open to anyone to take. Of course, records were kept on what was taken to prevent people from just reselling them repeatedly for free spirit stones.

The arrays and formations and whatnot set up in the treasury rooms organized everything automatically, with the tiers other than junk (the official name for it) being organized based on function, each item in its own spot, stored in a way appropriate for it, with a description written on a pedestal in front of it. In the junk tier, though everything was still stored the same way, because it was all useless garbage that couldn't be organized by function because it was useless garbage, it was just ordered by when it got there, with older items being farther back. Whenever something was taken, the items in front of it would slide backwards to fill in the gap, with the room's length increasing or decreasing when needed. The way everything slid backwards meant that treasures that went unused for a long time ended up in the back.

The man answered Will's question.

“I think what you're looking for would be in the junk tier of the treasury. Would you like to have a look?”