The next morning, Rinne left the Alchemy Peak and made her way to the Inner Affair Hall situated in the central area of the inner gate. With her new status as an inner disciple, she now had access to resources that were out of reach for outer disciples.

The Inner Affair Hall building was incomparable to the Outer Affair Hall in terms of scale and decoration. The Outer Affair Hall, in contrast, was small and shabby, while the Inner Affair Hall, by comparison, was wide and organized.

Next to the exchange counter, there were jade plaques that contained information about the items available for exchange. By using spiritual sense, disciples could browse through the listings effortlessly.

It was a practical technology, eliminating the need to queue and ask the teller manually. Pity that this system was not implemented in the Outer Affair Hall. The likely reasons were technical difficulties, such as the cost of maintaining the spiritual energy and other logistical challenges.

But such matters were irrelevant to Rinne.

She used her spiritual sense and took her time to read the content of the plaques. As expected, the items available here were vastly superior to those in the Outer Affair Hall. She saw listings for beast cores, flesh, blood, and other materials from 3rd-grade or higher spiritual beasts, rare herbs, crystals, ores, and more.

Not only were raw materials available, but there were also ready-made items such as 3rd-grade and higher pills, talismans, formation plates, and artifacts. One particular entry caught her attention: marrow cleansing pills of varying qualities.

Rinne found it ironic. She had gone to great lengths, even creating a new technique, to replace the need for the marrow cleansing pill. Yet now, the pill was readily within her reach. She couldn't help but smirk at the absurdity of it all.

'I spent so much time and effort to clear this obstacle, only to find it casually presented before me now. Such irony.'

Of course, these ready-made items were astonishingly expensive.

There was no reason for Rinne to buy ready-made goods directly. It was far more cost-effective to buy materials and craft items herself. With such a vast amount of knowledge “inherited” from countless masters in their fields, it would be a shame for Rinne if she couldn’t do something as simple as that.

Still, relying solely on her monthly resources would not suffice. She needed an additional source of income.

Other than using spirit stones, she could also exchange items using contribution points, which were normally obtained from completing tasks at the mission counter. Coincidentally, since she could modify the information in the sect token, she could, of course, cheat and add any amount of contribution points by herself. But this option was instantly rejected.

'What good would it do me if I reached the top by breaking the rules I vowed to follow? It would taint my cultivation and, worse, my own sense of integrity. Risks aside, I’m not so desperate to fall to such a level just yet.'

Not to mention, it would create potential risks if someone noticed the financial loss and investigated. Her current situation was still not so dire that she had to rely on such methods.

With that thought, Rinne closed her spiritual sense and turned toward the mission counter, which was not far from the exchange counter.

Like the exchange counter, the mission counter also utilized jade plaques to display available tasks. Releasing her spiritual sense, Rinne began reading through the plaques, searching for a suitable task to take. There were many task entries in the jade plaques. Alongside tasks issued by the Frostfire Sect, there were also personal tasks posted by elders and other disciples.

Rinne skimmed through the sect-issued tasks first, quickly dismissing them. Most involved either years-long assignments guarding specific areas or bounty missions to hunt down evil cultivators. These were clearly unsuitable for a 7-year-old girl at the 1st level of the Spirit Gathering Stage. She hadn’t even stabilized her spiritual roots yet, let alone begun true cultivation.

There are also tasks that require the task taker to serve in a section of the sect for a certain period, of course the service period could be up to years. Although the rewards were quite generous, the years-long service period was intolerable. Rinne didn't want to waste her time on that.

Her attention turned to the personal tasks. She read through them carefully, evaluating each one:

* Purchasing Violet Bellflower for 30 low-grade spirit stones each.

* Recruiting disciples at the 5th or 6th level of the Spirit Gathering Stage as sparring companions.

* Buying wind-attribute spiritual beast cores at a high price.

Any task with cultivation level requirements, or those involving combat or travel outside the sect, was immediately ruled out.

Violet Bellflower, though not a rare plant, couldn’t be cultivated within the sect. It grew abundantly in the Fleyfier Forests, just two miles away from the sect. However, the forest was home to numerous 2nd-grade beasts. Venturing there in her current state would be suicidal.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

As for wind-attribute spiritual beast cores, acquiring them required fighting swift and troublesome beasts—another impossibility for her at the moment.

After meticulously reviewing the entries, her eyes finally landed on several tasks related to pill refinement. These were much more aligned with her new identity as an inner disciple of Alchemy Peak.

Unfortunately, the sect’s rules allowed disciples to accept only one task at a time unless they had a compelling reason. The restriction was meant to ensure focus and reduce the likelihood of failure. If not for this rule, she would have gladly taken on several, or perhaps all of the tasks at once.

Weighing the costs, rewards, and effort required, Rinne settled on the task of refining the Soul Calming Pill. This 2nd-grade pill was known for its ability to calm the mind and aid in dispelling inner demons. While not overly complex to produce, the main challenge lay in procuring its rare ingredients.

Fortunately, Rinne had an advantage. Thanks to the vast collection of knowledge she had inherited, she was familiar with numerous variations of the Soul Calming Pill’s recipe. With her expertise, substituting or replicating unavailable ingredients using alternative materials was well within her capabilities.

After finalizing her decision, Rinne approached the senior brother at the mission counter to confirm the task.

The senior brother, a young man in his mid-twenties with a calm demeanor, looked up from the jade plaques he was reviewing and gave Rinne a cursory glance. He was an example of someone who had taken on a sect-issued task to serve at the mission counter for a period of time, gaining contribution points while fulfilling his duties.

The senior brother asked, his tone neutral but carrying a hint of doubt.

"Are you here to confirm a task?"

His gaze lingered for a moment as he noted her small stature and the faint spiritual energy emanating from her — a clear indication that she was a new disciple and only at the 1st level of the Spirit Gathering stage.

Rinne replied calmly, her gaze steady as she held out her sect token.

"Yes, I’ve decided to take the task of refining a Soul Calming Pill."

The senior brother’s eyebrows rose slightly.

"Soul Calming Pill? That’s a 2nd-grade pill. It’s not something someone at the 1st level of Spirit Gathering can refine."

It was evident from his expression that he didn’t believe Rinne could complete the task, and his skepticism was understandable. For a disciple of her cultivation level, attempting to refine a 2nd-grade pill would be akin to a child trying to wield a sword twice their size.

Rinne, however, maintained her calm demeanor. She clasped her hands respectfully and replied,

"Senior Brother, it’s true that I can’t refine the pill myself at the moment. But the task doesn’t require me to personally make it, does it? It only asks for the pill. I can contact my family using a transmission jade and have them send some. Would that violate the rules?"

The senior brother raised an eyebrow, momentarily caught off guard by her response. He stroked his chin thoughtfully, considering her words. What she said was true: there was no rule that explicitly stated the task taker had to craft the pill themselves. As long as the pill was delivered, it didn’t matter how it was acquired.

However, he couldn’t help but consider the practicality of her plan.

Sending items was notoriously expensive. The cost increased exponentially with distance due to the risks involved in transporting goods, such as encountering monsters or bandits along the way. While the reward for the task was indeed generous, it was unlikely to cover the expenses of such a delivery.

Perhaps this girl hasn’t realized the financial loss her family might incur and naively thinks she can leverage her family’s resources to gain contribution points. But that’s not his concern.

Without voicing his thoughts, the senior brother simply nodded.

"There’s no rule against it. If that’s your decision, I’ll confirm the task for you."

He took her sect token, placed it onto a glowing formation plate, and imprinted the task details onto it. The process doesn't take long, it only takes about 2-3 minutes. As the process completed, he handed the token back to her.

"The task has been registered. You have two weeks to complete it. If you fail to deliver the pill within that time, the task will be marked as incomplete, and a penalty will be applied to your contribution points. Understood?"

Rinne accepted her sect token and tucked it into her robe.

Since the deadline was quite long, there was no need to buy already mature herbs. Two weeks was enough to grow the herbs needed, and there were still three days of leeway to make the pills.

"Understood, Senior Brother. Thank you."

After concluding her conversation with the senior brother, Rinne made her way back to the exchange counter.

At the counter, there was another senior brother, who was also serving his term.

"I’d like to purchase these items,"

She swiftly selected the seeds for the herbs required to refine the Soul Calming Pill and several materials she would need. Among the items she picked, the list included a variety of components: shimmering crystals, ores, the flesh and blood of spiritual beasts, and various other necessary materials.

The senior brother took a moment to skim through the list she had compiled before nodding. A few moments later, he returned from behind the counter, carrying a small pouch in one hand and a sturdy box in the other.

"The seeds are in this pouch, and the other materials are in the box. That will be 525 low-grade spirit stones."

Rinne took out and handed over 5 middle grade spirit stones along with 25 low-grade spirit stones from her pouch. It’s important to note that one middle grade spirit stone held the equivalent value of 100 low-grade spirit stones.

After confirming the spirit stones were correct, the senior smiled faintly as he handed over the items. Then he said in a voice warm with encouragement.

"Good luck with whatever you're working on, Junior Sister."

Rinne replied, nodding in acknowledgment of his kind words.

"Thank you, senior brother."

With her purchases securely stashed in her spatial bag, Rinne exited the building, her mind already focused on her next destination. She was heading to her very first atelier located in the outer area of the sect.

It was time to install the teleportation node there.