Leaving the art building as he internally called it he noticed that he had been inside for several hours. After looking at the now silent arena, Wu Guang decided to return to the tower to gather his things. Elder Di had explained to them, that as the mentor matter was solved they would be moved to their new staying place, which would be the high outer circle dormitories, or if the mentor had one, then a private residence.
Wu Guang quickly arrived and found that only Yuan Taotu was present as Lang Juan and Duqi had left accompanied by Elder Di, who would later return to accompany them as well. So he quickly gathered the weapons that he had left in the tower as instructed for today and then proceeded to pack up the rest of his stuff. Finishing this, he returned to the common room and together with the always silent Yuan Taotu waited for the elder.
A pair of hours later, Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu while carrying the small bags with their things arrived at a small house that had the character 'Xiao' carved over the entrance door. This residence was located in a park inside the inner circle district and one could observe at least a dozen similar ones nearby. It had two floors and was built fully in stone with bright blue roof tiles, with the latter being the only visible difference from the nearby ones.
From Elder Di who accompanied them here, they learned that all inner disciples could rent a residence like this for contribution points. There were also several other types of residence available, but this one was considered the best balance between cost and commodities. No private servants were allowed on the Sect grounds, but lower outer disciples could be contracted for taking care of the residence as a kind of mission, which seemingly Xiao Feng didn't as he was the one who opened the door and received them.
Elder Di left quickly after reminding them to first thing tomorrow go to the mission hall ang get their reward points assigned. As well to pay a visit to the Sect store to receive their uniform.
Xiao Feng showed them around the pretty simple house, with all the utilities on the first floor and three bedrooms on the second one. The rooms were equal in size so after they left their things in the chosen ones the tour pretty much ended. In the end, Wu Guang was shown to a small storeroom where all his weapons and other possessions entrusted to Xiao Feng before coming to the sect were stored, to which he thanked the latter for taking care of them.
Xiao Feng explained that he did not like to have outer disciples as servants, so the chores would be divided between them. For Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu, this was not a problem, although the former was a bit surprised that Xiao Feng who was the young lord of a city would prefer to do the chores himself.
Cooking was something that Xiao Feng did not like to do, so he actually ate all his meals in one of the small restaurants run by the Sect staff, but he explained that ingredients could be bought pretty cheaply and if they wanted to, the kitchen was there for their use.
This time Xiao Feng had decided to treat them to dinner and had bought a packed one that was quickly divided between them and equally quickly eaten. After dinner, he explained that as a mentor, he would be present mostly to answer some of the common questions or direct them towards the places, but their progress depended on themselves. For this, he explained the important locations.
One of the locations they would visit often was the Qi towers, located between the inner and outer districts. This set of towers had rooms with different qi concentrations and were the preferred place to breakthrough. The cost of the rooms varied, but even so, the cheapest was 10 points per hour.
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The mission hall and the Sect store for both circles were also shared while the Palace disciples had their own, located inside the Palace grounds. As missions for the outer circle were mostly chores meant to get the points required to pay for the stay and food, the pair would not have any real need to visit the Mission hall more than once tomorrow or if they wanted to leave the sect with an errand. The sect store was a place to buy all the supplies that they would need for daily life, and all the martial consumables, weapons, and items were sold by their respective halls. The hall stores were located near the main plaza, but the prices were high, so before getting to inner circle missions, Xiao Feng did not see any reason for them to go there.
Techniques and manuals could be learned from the Martial library. It was the big five-storied building located opposite the arena, and each floor had different cultivation requirements. Xiao Feng recommended they skip their visit there for now as well, after all, the first floor open to them right now did not have anything really useful.
The last part of this explanation was also the longest as Xiao Feng explained about the lessons, training, and classes they could attend. In the center of each district, they could encounter an enormous billboard that had the schedule of all the classes for the next week.
With their status, they could choose from both boards, but some of the ones in the inner one would require specific cultivation or skills. Location, price, and a summary would be provided and they could register by paying the corresponding points with the mission hall desk nearby. There was an enormous amount of options as not only there were instructors for both circles, but also the halls and even the Martial palace posted in there. He recommended them to check the boards at least once every three days, even if they did not intend to participate in any, as sometimes rare opportunities including techniques and manuals not present in the open martial library would be available to train in.
After he finished this explanation and took a brief pause, Xiao Feng asked if they had any questions, to which Wu Guang asked
"Apart from missions, what ways are there to win points? And also, I am about to start the 8th level of the Body, where I should buy the required herbs?"
Yuan Taotu also broke up his silence and added another question with only one word
"Tests?"
"Well, brother Wu's first question and yours are pretty much the same. Apart from missions, one can get reward points for passing different tests. They are called challenges and are available for almost any of the areas or skills. As they are voluntary, you will find them posted on the same board as the lessons and classes. As for general tests, only the 'Three Hills Tournament' is mandatory.
For the question about herbs, well, there are basic sets of herbs in the Sect store, but if you are not afraid to spend a few hundred points, then you could visit the store shared between the Medicine and Herb halls"
"Thank you for the explanation" Said Wu Guang while Yuan Taotu remained silent but nodded after his question was answered.
"Well, if there are no further questions, I suggest we call this a day and go sleep"
"Agreed. Oh, and congratulations brother Xiao on getting accepted into the Martial Palace"
"Thanks, but calling this being accepted is a bit early. I passed their examination, but I haven't been accepted as a member yet. Such will happen only after taking several palace missions"
It was around midnight when they finished talking so when every one of them ascended to the second floor, they went to sleep directly.