9: Mission
"Good afternoon Wen, I've already heard, congrats on regaining your memories,"
Wen nodded in front of the emperor.
"It's great to have my memories again. Also, I've heard from junior brother Manxiang that you've called for me?"
The emperor excitedly nodded, "Your older brothers are currently doing this small mission of mine,"
"Huh, mission?"
"Correct, I'll be kicking you out of the Li Empire,"
"....."
"Huh!? Why?" Wen asked in a loud voice.
The emperor sighed, "So you can do the quest! What else?"
"Y-yes but, you haven't even explained what the mission is going to be!"
"Karsten, explain for him,"
Soon after, the emperor walked out of the throne room.
"Your highness, allow me to explain to you what His Majesty told you,"
Wen nodded.
"Ever since each empire was founded, all five of them were always fighting for one thing,"
"The Immortal Spirit Technique?"
"Correct. A technique that allows the user to surpass the culminated earthly spirit, a family heirloom of the Li family, and a treasure worth millions of lives,"
The butler paused for a bit.
"All three of what I just said is true, and millions have already died because of this, and many more will,"
"So how did I end up with it?"
The butler nodded, "Simple, the emperor chose you as the heir of this treasure because you had the least amount of talent, but the most amount of potential,"
"Now that you've regained your memories you can cultivate this technique again, correct?"
"I- I did not realize that..."
"Sigh. The emperor gives you five days to prepare for your trip, so finish on the 3rd day of the week,"
"What?! How far will I be going?"
"Not that far, just to the Sun Empire,"
"The Sun Empire, 'Not that far, just to the Sun Empire? System, how far is the Sun Empire from where I am?"
<897 miles >
"Sigh, and how will I get there?"
"By carriage,"
"What!?"
"Haha... I'm jesting. You'll be using a teleportation talisman,"
"Sigh, alright, but what about identifications?"
"We registered you under the name, Shen Seers,"
"Hmph, at least make a name that doesn't rhyme with 'Wen',"
Karsten shrugged, "The palace doesn't have creative minds,"
'By luck or coincidence, my name is once again 'Shen.'
"However, His Highness gives you a choice to do this mission. If you choose yes, you will be rewarded with the emperor's personal cultivation methods and sword skills."
* * *
'System, when does my luck enhancement is, 'activated?' Wen asked when he was alone in his room.
< Luck Enhancement takes effect passively. When it happens, it happens. When it doesn't, it doesn't. You cannot control it. >
"Hm, so I guess utilizing it would obviously be hard,"
Wen was in his room now. More specifically, lazily on his bed.
"System, I'm pretty sure that I haven't regained all my memories, right?"
< ... >
"If I do regain them, how much will my Sword Mastery get, or will be?"
< ... >
"Fine, if you can't answer those questions at least answer how I lost my memories in the first place?"
< You fell in a coma because you wanted to update the system, however, before that, the assassins unknowingly gave you a soul-dividing pill. >
"W-wait, a soul-dividing pill?"
< However, even after your soul came back to its other half, you did not regain your memories >
"Yes, I know, and I'm asking you why,"
<...>
"Aw come on, just answer! It's not like I was some crazy-ass master swordsman!"
After a long silence, Wen gave up and got out of his room to train.
* * *
In the training room, Wen looked at one of the puppets. "I'm pretty sure this is what I need to do..."
Wen touched the puppet's head and tried inserting his Qi. He could feel energy rushing to the puppet from a part of his body, which he suspected was his dantian.
'Level 1,' Wen thought.
Wen quickly ran a few yards away from the puppet and unsheathed a new sword he'd been practicing with. So far, Wen was proficient in using Rapiers. He was quite good at using Sabers and daggers, But now, he was practicing with another type of sword, a broadsword. Even though he switched swords often, he could never find a type of sword that matched his taste.
The broadsword was not one of them.
After a slow minute of waiting, the puppet glowed and rushed towards Wen, trying to punch his head. However, Wen easily dodged while keeping his sword in place.
< Now, move back a little, keep your posture, and cut the puppet's arm while it->
"Yes yes, I know. Please let me fight this fight without distractions or instructions please,"
Wen's personal teacher was no other than the Mastery System.
The System remained silent which Wen took as an 'okay' sign.
As Wen moved back a bit while maintaining his posture the puppet made a kick coming from the right side of itself.
Wen lifted up his left leg and the puppet's kick collided below his knees. Wen quickly sliced the puppet's head in less than a second.
< Well done, although using your own flesh to defend is risky because of the potential risk that->
"Yes yes, I know I know, I was just doing that because it was much weaker than me,"
Wen stared down at the now motionless puppet. Although Wen had hit the puppet's neck, it did not fall off as it was made out of metal, however, it did fall because the hit was lethal.
< But still, you did not even practice using the sword! >
"Che, like I care. Once my memories return fully, all that I do now would be useless. I should cultivate my body for now,"
< ... >
Wen took out a small book with a red dragon's head on the cover. Fire Dragon's Body Cultivation Technique. Wen had read all the risks and decided he would cultivate the inside of his body, although riskier, it was faster.
....