Mission hall

Evening 7 'o' clock, in the Dhanvantri Market we can observe four kids around 12 years old walking around. 

They were none other than Arjun and the three girls. Although they were only 9 years old, their appearance was that of 12 years old kids. 

Arjun, was right now chatting with the three girls, asking them what type of food would they want. 

Finally, after half an hour of searching, they arrived at a shop called 'Bhandari Nandan's A to Z Pavillion'. The shop was located at very near to the core part of the market. 

Arjun was searching for a shop which was not too popular or eye catchy but at the same time it should have quality goods. After half an hour of searching he found this one perfect for him. 

Arjun and the three girls entered the shop. 

Inside the shop, there was an outer court disciple appearing to be around 20 years of age sitting at the counter. 

He seemed to be like the shopkeeper. The remaining disciples who were working there were calling him 'senior brother Bhandari'. 

Arjun looked at the 4 disciples who were handling customers and went to the shopkeeper with no other choice left. 

"Shopkeeper, do you sell spirit chicken and rice here" Arjun asked him while the three girls were standing behind him. 

The shopkeeper looked at him and said "Fellow Daoist, we sell spirit chicken and spirit rice, we also sell spirit lamb and many other animals also". 

"Shopkeeper, I want 15 kgs of spirit rice and 6 spirit chicken, and also three sets of cooking knives" Arjun said after a bit of calculations. 

According to his estimate, 5kgs of spirit rice and 2 spirit chicken should be enough for the girls to eat for a month. 

The shopkeeper calculated the total and said "Fellow Daoist, the Market price is 18 Spirit stones". 

"Shopkeeper, it is true that it is at market price, but the other shops might give a free cooking knives set" Arjun said with a calculating look. 

The shopkeeper thought for a moment and said "Okay, 17 Spirit stones and no more bargaining". 

Arjun then took a moment and said "Okay, deal". 

"Wait for a moment" the shopkeeper said to Arjun and then took out a token and said "bring six spirit chicken, 15 kgs of rice, and 3 sets of cooking knives". 

Shortly after five minutes, an attendant came from inside the pavilion with the things. 

The shopkeeper gave them to Arjun to check. 

After Checking that there was no problem with the weight and quality, he nodded. 

The three girls took out spirit stones from their storage bags. 

Pavitra and Siri took out 6 spirit stones while Ahalya took out only 4 spirit stones, that was all she had. 

Ahalya then said "Arjun, I only have 4 spirit stones, and I think that one Spirit chicken will be enough for me". 

Arjun just flicked her forehead and said "Sigh! Silly girl, it's okay to lend money, you can pay me back after you successfully become an alchemist". 

Ahalya looked at Arjun while rubbing her forehead and said "okay, okay, don't hit me, it hurts". 

The shopkeeper heard their conversation and said "Fello Daoist, how about 16 spirit stones, but if you need any materials in the future, your first preference should be our pavilion". 

Arjun thought for a moment and said "Okay, but Shopkeeper, can you clarify me why the prices within the sect are low compared to the outside world". 

"Fellow Daoist, you may not know but the actual reason is that the sect leases out its spirit fields to the disciples. The sect has tens of thousands of acres of spirit fields, and the yield produced by these spirit fields is also very good compared to those in outside world. The Sect also has four cities under it, with each of these cities having thousands of acres of spirit fields under them". 

"Fellow Daoist, the sect has a rule that we cannot export this rice to the outside world unless the markets in the sects are saturated. And due to low transportation costs and the saturated market, the price is naturally lower compared to outside world where spirit fields are scarce and if there are any, they are used for growing herbs". 

The shopkeeper explained with a smile thinking that if one of them were to become an alchemist and if he had a good relationship with them, then naturally they will prefer his shop over the other shops and his business will increase greatly. 

Out of the 150,000 disciples in the outer sect there were less than 4,000 alchemists. 

It is correct to say that except for those sects and families which specialized in alchemy, all the other powers were always in short supply of alchemists. 

This was the same scenario with the other professions also. 

The four of them returned to Arjun's cave abode 9:30 pm. It was safe in the sect even during night time. They took 1 and half hour to travel back, even with them using spiritual energy to walk fast. 

After returning back home, Arjun gathered some wild vegetables growing 100 meters away from his house and prepared rice and pepper chicken for dinner. 

While eating dinner, they were all talking about what they should do next. 

They finally planned to take some missions, to earn contribution points from the sect. 

During this one-month Arjun asked the senior sister at the front desk about how much time one usually takes to become an alchemist or an array master. 

The answer he got was that in the outside world one has to learn by themselves or maybe attend the class from an alchemist or a formation master weekly once. 

A genius in the outside world would take around a year or year and half to become one, and normal people may take three to five years. Anything more than that is considered as not talented. 

In the sect a genius would take around 3 months while normal people would take around 6 months to one and half year. Anything more than two years will be considered as not talented. 

They didn't know when they would become a professional, and if it took more than six months, they will not have enough time to accumulate 100 contribution points. 

So, they decided to take some missions, which are easy and safe, to reduce their burden. The lucky thing is that there are only two months for the time of sect's evaluation and they would be exempted for this year. 

Since it was already late, the three girls slept in the other bedroom for the night. 

The next day morning. 

As usually, Arjun woke up before the sunrise and cultivated after taking a bath. 

The three girls also left to their abodes to fresh up. 

Later, at 9:00 am. They went to the mission hall. 

The mission hall was nearer to the entrance of inner peak, closer to the top 13 peaks. 

It took them one hour of journey, walking using spiritual energy. Walking with spiritual energy tripled their speed. 

The mission hall was lively but not overcrowded. 

There are 15 counters, with two of them closed. 

There were boards which are displaying missions on top of every counter. Each board displayed 10 missions at a time and the mission will refresh every minute, with the cards changing. 

Arjun observed the boards for 10 minutes and saw four missions which could be completed safely. 

The first mission was about watering spiritual fields, second one is about watering spiritual herb gardens, third one is collecting dew from the top of mountains, and finally the last one was to gather spiritual wood logs. 

Arjun went to one of the counters and asked "Senior brother, can you please give me the details about watering spiritual fields and what is the difference between watering them and herb gardens". 

"Junior brother, watering spiritual fields can earn you two spirit stones per acre, while watering spiritual herbs can earn you 10 spirit stones per acre, but there will also be fines and penalties if you damage any herbs while watering" the senior brother replied patiently. 

Arjun took a moment and said "Senior brother can the work of watering spirit fields be taken as a group". 

The senior brother looked at him and said "Yes, you can take it as a group and that is better than doing it by ourself". 

"Senior brother, can we four take the mission of watering 4 acres of spirit field" 

The senior brother looked at him and said "Okay, wait a minute" and took out a book from the drawer and after going through it for a moment, he said "Junior brother, you will have to water the land from section C plot number K 392 to K 395. The time limit is three days, and if you complete the mission, you should inform the deacon there". 

After that he took out a paper and after writing the mission details, and time limit he stamped the paper with a seal and said "Junior brother once you complete the mission hand this paper to the deacon, who would be present there". 

"Okay, senior brother". 

He also handed him over four books saying that "Junior brother, this is spirit rain technique, you should learn this technique to water the fields, and you can learn it within a day, it is the one of the simplest techniques". 

Arjun accepted the secret technique and returned back to home.