Aren't We Friends?

"Uh, you alright, Meiling?" Ryker asked, giving Meiling a concerned look. She was currently squeezing her eyes shut, breathing deeply to try and control her desires.

She was determined to only take one item from the pile of treasures, both because her pride wouldn't let her take more than that, and because she didn't want to become too reliant on Ryker's generosity.

He would be leaving soon, after all; she couldn't always rely on him to give her an advantage. Becoming too reliant would affect her Dao heart, and could complicate her cultivation in the future.

Ryker had no way of knowing all of these things going through her mind, however, so he just looked around awkwardly as she made her decision.

"I'll take this," she finally said, reaching for a half-spiritual artifact: a long, slender sword with an elegant hilt inlaid with jade. It was considered half-spiritual because it had the potential to house an artifact spirit, but currently did not have one.

Still, it was a powerful weapon in its own right, even though she couldn't bring out its full potential yet, being at the Qi Gathering realm.

"Sure you don't want anything else?" Ryker asked her curiously.

"No, this will suffice. You need a better sense of value; this is worth way more than me letting you stay here for a few weeks," she lectured, putting the sword away in her storage space.

Ryker just laughed, putting all of the loot into his own dimensional pocket with Mini C's help.

"Well, you helping me at all is worth more than that sword, for me," he said.

"Just let me know if you change your mind!"

Long Meiling nodded, slightly exasperated with his reckless generosity. Even her own family only had two or three items that were similar in caliber to this sword!

"Oh, but hey," Ryker continued, sitting back down on the floor, "I wanted to talk to you about that engagement thing..."

"Hm? What's there to talk about?" Meiling asked as she sat back on her bed, raising an eyebrow. Although she knew he was aware of her engagement, they'd never really spoken about it with each other. What could this be about?

"Uh, I guess I just wanted to make sure it's something you're really against?" Ryker said hesitantly, unsure how best to word his feelings.

"Of course it is. I'll die before I get married to that scumbag, Li Daoming," she answered

"Even if your family falls into ruin if you don't?"

Long Meiling's eyes opened wide in bewilderment, not knowing what Ryker meant by his words.

"Just what are you talking about? Why would my family fall into ruin if I don't marry Li Daoming?" she asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"That Shu-guy said something about it being necessary for keeping the Long family prominent, or something like that," Ryker explained, looking away and rubbing his head.

"I dunno if that's true or not, but he seems like he knows a lot of stuff, you know?"

Meiling fell into thought, for a moment, thinking that Ryker may have had a point, with that. Luo Shuchang...

Even if he didn't actually get crippled in that incident a year ago, there was no way he could go from Foundation Establishment realm to the Nascent Soul realm in the span of a year. At least, she didn't know of any way that could happen.

Perhaps he was similar to Ryker, where he had some mysterious methods that would allow him to fight experts in a much higher realm than his. But if that were the case, why had he been hiding this whole time?

Even though they weren't too close, she did have an impression of his personality during the time when they were engaged.

Before he was crippled, Luo Shuchang was considered an unparalleled genius. Having reached the Foundation Establishment realm by the age of eighteen, there was no doubt he would become a top expert.

She was engaged to him around this time, though even then, she had been against it. Luo Shuchang was... Well, arrogant was a given, and that was really a trait shared by all young geniuses. Even she considered herself to be somewhat arrogant.

But more than that, he seemed to be particularly careful with his reputation, going so far as to treat her as nothing more than a decoration to his glory. It reminded her too much of her father's attitude.

After the incident where his cultivation was crippled, he became much more timid, almost never showing his face, and he always bowed his head when he had to speak with his peers. The sudden change in his demeanor was almost comical, to be honest.

But if that was all an act, the question was why a glory-seeker like him would put up with such a thing? If he was really capable of fighting toe-to-toe with a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, why would he not just flaunt such an amazing strength for all to see?

"Hey, Novis to Meiling?"

Ryker's insistent calling eventually pulled her out of her thoughts.

"S-sorry, what was that?" she said, looking flustered.

"I was asking what you wanted to do," Ryker repeated himself.

"Luo Shu-man said he had a plan that would make it so you wouldn't have to worry about the engagement. I was thinking of taking him up on the offer, but... what do you think?"

He explained the details Luo Shuchang had given him about the plan to capture the Great Void Sect's elder, at least what he remembered.

Long Meiling knitted her brows, pondering what to do. She really would rather not be engaged to Li Daoming... but letting Ryker risk himself for her own selfish wishes didn't sit well with her, either.

Not to mention, she couldn't bring herself to fully trust Luo Shuchang.

"I don't know... I wouldn't trust Luo Shuchang too much," she said, after some thought.

"And why are you involving yourself in my business, anyways? It's not like it's your problem, whether I get engaged or not."

That last part came out unbidden, and she quickly turned away from him, lest he see her reddening face. Why had she said it so defensively? And why was she feeling so out of sorts, right now?!

"Uh, yeah, I know," Ryker said, scratching his cheek, "And if you really don't want me to get involved, I'll step out of this."

"But I really appreciate all the help you've given me, even if it might not seem like much to you. I wanna help you, too, if I can."

Long Meiling felt her face burn even hotter. How could he say something so straightforward with such a serious face?

In the past, her pride wouldn't have allowed her to accept his help, like this. But now, she felt grateful that he would offer. She really wanted to say yes, but...

But she couldn't let her feelings get in the way of her decisions. If he lost his life in helping her, there was no way she could live with herself. It might even develop into a heart demon.

"Ryker..." she began, but couldn't find the words to say. She couldn't let him get this deeply involved in her own personal matters; they'd really only known each other for a few weeks, after all.

But, it felt like longer than that, for some reason...

Ryker seemed to sense her conflict, scooting a little closer until he was sitting next her at the foot of her bed.

"Hey, how about this: I'll go and help out Shuchie, and if things start getting too tough, I can run away, no problem," he said, giving her a thumbs up.

"You know I'm not gonna die, here. I still gotta find my friends, right?"

Meiling looked at him for a while, contemplating and sorting through her feelings, before nodding her head in assent.

"...Thank you," was all she could say.

--

[Are you certain you want to do this, Ryker?]

Ryker was laying on his bed back in his room, charging the compad. Mini C had given the excuse of needing to be charged to go back with Ryker, tonight, but what he really wanted was to discuss this plan of Luo Shuchang's.

"Yeah... I know it's kinda reckless, but Meiling's been helping us out this whole time, you know?" Ryker said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Let's do this much for her, at least. I should be able to handle that elder guy, no problem!"

[That's not how it looked, with all the injuries you sustained,] Mini C said, giving him a deadpan look.

"Uh, well, I just got caught off guard, is all..."

{Um, not to interrupt,} Bestie tentatively spoke up, {But Ryker, you finished the system's starter mission!}

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I forgot about that!"

Looking down at his holoscreen, Ryker checked the notifications that had popped up since he last checked, of which there were quite a few:

| Relationship with Luo Shuchang became: Acquaintance |

| Received: Body Reformation Pill x 1 |

| Relationship with Luo Shuchang became: Friendly |

| Received: Treatise on Fate and Karma x 1 |

| Relationship with Long Meiling became: Slightly Friendly |

| Received: Yujian Sword Body Constitution (Dormant) x 1 |

| Relationship with Long Meiling became: Friendly |

| Received: Cold-Steel Flying Sword x 5 |

--

| Quest: Meeting New Friends! - Complete! |

| You've befriended the first person you've met in this world. |

| The first step in standing at the top of this new world has been taken! |

| Calculating reward based on host's lacking areas... |

| Received: Foundation Establishment Pill x 20 |

| You've unlocked the system's 'Gacha' function! |

| You've unlocked the system's 'Borrowing' function! |

--

Ryker looked through the list of things he'd obtained and grinned, vaguely feeling that they were some high quality treasures. It even seemed like some of the system functions were unlocked.

"Wow, that's a lot of stuff!"