Thorn Whip

There are many types of whip that serve different purposes. One can use a whip to steer an animal or to punish and torture someone. As is known, although a whip strike hurts a lot, it is unlikely to cause a serious injury.

In order for the whip to cause real damage on an armored opponent blocking your strikes, what you are holding must be a whip made for combat, not to scare animals. I was now looking at a one-tailed whip made for combat. Grabbing the handle I let the tail fall to the ground to look at its length. I was trying hard not to swing the whip by reminding myself that we were inside.

It was comfortable to hold, at first it looked like an ordinary bullwhip, but when I looked closely at the places where it bends, I can see it consists of layers that protrude like scales of a dragon. When I looked carefully at the ends of the black scales, I saw a semi-transparent green liquid covering the tips of the scales.

''Beware of the poison,'' Ender said again.

''This is perfect!'' Only children holding their favorite candy could beat my happiness.

''No, it's not.'' Ender closed and locked the door. ''Because of an assistant's mistake, the poison is too strong for the material which the whip was made. The poison is from a rare and valuable reptile. It can kill a noble and cause trouble for royals. However, the whip itself...'' he said and pulled a ring out of the box that I didn't see because I focused on the whip.

''The whip what?''

''It's weak. It melts slowly because of the poison as we speak. The blacksmith was having trouble since no one offered a price that met the poison's value because of the low durability.''

''Poor assistant. What is the ring for?''

He put the ring in my palm. ''Something I made with space and time so the whip wouldn't self destruct while you're not using it. When you store it in the ring's space, time will stop so the poison won't melt the whip.''

Looking at the little green gem embedded in the silver ring, ''Too costly for a whip,'' I said.

''Not really. I can use the space element and there is a seer who can use the time element in the Captain's small army. She helped me for free. The space of the ring is specially made for the whip, you cannot store anything else.''

I put on the ring and transferred some Qi to the ring with my will to trigger the rune carved in the green gem. I knew that carving runes on a worthless gem wouldn't work, but if he was saying it wasn't expensive, there was no point in my insistence.

With my thought, the whip disappeared from my hand. The smoothness of the process was proof of Ender's capability in the space element. ''Thanks, I really liked it.''

''No need to thank. You have to be strong to benefit me,'' he said. ''I'd offer you a friendly match to try out your new weapon, but there's no need to waste its durability.''

Smirking, ''Really? Not because you're afraid?'' I said.

He responded to my grin with a similar one, ''Don't tempt me.''

''Oh tempt him,'' the fox said in a sleepy voice.

''He's talking about fighting dummy,'' I said in my mind.

''Then why did you wake me up?''

Rolling my eyes, I was about to say nobody woke you up but its excited voice interrupted my thoughts. ''Huh? There is a quest! Why you didn't wake me up early? You can't handle this alone.''

''Quest?'' I checked my notifications curiously. There was indeed a quest, I must be missed the notification because it came while I was busy with Miran.

{A breed-related quest named [Sharing the Breed's Core] has been defined by the Web for the user whose information is given below.

Name: Sora Al'naar

Breed: Demonic, succubus; Level 7

Time Remaining: 00:15:11

Quest: A candidate suitable to join your subspecies has been identified in your area. Make your offer and persuade the candidate to get the reward. The candidate's address is St. Hela Street, Ross villa. The candidate's estimated time of death is the deadline of the quest. It can be prolonged with medical assistance.

Quest Rewards:

-Level up for once

-The soul of the candidate}

''Why are you staring into nothingness?'' Ender asked.

Frowning, ''The system says a quest has been defined by the Web for me,'' I said.

His eyes were wide open, ''By the Web? Is it the level up mission for ten and its multiples?''

''No... it seems like there's someone about the die but... I don't think I can make it. The cand- I mean the person is on the other end of town and I only have ten minutes.''

He laughed. ''Is that a problem while I'm here? I'm wondering why the Web gave you a quest to save someone. Lots of people die every day, but there is no quest for every single one of them.''

I shrugged, I didn't need to answer as we didn't discover everything about the Web. It was a web that connected the minds of every creature who has a little bit of intelligence.

As for the system, it was categorizing people and organizing features of the Web, such as quests, the shop, and the line. I had no idea whether the system had always existed or had someone established it a long time ago.

Ender was still waiting for my answer, ''So... are we going?'' he asked.

In later levels, when leveling becomes too difficult, the rewards can be attractive. But for now, the experience I earned only from making potions was enough for me to reach level 7. It wasn't worth the risk of revealing my secrets.

I didn't think Ender would kill me or denounce me because of my species but knowing I had stolen his life energy and made his mind vulnerable, he wouldn't give me a chance to touch him again.

''You forget the other reward, the soul of the candidate,'' the fox said within my mind.

''What am I going to do with a soul?''

''You can offer it in exchange for your own. A soul for another one-- It's fair.''