New Mission

Hu Long walked up the weathered steps towards Caelus's courtyard, having finished dealing with all of the ruckus after reporting on the Steel-Back Wraith. Even with Cui Feng's testimony, however, the elders of the sect were skeptical that two Qi Gathering disciples and a guest in the Foundation Establishment realm could have taken one down, to say the least.

Fed up with their condescending attitude, he'd simply told them to verify it with Ryker later, since he had taken the beast's corpse. Not that he even thought they would bother to do so, but if they were going to ignore a potential threat like this, he wouldn't concern himself with it.

It wasn't his problem if this decision came back to bite them. The only reason he had joined the sect was to obtain benefits, after all!

He paused for a moment. Shaking his head, he let out a deep breath to steady himself. This was why things with Fu Ling ended up the way they were; he really just needed to let things go.

Thinking on it, most of those elders were in Elder Jiang's camp, and they would have surely heard of the elder's conflict with him. Their whole show of looking down on him was just to get on Elder Jiang's good side; even if he had come before them with definitive proof, they would have made some other excuse to belittle him.

'Even within the sect, I can't get away from all the needless posturing...'

Just as he was thinking this, however, a sudden explosion from the peak of the steps made him jump in surprise. An enemy attack...?

He cautiously made his way up to the top, peeking into the courtyard while simultaneously sending out his spiritual sense. Confirming that there were no unexpected presences nearby, he hurried across the courtyard to the main villa.

"Ryker! What happened?"

Hu Long didn't stand on ceremony as he pushed open the villa doors, figuring some sort of accident may have occurred.

Indeed, all he saw when he stepped inside was a mess of furniture and scraps of metal strewn all about, with a hazy fog filling the room along with the acrid smell of smoke.

"... Hu Long?"

A weak sounding voice called out, and Hu Long quickly found its source, rushing to kneel beside Ryker who was lying half buried in a pile of scraps.

"Gods! What happened to you...?"

Hu Long shook his head, not comprehending how things came to this. Wasn't he fine(?) just a while ago?

But now, it was like all of his usual vitality was gone. His skin was cracked and dry, and he was frighteningly pale when compared to his previous healthy tan. Ryker slowly turned his head to look at him, his usually bright eyes now taking on a dull, lifeless sheen.

"Hu Long... If I don't make it, tell Cui Feng..."

His words trailed off, causing Hu Long to furrow his brow and lean his ear closer.

"Tell her... that I know she was the one who took my meat bun yesterday...!"

"... Huh?"

What the heck was this guy talking about, at a time like this?

"What are you saying? Did that explosion turn you stupid?"

"He's just being dramatic."

Hu Long turned to where the new voice came from to see Caelus pulling himself out of his own pile of debris, gingerly patting his robes to shake off the dust.

There was no further explanation as he snapped his fingers, glowing sparks flying out as he did, and then the whole room was in motion, the destroyed furniture and tools all levitating upright into their usual spots and seamlessly restored from their varying states of destruction.

"One hundred and twenty percent more efficacy when compared to control data... side effects include pain in meridians prior to explosive combustion... prolonged intake... not advised..."

Caelus, meanwhile, was tapping away at a rectangular device similar to Ryker's compad, absentmindedly snapping his fingers again as he did. This time, a screen of blue light that covered the entire area of the hall materialized near the back, slowly making its way towards the door.

Hu Long looked on curiously before realizing that the dust and soot that had settled on everything was being swept up by the light screen, and he flinched slightly as the screen passed over him.

It felt something like a feather duster being brushed all over his body, but the feeling quickly passed, the screen promptly sweeping the dust out the open door. He *did* feel a little cleaner now, actually.

"Uh, Sir Caelus... will Ryker be needing medical attention?" Hu Long asked, ignoring Ryker's nonsense (avenge my meat bun...!) seeing that there was no immediate danger to his life.

Caelus looked up for a moment before letting out a soft "Ah," as if he had just remembered that there was someone else in the room with him.

"He'll be fine after taking a Rejuvenation Pill."

With a wave of his finger, a small pill popped out of thin air and flew directly into Ryker's mouth, who swallowed it with a loud gulp.

The effect was instantaneous. Like a shriveled plant tasting water again after a drought, Ryker's body was immediately reinvigorated, and he jumped up to his feet, shaking out his limbs as he hopped in place.

"Phew! That one was pretty spicy..." he said, before turning to Hu Long with a grin.

"So! You needed me?"

"Well, I had come to check up on you, but... what exactly are you doing?" Hu Long asked, raising an eyebrow as he crossed his arms.

"Oh, I was just testing out C's experimental Foundation Establishment Pills," Ryker answered, a bottle of water appearing in his hand.

"Then what was that explosion?"

"They're very experimental."

"So the pill exploded?!"

"Uh, technically *I* exploded, after ingesting the pill."

"... Is that so."

Hu Long just gave Ryker a skeptical look as he chugged his drink. A pill that makes you explode... just what were these two doing in here...?

"Well, since it seems like you're doing fine, I'll take my leave, now..."

However, before he could turn to leave, Ryker gestured for him to wait, finishing up his drink with a satisfied sigh.

"Hey, you wanna help with C's testing, too?" he asked, tossing the bottle over his shoulder. There was a suctioning sound as it disappeared in mid-air, likely into some dimensional space or other.

"I can guarantee you'll see some good results in your practice!"

Hu Long's eyes widened, and he hesitated for a moment. To be precise, he was hesitating to refuse; normally, nobody in their right mind would test pills that made you explode, but when he thought about the kind of power Ryker had, his initial instinct to turn him down was bitten back.

'Genius' and 'monster' were common terms in the cultivation world, referring to those whose cultivation speed defied common logic. He, himself, knew a handful of geniuses, as well as one person he would classify as a 'monster'.

However, Ryker was neither of these things. To put it bluntly, he was an 'anomaly': an impossible existence.

Although his mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation was impressive for his age, it wasn't exactly unheard of. There were a few notable experts that had similar cultivation speeds, throughout history.

What was so baffling was how he could contend with a demon beast that was two major realms stronger than him! And defeat it, no less!

Sure, Ryker had needed his help to do so, but for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to even be able to injure a Soul Wandering realm demon beast was unthinkable. At this point, it was useless to measure Ryker's strength in terms of cultivation realms.

If he volunteered for this testing... could he also obtain power, like that?

"... I'll think about it."

With that, Hu Long nodded farewell, leaving the villa and the two strange young men behind.

"I think we got him," Ryker said after a while, grinning as the avatars of Mini C and Bestie popped up beside him.

{Alright, our next mission! Let's get pumped!}

Bestie threw her hands into the air, smiling brightly, while Mini C just turned to Ryker and gave him a questioning look.

[This mission will be vital in our efforts to crack the inner workings of the system. Are you sure you don't want to try a little more persuasion?]

Mini C and the compad hadn't only been undergoing upgrades, this whole time. He had also shared the recorded out- and inbound signal data from the Friend System with Caelus, and together they had been poring over the data in an attempt to figure out how the system worked.

"Hey, you can't rush these things, you know? And from what I've seen of Hu Long, so far, there's no way he won't show up."

Ryker simply shrugged his shoulders, before plopping down on the newly restored couch with a big yawn.

The mission they were referring to was of course issued by the system, coming in right after Ryker returned to the sect after his close shave with the Steel-Back Wraith:

| Quest started: Instrument of Vengeance (pt. 1) |

| Your new friend is seeking revenge. |

| Help him get strong enough to exact vengeance! |

| Objective Status: |

| Help Hu Long Enter the Pill Saint Mystic Realm: Incomplete |

'Wonder who he's trying to get revenge on...'

As he pondered the implications of the system's latest mission, Ryker scrolled through the rest of his system notifications:

| Relationship with Tan Fang became: Acquaintance |

| Received: Supreme Feather Herb x 1 |

| Relationship with Mao Hai became: Acquaintance |

| Received: Nightmare Orchid x 1 |

...

| Relationship with Song Xia became: Acquaintance |

| Received: Moonlight Dew Grass x 1 |

These were the sect disciples who had come to aid them after the incident, and subsequently tried to strike up a relationship with Ryker for the Steel-Back Wraith's demonic core.

The bonuses were mostly alchemy ingredients, or so he'd heard from Caelus, who had appropriated the materials for future experiments.

 There was also the reward he got from Cui Feng:

| Relationship with Cui Feng became: Admiration |

| Received: Celestial Iron Shin Guards x 1 |

A pair of hard, heavy shin guards that would certainly contribute to his flexible style of using kicks and punches even when fighting with a weapon.

Of course, not all of the disciples he'd met showed up on the notifications. Whether that was because their friendliness wasn't sufficient or because they weren't friends, at all, he still wasn't sure.

In fact, he hadn't even gotten a single notice about Hu Long's friendship increasing, either...

"Well, I'm sure it'll be fine. Get pumped!"

However, before he could get too 'pumped', another pill landed on his open palm, this one oozing a strangely glowing substance. Ryker grimaced at the pill in his hand, looking at Caelus hesitantly.

"Just to make sure, how many more of these experimental pills, are there?"

"There are 32 variations, total. This will be Variation #16."

"... Lovely."