The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

Of course, Isaac couldn't know this. Neither he nor Freyja even knew there was a weekly audit on the Adventurers' Hall's mission records. This was because revealing the tests and checking methods the sect used would make it much easier for rule-breakers to avoid or trick those tests. Therefore, few people knew about the security measures the sect had in place: even Freyja, an employee of the Adventurers' Hall, didn't know how the hall's documents were checked.

Isaac was completely unaware of the investigation into his missions occurring at this very moment, but the day actually went very smoothly.

The first thing he heard about any 'investigation' was the next day, when a man in a black coat found him outside the Adventurers' Hall.

"Are you Isaac Dahl?"

He asked in a deep, gravelly voice. The man's stern black eyes swept over Isaac, analysing him. At the same time, Isaac was analysing the man. He had short black hair with a square-ish face and a strong jawline. Black stubble dotted his cheeks and chin.

His overall figure was similar to Isaac's – lean and athletic, but he had more muscle than Isaac. He stood at 6 foot 3 inches, which was sufficient to look down at the 6 feet tall Isaac but not enough to tower over him.

His appearance was enough to intimidate most men, but there were few things in this world which scared Isaac. This man was not one of them, so Isaac responded with a calm nod.

The man was pleased with Isaac's response since he felt calm and composed people were always easy to talk to, but he didn't let that show on his face. Instead, he gave Isaac an order,

"My name is Viktor. I need you to come with me and answer some questions."

Isaac carefully inspected the ID card Viktor showed him, then decided to follow the man. They left the Adventurers' Hall and headed towards the living area for higher ranked officials. This was the area where Rank 2 and 3 cultivators who worked in the Rank 1 district lived. They all knew each other, so the unfamiliar Isaac drew a few curious glances as he walked down the street.

Soon, he and Viktor arrived at a small, bleak stone building. Viktor used his fingerprint to activate a certain Anima and unlock the metal door. Then he ushered Isaac inside. The room was lit by 2 flickering gas lamps and was mostly empty. The only furniture was a table and chairs in the middle of the room and 4 large shelving units along the back wall which were stacked with papers.

Isaac didn't know what was written on these papers and he didn't get a chance to check either, since Hayden beckoned for him to sit down. The chair made screeching sounds on the stone floor as Isaac pulled it back and sat facing Viktor.

"We're both intelligent people, so I'd rather not beat around the bush trying to tease information out of you. I'm also sure you don't want to get beaten until you tell me the truth. I think it's best for both of us to solve this through a civilised discussion, so how about you tell me why your mission completion speed is so fast?"

Isaac didn't even bat an eyelid at Viktor's threat and took his time coming up with a well-worded answer,

"I made some alterations to the Rank 1 easy missions. When people thought they were completing their own missions, they were actually completing mine for me."

"Don't stop there. What exactly did you do?"

Isaac got a bit more serious at this point. He sat up straight in his chair and explained the entire process of copying mission details on the back of the mission notices but with a different mission number, then going to the Adventurers' Hall and getting rewarded when his missions were completed by other people. When Isaac was explaining, he emphasised that he didn't put new missions on the board or take any down except for when he was writing on them, after which he put them back.

It was against the rules to add or remove missions from the board without authorisation, so Isaac hadn't actually broken the rules other than temporarily taking down missions and writing on the back of them, which were both minor offences. Actually, bribing an official was his most serious breach of the rules. Luckily, nobody knew about that other than the parties involved and Isaac had no intention of mentioning that to Viktor.

After Isaac had finished explaining, Viktor was actually quite impressed. The Full Moon Sect was rather young compared to other sects, clans, cults, etc., so its rules hadn't been honed to perfection over time. Despite that, they still had a well thought-out, complete set of rules, so it took a special type of intelligence to find a loophole like Isaac had.

However, Viktor's sense of approval was only momentary; his job was to enforce the rules, so that was what he was going to do. Luckily, he wasn't a brainless desk worker like Freyja who just followed the rules for the rules' sake. Instead of sticking strictly to the regulations, Viktor focused more on what would benefit the sect.

When he considered the situation, he felt that Isaac's trickery might actually help the newcomers. It would teach them to be careful when accepting missions or tasks, and not to trust everything they see.

Furthermore, Isaac had also only messed with Rank 1 easy missions, meaning his actions had only affected the new disciples who were taking these easy quests. This meant Isaac hadn't overstepped his boundaries or angered the older, more established disciples, so his punishment could be lessened.

On top of that, Isaac had shown great intelligence and potential with this scheme. Hayden had checked his file and had seen that he was a 3rd class talent who could still improve that to 2nd or 1st class, though the latter was unlikely. If Isaac could reach Rank 3, he could probably use his intellect to reach a high position in one of the sect's businesses or special departments. If he improved his talent and reached Rank 4, he could potentially become an elder.

A potential elder was worth a hundred times more than some nobody newcomers who'd probably never reach Rank 3 Upper Stage. Therefore, Hayden believed it would be best not to punish Isaac too severely; he hadn't broken the rules that badly anyway. But on the other hand, the sect rules needed to appear impartial for everybody. That was why he had to give a punishment which looked like a lot but wasn't actually much compared to what Isaac had earnt.

After a minute of deliberation, he came to a decision,

"Isaac Dahl, I fine you 25 merit points and 10 reward points on behalf of the Independent Records Investigation Committee for tampering with sect missions. Your merit points will be deducted instantly, and you are expected to pay the reward point fine within 3 days. If you do not, the consequences will not be light."

Isaac wasn't flustered by the punishment. Instead, he replied calmly,

"You have my sincere thanks for your lenience, and I apologise for taking up your time. Here are 10 reward points; I won't bother you any longer."

In fact, Isaac had already known he would be caught; he was making a gamble and hoping the sect would punish him lightly since they favoured the type of ingenious trickery he had used. He was thankful Viktor had indeed followed his expectations, so Isaac answered respectfully, then handed Viktor most of the reward points in his pocket.

Normally he wouldn't carry valuables with him, but Isaac had already made some money before Viktor found him, so merely paid the fine with that.

Viktor had found Isaac at 2pm. What did that mean? Isaac had made over 10 reward points in just 2 hours of work! From this, you could begin to work out Isaac's profits from the previous 4 days of his scheme. Although he'd started off a little slow, he'd made roughly 100 merit points and 90 reward points even after subtracting his bribe money. If you wanted to take away the fine too, the exact amount would be 79 merit points and 81 reward points.

Think about that! Previously, Isaac was slaving away doing mapping missions and hunting wolves just for a couple of reward points. Even when he started robbing people, his daily income didn't go up by too much. Few Rank 2s could reliably earn 81 reward points in 4 days! Who among the other newcomers could match his resources now?!

Of course, resources were resources and cultivation was cultivation. One could be stolen while the other couldn't. One could be used to fight while the other couldn't. One was a heap of pills or wooden tokens, while the other came in the form of raw strength.

Resources were nice, but he still needed to put in some effort and use them to strive for a higher cultivation base. That was why Isaac took a quick trip home to collect all his reward points. He dug up the box under his floorboards and emptied it into a bag. He also piled a large amount of food into the bag, then left his house. He was heading deeper into the sect to find a certain five-storey tall pagoda.

Technically, the pagoda wasn't anything special: it was just filled with small rooms the sect rented out at 1 reward point per week. Considering that everybody had their own free residences which were all bigger than the rooms in the pagoda, it seemed like a huge rip-off. However, you would only think that if you didn't know the pagoda's main selling point: it was a hugely popular cultivation ground.

This wasn't because it had a high level of ambient Qi or anything special. No, cultivating here would be just as effective as cultivating in your own home. The reason it was so popular was because it was sect-owned property; people could break into your home, but it would be considered treason against the sect if they forced their way onto sect property. That meant nobody could interrupt your cultivation or steal your cultivation resources while you cultivated in the pagoda, which was especially crucial for people undergoing breakthroughs.

Being interrupted during normal cultivation was fine; the worst that could happen would be losing the strand of Qi you had grasped. But if you were disturbed during a breakthrough, there was a very high chance of undergoing Qi deviation or having your entire cultivation base crumble. The pagoda's popularity came because it was a safe place for breakthroughs and eliminated some of the unnecessary risks you might face while breaking through.

Isaac didn't know how long it would take for him to reach Rank 1 middle stage, but he rented a room on the pagoda's top floor for 2 weeks. He went up to the room and checked it out, then left all but 14 of his reward points there.

He brought those 14 with him when he went to the market and exchanged them all for Basic Qi Pills. Then he walked casually back to the pagoda, giving others the impression he didn't have anything valuable and wasn't worth robbing. After trekking up 5 flights of stairs, he entered his room and locked the door behind him.

Isaac sat down on the mattress at the side of the room and poured his bag of pills out onto the floor. He was ready to enter secluded cultivation.