The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

This was a slight problem. Johan and Abbie would say Eva should receive a lower portion of the rewards since she wasn't officially part of the team. Meanwhile, Eva would probably want the rewards to be distributed based on each person's contribution during the mission. As the team leader, it was down to Isaac to find a solution everybody would accept,

"Let's just use the standard distribution that I decided on for the team. Johan and I will take 30% each since we're both in middle stage; then Eva and Abbie will each get 20% of the rewards."

"I don't–"

Abbie was about to object, but Isaac cut her off,

"This mission is about learning to coordinate together and seeing how well Eva fits into the team – it wouldn't be wrong to call this a trial mission for our group. Therefore, it's only right that we use the pre-arranged style of distribution."

Isaac's tone was firm and unyielding, telling Abbie that he wasn't prepared to budge on this matter. She still believed that she deserved some form of benefit for officially joining the team rather than sitting on the fence, but what Isaac said was also reasonable. He had to be fair to the entire group otherwise the team would fall apart, so she was forced to accept his words even if she disliked them.

On the other hand, Eva was silently pleased. Isaac defending her like this showed that he valued her as a potential member and truly wanted her to join the team. It was always nice to feel appreciated and a slight smile tugged at her lips, breaking her typical expressionless look.

However, Johan saw that smile and misinterpreted it as a smirk. He felt like she was mocking Abbie and himself, so he was just about to launched a verbal attack on Eva. However, he was interrupted by a firm hand clapping down on his shoulder. Then a sharp voice cut through the tense silence,

"Since we've agreed to accept a mission, we should start thinking about what type we want to take. Johan, what do you think?"

Johan was surprised at the sudden question and missed the opportunity to berate Eva. He merely glared at her before answering,

"Well, I believe we should look for a medium difficulty mission which doesn't appear to be too complex or dangerous. Like you said, this is a trial mission so it shouldn't be too dangerous. However, it also shouldn't be so easy that we just breeze through it. Since we have 2 middle stage cultivators on the team, one of the lower-tier medium difficulty missions would make the perfect challenge for us."

"Well said. There's no use in wasting time, so why don't we head to the mission board and look for one such mission now?"

Abbie suggested, prompting Johan to nod his head in agreement. Isaac also consented and the group left Johan's house and headed towards the nearest mission board. When they got there, it wasn't too crowded. It was closing in on midday, so most people had either already left the sect for their missions or were meditating at home.

The group of 4 walked up to the board and started reading the quests pinned to it.

"Gather Frostbitten Stalactites from the frozen caves... No. The caves are too dangerous. Kill a group of bandits near Siren Town... if it's too difficult for a town to handle, it's too difficult for us. Deliver Official Tyson's letter to Byron Town... far too easy. Also, won't give us any opportunities to work on our teamwork."

Isaac scanned 10 or so medium difficulty quests, but dismissed each of them for various reasons. Then he heard Abbie call out,

"How about this one – exterminate the wild beast terrorising Kirk Village? It doesn't seem that difficult, but it's also a high priority mission so the rewards will be higher."

High priority mission. This tag was given to any mission which needed to be completed urgently. Missions of this type didn't have a lengthy day-long application process and you were required to leave the sect to complete the mission immediately after accepting it. Speed was of the utmost importance, and completing the mission quickly would ensure the sect gave you a high mission grade, which could cause the reward to be upgraded.

"What are the details of the mission?"

"Kirk Village has been attacked 3 times by a Rank 1 wild beast. The exact species of the beast is unknown, but it is confirmed to be of the wolf family. Now the beast is attacking anybody who leaves the village – your job is to kill the wolf beast or at least drive it away."

Abbie read directly from the mission notice,

"The base reward is 5 reward points and the maximum reward is 15 points. It appears to be a mission worth doing."

The easy difficulty missions Isaac had taken before only had one clear condition – as long as you fulfilled it, you had completed the mission and there was no need for a mission grade. For example, harvesting the Puchella Flowers: what was there to grade? How well you picked the flowers?

Missions such as this only had a fixed reward which wouldn't change no matter how good of a job you did.

However, the Kirk Village mission was different. There were several factors to consider such as whether the wolf was killed or driven away, how quickly the job was done, and whether any damage was done to Kirk Village while fighting the wolf. These all had to be considered when deciding how much to reward disciples, so mission grades and variable rewards were introduced for missions such as this.

For this particular mission, you could arrive 2 days late, drive off the wolf instead of killing it, heavily damage the village and do an all-round shoddy job to earn 5 reward points. Alternatively, you could earn triple that by rushing there early, killing the wolf and getting an 'A' mission grade.

Fighting a wild beast with a group of 4 wasn't difficult at all. In fact, this probably would've been an easy mission if it didn't need to be completed urgently and teams had time to prepare for it. It was simple, combat-oriented, and the perfect opportunity to show Eva the abilities of their team. Isaac immediately decided to accept the mission,

"Remember the mission number – we're taking this one."

The group members agreed with Isaac's judgement. They also thought the mission sounded quite enticing, so they watched as Abbie jotted down the mission number. When she was done, they headed to the Adventurers' Hall.

Just like the mission board, the Adventurers' Hall wasn't that busy. The team only had to queue for a couple of minutes before they reached the mission application desk.

"Hello, we'd like to apply for mission 1492. It's a medium difficulty high priority mission to exterminate a wild beast."

The man at the desk appeared to be in his mid to late twenties. His hair was long and braided, and a well-kept goatee adorned his chin. He gave Isaac's group a somewhat disinterested glance before looking through a pile of papers on his desk. He pulled out one sheet with a large red stamp on it and the words 'High Priority' written in bold. Then he asked for all the group's names and cultivation stages. Isaac kindly provided them.

"Remember, this is a high priority mission: it needs to be done quickly and competently. Because of this, at least one of your team must be middle stage, so I need to confirm the cultivation levels you've told me are correct."

The man unlocked one of his draws and opened it, then he pulled out a fist-sized crystal ball.

"Please hold the ball and insert a small amount of Qi into it. The crystal is very sensitive to Qi and will change colour based on its quality."

Isaac took the ball from him first. He roused his Qi and circulated it through his Qi Veins. When Qi passed through his hands, it seemed to be automatically drawn to the crystal orb and Isaac simply allowed it to be sucked in. The orb began to glow a dark blue.

"Middle stage. Next."

The man made a couple of notes on the file before looking up again. He saw that the orb was now in Johan's hands and it was glowing deep blue again.

"Also middle stage."

Abbie took the orb after Johan and she also injected her Qi. However, when the orb glowed it was so dark it almost looked black. This showed that Abbie's Qi was less pure than Isaac and Johan's. She gave the crystal to Eva, who had a similar result. Both of them were at lower stage.

After seeing this, the man made some more notes and then spoke again.

"You've passed the requirements to accept the mission, so now it's time to decide whether you will do so."

"We accept."

After hearing Isaac's confident confirmation, the man handed him a map with the route to Kirk Village drawn on it. He also wrote up a mission pass with today as the leaving date and the return date as 'indefinite'.

"Now that you've accepted the mission, you must set out to complete it today. Please finish your mission as quickly as possible." With that, the man had finished briefing them. He called out, "Next group, come forwards!" while gesturing for Isaac's team to leave.

And leave they did. The team walked out of the Adventurers' Hall and all returned to their respective homes so they could eat lunch.

Then they regrouped by the sect gates, ready to leave for their first mission as a team.