During this hot springs retreat, everyone was doing something or the other to either relax or work, usually a mix of both.

First off, starting with the teachers. Although this had been introduced as a way for the students to relax, many of the teachers had tagged along. This was not entirely without reason or justification, as they needed someone to supervise the students as well as to ensure their safety.

The teachers had a room all to themselves- and the academy elder was the only one currently relaxing when the martial arts instructor walked in.

“Ah, greetings,” the martial arts instructor said.

“Greetings, how are you?”

The two of them exchanged pleasantries. The academy elder noted that the martial arts instructor’s body was covered in sweat- even now, when they were on ‘vacation’ so to speak, the man was still training.

Although he was inexperienced, one could not say that he lacked dedication to his craft.

“Still training?”

“Yes, I’ve heard that hot springs help relax the muscles, and if that’s the case, why not make full use of it? I was also hoping to whip up some enthusiasm from the students to train but didn’t get too far unfortunately…”

The academy elder began to ponder things. He had heard that this batch was rather peculiar in that they seemed to neglect martial arts more than the prior batches. This was not good- while gu were the core of a Gu Master’s arsenal, oftentimes being quick with your fists or feet could easily get you out of a sticky situation. Not to mention that Strength Path Gu Masters specialized in turning their bodies into living weapons- there would always be a few among the students who would eventually go on to specialize in the Strength Path, though no one had done so up till now. “What is the issue here?”

he had initially thought it was the martial arts instructor’s fault as he was a greenhorn, though that didn’t seem to be the case at this point.

“Ah, it’s about Fang Yuan…” the martial arts instructor said.

The academy elder was intrigued at that point. “Oh? How so?”

“Oh, he hasn’t done anything wrong,” the martial arts instructor said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “He is a natural when it comes to martial arts, to the point where there is nothing to teach him. I ah, kind of feel useless even trying to give him instruction… his uncle must be quite the figure to have taught him so. I was even thinking of challenging him one day to test out his skills! But putting that aside the other students, rather than feeling motivated by Fang Yuan’s example, seem to have given up. ‘I can’t be as good as Fang Yuan, so why bother?’ seems to be their motto. It’s unfortunate that their morale is going down rather than increasing.”

It appeared that Fang Yuan’s image had dominated them so thoroughly that none of them thought they were his match- even the other three being Mo Bei, Fang Zheng, and Chi Chen seemed to barely be keeping pace with him.

The academy elder didn’t think this was good- competition was of course, essential, but Fang Yuan being too good to the point where everyone gave up was not good either.

If Fang Yuan suffered a defeat at some point, his image would take a nosedive and the others might be motivated. But as it was right now, Fang Yuan had been doing nothing but farming Ws since the year had started.

The academy elder could do little to suppress him as well, though he had hoped that this little excursion would help Fang Yuan mingle with his peers a bit more.

‘Hopefully, Fang Yuan will learn the value of his comrades on this trip. Or at least, make some friends,’ the academy elder thought.

Meanwhile, Fang Yuan was in his room, deep in cultivation. One of the perks of his position was that he had been given a private room unlike the others.

The Liquor Worm was swimming in the bottle of alcohol he had gotten from the academy elder, and then re-entered Fang Yuan’s aperture when it was done feeding. Fang Yuan began giving it primeval stone after primeval stone, watching as the green primeval essence deepened as the Liquor Worm began releasing a sweet, intoxicating fragrance.

He had left the White Boar Gu and the mysterious Rank 3 Gu Worm he’d gotten back in his dorm, with his methods, he doubted either would be discovered.

Right now, in his aperture, other than the Liquor Worm, there was the Moonlight Gu and the Little Light Gu, which he had refined instantly. The Spring Autumn Cicada looked infinitesimally better than before, but it was good that its rate of recovery was not faster for Fang Yuan. He had brought One With Scenery Gu on a whim, thinking that it might’ve been useful if he ever needed to sneak out, something that was far harder now than in his previous life.

The wall of his aperture was on the cusp of changing as he was about to reach Rank 1 Upper Stage – it was only the matter of a few hours.

As for socializing with the others, or going to relax in the hot springs, he had no time for either of those things.

Eventually his stomach began to growl as his primeval essence was all used up, and he went to go have lunch when a notification flashed before his eyes.

New Main Mission Unlocked!

Shikanoko Nokono Koshitantan

Description: Help the hunter save a baby deer

Reward:

Permanent 3% increase to aptitude

Karmic flag plant regarding above incident

Fang Yuan paused as he went to go take his meal.

A number of thoughts blossomed in his mind.

First off, he had no idea what ‘Shikanoko Nokono Koshitantan’ meant, the system seemed to be using some kind of language that he was unfamiliar with, but no matter how much he thought about it, it didn’t give him any further explanation. Did those words have something to do with deer?

Secondly, he was finally getting an increase to his aptitude, which he really wanted from the system. Right now, he was advancing at a pace that was nearly ten times that of his previous life, but it was not enough for him. He had to go further still, and though doing this mission might waste some of his time, the 3% difference would be essential to clutching victories in the future.

Most importantly, although it made advancing for now easier, that wasn’t what the main benefit was. The gap between Rank 2 and Rank 3 needed around 60% essence to overcome, and with this, he would have 59% essence. Advancing to Rank 3 would cost him far less and would be much easier even though the increase was only by 3% right now. He was already sure of his advancement to Rank 2, but that was nothing to someone like Fang Yuan who needed to priortize getting to Rank 3 above all so that he could leave and take advantage of a lot of his knowledge since his regression.

Third, although the system mentioned this as a reward, he didn’t know what a ‘karmic flag’ was.

It is something that will be relied up later on.

That was little in the way of an actual explanation, he thought.

It was as if he had used an information-type gu worm as a location appeared in his head on where to go.

Walking out of the hot springs, he was stopped by one of the guards.

“Junior brother, where are you headed?”

“I just wanted to take a short walk to clear my head,” Fang Yuan said.

“Alright, but stay close to the trail where it’s safe.”

“Hang on,” another guard said. “Are you Gu Yue Fang Yuan? The student who found the Flower Wine Monk’s inheritance?”

The story had spread far and wide, and it was not out of the ordinary for people to recognize Fang Yuan.

This was more of a hindrance than anything given how often people would stop him for now reason, and here was no exception as Fang Yuan found himself exchanging greetings for five minutes longer than he would’ve liked before heading off.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep