Aimless Ascension

Now that Gale had a disciple, he needed to devise a training regime for her. Considering Xiaolin was still in the initial step, and her constitution was peculiar, he formed two sides of training.

The first was training the physique. Since she always ignored that part, it would be better to start from the beginning. Thus, Gale wrote down what she needed to do every day and handed it to her, along with a couple of scrolls of detailed fundamental stances and defence arts.

Gale could've shown all the stances to make it easier, but easy wasn't always better. He needed to assess her talent first.

Xiaolin read the paper first, as an arch appeared on her brows. She thought it would be difficult being Gale's apprentice, but the writings suggested she was mistaken for believing that. Xiaolin could do double of whatever was written on the papers.

"These were only the introductions," Gale told her, finding her with an incredulous expression. "You might find them too easy. But remember, you're not supposed to train to the hardest from the beginning, girl.

"Although there are values in doing your hardest all the time, it has many detriments. For starters, all your muscles would get sore, and you won't be able to practise for the next two days. That's two days' loss of training. While in the long term, it can break your body and cripple your potential.

"To a practitioner, their body is a treasure trove, so instead of short-term benefit, do only half of your best in the beginning. You'll see the benefit within a week. Your best will increase and so will your stamina. You'll be able to do more with half of your best as you train."

Xiaolin nodded in understanding. She had only been practising physical arts in the last few days, and it had burdened had body terribly after she exhausted herself in the practice.

"I'll repeat, never exhaust yourself in training. You'll only burden your body and mind."

"Senior, I mean, Master," Xiaolin asked, "what about these scrolls?"

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"I already told you, call me Sensei," Gale said sternly. "Shifu would do it. Anyway, the scrolls contain basic stances and defence arts. You have no foundation in any other physical arts, so it shouldn't take you long to grasp them. But to master them, you'd need to spend a lot more. Try to find some sparring partners, if you can. I guess Madam Wang can help you there, though different types of opponents would be advisable."

"Yes, I got it covered," Wang Li said from the background, where she discussed some other topic with Grandma Wang.

"As for the spirit arts, focus on meditation for now. You have touched deep meditation, yes?"

Xiaolin nodded.

"Remember, you barely touched it," Gale said, "there are steps above that. Focus on it for now."

Gale thought for a moment on the matter of pure crystal. Honestly, it wasn't time for her to use it. Although pure crystals could boost one's cycling speed to a few folds, it was an excruciating process.

First Xiaolin would need to refine her posture and train her physical form to get anything out of it. Even if her constitution could handle it now, she would be exhausted in two minutes.

Xiaolin would still be staying in the inn for some time, as Gale's mansion was far from ready. Although she could stay in the old house, he decided it would still be better for her to stay here for a time and train with others. Gale could check on her every now and then, so it won't be a problem.

"I'll allocate resources according to your training," Gale said, playing the role of a stern master. "Don't get frustrated. Work hard."

"Yes, Master."

"It's Sensei," Gale told her and dismissed her.

Now all that was left was the other matter. Guo Zong came quite early in the morning with two carts full of stuff.

"These aren't everything," the manager told him. "We don't have some ingredients like the five elemental essences, most gold-ranked enchanting ingredients or enough fire wind, water elemental cores. But you can rest assured, we'll be getting a batch of the said items next week."

It wasn't some ingredients they were missing, but the most important of them. They were the most expensive ones, too.

"I guess that would do," Gale said. He inspected all the items delivered to him quickly. It didn't take long, inspecting with his aura inspection. "How much does all of this cost?"

Guo Zong brought out a bill from his robes and handed it to Gale. "Twelve hundred forty-seven gold marks. As a valued customer of our guild, you can pay in the round figure of twelve hundred gold marks only."

Gale nodded, confirming they weren't ripping him off, as the estimated price he came up with was quite close to that number. Gale brought out a bag full of spirit coins and handed it to the manager.

"Two thousand gold marks are on this," he said. "Keep the change for the rest of the items you'll be delivering next week."

"Thank you, Master Gale."

"You're most welcome, and also, don't publicise the fact that I'm an artisan. I would like to keep my peace for as long as I can."

"You can be rest assured Master Gale," Guo Zong said with an exaggerated gesture of sealing his mouth. "My lips are sealed."

"Good, in this way, we can keep on doing business like this in the future," Gale told him, which delighted the middle-aged manager, who wasn't shy to show.

Well, as far as Gale was concerned, Guo Zong would probably get a good portion of the profit of every business that came through him. As Gale was one of the very few Gold and silver marks expenders, his earnings would peak compared with all the years he was with the guild.

"Now that got out of the way," Gale said, gesturing to the manager at the inn. "I'll need your help with your assessment of an item."