The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

Once again, Isaac had to wake up super early to visit the mission board. He started to do the same thing as yesterday, copying missions but writing fake mission numbers. He'd come even earlier today so he had more time to mess with the missions.

Today he copied 16 missions, then it was time to leave. He didn't go straight back home; he visited the library instead and spent a couple of hours reading – it was mostly informative books about wild beasts and other subjects, but he did dedicate some time to relaxing and reading fantasy.

After that, he returned home for lunch before heading to the training grounds for his daily swordsmanship practice. Today he was thinking about the ways he could use his off-hand which wasn't holding the sword.

He was already accustomed to using punches or palm strikes to surprise his opponent while they focused on his sword, but those weren't very effective against animals, let alone wild beasts. That was why he decided to work on a variety of precise finger strikes he could use to target vulnerable body parts such as eyes, throat and acupoints. These would be effective regardless of his opponent's species and would give Isaac another tool in his offensive repertoire.

Obviously he couldn't master the skill in one session, but he managed to build up the fundamentals of his new technique. Considering he had no teacher, the progress Isaac made was astounding. It was a testament to his special talent with the sword.

However, his talent in swordsmanship far exceeded his cultivation talent and this was becoming a slight problem for Isaac.

The 3 components that made up combat strength were Anima, cultivation, and battle talent. Just lacking one of these things would hold the other 2 back: having abundant Qi didn't matter if you only had 1 Anima to use it on. Having 100 Anima would be pointless if you only had enough Qi to use 3 of them. And even if you had abundant Qi and a good set of Anima, what was the point if you couldn't use them properly in a fight?

A strong cultivator would have a balance of good cultivation, Anima and battle talent. However, Isaac's battle talent was too outstanding. His cultivation and the quality/quantity of his Anima simply couldn't keep up; they were holding his battle talent back. He couldn't display his full talent for fighting with such low cultivation and just a single Anima, so he needed to improve them.

What was necessary for buying Anima and improving cultivation? Resources.

This was where Isaac's plan was crucial: it would give him the resources to take a qualitative leap in combat strength. And now he had to take the next step towards its completion.

Isaac headed to the Adventurers' Hall and enquired about several missions, the same as yesterday. Today the desk was staffed by a woman Isaac had never seen before, so she became quite confused but did her job without asking questions. Isaac discovered that 8 of the missions had been applied to, and 8 had not. He applied to the 8 which nobody had applied to, then he left the desk.

For a recap of the situation, Isaac had now applied to 13 good missions, but he would have to withdraw his applications if he didn't accept them within a few days. There were also 13 people or teams who'd accepted/applied for bad missions while thinking they were good missions, since Isaac had changed the mission numbers.

With this, Isaac's setup was essentially complete and he could begin reaping the rewards tomorrow.

As usual, he went to bed early so he could wake up early. Then he went to the mission board to tamper with more missions, before heading to the training grounds so he could practice wielding his sword while using precise finger strikes with the other hand.

At midday, he ended his practice early and went to the Adventurers' Hall, eating a packed lunch while he walked there. When he arrived, he didn't join a queue; he sat in one of the seats near the entrance and observed the people coming in.

He was looking for 5 people in particular: the ones who accepted the first 5 missions he messed with. Of course, he didn't know what these people or groups looked like, but he knew the missions they accepted. When he saw a group walking in with the pelt of an ice-spined arctic fox, he knew they'd accepted one of his missions.

They would obviously say it was their mission, but it wasn't. When they applied for the mission, they actually gave the number for a mission to clean the sect's animal pens. Isaac had come along later and applied for the fox mission with its real mission number, meaning they hadn't completed their mission at all.

When Isaac saw them walk into the Adventurers' Hall, he rushed to the counter for accepting missions. It was quite a short queue since it was just after midday and most people were eating or doing missions right now, so Isaac quickly reached the front of the line.

"My name is Isaac Dahl. I would like to accept the Rank 1 easy difficulty mission, number 3956."

"I see that your application for this mission has already been accepted. There is a special request that this mission must be finished quickly, so you only have 3 days to complete it. Of course, this added complication will be reflected in your reward. Here is your mission pass so you can leave the sect, and good luck."

"Thank you." Isaac gave a curt nod and quickly left. He returned to his seat near the entrance and pretended to read a book he'd rented from the library. However, he was actually listening to the conversation between the group with the ice-spined fox pelt and the woman at the task submission desk.

"Hello, we're here to submit a Rank 1 easy mission. The mission number is 0918 and here's the pelt of an ice-spined arctic fox, as per the mission's request."

One of the group members dumped the pelt on the counter after saying this. The woman at the desk was confused, since she knew about the fox mission and remembered it was number 3-9-something-something. She took the pelt and put it in the storage area behind her, then found the file for mission 0918 and replied to the group,

"I believe you have the wrong mission; mission 0918 is to clean the living areas of some of the sect's livestock. Gathering the pelt of an ice-spined arctic fox is mission number 3956."

"Umm... okay. Could you give us the rewards for mission 3956 then?"

"I can only hand the rewards to the person who accepted mission 3956."

"Fine. Give me the pelt back and we'll sell it. We don't need the mission anyway."

The group were getting quite irritated by now. The mission they'd worked hard on couldn't be completed because of a small mistake; a mix-up of mission numbers. However, their day was about to get a whole lot worse.

"Items submitted at this desk cannot be returned, no matter the circumstances. Any losses are the result of your own negligence."

"Not at all. Our losses are the result of a dysfunctional mission system! Either give us the rewards for mission 3956, or return our fox pelt!"

"Items submitted at this desk cannot be returned, no matter the circumstances. Any losses are the result of your own negligence."

The woman at the desk repeated the same lines like a broken record (or a lazily written character). The irritating thing about people working in a store is that they can simply hide behind rules and not listen to anything you say. You could make a logical argument, you could speak persuasively, you could scream at the top of your lungs. But would any of it work? No, because the rules of the store are absolute for its employees; it's not even their fault.

"You have taken our fox pelt, correct? Since you have accepted our fox pelt, it means we've completed the mission which requires the fox pelt and we should be rewarded for it. If you believe we haven't completed the mission, then you have no need for the fox pelt and it should be returned to us, so please hand it over."

What was that? A perfectly structured logical argument? Don't care, the rules say no.

"Items submitted at this desk cannot be returned, no matter the circumstances. Any losses are the result of your own negligence."

The woman at the desk repeated herself again in a flat, disinterested tone. The person speaking on behalf of the group had spent the last of her patience on that final argument. When she heard the same 2 sentences in response, she nearly lost her mind.

"We either need a mission reward or our pelt back, what does it take to realise that?! If you think we're leaving here with nothing, you're sorely mistaken!"

"Items submitted at this desk–"

"Shut the fuck up you stupid bitch!"

The woman at the desk suddenly stood up. A gust of cold wind blew through the hall as blue tattoos appeared around her eyes. The group began to shiver, but only they knew whether it was from the frost beginning to surround them or the fear they felt from her cold, apathetic gaze. Deadly silence filled the hall and everybody heard the woman's next words clearly,

"Rudeness towards staff of the Adventurers' Hall will not be tolerated."

It was a simple and unassuming sentence, but the icy tone it was spoken in terrified the listeners. There was no hint of compassion in that voice, as if it did not care for the lives or wellbeing of anybody in its presence. If this was a battlefield, the group were sure this woman would snuff their lives out like candles in the wind, showing no hesitation or mercy. That thought alone was enough for them to obediently shut up.

When they finally recovered from the shock of the event and came to their senses, the group turned and fled. To the rest of the crowd, they looked like naughty children running from a parent; especially the girl who'd sworn at this goddess of ice and snow. She was so desperate to leave that she tripped over her own feet while sprinting for the door.

After the group fled haphazardly, the woman sat back down at her desk. The blue tattoos around her eyes faded and the frost around her slowly disappeared. Then she resumed her usual disinterested expression as if nothing had happened. It wasn't just her: the whole hall quickly got back to business. They were all busy people with things to do, after all.

Now that the group with the pelt had left, Isaac joined the queue for task submissions. All around him was gossip and surprise about how a mere paper pusher in the Adventurers' Hall was a Rank 2 cultivator, but that was only how it appeared to the untrained eye. Isaac had recognised the 2 Anima she used and they were both Rank 1. That didn't mean she couldn't be Rank 2; most Rank 2 cultivators still used some Rank 1 Anima. However, Isaac felt that she was probably Rank 1 Upper Stage since the sect had many Rank 2 guards. It wouldn't make sense for somebody at Rank 2 to be working in a simple admin position.

Regardless of her rank, it was soon his turn to speak with her. Everybody had handled their business quickly and moved on, since they didn't dare annoy her after that display of power. But as Isaac stepped up to the desk and she heard the words, "I'd like to claim the rewards for mission 3956," her expression quickly turned from disinterest to mild annoyance.