"Hey guys." A voice called out to them. "It has been a while. How's it going?"
Kane grumbled while Rui smiled. "Hey Fae, Milliana."
Milliana nodded, while Fae vigorously waved her hand, the latter had truly begun to be more expressive of her emotions during her time in the Academy.
"How was your first mission Rui?" Fae asked.
"Terrible, I failed to complete it." Rui shook his head, straightforwardly answering.
"My." Fae frowned. "Don't worry, you'll get it next time." She patted his shoulder, before continuing. "Speaking of which, l actually have an interesting proposal for all of you."
"Hm?" Rui looked at her curiously while Kane looked at her with skepticism.
"A grade six defense-class party mission with a five-member pre-requisite." Fae explained. "It's a mission to protect a travelling batch of supply caravans through a shady region known for being an ambush location for a bandit group. Our job is to protect the dispatched batch of supply carriages from potential bandit groups."
"Hmmm..." Rui was intrigued by the matter. "A grade six mission is going to be risky, since grade five and above can threaten the life of a Martial Apprentice, right?"
"A single Martial Apprentice, yes. A mission of a certain grade can either be taken on by a Martial Apprentice of an equal grade or even higher. Or multiple Martial Apprentices of a low grade." Fae reminded.
Rui nodded, recalling that fact. "So that's why you want to form a party. We fall into the latter category."
Fae nodded. "Kane, Milliana, Dalen and I are grade four. What grade are you Rui?"
"Three." He sighed.
"Don't look so down, I started out with grade three too." Fae revealed. "Milliana here started with grade two." Earning a blank nod from Milliana.
"Why do you want to go out of your way to get this mission?" Kane eyed her suspiciously.
"Ah, that's because it has a really sweet bonus reward." Fae chuckled.
Customers had the option to incentivize their commissions above the standard exchange rate if they wanted to, to make their commissions more alluring to Martial Artists of higher grades, since the Martial Union usually deferred a commission that was being contested over by two different Martial Artists to the higher-grade Martial Artist.
"What does the total amount to, per person?" Rui asked curiously.
"Hehe, a total of 500 Martial Credits!" Fae declared.
Rui's eyes sparkled with a hint of greed. That was almost ten times what he received from his first bodyguard mission.
"I'm in." Rui immediately said.
"No takebacks, ok?" Fae pressed. "You're definitely going to commit to this right?"
"Sure thing."
"Are you absolutely sure?" Fae pressed.
"It's a promise." Rui nodded. "Who's the client?"
"The Lowminer Industries." Fae answered simply. "Isn't that great?"
Rui stared at her with a frozen face. "...I'd like to take that promise back."
"Too late, you already committed."
"..."
"What's the big deal? You get a ton of cash."
Rui sighed, shaking his head
"Has Dalen already confirmed?" Kane asked suspiciously.
"Of course he has." Fae said with an inscrutable expression that didn't crack no matter how sharply Kane tried to peer past it.
"You planning on coming Kane?" Rui turned, asking him.
Kane sighed. "Fine, let's go. When does it start?"
"Next week." Fae replied. "So we still have some time."
"I can get to squeeze in some missions in between maybe." Rui murmured. "How many martial Credits do I get in order to purchase five high-grade techniques?"
"Hmmm... You should get around a thousand bare minimum." Fae said, before throwing an odd look at Rui. "You really plan to get five techniques at once?"
"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Rui asked, tilting his head.
"Nothing." Fae replied. "It's just so strange because most people only get one or two techniques at a time."
"Huh?" Rui frowned. "That's so slow."
"That's normal dude." Kane shook his head. "You're the only one walking around learning four to five techniques at once, you potion junkie."
"Wait how many techniques have you guys learnt since joining the Academy?"
"Five." Fae replied quickly.
"Four." Milliana blankly said.
He had learnt twice as many Apprentice-level techniques in half the time. Even though his net amount of training time was not multiple time greater than theirs, the reason he was able to accomplish more was because the mental rejuvenation potion complimented his enhanced mind and cognition extremely well.
Concentration and learning were not linearly dependent on time spent learning. Longer periods of learning were better than multiple shorter periods of learning, as far as learning speed went. The reason people didn't learn for countless hours straight was because of exhaustion. It was only because of exhaustion that people resolved to shorter timeframes.
However, with mental rejuvenation potion, that rationale was no longer true. Mental and physical exhaustion could be dispelled. Thus, making Rui's training remarkably effective. He felt like a gamer who discovered a glitch in the game, using it to grind and level up relentlessly.
He turned to Kane, who hadn't responded yet.
"...Three." He looked away, embarrassed. Rui simply stared at him without a word.
"Hey don't look at me that way!" Kane complained. "My third technique was peak grade, ok? It took me forever to learn it!"
"Peak grade?" Rui asked, curiously. "Which technique was that?"
"You know." Kane continued. "The one I beat Fae with and the one I used when we fought against Kyrie."
"Ah..." Rui recalled. That technique was indeed absurdly powerful. He had to admit Kane's low number of techniques was justified indeed.
"Alright, good talk." Rui got up. "If we're doing this in a week then I have even more of a reason to go complete a solid mission before that, so I'll see you guys later. Bye"
He left after exchanging farewells with his friends. He couldn't help feeling a tinge of nervousness as he walked over to the mission library. He exhaled deeply as he reached the mission library, steeling his nerves before walking in.
He intended to complete a handful of missions over the next week no matter what!
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