It was 3 am in the morning. Alex was still training with Wen Cheng. He had just finished learning another new technique a few hours earlier and had exhausted his Qi training on it.
"Alright, let's stop here for today." Wen Cheng said as he casually blocked one of Alex's sword thrusts. Alex stumbled a little but came to a stop easily.
"Huh?" Alex looked at the clock in his vision and asked, "But it's only been 3 am, Master. Aren't we going to fight until sunrise? Do you need to go anywhere?"
"No. We have an important job today. Around noon, I want you to come back here with a different face. Do you have a face-changing pill?" he asked.
'A different face?' Alex got confused. Still, he answered his master.
"Yes, master. I have one." He said as he took out a Face Changing pill that he had made recently. Half of the pills he made for registering ended up with an extra pill. This was one of them. It was a 38% harmony Face Changing pill that could change a person's face for 38 hours.
"Good. I won't have to give you one then. Alright, at noon, come here with a different face. I, along with a few elders will take you deeper into the southern jungle, where you can find more alchemy ingredients."
Wen Cheng had arranged an expedition along with a few elders to take Alex to find more ingredients. He was hoping he would find a Spirit Cleansing Lily so that he too could unlock spiritual sense just like his disciple, Luo Mei.
"I understand, Master," Alex said. Wen Cheng handed him a small paper slip and Alex left the training hall. He disappeared after getting outside and made his way back to his house in the darkness of the night.
It didn't take him long to find his house numbered 168. During the last 3 days, he had managed to obtain badge 168. He walked into the house and sat on the unfamiliar, yet familiar bed. All the houses in the sect were designed according to the 3 ranks.
Outer sect disciple's houses were all the same. They had multiple rooms in one house and up to 5 disciples could live there at once.
The inner sect disciple's houses were simple, yet elegant. It had a single room, yet it gave the disciples peace and quiet while cultivating.
As for the core disciples, they had houses with courtyards, not unlike what Alex had back in the Hong Wu Sect. He had seen how good his senior sister's house looked when he had gone there to visit her.
He was now at Bone Tempering 8th realm as he had just broken through last night before training. He needed to be ready for the expedition at noon so he started cultivating. As usual, he lost his consciousness and ended up cultivating till the morning.
Once again, early in the morning, between 6 am and 7 am, he woke up. He directly logged out and went to get some breakfast along with the other 3 people.
"Hey, Alex. I need to talk to you about something." Eric said in the cafeteria.
"Sure, go ahead. What do you want to talk about." Alex was surprised he even brought up anything. Ever since he had gotten here, they only ever focused on playing Eternal Cultivation. They never really talked about anything outside of it. To think Eric would be so serious about it, he wondered what it could be.
"Umm…. You see, I will need to get that helmet back from you." Eric said. Alex was shocked. He hadn't expected the topic in question to be about giving him back his helmet.
'I already have the money, so I should just buy another one by now. I should stop being so lazy.' He thought.
"Okay. Do you want me to return it to you today?" Alex asked.
"Oh no. You can keep it for a few more days. I need that helmet back when the capsules are released," Eric said.
"Huh? Capsule? What's that?" Alex asked in confusion.
"Have you not heard the news? Deva Corp is coming up with capsules that you can sleep inside while playing the game. Apparently, they are much better than the helmet," said Eric. "Apparently, you can sell your helmets and get a discount for the capsule. That was why I wanted it. You can give it to me back on the day the capsules are sold."
"Oh. Do you by any chance happen to know when the capsules are going to be sold? Also at what price they are going to be sold?" Alex asked.
"Hmm… I think they said in around 3 weeks or so. I don't think they have a specific date set as a selling day. As for the price, they've given us a range between 300 to 500 dollars after a helmet has been returned. Without the discount, should be around 800 to 1000 dollars," said Eric.
Alex was stunned at how high the price was but shook his head as he remembered that he could afford such money now. 'Although, I will have to earn some more money somehow. After I get the ingredients back today, I should make a lot of pills on the upcoming Sunday and sell them at the auction once more.'
While he had about $25 thousand in the bank right now, that wouldn't be enough for him at all. He could tell that. If he ever was in desperate need of spirit stones, he needed money in the bank for a quick transfer.
'I guess I will care about it when the time comes. Let's just go gather some ingredients for today. It's been nearly 3 weeks since I went hunting in the southern forest. Master says we are going even deeper now. I wonder where we will be going this time. It should be further in than where my senior sister took me to. I'm getting kinda excited now.'
He and the other boys returned back to the room and logged back into the game.