A Snail's Wisdom

"Is this d.a.m.n snail going to cause a scene everywhere I go?"

He realized that Snail might have caused a misunderstanding with his overpowering aura, but it"s not like he could point to his ear and lay blame on the fashion accessory. If one wished to address him as a senior, it could only be advantageous to accept it.

Hideaki quickly pa.s.sed back Hizumi"s keystone as well as a spear with a golden spear-point and a can of wax.

"Is there anything else I can a.s.sist you with, senior sister?" Hideaki asked politely.

Mizutani understood the reason for Hideaki"s change of address and took a few steps back from Kenja to give him s.p.a.ce.

"I still have a couple of questions concerning these keystones here," said Kenja raising Hizumi"s keystone. "If one wanted to transfer credits between multiple stones, is there a faster way than these TDs?"

Kenja wanted to avoid making several transactions each time he wanted to move credits around his stones.

"In that case, senior sister, you can use one such as this," he said while pointing to the TD behind a different counter. Instead of sockets, it had two large, metal plates where you could place multiple stones.

"This one is for the Treasury"s use, but the marketplace and lecture hall both have one available. Seek those out if senior sister wishes to share some credits with her juniors," he added.

It was important for such places to have one that can manage multiple stones at once.

If employers had to pay their workers or consolidate their profits one stone at a time, it would take a large amount of time to complete all the transactions. This was especially true for vendors who had to share a TD.

As for the lecture hall, it was natural that credits shifted frequently between students and teachers. If they couldn"t swiftly manage large amounts of transactions at once, how could they efficiently use credits as their currency?

Kenja had one more question to ask him.

"I was told these stones only accrue several credits a day. Can Akiyoshi-san tell me whether there is a deeper meaning behind this?"

Kenja was fascinated with these stones. They functioned similarly to spirit stones by gathering energy over time except that they filtered out the Yin energy and seemed to have no maximum capacity.

Low-tier spirit stones couldn"t naturally gather an infinite amount of Qi. This is why there was a distinction between the different tiers of spirit stones.

Hideaki nodded his head with his eyes closed, understanding the meaning behind Kenja"s question. "My master ran several tests on these stones. Whether he placed the stone inside his bag or left it outside, it only accrued around three to five credits each day. But…"

He leaned over the counter and began speaking softly so that only Kenja and Mizutani could hear. "If you place your stone in the sect"s water, you can guarantee at least six credits a day.

Mizutani rolled her eyes when she heard this. It was a widely-known fact that you could increase the stone"s daily gain by leaving it in the water, but new initiates would usually find that out on their own. Telling Kenja this "secret" was just an attempt to stay in Kenja"s good graces.

"Just be wary about forgetting your stone. If you leave your cave without it, well…" He didn"t need to continue his sentence.

Getting locked out of your cave would be incredibly awkward, and you would have to report to a vice elder to have it opened.

Kenja clasped his hands and bowed. "Thank you for your guidance, Akiyoshi-san. This pamphlet, may I take it with me?"

Kenja no longer had a reason to stay at the Treasury. Most of his questions had been answered, and with the carrier and the pamphlet, he could have his items delivered without leaving his cave.

"Of course, senior sister. Please keep it for as long as you need," Hideaki maintained his professional and business-like smile. Even if the pamphlets weren"t meant to be taken away, he wouldn"t dare decline Kenja"s request.

"One more thing, Akiyoshi-san. I didn"t see those high-tier spirit stones listed in the pamphlet. Are they merely for decoration, or could someone actually purchase them?"

Kenja was quite curious to know how much a high-tier spirit stone was worth, especially after seeing a mid-tier spirit stone was worth 10,000 times the value of a low-tier spirit stone.

Hideaki glanced at the center display and let out a chuckle. "Senior sister is very funny. My master placed them there mainly as a joke. He says that they"re ten billion credits each, but even if we gathered all the credits in the sect, we wouldn"t be able to afford one of them."

Kenja"s mouth went dry when he heard this number.

"Looks like there"s still some things I cannot buy."

"They are there mainly as a goal for those in the sect to strive towards. It also adds to the sect credits" credibility," he explained.

Currencies had to be based on something. A city could trade with tree branches if someone were willing to trade the same amount of gold for every tree branch.

While the sect credits offered a new and interesting way for handling the sect"s business, they weren"t as useful as spirit stones nor could they be used outside the sect. The Treasury guaranteed the credits" inherent value with their exchange rates.

"After all, even if ten thousand mid-tier spirit stones is equivalent to one high-tier spirit stone, you won"t find anyone who would barter away their high-tier spirit stone for such a deal," he said a.s.suredly.

In this way, the credits become more alluring since they could actually be used to trade for items as grand as a high-tier spirit stone.

"This first elder really is something," a.s.sessed Snail.

Kenja had to agree with him. The first elder felt more like a businessman than a cultivator.

"Those spirit stones look quite delectable though. We should teach this first elder a lesson about leaving his wealth out in the open. It"s like I always say, "It is improper to not clasp the good fortune given to us."" Snail stated to Kenja.

Kenja"s spine shivered as he felt a bad case of déjà vu and decided to act fast. He wasn"t about to let Snail put him in another difficult situation.

To Mizutani and Hideaki"s surprise, Kenja quickly grabbed Snail"s sh.e.l.l and tossed him into his storage bag.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DO—" Snail yelled telepathically, as he flew into the bag.

Living things cannot survive for very long within the artificial s.p.a.ce of a storage bag or ring. The oxygen was finite, and side effects could erupt in a living body from prolonged exposure to the spatial techniques used to create the item.

Kenja figured that Snail could survive for a small amount of time and if he got in trouble, he could go into his sh.e.l.l"s s.p.a.ce which seemed to be grander than either of Kenja"s storage items. Kenja decided that Snail definitely needed a time out, so it was okay if he suffered a little bit.

Kenja exhaled a sigh of relief, feeling Sakura vibrating in sheer joy from the treatment Snail had just endured.

Hideaki and Mizutani looked at each other, with confusion filling their eyes. "Senior sister, are you alright?" asked Mizutani, testing Kenja"s temperament.

Without saying a word, Kenja turned to face Hideaki, clasped his hands and bowed. He did the same for Mizutani and left them mystified. He walked out of the building.

An attendant from further inside the Treasury came out carrying a bag and walked over to Mizutani.

"Senior sister, here is your request," he said while holding the bag out.

Mizutani nodded and took the bag. A telepathic message came to her from Hideaki.

"Let"s not speak of this to anyone."

She looked at him with hesitant eyes and responded, "What about my master?"

"The sixth elder?" He paused for a moment"s consideration. "I am sure all the elders know of Hirai-san"s true ident.i.ty. We would only be scolded for having loose lips if we brought her up," he speculated in a dreading tone.

She nodded her head in agreement with his conjecture. She closed her eyes, thinking about her sudden meeting with the undercover expert.

"Did Senior Hirai seem a little...less womanly when she left?" she asked Hideaki, dropping the "Sister" in her address. She felt a bit compet.i.tive when she first saw Kenja"s vibrant appearance, but out of nowhere, Kenja"s aura changed and felt less feminine.

Hideaki smiled kindly at Mizutani. After shielding her in an experiential learning exercise, this Sister Shimizu had become vehemently pa.s.sionate towards him, so he a.s.sumed that she was merely trying to influence his perception towards this new sister.

He advised her, "It"s rude to badmouth your seniors, sister."

Outside the treasury, Kenja was flying fast back towards his cave. He wasn"t sure how Snail would retaliate, so he wanted a more private setting to deal with him.

Without Snail, Kenja reverted to his original appearance and seemed more "man" than woman. Also, he couldn"t speak in a woman"s voice without Snail, so finishing his tour around the sect would have to wait.

He was halfway to the cave when, all of a sudden, his storage bag became heavier.

"What the h.e.l.l…?" Kenja nearly fell off Sakura. He descended to the ground and turned into a deserted alley. He took out the storage bag that was getting heavier with each pa.s.sing second. He dropped to his knees, unable to carry it any longer, and opened it.

Something flew out at a breakneck speed and landed smack on his nose. Each of his eyes was in a staring contest with an eyeball.

"YOU…!" Snail was on Kenja"s nose, one tentacle pointing at each eye.

Kenja wasn"t afraid. On the contrary, he was angry with Snail as well. He furrowed his brows and glared back at Snail, giving him time to finish his thought. The staring contest went on for several breaths until Snail finally began speaking again.

"Disciple, you"ve grown quite brazen since you became my student. You are young and p.r.o.ne to err, so as your master, I will overlook this folly of yours. Do it again, and I will be forced to show you the proper path you must take."

He lifted his tentacles up together and closed his eyes, giving off the appearance of a humble master who had endured the pain his student had caused.

Kenja was furious with this snail"s statement. "Since when did you becoming my servant switch to me becoming your student"???" Who was whose master?

The storage bag became weightless again once Snail had escaped. Kenja put the bag away and plucked Snail from his face. He glared at Snail"s eyeb.a.l.l.s and began speaking in an authoritative manner.

"Listen here, Snail. You can"t keep causing trouble everywhere I go. Remember who you serve." Kenja wasn"t in the mood to give Snail a long lecture, and he doubted that this snail with a short-attention span could pay attention to him for very long.

Snail rolled his eyes and gave a small nod, "Fine, fine. Your master will acquiesce to his cute disciple"s request." He jumped back onto Kenja"s right earlobe.

Kenja had turned back towards his cave again.

"Just refrain from throwing the Supreme Me into storage bags filled with nothing but sand."

Kenja stopped in his tracks after he heard this.

"Nothing but sand?"

He took out his storage bag and used a small amount of Qi to peer inside. The entire s.p.a.ce inside was covered in sand, and his items were nowhere to be found. Even the keystones and treasury carrier were gone.

To increase the weight of the bag, Snail had to do two things.

By modifying the spatial technique used by the bag, the weight of the items were no longer negated. As long as he maintained the adjustment, the bag"s weight would reflect the weight of the items it stored.

After accomplishing that, he had to overwhelm Kenja with enough weight to let him out. He unleashed all this sand from his sh.e.l.l, and once he had let enough sand out, Kenja would be forced to open the bag.

Without him continually maintaining the modification, the bag"s formula would revert back to normal, causing the bag"s weight to disappear, but all the sand still remained inside the bag.

Kenja"s gaze turned icy with a sinister gleam. He grabbed Snail"s sh.e.l.l again and was about to stuff him back into the bag.

"OKAY, OKAY!" he screamed out in protest. Kenja stopped his hand.

"I"ll take back the sand…" Snail offered.

Kenja resumed putting Snail back into the bag.

"OKAY, OKAY! STOP!" Kenja didn"t stop.

"I"LL GIVE BACK THE ITEMS!" Snail submitted desperately, sticking to Kenja"s hand.

Kenja stopped again, watching as all the sand from the bag vanished and all of his items returned.

He put Snail back on his ear.

"But I"m keeping the wax!" he declared righteously.

"This snail…" Kenja rubbed his glabella as they made their way back to the Immortal"s cave.