Aimless Ascension

Wang Li prepared to visit the guild on her own, but at the last minute, she asked Xiaolin to join her. The poor girl had been growing frustrated getting nowhere with her cultivation.

Even though she had enough resources and worked all day diligently, Xiaolin hadn't made much progress these past few days. Her old problems still impeded her practice, rendering all her efforts futile. Frustrated, she even started practising punching, kicking, and weightlifting.

Xiaolin was exhausted on the ground when Wang Li found her.

Despite being tired, Xiaolin was interested in Fate locks, so she joined, washing immediately. The path wasn't long, barely a few minutes of walk from the inn. They still visited with enough time in hand, knowing it could take them a couple of hours easily, even though they were only there to see.

"Elder sister, what do you know about Fate locks?"

"Not much in particular," Wang Li hummed in reply. "The usual that you're aware of, such as each rank only let you fuse with one fate lock, and their types. Also, the fusion being permanent until you die."

"I heard from Senior Gale, artificial fate locks are removable."

"Really," Wang Li considered. That foreigner seemed to know a lot of things, though mostly about odd things.

Wang Li didn't really have any reserved thoughts in this regard. As long as the fate-lock would let her advance to the next rank, she was fine with it.

It was not like she was going to join the army and fight. Still, she wanted something that would give her some auxiliary abilities. Something that could boost her other skills.

Wang Li wasn't that good at concocting medicine, but she knew a thing or two. She was good at gardening too, though she didn't know what kind of Fate lock there would be that could help her in gardening. Well, she makes clothes too, but she couldn't think of any fate locks that could boost in this direction.

"All Fate locks, even the same kind, aren't the same," Wang Li continued, remembering she knew more of the subject. "Some of them tend to have restrictions, some needed complicated rituals to fuse, while some could hardly be of any use."

Wang Li had studied all this when she was young. The one her grandmother had–the one her grandfather failed to fuse with—seemed to be one of the unique ones. It was a life attributed and rather rare. It was mostly used in prolonging one's life, although it could give super regeneration and healing power.

Aunt Ling'er, Grandma's first daughter, had the exact thought when she picked the fate lock for her mother. She wanted her mother to live longer, however, Grandma Wang didn't have it in her that she could advance further.

Besides, the ritual of fusing with the said fate lock was troublesome. They have to fuse with it right the moment one advances a rank. It had killed her grandfather, although Grandfather was quite old back then, at the end of his life span. The last struggle had been a gamble.

Anyway, Grandma was ready to pass on the Fate lock to her. Wang Li didn't know what to think of that. Although Grandma could live for a few decades more, she was uneasy about accepting it.

Well, even if she accepted it, it wasn't like she could use it. She could only fuse with it when she advanced to iron, but to advance to iron, she had to lock her foremost fate first.

That's why she was here.

"Linlin, do you have any type of fate lock you'd like to have?"

"I don't have a preference," Xiaolin said absent-mindedly. "And it's not that I can afford anything but the cheapest type."

"Still, it doesn't hurt to dream."

Xiaolin hummed in thought. "Well, if it's simply dreaming, then I always liked to fly. Like a bird, spreading my wings wide in the vast sky."

"Yes, flying is a good option. That reminded me, your senior Gale can fly."

"What?!" Xiaolin broke out of her absent-mindedness and faced her.

"I've seen him fly," Wang Li said, "though he didn't seem to have wings."

"Wings?" Abruptly, a new voice joined them. "My senior sister has a pair."

They barely reached the guild when they found the familiar foreigner coming out. They hadn't thought of seeing Gale here, as he was supposed to come to the inn first whenever he visit the town.

"Senior," Xiaolin said.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Senior, you can fly?"

Gale nodded. "I can dance, surf, cook, and play musical instruments, too."

"But you do fly?"

"Sure. Want me to give you a lift?"

"Yes, Xiaolin would like that very much," Wang Li chimed from the sides.

"So what brings two beautiful ladies to the guild?" Gale asked.

"My, my, are you flirting?" Wang Li intoned.

"I'm merely stating the facts," Gale said, gesturing at the crowd. "Look at the crowd and see how many of them are gaping."

"Certainly, most of them were wasted on Linlin."

"Elder sister!" Xiaolin blushed and could not meet their gaze.

"Well, Madam Wang, you're in the mood today. So what really brings you here?"

"The cultivation chamber needs renovation," Wang Li said. "Also, we're here to see what kind of fate locks are available."

"Fate-locks?" Gale repeated. "I can be an expert in that topic. Well, at least better than anyone you can find in the guild. Will you like me as your guide?"

Wang Li turned to stare at Xiaolin who was elected just the very prospect of her senior Gale joining. In the end, Wang Li couldn't dampen Linlin's mood.

"Well, if it doesn't upset your schedule, please join us."

__________

Hello guys, we have a discord server now. Join us to chat, fool around, or simply read preview chapters of my other work.

Discord: https://discord.gg/DFynG4y4Na

Also, current schedule: 2 chaps on weekdays, 3 on weekends.

That would still leave a dozen chapters short of reaching the 80-chapter mark. Perhaps a mass release. . . . Comment to let me know.

Goal for next month: if the book reaches 1000 privilege chapters unlock this month, then 5 chapters mass-release next month.

Current progress on the goal: 35/1000