Chapter 67: A Flying Dou Technique More Suitable for Human Children!
[Three-Star Mission: Hunt the tier-three magical beast 'Thunder-Avoiding Black Rhino' in the Magical Beast Mountains. Requirement: Keep the hide as intact as possible. Additional rewards based on preservation.]
[Reward: Unrestricted-use Yellow-tier Low-Rank Flying Dou Technique – Feather Sheath]
"Uh… Sir, are you… are you sure about this reward?" Mercenary Guild clerk Lin Lei looked at Jiang Lin with a face full of despair.
He had worked at the guild for years and thought he'd seen it all—but never had so many absurd things happened in one day. First, the youth before him, not even twenty, was already a Dou Master—an unbelievable talent. Then he had the nerve to ask if the guild's emblem material was for sale. Seriously? Was he trying to open a rival Mercenary Guild next door?
And now, he was posting a three-star mission and offering… a Yellow-tier low-rank flying technique? Seriously?
What? A flying technique that's just barely… a flying technique? And Yellow-tier low-rank?!
Did this man know how offensive that combination of words sounded?
Wait—what?! It's not even a limited-use scroll? It's a full-on book?!
Good heavens! Who the hell creates flying techniques as open-access books instead of limited-use scrolls?!
On the Dou Qi Continent, Dou Techniques are generally divided into two types. Books can be studied repeatedly. Scrolls, recorded via Dou Qi on special paper, are single-use only.
And what Jiang Lin had handed over… was indeed a Yellow-tier low-rank flying technique in book form: Feather Sheath.
Of course, Lin Lei didn't know the full story. Jiang Lin wasn't trying to be generous. He just couldn't create limited-use scrolls yet and didn't have anything else valuable enough to serve as a three-star mission reward. So he decided to use the result of his yearlong research on the energy nodes of the Purple Cloud Lan Eagle's Purple Cloud Wings—a flying technique specially optimized for the body constitution of human children.
To accommodate Dou Qi apprentices and Dou Practitioners who couldn't project their Dou Qi externally, Jiang Lin designed Feather Sheath with two stages: manual mode and automatic mode.
Yes… don't laugh. The names might be simple, but they were very literal.
In manual mode, Dou Qi apprentices could use their arm meridians to form gliding wings—giving them a small chance to survive a fall from high altitude. Since it uses the arms, it's "manual."
Once someone reaches Dou Practitioner level and can release Dou Qi from the body, the wings could automatically form behind the back—thus, "automatic."
Jiang Lin had plans to upgrade Feather Sheath over time, so he had no problem selling the initial version. It was basically early karma points in case he needed them someday. Besides, he was currently researching flying Dou Artifacts, and Feather Sheath acted as the entry-level license to pilot them. Of course, unauthorized flight was still an option… if you dared.
Jiang Lin didn't yet know that, just like how the high Xuan-tier flying technique Wings of the Eagle was later known as Purple Cloud Wings, his "child-friendly" Feather Sheath would one day become the most popular flying technique on the continent—renamed:
Wings of Wind.
"Don't worry, that's the one. It's probably the only valuable thing I've got on me. Oh, and if they complete the mission, just have them find me at the Miteer Auction House. Just tell them I'm 'Young Lin', an ordinary blacksmith." Jiang Lin smiled at Lin Lei.
While they spoke, the Dou Practitioner sent earlier returned—dragging a little kid behind him.
"That's him! That big brother said the wine tasted great. I only had a sip, and I slept for two days! I was just playing hide-and-seek!" The kid pointed at Jiang Lin with tearful eyes.
Jiang Lin shrugged. Lin Lei stared at him with a complicated expression as Jiang Lin flicked his Qilin badge and headed out.
"Send the 500 gold to the Miteer Auction House. I'll pick it up later."
As he passed through the guild entrance, Jiang Lin spotted a five-man team in assorted armor walking in. Their dense killing aura made his sharp senses tingle, and he instinctively stepped aside.
Soon, idle murmuring among nearby mercenaries cleared his doubts.
"That's the three-star mercenary team, Blood Beast. They're here to report in after completing that spirit herb mission."
"Shh! Don't speak carelessly! They're from the capital—crazy strong. Don't stir trouble."
"Rumor is, they came all the way down from Ghost Suppression Pass in the north. Their aura's intense—I don't think any of them are just Dou Masters…"
No need to guess, Jiang Lin thought. They're all Dou Grandmasters.
He glanced one last time, then headed toward the Miteer Auction House to browse for potential treasures.
Inside the guild, clerk Lin Lei turned slightly pale but kept his composure. He smiled politely at the approaching Blood Beast team. "Sirs, here to accept a mission? We just posted a new three-star one—"
"No need." The team leader, six-star Dou Grandmaster Mu Yun, glanced at him and retrieved a wooden box from his storage ring. "We're here to submit a mission. When can we get the Clarity Pill?"
Lin Lei accepted the box without daring to open it and immediately sent someone to summon the guild leader.
"Rest assured, sirs. Once the contents are verified, the reward will be issued immediately."
"Good." Mu Yun turned to a pale woman behind him. "Mo Lan, hang in there. This pill should help."
The woman named Mo Lan said nothing. Her baggy robe concealed her entire figure, but her clasped hands revealed an oddity—there was a clear difference in size between her left and right.
"Captain, this three-star mission's interesting," a lean, thirty-something man in the group remarked while examining the newly posted Thunder-Avoiding Black Rhino hunt. "The area marked just happens to be along our route. I understand every word in 'Yellow-tier low-rank flying technique'—so why does it sound so strange all together?"
"Let me see… we're already near Qingshan Town? Convenient. We'll take it—hunt on the way," said Mu Yun, slapping the mission slip onto the counter.
The Blood Beast Mercenary Team's next destination… was Qingshan Town!
(END CHAPTER)
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