While Fang Yuan was busy deliberating over this, life in Gu Yue village moved on.
As more and more of the students finally managed to refine their Moonlight Gu, it was time for them to actually put this into practical usage.
"Alright," the academy elder said as they were all gathered in a courtyard near the school. "Many of you have chose the clan's signature Moonlight Gu as your vital gu, and today we will be practicing how to use it."
He stood in front of a grass puppet that was being used as a dummy for this demonstration. About two-thirds of the class were expectantly standing near the academy elder. The rest were standing to the side; those who had not chosen the Moonlight Gu as their vital gu.
Granted, Fang Yuan hadn't chosen it as his vital gu either, but none of the others had more than a single gu worm at this stage.
Among those standing to the side was a girl with an ashen expression.
"Now, first off, you summon the Moonlight Gu to your palm," the academy elder said. Normally the gu would appear as a crescent on the forehead, but it now moved to the open palm of his hand. "Next, you infuse it with your primeval essence."
As he did so, a crescent-shaped object appeared that flickered with azure light.
"Amazing!"
"Beautiful!"
"Right," the academy elder said, now that everyone's attention was on him. "Then, you launch it like so." He tossed the moonblade, with it flying towards the neck of the grass puppet kept ten meters away. It made a clear cut through its neck, decapitating it, and then flew on for about six meters more before dissipating.
There were cheers at his display, though Fang Yuan's heart was unmoved. He had seen far more spectacular displays than this.
"Alright now," the academy elder said. "All of you line up and start practicing!"
Moonblades soon began to fly, with the vast majority of people not hitting anywhere close to the target. That was to be expected as this was the first time that they were using this gu worm.
"Man, every single attack takes up 10% of my primeval essence!" one person said, after they had tossed out three moonblades they were completely spent and could send out no more.
Fang Yuan, out of boredom, threw a moonblade at the practice dummy to his left, decapitating it. At once, the courtyard was full of cries of astonishment.
"Who sent that?"
"It was amazing!"
"A perfect shot!"
The person who everyone attributed the attack to was as shocked as anyone else that such a thing had happened.
"Alright, listen up," the academy elder said. "This is your homework- keep on practicing the moonblade, and in three day's we will hold a contest. Whoever wins will get ten primeval stones!"
New Main Mission!
Moonblade Master
Description: Win the moonblade contest.
Reward: Permanent 2% increase to your aptitude.
Fang Yuan calmly assessed the prompt the system spat out.
In truth, much like refining gu, this was another 'rich get richer' scheme where those with more aptitude had more primeval essence, and therefore could practice more.
However, with his abundant experience using gu worms he would have no problem coming out ahead of everyone else.
Once the day was over, the students began to slowly drift out of the academy. Some of them went to the Gu Room to see if they could snatch up another gu, while others went to the supply store next to it.
"Ayo, Moneybags!" the Gu Master in charge of the shop said as he saw Fang Yuan walk in. Who was it other than Jiang Ya?
Jiang Ya was inwardly kicking himself when he heard that Fang Yuan had found the Flower Wine Monk's Inheritance. To think that if they had just followed him... that reward could have been theirs! Not to mention, they had written off Fang Yuan as a spoiled brat who would soon run out of whatever money his uncle had left him.
To think that he had then been given 500 primeval stones!
The thought made Jiang Ya's blood boil, but there was nothing he could do other than smile when he saw Fang Yuan. 'Heaven is truly unfair- to give such a windfall to someone who so little deserves it!"
Forget the 500 stones, he was more interested in the Liquor Worm. If he had that, he might've been at Rank 2 by now!
"Wanna buy a grass puppet?" Jiang Ya asked. "Only seven are left and they're selling like hotcakes- I can reserve one for you for three primeval stones!"
Fang Yuan snorted inside. The puppet was not worth more than half of that amount, but the moment that Jiang Ya made it sound like there was a scarcity, people lined up to pay the exorbitant amount to him.
"And you?" Jiang Ya asked when the others had left, offering him a puppet that he 'conveniently' found under the counter even though all of the seven in supply had been sold off. "This is for emergencies and I'm really not supposed to sell it, but for you, I can part with it for only five stones."
Fang Yuan shook his head. "No, I would like to buy ten moon orchid flower petals please."
Jiang Ya handed him a bag full of the petals.
This was the food needed to feed the Moonlight Gu. It was the clan's specialty, and there was a clever scheme behind it.
For you see, since many people in the clan used the signature Moonlight Gu, even refining it as their vital gu, they would always be dependent on finding moon orchid flower petals to feed them. Many of its more advanced forms also needed the same.
Because the moon orchids were a specialty of the clan, it meant that these gu masters would be tied up with the clan. It would be extremely difficult for people to find it outside on the market, so if anyone left, they would have to change their vital gu which was not easy.
That was also why Fang Yuan absolutely did not want to accept the Moonlight Gu as his vital gu- he was planning on leaving the village as soon as he was able to, after all.
Feeding gu was a huge headache. In his prior life, before he had gone down the demonic path, there had been times when all of his gu worms had starved and he was left little better than a common mortal.
Aside from the moon orchids, he needed to buy wine regularly to feed the Liquor Worm, though that was easy enough to get from the village inn where he could also get his meals.
Even such a small thing as feeding two gu worms would've put quite a strain on his finances were this him in his earlier life, but now, with the help of the system and the 500 stone reward he had gotten, it was not an issue for now. The White Boar Gu was indeed an issue he needed to take care of in the future, but it could wait.