Damian walked into the Mission Hall, that he had previously confronted Larry in, and he was welcomed with a gentle smile from the receptionist that had been there the last time that he entered the Mission Hall.
"Do you remember how the Mission Hall works and the different mission ranks, or do you need me to remind you?" asked the receptionist kindly.
"It is fine, I remember" answered Damian as he walked past her to where the missions were spread out across a wall.
She was nice to him the first time that he came to the mission hall, but it wasn't to that extent and it was obvious to Damian that the way that most people treated him was based on his master being a great elder and what they had heard of him.
Damian hadn't stirred up any problems while he was focusing on his training, but his reputation was still widely known in the Aria Branch of Akegria Academy and many people were awaiting his arrival at the Inner Academy, wanting to get a chance to battle against him and increase their reputation.
However it was also widely known that the great elder wasn't directly teaching Damian and he was dealing with and reforming the academy, so Damian didn't have an advantage over the other students in terms of teaching.
But Damian didn't feel like he needed somebody to train him and he only felt that it would hinder his progress and development.
As long as he had the fundamentals and basic knowledge that he needed in order to increase his cultivation level, Damian felt that with the Golden Flame Inheritance and the Shadow Steps Skill Book, he could increase his strength alone.
With both the method books he had could cultivate until the peak of rank 9 and he was sure that they had the method to surpass the cultivation level that he was on, so still had a long way to go before he had to seek out new methods and skills.
Over his past months of training, he hadn't dared to enter the Shadow Form again as he knew that he was lucky the first time he entered the Shadow Form as he had only suffered minimal backlash, and before he could use the Shadow Form comfortably, he needed to become more confident in the use of the Shadow Element.
He knew he could only choose a D ranked missions, as he was still only an Outer Academy Student, but looking at them, most of them didn't interest him.
Many of them were very basic, simple and easy missions and Damian was looking for a mission that would give him a big reward and was also increase his combat experience and his experience of battling out in the real world.
It took him a while, but he finally found one that piqued his interest and it wasn't a mission that required direct combat, yet was still interesting.
[An escort mission. I, along with other cultivators that were hired, will escort a carriage, that has a special parcel, as it is transported across the city and will need to protect the carriage, the driver, the 2 passengers and the parcel. It sounds interesting and will give me 150 contribution points, so it is a lucrative mission] thought Damian to himself
Picking the mission, there was nobody that dared to take it off him and although its difficulty level seemed too high for somebody as young, inexperienced and weak as Damian to take on alone, the receptionist knew she was in no position to not allow him to take the mission.
[There are 3 days until the mission begins, until then, I can train and maybe find another way to get a bow] thought Damian to himself as he left the mission hall after the receptionist officially put him down as the one that accepted the mission.
He knew that with the minimal amount of contribution points that he had, he wouldn't be able to buy a bow from the Trading Hall, but maybe if he went to the Specialisation Hall and asked for a favour from any blacksmith or weapon forger that he found, he might be able to get a weapon made for him.
He knew it was unlikely that somebody would make or give him a bow for free or just as a favour, but it was worth a try and he had also been planning to check out the Specialisation Hall anyway.
There was only one building that was used by Specialisation Hall in the Aria Branch of Akegria Academy, but all of the different specialisations that came with it had their own buildings as well.
There were many different specialisations available, but most of the specialisations were run by elders of the academy and they had the complete authority and freedom to accept and refuse any student that wanted to join their Academy Specialisation Class.
Alchemy and Pill Making was a great profession that was very useful and lucrative, but it didn't interest Damian much and wasn't something that he was planning on pursuing, while Weapon Forging and Rune Inscribing were the same thing.
Damian's main focus and desire was to increase his own strength, which could overshadow everything else and was more important, but if he could get a high-quality bow by joining a specialisation class, that he wasn't obligated to attend, he was more than happy to.
Reaching the front of the specialisation hall there was a young male that greeted him respectfully.
"Welcome to the specialisation hall, what may I interest you with today," asked the young man respectfully, most likely knowing of who he was, and more importantly, who his master was.
The way Damian was being treated differently to everybody else was quite annoying, but it gave him a sense of security knowing that everyone was afraid of his master and he was grateful to his master for it.
"What kinds of specialisations do you have" asked Damian, wanting to see whether he would find the opportunity, that he was looking for, to get a bow or join a useful specialisation class.