Aimless Ascension

[Bonus Chapter: 3/5]

Xiaolin was relatively quieter after whatever Ai whispered into her ears. She had asked a bunch of questions regarding oracles, like the chances of their divination coming true, and what exactly they see.

Of course, only an oracle has the exact accurate answers to these questions, but Gale entertained her as much as he could with his limited knowledge.

In the end, he couldn't satisfy her quench of knowledge. She was mostly quiet during the play, contemplating whatever divination the blind girl gave her.

Gale couldn't leave her in a duller mood for longer on such an occasion as this festival, so he brought her out of the play, moving towards the main event that he was preparing for yesterday.

Gale led her through the path, among the watchful gazes of the crowd. In contemplation, Xiaolin forgot about even asking where Gale was taking her.

Xiaolin only came to her senses when they were before the jewellery shop. The stalls around there were mostly for ornaments, with countless pearls and gems ornaments on display, as well as raw stones to carve ornaments out of.

Gale still felt off seeing most of the expensive commodities of earth on display, like some cheap fast food.

"Master?" Xiaolin asked. She was so taken by the countless gems of the shop that she had to take a moment to remember what she wanted to ask. "Why did you take me here?"

Even though she asked the question, her heart was brimming with anticipation as she could guess the answer already. Whatever the oracle apprentice said to her went in the back of her mind as her eyes scanned the beautiful stones on display.

"Of course, it is to gift you something that can match you," Gale said. "Check out anything you'd like."

With that, Gale gestured to the Oldman in the shop, who was clearly eying at him. Upon getting his call, the old jeweller immediately brought a small treasured box out of his robes and handed it to Gale secretly. He didn't forget to give a soft chap on his shoulder for good luck.

Xiaolin's eyes scoured through all the beautiful jets and pearls in the shop, unable to decide which one she liked the most.

"Master, this is so difficult," Xiaolin said. "You chose for me."

"Well," Gale said, showing her the treasured ornament box. "I already did."

"For me?" Xiaolin asked, discovering the gold-embroidered treasured box.

"Who else other than you?" Gale held his palm towards her as she drew closer. "Go on, open it."

Xiaolin took the box in high spirit, and opened it slowly, her eyes fixated on the opening of the small box. Inside she found a gold necklace with half a dozen sunstone-like gems embellished to it.

Unwittingly, she touched the necklace and sniffed it. She could smell a rich aura of spirituality from them. Although the necklace her elder sister let her borrow was beautiful, it was merely a necklace with no particular spiritual property, but this one was different.

"These gems are Luminous Sunstones," said Gale. "They have been treasured by different cultures for centuries. They are said to have healing properties and bring luck and protection to whoever wears them. However, I scripted them with my finer works to give them another feature."

"What is it?" Xiaolin asked, drawing her eyes off the beautiful gems.

"This is basically a Silver grade artifact," Gale told her, "especially made to rectify the issue of your Qi deficiency. In simpler words, you can store up your Qi into those six sunstones for future use with no particular side effects."

"But master, wouldn't I have to be a Silver ranker to use this?" Xiaolin said, even though her heart was blossoming in delight at his gift.

"No," Gale said, "I made it keeping your rank in mind, so you won't have trouble using its features. Do you like it?"

"I love it," Xiaolin said, hugging him, forgetting that she was still in public. Xiaolin blushed, remembering the fact as she ended the hug.

"Then let me help you wear it,' Gale said and took the necklace from her.

Xiaolin welcomed him, lifting her head. Gale smiled and unclipped the clasp of the necklace she was already wearing.

"Master, do it slowly, it--" Before Xiaolin could finish, the borrowed necklace fell to the ground, its clasp broken.

"Oops," Gale grunted, and used his wind power to spring it back up in his fingers.

"The clasp was barely holding it in," Xiaolin said. "Elder sister warned me to take care of it."

"Don't worry, I can fix it easily," Gale said. He won't have to give it to the jewellers to repair. Gale stored the old necklace in his void lock and focused on putting the new one onto her neck.

"You have to use some of your Qi to bond the item," Gale said, "but I guess we can leave that for later."

He shifted her hair to one side, standing behind her. Xiaolin stood there, blushing as Gale put the embellished gems on her chest first, and tied the clasp of the other two ends behind her neck.

Done with that, Gale came before her, inspecting. "Hmm, I fell short," he muttered, "this necklace hardly can match your beauty."

"I absolutely love this gift, Master," Xiaolin squeaked in delight, even though she couldn't, she herself wearing the necklace.

Then her mood went sourer, not remembering the words of the oracle, but about her situation. She had nothing to gift to her master.

"Don't think too much," Gale told her, brushing his lips on her neck slightly. "You have already given yourself to me, even with my countless faults. You need not give anything more."

Xiaolin blushed red like a tomato, though she wasn't satisfied with not giving anything. She guessed she had to rack her brain out to find something she could give her master that would delight him to no end.

"Of course, you can give me something lucrative soon if you will it," Gale whispered into her ears. "Remember the night you came to my room? We can further the dicipling, if you desired it."

Xiaolin breathed hot air. Her nostrils flared with desire, even though she knew her master wouldn't take her innocence. Not when she couldn't completely accept him.

However, there were still plenty of things for her to learn.