Chapter 2696 Rewarding Meng Bai
Chapter 2696 Rewarding Meng Bai
Having sorted through the items, Lin Mu shifted his attention to Meng Bai, who was still deep in thought. The young boy seemed to be contemplating something heavily, his brows furrowed, his fingers twitching slightly as if working through an invisible puzzle.
"Don't obsess over it. You will understand it over time." Lin Mu advised, breaking Meng Bai out of his trance.
Meng Bai blinked and straightened, quickly dispelling his thoughts. "Yes, Master."
Lin Mu studied the boy for a moment, then a thoughtful expression crossed his face. "For now though, I suppose a reward is in order."
Meng Bai tilted his head in confusion. "A reward?"
Lin Mu gave a slight nod, a rare hint of amusement in his tone. "You found these, so you definitely deserve one." He wasn't one to take everything for himself without acknowledging contributions, and Meng Bai had certainly earned his due.
Meng Bai's eyes lit up with excitement. "Really!?"
"Indeed." Lin Mu replied with certainty. "And I know just what to give you."
He reached into his spatial ring and retrieved two items—one was a ring, and the other was a pendant, both imbued with a faint but distinct spiritual energy.
Meng Bai's eyes widened as he immediately recognized them. "Spatial Storage Tools?"
Lin Mu handed them over. "Your very own."
The boy hesitated for just a moment before reverently accepting them, his fingers tracing over the smooth surfaces in awe. "Whoa…" he breathed.
Spirit-Grade Spatial Storage Tools were incredibly expensive, well beyond the reach of someone like him. Any that he had come across through less-than-honest means had always been sold off quickly, as keeping them would have only invited unnecessary trouble.
After all, a peasant wearing a jade ring would always invite the wrong kind of attention.
Lin Mu interrupted his wonder. "Use your Spirit Sense to imprint them."
Meng Bai nodded and focused, doing as instructed. A minute later, both the ring and the pendant had been successfully bound to him.
"Wow… just how big are they?" he asked, still in disbelief.
"About a square cubic kilometer each." Lin Mu replied casually.
Meng Bai nearly dropped them. "A square cubic kilometer? They're high-grade Spirit Storage tools!"
Lin Mu chuckled at his reaction. "It might seem like a lot, but you'll run out of space faster than you realize."
The boy stared at the ring in his hand, shaking his head in amazement. "I see… I'll look forward to filling them."
Lin Mu nodded in approval. "That's the right answer. So why don't we get to it?"
Before Meng Bai could respond, Lin Mu reached into his own storage space and took out a large pile of spirit stones. With a soft rumble, the shimmering stones tumbled to the ground, forming a small hill.
Meng Bai's eyes widened. "This… is for me?"
Just standing near the pile, he could feel the mist of spirit Qi rising from it, refreshing his body and mind.
"You'll be needing them." Lin Mu stated simply. "Trust me, you'll run out before you even realize it."
Meng Bai opened his mouth, then closed it, completely at a loss for words. He had never seen so many spirit stones in one place before, let alone possessed them. Finally, swallowing his disbelief, he carefully stored them into his new ring.
Lin Mu raised a brow. "That was fast. First-timers usually need a few tries."
Meng Bai rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "It was rather simple. You just cover the items with your spirit sense and trigger the ring to store them, right?"
Lin Mu chuckled. "Indeed."
Seeing that Meng Bai had already grasped the basics, Lin Mu took out another set of items—various cultivation resources, including alchemical pills, formation materials, and more.
Meng Bai wasted no time storing them away, though his hands itched to count them all. He had spent years scraping by, gathering resources bit by bit, so this sudden abundance felt almost overwhelming.
Lin Mu then spoke again, his tone turning more serious. "Now… for the important part."
Meng Bai turned his full attention to him, anticipation clear in his eyes.
"What weapon would you like?" Lin Mu asked.
Meng Bai blinked. "A Spirit Weapon?"
However, his initial excitement quickly gave way to uncertainty. Lin Mu noticed the hesitation. "What is it?"
Meng Bai hesitated for a few moments before answering. "Uhh… I haven't used any before."
Lin Mu frowned slightly. "You haven't?"
Even if spirit weapons were expensive, basic ones weren't entirely out of reach. Farmers often used spirit-grade tools like axes, hoes, and sickles. Even a discarded scrap of spirit metal could be forged into a blade. If nothing else, Meng Bai's understanding of formations should have allowed him to carve rudimentary runes onto common object like a spirit tree branch to enhance their effectiveness and turn them into a simple staff or club.
Meng Bai scratched his cheek awkwardly. "I mean, I've held and swung some, but never actually used them against others." He thought for a moment. "I suppose I've used knives for cutting vegetables and hammers when I helped out Mr. Lan with fixing furniture… but that's about it."
Lin Mu raised an eyebrow. "That… is unexpected."
Meng Bai shifted uncomfortably before explaining further. "It's also that… having weapons on you can go wrong fast if you get caught by guards or the people you steal from. They take you as a bigger threat. If you get arrested without weapons, it's just a week in jail. But if you have weapons, it can be taken as a more severe crime—you can be flogged or worse."
Lin Mu processed the information carefully. He hadn't considered that angle. "I see…" he murmured, taking a different approach.
"I suppose we can start from the basics," he muttered, more to himself than Meng Bai. Then, looking at the boy directly, he asked, "Would you prefer to fight at close range or from afar?"
Meng Bai tilted his head. "Fighting from a distance would be safer, right?"
Lin Mu nodded. "It is, yeah. So I guess we can start with ranged weapons first."
Without another word, Lin Mu reached into his storage and pulled out a selection of weapons, laying them out before Meng Bai. The boy's eyes flickered with intrigue and curiosity as he examined them, his mind already running through possibilities.