The girl's eyes swept the small space — taking in the near-empty shelves, the half-organized scrolls, and Riven in front of the counter — before settling on Bosu.
To Riven's surprise, she nodded politely. "Bosu."
"Ah!" Bosu beamed, pushing to his feet. "You're here on time. Beautiful."
He gestured between them quickly. "Riven, meet Yue Lin. Yue Lin, Riven."
Riven nodded in greeting, wondering about the unusual name.
She gave the barest of nods back.
Name aside, Riven knew who she was.
The star disciple of the Graveweaver Court.
The only one at the entire banquet who had reached the Inner Condensation Realm.
To be honest, he wondered how he'd fare in a fight against her.
If it was anyone else at the banquet, even Ziren, he had faith he'd win.
But she was at a another cultivation realm alltogether, so he wasn't that assured with her.
That didn't mean he was scared to fight her though.
His eyes flicked toward Bosu.
He was sure it was no coincidence that she was here right now.
If he wasn't wrong, Bosu had invited her too.
The only question was... how did an ordinary disciple like him manage to invite her?
But what Riven didn't know was that Bosu, despite the soft cheeks and questionable business slogans, was actually something of a star disciple himself — at least within Silk Dominion.
And not the pigtailed girl.
Like what Riven thought.
She was strong, sure.
But strength wasn't the currency Silk Dominion valued most.
Business acumen was.
And in that regard, Bosu outshined most of his peers.
Quick-talking. Quick-thinking. Profitable.
From star disciple to star disciple, maybe it wasn't so strange after all.
"Right, so—" Bosu clapped his hands together, the grin never leaving his face. "You're both here, which means you're interested. And that's great, because I've got plans. Big ones."
Then — surprisingly — his tone shifted. Just slightly. A hint of something more grounded threading through the excitement.
The sudden switch in tone was jarring — but somehow, it suited Bosu. Like a merchant shifting prices mid-negotiation.
"You might not know too much about how things work in the Silk Dominion," he said, looking between them. "But to advance from inner disciple to core disciple… you don't just have to cultivate. You have to prove you can turn a profit."
He tapped the desk with a knuckle. "Start your own business. Make it successful. Show the sect you're worth investing in."
Riven tilted his head slightly.
What did that have to do with him?
Bosu continued. "So this is my bid for promotion. And I'm serious about making it work."
He stood a little straighter. "I don't just want this to succeed — I know it will."
"I can sell things for above market price. Not by tricking anyone — but by knowing where, when, and how to sell. People in this city come through from all corners. That means different demand curves, different regional shortages. The same herb worth one coin here might be worth three to a traveling alchemist headed east."
He grinned again. "All I need is product."
He spread his hands like it was obvious. "Which is where you come in. You two go out, find valuable things — rare materials, spirit herbs, monster parts, ancient debris — bring them back to me, and I sell it all for top coin."
"We split the profits. Fairly. Cleanly. No tricks."
He looked between them. "If you want fast money — this is the easiest shot you'll get."
Neither Riven nor Yue Lin spoke at first.
Bosu didn't seem bothered by the silence. He leaned back slightly, arms folding behind his head as if giving them time to let it all sink in.
Riven's eyes narrowed faintly.
"Why us?"
It was a decent enough pitch — if a little theatrical — but still. There were surely stronger cultivators out there. More experienced ones. Veterans of the city who already had a name or reputation.
Bosu didn't miss a beat.
"Because you're both exactly the kind of people I like to work with."
He sat up a little straighter, his grin softening into something a touch more genuine.
"Smart. Capable. Hungry."
He gestured loosely between them. "You've both got serious backgrounds — Venomthread, Graveweaver — but you're still young. Still building. Which means you've got room to grow. Potential."
He leaned back again, hands folding behind his head.
Of course Bosu wouldn't say the whole truth.
Wouldn't say that he'd picked them because they were just the right mix of strong and not too connected — talented enough to be useful, but still early enough in their cultivation journeys not to be surrounded by protective elders or political baggage.
Wouldn't say that they were strong but not strong enough to make him scared for his life.
Wouldn't say he didn't really know many others at their level.
Afterall it was his first time out of the sect too.
nstead, he just smiled again and said, "So. Are you in?"
Riven didn't answer right away.
Of course he knew Bosu wasn't saying everything.
But he hadn't expected him to.
He might've opened up more since leaving the sect, but he'd still spent the last months inside Venomthread. He wasn't naïve enough to take every word at face value.
Still.
This was the best shot he had.
"…I'm in."
He said it evenly, without flourish.
Next to him, Yue Lin nodded once. "Me too."
Bosu clapped his hands once, delighted. "Wonderful! I knew you two were sharp."
Riven leaned forward slightly, cutting through the moment. "So how are we actually supposed to gather materials?"
Bosu blinked, then grinned. "Ah, right — the part where you leave the city, find stuff and fight dangerous things. There is actually a very convenient solution for that…"
He reached under the desk, rummaging through a stack of scrolls and miscellaneous odds and ends, until he pulled out a thin wooden token, engraved with a sword crossed over a coin.
"The Mercenary Guild," he said, flipping the token toward Riven, who caught it with one hand. "Technically neutral, fully sanctioned, and perfectly happy to send people like you two into forests filled with horrible things in exchange for coin."
Riven turned the token in his hand. The carving was simple, but the wood was high quality — faintly infused with stabilizing qi, probably to keep it from being easily forged.
"You two should register as mercenaries," Bosu explained, tapping the side of his head. "That gets you access to their mission board, lets you take regional bounties, and most importantly — they'll handle legal clearances for traveling through different cities. It served as a form of identification and makes a lot of stuff easier."
Yue Lin raised an eyebrow.
"And most importantly." Bosu continued. "Through the available missions you can see where stuff is. So if a mission asks you to collect ten pieces of some kind of ore, in nine out of ten cases there is more than just ten piece of ore to be found there. So you can just keep the rest, give it to me and ill sell it for bigger profit.
"Sounds like you thought this through well," Riven muttered.
Bosu laughed. "Of course. Verdance also has a Mercenary Guild branch," Bosu said. "I already checked. You two can head there now and get registered. It's on one of the public trees — look for one with occasional pink leaves and the number one engraved near the base."
Bosu clasped his hands together again. "Once you're registered, come back and let me know. I've already marked a few promising low-difficulty missions that should help us stock the shelves."
He looked proud for a moment — genuinely proud.
"This place might not look like much yet, but just you wait. We're going to make it shine."
Riven rose from his stool.
Yue Lin followed suit.
"Don't get scammed at the guild," Bosu called after them cheerfully. "Registration should only cost one halfmoon coin."
Riven gave a vague nod over his shoulder as they stepped out into the bustle of the shopping tree.
The air was warm. Loud.
Orange leaves fluttered overhead, stirred by the constant shifting of people moving between levels, stalls, and branches.
For a moment, Riven walked in silence beside Yue Lin.
He was a little more confident in his decision to stay here now.
Not because of Bosu's empty words.
But because of something he'd mentioned in passing earlier.
This was his bid to advancing to Core Disciple.
Which meant he was already an Inner Disciple.
And Riven knew, that just like him, Bosu was a new member of his sect.
And while Riven had some special circumstances.
If Bosu managed to become an Inner Disciple so fast, he had to have some capabalities.
Afterall even in Venomthread, Riven aside, the only new disciple who had reached the level of Inner Disciples was Ziren.
And he certainly wasn't a slouch.
Also there was one more thing giving him confindence.
He looked to his left, at Yue Lin, whos face was partly covered by her hair.
With someone like her joining him in this venture.
He had some additional reassurance.
The only problem was...
She didn't seem very social.
He wasn't either to be fair.
But he felt like the way to the Mercenery Guild might be covered in awkward silence.