Aimless Ascension

In the end, Gale couldn't make the deal work, this time around. Well, Shi Fan agreed, which was good, just that he would have to wait a little longer as all of Shi Fan's treasures were with his ghost friend.

Shi Fan must trust that Ghost a great deal to leave everything with her.

After reminding Shi Fan that he would find him again and be ready for the exchange, Gale departed.

There were still a couple of hours for the sun to go down, so they wouldn't have to haste. Vale seemed to be quite familiar with the wilderness, though he refrained from running wild after the day he got lost.

As the two of them moved leisurely at their own pace, the dog halted abruptly, woofing at nothing. Gale blinked and scanned the surroundings carefully when a gothic figure materialised in one branch thirty yards away. That's almost double the distance Gale traversed in one sweep to attack her the other day.

Still, eerie with the black-cloaked clang to her body, hiding everything about her other than the purple eyes, though, her presence was more known this time around.

Gale waited, refraining from making any attempt at conversation. Vale stopped growling, too, as the figure didn't advance to attack.

An exchange went in the silence as if it was a contest to see who would remain silent till the end. The ghostly figure brought out a slab of pure crystal from her clothes, showing it to represent her intention.

"Do you have 'autism' or something?" Gale couldn't help but say.

Again, there was no response. Eventually, she spoke like before, one word at a time. "Exchange," she said. "You. Want?"

"Sure," Gale said, nodding.

"Eighteen hundred gold coins."

"That's a steeper price than I imagined," Gale mumbled. Two kilograms of pure crystal cost him quite close to a thousand gold coins the last time he exchanged, though he hadn't used gold coins at that time, but items of equal value.

Eventually, he could only agree. Pure Crystals were quite a rare ingredient, after all.

It sold out most of the time when it comes to any store, no matter what price it was sold at. Besides, the last time Gale had any exchange of Pure crystal was three, four years ago, in the southern land. Prices of such items tend to fluctuate from time to time.

Or perhaps this ghostly watcher had seen his immense wealth and wanted to rip him off. The former options were probable, though the latter seemed likely.

"Well, will you come down to make the exchange happen?" Gale asked again, finding no response from her.

"Drop the spirit coins on the ground first." Gale still couldn't make out whether it was a woman's voice or a mans, even though Shi Fan seemed certain this figure was a female.

Gale did as he was told as gold spirit coins started to pour out of a hole facing him at eye level. Gale's eyes only watched the black-cloaked figure, though. She was tranquil as always. No flicker of emotion rose in her eyes as she remained on the branch.

"Do you take commissions from everyone?" Gale asked.

The ghostly figure lifted her head to meet his gaze. "As long as the commission didn't ask for anything wicked and in my field."

Gale nodded. He closed the void-lock, measuring there were enough spirit coins on the ground. "And the rate?"

"Depends on the work."

"For general spying?" Gale asked again. "The type you did on me. How much did Shi Fan pay you for that?"

"Two hundred silver spirit coins per day."

Gale tilted his head, as there seemed to be no addition. "Did you give him a friendly discount for being your friend or something 'cause that seemed super cheap?"

She didn't respond.

"Would you agree to a commission from me?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"My availability, your trustworthiness, and the work." She didn't come down to collect the money. "I'm not currently available."

Gale thought she would tell him he was untrustworthy the next moment. "When will you be available?"

"Next week for undercover work only."

"Cool," Gale said, "Do you have a longread?"

The figure shook her head. "You can get Shi Fan's contact from him. He had inherited his master's Longread."

"Or perhaps I should give you mine," Gale said and brought out a small golden gem. He tossed it towards her, though she didn't catch it. Instead, she disappeared from the spot as the contact gem fell to the ground.

This was probably his fastest rejection. Gale lamented and found the figure appearing on a higher branch.

"Don't throw strange stuff at people."

"It's only a communicational construct. You have never seen it? It's quite easy to use, just connect it with a Longread and--" Gale hadn't finished his phrase when he found the slab of pure crystal flying towards him at a tremendous pace.

Gale was taken aback, though he didn't move from his spot. Unlike the ghostly entity, he caught the pure crystal slab with his right arm. It weighed over three kilograms on his hand, leading him to consider if Shi Fan was short on spirit coins.

"Deal's done," the ghostly figure said. "Go back first. I'll collect the coins next."

'Cautious,' Gale mused. That's why she didn't catch the contact gem. Anyway, although he would like to know more about her state and what exactly she was, the ghostly figure was as unapproachable as always.

In the end, he would only leave along with Vale.

Gale halted, walking ten paces away from the heap of coins. The figure was still on the branch. Gale wondered how she appeared so aloof even when being cautious.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Twilight."

"Cool," Gale couldn't help but say, "is that the name you chose?"

Twilight didn't think there was a need to answer his question. She vanished and appeared next to the small heaps of coins. She collected them into her dimension storage device and vanished, not even giving Gale another look.

Gale smiled, turning towards Vale, who looked at him confusingly.

"You're still here, aren't you?" Gale intoned and waited. A serene wind blew from the mountains, fluttering his hair.

No reply came.

"As long as you aren't creepy . . ."

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