"Don't worry about the price. I will pay for them even if you can afford it." Yuan said to Yu Rou after hearing her words.
"Really?" Yu Rou's eyes flickered with excitement.
Although it felt weird at first, she eventually got used to being spoiled by Yuan. Now, she even enjoys being spoiled.
"Meixiu, Miss Xia, I will also pay for your techniques."
"Eh? You don't have to pay for my stuff as well…" Xia Jingyi said in a surprised voice, and she continued, "Also, you can just call me Jingyi. It feels weird being called 'Miss' by someone older than me."
"It's okay. Just let me pay for it. It'll also feel weird for me if I pay for everyone else but you." Yuan insisted on paying for her cultivation techniques.
"O-Okay… Thank you, Senior Yu."
"Senior Yu? Just call me Yu Tian." Yuan chuckled.
"Anyways, let's go check out the techniques."
A few minutes later, they arrived at the reception desk.
"Hello, we'd like to check the prices for these techniques." Yu Rou said to the young man working behind the desk.
"Hmm?"
The young man turned to look at Yu Rou with a pondering expression on his face.
"Oh, I remember you. You're that girl who bought the Wind Blade technique a while ago." The young man said, as he was there during Yuan and Yu Rou's first visit to the store.
He then turned to look at Yuan, "It's good to see you again, Senior."
"Hello. You're still working at the desk? You don't have to rotate with another person like Zhu Yuying?" Yuan asked him.
"Haha… I am a permanent worker here, so no, I don't have any replacements," he said.
"I see… Anyways, how much for these techniques?"
"Let me see what you got."
Yu Rou and the others placed the techniques in their grasp on the table, and the young man immediately began looking through the scrolls.
"Your total will come out to 0 gold coins." The young man said with a smile on his face.
"Excuse me?" Yu Rou raised her eyebrows in a puzzled manner, clearly doubting what she'd just heard.
"Did you just say 0 gold coins? Isn't that basically free?" Yuan asked with a surprised look on his face.
"Yes, it's free." The young man nodded.
"Why is it free?" Xia Jingyi asked him.
The young man looked at Yuan and said, "As long as you're part of the faction, everything in the Myriad of Techniques is free as long as the technique is below Heaven-rank."
"Faction? What is he talking about, brother?" Yu Rou turned to ask him.
"Ehh… I will explain later." Yuan said.
Then he turned to look at the young man and asked, "Are there any limitations? Like I cannot share or sell the techniques. After all, getting all of the techniques I want for free sounds a little bit… too good to be true…"
"The only limitation is that you are limited to 10 free techniques a year. If you want to sell or share the technique, you are free to do so." The young man said.
Yu Rou and Xia Jingyi turned to look at each other with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. They were shocked speechless by Yuan's privilege. What exactly is a faction, and how do they join it?
'My parents had to shell out a few billion dollars to acquire a Heaven-rank cultivation technique, but Brother Tian only needed to join a faction to obtain 10 free techniques every year as long as it's below Heaven-rank?' Yu Rou thought to herself.
"If you think this is too good to be true, just wait until you achieve a higher faction rank, since the higher your rank, the better techniques you get to take for free." The young man continued.
"A-Are you also part of the faction?" Yuan couldn't help but ask him.
"Hahaha… of course, not. It's too unrealistic for me— to the point where I cannot even dream about being part of Master Bai's faction."
"Eh? Then how did you know that I am part of the faction?" Yuan then asked.
The young man then retrieved a talisman from under the desk and said, "When this talisman glows gold, it means there's someone from the faction in front of me. That's how I knew."
"Wow, that's pretty neat. Do you think I can get one as well?"
"I'm sorry, Senior, but this isn't something that can be given to everyone even if they're from the faction. I only have one because I am working at the Myriad of Techniques. If you want one, you'll have to acquire the rank of Captain." The young man explained to him.
"I see… Thanks for letting me know." Yuan said.
He then turned to look at Yu Rou and the others.
"Since I can acquire any technique below Heaven-rank for free and I still have ten slots this year, do you want to go back and look around some more? I wouldn't be surprised if there were some techniques that caught your interest but you decided to ignore them because you were worried about the price."
"R-Really? You're going to use your precious 10 slots for us?" Yu Rou looked at him with wide eyes.
"Yes. I don't mind." Yuan nodded.
"Thank you, brother! I love you!" Yu Rou said to him.
"T-Thank you, Yu Tian. I will definitely return this favor one day in the future." Xia Jingyi lowered her head and bowed to him.
"Guess I will hold onto these techniques for now." The young man said with a smile on his face.
Yu Rou and the others left the place shortly after and returned to the second floor to look at the techniques one more time.
"Yingying, what about you? You only know a single technique right now, right? You should look around, too." Yuan said to her afterward.
Lan Yingying then appeared before him and said, "Is it really okay for me to get a technique as well?"
"Of course." He nodded.