I Level Up By Making Enemies

The sky was still dark when Lin Feng left Block C.

Lu Cang stood in the doorway with a blanket over his shoulders.

The outer sect were almost empty before dawn. Only a few duty disciples moved under the lantern posts, carrying water buckets or sweeping fallen bamboo leaves. Lin Feng crossed the lower courtyard, climbed the east route, and reached East Post Gate while the mist still clung to the stone.

A small group had already gathered under the gate arch. There were five of them in total, not counting Lin Feng. Three inner sect disciples inn standard robes. One junior in cleaner robes and at the front stood the team leader. An inner disciple with a dark cyan sash. He noticed Lin Feng’s token first, then his face.

”Lin Feng.” The leader said

” I’m Shen Li, responsible for Boundary Task 07. This is a collection assignment. We harvest low grade Clearvein Grass outside the eastern ridge, stay inside the marked posts, fill quota, and return before late afternoon. No private detours or duels.”

His eyes rested on Lin Feng a moment longer than the others.

”Especially you. You’re support personnel. That means you carry bags, cut where you’re told, and only voice your opinions when asked.”

”Understood,” Lin Feng said.

Shen Li clearly disliked how little submission was in the word, but he turned away and distributed tools. Dull harvesting knives, cloth sacks and a small route chart marked with three collection zones. Zone One sat nearest the path. Zone Two covered a broader slope. Zone Three edged closer to denser mist and was still within allowed range, though barely.

They left as first light diluted the dark. The eastern ridge path was damp and narrow, lined with low shrubs and pale stones. As the group descended from the sect’s outer boundary formations, the ambient qi thinned by a degree and the air took on the wet smell of soil. Shen Li walked at the front without looking back. The junior stayed nearest to him. Lin Feng took the rear.

It did not take long for conversation to start.

”Why did they even clear him for team tasks?” one disciple said, not quietly. ”Conditional status is supposed to be a leash.”

”It is a leash,” the junior replied. ”That’s why he’s carrying our sacks”

Lin Feng cut a branch aside with his knife. ”Don’t worry. I’m very good at humble labor. Some of you may need an example.”

The outer disciple’s neck stiffened. ”You talking about me?”

”Maybe. ” Lin Feng grinned

[Irritation detected]

[Rage Value +36]

[Current Rage Points: 437]

Shen Li glanced back . ”Silence on the path!”

Zone One began at a row of wooden posts painted with old sect lacquer. Clearvein Grass grew in uneven patches between the rocks, each blade marked by a faint pale line running through its center. Low grade, common, and still worth collecting because alchemy halls used it by the basket.

”Pair up,” Shen Li ordered. ”Quota is eighteen full bundles. No damaged roots if possible. If you tear the field like pigs, I’ll make you redo the lot.”

The team scattered. Lin Feng ended up on a lower patch with one of the disciples, a thin faced boy who clearly resented the assignment. For a while they worked in silence. The motion was simple. Cut near the base, shake soil free, tie, store. After the third bundle, the thin faced disciple spoke.

”You fight dirty on platforms. Do you harvest dirty too?”

Lin Feng tied a knot and didn’t look up. ”If I did, your sack would already be lighter than mine.”

The boy checked both sacks, saw that Lin Feng was ahead, and darkened.

[Envy-tinged hostility detected]

[Rage Value +22]

[Current Rage Points: 459]

By midmorning, Zone One was half cleared and the team had only seven bundles together. Too slow. Shen Li ordered them into Zone Two without discussion. There the grass grew thicker, but so did the slope’s unevenness. Mist clung lower. From somewhere deeper in the ridge came a faint animal cry, weak enough that Shen Li only raised one hand in warning and continued.

”Stay inside the posts,” he said. ”If a scavenging beast comes close, form up. Do not chase.”

They resumed work.

Lin Feng was cutting through a dense clump when he noticed the junior watching him, not the grass. The junior’s own sack was average.

”I don’t understand. You really mean to climb to inner sect with this kind of work?” the junior asked. ”

”I mean to climb with whatever the sect leaves reachable,” Lin Feng said. ”If that offends you, you’re welcome to grow faster and feel better.”

The junior’s smile went thin.

[Pride pricked]

[Rage Value +41]

[Current Rage Points: 500]

Before the junior could answer, a shout came from the upper slope.

”Someone’s already in Zone Three!”

The whole team turned.

Beyond the farther posts, another small group in Flowing Wind colors was moving through a richer patch of Clearvein Grass. Another sect team. Their sacks already looked heavier, and the field around them was clearly better than Zone Two’s thinning growth.

One of Lin Feng’s teammates cursed. ”They took the dense patch.”

Shen Li’s face hardened. ”That’s still within multi-team range. They didn’t break rules by arriving earlier.”

”So we just accept the worse field?” the thin faced disciple asked.

”We fill quota,” Shen Li said. ”If there’s time after, we contest the edge.”

It was a correct leader decision. Lin Feng looked past the posts into Zone Three. The grass there really was denser, the pale veins brighter, the yield obvious even from a distance. The other team had a clearer route to stipend and contribution. Their leader noticed Shen Li’s group, smirked, and deliberately had his people spread wider across the best growth.

Lin Feng’s eyes brightened by a fraction.

Shen Li caught the direction of his gaze. ”No.”

”I haven’t said anything,” Lin Feng replied.

”Just stay on task.” Shen Li said.

Lin Feng lowered his knife to the next clump and cut cleanly through the base. ”Of course. We carefully harvest the inferior grass while watching superior grass leave in other people’s bags. Very dignified.”

A couple of teammates choked hearing that comment. Shen Li’s jaw flexed.

”Lin Feng.”

”Working,” Lin Feng said, and for a while he actually did.

By noon the team had fourteen bundles. Four short. Zone Two was nearly exhausted. The other team in Zone Three was already stacking surplus. The imbalance sat over Shen Li’s group like humidity.

Then one of the other team’s outer disciples wandered close enough to the post line to call over.

”Need a loan of grass? We might spare stems if your side asks politely.”

Shen Li’s eyes cooled, but he still raised a hand to stop anyone from answering. Lin Feng, who had been told to keep his opinions in his throat, apparently decided to break the rule.

”No need,” he called back. ”Keep them, you’ll need every advantage you can carry.”

The other disciple’s face changed. ”What?”

”I said work while you talk,” Lin Feng replied. ”Multitasking seems difficult for you.”

[Direct hostility detected]

[Rage Value +58]

[Current Rage Points: 558]

Shen Li spun toward him. ”Lin Feng!”

On the other side of the posts, the opposing disciple took half a step forward before his own teammate pulled him back. The field, which had been merely competitive, acquired edges.

Shen Li stared hard at Lin Feng, then at the remaining thin patches of Zone Two, then at the denser growth beyond. His expression said he hated every available option. Slow failure, undignified conflict, or letting Lin Feng’s mouth set the temperature of the ridge.

At last he exhaled through his teeth.

”Quota first,” he said. ”We finish what can be taken here. After that, if we’re still short, we move to the contested edge in order. No one speaks without my mark.”

His eyes returned to Lin Feng.

”And you. If your tongue costs this team the stipend, I’ll write the report myself.”

Lin Feng tied another bundle and set it in the sack.

”Good,” he said mildly.

The other team continued harvesting in the richer grass, occasionally glancing over with open provocation. Shen Li’s group bent back to the thinning field with sour faces and faster hands. The quota was still short and they’re running out of time.