The Legendary F Rank

The bar soon became quiet as the only sound that could be heard was the sweeping of the bartenders and the snoring from the customers that had passed out from a night of drinking. Haru on the other hand remained seated at the table as the three men had long passed out.

He smiled to himself as he remembered the fund he had just a few hours earlier as they all played a drinking game together.

Although alcohol back on earth didn't affect cultivators at all, the alcohol that was made on this planet was made from spirit herbs that contained true qi. It had a soothing effect on the soul but that came with the price of intoxication when drank in large quantities.

But as Haru was training with Lao and Li Jun he had been subjected to the effects of many different herbs and built up a tolerance to the toxins that were often found in them since he had refined and consumed hundreds of different pills.

It seemed to have done him a favour as he was just barely beginning to feel tipsy from the alcohol as the door to the bar opened and the woman that had guided him to the village walked in surrounded by guards. 

"Sorry I took so long. It took forever to explain what happened to my father. He wouldn't stop warning me not to be too trusting in strangers." Annabeth sighed as she looked over at Haru who was sitting next to the sleeping men. 

Haru slowly stood up from his seat and looked at the guards who were slightly on edge as they didn't recognise him at all. One of them rested his hand against the sword on his hip as Haru walked towards them before stopping.

"That's not a problem at all. I was just passing the time with some new friends but they decided to fall asleep a little while ago. I guess they couldn't handle their alcohol as well as they bragged." Haru grinned as he looked back at the men who had tried to provoke him and now he was the only one still awake.

"Is that so? I didn't take you for a drinker. You look so…" Annabeth said before stopping as she looked Haru up and down for a moment.

"I look so what?" Haru asked as he felt a little insulted that he was being judged by someone he had met only a few hours earlier.

"I don't know, you just seem a little too mature to be the kind that frequents taverns and drinks all day." Annabeth smiled as her assumption of Haru wasn't too far from the truth.

There was certainly a point in his life where he was immature and reckless after becoming a cultivator and realising that he didn't have to fear anything.

But that was due to having a new brain that was going through puberty and affecting his mental state. Once he reached adulthood in his new life his recklessness levelled out and he realised his responsibilities once again.

It was a strange feeling but it was something that he adapted to pretty quickly and ever since he had been a lot more serious about life.

"Well, I don't usually drink but I can hold my own thanks to some special training," Haru said as he looked back at the guards which seemed to relax after seeing that there was no tension between him and Annabeth but they were still keeping a guard up around him but that was to be expected given their positions.

Haru felt a little strange as he was being treated with distrust but he understood why they didn't trust him so he didn't hold it against them as they glared at him.

"I guess it's just as I suspected then," Annabeth said with a smile before looking back over her shoulder at the guards that were now following her around.

"Don't mind this lot. My dad ordered them to follow me since he is worried that the attackers might come back for revenge. But I doubt I would have anything to worry about with you here." She giggled as the guards doubted that Haru could do anything to protect her judging by his appearance alone but dismissed the thought as Annabeth called out to the bartender.

"Hey, anything this man buys and his room bill will all be taken care of by me. Just write me a receipt after he leaves and I will pay it in full." She said as the bartender nodded her head and then went back to sweeping.

"Wait, are you sure that's okay? It's going to take a while for my friend to make a recovery. I was actually going to look for work tomorrow so I can pay the bills since it might get expensive." Haru said as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he felt like he was imposing a little too much.]

"You saved mine and my martial sister's life. My master has already offered to pay for all your expenses while you are here in our town and my father even offered to give you a plot of land outside the walls as a reward but I figured that you wouldn't want something like that since that would mean that you would have to pay taxes on it if you decided to build a house there.

So instead I convinced him to give you tickets to the next auction event held in a few days. I hope that will be enough to satisfy you? Oh, and of course this is to show my gratefulness for saving us." Annabeth said before holding out a brown leather bag towards Haru.

Haru hesitated for a moment before taking the bag from her hand and peering inside to see that it was full to the brim with gold coins.

"That should be enough to get yourself something at the auction." She smiled as she had seemed to have thought of everything since nobody would like a reward where to get the full enjoyment of it they would have to spend their own money.

"You really thought this through, didn't you? I don't know what to say…" Haru said as he felt a little awkward from all that she was doing to thank him for doing nothing. He didn't act to scare the attackers away or anything he just simply asked them what was going on and called them cowards for attacking two girls. It wasn't his fault that they got scared and ran away yet he was being rewarded for it.

"You don't have to say anything. If you didn't show up when you did then my martial sister would probably be in some twisted dungeon or an old man's bed right now. This is honestly the least I could do for what you did. I wish I could do more but I'm not sure if there is anything that you would want in particular." Annabeth explained as Haru took a moment to think about it.

He definitely wanted to become stronger but for that to happen he would need to either learn a technique to absorb True Qi or learn how to make pills from the spirit herbs on this planet. 

Both of those seemed like they would be hard to do but since she was offering to do more to reward him he figured that there was no harm in asking.

"Do you know anywhere that sells techniques? Or any books on alchemy or pill refining?" Haru asked as he figured that she would know of somewhere but as he did he felt a little bit of tension between the two of them.

"Shh! Are you crazy!? Don't say something like that so openly! You never know who might be listening." Annabeth said as the guards began to look around at the customers of the store to make sure that no one heard what Haru had just said before opening the door and checking for any eavesdroppers that may have been in the street outside.

"Did I say something wrong?" Haru asked, confused by the reaction that he was given for what he had asked. 

"Yeah, we don't so much as even mention pill refiners around these parts. If you are even suspected of being one, the alliance will send men to take you and your loved ones away to make you work for them. If you refuse or claim that you can't refine pills for them not only will they kill you but also the people that you care about." Annabeth whispered as she didn't want anyone to overhear. 

'I didn't think that the people who called themselves an alliance could be so sinister. Just exactly who are they allied with, if this is the treatment they give to the people of the planets that they are in control of?' Haru asked himself as he discovered that there was a corrupted force in control of the entire planet.

"Oh, sorry I didn't realise. I guess that news hasn't travelled back to my town yet…" Haru said awkwardly as it was becoming more and more obvious that there was something wrong with Haru's lack of knowledge as to what was going on in the world around him. 

"Would you mind if we continued this conversation somewhere else? There are too many people here and I'm afraid that someone might overhear us." Annabeth said as she took a few steps back towards the door.

Haru paused for a few moments as he wondered if it was a good idea to leave Hong Xia all alone in her room since she couldn't move. But he figured that as long as he didn't go too far he would still be able to make it back in time if the alarm on the barrier was triggered.

Haru agreed with a nod and followed Annabeth outside and began to walk through the city while being guided by her guards.