Xu Ming opened the small box slowly.

As soon as the box opened, a strange pungent smell came out of it and filled the room. ​​

Xu Ming covered his mouth with a cloth to protect himself from this smell.

The smell was decreasing with time, but Xu Ming didn't wait for it. He brought the item from the box outside and closed the box.

After some time, the smell disappeared.

"Why are you so comfortable? Did you not get that smell?" Xu Ming asked her.

"What smell?" Valeria asked in confusion.

"The weird smell that came out of that box when I opened it," Xu Ming said.

"I didn't smell anything strange. Was that why you were covering your nose? I was wondering about that," Valeria replied to Xu Ming's confusion.

"So you didn't smell anything. Maybe the Spirit Fairies can't sense it," Xu Ming muttered as he dropped the matter.

He stopped covering his nose and started observing the item.

It was a weird item which he found weirder the more he thought about it.

It was a mask that was probably used to hide the face.

He was still wondering about it when some information started appearing in his mind. It was as if some information was being transferred to his brain from this mask. It was the knowledge about this mask that he was gaining, which stopped after some time.

"Mask of Mischief?" Xu Ming muttered in confusion.

"Mask of Mischief? I don't think I've heard of it before. Isn't this a simple mask? Just a waste of time," Valeria said as she shook her head.

"It's not a simple mask. It's a mask that can help someone disguise themselves. It changes someone's voice, their face, their body shape to make them seem like the person they want to look like. A really miraculous item, the more I think about it," Xu Ming explained to Xun.

"Really? Something that can disguise so much? Can this even work? What principle does it work on? It would be one thing if it could change the face, but changing voice and body shape, that's the tough part," Valeria inquired.

"I have no idea about that. Whoever made it must've been a genius artificer," Xu Ming said.

"Isn't it also possible that the one who made it didn't add so many features, and someone modified it after that to make it more useful?" Valeria commented.

"Whatever it is, it's just too useful. The only downside is that it can only be used for 5 minutes in a day," Xu Ming let out as he observed the mask.

He sent the mask back in his storage ring after he finished observing and testing it.

"This is a good treasure, to say the least. It can be instrumental in the future, especially for you," Valeria told Xu Ming.

"I know. But not at the moment. The sect is more peaceful at the moment, and I can just gain strength while I stay here. At Least until I become an Earth Realm Cultivator. I need to learn more skills while I can and get stronger before leaving," Xu Ming said, clenching his fist.

"Yeah, the Sect is indeed a good place. It is a safe environment, and your position is pretty high here. As long as the sect isn't destroyed, it's the best place for you to gain strength. I think you should cultivate here until you hit your bottleneck. We can leave then," Valeria told him. "It's not like we can leave this planet before you're strong enough. We can't even break open the exit to leave this planet."

"Can you get off my shoulders now?" Xu Ming asked Valeria as he placed the box in his storage ring.

"Does this pretty lady offend you somehow? It's not like I'm taking away something from you! I just like this seat more," Valeria said, pouting.

"Get down. I have something important to do," Xu Ming said sternly.

"Alright, alright," Valeria let out with an annoyed look on her face as she landed on the bed.

Xu Ming laid down on his bed. Resting his head on the pillow, he closed his eyes.

"This was your important stuff?!" Valeria glared at Xu Ming and asked.

"Sleep is important," Xu Ming replied.

"Hmph," Valeria stood up and climbed over Xu Ming's chest and laid there.

"I'm not getting down then. It's important too," She said.

"Suit yourself. I just didn't want to see you crushed, but if that's what you want, then be my guest," Xu Ming muttered, but he didn't do anything.

He fell asleep soon.

****

The next morning arrived, and Xu Ming woke up. The Sect Master had told him that he could collect a treasure from the treasure hall and a skill from the skill hall by showing his disciple badge.

He was told that he would be allowed to select any skill from the skill hall as he was the Sect Master's personal disciple.

He could also get an Earth Realm artifact from the treasure hall. He couldn't select sky grade artifacts though as only Grand Elders and the Sect Master could have those.

Xu Ming opened his eyes and saw Valeria sleeping on his chest.

"This girl is just too stubborn. She would only have blamed me if I had turned, and she was crushed. She's stubborn just like a child," Xu Ming muttered as he shook his head. He turned his body sideways, making her fall on the bed before he stood up. Valeria still hadn't woken up.

Xu Ming decided to leave her behind, but she woke up on time. She flew up and landed on his shoulder.

He left his courtyard and walked towards the Skill Hall first. He was more curious about the skills he could receive than about the treasures. He already had the Sword of Judgement after all, which was the strongest grade.

As Xu Ming entered the Skill Hall, the Elder recognized him. The Skill Hall Elder didn't even ask for Xu Ming's badge as he had met him during yesterday's ceremony. After seeing that Xu Ming was a grade 10 talent, there was just no doubt in his mind that Xu Ming would become the next Sect Master.

He brought Xu Ming to the skill library of the top floor of the Skill Hall, which contained their strongest skills.

Even though there were only a hundred or so skills here, all of them were sky grade skills. Xu Ming was allowed to choose between any of them.

Xu Ming was told that he could select one Sky grade skill from this floor or 2 Earth Grade Skills from the lower floor. Xu Ming told the Elder that he would like to see the Sky Grade skills first.