Despite having resided within Gu Yue village for some time in his prior life, Fang Yuan had never been to the hot springs. The main reason for this was a lack of primeval stones at that period of time- he had better things to do than relaxing and bathing in hot water.
There was another reason- the hot springs were located some distance from the village borders, though not so far into the wilderness as the hunting trip would've been. This normally would be a very bad idea given the size of the beast tide- attempts had been made, multiple times, to expand the village though it always ended up shrinking to its current size as it was found that the clan could not defend any larger area effectively.
Because of this, naturally, the village was quite crowded and it was hard to find houses. Rent was high- but there were little options one had if one didn't want to be thrown out of the village.
This hot spring resort had likely been destroyed back in his old life as well- he just hadn't paid much attention to it.
But, it seemed that the owner had a peculiar business strategy. When the beast tide was not around, the area was safe enough, especially given the few Gu Masters stationed there to guard the place. One could charge money for the hot springs, which were constructed with wood and the help of some Rank 1 Gu Worms. The water was heated with Rank 2 Hot Spring Gu, which looked like small piece of coal normally but would turn red and emit a great amount of heat particularly in water when injected with primeval essence. All of these gu worms could be retrieved and stored when the beast tide occurred. The building itself wasn't too hard to rebuild, so the business plan seemed to be to milk it as much as possible during ordinary times, and then to let it be demolished during the beat tide. Afterwards, it could be rebuilt and the gu worms placed there once again.
The cost to rebuild could be considered to just be a 'business expense' and depending on how business was usually, it might still be turning a profit. Though, the scale of the next beast tide would be beyond anyone's expectations, and much of the village itself would also be destroyed.
'Is this really profitable?' Fang Yuan thought to himself as the students arrived at the building. It was quite simple, of course, given that it was made with the expectation that it would be destroyed soon enough. However, there seemed to be a reasonable amount of traffic. not to mention the students, who numbered around fifty. The place of course had not given up all such space for free, but had rather been paid either with funds from the academy or by the academy elder himself, more likely the former rather than the latter.
Fang Yuan was currently standing near the door, with a sheet in hand. He was in charge of attendance- and though he'd normally pawn this off to either Fang Zheng or Mo Bei, he had been asked to do this himself by the academy elder. Those two were currently doing some other things.
"Gu Yue Chi Chen... Gu Yue Li Mei..." Fang Yuan muttered to himself as he crossed names off of the list.
As a consequence of becoming class president he had (unwillingly, mind you) learned the names and faces of all of his classmates. Not to the point of becoming friends with them, of course, but after interacting with them for some time he was able to put a face to each name, something he had not been able to do the first time around.
"That should be everyone," Fang Yuan said as he folded the sheet. Two people were not coming for some reasons- Fang Yuan wished he could join them by playing sick or something along those lines so that he would have more time to do what he wanted, but given how the situation was, he could not do so. Not to mention if he feigned illness the academy elder just might come personally to heal him. it was one thing if no-name C-grade and D-grade talents didn't show up, but all eyes were on Fang Yuan, especially because of his position and deeds this time around.
Being famous and having a good aptitude has its drawbacks, he thought.
He took a look around the place. A group of deer were grazing far off in the distance- and there were trees here and there which speckled the landscape. It could be said that they were as far into the wilderness while still being near civilization as possible- the village itself proper was not too far away. They had not run into any problems as of yet, because it was not time for the beast time to erupt. As it was, they had a Rank 3 Gu Master, the academy elder with them. Although he was specialized in healing, there was no way that he didn't have some method of attack. In addition, the hot springs themselves employed several Rank 2 Gu Masters to function as bodyguards- then again, that was why the price for attendance was proportionately high. Despite this, Fang Yuan saw some people who were not from the academy - many of them couples who were walking into the hot springs. It looked like the place was not doing too bad for itself.
The area inside was divided into a men's and women's section, as well as a shared section (this being the smallest). Fang Yuan walked along the men's section until he reached the door of a large room.
The academy elder had a room to himself, and Fang Yuan knocked on the door. "Gu Yue Fang Yuan requests permission to enter."
"Come in," came the reply.
The academy elder was lounging in a chair wearing slippers and a bathrobe- looking like he was having the time of his life. 'Did he ask us to come here simply so that he could get a paid vacation?' Fang Yuan thought to himself even as he cupped his hands. "I've taken attendance and everything is in order."
"Good, good," the academy elder said lazily. "Well then, I had something for you actually..." He pulled out a small bottle of liquor. "A gift from someone, though I don't really drink. I know you need to feed your Liquor Worm, consider it a gift from me. Oh- I don't mind you taking a few sips yourself, but remember not to overdo it we can't have our class president becoming tipsy now then can we? Ehehe..."
He chuckled to himself as Fang Yuan respectfully took the bottle. "Thank you for this gift."
"It's nothing, just a reward for your hard work," the academy elder said. Arranging for this trip had fallen on Fang Yuan quite a bit since he had to oversee a good portion of the logistics involved.
Given all the time he'd had to spend, this gift was really nothing special. However, Fang Yuan needed those ten stones a week, and without extortion being an option, he couldn't back out from this position. The daily quests had occasionally given him some primeval stones here and there, but they were not enough. More often than not he ended up getting more Human Path dao marks which he did not use, to the point where he was declining some of the daily quests.
"Which gu worm did you pick again?" the academy elder asked.
"The Little Light Gu," Fang Yuan replied.
"Ah, good choice," the academy elder said. One's choice of gu worm said a lot about a person - the fact that Fang Yuan had chosen a supportive gu worm for the Moonlight Gu meant that he greatly valued offensive power. Not only that though, but there was meaning to him choosing a supportive gu worm for the clan's signature gu worm- it was a way of tying him down further with the clan.
Fang Yuan, of course, had no intention of keeping things that way. He knew the Moon Orchid Petals were another way of tying him down to the village, and the Little Light Gu was quickly going to be refined into something more suitable for his needs. Something that could be fed differently.
Fang Yuan took his leave after this.