Extra's Revenge: Reincarnated As A Slave

"Three days ago, Lin Feng approached me privately with concerning information," the instructor explained with measured precision.

"He'd observed unusual interactions between you and Senior Disciple Zhao Ming that suggested collaborative planning targeting newly enrolled disciples. He couldn't provide concrete evidence of specific plans, but his observations were detailed enough to justify discreet monitoring."

Rey watched Darius's expression cycle through a rapid sequence of calculations as the full picture assembled itself.

"I asked Lin Feng to continue the apparent pursuit of a patronage relationship with Zhao Ming," the instructor continued. "Not to actually secure protection, but to provide opportunity for the plot you just described openly to be confirmed through your own words."

He gestured toward the corridor walls where Rey's enhanced perception now identified monitoring formations he'd detected upon entering the passage—not Church technology but cultivation world equivalents, spiritual energy arrays designed to record conversations for administrative review.

"Your specific description of planned theft—the spirit stones, the timing, the method of planting evidence in Lin Feng's quarters—has been recorded in sufficient detail to constitute actionable evidence under sect law."

Darius turned to Rey with expression mixing fury and horrified recognition.

"You told the instructor before I even approached you tonight," he said with a voice carrying disbelief. "The entire patronage pursuit was performance. You were never actually trying to secure Zhao Ming's protection—you were drawing out my specific plan on record."

"You told me I was predictable," Rey replied with genuine warmth that carried irony several layers deep. "You were right. I pursued exactly the obvious strategy you expected. Which is why you were comfortable explaining your entire counter-plan in detail in a monitored corridor."

He allowed a brief pause.

"Perhaps predictability cuts both directions."

The instructor moved forward with authority suggesting what followed would be a formal institutional process rather than interpersonal conflict.

"Darius Thornwick and Zhao Ming will be confined to their quarters pending full investigation. The sect takes evidence of collaborative schemes against junior disciples extremely seriously. Abuse of senior positions to victimize promising newcomers reflects poorly on everything Crimson Peak Monastery represents."

He turned to Rey with an expression carrying genuine respect.

"Lin Feng. Your early reporting of suspicious activity, your patience in allowing the scheme to fully reveal itself, and your loyalty to sect values despite being targeted by more senior disciples reflects exactly the character Crimson Peak Monastery seeks to cultivate."

He presented Rey with a contribution token that radiated concentrated spiritual energy.

"Three hundred sect contribution points. Combined with your entrance examination performance bonus, you're almost within range of Inner Disciple advancement qualification."

***

The confinement quarters where Darius had been placed pending investigation occupied a modest section of middle terraces.

It was comfortable enough to prevent formal grievance but restricted enough to communicate the seriousness of his situation.

The door opened to admit Rey, who'd requested brief visitation through channels the instructor had approved.

Darius sat in meditation posture that didn't quite conceal the tension running through his frame. He opened his eyes as Rey entered, his expression cycling through anger before settling into something approaching grudging assessment.

Rey stood at the room's center with calm that transcended his outer disciple rank.

"I wanted to express my gratitude," Rey stated with sincerity that carried genuine thread beneath its irony. "Without your confident announcement of your plans, I would have needed to fabricate much less elegant evidence to bring the matter to the instructor's attention."

Darius's jaw tightened.

"You reported suspicious activity before I'd even fully developed the plan. You were watching me while I thought I was watching you."

"You've been in this sect for two months," Rey acknowledged without false modesty. "You understood its power dynamics, its social networks, its administrative procedures far better than I did after three days. Direct confrontation would have favored you in every dimension you identified correctly."

He met Darius's eyes with an expression carrying weight that transcended their immediate circumstances.

"But you made one miscalculation. You assumed I would be reactive… that I would respond to your threat by pursuing a strategy you could predict and counter. You didn't consider that I'd identified the Instructor as a viable path before you even walked into my quarters on my first night."

Darius absorbed this in silence that carried the quality of genuine strategic reflection rather than simple wounded pride.

"How long?" he finally asked.

"I flagged the Instructor as the primary option during my first morning's reconnaissance," Rey replied. "The patronage pursuit was always secondary—insurance in case the Instructor's monitoring wasn't sensitive enough to capture your plan without additional provocations."

He moved toward the door, his enhanced consciousness already calculating next steps in his actual mission—the corruption investigation that was now considerably less obstructed than it had been twelve hours ago.

"You've helped me advance faster than my timeline projected," Rey stated with genuine appreciation that Darius clearly found more offensive than hostility would have been.

"Thank you for that."

******

The investigation into Darius and Zhao Ming concluded within three days, their confinement extended to one month with significant contribution point penalties that would delay both their own mission objectives considerably.

Rey didn't spare them further thought.

He had work to do.

The Inner Disciple qualification threshold required five hundred contribution points total. His combined entrance examination bonus and informant reward had placed him at three hundred forty.

The remaining one hundred sixty needed to come from mission completion—outer disciple tasks assigned through the sect's contribution board.

Rey studied the available missions with enhanced perception that evaluated risk-to-reward ratios with precision that cultivation world practitioners couldn't match through normal assessment.

The board offered dozens of tasks ranging from simple herb collection to escort missions to active threat suppression.

Most outer disciples gravitated toward safer, lower-reward options that minimized risk while providing steady contribution accumulation.

Rey selected the highest-yield dangerous missions without hesitation.

First mission: Bandit suppression in Greenwater Valley.

A gang of approximately forty armed men had been terrorizing farming villages in the sect's outer territory for three months.

Previous outer disciple teams had attempted suppression twice and returned with casualties each time. The bandits apparently employed a former Foundation Establishment cultivator as their combat specialist—someone who'd been expelled from a minor sect and turned to brigandry.

The mission offered sixty contribution points and had been sitting unclaimed for two weeks.

It was the perfect place to start.