"To tell it true, you could make it out at Copper if you had good people at your back. Pity no one in the valley'll believe you."

Yerin shrugs, stretches, and turns toward the Greatfather. "Well, maybe if I go climb that mountain I'll find something worth fighting," she muses, walking off toward the south.

No, no, she's his only potential route to a better world. He can't just let his hope walk away.

"Wait! Just- are you- is there any chance your Master would... is he looking for more recruits?"

There's no way he qualifies, but he has to try.

"Sages don't... recruit."

"He recruited you, didn't he? Maybe he needs a full-time boot polisher. I'm well aware I couldn't do more than that now, but- you don't think there's anything important wrong with me. To you it's like I was born missing a toe. The whole world out there, where Gold is normal, and here if I'm lucky beyond my wildest dreams I'll die an Iron. I know I couldn't possibly pay you back. But I'd spend the rest of my life trying."

Blood and rot.

She doesn't want to tell him no, but Master isn't looking for another recruit.

He only picked her because she was too bloody-minded to die even when it was impossible to win.

She looks down, turning away toward Mount Samara for a moment.

"We'll be in Sacred Valley for a year or so.

"I'll find you if I change his mind."

"I'm not- I don't- safe passage out of here to somewhere with civilization and with. What was the phrase? With enough aura to be worth the air it fills.That's all. Not a Path. Just a chance."

He pauses.

"Can I ask where you're staying? I- I don't want this to be the last time I ever see you."

Also it can maybe be a feature in his schemes. It doesn't sound like showing up and begging every day is the right plan. Maybe somehow figuring out some way to kill a Sacred Beast that should be drastically beyond him? If he can kill a Jade in the Foundation stage or as a Copper that should count for something, right?

"With Heaven's Glory. He's studying the tomb.

"Defy the impossible before we leave. Might help me change his mind."

She turns back toward the Greatfather and walks away.

This time he watches her go. Saying more won't help, now.

Well, he had been planning to win the Foundation tournament. Win the exhibition match after. Suddenly that doesn't seem quite so impossible with the prospect of impressing a Gold on a one year time limit to contend with. He can't just win. He has to use it as a stepping stone. Winning is step one.

Should he just eat the whole fruit now and say he didn't find anything? They'll be expecting him in another day. He could cycle it enough to have it incorporated by the time he returns. He could just say he couldn't find it.

No. That's a bad idea. if he hits Copper before the tournament he can't win the exhibition match. He won't even make it there. He has talent at fighting but everyone else has been training for years. Everyone else will have complete Paths, or at least the semifinalists will. He'll have the Empty Palm and perhaps something else he manages to invent. Not enough. Certainly not enough to defeat an Iron. 

But that just means it doesn't matter how much of the fruit he eats as long as he's at the peak of Foundation by the time he's fighting the tournament.

He goes back home. He doesn't eat the whole fruit.

He has a plan.

His parents believe him when he shows them the tiny forged sword. In fact, they try to take it from him in exchange for letting him have the second half of the fruit.

That much sword madra is valuable, you see. Perhaps enough to purchase a second orus fruit.

He doesnt want to give it up. It's his. His bit of proof all that really happened.

Are his parents entirely sure they want to sell the gift a random wandering Jade gave their son? After that Jade gave their son not just that gift, but the gift of a son who might actually hit Copper?

Her Master is odd. She was sympathetic to Lindon, and apparently it's because of lessons her Master taught her. It's why she helped him. Her Master might even hire Lindon on as a servant of some kind if Lindon does something that should be impossible for an Unsouled. He respects effort more than strength, which Lindon supposes makes sense if you're hiring someone to tidy up your camp. 

Her Master is currently an honored guest of Heaven's Glory. Lindon will never be more than a Copper, even if he gets lucky. He will always be the shame of the clan, of their family. Please, this is the only way he might ever make something of himself. Anything at all. It's not much, but it's something. Anything at all.

This is the only way he can stop shaming them without anyone losing face.

His parents buy it. His sister doesn't.