Ouyang Mu lowered his head, his expression flickering with hesitation and indecision.
Mo Hua saw this and smiled gently, speaking warmly, "If you can’t repay the merit points, you can help me with something instead."
Ouyang Mu was taken aback, "I... what could I possibly help with?"
After thinking for a moment, Ouyang Mu slowly said, "If Brother Mo doesn’t mind, I can do artifact refining... Sword casting is possible too..."
Mo Hua raised an eyebrow, finally hearing the words he was waiting for, and immediately nodded:
"Deal!"
Ouyang Mu felt slightly nervous, "But, my sword-casting skills are quite average..."
"It’s fine," Mo Hua encouraged him, "No one starts out knowing everything. You can learn and practice slowly."
Coming from the Tai’a Sect with a proper sword-casting legacy, Ouyang Mu was surely better than himself, Master Gu, or the other Taixu Sect disciples.
Moreover, Mo Hua felt that although Little Wood was a bit stiff, he was sincere and had a good temperament.
A good temperament could compensate for lack of skill, as improvements would come with time.
But if someone lacked integrity, there was no point building ties with them.
Skill could be honed, but once a person’s heart was tainted, it was nearly impossible to change.
Ouyang Mu was clearly encouraged and made a solemn promise, "Brother Mo, don’t worry, I won’t let you down!"
Mo Hua saw his serious expression and couldn’t help but laugh, saying:
"Just do your best; no need to pressure yourself."
"Alright!"
Ouyang Mu nodded earnestly.
Mo Hua thought for a moment longer and said:
"You owe me 500 merit points. How about this? Forge me a Spirit Sword, and I’ll count it as 100 merit points. I’ll provide the materials."
Mo Hua’s offer was a fair market price.
In the sect, commissions for ordinary Second Grade Spiritual Artifacts usually varied between 50 to 80 merit points due to the time required to forge them, with occasional fluctuations.
Spirit Swords cost a bit more.
One hundred merit points was considered reasonable.
Of course, these were just ordinary Spirit Swords.
Those engraved with Sword Arrays—the proper "Sword Weapons" of a true inheritance—were much more expensive. But they were beyond the abilities of most disciples to craft.
Ouyang Mu, still at the Foundation Building Middle Stage and currently studying at the sect, certainly wouldn’t know such advanced sword-casting techniques.
And the Tai’a Sect wouldn’t teach them Sword Arrays at this stage either.
Mo Hua had no need for those skills; he didn’t require an inheritance-grade Spirit Sword.
All he needed was a regular Spirit Sword that Ouyang Mu could craft.