"Master Ranil, what exactly is this bath? The Qi is odd," the boy asked while absently petting the bunny plastered to his chest, the animal clearly afraid of needing to swim any more than strictly necessary. Myrkas had not even known rabbits could swim before that day.
"Can sense Qi already hein kid? I should have known," replied Ranil. "But shouldn't you tell me what's in it? Aren't you the baby alchemist? It's harder when it's not one of your uncle's right? This one is pretty basic. A staple of city guard training halls all over the province, if not the empire. It's made to be hard to mess up. To be beneficial even if one has abysmal talent to cultivate. Or is just too lazy to do so."
Master Ranil said the last part with a sneer directed at the two guards snoring in the corner. After a short sigh, he continued.
"I'll give you a hint kid, so you can tell Koriss I'm actually helping your studies. Maybe he'll give me a discount next time. This bath helps in two ways mostly: it has mild healing properties and provides some body cultivation, with increased endurance and general toughness as end results. Guess the ingredients with. That and I am sure Koriss will be pleased. He might reward you, and you will share, of course. Only right I get something as I provided you with this wonderful learning opportunity."
Myrkas allowed himself to glare at his Master for exactly half a second before refocusing on the bath. He could do this. This felt like an almost reasonable challenge, for once. The boy had become aware of a number of common and less common alchemical ingredients by learning at his uncle's side. The bath waters could not hide anything too fancy if the borderline run-down city guard was using it liberally. And the list of cheap, useful, Qi-filled reagents was not that long. Especially those that were plentiful enough to supply not only Piercing Jade Valley but the entire Province! And so Myrkas concentrated. He "tasted" the energy and its subtleties hidden behind the overwhelming platitude. It was a heavy type of Qi. Easy to touch but not to move. Something Earth-based it felt like.
The boy fell deeper in his meditation. He observed the heavy energy as it slowly seeped through his skin. Only a small amount passed through further, with most of the Qi stopping skin deep. Only a trickle travelled deeper, passing through his muscles to join his own silvery Qi amongst his blood. What passed through felt different, dark, deep, and calm, like a cold morning sea, at rest between tides.
"Soothing Seaweed, of course!" Myrkas murmured, to no one in particular.
It only made sense. Almost all healing concoctions contained some part of the gentle seaweed. It was the main export of the Allrin Empire's most recent conquest, the Archipelago of Nihinn. The cold ocean stream passing between the southwestern tip of the continent and the former Nihinn Nation's main island cradled the growth of the magical herb. A significant portion of imperial scholars and politically inclined people suspected that the Empire's Light had fallen on Nihinn mostly to secure the supply of Soothing Seaweed. Not that it mattered as the islands had been assimilated over three years ago now. But enough political thoughts. Myrkas had an alchemical problem to "solution"!
The Soothing Seaweed was obvious, in retrospect. Myrkas could discern its gentle healing balm now that he paid proper attention. It quieted inflammation and accelerated natural healing most softly. A true miracle herb, well worth its cheap-ish price. Totally worth a conquest, according to Myrkas' young opinion. But the seaweed did not explain the heavy Earth-based sensation that predominated in this particular medicinal bath.
The dark, brownish-yellow Qi did not penetrate far into the boy's body. It was stuck in his dermis, seemingly too dense and heavy to travel any further. On closer observation, the Qi was indeed toughening his skin, rendering it more resilient. The boy could feel it resonate and assimilate even more on each "harder" and "stronger" of his mantra. On those beats, some more of his silvery-white Qi left his vessels and mixed with the bath's derived energies to improve his outmost layer. It was wonderful. He could feel himself getting literally tougher. No wonder body cultivation was so popular. If all one needed was to train, bathe, and let the Qi settle in it made sense most people did not bother with anything further. This was much easier than meditating under a tree, at risk of a wayward bee attack. Much faster too, if he compared the amount of Qi his skin absorbed versus the one he was able to collect, transform, and retain with his breath.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Myrkas was unfortunately still releasing over fifty percent of the ambient Qi he converted with his breathing technique and his mantra. While it did not travel far from him, it still felt like a waste. So much of his silvery-white Qi had to be inhaled more than once to be properly absorbed and stored in his middle core. So inefficient. With inevitable losses to the atmosphere.
...and to a pesky white rabbit who was nestled in his neck, breathing in his exhaled air. Stealing his painstakingly converted Qi. The sneaky little thief. It explained why Snow always insisted on meditating with him. She was not encouraging him, she was stealing his labour!
"How dare you, Snow! All this time you've been sneaking away my Qi. Using me as your own portable formation. Your convenient Qi-converter!"
The rabbit in question looked almost contrite, then smug, then contrite again. She opened her pink eyes wide and bumped Myrkas on the nose. She then proceeded to adorably groom herself, as if no other excuse or explanation was required for this break of trust, And without moving one iota, continuing to partake in Myrkas' exhaled silvery-white Qi.
The boy was so shocked, so flabbergasted he did not think about how arguing one-sidedly with his bunny would look like. Undisguised mirth could be seen in Ranil's eyes, while two nearby youths were watching the unlikely duo with interest. The two teens were clearly intrigued by their senior officer's disciples, though they dared not interrupt.
Oblivious, Myrkas glared at the wet rodent until he was satisfied. It did not matter that much in the end. He could share his awesome custom Qi with his senior sister. It wasn't like he was guaranteed to absorb what he exhaled if she did not breathe it in. He could sense the losses in the air. The amount his small rabbit was stealing was only a fraction of his overall losses. Better to figure out how to improve his efficiency than to start meditating alone. Meditation was boring enough with fluffy company, Myrkas did not want to see how much more boring it could get while feeling lonely.
A last crack at the "Earthly" ingredient then the boy would purely concentrate on his recuperation. The day was not over after all. He closed his eyes and dived deeper, trying to find the hidden secrets, the aspects covered by the overwhelming "toughness" present. To decipher hints of their make-up. The boy metaphorically "tasted" long grasses, the shine of bronze, and motherly nurture in the Qi's depths. It was apparent in the way it was feeding his skin, a little his muscles, and promoting some growth. In contre part, the most abundant flavour was an aftertaste of ashes, of cooled embers with the chalky taste of rocks. But with a smooth feel, not very gritty.
And then it clicked. The answers came to Myrkas with a sudden inspiration. Bronze Bison Milk and Fresh Pale Basalt. No, not Bronze Bison Milk, way too rare and expensive. The lesser spiritual beasts were wild and hard to contain. Too "spirited" for this placid Qi. More chances for it to be milk from Hybrid Bronze Cows. The well-domesticated hybrid breed was far removed from their wilder ancestors by now. It was rare to find a "true" hybrid nowadays, the lineage diluted with the years. But still, the bovines were highly prized for their Qi-filled milk and strong leather.
Similarly, Fresh Pale Basalt made the most sense as the main component of this widespread bath. The rock issued from recently cooled lava was easy to find and contained moderate amounts of Earth-based Qi. It was a tough and resilient stone, often used in permanent formations or in powdered form to add stability to a concoction.
Satisfied with his deduction, Myrkas could not wait to share his thoughts with his uncle. He smiled. They would finally have something new to discuss at dinner. It was so rare they found common ground outside of the laboratory's happenings. For once, Myrkas would bring a new avenue of discussion instead of following up on the alchemy lesson of the day.
While many other reagents were undoubtedly needed to complete the bath water formula, the boy stopped his musings there. He ran a hand through his hair, wetting the curls that had fallen into his eyes. The three main ingredients were a good start. The rest would come later. For the moment, he had a more urgent issue to deal with, namely to fix his indecent Qi losses from his meditation technique. There lay the key to improving his rating by that difficult Assessor.