Before Myrkas could dedicate his time to perfecting his doubtlessly overpowered self-made Qi-based meditation technique, he needed to come up with a way to secure funds. Cultivation resources were expensive. In this world, the inability to acquire Qi-filled ingredients, advanced Qi-gathering formations, or potent alchemical aids was the most common reason for a failure to advance on the power ladder.

Luckily for Myrkas, his uncle was well-endowed—juvenile innuendo incidental. Unfortunately, Master Hakhmir's wealth was far from the "senselessly pour priceless treasures down his nephew's throat for a minute increase in strength" level. Only favoured scions from prominent sects and high-level aristocratic families could afford to raise powerful cultivators this way.

Although, this method—the pour money down the drain one—wasn't without risks either. A single mistake in the combination of resources could shatter someone's foundations and cripple their potential. It made for unbalanced martial arts practitioners. People with force but little knowledge of how to apply it, akin to grand, beautiful machines with little use and no flexibility.

This type of "training" was usually reserved for moderately talented individuals with a high social status in crafting sects. The narrowed aspect of their final capabilities was less problematic when they were already destined to specialize in a certain aspect of a craft.

In short, despite his familial advantages, Myrkas could not rely on the power of free cheat pills to easily advance in cultivation. Nope, if Myrkas ever hoped to use the "power of money," he would have to make his own.

Like all good isekai'd protagonists, Myrkas had his modern technological understanding to leverage in his quest for riches. It was a fool-proof path. A strategy proven by several fictional main characters before him, all with the innate mastery of the inner workings of technology. Who, in the modern world, didn't know exactly how a smartphone worked?

Well, Myrkas for one. While the tween did have extensive miscellaneous knowledge, thanks to hours upon hours passed bored in a hospital bed with a working internet connection, the specificities of electronics eluded him. A shame, truly, as inventing processors and building magical computers would have assured his golden future. Even the simple calculator was out of Myrkas' reach. Old-school abacuses would have to do for the boy's mathematical needs.

Myrkas had to go simpler, more fundamental. Electricity! That wasn't hard to make. All Myrkas needed was a copper wire shaped in a coil and a magnet. Move the magnet around and bam! Electrical power. In a single circuit. As long as you kept the magnet in motion. Great for a tiny incandescent light or to moderately heat a piece of ceramic, but not much else.

Revolutionary, for sure, but nowhere near ready for mass-market. He would need batteries, power lines, and sources of mechanical power to convert. The whole set-up was complex... and expansive. Hard to convince respectable investors when the "inventor" and lead of the project had not yet gone through puberty... Even more so when Runic Qi already helped power a bunch of appliances.

Myrkas needed something else, something sure. An indisputable way to generate cash—or coins and taels as it was called here. Nine coins to one tael each of copper, silver, gold, and spirit jade. One hundred taels of copper to make the value of a single silver tael. Myrkas had not yet been made aware of further conversions as the likelihood he saw even a hint of a gold coin was next to non-existent until he reached adulthood.

Anyway, he needed to start somewhere to get there. the concept of banking and compound interest would have been nice, but Myrkas was more than aware that project would require even more funds. That was if any same person would trust a twelve-year-old boy to safeguard and manage their money. And that was if banks didn't already exist. The princeling in the story had not used any, but that did not mean banking institutions were not around. The prince's needs were hardly representative of those of the general population.

It looked like Myrkas had better keep to the classics. The good old transmigrator weapon in the money-making department: fancy, but accessible, and affordable soap.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

People of Piercing Jade Valkey did not smell awful per se. However, the distinct lack of mass-produced quality soap left the inhabitants of this town smelling muskier than Myrkas' modern sensibilities were used to. Soap wasn't hard to make in and of itself, but good, consistent, nice-smelling, and soft-on-skin soap was another story. If Myrkas could nail this, his fortune was made.

What's more, Myrkas lived with an alchemist! One specialized in moderately cheap but effective concoctions in larger than usual volumes. With the right ingredients, Myrkas dreamed of making the first—and hopefully only—cheap-ish Qi-infused soap. Skin- care and hygiene in one single product. Jade-like skin left and right. The path—also called Dao—of Beauty would prevail! Sky was the limit and Myrkas was destined to transcend Heavens!

All Myrkas needed to execute his flawless plan were lye water, some type of oil, heat and regular water. Easy, peasy, broccolini. And some cheap Qi-filled ingredients his uncle would not miss. And a way to add pleasing scents. And some type of instrument to verify pH—the logarithmic concentration of hydrogen ions for purists. And a source of lye substitutes if he could, as those were softer on the skin. Myrkas wondered for an instant what exactly "sodium lauryl sulphate" looked like in its pure form. Or how to make it. Whatever, it could not be that complicated to achieve. Myrkas was a main character, an alchemist's nephew in a cultivation world. If bored hippies could do it in the modern world, he could too.

His success was guaranteed! Alchemy-level soap was incoming. Strong enough to wash away body odour, dirt, and grease while gentle enough to leave the skin soft as silk and perfectly hydrated. Myrkas would conquer the hygiene market, revolutionize skin care. Meditation could wait. He had money to make.

***

Despite Myrkas' boundless enthusiasm, the quality soap-making process was not as simple as he had hoped. In this pre-industrialization society, without the complex and standardized chemical processing brought with its development, no ready source of pure, easy-to-measure lye was available. Myrkas could not order a bucket of lye crystals from his favourite online merchant. The undeterred boy had to gather his lye the old-fashioned way: by making lye water with a barrel full of wood ashes and rainwater. And time, lots of it.

Myrkas' amazing, revolutionary cheap alchemic soap project had hit another roadblock in the short time since its conception. Namely, Myrkas did not know how to sense or gather Qi—the mystical energy fuelling cultivation. Neither how to incorporate it into soap. Or anything else for that matter.

He had ideas, practical ones, such as throwing a bunch of spiritual-looking herbs in a pot and "ahom" very hard at it. Unfortunately, the boy was too pragmatic to put any faith in such a half-assed technique.

What a letdown. Learning the basics of Qi sense and manipulation needed to come first. Myrkas had to take his first steps on the road towards unimaginable power. Heaven-defying strength was the ultimate goal.

Myrkas' first small step could only be one thing then: meditation.

His money-making scheme debuted—meaning Myrkas had filled a barrel with wood ashes, put a hole at the bottom, left a collecting tray underneath, and put the whole contraption somewhere outside to be rained on—Myrkas headed back to his little haven under the blue willow-like tree.

Settled, he immediately adopted the famed lotus position or, more exactly, what Myrkas thought was the lotus position. In reality, he simply sat cross-legged with his wrists resting on his knees. No foot resting on the opposite thigh to ensure maximal pretzel-like posture. Regrettably, Myrkas had no one around to correct his misconception.

Next, the boy concentrated on... well on... on his breathing: the air going in and out of his lungs. Myrkas breathed. He took deep breaths in and out, "humming" diligently on exhale. Myrkas was insanely happy to be able to breathe easily at the moment or this entire meditation thing would have become quite the ordeal.

Eyes closed, the aspiring cultivator kept at it for what seemed like an eternity. Myrkas lasted a grand total of seven minutes and almost a half before getting too bored to continue. To be fair, not bad for a first try.

Already Myrkas could feel it. He was... relaxed. And bored. No immediate transcendent change had come upon his mortal self. Maybe he was missing something?

Position?–check,

Deep breathing?–very check,

Inspiring, Qi-saturated environment?–hopefully, check.

Myrkas' favourite tree in a successful alchemist's garden had to be somewhat mystical.

A profound mantra?–check.

He could not go wrong with a classic like "Hum"' and he had no desire to risk the dreadful "Qi deviation" so early in his journey.

Cultivation technique?–Cultivation technique!

There was Myrkas' mistake. For certain! What else? He needed a cultivation manual. An obscure literary work describing some fancy way to circulate his Qi while he meditated. Some profound sentences full of hidden meanings and their accompanying esoteric diagrams. And the appropriate mantra to repeat and reflect on.