That afternoon, Leon and Claire stood on opposite sides of a small clearing. The sun was setting behind the house, its all-encompassing light beginning to fade. They only had an hour or two to do this. Glancing to the side, he found Sophia quietly meditating on her sleeping bag.
She was likely exhausted after her second set of attempts at the puzzle for today. As for Pete, he was sitting on the sidelines, roaring valiantly as he pretended to fight a battle of his own against an invisible opponent. In reality, he was letting out tiny meows as he swiped at the air and tumbled head over heels.
Everyone was working hard, it seemed.
Leon pulled on his makeshift gauntlets. They were made of overlapping plates that spanned from his knuckles to just above his elbow, each strip of warped metal designed to move so that he retained the flexibility of his hands. They were tied using leftover straps of leather, but when he hadn’t found enough, Leon was forced to use strips of cloth torn from old clothes.
Just like the rest of the garbage he found in the scrap piles, they were so poorly made that the system didn’t even acknowledge them as functional items. While not the best, they were good enough for now. It would hold up for a few weeks if he was cautious. The plates were thin and malleable, meaning any dents could be buffed out while the rest of the materials were simple cloth and leather, all things that were easily replaced with some maintenance.
They didn’t provide much support for his hand, but Leon didn’t think he needed it. He felt strong. Every corpse he Devoured had a nourishing effect on his flesh, both in his Body stat and the flakes of blood in his heart. He didn’t know what they were, but the more he had, the greater his body felt. Even simple things like breathing became easier.
“What are you doing with those?” Claire said, looking bewildered. “Where’s your sword?”
Claire held her spear with its tip angled down at the crimson grass, her powerful legs on full display as she came out of her lowered stance. It was a good weapon for a kickboxer. The power of the spear started with the legs, making it a fundamental trait to become a skilled spearwoman. One could use any weapon they desired, but it was always best to follow the path most suited.
“I’m just testing out if we can salvage any of this armour.”
Claire looked confused, but in the end she nodded and settled into her stance.
“Ready?”
Leon nodded, raising his hands in a stance of his own. She thrust the spear straight at his face. Her weapon was cloaked in a haze of Qi, its durability enhanced to avoid chips and scratches. Or in her case, a snapped spear shaft. Leon took the hint and used his own reinforcing skill. If he dared to take the brunt of her spear without it, his gauntlet would probably break into shards of metal.
Qi flowed down both arms and into his gauntlets, fortifying the iron plates and strengthening the fabric. His new skill Fortify settled in the back of his mind. Leon stepped back and twisted his right arm, batting the spearhead away with his gauntlet.
It slid past him, knocking Claire off balance. She reeled and tried to pull the weapon back, the sound of ringing metal still lingering in the air. Leon saw his chance and rushed forward. She planted her foot but it wasn’t enough to save her, giving Leon ample time to disarm his opponent. Five seconds later, she was on her back and unable to swing her spear. She hadn’t let go of the weapon, but with his right arm holding the shaft against the grass while his other grasped her neck, she had no way to escape unless she did something ridiculous.
Leon hopped up and held his arm out, waiting for her to take it, but she didn’t reach out even ten seconds later.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine,” She groaned, a tiny smirk gracing her lips. “I was just thinking about something.”
“How to improve?”
“No, I was just starting to think you liked choking me. It’s happening so often, after all.”
“I’m nothing if not accommodating,” Leon snorted, pulling her up on her feet. “I’ll punch you in the face next time.”
“Much better. I’m glad to be sparring against such a gentleman.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon training. Restricted to only using Fortify, neither of them was really injured beyond a few scratches. Leon even allowed Claire to use him as a target. She thrust and slashed while he deflected and dodged, the practice doing wonders for both of them. It was good to get the basics down before moving on to more complicated techniques.
Claire grew by leaps and bounds, but that was to be expected when it was her second day practising with the spear. Leon only managed to disarm her three times before she improved her grip, and despite being gentle, he had thrown her to the ground less than ten times whenever she over-extended. The training was less helpful for Leon than it was for Claire since he was testing out the gauntlets.
They were kind of useless, the armour so weak that it needed to be reinforced. He would likely have to ditch the idea until they scavenged something better. Wearing armour would be inevitable, but a piece of equipment that needed a skill to not fall apart simply wasn’t good enough. Besides, the gauntlets weren’t protecting his heart or brain, meaning they were all but useless.
***
Over the next two weeks, Sophia blazed through the puzzles. She completed three of the five and made another mental breakthrough. It was only a matter of time before she completed the whole thing and opened the next door. Leon and Claire were in awe, especially Claire. She had only recently gained Ascended and Erudite, allowing her to advance to the first stage of the second puzzle before her progress began to slow down.
She alternated between attempting the two puzzles, which seemed to be speeding up her growth. Still, it was far behind Leon and Sophia. Leon progressed to the second puzzle on the same day as Sophia. His progress was substantial, but it was much slower compared to the monstrous genius that was Sophia. He only barely managed to defeat the first puzzle after ten days and was now stuck on the second.
While Leon was as good or better at most topics related to cultivation, Sophia had an almost savant level of talent related to the mind.
Once dinner was over, Leon moved to do some alchemy. He had found some more Bloodroot berries in a neighbouring pocket world. It was enough for three more potions at least, which were sorely needed after they had used up most of their supply while sparring over the last fortnight. Claire had never managed to properly hit him, her blows leaving nothing more than scrapes and small cuts. But when you sparred twice a day, suddenly the small sips began to add up.
It also appeared that infusing Qi into your weapon made injuries harder to heal. Leon had suspected that before, but with Claire as a very willing participant in his test, he found out the truth within the hour. With and without Qi, she stabbed him twice on each arm with her spear, allowing them to verify his hypothesis. It turned out that foreign Qi did interfere with the efficacy of the healing elixir. Not by much, that was for sure, but when measured out it took at least twenty percent more elixir to fully heal a small cut on his arm.
That had given Leon another idea on how to infuse his Qi into some water. It was a good idea, but in the end, he still failed.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
What could he be missing? Leon poured two bottles of water into the cauldron and stoked the flames, adding some more kindling and another loose floorboard. He went over the fundamental concepts that underpinned his skills, pondered on the dream techniques in Sophia’s crystal, and even mulled over the alchemical refining process in detail.
Nothing seemed to help.
Transmuting an object was labelled as the process of change while refining was to remove its flaws and enhance its strengths. He still hadn’t figured out how to transmute, but that wasn’t important. He didn’t need to change the water. He just needed to infuse his Qi into it without the stuff leaking out the second he cut off his supply of Qi.
Feeling frustrated, Leon stoked the fire so hard that a lot of the sticks crumbled to ash. He had tried everything he could think of. Continually infusing his Qi and hoping that it would eventually stick, willing it to stay inside while using a visualisation technique, and even recruiting Claire to infuse her Qi into the water while he brewed an elixir.
None of the ideas worked, but that last one corrupted the mixture entirely, ruining the brew and transforming it into a black sludge.
Despite having the same unaspected Qi, there were differences between people that made them unique. Qi almost had an intent infused into it that couldn’t be easily corrupted by outside sources. Leon didn’t understand why until he experimented on healing, the very one where he proved that outside sources of Qi reduced the efficacy of healing elixirs.
As he stared into the simmering liquid, Leon recalled that water wasn’t naturally pure. It was full of minerals and even bacteria. Of course, civilisation had put in great effort to remove the bacteria, ignoring the minerals and other trace elements. They were good, after all. Electrolytes, salts, and other minerals were necessary to a healthy person’s diet… but were they necessary for an alchemical elixir?
Leon stared into the bubbling water and took control of the flames with his right hand, directing the tongues of fire at the base of the pot. He then shifted his mind and began to do something with his left hand. Qi flowed down his arm and into the pot, fusing with the bubbling water inside.
Closing his eyes, Leon began to visualise what he wanted the end product to look like. Pure water without a single contaminant. He needed nothing but the water, everything else evaporating off the surface as the liquid boiled away.
He imagined every step, and his Qi listened.
It flowed out of his hand and infused itself into the water. He didn’t change its flow, the liquid moving in a typical convection current. He could have tried to, but instead of needlessly altering that which already worked, he utilised the current to his advantage, using the momentum to extract the contaminants with centrifugal force. As the water came into contact with the bottom of the pot, it rose up the middle in a column and erupted into bubbles of steam, the momentum and gentle nudging of his Qi separating any trace elements. From there, it cooled as it drifted to the edges of the pot and sunk back down to the bottom where it would once more go through this process of heating and cooling.
It wasn’t until a notification sounded in his mind that he stopped. Opening his eyes, Leon pulled back and found the pot nearly empty. Most of the water had evaporated away from the high heat. The process could be improved in the future. He used True Sight and looked at the screen that had appeared above the pot.
[Pure Water (Common)]
Water that has been cleansed of its contaminants, making it a perfect medium for any alchemical elixir.
Leon smiled, moving on to the source of the notification. He had gained a new skill.
[Alchemical Purification (Common): Remove unwanted particulates from an ingredient, purifying it before use. This is done by injecting your Qi into the material and cycling it in a pattern that will aid in the separation process. Efficacy is dependent on the quality of ingredient and the type of dross to be removed.]
Emboldened, Leon did as he failed to do before. He infused his Qi into the water and used every drop of his will to combine the two. Something pressed against his brain as his Qi invaded the Pure Water, resisting the changes he wished to force upon the liquid. Leon ignored it and continued to push harder.
Suddenly, the resistance broke like a pane of glass. Leon’s Qi flooded through the water and sunk into it, disappearing somewhere he couldn’t sense. He continued to feed more of his Qi into the water, but he wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing. Was he really making Qi-infused water? After expending a tenth of his entire supply, something changed as the water refused to accept any more Qi.
It was almost like he was throwing it against a solid wall.
Notifications buzzed in his mind so Leon opened the first.
[Congratulations! You have successfully transmuted Spirit Water (Common).]
[Spirit Water (Common)]
Saturated with mortal Qi, this water has taken on properties related to the creator’s Qi type: Unaspected. If consumed, this water will speed up the natural Qi recovery of a cultivator. Suitable for all alchemical uses.
Leon swallowed. Had he really just… No, he couldn’t have discovered it. Taking a deep breath, Leon opened up his notifications.
[Congratulations! You have discovered how to transmute an object. Also known as the branch of change, you have begun to walk down the path of a true alchemist. By taking a material, you have used the power of your spirit to alter its essence so that it would better suit your purposes. While you have only transmuted a small pot of water to become a useful alchemical ingredient, you will now be able to alter the essence of anything you wish.]
“Fuck!”
The girls trembled, the noise pulling them out of their meditations.
“Is everything okay?”
“No,” Leon said, wincing. “I accidentally transmuted something.”
“That’s awesome!”
“I feel like I should be congratulating you, but why are you upset? Did you not get a first title like you hoped?”
“No, I did. The problem is that I already promised to give you the first title.”
“No worries. Didn’t think I would get it anyway.”
“I’m sorry that I-. Pardon?”
“Alchemy is your thing. I haven’t even tried to do anything with it yet, and I think Sophia prefers regular cooking.”
Sophia nodded, playing with Pete’s little paws while he slept. “While it would have been nice to have, I don’t really want to do anything other than solve the puzzles. Besides, it’s only fair that you have the title considering you discovered alchemy before anyone else on Earth.”
“Well, I still feel bad. I’ll try to figure out another way to get a special title for you guys.”
They told him not to worry about it and went back to meditating, leaving Leon to stew in his guilt as he looked at his notifications. He would have to make some more spirit water before he made another Bloodroot elixir. Opening up the next message, he found the new titles he expected.
[Transmuted: Successfully transmute a Common-quality material before establishing your foundation. +1% to Spirit.]
[Disciple of Will: First in the world to transmute the essence of a material, transforming it into a spiritual ingredient via an infusion of Qi. +5% to all stats.]
Leon swirled the thimble of Spirit Water in the cauldron. “Is this what they call drowning in success?”