As expected my two apprentices came a day after my house was finally finished. Unlike my mortal employees, these two had to agree to a stricter contract. Mainly involving an oath of secrecy when I finally broke them through.

At least if there was no harm involved for them. To test that, I caught a bunch of crabs, and forcefully elevated them into the second realm. With my own, big house it was easy to find a room to store them in, For now, my crabs were in a tub full of seawater, and one of my mortal employees had the task to feed them every day. Having someone working for me really did ease a lot of things.

For now, I had stuff to concentrate on though. Like the two children anxiously waiting in front of me.

“So, you decided you want to learn how to be a spirit seamstress.” I started. “A good idea, especially as I am going to help you reach the first realm in a few months. For now, you need to learn how to be a seamstress first. After all you won't be any good to me if you don't know the foundation. Any questions?”

“How are you going to teach us?” One girl asked.

“Well. I gave you a few stones when you signed the contract, take them out.” I said. “And hold them to your head.”

Both of the girls did as bid, and recoiled in shock as information entered their mind. It wasn't much information, all things considered, but for a mortal that never felt something like that?

While I could just give them a book filled with the knowledge they’d need for the work I planned for them, that wouldn't be what I promised.

No, I decided to keep the teaching at a slow pace. Faster than my mom back then, but I didn't need to teach them directly. Just the basic knowledge of each lesson, with practice sessions in between, would allow me to cut the time needed to train them significantly. Sure, I’d need to do more work while they were still in training, but these girls were an investment in the future.

“Now, I'm sure you’re filled with questions, so ask away.” I said.

“What did you do? Can we do that too? Why do I know so much now?” One asked.

I’d really need to break them through soonish, after all, both girls having names would make things easier. Wait. I didn't need to break them through by force, like I did with crabs. Just send them the feeling of qi. Like the cultivator did in my manual.

I opened one of the drawers in my desk, and took out another of the many marbles stored in there.

“I gifted you some of my own knowledge about creating clothes. Less than the very basics, but if you really want to learn, then you’ll need to experiment yourself, work out what works best for you. I will join the two of you upstairs, in your workroom, and do some work myself. If you need or want to ask something, just do. I will do my best to answer.” I answered

“As for you other questions. Yes, you will. Something like that is basic, and something I plan to teach you.” I explained. “Now, take this. It’ll show you how I sense qi, and should speed up the time of your awakening significantly if you put in some work. It’s harmless, but requires you to do some work yourself. Now, follow me.”

The three of us moved upstairs, into the second floor’s workroom. Unsurprisingly, both of the girls had decided to live with their parents, and only come here to work. Good for them. Now, I had several orders to work on, mostly stuff for some first realm cultivators that came yesterday. And some of the previous requests, from before my house burnt down.

Most wanted some relatively cheap robes, made out of prepared fabric. Which was fine for me, making robes was easy, and didn't take all that long. Especially considering I could work both faster and more concentrated than normal humans, thanks to my cultivation.

Three days after reopening my business, one of my clerks came to find me in while working.

“Mistress, a certain Velgo is here.” She said. “He claimed you’re expecting him.”

Good. My new guard finally came to start his work. I stood up, and looked at my two apprentices.

“You know what you have to do, I’ll return later, if you have any questions, write them down for later.” I said.

“Follow me.” I commanded.

The clerk followed me, as I left the room, and moved down the stairs, into my office. I sat down, and mentioned towards her.

“You can go get him now.” I stated.

“Yes, I will return in a moment.” She said, excusing herself.

“Hello Velgo. I hope you are free of all other obligations now? Does the second party still have leverage over you?” I asked.

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“No. I got the medicine my wife needed.” He said.

“Good. Are you ready to start your work?” I asked.

“I am. What do you want me to do?” He asked.

“You’re going to be a guard.” I explained. “You main job will be standing in the main room, and glower at all cultivators coming in, and make sure my workers aren't threatened. And protect them if they are threatened. Furthermore you need to wear a uniform I already prepared.” I said.

“When do I start?” He asked. “And can you hire my wife too? We don't want to be forage the forest anymore.” He said.

“That depends, is your wife a cultivator? I won't hire mortal guards, as they wouldn't be useful considering my intended clientele.” I said.

“Yes, my wife is a first realm cultivator. Will she be forced to swear an oath too?” He asked.

“Yes. But only an oath of secrecy. I can't have anyone know my secrets, because some are quite spicy.” I said.

“I did wonder about that, why do you keep your cultivation secret? I would have never dared going against you had I known your power.” He asked.

“At first, I didn't really think about it, I just went along with the flow after my mother was killed.” I explained. “But after I saw how much problems even reaching the second realm others had, I decided I didn't need the extra attention. After all I broke into the second realm years before most cultivators even open up to the world and qi.”

“You broke into the second realm before reaching ten?” He nearly screamed.

“Yes, yes. I was about five at the time. No need to scream, someone could hear you after all.” I said. “Cultivating is really easy. You people all try too hard, just abusing the natural properties of qi, and the secret I already told you, makes reaching higher realms quite easy. I already know what I need to do to reach the fourth realm, but really don't know if I want to, immortality doesn't sound all that appealing to me.”

“But. Immortality is every cultivators goal.” He protested.

“Yeah, and you all don't ever think what that means. You don't think it through.” I said. “First of all, there is the problem of everyone you know dying around you, one after another. Which doesn't sound all that appealing to me. And immortality doesn't mean you can't be killed, or die any number of ways. You just can't die of old age. And statistically, the longer you life the higher the chance you’ll die is.”

“Huh? The longer you life, the more powerful you are! Which increases you chance to live even longer.” He protested.

“That's not how statistics work.” I explained.

And continued on explaining how the averge age of a group of people would naturally tend towards the many, not the few, and that the longer a cultivator lived the bigger the chance he'd die would be, as he was further from the statistical average.

“That doesn't make any real sense. The math may be correct, though I can't do it in my head, but you ignore so many factors its irrelevant.” He disagreed.

“Math doesn't lie.” I stated. “Sure, it may not represent reality in its actual form sometimes, but it doesn't lie.”

“It still makes no sense.” He complained.

“It doesn't have to make sense for you.” I said. “Anyways. Immortality may not be such a lofty goal for you, considering what you did to save your wife from the fat merchant. I know I can elevate anyone into the second realm easy, and even carve their meridian paths, but anything after that isn't something I think I can do.” I said. “So, unless something drastically changes when reaching the fourth realm, which it might, all things considered, means you will have to watch your wife die of old age in time.”

“You can elevate anyone into the second realm, and carve their meridian paths?” He asked in shock, completely ignoring the other parts of my speech.

“Of course, it’s not hard. You just have to create some liquid qi in their body, and move it around to create meridians.” I said.

“How would you even know something like that?”

“Well, that's easy. I tested it on some crabs. I even got some right now, to see if doing so has any harmful effects on living creatures. Though I don't have any meridians carved, people will have to do that themselves. But breaking them into the first realm, and maybe the second? I plan to do that for all my employees in the future, under the condition they swear an oath of secrecy of course.” I said.

“You’ll do it just for the oath, won't you?” He criticised.

“Obviously. Just like any powerful organisation on this world probably does. Heavenly oaths are just too useful a thing not to abuse for stuff like this.” I said.

“But the heavens are beyond mere cultivators. Using them is wrong, blasphemy.” He protested.

I shrugged.

“When have we humans ever cared about that, it’s useful, so it gets used. The heavens are a part of nature, and thus they get exploited like nature.” I explained patiently.

“I don't think we will be able to agree on that point anytime soon.” He said. “But don't tell me I didn't warn you, when the heavens come down to punish your for your impudence.”

“We probably won't. Anyways. You can start working today, or tomorrow morning. Your wife can come anytime she wants. You know the conditions, and can tell her about the oath of secrecy.” I said, dismissing him.

“I will return tomorrow then.” He said, turning to leave.

“Very well. Be there at sunrise.”

So. The heavens would punish me for abusing heavenly oaths? A few years ago I would have dismissed it as complete bullshit, as religious drivel. But the fact that heavenly oaths existed, and were actually enforced by the heavens, made taking them serious a need.

I still felt sure of myself though. Heavenly oaths were far too useful not to try and find a way around them.

I’d need to do some research into the heavens. How smart were they, actually intelligent, or more like a computer program? What if I changed my oaths from directly including me, to actually mean my business. They’d stay the same, only now not directly meaning me anymore. I’d have to visit the temple slash church again.

I groaned, more things to eat my time. I really couldn't wait to get some work taken off me. Perhaps I should introduce some actually modern production practices? Division of work and hyper specialisation. Doing that would certainly speed up work, require less secrecy, as all workers would only know one step, and require less training overall.

That sounded like a good idea, but it’d still require cultivators. Not real cultivators, as those wouldn't do such work, but perhaps cultivators like the ones that produced common salt. Forcefully breaking someone into the first realm, and use the qi they gather to produce products?

Certainly something to think about. For now, I’d continue as planned. Proper industrial production would require a larger consumerbase than the cultivators of a single town.