Leo didn’t know how long the procedure lasted, but in the end he felt refreshed and full of energy. Grandpa Noel, on the other hand, was sweating like a pig and could barely breathe.
“Run to the river and jump in for a moment. Afterwards come back, warm up and go home!” He said and sat down on the lowest step completely spent.
Leo ‘realized’ that the old expert had probably spent too much Qi during the ritual and now had to rest. The best thing he could do was to follow instructions in order to not let the old man’s efforts go to waste.
When Leo returned, the little shack was already cooler and the old man sat on the top step sipping Firewater with a satisfied smile on his face.
“Sir Noel, is my body finally cleansed?” Leo asked the question that was bugging him.
The old man scratched the back of his head, thought for a bit and asked in return, “When are you departing for that expedition of yours?”
“In few days.” Leo said, “Nine, I guess.”
“Alright! Then for the next eight evenings you’ll undergo the same procedure.” Noel seriously said, “In the end you should be ready!”
Leo quickly bowed and left leaving ‘thank you very much, Sir!’ behind, but the old man could only sigh and shake his head.
“What a weird kid!” He said to himself.
Even though he was tired, besides entertainment he also got something out of all this endeavor. The sweat room they built was somewhat similar to what he enjoyed during his youth and it made him nostalgic. The downside was that from now on he’ll have to share it with a bunch of old geezers living in the neighborhood, but everything in life had a price.
Leo obediently returned every evening, each time bringing two new juniper brooms. The old man in return continued to furiously trash the boy as if he had committed a crime.
On the last day, after they were done, Leo fished out the only treasures he had – the three spirit stones and offered them to the old guy who sat naked on the upper step and sipped Firewater, just like every night.
He said, “Sir, I don’t know how to repay you and these stones is all I have. Please take them!”
Noel might be a drunkard and an old rascal, but he couldn’t bring himself to hoodwink a child. Everyone in Avila knew that the Sacred Order closed the trade with spirit stones last year and afterwards their value skyrocketed. These three items were probably worth more than his house, land and his old body combined.
“Don’t show those to anyone.” The old man quickly made up his mind and said, “You’ll need them in the future.”
“Uhmmm …” Leo got confused.
He kind of intended to ask for few more pointers regarding the future cultivation, but from what it looked like the tired old master was not in the mood.
“Just ask if you have something on your mind.” Noel patted the spot beside him inviting Leo to sit.
The boy complied and said, “If I understand correctly, the nine day long ritual has cleansed my body, right?”
“That should be so!” The old man nodded.
“Great! Then how should I proceed with the Bone reforging?” Leo asked and Noel almost choked, but quickly recovered.
He decided there was no harm of teasing the boy one last time – Leo was simple, but good in nature and wouldn’t take any offense after he realized he got played. After all, they did have fun during the past days.
“You’re proper cultivator now, Leo!” Noel seriously said.
He didn’t know where did he get the strength to keep his face straight, especially seeing Leo’s reaction.
“You mean …” Leo couldn’t believe his ears, but when Noel nodded with a mysterious ‘mhm, my boy!’, there were doubts! The old geezer … or rather – master, successfully cleansed not only his body, but the bone marrow at the same time! No wonder after every ritual he was completely spent! The old man gave it all for a boy he didn’t even know!
“How could … I ever thank you …” Leo almost had tears in his eyes, but Noel interrupted him.
“No need for thanking, but I need you to promise two things!”
“Of course!” Was the immediate answer.
“First, you are not allowed to tell anyone about me.” Seeing the boy seriously nod, the old man continued, “And second, you’ll visit me after you’ll become an immortal, not earlier!”
Obviously the second part was another tease which Leo took seriously as usual, but the first part was only to protect the boy. If he began to run around telling everyone that he had successfully completed the who knows what cleansing the cultivators did, he’ll definitely get laughed at.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Leo, of course, took the first rule as Noel’s wish to remain low key and didn’t intend to go against the wish of such master. In addition, he really liked the old man who purely on a whim ‘propelled him into the ranks of Qi gathering stage cultivators’.
The next morning before going to the main square, Jack patted Leo’s shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, buddy! On the next expedition we’ll go together! I’m pretty sure you’ll be successful this time.”
For the past days Leo was really struggling about keeping the secret from his friend and finally broke down.
He pulled Jack into his room and whispered, “I already did it!”
Jack’s eyes widened in shock, but then he laughed, “Hahaha! Great! Both of us are at the bone forging stage! Let’s go and free you from that stupid Barbra!”
“Shush! Not so loud!” Leo tried to calm him down, “I can’t really tell anyone … I’m a cultivator now …”
“Whaaaa … How the hell did you do that? You were just … no … how?” Jack tried to process the information.
“You can’t tell anyone, otherwise I’ll be in big trouble!” Leo whispered, “I met this old man who did a strange ritual. It lasted for nine days and … now I’m at the Qi condensation stage.”
“No shit!” Jack’s shock only grew, but then he turned serious, “Oh my god! What have you done!”
Seeing Leo’s clueless expression, he punched his shoulder, “You idiot! You can’t go through two cultivation stages in nine days! No one can! Not even lady Etessa who is one in a thousand years genius!”
Leo furrowed his brows in confusion, while Jack continued, but this time whispering, “You obviously met an expert from the corrupt path, right? Maybe even from the old Voodoo sect! Only those guys can do things that seem like magic.”
“Oh my god! What have I done!” Leo repeated Jack’s words and lifelessly dropped on the bed.
“Ok … ok … let’s think!” Jack got involved in an instant, “Did you sign anything with blood? Did the Voodoo expert do anything weird to you?”
“Well … there was no blood, but the old man was performing this ritual …” Leo tried to explain.
“Oh my god! Not an old man! Those are the worst Voodoo masters! Everyone knows that!” Jack was close to panicking, “F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! We need to think of something!”
“What if I told …” Leo had a thought that was instantly rejected.
“No way! If they catch a wind of you being a cultivator from the corrupt path, you’re dead! No, we need a better solution!”
“What if I practice the normal stuff. I’m a regular cultivator in that case, right?” Leo suggested.
“Uhmmm … that might work.” Jack found the idea to be logical, “Then we need a cultivation method for you to practice day and night, but it has to be for the Qi gathering stage …”
“Fine! I’ll exchange all my contribution points for that.” Leo decisively said, “I should have enough and I don’t need for anything else, right?”
“But elder Clark will forbid it anyway.” Jack disagreed.
“But what if I don’t ask elder Clark?” Leo grinned and showed the three spirit stones he had on him since yesterday.
“That might work!” Jack guessed his friend’s idea and the two boys rushed to the Administrative division.
There was not much time till they had to meet up with the rest on the main square therefore they had to hurry.
“Good morning, Sir! I’d like to exchange my contribution points.” Leo politely greeted the elder behind the counter – the administrator on the duty.
He had been here several times, but now his request was completely out of norm. Realizing that Leo put on the counter his three spirit stones and smiled.
“What the hell is this?” The elder seemed to become upset, “I’m not accepting any bribes!”
Fortunately Jack, feeling the elder’s stare, immediately realized the meaning. He had heard quite a few stories how these things went, therefore patted Leo’s shoulder and ran out the office.
“It’s fool’s tax, Sir!” Leo said what Jack taught him.
He had no clue what that meant, but those words were supposed to work as some kind of a password. The elder should know you were one of theirs and would never rat him out.
To Leo’s great surprise it actually did work like that.
After a moment of inner struggle the elder made up his mind. If this was a year ago he would’ve laughed if someone offered only three spirit stones, but now it was a wonder the kid managed to dig out these from somewhere.
With a wave of a hand the stones disappeared and a smile bloomed on the elder’s face, “How can I help you?”
“I want to exchange all my contribution points for a cultivation technique meant for fire affinity Qi gathering cultivator.” Leo said in one breath.
“Mhm.” Elder nodded and asked, “Name?”
“Lost Leo.” Leo hated the nickname on the stone slate, but he had no clue who put it there and even if he knew, until becoming elder himself there was no way he could do anything about it.
“Oh, you’re that guy.” Elder expressionlessly nodded again.
Leo was not the first with a strange nickname and won’t be the last. What bothered the elder more was that the boy wanted to spend a fortune on something he couldn’t use.
“Are you sure?” The elder asked, “That’ll take all your contribution points. The very basic techniques go for two thousand points. You’ll be left with only hundred and thirty three.”
“It’s fine, Sir.” Leo confidently nodded, “May I ask you to make a choice for me? And if it’s possible I’d like to use all my points to get as good technique as possible.”
Elder didn’t really like such transactions when the opposite side was a clueless kid.
“Is it for you or …” But seeing Leo nod again, he sighed with relief.
Sometimes these kids were hasty, but sooner or later everyone would get to the Qi gathering stage. He probably wanted to practice things he couldn’t grasp yet because he got bored with the beginner exercises. Elder remembered well how he felt at that time, therefore after some consideration picked a small book from one of the shelves in the far side.
“This is actually a pretty good one.” He said passing the book to Leo, “It’s very basic, but very good. Many want to try the fancy stuff, but the road of cultivation is long. This mid mortal grade Qi gathering technique will allow you to connect to the natural Qi flow in your surroundings more easily. It doesn’t even have a name, but I’d strongly suggest you to start with this one. You can always pick up something more complex later. Just don’t rush, you’re still a child.”
Leo was caught by surprise when the elder actually decided to honestly guide him.
“Thank you, Sir! I’ll call it ‘The nameless technique’!” Leo smiled at him, “I’ll bring you something good if I can find anything during the expedition!”
“Shoo! Go Away!” The elder pretended to be upset, “And stop ‘sir-ing’ me all the time! Call me Edward! I’m probably only thirty five years older than you, not more.”
“Thank you, elder Edward!” Leo waved and dashed out the office, leaving Edward with complex expression behind.
Him and the other guys in the administrative division did small transactions like this from time to time, but such deals with children didn’t happen too often. In addition, this guy seemed to be less of a snob compared to most of the young talents.