Haruki opens his bloodshot eyes. A wave of numbness spreads from his spine to the rest of his body. His eyes dart around in a panic as he takes in his surroundings.
It isn't too long until he realizes where he is.
His residence. One of the huts that is given to outer disciples like himself by the sect.
*sigh*
Haruki raises an arm to rub his face, the panic that had rushed into him like a lightning bolt beginning to fade. His eyes sting, his bones and joints creak in pain.
The raised arm weakly thumps against the floorboards as he stares at the roof of the hut.
And he just stares.
And stares.
And stares.
He does so for minutes on end… knowing full well that nothing good is waiting for him. The moment he averts his gaze, the moment he rises up from his resting place it will all begin once more. Just like yesterday, just like the day before that, and just like all the days preceding them for months on end.
'Couldn't sleep again.' the young teen remarks.
This is the fourth time this night that he's woken up with horror in his eyes. And going by the rays of light streaming into the hut there won't be a fifth time.
Another depressed sigh escapes Haruki's lips. He should get up, it's best not to keep them waiting.
The teen rises, groaning all the while. Sluggishly he manages to drag himself to the trap door leading to the tiny basement of the hut. A pack of hard and cheap food is retrieved from there. Haruki's face grows a shade darker when his eyes roam over to the empty fur bed in the corner of the ice cold stone room.
Eating is a chore to get through. Cleaning his body up and making himself presentable even more so, but he does it anyways. A comb and water are used to fix his hair.
The standard black robes signifying his status as an outer disciple are donned.
He opens the door leading to the outside and, sending one last glance to the empty room, he leaves.
==================
"What I wouldn't give for a shredder right about now" Kenki mutters incoherently, his voice filled both with fire and exhaustion. "A hand mill at least, like what we used to grind the wheat into flour back home… no that wouldn't work."
His arms act with slow but powerful movements. He grinds, pounds and twists the heavy pestle in his hand. The tool appears to be made from simple wood, but one should not let themselves be deceived so easily –it is exceptionally tough and heavy, several times the weight of lead.
Even with such a wicked weight the pestle should have been easy to use, Kenki's a cultivator after all, his strength surpasses that of mere mortals. And it was easy to use the aforementioned tool…
The first fifteen minutes that is. And about an hour has passed since he began.
"Didja say something, prettyboy?"
[https://i.ibb.co/BC82RNx/Naoe.jpg]
Naoe pipes in from the side, huffing and puffing, sweat dripping from her forehead. In her hands is the very same type of mortar and pestle Kenki is using.
But what are they grinding exactly?
Ethervine of course. The ingredient must be rendered into fine dust for it to be suitable for alchemy. And processing such a hard material into powder is quite the endeavor. The ethervine is only soft when you compare it to other types of wood.
Behind Naoe sits Yuki, he is cleaning the ethervine. Submerging it in a bucket of water first before scrubbing out any dirt and moss that might or might not be present on the surface. A wipe-down with a towel to soak out the excess moisture from the vine's surface and he moves on to the next piece.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"You really weren't joking around when you said that this is a laborious process." Ken continues to twist the pestle into the mortar as he speaks.
Naoe huffs.
"You ain't seen nothin yet, pretty boy. We haven't even started the brewing process yet." She remarks while transferring the tool from her left hand to her right.
"Well, at least it's good exercise." Kenki says with a teasing smile "Who knows, you might finally end up putting some meat on your bones."
"Huugh!?" The girl's expression twists into something downright vicious as she ceases her work. "Ya wanna fight or something!?"
"Maybe I do? I don't think that you can though, considering how weak your arms are right now."
"Well of course! I didn't enter this sect as a cultivator did I? You prick. I haven't even had the chance to cultivate, let alone breach into the fourth fucking realm." She huffs and puffs once more before thinking it best to get back to work.
Except that there is a problem.
*wobble* *wobble*
Naoe's hands tremble as she attempts to pick the all too heavy pestle off the ground, she cannot do it. Her reddened fingertips seem to no longer have the strength necessary to grip it properly.
"Tired?" Kenki comments, noticing her plight.
"Yeah." she responds, giving up and laying on her back.
"Well… this ought to be enough, don't you think?" Ken empties the contents of his mortar into a large bowl. He is careful –lest he kick up a cloud of dust in his haste.
"Nobody said that we should finish all of this in one sitting." He extends a hand to grab Naoe's mortar. His own arms aren't in any better condition than those of his friend, but it's best not to leave work only half done.
"Yes, but can you just imagine the coin?" The girl grins, her hands forming claws as if she's grabbing onto something. "The ethervine you brought is worth two –no, three spiritual coins on the market. I can make about twenty times my daily quota with that much of it. Just imagine… we'll be swimming in gold in no time."
"I just got lucky though." Ken pipes in "I doubt that finding another tree will be an easy feat. If it's that expensive then it ought to be pretty rare."
"Or maybe…" Naoe raises a finger "...There just aren't that many disciples willing to venture into the forest."
'Huh?' Kenki's eyebrows rise in surprise.
"What makes you say that?"
"This might just be a hunch of mine." Naoe begins to speak "But I believe that a large portion of the outer disciples are either uninterested in the forest or actively avoiding it. I mean, take my mentor for example." She rises "He spends almost his entire day in the alchemy pavilion, just concocting potions. One after the other, bam, bam, bam. Like some sort of an automaton from the stories" She uses animated gestures as she speaks.
"There's no way in hell that he ever goes out into the forest. Despite being here a year longer than me, he's even lankier than I am!"
"Kind of hard for me to believe your words when he has to use this demonic thing all day." Ken comments, waving the ridiculously heavy pestle around.
"He doesn't use it!" Naoe almost shouts in outrage "That's just the thing, he has manservants working around the clock, processing the alchemical ingredients for him."
"Eh, servants as in plural? Wasn't he an outer disciple? Only in the third realm too, where is he keeping them?"
"The servants have their own communal housing." Naoe dismisses him with a wave of her hand. "You'd know that if you actually dared to use your token. What, were you expecting them to live with you? In this sorry excuse for a house that we're given?"
"Yes, actually."
"Well, you're wrong." Naoe turns her nose to him. "Either way, I was talking about how a large portion of the disciples have no reason to enter the forest. It just isn't worth the effort, I think. Someone like me is able to feed themselves no problem just by producing potions. I buy materials, I process them and then sell the product. Done and dusted, not a single reason to ever leave the safe grounds of the sect."
"... That may be true but not many are fortunate enough to have the elements of both wood and fire." Ken argues. Attunement to wood and fire is the prerequisite for entering the alchemy pavilion. "Not to mention that you have the element of poison to help you out as well. Most are only attuned to one element –be it earth, water, wind or something else. They'll have no choice but to enter the forest."
"I guess." Naoe pouts. "But don't tell me you haven't noticed all the idle disciples in the market. Those stalls aren't manned by mortal servants are they? And not to mention that alchemy isn't the only trade out there. You have smithing and enchanting for example. Emperor knows what else is out there in this sect, we've been here for such a small amount of time and the customs test barely covered any of it."
"That is true." Kenki nods as he rubs his chin in contemplation.
'I actually never thought of it in such a manner. I'd just taken it as the natural order of things, that every cultivator should be capable of combat. Fight, consume, grow –that is the standard progression in most, if not all Xianxia that I've read. But is there truly a need to take on such risks when you can grow behind the safety of the sect's walls?' Ken's thoughts wander back to the exam that he passed in order to get the rights to enter the Emerald forest. More specifically –back to the hare fiends that he and his group had to fight.
'Thinking back on it, most of the disciples had almost zero combat experience, stumbling and messing up in the middle of the fight. And they've got no reason to have any if they've been literally dragged from the streets like myself and Naoe. I am an exception to the rule, master Dongmei made sure to give me plenty of training in both long and close range combat.'
New arrivals should still have the mentality of the common peasant, that they have no power.
Ken shakes his head. It still doesn't make sense.
"I…I think I'm done…" the servant boy chirps in from the side as he dries out the final branch of ethervine. He's remained silent until now, letting Kanki and Naoe talk with each other without interrupting them, quietly performing the task given to him.
"Hnn." Naoe nods "Good job." She gives the boy a pat on the head, causing his cheeks to flush bright red as a result.
Kenki barely holds back the roll of his eyes. The dynamic between the two is more than enough to disgust him.
"Anyways." Ken speaks out in order to grab their attention, it is a successful attempt as both turn their heads to face him. "I'm done here." He pours the contents of the mortar into the large bowl. "How about a fifteen minute break before getting back to it? We can get to the second step of the recipe."
"Sounds goo…"
*Crash*
A loud boom interrupts Naoe's sentence. Lines of enchantment light up the walls of Kenki's residence as the whole structure shakes. The two initiate cultivators immediately rise to their feet in panic.
*Crash*
There's another blast. This time, however, it does not impact the hut –no enchantment is activated, there is no shaking. It can be clearly heard that the second attack has struck somewhere further away.
The duo exchange a glance.
"What was that?" Naoe whispers out.
"I can hear someone shouting, I don't think that said shouting is directed at us though." Ken responds while approaching the wall. Pressing his ear against the wood he tries to make out what is being said.