“The general consensus is that the slower you chisel your Soul-Ward away, the more stable your Core will be. The bigger the Soul-Space, the harder it is to Condense your Qi.”
- The First Concept of Core Foundations
Today was the day, she was finally going to break into her Soul-Ward. Lya clenched and unclenched her fists nervously, pacing around the clearing as she waited for Brella to arrive. The sun had set over an hour ago, so her best friend should show up any minute now. It might have made more sense for them to meet on the South Side of the mountain after sun-down, but they’d already made their plans the week before and there was no way of notifying Brella otherwise.
Lya had bartered her way into the North Side after the cultivators’s last visit. They came by once a month to pick up the latest batch of Spirit Leaves and re-designate the Yin and Yang borders for the harvesters. Only cultivators could differentiate the energies of the Ley Lines, but actually picking the Spirit Leaves was below their pay-grade. That’s where the harvesters, like Lya and Brella, came in.
“Come on, come on, where are you…” Lya muttered into the empty night, kicking the nearest tree in pent-up frustration.
Spirit trees grew all over the place, they looked like the most basic tree in existence. Medium sized trunk with medium sized branches and medium sized leaves. Most were of absolutely no use to anyone, but Spirit trees that grew on Ley Lines were the building blocks of any reputable Sect. As far as Ley Lines went, the one on Mount Rushless was on the weaker and more variable end, which was why the Gazing Seers Sect had to pay such frequent Ley Line adjustment visits.
Throwing her hands up in frustration, Lya slumped down against one of the offensive trees and took out her day’s harvest. She might as well put the time to good use and select her Yang Leaf. Picking only the precisely matured Spirit Leaves sixteen hours a day was probably one of the worst existences imaginable, but it was all that Lya knew.
On the Southern, or Ying side, of Mount Rushless the Ying aspected Spirit Leaves would grow, and on the Northern, or Yang side, the Yang aspected Spirit Leaves would grow. Every mortal knew that Ying and Yang Leaves, in exactly equal proportions, were needed for the refining of Foundation Pills. And while the secret to refining them was held by the cultivator realm, if you happened to be ‘lucky’ enough to be a gatherer in a Ley Line, there was a shortcut.
Take Yin and Yang Spirit leaves in exactly equal proportions and funnel their Qi into the precise spot where the Core should be formed, behind the navel. It would allow you to chisel into your Soul-Space, creating the crevice that would hold your Core. At least that was the commonly disseminated theory circulated by the harvesters all around. It wouldn’t be the first time a gatherer broke into the cultivation realm without the aid of a Foundation Pill.
Every mortal in any way associated with a Sect would generally be given one chance to test their potential as a cultivator. In most villages this happened around the ages of ten to twelve, when cultivators would show up with F-grade Foundation Pills. The ones the Sects only didn’t throw away because in every thousand mortals, a very lucky or very talented human would actually make use of the trash Pill to break through to the cultivation realm.
By the time Brella finally showed up Lya had her chosen Yang leaf in hand and was busy with her second thoughts on the matter.
“Gosh,” Brella said, gasping for air as she slumped down next to Lya, “that was brutal. Never make me climb a mountain in the dark again.”
“… Are you sure about this Brell?” Lya said, uncertainty clouding her voice.
“Oh! Not again!” Brella coughed.
“No, I’m serious!” Lya hastened, taking advantage of her friends coughing fit, “What if we are better off waiting for the Foundation Pill handout! They’ve got to be giving it to us soon! We’re almost sixteen!”
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“Exactly! We are almost sixteen!” Brella said, finally in control of her breathing, “We should have been cultivating for years now!”
“… They were waiting for our Soul Wards to mature…”
“No,” Brella said with disgust, “they were waiting because they needed the work force!”
Lya bit her tongue, not being able to refute.
“You know as well as I do,” Brella continued, “that we are useless to them as gatherers the moment we break out Wards. When we do we mess up the aspect on their oh-so-precious leaves. So they keep us sheep-viced with this idea that our Wards need ‘maturing’. We’ve been through this…” Brella finished with a sigh.
“I know… it’s just…” Lya grasped at straws in fear, “What if Jenners is right?”
Brella snorted in disgust, “What? That the cultivators are actually prepping us for a better breakthrough?”
“Yeah! Maybe—“
“Look,” Brella interrupted her, “I’m doing this. I’ve waited for you long enough. I’m tired of having this conversation with you over and over. And I’ve seen enough gatherers make it through this way. So we know it works. You can do what you want after. I’ll go first.”
Brella pulled out her gatherer’s pouch and selected a Ying leaf. She held out her hand, palm up, in the direction of Lya’s pouch. Lya pursed her lips, but did as she was asked and placed one of her own Yang leaves on Brella’s hand.
“I-I went as far away from the Ley Line as the supervisor would allow,” Lya said, filling the air with her awkward chatter, “they’re the weakest ones I’ve probably ever harvested.”
Brella nodded, and swallowed.
“Good,” she said, her voice suddenly shaky, “I did the same.”
“Equal parts Yin, Equal parts Yang,” Lya parroted the common saying as Brella crossed her ankles and got ready with a deep breath.
“Shouldn’t you go to the middle of the clearing?” Lya interrupted, looking at the tree behind Brella.
“… Why?” Brella asked confused.
“I mean, if leaves are aspected… I bet these trees are Yang trees. So wouldn’t it be best not to be near something that could skew your balance?”
“That… makes a weird sort of sense,” Brella said, “they do say the most important part of the process is maintaining balance between all things.”
Lya nodded and Brella got up. She moved to the center of the clearing before sitting down again with her ankles crossed in a butterfly pose. She straightened her back, took in a deep breath and said, “Here goes nothing.”
Lya watched as her best friend took two seemingly identical leaves and held them together before nibbling just the tip off of both in unison. She’d expected… something. After all the talking and speculating on Ward-Breaking she’d expected some outward manifestation of what must be going on inside her friend. Instead she watched as her friend sat still for a time, the only thing that changed was the girl’s expression. Going from determined, to focused to straining and then suddenly relieved. Her breathing accompanied her expressions, going from still, to measured, to gasping and then still again.
The whole thing took less than twenty minutes.
“I did it,” Brella said with a elated sigh. “I… I actually did it! I can feel this nugget of… emptiness behind my bellybutton. It’s just as they said it would be!”
Brella staggered a bit getting up with a slight frown, “I-I think I didn’t centralize it as well as I should have. I can feel my… center slightly off-balance. It feels like I should have focused more on that, but the moment the energy bombarded me I had a hard time keeping it contained as small as I could. I mean, I can tell it’s not perfect. But I am glad I did it!” She beamed. “This means I can cultivate! Lya you have to do this! It feels… Honestly I don’t know how to describe it. But it feels like I can see, or exist, or… Yeah, I don’t have the words. You just have to trust me on this one.”
Lya’s smile for her friend trembled in uncertainty the moment Brella mentioned her.
“I don’t know Brell… I’m really happy it worked for you, but something just doesn’t feel right. I feel like I shouldn’t be doing this.”
Brella shook her head with a smile, “Come on Ly. You’ve got this. I know you do. If I did it, you definitely can. You’ve always been the better at… well, everything. I know you’re scared. I was too, but it’s really all about… self-control. And if there’s anyone that is good at that it’s you.”
Brella walked over to her pouch and held it up to Lya, “Here. Choose your leaf, I know you’ve got your weird parameters of leaf-selection.”
Lya chuckled nervously, but with a sigh she gave in and reached her hand inside the Ying leaf pouch.