The fire on my desk was burning brightly, even after I threw water on it. It was growing slowly but surely consuming all of my notes. I could hear shouts of alarm coming from the outside of my room.

“Fire!” I yelled once more and went to grab a blanket hoping to smother the fire, but before I could throw it Adra barged into the room carrying a huge bucket of water.

She rushed towards the fire, nearly bowling me over and threw it on the table, sadly in her enthusiasm nearly all the dirty water went astray hitting the mirror instead of the table and missing the fire altogether.

I regained my balance and prepared for another throw when two burly men carrying buckets of water barged into my room followed by my parents still dressed in their nightgowns.

They dispatched the fire with proficiency and expertise, which spoke of long practice. That Silverhand compound had a dedicated fire guard was not surprising, accidents happen often, and no one wants to have a roof over their head burned down, but their speed still surprised me.

“What happened, Mei?” my father asked as the men were inspecting the burned table looking for further signs of fire.

“I was meditating into the deep night and accidentally toppled a candle onto my papers. I think I was awake for far too long,” I explained.

“You think? Mei the sun is rising.” My father said as Adra went to open the window and let the smoke out of the room, I saw he was right. I could see the first rays of the morning sun rising over the horizon.

“The meditation was very engrossing,” I tried to defend myself, but even to me the words were hollow.

“We are going to have to talk about this, but you have to take a nap right now. You are sick and need your rest,” my father insisted.

I wanted to argue against him but my body betrayed me with a gigantic yawn. It was annoying. I should have been able to go at least a day or two without sleep, but now I got tired after merely one night. Luckily the cure to my condition was at hand. I just had to wait a little longer.

My father scolded me some more, but when he left, I went and picked the manual from the ground, putting it in one of my wardrobes. The fire guard left some time later satisfied with the lack of ongoing fire and I returned to my bed happy that my blanket was not used to douse the fire.

Adra brought me the vile medicine and fled the room as I uncorked it and drank it with gusto, ignoring the taste as much as possible. With this terrible duty behind me, I laid down and closed my eyes. Despite the rays of the rising sun, I swiftly drifted into the realms of the dreams.

The dreams were rather strange. I stood with four others as a gigantic winged lizard lunged at us trying to burn us to the ground. Then I stood as a legion of moving skeletons surged against the walls of a strange castle trying to defend the walls with my weapons.

The stream of the dreams continued, sometimes I swung a sword, sometimes I wielded a bow or strange arts, but always I fought with something and always alongside others. The dreams were surreal and filled with strange whispers I could not understand, but soon I woke up none wiser as to the meaning of these strange dreams, but refilled with energy.

It did not take long after I rose for Adra to show up. She was carrying a bucket and a big rag.

“My lady, your parents have departed towards their duties, but left you a meal, which is ready in the dining room,” she said and went to clean up the table. She was acting rather strangely in fact.

“Have I upset you somehow?” I asked her. She seemed reserved today. Adra looked at me surprised, that someone would care enough to guess what she was thinking.

“No!” she protested, but the rise in her voice made the truth obvious, ”My lady, you should not play with fire. It is very dangerous. I have seen what it can do,” Adra pleaded with me looking at me with eyes filled with strange darkness..

“It was an accident, which will not be repeated. I am very aware of what went wrong and will know it in the future. You do not have to fear,” I promised to her.

“One thing I do not understand. I would swear you had no candle with you, so how could you have toppled it?” she asked me. She eyed me with suspicion.

“Well, you are correct. I had no kindling or candle with me,” I said and smiled mysteriously. Adra opened her mouth and then closed it again shaking her head at my antics.

I looked at her crestfallen as she returned to her work.I wished to brag about my achievement, but it was clear Adra had no interest in pursuing the discussion further.

I dressed into fresh clothing, picked my Qi refining devices and went to the dining room. I was rather hungry and was pleased to find some noodles under the cloth on the table.

I had a quick lunch and breakfast combo to fuel myself and prepare for the further studies of my Qi refining device.

First piece of business was that I had to solve the issue with the fires. The solution was simple. The accident happened because refined pure fire Qi was allowed to pool together, so to solve this issue I had to draw the Qi away before it got to the critical point.

In normal circumstances this would not be a hard task. All I did during my time in the Fiery peak sect was drawing Qi into myself, but it would add another layer to an already complex exercise.

Now I would have to do three things at once: create the barrier keeping the Qi from spilling, pushing the Qi through the gold and drawing the refined Qi. In the worst-case scenario any lapse in concentration would cause fire, and even in the best-case scenario the whole exercise would fail and I would have to begin from the start again.

I had to avoid the worst-case scenario. I did not need a deserved reputation as an arsonist besides the rumors floating in the clan about my behavior. What I failed to consider is that I would already have one.

The future did not matter to me at the moment and I went to train myself in drawing the Qi. I could not train with the refining part, but as my previous experiments revealed I could work with the stone alone. So I formed the barrier around the stone part of the device instead of the golden one and pushed the Qi through it. There was no refining effect, but that meant I could draw the Qi into my body safely without causing fire.

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I was wise to do so as on my first five tries I failed to draw the Qi emerging from the stone into my body at all. It was slippery, and I simply could not draw it back into my meridians swiftly enough, but the methodology was sound and with each attempt I could siphon more Qi before it pooled and joined the flows of Qi around me.

I was getting better at, albeit at a snail's pace. I still smiled, progress was progress, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I could draw the fire Qi into my meridians.

I was dreaming about my inevitable success when a voice interrupted my efforts , ”Mei what are you doing?” my mother asked.

I looked up. She was dressed in her best gown, which when I looked closely was rather used, some of the trim was fraying.

“I am meditating, mother,” I answered truthfully, “How was your visit to your friends?” I asked her, trying to distract her.

My mother frowned, ”They are unwilling to have you as a maid in their wedding. They said that you would have brought ill fortune to such a joyous occasion,” my mother sat down and raised her voice?” I helped her with the nuptials and I was the one who organized birthing parties for all her three children and this is how she repays me. Can you believe it?!”

“It is not that surprising, mother. The rumors about me are not kind and I can see them refusing to let such a violent individual join such a joyous occasion. What if I attacked someone?” I pointed out rolling my eyes. These rumors were ridiculous, I was not a violent individual.

“That is no reason to refuse your old friend in her hour of need Mei. I will remember what she has done, so I swear.” My mother raised her hand and promised vengeance on all of her fair-weather friends.

I decided it would be wiser to back down, when my mother was in this mood it was wiser to avoid her, while she was peaceful and serene most of the time, my mother had a rather large vindictive streak, which would have made her perfect fit in any cultivation sect around the Imperium, if only she had the gift.

“It does not matter. I will exact my vengeance later, but it will make showing you to the clan in a good light so much harder, especially after what has happened in the morning,” my mother said looking at me sadly.

“I am sorry, mother.It was my fault, because I was not paying attention and caused an accident,” I apologized to her. I really should have been more cautious when experimenting with untested cultivation techniques.

“Accidents happen , but you must promise me, you will not be staying up so late. You must regain your strength and not overexert yourself.” My mother looked at me pleading.

“I am so close to figuring out the meditation technique, which will help me,” I said to her.

My mother looked at me concerned. “That might be true, but such meditation will be of no use if you collapse or something worse. You are using doctor’s Franco’s medicine right?”

“Yes, I am using it, mother. It is of no bother.”

My mother smiled, ”That is good. The good doctor warned us that you might have problems with ingesting the medicine at regular intervals, but you are my brave little girl and I am so proud of you.”

Her praise conjured a smile on lips however undeserved one it was. I was not a brave girl; I was just used to consuming similar concoctions in my daily life. This fact reminded me of the price I had incurred to my parents and the smile vanished. I had training to do.

“If you excuse me, I will continue my meditation outside.” I asked my mother for a leave.

“Of course, I am sure the fresh air will do you good,” my mother said.

I walked away clutching my device to a small garden pavilion I used to play in as a kid. The atmosphere was relaxing. Here in the shadow of an ancient tree and close to a small stream in case of another fire I sat down and began my exercise once more.

It was in the late evening hours that I was confident in my technique enough to refine Fire Qi safely.

The barrier buckled violently as I began the refinement, but it held as fire Qi emerged on the other end of the golden plates. I drew it by spinning it into my meridians as quickly as I could. I did not last even five seconds before I lost control, but in those five seconds I drew a small amount of Fire Qi into my body.

I let go of the stones and took a lotus position circulating the Fire Qi in my meridians. It was a pitiful amount, less than a hundredth of what I could cultivate through dantian in a fraction of the time, but it was refined Qi, the thing my body was yearning for so much that it was killing me. I let the small amount disperse through my body feeding my bones, flesh and blood.

I could feel no difference, but the amount of Fire Qi was so low. I returned to work refining my method and skill. Soon I could gain a steady stream of QI before the barrier collapsed after twenty seconds. Hour a day of this exercise would be enough to sustain my body, if my guess was correct. It was liberating.

The specter of death was no longer hanging over me and the manual of wisdom has saved my life. I let out a mirthful laugh. At the moment I believe it would open me a path to further cultivation. I could return to the sect and join back to the ranks. I would once more meet my friends as equals. It was an exhilarating idea.

The reality crushed my dreams almost immediately, as I tried to increase the amount of Qi I gained from the exercise.

No matter what I did, the amount of Fire Qi did not rise. I tried to increase the amount of unrefined Qi as much as possible, but even as I was pushing with all my might I produced the same amount of Fire Qi, as I did when I was pushing normally.

I tried to create specific patterns to enhance the refining in the same way as cultivation could be enhanced by more advanced techniques, but I received no change in the amount of Fire Qi I gained from the device.

The sun was setting down, when I finally ran out of ideas.

All of my failure pointed to a possibility, that either increasing the amount of Fire Qi gained from this process was not possible, or that it was tied to one variable I could not change, which was the amount of the gold in the device.

Both possibilities were equally dismal for my future as a cultivator. The amount of produced Qi was just too low. Hundred times less Qi meant hundred time more time to reach another bottleneck, even if the amount of Fire Qi generated rose with the amount of gold it would not allow me to reach for further stages than Earthly body stage, which I was currently in because the need for more Qi rose exponentially with each rank and stage and while dantian could grow with the user. The amount of gold would soon be impossible to accumulate.

There were also practical limitations. I was sure I could not sustain a barrier much bigger, that the one I was currently utilising and so much gold would require a barrier significantly bigger, that the one I could create.

It was clear this method would never produce enough Fire Qi for cultivation. It might produce enough fire Qi for a combat technique, but even then I had my doubts. The amount produced was so small I doubted it would ever properly fill my meridians making any technique very hard to pull off, not to mention that my meridians were in no shape to shape a technique anymore.

My mother called me to dinner, and I went. We were discussing goings on in the clan, but my brain was fully engrossed in trying to solve the issue of the small amount of Fire Qi. The dinner passed, and I found no solution to the dilemma as I returned to my room.

I promised my mother I would go to sleep, but I still had some time, so I pulled some parchment on the perfectly cleaned table and drew a more effective version of the improvised device I just made.

It needed to be made from a sturdy stone, which would have gold coming through it allowing me to push energy and keep my barrier more stable, as the imperfections in the stone would not disrupt it .

As I was sketching the image It started looking rather familiar. I went to the wardrobe and pulled the manual out of it.

I quickly found the page depicting various ornate sticks and staves whose purpose was escaping me. There on the top of the page was depicted a tablet with a round something in the middle of its side. The design was remarkably similar to my ideas, but the gold was not going through the table, instead it was going inside the tablet along its longest side.

It seemed I had discovered the training device the manual was describing. I scrapped my previous design and dutifully recorded the one on the picture. It was clear this device would be much more useful.

The mystery of what the other sticks were for remained. Were they the key to a more advanced form of cultivation, or was the whole page just depicting various styles for the same device? I did not know and my curiosity burned, but I saw no way to find out.