The wind was buffeting my hair as I stood on the tallest tower of our compound and exercised. I tried to do some simple movements in the garden pavilion below, but something was missing. It took me some time to discover what it was, but once I climbed on the walls and the wind hit me in the face, I knew why I could not relax.
The gardens in the compound were enclosed. There was no wind or a horizon to look at. The only thing I could see when I was looking were the walls of the compound. It was no place to seek inner peace, so I took off looking for a place which would allow me to see outside of the compound.
I was lucky that the destination I had in mind was accessible and to my surprise without a presence, so I was now in the lookout tower of our compound. To my surprise it was empty, but it was a perfect location to do some exercises in the presence of fresh wind, well wind as fresh as possible in the city.
I was running through my morning routine of stretches, squats, pushups and jump-ups thinking about the future, which was now a possibility to do. My body was drinking Fire Qi like a man who walked three months through the desert and with refined Qi in my system The healing factor cultivators were famed for was kicking in. I could feel my body knitting itself back together. Tears in my muscles were disappearing, my bones were once more strengthening and my veins were thickening.
I had no bleeding incident in days since I began refining Fire Qi through the device. It was a glorious feeling, although I was still unwilling to test my supposed full capabilities. I was very sure my body could not handle the strength I could use yet, but I was moving to the point I could quickly.
The rediscovery of this strange cultivation method was filling me with pride and a warm glow more potent than any Fire Qi, although I could not discover a way to enhance the amount of Fire Qi I was producing. It was frustrating, but I could push the time I could keep the Qi producing technique for longer periods of time.
All in all, I felt thrilled with the results. Of course the situation was not perfect. I still needed to integrate myself to the clan and earn money for my parents. Both issues still lacked any solution. I also would have to stage a miraculous recovery as swiftly as possible to stop the doctor from siphoning money from my parents.
These problems were hard to solve, but an additional issue arose as I was diligently refining with the device as I continued to push the Qi in, the nature of the Qi in the stone was changing. It was hard to detect at first, but soon it became undeniable.
All other types of Qi and all impurities were not dispersing into the air, but were flowing into the stone getting embedded into it. The stone slowly, but surely began to resemble exalted materials, but unlike them it was characterized by the absence of Fire Qi instead of overabundance of one kind of Qi. It was a fascinating problem, but it tied itself to a problem.
The problem was simple, when the amount of Qi embedded in the object increased the harder it was to stabilize the barrier around the gold and the harder it was to refine Qi afterwards. If it was detectable just after a few days of intensive refining, it was clear that I would reach a point in time where keeping the barrier was impossible, which would mean recreating the device.
Luckily for me the change was nearly undetectable. I could only notice it when I changed one stone I was using for the process with the one I was not using to see what was happening and I could notice the difference between those almost immediately.
The stone would be easy to change and the gold recast, but as I studied the device closely I detected increased traces of the Qi even in the gold itself. It would take some time, but even the gold would get filled with Qi.
I was not sure what would happen then, but I had my suspicions. The manual warned against the contamination by the residual energy. It was not hard to guess that this phenomenon was such contamination and in this case the residual energy referred to the Qi itself.
It was a strange term for Qi, but the most immediate problem was “the limiting of the usefulness of the vessel,” the text mentioned, if I could simply recast the gold in a new casing. I suspected it wouldn't be a problem and the device would not need to be “purified”.
This passage suggested that the device would stop being useful in refining Qi unless it was purified. This meant I would either discover the means to purify the vessel or get new gold every so often.
Sadly for me I could not scour the manual for anything resembling purification. If the process was mentioned in the manual, it was in one of the destroyed sections. I did not know if the method was ritual, potion, array or some other more exotic methodology and my understanding of cultivation offered me no way forward.
I knew of no way that exalted material could lose its properties. Many texts suggested it was impossible, and these materials were irreversibly changed by the exposure to the Qi, which left me with only the option of getting new devices.
This posed its own enormous problem of course. It meant I would have to get a source of gold, which in my current situation was problematic. I would soon have to pawn all my jewels to raise money for my family. This meant I would have no access to gold. I allowed myself a small selfish leeway and prepared enough golden jewels for the next set of upgraded devices, but even then I felt like the scum of earth doing that.
I would need at least one more device in case something happened to the one I currently owed, two would be better, but it also meant I would have even less money for my family. It was infuriating.
I hit the air with a quick flurry of punches to release my frustration. It did not help, but I was unwilling to strike a wall as the tradition demanded, because I was still unwilling to trust my recovering healing factor so much.
The series of strikes and kicks finished my morning routine, and it did clear my head. And I would need a clear head today, because I was planning to visit a pawnbroker today. I had jewels to sell. The price I would get for them would be horrible, but people could not see a member of clan Silverhand selling their jewels. I could not bring more shame to my parents by being caught.
Luckily, I had planned for this beforehand. I still had my simple clothing and so I dressed myself in them. I asked Adra where the entrance for the servants was and I got permission from my father to go out today.
I set up everything perfectly. Mei Silverhand was still unknown in the city, so no one would recognize me and while a servant selling golden jewels might raise suspicion, I planned for this and got a plain certificate of sale from my father. I could present it to the broker and if the man was ruthless enough, I was sure to sell the jewels.
After my morning exercise I was ready, focused and prepared for my excursion. I went for the bundle with jewels in them. Everything was ready, but before I went I wanted to ask Adra how I looked. I turned around to call for her, when I remembered she would not come. Her free half-day was coming, and I asked her to take a necklace and my plans to jeweler Paulos in exchange for going home earlier. She could not accompany me here in case the situation grew unstable and I had to bust some heads.
The beginning of my self-imposed mission was going smoothly. I could pass the guard at the servant’s entrance with a simple nod and enter the bustle of the city. It was still fun watching all those different people enjoying their life.
I even stopped for a moment to admire a peddler with a small monkey, which was doing tricks for him. It was a delightful performance, but soon I passed the bustle of the busy streets behind me as I walked the side streets.
I asked Adra about some decent pawnbroker of repute and riches, and this was the place she recommended.
It was clear the business was going well for this man. The building was large and adorned with a sign depicting a big purse spilling strings of coins and colorful depiction of lucky spirits. Compared to the outward tackiness in front of the building stood two rough-looking men holding two big maces, who glared at me as soon as I came close to the building.
I paid them no heed and entered the door. In front of me was a large waiting hall. The hall was nearly empty, but for two men and one woman.
Their looks immediately raised my curiosity. They were dressed in armor, but it was not armor of the town guard or any clan in the city. They might have been caravan guards trying to make some quick buck before they departed on their journey, but I doubted that, because of the carved bone knives on their belts.
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I had seen these large knives a few times before. Their distinct colors were a dead giveaway of their nature, because they were not white or grey. They glistened with dull shades of Qi colors. They carved these knives from Beast bones.
Beast bone was not a particularly rare material. It was one material, which while relatively rich in Qi was not used by cultivators that much, thanks to the weird combination of Qi in them, which resembled the stone in my refining device, now that I thought about it
Most treatises agreed Beast bones had little use thanks to lack of dominant Qi and unpredictable ratios of Qi inside of them, but that was not quite true. These bones were rather strong and kept the edge fairly well, so it was easy to fashion blades out of them, which were nearly as good as quality steel.
Wandering cultivators sometimes carried these blades, but most common users of the Bone blades were hunters of Beasts, what was surprising was seeing even such a small group of hunters in Jiaomay city.
Hunters followed cultivators of the Empire to the sites with increased Beast activity to hunt the small prey, which was not worthy cultivators time. They could then harvest and sell these resources. It was not unprofitable business, but it was not worth it. There were few cultivation materials in the beast of such low rank, but they were still deadly to mortals.
On the other hand, if they got lucky and found even the smallest core it would set the hunter with riches for many years. It was incredibly dangerous and if I understood stories of the hunters I have run into during my sect assignments most of them died young. In truth, it was not that dissimilar to cultivators they followed around like vultures, but as the elders said such was the way of life.
With this life hunters could be found on the roads and at the outskirts of the civilized areas and close to the places where Beast lived, which was nowhere close to Jiaomay city, so why were they here was a mystery, but the fact they were at pawnbroker might be an answer enough.
“What do you think is taking him so long?” one of the men asked the woman.
“How should I know? I guess he is trying to make the best bargain possible,” the woman answered.
“Well, let’s hope he will not fail. We are screwed without these provisions and permits.” the other man pointed out.
“Boss knows what’s up. He will get us what we need without an issue, but your contacts have been crap lately, Ishin,” the larger man attacked the one without faith in his boss.
“They had the emergence in the Red mountains right. The cultivators just picked everything off before the prey could get to us,” the one called Ishin defended himself.
“Which is great, but it means we busted on that and that was the third bust in a row,” the woman pointed out.
“Janna, we should not dwell on our failures, but plot for the next time.” Ishin said, looking at the woman who chastised him.
Janna looked at him in disbelief and walked towards, her fist closed and ready for a strike. It was then the second man intervened.
“Do you think the boss will get enough money, Janna?” he asked.
The woman stopped her advance and turned to the bigger man, ”I doubt he will have much issues. It is not like there are crowds begging for loans. This will be a breeze,” she rolled her eyes as she pointed out this obvious fact.
Ishin chuckled, “Well, there is the little eavesdropper. Who knows, maybe she is here to get a loan so the big boss has no chance of getting one now,” he looked at me, his gaze disparaging and irony dripping from his mouth.
“I am here to sell a few things and get money, but why are you here? From what I had heard, hunters of the Beasts are flush with money. So why do you have to visit a moneylender?”
“Pah, what do you know girl,” Ishin said, but the woman decided to enlighten me.
“The rumors are true. If you are successful and kill a beast with a fully formed core; you will retire, but you still have to buy weapons, equipment, provisions and medicines and those things cost money, especially if you must pay for the best stuff. Hunting beasts is incredibly dangerous and you must buy only the best equipment.” She explained.
“Yes, but the scraps you fight will not have a fully formed core, not even a small one,” I could not help myself and pointed out the obvious fact.
“Well, you know your stuff,” the woman said, ”That is true, but even shards and half-formed pieces fetch an acceptable price, not to mention various parts. It is not much, but, if you are lucky you can still retire rich just after a few years of the hunt, unless you die or buy information which proves faulty?” she once more glowered at Ishin.
“Janna, It was not bad info. We were just too slow thanks to those Imperial censors. We would have been swimming in gold otherwise,” Ishin once more raised his defense.
Janna rolled her eyes, ”That might be nice, but it still means we are nearly penniless.” She rebuked him.
They piqued my curiosity. I knew very little about the inner workings of various hunter groups, ”Is it really expensive to find info about incoming hunting opportunities? Rifts open all the time and swarms come out of them like clockwork.”
“Bah the cultivators keep these schedules secret and to get them one must kowtow for years, or know the correct people, which I do,” Ishin smiled as he pointed to himself, self assured by his importance.
“How do you know this?” Janna asked, interrupting her colleague's boasts, looking at me with renewed interest.
“My friend is a cultivator. We chatted a lot about Beasts and other stuff and I listened. It is a rather interesting subject, wouldn’t you say?” I answered truthfully. I spent many hours talking with Anna and Cheng about our tasks before we went to the world. They were fun discussions.
“Ah little girl, the life of a hunter awes you. I understand. I was young once too. It is a great way to see the Empire. Soon we shall cross Central plains and go to Crystal peak steppes for the next few hunts.” The man whose name I did not know boasted.
“Why would you go across the Central Plains, when there will be a hunting expedition here in the Land of three rivers? Wouldn’t it be easier to just hunt here?” I asked him. Crossing the Central plains was a long and arduous journey.
“Why would you think there is an opportunity for a hunt here?” Janna wondered out loud.
“My cultivator friend wrote me a letter about it,” I said. The expression in Janna’S face was suddenly rather sly.
“Oh, and where will it be?” She wondered out loud looking at me like I was some kind of ancestor.
I smiled. I could not believe they would be interested in the story of some random woman they just met, but I was willing to tell them for a price.
“Well, that depends on how much you are willing to pay for such information. I am sure I will be able to recall if I can get a look at some gold, which will remind me of my dear friend.” I silently thanked Edward the Beggar and his impromptu haggling lessons. They came in handy.
Janna smiled, “Fair enough, I can give you twenty gold coins, but no more and if the info is faulty, I will come and get my money back,” she offered me money with one hand and let her other hand fall to her bone dagger.
It was not much money, but every coin counted and twenty gold coins was a sizable amount of money, but even when hunting low tier scraps they would earn many times that amount. I considered my options. It was unlikely they would have more money with them now and once their leader arrived, he might cancel this deal. I could not ask for much more money, but there was still an option for me left open.
“I will take twenty coins now, but once the hunt is finished, you will pay me another eighty.” I offered her.
Janna did not think about it for long, ”Deal. If your tip pays off, you will receive your eighty coins, so now where should we go,” she said as she threw me the string with coins. Her smile told me I could have asked for much more.
I grabbed the string out of the air and quickly counted all the coins. She was not trying to cheat me.
“There will be a hunt in Shadowstar forest,” I told her.
She thanked me and I explained to her where she should drop the money, getting raised eyebrows from the hunters. It seemed even they heard of the Silverhand clan.
Janna poked for more answers, but the entrance of their leader interrupted her. I could not get a good look at him, as he stormed out of the building.
I went to the door behind him, which he did not close and entered a spacious office.
There was a man sitting behind a large table covered with gold coins and important looking documents. Two large men flanked the table and glowered at me as I was approaching the table.
“What brings you to my door, miss?” the man behind the table asked.
“I have brought some jewelry I wish to sell,” I said to him and opened the bag with my jewels inside.
He inspected them for some time, then nodded, ”I can give you ten golden coins for this bunch,” he offered. I was hoping for more money.
“They are worth at least fifty coins,” I pointed out.
The man behind the table smiled with a smile which did not reach his eyes and spoke, ”You misunderstand the nature of this institution, little girl. You offer me goods and I offer your price, if you dislike the price you will have to deal with the consequences. He looked at me menacingly.
I needed the money too much to accept such a low offer.
“I think I will accept the consequences,” I said to him and collected the jewels.
The man smiled, and one of his goons moved to grab me. I simply grabbed his hand and brought it down on the table. Slamming it. He tried to resist, but my strength returned to me and even the large brute could not resist my pull. I slammed the hand and heard a satisfying crunch.
“What the heck are you, girl?” the money lender asked as he wisely moved away from me and from the blabbering mound on the ground in front of me with a broken hand.
“I am a business opportunity you let go,” I said to him and left the building. It was nice to deliver some justice, but it still meant I had the jewelry and now I would have to find another buyer.
I sped up to explore the city as I heard calls for the guards behind me.