All the hours of bouncing ideas and brainstorming with his few friends lead to a single conclusion in the end. That he really didn’t have a ton of options to make that kind of money in the short term. In the end, he decided that Alchemy is really the only option he had any realistic chances with. So, he would practise the 2 new recipes he had acquired in the street side bidding stall about a month ago. One of the two recipes was a pill used mainly in healing called Small Revitalising Cleansing Pill. The other was a pill used to quickly replenish Qi that was used up, called Minor Qi recouping pill.
The latter is a pill used primarily by early level Qi condensation realm cultivators which makes its demand negligible, especially considering the fact that one can’t even use external Qi arts and techniques at early Qi condensation realm. The sect also mostly prevents proper disciples from leaving the sect and putting themselves in danger until they reach mid Qi condensation realm, further compounding the problem.
Fortunately for Finlay, he still had the small revitalising cleansing pill. The revitalising and cleansing part referrer to the healing effect and the cleansing impurities effect it had respectively, while the small part of the name was just that. It was a recipe to make only a small sized dose of the pill. In truth, it was only a partial recipe, or rather the pill congealing part of the recipe was burnt. Fortunately, his alchemist friends could just teach him a generic pill congealing method that works for any Tier 2 pill. Unfortunately, Wang Doshan and his cousin had only been trained and informed about making small pills.
Finlay couldn’t help but question the significance of the ‘small’ part. As far as he understood medicine, if one needed a bigger dosage, it should be fine to take more than one small dosage, but Wang Doshan had to laughingly correct Finlay that that wasn’t how it worked with Alchemy and materials imbibed with Qi.
A small pill congeals and preserves a small dosage equivalent of the medicine within a shell of excipient, which also contains some impurities and toxins. Hence, the amount of medicine stored per volume of the small pill is much lower than a regular or large pill since there is a minimum thickness required of the excipient shell. If one takes multiple small pills to cover the total dosage value, there would inevitably be a lot more impurities and other neutral substances that are required to be processed by one’s body. This inevitably reduces the ability of one’s body to absorb the medicine and in turn reduces the efficacy of the medicine.
But fortunately, despite the "small" adjective, the pill is a very in demand item amongst the lower level disciples. It’s very common and easy for a low level disciple to get hurt during sparring. There are also a decent few who use a lot of pills in their cultivation and make use of this pill to deal with impurities built up in their body.
Now the only missing puzzle for Finlay to start making the pill is his lack of knowledge and training in the toxin nullifying process. Fortunately, that was the very subject scheduled to be taught in his Alchemy class this week. Unfortunately, that also left him exactly where he started. He needed 1 spirit stone for tomorrow morning and he had no choice but to borrow from his friends. Normally, that would be a lot of money to casually lend to a friend, but it’s a good thing that they were able to swindle so much from Hu Li not so long ago.
Just as he was about to take his leave, Finlay was stopped by something Dokgo Xu had to say.
“Wait brother Lei, there is also another way for inner disciples to make some spirit stones. The sect has some chores that are too low level for elders or mid level cultivators to perform and yet, the mortals might be considered inadequate for the task. Usually, the sect offers these jobs to low level disciples who are looking to make some money to financially support their cultivation.”
That caught the attention of Finlay. If there were indeed things he could do to directly make money, that would be the ideal way for now, until he is ready to sell his own pills or formations. Hearing that, Wang Doshan also seemed to remember, and added his own thoughts to it.
“Ah, yes. There is that thing, but unfortunately, it was one of those programs that was supposed to help the poor or those without rich backers, only the reality is the complete opposite. There certainly aren’t enough chores and odd jobs for everybody, leading to some competition and where there is competition for something, all the major clans and factions within the sect flock to it as wolves to meat. For one to be able to obtain those jobs, they need to already be connected with a faction or a clan. It’s next to impossible for an independent individual to just walk in and be able to take those jobs.”
*sigh*
At that, all the other 3 collectively let out sighs.
“There has to be something we can do…”, grumbled a disgruntled Dokgo Xu.
“Well, there might be an option,” the chubby friend hesitantly put out. Once the other’s uncertain gazes landed on him, he continued.
“Me and my cousin are barely considered inner disciples on the account of a sect Alchemist, our master, taking us in and so we aren’t eligible to contend for those jobs, even if we are a part of the Alchemy faction. But brother Fan Lei is a proper inner disciple on his own merits. The senior disciples under our master should have some good connections and if I speak to them, they should give us face as their juniors under the same master.”
Finlay immediately brightened at that. His friend was quick to cut off his growing excitement with a raised hand.
“Before you go assuming too much, our senior disciples aren’t exactly…close with us, let’s just say.” The cousins exchanged resigned glances at that.
“They don’t think we’re deserving of being taught by our master…Anyways, I will try to speak to them but don’t hold out too much hope for it.”
“Brother, thank you for all this help! For what it’s worth, I think you both are some of the hardest working disciples here and you certainly earned your current position.”
It was clear that Finlay’s remark meant a lot to the cousins. They didn’t say anything, but pulled him in for a brotherly, side hug and patted his shoulder in a friendly gesture.
They sent him off with a "leave it to me", somewhat reducing the burden on Finlay's shoulders.
----------------------------------------
The next day, Finlay took the borrowed spirit stone and waited at the meeting spot before the sun rose above the horizon completely. He wasn’t surprised and only mildly annoyed when his new sword instructor came much later than the agreed upon time.
Finlay turned towards the large clock on the towering building nearby to note the time as he saw the distant silhouette of a hunched back man, skipping along towards him. He clearly had a delighted expression as he seemed to be talking to the clouds of all things, seemingly clearly pleased with himself. As he neared Finlay, he schooled his expression into a serious one before approaching.
“Hmm…It’s good that you’re just on time,” he nodded sagely as he looked at Finlay with an instructive tone. A nerve was about to pop on Finlay’s head, but he endured and promptly bowed to greet his instructor.
As the hunched back man was content with silently observing, Finlay hesitantly opened his mouth, “Aaa…About the weekly fee…”
Before he could finish, his words were waved off.
“It’s fine. I spoke to Wei Qi and on account of your completely broke status, the first week is free of charge. You can pay your fee from next week onwards.”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Finlay was more than happy to oblige, although his happiness was less than it rose to after hearing the first half of that sentence. Regardless, 1 week should give him some critical time to see if he could make this work with little or no debt.
“For now, follow me.”
The duo walked past the training grounds and around to the opposite side of the mountain to where the student residencies and the area where classes are held. Finlay knew that this side of the mountain was dedicated to the working elders’ residences. The sword instructor walked over to a large dwelling with a well maintained courtyard. There were stone benches to sit at the edges of it with some of the most pristine grass he’d ever seen on the ground. Finlay could feel the tell-tale signs of Qi emanating from all of the grass in the courtyard and yet the most conspicuous thing of all was the tree with an eye-catching black bark with the occasionally lighter brown lines streaking through it. More importantly, Finlay felt a lot more Qi coursing through the trunk when he placed his hand on it.
WIthout the other party even opening their mouth, FInlay already knew that this place was definitely not his money loving sword instructor’s place. Simple grass that almost approached the level of a Tier 2 herb and a mysterious tree with so much Qi, yet they’re both used as simple decorations? It was obvious that this place belonged to someone else and they were merely borrowing it for training.
“Hmm? What nonsense are you staring at? Get ready.”
Finlay quickly drew his attention off distractions around him and laid down his back pack against a wall. He quickly took out his only sword and stood before the old man before him.
“I will be seeing how much you actually know about the basics. Wei Qi is a fine Martial instructor, but he is almost completely focused on the Dao of piercing weapons like the spear. Besides, from what I understand, you’ve only been receiving weapon instructions for a month. Let’s see. Come up to me and show me what you know.”
That was a bit unexpected to Finlay. He wasn’t expecting to spar with an instructor of all people on his first day. He eventually, albeit hesitantly, walked over to the hunchback person and started trying to attack.
There was no suspense or a thrilling sequence of exchanging moves like in the case of his spar with a senior a month or so ago. Instead, the hunchback old man stood there and either parried, countered or defended against the moves of FInlay as he wielded a simple, thin wooden stick of all things. It felt almost like he had been putting more effort to keep standing than to receive Finlay’s attacks. Soon, exhausted and dejected, Finlay stopped moving as he stared at his instructor and the completely undamaged little stick in his hand, as he kept waiting for any feedback.
The other person stood silent, with the same expressionless cold face as when the ‘sparring’ started. Eventually, the silence did break.
*tsk* *tsk* *tsk*
“GARBAGE…UTTER GARBAGE! This is the level I’m to teach? I wasn’t expecting much considering that you’ve only been learning anything meaningful for the last month and yet you’ve managed to disappoint me. Doubly so considering how that cunning Wei Qi exaggerated your so-called natural ‘talent’.” The last word was spat out with contempt.
Finlay felt a bit of anger rise up to his throat. But he knew better than to mess with this crazy man and was able to keep his quiet. Still, he felt a bit embarrassed. He wasn’t exactly expecting praise, but he had been putting in a lot of effort into this the past month and was hoping to at least not disappoint.
“To think I was so confident that I scammed that Wei Qi bastard this time…*sigh*...Okay, enough of that. No matter what, I’m struck with you since I already made the deal. If nothing else, you’re at least physically sound. Now, take a break and compose yourself. The next test is about defending. I will chuck a few tiny rocks at you and you will defend, parry or dodge them. Don’t worry I will make sure to go easy on you. Even if they hit you, you shouldn’t be hurt too bad…”
Finlay was a bit worried hearing the ominous last part about his next test. Yet, he had no other choice at this point. He resigned himself to his fate and tried his best to recuperate and calm his mind for the next test.
The next test went equally terribly. Finlay at the end lay in a heap of panting mess as he was hurting all over his body. Meanwhile, the expression of the instructor got progressively gloomy until the end, when he simply sat there, looking towards the ground as if in deep contemplation. The growing nervousness in Finlay was broken by a loud shout and the violent stomping of the bag that held the small pebbles that were chucked at Finlay.
“DAMMIT! This Fu***ng sh**ty thing. Why in the hells did I agree to this donkey deal?? What the hell was I thinking?!!”
Eventually, the rampage calmed down after a few of the seemingly precious grass was damaged.
“So tell me, what exactly did you do in the valley??”
At the question, FInlay was hesitant to tell exactly what he did in the valley, especially the timeline. He decided to tell only a partial truth. He told exactly what he had done there, only he changed the timeline to that of the one agreed upon with Senior Elder Kang beforehand in an effort to keep his identity hidden.
“So, let me get this straight. You didn’t do sh*t in the valley, except for eating the pills you got freely from the sect and occasionally going out to play a bit for some chump change. The only meaningful thing you did was learn an Alchemy recipe and an archery technique that you promptly abandoned after your graduation because you wanted to learn to wield the ‘cool’ weapons. Is that it? Or am I missing something else that is significant?”
Finlay couldn’t help but hesitantly reply, “I-I also fought and killed 2 peak tier 1 beasts…senior.”
The moment he finished those words, he knew he should have kept his mouth shut as he was receiving an intense glare from the older cultivator.
“So in conclusion, nothing significant. *sigh* No point in worrying over it now. Let’s just move forward.”
To FInlay, that sounded more like words that the old man had said to comfort himself than those meant for Finlay.
“Alright, let’s end it here for today. Go to the healer to get yourself treated before your classes. Go go go.”
Finlay didn’t need to hear another ‘go’. He promptly bid farewell and slowly dragged himself over to get some treatment.
----------------------------------------
Finlay’s pain was soon forgotten in the busy schedule of the day.
“Qi Arts. The requirement to perform Qi arts is for a cultivator to at least be at Mid level of Qi condensation realm and have a decent level of Qi manipulating ability. It is the very first true cultivator’s tool on your path. Sure, you get perks like an enhanced body and senses before this. There are even special internal techniques that some clans and factions possess that can enhance the body further before reaching mid level, but none of them manifest anything as visual, complex, versatile or obvious as a simple Qi art can.
“Qi arts use the cultivator’s ability to sense, manipulate and channel Qi to influence and control the external or internal Qi of a cultivator in distinct patterns and ways to manifest a tangible and desired effect.”
The instructor paused to verify that he still had 100% of the attention of the class before continuing, satisfied.
“A simple example is the Qi shell. It is a Qi art designed to primarily create a defensive shell around a particular body part…”
***
“Meditation is the controlling of one’s thoughts by focusing on their inner self and yet also on nothingness. It is also the single most essential skill a cultivator needs to possess. Let me correct that. It is the single most important skill to any sapient creature, including mortals.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a heavenly genius or of the barest talent qualifying you to be a Qi practitioner, meditation is a skill you will all come to rely on for almost everything.
“Now, there are obviously different types of meditations, both based on their uses and methods. Before we delve further into today’s topic, let us calm and focus our minds with 20 minutes of deep meditation of the general kind. By now, you should no longer take too long to enter this type of meditation. We've been doing it since the first class.”
At that, the students slowly entered a meditative state, each at their own pace and following their own individual methods.
***
The much anticipated Alchemy class for the day came at around late afternoon and Finlay paid utmost attention to finally learn the technique to reduce the toxins. It was not an exaggeration to say that his immediate future depended on it.
“Today, we learn about the very critical, Toxin Nullifying Process of Alchemy. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it would be almost impossible to find someone who will buy your pills if you skip or aren’t able to perform this step properly. So, listen carefully…”
Finlay was already tired from the long day he had had and yet, he managed to keep his focus on the all important teachings of the instructor. The threat of bankruptcy it turn out was a strong motivation. Soon, he will be able to sell his drugs again and start raking in some of that sweet sweet money or shiny rocks in his case.
To be continued.