“Aunty, you’re alive!”
Alex heard the words as if from a far-off distance, drifting in soothing darkness, his focus only recently pulled from hyper-focused internal regeneration, allowing the delightful languor of exhaustion to claim him once more. How long had he been awake? How much sleep had he actually gotten these last few days, so focused on pushing himself, bettering himself, in every way that he could? Lost between savoring a brand new life free of the influence of malicious gods… and desperate to focus on anything save the precious memories of two more women he could so easily have cherished for a lifetime… before countless lifetimes had been torn from them all.
“I am indeed, child,” whispered the weary voice of Reny Wu. “If I weren’t so dizzy, I’d ask how! Certainly it’s no thanks to my own foolishness, so arrogant as to ignore my own husband’s counsel, even the counsel of the headstrong boy who’s heart you’re so eager to claim.”
“Aunty...”
Reny chuckled softly. “Forgive this dizzy old woman her ramblings.”
“You’re hardly old, aunty. You could pass for thirty, and steal any many’s heart in the blink of an eye. Do you have any idea how much uncle puffs up when any young dandy so much as smiles your way?”
This earned a snort. “Which is half the young lads, giving me grateful bows whenever I cure their ales, whether inflicted on the road… or elsewhere. Not that that old fool has anything to be jealous about, with a dozen children to our name and fifty seven grandchildren we love and cherish, just as much as we love and cherish you.”
“Thank you, aunty. From the bottom of my heart. If it weren’t for you and uncle...”
“And we almost killed you for our foolishness,” Reny whispered. “I knew I was daring dangerous waters. But those mushrooms were prizes I was desperate for. A foolish, hungry old woman, so eager to ascend she lost focus on what matters. We already have what we need to heal ourselves, and my greed almost cost us our lives. Should have cost us our lives. Even with my focus on desert venoms, even dosing us all with cure-alls that left me deluded enough to think I could pay the price that savage garden so clearly demanded...” she choked off a sob. “Only to be the first one webbed and claimed and injected with venom so potent it made a joke of all my defenses. And I should be dead. We all should be… niece, why are you smiling so brightly?”
“Oh aunty, can’t you guess?”
A long, pregnant pause ensued before the older cultivator gasped. “No! There’s no way I could believe… he’s only a boy! Not even a Bronze… or is he? So hard to read, that one.”
This earned a snort. “You’re telling me. The look in his eyes says he wants me desperately. But then he flashes this apologetic smile and I absolutely hate whoever hurt him, because then it’s just pitiless training till I want to cry out for exhaustion.”
“Ya Ling!”
“Yes, aunty?”
“Are you truly saying that silly, foolish, beautiful boy somehow saved me?”
“Would you believe me if I said yes? That he screamed at us all to flee before serving as a distraction, and that it actually worked?”
“Actually, no, child. I would declare it the height of absurdity. Insanity. That was a Silver tier abomination with poison so virulent… I shouldn’t even be alive. How am I even here?”
This earned another pregnant pause.
“No!”
“Yes. He actually did.”
“That foolish boy! No matter his eccentric gifts, there was no way he dared ingest any of that toxin! Not when I, a master of this field, as much as any Bronze can be, dosed myself with neutralizing agents so potent that not even JiangHu’s foulest poisons can touch me. And the Dragonsbane root itself would be neutralized. Was neutralized. I checked myself, to make sure our foundations could never be so shaken again!”
“Well, that explains what happened, then.”
“What happened?”
Ya Ling sighed. “He took in your blood. Honestly, I think he somehow drew out most of your poison while doing so. He then, well, kissed you. And he definitely earned uncle’s death glare… until he realized just what Alex had done before collapsing and we understood just how bitterly his mad daring had cost him.”
Reny hissed. “Damned foolish boy. Alright, child. Pass me a blue vile, upper left cabinet.”
“This one?”
“Yes,” the woman snorted. “It’s my most potent restorative and hard to miss, for a reason.”
The sound of a popped cork and a sigh of desperate relief could be heard. “Heaven’s Mercy.”
Long tense moments passed.
“Aunty, you’re actually getting better. I can see it!” Ya Ling all but squealed.
“Of course I am, child. It’s my most potent concoction. It was made of the most expensive ingredients at the height of my powers, before my foundation was cracked. And now that that dreadful poison has been purged from my system, it’s actually doing me some good. As well it should. Unfortunately, I only have half a dozen blue vials left. And unless I can fully repair my foundation...” She gave a tired sigh. “Enough of that. Now let me look at the boy and make sure he’s stable, before I begin work on what really matters.”
Ya Ling’s voice filled with desperate hope. “Aunty, do you really mean...”
“Yes, child. I have most of what I need. Enough to allay most of the damage. Your foundation won’t be perfect… but you’ll have a hairline crack where before there was a crippling fracture that only the midday sun kept stable for you.”
“So… salvation. But what about achieving Silver like Uncle?” Her voice softened to an anxious whisper. “Will it be possible? One day?”
“Just a dream for most of us, dearie. Even those who enjoy nothing but fortuitous encounters. You already know that.”
A long pregnant pause ensued, so poignant with gratitude and despair.
“Alright, Aunty… thank you.”
“Oh, child. Now do you see why I risked so much? With those mushrooms...”
It was at that moment that Alex felt himself heeding exhaustion’s call once more.
Before wrenching himself awake with a groan, earning alarmed looks from both Reny and Ya Ling… and how absurd was it to feel so horrible? According to his interface, his Prismatic Fox had healed over 80% of the damage already!
“Alex!” He was surprised by how quickly Ya Ling had raced to his side, her arms gently clasping him with a mother’s care. “Please, be careful! You’re sick. Very sick. Fragile as glass.”
“Not really,” Alex whispered with a dry smile, though he couldn’t quite force a chuckle. In fact those words alone had cost him a pair of blackened teeth.
Only then did Alex’s eyes widen with alarm. Eyes that saw clearly once more but had been nearly blind, not that long ago.
“Shit. Just how close did I come to dying?”
“Too damned close, foolish boy!” Reny snapped, eyes blazing. “You purposely injested a poison none should dare! A toxin that even the most experienced healer...” She closed her eyes, shaking her head. Alex smirked to see her teeth were in no better shape than his. Even as he felt his jaw start to throb and heal as he forced his exhausted mind to heal peripheral damage delayed until then.
“Silver tier Spider Queen Venom. I know. Effectively a contact poison that will kill you with any exposure at all, even if it has the moniker ‘venom’ in it’s name.”
Reny was giving him the strangest look. “How is it that you’re even alive, child? How is it that either of us are alive?”
Alex forced a wink. “Let’s blame it on my exotic, mixed-blood cultivation technique, shall we?”
Ya Ling chuckled ruefully, holding him in her protective embrace. “You scared the hell out of me, Alex. Taking on that spider with nothing but your odd shield and a dao, not even wielding the treasures of a storybook hero which for some absurd reason you seem to want to emulate, taking on insane odds to save near complete strangers.”
Reny gave them both a bemused look. “Hardly strangers anymore. I hope you know you’re now family to us, Alex.”
Alex flushed, and couldn’t hold back his own, heartfelt smile. “I… thanks.” He swallowed the unexpected lump in his throat. “That means more to me than you know.”
Reny’s eyes were positively twinkling. “I refuse to owe any stranger a debt as great as the one I owe you. Saving my foolish life, my husband’s life… my niece as well. Thus, you are family to me. To all of us. I hope you know that. So please consider this wagon your wagon, and our roof your own.” She then gave him an arch look. “Though if you claim my niece’s heart, I expect a jade ring on her finger and an oath of love between you both.”
Alex’s eyes widened as Ya Ling stilled, her sudden hitched breath making it clear just how profound and genuine their gratitude was.
There was no response Alex could give to accurately convey the sudden warmth in his heart.
Save to bow solemnly and low, before pulling free the herbal pouch she had given him with hands that still trembled, until he glared at it, Prismatic Fox doing quick repairs as he handed a bemused Reny the pouch she had loaned him.
She chuckled softly. “No, dear nephew. I want you to consider this a...”
Her words abruptly cut off. She gazed Alex way with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Her hands started to tremble.
Ya Ling’s soft grip around Alex tensed in sudden alarm. “Aunty?”
Reny’s bloodshot eyes fixed upon Alex’s own, filled with a disbelieving wonder so great, she opened her mouth, and not a sound slipped out.
“Aunty!”
A trembling hand reached out to touch Alex’s chin. “You did it.”
Those three words were all it took to freeze Ya Ling’s panic to breathless wonder.
Alex said nothing, merely bowing his head.
“Fire peaches. Golden Blossoms. Spirit Grapes. Heaven’s Leaves. And all twelve sacred mushrooms capable of repairing even a Gold’s foundation… and making the most profoundly potent ascension tinctures any Silver could hope to have.”
Alex grinned. “And I even managed to scoop enough soil that a powerful enough herbalist should be able to cultivate those cuttings in similar soil. At least, if the environment is saturated with enough spiritual energy.” He gazed with unreserved pride at the pouch. “I’d like to think that I was careful enough that, thanks to your magical pouch being so good at preservation, that any or all of those prizes could be cultivated anew, giving you prize components to your present or future spiritual garden.”
“Or we could use them right now to repair our foundations!” Ya Ling whispered, unable to hide the desperate hope in her voice.
Alex nodded. “That was my hope as well. I’m just thinking about whatever’s left over.
But Reny didn’t move a muscle. Just staring at Alex in unmitigated awe. “How?”
Alex shrugged. “I get along well with plants. It’s as simple as that.”
“But you claimed all twelve mushrooms. What about the spider queen? How in the world did you escape it?”
“I was wondering the same thing myself,” Ya Ling said, still somehow wrapped around him, her breathy voice that smelled of mint and warm desert sands tickled his ear. “How did you manage to both claim the mushrooms and escape?”
Alex flashed a cold smile that revealed the darkness he normally strove to keep so well hidden. “Because I didn’t bother escaping at all.”
Ya Ling blinked. “Alex, what are you talking about?”
He shrugged. “Why escape what you can kill? And earn sweet, sweet potency boons and spirit cores besides!”
Reny actually paled and swallowed at those words.
Ya Ling snorted. “Seriously, Alex. Now’s no time for jokes! How did you even survive? I know you’re fast and coordinated, but not as much as a gifted Bronze, and...” She petered off when she caught her aunty’s gaze.
“He’s not joking, Ya Ling.”
The girl so affectionately holding him under the guise of friendship that could be so much more suddenly stilled, pulling away to shift towards her aunty and get a good look at Alex’s face.
“Alex?”
Alex flashed a rueful smile. “I had something of a breakthrough. You might find us more closely matched in terms of Quickness and Finesse than we were before. But most importantly, when you learn to sense the flow of spiritual energy in a spirit beast, which is far, far easier to sense than within most human cultivators, you’re able to read their tells. To sense where and how they’re about to strike at you. It certainly doesn’t guarantee victory, but there’s no way in hell anyone’s beating a Silver monster without some kind of edge.”
Ya Ling’s dazed stared didn’t abate. “You’re serious. You actually killed it.”
Alex dipped his head.
“How? Alex, how the hell did you defeat it?”
“By nearly getting killed like an idiot, before getting incredibly lucky with a breakthrough at just the right time. In other words, sheer talent. How else?” He smirked at the look she gave him, turning to Reny. “Is that everything you need?”
But Reny was giving him the strangest look. “You broke through. You actually ascended in the middle of combat.” Her eyes widened. “And it was a powerful ascension for one so early on their cultivation journey.” Damaged teeth aside, her smile lit up the room like the noonday sun. “And yes, Alex. This is everything I need. Everything and more! And don’t for one moment think I’m letting you go without a prize worthy of the boon you’ve shared.”
Ya Ling furrowed her brow, before giving a delighted little clap. “Aunty! Will we actually be able to do it?”
Reny gave a pleased nod. “Indeed I think we will, Ya Ling.” She then gave her niece a cautionary look. “But it won’t be for you to try it. You’re only goal will be to use my first tincture to heal your foundation. Should you make a full recovery, you dare not ruin all our hard work by trying to enhance yourself with anything else. It will only cause further strain. All the more so since your desert epiphany already elevated you a rank, despite your injury!”
Ya Ling’s cheeks flushed prettily as she stole a glance a bemused Alex’s way. “I was struck by inspiration. And it wasn’t something that felt right to hold back.”
“I’m not saying it was wrong,” her aunt soothed. “But you need to spend at least a year stabilizing and strengthening your foundation, free of any enhancements save what the crucible of your own efforts brings you.”
Ya Ling immediately bowed before Reny. “It will be as you say, beloved Aunty. I eagerly await your tincture!”
Reny nodded. “Check on your uncle. Tell him I’m not to be disturbed for at least half a day.”
Alex blinked, surprised that Reny was willing to dare such an undertaking only just recovered, but the fire in her gaze made it clear that she was both determined and very much alert and aware. If she wasn’t yet at her prime… she wasn’t that far off, either.
Ya Ling turned to Alex. “Come on. Let’s give aunty some space.”
“Actually, if Aunty Reny didn’t mind, I’d love to be able to assist. Or at least watch.”
Reny frowned thoughtfully. “Are you actually going to tell me that your Ruidian enclave had an apothecary?”
Alex grinned. “I’m not going to say any such thing. But yes, I do have apothecary experience.”
Reny furrowed her brow, before giving a quick nod. “You don’t know the layout of my wagon, so I won’t ask you to assist. But if you think you can actually get anything out of it… you should both stay and watch.”
Ya Ling opened her mouth, then slowly closed it, bowing her head. “It will be as you say, aunty.”
This earned a snort. “Even you could become a talented apothecary, even if your element is not particularly suited to proper alchemy. Most tinctures for mortal ailments are enhanced by the spiritual energies trapped in the base ingredients alone, after all.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Ya Ling frowned. “But you said my tinctures taste gritty.”
“They do.”
She flushed, stealing a quick look Alex’s way. But he was already intently focused on Reny’s dextrous hands, as she reached for over a dozen pressed plants, dried herbs, and fresh cuttings, carefully going over the names of all of them, Alex quickly committing them to memory as best he could, his interface helpfully pinging the median market potency of over half of them, or at least what they would have been worth in the life he had lived before.
But what really captivated both Alex and Ya Ling’s attention, was when Reny truly began embracing he arts, Alex’s Qi Perception allowing him to understand and appreciate like never before not simply the art of unleashing the trapped potency of over a dozen potent ingredients, but catalyzing that infusion into an exquisitely complex web of spiritual energy that was then channeled into a pristine flask of elementally attuned water, before further enhancing the brew with streams of Water and Wood. A method completely different from the Fire, Earth, and Metal combination he had been expecting. But clearly just as effective in it’s own way.
And Alex couldn’t keep the grin of awe off his face, when it clicked. Understanding why the infusion technique was so different from that practiced by Liu Jian and Liu Li. Both Alchemical professions focused on using one’s own spiritual energy to enhance the tinctures and pills they made. But each needed different patterns of infusion to compensate and allow for different patterns of elemental affinity so that the finished product was perfectly balanced. If Fire, Earth, and Metal was one path, and Water & Wood a second. Were there other paths as well? And would it be easier or infinitely more complex if one used a five element system? How about eight?
Alex’s mind was filled with possibilities, even as most of his focus was on understanding the process playing out befor him. Visualizing himself in Reny’s shoes, performing the exact same sequence of steps, and infusing the exact same ratio of Water and Wood Qi into the final product. Until at last, it was done, and Reny gave a satisfied nod.
Ya Ling gave an excited squeal, immediately bouncing off her seat. Yet Alex just sat there, unable to wipe the stupid grin off his face, as he received a message equally as profound.
Qi Perception check made! You sense the flow of Spiritual Energy within the wagon!
Alex gazed at a Reny for long moments. “May I?”
Both women looked away from the tincture that had captivated their attention to glance Alex’s way.
He felt his cheeks blaze with the temerity of his own suggestion.
To his great surprise, Reny didn’t snort in bemusement, or glare and demand he leave at once, as he would have expected from any alchemist for his temerity. All Reny did was ask a single question.
“Are you sure?”
Before he could even answer, because no, he most definitely was not sure, she gestured toward her equipment. “First step, gather the necessary ingredients, and we’ll go from there.”
He did his best to ignore the wide-eyed look of dismay Ya Ling was giving him as he took a deep breath, hesitating for only a single anxious second when he completely froze, before his hands moved almost of their own accord, pulling free multiple vials and glass jars, his exquisite Qi Perception, combined with Rank 7 Biochemical Mastery ever closer to an absurdly glorious Rank 8, which seemed to include boosting his 18 Perception in sight and hearing to a bloodhound’s sense of smell as well, his nose sensing and differentiating so many alchemical odors and compounds. The nuanced taste of spiritual energy in the air further enhanced his palate, aiding his memory much like the notes and rhythm of a song made lyrics so much easier to recall.
Almost like he was moving to a tune looping endlessly through his head, he gathered the ingredients, clipped the same exact leaves Reny had, save for the one awful moment that he froze, his nostrils making it clear that a certain acrid stench of the final herb he had plucked most definitely did not belong in the brew, receiving of all things, a congratulatory nod from Reny.
“Very good. The Bitterspike cloaks the Silverdew. Not that such is normally needed, but the wise alchemist hides his true prizes in plain sight.”
Alex smiled his sudden understanding, carefully wiping clean the Bitterspike residue from the silver sheers before claiming a single Silverdew leaf, adding it into the brew, and carefully stirring and shaking just as Reny had, pausing only seconds to look for a filter he just couldn’t find until a bemused Reny handed him one, as well as a perfectly clean flask. And from a mulch of chopped plants was extracted a silvery green brew absolutely brimming with spiritual energy.
Before Alex gently clasped the flask in cautious hands and began, with exquisite care, to gently cycle some of his own essence into the brew. Water and Wood alone, and he was somehow certain it was not enough, but far better a careful steady stream, than a surge when before his emphasis had only been on countering or destroying. Paths where overcompensation was everything. Never the beautiful wonder of creation requiring such delicate balance.
Not until now.
Artifice check made! You fully comprehend the steps necessary to manufacture Foundation Restoration Tincture!)
Months training beside a sympathetic apothecary a lifetime ago, combined with Qi Perception and Artificer allowing you to understand the interplay of spirit herbs and spiritual energy has unlocked the Path of Alchemy!
You have successfully made: Foundation Restoration Tincture at 57% of Median Market Potency!
Congratulations! You have learned the elite skill of Alchemy at Rank 1!
Alex was surprised by his own harsh, ragged breaths as he carefully, oh so carefully, handed the flask to Reny.
“Aunty, did he actually manage it?”
Reny gazed at the potion for long, thoughtful moments, before giving the tiniest of nods. “He did.”
Ya Ling looked gobsmacked. “So that’s not just an apothecaries’ blend of chopped up herbs. It’s actually a properly infused brew.” She pinned Alex with disbelieving eyes. “You have absolutely no idea how long it takes the average apprentice to formulate their first successful alchemical brew, Alex. I can’t even manage it, and I’ve shadowed aunty on and off for years, ever since I was a little girl, with dreams of one day gifting my father with the phylactery of youth!”
Reny smiled in genuine approval as she gazed Alex’s way once more. “Congratulations, Alex. You’ve just made your first alchemical potion. I won’t bore you with how remarkable and rare a feat that was, boy. For this was no simple formulation any apprentice would be expected to handle. Rather, it is something I might expect of a particularly gifted Journeyman with several years of experience under his belt. Certainly no one who hadn’t apprenticed under a talented alchemist for at least several years themselves.”
“But it’s not exactly a roaring success,” Alex hastily conceded. “It’s only at 57% of your own potion’s potency.”
Reny gazed at Alex for long moments. “And you can sense that just by looking…” She tilted her head. “Or is it smelling it?”
Alex winced, but nodded. “Pretty much, yeah.”
“Alex?”
“Yes, Master Wu?”
“I have over a century’s experience as a compounding alchemist. Not even a ‘young master’ as gifted as you could hope to match me. Not for years, let alone for your very first brew. Not unless you were born able to walk and talk, determined to defy the heavens with your very first step.”
Alex blushed for reasons he thought best not to dwell on. “That’s a very good point, Master Wu.”
Hard eyes glared into his own. “You may call me aunty, Reny, or Aunty Reny. None of this ‘Master Wu’ talk. Not unless I’m actually your instructor at Silver Sands Academy.”
“Understood, Master Wu-- I mean, Aunty Reny.”
She smirked. “Very good. Fortunately, we have an absolute surfeit of the necessary ingredients, and that is with me taking plenty of choice samples and cuttings to plant within my own nursery. So let’s see if we can iron out your handful of mistakes and infuse it with a potency worthy of your instructor.”
Ya Ling froze, gazing at Reny like she had just grown a second head. “Aunty, are you actually going to take him on as an apprentice?”
This earned a snort. “What I’m going to do is perfect his understanding of a simple basic formula any future master should know, so he doesn’t embarrass me when he showcases his questionable potential at Silver Sands,” she said in clear contradiction to her earlier praise.
Ya Ling immediately bowed her head. “Understood, aunty.”
“Good. Because his final tincture will be the one that you will imbibe.”
Alex took a deep, shuddering breath. Refusing to let Ya Ling’s sudden anxious stare rattle him, no matter how panicked he felt. Knowing there was a reason for this sudden ultimatum. That a real alchemist must always be willing and able to work under the most extreme pressure. For one day it wouldn’t be a flight of fancy but a half-step Gold seething with panicked fury, desperate for some exotic brew or proper distillation of some massive beast core, where success would bring said alchemist wealth and renown, and failure perhaps the most gruesome of deaths or at least the need to flee one’s old life entirely. A path Alex never wanted to be forced to embrace again.
So he took several deep breaths, ignoring the anxious and judgmental pair of stares he was being given. Because that pressure too was part of the test, recalling an ancient mantra he had once heard. Slow and careful was thorough. Thorough was error free, and error free was fast.
“Faster, Alex!”
“Bullshit. I’ll go at my own pace. Now back off.”
All of them froze. Alex couldn’t believe he had actually said those words allowed. But much to his relief, he sensed an oddly approving smile from Reny, for all that Ya Ling positively blanched.
But Alex, not having been struck down for his temerity, was no longer paying any attention to their stairs or Ya Ling’s panicked whisper. All his focus was on repeating the same measurements and compounding as he had done before, allowing his now exquisite memory and even more exquisite sense of smell to guide him, this time clipping the Silverdew leaf and dropping it in the tincture like an old hand.
Even when he sensed Ya Ling’s anxiety slowly transform to a relieved nod, he refused to let himself relax, or lose focus for even an instant. For this was just the first step. Getting everything properly triturated and mashed, before being put through a strainer once more.
This time he had paid exquisitely careful attention to the principals of similarity and contagion, Qi Perception allowing him to appreciate just how vital every step of the process had been, both ingredients and methodology, in harnessing every scrap of latent spiritual energy in a perfect balance needing only Water and Wood to simultaneously balance the whole while using those two elements, and only those two elements to properly catalyze and enhance the brew.
His gentle infusion was done with even better comprehension of the exquisitely complex framework of spiritual energy perfectly contained within a single dose of a tincture that his interface made clear would have been worth a considerable amount of platinum in Yidushi when last he had walked those streets, years or centuries before.
You have successfully made: Foundation Restoration Tincture at 63% of Median Market Potency!
The ding of his interface matched the message that a single whiff and both his Alchemy and, interestingly enough, his Artificer skill made clear. Another successful batch, and a growing awareness of everything he was doing wrong… and at least a few of the steps he could take to make things right.
He didn’t bother going over it with Reny, merely dipping his head as she happily claimed his second brew before beginning his third, this time with no hesitation at all, merely trying to hold onto his sense of the ideal flow of the exquisitely complex weave that was the Foundation Restoration Tincture… and how best he could bring that weave to perfection.
“Aunty… why is he adding crimson berries?
“Your guess is as good as mine, dear.”
“And stirring and shaking it so many times?”
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure.”
“He’s frowning. He doesn’t look entirely happy.”
“All of us learn at our own pace, dear.”
Alex winced internally. His brilliant insight on how to improve the tincture didn’t work out nearly as well as planned. Adding the crimson berries should have added a surge of Wood and Fire Qi, enhancing his sense of the weave… but no. It warped it so badly that his latest tincture was only 23% as potent as Reny’s own.
When he confessed as much to Reny, she gave him the oddest smile. “I’m amazed that it still qualifies as a foundation restoration potion at all. And completely free of toxins. Clearly you have potential, Alex. Now how about you mix a few thousand more potions before you attempt to improve upon techniques that Masters have been using for centuries?”
Alex flushed, immediately flowing into a bow, seeing as how concerns with sterility and cleanliness kept kowtowing to a minimum as Reny had once jokingly confided. Or perhaps it was because anyone who walked their path had a certain amount of pride beyond that of the humble disciple terrified of his mentor or tormentor, and how similar those two words were, Alex realized with a smile.
Before immediately shaking away such distractions and getting back to work, this time going back to basics, mirroring Reny’s procedure as perfectly as he could, now focusing on the pace she had kept as well, even attempting to fall into the same rhythmic pattern of movements. As if moving to a dance of spiritual energy he could barely grasp, only sensing how patterns were being forged within patterns and it was all about gently infusing the silvery green brew with the exact same ratio of Water and Wood as Reny had with his rate of spiritual energy infusion mirroring hers as well.
You have successfully made: Foundation Restoration Tincture at 74% of Median Market Potency!
You have successfully made: Foundation Restoration Tincture at 79% of Median Market Potency!
You have successfully made: Foundation Restoration Tincture at 83% of Median Market Potency!
Congratulations! Alchemy is now Rank 2!
Alex smiled, giving a satisfied nod with his final brew. “It’s not perfect, but I’m definitely making progress.”
He then blinked, surprised by the look Reny was giving him.
“Alex?”
“Yes, Master Wu?”
She furrowed her brow, looking surprisingly youthful and adorable, despite having over fifty grandchildren by her own admission. “I thought I told you to call me Reny!”
“Not when you’re giving me that look, Master Wu.”
She furrowed her brow, glaring at the vial in her hand, then back at Alex.
“How?”
“How what?”
“How the hell did you achieve that degree of potency as a newly forged alchemist with less than half a dozen brews to your name?”
Alex winked. “By having a wonderful teacher, of course! How else could some oddball mixed-breed like me hope to have a chance at greatness, otherwise?”
She snorted, crossing her arms. “I find it hard to believe than no other alchemist snatched up a genius like you, long ago.”
“I did train as an apothecary for awhile, remember, so I have a foundation that most day-one novices probably do not.”
Ya Ling ignored their patter, her soft brown eyes focused intently on the vial.
She gazed at her aunt breathlessly. “Aunty?”
Reny gave her an affectionate smile. “It’s close to perfection, dear. I dare say no one but Xiao Xiao back at the academy could do any better.”
Ya Ling blinked. “But Xiao Xiao is a Silver! He heads the alchemical department!”
“He does.”
Her awed gaze went from Alex to Reny. “So my hero’s not just a genius, he’s a monster!”
Alex chuckled. “I was waiting for someone to say something like that. Isekai download complete.”
Ya Ling gave Alex a deadpan look. “Are you teasing me with strange Ruidian words, hero?”
Alex grinned. “I guess I am, at that.”
She gave him a mock glare, before exchanging a look with her aunty, then claiming the final vial, placing her dusky lips upon its rim and swallowing the contents slowly, not breaking eye contact once with a blushing Alex.
“I guess my life’s now in your hands, hero,” she said softly, as Reny immediately led her to their shared mattress.
She yawned, flashing Alex a sleepy smile. “Now are you willing to take responsibility?”
Alex swallowed, not sure what to say to that. Reny snorted. “Hush, girl. You’re under the influence. Now assume the lotus position and begin cycling like I taught you. You’ll feel a tight warmth in your core that will soon turn to an exquisitely intense heat. It will do wonders for your recovery, but if you wish to take full advantage of the Silver Tier herbs our hero risked his life to acquire, you will channel it through all of your meridians. Your peripheral channels as well.”
Ya Ling’s eyes widened, her tipsy demeanor immediately hardening to sober focus once more. “Yes, Aunty. I will do so at once.”
She swallowed, heart in her gaze as she glanced Alex’s way once more. “He risked so much to save you. To save all of us. I won’t waste a single drop. I promise.”
Reny snorted. “Perhaps a bit more privacy would be best for you” she declared before leading her niece to the far end of the wagon where Ya Ling could meditate without distraction, as Reny put it, before heading back to her exquisitely compact and organized apothecary. “And now to waste an absolute fortune of spirit pearls worth of treasure on a fool of a boy who risked his life like a madman for near strangers.”
She gazed Alex’s way with an intensity the match of her niece’s. “I hope you know that your lessons with me have just begun, nephew.”
Alex flushed, lowering his gaze, suddenly so choked up he couldn’t speak. He was so used to the bitter. So used to fighting for every scrap of privilege or resource, where enlightened self-interest and mercenary alliances were as close to friendship as most cultivators got. To be treated so warmly, welcomed like family, echoing the bittersweet dream he sensed that countless incarnations had been utterly denied over too many lifetimes… He couldn’t say a word.
He couldn’t voice how much that declaration meant to him. A sentiment she had stated not once, but twice, as if just to make sure it sunk into his thick, paranoid head.
Yet somehow, to his immense relief, Reny wasn’t offended by his awkward silence.
Her smile was that of someone who understood just how ruthless the cultivation world could be… and was proud to stand as a bastion of warmth and generosity.
Alex was grateful beyond words.
“And there’s a certain girl who would gladly welcome you into our family in the most formal sense, did you wish to make her your own.”
Alex blinked, gobsmacked. “But wait, didn’t you and Qing Wu say that...”
“Forget what we said before. That doesn’t matter.” Reny gave a said shake of her head before saluting Alex and taking his second strongest tincture. Alex blinked, recalling then what his first master had once said about Alchemists benefiting far more from another’s brew than their own. He flushed, humbled anew to find two cultivation foundations suddenly in his hands.
“Lady Wu, if you had told me, I’d gladly make some more...”
She snorted, shaking her head. “Your tincture is at least as good as anyone short of my own mentor could hope to create, and with the JiangHu in Qianshi clearly looking to cripple or kill us, you’re the only one I trust within a thousand miles.” She flashed a sad smile. “So it can only be you. And as to what I would have done, had you not been here… thankfully it’s a question I don’t have to answer.”
Alex bowed his head. Profoundly touched by the trust she had in him.
“Now why don’t you go topside, Alex? Enjoy the morning sun. Keep a sharp eye out while I give these to the others and we recover. Once we’ve done so. Then I’ll be ready to forge something far more potent than the most gentle Foundation Restoration potions.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “Wait, you mean...”
She chuckled softly and nodded, eyes twinkling. “That’s right. In your glorious little foraging expedition, seizing prizes far beyond your station, far beyond anyone’s place to claim, save for a full party of Silvers willing to take on the most perilous of Delves… forging a Spirit Potion, multiple Spirit Potions in fact, is now within my grasp.”
Alex gazed at Reny for long moments, lips curving in an awed grin. “You mean a stat boosting tincture, don’t you?”
She gave a curious tilt of her head. “I’m not quite sure what you… but yes, your Ruidian words make sense in context.” Her eyes positively twinkled. “A ‘stat boosting tincture’ indeed. And I’ll even let you you watch.” Her warm gaze hardened. “But you aren’t to interrupt, ask questions, or dare try this yourself. You will watch as quiet and humble as a mouse, because the spiritual energies I will be channeling once fully restored...”
Alex immediately bowed his head. “I understand, Sifu. Please, let me give you space, so that you may make a full recovery.”
She snorted. “See that you do. And Alex?”
“Yes?”
She blinked back unexpected tears. “Thank you for my life… and for rescuing my family.”
Alex flashed a cheeky smile. “Would you believe I had no idea just how toxic that spider queen’s venom was, when I took her on? And here I was, thinking ‘easy Silver Tier greater beast kill!’ And you wouldn’t believe the size of the beast core she left behind. Like nothing else I’ve ever claimed! Anyway, you’d think with all that, I’d have realized just how close I had come to croaking. But I didn’t. Not till I took just a sip of your blood… and nearly died doing so. So I’m not sure if you need to give me that much credit for being a cocky fool greedy for natural treasures who just happened to save a conveniently cocooned friend.”
Reny snorted, smile still firmly in place, eyes uncomfortably pinning his own.
“Are you going to tell me you wouldn’t have tried to rescue me… or keep my niece and husband safe, if you had realized that your opponent was using venom that could have killed you with the slightest scratch?”
Alex shrugged. “Well, I would have been out of there with your cocoon, ASAP. And I certainly wouldn’t have stuck around for the mushrooms.”
She flashed a bemused smile. “And by sip of blood… you mean drinking down death itself, don’t you? Ya Ling made it clear that you used your odd Ruidian arts to draw out the majority of the venom, before it utterly destroyed me from within.”
Alex winced. “Yeah, that’s because I was an overconfident fool who thought he was the master of every toxin.”
“In other words, you saved me twice over. Now hush. Head topside. Keep watch. Once I’m ready to gift you a boon worthy of your sacrifice… I’ll let you know.”
Alex bowed his head, humbled by the praise as he hurriedly fled for the roof.