I didn’t rush to improve my cultivation. Instead, I focused on improving my qi skills, including my vision. Progress was slow, barely noticeable after an entire year, but that was fine. My days were rote. I didn’t need to make any big choices. I didn’t have to think. I could just exist for a while.

I began to feel it was funny that I was doing nearly the exact same thing I did the last time I lived in this building. Except, that time it was forced on me. This time I chose it.

Constant daily exercise had its benefits, and I was slowly improving. The rate of improvement would make anyone else blush in shame. I didn’t care.

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I was tending to the herbs one day, and I began thinking about how wasteful everything here was. There were so many useless herbs. Why bother? What was the point of storing so many herbs for Rank 1 pills when Rank 1 pills were all useless?

Finally. Finally, I heard my own thoughts. I had that same thought several times in the past, but I had never focused on it before.

“Rank 1 pills are useless…” I said aloud in confusion. “That doesn’t sound right… That can’t be right.”

Why did I think they were useless? Because I had been told that so many times in the sect. Everyone laughed at the idea of learning to make anything other than Qi Gathering Pills. But… why did I accept that so easily?

I thought back to the pill I made during the preliminaries to join the outer sect. A purifying pill for water. The name didn’t tell me much, but I could guess. Likely something that purified the qi of people with a water affinity. There was no way in hell that kind of thing would be useless. Why was I so convinced it was?

I sat down in my room and had to think. What was going on?

Then, I remembered. The effect of the sect’s cultivation technique. It made the user more susceptible to believing anything they heard.

I was stunned. “That thing is insidious,” I said in a weak voice.

The slavery technique was harsh. The moment I reset I clearly understood my actions were forced. This was different. I still felt conflicted about the pills even after a rebirth. What else did I believe just because someone said it while I was under the influence of that technique?

I began thinking back. Wait… why did I even decide to rush so hard to Martial Master? I ruined any chance of further advancement in that life. It was because people kept saying it was good to do so before thirty.

Was absorbing that fire seed into my soul my choice? I needed it to become a Master Alchemist… right? It was something everyone would want. But… was it rash…

Near the end, Bao kept talking about just living a life in the sect, and I felt a strong urge to join him. Was that from the technique?

Then, I remembered that it also affected ‘sense of camaraderie’. Was I even friends with Bao? I had a deep feeling of friendship, but where did that come from? Was it real, or just an illusion? How was I supposed to feel?

What was that place? Everyone was deftly put under such an influence. How many knew?

I felt my natural urge to completely abhor mental control of any kind, but I also had feelings of deep gratitude towards the sect, real or not.

“Okay, calm down. Let’s try to be objective. Feelings won’t help me here. I cannot trust my feelings,” I said.

First, my actions are my own. I was made more suggestible, but I was still the one who chose to do what I did. I did not choose to live a slow life. I chose to advance quickly. I was prone to suggestions, but my personal desires were still a factor.

I thought about everything I had seen while in the sect. Everyone was happy. Everyone had shelter, food, entertainment, and a job. There was no crime, no poverty, and no sickness. How many people in the world, even knowing the cost, would want to live there? Even on Earth, there were countless people who would dream of living in such a place.

Reframe the situation. I had been living in a city. Everything we bought was from the sect. Everything we made was sold to the sect. The sect provided all housing, food, and luxuries. There was no contact with the outside world. We were encouraged not to even think about the outside. We were taught to love the sect and do our best for it.

Looked at that way, it had been some weird hybrid of a company town and a cult.

Did that make it evil? Was it a place I should vilify? If I had the opportunity, would I tear it all down?

I sighed. The morality of the situation was too complicated.

I still believed the people I met there were good, but every cult would have some good people in it. Was the leadership good? Should they be lauded for providing a safe, prosperous place to live, or was the simple act of using mental influence enough to wholly condemn them?

Until I could change things it didn’t matter. I just needed to protect myself. I needed to double-check any assumptions I made based on things I heard in the sect, but that didn’t mean everything I heard was wrong.

An interesting place to start investigating my assumptions was the medicinal herbs I had access to. We were encouraged not to learn about them. Doing so was possibly a good way to progress my alchemy.

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I began looking at the various herbs with qi vision. Something strange was immediately apparent. The medicinal energy of most plants was the familiar green. However, a few plants produced blue, red, brown, or yellow-colored energy. Why was that?

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I picked up one of the herbs with red energy. It wasn’t this simple, right? I tried to manipulate the energy in the herb like I would with fire qi. I felt something. It wasn’t quite like qi, but I could move it, though just barely. I tried to separate the energy from the toxins, but the chaotic, toxic energy felt like tar that had been adhered to the medicinal power.

I replaced the herb and walked away. I wasn’t sure how much I might be able to directly manipulate that energy, but attempting to do so could destroy the herb. I doubted anyone would notice, but it would be better to play it safe for now.

With fire affinity, I could move the red energy. It was some type of fire energy.

I looked at a peony. The energy inside was green.

I had spent the last year improving my soul, but I hadn’t made any progress in seeing any more toxins in the flower’s energy. Why? Why couldn’t I see even a hint of discoloration in the green energy?

There was a possibility I had considered, but there was no way for me to act on it. The toxins were actually trapped inside the medicinal energy. I had destroyed everything on the surface, but I had no way to access anything that might be stuck within the energy itself. Trying to do so would just ruin it.

I needed to be able to move the flower’s energy freely to expose the last bits of toxin. That just wasn’t possible. Until now.

“System,” I said after thinking about it for a while, “I can get low nine-star wood affinity for 100 credits, right? Confirm that purchase for me.”

Purchase confirmed. 935 credits remaining.

New strength blossomed in my body. I felt more energetic, more alive.

I picked up a peony. Before, with the fire-energy herb, I was careful. I didn’t want to destroy it. I had no compunctions about damaging a few peonies though.

I tried to rip the energy apart with all my mental strength. Before, when I tried to move the fire energy, it felt like it had the viscosity of pitch. It stuck together and barely wanted to move. This wood energy felt closer to nearly set cement. I could move it, but it really didn’t want me to do so.

I wanted to improve my wood-affinity further but held off. Better to know the final results first.

I spent hours slowly combing through the medicinal energy. Every so often, I would find a tiny spot of toxin which I would ruthlessly destroy. Once I was starting to feel confident that I had found all the impurities I could, I spent another hour checking and double-checking.

Finally, I used my energy to condense a pill. It was the most exhausting Basic pill I had made since first starting to learn alchemy, but it was worth the result.

Perfect Basic Qi Gathering Pill, 59% medicinal efficacy.

“So,” I told myself, “if I want to be the best alchemist possible, I need to have high affinity in every element, and possibly affinities with even more types of qi if they are out there.”

I decided to make a purchase.

“System, how much to upgrade my water affinity to nine-star peak.”

1600 credits.

“Any discount for upgrading all five basic affinities to that level?”

No, it will cost 6,300 to complete such upgrades.

“Is there some type of five-element qi affinity I can buy? One that will let me control all five elements.”

Please pay 5 credits for this conversation.

“Really? Fine, confirmed.”

Purchase confirmed. 930 credits remaining.

There is five-element qi and its associated affinity, but it is a combination of every element. It is a unique qi type. Five-element affinity will not allow control of water qi.

That didn’t sound like what I wanted for the moment. I decided to try again. “Can I buy some type of affinity that would let me control all five basic elements?”

There is no such affinity in this world. You would need immortal-tier energy which surpasses the Earthly Dao energy to create a new affinity such as this.

Credits expended, transaction complete.

That didn’t lead to anything for now, unfortunately. So, 6,300 credits for all the elements. Possibly add in about 5,000 to get everything to eight-star. I was looking at needing 11,300 credits just for affinities if I went down that path. I wasn’t sure how much a Martial Master Peak cultivation would net me, but I was guessing 11,000 since Martial Master had a total of eleven stages.

I needed credits for more than that though.

I began to consider everything I might need to buy.

“System, how much for a mental technique library that can hold any Rank 1 or 2 technique I see?”

10,000 credits.

I might be able to get a discount thereby limiting which techniques it could store, such as only Yellow Rank, but the full cost wasn’t completely unbearable. If I could afford it, I would.

“How much for information on how to expand my storage space?”

4,000 credits.

“How much to learn the effects of the sect’s Rank 2 cultivation technique?”

The effects are the same as those of the Rank 1 technique.

“No cost?”

Giving you this answer has no effect on you, the world, or anything else, so it costs nothing.

“Okay, then. How much to change my Rank 2 cultivation technique to match the properties of my Rank 1? Also, how much for a Peak-Yellow version of the Rank 2 technique with the same changes.”

10,000 for a Mid-Yellow and 120,000 credits for a Peak-Yellow.

So, Peak-Yellow was not something I could easily get without having advanced to Martial Grandmaster. I needed to find techniques that might help lower the price. Changing the Mid-Yellow Rank 2 technique might be valuable, but it might also be unnecessary. Without the Rank 1 technique to build off of, would the Rank 2 be as effective? It was worth checking before committing so much money.

Expanding my storage space, upgrading affinities, mental technique library.

Those were my priorities. The total cost was 25,300 credits. Three lifetimes as a Martial Master Peak. That… it actually wouldn’t be terrible.

I wanted to improve my skills and experiment with alchemy. A long time ago, I asked the system to make me a Disciple Alchemist. The cost was ten million credits, a truly mindboggling amount. There was no world in which what I knew would cost even a fraction of that much. There was no way the combined knowledge of everything I could even think of would cost that much.

There were more secrets to being a true, complete Disciple Alchemist than I knew. I wanted to see if I could uncover at least a few.

I had a room stocked full of medicinal ingredients I had never tried working with before. If I began experimenting with them, would anyone even notice? People rarely came here, and Rudy would be gone for decades. As long as I made some decent pills for them on a consistent basis, would anyone question me?

It would be simpler to find a teacher and learn recipes and techniques, but I had a real desire to experiment, to see what was possible without someone, or the System, guiding my hand.

I originally came here to isolate myself for a relatively short period of time. Now, I was committing to something greater. I would stay here for decades in seclusion to see what limits I could push.

“System, confirm an upgrade of my wood affinity to high nine-stars.”

Purchase confirmed. 180 credits remaining.

Qi skills, qi vision and soul strength, cultivation, alchemy. All would be upgraded.

I would not leave until I hit the limit of what I could do on my own or when I achieved my goal.