Author Note:

I am back and I will hopefully be posting more regularly. I got a little excited and posted  these three chapters really close together, but in the future I will try to pace myself more. Also, the Water Owls are now going to be a thing. I really wish I had thought of that when I originally wrote the basic story, but I am going to write them in.

Enjoy the story and Comment your thoughts!

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When Shiga arrived at the dorm, he quickly went to his room and began to thoroughly read all of [Companion of Life]. After almost an hour, Shiga set down the technique and began to meditate.

The overall technique was deceptively simple, yet it was truly very profound. The process only had four steps, the first being to find a suitable companion. The technique was incredibly open in what it would allow; the technique had listed examples of animals, plants, and even some magic constructs that the technique would work with.

Shiga thought some more on what to choose as a companion. He still wanted something with majesty and power, but more important was that his companion could grow and survive on its own. He was getting a companion to help him and he would prefer to keep that companion for as long as possible without worry. First Shiga pondered the zodiac for a companion. A Camel or Elephant would work well, but they were almost as rare as tigers and dragons. Shiga tried to think from a different direction. Perhaps he could get a plant instead. The thought of a tree that had grown to be like the mighty Yggdrasil was certainly appealing, but it was too stationary and Shiga certainly wasn’t going to let anything take root in himself! Instead Shiga pondered creating a magic construct, but he decided that nothing he could create would be inherently better than the real thing. Since nothing else sounded very good Shiga considered a magic beast. Several potential beasts immediately came to mind, but Shiga decided to put off on setting his heart on a specific magic beast. To find a magic beast though, Shiga would need to venture into the wilderness around the sect.

Shiga stopped meditating and went over to his bags. After searching through them he was unhappy to discover that he had barely any spare money, so he wouldn’t be able to go to the bazaar or prepare until he got more money. Shiga wasn’t very pleased about that but he couldn’t do anything about it today so he focused on cultivating his planet for the rest of the day.

The next day Shiga cultivated until noon as well. After a quick lunch, Shiga went over to the Alchemy pavilion and entered one of its many labs. The lab was a small room with a large table in the middle of the room, shelves and counters on all of the walls, and a small cauldron on the far wall. Everything in the room was neatly placed away. The main island table was mostly clear, but it had a few small baskets filled with common herbs that the sect provided as well as some basic tools. Shiga identified a cutting board and knife as well as a mortar and pestle, but all the other tools on the table and in the rest of the room were pretty foreign to him.

Shiga had been a college junior when he suddenly reincarnated so he had learned the basics of chemistry, but in this world with magic beasts and Qi, Shiga doubted things worked exactly the same. For all he knew the universe wasn’t even made up of atoms anymore! What Shiga did have from his education on Earth was a firm basis in logical thinking. Earth had only developed as far as it had because of the applications of logic. Here though, things had developed from entirely different directions, but that didn’t mean Shiga’s knowledge was useless. He had processes for figuring things out that had been developed for CENTURIES on Earth and his knowledge of basic physical processes would put many scholars here to shame. Shiga opened up a new journal and began to write, in English. This journal would detail all of his alchemical research in a way that no one else could read.

(From here on the chapter is all about Herb research. If you find it boring skip to the next chapter.)

His final goal was to produce pills and sell them at the bazaar for money, but for now he would go about studying the basic herbs that the sect provided to see what he could do with them. The first basket Shiga picked up was labeled {Qi Grass}.

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Qi Grass

It is a tall and thick grass with a vibrant green coloring. It continuously gives off a small stream of Qi.

The blade is fibrous and much stronger than normal grass. The blade also absorbs small amounts of Qi, but does so extremely slowly.

The roots are surprisingly small and fragile. The roots also possess an ability to absorb Qi, but it surpasses that of the blade by leaps and bounds. I suspect that this means Qi Grass is a sign of large amounts of Qi in the ground, which may point to treasures.

I shredded the blades of several grasses and turned them into paper. The paper had a decent resistance to tearing, burning, and water and most importantly was able to withstand Qi meaning that the paper could be used for inscriptions and talismans.

I tried to do the same with the roots but they are too fragile normally. If they were strengthened I believe that the paper would be of even higher quality.

I crushed some grass in the mortar and pestle. The dust had a large concentration of Qi in it might be useable as a pill. I burned some of the dust and it created a surprisingly strong and long lasting flame. It may be good for camping, and possibly in a desperate situation as a dust explosion.

By mixing water into the dust, I was able to get a thick paste that could easily be rolled into a pill. I tried one and it resulted in a gentle recovery of Qi.

I made some of the paste and tried to remove as much of the moisture as I could by using a flame and, after a couple fiery attempts, managed to create a smaller and harder pill. I consumed one and it also recovered even more Qi than the other one, but it took more time to activate. Most likely because it took more time to break down in my stomach.

Finally I tried to press Qi grass and I got a small amount of juice. I first tried to dehydrate the juice, but it only burned. The flame was similar to burning normal Qi grass, so I tried burning the grass that had been pressed. The pressed grass burned more like normal grass this time so I believe that the juices are what store the Qi, which is the only difference when compared with normal grass.

When I mixed the juice into the paste though, the resulting pill was more powerful, both in normal and baked forms.

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As soon as he finished cleaning up the lab, Shiga went outside. It was getting close to sunset, so he ate a small dinner and cultivated a small amount before going to bed. The next day though, Shiga immediately went over to the lab after breakfast. This time instead of going for the Qi Grass, Shiga went over to a basket labeled {Sun Lily}

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Sun Lily

It is a flower that grows on a single stalk to about knee height. There are some leaves on the stem but they are only near the base and look similar to grass.

The main flower has 6 petals radiating out from the center. The petals are wide and brightly colored. The center of the flower has a red-orange color while the edges of the petals shift to being yellow. The whole flower slightly glows and gives off heat as well as a strong and calming aroma. The petals are only as strong as those on a normal flower, but are hot to the touch.

The stem of the flower is remarkably stiff and strong, almost like a green tree instead of a flower stem. It doesn’t give off heat like the flower, but it is warm to the touch.

The leaves at the base of the stem do not seem to be special other than being more durable than would be expected.

The roots are surprisingly large and are also warm to the touch. They appear to have some ability to absorb Qi but it is even worse than the blades of Qi Grass.

I tried making all parts of the flower into paper, but only the leaves succeeded and the result was barely any better than normal paper.

Out of curiosity I tried to burn the different parts of the plant. Overall, the plant had a hot, but extremely slow burn. The roots burned the longest, the petals the hottest, and the stem was an average of the two. I believe that this was because the plant is not creating the heat itself, but instead stores large amounts of heat, mostly in the roots I suspect, and slowly releases it through the flower. This would explain why the leaves are mostly normal, because only the flower and roots are doing anything special. The stem is also only different because it has to carry the energy through itself, something that the leaves do not do. This also suggests that the energy is absorbed by the flower itself and not the leaves as would be expected.

Pressing the plant resulted in barely any juice, so I will put off testing that until another time.

I ground some of the flowers, but the dust did not glow or give off a large amount of heat like the flowers did. The dust burned just like the flower though, so it supports that the idea that the flower is not creating or storing any energy. I turned some of the flower dust into paste, but it did nothing as a pill. However, using just the paste on your skin will cause it to warm up, most likely from body heat. This may be useful in colder environments.

I turned the roots into dust as well and this dust was extremely flammable. The grinding process seems to have broken down some of the roots natural ability to contain energy which makes the dust explosive. I wrapped some of the dust in paper and got firecrackers.

The leaves and stem did not seem to have any other effects.

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Shiga finished writing down the last note in his alchemy book before beginning cleanup. He had been hoping that the Sun Lily would have had more uses. It probably needed to be mixed with other ingredients to do anything useful, he mused as he disposed of waste. Shiga then had a quick lunch before going over to the last basket. It was marked {Ice Hibiscus}.

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Ice Hibiscus

It is a flower that grows on stalks, usually 3 flowers because the stalk branches. It has many wide and flat leaves all along the stalk.

The flowers are very wide, almost flat. The petals are purple, but almost clear, but the veins on the petals make the shapes of a snowflake. The flowers are extraordinarily fragile. They give off a refreshing aroma.

The stem is also very fragile, not as fragile as the flowers, but still fragile. It is cold to the touch, and seems to suck the warmth out of whatever it touches.

The leaves are very stiff, and ridiculously sharp. They easily cut me when I accidentally brushed up against them. They are also slightly warm. They are at a similar temperature to the body, which makes them hard to feel. Additionally, the leaves appear to be coated in an anesthetic which numbs the skin. The anesthetic wears off quickly though, and instead becomes a strong irritant. Nothing too painful, but decidedly unpleasant. I believe that this is the anesthetic breaking down within the body. If it was possible to stop the breakdown or remove the pain, this might work as an anesthetic but otherwise I would NOT consume anything made with the leaves.

The roots are actually surprisingly strong compared to the rest of the plant. They are actually more like a fibrous extension of the stalk with small offshoots.

I only tried to turn the roots into paper because the flower and stalk are too fragile while the leaves are covered in unpleasantness. The resulting paper was not much different from normal paper, other than being very resistant to burning.

I burned every part of the plant, or tried too. The plant is almost impossible to light on fire and any fire that is started quickly dies out.

I remembered that many cold plants on Earth used sap instead of water because water was easier to freeze than water, so I tried pressing the plant. I got a large amount of sap which is very cold. It has a refreshing taste. It also works well to help clot blood as I found when I got some on a cut I got from the leaves.

I ground the plant instead and got a paste out of it. It seems to be similar to the sap, but it can be molded into a pill. I suspect that the pill would be good for internal injuries, but I would need to test it.

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Shiga cleaned everything up again, this time without selecting a new herb. He had done research on all of the herbs that were in the lab. He still needed to make things to sell, but that could be put off until tomorrow.