《Samsara: The rise of Darksteel》 Chapter 1 - Meeting your re:maker Kael opened his eyes to find himself slowly floating down a gloomy, mist-filled, cobblestone pathway. To either side of the pathway was nothing but a thick gray fog that hindered vision past just a few feet. All he could see to the sides was dead grey grass and black dirt. The pathway was slate grey and although he was slowly floating above the stones, they seemed to be worn down by the passage of innumerable feet. Looking ahead Kael could see an enormous palace. Due to the mist and distance, it was hard to tell its exact size. Seeing thousands of golden towers, built with an Arabic design, raising up from the top of the palace like flames trying to eat away the gloom. He understood, its size was not something he could comprehend. The gargantuan palace sat in the center of the gloom, designed like the middle of a wheel with pathways radiating out from it as if they were an uncountable number of spokes. Peering around through the mists for a bit he asked himself, ¡°where the fuck am I?¡± He came to the abrupt realization that he wasn¡¯t even sure who he was. Closing his eyes and concentrating on his life, his memories started to come back, but they were jumbled up. He seemed to be missing the memories of his early childhood. This understanding gave him quite a shock, causing a sharp intake of cold air to be drawn between his teeth. With the large inhalation, he could see swirls of mist being sucked in with his breath. As the mist entered his mouth he felt like he lost something of himself. Stopping to concentrate on his memories again, he found he could no longer remember anything before the age of 15 or 16. Terrified by his loss of memories and suspecting the culprit was the mist, he simply decided to stop breathing. After holding his breath, he began to wildly dash towards the huge palace in the distance. A few seconds later he noticed even though his speed increased he was still just floating along. Not breathing did not seem to have a negative effect on him either. His memories were still slowly being eroded. Concluding that even contacting the mist was bad for his health, he focused on ¡°running¡± faster and faster. With the chant, faster, faster, faster, in his mind, the pathway and gloom seemed to turn into a grey tunnel. He sped over the cobblestones as the palace steadily grew in size. After a few minutes of flying forward at who knows what speeds; Kael finally arrived at the palace. Staring at the grey walls that were at least hundreds of feet high, his pathway ended with a small open archway that led into the monstrous building. The archway was lined with old tarnished gold and was almost phallic shaped. Laughing to himself he thought, wasn¡¯t there a children''s movie that got busted for this? Arabic designs are not safe for the dirty minded. The sides of the archway were coated in grime from being brushed by the hands of countless passerby''s that came before. The interior of the passage did not seem dark but was filled with an almost wall-like mist that could not be seen through. Thinking, what the hell kind of shitty, boring dream is this? Should I go in or look around, and what happens if I forgot everything? Ah fuck it, I will wake up regardless and maybe it won¡¯t be so boring inside. Floating forward Kael passed through the misty gloom, which sent tingling cold flashes throughout his body and down his spine. The other side of the archway was like all the gloom had been blown away. In front of him was a large room where the cobblestone pathway split into hundreds of smaller paths. At the end of each path was a small ramp to a platform. The platforms were just barely raised above the ground, and could not be more than five feet in diameter. Each of the platforms was scrawled with a number on the outside and a strange set of circular symbols on the inside. Looking back, the archway was now gone, leaving nothing but a grey wall behind him. Floating there with hesitation he heard a deep and raspy voice in front of him, ¡°New soul why are you not moving, enter platform 46 immediately, don¡¯t hold up the line.¡± Shocked, Kael looked towards the sound and saw an indistinct humanoid shape standing off to the side of the paths. there were also almost transparent humanoid figures floating towards the left half of the platforms. While looking around the voice came out again, this time booming, ¡°Move to platform 46 immediately or be penalized half of your karma!¡± Not knowing what was going on, or what the penalty actually meant, Kael decided it was best to just go with the flow so he did not accidentally screw himself. Scanning the platforms he found number 46 and started floating towards it. Once he drifted up the ramp and stopped in the center, the weird arcane looking symbols on the ground flashed. Everything turned white and he felt his body twisting like he was a wet rag being repeatedly ringed out. After a few seconds that felt like torture Kael¡¯s vision finally cleared. He found himself hovering in the center of a well lit room. The walls were covered with bookshelves and the bookshelves were filled with three-ring style binders. Each of the binders was labeled with a different name on the spine. Directly in front of him was a large wooden desk that was covered in papers. All of the papers seemed to be made of an old style of parchment and had scribbles over them. A medieval style quill pen and a large, leather-bound and well used book called, Samsara, a handguide to recreating souls were sitting prominently in the center of the desk. Looking a bit past the desk there was a red skinned man with black fingernails. Other than his skin and nail color, however, he was a pretty generic looking 30 something. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and a look of impatience on his face. He was wearing yellow robes that had an endless knot design hemming the neck and ends of the sleeves. A black turban with a golden version of the same knot upon it was meticulously wrapped upon his head. In his hands, he held an open three-ring binder that he was reading. Not sure if he should disturb the red guy or not, Kael just stood there foolishly looking around. After a few minutes, the man finally snapped the binder closed, looked and up and said; ¡°Welcome Kael, to the start of your next life. Kael looked at him bewilderedly and noticed the name of the binder was, Kael Fae, the life of¡­¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. After a moment Kael looked at the guy''s face and said, ¡°uhh, this dream is kind of boring, yet also creepy, I¡¯m just going to sit down in the corner until I wake up.¡± Laughing hard and loud, the red man snapped his fingers causing a chair to appear in front of Kael with a slight puff of gloom. Waving his hand toward the chair he said, ¡°Sit, let''s begin the review.¡± As Kael took a seat in the generic wooden chair, The man introduced himself, ¡°I am Azabael, a lesser demon working in the office of rebirth and Kael, this is not a dream, you died.¡± Shocked, Kael stood from his chair shouting, ¡°Bullshit, don¡¯t give me that crap!¡± Sighing, the man waved his hand, which forced Kael to suddenly sink back down again and said ¡°Now listen here, if you did not have so much positive karma I would not even be talking to you. You died. You simply can¡¯t remember because Old Lady Meng decided drinking her potions wasted too much time. So she spread it around as a mist in the underworld. You are in fact dead and are about to be reborn.¡± Still looking at the man like he was observing an idiot, Kael asked, ¡°If I am dead how did I die, and how do I know that you are telling the truth if you erased my memories?¡± Azabael swallowed the annoyance and anger he felt cropping up, ¡°I don¡¯t really care if you believe me or not, it won¡¯t change anything, you died trying to help someone out of a burning car. The car exploded and you turned into a grilled, hashed, meat patty.¡± Looking Kael directly in the eye he said, ¡°Now to move onto the review, just be quiet and this will all pass, you won¡¯t remember it anyway. First, you helped 2,698 homeless people with random acts of kindness, not expecting any payback and not mentioning it in an attempt to make yourself seem like a good person. We will round it up to 2,700 random acts of kindness, of which we pay one-tenth of a karma per action, for a total of 270 karma points. Now don¡¯t be upset, it is really hard to gain positive karma and really easy to gain negative karma. For example, as a child, you committed acts of bullying, vandalism, and theft numerous times. From the age of 10 to 15, you gained a whopping 3,200 negative karma. Lucky for you we reduce the penalty to children under the age of 16 by 90%, for a total childhood negative karma of 320. See that, helping 2,700 homeless people out over 20 years of time did not even cancel out your acting like a little shit for 5 years. You know, to burn off a point of negative karma it requires 10 years of wandering the plains of misfortune. You can also opt to burn alive for 1 year per point or be tortured for 1 day per point. Finally, you can cancel out 270 points of negative karma with your positive karma, but you won¡¯t have that karma to carry over into your rebirth.¡± Kael looked a little overwhelmed by that barrage of nonsense and a few moments later shook his head to clear it. Looking at Azabael, Kael scratched the back of his head with a bashful look on his face and asked, ¡°What about the other good and bad things I did in my life? That can¡¯t be all of the nice things I did. If I was willing to help out the homeless peeps, I must have helped out my friends and family too.¡± ¡°You are right Kael, let me give you a complete break down first then. 270 karma for helping homeless people. 32 karma for donations to proper charities, 28 karma for assisting your friends and family over and above what we would expect of you. For the big closing, you had the Savior status for 4 people, who you pulled out of the absolute gutters of life and assisted them massively on rebuilding themselves. For that, we pay well, 50 points each, and finally, your self-sacrifice that got you killed for a complete stranger was worth 250. All together we have 980 karma, only 20 points short of saint status, good job Kael! Now, your childhood cost you 320, you broke two hearts for 25 each, lost 100 during your time at as a call center manager for overlooking your bosses discrimination. That is a total of negative 470 karma. Truly not bad, leaving you with a positive 510 karma, still enough to make your next life awesome, now Kael..¡± At this point Kael stood back up, shooting out of his chair and leaning over the desk shouting, ¡°Hold up, hold up A-dog! I never said I wanted to cancel out my karma. I won¡¯t remember it anyway, so let¡¯s use all the positive karma and you can torture me for a year and a half, I don¡¯t give a shit.¡± ¡°Wait a moment Kael, I know you won¡¯t remember, but I can assure you, it will be terrible, you are talking about torture that is worse than fighting for your life for 4,700 years. You may even become a demented soul, in which case you will be recycled completely, your soul will cease to exists¡± ¡°Who cares man, I¡¯ll take that chance. Since I have such big balls and might get recycled you should give me another 20 karma so my next life I can be born with a saint status right? I mean, I¡¯m saving you guys the energy of supervising my wanderings for 4,700 years.¡± Laughing Azabael said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t really work that way, but I¡¯m..¡± Interrupting him, Kael started pacing back and forth in the room while he said ¡°Now I don¡¯t believe that, I am sure you have some wiggle room man. Look I was a shitty kid, but I mended my ways and lived life like a bored old fart with a heart of gold.¡± ¡°Kael, saint status may not even be what you want, but it would be quicker to spend 1,000 points right off the bat instead of figuring out how to spend 980, so I approve, prepare for torture and rebirth.¡± After saying that Azabael picked up a pen and wrote in the book of Kael, Choice, torture off negative karma. Final karma grant, 1,000. Setting down his pen he picked up a large stamp and got ready to slam it down when another form shimmered into existence in the room. The visitor was another vaguely humanoid-shaped thing, it was so indistinct that it had no real features, just an ethereal looking outline of a person. After appearing it announced ¡°Criminal activity in zone 67, an immortal is attempting to refine the pool of souls, all employees are to immediately go to zone 67 to stop the criminal activity¡±. Once it was done droning out that information it faded from existence again. Stunned, Kael said, ¡°Uhh, that doesn¡¯t sound good.¡± Azabael gave him a, you are really stupid look, and said, ¡°Take a seat, I¡¯ll be back shortly¡± and vanished from sight in a puff of gloom. Looking at the now empty office Kael thought to himself, Even in dreams I get dicked around and waste time. Taking a seat, Kael¡¯s patience only lasted about 15 minutes before he got up and walked to the other side of the desk. Taking a seat at Azabael¡¯s desk he was surprised at how nice his chair was compared to the mass-produced Swedish knock off he was given earlier. Rubbing his hands on the cushy leather arms of the chair and wiggling his butt down onto the super soft cushion, he got comfortable after a bit of shifting. After waiting a while longer he eventually picked up and cracked open the book titled, Samsara, a Handguide to Recreating Souls and began to read it. Chapter 2 - Life is a game Being a gamer in his past life this kind of book seemed very familiar to him. A few minutes into reading he whispered to himself, ¡°Fuck, isn¡¯t this a player''s handbook to creating a character?¡± Reading further into the book he thought, Interesting! There are 12 stats, and the system doesn¡¯t seem to use dice. Flipping to the table of contents then quickly to the mechanic''s system he realized the system truly did not use dice. It even let the players borrow initiative from the next round. However, the combat system was really well fleshed out. It ran fluidly and made logical sense. It was just weird that the book was written like a tabletop game but the mechanics worked like a video game. Continuing to flip through the book he found everything he expected; race, stats, talents, bloodlines, negative and positive qualities, and some strange affinities. The weird thing was under skills section there were no skills, but instead talent trees like a crafting section of a video game. After reading for a while, Kael looked down at the book in his hands. It looked normal, like it would have 200 to 300 pages, but so far he had flipped through and read at least 300 pages of junk. Even to that point, he had not found items or anything of that type, and yet he was only about 15% of the way through the book. Thinking, Shit this is going to take forever, but I need to read as much as I can so when I wake up I can create this awesome game system. He quickly got back into the book. Reaching the section on materials he found hundreds of thousands of materials listed. Not just herbs and ores, which took up the majority, just the section on trees had thousands listed and their usages. Becoming annoyed he flipped back to techniques and found that there were tens of thousands of those as well. The majority of them were based on qi techniques while the minorities were body refining, spiritual techniques, and even odd science-based systems. At this point, he realized this was some sort of eastern system. Throwing these thoughts to the back of his mind, he flipped back to the table of contents to get a quick look at what the hell was in the rest of this book. Looking through the table of contents he saw it was broken into 5 sections; Mortal, Earth, Sky, Heavens, and Immortal. Jumping to the first page of the earth section and only finding a title, he tried to flip the page. For some reason the page would not change, it was like the rest of the book''s pages were all glued together. Looking at the title page of the earth section again he saw writing appear that read, The soul you are trying to create was birthed on a lesser plane with only mortal existences, and has never existed in a higher plane during any previous life. This soul may only access the mortal rules of Samsara. ¡°Well fuck¡± Kael shouted, ¡°even in my dreams I get boned¡±. Fuck it, there are like 1,200 pages to read anyways, and this dude is never coming back. I might as well just create my character. Looking around the office for a spare paper he finally opened the book of Kael Fae. While flipping through in search of a blank page he was happy to find an actual character sheet in the back of the book. Pulling it out and grabbing the quill off the desk, he flipped the book of Samsara to the beginning and began to create his character. Thinking about his overall character template he decided since he could only use mortal techniques, and there was no qi he was aware of on earth, he would just focus on being a super buff dude. Of course, the crafting stuff was interesting as well, and the talents seemed to help a lot, so he decided to make a buff, smart dude and ignore all the cultivation, skills, and techniques. Starting from the beginning of the book he looked at the stats. Thinking the author could really use an editor, it looked like it was written on a spreadsheet, in shorthand, then printed out. He carefully reread the statistic section to be sure he understood everything.
Group A This is the primary group of attributes, they indicate the power/potency of the actions taken. Strength - Physical damage dealt, lifting/carrying capacity Body - Well being, life force, and capacity to defend. Intelligence - Mental damage dealt, basic intelligence. Group B This is the secondary group of attributes, they are used to supplement / reduce cost on the primary attribute action. Agility - How nimble and fast physical reactions are. Stamina - The ability to sustain prolonged physical effort. Willpower - The strength of one''s mind, the ability to power through mental fatigue and stress. Group C This is the action pool for physical, defensive, and mental abilities. The basic pool recovers at the start of each turn. Points spent off the maximum of the pool are considered traumas and recover at your recovery speed. Not only can enemy attacks create traumas; powers, skills, and techniques can cause wear and tear on the body or mind when used. Trauma can also happen by intentionally pushing yourself past your limits. Reflex - This is the total speed of a characters physical actions. It acts as both initiative and basic physical combat pool. Endurance - This is the total endurance of a character. It is how well a player reacts while blocking/using specialty defense moves, but is also a supplementary pool for physical actions. Spirit - This is the total speed and ability of a characters mental abilities. It acts as both initiative and basic mental combat pool. Group D This is the group of statistics that can only be modified through karma purchases of talents etc, or after the birth of the soul. These statistics cannot be purchased like the other statistics can. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Talent - An individual''s martial cultivation talent. The basic premise is a natural aptitude towards cultivation, martial techniques, and physical learning speed. Things such as blocked/damaged meridians, locked bloodlines, or physical deformities generally lower talent. Perception - An individual''s learning capacity. Where talent is your body¡¯s learning ability and how suited you are for martial arts, perception is how keen your mind is. How fast you can learn, your memory, and your overall sense, all play a part in perception. Luck - Luck is exactly that, how much the goddess luck cares for you. Throughout cultivation, lucky chances play a large role. The effect of sudden inspiration, wandering upon an ancient herb suited towards you, etc. NOTE: An average mortal of the adult age(15) has an average rating of 5 in the group A statistics and 4 in the group B statistics. Group C base statistics are a combination of group B and group A. During reincarnation, one can determine their base mortal statistics for their adult age. If the person begins cultivating, their statistics will rapidly increase to be that of their adult age over the time span of one year. A child the age of 5 has 50% of their adult statistics, which increase by 5% every year until they reach their base adult strength at the age of 15. The purchase cost of each statistic is equal to the rating that is being purchased. Each rating may only advance one point at a time. Each person must have a 1 in each statistic, if any statistic ever falls to 0 the person will fall into a coma until their statistics are raised. A statistic of 1 costs 1 point, a 2 costs 1 point for the 1, +2 points to move to a 2, for a total of 3 points. (eg to reach 5 in one statistic costs 15 points.) A mortal may purchase up to a rating of 10 in their group A or B statistics, and also may purchase a modifier at the rate of 3 times the normal cost. Group C base statistics cannot be purchased, but modifier points may be purchased. Group D may only be modified through the use of Karma later in reincarnation or after the reincarnated soul is birthed. Reincarnation begins with a tier 4 set of statistics. to purchase each tier above costs an additional 20 karma. (eg 20,40, and 60) Tier 4 purchase points for A and B groups: 45 and 35 points, 0 mod points for group C. Tier 3 purchase points for A and B groups: 68 and 50 points, 3 mod points for group C. Tier 2 purchase points for A and B groups: 91 and 70 points, 9 mod points for group C. Tier 1 purchase points for A and B groups: 114 and 90 points, 27 mod points for group C.
After reading all of this, Kael thought, Who the fuck makes such random numbers and weird progression up? The purchase price seems really low too, 60 karma for like 200 points. How the hell was I just an average bloke in my last life? That¡¯s how I know this must be a dream. Whatever, onto making my super buff dude.
Group A Base Mod Total Group B Base Mod Total Group C Base Mod Total Group D Base Mod Total
Strength 10 Agility 5 Reflex 10 Talent 0
Body 6 Stamina 8 Endurance 11 2 13 Perception 0
Intelligence 8 Willpower 8 Spirit 12 3 15 Luck 0
Apparently, group C filled itself in, since I never got the actual math for it. It looks like (group B*2 + group A) /2 is the formula, really weird. Yeah, Willpower x2 is 16, +8 is 24 then divided by 2 is 12. That should be right, it works for Endurance and Reflex also. What a shitty book author to leave that out. Looking it over one last time Kael thinks to himself, this looks good, buff dudes are not agile, and I should be smart enough to get rich crafting things. Kind of a strange build unless I am a blacksmith, but I think alchemists were the money makers in those novels. Oh, didn¡¯t the skill talents say you had to have primary fire with partial wood affinity for alchemy and blacksmiths needed fire and metal? The combat mechanics looked like splitting your affinities would lower your capabilities, but it¡¯s only 10% for each, so screw it, I¡¯ll just do both later. Ok stats are done, next section then; Cycle of Samsara. Oh yeah, this was that weird ass, I wanna be OP section. All sorts of strange items, inheritances, and other things. What the hell is a ¡°Grandpa in a Ring¡± and why does it cost 500 points. Who would pay to turn their grandfather into a ring? Isn¡¯t that shitty? That also totally goes against the morality section I read earlier I think, makes no sense. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have skimmed over that section. Damn, I can¡¯t believe I need to read some bible thumping section. I guess it¡¯s not really a bible thumping section since it is all eastern. Chapter 3 - Morality and injustice for grandpa Thumbing through the book Kael found the section he was looking for after a few minutes of grumbling in frustration. Skimming through various laws he found the section he was looking for.
Mortal Code - Mortals are bound by various codes created in their plane. The core and common attributes are; be benevolent, uphold justice, do not lie, be true to oneself, loyal, and courageous. Repay benefactors after receiving deeds of grace, and in the pursuit of bringing villains to justice do not overlook the concepts of forgiveness and compassion.
That is not too hard I suppose, but there were worse laws somewhere in here, let''s see.
Heavenly laws - The Heavenly Laws are not upheld by people, but by the heavens itself. Most mortal laws reflect these in some way, but they are not truly discussed often in the lower realms. The below laws directly impact your Karma and can have immediate punishments handed down. Immortals shall not kill mortals - Self defense is fine, but remember, tricking heaven by enraging a mortal emperor into attacking you with his army so that your mortal family can rule after you destroy it will not slip by. The intent of what is done is heavily mandated by the heavens Thou shall give piety to one¡¯s parents, teachers, and ancestors. - You will give respect to those who brought you into the world, supported you, and your ancestors who passed along your bloodline. As you Sow so shall you Reap - The law of cause and effect on the scales of good and bad. Thou shall take responsibility for one''s actions - Everything you do and say should be followed through on. If you create a mistake you should fix it. If you give your word you should follow it. Be true to oneself - Live life with a clear conscience. The more you stray from your true self the more impact it will have on your future life. Do not waste the gifts of the heavens. - Squandering or wasteful use of heavens gifts is a term mortal use constantly. When someone is doing something silly, like taking the same herb for the 10th time, even though each use reduces effectiveness by 10%, this is the wasteful use of heavens gifts. This is a subtle law of heaven, and it is to protect the world from the blight of wasteful tyrants. Ore, stones, herbs, and any resource birthed by a world/plane are all the gifts of the heavens. If someone is truly wasteful they may eventually lower a tribulation. Thou shall not lift oneself higher than the heavens itself. - Do not try to break the natural laws of the realms you are in. The most common form of this comes from alchemy and refining. High-level alchemy and refining will directly lower a tribulation upon the creation of the item as heaven attempts to destroy it. The heavens always give everything a chance to live though, so if the tribulation is defeated the heavens will accept whatever was created. Every cultivator will also reach this point when they step from the houtain to the xiantian (When one become an immortal from a mortal.)Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
There was still a few more that seemed they might be useful to know.
Code of Jianghu - If one finds oneself walking the rivers and lakes the following morals should be adhered to. When trading blows that do not involve a personal grudge, dirty tricks, and low blows should be avoided. Innocent family members of your enemies should not be implicated by your enemies actions. Respect elders according to their age and/or status. Obey all of your master''s teachings and commands. Once you have acknowledged a master, do not accept the teachings of another without your master''s approval. As immortals should not kill or harm mortal cultivators for no reason, mortal cultivators should not kill or harm mortal non-cultivators for no reason. You shall not sexually violate another. You shall not have sexual relations with the dao companions of friends. Your word is your bond.
After reading over and memorizing the laws and codes Kael thought, it is impossible people follow all that shit. Unless Earth was the most wretched hive of scum and villainy, I don¡¯t buy it. The only thing more hardcore than those laws is the boy scout''s code. I refuse to believe that most worlds are full of a bunch of brownies and Webelos. Although, now that I consider it, a civilization that uses girl scout cookies as currency could be acceptable. Regardless, I am not buying it. People are too greedy and disingenuous. Also, in all those novels benefit reigns supreme over everything. It¡¯s like the corporations on earth, shitting on the little people to make a buck. I¡¯m going to assume all the worlds are like that. Wait, two of those were codes, not laws. The heavenly laws also talked about karma, which appears to exist, and about punishments being immediately handed down. This needs to be researched more. Starting back at the table of contents he began to search for punishments, karma, and laws. After 15 minutes of jumping to a page, to be redirected to another page, only to be redirected back to the first page, Kael finally decided to check the index. Scanning through he was annoyed at his previous waste of time as it took only moments to find, Heavenly Punishments - Pg 1,886. Going to page 1,886 he began to read the section on heavenly punishments, which was long and detailed. After reading a section on the Fires of Karma, and how an extreme evildoer would have their body and soul reduced to nothingness, Kael decided these were rules he should not break. Interestingly he found that all of the punishments also reduced the punished person''s negative karma and burned their positive karma as part of the balance. He may not have found anything about how to gain positive karma, but still, this was something he kept even more firmly in mind than the heavenly laws. After finishing everything, Kael felt like he had benefited from the knowledge gained. However, he was still confused while thinking, Those laws kind of make sense, but making your grandpa into a ring is clearly a violation of heavens laws! What the hell, this book digs pits for you to step into! Whatever, I just won¡¯t buy a ring of my grandpa and won¡¯t worry. Chapter 4 - Nouveau riche? No, Prodigal is more like it. Kael flipped back to the Cycle of Samsara and out of paranoia of jumping into a pit dug by the author, he flipped to the end of the item grants, trying not to read them. Near the end he saw an item that seemed simple enough to be ok to purchase so he decided to grab it. The entry itself read, On your tenth birthday you will find an interspatial ring. Cost: 1 Karma per 5 cubic meters of storage. Seeing this and remembering these things were the godsend of all packrats, Kael spent 20 karma to buy a huge 100 cubic meter storage ring. A few pages further in he finally found the section he was looking for. This section actually increased your statistics and he was excited since his line of thought was someone can steal your grandpa''s ring but they can¡¯t steal your attributes. Scratching the back of his head, Kael outlined what he considered were the good ones. This looks good, The Blessing of Nuwa. Not sure who she is but it gives spiritual growth and willpower, also its cheap! (Cost 50) This looks good too;
Saint crafter in a past life. 50% reduction on the challenge of knowledge checks, easier to enter into professions, high ranked craftsmen are blessed with a recipe each time they advance a rank. (Cost 20)
Hmm, there are other saints too,Martial Saint, the People Saint, The Beggars Saint, the¡­ Screw the saints what else do we have here? Heavenly treasures, didn¡¯t I just skip these things? Oh these are consumables. Save your life once talisman only costs 5 points? PURCHASE! Heavenly fruit increases a stat by 1 for 10 points? PURCHASE! Heavenly fruit that cuts the marrow and washed the bones increasing talent by 1 for 20 points? PURCHASE! Titan¡¯s Balls? What the hell kind of person names a fruit after a races family jewels? Oh well look at that effect! Increases titan bloodline by 10% and increases strength by 2 flat points for 20 points? PURCHASE! Ohh need to buy bloodlines should save some points, but oooo look at these sound sweet!
Heavenly Stat - One attribute increased by a flat 2 points. (eg from 10 to 12) Cost 20 karma. Blessed Body - Purchase talent score for 10 karma per point up to 8 points. Blessed Perception - Purchase perception score for 5 karma per point up to 8 points. Heavens Child - Purchase luck score for 10 karma per point up to 3 points. Blessed Soul - Each time your cultivation progresses you gain an additional X% spiritual growth. 1 karma per % up to 20% total.
After the sudden purchase spree Kael¡¯s mind cleared up. He quickly did the Math and found he had spent 395 Karma so far. Looking at the purchases he remembered the A-demon was going to give him a saint package for 1000 and wondered if he that guy was trying to rip him off. Still Kael thought to himself, I should go buy my bloodlines and affinities before I waste anything else. Flipping forward Kael landed at the beginning of the bloodlines. There was everything you could think of there. From basic animals and magic beasts all the way to saint beasts. There were also bloodlines of the divine beast, strange races, and all of their sub-race bloodlines. Flipping until he found the Titan bloodline he gasped as it cost 300 karma. 300 fucking karma he thought to himself, Holy shit i wonder if they would let me be tortured for another 200 days to get it for free. Reading the details he soon found out why. Enhances one''s control over the metal affinity, increases strength by 20 points, increases one¡¯s body and stamina by 10 each. Screw it, I am buying it, that will make my strength like 34, average joe has a 5, that means my dude could play football(American) and throw the players to each other instead of the ball. Well if bloodline increase the control over the elements I should buy a wood one for crafting. Looking through the bloodlines Kael absolutely could not find one for wood. Wishing his dream had google in it he flipped to the good ol¡¯ fairy section. Since his family on earth swears they had fairy blood (because of their last name) he actually knows a bit about them. Only, Kael wished he could think of something a bit more masculine. After flipping through for a while Kael was surprised by the level of depth of this book. The Fae were split into each element and had listings of races from planes and worlds he had never even heard of before, and more interesting, he found what he was looking for in a listing that could have been from earth. Reading more in-depth the Fae he was staring at was a fire fae that was once a demigod but had been demoted and kicked back into the mortal world by his opponents, the wooden fae of the seelie court. In a rage the fae camouflaged himself as a wood fae and submerged into the seelie court. From there he fed the seelie courts most pure blooded princess a love potion, got her pregnant, then burnt his life force and soul to eternally curse her bloodline. The curse would make her bloodline forever fertile and forever tainted with the blood of fire.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Reading this Kael had two thoughts, fairies are mean, and damn that guy wanted some vengeance. Reading the benefits though he thought he found a keeper. Bloodline cost 300, increases the control over fire and wood elements. Increases intelligence, agility, and willpower by 10. As wood stokes fire, all fire techniques or use of fire can either double in might or reduce the usage cost by half. Thinking that bloodlines are too expensive, he reluctantly transferred it to his sheet. Upon transfer a voice appeared in his mind, ¡°This soul previously had blood of the fae, purchase considered as a legacy, cost reduced by half¡±. Hearing those words he bounced out of his chair, grabbed his hair and shouted out in joy. Afterwards he stopped, looked around to make sure no one saw him, then wondered why that would make him so happy. It was strange, like the joy came from deep within his soul. After doing some math he was even more happy, his purchase should have pushed him up to 995 karma spent, but with the reduction it was only 845. Enough to finish his affinities and unlock his talents. Flipping to afinities he found it would cost 25 karma for each split. He chose fire as his primary, then selected 10% wood and 10% metal as his secondaries for 50 points. Flipping to talents he found he could unlock a specific talent tree for 25 each, or all for 100. Figuring he might have to tinker later and he was too lazy to look up alchemy and blacksmithing, he transferred the ¡°all¡± to his sheet. Left with 5 points he purchased a second life saving talisman and went back to review his new character.
Group A Base Mod Total Group B Base Mod Total Group C Base Mod Total Group D Base Mod Total
Strength 12 12 Agility 5 5 Reflex 11 11 Talent 8 8
Body 6 6 Stamina 8 8 Endurance 11 2 13 Perception 8 8
Intelligence 8 8 Willpower 8 8 Spirit 12 3 15 Luck 3 3
Items: Spatial Ring; Save a Life x2; Fruit + 1 Attribute; Fruit + 1 Talent; Fruit + 2 strength, +10 Bloodline. (granted after birth) Blessing of Nuwa: Each time your cultivation progresses you gain an additional 10% spiritual growth. Your willpower increases by a flat 1 point during reincarnation. Artisan Saint: Easier to enter into professions, increased learning rate by 100% while in the mortal rank of the profession. The difficulty in creating anything is reduced by 20%. Artisans are blessed with an ancient recipe each time they advance to a new tier. Bloodline: Titan +20 Strength, +10 Body, +10 Stamina, Increases control over metal. (granted during reincarnation.) Bloodline: Fae, Fire/Wood +10 Intelligence, +10 Agility, +10 Willpower, Increase control over fire/wood. Fire may be doubled in might, or have it¡¯s consumption reduced by half. (granted during reincarnation.) Chapter 5 - Error, your math sucks Looking over the character sheet he smugly thought to himself, if this were to be born on earth it would raise a reign of fear and destruction. I didn¡¯t even need to nerf my talent or qi, but I forgot to look at positive and negative qualities. Seeing as how awesome this guy is, he doesn¡¯t need them though. Finishing up the character, he rolled up the sheet and started playing the drums with it out of boredom. A few hours later, after Kael had read 96 different peoples boring life stories, sat and spun in Azabael¡¯s sweet office chair until he wanted to puke, and built a house of binders. Boredom did not seem to finally claim his life before Azabael finally appeared in the room. As soon as he appeared the first thing he saw was Kael sitting in his prized chair, at his desk, with a rolled up sheet. Although the sheet looked normal to Kael, all of the samsara examiners owned the Eyes of Judgement, which could see and judge the truth of all things. In Azabael¡¯s eyes, the seemingly normal sheet of paper looked like an ancient scroll made of gold. All of a souls information was not written upon the scroll but carved deep into its surface. Depending on the karma imbued it would glow a white or red shade. Due to the amount of karma stuffed into the scroll, it was like a miniature sun to his eyes. Azabael stared at it, filled with horror he shouted to Kael, ¡°Quickly, put that down!¡± ¡°What''s wrong A-man, I already finished it, I was just too bored waiting for you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible,¡± Azabael said, ¡°If you had finished it you would have reincarnated already¡±. ¡°No your wrong, I would have been tortured first, but what are the final touches to something like this anyway?¡± ¡°I forgot you are insane and opted in for torture. To finish it, it just needs a stamp¡± ¡°Like this?¡± Kael asked as he picked up the stamp and stamped his character. The last thing Kael heard as everything went dark was Azabael screaming, ¡°Noooooo¡±, like a Skywalker wannabe. Soon Kael found himself undergoing the most insanely painful torture that existed. Most of them were so horrible his mind blocked them out so he could not recall them. The one that particularly made him shudder was swallowing massive shards of glass, followed by a mixture of lemon juice and salt. The worst part wasn¡¯t just swallowing but what came after. Time blurred until one day he heard that sweet droning voice again, ¡°Reincarnation initializing¡±. Finally, he thought, my torture is over. However, just as that thought crossed his mind he heard that voice again. Error with soul birth, overspent karma by 150. Applying negative qualities to cover cost. Based on souls bias, qi deficiency of 150 point severity has been purchased. Error, Soul birthed into a mortal plane has the heavenly bloodline, Titan. Reducing bloodline by 90%. Kael heard that and mimicked Azabael with a ¡°Nooooooo!¡± while thinking to himself, I GOT FUCKED! My math was right, the systems math is shit, and now I spent 300 karma for 30 karma worth of bloodline. Bloodline reduction by 90%, Karma refund of 270 points. Error, Soul birthed into a mortal plane has the heavenly bloodline, Everburning World Tree. Reducing bloodline by 90%. Bloodline reduction by 90%, Karma refund of 270 points. Bloodline was a legacy, doubling efficiency. Bloodline was a legacy, Karma refund of 150 points. Kael hearing this was gobsmacked again, thinking, Not only did I get fucked on my bloodlines, but there is the 150 points for the qi deficiency! Also, I was refunded 420 points on a 300 point purchase! I can¡¯t even use this shit! 3 attribute points left unspent. Points converted into a modification point. Point applied to reflex. Soul has 690 Karma left unspent, searching soul''s true desire. ¡°Fuck you, just ask!!¡± Could be heard echoing through the void as Kael¡¯s soul was transported through nothingness to a new plane. Soul has a strong desire for complete control. Soul has a strong desire to be the peak of all artisans. Unlocking true control over crafting talents, cost 500. Unlocking 19 talent points, cost 190. The sarcastic shout of, ¡°WHERE''S MY GRANDPA RING¡± rang throughout the void as a soul zipped by. Soul creation finished. Please review final changes. Soul intelligence will be suppressed for 5.9 years to ensure a normal birth and infant growth stage.
Group A Base Mod Total Group B Base Mod TotalThis tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Group C Base Mod Total Group D Base Mod Total
Strength 14 0 14 Agility 7 0 7 Reflex 14 1 15 Talent 8 0 8
Body 7 0 7 Stamina 9 0 9 Endurance 13 2 15 Perception 8 0 8
Intelligence 10 0 10 Willpower 11 0 11 Spirit 16 3 19 Luck 3 0 3
Items: Spatial Ring; Save a Life Talisman x2; Fruit + 1 Attribute; Fruit + 1 Talent; Fruit + 2 strength, +10 Bloodlines. (Items packaged into Spatial Ring) Blessing of Nuwa: Each time your cultivation progresses you gain an additional 10% spiritual growth. Your willpower increases by a flat 1 point during reincarnation. Artisan Saint: Easier to enter into professions, increased learning rate by 100% while in the mortal rank of the profession. The difficulty in creating anything is reduced by 20%. Artisans are blessed with an ancient recipe each time they advance to a new tier. Bloodline: Titan, +2 Strength, +1 Body, +1 Stamina, Increases control over metal. Bloodline: Fae, Fire/Wood +2 Intelligence, +2 Agility, +2 Willpower, Increase control over fire/wood. Fire might increased by 10%, Fire consumption reduced by 10%. Negative Quality: Qi Deficiency, May not create a dantian until new body achieves Xantian. After looking through everything and feeling like he got royally screwed, Kael felt his eyes growing heavy. As his vision slowly turned to black, a woman in another world was going through a terrible labor. Just before his consciousness was completely suppressed he could faintly hear the previous voice. Error, soul did not purchase a background. Error, soul did not purchase a lifestyle. Error, soul did not purchase a family or clan package. Generating lowest level background, lifestyle, and family/clan package for soul. Error, soul does not have enough karma for purchase. Further reducing background, lifestyle, and clan for soul. Purchase successful for 0 points. Error, soul purchased unlock of all talents for 100. Purchase redundant, Karma refund of 100 points. Remaining Karma of 100 points will be carried over into the soul''s new life. Completing the samsara cycle, inserting soul into a new birth. Chapter 6 - A new life in the darkness A woman''s screams resounded through the pitch black of the moonless night. The screams originated from a tiny village that was hidden in the belly of one of the most dangerous forests on the continent. Dozens of men and women of all ages surrounded a sturdy, two-story, wood cabin in anticipation of the coming silence that would herald in a new life. A short stocky man paced nervously back and forth in front of the door. The golden light of many candles spilled through the cabin''s window, outlining the stocky man¡¯s face. Although not a handsome man, his skin was clear and fresh, bringing a stark contrast to the slight grey tinge to it. His sharp eyebrows twitched due to his well-defined mouth and jawline which was constantly moving as he mumbled, ¡°she¡¯ll be alright¡± repeatedly. Some of the old ladies in the crowd snickered at him, while others were dumbfounded. Considering he had been repeating the same words and actions for over 6 hours, it had to be some kind of record. As the woman¡¯s wails continued to ring throughout the village, the inky blackness of the night was briefly split asunder, as a bright multi-colored star fell from the heavens. Momentarily distracted by the spectacular scene above, none noticed that silence had descended until it was shattered by the scream of a newborn. While the crowd came back to their senses, the short man patted down his thick homespun clothes. Seeming to simulate the way a nervous nobleman preparing to enter a banquet hall would do to his finery. After taking a steadying breath, the man opened the door and entered the brightly lit cabin. Upon entering the man¡¯s eyes immediately locked onto a woman laying down on a bed in the middle of the room. Reviewing her worn out appearance, sweat-soaked hair, and pale face; tenderness and worry could be seen in his eyes. A barely audible whisper of ¡°Alavarah, are you ok?¡±, escaped from his lips as he nervously approached the bed. The woman''s eyes crept open as he approached. Although it was apparent she was in a great deal of pain, her eyes still shone brightly with life and happiness. The man reached out, slowly stroking the sticky hair from the ladies face, causing the woman¡¯s lips to curl into a smile. She licked her dry, cracked lips while reproaching the man, ¡°Iradin, I¡¯m fine, go take a look at our son and give him a name before one of those fogies names him after his cow.¡± With a low laugh, Iradin finally looked around the room. Spotting a wizened old lady, who looked old enough to have helped give birth to his grandparent''s parents. He walked over to her while reaching his arms out for the bundle she had tightly hugged to her bosom. Retrieving his child from the ancient looking woman, he unwrapped the swaddling and began pinching and poking the poor naked babe. After examining the child¡¯s entire body his vision finally settled on its face. Bright yellow eyes with small flecks of green and gray spread throughout stared intently back at him. The look in the child''s eyes seemed to be blaming Iradin for manhandling him previously. Iradin¡¯s face slowly approached the child¡¯s as if in a trance due to the unusual looking eyes his child owned. As just a few inches existed between the two, the trance was abruptly broken as a stream of urine rocketed up, splashing against his chin and soaking the front of his shirt. The scene evoked a cackling laugh from the old woman which heralded in a stream of visitors through the front door. The spectacle of a father''s first greeting from his child brought out copious amounts of laughter from the villagers that were smashing into the small room. Seeing that his wife was well taken care of by the village women, Iradin began to work his way towards the strongest cultivator in the village, the village leader. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.Excited at the birth of his new son, Iradin held him up over his head while shouting, ¡°Makeel, look, look at my son!¡± While the village leader gazed at the child, he barely had time to notice his strange eyes before two hands that seemed to be made of brittle old bark, reached up and snatched the child from the air. ¡°Iradin! He is a child, not a toy, now go change those soiled clothes, wash your face, and take care of your wife. The child needs to be fed by his mother now anyways.¡± Looking over his shoulder, Iradin saw the reproachful look the old woman had in her eyes and quickly exited the room to heed her words. The old woman brought the child over to his mother''s waiting arms while mumbling, ¡°Men, they always act without thinking, all we need is a dropped baby.¡± Pointing at the child, the old lady asked, ¡°So now that we got that fool out of the way, what are you going to name him?¡± Alavarah looked down at the child, smiling while she stroked his bald head. Looking back up to the midwife, she said, ¡°oh Deebs, I am just going to name him after my father. Then he can have a name from both Iradin¡¯s family and mine. It¡¯s too bad, if truly named after my father it would be Kael Fae. He will have to live with that terrible Darksteel surname. Hopefully, he will have a better fate than what forced us here." Sighing, the woman brought the child to her breast to feed. Her eyes slowly closed due to the exhaustion. The old woman took the babe once the mother passed out. Two years had breezed by, the couple who appeared to be in their late 20s were full of joy. Although they were better educated and more cultured than their fellow villagers, Alavarah¡¯s kindness and Iradin¡¯s hardworking attitude allowed them to quickly become accepted in the village. Alavarahs knowledge of herbs and Iranians skill with a bow made further contributions to that acceptance. One night as Iradin returned from a hunting trip he was met with his wife¡¯s gorgeous smile. Her dark green hair was tightly braided, showing her ever so slightly pointed ears. As soon as he entered the small cabin she rushed up to him, nearly bouncing with joy as she shouted, ¡°Honey, our little Kael is simply a genius! It has been less than a month and he can already read and write! Ohh, but his writing is terrible, I know he is only 2, but if he inherited that chicken scratch of yours, you are in for a punishment.¡± Laughing foolishly, Iradin gently stroked his wife''s soft, silk-like cheek, ¡°Varah, he is only a child, at that age I couldn¡¯t even tie my boots let alone write. It will be fine.¡± As another year quietly slipped by, Iradin found himself dumbly watching his now 3-year-old child carry posts for a fence they were building. Going back to hammering nails into the post he was working on, Iradin could not help but to think to himself, My son is truly a monster, he will definitely put his old man to shame. At age 4 Kael was often found greeting the village herb gatherers when they returned to town. He always carried a small leatherbound book his mother made for him and used it to copy down the properties of the herbs that were gathered. On the off chance, none of the gatherers knew what they had found, Alavarah was always around to educate them. On his 5th birthday just after receiving his father''s gift, a small quiver of a few javelins, Kael suddenly stopped everything he was doing. Standing entirely still, frozen like a tiny statue, his eyes closed. A few minutes later he grabbed his heads shouting out a strange noise before fainting. The last thing Kael remembered was his dream of zipping through the void while complaining about how terrible the games character finalization was. Abruptly he found himself holding a set of javelins and looking up at a man who must have been at least twice his height. The man had slightly grey skin, a buzzed haircut, and a well-defined set of muscles. Kael assumed he was the giant version of a special ops soldier. While staring at the man he was struck with a terrible migraine. He managed to shout ¡°Fuck!¡± just before passing out. Chapter 7 - Shit, cultivation is real? Three days later Kael¡¯s previous memories finally merged with his current infantile ones. Finally opening his eyes, he looked up into the worried face of his mother, staring down at him with her penetrating dark golden eyes. Seeing him open his eyes she immediately tightly hugged him while crying. Between the sobs, she choked out, ¡°Oh baby, it¡¯s good that you are awake, mommy was so afraid.¡± Slightly startled, a warmth gushed out from his heart. His innermost feelings still carried his previous infantile life''s view and was still that of a child that had been raised, protected, and loved by the woman giving him the suffocating hug. Realizing he truly did have an emotional tie to his parents, and that he shouldn¡¯t worry them, he racked his brains for how to write off his inevitable changes. Turning his head to the side so he could breathe he said, ¡°Mom, mom, its ok, I¡¯m fine, I just had a crazy dream, don¡¯t worry mom.¡± Hearing her child speaking, Alavarah grabbed his shoulders, pushed him away and stared at his face, as if to check that it was really him speaking. ¡°Oh child, a dream doesn¡¯t last three days, are you sure you are ok?¡± ¡°Yes mom¡± Kael replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know why I slept for three days, the dream wasn¡¯t that long, but I¡¯m fine.¡± Staring at her child with doubt-filled eyes she asked, ¡°what is this dream you keep talking about?¡± ¡°Oh mom, it was neat! There was this HUGE guy with skin that looked like a stone or metal, and he was smashing an entire city! Then there was this pretty lady who sitting beneath a gigantic tree, but the tree was on fire! It was like the flames were licking the stars! Then she went off to have a fight with the big guy, it was really cool watching them clash mom.¡± Hearing this she was shocked, she knew of the two families distant bloodlines that had almost completely died out. There was no way her son could know of the two bloodlines. The fighting between them would make sense also, as they were equal in strength and always struggling over benefits for their families. ¡°Ok, Kael¡± she said, ¡°as long as you are fine, but you cannot tell anyone about your dream. I¡¯ll talk to your father about it, but you are not to mention it ever again. Do you understand? If you do, promise mommy that you will never talk about it again.¡± Slightly blown away by his mother''s overreaction to the made-up dream, Kael still silently sighed to himself as it seems his scheme worked. ¡°Ok mom, I promise I won¡¯t talk about the dream, the giant, or the pretty lady again. Why is it such a big secret mom? When I had a dream that a giant dog lifted its leg and blew dad away with his pee, you told everyone in the village.¡± Covering her mouth with her hand she quietly laughed. ¡°Oh baby, that''s not the same. Your mommy and daddy were born in special families, and your dreams are about the origins of those families. Those families were really strong and became powerful clans. Unfortunately, some bad people did not like how strong they were becoming and started fighting with them. Our families lost that fight, which is why we moved here. So you can¡¯t tell anyone about your dreams, understand?¡± ¡°I understand mom.¡± is what Kael¡¯s mouth was saying, but Shitty system screwed me again! is what his brain was saying. Although he had a pretty good idea of what happened he still had to ask. ¡°Uh mom, if you and dad are from super strong families, why are you guys so weak? I mean, shouldn¡¯t you at least be as strong as the uncle who leads the village?¡± After those words were spoken, sorrow could clearly be seen in Alavarah¡¯s watery eyes. ¡°Baby, I will tell you but you can¡¯t talk to anyone about it, you also can¡¯t talk to your father about it, he still hasn¡¯t accepted it. Near the end of the war, I had just realized I was pregnant with you. Our families loaded us up with wealth and snuck us away. While we were running away we got caught by the bad guys. They not only robbed us but also poisoned us as we escaped. The poison slowly sealed our meridians, that is why we are only in the peak of body refinement. Body refinement is what common people call a Spirit Disciple.¡± Kael¡¯s childhood memories already gave him suspicions that this world used qi, another one of the things that the system screwed him on, but hearing his mom mention body refinement made his heart thump as a bad feeling overcame him. ¡°Mom, I¡¯ve never heard of it called body refinement, could you explain some of the cultivation ranks to me?¡± Looking at her child, she realized this was going to happen eventually and gave in. ¡°Ok, mommy will tell you, but it is complex and confusing so mommy will only tell you the basics. You know in our village everyone has a spirit ranking, outside the village the strong people have saint rankings. Spirit rankings are a part of Houtian cultivation, while Saint rankings are part of Xiantian cultivation. Houtian means before you reach the heavens, in other words, mortals. Xiantian means the beginning of the heavens and the path to ascending. It¡¯s the immortal path.¡± Taking a deep breath while looking at her son to see if he understood, she continued, ¡°The spirit ranks are Spirit Disciple, Spirit Warrior, and Spirit Commander. Those are the titles for people in the body refinement, qi refinement, or soul refinement stages. The Saint rankings are Spirit Saint, Saint Warrior, and Saint Commander. These ranking are actually foundation establishment, refinement, and completion levels of cultivation. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The area we live in is weak compared to the rest of the world so this is all you need to know about for now. Remember though, this world has become very militaristic. After our families lost the war, the great clans either submitted or were dispersed. Clans and their sects no longer control the world, the world is now under a strange royalty system. If you ever run into someone who says they are a noble, be sure to avoid them. Did you have any other questions?¡± Running through the information in his head, Kael realized he was truly screwed, that this really was a world of cultivation, and all those cultivation techniques and skills he ignored would have been really helpful. That is not even to mention the fact that according to the system, his body had severe qi deficiency. Pausing for a moment while sorting out his thoughts, Kael asked, ¡°Mom could you go over each of the ranks and what they mean for me? I understand that each is stronger than the last but I don¡¯t understand what they mean, or how much stronger they are.¡± ¡°Sure baby,¡± Alavarah replied, ¡°Body refinement is the process of strengthening your mortal body. This is done with techniques, qi, and things like herbs.¡± ¡°Wait, mom, what is qi?¡± ¡°Qi is the natural energy of the world, honey. It is the basis of cultivation for all things. Without qi in the world, there would be no cultivators, special herbs, ores, and beasts would not exist. You could say it is the backbone that holds up this world.¡± ¡°So what happens if a person can¡¯t use qi mom? Do they die?¡± ¡°No no honey, they will just live their lives as a mortal.¡± ¡°How do they live when they are so much weaker than everyone else?¡± ¡°Oh baby, this is not something a child should worry about. You need to remember that strength is often more important than anything else in this life though.¡± ¡°Ok, thanks mom, can you tell me about the rest now?¡± ¡°Of course, after body refinement cultivators begin to refine their qi. Most of the lower class people think this is all about having more and more qi. That is because the nobles say they are Spirit Warriors, not Qi Refiners. This is very important. While your qi will grow during the refinement process, the most important part is still refinement. The process is supposed to remove impurities from your qi and temper your meridians. Without pure qi and strong meridians, there is less of a chance someone can break through into Xiantian, the Saint stage. Even worse, they will never exceed the Saint stage. Changing the terminology used for cultivation was intentional to make the uneducated weaker and have a more difficult path to follow in life. Remember baby, the so-called nobles do not want anyone to challenge them. Setting that aside, after qi refinement, there is soul refinement. Just like your body and qi, your soul also has impurities. Your negative thoughts impact the soul. The main purpose behind the soul refinement stage is to purify your soul while determining your nature and moving towards that nature. Remember, you must always follow your nature and live with no qualms.¡± Sighing, she continued, ¡°The three foundation realms should be considered the real beginning of cultivation. Stepping into the foundation realm happens when your body, qi, and soul are all at the peak of what can still be considered mortal. As you step into the foundation stage you must liquify the qi cyclone in your dantian first, this will begin a chain reaction. The ripples from the newly formed qi lake will flow through the body, further refining and strengthening it, bringing it above the houtian stage and into the xiantian stage. Once your body is no longer mortal it can house a stronger soul. Your soul will naturally expand as it has been compressed and refined earlier. As your soul expands it also steps beyond the realm of mortality and you will develop a spiritual sense. That means you can see with your soul in the area around you, it is very beneficial to cultivators.¡± ¡°Wait, mom, slow down, what is a dantian?¡± Kael asked as he tried to grasp all of the information he could about cultivation. ¡°Honey, you are such a smart boy I sometimes forget you are only 5 and don¡¯t have everyday knowledge yet. Your dantian is located a few inches below your navel. As you finish body refinement you will open the meridians connected to it. The dantian is the core of cultivation, it is the energy storehouse for qi. As your body absorbs the qi in the world it will run through your meridians before being stored in the dantian. Later, when you need to use your qi, it will gush out from your dantian and flow through your meridians, waiting for you to direct it as you like.¡± ¡°Thanks, mom, I understand now, can you continue please?¡± ¡°Of course Kael, the following stages are just like the spirit ranks. Establish the foundation for future cultivation, refine it to strengthen and purify it, and then slowly compress the lake into a solid. As soon as you start the long process of creating a core, you are in the completion stage, that continues until you have made the core at which point you will exceed the saint ranks, and your body and soul will go through another chain reaction.¡± Alavarah¡¯s dark golden eyes were clearly immersed in past memories after reflecting on the process of cultivating. Looking at her son she shooed him outside with a ¡°Kael, run outside and play, your mommy needs to start dinner for you and father.¡± before standing up and slowly walking into the kitchen. Kael could see a trail of small wet spots on the floor following his mother''s footsteps. Knowing the story was definitely more complicated and painful then his new mother explained, he knew that they had truly fallen from heaven to hell. An indescribable rage filled him while considering the various scenarios that his parents could have went through. Even though he only met his mother today, he found that he actually loved her. The cycle of samsara really does its job well he thought, before abruptly remembering all of the errors he received. Which he then remembered all of the vague mentions of not buying a family package. With a wave of sudden guilt crushing him, he promised himself he would help raise his parents up and out of this tiny village that was located in the ass end of the boonies. Chapter 8 - Botanist? No bro, I鈥檓 an encyclopedia Leaving his home, Kael wandered through the village into a small quiet grove on the edge of town. Walking around aimlessly while trying to sort everything out in his mind he felt quite overwhelmed. Considering his body was that of a 5-year-old, he had the majority of memories from an adult on earth, and finally that he was in a world based on an energy his body was not adept at gathering. He felt he was pretty much up shit creek in a rickety boat full of random, but worthless passengers. Plopping down on the grass and picking clovers, he started to run over what he needs to do, and what he cannot do in his mind. First, he thought, According to what I remember from the samsara handguide, once I start cultivating, my statistics will quickly advance to what they should be. It should take a year instead of 10 for that to happen. Taking into consideration that the village won¡¯t let children cultivate until they are 6 years of age, that means I will be a walking freak at age 7. I¡¯m not sure how strong I¡¯ll get when I start body refining, but having three times an adults strength is going to cause some raised brows. I also have had an entire change in mentality. Thanks to my rebirth purchases, I was already an intelligent child before my soul regained consciousness. However, having an adults outlook on life will also cause some serious questions. Finally, I will have to find a way to work around whatever qi problems I may have. For the first problem about my strength, I will just try to be low key. For the second problem about my mentality, I will have to continue acting in a play with everyone while trying to limit my social interactions. That won¡¯t work too well with trying to figure out how to start cultivating. Such a pain in the ass. Shit, I also have a years time to kill. Plucking the leaves off another clover, Kael got a sudden inspiration as he remembered he wanted to work on alchemy. Since he already established the fact he is interested in herbs, then it is only logical to continue that for the next year. Except for this time, it would be more in-depth. Realizing this may even help him with cultivation he excitedly got back up to run back to his house. Rushing through the door and up the stairs into his tiny room, that barely fit a bed and a nightstand; Kael snatched his book off the nightstand and flopped onto his bed. Flipping through the thick book that was bound in a durable beast hide with the pages made of a fine and thin beast skin he was surprised at how much the child version of him had actually recorded. Six of the pages, front and back, each had a hand drawn picture of an herb, a description of its feel, smell, and taste. It also listed what they were generally used for. The amazing drawings did not seem to fit well with the childish writing. Finding a quill on his nightstand he became engrossed in fixing the terrible handwriting into something legible. As he finished correcting the first page in the book a dim golden scroll flew out from his chest and unrolled in front of him, hovering in the air before his eyes. Shocked and confused Kael reached out to grab it, just to find that his hand slipped through it as though it was non-existent. While sitting there like an idiot, staring at a scroll that may not even exist, he realized there were faint words that were gradually growing more and more distinct. Reading the new text on the scroll he understood, it was the character information, no, better said, his information. As he read further down he saw a giant chart that was slightly glowing. The top of the rectangular chart read, Crafting Talents with a red (19/5) to its side. Under that was a slim long bar that ran across the top of the entire thing with the numbers 0/100 in the center. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! As he read further down the chart there were three columns with ten rows in each column. The first and second column was titled Production and Quality, however, the rows under them were completely grayed out and illegible. The third column was titled Perception and in the first row under it were the words Material Nature, Material Identification, and Growth Rate. Beneath that, written in fine print were the words, Cost 0/1, and Level 0/5. Further below that was entirely grayed out as well. On the far left side of the chart, there were words that separated every second row in the column. The first two columns were labeled Mortal, the second set was titled Earth, followed by Sky, Heaven, and Immortal Staring at the things he could read he seemed to have information transported into his brain as he read each of the words again. Material Nature - Increases the chance to know and understand the interactions of a material by 10% per level. Material Identification - Increases the chance to successfully identify materials by 20% per level. Growth Rate - Increases talent growth rate by 20% per level. Thinking to himself, The first is like a chemist assisting, the second will make me into an encyclopedia, and the third sounds good but I have no idea how talents grow. Since I am fixing this book up I guess I should increase identification first and nature next. Looking at the words Material Identification and hoping it would go up he was pleasantly surprised when the Cost changed into a 1/1 then quickly swapped into a 0/2. The level also jumped to 1/5 while the blinking red writing at the top changed to an 18/5. A gentle warmth filled his entire mind as he was filled with a hazy knowledge of all sorts of plants, ores, beast cores, and other assorted materials. Looking at the words and thinking, up, up, up, increase, increase, increase he was slightly surprised to see that where the cost read 0/2, just increasing it once would fill it up. This continued through 0/3, 0/4, and 0/5. Laughing foolishly he felt purchasing talents with his karma maybe was not such a bad idea, even if he did not make the choice for himself. Each time he increased the level more warmth would spread through his mind and soon he seemed to have a veritable almanac of all sorts of strange things tucked away in there. After increasing the level to 5, the row beneath it suddenly lit up. The words Crossover were in the dead center of the column with nothing else. Staring at it to get more information he received; Increases the chance of making a breakthrough in cultivation by 1% per talent points earned. Thinking to himself, Sweet I can start cultivating easily! he attempted to increase his skill in it. After spending 1 point, only half of the Crossover box was lit up, spending a second point the entire thing lit up, and he could feel a warmth spread through his entire body. Looking back at the chart he saw that the blinking red at the top changed as well, it now read 12/10. Figuring he would go catalog and fix up his notebook with all the local materials before continuing, the scroll started to roll back up before pausing. Looking at the frozen scroll, large bright red letters were now overlayed across the talents section. They read, ¡°Excess talent points, closing the Scroll of Samsara before spending excess points will result in forfeiting them.¡± Relief flooded Kael over not losing 20 karma points that were spent for him on talents. Placing two points in the Material Nature box, and bringing his points to 10/10 he willed the ethereal scroll to close, which it then flew back into his chest. As Kael was considering the best way to use his new knowledge a sudden wave of exhaustion hit him, causing him to black out in his room. Chapter 9 - I would like to thank the academy The next morning Kael awoke to his father shaking him. Thinking, Isn¡¯t this child abuse, do these people not know of shaken baby syndrome in this world? he rolled over, snuggling back into his blankets while sleepily mumbling, ¡°I thought it was always beautiful maids that woke their young masters in stories like this one. I got the shit end of the stick again.¡± Iradin, not sure he heard his barely 5-year-old son correctly gave him an extra hard shake while loudly asking, ¡°What did you just say about beautiful maids little boy?¡± Swearing at himself for blowing his cover in less than a day, he scrambled for a good lie. Looking up at his disgruntled father he said, ¡°Uh, sorry dad, the huge guy in my dreams tells me stories in between teaching me about herbs so I don¡¯t get bored.¡± ¡°Whatever,¡± Iradin replied,¡±just get out of your bed and go eat breakfast, your mother is worried about you and taking it out on me.¡± Relieved his father seemed to buy his bullshit, but planning on selling the same load to his mom, Kael snatched his book off the nightstand while rolling out of bed and heading downstairs. Entering the living area that acted as both a living room and a dining room, Kael saw his mother sitting down at their fully set table. A worried look was plastered across her beautiful face. Deciding to go for the pre-emptive attack, he bounced over to her with his best; ¡®This is what a cute, and extremely normal 5 year old looks like¡¯ look on his face. Jumping into her lap, he slapped his book down on the table, almost sending a plate of some kind of egg and a green plant he likened to potatoes flying. Glad he avoided the fate of a scolding for making a mess he began jabbering to stop his mom from having the chance to say anything. ¡°Look, mom, Grandpa Grey Skin told me all about herbs last night!¡± Opening the book he flipped to the third page, pointing to an ugly mushroom thing. He said ¡°This thing called a Stone Cap is actually one of the best healing herbs of the lowest level of the lowest tier. Although it looks like a dirt clod, it can actually be used in healing cuts or even to help set bones!¡± Glancing up at his mom to see if she was buying it, and only seeing a little doubt cleared from her face, he went on to point at the next herb. ¡°This one, the light blue flower that grows in shallow water. He said we were squandering the gifts of nature. He said that alchemists use it to wash the marrow, whatever that means, and not to add a refreshing taste to their salads! He was really mad about that one, the amount of spittle flying from his mouth was enough for a shower. It was really gross.¡± Seeing that doubt on his moms face increase instead of decrease he was worried. Thinking, My acting skills should not be that bad.¡± he went all in. ¡°You still don¡¯t believe me? Fine! I¡¯ll go fix my book then you will be able to see that Grandpa Grey Skin is good to me.¡± Acting like a mad child he ¡®humphed¡¯ at his mom, grabbed his book, slid off her lap, and started to slowly stomp away. Waiting to be scolded or called back, he hoped he was not walking to fast for his mom to stop him before he reached the stairs. Almost on queue, he got both. His father erupted with, ¡°Oh, so our young master now treats his mother like a maid.¡± While his mother simultaneously shouted, ¡°Slow down and give a person a chance to get a word out why don¡¯t you.¡± This was followed with another simultaneous outburst as Alavarah said, ¡°What young master, what maid?¡± and Iradin said, ¡°No, no, speed up on your way back to your mother or get that little butt beat.¡± Stopping to look back and forth between his parents he was worried but also amused. Deciding to dig a pit for his father as a counter-attack to his threat, he sulked back to his mother with his head down. Climbing back into her lap he whispered, ¡°I¡¯m not sure about a young master or a maid, mom. Dad was just explaining to me the importance of role-playing this morning and brought it up.¡± Hearing that Alavarahs look turned sharp as her eyes locked Iradin with a dangerous glare, ¡°So I¡¯m the maid to clean up after you now eh?¡± she growled at him. Iradin, looking confused and timid, was about to respond when interrupted by his devil of a son again. ¡°No mom, he was talking about a maid wrestling with him, not cleaning. I don¡¯t know why she would do something not her job though.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. With those words his mom¡¯s face turned beet red while she stuttered out, ¡°Stop, we will talk about that later, RIGHT Iradin? Honey, tell me about this old man, and it is Grandfather, not grandpa.¡± After mentally accepting his Oscar and thanking the academy; Kael began to weave another story to cover his new knowledge up. He looked at the book of herbs, waving his hand while starting to point to different plants he said, ¡°Of the 12 herbs I have listed, 4 of them are something called primary herbs, while 7 of the others are secondary herbs. The last plant is actually poison and only good for making people poop. The 4 primary herbs are Stone Coat, Stone Cap, Bloodthorn, and Lake¡¯s Kiss. Stone Coat is a browning grey moss that grows on rocks in moist areas, where Stone Cap is a mushroom that grows in the same environment. While Stone Cap is good for healing mortal bodies, Stone Coat is good for strengthening mortal bodies. Bloodthorn is long rattan like vine with thorns on it, obviously. It grows out of, or near the corpse of magical beasts. It is good for healing, temporarily strengthening the body, and can be used to wash the marrow, but that is not it¡¯s main role. Lake¡¯s Kiss is good for temporarily strengthening the mind, or boosting the spirit. Secondary herbs do not seem to be as important, but the 7 I have seen here are Sage, Hoelen, Bupleurum, Cinnamon, Cayenne, Shiso, and Tang-Kui. I¡¯m too lazy to describe them so just google it later. Sage, Hoelen, Cayenne, and Shiso are good for healing. Bupleurum and Cinnamon are good for strengthening the body while Tang-Kui is good for recovery. I¡¯m not sure what the difference between healing and recovery are though.¡± When pausing to take a breath and noticing the absolute silence, Kael looked up into the faces of his baffled parents. ¡°Uhh, Mom, Dad, why are you staring at me like that? Why don¡¯t you say something?¡± ¡°Honey, just how many herbs did you learn about?¡± Alavarah asked while staring intently into her son''s eyes. ¡°Mom, I¡¯m pretty sure Grandpa¡± Kael started but was immediately interrupted by his mother, ¡°Grandfather, it¡¯s grandfather!¡± ¡°Ok mom, I get it, grandfather told me about all of what he called mortal rank plants, metals, stones, and the bits and pieces of beasts.¡± ¡°What do you mean by all, Kael,¡± his father asked. ¡°Dad, all means everything, the whole amount, the entirety of, the..¡± His father, who did know whether to laugh or cry at his child''s outburst interrupted him. ¡°Ok Kael, stop from time to time, I acknowledge, you are a crane amongst chickens. I just wanted to know if you were being literal or not.¡± ¡°Ohh, yes, I was being literal, Gramps said it would be wasteful of my intelligence if I did not learn from him and spends almost the entire dream droning on and on and on.¡± Slightly excited at this revelation, Alavarah¡¯s love of herbs and knowledge got the better of her as she said, ¡°If that is true honey, why don¡¯t we make you a much bigger book. You can write down everything you know and share it with the villagers.¡± Knowing he had left a loophole in his web of lies and needed to patch it, Kael replied, ¡°It does not seem to work that way, mom. I can feel all the knowledge tumbling about in my mind, but I can¡¯t force it to come forward. When I see something new though, it is like flipping to a new page of a detailed book, the information is just waiting there for me.¡° With her excitement dimming down, Alavarah mumbled, ¡°I see, that¡¯s ok honey.¡± Iradin took this moment to jump back in though, ¡°Kael, why don¡¯t you walk around the very close exterior parts of the village. It is safe if you do not go far and you can record anything that catches your eye.¡± With her excitement bubbling back up, his mother said, ¡°That¡¯s a great idea! Remember, you may be smart but you are still a little boy, you can¡¯t go too far, and you have to be back before night falls each night. I will review what you took notes on to be sure you are not out there playing, so don¡¯t think about using the excuse to run amuck in the forest either!¡± Stretching up he gave his mother a kiss on the cheek, grabbed his book, then slid out of her lap. With a joyful shout of, ¡°Thanks mom! and remember to make me more books!¡± he quickly bounded out the door before his parents could call him back. ¡°Honey, what is google?¡± Alavarah asked. ¡°I think he said ogle, dear. That makes more sense if he meant looking at something, but he still did not use his words correctly. I think it is time to begin to educate him. If it were not for the village rules I would start cultivating him already. Do you want to spend the afternoon teaching him while I hunt?¡± Iradin asked his wife. ¡°Sure I will teach him math, history, geography, basic tactics, and how to write well. I would teach him more, but the education of our families may be dangerous for him to know in the future.¡± Alavarah said. Giving his wife a tender looking, Iradin said, ¡°That¡¯s fine, I will still show him how to throw those toothpicks everyone calls javelins, and I¡¯ll take him hunting to teach him tracking, skinning, and such.¡± Chapter 10 -The cost of child labor Kael rushed out to the forest to be disillusioned within just 10 minutes. What boring bullshit is this? These are all the most normal and boring things I could find. Continuing to look at plants he began to read their names out loud. ¡°Elm, poplar, birch, alder, willow, oak, maple, larch, fir, pine, tilia, spruce¡­¡± Fuck, where is the magical shit? These trees are just too boring. Beginning to scan the plants he continued to chant out their names via boredom. ¡°Laurel, sweetfern, spiderfern, spicebush, summersweet, spirea, creeping vine, thrush moss¡­¡± After wandering along the edge of the forest for at least 4 hours he came upon a large group of bushes. Ohh, a berry patch! Looking at the large and beautiful patch of berries, Kael was shocked at the variety and coloring. Bushes covered in metallic blue, bright red, and reddish-orange berries were intertwined with each other covering a large expanse of at least a 30 to 40 feet in radius. Taste the rainbow? Kael thought to himself before thinking, No, examine the rainbow first. So what do we have here, winterberry, blue bead lily, hooker fairy bell, and baneberry, scary combo, I need more in-depth information. Staring intently at each plant, their information began to appear in his mind.
Winterberry: Bright red berries, consumption results in vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, and drowsiness. Use: When diluted it can be used as a mild detoxicant. Blue-Bead Lily: Yellow flowers are edible, when the blue colored berries form, the plant becomes toxic. Berries have a revolting taste, causes stomach cramps andexplosive diarrhea. Use: When diluted it can be used topically as a numbing agent. When boiled it may be used as a yin supplement. When diluted and consumed it may be used as a mild detoxicant. Fairy Hooker Bell: Reddish-Orange, edible, but causes nausea and constipation. Use: When boiled it may be used as a yang supplement. Baneberry: Shiny red berries, poison concentrated in the fruit. Consumption results in burning of the throat, stomach cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea. Eating five or more berries result in respiratory distress and cardiac arrest. Use: The plant itself may be boiled down into a tea that acts as a sedative. The berries pulp and juice may be reduced into a paste, increasing toxicity, for a topical poison safe for use in hunting.
His laziness showed in his thoughts while considering the information he just gained. Well shit, that is a pant load of information. If I got detailed information on the other plants and trees it would take forever to catalog. I shouldn¡¯t have got my mom so excited. Walking back to the village it was mid-afternoon. Most of the men were out hunting, while the old fogies sat on their porches yelling crude jokes back and forth across the lane that split the homes. A few women could be seen scolding their children while cutting vegetables in preparation for their nightly meal. Arriving at his home, his mother was sitting on the porch. She was working on making a small set of dark brown leather clothes for her son. Seeing Kael approaching she said, ¡°Honey, come over here and take a seat.¡± Waiting while he approached and took a seat on the floor of the porch she said, ¡°Starting tomorrow your father is going to teach you how to use those javelins. After he is done I will spend a couple hours a day teaching you the basics of this world and working on your writing. After that you will go out into the forest and write down everything you see, draw a picture of it, then write down its description and the uses of it. I mean everything, trees, bushes, plants, stones, birds, fish, whatever.¡± Looking at his mom with horror, Kael said, ¡°Mom, that is way too much, aren¡¯t there child labor laws that protect me from being abused in such a manner?¡± Alavarah covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed. Looking at her silly son she had no idea where he got his crazy ideas from. Seeing his mothers look he knew he was screwed. ¡°Mom, you have no idea how much work that is. Just from aimlessly wandering around today I found at least 10 different trees, dozens of plants, bushes, and vines. If you really want me to catalog everything I need you to make me a fifty-page book for trees, bushes, plants, vines, stones, animals, birds, and fish. That is 50 pages each!¡± Alavarah at first though her son was just trying to get out of her instructions, but thinking about the variety of life in the forest she knew he was being honest. Taking into account everything, she assumed she would have to make at least 10 books with 50 pages each. The small book she made him took a lot of work, so making 500 pages was quite a bit of effort. Thinking of the knowledge she would gain though, she firmly decided to make it happen. ¡°That¡¯s ok, honey. Your mom is just as bored as you are in the day. You spend this week with your father. Rabbits are too small to make that many books, you need to get your father to bring home large animals.¡± ¡°Ok mom, but isn¡¯t that wasteful of all the meat and bones, or are we giving it to the village again?¡± ¡°No honey, it¡¯s a bit early, but learn your father''s technique that I call gluttony. Be sure not to let the villagers know. It is not a real cultivation technique, but they are really sticks in the mud when it comes to their rules, and you are not 6 yet.¡± Thinking to himself, Sweet, I get to start cultivating, all those glorious stats will be mine! Muahahaha! Kael readily agreed with his mother while grinning. ¡°Ok mom, if that¡¯s the case it will make up for all the effort of writing down an entire forest worth of information,¡± he said. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Good honey, you run along and play. Your father will be home in about an hour or so, then we can have dinner. Eat lots then go to bed as we will drag you out of the blankets at dawn.¡± While running into the house Kael shouted, ¡°Ugh, ok mom.¡± he then ran up to his room to continue fixing his book. Later he ate a stew of rabbit before being packed off to bed. As the morning sun rose, the sky was dyed a shade of deep purple. Stonecocks, the beast version of a normal chicken, could be heard echoing through the village. Kael awoke to something clamping onto his ankle and abruptly yanking him out of bed. Falling on his cold, bare ass, he looked up at his father, the culprit of his rude awakening. With a disgruntled snort, he stood up and began to get dressed. As he reached for his pants his father stopped him. Throwing a bundle of leathers at him, he said, ¡°Your mother made a set of leathers for you to help protect you from thorns and such. Put them on, we will be hunting after an hour of throwing practice. Oh, and go grab a roll, you won¡¯t have time for a real breakfast.¡± Putting on the soft leathers he was impressed by the how comfortable they were. Mom really put in some extra effort for me. With a warmth filling him from deep within his heart, he promised himself not to disappoint her expectations. Heading down the stairs he grabbed a roll off the table which he stuffed in his mouth before grabbing a second one. He waved to his mother who was still cooking while heading for the door. Grabbing his quiver on the way out he stepped into the chill of the early morning. His father waved him over while saying, ¡°follow me, we are headed to the grove on the outskirt first.¡± before walking off. Trudging after his father while rubbing his arms, he began to ramble to himself in his mind. It¡¯s too early and too damn cold to be outside right now, this world is full of barbarians. Once he reached the grove he found his father standing there with his arms crossed waiting for him. Now that he was not distracted he noticed his father was only wearing pants and what looked like a sleeveless robe. Thinking, yeah, yeah, show off how your not cold all you want, I still miss central heating. Kael walked up to his father and set the bottom of the quiver on the ground. ¡°Good,¡± Iradin said, ¡°Now that you are awake, I¡¯ll go over this quickly. No matter how much I talk won¡¯t matter as much as practice, so be prepared to throw and fetch javelins for a while.¡± Taking up one of the three short javelins from his son''s quiver, Iradin said,¡±Watch closely and I¡¯ll explain as I go. First grip the javelin with the point facing down, next draw your foot back a half step.¡± At this point, Iradin drew his right foot backward half a step and planted his toes in the ground. He ended up holding the javelin with his elbow cocked near his chest, with his body sideways, the left foot pointing ahead. Standing there, kind of foolish looking, Iradin said, ¡°This is how you will prepare your javelin when other hunters are around. The last thing we want is people whacking or poking each other with them. When you see your target you raise your right hand so it is slightly behind your ear with the javelin pointing forwards. This is the stance you will take while aiming and preparing to throw. Most people lift their left arm, holding it straight in front of them to help with balance and aim.¡± Lifting his arm to be in the position he described he looked back at Kael and said, ¡°Ok, when you are ready to throw put your weight on your back leg, extend your arm out behind you all the way, the javelin should rest on your palm while you hold it in place with your thumb and two forefingers. The point of the javelin should extend about 6 inches past your face, and be held at eye level. Then you will slightly lift your left foot, push off with your right, while rotating your body, and throw the javelin forward. Your release should come as you step back down onto your left foot.¡± Seeing that his son was staring at him like a fool he said, ¡°The main point is that the power starts with your right foot''s toes and builds momentum as the strength passes through the leg, it gets amplified again with the rotation of the hip and back, and the final burst of power comes from the shoulder and arms. This concept is important and will be used later when undergoing you martial training¡± ¡°I get it, dad, take a step while twisting the body and chuck the wood pole at something. It does not seem hard.¡± ¡°No Kael, it is important to observe everything down to the smallest detail. For a cultivator missing something small means you will hit a bottleneck. For a blacksmith, it means ruining a weapon. For a hunter, it means feeding your family or not. Observing life to the smallest detail is a habit you should begin now, it will serve you well in whatever you do in life.¡± Looking at his dad put on his ¡®serious¡¯ face while lecturing him, Kael internally sighed, then with a smirk he said, ¡°Ok dad, just get ready to make more javelins!¡± He then took up one of the 3 foot long javelins that were only the width of his thumb. Knowing these were made for children and he had more strength than an adult, he decided to make their destruction showy. Taking up position to throw, he spotted a tree in the distance and burst out with everything he had. Mid throw he had to compliment his father, the step and rotation really added some oomph to his toss. The javelin left his hand like a rocket, exploding forth with a speed and power no child could ever possess. Whistling through the air it missed the tree Kael was aiming at. The rock it hit behind the tree made for an explosive show as the spear turned into small shards of wood with a loud bang when it hit the rock. Not knowing whether or laugh or cry over his sons showing he said, ¡±Ok Kael, practice doesn¡¯t mean you have to destroy them.¡± ¡°I know dad, but although I am short, I¡¯m stronger than most of the men who do not cultivate in the village. I need something thick and weighty to throw, and why don¡¯t these even have spearheads on them?¡± ¡°If they had spearheads Kael, they wouldn¡¯t be javelins. Stop being difficult and practice with your remaining javelins, we will find a tougher tree to make new ones from later¡± After that, neither spoke while Kael repeatedly threw the two sticks that had dreams of growing up to hurt something more than a lazy dog. Not long after they started Iradin briefly left to get supplies from home. Becoming distracted by his wife after they had some child-free time, it was after about 2 hours before his father returned. He got back in time to see his son¡¯s final javelin as it made its last hurrah. Shattering into a cloud of wood chips against a distant tree. Kael¡¯s throws were reaching a solid 250-foot distance, and the aim was about 50%. Not too shabby, he thought. ¡°Good soon, you finished up, your aim is terrible, but the range is acceptable. Today you will just follow and watch me while hunting, I will also start showing you how to track. When your aim against a non-moving object is 9 out of 10, I¡¯ll follow you while you hunt.¡± ¡°Sounds good dad, let''s head out, but remember to watch for study trees. You need to make me a good 10, wait no, 20 javelins. Also, mom said to hunt bigger animals. If my math is right she needs about 25 deer skins, and something with a thick enough hide to cover 10 books.¡± Hearing this for the first time Iradin was surprised, ¡°What the hell are we going to do with all the meat, and what does she want all that skin for?¡± Kael grinned up at his father saying, ¡°She wants me to recording everything in the world, so the estimate is 10 books of 50 pages. For the meat, she said you would teach me to be a glutton!¡± Chapter 11 - The grand feast of disgusting, part 1 Kael and his father steadily walked deeper into the woods as Iradin lectured his son about tracking. ¡°Animals all tend to gather into the same areas creating habitats, you can think of these areas as islands to get an idea in your head. With the sea being the area between the islands where animals do not live. Right now we are too close to the village to run into anything larger than rodents, rabbits, and a few birds. So we need to to find the habitat, or island if you will, that the animals are living in. Mainly you will find them in two places, the first being a place there is a lot of foliage for herbivores to eat and hide in, and the second being a transition area between the forest and the plains or mountains, etc. Water sources are actually not important for herbivores as they get most of their water from the plants they eat. You only want to hunt around a water source if you are looking for a predatory or large animals.¡± Seeing Kael¡¯s bored appearance Iradin slapped the back of his head. ¡°Pay attention! At the rate we are moving we have a good 2 hours or more until we get to a hunting area, plenty of time to teach you while walking.¡± Hiking deeper into the forest after his father, Iradin continued his lecture. ¡°Now if you look at the way these twigs are broken you can see which direction a creature was moving and ¡­.¡± ¡°See how the grass and dirt are depressed, you can see the weight by the depth compared to your step, also¡­.¡± ¡°See how the bark is rubbed off here, as well as the chewed on leaves and shorter branches, that means...¡± ¡°See all the rodent dropping here, that means we will see wolves and other small predators as they mainly eat mice and...¡± ¡°Good, we are deep enough to find something to hunt and we got lucky. See the brush there, it has been pushed down. If you look closely you can tell it has been pushed down many times. This means it is a trail, usually to the den of the animal. Lets quietly follow and see what we get.¡± Carefully stepping into the brush, the father and son followed the tail for a short while before sliding up to a few trees rimming the edge of a small opening in the forest. Looking into the opening, Kael could see a 500-foot meadow of soft grass with hundreds of fuzzy ball like dandelions spread throughout the area. On the far side of the meadow, there was a small herd of deer. The herd consisted of one buck, two doe, and 5 fawns. Two of the fawns were obviously just birthed, while the other three appeared to be more lively, bouncing around, nipping the dandelions, then frockling after the puff of white seeds that would be blown into the air. Iradin took out a javelin from the quiver on his hip and prepared to grab himself some dinner. Seeing his father actions Kael reached out and softly placed his hand on his father''s throwing arm. Whispering to him he said, ¡°Dad, let''s not hunt them, we should go find something else.¡± Hearing his son''s words Iradin quietly scolded him, ¡°Keal, this is the way of the world, it is eat or be eaten, just because they are cute does not mean they will get a free pass in life.¡± Knowing that his father was right, but still finding it impossible to murder the cute family, Kael changed the track of his discussion. ¡°I understand that father. I wanted to find something else because that doe just gave birth, without the buck they will have no protection. I feel that sometimes not wasting heavens gifts does not just mean being wasteful with what you have, but also letting new lives grow and spread. If we kill the buck now, the herd will die out, but if we let them live next year there will be 2 or 3 bucks and 4 or 5 does.¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Iradin gave his son a long look of contemplation before accepting his proposal. ¡°Ok, son we will give them a chance. What do you want to hunt?¡± Happy that he was able to convince his father he whispered, ¡°Dad, the village always hunts herbivores. This is why the village has magic beasts that intrude. The people eat all the big game, the predators leave or eat each other, then the weak beasts from the deep forest have to eat people, as rabbits are too small for them. So we should go find a large snake or small cat.¡± ¡°Son, let me think about it while we leave this area. Quietly now so as not to disturb them.¡± The duo began to gingerly creep back the way they came. During the walk, Iradin seemed to have lost himself in contemplation. When they finally reached the starting point of the hidden deer trail Iradin gave his child a shock. ¡°Kael, everything you see today is to be kept a secret. Birds die in pursuit of food while people die in pursuit of wealth. This is a very important lesson of life for you, you must keep your belongings hidden or they will cause the greed of others.¡± After saying that, Iradin reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a folded grey cloth. The cloth was made of the finest materials Kael had seen in either of his lives. Iradin unfolded the cloth, which turned out to be a pouch and said, ¡°Son, this is an interspatial bag and a high-quality one at that. The internal space is 10 cubes high and 5 cubes wide. That is about 30 feet in height and about 15 feet in width.¡± Reaching into the pouch Iradin pulled out a small sheet of paper. The paper was square, made of fine paper, and about the length of a finger. The surface was covered in strange symbols written with some kind of thick brown ink. Iradin folded the paper into a tiny origami crane and placed it on his upturned palm. Bringing it near his mouth he said, ¡°Varah, we are spending the night in the forest, we will be home tomorrow, all is well.¡± before blowing on it which sent it into the air. As the crane took flight it flapped it¡¯s little wings while flying in circles above the duo¡¯s heads. Seeming to get it¡¯s bearing it took off at a quick pace back towards their village. Excited, Kael shouted, ¡°Father, what was that!¡± Chuckling, Iradin replied, ¡°That was the lowest level talisman, a messenger crane. You should ask your mom to teach you. The papers I have are keyed to your mother, while the ones she has are keyed to me. This way we can send emergency messages to each other as the crane will home in on the person it is keyed to. ¡°Awesome, I¡¯m finally going to learn magic!¡± could be heard ringing through the forest as Kael lost all of his decorum with the thoughts of butterbeer and magic goblets floating through his head. Unfortunately, he was immediately scolded for his outburst. ¡°Kael, quiet down, this is not the place to shout! Also, that is not magic, it is not even a technique, it is just the most basic artisan skill of the lowest level of talismans¡± Wait, artisans can make magic, that is even better Kael thought. Iradin''s look of annoyance at his son''s outburst soon turned to confusion as he could swear he momentarily saw the image of piles of golden coins in his son''s eyes. Breaking his son from his immersion in whatever happy dream he was having, Iradin said, ¡°Kael, we are going to do something dangerous, so it is best not to tell your mother.¡± Hearing this was like a bucket of cold water being poured on him, snapping him out of his fantasy of opening a magical convenience shop. ¡°Uhh, what would be so dangerous you would hide it from mom, dad?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple, the technique your mom wanted me to pass onto you is called The Internal Furnace. Your stomach acts as a furnace, burning off the impurities of your food, leaving only the energy, nutrition, and blood essence behind for your body to absorb. The first time you use it, the stronger the creature the better the effect is. Instead of hunting for a small cat, we will go find a rank 3 or 4 magic beast. As long as you stay back, I¡¯ll be able to kill it.¡± ¡°Uhm, ok, but let''s head back towards the village outskirts first, I have something that might help.¡± Without waiting for his father''s reply, which he knew would be a no, Kael began to jog back towards the village. He could hear his father''s sigh behind him as the sounds of his light footstep quickly caught up and remained in pace. Chapter 12 - The grand feast of disgusting, part 2 Iradin followed his son as he weaved his way through the forest. After jogging for a while, Kael slowed down while scanning the area around him. Taking off in another direction for a short while, Iradin was blown away by the huge berry patch that showed up in front of him. The bright reds and blues were camouflaged by the surrounding foliage, but once you pushed through the foliage, the bright red and blue berries stood out in stark contrast to the brown and greens of the forest. Kael worked his way into the entangled bushes and began snapping off the small branches that had shiny red berries on them. Throwing the small branches back to his father, Kael continued to search for the baneberries he needed while shouting, ¡°We need to smash these all up, then use a small fire to reduce it into a thick paste." ¡°Red berries are not something you should think about eating son, they are normally poisonous.¡± Knowing his father misunderstood him again, Kael shouted back, ¡°I know that Grandfather Grey said that you can use the paste of a baneberry poison to hunt. The poison dissipates in less than 10 minutes, but with just eating a half dozen berries can cause a heart attack. So using a weapon coated in baneberry paste will kill the animal but still let it be safe to eat.¡± After finishing his small tirade of make-believe, Kael crawled back out from the bushes with a dozen branches hugged in his small arms. Looking at the pile by his father he seemed to have picked way too many as there were over 20 branches with each holding 30 to 40 berries on them. ¡°Uhh, we are going to need something to put them in.¡± ¡°Ok, you are lucky, your mom sends me out with tons of junk everytime I hunt.¡± Saying that Iradin reached into the bag and pulled out a small pot as well as a ceramic jug. Drinking some of the water from the jug he handed to Kael. ¡°Drink some water son, we will dump whatever is left.¡± Gulping down a quarter of the water in the bottle he handed it back to his father while beginning to pick the berries off the branches, tossing them into the pot. After finishing the berry removal Iradin sent Kael to collect dry twigs and branches while he dug a small hole. A little bit later they had a fire going in the pit. Kael used a large stick to smash the berries in the put into pulp. Roasting the pot over the fire while occasionally stirring it. It did not take long for the small amount of excess fluid to burn off, leaving a thick sticky paste. Upon completion, Kael heard that strange robotic like voice in his head again. Congratulation, you have created a new object; Baneberry Poison Paste, tier is too low to grant rewards. 140 doses of baneberry poison paste created. Slightly stunned, Kael grinned to himself while beginning to carefully pour the molasses-like paste into the water jug. Looking at his father he said, ¡°We should dip the tips of the javelins in now so it will dry sooner.¡± Iradin simply took his entire quiver of a half dozen javelins off and handed it to over. ¡°Take these, I¡¯ll get my bow.¡± Taking the Javelins and dipping the point into the jug before removing and storing them Kael thought, How am I going to use these, I¡¯m still a child and these things are like long spears to me. As Kael was applying the poison, Iradin took an arrow quiver with 30 some odd arrows in it, out of his storage pouch. Laying it on the ground, he pulled out a beautiful bow made of some kind of dark red, almost black wood from the pouch. Retrieving a thick string the bow was quickly assembled. Once poisoning the arrows was done it did not take too much longer for the two to pack up and start walking into the depths of the forest. After a few minutes of walking Kael finally snapped. Stopping, he took looked at his father and asked him, ¡°Dad, is there anything wrong with how I look?¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Iradin looking over his son with some confusion shook his head no. ¡°Ok dad, these javelins are made for adults, they are taller than a full grown man. This quiver is almost as tall as I am. I have it around my back like an arrow quiver, and it still almost drags on the ground. Take these things back, I¡¯ll carry one in my hands like a spear if it makes you feel safer.¡± Iradin looked his son over again before he began laughing at the ridiculous figure he cut. He knew that if he was not thinking so deeply about hunting a magic beast, something so obvious would not have happened. Beginning to concentrate back in the here and now he took the javelins and quiver from his child. Placing them in his storage pouch before starting off into the forest again. Around noon, Iradin spotted a wild hog and decided to use it as a test sample for his son¡¯s poison. Intentionally shooting the enormous pig in the leg, he sucked in a deep breath of air as the pig fell lifelessly to the ground. The poison had killed it in justunder 10 seconds. ¡°Uh, son I think the hunters in the village will be greatly appreciative of this contribution.¡± Watching his father take an intricately carved dagger out of his pouch, Kael''s chin dropped down, opening his mouth large enough to fit a goose egg into it. The blade of the dagger was made out of some kind of strange metallic ore that left an azure sheen. The blade was curved and large enough that it could probably double as a short sword. Instead of a pommel or handguard, the blade itself wrapped down to the bottom of the hilt, creating the protective area for the hand. The hilt was carved like the body of drake, and upon closer inspection, the blade was made to be its wings, where its tail curved up forming the blade over the handguard. A small carving of the initials D.S. was engraved at the base of the blade. Seeing his sons look, Iradin chuckled at him and said, ¡°Boy, this was my father''s knife, in the future, it will be yours. It is a tier 7 earth ranked blade. The hilt is carved from the horn of an ice drake, the blade is made out of thousand year diamond¡¯s glaze, a frigid ore, and mixed with powdered scales from the drake itself. It is passed down to the eldest son who awakens his bloodline during his initial coming of age ceremony.¡± Using a bit of rope from his pouch, Iradin hung the hog off a tree while he prepared to dress the animal. Kael thought back to the end of his reincarnation process and quickly stopped his father. ¡°Dad, you should let me do it, this is a perfect chance for me to learn.¡± Thinking back to his son letting the deer go, he was happy to find it really wasn¡¯t because of a fear of blood. ¡°Ok, your stand in front and cut as I tell you to. Normally we wouldn¡¯t skin a hog, but you might as well as it will be needed for other animals in the future.¡± Carefully handing his son his blade he said, ¡°Now do exactly as I say, that knife is extraordinary and will cut steel like mud, so be careful.¡± With how careful his father was being and detailed with his explanations it took an hour before the carcass was dressed. After dressing it down and cutting the meat into thick slabs everything was finally stored away in Iradin¡¯s pouch. Taking out another jug of water and rinsing his hands, he handed it to Kael saying. ¡°Wash your hands, we will leave the skin, bones, and entrails here for the scavengers. The scent of blood has already drawn predators to the area so we need to leave before they get impatient. If they couldn¡¯t sense that I am a cultivator they would have already attacked.¡± Kael barely heard his father''s words as a now familiar voice echoed out in his head. Congratulations, you have taken your first step as a chef. 30 points awarded, 5 points for butchering a mortal ranked animal, 25 points for training in field dressing. Soul has unlocked true control over talents, all talents have been merged into one. Soul has not allocated a percentage to be split into talent points, all points given to the artisan skill, Chef. Congratulations on stepping onto the path of a chef, make persistent efforts. Soul¡¯s current standing is Mortal Rank 1, (30/100). Thinking, Holy shit, I can level up by being a butcher? Wait, I need to find out how to divert points to my talents later when I am alone. Hehehe what a cheat, I can get perks for everything by doing anything. This is truly double the results with half the effort. Kael finally snapped out of his thoughts and with a foolish grin took the water from his father and began to wash his hands. The two left the area which was quickly filled with snarls of small predators and scavengers fighting over scraps. Chapter 13 - The grand feast of disgusting, part 3 As night was beginning to fall Iradin found a tall tree. ¡°Kael, the best way to sleep in the forest is off the ground.¡± Scaling the tree, Iradin used a large piece of canvas and some rope from his storage pouch to create a suspended platform between two branches. Directly jumping the 40 to 50 feet to the ground, Iradin slung Kael into a piggyback ride and scaled back up the tree again. Kael was surprised by his father''s strength and nimbleness. Remembering his mother glossed over the strength difference between mortals and cultivators, he took the chance to ask. ¡°Dad, how much stronger are you than an average man?¡± ¡°Although my ranking is at the perfection level of body refinement, I¡¯m a bit stronger because my body has gone through the change to xiantian before falling back down.¡° ¡°Yeah, but how strong is that exactly?¡± ¡°An average man has about 165 pounds of strength. Basically, they can lift their own bodyweight. A peak mortal has about 450 pounds of strength. That difference has to be built up through rigorous training of the body. As a person goes through body refinement, qi strengthens their body further. Their strength increases about 30% of a peak mortal, for 135 pounds on average. That is if they are not using a cultivating technique. A combination of our families Internal Furnace and Mountains Forging techniques further increase that by about 315 pounds. When a houtian body transforms into a xiantian body, their strength increases by another 450 pounds. Due to training my body physically as well as with qi, my strength is 1,250 pounds.¡± ¡°Wow, dad you are pretty buff¡± When I turn 6 my physical body strength should break those conventions. If I remember correctly a 10 should be a mortal peak, thus 450 pounds. 14 would be an additional 40% for 630 pounds. I am going to be Arnold Schwarzasmurf in about a year. ¡°Yeah, which is why we are going to hunt a magic beast. Since I know you will ask, a rank 1 magic beast is equal to a peak mortal. Each rank doubles in strength is the general rule. So a rank 3 beast will have the strength of 1,800 pounds. Which is why I will be using a bow. Now let''s be quiet and keep our eyes open.¡± ¡°Okie dokie.¡± Sometime past midnight, Kael was awoken by a moo like roaring noise. Not sure whether to laugh or cry, he looked over to see an excited look on his dads face. Holding his bow in his left hand, Iradin pointed down to the tree line about 100 feet away from their tree. Looking down, Kael saw what he could only describe as a 16-foot tall demon moose. It was covered in dark scales, had bullhorns, and instead of hooves, it had three huge claws. Finding and gripping his spear like javelin for a sense of security, Kael looked over to his father. Iradin saw Kael''s look and cracked into a grin. Whispering he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, your old man has good aim.¡± Iradin slung his quiver over his shoulder as he took a balancing stance on the nearby tree branch. Nocking an arrow and drawing the bow into a full moon shape, he took aim at the creature below. Slowly releasing his breath, Iradin steadied himself before finally releasing the arrow. With a dull whump noise, the arrow ripped through the night. The arrow pierced through the creatures eye, finally stopping with the bloody arrowhead protruding from it¡¯s lower jaw on the far side of its head. With a startled roar, the beast ran forward only a few steps before falling to the ground. Excited, Kael tossed his javelin to the ground as Iradin grabbed him and jumped from the tree. Landing, Iradin put Kael on the ground and walked towards the beast. Kael retrieved his javelin and followed a bit behind him. As Iradin closed in on the beast, it suddenly staggered back to its feet. Iradin began to backpedal as the beast leaped high in the air towards him with an enraged roar. Seeing his father about to be crushed by the beast, Kael¡¯s only thought was that he must save him. Forgetting he was still a child he lunged past his father stabbing out with his large javelin. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Soul has taken an action of selfless sacrifice. Soul has additional free Karma. Burning 10 Karma to initiate an empowered strike. The droning voice in his head caused Kael to come back to his senses. Realizing it was this same urge that got him killed the first time around he was immediately distraught. Lacking the ability to dodge he just braced himself and waited for impact. The beast descended towards the humans, also lacking the ability to dodge, it fell directly towards the javelin. The butt of the javelin was resting on the ground due to Kael¡¯s height, causing it to be locked firmly in place. The tip, as if urged by the hand of the goddess of luck herself, pierced between the beast''s scales, becoming lodged in its breastbone. The javelin, strengthened by karma¡¯s empowered strike, acted as a fulcrum. The impaled beast was carried up and over both Kael and Iradin by its own momentum, crashing into the ground behind them face first. The beast crashed into the ground and rolled onto its back before sliding to a stop. Iradin quickly dashed towards it while drawing his knife. Just as the beast began to roll on to its side, Iradin plunged the blade down, cleaving the beast''s skull in half. Looking back at his son with a look that was a mixture of fear and anger he began to scold him. ¡°What in the name of the abyss were you thinking? Your first action should have been to run away like the child you are. You would not even be a snack for something this size! Seriously, if it wasn¡¯t for some freakish act of luck that pointy stick you were holding would not have supported the weight of the beast. You would have been crushed!¡± ¡°Uhhh, sorry father, I wasn¡¯t thinking, it was like my body moved on its own.¡± ¡°Thank the heavens you are ok! In no way whatsoever are you to ever mention this to your mother or anyone else or we will both be sleeping on the porch, understood?¡± Rubbing the back of his head in the attempt to look like a foolish child, Kael said, ¡°Ok dad, this our secret, but hey, we got it right?¡± Shaking his head Iradin turned back to look at the beast. Now that he had a chance to really consider its size he realized just how huge it was. Sizing it up, he speculated that it must weigh at least 3,000 pounds. After cleaning and dressing its carcass it would still produce over 2,000 pounds of meat. He knew the first use of the Internal Furnace required the user to consume 20 times their body weight, which meant they would still have over 800 pounds left in the end. Iradin began to carefully cut up the carcass, ensuring the horns and skin were damaged as little as possible. Ignoring Kael¡¯s pleas to practice on it, he laid out another large canvas from his pouch. As he removed huge chunks of meat from the creature he left them laying in a neat pile on the canvas. When he finished he told Kael to sit down in front of it. After Kael took his seat he was slightly appalled at the gory scene of bloody flesh in front of him. At some point, his father''s hand was pressed against his back. Breaking from his nauseous trance, he felt a warm energy entering his body from his father. ¡°Son, feel the energy as it enters your meridians. Follow, and memorize its path. Feel how it acts as it enters your stomach.¡± Following the flow of the energy, Kael observed it while it split into two streams, taking a strangely circuitous route through his body. In the end, the meridians lit by his father¡¯s qi seemed to draw a cauldron. The two streams of qi then entered what would be the mouth of the cauldron. Making two spirals, one at the top and one at the bottom, the qi continued to spin. The spirals would then move to meet each other before separating again. Each time the process was repeated Kael could feel an intense burning sensation erupt in his stomach. Becoming increasingly famished, Kael eventually lost himself to hunger. As if a starving man being presented with a feast, he threw himself at the pile of blood meat like a wild animal. Each time he thought his hunger would be sated the damnable spirals of qi would instantly fire his stomach contents into nothingness. At some point, Kael¡¯s tiny body was finally full. With a contented sigh, he looked down at himself to see that he was kneeling in the middle of a much smaller mound of meat. His entire body was covered in the thick sticky blood of the beast. He could even feel his now matted hair sticking to his scalp and the back of his neck, soaked in blood. Turning around, he rushed away from the bloody scene. Falling to his knees next to a nearby tree he began to vomit until there was nothing left but dry heaves. Iradin was standing to the side, carefully watching over his son as he feasted until almost dawn. As he saw Kael¡¯s dry heaves beginning to calm down he walked over to the beast corpse and retrieved its heart. Walking over to his child, he knelt down and said, ¡°I know it is hard the first time, we all go through it, but you have one step left.¡± Channeling a small trickle of qi into his son''s body again, he waited until a frenzy of starvation overtook him before handing him the heart. Once the heart was consumed, Iradin stuck Kael in the back of the neck, sending him into a deep stupor. Carefully washing his son off before storing the remaining meat. He Lifted his son into his arms, then dashed back to the village at speed much faster than he had shown before. Chapter 14 - The smell of success Kael awoke to find himself back in his own room. Looking out the window he could only see the off grey twilight skyline framing the forest. Rolling out of his bed he gave himself a once over. Seeing no blood, gore, or other anomalies he was relieved. I have to stop blacking out. Kael thought as he headed down the stairs. Seeing his parents eating dinner he came to two conclusions. First, it was dusk, probably the same day. Second, the smell of meat made him want to vomit. Seeing her son come down the stairs Alavarah rushed over to hug him. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that brute knocked you out, don¡¯t worry, your mother will take revenge for you.¡± Smiling at his mom¡¯s overprotective ridiculousness he said, ¡°It¡¯s ok mom, I¡¯m fine, let¡¯s just say the first step of dad¡¯s glutton skill is way too gross.¡° Lifting him up while returning to her seat she said, ¡°As long as you are safe. Now join your parents for dinner. Look your father brought home a ton of hog.¡± Attempting not to barf, Kael passed on the meat. Electing for some weird almost thorny fruit. Staring down at it seeking more information he found it to be named Mother¡¯s Thorn, a chefs ingredient. Chomping down on it, he half listened to his mother outline his life. ¡°Until you are 6 you will be practicing with weapons in the morning for 2 hours. After that, I will teach you about the world. Following lunch, you will be collecting information on the local flora and fauna. Once a week your father will bring home beast meat for you. You cannot start cultivating yet, but the energy will store up in your flesh and bones. At night you are free to do what you want. Except for 2 nights a week you will practice your forestry and hunting skills with your dad.¡± Nodding, Kael accepted his grueling life without even realizing it. Time flies, in the blink of an eye it was three months later. Alavarah shared Kael¡¯s hard work as her own to stop the villager''s suspicion. She began reading from the books for a few hours every Sunday when all of the families were around to hear. In a place where knowledge can draw the line between life or death, Alavarah¡¯s status in the village grew quickly. Life fell back into a routine and suddenly it was only a week before the new year. Kael knew that turning 6 would officially start his life in the world, but also would bring its own problems. Sitting at dinner one night he decided to bring up his issues. ¡°Mom, you know Grandfather Grey told me something, that I was worried about telling you for a while.¡± ¡°Oh, and what is that honey?¡± ¡°He said that my body¡¯s physique is severely Qi deficiency and that I will have problems cultivating until I reach the xiantian stage.¡± Shocked both of his parents shouted, ¡°What!?¡± simultaneously. Alavarah gaveKael a stern look and continued. ¡°How could you hide something so important from your parents?¡± ¡°I just did not want you to worry, mom. He said I have exceptional talent and perception, it will just be a lot harder for me to get through to xiantian. Once I am there life will be smooth though.¡± Hiding her sorrow she told her son, ¡°Ok honey, you just have to practice extra hard.¡± After eating dinner and heading to his room, Kael could hear his mother quietly sobbing downstairs. He knew his parents thought he was a cripple, but that would not stop him from fulfilling the promise he made himself to help his parents. The day of the new year was not really celebrated in the village. The only exception being when a child had turned 6. Kael and his parents walked through the town towards the village heads house in the center of the town. They could already see all of the villagers were crowded around the central house. A few of the men and women were off to the side cooking giant vats of food for the celebration. As the trio approached the crowd parted, making a pathway to the village head. Alavarah patted Kael''s back, ¡°Go ahead, honey.¡± Kael walked through the parted crowd, feeling all of the people''s eyes on him. With sweaty palms, he approached the village chief, a middle-aged man, who was holding two crystals in his hands. Coming to stop in front of the man, Kael bowed to him. The man solemnly handed Kael the first crystal. Accepting the crystal Kael thought, Hey it¡¯s the same size as a beer bottle, just pretend you''re getting a beer, no one will know of your problems. Taking the crystal in his hands it immediately lit up with a bright red light. Following that, the right side lit up with a green, taking up 20% of the crystal. As the green became steady a golden color lit up the left side, taking up 10% of the crystal. Looking up at the old man, Kael waited for confirmation of what he already knew. The village head said, ¡°A tripartite split, normally not auspicious, but he will do fine as an alchemist if he can find training, or as the village blacksmith if not.¡± Listening to the polite applause from the crowd, Kael handed back the crystal while accepting the new one. Holding the new crystal in both hands while concentrating on it he thought, Don¡¯t betray me, I refuse to accept that my fate is to be stuck in the middle of boonies shouting, ¡°You got a purdy mouth boy¡±. Slowly the crystal lit up. First red, then to orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and finally the violet transformed into a deep purple. Shocking gasps and comments of, ¡°Impossible¡± and ¡°No way¡± spread through the crowd. Alavarah, seeing her sons talent that denoted his ability to step into the so-called nobility was slightly relieved. She thought if her son could really make it to the saint rank and establish his foundation he may really have a shocking future ahead of him. The village head took the crystal back from Kael, asking him, ¡°Do you want to study the villages cultivation, or does your family have its own?¡± ¡°Thank you for the kind offer but I will study with my parents¡± was Kael¡¯s reply as he looked back to his parents for confirmation. Seeing his father nod to him, Kael bowed to the village chief before retreating. His parents were swarmed by well-wishers isolating him. Standing around like a wallflower for a few minutes, finally one of the village children approached him. Kael stood there as he watched Raen, the 8-year-old daughter of the blacksmith walking over. Unlike typical girls of her age, she had black smudge marks all over. Her hands were rough from hard work and had small burn marks running up to her elbows. Smiling, he waved to her in greeting. When Raen arrived she punched Kael in the shoulder saying, ¡°Kid, you have amazing talent, don¡¯t let it go to waste. Come by and I¡¯ll teach you how to smith.¡± Pretending to grimace in pain, he agreed to her request and awkwardly excused himself. After sneaking his way back home, Kael willed his character sheet to appear.
Group A Base Mod Total Group B Base Mod Total Group C Base Mod TotalSupport creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Group D Base Mod Total
Strength 14 0 14 Agility 7 0 7 Reflex 14 1 15 Talent 8 0 8
Body 7 0 7 Stamina 9 0 9 Endurance 13 2 15 Perception 8 0 8
Intelligence 10 0 10 Willpower 11 0 11 Spirit 16 3 19 Luck 3 0 3
Items: Spatial Ring; Save a Life Talisman x2; Fruit + 1 Attribute; Fruit + 1 Talent; Fruit + 2 strength, +10 Bloodlines. (Items packaged into Spatial Ring) Blessing of Nuwa: Each time your cultivation progresses you gain an additional 10% spiritual growth. Your willpower increases by a flat 1 point during reincarnation. Artisan Saint: Easier to enter into professions, increased learning rate by 100% while in the mortal rank of the profession. The difficulty in creating anything is reduced by 20%. Artisans are blessed with an ancient recipe each time they advance to a new tier. Bloodline: Titan(10%), +2 Strength, +1 Body, +1 Stamina, Increases control over metal. Bloodline: Fae(20%), Fire/Wood +2 Intelligence, +2 Agility, +2 Willpower, Increase control over fire/wood. Fire might increased by 10%, Fire consumption reduced by 10%. Negative Quality: Qi Deficiency, May not create a dantian until new body achieves Xantian. Profession(s): Chef: Mortal, Tier 3. No special recipes or equipment. Thinking to himself, Slaughtering all the animals for a year built up some serious experience. Too bad the exp dropped when repeated on the same creatures. Snort, that little girl wants to teach me blacksmithing, I could totally blow her away. Wait why do I want to argue with an 8-year-old? Eventually, Kael¡¯s parents came home and they were immediately jumped on by him. ¡°Dad, mom, you have to teach me cultivating now, no more excuses.¡± Sighing, his mom said, ¡°Speak to your father, his body cultivation method is better than mine, come see me when you are going to refine qi.¡± ¡°Ok, mom! Dad, no delaying come show me!¡± Chuckling at his son, Iradin directed him to sit cross-legged in the center of the room. Once Kael was situated Iradin said, ¡°Before activating the energy stored in your body you will need to read the families Mountain Forging Technique. Read it thoroughly and ask if you have any questions. Once you are ready to start I will help you activate the energy locked within. Your mother and I will supervise your first session just to be sure you are ok.¡± When he was done speaking, Iradin once again pulled out his interspatial bag and took an old book from within. Looking at the book, Kael saw the depiction of a mountain being smashed with a hammer from above while roasted from fire underneath. Before when he heard the name of the skill he thought of an old hermit on a mountain making swords or something. Only now did he understand the grandiose concept behind the name. Taking the book from his father, Kael quickly read the first three chapters before being stopped. ¡°Kael, go back and carefully read everything, do not get so far ahead of yourself.¡± ¡°No problem dad, I remembered it all, I told you, I have an awesome perception.¡± Looking at his son in doubt he asked, ¡°Do you have any questions then?¡± ¡°Yeah, I thought it would be like the Internal Furnace where you run Qi through the meridians, but this just wants me to drag all of the energy into my heart then explode it out through the body, why?¡± ¡°Kael, the first stage is to clear your body of impurities. Cultivation techniques do this at the first, fourth, and seventh ranks of body refinement. Although being cleared of impurities is immensely helpful for later cultivation; most techniques give no other benefits during those stages. The Mountain Forging technique will increase your strength as well as clear the impurities.¡± ¡°Ok then, dad¡± Kael replied, ¡°I am good to start, activate the energy stored in me.¡± Iradin came over and placed his hand on his son¡¯s back. Injecting Qi into him, Iradin released the seal he had placed on the Internal Furnace Technique. Telling Kael, ¡°Ok son, you can start¡± Iradin backed off. The moment Iradin released the seal in his body, Kael felt like the marrow of his bones had been swapped with magma. The worst part was as the heat in his bones intensified he could feel his muscles heating up. Hearing his father''s words he closed his eyes and began concentrating on the technique he just learned. Slowly he began to will the magma-like substance in his bones to travel to his heart. As the energy in his bones moved the same thing happened with the energy in his muscles. The extreme pain made him flash back to being tortured in the underworld. Clenching his teeth he thought, Hell could not break me, I can beat this shit too. As seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours, Kael finally got all of the energy into his heart. As he compressed the energy, unbeknownst to him, he began sweating blood. Alavarah wanted to awaken him when she saw what was happening, but she was held back by Iradin. ¡°Varah, if we interrupt him now we may do more harm than good. The same thing happened to me when cultivating to the critical point of rank 1. I just did not expect our son to reach this point in three hours.¡± As the energy in his heart compressed into a white-hot ball of pain, Kael finally released it. Willing it to explode outwards in hopes of relieving the pain he was sorely disappointed. As the energy traveled outward through his body, Kael felt like millions of red-hot blades were shredding every part of him. Alavarah began to cry once she saw her son scream out in pain, fall backward, and begin to thrash and roll about. Beating on Iradin''s chest and calling him a bastard, she tried to break free just to be restrained. A few moments later a horrid stench swept over everyone in the house. A thick black sludge began to seep from Kael¡¯s pours, making him look like he took a dip in tar. In just a few minutes time, the pain in Kael¡¯s body vanished to be replaced by the most gag-worthy smell he had ever come across. Opening his eyes and seeing the black sludge covering him, he immediately ran to the small pond on the outskirts of town. Jumping in the water, he began scrubbing himself with a vengeance. The black gunk quickly melted away along with the smell. Calming down, Kael remembered back to the point where the pain was the worst. He had heard a voice say his strength increased by 1. Climbing out of the water he heard his father laughing at him. ¡°Congratulations on your first step into cultivation and becoming a rank 1 spirit disciple. Probably the fastest advancement I have ever seen or heard of. You will want to take a few days to rest before continuing. Also, most people think there are only 9 ranks in each tier of cultivation, but after the great success stage, there is the perfection realm. It is assumed a person can only be in that rank if their cultivation has fallen down to it. That, however, is not true though. With your talent, I can tell you that you will be able to reach it. The final step from rank 9 to 10 is the same as the one you just experienced. It is dangerous so it is not in the book.¡± ¡°Thanks for the confidence dad, I¡¯m going home to change now though, it¡¯s cold out here.¡± Chapter 15 - Experience Explosion, part 1 A few days passed, Kael¡¯s body was no longer in pain. In fact, he felt awesome, it was like the air was cleaner than before, colors were brighter, and his body felt lighter. After one of his morning learning sessions with his mother he asked, ¡°Mom, we have gone over everything a million times. How about you teach me about talismans, or better yet, alchemy!¡± ¡°Honey, I don¡¯t know alchemy, the best I can do is make some knife wound salve. I can¡¯t teach you about arrays yet as you can¡¯t externalize your Qi. You need to be able to infuse Qi into everything you do while making arrays. So when you get to the spirit warrior level I can show you some basic level stuff.¡± ¡°Mom, I thought you said that you and dad were at the peak of body refinement if that is so, how can you make talismans?¡± ¡°Silly, just because we have lost the majority of our strength, that doesn¡¯t mean we have lost the abilities gained as we advanced through the cultivation levels. For example, you don¡¯t think your mom would let you run around and play without supervision all day, do you? Just because my meridians are damaged doesn¡¯t mean my spirit is, my divine sense can cover 2 miles in radius. All those times you thought you were being sneaky, your mother was watching!¡± Laughing at her son¡¯s horrified face she continued, ¡°For the wound healing powder, its simple. 4 parts sage to 1 part hoelen. Grind them up together and bake them over a low heat. The juice from the sage will be absorbed by the hoelen, when that happens it turns into a darker grey. Stir it for about 5 minutes until the smell of the sage is reduced and then let it cool. Normally all herbs are calculated in a half pound when making powders it will only reduce by about 15% in weight. Therefore, you will end up with a ton of powder. You can get about 20 uses out of one set of herbs, so split the powder into 20 parts and you''re done. Simple isn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°Ok, I will get herbs, can we start tomorrow, and mom, do you have a book on arrays I can read?¡± ¡°Sure honey go play, when the hunters get back I¡¯ll give you some hog meat to trade for herbs.¡± ¡°Awesome, thanks, mom!¡± Kael immediately rushed out into the forest. Heading into the areas he had seen sage before, he began to pick it in preparation for tomorrow. Congratulations, you have taken your first step as an alchemist. Error, soul failed in picking sage, material damaged by 50%. 5 exp granted to the alchemy profession. Soul has unlocked true control over talents, all talents have been merged into one. Soul has not allocated a percentage to be split into talent points, all points given to the artisan skill, Alchemist. Congratulations on stepping onto the path of an alchemist, make persistent efforts. Soul¡¯s current standing is Mortal Rank 1, (05/100). Pausing, Kael pondered if this meant he needed training or if he should start using his talent points. Willing his character sheet out, he reviewed the section on talents and noticed the subcomponent section again. I wonder if the increase in speed or the reduction in wastage would help. Putting a point into subcomponents under quality, he watched the 0/1 change into a 1/1 before resetting into a 0/2. Reaching down to pick another large section of sage off the bush he got another notification. Error, soul failed in picking sage, material damaged by 50%. 5 exp granted to the Alchemy profession. Waste reduced by 20% due to talents, 10% material saved.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Excited by this, Kael quickly put another point into subcomponents, watching the 0/2 change into 2/2 before popping back into 0/3, Kael had a sudden realization. Shouting ¡°Shit, shit, shit!¡± out loud he began to internally berate himself. Fuuuuuck, karma talent points increase skills by one. So buying the 5th point is the same as 5 talent points. Normal talent points definitely do not act like that or it would not say 0/5 and such. I am TOTALLY wasting them. With his experience to talent conversion now set at 100%, Keal reached down to pick the other 3 sections of the plant. Error, soul failed in picking sage, material damaged by 50%. 5 exp granted to the Alchemy talent tree. Waste reduced by 40% due to talents, 20% material saved. As he went to pick the second and third sections he decided to be more careful, to see if it would help. Error, soul failed in picking sage, material damaged by 50%. 5 exp granted to the Alchemy profession. Waste reduced by 40% due to talents, 20% material saved. Error, soul failed in picking sage, material damaged by 40%. 5 exp granted to the Alchemy profession. Waste reduced by 40% due to talents, 16% material saved. Happy that he could teach himself how to correctly pick herbs he bundled up his sage. Thinking he would need to pick a lot to get talents points he ran back home to get backpack before heading out again. Kael ran around the forest, his heads was constantly filled with the droning words of, ¡°Error, soul failed¡­¡± but he had reduced the wastage to a low level. After picking a lot more pieces of sage he confirmed his suspicion about talent points. Spending his newly earned talent point in subcomponents the numbers change to 01/03 and nothing else happened. Another thing he had learned after picking so many herbs was his experience dropped to 4 per each one. This happened after the 10th piece of sage. It further dropped to 3 per after the 20th piece and 2 per piece after the 30th. Swearing about needing too much experience, he ran off to a large hoelen patch he found growing around a few pine trees. After he picked the first piece, he danced around happily as his experience raised back to 5. However, he had to learn to pick them again as mushrooms were different than sage. After picking all of the mushrooms he earned another talent point, but he also remembered the formula was 4 to 1. Looking at the 18 pieces of hoelen and the 36 pieces of sage he swore again. I need so much sage. Using his talent point in subcomponents to raise it to 2 of 3 he decided to even up the shroom to a good 20. Finding two more pieces of hoelen, he then spent the rest of the day hunting for sage. Spending 6 hours picking a total of 80 sage, he cried to himself about the experience. From the 50th piece on I only got 1 exp. 80 sage and 20 hoelen, is only 270 experience. 10 of that went to alchemy. After all of that, I got 2 talent points and 60 experience. I need to start working on the growth talent asap. After returning home with his backpack stuffed full he earned a scolding from his father. ¡°You always talk about wasting nature''s treasures, but herbs can only stay in the open air for a few days before losing potency!¡± ¡°Really? No one ever told me, what about your bag?¡± asked Kael. ¡°Nothing really ages in an interspatial area. Over hundreds or thousands of years yeah, but not over a short period of time. How can your all-knowing dream guy not tell you the most basic parts?¡± ¡°Uhhm, I¡¯m sure he overlooked it.¡± ¡°Your mom saying your making powders, so you won¡¯t need any jade bottles, although they are preferred. Go trade some meat to old man Wallus. Ask him for 20 ceramic boxes for herbs.¡± After the lecture, Iradin took out 20 slabs of 10 lb wild hog meat from his pouch. Wrapping them carefully in canvas, he loaded his son''s arms up like they were stacking firewood. Covering her mouth with her small hands, Alavarah laughed at her ridiculous looking son. Seeing a 60-pound child carrying 200 lbs of anything is pretty astonishing, but to load it up like firewood bundles to the point he could not see was the icing on the cake. ¡°Oh, honey that is way too much, at least lead him over so he doesn¡¯t fall.¡± After a lot of stumbling and laughs from the villagers, they made their trade. Kael was impressed with the handiwork that went into the sealable boxes as they were quite fine. After returning home he went to bed early in preparation for tomorrow¡¯s experience explosion. Chapter 16 - Experience Explosion, part 2 Waking up in the morning he was excited. He carefully carried the boxes down 10 at a time, then made his third trip for his herbs. Piling them all up in the corner of the living room he noticed his mom¡¯s reproachful look. ¡°Come and eat first, you can skip the martial training, but you need food.¡± After a breakfast that consisted of enormous eggs and fresh bread, Kael and his mother moved into the center of the room. Alavarah took out a small pouch identical to his father''s. Pulling out what looked like a wok crossed with a cauldron she laid it on the floor. Pointing to it she said, ¡°This is the best way to make powders. The firewood goes in the bottom of the cauldron part while you mix the herbs on the top. Now go get 4 parts sage and 1 part hoelen.¡± Kael dashed over to the pack and carried the entire thing back. Dumping it out he sorted it into sage and hoelen. Handing his mother 4 parts sage, 1 part hoelen he looked at her expectantly. Taking the herbs, Alavarah looked at them with a dejected sigh. ¡°It looks like I need to teach you how to pick herbs.¡± Scratching the back of his head, Kael said, ¡°I tried to do better as I went on, honestly there is a mixed bag of badly damaged to barely damaged. Dad pointed out to me that my dreams just gave me book knowledge, not practical action knowledge, sorry mom.¡± Looking at her sad son she said, ¡°It¡¯s ok, let''s sort them out, in the future when you go to pick new herbs I will accompany you to teach you.¡± After sorting out the herbs and salvaging the good parts they ended up with 60 piles of sage and 16 piles of hoelen. Alavarah was slightly surprised at the dramatic improvement seen in the herbs gathered. Little did she know her son could compare his skills digitally as he picked them, making it much easier. Taking out a stone bowl and a pestle, Alavarah handed them to Kael. ¡°Put the herbs in there and start grinding. You want to crush them into a rough powder, it should not be too fine.¡± Following his mother''s instructions, it took him only a few minutes to prepare them. Error, soul failed in refining materials, material damaged by 30%.Waste reduced by 40% due to talents, 12% material saved. Experience will be granted at the end of refinement. ¡°Uhm, I finished, but it looks like about 18% of it is no good. What should I do now?¡± Alavarah looked over into the stone bowl and roughly guessed about 20% was waste. Surprised at her son''s eyesight for the ones smashed too much she said, ¡°It¡¯s fine, next time grind a bit lighter. Now heat up the cauldron. Powder creation is really easy. If you notice the logs your father gathered last night are all the same size, that is only important in making actual dans, but a good habit. They should be about the size of an adults forearm. For now, just grab 4 or 5 and heat it up until water drops sizzle and burn off immediately.¡± Grabbing the wood, Kael loaded it up into the cauldron and lit it on fire. It took about 10 minutes to get to the proper heat. During this time Kael mused, In the future, I need to get the fire going first, this is a boring wait. Once the cauldron-like wok was good, Kael scraped the mass of herbs onto it. Under his mother''s instructions, he used the pestle to stir up the herbs every minute or so. When he noticed a chunk that was too big he would grind it down carefully. After only about 5 minutes his mother shooed him away. Error, soul failed in refining materials, material damaged by 30%. Waste reduced by 40% due to talents, 12% material saved. 5 experience granted to the alchemy talent tree. Taking over Alavarah said, ¡°See these handles on the top of the burning space? They are not just for carrying, the left side can slide the entire top.¡± Giving a careful yank to the left side handle, the entire top slid out and upward, lowering the right side so it was horizontally flat. ¡°Now, if you pull the right handle down it will open a trough to push the herbs out with.¡± Pulling down on the right handle it created a sloping trough just as she said. Opening one of the boxes and placing it under the trough, Alavarah used what looked like a small handheld hoe to scrape the powder into the box. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Closing the trough and shifting the top of the cauldron back to where it was she said, ¡°Almost done, now just carefully grind the baked herbs up. They should end up the consistency of sand.¡± Taking the pestle back, Kael grinded away for another 10 minutes before he got another notification. Congratulation, you have created a new object: Wound Recovery Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 20. First refinement wastage of 18% (Grinding) Second refinement wastage of 18% (Baking) Item creation, initial potency of 125. Potency wastage of 45, remaining potency of 80. Base doses of 20, waste of 5 overall potency, 6 potency per dose. Converting 80 potency, remaining 13.33 doses. Each dose value of .5 experience, soul granted 6 experience to alchemy talents. Holy shit balls, that is complicated. I need to be careful or I¡¯ll get screwed on xp. Looking up to his mom he said, ¡°Ok, it looks like I made 13 doses, I wasted 7, I need you to walk me through this again so I don¡¯t waste so much.¡± Looking at her son so concerned about what she used to consider a worthless powder, the reality of her current life really hit her. ¡°Ok son, we will both be careful until you get the hang of it.¡± Continuing with extra care the duo started to pump out wound recovery powder. Kaels skill steadily increased, after the refinement of the 4th batch of herbs, he increased his subcomponent talent again, making a 60% reduction in waste. This helped him refine the herbs by a lot. By his 6th attempt, he was refining 20 doses at once. He also cut the time down to just over 10 minutes a set. After 10 hours of grueling work, Kael¡¯s arm was sore. He made 60 sets of wound recovery powder for a total of 1,164 doses. His mom congratulated, ¡°You did really well son, I expected you to end up with less than 800 doses.¡± Thinking about what his mom had said, He wondered what the alchemist ranks would help with. He had made 558 experience which was added to the growth talent for the 20% extra exp per rank. He did this as he went along scoring him a total of 722 experience. He managed to finish the third rank of growth and dump 1 point into the fourth. Looking at the 11 boxes which had 100 doses of powder in them each, he began to wonder what to do with it. His father, thinking along the same lines said, ¡°Tomorrow morning before the hunters leave; go through the village and trade 1 box for a combination of 12 parts bupleurum or cinnamon. If anyone has it, you can trade it for 6 parts stone coat. When you are done, spend the rest of the day picking those herbs. You want 1 stone coat to 4 bupleurum and 4 cinnamon. Excited Kael quickly ate dinner and fell asleep. The next morning and afternoon blinked by. Kael traded for 6 stone coat, 72 Cinnamon, and 48 bupleurum. Spending the entire day he picked 10 stone coat, 24 cinnamon, and 48 bupleurum. The stone coat was much more difficult to find and when he was about to give up he found a huge patch that yielded 4 pounds. Interestingly, the stone coat being a primary herb gave 7 exp to start instead of 5. He gained a total of 308 experience which he spent in growth as he went along. After gaining the 4th rank he used karma to bounce it to rank 5 to get that sweet modifier of 2x talent exp. Deciding he would finish his quality subcomponents before figuring out if he should increase in alchemy rank or finish talents. He dropped 2 more points into subcomponents before he finished with the day. Getting home and showing his family his heist as he called it, his father did not know whether to laugh or cry. Not only did his son bring home a huge amount of herbs, but he forgot the boxes again. ¡°Son, you really need to take better care of what you pick. You should have brought the boxes to store them.¡± ¡°Dad, the boxes don¡¯t bend, so you can¡¯t stuff them in the backpack like you can herbs. Also, the herbs will be refined in a day or two anyway.¡± Sighing, Iradin said, ¡°Kael, I told you about the little details and habits before, this is the same. It is a good habit so start doing it. These herbs are not worth much, but if you had found something rare and ruined it, you could be out millions of gold.¡± Kael accepted his lecture, taking to heart the part about losing millions of gold. Finishing dinner he went up to his room. Before going to sleep he took out his character sheet and looked at the alchemy section for in-depth details. Finding the alchemy skill he realized it was a bunch of messed up math again. It broke down to half the average of his mental attributes, and half the average of his talent/perception added together. It came out to 11. His rank 1 alchemy gave him +1 for a total of 12. He saw the skill needed to make wound recovery, which was the most basic recipe one could find, was only a 3. Deciding he was good for now due to his high attributes, he went to bed in anticipation of experience explosion number 2. Chapter 17 - Experience Explosion, part 3 The next morning was basically a repeat of the previous. The only exception was his father replacing his mother. Kael got the cauldron from his mother, stocked its wood, set it afire, then dumped out his backpack next to it. Sorting out the three herbs and removing the damaged parts he ended up with, 14 stone coat, 85 bupleurum, and 85 cinnamon. Iradin looked over Kael¡¯s herbs and told him, ¡°Set aside 5 stonecoat, and 10 of the other two into piles for later in the day. Now separate out 20 piles of bupleurum and cinnamon. Store the other 9 stone coat and 55 of the other two for a rainy day. You are going to be making two powders. The first is a minor body strengthening powder and requires 2 bupleurum and 2 cinnamon. The other is a skin refining powder and requires 1 stone coat, 2 bupleurum, and 2 cinnamon. Bupleurum and cinnamon are used for almost all body strengthening powders, but in fewer amounts, as you advance.¡± ¡°Ok dad, since the boxes will only hold about 10 pounds each, how about I store 40 parts of the secondary herbs and make some extra powder for the other kids.¡± Looking at his son, glad he still had a kind heart he agreed. Kael was happy because he got to earn more experience with little waste. Starting to grind up the herbs as he did the day before; Kael did not have to prod his over talkative father much to get explicit details. Error, soul failed in refining materials, material damaged by 20%. Waste reduced by 60% due to talents, 12% material saved. Experience will be granted at the end of refinement. As he finished baking the herbs he got the same notification he had just received. A waste of 16% in both refining portions was not too bad for a first try. He also gained 5 experience, multiplied by 2 for 10 talent exp. After pouring the baked herbs into a box and grinding them down again he got another message. Congratulation, you have created a new object: Minor Body Strengthening powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 5. First refinement wastage of 8% (Grinding) Second refinement wastage of 8% (Baking) Item creation, initial potency of 125. Potency wastage of 20, remaining potency of 105. Base doses of 5, no waste of overall potency, 25 potency per dose. Converting 105 potency, remaining 4.2 doses. Each dose value of 2 experience, soul granted 8(x2=16) experience to alchemy talents. Quickly getting the hang of it, Kael was making 5 doses by his 3rd attempt. It also may have helped that he finished his quality subcomponents talent at the end of his 2nd attempt. Raising it to rank 4 with talents earned, than to rank 5 with karma talents, it seemed a little bit broken of a skill. Deciding to work on subcomponents under production, he went back into a focused daze of crafting. As his experience rose, so did his skills. He was so zoned in he missed his notifications as they changed. Soul succeeded in refining materials, material damaged by 0%. Waste reduced by 120% due to talents.... Soul succeeded in refining materials, material damaged by 0%. Waste reduced by 140% due to talents¡­. Soul succeeded in refining materials, material damaged by 0%. Waste reduced by 160% due to talents. Bonus, fine refinement +30% useful material. Experience of 3 (x2 talents =6 +30% refinement bonus =8) granted to the alchemy talent tree.... When Kael realized all of his components were gone he was a little shocked. Thinking back to the last message he was so excited he could almost not contain himself. The bonus was not just on materials, the excess materials meant more doses, which also meant more experience. Finishing them up, he had his production subcomponents only 20 experience away from finishing rank 4. With karma that basically meant he was done with it. Looking up, his father and mother were staring at him again. ¡°What did I do now? They all seemed ok, I was just focused¡± Kael said to them. His mother replied, ¡°You did nothing wrong son, you just got faster and faster as you went. Except for the last step, that was always consistent. It was just odd.¡± Thinking of this Kael thought, Shit, a 100% and 60% boost in speed, that should be half the time, then 60% of the time. So 10 minutes would be 3. When I finish it would be 10-minute refinement in 2.5. That¡¯s only on the herb processing, not their combination. Iradin broke up the awkwardness. To him it did not matter if his son was a freak, he was just proud. ¡°Ok son, the next is the skin refinement powder, it is the same but with stonecoat. Let me walk you through it...¡± After his first refinement, he got the exp to get his subcomponents to rank 4. Spending the karma to get rank 5, his waste reduction was now 200%. That meant 50% bonus refinement or a whole lot more herbs for refinement than he should have. Specifically watching for the notification he began the second set. Soul succeeded in refining materials, material damaged by 10%. Waste reduction by 200% due to talents. Bonus, fine refinement +48% useful material. Experience of 7 (x2 talents =14 +48% refinement bonus =21) granted to the alchemy talent tree. Trying not to scream Kael finished his item creation. Congratulations you have created the object: Skin Refining Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 5. First refinement wastage of 0% (Grinding) Second refinement wastage of 0% (Baking) Item creation, initial potency of 140. Bonus 48% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 140(+48%=207). Base doses of 5, no waste of overall potency, 28 potency per dose. Converting 207 potency, remaining 7.4 doses. Each dose value of 3 experience, soul granted 21(x2=42) experience to alchemy talents. Taking a deep breath, Kael finally lost his shit. Jumping up and screaming, he bounced into his stunned mother''s arms. Breathing deeply again to try to get control of himself he quickly came up with the perfect excuse. He said, ¡°Count the doses..¡± His parent had been watching his refinement getting better and better, but to make 7 doses of super-refined herbs with the parts of 5 doses was only something heavens defying talents could do. Looking at his parents as they reseparated out the powder for the third time, he finally let go. Laughing he said, ¡°How is it, are we going to be rich or what?¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Shooing his parents away he finished up the last 4 sets of herbs. While refining he looked over his talents, deciding to take efficiency from the production tree, it would reduce the subcomponents needed for crafting later. When finished he had made 38 doses of skin refinement medicine. A few of those were thanks to the 10% per rank reduction in materials needed from efficiency. Considering his lack of talents for the body refinement powder he actually ended up with 210 of that too. His parents seeing the extra amount of powders he had were not entirely sure what to do with it all. It wasn¡¯t like wound healing powder, only children or people with really bad talent could use them. Thinking for a while, his mother had a strange smile creep up on her face. ¡°Tomorrow morning take 5 doses of skin refinement and 30 doses of body refinement powder over to Matu. Tell him it is for Raen and it should help her in the early stages of body refinement. Keep 8 of the skin refinement and 30 of the body refinement for yourself. Your father will head into an iron ranked town a few days from here. He can sell the remaining parts there. In the meantime, Kael go out into the forest and collect as much bloodthorn and hoelen you can find. If you see sage or shiso pick that as well.¡± Kind of surprised, Kael did not question his mom, he just got his backpack and left. ¡°Varah, what are you thinking about?¡± Iradin asked. ¡°Not much, just Kael''s future. I know how to make better healing salves, I am just not good at it. While he is out and about take some of that beast meat and hog meat. Go try to trade the other villagers for bloodthorn, hoelen, sage, and shiso. The hoelen is 4 parts to 1, the rest is 1 part to 1. I know Matu takes in herbs for a lot of fixes he does. If all else fails, bring him the piece of black iron you were going to use for Kael, and trade it to him.¡± Looking at his wife with some doubts as she never put anything over her son, Iradin just nodded his agreement and left." Kael returned to his home at about 7 pm, when it had just fallen completely dark. Coming in he was surprised to see his father with a pile of herbs in front of him and even more ceramic boxes. As Kael sat his pack down next to his father, Iradin said, ¡°Tomorrow Matu is going to teach you blacksmithing, it was part of a trade agreement, don¡¯t disappoint your old man.¡± ¡°Ok dad, well here are the herbs I have.¡± Kael turned his pack upside down, dumping out a large group of herbs. He told his parents, ¡°I found 10 bloodthorn from a patch I spotted last month. I left some there so it grows back. The sage and hoelen I had to go a bit farther out for, I found 32 pieces of hoelen and only 18 pieces of sage. As for Shiso, it grows in large bunches so I found 54 pieces.¡± Iradin looked up at him saying, ¡°Good! That makes our total 20 bloodthorn, 82 hoelen, 48 sage, and 54 shiso. Your mother is going to teach you some new things, so I am going to BBQ some food out front.¡± Alavarah looked at her son and told him, ¡°Separate the hoelen into 20 groups of 4 and match 20 sage to it. Then separate the bloodthorn, sage, and shiso into 20 equal parts. Here is the 9 stone coat from earlier with 18 bupleurum and cinnamon. Store the other 2 hoelen, 8 sage, and 34 shiso over in the boxes with the 37 bupleurum and cinnamon.¡± ¡°First make the skin refining powder. After that make minor recovery powder with the hoelen and sage. The minor recovery powder is good for internal injuries but heals slow. Following that you will make wound sealing powder with 1 part bloodthorn, 4 parts hoelen, 1 part shiso.¡± Hearing his mother''s words he words he was a little-confused asking, ¡°Mom, shiso is the metal element, while bloodthorn and sage have a wood element. Why is it in there?¡± Smiling Alavarah said, ¡°The shiso balances the bloodthorn and sage making it easier to refine.¡± Snorting at this Kael said, ¡°Mom, it is only there to reduce the potency, making it easier to combine, it will be better without it.¡± Looking at Kael¡¯s confident face she replied, ¡°You can try one time if you fail that¡¯s it though¡± Grinning, Kael thought about the talent experience gained while picking herbs. He was already at Rank 3 efficiency and more than half to rank 4. Beginning his refinement he was excited for the results. Congratulations you have created the object: Skin Refining Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 5. First refinement wastage of 0% (Grinding). Second refinement wastage of 0% (Baking). Item creation, initial potency of 140. Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 140(+50%=210). Base doses of 5, no waste of overall potency, 28(-30% due to talents =19.6) potency per dose. Converting 210 potency, remaining 10.71(11) doses. Each dose value of 3 experience, soul granted 33(x2=66) experience to alchemy talents. Finishing with a grin on his face. After the herb refinement of his 3rd skin refining powder, he already reached the next rank. Immediately using a karma to max it to rank 5, he finished at 50% reduction. Finishing off efficiency, he started working on speed. Continuing the last 6, even with the experience reduction his talents were skyrocketing. He earned 6 points into speed so quickly he was worried he was overlooking something. Storing the 127 doses of skin refinement powder, he began working on the minor recovery powders. The minor recovery powder he was pretty sure he could do without the shiso as well, but he did not want to annoy his mom so he kept his mouth shut. With a total potency of 125, and 10 per dose he started cranking them out. He ended up with doses of 37 and 38 instead of 12 to 13. Even with .5 base experience per dose, he made 375 exp in the first set, and 300 the second set. Finishing the 20 sets of herbs off with 750 doses of recovery powder. Adding the 270 exp from refining them, he made 945 exp. Finishing the speed talent and using a karma to crank it to rank 5, Kael put a point in quality. Unfortunately, powders are too low in rank to be increased. Dropping 4 talent points into the success talent he was now rank 2, with +40%. Tired from all the work and annoyed with keeping track of karma talents, he dropped 2 karma talents into the production and quality crossover skills. Production - crossover: Increases the speed one learns a skill/technique by 1% per mortal talent points spent. Quality - crossover: Increases the chance of making a breakthrough to a higher level of a skill/technique by 1% per mortal talent points spent. Deciding to finish his refinement he would calculate his bonuses in the morning. Starting the refinement of the wound sealing powder without the shiso he was extra careful. Upon finishing it he received an interesting message. Congratulations you have created a new object: Perfect Wound Sealing Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 10. Enhanced potency by 40 First refinement wastage of 0% (Grinding). Second refinement wastage of 0% (Baking). Item creation, initial potency of 80(120). Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 120(+50%=180). Base doses of 10, no waste of overall potency, 8(-50% due to talents =4) potency per dose. Converting 180 potency, remaining 45 doses. Each dose value of 1 experience, soul granted 45(x2=90) experience to alchemy talents. Congratulations, for perfecting a recipe you were granted 50(x2=100) experience. Standing up in ecstasy, Kael shouted, ¡°Look mom! Without that crude shiso it¡¯s potency was enhanced, it came out perfect, which reduced waste and the material required. It¡¯s 45 doses instead of 8!¡± Not sure how to handle this, Alavarah just patted her son¡¯s head, told him it was late and he should continue. Finishing up the refinements, Kael pushed his remaining mortal talents, Quality, Success, and Material Nature all to rank 3. Granting a 30% quality bonus, 60% success rate bonus(note, 60% of current skill bonus), and 30% material interactions knowledge bonus. Rubbing his eyes, Kael stood up and walked upstairs. Loudly mumbling something about needing to be up in 4 hours to learn blacksmithing, he left everything for his parents to pack up. To his parents surprise they ended up with 900 wound sealing powder, 750 wound recovery powder, 152 skin refinement, and 150 body refinement. Taking 2 doses of skin refinement and increasing Kael¡¯s stock to 10, they had an even 150. Note from the Author - Talent System Below is the talent tree from my terrible spreadsheet. I will give explanations of each of the talents below. I am sure a lot of people will see that the cross over skill costs 10, not 5. This is why the MC''s Karma purchased points took two. Those Karma points were capped to 5 talent points. When the MC recieved them he thought they were just a point each, when they were really a talent rank each.
Production Quality Perception
Mortal Efficiency Speed Sub Comps Quality Success rate Sub Comps Material Nature Material Ident Growth rate
0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5
Crossover Crossover Crossover
0/10 0/10 0/10
Earth and below Efficiency Speed Sub Comps Quality Success rate Sub Comps Material Nature Material Ident Growth rate
Crossover Crossover Crossover
Sky and below Efficiency Speed Sub Comps Quality Success rate Sub Comps Material Nature Material Ident Growth rate
Crossover Crossover Crossover
Heaven and below Efficiency Speed Sub Comps Quality Success rate Sub Comps Material Nature Material Ident Growth rate
Crossover Crossover Crossover
Immortal and below Efficiency Speed Sub Comps Quality Success rate Sub Comps Material Nature Material Ident Growth rate
Crossover Crossover Crossover
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Production Tree: Efficiency: Reduces materials needed for the finished product by 10%per level. This is what reduces the potency cost per powder/pill/dan that he makes. Speed: Increases product completion speed by 20% per level. 100% does not mean instantly. If something takes 30 minutes, he can finish it in 15. Sub Components: Reduces wastage of components by 20% per level. This is what helps Kael reduce the impact of his screw ups. This also has the side effect of giving Kael a 50% bonus material when he makes no mistakes. This side is effect is due to it being doubled up with the Quality tree talent. Quality Tree: Quality: Increases the quality of the product by 10% per level. This has not played a role as of yet, other than his powders being "High Quality". It begins to play a hidden role around chapter 43. This won''t play an effect in alchemy as much until he reaches earth rank, but it will help his smithing, particularly when refining ores. Success Rate: Increases chance of success by 20% per level. Due to Kael''s high stats at birth, this has only played a role in the story once up to now. This will play a large role in higher tier crafting. It will also be more important as his statistics begin to not be so crazy. Sub Components: Reduces wastage of components by 20% per level. The same as the production tree. Perception Tree: Material Nature: Increases the chance to know and understand the interactions of a material by 10% per level. This is why he can easily change recipes thus far in the story. Later it will help him with creating his own things. Material Identification: Increases the chance to successfully identify materials by 20% per level. This is what makes him a walking encyclopedia of the things he examines. This talent adds to the base chance instead of altering it. E.g. at 100% he can identify anything of the current rank. Growth Rate: Increases talent growth rate by 20% per level. This was originally an actual skill modifier. Each rank of a profession gives one "skill" in that professions talent. These are used for the checks to see if someone can succeed. I have been considering changing it as the talent system I built doesn''t truly need this unless you are trying to craft something an entire tier higher than your professions tier. Crossover Talents: These are talents that apply a real world effect to Kael based on his crafting talents. These talents are the only ones not restricted to tier. Their bonuses are calculated off of Kael current skill though. So if he knows nothing, a 75% increase to nothing is still nothing. Crossover talents are the only talents that are unqiue. I will not post the ones for the rest of the tiers as that would be a spoiler. Production: Increases the speed one leans a skill/technique by 1% per talent points earned. Quality: Increases the chance of making a break through to a higher level of a skill/technique by by 1% per talent points earned. Growth: Increases the chance of making a break through in cultivation by 1% per talent points earned
The way the crafting skill works is based on a combination of statistics. This skill is compared to a challenge level of the item being made. As an example, for Alchemy that challenge is potency. Skill points: 1 point per rank, 5 points per tier, plus the statistic bonus. Example: A Rank 4, Earth Tier Blacksmith would have 18 skill in blacksmithing. 9 points for rank 1-9 of the mortal tier, 5 points for advancing a tier, 4 points for ranks 1-4 of the earth tier. Crafting Statistics are calculated in the following way. Intelligence+Willpower+spirit=X, Talent+Percpetion=Y, (X/6) +(Y/4)=Total. Example, Kael in chapter 44 has, Int of 18, Will of 19, Spirit of 28, Talent of 10 and Perception of 8. 18+19+28 = 65, 65/6 = 10.83. 10+8 = 18, 18/4 = 4.5. 10.83+4.5 = 15.33 Skill added to crafting due to statistics. So, when Kael is a Rank 4, Earth Tier Blacksmith his skill would be 18+15 = 33. Luck also plays a part, If the heavens determine one is lucky the difficulty is reduced by 25%. The heavens give you a 5% chance of getting lucky per point of luck. Chapter 18 - Blacksmithing, an apprenticeship? The next morning Kael felt something cold and wet splash against his face. Waking up with a start and rubbing his wet face, he looked up to see his father dripping water on him from a glass. Sighing, he got up and got dressed. Heading downstairs his mother already had breakfast waiting for him. As he took a seat his mother said, ¡°After you eat, take the box of powders for Raen and head over there. Old man Muta gave us a lot of herbs in exchange for your labor, so be respectful. Your father told him you were abnormally strong, so no slacking.¡± Sopping egg yolk onto his toast, Kael gave an unenthusiastic nod. Finished eating, he helped his mom clean up before he grabbed his stuff and left. Heading through the already awake village just before dawn, he thought about how hardworking the people of this world were. Walking towards the village smithy it was the first time he realized how large it was. The sprawling building covered about 3,000 square feet. The second story, that he assumed was the home, was only about a third of the size. Walking up to the front door of the smithy, he knocked before opening the door and heading in. The front room was a large rectangular shape and tidy. The long wall behind him was covered in all sorts of farming equipment and things made for daily use. The left wall had a few swords, spears, long knives, and an assortment of other martial weapons. The right wall was covered in various types of arrows, small knives, hatchets, and other throwing weapons. The front of the room had a long sturdy wooden counter. Behind the counter, the wall was covered in a large banner. The banner had handwritten price lists of everything you could make out of metals listed. While staring at the banner, the door behind the counter opened and Raen walked into the room. ¡°Hey, Kael! I heard your dad sold you to us for awhile, sucks to be you.¡± Looking over at Raen, Kael was a little shocked. This was the first time he had seen her without being covered in soot. She¡¯ll be a looker in like 10 years, he thought. ¡°Yeah, I needed some herbs, so me doing the labor is only right, that reminds me, this is for you.¡± Handing over a ceramic box he said, ¡°This has some skin refinement and body refinement powder in it. The skin refinement should be a little helpful in progressing through rank 3, muscle refinement. The body refining powder should help you through rank 4. Opening the box, Raen looked inside. Seeing the massive piles of powders, which were high quality, she was excited. Staring at the powders she said, ¡°Hey Kael, thank your mom for me, these are really great!¡± Noticing he did not say anything, she looked up to see him staring back at her with a confused look. ¡°What, it is good quality, and we rarely get this stuff out here, your mom is awesome.¡± Snapping out of it, he said, ¡°Well if you need more, let me know and when I make some more I will give you some.¡± The smile on Raen¡¯s face froze, ¡°Wait, you made these?¡± ¡°Well yeah, otherwise I wouldn¡¯t be here paying off my debt for the herbs,¡± he replied. Hearing that Raen shouted, ¡°That¡¯s totally awesome! These are way more helpful than a bunch of horseshoes.¡± Just as her shout finished the door opened again. A man in his 50¡¯s wearing a thick leather apron and coarse pants came in. His greying hair stood out in contrast to his bulging muscles and massive frame. Entering the room the old man said, ¡°Raen, those horseshoes help a lot of people in their daily lives. You think about cultivating all day, but forget about the knife and fork you use to eat, the nails in the saddle of your horse, and all sorts of other things.¡± Looking over at the young boy the man continued, ¡°I hope you don¡¯t share those same feelings.¡± Looking up into Muta¡¯s eyes, Kael replied, ¡°No sir, each art has its merits. Without the contribution of any of them, we would lose something. Cultivation may make a person strong, but artisans are what makes a civilization strong.¡± Laughing loudly at Kael¡¯s reply, he said, ¡°Hear that Raen, the boy has a point. But, kid, don¡¯t think sucking up will get you any easier work. Today you will be working the bellows. Your old man said you are freakishly strong, so no slacking. Just how strong are you though for Iradin to call you a freak?¡± Thinking to himself, Thanks for the label dad. I probably shouldn¡¯t tell them my core strength is 770 pounds though. ¡°Uhm, I haven¡¯t checked lately, but my core strength should be about 500 pounds.¡± Muta looked at the kid in shock. 500 pounds was about the strength of an average rank 9 spirit disciple. ¡°Kid, you just started cultivating, there is no way you are that high of a rank yet.¡± ¡°You are right sir, I¡¯m just a rank 1 disciple.¡± Muta knew it was rude, but he asked anyway. ¡°Pardon my prying, but you could not have trained up that much muscle at just the age of 6.¡± ¡°You are right sir. My father has a special bloodline. Although he did not awaken much of it, I did. So my mortal body strength is more than double that of a normal person.¡± ¡°That is a pretty special bloodline, surprising to be so down in the world that you are living out here.¡±Stolen story; please report. Kael put on his awkward face and said, ¡°Yes sir, but with benefits comes restrictions. The more of the bloodline that is awakened the harder it is to become a saint.¡± Seeing that the kid was at the limits of his prying, Muta just said, ¡°Follow me kids¡±, then exited back through the door he had just used. Raen walked to the side of the counter and lifted a section that was on hinges, like a door that was lying flat. Waving for Kael to follow, the two children entered the back room. Entering the actual forge, Kael took a look around. The corners of the room were lit with large smokeless braziers. In the room, there were three hearths popping out of the right wall. The three hearths varied in size, consisting of a 2 foot, a 5 foot, and a 10-foot hearth. Each one had a water trough connected to the side opposite the wall. On the far end of each hearth were varying sized bellows, and on the close side were large anvils. Hanging on the wall near each anvil were three hammers and various chisels. The hammers appeared to be about 5 lbs, 25 lbs, and 50 lbs. Muta pointed to the bellows next to the largest hearth. ¡°You will be working the big one today kid. The best way to work the bellows is to make the hearth breathe with you. When you breathe out, pull the handle down so it breathes out. When you breathe in, slowly let the handle up. In between breaths do nothing. Got it?¡± Nodding his head, Kael looked at the enormous yet empty pit of the hearth. Seeing Kael looking at the empty hearth, Muta smiled, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s empty, your first job is to fill it. I like my forge layered. First a thin layer of coal, then a thin layer of charcoal. Following that a large bundle of wood, finally cover by a thick layer of charcoal. At the end of the day, when you clean the forge out, you will collect whatever charcoal is left from the burnt wood. Raen take him to the storeroom and get the forge ready.¡± Raen pushed Kael¡¯s shoulder and with a follow me, exited out of a door in the back of the forge. Following her through Kael entered a storehouse. The storehouse easily took up half of the smithy. One half was all neatly stacked fuels. On the other side, racks of various finished and half-finished product covered a quarter of the room, while ores covered the rest. Grabbing a bag off the wall and handing it to Kael, she said, "fill that with coal, I¡¯ll get the charcoal." After a few trips of hauling coal, charcoal, firewood, and more charcoal out the two finally filled the forge. Puffing air, Raen said, ¡°You really are a freak, go get 50 pounds in ore, in 10-pound chunks. Be careful putting them in the bag so it doesn¡¯t rip.¡± Heading out again, Kael shortly returned with the ore. Setting the ore next to the anvil he noticed Raen sprinkling a white powder over the forge. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± he asked. Slapping her hands together to clear them of residue Raen said, ¡°It¡¯s a mixture my Pa made. It¡¯s powdered up magnesium, sulfur, and this ugly lichen called witcheshair. He is too lazy to wait for a cold forge to light up, so this is his cheat.¡± Picking up a rod, Raen stirred up the charcoal to distribute the powder. Once done, she then went and got a large metal watering pail. Jumping onto the stone edge of the pit, she began to pour an amber fluid out into the hearth. Finally jumping down she motioned for Kael to step back. Putting the pail back in place she retrieved a thin, two foot long, wooden stick. Lighting it in a brazier, she carried it over to the hearth. ¡°This is the only fun part of the day.¡± She said as she tossed the lit stick into the hearths pit. With a whoosh, the entire thing went up in flames. The two children watched the flames dancing about madly for about 10 minutes before they finally died down. ¡°Ok, time to get my pops, good luck with the bellows, I can only last about an hour.¡± After Raen left, Kael wandered around for a few minutes looking at the tools on the walls. Finally, Muta came in. Pointing to the bellows he said, ¡°Kid go get behind the belows, it¡¯s not hot enough. Pump in rhythm with your breath. 3 seconds in, 3 second pause, 3 seconds out.¡± Hearing this Kael walked over and stretched up, just barely able to grab the handle. Pulling down he was surprised at the resistance given. Attempting to do as he was told, it took a few tries before he was going in the correct rhythm. Each time he would pull the bellows down he would be blasted by intense heat. After about 10 pumps Muta told him to stop. ¡°Ok kid you can stop now. I am going to toss the ore in so back up.¡± After Kael scooted back some, Muta took the ore from the bag and tossed it into the hearth. Taking a shovel he covered the ore and told Kael to start pumping again. After a few minutes, the old man used tongs to dig out a bright yellowish red hunk of ore. ¡°Alright kid, give it a pump about every minute until I tell you to stop.¡± Muta put the ore on the anvil, and taking up the 25-pound looking hammer he began to beat it down upon the ore. When the hammer struck down upon the ore there was an explosion of sparks and a thunderous sound. The old man kept swinging down the hammer, like the conductor of an orchestra. Each strike was handled deftly and with ease. Slowly rotating the ore as he hammered it, it began to lengthen into a rod. Kael noticed as the impurities were driven out the hammering took on less of a crashing noise and more of a metallic ring. After about 5 minutes of hammering the once round chunk of 10-pound ore had been beaten into a thin rod about 6 feet in length. Kael was completely amazed at the transformation. Muta tossed the long rod back into the huge fire pit and told Kael to pump. 5 pumps later Muta waved him off. Using the tongs to pull the rod out, he took up some clippers and chopped it up into 4 equal parts, each a foot an a half in length. Putting three of the irons back into the hearth he took the last to his anvil. Hammering it out to be flat, it ended up with a width of an inch and a half inch in thickness. Once it was flat he began using the horn of the anvil and light taps to bend the metal along the thin edge. In just two minutes he had made a big U shape. Laying it flat over the hole in the back of the anvil, he grabbed a chisel from the wall and quickly punched three holes in each side of the U. Dipping it into the water trough, he tossed it to Kael. ¡°There is one of those worthless horseshoes Raen was going about. It still needs to be ground down but that will be later. For now, watch me make these 5 chunks of ore into 20 horseshoes.¡± About an hour later Muta was done. Kael was shocked at how fast he went. After the hearth was roaring, it only took about 30 seconds to heat a chunk of ore. 2 minutes to pound it flat. Then 2 minutes to make the shape and punch holes. 10 minutes for a full set. ¡°Alright kid, for the rest of the day you are just going to be pumping the bellows while I make horseshoes. Don¡¯t think this is an apprenticeship, your working off a debt.¡± Taking Kael into the storehouse he began to explain each ore, its use, malleability, and how to identify it before it has been smelted. Afterward he had Kael haul another 350 pounds of pig iron out into the smithy. The process of working the bellows for an entire day was exhausting. The only perk was that Raen would bring him water every hour or so. Chapter 19 - 10,000 pebbles technique Dragging his worn out body home, he ate dinner with his mother. Finding out his dad went to sell his powders and buy some stuff, Kael was dreaming about shiny, shiny, gold. Planning on heading upstairs to continue his dreams of gold he was interrupted by his mother. ¡°Don¡¯t think a hard days work means you get to skip cultivating. Follow me, young man.¡± Taking Kael out into the backyard, Alavarah headed over to a large barrel of water she had prepared earlier. Dumping a package of skin refining powder into it and stirring it up. She waited until the powder was dissolved before picking up Kael and dropping him in it. ¡°Meditate in this until all the medicine is absorbed, then you can bathe and go to sleep.¡± Turning around, she left her son to his own devices. Standing in the neck high, cold, and stinky water he watched in a daze as his mom left. Thinking, Tomorrow this needs to be filled half way so I can sit. Kael began to run his father''s cultivation technique. Originally, the Mountain Forging technique was designed to be used with quiet meditation until the dantian was full. Afterward the cultivator would burst the energy out into the skin of a specific location to refine it. Combined with absorbing the medicine and his talent, his father had estimated it would take 3 to 4 days for him to break through. However, he did not have a dantian. After some struggling and creative thinking he came up with a solution. Instead of gathering qi to make large bursts, he came up with a small burst concept. Pretending his dantian was just part of his meridian system, he ran the technique until his meridians were painfully full. At that point, he would push the energy out and into his skin. The downside of this was that it was extremely painful. Designed for one wave of pain every 30 minutes to an hour in a small location, Kael had to deal with entire body pain every minute or so. Something that should have taken 4 hours or less, ended up taking 6 hours. Nearly falling asleep on his feet, he dried off, skipped the bath, and went directly to bed. Waking up in the morning to his mom¡¯s yelling for breakfast, he crawled out of bed. His muscles felt like someone had peeled back the skin and sandpapered them down. Tonight, less water, and I have to make a blend of powders. My changes to the cultivation technique are tearing me up already. Dad¡¯s technique is like using the weight of a mountain to forge the body, mine is more like using 10,000 pebbles. His day blurred by, almost a carbon copy of the last one. The only difference was that Muta layed out 10 boards with 100 holes in each. After that, he plopped a 4-foot diameter thick steel bucket into the middle of the hearths pit. Filling it up with pig iron, they melted it down into slag. Popping open a nozzle located on the side near the bottom, they filled the boards with melted iron. Once the boards were full, they plugged the nozzle and dropped the boards into ice cold water. A few minutes later they took them out, flipped them over, hit the back of the board with a hammer, and out came nails. After an entire day of making nails, Kael was sure he could have rebuilt the entire village and have some left. Getting home, he stopped his mother before she took him outside. He mixed a dose of each body strengthening powder and skin refining powder together. After that, he mixed a half dose of wound recovery powder with a half dose of minor recovery powder together. I need to change the names of these things, they sound the same, but one is topical and one internal. Blending it all together, he split it into three doses. Looking over to his mom he said, ¡°Trust me, I had to alter dads technique since my dantian basically doesn¡¯t exist yet. It works but it is damaging my muscles.¡± ¡°Ok honey, you can give it a try tonight, if it doesn¡¯t help, stop cultivating until your father returns. Altering a cultivation technique is not something you should be doing. Especially trying it before even talking to us!¡± ¡°Alright mom, I¡¯ll tell you in the future. Let''s just get this over with, I am super worn out.¡± Heading outside, Kael poured out enough water so he could sit this time, and then helped his mom mix the powder in. Climbing into the barrel he began cultivating under his mother''s supervision. The mixture actually worked wonders. The body strengthening reduced the damage, and the two recovery powders repaired it as it went. He wasn¡¯t sure but it felt like his muscles were being refined, just at a slower pace, at the same time as his skin. The reduction in pain and practice from yesterday made it so he finished in just the scheduled 4 hours. Taking a nice warm bath before falling asleep he began his new routine. On the third day, Alavarah noticed that Kael¡¯s Qi was only being sent to his skin. Stopping him 15 minutes into his cultivation she asked him, ¡°Honey, have you reached Rank 2 body refinement already?¡± Kael was confused by his mother stopping him, but replied, ¡°No mom, I am still in Rank 1, why?¡± ¡°Oh dear, your father told you to slow down and read in detail. You are trying to refine your skin when you haven¡¯t finished refining your body.¡± ¡°Are you sure mom? The book sounded like I had to refine my skin to step into the skin refinement rank.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure son, that is why it is called skin refinement rank not refined skin rank.¡± Sighing, Kael went back to using the heart burst method. Alternating between bursting the energy and absorbing the medicines. Each burst of energy would push out some more black sludge. Just before he finished refining the medicines he heard the voice he had been waiting for. Congratulations, you have stepped into Rank 2, Skin Refinement. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.Cultivation rank increased Body by 1 point. Cultivation technique increased Body by 1 point. Continue to make persistent efforts! Standing up with a smile, he looked at his mom and said, ¡°There now I am rank 2.¡± Alavarah rubbed his head while saying, ¡°Congratulations on not permanently damaging your cultivation. In the future pay more attention, or you may end your path before you even start it.¡± Shrugging off the hand on his head, he said, ¡°Ok mom.¡± before rushing upstairs to bed. The following 6 days were more of the same. Kael had watched Muta make forks, spoons, buckles, hinges, shoe tacks, and door handles of various sizes. Continuing to cultivate with his altered technique and improved powder recipe he managed to break through again. Feeling his skin tighten and his muscle bulge, his strength increased by 2. The following morning when Raen found out he already broke through again she was shocked and mad. Demanding to know what he was doing differently he told her it was a mixture of his families technique and different combination of powders in his medicine bath. Pouting about not having a good cultivation method, Raen tried to pry his cultivation method out of him before Muta finally intervened. Giving in to part of her demands he told her he could make her better powders for cultivation. She would need to give him 2 stone coat, 8 bupleurum, 8 cinnamon, 5 sage, and 5 hoelen for a week''s worth of powders. Rean was shocked at the number of herbs Kael was using. Looking to Muta she asked, ¡°Is that normal?¡± Muta grumpily nodded to her, ¡°I knew nothing good would come of letting you mix with this brat. Just absorb nature''s energy slowly like the rest of the villagers.¡± Pouting, Raen threw the ore she had in her hand on the ground before running upstairs. ¡°Sorry sir, I had no idea, I normally just go pick the herbs myself. It¡¯s only really effective in the first disciple ranks. Rank 3 and rank 4 it is only about 30% effective.¡± Seeing that Kael was genuinely clueless Muta said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry brat, when you go home I¡¯ll give you the herbs to make her happy.¡± Continuing a blurry day of pumping air, Kael was totally disenchanted with butter knife day. Muta stopped at about 2 pm. Telling Kael they would be doing arrowheads tomorrow, but he should head home now to refine the herbs. He left the smithy to return a few minutes later with a box of the herbs required. Taking them, Kael headed back to his house. Quickly refining the herbs, he could feel the reduction in exp for multiple creations. With a gain of less than 100 exp, he was a little depressed. Looking down at the huge pile of powders he just refined, he realized he totally screwed up. He told Muta he needed one set of herbs per combination, not even considering the doses. After mixing it up and separating it out, he put 90 doses of his mixed powder into a box for Raen. Looking at the 75 doses of wound sealing powder and 60 doses of minor recovery powder left over he decided to set them aside for Muta. Around dinner time Kael noticed his mother placed three sets of dishes. ¡°Mom, is dad back already?¡± His question was answered by his father''s shout from upstairs, ¡°What do you mean already? I ran my as¡­ self tired to buy things for you!¡± Coming downstairs Iradin looked at his excited son. ¡°I¡¯ll go over what I got after dinner.¡± Alavarah¡¯s snort of approval ended any further conversation. After a decent welcome home dinner, the three sat down in the living room. ¡°Ok Kael, let me tell you how this works. Generally, an alchemist charges three times the cost of herbs. That cost is then divided by the number of average dans made. Powders are not alchemy, they are pharmacology, so you only get 2 times the cost instead of three.¡± Listening to this Kael thought, This world actually prices things in a reasonable way. Iradin continued, ¡°So, mortal rank herbs are dirt cheap. The value of wound sealing powder is 6 silver per dose, minor recovery powder is 5 silver. The cultivating powders are a bit better at 14.5 silver for the minor body strengthening, and 24.5 silver for the skin refining powder. The shops would only buy at 80% of sales price, and that was only due to excellent quality. Before I give you the total price you should know the herbs used were valued at 1 gold 110 silver.¡± ¡°Wait, dad, 110 silver? Why not 2 gold 10 silver?¡± Shaking her head Alavarah interrupted, ¡°We had this conversation, you just forgot. Everything is base 1000. I know you think base 100 is easier, but that is not how the world works. Copper to silver to gold to jade. All of them are 1000 to 1 in order." ¡°Ok mom, your right, we had that discussion, I still think it is dumb though.¡± Iradin watching his son and wife debating broke in; ¡°Ok whatever, 1 gold, 110 silver in production. 900 wound sealing powder made 4 gold, 320 silver. 750 minor recovery powder made 3 gold. 150 minor body strengthening powder made 1 gold, 740 silver. 150 skin refining powder made 2 gold, 940 silver. The total was 12 gold. So you made almost 11 gold in profit. More than 10 times what the average is. Therefore, you need to be careful, or someone will lock you away to use you as slave labor.¡± Thinking of the three boxes Kael had laid aside, he decided he would take some out for himself to avoid suspicion. ¡°I know you think you are rich, but let me tell you, that knife of mine you like so much cost over 200 jade coins. That was with us supplying most of the materials. So remember, you are just playing with mortal tier items. Things made by and for mortals are in no way comparable to things made by and for cultivators.¡± When Iradin was done lecturing his son, he took out his pouch. ¡°I bought the recipes for muscle refining and bone refining powders for 2 gold. I bought the recipes for minor bone setting, minor qi gathering, and qi gathering potions for 4 gold. I bought you 10 sets of herbs for the muscle refining and bone refining powders, as well as the minor Qi gathering potion. I bought you 20 sets of herbs for the minor recovery and wound sealing powders. Finally, I bought you 20 sets of herbs for the Qi gathering potion and bone setting potion. The things I bought you in sets of 20 are to be resold to a mercenary group I met. They will buy at 90% of store cost. Oh, your broke and owe me 670 silver by the way.¡± In first impression, Kael wanted to cry but had no tears. Stopping to consider the sweet talent points though, he decided he could deal with it. Glancing between his mother and father he said, ¡°Ok, we will do it your way, but in the future half the money is mine and half is yours and moms. That is money from profit, not gross sales. Also, you have to do me a really big favor.¡± Chapter 20 - A heavy gift The next morning Kael could not conquer his conscience to rip off Muta. Putting the three boxes of herbs in his backpack, along with a hand-copied book he made last night, he headed over to the smithy. Arriving there, Raen met him in the shop per normal, but she was still looking pretty down. Smiling at her, Kael pushed his way past her into the smithy. As he walked by with an offhand comment he said, ¡°Oh, you should go get your Father, tell him I have something special for you two today.¡± Slipping into the smithy, Kael missed the excitement that showed up on the little girls face before she ran off upstairs to drag father down with her. When the two entered the smithy they saw 3 boxes of herbs and a small book lying in the middle of the smithy. Kael was off by the door and locking it up. Seeing this, Muta was a little apprehensive. ¡°Brat what is this all about that requires so much secrecy you lock the door?¡± Kael finished locking the door and looked over at the two. ¡°First, an apology for you Muta, yesterday I asked you for herbs, but I calculated off the base doses made, not how many I make. That was a mistake, but the apology is for me trying to convince myself not to give you all of the powders I made.¡± Disappointment could be seen on Raen¡¯s face while appreciation could be seen on Muta¡¯s. The old man knew Kael would not bring it up if he did not intend to give him everything, and there was no way those herbs would need 3 boxes to hold them all. ¡°Go on brat, I know your not a thief.¡± ¡°I locked the door because this has to do with a secret of mine. My mother also has a special bloodline. It makes me very in touch with nature and plant life. Let''s just say my output of powders is abnormal. I am hoping you both can keep this to yourselves. If it were revealed outside of the village, it would endanger me.¡± Laughing, Muta walked over to the boxes, ¡°Good brat, I knew you were trustworthy, but what is all this, and the book?¡± ¡°One box has 60 doses of minor recovery powder for internal injuries. Another box has 75 doses of wound sealing powder, the upgraded version. The final box has 90 doses of my mixed cultivating powder. I¡¯m not sure if Raen can use all of it or not, but it¡¯s three months worth of daily use. Finally, the book is something I begged, sniveled, and whined out of my father. It is our families body cultivation technique. This is also something for Raen, but I left the name off the technique. If it leaks it may cause serious repercussions for you.¡± After hearing everything Kael said Raen let out a squeal of delight, rushed over, and gave him a hug. Shouting, ¡°Thank you, thank you sooo much Kael!!¡± In the midst of her joy, Muta looked over at his daughter and told her he could not accept it. As a monumental argument exploded Kael slipped out and went back home. Getting back to his house, Kael went to find his mom. ¡°Mom, I managed to get some time away from that monster Muta. Let me use your cauldron so I can refine that stuff dad bought.¡± Heading into the kitchen to get another breakfast roll, he sat down and dozed off accidentally. At some point, he woke up to his mother saying, ¡°Honey what are you doing here?¡± Rubbing his eyes he looked over at his mom who looked like she just rolled out of bed. Looking out the window it appeared to be mid morning. ¡°Mom, Muta gave me the day off, but I must have fallen asleep accidentally. I don¡¯t think I have ever come home with you gone, where did you go to?¡± Blushing slightly his mom said, ¡°Your father and I were just practicing our martial arts. Let me go get that cauldron for you.¡± Watching his mom scurry away Kael smiled. If they can make another mini-me I could definitely deal with sharing the attention. A few minutes later a properly groomed Alavarah came back down stairs. Taking the cauldron out of her pouch along with the herbs Iradin bought, she laid it all out for Kael. ¡°There you go, our little mad alchemist, get to it.¡± Starting with his perfect wound sealing powder, Kael cranked out over 1,100 xp. Enough to fill rank 4 and 5 of the Material Nature talent. He felt a wave of warmth roll through his brain as the interactions between various materials was crammed into his mind. Dropping two talent points towards finishing rank 4 of his success rate, he began working on the minor recovery powder. The experience loss for repeated crafting began to show itself while he made these powders. Gaining just over 300 XP, he finished rank 4 of success rate and dropped 1 point into rank 5. Stopping to arrange the boxes of herbs and powders he was once again amazed at the output difference he had with his talents. 9 full boxes of 100 dose wound sealing powder and 6 full boxes of 100 dose minor recovery powder were tucked off to the side. Taking out the recipe for the muscle refining powder he gave it a once over to see if it looked correct. Goldfinger, Bupleurum, Cinnamon x2, Drake¡¯s Saliva. Taking a deeper look a the goldfinger, which was just a bright yellow flower with 5 petals, he recorded the information in his head for later. Looking over the drake¡¯s saliva, it looked like leaves from a rubber tree plant. Except that the leaves were a deep azure with a bright red streak running down the spine. Remembering the information for that as well, he separated out the herbs and began refining. Congratulations you have created a new object: Muscle Refining Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 5. Item creation, initial potency of 140. Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 140(+50% =210). Base doses of 5, no waste of overall potency, 28(-50% due to talents =14) potency per dose. Converting 210 potency, remaining 15 doses. Each dose value of 3 experience, soul granted 45(x2 =90) experience to alchemy talents. Heavens, that is some sweet exp. Was running through Kael¡¯s head as he finished refining the other 9 sets of herbs. Packing away 150 muscle refining powder and 900 xp, he finished his success rate talent all way through rank 5. With the remaining he dropped 5 talent points into Quality, moving it up to 1 of 5 to finish rank 5. Looking the recipe for bone refining powder over and taking the herbs out, he examined it curiously. Lakes Kiss, Stones Coat, Bupleurum, Cinnamon. Interesting, this one has two primary herbs. Splitting the herbs into 10 piles he started the refining. Error creating a new object: Bone Refining Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production. Error, soul has insufficient skill to create object. Skill required 14, current skill 12(1 skill gained from rank, adjusting +1 skill due to talents =13) Soul has a luck score 3, applying for 15% lucky chance to reduce difficulty. Reduction failed, all materials wasted. The herbs in his cauldron went up in a flash of flames, literally in a puff of smoke. Dumbfounded, Kael stared at the cauldron. The concept of failure had not even crossed his mind. While sitting there staring blankly at the cauldron he heard his mom, ¡°Honey what are you burning in there, it stinks, open a window.¡± Opening the windows then cleaning out the cauldron, Kael put aside the herbs for that powder. I guess ranks in alchemy do matter. Deciding to change his experience back to profession from talents, he took a Look at what he had left. Scratching his head while looking at the herbs he discovered had no clue how to make a potion. He understood the general concept, but had no idea the fluid ratio needed. ¡°Mom, how do you make a potion?¡± he shouted. ¡°Read the recipe you bonehead¡± his mother responded. It can¡¯t be that easy, he thought while opening the recipe for the minor Qi gathering potion. However, it really was that simple. After the the second grinding process, was just a boiling process. For each potion to be made, match the herb powder to 4 ounces of pure water. Bring the water to a boil and stir vigorously for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove from heat. Each dose will have boiled down into 3 ounce parts. Pour into a bottle, insert a snug stopper, or cover the cork with wax to stop draining of medicinal properties. Shouting to his mom upstairs again, Kael said, ¡°Mom, did dad leave I don¡¯t know, like one to two thousand bottles for me?¡± ¡°No honey, the mercs did not want to pay extra. He left 15, 1-gallon jugs up in your room though.¡± ¡°Uhh, mom, how many ounces are in a gallon?¡± ¡°128, do you need help down there?¡± ¡°No, I should be fine.¡± ¡°Good than both of you shut up, so I can sleep.¡± Iradin joined in. He must be really worn out to be asleep in the middle of the afternoon. How am I going to boil so much at once anyway? MUTA¡¯S BUCKET! The mercenaries will never know. I can measure the 4 ounces by putting 32 doses worth of water in with a gallon jug. I have no idea how to measure 3 ounces. Screw it, Muta might know, he has to make weird shit all the time. Wait, I¡¯m am stupid, it just evaporates one fourth of the fluid, so 4 gallons go in, three come out. Buckling down to make the powders for the potions, he split the minor Qi herbs into 10 piles, with the Qi gathering and Bone setting herbs into piles of 20. Starting with what seemed the easiest he began crushing and baking them again. Congratulations you have created a new object: Minor Qi Gathering Potion. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 10. Item creation, initial potency of 105. Bonus 50% materials. 5 potency wastage, remaining potency of 100(+50% =150). Base doses of 10, no waste of overall potency, 10(-50% due to talents =5) potency per dose. Converting 150 potency, remaining 30 doses. Each dose value of 1.5 experience, soul granted 45 experience to the alchemist profession. Note, if soul does not brew herbs within 7 days an experience deficit of twice the gain will be applied. Kael was disappointed at the lack of gaining twice the experience. He was also a bit worried about that special note. As he was about to review his sheet to check his alchemist progression he heard his sheet¡¯s voice in his head. Congratulations, you have reached Mortal Rank 2 in the Alchemist Profession. Souls alchemy skill increased by 1. Congratulations for furthering your path in alchemy. Make persistent efforts! Soul¡¯s current standing is Mortal Rank 2, (000/1000). Damn, 1,000? I should have paid more attention to the chef rankings. Finishing the herbs for the minor Qi potion, he had 810/1000 exp. Storing away the three boxes of powders, he looked at the actual Qi gathering potion recipe. It looked similar to the minor potion, but cinnamon seemed like a weird addition. While pondering over it he felt a rush of warmth in his mind. Understanding the interactions of the herbs, the cinnamon was there to reduce the potency. What a waste let''s just remove that then. Prepping the herbs he began.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Congratulations you have created a new object: Perfect Qi Gathering Potion. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 10. Enhanced potency by 40. Item creation, initial potency of 120(160). Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 160(+50% =240). Base doses of 10, no waste of overall potency, 12(-50% due to talents =6) potency per dose. Converting 240 potency, remaining 40 doses. Each dose value of 2.5 experience, soul granted 100 experience to the alchemist profession. That is some awesome xp. Continuing to finish refining all 20 sets of herbs he made 1,900 experience and 800 sets of powders. Congratulations, you have reached Mortal Rank 3 in the Alchemist Profession. Souls alchemy skill increased by 1. Congratulations for furthering your path in alchemy. Make persistent efforts! Soul¡¯s current standing is Mortal Rank 3, (900/5000). Afterward, he started into the minor bone setting potions. Not seeing any problems with the recipe he began immediately. Congratulations you have created a new object: Minor Bone Setting Potion. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 10. Item creation, initial potency of 105. Bonus 50% materials. 5 potency wastage, remaining potency of 100(+50%=150). Base doses of 10, no waste of overall potency, 10(-50% due to talents =5) potency per dose. Converting 150 potency, remaining 30 doses. Each dose value of 1.5 experience, soul granted 45 experience to the alchemist profession. The 20 sets of herbs gained him 990 experience and 600 sets of powder. With nothing left but the bone refining powder, he figured he should be safe. Still, he had a weird trepidation when he started to refine them like something bad would happen. Error creating a new object: Bone Refining Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production Error, soul has a mental block, skill while creating object reduced by 1. Hearing this Kael screamed in his mind. Noooo I have 14 skill, I can¡¯t lose 1 point. Daaammnnn! Skill required 14, current skill 14, skill reduction of 1 applied, current skill 13. (3 skill gained from rank, adjusting +3 skill due to talents =16) Fuck yeah!! Congratulations you have created a new object: Bone Refining Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 5. Item creation, initial potency of 170. Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 170(+50% =255). Base doses of 5, no waste of overall potency, 34(-50% due to talents =17) potency per dose. Converting 255 potency, remaining 15 doses. Each dose value of 5 experience, soul granted 75 experience to alchemist profession. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked at his xp; Mortal Rank 3, (2,565/5000). In the future I need to adjust my mentality, that was scary. Packing away his 135 bone refining powders he looked at the boxes he had laid out for tomorrow. 300 Minor Qi Gathering, 800 Qi Gathering, 600 Minor Bone setting. That''s 1,200 ounces, 3,200, and 2,400. There is going to be some extra with the two minor potions. I can only do 9 gallons of minor qi, leaving 12 sets of powder. But my measurements suck, I should do 8 gallons. So let''s set aside 44 sets of minor qi powders. The minor bone I can do 18 gallons and only set aside 24 doses. The qi gathering is an easy 25 gallons. A cubic foot holds about 7.5 gallons so I can use his 2 foot bucket. Shit, a bucket is not square. Hmm, cylinders were radius squared by pi by height, so that is a bit over 6 cubic feet of volume or a bit over like 45 gallons. Shit, when did I start remembering crap like this? I couldn¡¯t estimate the amount of liquid in a measured cup before¡­ Throwing his ability to recall formulas and instantly calculate to the back of his brain, he headed to bed. He needed sleep in preparation of facing a mad Muta that he needed a favor from. That and he had been extremely concentrated while refining for most of the day. The next morning when he got to the smithy he was greeted by Muta instead of Raen. ¡°Boy, you are certainly good at causing problems, come upstairs and let''s chat.¡± Following Muta up into their home for the first time, Kael took a look around the tiny living area. It was more like a Kitchen on one wall, a couch and 2 chairs around a small table on the other wall, with a dinning table in the middle of them. Taking off his loaded backpack and taking a seat in one of the chairs he faced Muta. Preparing his glib tongue to go into overtime, the old face and the young face stared at each other. After about 15 seconds, Kael finally gave in first. ¡°I did not know that sharing cultivation methods was such a big deal. Currently, there are only two people in the world left who have cultivated what I gave Raen. You don¡¯t have to worry about some old and powerful family coming to pick on her for taking their cultivation methods.¡± ¡°Well Kid, that is good to hear, but it is still a heavy gift, and it may not even be suited for her.¡± Agreeing with Muta, Kael began again, ¡°That¡¯s true, she may not be suited for it. It is a metal element technique. I figured it would suit her because it focuses on physical strength, endurance, and the body¡¯s toughness. It¡¯s a bit masculine for a girl, but it is pretty much tailored for a smith.¡± Sighing, Muta knew regardless of what Kael sid, Raen would never relent. ¡°So what do you want in exchange for it than kid?¡± Grinning, Kael said, ¡°Simple, I want an apprenticeship 4 days a week, the 5th day you have to let me use your forge and no one can talk about what I do.¡± Kind of surprised, the old man asked, ¡°So, you are trading a top grade cultivation method for using a forge once a week with no rumors? You sure you did not hit your head before coming in here? What about your old man, what is he going to try to get out of me?¡± ¡°No Muta, I already made the deal with my father. I really just want to learn smithing and using your forging tools would be a big help to me.¡± ¡°Kid, how can a smiths forge be of help to you? As far as I know, you have your head buried knee deep in an ass load of alchemy.¡± Still grinning Kael said, ¡°Old man, follow me down stairs and I will show you.¡± Pausing before heading downstairs Kael shouted out, ¡°Raen if you want to see your pops doing alchemy come down stairs!¡± After his shout, he quickly scurried down stairs to ensure he did not get a slap on the head. Arriving in the smithy, Kael sat his backpack down by the 2-foot hearth. ¡°Ok, you two get this hearth going, it doesn¡¯t need to be melting metal hot, just a layer of charcoal or wood should do. We just need to boil water. While you get that ready, I¡¯m going to be hauling water from my home to here.¡± With Muta¡¯s nod of approval, Kael took off to his home while Raen just stood there dumbfounded. Thinking to herself, Since when did that old bastard taking orders from anyone? Running back and forth from his home, carrying 4 jugs of water at a time was super annoying. His first three trips also involved him dumping the water into the 2-foot bucket. Luckily Raen volunteered to go refill the jugs, leaving him with one last trip. Setting down the last three jugs he paused a moment. Fuck, I still need jugs. I have to stop planning things while half asleep. Looking over to Raen, Kael said, ¡°Can you do me an extra huge favor?¡± ¡°Sure, what¡¯s up!¡± she replied. ¡°I need you to run over to that lazy old man Wallus. Ask him for 36-gallon jugs with sturdy tops, like the one he sold to my father. I know he has them in stock, he likes to make a bunch of stuff then sit around yelling curses at people all day. Tell him he can make any reasonable demand and my family will meet it.¡± Kael said. After Raen took off Kael filled the bucket with 25 gallons of water. Lighting up the hearth and giving the billows a few pumps to get it going, he let Muta know he was going to go help Raen. Muta stopped him before he left, ¡°Boy, a lot of that water is going to burn off, you sure you got the numbers right?¡± ¡°Of course, wait, it was 51 gallons to brew, so we need 38.25 gallon jugs. Shit, she is getting too many and my math is wrong. Oh, that¡¯s ok, it was with the minor Qi gathering, I just need to get the extra powders from my house and do 9 gallons.¡± ¡°Boy, stop talking to yourself and go help Raen, tell Wallus you only need 24 jugs.¡± Kael ran off and came back with Raen. After a second trip of carrying 6 jugs each they were done. Checking the water it was at a low rolling boil just as he needed. Looking around until he found a clean rod to use for stirring he stood up on the edge of the hearth. Feeling his toes slowly burning away he asked for box after box of powder. Stirring in all 800 sets of Qi gathering powders he constantly stirred for 5 minutes. The water eventually turned a goldish pink color. Asking Muta for a lid and gloves, he covered it up, then lifted the entire thing with a grunt. Spinning around to face Muta, Kael grunted out, ¡°Old man, I can¡¯t get off this ledge without dying, could you put this on the ground for me?¡± After he finished talking, he finally glanced at Muta and Raen. Both of them were staring at him with their mouths open. ¡°Muta, Seriously, I¡¯m going to drop this, take it please.¡± Snapping out of his shock, Muta grabbed the handles and put the bucket down. ¡°Boy, you totally lied to us. You really are a monster though. A 6-year-old that can lift a 950-pound bucket that has over 150 pounds of water in it is really not normal.¡± Shaking his head at his screw up, Kael replied with, ¡°When you first asked my strength was just under 800 pounds. I have broken through twice since then. My true core strength is just under 950 pounds, but I did not really move the bucket, just used leg and back strength to get it off the coals.¡± Suddenly Raen cheered, ¡°AWESOME! You are totally buff!¡± Chuckling, Kael said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t be as buff as I am, but with that cultivation technique you will gain 3 times the normal strength, twice the normal body condition, and about 80% more stamina and agility than you would without a technique.¡± Hearing that Raen cheered again, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m going to be buff, hear that old man? What are you going to tell your friends when a little girl beats you in arm wrestling?¡± Listening to the kid''s banter, Muta finally broke them up. ¡°Ok, that is nice and all, but don¡¯t you have a bucket full of random crap wasting space in my smithy?¡± ¡°Right, Muta can you place it on the corner of the ledge with the nozzle facing us?¡± Lifting up the bucket he did as the kid asked, then watched as he filled jugs full of whatever thing he just made. After Kael filled up 19 buckets he handed the last, which was 3/4th full to Muta. ¡°Old man, this is 96 ounces, 32 doses of Qi gathering potion. Consider it payment for lifting buckets for me for an hour.¡± Taking the jug Muta asked, ¡°and what is the goo worth?¡± Moving the 18 jugs away from the hearth Kael replied, ¡°hmm, just under a gold I guess. It increases the natural energy you can absorb by a quarter for 3 days per dose.¡± Hearing a jug was almost a gold, Raen ran her eyes over the other 18 thinking, This kid is going to be rich. The next hour progressed quickly as they made the minor gathering and bone setting potions. Kael gave Raen a jug of his minor gathering potion before telling her the other might be too strong right now. Explaining she should drink 3 ounces each morning and it would increase her cultivation speed by 15%. The three of them made a few trips bringing the 37 gallon jugs to Kael''s house. Waving goodbye to them, Kael had dinner with his family. After eating he pointed his father to his mass production. ¡°Dad, here are the things to sell, I am keeping the rest. 100 muscle and bone refining powders, 600 minor recovery powder and 900 wound sealing powder. There are 5 jugs of minor qi gathering potion, 18 jugs of qi gathering potion, and 14 jugs of bone setting potions. Each jug has 42.66 doses, so they are all filled up and not lacking. I would suggest selling them at 40 doses just for convenience. Also, if you could find out how they measure potions, I would be super happy.¡± Putting each thing into his interspatial pouch, Iradin said, ¡°Good! As we agreed, half of the profit will go into buying more herbs to make things with, what do you want with your half?¡± Looking at his father and mother he said, ¡°I should get a minimum of 15 gold. Get me 10 sets of muscle refining, 11 sets of bone refining, and 50 sets of qi gathering herbs. The rest you can spend on recipes and their herbs or whatever.¡± Iradin looking at the now empty space said, ¡°Deal, in the future, I will only go once a month though.¡± ¡°Thanks, dad, you are the best. If you find another trustworthy merc company I should have the time to support two of them.¡± ¡°Ok Kael, I will see what I can do.¡± Going outside to his barrel he began his nightly cultivation. Chapter 21 - Bolt鈥檚 got nothing on me 12 days later Kael was still watching Muta make things. It had grown more interesting as he started working through basic ranged weapons. Raen was having problems cultivating, and Muta suggested she talk to Iradin when he returned. Kael had to skip cultivation to go hunting for his family and also to pay back Wallus. While butchering the animals he noticed something interesting. His chef profession only needed 1,500 experience to move to rank 4. That night when he returned home he was met with his father who looked a little worried. ¡°Kael, some people were nosing into who I was when selling to the shops. In the future you can only sell to people we have contracts with. Fortunately, I talked to another merc group. There is a catch though, both merc groups want things every three months, so I won¡¯t be going out as often. Oh and the vice-captain had quoted me the wrong price on minor bone setting potions, he was buying for twice as much thinking it was bone setting potions. They kept to their deal though, but in the future they want real bone setting potions, which is ok. That also means there is no point in buying 50 sets of qi gathering potion herbs since you can¡¯t sell them. The positive thing is you made 41 gold 500 silver. I spent 5 gold buying the actual bone setting and wound recovery recipes instead of the minor ones. You need to make 1,000 recovery and wound sealing powders. As well as 500 bone setting potions. That is for each group. For the healing stuff, you seem to make 30 per set of herbs. I bought 80 sets just to be sure for the powders and 40 for the potions. The herbs cost 8 gold more or less, with the recipes and what you owed me, that is 13.5 gold total. With your money, I bought a minor phoenix flight potion recipe for 5 gold. A Meridian Washing and a Marrow Washing pill for half a gold each. 20 body cleansing pills for 2 gold. I also bought you a mortal ranked, external lightness technique for 10 gold. It is an external art since you can¡¯t project qi yet. It seems ok, it is called Heat Rising Steps. Lightness arts are designed to make your body lighter, increasing your movement speed. It should be beneficial for you. The muscle and bone refining powders you wanted cost you 1 gold 250 silver. Everything is in your room along with the 2 and a half gold. I will hang onto the rest for better investments.¡± ¡°Thanks, Dad! Why did you buy the pills and not the recipes and herbs though?¡± ¡°Son, you can¡¯t make pills until you can externalize your Qi. You can¡¯t make actual Dan¡¯s until you have a spiritual or divine sense. You have natural talent, but honestly, you haven¡¯t become what a real cultivator would consider an apprentice alchemist yet.¡± Taking the lecture patiently like a filial child should, he eventually escaped to his room. Looking through what his pops bought him there were a couple issues. The minor phoenix flight potions herbs nagged him that they were wrong. The two pills were worthless for him as they only worked on people under 8 talent or perception. Sighing he set aside the two pills and 5 of the Body cleansing pills. Packing the rest away for later refining he went to sleep. The next morning he brought Raen to his house to talk to his dad. The issue was that she had already cultivated. If she really wanted to use their technique she would have to start over. After a few minutes of hemming and hawing about it, she agreed. After Kael¡¯s dad helped her reset her cultivation, Kael surprised her with a gift. Handing over the 7 pills he set aside last night he said, ¡°Raen, these are for you, I think they will help you a lot in cultivating.¡± ¡°Oh, what do they do exactly, Kael?¡± Staring at Raen, trying to figure out how to explain the washing pills without numerical data he got a very interesting notification. Soul has examined another living creature. Living creature, Raen, has a favourable impression of the Soul. Impression level, object of worship. Allowing examination due to impression level. Name: Raen Ru¨£nj¨©n, Race: Human, Age: 8, Sex: Female, Bloodline: None, Cultivation: None
Group A Base Mod Total Group B Base Mod Total Group C Base Mod Total Group D Base Mod Total
Strength 5 5 Agility 4 4 Reflex 7 7 Talent 6 6
Body 4 4 Stamina 4 4 Endurance 6 6 Perception 5 5
Intelligence 4 4 Willpower 4 4 Spirit 6 6 Luck 5 5
Profession(s): Chef: Mortal, Tier 5. No special recipes or equipment Blacksmith: Mortal, Tier 6. Flaming Raindrops hammering technique Interesting, since she has not started cultivating, she is actually slightly above average. All of those Group A & B stats should increase by around 2 naturally when she starts cultivating. Super lucky too. ¡°The marrow washing pill will increase your perception by up to 2 ranks. The meridian washing pill does the same, except with talent instead of perception. Neither will increase your rank past the Violet Stage.¡± Raen took the pills and quickly munched on them before anyone could try to stop her. Examining her stats again Kael verified that both her Talent and Perception had changed to 7. Not bad at all he thought. ¡°The body cleansing pills remove 20% of medicinal residue left in your body from pharmacology goods. Take one each time you break through in my own opinion. Use the powders and potions I gave you before until you reach Rank 3 or when you run out, then come see me for more.¡± Raen ran up and hugged Kael before running away. Shouting behind her, she said, ¡°Thanks Kael! Don¡¯t bother coming to the smith today, pops is going to be pissed about my cultivation!¡± Time flashed by, suddenly it was the new years again. His yearly income was huge from his sales to the mercenaries. His output had greatly exceeded his father''s estimates. After the first trip, he signed up a third merc group. Supplying this group only needed an additional 10 sets of bone setting potion herbs in addition to the extra that Kael had been producing. Besides the additional mercenary group, one thing that made him more money was removing sage from the recovery powder recipe. This made it perfect, raising its potency to 120, then a bonus of 40 for 160. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Kael had made 52 gold in profit for the first trip. Trips after that he made 55 gold. Out of the money made his father, of course, kept half of that. His Alchemy skill had increased and he realized the experience cost per rank went up in a strange way, It made no sense to him at all. From 1,000 to 5,000, to 7,500, to 10k, to 15k, to 20k experience. His current rank was hard earned. The experience reduction was serious too. His first 300 sets of herbs from the three combined recipes made him about 12k xp. The last 300 sets of herbs combined made him about 2k. He did not even get experience for refining herbs anymore. Chef ranks were steady as they went up. Blacksmith ranks had an exp jump from rank 4 to 5, nothing too serious though. In the last 11 months, Kael had breakthrough after breakthrough in cultivation. His cultivation breakthroughs were always equal to the previous ranks amount of cultivating time plus two weeks. Like a clock, his breakthroughs were always on time. The Qi gathering potions were worthless for him so he gave them to Raen early on. He was currently a Rank 8 Disciple, working on refining his organs. He had increased his strength and agility by 2. His body and stamina had increased by 3. Raen had finally regained her adult statistics at the new years. All of which were 6¡¯s and 7¡¯s. She had broken through to Rank 4 Disciple during the year, putting her equal to where she would have been if she did not change techniques. However, instead of gaining 1 strength and body while cultivating to Rank 4, she gained 4 strength and 2 body. Although not a super freak like Kael, she was far above the people living in the village. During new years the two families spent their time together celebrating before life fell back into a routine. It took Kael only three months to step into Rank 9 Disciple, but he refused to give up on perfection. Just before the new years, he broke through again. For reaching the blood refining stage, Rank 9, he gained 3 strength and 1 agility. This was nothing compared to breaking through into Rank 10, the perfection realm. Perfection increased all of his statistics. His father said his body was currently at half xiantian, which created the boost, but he was still shocked. He had gained 4 strength, 3 body, 2 agility, 2 stamina, 1 intelligence, and 1 willpower. Being only almost 8 years old with the core strength of 1,650 pounds was mind-boggling to him. Raen managed to cultivate to Rank 6 during this year. It would have been faster but when she reached rank 4, old Muta made a new rule. The new rule refused to let her breakthrough more than once every 6 months. Her advancement was still noticeable as her growth outstripped most of the villagers. With only a few weeks until new years, Kael convinced his dad to take him into town when delivering to the mercs. He was going to get a special present for Raen¡¯s 10th birthday. With two years of profit and the next deliveries money, he had almost 200 gold to spend. The next day Kael was excited about seeing civilization for the first. Rushing over to let Muta know his father was taking him to a city, he placated Raen by telling her he would bring her something. Returning home to find his parents waiting for him, he hugged his mom before he and his father left. Heading north into the forest Iradin told him, ¡°You have to keep up with me. This is a 4-day run, we don¡¯t have time for a walk or you will miss new years.¡± ¡°Ok dad, I got this!¡± Speeding up to a long loping run, Kael almost ran into a tree. He had never needed to move his fastest, even when training the weird lightness art his dad had bought him. Subconsciously, he had always run at his previous earth speed. Now that he was really letting loose, he was hauling ass. Listening to his dad laugh at him, he slowly adjusted to his speed. Guessing he was moving at 25 to 30 miles an hour, the superhuman reality of being a cultivator really hit him. That sprinter, Bolt or whatever has nothing on me. Starting to enjoy the wind whipping past him, he began practicing his heat rising steps. Figuring that the reason he had been stuck at the small success stage was probably that he was running so slow before. After his heat raising steps kicked in he could actually start to feel that his body was lighter. It did not increase his speed much, but it definitely reduced the amount of energy he was wasting. It also made it much easier to dodge things that were in his way. After about 4 hours and 6 broken tree branches later, he received an upgrade notification. Soul¡¯s technique, Heat Raising Steps has advanced. New skill rank, Large Success. Current benefit, 30% reduction to endurance expenditure due to moving increased to 50%. Additional benefit, 20% increase in movement speed when not using an internal movement art. Congratulations! Make persistent efforts! I guess I should have read that last time. It is not nearly as worthless as I thought. Kicking his speed up to 34 to 35 miles an hour he looked over smugly at his father. The smug look on his face froze immediately upon seeing him. He looked like he was still lightly jogging just as he did in the beginning. Thinking this is a bunch of bullshit, Kael began to review his character sheet in his mind, looking for movement mechanics. Staring at his reflex score, he found that people could move 1 mph per point as his top running speed. Alternatively, he could sprint for a 50% increase in speed, but at a 10 times increase of endurance expenditure. He could also jog at up to 70% of his speed for a 50% reduction in endurance expenditure. His endurance showed he could run at top speed for 10 minutes per point. Doing a bit of quick math he knew he had about 2 more hours before running out of gas. Still kind of shocked at his dad speed, he took a good hard look at him. Willing himself to examine him, he finally got what he wanted, which promptly sent into shock, then a tree. Soul has examined another living creature. Living creature, Iradin, has a favourable impression of the Soul. Impression level, devoted. Allowing examination due to impression level. Name: Iradin Darksteel, Race: Human, Age: 304 / 1250, Sex: Male, Bloodline: Titan, Cultivation: Body Refinement - Perfection (Core Establishment)
Group A Base Mod Total Group B Base Mod Total Group C Base Mod Total Group D Base Mod Total
Strength 81 -30 51 Agility 52 -30 22 Reflex 93 -30 48 Talent 14 0 14
Body 67 -30 37 Stamina 60 -30 30 Endurance 94 -30 44 Perception 8 0 8
Intelligence 47 0 47 Willpower 48 0 48 Spirit 72 0 72 Luck 0 0 0
Hearing his father shout, ¡°Hey, you ok over there?¡± Kael shook the daze off and stood up. Looking at the large tree that he barely even dented, he felt his sore chest. Crap, I thought running fast made me realize how different cultivators are. Hitting a tree at 30+ and only bruising your chest bring that to a whole new level. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m ok pops. I was just shocked that you were still just jogging along at my top speed. I think when you explained your strength to me, you kind of concealed a bit. I know you have your reasons for doing so, but heavens, you are super buff.¡± ¡°Good, when you step into the saint realm, I¡¯ll let you know. Your mom and I will also pass you our real skills. You sure you''re ok?¡± ¡°Yeah, just a bit of a sore chest. Air knocked out of me, no big deal. Let''s get moving.¡± Brushing bark off his chest Kael started to jog. Figuring he had two hours of run time left, he should be able to jog for about 4. About 4 pm, Kael was totally out of gas. Puffing to his father, ¡°Dad, I think it¡¯s lunchtime, we should stop.¡± Chuckling, Iradin slowed down to a stop. ¡°Walk it off, it¡¯s not good to stop immediately when you are that tired.¡± As Kael wandered in circles, Iradin dug a small pit. Creating a little campfire in it he took out a big pot, a slab of some kind of meat, and a bottle of sauce. Drowning the meat in sauce he began to cook it. After about 5 minutes Kael finally took a seat next to him. Iradin looked at his son and said, ¡°First time you have ever let loose I see.¡± ¡°Yeah, never really needed to go all out before.¡± ¡°You know cultivation is the definition of going all out. It is literally about going against the will of heaven. The feeling of succeeding your tribulation is amazing. It isn¡¯t often that you get to slap heaven in the face. To be serious for a moment, if you do not push yourself to your very limits and past them, you will not succeed in your cultivation.¡± ¡°Alright dad, I will work harder. It always seemed to just come naturally with cultivation sessions. Even if it was a bit painful.¡± ¡°I¡¯m really worried about your Qi refining. Body refining was not an issue, but you will have to push yourself beyond what you think you can handle, then a bit more, to get past your issues.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can¡¯t let that little girl Raen pass me up or I won¡¯t hear the end of it.¡± Taking two bowls out his pouch and some forks, Iradin lifted the meat out of the pot and quickly sliced bite-sized bits off into the bowls. After eating Kael said, ¡°Dad, making things so spicy you can¡¯t taste them doesn¡¯t mean you can cook. Next time remind me to have mom send us off with snacks.¡± Cleaning up the two took off again. The half-hour break was not enough for Kael to recover completely. After 3 hours he was wheezing up a storm. Iradin made him run for another hour before letting him collapse for the night. The only notable moment during their trip was when a rank 5 cat of some sort jumped down at Kael. Iradin turned it into a pile of hashed meat with one punch before it could even get close. Seeing that his dad could easily smash a rank 5 beast he thought, No wonder he was so mad when I stabbed that rank 3 thing. He was just playing around and I almost got myself crushed. Definitely telling mom. After three and half days of their grueling pace, they finally began to slow down to a jog. Around 10 am the forest began to thin out, by noon it would be better called ¡°woods¡± instead of a ¡°forest¡±. An hour after that they broke out of the woods onto a 15-foot wide dirt road. Looking to the left Kael could see the city. Based on the size it probably housed about 20,000 people. The entire city was encircled by a 20-foot wall that had a handful of patrols walking on it. An enormous gate was open where the road met the walls. There were plenty of people dressed in leather and steel armor coming and going from it, creating a small line of people waiting to enter. It was obvious that the city thrived on the business the mercenaries hunting the deeper parts of the forest brought. Staring at the huge wall like a bumpkin, Kael followed his father as he walked towards the line to enter the city. Chapter 22 - Civilization? After waiting in line for a few minutes they finally arrived at the guards. Guards would be a polite term, Kael decided. The four men at the gate were wearing worn out uniforms, rugged chainmail armor, and holding slightly rusted glaives. Paying half a silver to enter, Kael felt like he was in a mixture of ancient China and a Renaissance Faire. The main road was nothing but hard packed dirt. The only good thing about it was the size, an entire 25 feet wide. The sides of the road were lined with street vendors hawking everything from meat on a stick to crappy jewelry. Behind the street vendors on each side of the street were 4 foot wide wooden walkways. People wearing nice cotton or silks were walking along them. Feeling the tug of his father''s hand on his shoulder they began walking down the road. Barraged by smells and shouts was overwhelming for him. Growing up in a western metropolis the only thing on the roads were cars, and if someone tried to sell something on the side of the street they would be arrested. Slightly disoriented Kael focused on his father''s back and followed him through the city like a zombie. After a few minutes of walking, they came to a large villa that was surrounded by 8-foot walls. In front of the gate were two men in nice leather armor with swords at their hips. Their armor had been stained a dark brown and the symbol of a wolfs head was branded into the right breast. As Iradin approached he shouted, "Hey, tell Walt his delivery is here.¡± One of the men clearly recognized him, nodding, he cracked the gate open and ran inside. 2 minutes later a man in his late 30s wearing nice but functional cotton garments came out. Reaching out to grab Iradin''s hand he pulled him into a hug, slapping him on the back. ¡°Iradin my friend, you are a week early this time!¡± ¡°My wife decided that we had to spend the new years together, so I have to make all my sales today and then rush back.¡± ¡°Who is the lad with you, your son?¡± ¡°Yes, this is Kael, my son. I brought him out to start experiencing the world.¡± ¡°Boy, don¡¯t be a drag on your father, it seems like you have a long trip, you don¡¯t want to miss the new years.¡± Laughing at Walters nagging of his son, Iradin said, ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate him, he is already at the peak of body refinement.¡± ¡°No way, that pipsqueak is barely done with his mother''s milk.¡± Disgruntled with their banter Kael said, ¡°Old man, I am going to go look for a gift. Where should I meet you in 2 hours or so?¡± Laughing at his son''s sour face, Iradin told him to meet at the broken twig tavern. Before heading off Kael asked Walter, ¡°Hey, you live in this place, where can I find nice ore, fancy clothes, and a leather worker?¡± Walter gave him directions to the area of town that the locals went for their artisan needs and Kael took off. Jogging through the streets his small size came in handy. With only a few shouts of sorry for people he startled he ended up a dozen roads over into a much more subdued part of the city. Wandering a street that was half the size of the main road, Kael''s first stop was a provisions store. Buying a large grey bag made of magical beast skin for 10 silver, Kael slung it single strap over his shoulder as he left. Finding a three-story shop called ¡°The Hoard¡± that Walter had mentioned Kael walked in. The interior of the shop was pretty big at about 1600 square feet. The walls were lined with all sorts of random weapons and armors. There were a dozen long shelves that took up the middle of the place, and a counter at the end. Walking up to the counter Kael was greeted by a young man in his late teens. ¡°What can I do for you, kid?¡± he asked. After looking at the weird jewelry and other accessories in the case, Kael looked up at the man and said, ¡°I was told you sell ore here at a reasonable price. I want to take a look at anything you have that is heavy.¡± The salesman laughed at him, ¡°Kid all ores are heavy for someone your age, why don¡¯t you come back with your parents instead of wasting my time?¡±Becoming annoyed, Kael told the guy he had lost some good sales before turning and leaving the place. Deciding he looked too much like a bumpkin he wandered down the street until he found a tailor. Walking into the tailors'' shop there were a few pre-made clothes of nice cotton, but the majority of the shop was taken up by bolts and bolts of cloth. An older lady in here sixties sat behind the counter with a younger woman in 20s. Chastising what Kael assumed was her granddaughter, the old woman kept shouting about how worthless the ladies man was. Coughing slightly to get their attention, Kael then walked up and greeted them. ¡°Young lady, you should really listen to your mother, they say age comes with wisdom you know.¡± Garnering a laugh from the grandmother she asked him, ¡°Child what can we do for you here?¡± Looking at the kind old lady, Kael told her he was looking for a set of nicer cotton clothing for himself, as none of the shops would take him seriously otherwise. He also said he would like a sturdy but pretty cotton dress and a nicer silk dress for his mother. After hashing out the different sizes based on his memory, he ended up buying a dark green set of clothes with nice boots from the pre-made clothing. A bit of hemming later and he no longer looked like a hick. Asking the old woman to give his worn clothes to a beggar kid, Kael paid up. It came to 1.2 gold for his mothers'' clothing and 100 silver for his. Not having too much silver on him, Kael ordered a new pair of soft leather boots for both of his parents, and three more cotton garments for his mother. Overpaying, he gave the old woman 2 gold, asking her, ¡°if possible can you have it done by tomorrow evening?¡± Getting her agreement he turned around to leave. When he turned around a pale violet bolt of cloth caught his eye. Walking over to it and feeling it, it felt like running your hand through a cloud of cool mist on a hot summer''s day. Looking back to see the two ladies watching him with hawk eyes, he asked how much it was. Finding out the bolt was 40g, Kael about dropped a load in his pants. Running his hands over the cloth again he made his decision. Walking back to the counter he asked them for a piece of parchment and a quill. ¡°If you ladies can make what I draw I will buy the cloth and give you an additional 10 gold for the manufacturing.¡± The young ladies eye lit up, she ran through a door in the back thinking, who knew this little shit was rich, no wonder he was pissed he couldn¡¯t buy anything elsewhere. Coming back into the main room she handed the parchment and pen over. Kael laid out the parchment on the counter and began to draw a dress. The dress was designed to be tight around the waist, but ankle length with a slight flare at the bottom for easy movement. The neckline was a basic conservative design, but the arms were loose for easy movement as well. The sleeves slightly tightened at the wrist before a draping piece, about 6 inches in length, extended from the inside of the sleeve, down past the hands. Drawing some flowing patterns down the arms and from the armpit to the base of the dress. He then shaded in from the elbow and knee area and below, with shading that got progressively darker until it was solid black around the hems. ¡°The shading should be a lighter blue that progresses to a solid dark blue, like a progression from violet into a blue. If you can, make the neck area a deep purple that transitions into violet before meeting the blue too.¡± Adding heights and dimension of Raen based on his impeccable memory he slid the paper over towards the young woman before looking up. The two ladies were shocked to see a young kid draw out a dress design, color scheme, and dimensions in less than 2 minutes. The old woman patted his head and said, ¡°Boy, if you were a local I would make you come work in my shop. This will be a very nice gift for your little girlfriend.¡± Blushing some, Kael said it was just his friend before paying up. Leaving the shop that was filled with the laughter of the two ladies, Kael decided to find part 2 of his gift. Heading down the street he found a leather workers shop. Heading inside the smell of rawhide struck him like a fist. The shop was filled with bags, packs, and an assortment of armor. Going up to the middle-aged man behind the counter he said, ¡°Sir, do you make custom leathers here?¡± The old man looked Kael over once before saying, ¡°Yeah but it is expensive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, how much do you charge in labor for pauldrons, bracers, a breastplate, and a leather skirt? Oh, and the bracers should cover the hands and topmost knuckles.¡± Hearing Kael¡¯s detailed request, the man gave him a serious look before quoting him 10 gold. ¡°That¡¯s acceptable, I will pay you twice that to build something with my design.¡± Nodding to Kael the old man reached out to shake his hand, signifying the deal was done. ¡°Do you sell leathers here, or should I go shop around and come back?¡± The man hearing he could make some more money lifted the side of the counter and waved him back. Heading through the back door he enters a storehouse area filled with piles of skins, leathers, and hides. Digging around for 20 minutes, Kael finally found what he was looking for. Pulling out a soft leather that was a shade darker than midnight blue he nodded to himself. Rolling up the 10 by 6 chunk of leather he carried it over to the shop owner. ¡°How much for this?¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Sizing it up the man said, ¡°1 Gold per square foot. Making something for someone your size will use less than half.¡± Nodding at the price Kael examined the leather quickly to find out it was from a rank 7 cat type magical beast. ¡°Good, I¡¯ll take half, if you have enough left over, make some boots, shin and thigh guards, and I will throw in another 5 gold.¡± Coming to an agreement the man handed Kael a piece of hide to draw on and a quill. Beginning to sketch it out he quickly scrapped it. Sketching out a new one, it turned out to be a trench coat looking thing. It had a high folded collar that raised up to just beneath the ear. It was split from the left side of the neck to the right hip. The area beneath the waste was split into four leather flaps like suit tails. One for the front, slimmer ones for each hip, and one for the back. The tails hung down to about the knees. Across the diagonal opening, Kael sketched on a set of 5 buckles and a few hooks. The end product was more like a double-breasted coat, where the chest had two layers. Some easy clasps on the inside would hold it together while the stylish buckles would lock it firmly in place. Looking up at the leatherworker he said, ¡°I changed my mind, just make the jacket, a set of leather pants, and some boots. The pants should be black, or almost black, so the set is not just a blob of midnight blue. Reinforce the normal impact areas, but the looks of the reinforcements have to flow with the jacket and pants design. It¡¯s a gift for a girl so it is important to look nice.¡± Looking at the drawing that was completely different than what was originally discussed, the man shrugged and said, ¡°I¡¯m not changing my price, come back tomorrow night.¡± Thanking him, Kael headed out of the store and started looking around for a smith to buy some ores. Spending an hour of time bouncing from one smith to the next he finally found a black porous ball of ore that was about half the size of a head. Picking it up he exclaimed at its roughly 1,000-pound weight. Examining it, he found it was an Earth tiered, rank 2 ore, simply called Night¡¯s Ton. Carrying it over to the smith and haggling it out he got it for 30 gold. Afterward, he bought a small, but reinforced leather bag to put it in. Feeling his money pouch and realizing he only had about 10 gold left until his father handed over his split of the 55, he headed to the tavern. After getting directions and lost a few times, he finally found the place. The area was swarming with mercenaries on the street and looked like a slightly rough part of the city. Walking into the tavern that had a large broken branch as its logo, the only thing Kael could think was, it smells like 2-week old beer in here. Looking around the not so well lighted interior, the majority of it was taken up with 4, 30 foot long tables. Each table just had simple log benches on either side of them. The back area had a half-dozen round tables with 5 chairs encircling them. About two third of the place was filled with mercenaries eating and drinking. Squeals from the decently pretty barmaids would break through the loud atmosphere every few seconds as another ass was slapped or grabbed. Seeing his father at one of the tables with Walter and two other burly looking mercs Kael headed over. Sitting down next to his dad he said, ¡°Does mom know that you live in brothels when you come here?¡± Hearing his son¡¯s comment while he was in mid-drink, Iradin spluttered out a mouthful of ale while mercenaries laughed at him. ¡°This is a tavern, not a brothel, don¡¯t you dare spout any of that nonsense to Varah.¡± Grinning, Kael said, ¡°You can buy my silence with a room key and a half of what profit you made off these poor hardworking men.¡± Rolling his eyes, Iradin handed over 22 gold and a key. ¡°Your room is number 3, the second on the right upstairs.¡± Taking the money and key, Kael sat his small leather pack gently on the table. ¡°Good, this thing is too heavy to haul around, I¡¯ll be back in an hour or so, bye!¡± Standing up, Kael split like a rabbit before anyone could stop him. Laughing at Iradin again, Walter said, ¡°I thought you said not to underestimate your son¡¯s strength, not his ability to blackmail.¡± Reaching out, Walter grabbed the pack, expecting it to be 20 or 30 pounds, the leather slipped out of his fingers as it did not even move. Taking a second look at the pouch, he took a strong grip on the leather strap and lifted it over to him.Shocked at the weight he let it hit the table with a dull crash that was followed by a cracking noise from the thick table. ¡°What the fuck do you feed that kid, this thing is like a half ton.¡± Grabbing the interest of the other three men, he opened the pouch to reveal the dark black ball of ore. Taking it out of the pouch and rolling it back and forth between his hands he said, ¡°Shit you weren¡¯t joking. That brat sat this on the table like it was nothing. This little ball of ore is seriously 1,000 pounds.¡± Handing it over to Iradin, who was shocked at his son''s find, he just smiled proudly as he said, ¡°I told you that brat is buff. You should have seen my shock when I found him carrying logs over to help me build a fence. Oh did I mention that was when he was three!¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit creepy, but at least you know your kid isn¡¯t a waste. What the hell is he doing buying an ore like that though?¡± Placing the ore back into its pouch, Iradin said, ¡°He has been apprenticing as a blacksmith for a while now. That old man is stingy with his good ores, Kael probably wants to make something for himself.¡± Not knowing his father was talking him up, Kael had wandered around until he found a large herb shop called Pharmacology Now. Heading in, this shops counter was right at the door. The entire shop was long and skinny. It had shelves of herbs lining all the walls, with one row of shelves running down the middle. As soon as he entered a man behind the counter asked, ¡°Anything we can do for you, son?¡± Looking over at the young man who had a face you would just love to hate, he said, ¡°No I¡¯m good when I check the quality of your herbs I¡¯ll give you a list of what I want.¡± Ignoring the man, Kael walked in and began examining different herbs. Seeing that the herbs were not great quality, but at least passable, he continued to browse while making a list in his head. Finding a pile of Flame Burst, he remembered back to that phoenix flight recipe that seemed bunk. Examining the herbs properties, he decided he could make the same potion by replacing the two gold fingers with 1 flame burst. After wandering the shop and knowing he was pretty screwed on experience unless he got some new recipes, he decided to get 40 sets of qi gathering potion herbs, and 50 sets of minor phoenix flight potion herbs. Heading to the counter the man asked, ¡°You done wasting time and taking up space in the shop now kid?¡± Looking at the sneering man, Kael loudly said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure what is with your attitude, but if this is how you treat customers, I can go elsewhere. I have a delivery to complete if you''re not selling just say so.¡± An old voice rang out from the back of the shop after Kael¡¯s outburst. ¡°Oi, what the ruckus about out there?¡± The shopkeeper responded with a shout of, ¡°Just some kid, I¡¯m kicking him out now.¡± Hearing this, Kael was pissed. Shouting, ¡°Yeah just a kid who wanted to buy a couple hundred herbs. My gold is apparently not good in this shit hole though.¡± Turning around and leaving his also shouted out, ¡°Oh, and my employer is 3 merc groups, who also will not be buying from here in the future either.¡± Leaving the store amidst an old man screaming at the young shopkeeper, Kael found another apothecary. Walking into the new place, Kael was not in the mood to deal with anything. He went to the counter, slapped 10 gold on it and said, ¡°Give me 40 golden leaf, 40 timid rose, 40 tang-kui, 50 flame burst, and 100 sundew. Make it fast and the extra two gold in this pile is yours.¡± The guy behind the counter was in his mid-teens, seeing a two gold tip, he immediately shouted ¡°Ok¡± and ran off to get the herbs. Picking out decent ones in hope for a return customer, he came back carrying bundle after bundle of herbs. Looking through them and nodding, Kael began to pack them up in his sling bag. The shopkeeper seeing Kael manhandling the herbs sighed. Hearing the sigh he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry they will be refined in a day or two at max. You have decent quality here too. My pops buys a few hundred sets of herbs every three months. I¡¯ll send him here for the next order in a few months, thanks, man!¡± Slinging his pack over his shoulder he turned and left the dumbfounded shop clerk behind. The clerk snapped out of it and quickly ran to inform the owner of a big order that may come in regularly. Chapter 23 - A broken twig or rotted wood? Arriving back at the Broken Twig, Kael saw that his father was still drinking. Motioning to his father to go upstairs, the two headed to his room. Once inside, Kael handed him his pack, ¡°Can you store this for me? It¡¯s full of herbs that I don¡¯t want to go bad.¡± Taking the pack from his son and putting it in his pouch, Iradin asked, ¡°So where is the gift for Raen?¡± ¡°No worries, it will be done tomorrow, then we can get out of here.¡± While the father and son were upstairs talking, what Kael was unaware of was that he was being followed. Originally the shopkeeper he yelled at got fired after he left. Following Kael with the intent to beat him up, he had overheard what he said to the shop clerk at the other shop. Seeing him slap down 10 gold like it was nothing, he assumed Kael was a rich merchant. The ex-shop clerk kept following him to find out who his father was. Once he confirmed they weren¡¯t local, nor nobles, he took off to gather some people to rob them. Kael and his father headed back downstairs. Kael had a decent, but a very greasy meal of some kind of fried white meat, fried vegetables, and what he was pretty sure was fried bread too. After eating his fried everything, he went upstairs to sleep. At some point in the night, the sound of a dull thump and the cracking of wood woke him up. Looking at the door he could tell some just shoved it in, breaking most of the door jamb. Not entirely sure of what he should do, he decided he might as well open the door for the people trying to get in. Rolling out of bed, he exploded towards the door at full speed. Covering the 10 feet in a blink of an eye, he jumped and performed a full-blown dropkick on the door. In mid-air, he pondered how strong his kick would actually be. Surprisingly, he got a rough answer that he was sure had nothing to do with Newton or his laws. Soul is calculating strength of its kick. Core strength is 1,650 pounds. Strength modified by 200% for a double leg kick, (3,300). Based on acceleration and weight, an additional 2,500 pounds has been added. Total force of 5,800 pounds will be applied. The dropkick landed on the door reducing the center of it to sawdust. The kick continued on to hit a burly looking man directly in the chest. Kael could feel and hear a sickening crunch as the man''s ribs also exploded inward. The guy¡¯s body went flying into and through the door opposite of Kaels, while Kael went flying back into his room on the rebound. Landing, he slid back until the wall stopped his momentum. Looking up he saw the store clerk from earlier with a panicked look on his face. At the same time, the sound of something large rupturing came from his father''s room. The ex-store clerk turned around to run just to find himself face to face with Iradin. Reaching out, Iradin¡¯s hand clamped down on the top of the guys head and lifted him straight off the floor. Kael exited his room just as the person across the hall from him stumbled out. It just happened to be the merc Walter and one of the barmaids. When Walter saw Kael, he looked back at the dead man who had two deep footprints carved into his chest. Shuddering, he stepped past Kael to speak with Iradin. ¡°Who are these fucks?¡± Walter said. ¡°No idea, I think this guy is about to tell us though¡± replied Iradin. Interrupting them, Kael said, ¡°He is a store clerk that did not want to sell to me today because I¡¯m a kid. No idea why he is breaking into our rooms though.¡± The store clerk seeing he was being ignored shouted, ¡°My uncle owns Pharmacology Now, you can¡¯t kill me.¡± Squeezing the guys heads until he could hear his skull start to squeak, Iradin said, ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are or who you know, what were you doing?¡± ¡°You¡¯re rich, we were just going to steal some money, you didn¡¯t need to kill them!¡± the man shouted. Snorting, Iradin crushed his skull like it was rotted wood. Dropping the body on the ground, he gave a handful of gold to the barmaid asking her to get some people to clean up the mess. Looking at his son he asked, ¡°Why would he think we are rich?¡± Shrugging, Kael said, ¡°After he wouldn¡¯t sell to me I went to another herb shop and only spent 10 gold. I have no idea why he thought I was rich. If he followed me the entire day he may have seen me spend about 150 though.¡± ¡°Well, 150 gold would be enough to rob for, but most people wouldn¡¯t dare rob a child who can spend that much money in one day.¡± ¡°Sorry pops, most of the time it was just me and the shop keeps. No idea where a random thief popped out from.¡± ¡°No problem, you did well, just be more aware of your surrounding in the future.¡± ¡°Will do, but let''s stay at a higher scale place next time to avoid this.¡± Finally, the innkeeper and a few men that did odd jobs showed up. Charging Iradin for three doors and a 5 gold disposal fee, everything was taken care of. The barmaid even tried to give back the 4 or 5 gold Iradin had given her, just to be denied. Moving into Iradin¡¯s room they went back to sleep. The next day was not very lively. In the late afternoon, Kael and his father went and collected all of his purchases before leaving the city for home. Kael trying to be mysterious refused to let his father open them. Totally forgetting that his parents both had a powerful spiritual sense, he did not realize his father was just asking him to be polite. After an uneventful, but a very tiring trip home, they made it back the day before new years. Not forgetting to tell his mom he knew how strong they were, he took a moment to examine her as well. Name: Alavarah Everflame, Race: Human, Age: 282 / 1250, Sex: Female, Bloodline: Fae - Fire/wood, Cultivation: Body Refinement, Perfection (Core Establishment)
Group A Base Mod Total Group B Base Mod Total Group C Base ModThe author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Total Group D Base Mod Total
Strength 47 -30 17 Agility 76 -30 46 Reflex 100 -30 55 Talent 12 0 12
Body 51 -30 21 Stamina 64 -30 34 Endurance 90 -30 45 Perception 10 0 10
Intelligence 64 0 64 Willpower 55 0 55 Spirit 87 0 87 Luck 1 0 1
Damn, my mom is buff too! Both of their luck seriously sucks though. Hearing her son call her out on hiding her strength, Alavarah felt a little ashamed. ¡°Sorry baby, there are just things that are not good to know unless you can step out of the mortal realm. It¡¯s better to live a safe and happy life if you don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok mom, I understand. One day when I am rich enough to purchase the entire kingdom I hope you tell me.¡± Smiling at her son¡¯s ridiculous dream she said, ¡°It¡¯s a deal, now show me what you bought.¡± Looking at his dad, he said, ¡°Dump it all out!¡± Iradin began to unload the stuff Kael had bought. Starting with the sling bag he sat it on the floor off to the side. ¡°Just herbs in that one, nothing fun.¡± Next, he pulled out a small pouch and handed it to Alavarah, ¡°It¡¯s about 1,000 pounds, careful.¡± Taking the pouch she pulled out the ore. Looking at it closely and feeling it¡¯s weight she asked, ¡°Nice ore, what did it run you?¡± Grinning like a fool Kael said, ¡°It¡¯s better than nice ore, it¡¯s a tier 2 earth ranked ore called Night¡¯s Ton! I scored it from a poor clueless fellow for 30 gold. I may not know what it is worth, but it has to be at least 10 times that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely worth more than 30 gold, but you should get Muta to take a look at it. He is not as simple as he looks.¡± ¡°Will do mom! Dad, get out the next thing!¡± Listening to his son he decided to just take everything out and pile it up for Kael to go through. Kael sorted everything out into three piles. One pile had a set of soft leather boots that were well made and adult sized. The second pile had the same pair of boots but in a woman''s style and size. It also had a pile of neatly folded clothing, and one wrapped package. Half the clothing was two pairs of sturdy work clothes simply consisting of pants and a shirt. The other half was two nice but sturdy cotton dresses. Finally, Kael handed the package to his mother. Unwrapping it, she was presented with a silk dress. The dress was sleeveless and hugged the form until mid-thigh length where it flared out. From the neck to where the dress flared out had a dark green vine motif scrawled across it. ¡°Thanks, son! You have way better taste than your father, I¡¯m glad you only bought him some old smelly boots.¡± With a big smile, she asked, ¡°So where is Raen¡¯s gift, don¡¯t think you can get away with hiding them. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll wrap it up nicely afterward.¡± Kael pulled over the first package, and said, ¡°Now, no laughing. Raen¡¯s gifts were designed by me.¡± Handing the dress over to his mother she slowly unwrapped. Running her fingers over the material she said, ¡°Wow, it¡¯s made out of Darkfern Spider Thread, and it gorgeous. It looks like I got an old smelly dress too.¡± Taking the final, much larger package that was wrapped in a nice hide, she opened it. Feeling the texture of the boots and how soft they were inside, she set them aside. Doing the same with the pants she commented, ¡°This has some nice reinforcement to it, and it is still soft, nice and functional just like that little girl.¡± Finally holding up the long jacket, she absolutely loved the design. ¡°You need to give the design to this and the name of the leatherworker to your father. The next time you go into town Iradin, I want one, and it has to be maroon with hunter green highlights.¡± Taking that as the best compliment he could get, Kael hurried to get his mom to rewrap the dress. As soon as it was packaged up he ran over to the smithy and handed it to Muta, ¡°This is Raen¡¯s pre-gift gift. Tell her to open it and put it on in the morning for the celebration please!¡± Afterward, he headed home. He asked his mom to store his herbs in her pouch so they would not lose their medicinal value, he then got everything packaged back up and went to bed. Chapter 24 - Mmm, Bacon Kael awoke early, in a great mood he headed downstairs and prepared to make breakfast for his parents. Heading outside, then down into the cold cellar, he was happy to see his mom¡¯s array at work. Unlike the rest of the village whose cold cellars could only hold meats for a day or two, theirs would last a week. His mom¡¯s array sent out a 15-minute spray of frigidly cold air every 12 hours. With his modern day memories of fridges, freezers, and health risks, this made him feel much better about eating stored food. Cutting off a 2 foot long, 6 inch wide, 3 inch thick, slice of bacon from the belly of a wild hog made him even happier. Since his rebirth, he had not had bacon. He always felt like a part of hell had followed him making him be born into a no bacon world. Since he had never heard of it being referenced by anyone, he was afraid to ask for it. Continuing to maul the pig, he cut off a large chunk from its rump to make diced ham from. Carrying it upstairs he was soon back for more. Cutting chunks of a white and a yellow cheese, he looked around before grabbing a tomato, an onion, and a weird looking mushroom. Making another trip he grabbed three of the stonecock eggs before making his final trip for a jug of milk. Starting the charcoal up under their large stove he started to dice the vegetables, ham, and bacon. Taking out a huge wok he realized he forgot the butter. Running back for the butter he set everything else aside. Getting three plates and the cutlery out that he would need he thought he was finally prepared. Loading up the wok with butter and melting it down, he started frying the diced ham. 2 minutes into that he added the chopped up bacon. When the bacon began to sizzle he cracked all three eggs into the wok, poured about a half cup of milk in, and started to whisk it. His hatred of doing dishes causing a small complication with the eggs. They were soon whipped up enough though. Taking the wok off the stove to lower the heat, so the eggs would slowly cook, he waited a minute before adding the layers of vegetables. About to put the wok back on the heat and ready the cheese he realized he did not grate it. Cursing, he used his abnormal strength and agility to super shred the cheese over the grater directly into the wok. Placing it on the heat he finally flipped half of the concoction onto the other half and let it cook. Congratulation, you have created a new object: the Hog Wild Omelette. Mortal tier cooking production, total servings available for creation, 6. Item creation, initial sustenance of 120. Bonus materials invalid, increasing taste by 50%. No sustenance wastage, remaining sustenance of 120(+50% =180). Base servings of 6, no waste of overall sustenance, 20(-50% due to talents =10) sustenance per serving. Error, reduction in sustenance due to talents results in a penalty, reversing talent mechanic for the chef profession. Talent functionality updated. Base servings of 6, no waste of overall sustenance, 20(+50% due to talents =30) sustenance per serving. Converting 180 sustenance, remaining 6 servings. Each serving value of 22.5 experience, soul granted 135 experience to the Chef profession. That¡¯s odd, the talents counter each other, resulting in the same number of servings. I wonder what actual effect sustenance does. Hey, at least it is more tasty! Hearing the notification he knew he was done. Happy that he had a built-in cooking clock to ensure nothing was overcooked, he cut the omelette into 6 and moved two parts onto each of the three plates. While Kael was running about getting bits ready for breakfast, Muta and Raen had already finished theirs. Raen got up to head to her room to get ready for the day but was stopped by Muta. ¡°Hey little girl, slow down a moment, Kael dropped something off for you last night.¡± Brightening up at Muta¡¯s comment she asked, ¡°Ohhh I get my present already? Hurry what is it!?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your new year''s gift, I am sure he has something special in mind for you turning 10. He called it your pre-gift gift.¡± Getting up and walking into his room, Muta returned shortly with a brown paper wrapped package. Handing it over to Raen, he said, ¡°Open it and show it off to me, I did not even peek.¡± Excited, Raen tore the wrapping paper in half to see a deep purple garment folded up. Running her hand across it and feeling it smooth, cool texture she clapped in happiness. Picking it up though, the shirt she thought he gave her, never seemed to end. Finally, when held at shoulder length she could tell it was a dress. ¡°What was he thinking!¡± she exclaimed, ¡°I have never worn a dress in my entire life!¡± Looking over at Raen, Muta sighed while shaking his head. ¡°That is my fault girl. It¡¯s fine to follow and do whatever you enjoy in life, but sometimes you have to suck it up and dress nice. I should have stuffed you into one of those a long time ago.¡± ¡°No way, no way at all am I putting this on. I mean, there are no pants! It is really pretty though, and it feels nice, I¡¯ll just cut it in half and wear it like the shirt it was meant to be.¡± Slapping his hands on the table in a rare bought of annoyance at her, Muta said, ¡°You most certainly will not. Let¡¯s not even discuss how mad that kid would be if you cut it up, or how disappointed he would be if you did not wear it. You are a lot like him and only see money, so let''s talk about that. I can tell you right now, that is by far the most expensive thing you own.¡± Feeling a bit guilty about wanting to chop up the gift, she still refused to believe it had a high monetary value. ¡°That is simply not possible, my forging hammer was made from ore that cost me 12 gold. It took me two years of making all those terribly boring arrowheads for it. A dress cannot possibly cost more.¡± ¡°Little girl, sometimes you can be truly naive. Not considering the custom purple to blue, hourglass style, coloring scheme; nor the custom design of the actual dress. The material it is made from is Darkfern Spider Thread. That thread not only will keep you comfortable in the heat, but it is fireproof for most mortal rank fires. Also, it has some crazy durability. It is as tough as a rank 5 magic beast hide. The material alone cost at least 50 gold. If I am not mistaken the design, color, and cut of the dress were all cooked up by that brat too. Don¡¯t tell me you are going to ruin a dress that is not only unique but also worth about 75 gold. Not only that but would you really ruin a gift from your only real friend? If so I must have made a serious mistake raising you!¡± Raen was a little shocked. This was the first time she had seen her Pa really mad at her since she tried smelting ore using nothing but a bucket of his forge lighting powder. When she did that she nearly killed herself. Thinking about the things he said, she admitted to herself that she was being a bit rash. When she finally figured out what was bothering her she said, ¡°I am sorry Pa, it¡¯s just I¡¯m the only person Kael talks to and he is my only friend. What if he decides he doesn¡¯t like me if I act like a typical girl?¡± ¡°Oh child, you are so silly. If he wasn¡¯t going to be your friend because you acted like a traditional girl then he wouldn¡¯t be worth being friends in the first place. In the second place, who bought you the dress? You are worried over nothing. I can tell you, you are overthinking it. Boys are simple. He just wanted to get you a nice gift, and since you never wear dresses he probably thought it would be unique." Hugging Raen, Muta was thinking, Heavens, this why they say teenage girls are impossible, and she is not even that old yet. I need to keep her in the forge more often. ¡°Go get dressed, we will head over there now to say thank you.¡± Watching Raen run off Muta shook his head. ¡°I am way too old for this,¡± he mumbled while sitting back down at the table. About ten minutes later, a clean and beautifully dressed Raen came out. Looking over at her it reminded the old man of his real daughter, Raen¡¯s mother. Thanks for the gift Kael, it is as much for me as it is for her, you just don¡¯t know it. Looking at the shy adorable girl with her head lowered, Muta got up and hugged her. ¡°You look beautiful, I am sure you will cheer up anyone you pass by just by them looking at you." Blushing Raen mumbled, ¡°let''s go before I lose my courage.¡± Heading across the village that was just starting to wake up, they arrived at the Darksteel home. ¡°Pa, what smells so good? I could eat again if it tastes the way it smells.¡± Smiling at his child he said, ¡°Let''s barge in and find out.¡± Opening the door and walking in Muta shouted, ¡°Iradin, you lazy dog, get out of bed and come get some of your wife''s cooking, it smells amazing.¡± Hearing Muta¡¯s shout Kael added to the fun, ¡°Yeah mom, come downstairs and taste your cooking.¡± Walking out of the kitchen with three plates he put them on the table before saying, ¡°One minute I will go get you guys some.¡± before running off. Returning with another 2 sets of dining wear he moved a piece of omelette off his and his mothers plate onto the two new ones. Stolen story; please report. ¡°Well sit down, those two will be down eventually.¡± Muta took a seat while Raen glared at him. ¡°What nothing to say?¡± she said. Kael looked over at her with a smirk, ¡°What am I supposed to say? You look beautiful today? Because you always look pretty. Or should I tell you not to burn your new dress in the forge?¡± Stomping her feet she took a seat and angrily took a bite out of the omelette. ¡°Oh my, what is this, it is SO GOOD!¡± Completely forgetting her anger she began to devour the piece of omelette in front of her. ¡°It¡¯s called the wild hog omelette, my new creation, glad you like it!¡± After saying that, Kael took his first bite of the omelette and almost died of happiness. For his first bite into bacon in 8 years to be boosted by a 50% flavor bonus literally had him fighting back tears. Shouting out, ¡°Nevermind mom, dad, don¡¯t come down, I am eating everything.¡± He reached over and speared the second piece of omelette off his dad¡¯s plate and moved it to his. ¡°Muta, if you don¡¯t try it soon, Raen is going to eat yours. After a couple of minutes of the three attacking their breakfast, Iradin and Alavarah finally came down. Alavarah seeing Raen in the dress shouted out, ¡°Oh my heavens Raen, what happened to you, hurry home it¡¯s not safe outside with you dressed like that.¡± Alarmed and confused Raen asked, ¡°Why, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Smiling Alavarah said, ¡°Because each person who sees you today is going to try to engage you to their son!¡± Laughing at Raen blush and stuttered reply that she couldn¡¯t understand, Alavarah took a seat to try her sons cooking for the first time. Biting into she was suddenly sad she did not come down at her normal time to steal Iradin¡¯s piece. ¡°Honey sit down and try what Kael made, it is amazing. From today on, he can¡¯t do alchemy anymore, he has to practice cooking for his future restaurant.¡± Trying the food, Iradin would have agreed if thought a chef could make more money than an alchemist. After they were done eating, Raen finally remembered why they came. ¡°Kael, thanks for the 10th birthday gift.¡± ¡°No problem Raen, and it¡¯s not your new year''s gift, that is still coming. Also, why does everyone celebrate their age on the new years? Is everyone just too lazy to remember when they were born or what?¡± Raen gave him a stern look and said, ¡°Kael, sometimes you are a genius, and sometimes you are totally lacking in common sense. In small villages like ours, it is too expensive to have celebrations for each person, so we do them on the new years.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry, I didn¡¯t know, I just thought everyone was lazy,¡± Kael replied. Raen was in an arguing mood so she said, ¡°No it¡¯s because you''re a fancy pants alchemist who doesn¡¯t know the woes of the little people.¡± A little bit hurt by her words Kael told her, ¡°No, I honestly thought people just did not care enough. I¡¯ve never thought of myself as different from the people in the village, and last week is the first time I even have had the chance to spend the money I earned. Sorry, you think I am a little white-faced boy.¡± Muta knowing that Raen was just awkward from wearing a dress and did not mean, or even think, of what she was saying quickly inserted himself into their conversation. ¡°Now children, Raen was just joking, there is no reason to be upset. Raen that was really rude though, in the future, you should think over what you are going to say first. The Darksteels have never treated anyone beneath them. They are more like your old man than you know, so if you think poorly of them you will also be thinking poorly of me.¡± ¡°Sorry, I am just not comfortable wearing a dress for the first time so I am a bit snappy. Sorry, Kael.¡± Alavarah jumped in also saying, ¡°It¡¯s ok Raen, everyone says things they don¡¯t mean at some point or another. The amount of mean jokes Kael thinks he slips past us under the veneer of an innocent child are uncountable. The thing you should be saying instead of sorry is, where is my real gift, jerk.¡± After Alavarah¡¯s comment, the awkward air in the room cleared up. Raen sent Kael off to go get her gift. When he was leaving Iradin reminded him to bring down the ore for Muta to take a look at. Once Kael was out of the room his mom said, ¡°Raen honey if you really don¡¯t like Kael¡¯s gift you can give it to me. I will resize it so I can wear it and get you something new.¡± ¡°Varah! Don¡¯t you dare try to swindle your way into that jacket, I already said I would get one made for you based on Kael¡¯s design." Raen had no idea what was going on, but she did not have a chance to reply as Kael came back downstairs saying, ¡°Mom if I knew my fashion sense was so amazing I would have made you one as well.¡± If I didn''t know better I would think I reincarnated from a gay guy. I did take part in a bunch of the pride parades, maybe some fashion sense rubbed off on me. If I ever reincarnate back onto earth I will have to thank all those fabulous people down in West Hollywood. Getting back to the table, he handed the small pack over to Muta while keeping the large package out of Raen¡¯s reach. Ignoring her glare he said, ¡°Muta, this is something I believe is called Night¡¯s Ton. I snatched it from a clueless vendor, what do you think, any good, and what¡¯s it worth?¡± Taking the large chunk of ore Muta sized it up with his seasoned eyes. ¡°Normally a fist size chunk of this stuff is refined and used as part of the core of heavy weapons to increase their weight. It is not incredibly rare for an earth rank ore, but not something you would generally find outside of a silver ranked city. A fist-sized chunk that has been refined goes for about 100 gold. This is 5 times the weight, so if you can refine it well, it is worth 500 gold. The difficulty in the ore, however, is exactly with its refinement. Since you gave Raen such a nice gift, let me know when you figure out what you want to be done with it and I will refine it for you.¡± ¡°You can refine this? Thanks a million, you are way more awesome than I thought!¡± Snorting at the child''s comment he said, ¡°Don¡¯t get too happy yet, you still have to find out what you want done with it, and how much to use.¡± ¡°Oh, I already know what I want. I want the entire thing forged into the core of a hammer. Not a forging hammer, a Maul! Weird people calling 2 balls on a chain, a meteor hammer pisses me off. So I want to forge a maul that is shaped like a meteor, and call it my meteor hammer. If you could refine that and shape it like a T section, with the bottom of the T having threads for a handle like a spearhead does, that would be perfect. Then in the future when I need a heavier hammer I can simply break the outside of my current hammer and reuse the 1,000-pound core.¡± ¡°Kael, your rambling again, shut up and give me my gift already,¡± Raen demanded. Realizing that he really was rambling he took her advice, shut up, and handed her the package. Untying the bundle she was greeted with a lot of blue. Taking out the boots and feeling how soft they were, she set them aside with a smile. Taking out the black pants and carefully examining them she was pleasantly surprised by the reinforced areas. Finally taking out the large dark jacket she was a little stumped. She had never seen anything like it before. Looking at the deep blue color, with the dark purple straps, matched with silver buckles, she really liked the look. But its shape was strange. ¡°Mom, help her put it on so we can see,¡± Kael said. Alavarah took the coat from Raen. Moving behind her she helped guide it on. Moving around to the front she held the internal breast piece across Raen¡¯s chest while showing her how it hooked into the inside of the outside breast piece. Hooking it up, she moved the outside piece into place and used the buckles to secure it. Giving a little tug at the bottom of the jacket to remove the wrinkles, Alavarah took a step back to look at Raen. ¡°Oh Kael, why did you not make your mom one, it looks amazing!¡± Taking a hand mirror out of her pouch, she held it up so Raen could see herself. ¡°It does look really nice, did you really design this Kael?¡± Raen asked. Happy with the compliments on his work, Kael said, ¡°Of course I did. I know you like things that are more functional so I designed something that would be pretty, stylish, and functional. The pants are reinforced in areas that may take an impact while fighting. The jacket has reinforced arms, the majority of the back is reinforced too. With the double breast design, the front is protected as well. The material is from a rank 7 magical beast, so it is really durable. You could totally beat someone up in this and do it with flair.¡± Running over to give Kael a hug she said, ¡°Thanks, I love it! The dress is nice too.¡± Chapter 25 - The Meteor Hammer Time flew by, it had been 6 months. Kael still had not made any improvement at all into Qi refinement. After three months of no progress, Muta got annoyed and just forged his entire hammer for him. According to him, due to Kael¡¯s physique, he couldn¡¯t do much other than manual labor until he could hold enough qi for his hammering technique. One night a severely depressed Kael convinced his parents to give him their techniques. Getting his mother''s body refinement technique he found it was all about agility, stamina, and bursts of sudden strength. Reviewing his father''s qi refining technique again, the concept was pretty simple. The basic concept was to push metal element qi to the outside area of the dantian. Once a ring was formed, absorb more qi, convert some of it to the metal element, then use the rest of the qi in the dantian to create pressure on the ring. In this way you could smash the elemental qi, purifying it like you would in a forge. His mother¡¯s qi refinement was completely different. The person utilizing the technique would absorb wood element qi into the center of their dantian like a ball. They would then convert the rest of their qi into fire qi. Using the fire qi to burn off the impurities around the edges of the wooden qi. When the user needed a burst of strength they would inject the incredibly pure wood qi into the fire qi, causing it to flare up, creating a huge burst of energy. Unfortunately for him, they would not give him their soul refining methods, regardless of how he begged.. Another 6 months flew by. Kael was attempting to use both his father¡¯s and his mother¡¯s method of refining qi but completely failed. When he had broken through perfection realm his dantian started to form, but it was still little more than the size of a swollen meridian. Raen had smoothly broken through twice to Rank 8. Using the Mountain Forging technique, she gained 1 strength, 2 body, and 1 stamina. The large jump in the fitness of her body made her extremely happy. Late the night of new years, Kael walked Muta and Raen home. During their walk, he mentioned to Muta that he had broken through the perfection realm of body refinement long ago. Muta, who was a little shocked at hearing this, was even more shocked at Kael¡¯s next offer. ¡°If you want, I can teach Raen how to break through into it. It is extremely, extremely, extremely, painful though. My pops said it was dangerous as well.¡± Looking at the brat he had grown so fond of, Muta said, ¡°Thanks brat, I will keep it in mind. Don¡¯t think you can delay Raen from getting to Xantian before you with this though. You better figure out your issues soon. After she steps into qi refinement I will teach her my refinement method. She will break through to soul refinement in less than two years, and step into xiantian by 13. If you can¡¯t keep up you won¡¯t have a future together, the lifespan difference between houtian and xiantian are too big.¡± ¡°Thanks, old man, I won¡¯t fall behind. According to our ancestors, people in my situation either stay a mortal for life or shake the world. Saint is not my end goal, just the start.¡± Clapping Kael on the shoulder Muta said, ¡°Good, don¡¯t let the little girl down.¡± Annoyed with their banter, Raen said, ¡°Can you people stop talking about me like I¡¯m not here? Kael, don¡¯t hurt yourself trying to advance, if you can¡¯t become a saint you will always be my best friend!¡± Although he knew Raen meant it in a, we will always be friends way, Kael thought, Shit, reach xiantian or get friend zoned?! Harsh! Wait, I¡¯m 9, she is 11, what am I even thinking. Did I become a creepy uncle? Shaking off his goosebumps, he thanked Raen and finished escorting them home. 3 months later with no progress, Muta¡¯s words began to haunt him. Talking to his mom he found out that each rank in cultivation drastically increased the lifespan of a cultivator. A basic entry-level saint had the lifespan of 300 years. Although he already knew his parent''s age, it was still shocking hearing it again. When his mother broke down and told him that she was almost 300 years old and would live to at least 1,200, it nailed in Muta¡¯s words. He was being completely serious. It would be unhealthy to let someone who is going to live 300 years hang around with someone who is going to kick it in less than a third of that. Talking to his father, his father''s opinion on cultivating was entirely different than his mothers. ¡°Son, your life is too easy, which is why you can¡¯t break through. Remember when I said cultivators had to go against heavens will? Did you think I was joking? Because I wasn¡¯t. You don¡¯t have a dantian, you simply will never break through. Is this what you want to hear, or do you want to hear the truth? To break through you will have to go against the laws of nature. How do you think that is going to happen when you are living a comfortable life. Go take some risks!¡± The next day he told his parents he was going to go take some risks out in the forest. His mother was concerned but she knew this was coming. ¡°Kael, before you go I still have a lot of herbs you brought back from the city then promptly forgot. You have done almost no alchemy other than what your dad brings you. You also have done nothing but purchase body cleansing pills with the money you made. I assure you, by now your body has no leftover medicinal residue. Before you go you need to refine the herbs you bought. You also need to go get the core of your hammer from Muta. If he still won¡¯t have you forge, get him to make it for you.¡± Shit, I have totally been in a slump, how could I forget the herbs. ¡°Ok, mom! I¡¯ll do the herbs tonight. Let me go talk to Muta and Raen.¡± Leaving his house he headed back over to the smithy which had practically become his second home. Entering the shop Raen was talking to another villager about what they wanted them to make. Slipping past her with a smile, he went into the forging area. Finding Muta he laid out his plans to go take risks in hope of inspiration. ¡°Good brat, you are finally acting like a man and not a little white face. To be honest, I thought you would give up, so I forged an entire hammer for you. I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡± A little annoyed at the lack of faith, Kael said, ¡°No it¡¯s fine, I know most of the village thinks I am a cripple. Thank you for forging the hammer though, can I see it?¡± Muta took a hard look at the little boy he had watched grow up for the last few years. ¡°Alright brat, I¡¯ll give it to you, but you had better not disappoint Raen.¡± After saying that, Muta left to go upstairs, coming back a few minutes later, he had a square a leather-wrapped bundle in one hand, and an almost black 3-foot long pole in the other. Taking the bundle from Muta, if he had to guess, he would think it was about 1,600 pounds. Unwrapping it, it was an enormous hammerhead. The front of it was square, and about 18 inches in width and height. The hammerhead tapered back into a flattish, instead of round, bladed spike. Running his finger along the blade that ran down the length of the top and bottom of the spike, he cut his finger open on accident. Hearing Muta¡¯s grunt of ¡°Dumbass¡±, he stuck his finger in his mouth so he wouldn¡¯t bleed everywhere. The side of the hammer was etched with the design of a mountain wrapped in vines. Kael could tell a lot of effort and love went into it. He examined it to find that it was a tier 2, earth ranked hammer. Along the bottom of one side of the hammer was the tiny words, The Meteor Hammer. On the other side along the bottom was an artistic signature that read, Muta Ru¨£nj¨©n. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Thanks, Muta, this means a lot to me, I will treasure it.¡± ¡°Brat, I don¡¯t care if you treasure it, just come back alive so I don¡¯t have to explain things to my treasured child. Speaking of her, she made the handle.¡± Taking the handle from Muta, he ran his finger up the length of the cold metal. Examining it, he found it was a tier 1, earth ranked component. The handle was carved with slight depressions of flames running up its entire length. Gripping it, he felt the flames functionality as it would help the handle not slip. Smiling he said, ¡°This is amazing work.¡± Shooing Kael away, Muta said, ¡°I¡¯m glad you like it, now run along, I am really busy.¡± Taking off with his hammer parts in his hands, he waved to Raen before leaving. He did not notice the disappointment in her eyes when she saw the handle. Her pops had agreed with her not to give it to him unless he gave up on cultivating. Late into the night of refining herbs, Kael got the notification he was waiting for. Congratulations you have created a new object: Perfect Minor Phoenix Flight Potion Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 10. Enhanced potency by 40 Item creation, initial potency of 180(220). Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 220(+50% =330). Base doses of 10, no waste of overall potency, 18(-50% due to talents =9) potency per dose. Converting 330 potency, remaining 36.67(37) doses. Each dose value of 2.5 experience, soul granted 92.5 experience to the alchemist profession. Congratulations, for perfecting a recipe you were granted 50 experience. After refining the 90 sets of herbs he gained enough experience to move into Rank 6 Alchemy. The next day he carried all of the powders over to Muta shop. He already had a stash of jugs there so it had been much simpler the last 2 years of refining. Showing up he said hi to Raen, but she just nodded and said, ¡°I have to go into the village today, you are on your own.¡± Waving to her as she left, he went in to find Muta. The two of them finished refining everything before he made trip after trip back home. Oddly, he felt like the villagers were giving him dirty looks the entire way. That night, he told his dad he should try to sell the phoenix flight potion, there was way too many to do anything constructive with. The next morning he grabbed his pack, stuffed it with a few sets of clothes, and tons of powders. Taking his pack and hammer, he left a note for his parents that said he would be back when he broke through. Standing up, he headed to the smithy. Showing up he did not see Raen, which he thought sucked because he had things for her. Deciding to head upstairs to give her the gift he had, he skipped saying bye to Muta first. Entering the home he heard Raen¡¯s door slam shut. Finding it odd he called out to her. ¡°Raen, you there? I have a gift for you.¡± He barely heard her reply of, ¡°Just leave it at the door.¡± Unpacking his stuff he left her 10 body cleansing pills, 2 jugs of Qi Gathering potions, and a book that described how to break into the perfection realm. He had also added his own cultivation method to it and his notes on what he experienced breaking through. ¡°Raen, can¡¯t you come out for a moment, I¡¯m leaving and wanted to say bye.¡± Hearing this Raen shouted, ¡°I heard you, bye Kael.¡± Kind of pissed off at her attitude he went down to find Muta. Muta seeing him with the hammer and the pack knew he was leaving. ¡°You¡¯re taking off eh brat?¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know how long I will be gone though. Sorry for letting you down on the work around the forge.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, your cultivation is more important, that little girl has been worried.¡± ¡°I doubt that she has been avoiding me and would not even let me say bye.¡± ¡°She is probably just upset she won¡¯t see you for a while.¡± ¡°Yeah, ok, well tell her I decided to extend my trip. Originally I was only going out for a month, but I decided I won¡¯t be back until I break through.¡± ¡°Will do brat, good luck.¡± ¡°See you later Old Man, thanks for all the help!¡± Giving the grandfatherly Muta a hug, Kael turned around and headed out of the village. Entering the forest he burst out into full speed. As the trees whipped past him he was pretty excited to be taking real control over his life for the first time since his rebirth. A few hours after he left, Raen was grumpily standing at the front counter of the smithy. Staring off into space her thoughts were interrupted when the door burst open and Kael¡¯s mom came in. With a panicked look on her face, she half shouted, ¡°Raen, have you seen Kael today, tell me, where is my baby?¡± Raen was thoroughly shocked by Alavarah appearance and emotional state. ¡°He was here this morning to say bye before he left for the forest, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Grabbing Raen by the shoulders Alavarah looked her straight in the eyes and said, ¡°What else did he say or do, tell me!¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t say anything, he just left some stuff before leaving, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Raen asked as she was starting to worry herself. ¡°Nothing,¡± Alavarah said before she slapped a note down on the counter and barged into the forge. Muta, who was in mid-swing of the hammer, struck the edge of the blade, snapping it, due to the sudden person bursting in. Seeing it was Alavarah he said, ¡°Damn girl, I broke the blade, what¡¯s got you so up in arms to bust in here?¡± ¡°Have you seen my son today?¡± ¡°Of course I have, he came here to say sorry about not being able to work for a while.¡± ¡°So you knew?!¡± At this point, a crying Raen came into the forge holding a note in her trembling hands. ¡°Knew what, that he was leaving? So what, it¡¯s not like you guys didn''t know. Calm down girl, he will be fine.¡± ¡°What am I supposed to know! He was leaving for a month but this morning he left a note saying he would come back after he broke through!¡± Crying Raen sobbed out, ¡°He¡¯s gone Pa, why is he gone! Why didn¡¯t he tell me?¡± With a massive headache coming on, Muta said, ¡°Listen to you two. So what if he went out. It¡¯s not like he won¡¯t be back. He is mature for his age and knows what he is doing.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t he tell me!¡± Raen screamed out. Getting grumpier by the moment, Muta said, ¡°Who was the one who wouldn¡¯t talk to him this morning? Did you ever stop to think he was trying to?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t talk to him though! He should have told me he did not give up cultivating, I wouldn¡¯t have ignored him.¡± Alavarah and Muta simultaneously asked, ¡°Who told you that he quit cultivating?¡± ¡°You did Pa! You gave him his hammer!¡± ¡°Of course I gave him his hammer, he is going out into the forest to look for a turning point. You expect him to go out there unarmed? Oh you silly girl, you were mad because you thought he gave up, not because he was leaving.¡± Crying Raen ran upstairs, grabbed the little book Kael wrote for her and collapsed on her bed. Hugging the little book she continued to cry until she eventually passed out. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you don¡¯t think this is a big deal Muta, he is only a child.¡± Snorting, Muta replied, ¡°He is probably the most talented and mature child I have ever seen. He is almost 10, he needs to fend for himself at some point, Varah.¡± ¡°He is too young, I have to go find him.¡± ¡°Varah, don¡¯t be a fool, if you could find him, you wouldn¡¯t be here in the first place. At his speed, he is easily over 100 miles away by now.¡± ¡°He¡¯s my baby, I can¡¯t just let him live his life in the forest. If I knew what was running through his head I would never have let him leave!¡± Sighing, Muta said, ¡°Calm down child, I¡¯ll search for him, but he is probably too far gone by now.¡± After those words, Muta closed his eyes. Alavarah felt an enormous divine sense sweep past her and out into the forest. Dumbfounded she stared at Muta like he was some kind of monster. Noticing her change of expression with his divine sense Muta said, ¡°Child, did you really think your damaged spiritual sense has gone unnoticed in the village? Even if your cultivation wasn¡¯t damaged, your spiritual sense has no way to compare to my divine sense.¡± After a few more moments Muta opened his eyes again. Alavarah felt she was looking into the eyes of one of the old monsters in her clan before it fell. ¡°My divine sense can cover a bit over 100 miles. He is not within that radius of the village.¡± With tears in her eyes, she thanked Muta before heading home to cry more about her stupid son. She felt like she should have known from all the questions about cultivation, techniques, and lifespans. Although Muta said he would be fine, she had never even taught her son a fighting technique, always putting it off in hopes of keeping him from growing up too fast. Chapter 26 - Error, Chrysanthemum Ursa has been exploded Completely unaware of what kind of fiasco he created, Kael pushed himself for a full 6 hours before slowing to a walk. Fuck, carrying this hammer is rough. Holding the hammer in front of him as he walked through the forest, he stroked the beautiful hammer. Thinking of how happy everyone would be again when he broke through brought a smile to his face. Near nightfall, he realized he overlooked a few things. Next time I have to remember snacks, a blanket, a tent, cutlery, and a freaking knife! Going out to hunt, he made the mistake of using the flat end of his hammer. The first thing he ran into was a normal deer. Smacking it with his hammer left him nothing but a pancake of gross. Quickly leaving the area due to the stench of blood, he soon found his second target. The same thing he helped his father kill so long ago. Charging straight at it, he used the spike side of his hammer during his swing. Whistling through the air, it cleaved the creatures entire head off like it was nothing. Kael thought, Assuming a major league batter has a strength of about 7 to 8 and their swing is an average of 80mph. My strength is 8 times theirs, so 1600 pounds is hitting at 640 miles per hour. That¡¯s like getting hit by a cow that was thrown out of a jet fighter. Ouch. Using the back of his hammer to chop off a leg, Kael left the rest of the carcass as he dashed further into the forest. Making camp and skewering the leg with a branch, Kael quickly had a moose leg kabob going. He was really happy he remembered to grab flint and steel, otherwise, he would be rubbing wood together for a fire forever. After the leg was roasted, he was also super happy with his talents again. The 50% taste bonus and the auto cook timer in his head were amazing. Unfortunately, it was considered a failed creation and gave no experience. After eating, he leaned up against the tree and fell asleep. Waking up in the morning, he was covered in random bugs. Remembering his father saying he should sleep in the trees, he felt like a dumbass. Deciding he needed to make knife before he could take care of anything else, he started looking around for a tree of hardwood. Finding one, he used the back of his hammer to lop off a branch. He Chopped the branch into four, foot and a half long sections. Looking down at the wood Kael thought, I guess my lack of camping experience is biting me in the ass now. How the hell am I going to make a knife? I guess I will just power through it. Putting his hammer on the ground, face down, he sat down and wrapped his legs around it. Grabbing the first chunk of wood he began shaving it with the bladed part of the hammer. Being a cultivator made it much easier than he thought. His massive strength with the sharpness of the blade cut through the wood like butter. He still screwed up and broke his first attempt. The second attempt was better but still not functional. On his third attempt, he heard. Congratulations, you have taken your first step into Carpentry. Soul has unlocked true control over talents, all talents have been merged into one. Soul has not allocated a percentage to be split into talent points, all points given to the artisan skill, Carpentry. Congratulations on stepping onto the path of a carpenter, make persistent efforts! Soul¡¯s current standing is Mortal Rank 1, (10/100). Congratulations you have created a new object: Wooden Knife. Mortal tier carpentry production. Item creation, initial durability of 10. Bonus 50% materials. No durability wastage, remaining durability of 10(+50%=15). Base sharpness of 10(+50% due to talents =15) soul granted 10 experience to the carpentry profession. Well, I never even considered carpentry. Maybe it will help out later, I should try to get a crash course from someone at some point. Finishing off the last chunk of wood for another impressive 10 experience, he decided to bake them in an attempt to harden the wood. Making a small fire and reducing it to coals, he inserted the two blades into the coals for a few minutes. Taking them out to sharpen them by grinding them against a rock, it seemed to work ok. He ended up repeating the process a few times. Eventually, they were dried out, and the blades seemed much harder and were pretty sharp. Heading out to look for some large animals that he could skin to make a canvas he was sorely disappointed. Remembering his father''s teachings about the forest, he realized he was in a transition space between two ecologies. The perk to areas like this was that they were fairly safe. The con was that it meant he was most likely heading into an area with stronger beasts. Traveling about 20 miles, the trees began to get larger and the canopy became denser. A little concerned, Kael slowed down to a walk as he continued into the depths of the forest. About 30 minutes later he found some huge prints. Each print was about the size of his chest and had 5 claw marks extending from it. Even though the ground was not extremely hard, it was impressive that the prints were about 6 inches deep. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Carefully following them for a few minutes Kael began to hear the sounds of a river. Being as sneaky as he could be, about 5 minutes later the tree line opened up to show a river. The river did not seem to be flowing too fast, but with its width of at least 40 feet, Kael wasn¡¯t so sure how safe it was. Looking around, he saw what he initially thought was a small dirt hill and realized it was a bear. Staring at it he thought, That¡¯s not a bear, that is a prehistoric beast. Shit, that thing has bone protrusions on its elbows and fucking boar tusks. While pondering if he should run away or not the beast stood up, looked directly at him and gave a bellowing roar. With his ears ringing, the only thing he could think of was to climb the tree. Scurrying up it as fast as possible, he got about 40 feet off the ground before the bear got there. Taking his hammer off the back of his pack where he liked to keep it, he stared down at the beast. Still thinking if it was worth it or not to fight it, the bear looked up at him and he swore it snorted. The beast pulled its arm back and gave the tree a smack that tore out about a quarter of the 6-foot diameter. Hearing the tree crack, Kael gritted his teeth and prepared to jump. Waiting for the bear to hit the tree again, he jumped towards the back of the bear just as it took its swing. Turning 180 degrees as he fell so he was now facing the same direction of the beast, he swung his hammer down with all his strength. The hammer struck the base of the skull as Kael landed on it¡¯s back. The vibrations from the strike almost ripped the hammer out of his hands. Thanks, Raen! The strike did not cause any visible damage to the bear, but it certainly pissed it off. It never thought its afternoon snack could pack that much of a punch. Roaring out in anger again it sent Kael flying with a quick toss of its head. Flipping in the air to right himself, Kael landed in a crouch with his left hand balancing him on the ground. After sliding back for a few feet he came to a stop. Deciding he needed to slow this thing down, he dashed towards its rear leg. As he ran past the rear leg he jumped into the air and spun around from his right. Swinging the blade like spike at the beast it ripped a large gash just below its knee as he flew past. The next few minutes would have been funny if he wasn¡¯t the one being chased. Running in circles around the bear he continually smashed and sliced at its rear legs. From a distance, it would have looked like the huge creature was chasing its stubby little tail. All good things come to an end. The bear eventually was really annoyed that its size stopped it from eating the thing chipping away at its legs. Coming to an abrupt stop before standing up. This maneuver landed Kael directly in front of it. The bear looked down at him to lock his position, then dropped its entire body weight into a vicious diagonal swipe of its claws. Seeing impending doom, Kael sprinted into the bear. Swinging his hammer behind him, then down and around to the front like a cartoon style wind up, he jumped in mid-swing to ensure his ballbuster would reach its intended target. Flying through the small area between its legs was the first time he was happy he still had a child''s body. The bear dropped almost simultaneously with Kael flying between its legs. As it landed on all fours, Kael spun, turning his upward strike into an arching overhead strike. With the new position of the bear, the spike directly exploded its chrysanthemum. The incredibly sharp blade continued the hammer on its path, ripping it right back out of the crotch area. With a wail of pain, the bear instinctively kicked back with its leg, connecting with Kael and sending him hurtling through the air into a tree. After its kick, the creature took off into the depths of the forest roaring in pain. Bouncing off the tree, Kael coughed up a mouthful of blood. Rotating his torso back and forth he could feel he cracked some ribs. Looking down at his chest, he peeled his shirt away and looked down into the neck of his shirt. Seeing the five puncture wounds in the middle of his chest, he was a little worried. Hoping his powders were still wrapped after that impact, he dropped his pack and scrambled through the inside of it. Pulling out a small vial of a potion and two sets of powders, he downed one powder, washed it down with the potion, and rubbed the other powder on his wounds. Taking 2 vials of a reddish potion out of his pack, he put them in a little pack on his waistline before slinging his pack back on. Walking over to get his hammer, he picked it up and began walking in the direction the blood trail from the bear led. About 10 minutes later he looked down at his chest to find the wounds had closed. Twisting his torso around he thought, This is going to hurt for a few days. Reassured his wound was not going to reopen, he picked up his speed to that of a light jog. After about a half hour, a steep mountain wall suddenly showed up through the trees. Following the trail around the base of the mountain for another 20 minutes, he came to a stop as he saw a huge cave ahead. Taking his pack off, he put it up in some low hanging tree branches. Taking a vial out of his waist pouch, he drank the minor phoenix flight potion on the off chance he needed the speed. Gripping his hammer, he slid up to the side of the cave entrance. Chapter 27 - Bear necessities Peeking around the corner, he looked into the gaping maw of a cave. The dim light past the entrance was enough for him to just see the interior. The entrance of the cave extended about 30 feet into the mountain and was about 15 feet in height and width. After that, it opened up into a 30-foot diameter room. Lying in the middle of that area, licking its butt, was the monster bear. Observing it closely, he could tell it looked pretty worn out. Most likely from blood loss. Quietly, he crept into the cave. Staying near the wall as he snuck in, he hoped that the shadows with the dim light would cover him for his approach. Creeping ever so slowly it took him about a minute of heart-pounding tension to cover the 30-foot entrance. Circling around the interior to be behind the bears head, he squatted down and tensed up for action. Slowly breathing in, he erupted into action. Rushing forward he slammed the spike end of his hammer into the side of the bear''s neck. As soon as his blow landed he used the side of the bear to kick off and begin his sprint back away and around it. With a hideous roar of hate and pain, the bears head snapped over to where Kael had been, biting nothing but air. Standing and turning in an attempt to catch Kael they began their original dance again. After his third blow, he felt the animal''s leg snap as it stumbled onto three. Twisting left and right in an attempt to defend its backside, the creature unleashed a frenzy of snapping bites. Kael backed off and would dart in for a swing at the other hind leg in between the bites when the bear would be swinging its head to the other side. Finally breaking its other leg, he let out a sigh of relief as he backed off. The bear, in massive pain, rolled over onto its back and came up in an almost a sitting position, staring at the human child with raw hate. Looking at the bear and knowing it was too wounded to catch him now, he had no idea how he was going to finish it off. Backing up to the entrance of the cave they stared at each other before Kael had an inspiration. Running outside he bashed down a tree so it would fall in the direction of the cave. He spent 20 minutes breaking off the branches from the tree. Piling them up about 20 feet into the entrance, Kael continued until the entire cave was almost blocked. Retrieving his pack, he set it on the ground near the pile of tree branches and started pulling out little packages. He found what he was looking for when he took out a fist size hide bag. Repacking his pack, he slung it over his shoulder. Opening the hide bag and looking into it, he grinned as he looked over the huge pile of tree branches. Walking back and forth in front of the pile, he sprinkled white powder from the bag all over it. When the bag was finally empty he chuckled. Putting the little hide bag back in his pack, he went outside and collected tinder and an arm full of dry leaves. Dropping it all on the side of his branch pile, he took out his flint and began sparking it. Not long after, the tinder had a little flame going. Blowing on it to spread the flames through the twigs and leaves he waited until he had a nice little fire going. Standing up, he kicked the pile of leaves and tinder into the branches before running like hell. When he got to about 5 feet away from the branches, he heard a loud whooshing noise and felt a blast of heat on his back. Continuing to run like a madman, he could smell burning hair. Quickly patting the back of his head, his hand came away with tiny bits of his fried hair. Fuck, I¡¯m not even 10 and I have a bald spot. Exiting the cave he came to stop, turned around, and looked in. He could see that Muta¡¯s powder that he had been squirreling away did a fantastic job on the fresh wood, setting it all ablaze. Due to the wood still being fresh and all of the green leaves in the pile, a copious amount of smoke began to billow out of it. Occasional flare-ups could be seen as the fire spread to other areas that had powder still on them. In just under a minute he had to back away from the cave entrance due to the smoke coming out. Crawling up to above the cave entrance and a little to the side, he sat down and waited for the bear. He knew it would either suffocate or drag it sorry, broken ass, out of the cave. It all depended on how much blood it had lost and how much it feared fire. After another 15 minutes of waiting, Kael finally grew impatient. Dropping off the edge of the cave''s mouth, he stared into the smoke-filled entrance. Pulling a shirt out of his pack he wrapped it around his head like a ninja scarf and headed in. When he reached his pile of branches he could see that due to the powder, more than half of it already burnt into nothing. The other half had been reduced to hot embers. Turning his hammer flat, he used it to shove a little path through the embers. Approaching the interior of the cave it was still full of smoke. Adding the smoke to the already dim light made it impossible for him to see. Swearing again to himself, he held his hammer in a reverse grip so the spike pointed forward and crept in. As the smoke swirled around he caught a glimpse of the motionless bear. Deciding to be sure it was dead, he ran straight at its face, jumped nearly to the ceiling, and came down with a furious hammer strike. The spike landed on the bridge of the bear''s nose, just below its eyes. With a crunch, it pierced through the hide and skull, exiting into the roof of the bear''s mouth near its throat. The intense pain pulled the bear back to consciousness. Throwing its head back to get away from the pain, it flung Kael who was still holding the hammer up into the ceiling. Hitting the ceiling so unexpectedly knocked the air out of him. He had just enough time to see his hammer still stuck in the bear''s skull before he fell straight back down. The creature saw the falling body of its assailant and released a full strength swat at it as it fell toward him. One moment Kael could see himself falling towards the bear. The next moment he was in immense pain and could feel himself whistling through the air much faster than when he was falling. Sudden light stung his eyes as he was knocked straight out of the cave. Flying another 30 to 40 feet before he hit the ground, he continued to roll for a good 10 to 15 feet before coming to a stop. Laying on the ground, gasping in pain, he continuously coughed up mouthfuls of blood. Gasping for breath, he heaved himself up onto his hands and knees and crawled back towards the cave. Getting back to the pack he had left at the entrance, he dug through it for healing potions. Not entirely sure what was hurt, he took some recovery powder and a bone setting potion before falling back against the side of the cave. Adjusting his breathing, he started to build up Qi in his meridians, pushing the Qi into the areas that hurt to help them heal. 30 minutes slowly passed as Kael tried to stabilize himself. During this time he could hear the growls of pain slowly turn into whimpers, that eventually stopped altogether. Checking his body again and convinced he wasn¡¯t about to abruptly fall apart, Kael stood up. Feeling his entire body creak as he got to his feet, he grimaced with the pain. How is getting my ass kicked supposed to help me breakthrough? Using the wall as support, he slowly made his way into the cave. Most of the smoke had thinned out, allowing him to see much more clearly. Getting to the entrance of the large room in the cave, he could see the motionless bear hunched up near a wall. His hammer was laying across the cave on the other side. Walking over to pick up his hammer, he was way too sore to heft it up. Dragging it behind him he walked to the bear. Kicking its leg, he said, ¡°Buddy, in your next life don¡¯t commit acts of child abuse.¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Looking at the huge bear that was laying on its side, he started considering what to do with it. He knew it would take at least 3 days before he was 100% again so it was basically all his food. However, it was too freaking huge to move. Wish I had dad¡¯s knife right about now. Eventually, he decided to skin part of it first to get to the meat, then figure out what to do after. Using the blade of his hammer he cut the bear down the chest, but up and around the legs, from neck to tail. Looking at what appeared to be an awkwardly created puzzle piece, he went to his pack and got one of his wooden knives. Heading back, he used his left hand to pull the hide back while using the knife in his right hand to cut through where the meat and hide connected. During the process of skinning it, he ended up crawling up on top of it and working the skin backwards towards himself. As he got towards the back, he had to lie on the bloody, skinless bear, while cutting and pushing the skin downwards. This thing is too fucking huge! Finally peeling the skin from the middle of the belly to the far side of the back, Kael was happy but also covered in blood. Heading outside to find the tree he felled earlier, he chopped up the tip into large pieces. Leaving the wood by the embers to help them dry some, he went back into the cave to dig a pit. 2 hours later, with his body roaring in pain, he had a 10 foot wide 3-foot deep pit on the inside of the cave, only about 5 feet from the entrance. Throwing all his wood in it, he ended up chopping up some more of the tree just to fill it up. Using his hammer to drag the remains of the embers over, he shoved them into the pit. Finally, he looked at the mounds of dirt he had piled up outside the cave. Was it worth? He thought as his body trembled with exhaustion and pain. Resting for a while, he drug his now mud and blood covered body back to the bear carcass. Cutting an enormous slab of meat out of the beast, he was disgusted as he saw the entrails spilling out. Looking at the huge chunk of meat that was still lying on top of the bear, he tried to figure out how to cook it. Pondering for a bit, he went back to the huge tree he knocked down earlier. Heading to where the bottom of the tree was, he found a 2-foot thick branch. Hacking it off, he chopped it into a 20-foot length piece of wood. Dragging it over to the cave entrance he lined it up on the outside to measure it. Hacking it down until about a foot was sticking past the entrance to the cave on each side. Walking back into the cave, he was glad to see most of the smoke was going out of the entrance. Heading over to the fire pit, he knocked the wood away from the cave wall so he could get to the wall. Standing against the wall in the fire pit, he began to knock a hole in the wall about 7 feet off the ground. Knowing this would put a big bar 4 feet up in the cave entrance, he thought of repositioning it but gave up that idea. I am too short, even with the length of the hammer, 7 feet up is the best I can do. Screw it. Chiseling out a large, foot or so deep hole in the wall, he climbed out of the fire pit and repeated the process about 4 feet up on the opposite wall. Completing his two holes he went to drag the branch into the cave. Laying it down, he peeled off the bark until the wood was smooth. Moving the log so it was laid out diagonally across the cave. He positioned one end to be near the fire pit. Walking to the side of the fire pit, he lifted the log and jammed it into the hole in the wall. Going back to the other side, he lifted it up and wedged it into the opposite cave wall. Using his hammer, he beat it along the wall until it popped into the second hole. Looking at his work with a sense of satisfaction, he went to get his bear meat. Hauling the 500 pounds of meat out, he laid it over the suspended log, above the firepit. Even though it had been about an hour, the wood was so green the embers had just barely lit the pile up. Seeing his pit was creating more smoke than fire, Kael sighed, then went back to cut more meat off the bear. Smoked bear for dinner I guess. 20 minutes later the bear meat he could get to was hanging near the entrance to the cave. With the remains of the bear now reduced to a manageable weight, he rolled it over and finished skinning it. Laying out the rest of the decent slabs of meat on his wood beam, he went back to the skin. Wrapping up the bones, entrails, and other bits in the skin he drug it out of the cave. Leaving the hide by the cave''s mouth, he chopped up some more wood for his pit, then threw a few arms full of leaves on it. Hopefully, the smell of smoke will cover most of this. Converting the hundred foot tall and 5-foot thick tree he had cut down into 8, 20-foot sections, he slowly split them all in half. Stacking them two thick, he piled them up blocking the cave. Being sure there were enough gaps in them for air to blow in and smoke to pour out. Looking up to see that it was late afternoon to early evening, he swore at how much time he spent cleaning things up. Moving his logs enough to stash his pack inside the cave, he covered the mouth back up before grabbing his bearskin sack. Taking a look around to get his bearing, he took off towards the way he came from this morning. With the giant bearskin leaving a trail behind him, the best he could do was a light jog. Even that caused him to deal with a fair quantity of pain. After an hour, he could hear the sounds of water up ahead. Hearing the water he decided to stop, and dump the bones, scraps, and gross bits out of his bearskin. He took a moment to gather two femurs, the huge tusks, and the foot-long claws of the bear, before rolling them up in the bearskin and taking off again. Arriving at the edge of the river he left his hammer and bearskin roll at the edge, while he gingerly stepped into the ice-cold water. Using sand from the bottom of the river he scrubbed all of the blood and mud off of himself and out of his hair. Kael unrolled the bearskin, careful not to lose the treasures wrapped inside. Pulling out a wooden knife from his waist pack he began to scrape the skin. Using the water to clean the smell of blood off the skin, he scrapped it clean. When he finished, he ended up with about 1,600 pounds of wet, smelly, bear hide. Folding it in half, he then rolled up the hide with the parts he saved earlier wrapped inside. Throwing it over his shoulder and picking up his hammer, he took off back to the cave. On the way back he made sure to circle around the area he dumped the bear remains to avoid running into any other animals. He got back to the cave an hour after darkness had fallen. Seeing that his logs were still in place was a relief. Moving two of the logs out of the way he opened up about a third of the entrance before going inside. After being gone for about three hours the fire had burnt down low. Looking at the suspended meat though, it was apparent the wood had finally caught and started a large blaze. Although he had the idea to smoke the meat overnight, that was no longer needed as about a quarter of it was burnt, and another quarter was ¡°well done.¡± Laying down his bearskin on the opposite side of the fire pit, he was mad that his internal cooking timer did not go off. Thinking he shouldn¡¯t waste anything, he did something he had not done in years. Activating his Internal Forging technique, he began to grab and stuff the burnt meat into his mouth. Feeling small threads of energy that was still in it seep out and into his muscle he was excited. Stuffing more and more of the meat into his mouth, he finished all of the burnt and well-done meat before he was full. With a loud burp, he patted his stomach then froze. Shit, I don¡¯t hurt anymore. Damn it all, he never told me this would help me heal! Feeling much better, Kael pushed the remaining meat down to the far side of his smoking pole. Unrolling his bearskin, he folded it to be 10 feet in width, with the internal side of the skin facing outwards on both sides of the fold. Grabbing four large rocks from the inside of the cave, he tossed the bearskin over his pole, making a long canopy. Using the rocks to pin the corners in place, he had a tent like canopy that extended from the wall to a little bit past the fire pit. Kicking dirt onto the wood until it was reduced from a fire to just embers, he laid down at the edge of his canopy, used his pack as a pillow and fell asleep. Chapter 28 - Hole away from home The next day Kael woke up reeking of a campfire. Standing up and stretching, he felt amazing. All of the pain from the day before was gone. I still have no idea what I am supposed to do out here. Since I have a nice cave though, I am just going to hang out looking around this area for awhile. Moving the wood planks that covered the cave entrance he walked out into the forest. Damn, it is cold out here. Looking at the wooden planks he decided to secure his little hole away from home. Grabbing his hammer and loading his waist pack up with a crappy wood knife and 2 types of each of his alchemy creations, he boarded it up and left. Scrounging through the forest, he collected all of the vines he could find. The only requirements he had were that they were roughly the width of a finger and they were still flexible. After hauling back a few loads of them he got to work. Pulling down his lumber wall, he started fastening them together. Starting by twining two logs together with the vines, he quickly noted he was going to end up with giant gaps between the logs. Looking at it and going into OCD mode, he admitted to himself this was not going to work. Going to find some big tree branches, he hacked two down and chopped them up into 4 equal sized smaller logs. Laying them across the other logs to get the size right, he hacked them down until only a few inches stuck out on either side. Laying two of them out about 8 feet apart, he laid his two big logs across them. For a better fit, he laid one log flat side up and one flat side down. Shifting them together until the two curved sides overlapped, he laid his other two smaller branches across the top, in matching positions to the ones under them. Once done, began lashing them together like a raft. Finishing, he did the same to another set of two logs, then laid the two sets on top of each other. The logs were laid together off-kilter, so one of the logs from each were laid flat against each other, and one log from each set laid off to the opposite side of the other, making a flat wooden Z. Finally done with one side of his cave entrance, he did the same with the other 6 logs. Lashing together two sets of three, then lining them up so two logs from each set rested on the other, and one log from each set was alone off to the sides. With the way the logs were laid together it shrunk the overall width of the three logs from 15 feet to 9. Dragging the set of 6 logs over to the cave, he stood them up to measure the size between them and the entrance. Laying them back down, he dug out a 6-inch trench, laid the logs out over it and lifted it up. Sliding into the small trench, the logs were just a few inches too tall to fit into the cave. Climbing up above them and hammering them down some, he then hammered them into the cave entrance, firmly wedging them in place. Finally flipping the set of 4 logs up onto the right side of the entrance, the Z shape of the two sets fit together nicely. Glad to be almost done, Kael used the giant mound of dirt from the pit he dug last night to pile up about two feet in front and back of the 6 log set. Packing the dirt down, that side of the entrance was firmly locked in place. Spending the rest of the day he collected a ton of vines and foliage. Integrating them in the vines used to lash the logs together as well as the crossbars, he came up with some pretty good camouflage. Once done with that he continued to chop up the tree he cut down the day before. After hours of chopping with a fake axe, he finally had a huge pile of wood to use for fire. Going back into his cave, he ate some his bear meat that ended up being smoked into jerky, then promptly fell asleep. The next morning he moved the small slab of wood out of the way of the cave and lit up a small fire to drive out the cold air. Eating some jerky he sat down to do his daily meditation. Trying both of his parent''s qi refining techniques and failing, he tried to use a combination of their body refining, which also failed. Annoyed he decided it was time to get more water as he ran out of what he brought with him. Grabbing his pack and hammer, he shut the cave and took off to the river. After using two 1 gallon jugs from his pack to collect water he took a quick bath. While pondering how his jugs had not broke yet, his leg was brushed by a fish that was at least 80 pounds. Freaking out, he jumped out the water and watched the large fish swim away. Hit with a sudden need for a fish dinner he headed back to his cave. On the way back, he found some hardwood trees and chopped a few branches off them. Chopping the branches down to about 2 inches in width before heading to his hole. Getting back, he split the ends of the branches and fastened bear claws into the tip of each one. Finishing up with three primitive spears, he split some gaps into the claws to make them serrated, then headed out to go spearfishing. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Wading chest high into the river he patiently waited for fish to swim by. With the amount of fish in the untouched river, he found spearfishing easy. After spearing 6 fish that were between 60 and 100 pounds each, he grabbed them by the tails and headed to his hole. Arriving back at the cave, he made a small pile of firewood and lit it up before leaving again. Returning with an arm full of large leaves, he tossed them to the side while he went and gather rocks. Tossing the rocks into the fire, he waited until it died down into embers. Using one of the huge femurs, he pushed the rocks together into a bed of stone that rested on top of the embers. Taking the fish outside to gut them, he then wrapped the fish in the big banana tree style leaves. Laying them out on top of the rocks, he finally covered them with dirt. While waiting for his fish to cook, he began working on the two bear tusks. He carefully chipped grooves into the base of them to reduces their width into something that could be held. Using some porous rocks, he grinded them down until they were smooth. Satisfied with the handles size he placed them aside. Needing to wrap the handles, he cut a long thin strip off the bearskin. Peeling the skin from the strip he was left with a long leather cord like strap. Tightly wrapping the handles of the bear tusks up with the leather, he tied them off before reviewing his work. Sure the leather would not slip off, he set them aside and unburied his dinner. Taking out the hot bundles of leaves, some spots were burnt through but they were mainly intact. Unwrapping them the aroma of freshly roasted fish filled the cave. Using his wooden knife to scrape the scales off one of them before tasting it, he was well satisfied. Activating his internal forge technique he ripped through all 6 fish before immediately starting to cultivate. 2 hours later the forest echoed with a child''s shout of, ¡°Fuck!¡± Failing once again in his cultivation, Kael was extremely depressed. Take a risk they said, you will break through they said, turn into a bear turd they said! Standing up and pacing around the back room of the cave, Kael slowly settled his thoughts. This isn¡¯t good, I will get a mental block just like what happened with crafting. Sitting down and breathing slowly until he fell back into meditation, he did not focus on cultivating, just relaxing. An hour later, he had calmed down. It¡¯s not going to happen in one day. Just move slowly, your father wouldn¡¯t bullshit you on something like this. Looking out of his cave to see night was starting to fall, he covered the entrance and just slowly worked on cultivating the rest of the night. 6 weeks flashed by with Kael hunting and living out of his cave. During this time he had tried to adjust his attitude. Each morning he would cultivate for 2 hours, practice with his hammer for 2 hours, and then practice his heat raising steps for 2 hours. At noon he would stop and build something random for his cave. It did not matter what it was to him, as long as it was back-breaking labor. Using this method to productively train his endurance. Although his cultivation had not increased, his agility had increased by 1 and his stamina by 2. His father''s words about bitterly training your body before Qi refinement turned out to be true. This spurred him on even farther after he received the first increase notification. The interior of his cave was looking nice. He had made a few chairs consisting of stumps with backs hewn into them and an eight-foot long table. He had also finished grinding down his bear tusk daggers, which turned out to be tier 5 mortal ranked weapons. Happy with that he grinded down the other claws into sharp straight points and embed them in 5-foot wooden poles. Having javelins and knives made hunting way easier. Two more weeks passed in this manner. Kael had spent the time to grind the femurs into blades. Grinding the handles into them and wrapping them in leather, he ended up with sickle-like swords with two-foot blades. Happy with his creations he went outside the cave to swing them around. He wasn¡¯t particularly skilled in using two blades, but he did not chop a leg off, so he considered it a success. Planning to use them to chop wood and vines, they would work fine for his goals. Heading back into his cave, he tossed them aside. Slinging his pack over his back and tucking his two bear tusk daggers into his belt, he then hung his javelins diagonally across his back. They fit snugly into a sling he built onto the part of the pack that rested on his back. Checking his waist pack to be sure it had two of everything, he picked up his hammer to head outside. Closing his cave up, he looked around before picking a direction to hunt in and taking off. Chapter 29 - Finally, a spoon. After hunting, Kael returned to the cave with a deer slung around his neck. Getting to the cave he noticed the entrance was open. It did not appear to be broken into by an animal as the smaller set of logs was set off to the side. Dropping the deer on the ground, he pulled out a dagger that he held in a reverse grip with his left hand, while gripping tightly to his hammer with the right. Slowly approaching his cave he could hear indistinct voices coming from inside. Heading to the entrance and looking inside, he saw 3 men dressed like typical mercenaries in the back of the cave. They were all wearing leather armor covered by chain mail and had swords on their hips. They had a few bags propped up against the side of the cave wall and were in the process of bundling up the numerous hides he had collected in the last 2 months. Seeing his home being robbed he shouted out, ¡°Hey, stop taking my pelts, that¡¯s my bed you bastards!¡± With the sudden shout the mercs dropped what they were doing and spun towards the entrance of the cave. Seeing a child they laughed and said, ¡°If you wanted them you should have taken them with you. Who is to say these are not ours, and you are trying to steal them.¡± Getting pissed at the guys Kael said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear your bullshit, get the hell out of my home.¡± One of the mercenaries, an ugly man with an overly large nose, sneered and said, ¡°Hear that guys, we are in the poor kids home.¡± A second mercenary gave Kael an evil look and said, ¡°Brat, that is a nice hammer, drop it and your backpack and you can leave. Otherwise, this cave will permanently become the place you sleep.¡± ¡°Was that supposed to be a threat? All I see is three barking dogs who are begging for a beating.¡± Kael responded. Shrugging off his pack from his left shoulder it fell to the ground, spilling his javelins across the cave. Seeing that the kid was going to fight over his shitty little cave, the three men pulled their swords and prepared to hack him to death. None of them stopped to consider that the little kid in front of them was most likely the one who hunted all of the precious hides they were so excited about a moment earlier. Considering it was impossible for them to hunt even a single one of the beasts, if they had stopped to think, they would have known they were walking to their deaths. As the three men drew their swords, Kael sat his hammer on the ground with the hilt sticking into the air. Kicking one of the javelins up with his toe, he caught it with his right hand. Not waiting for them to approach, he reared back and threw it at the smallest looking guy. The javelin zipped through the 40-foot distance hitting the merc directly in the chest. The bear claw tip split the chain mail easily. As the javelin pierced the man''s chest he was lifted from the ground and literally nailed to the wall behind him. Grasping the javelins handle the merc looked down at it with blood spilling from his mouth. His last thought was, a fucking kid killed me.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Seeing how easily their buddy was dispatched, the other two mercenaries rushed Kael at full speed. With the mercenaries rushing him, Kael gripped his hammers hilt, took two steps forward to get some extra power, and hurled it at the merc on the right side. Not waiting for it to connect he dashed forward. Diving into a roll to make a smaller target, he came up in a crouched position directly in front of the merc who was on the left. Hearing the sound of a sword cutting air as it whistled above him, Kael used the momentum he had built to help in gutting the man. With a downward strike, he split the man from just below his sternum to below his belly button. Kicking himself into a backward roll and coming to his feet a little away from the merc, he just barely missed being covered in entrails as they spilled out of the man. Looking over to the other merc he was also on the ground. His armor did almost nothing to reduce the blunt force trauma caused by the hammer, which had shattered his ribcage when it hit. Walking over to the mercs and giving them a quick death he looked around his cave in shock. It wasn¡¯t the first time he had killed a man, but the first time was all on instinct. This time he had calculated the best way to end them. Feeling a bit sick he reminded himself that they were going to rob and kill him first. After catching his breath, Kael wrapped the three bodies in one of his beast hides. Hauling the three of them out a few miles into the woods he dumped them. Taking their money pouches before heading to the river for a bath. When he was finally feeling clean he headed back to his cave. Once there he collected the mercenaries swords and packs and placed them on the table along with their money pouches. Rearranging the hides that had been bundled up he got his home back to the way it was. Sitting down at his table he examined the swords. Finding them to be mortal tier 2 weapons he tossed them to the side of the cave thinking, No wonder my dagger cut their armor like it was mud. All of their gear is shit. My freaking bone weapons are all tier 5. Sorting through their money bags he came out with 2 gold and 300 silver. Seriously poor. He found nothing notable in the pouches other than some metal cutlery. Keeping one of the forks and spoons, he thought, At least I finally have a spoon. Wrapping the rest of their belongings up he took to them to their owners. Dumping the cheap gear in a half-hearted manner near what was left of their corpses. He wiped some of their blood on the packs so scavengers would get to them too. Erasing his tracks he headed back to his cave. After a half hour of covering the blood with dirt and packing it down, everything was back to normal. Remembering he had a deer outside, he went to look for it, only to find it had been taken by some animal while he was gone. Swearing he sealed up his cave to go hunting once more. Chapter 30 - Might as well use a bone The next day Kael had just finished working with his hammer when he heard people pushing through the brush towards his cave. Sighing, he went into his cave. Taking the 4 javelins he had left, he stuck them into the ground by the cave entrance tip first. Placing his bag and hammer on the inside of the wooden barrier, he grabbed some dirt to rub on his face and arms. Sticking one of his daggers in his belt, he took the other one up in his left hand, while holding one of his bone swords in his right. His basic idea was to look like a wild kid, show no valuables, and hopefully not need to kill more people. About a minute later 4 mercenaries crashed into the opening by his cave. The three in the lead were wearing nice leather armor with a rose imprinted on the breast. They had crossbows hanging off their hips with nicer swords in their hands. The one in the back was wearing leather armor with a solid steel breastplate over it. The armor was well crafted and in good condition. The man had two swords strapped across his back and was following the other men in a leisurely manner. The upper right area of his breastplate had a rose embossed on it as well. The men were greeted with the sight of a dirty kid, in ragged clothes, and armed to the teeth standing in front of a cave. Coming to the stop as they stared at the kid, the three guys in the front drew their swords. The man in the back walked forward telling the other men, ¡°Slow down, any kid that can live out here is not someone you want to fight to the death with.¡± Hearing the man¡¯s words, Kael was relieved but still wary. Jumping straight to the point he asked the man, ¡°What do you want?¡± Seeing the kid so vigilant, with a row of javelins and his positioning, the man was worried about his underlings. If they got into a fight the kid could easily take cover while hurling the javelins that had wicked looking tips on them. Although the man was assured of his safety against a kid, he would still lose one man at the best. ¡°Calm down little guy, there are a few mercenary groups out here on a hunt. We lost a few of our trackers yesterday and we are just looking for them. Have you seen them?¡± Nodding to the man''s question, Kael pointed to the area he dumped the bodies in and said, ¡°There were the remains of three corpses and some torn up packs that way.¡± Hearing the child''s reply, the man was sure his men were dead. The only question was how they died. Continuing to walk forward the man said, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t mind if we used your cave to rest for a bit would you?¡± Seeing the man still coming forward, Kael stuck his sword in the ground and took up a javelin. ¡°I would mind, and if you try to force it you won¡¯t have as many people leaving with you as you came with.¡± The man came to a stop as the kid picked up the javelin. Swearing to himself that his plan to get close was ruined, he paused before saying, ¡°We need to check to see if our guy''s stuff is in there, how do we know you did not kill them?¡± ¡°If I killed them you should know that I can kill a number of your men before you take me as well.¡± The man was starting to get pissed and was about to rush the kid when a voice rung out behind him. ¡°Ohh, the noble Rose Mercenaries, bullying a poor wildling kid. What has happened with the world for you to fall so low.¡± Kael looked up at the edge of the clearing where 5 more mercenaries had entered it. At first, he thought, I am so getting robbed. but then he saw the wolf head branded into the newcomer''s armor. With a grin, he shouted out, ¡°Hey, how is Walt doing these days?¡± The five newcomers were surprised by the wild kid asking about their vice-captain and stopped to size him up. Looking at him closely, their leader could tell the kids clothes, although nearly destroyed, were of good quality cotton. His waist had a well-built waste pack on it, and his boots were also of high quality. It was obvious to him once he took a close look that the dirt and weapons were just a disguise. Coming to this conclusion he thought, This kid probably really knows our vice, what the hell is he doing out here alone? ¡°Yeah kid, Walt is doing well, he did not come on our trip though, how do you know him?¡± ¡°He was buying a couple hundred gold of merchandise from my father each year. This year I doubt my pops will make the trip though. Perhaps you guys will send a gift to Walt for me as an apology?¡± Hearing what the kid was saying, the merc guessed the kid had close ties to them. Especially if the number of goods they bought from them was really that much gold. ¡°Sure kid, I love free stuff, what ya got?¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Come on into my cave, I¡¯ll help you bundle it up.¡± Accepting the offer the man waved his 4 comrades forward as he approached the cave. The man in the steel breastplate just stood there and listened to their conversation. Hearing the kid had a rich family he knew he got swindled. He was pretty sure the kid did not kill his guys, but he was still pissed that another mercenary group was going to get a haul of free stuff. Waving his men off, they took off in search of their probably dead comrades. As the man approached the cave, Kael had already put his javelins away, setting them next to his hammer and bag. Grabbing the small side of his cave ¡°door¡±, he lifted it up and placed it further to the side, opening it completely. The mercenary seeing a kid pick up a few hundred pounds of wood like it was nothing was a little impressed, he stopped in front of the child and asked, ¡°Hey kid, what¡¯s your name?¡± Looking around to see the other group of mercenaries were gone, Kael introduced himself and who his father was. Hearing this kid was related to his group''s alchemy supplies he was excited but also a little bummed. The thought of not having such high-grade goods in the future, especially the healing potions and powders was a little disheartening. ¡°What happened that may delay the delivery of the potions and powders?¡± ¡°Oh, our family is recluse from the world. We don¡¯t like dealing with the nobles or other political power plays. Last time we were in town some people were nosing into our origins. Apparently wanting us to do alchemy for them exclusively, which gets annoying.¡± ¡°Not to be too nosey, but what are you doing out here alone?¡± ¡°Our family sends all of its kids out into the forest at the age of 9 as a rite of passage. I already killed the required rank 6 beast, so now I¡¯m just stuck out here for another 7 months before I can head back.¡± The man listening to Kael¡¯s web of lies thought, Shit, their family is hardcore. Those Rose punks got off light by me interrupting them. ¡°So what did you want to give us?¡± Waving the group of mercenaries in, the first thing they saw was the impressive hammer hiding behind the wooden wall. No wonder he didn¡¯t let the others in, that hammer would definitely cause a fight. If you head into the back, you can have all of the hides. I just hope you can give this large bear skin to my father when he comes by again. Thinking it was just going to be a few hides, the guy offhandedly agreed. When the mercs got into the large area in the back of the cave and saw 35 to 40 hides from rank 5 beasts laying all over the place he was shocked. These hides are worth at least 5 gold, if there are any rare ones hiding in there, it would be much, much more. ¡°Kid, you sure you want to give these away?¡± He asked. ¡°Might as well, I am just using them as padding right now, and those other guys will be back in force when you leave. I would rather give them away than have them stolen or ruined.¡± Nodding his head to the logic, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°So, did you kill their guys?¡± Without missing a beat Kael replied, ¡°Of course I did, the stupid dogs tried to rob me. Their gear was too low grade to keep though, so I dumped it with their bodies out in the woods.¡± Kind of shocked at the kid''s words, he was even more depressed by his view of their gear. ¡°It may be low ranked mortal weapons, but it¡¯s got to be better than the bone weapons you made.¡± Hearing this Kael chuckled. Tossing the bone sword he was holding into the dirt by the guy''s feet he said, ¡°Take it, it¡¯s the equivalent of a rank 5 weapon. I have an extra so I don¡¯t need it.¡± Thinking Kael was talking nonsense the guy picked up the bone weapon in his right hand and held is own weapon in his left. Striking the two weapons together blade first, his sword broke in half and the bone sword was totally fine. Staring at the sickle-like weapon in his hand he was even more depressed. Today, a kid has crushed his view of the world. Watching the sword get cut off Kael said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if the bear that came from was rank 7, but it was at least rank 6. With some tender loving care, you can make way better weapons out of their bones than that shoddily refined sword you were holding. Most people just think metal is better because it looks pretty, but unless it is well crafted, might as well use a bone.¡± With nothing to say to that. The merc slid the sword under his belt with a, ¡°Thanks¡±. After a few minutes the mercs had everything bundled up, but with Kael¡¯s huge bear rug there was too much to carry. ¡°Hey Kid, if you can carry that skin to the river, we have guys floating goods down the river in a barge. Otherwise, it will be nightfall before we get there." ¡°No problem at all,¡± Kael replied. Packing up all his gear, he looked over his hole away from home one last time before he picked up the bearskin and headed out. The mercenaries were a bit slow working their way through the forest until Kael took the lead. At a light jog, and carrying a huge hide with him, he put the mercs to shame. Speeding up so they wouldn¡¯t fall behind a child, they reached the river in about an hour and a half. The could see a large barge with about 50 people downstream. Heading towards them the mercs joined up with the rest of their company. Adding his pelt to the others he reminded them, ¡°The big bear skin is for my pops, let Walt know Kael left it for Iradin, and there shouldn¡¯t be any issues.¡± Waving, he turned around and took off without giving anyone a chance to refute him. Chapter 31 - Impression level, Tasty Heading upstream away from the mercs, Kael thought about how he was now in the same position he was when he first left. This time though, he was better prepared. I still have no idea what my dad wanted of me. The idea of taking risks seems good to hone your skills, but to make me advance, I am not so sure I¡¯m on his wavelength. Running up the river until night fell, he climbed a tree and wedged himself between two branches before falling asleep. The next morning he decided to cross the river to be sure he was not bothered by the Rose Mercenaries. However, his hammer was way too heavy to swim it. Sighing, he began to examine the wood around him. After about a half an hour he found a tree called River¡¯s Sequoia, whose statistics were light and buoyant. Hoping it would be enough he chopped down the three-foot thick tree and began to collect vines. Heaping all of the materials near the side of the river, he began to make his raft. With the practice he had from making the doors it went pretty fast. When finished he had an 8 foot wide, 12-foot long raft. Looking it over, he was still worried about the weight of his hammer. Heading back out into the forest he found another River¡¯s Sequoia and chopped it down. Cutting three 12 foot chunks from it, he fastened them to what would be the bottom of his raft. Going back to the tree he chopped down, he found a thick 20-foot branch and shaved the smaller branches off it. Heading back to his raft, he lifted it up and flipped it over so the extra logs would be against the water. Dragging it about a third of the way into the water, he stopped when he felt the river beginning to tug on it. Loading up all of his gear, he double and triple checked that everything was tightly tied together. Grabbing his big tree branch he walked up to the landside edge of the raft, placed his foot against it, and gave it a good shove. As the raft slid out into the water, Kael took a few steps and lept onto it. Thrusting his branch into the water he gave a huge shove, sending him out 10 feet towards the middle of the river. Just like he guessed when he first saw the river, the middle was fast. Giving another heave against the river bottom with his branch he shot himself another 10 feet out. Getting to the dead center of the river, he suddenly hit a small snag. His branch wasn¡¯t long enough to reach the river floor anymore. Riding it out for 10 minutes, he slowly drifted closer to the edge. Getting close enough to hit the bottom of the river with his pole, he rapidly launched himself into the opposite side. When the raft hit the shore, he jumped off, landing on the ground. Dropping his gear on the ground he quickly rushed knee-deep into the river to grab his raft. It¡¯s so nice, it would be a pity not to leave it for some random person to take. He thought as he drug it out and onto the ground. Looking at the raft he felt a little proud. Annoyed that he did not get any experience he checked his character sheet to see what was wrong. Reviewing his professions, he noted that after two months of making things from wood every day, his rank in carpentry rose to 3. He also had a subcategory under blacksmithing labelled weaponsmithing, of which he was rank 2. No idea why I stopped hearing notifications, but that¡¯s cool, it was starting to give me a headache. Dragging his raft about 5 feet in from the river, he picked up his pack and dashed off into the woods at full speed. Pondering why his heat raising steps would not increase in skill, he sucked it up and continued to push himself. After about 2 hours the night began to fall again, Just like previously, he climbed high into a tree, found a decent place, and went to sleep. In the middle of the night, he was awoken by the sound of creaking wood. Sitting up he shifted to face the sound. With his legs now dangling off the side of one branch, he looked up to find himself staring at a monster cat about 10 feet away. Amazingly he heard a familiar voice go off in his head. Apparently thinking it broke made it work overtime. Soul has examined another living creature. Living creature, Night Devil Panther, has a favourable impression of the Soul. Impression level, Tasty. Disallowing examination due to impression level. Creatures level of threat to soul, Extreme. Make persistent efforts! Fuck! He thought, just as the panther pounced towards him. Falling backwards to avoid the beast, the weight of his hammer drug him downward quickly. Continuing his backward tumble he flipped over, righting himself as he fell. He watched the Panther shoot past where he had been sitting and land on the side of another tree branch. Using the rebound from the branch it launched itself down at him again. Kicking off the trunk of the tree he launched himself out and away, causing the panther to miss again. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Trying to catch branches on his way down, the extreme weight of his pack ended up making them all break. After the panther''s last miss, it caught a branch but had to scramble to stay on it, buying Kael some time. After breaking four or five branches he abruptly stopped as he hit the ground. Glad those branches broke my fall. Standing up with the branches all around him, he looked up to see the panther jumping from branch to branch on its way down. Watching the cat rationality finally took hold of him. Unlike the bear, all he could sense from this thing was death. Turning around he started running. Activating heat raising steps for the extra speed he crashed through the forest at breakneck speeds. After about two hours of running, he could still feel the thing behind him. Slowing to a jog, he looked over his shoulder to see the panther slow as well. It is just waiting for me to tire out. Feeling around the back of his neck he could tell only two of the javelins survived the fall. Fishing one out, he calculated the trajectory of the panther and hurled the javelin. The panther seeing the javelin coming opened its mouth and spat out a black gas. The cloud of gas was so dark that Kael could clearly make it out in the middle of the dark night. The javelin entered the cloud and what exited about a half second later was corroded bits of wood and about a third of the claw that once was its tip. The tip continued on to strike the panther in the flank but simply bounced off with no effect. What the fuck is this? Since when can panthers spit out toxic gas? Bursting back into top speed Kael fled the area. After getting a little bit of distance he fell back into a jog. Considering he had never lost the cat yet, he was fairly certain it was faster than him. The only thing he could bet on now was being able to outlast it. Jogging the entire night through the forest dawn finally broke. Looking over his shoulder the damn cat was still following him. Every once in a while through the night it would let out a growl as if to spur him on. Gritting his teeth he focused on putting one foot in front of the other. 3 hours later he was startled out of his trance as he nearly ran off a ravine. Looking down off the edge of the cliff he was standing on he could see a four to five hundred foot drop into whitewater rapids. Turning around he saw the panther walk into view. Pulling out his hammer, he stared the beast down while considering what he should do. After about a minute of pacing back and forth in front of him, the panther started walking up to him. That¡¯s a swagger, the goddamn cat is swaggering up to eat me. When the cat got to about 10 feet away he could see its muscle tensing. Not wanting to wait any longer, he simply made small jump backwards, which quickly resulted in him hurtling to the ground at terminal velocity. In a moment of insanity he wondered, Just how fast does an earthward laden Kael fly. Soul is calculating its current speed. Current speed is 22.68 m/s. Calculating current weight versus distance to impact. Speed will increase to 47.68 m/s before impact. Impact impending in 4.87 seconds. Impact will generate 903,756 joules of energy. Converting joules to torque. Soul¡¯s body will be inflicted with 665,797 pounds of torque upon landing. Make persistent efforts! Seriously, this thing is pissed off that I called it broken or what? Fuuuck I will be reduced to less than a meat patty shortly. Freaking out, Kael decided to impale the hammers spike into the cliff wall to slow him down. Flipping the hammer around he took the tightest grip he could then smashed it forward with all of his strength. Soul has taken an action of life perseverance. Initiating lucky chance of 15%. Luck has failed. Initiating Karma procedure. Karma expenditure under review. No other lives will be immediately harmed by this action. Action approved. Soul has additional free Karma. Burning 10 Karma to initiate life-saving measures. Being too focused on his strike, he did not even register the sounds in his head. His hammers spike smashed into the stone wall of the cliff and was almost yanked out of his hands. Barely keeping his grip, he could feel his shoulders disconnect just before his elbows did. The back end of the hammer stayed in the stone and tore a hole through the stone wall as it ripped downwards. About two seconds later Kael came to a stop. Hanging about 50 feet over the water before losing his grip on his hammer and his consciousness. Drifting off into the comfortable arms of darkness his only regret was losing the handle that Raen had made for him. Chapter 32 - A new start Waking up, Kael opened his eyes to just be greeted with more darkness. He freaked out for a moment thinking he was blind before his eyes began to adjust. Peering up into the darkness, the ceiling of the cavern could not be seen. Stalactites piercing out from the inky gloom like enormous teeth was all that greeted his view. Looking around all he could tell was that he was resting up against the wall of a giant cavern. All he could see in front of him was dark open air broken up by a stalagmite here and there. Every few seconds the sounds of a water drop splashing on the ground would break the silence. Looking at the ground, it was all rock, worn smooth over innumerable years. Gently lifting his arms, he rotated his shoulders and moved his forearms around to work out his elbows. He clearly remembered the pain of having them ripped from the sockets, but he was apparently ok now. Putting his hands down to stand, his right hand smashed something soft and wet. Looking at what he had just smashed he was relieved to find it was just the core of some fruit. Standing up, he walked along the cavern, keeping his left side to the wall to be sure he did not get lost in the open underground. After a few steps, he stopped to give himself a closer inspection. The constant weight of the pack on his back was gone, so he had already subconsciously written that off. Patting his hip he was happy to find his waist pack. Opening it up he found a broken wood knife, a shattered pot, and some ruined powders. The only left intact was one potion of minor phoenix flight. Taking it the potion out, he removed his belt to get his pack off. Once he loosened his belt he felt one of his boar tusk knives fall to the ground. In the strangely quiet cavern, the knife made an odd ringing sound that echoed out into nothingness as the knife hit the ground. Looking down at it he was really surprised that it made it with him to wherever here was, but his pack was lost. Finishing the task of taking off his belt, he took the pack off and upturned it. Smacking it on the ground a few times to get most of the caked on powders out of it. Putting everything back on and storing the potion in the waist pack, he bent down to retrieve his dagger. Tucking it back under his belt was apparently the best place for it, so that is where it went. Sighing for his lost hammer he took a moment to clear his thoughts before continuing to follow the wall. After walking for what he guessed was a few hours he came to pile of clumped up powder and a broken wooden knife. Fuck, I went in a circle! Kicking the pile of garbage out of frustration, he slowly let out a long breath. Calm down man, it could be worse, you could be dead. He thought while looking out into the darkness. Wait, is that light? Staring out into the darkness, he could see a deep blue in the sky. That definitely was not there before. I am totally in a hole. Heading towards the light, he walked out into the darkness. Carefully moving through the dark cavern, he skirted the stalagmites while on the lookout for whatever nasties might live down here. The further in he went, the more stalagmites and stalactites he encountered. The longer he spent moving the more the center of the cavern changed. He was sure of it now, he was in a hole and it was dawn. Excited with the thoughts of both light and getting the hell out this place he picked up his pace. After 30 minutes of a fast walk, he came to a point where 5 stalagmites formed in a circle. Looking up he could see a 20-foot diameter round hole in the cavern ceiling. Guessing the stalagmites formed from water running down from above he thought he came to the end of this brief, but freaky journey. The only problem was that the stalagmites were only around 100 feet tall, which was only halfway to the top of the cavern. Deciding to cross the issue of getting out of this place once he had a better idea of what the cavern was like, he began to climb the stalagmite to get a better view. Although it was made of rock, it was slippery from some kind of gross moss. Struggling his way up, he climbed about 50 feet before getting a shock. In the dead center of the 5 stalagmites, there was an open, circular shape. The middle of the space had a large circle engraved with a complex design he assumed was an array. Sitting on the array was a gigantic ape. Looking more closely at the ape, it was strange, the thing was sitting in a lotus position. Apparently, it was quite old, as the black hair on its head had become salt and pepper white, while the golden hair on it chest was about 80% white. Its size was ridiculous to Kael. He thought a bear who could stand at 20 feet tall was huge, but this monkey was at least 35 feet tall while in a sitting position. After staring at it for over a minute, the old ape suddenly opened its mouth and said, ¡°Human child, did no one tell you it is rude to stare?¡± Hearing the ape¡¯s sudden speech, Kael tumbled down the stalagmite backwards. Landing on the ground with a grunt he thought, I HAVE to stop falling. ¡°What¡¯s wrong child, never heard an ape speak before?¡± ¡°Uhm sir, I guess the technical truth is yes. Let''s hope Koko counts. It was more of a normal beast that was trained to communicate simple things with a hand language though.¡± ¡°Good child you did not lie. It would have been a shame to kill you after saving you from your fall.¡± ¡°Thanks for that. Sir, I did not mean to intrude, you wouldn¡¯t have happened to see a backpack and hammer, would you? If I can locate them I will stop bothering you and be on my way.¡± ¡°The pack is ruined, in fact, if it were not for the powders in it being soaked, then seeping through into your skin, you probably would not have made it to here. As for a hammer, it did not accompany you.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir, if you could tell me how to exit now, I will let you get back to quietly sitting there.¡± Laughing loudly the ape replied, ¡°Child, no need to be anxious if I wanted to kill you I wouldn¡¯t have saved you. You have the same bloodline as someone who I once was very close to. As you are of his lineage, not only will I not kill you, but I will assist you with your training. Come, child, climb of those stones, let us speak face to face.¡± With some trepidation, Kael climbed up the stalagmites, crossed over to the other side, and slid back down it into the interior of the stone ring. ¡°Good child, you have guts. Tell me, what are you called?¡± ¡°My name is Kael sir, um, how should I call you?¡± ¡°My name is Bantan. Child, there is no reason to be so polite.¡± Kael took a seat cross-legged in front of the giant ape and asked, ¡°Well you said you would help me with training, I don¡¯t seem to have a legitimate dantian, so how is that going to work?¡± ¡°No need to worry small one. Let me ask you, how did you cultivate until now?¡± ¡°I built up and held energy in my meridians until they were full, then pushed them into my muscles, bones, etc..¡± ¡°Good, do you know what else cultivates like that?¡± ¡°Uh, no, or I wouldn¡¯t have been stuck at my current cultivation for so long.¡± Laughing, the ape said, ¡°So long? Child, I have not had a breakthrough in over 2,000 years. Your current life has been shorter than my last cultivation session.¡± Surprised at how old the ape was, Kael asked, ¡°Well sir, err, Bantan, could you tell me what else cultivates like me?¡± ¡°Beasts of course. Unlike most humanoid races, beasts do not form a dantian. We simply are born with the knowledge of how to strengthen our bodies. Over time the residual energy slowly builds a core. For us, it is like having a grain of sand that we slowly build up into a stone over innumerable years.¡± ¡°Shit, I don¡¯t have that long, I¡¯ll be in the grave long before that happens!¡± ¡°No need to be agitated. When you reach the Xiantian realm, your body will naturally form a dantian, you have it much easier then beasts.¡± ¡°What do I need to do then?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple, you will train like a beast, just in a more focused way. First, you need to be able to fill your meridians completely, but instead of releasing or using that energy, just keep cycling it. Once you have reached that point we can talk again. If you can¡¯t accomplish that you are hopeless.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I will do my best, but I have a concern. Currently, my Qi becomes unstable as soon as it is full and then dissipates.¡± Hearing that, the old ape opened its eyes for the first time. Looking into Bantan¡¯s eyes, Kael felt like his soul was being swallowed up by a vast black hole. Closing its eyes again, Bantan said, ¡°Child your bloodlines are out of balance. If fortune is with you, I have something that may help.¡± After speaking he made a grasping motion in the air. Turning his palm face down he opened his hand. Kael saw a small copper ring fall from the ape¡¯s hand. Catching it, he wondered how this old beaten ring would help him. Soul has received a spatial item. Initiating lucky chance of 15%. Soul¡¯s luck has been approved. Merging items purchased with Karma into spatial ring Congratulations, make persistent efforts! While Kael was staring dumbly at the ring, Bantan began speaking again. ¡°Originally, I was only going to give this to you if you could prove yourself. It is the last relic my good friend left behind before leaving me forever. Although it is damaged, it still has accessible space in it. If fortune favours you, perhaps it will have something to assist you. It may only be bound if the previous owner is dead. You are lucky that I do not seek worldly positions at my age, or I would have already bound it. Drop three drops of your blood upon it and it will be yours.¡± Excited, Kael bit his thumb until he could taste blood. Squeezing our three drops of blood onto the ring, he watched as it absorbed them. Creepy. After the ring was done drinking his blood, he slipped it onto his thumb. Watching in amazement, the ring resized itself to fit his thumb perfectly. When it was done shrinking, it changed its shape into a black and white set of yin-yang fish surrounding his thumb. Finally, he felt a burning pain as the ring sunk into his flesh, leaving behind only a tattoo of its shape. Well shit, I went from fashion sense into a terrible tattoo. ¡°Focus your mind on it and you will be presented with a black image that represents its space in your mind. Anything inside will be represented. Will the item you want out and it will appear in your hand. If you do not wish to hold the item, you can face your palm the direction you want it to appear. When it is willed out, it will appear in front of your palm.¡± Super excited, Kael willed his mind into it. Seeing a hazy of darkness with a few items, he held his palm out and willed it all to appear. As things popped into existence in front of him he excitedly shouted, ¡°Thanks Bantan!¡± Looking at the pile of items he saw 2 talismans, 4 fruits, 2 books, a ring, a pouch, and a pair of boots. Examining them he began to receive notifications.
Life-saving talisman (2), a drop of blood to attune it. When the owner receives a damage that would exceed his/her life by no more than twice their total health, the talisman will shatter. The owner will take no damage. Wildberry fruit of the golden fish, +1 luck. Blessing of lesser wealth. Firebranded Apple, increases control over fire by 20% Titan¡¯s Wrath, +2 strength. A delectable fruit grown on the grounds where a titan fell. Devouring it will transform 10% of the bloodline to that of a Titan. Saint¡¯s Heart, +1 talent. A refreshing pear, Devouring it will have a 10% chance to increase talent by 1 point. How to refine for idiots, an artisan saints guide to refining ores. Hammering of Myriad Things, a forging technique created by an artisan saint, signed N.D. A nameless ring, forged of the bones of a Fu Dog, +2 luck. A spatial pouch, interspatial space holds 50 cubic feet. Nocturne¡¯s Firewalking Treads, Tier 7 Heaven Ranked boots. Protects the wearer against heat by reducing the effects of overall heat by 95%. Heaven ranked flames and effects are not affected.
¡°Holy shit!¡± Kael exclaimed at his bonus items.These are nice, but someone is seriously bad at naming things. Bantan, smiling at the excited child said, ¡°It looks like fortune favoured you. Those fruits are old, I suggest you immediately consume them.¡± Nodding, Kael reached out and began to consume them one after another. As he ate each on he could feel different types of mysterious energies rushing through his body. The wildberry fruit applied the bonus he had saw earlier, but when eating the Firebranded Apple the first of the strange events started. Soul¡¯s bloodline has a similar effect, merging effects. +10% Might removed. -10% Consumption removed. +20% Control removed. +30% to control over all aspects of fire granted. Jumping up in excitement, he paused when he remembered he was not alone. Scratching the back of his head, he swallowed his excitement and sat back down. Eating the Titan¡¯s Wrath fruit, he gained the expected +2 strength and +10% bloodline, but what he did not expect came next. Soul¡¯s bloodline has become more powerful. Updating effect. Effect doubled, soul granted an additional +2 strength, +1 Body, +1 Stamina. Control over metal has increased to 20%. Forcing himself to remain seated and calm he gave himself an imaginary hi-five and a Fuck yeah! Looking at the details to the last fruit he decided to wear the Fu Dog ring first. A bit bummed a karma item only had a 10% chance to work he felt a little robbed. At least my other fruit was twice as cool. Dripping his blood on the Fu Ring and then wearing it, he took the last fruit and quickly ate it. Soul¡¯s talent has increased by 1. 10% chance to increase talent initiated. Applying souls luck to the consumables lucky chance. Lucky chance of 10%, (Increased by 30% due to luck =40%) initiated. Soul¡¯s luck has been approved. Soul¡¯s talent increased by 1. Laughing wildly for a moment, Kael regained his composure and apologized, ¡°Sorry Bantan, I just couldn¡¯t control my excitement for a moment.¡± ¡°No problem, childhood is meant for such moments. You gained some nice things, I would suggest you bind the boots before storing the books for later as they will not help you as of yet.¡± Heading the ape¡¯s suggestion, he dripped his blood onto the boots. Soul has attuned to an ancestral item, checking bloodlines. Darksteel bloodline accepted. Ancestral item created by Nocturne Darksteel, Soul accepted as the primary host. Additional functionality locked until Soul¡¯s strength is powerful enough to remove seals. Jumping up again, Kael looked at the old ape and said. ¡°Bantan, These boots have an inheritance for my bloodline, was your friend named Nocturne? In my mind, I felt the boots accept me a direct line descendant.¡± The old ape burst into laughter of excitement, ¡°Fate, it¡¯s fate child. Yes, Nocturne was my friend and partner. We explored the majority of this world as he insanely searched for the rarest materials that could be found. I suppose this means I should use my remaining time to train you with full effort and not just point you in the correct direction.¡± ¡°If he is my ancestor, what can you tell me of him? My family was destroyed and I know nothing about them.¡± ¡°Kael, you are far too weak to know about your ancestor. He would be very sad to know his family has fallen though. You should work hard to bring your family back to the heights they should exist at. All you need to know is that your ancestor was only one step away from the Great Ascension stage, what humans call the emperor rank now. He was also hailed as one of the greatest smiths of his time. Child, he died long ago. His lifespan came to its end before he could break through. Before his death, he created this array for me in hopes that it could stimulate my bloodline. Although my bloodlines have never awakened, it has helped my cultivation greatly. Unfortunately, it appears I will follow in his footsteps soon.¡± Not sure exactly how to comfort a millenniums-old monster, Kael just said, ¡°Sorry to hear that, Bantan.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine child of my friend, but go now, practice holding Qi in your meridians. I need time to pull my mind back to the present.¡± Hearing the instructions, Kael got up and began climbing the stalagmites again. When he reached the top he said, ¡°Bantan, uh, you got anything to eat?¡± Smiling, the old ape looked up to the hole in the roof of the cave. Making another grasping motion a huge scaled rhino looked like it was sucked in. Catching the rhino, the old ape broke its neck, then tossed it over the gap by the stalagmite Kael was climbing. ¡°Go, I will send you a new beast each morning.¡± Tracking down the rhino, Kael realized he had no way to cook it. Shuddering, he took out his knife and activated the internal forging technique. Chapter 33 - Forging Darksteel Wiping the blood from his chin, Kael let out a monster belch. Holding back his vomit he started to focus on the energy flowing through his meridians. While cycling it he slowly converted it into elemental energies. Drawing in nature''s energy as he went to fill his meridians, he was happy to see that his qi was converting into a split of 60% fire, 20% metal, and 20% wood. After 30 minutes he finally got his meridians to the bursting point. Struggling to keep the energy in check, he converted the remaining neutral qi into elemental qi before it collapsed again. Gritting his teeth, he started all over again, even going as far as to eat more of the Rhino. Although he was disgusted with eating raw meat, the energy he gained from his internal furnace technique filled up 50% of his meridians. Four days slipped past like this. Kael only slept for about 4 hours a day. The rest of the time he spent eating raw animals and working with his Qi. On the fourth day, he managed to stabilize the elemental qi in his meridians. Continuing to cycle the energy it now seemed to come to him naturally. This would be so much better if I could use neutral qi, and just keep the elemental qi in my dantian. Slowly adapting to splitting his concentration to keep his qi moving, he began to try to integrate it into his normal actions. Standing up and walking in circles he slowly sped up. Once he activated his heat raising steps though, everything collapsed. Two more days passed before he was able to keep the qi cycling no matter what he did. It did not even seem like he needed to think about it anymore, it just kept going unless he concentrated on it stopping. Deciding to eat one last time before he went to see the monster ape, he got a pleasant surprise. Soul¡¯s technique, Internal Furnace has advanced. New skill rank, Large Success. Current benefit, 25% of consumables Qi extracted for consumers use increased to 50%. Congratulations! Make persistent efforts! YES! That means if my qi stops circulating I can almost instantly get everything going again just by eating something gross. Excited, Kael ran over to the stalagmite ring and began climbing. Getting to the top of the gap between two of the stalagmites he shouted, ¡°Bantan old man, I did it!¡± Sliding down to the inside of the stone ring, he came to stop in front of the old ape. Nearly bouncing up and down he said, ¡°Look, it just keeps going and doesn¡¯t stop!¡± The old ape slowly awoke from his cultivation. Looking down at the tiny human, he said, ¡°Good child, you have taken the first step. This process comes with benefits and drawbacks. Like beasts, you will be able to access your qi to execute abilities much faster than humans. However, you will only have about 20% of the energy of a normal human to work with. You will need to constantly refine your body as you will still primarily use that.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter to me. As long as I can get through qi refinement, nothing matters to me!¡± ¡°Well child, I hope you remember that commitment. I won¡¯t let you leave here until I am satisfied. Considering I have less than a year of lifespan back, you should hope you can satisfy me before I die.¡± ¡°Uhh, then, I hope you can train me well?¡± ¡°Hand over your cultivation techniques and I will rebuild them for you. While I am doing that, you need to work on stepping into Qi Refinement. It should be simple for you as a human. Just keep cycling you Qi, and where you dantian is, build a little cyclone. I would start with just putting in one twist in your energy. As you become accustomed to it, add another. Eventually, you will have enough there to progress.¡± Thinking, seriously, that is training me? Kael sat down to explain his cultivation methods to the old ape. ¡°Good, when you feel yourself breakthrough come and see me again. Go now, child.¡± Sighing, Kael got up, climbed the stone ring again and left. Sitting back down he started trying to make a loop in his dantian area, but it was extremely difficult. Days began to fly by again. Every time he would bend it about halfway it would go crazy. If he had too much energy in it when it went crazy he would end up with internal injuries. His internal furnace technique helping him heal was about the only way he could continue. 8 days later he got his first loop built into his dantian. The pain was enormous as it barely fit. Feeling the energy rubbing against the walls of his dantian while it slowly expanded was not something he was prepared for. Faltering, his energy lost stability and he had to start all over. 2 more days passed by before he succeeded again. The pain was still there but not as bad as before. After about 12 hours of running energy through it, his dantian finally had expanded enough to stop hurting. Once he felt ok he began working on the second spiral of his soon to be cyclone. 20 days passed by and Kael was up to his 5th swirl in his cyclone. He ran into a problem though, his dantian would not expand anymore and he was out of the room. After a few hours of struggling with different things, he felt like slapping himself in the head. His mother''s speeches came back to him. Qi refinement was all about refining qi, he just needed to purify it more. Looking at the energy flowing through him, it was like a three-layered cord. Pushing bits of the impure wooden qi from the center into the fire qi, the fire qi flared up, burning off the impurities in the wooden qi. At the same time, the extra fire qi also melted off the impurities in the metal qi on the outside of the cord. Amazed that it worked, and way better than he thought it would, he continued to refine it down. Three more days passed before he could no longer refine it. Looking at his budding cyclone, it was about half the size it was previously. Hoping that meant he would be able to finish he continued to build more swirls into it. With the previous practice, he became skilled in manipulating his qi. Every time he would add another loop into his dantian he would purify the new qi again. It only took him another 6 days before he finished his 9th circuit. When he finished building the swirl and reconnecting the qi to be a continuous stream, he felt his body beginning to boil. Feeling his qi start to build up at an enormous rate, his body began to swell up. Just as he was afraid his body was going to explode, it felt like something snapped in his dantian. Taking an internal look at it, he saw that his fake cyclone seemed to have become a real cyclone. It also broke away from being a direct part of his qi path. Now the Qi was feeding it on one side, while the excess energy was running out the other. His dantian had other changes as well. The cyclone now was made of pure fire energy. There was a small whirling ball of wooden energy on the inside of it. His metal energy was pushed to the outside of dantian like a coat of steel. As the cyclone of fire grew, the metal impurities finished melting away, leaving a solid shell of gold encasing the inside. Shocked, Kael was just about to run over to ask Bantan when he received a notification. Congratulations, you have stepped into Qi Refinement, Rank 1. Cultivation rank increased Agility by 1 point. No Cultivation technique available, no extra increase. Continue to make persistent efforts! Hearing the notification at first he was amazingly happy. Then he noticed he was lacking a technique, Fuck, I need Bantan, now! He thought as he took off running for the stone circle. Scrambling up one side of it and tumbling down the next, he rolled into the old ape''s foot. ¡°Bantan, I broke through, but I need a cultivation technique! Help me out here old guy!¡± ¡°Child, you should really work on being calm more often.¡± After speaking the old ape reached out and tapped Kael on the forehead. Feeling a ton of information flow into his mind, Kael struggled to stay conscious. I am so sick of blacking out, and if I blackout now I will at best miss the bonuses for breaking through with a technique. As the information flow slowed down, Kael began to review it in his mind. Sitting down while he concentrated, he started to follow the instructions. The techniques his parents gave him basically reinforced their body as their qi was running through it. Meaning if they lost their Qi, they would lose that strength. The technique from the old ape combined both his mom and dad¡¯s technique to balance them, but they still leaned towards strength. The main difference was that the majority of the Qi that ran through the meridians was pushed back into the body. Much like the body refinement stages. Following the directions and pushing elemental energy into his body to refine it, he was in much more pain than when he used Qi. Sitting there he tried again and again. After an unknown amount of time to him passed, he finally heard his cultivation was successful. Granting him 1 strength and oddly enough, 1 intelligence. Standing up with a shout of, ¡°Fuck yeah! I¡¯m not a cripple!¡± he danced around in joy for a moment before clearing his throat. ¡°Ahem, uh, thank you Bantan!¡± Giving the child a toothy grin, the old ape said, ¡°To see the lineage of my old friend progress is a joyous occasion. Go back and practice more, you will need to go much further to get my approval.¡± ¡°Thanks, I will work hard.¡± Kael politely said before leaving. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Heading back to his normal area he had more motivation than he had felt in either life. Sitting down he fell back into a cycle of cultivating, refining, eating, and then repeating it again. After getting a solid start into qi refinement, he began ripping through the cultivation ranks. It took him only 8 days to breakthrough rank 2 and 3. Stepping over the bottleneck into the Large Success stage of rank 4 took him 12 days. His cultivation sped up again after that hurdle, however, he got stuck for a little over three weeks at the next bottleneck. Trying to go from rank 6 into the Great Completion stage of rank 7 was much more difficult than anything he had come across so far. His cultivation once again speeding up after his breakthrough, it took him only 92 days to go from rank 1 to rank 9. Although he was very happy with his progress, his cultivation method and technique were strange to him. Due to the mixture of two techniques and two vastly different racial styles, the bonuses he gained did not make much sense. He had talked it over with Bantan throughout the last three months, and his view was it being due to the beast style refinement. According to the old ape, the refinement method of beasts always worked towards increasing their intelligence. The reason being that a lot of Qi is refined into the blood throughout the process, even if it is not intentional. As the blood passes through the brain, the qi nurtures it, increasing the beast''s intelligence. Kael wasn¡¯t sure if he really bought the explanation, but it was better than anything he could come up with. Reviewing the bonuses he received, including rank 1, his cultivation ranks added 2 to all of his attributes. His cultivation technique added 2 strength and agility, 1 body and stamina. It definitely reflected the two strong points of his parents'' techniques. Still, he could not get over that he gained 3 intelligence and willpower. Thanking Bantan for that addition to the technique, he was excited to see what perfection would give him. Returning and speaking with the old ape about the perfection realm, Bantan did not suggest attempting to break through to it. Kael refused not to at least try. Bantan finally agreed to watch over him but required him to prepare and refine as much qi as he could. After two months of refining qi and being denied by Bantan, Kael eventually got to a point the ape was ok with. He also was kind enough to pull in a rank 10 beast to help with the breakthrough. Surprising to Kael, the beast was a small red rabbit. Bantan reminded him however, he was pretty strong for his size too. Also, that rabbit could breathe fire that is hot enough to melt stone. Carefully skinning it, Kael activated his internal furnace technique. Feeling the immense energy pouring out of each bite of the rabbit, he hurriedly began circulating his qi. As he took in the qi, he noted that the majority of it was fire qi, making it much faster for him to convert and integrate the energy. While pondering how he was going to do this without tearing his body apart, he felt a warmth gush out into his brain. Soul is attempting an unexpected breakthrough. Calculating Cross Over talent from the perception tree. Soul has 75 talents spent in the Mortal Tier. Granting inspiration and a 75% increased chance of breakthrough. Chance of breakthrough 40% (+75% due to talents =70%) Hearing the numbers and knowing the inspiration came from his talents he followed through with the sudden idea. Pulling energy from his meridians into his heart, he continued to eat more rabbit to refill his meridians. When both his heart and meridians were completely full of energy he exploded it all out into his body simultaneously. With a roar of inhuman pain, he continued to push the elementally charged energy throughout his body. Feeling everything cut, burn, and shredding as the energy passed through, he refused to give up. Finally, with blood running from his nose, mouth, ears, and eyes, he felt himself step into the perfection realm. With his body beginning to heal at an exceptional rate he heard; Congratulations, you have stepped into Qi Refinement, Rank 10, Perfection. Cultivation rank increased all statistics by 1 point. Cultivation technique increased all statistics by 1 point. Continue to make persistent efforts! After hearing the crazy notification, he did not even care about the blood covering his face. He immediately reviewed the statistic part of his character sheet. Name: Kael Darksteel, Race: Human, Age: 10 / 120, Sex: Male, Karma: 82 Bloodline: Titan(20%) / Fae - Fire/wood(20%), Cultivation: Qi Refinement Perfection
Group A Base Mod Total Group B Base Mod Total Group C Base Mod Total Group D Base Mod Total
Strength 36 36 Agility 21 21 Reflex 39 1 40 Talent 10 0 10
Body 20 20 Stamina 22 22 Endurance 32 2 34 Perception 8 0 8
Intelligence 18 18 Willpower 19 19 Spirit 28 3 31 Luck 4 2 6
Reviewing his stats he thought, I am so glad for that technique change. I would end up buff and dumb, not my goal. Mixing in mom¡¯s technique gave me a solid boost to my agility as well. ¡°Bantan, thank you for everything you have done for me. I can never repay you.¡± ¡°Child, I am just glad to see that my friends bloodline has not died out. I¡¯ll send you out now so¡­¡± ¡°Wait, one second¡± Kael shouted, hurrying to interrupt him. Walking over, he picked up and stored the rabbits remains in his ring. Winking at Bantan he said, ¡°Waste not, want not. More seriously though, is there anything I can do for you?¡± ¡°If you run into any of my lineage I ask that you treat them kindly. Now go, I have not much time left.¡± Bantan lifted his hand, covering Kael in a mixture of divine sense and qi, he lifted him up to be face to face with him. As one last gift for Kael, Bantan extended his other hand, poking him in the forehead again. Using his divine sense to transfer a body refinement technique for the child to minor in later, he said, ¡°Remember child, humans stop refining their bodies because they do not think they need it. However, the body is the temple for the soul. After you step in xiantian, don¡¯t stop refining your body.¡± With that, the ape lifted Kael up and out of the hole. The last thing he heard was a shout of ¡°Thanks¡± from Kael. Chapter 34 - The return As Kael shot out from the hole, he looked down only to see that there was nothing but dirt there. Landing, he knelt down to run his hand over the dirt. Feeling stone a few inches down with deep lines carved in it, he passed it off as the magic of arrays. Bowing to Bantan, Kael hopes he is able to breakthrough before his lifespan ran out. Turning around with misty eyes, he tried to get his bearing. Looking around, the river was on his left and the bottom of a tree-covered mountain was on his right. Determined to get his hammer back he began following the river upstream. 2 days later he found a split in the river. He supposed that one split went down river to the town, while the other split took him to where he was earlier. Continuing up the river, he came to a ravine area after just 1 more day. Deciding he now had an awesome ring of storage he began to swim up the river. Where possible he would run along the raised stones for speed. After a few hours, a very tired and wet Kael saw his hammer, still sticking out of the side of the stone wall. Really happy at not losing his hammer, Kael began to scale the stone wall. He could definitely feel the increase in his attributes as he climbed, especially his agility. Getting to the hammer he simply grabbed the handle, then stored it in his ring. Falling back into the water he did a cannonball out of excitement. Going downstream he scouted out a nice place to camp. Eating the rest of his rank 10 rabbit while sitting around a small fire he sighed in contentment. Taking out his hammer and gently stroking it, he remembered back to all the time he had spent with the two that made it for him. Storing it, he promised himself to speed up to get back as soon as possible. Remembering his statistic page, it showed his age at 10, which meant it was not new years yet it would be soon. The next day Kael put everything into his speed as he followed the river. Running at his max speed with Heat Raising steps activated, he whipped along the shore at 60 miles per hour. In just a few hours he flew past the split in the river. After 2 more days of going full speed ahead his technique advanced. Soul¡¯s technique, Heat Raising Steps has advanced. New skill rank, Great Completion. Current benefit, 50% reduction to endurance expenditure due to moving. Current benefit, 20% increase in movement speed when not using another movement art. Additional benefit, reduction in impact weight by 70% when moving. May cross water. Congratulations! Make persistent efforts! Hearing the notification that his movement art finally ranked up almost caused him to trip. Slowing down some while eyeing the river, he decided there would be a lot fewer things in the way on top of the river. Speeding back up he closed his eyes as his first few steps landed on the river top. Opening them up again and finding he truly did not fall in he was ecstatic. The feeling of wind whipping past my face is nice, but the feeling of mist and wind whipping past is better. A week of running along the top of the water brought him back to the first and only city he had ever been in. Just on the opposite side from the one he entered last time. Not having any money and currently wearing nothing but rags, Kael decided to camp out and wait until the next day. Keeping an eye on the gate just on the off chance of seeing a wolf merc, he waited out the day. The next morning Kael got up before the sun. Sneaking to the side of the town wall he began to scale it. Approaching the top, he waited for the two lazy guards on patrol to pass before flipping up onto the top, then jumping down the other side. Meandering around the slums area until the sun came up, he began to work his way towards the tailor he went to last time. Reaching the tailors building he went around to the back. Looking around to be sure it was clear of other people, he took out a rank 5 hide from some kind of deer like creature from his ring. He took a moment to kick off and store his boots as they stood out against his ragged clothes. Heading inside, the two ladies looked up at him with a questionable look on their faces. ¡°Good morning ladies, it¡¯s been about a year since we have seen each other. I kind of lost everything I own to the river and was wondering if I could trade you this rank 5 hide for some cotton clothing and boots?¡± The young lady hearing this gave him a once over and asked, ¡°Child are you sure you have shopped here before?¡± ¡°Of course I have¡± Kael responded. ¡°I purchased and had you make a dress from Darkfern Spider Thread last year around this time.¡± Standing up the old lady smiled. ¡°I remember you child, sorry to hear you lost your stuff. The hide is worth too much for us to trade you.¡± ¡°How about if you throw in a bath with the clothes? I really need new clothes before my parents see me.¡± Kael smiled as he replied. Working out the details with the two ladies, Kael managed to score 100 silver, a set of clothes, boots, and a bath. While in the bath he shifted the 150 hides from his ring into the spatial pouch. Leaving out the rabbit skin. Walking out of the tailors with a wave and smile, he began looking for the leatherworker he met with last year. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Entering the leather workers shop, he wandered around looking at things on the walls until it was empty of people. Once it was just him and the shopkeep he approached with a big smile. ¡°Hello there! I see you are selling some of the jackets I designed last year. Hope they are doing well for you.¡± The shopkeep looked over with surprise in his eyes. Seeing the kid was actually the person who designed it, he was a bit wary. ¡°They are doing ok I suppose.¡± ¡°Good, if I give you the hides and dimensions you will make me one right? I won¡¯t say anything about the design again and you can keep selling it.¡± ¡°Sure kid, that sounds like a good deal.¡± After giving the shop keep the dimensions he asked if he would buy hides as well. The shopkeep told him he would pay 9 silver for a rank 1 pelt, and it doubled in pay for each rank it went up, but only if they were in good condition. He would pay extra for rank 6 and above too. Considering the pay vs the true value, Kael decided to only sell off some of his hides. Since the old ape would give him random beasts each day, he had eaten about 40 rank 5 beasts, 70 rank 6, 30 rank 7, and 10 rank 8 beasts. Handing over a soft blueish rank 8 hide to make the jacket, he sold him the 40 rank 5 hides. The shopkeep seeing Kael produce the hide from a small pouch was a bit surprised but even more so terrified. He couldn¡¯t believe a little kid had a storage pouch. When Kael asked for the guy to dye the jacket maroon and to use dark green highlights, he agreed quickly. Taking his payment of 5 gold and 740 silver, Kael put in his pouch. Telling the leatherworker he would be back tomorrow for the jacket, Kael headed out. Looking around town until he found a decent inn, he coughed up a huge 50 silver for a top grade place to stay. Getting some decent food for the first time in almost a year, Kael went to bed satisfied. Hanging around the Inn until noon, Kael went to check on the jacket he ordered. He was happy to find the guy did a rush job and finished it for him already. Taking the jacket he headed out and wandered around town some. Seeing an actual alchemist shop he went in to look around. While looking at their goods, he saw they were selling 6 different pills and an actual Dan, called the Foundation Establishment Dan. Examining it he found it was meant to help people break through into xiantian. Looking around at another counter, he saw they were also selling recipes and a few cauldrons. The recipes being sold were all for the pills on display in the shop. Four of the pill recipes were selling for 10 gold each. The last two, which were the washing pills, were selling for 20 gold each. Looking at the cauldrons, the cheapest one was 10 gold and the most expensive one was 200 gold. Pondering for a bit, he left the place to go find a blacksmith that would buy bones, teeth, and claws. Wandering through a few smithies he finally found one that was worthwhile. He could sell the claw of a rank 5 beast for 12 silver, or non-tusk type teeth for 2 silver. He could also sell their larger bones for 2 to 5 silver each. Altogether, he could sell the bits and pieces for about 280 silver per beast. After discussing it a bit, the smith agreed to a higher price for rank 6 good. With the agreement, he could get about two and half times more than he could for the rank 5 parts. After haggling it out for a bit to conclude the entire deal, Kael told him he would return shortly with the goods. Leaving to find a quiet place to shuffle his goods into the pouch, he swapped everything before heading back. Returning to the smith he made a total of 60 gold off the combined rank 5 and 6 beast parts. Leaving with a grin he returned to the alchemist shop. He spent 50 gold buying the 4 basic pill recipes and the cauldron. Talking to the alchemist there about how to make pills, they also threw in a basic introduction to alchemy book for free. With 15 gold left he went back to the familiar herb shop. Looking over his recipes as he walked around he decided to make a few changes to them. For the body cleansing pill recipe, he swapped out the two bloodthorns for one saint myrrh root. In his body strengthening pill, he simply cut out the cinnamon. For his qi cleansing pill, he swapped out the liquorice for tang-kui, making it closer to his Qi boosting pill. Who the hell makes these recipes? Are they that shoddy, or do they sell subpar recipes on purpose? After calculating the prices and amounts needed, Kael went up to the shopkeep. Ordering 50 sets of herbs for the 4 recipes he handed over 13.5 gold, stored the herbs in the pouch, and then quietly left town. As he left town he immediately took off at top speed. Wanting to be sure he was not followed he headed the wrong direction into the forest. After an hour he cut back and headed towards home. Running at max speed he quickly made his way home. Taking only two days, he entered his village at dusk the night of new years. Chapter 35 - Heresy I tell you Walking into the village and looking around everything seemed pretty much the same as it was. Not much has changed in the 9 months I was gone. Wonder how bad my mom is going to kick my ass. He thought while meandering through the village. Waving to some of the villagers in greeting, he kept proceeding deeper into the village looking for his family. Seeing his house come into view, there was an old man, a young man, a little girl, and fat lady, all sitting on his porch. Looking closer at the fat lady, he realized it was his mother. Finally, it only took me getting lost in the woods for them to make a new kid. Deciding to play a prank on the 4 of them, he snuck off to the side and around the house. Using his heat raising steps to reduce the noise his feet made, he crept up to the side of the porch. Listening to them discuss how they missed him, he felt a little guilty but also felt the mood was way too sombre. ¡°Oh, you miss me so you had to go and replace me I see,¡± Kael said while walking around the corner of his house. Coming into view he was greeted with the faces of four shocked people. The first to shake off their shock was Raen. Instantly bursting into tears, Raen flew off the porch straight into Kael. Catching her Kael was about to say something but was interrupted by her sobbing and beating on his chest. Choking out, ¡°I hate you! How dare you run away without telling me!¡± she hugged him tightly and continued to cry. Not really sure what to do, Kael rubbed her back gently. While this was going on his father walked down the porch and around to the side. Smacking him across the back of his head he began to lecture him about the sudden change in plans. As his father was scolding him, Alavarah finally came to her sense. Shouting, ¡°Oh my baby, you¡¯re alive!¡± She rushed over, fat stomach and all, crushing herself into Kael. Wrapping Kael and Raen both up in a hug. Crying, his mother said, ¡°How dare you slip off like that. After I¡¯m done hugging you and your father is done beating you, I am going to dig a basement to lock you up so you can¡¯t run off again.¡± Being hugged by Raen and his mom Kael thought, Uh, I think my adult mentality told me it wasn¡¯t a big deal, but my childish age means I¡¯m screwed. ¡°Come on mom, I¡¯m fine, you guys told me I would have to go against heaven¡¯s will to not end up a cripple for life so that is what I did.¡± His father immediately smacked him again, ¡°Don¡¯t try to blame us, we gave you the ok to leave for a month, not for almost a year. Not only did your disappearance almost send your mom to the grave in worry, but you also dropped all your commitments to the mercenary groups.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not fair either, I told them I would be gone, I even had them send you a gift!¡± Kael shouted back. ¡°That¡¯s the only reason I¡¯m not stripping you bare and beating you right now!¡± Iradin shouted back. Raen interrupting both of them said, ¡°I can¡¯t breathe, and Varah shouldn¡¯t be this excited, let''s go inside to continue yelling at him.¡± Everyone agreed and began to funnel into the house. As Kael passed Muta he got a clap on the shoulder and a very quiet, ¡°Good job, boy.¡± out of him. With everyone reconvened inside, the verbal beating started up again. After about 20 minutes of a crying girl, a crying mom, and a pissed off dad yelling at him, things finally calmed down. Once everyone finally calmed down, Muta asked, ¡°So Kid, what did you do with your hammer?¡± Hearing her father¡¯s question, the fire in Raen¡¯s eyes reignited. Staring down Kael she waited for his answer. Seeing the two grumpy smiths, Kael smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s ok, I still have it, and thank you Raen! If it wasn¡¯t for the details you added to the handle, increasing its grip, I wouldn¡¯t be standing here right now.¡± Happy that her work was able to help him, her anger died down some, but she still asked, ¡°So then where is it?¡± Kael grandiosely said, ¡°It¡¯s right here of course.¡± Reaching out in front of him he grabbed at the air while willing his hammer out of his ring. Continuing to show off, he spun the hammer in his right hand a few times before handing it over to Raen with a bow. Surprised at the hammer popping into existence from nowhere, Raen paused a moment before accepting it. Looking it over she could see the wear and tear on it. The bladed end was especially messed up. What did he do to this thing, go mining? She thought while running he hand over the chipped up back end. As Raen looked over the hammer, Iradin said, ¡°Kael, where did you get an interspatial item, and where is it?¡± Not wanting to go over everything bit by bit, he sat down and told the group his story. Knowing his mom would freak out, he watered it down quite a bit. Coming to the end of the story, he said, ¡°Oh yeah I have some gifts for you guys.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Taking out a few packages he handed the first one to his mom. As she unwrapped it she saw the jacket she had been hounding Iradin to buy her. Smiling she gave her son a hug and thanks. Handing the next gift over to his father, it was a small book. ¡°Dad, that is a copy of a xiantian level body refinement method the Old Ape passed to me. I transcribed it at night while in the city.¡± Looking over to Muta, he handed him a small package wrapped in a red rabbit fur. As Muta took the package, he immediately recognized the skin as a rank 10 flame rabbit. Stroking the soft skin, he carefully unwrapped it to see a book that looked similar to Iradin¡¯s. Cracking it open he saw the title, How to Refine for Idiots. Thinking it was just a gag gift from the kid he snorted and tossed it back to him. ¡°You may need this more than me.¡± Catching the book, Kael completely missed the sarcasm at first, ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry I kept the original, this is just what I transcribed. Wait, Don¡¯t get thrown off by the title. It was written by an Artisan Saint who was just one step away from becoming an emperor.¡± Suddenly the book in Kael¡¯s hands was snatched away. Muta sat back down casually reading it like nothing happened. Smiling, he looked over at Raen. ¡°Could I have my hammer back now?¡± Waving the hammer at him in fake anger she said, ¡°Not unless you have something nice for me, I still haven¡¯t forgiven you, jerk.¡± Taking a pouch out of his ring, he said, ¡°Sorry Raen, all I have for you is this tiny little pouch.¡± Looking over the cloth pouch in Kael¡¯s hands, Raen was sure it was not normal. The material it was made from practically glistened in the light. Slowly taking it from him she asked, ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a spatial pouch. It holds 50 cubic feet, which should hold whatever you want. It¡¯s attuned to me right now, but I had asked the old ape about it once. He said that pouches could have their attunement broken by someone with a strong spiritual sense. My parents should be able to help.¡± Listening to the children, Iradin stood up and took the pouch from Raen. Running his fingers over it, he took out his own. Holding it up, it was apparent that they were the same style, just that the one Kael had given Raen was much older. ¡°Kael, where did you get this exactly?¡± ¡°Dad, I told you already.¡± ¡°Son, this was definitely made by the Darksteel clan. You need to explain everything you left out of your story.¡± ¡°Dad, I know the origin of everything, I just did not think it was a good time to discuss it.¡± Muta listening to the father and son bicker back and forth looked down at the book in his hands again. Standing, he suddenly grabbed Kael¡¯s shoulders while shouting, ¡°Wait, Kael, the person who wrote this was part of your family? You had a Saint ranked blacksmith in your clan?¡± Sighing, Kael gave his father a dirty look. ¡°Yes, one of our ancestors was named Nocturne Darksteel. He was a Saint ranked smith.¡± Muta gave Kael¡¯s shoulders a shake out of excitement and said, ¡°Boy, why have you been wasting time picking flowers when smithing runs through your veins! Heresy I tell you, blaspheming your ancestors! Iradin did you know about this!?¡± ¡°Calm down Muta, between Varah¡¯s family and mine we have had a fair share of Artisans of various types,¡± Iradin said while regretting bringing up the pouch. ¡°Muta if you keep shaking me like that you won¡¯t have an apprentice to shout at for very much longer.¡± Exasperated with the Kael and his father, Muta shouted ¡°You people have no idea what you''re talking about! Nocturne wasn¡¯t just any saint, he was THE smithing saint. His passion for creating new things drove him forward like a madman. The only one who could tolerate being near him was that damn money he raised. Wait, you said you met an old ape? Tell me where he is, that bastard still owes me! He stole a rare ore from me when I was commissioning a sword from Nocturne!¡± Raen, watching her agitated father literally frothing from the mouth was hit by a sudden case of the giggles. Once she started nothing could control it. Every time she looked up and saw him with flecks of spit and foam on his beard she would laugh harder. Soon Muta¡¯s ravings were drowned out by the entire groups laughing at him. Looking at the four laughing at him he became even more enraged. ¡°Kael, you dreadful little shit, tell me where that monkey is or I am taking you with me to find him.¡± Kael seeing the old man getting genuinely mad reined in his laughter. ¡°Slow down old man, I will give you directions but he is under an array cultivating in a cavern, and his lifespan is about up. I will genuinely miss the old ape, but the reason he sent me away is so he could die in peace.¡± Snorting, Muta said, ¡°You think I will let that bastard die, let alone die in peace? Dream on! Now tell me where he is!¡± Realizing it was no use, Kael gave Muta directions. Watching the old man scurry towards his forge in haste, he thought to himself, There is no way Muta can find him. That ape has been hiding for too long for a puny little smith to track him down. Hold on, he said he bought something from Nocturne, but Bantan said he died over 2,000 years ago. Holy shit, how old is Muta? How many monsters are living in this little village? While Kael was lost in his own thoughts Raen came up behind him. ¡°Thanks for getting that old stick in the mud out of the house for a while. I can finally have some peace. You had better come to visit me tomorrow though or I won¡¯t forgive you for leaving.¡± Looking over at Raen who was on the verge of tears again Kael comforted her and sent her on her way home. When she was about 10 feet from his house, she turned around and said, ¡°Kael, I am really happy you are back. Don¡¯t you ever run off and leave me like that again!¡± before taking off and running home. Getting back into his house, he sat down with his parents and went over his trip more in-depth. Going over the items he received his parents were both shocked and excited at his fortuitous encounter. Sitting around the house with his parents, they spoke late into the night. After speaking with his mother at length about leaving, he truly felt guilty. After telling them about his breakthrough into Qi Refinement and his current rank the entire family was happy. Promising to tell him about soul refinement soon, they sent him off to bed. ¡°Iradin, it looks like we will have to tell him about our lives sooner than later. I don¡¯t want him to get wrapped up in it though. You have to think of a way to keep him in the village long enough from him to become truly strong enough to go out. You also need to work on his maturity and not doing things in the heat of the moment.¡± ¡°Varah, he is your son too, you should help. Didn¡¯t he want to learn arrays? Now that he can use Qi externally you can slow him down with alchemy, smithing, and arrays. The poor kid thought those shitty powders were actually alchemy, he has no idea how difficult real alchemy is.¡± Chapter 36 - Chefs Choice The next morning Kael awoke to the feeling of something entering his nose. Slapping his face and rolling out of bed, he was greeted by his laughing father who was holding a feather. Sighing, Kael got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. Seeing his mother already down there with a loaded up plate chowing down, he hurried to join her before it was all gone. As he took a giant biscuit his mother informed him he would be making breakfast from now on. Looking at her enormous stomach he quietly cursed his father for making her walk down into the ice cellar to get meals ready. ¡°Of course mom, I can do all the meals if you like.¡± Smiling at her son, she said, ¡°Thanks Kael, but you are going to be too busy for that. Your father and I have decided that you have too much artisan talent to let it go to waste. We are not going to give you our soul refining methods until you meet our standards.¡± Shocked, Kael asked, ¡°But mom, I thought I would need to have a spiritual sense to make Dans. How can I do that without going through spiritual refinement?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am sending your father off to get you more pill recipes and plenty of supplies. We also talked to Muta. You are not to start crafting until you are an expert in refining. The basics of skills are always the most important. Once you have mastered all of the basics of those two skills, we will be sending you to Jurt, the villages leatherworker. You also will have the chance to go work with Albus the woodworker if you so choose. A basic in woodworking will help you with many things later.¡± ¡°Mom, only one thing about this surprises me.¡± ¡°Oh, and what is that?¡± ¡°That you stopped eating long enough to say all of that.¡± Getting hit in the face with a biscuit, Kael took off to the smithy to find Raen. Once there he found the place deserted with nothing but a note. Kael, since you like running off without telling people, I did the same. My pops and I am going to look for that monkey. Otherwise, he will never shut up. On the way back we will be heading into a silver rank city for supplies. We will be gone for at least two months. Your dad came to talk to us last night before we left. He wanted you to work on refining. Pops told him you were good to go for mortal grade ores, you just need practice. When we get back he is going to pass to you our families smithing skill. I guess he really likes you. Raen Ru¨£nj¨©n Surprised that Muta already left and that his parents beat him to the punch, he thought, They say I do things spur of the moment? Pft. Wandering back home he was met by his mom sitting on the porch. ¡°Kael, you did not really think you were going to get a free day, did you? You had almost an entire year of freedom. Go read over your getting started with pills guide. Then go out back to practice, give me a shout when you are ready.¡± That is what I was going to do anyway, so this works out. ¡°Sure mom!¡± Kael said while heading to the backyard. Why the backyard though? After reading through his very brief introduction into pill refining he gave a shout to his mom. After she waddled back there, she pulled out a rocking chair from her storage pouch and sat down. ¡°Ok Kael, you can throw away that worthless book for now. In real alchemy, the alchemist maps the herbs with their spiritual sense. Then as they bake the herbs they use their qi to direct the flame into the impurities. The goal is to burn off everything but the medicinal properties you want to be left. That is an oversimplified version of essence extraction. ¡± ¡°Ok, that makes sense, but what about pills?¡± ¡°Pills are the bridge point used to practice. Powders are to help you learn the properties and interactions of plants. Pills you will learn to use your qi delicately. You need to wrap the fire around the herbs to slowly bake off the exterior. Once the fine layer on the exterior is gone, you have to control the fire temperature to reduce the herbs into a liquid. As it is liquified you will have to package it in wooden qi and hold it while you refine the other herbs. Finally, very carefully you mix them together.¡± ¡°Uh, mom, that sounds way more complicated than I expected. You sure it wouldn¡¯t be better to have a spiritual sense first?Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°No honey, you need to work on your fire control. If my guess isn¡¯t wrong you have never even pushed Qi outside your body.¡± ¡°Ok you got me there, so what am I doing mom?¡± ¡°Before you even attempt at refining herbs, you need to practice pushing your qi out of your body. Once you can make a flame, practice changing its temperature. When you are good at that, practice changing its shape. When you can form neat things with your fire, only then are you good to start. Oh, I almost forgot, you need to be able to make a bubble at the very least out of wooden qi.¡± With that Alavarah stood up, stored her chair, and went back inside. When she got to the back door she looked back and said, ¡°Good luck!¡± With a dumbfounded look, Kael sat down on the ground and started practising. Keeping a steady flame extended from his hand was harder than expected. The first attempt at getting a fire to light ended up with a flame that went out with a puff of wind. The second one, thinking he needed some more oomph to it, ended up like a flamethrower. Now I see why she had me come outside. Even with his talent and bonus from his bloodline, it was almost noon before he could hold a steady flame for more than 10 minutes. Seeing that noon was approaching and he was almost out of Qi, he decided to go make his mom lunch. Approaching the storehouse he heard the back door open. Turning around he shooed his mom back inside with the promise of a treat. Running through his memories about the eastern food he loved, the first thing that popped into his head was dim sum. Dim sum is yummy, and I can make a ton of it so there are snacks later. We have a winner! Going into the storehouse he began gathering flour, yeast, sugar, salt, lard, and butter. Storing it all in his ring. Finished he headed down into the ice house. Cutting out an entire side of pork ribs and storing it, he started looking around for things to make sauce from. While looking around he paused for a moment. Fuck, it has to rise. No time! Still looking around the storehouse he spotted a big blue fruit he liked called cloud fruit. Contemplating its taste, he decided it was close enough to plum. Grabbing a handful of those, ginseng, and honey he thought, Woe is a world with no soy sauce. Chopping off some beef then cutting it into thin strips he stored everything and headed back to the dry storehouse. Arriving, he grabbed some extra salt, sugar, garlic, and a good amount of rice. Looking around he decided he should throw some of his hated green onions in there for colour. Heading into his kitchen he started boiling the rice while he worked on the sauce. Smashing, mincing, and chopping the veggies up he mixed them all together in a pan over a small fire. When it started to heat up he added the sugar, salt, and honey. With a bit of inspiration, he spread a thin layer of fire qi into the sauce at a low temperature to speed it up. Once he was done mixing and reducing it, he had a nice blue plum sauce. Taking out a wok, he lathered it up with fat and got it roasting hot. Drowning his extremely thin meat strips with the sauce he threw them onto the pan one by one. With the high heat, and a quick flip they were cooked super fast. At first, he freaked out by the cooking speed as he had no plates ready. After a second of thought, he grinned and just stored it all into his ring. Once the rice was done, he tossed it into a big bowl for his mom, tossed the meat on top, covered it with more sauce, and chopped some green onions for the top. Looking at the green against the bluish coloured sauce, he changed his mind and started picking the onions off one by one. Congratulation, you have created a new object: Cloud Beef and Rice. Mortal tier cooking production, total servings available for creation, 4. Item creation, initial sustenance of 120. Taste increased by 50% due to talents. No sustenance wastage, remaining sustenance of 120(+50% =180). Chef¡¯s choice, increase sustenance or servings? Surprised and not really sure what sustenance did yet, he picked servings. Current sustenance of 150(+50% =225), 25 sustenance per serving. Converting 225 sustenance, remaining 7.5 servings. Each serving value of 18 experience, soul granted 135 experience to the Chef profession. Calculating out two servings for his mom, one for himself, and one for his father, he carried the three bowls to the table. Shouting for his parents to come eat he sat down and gave it taste. Awesome, almost as good as plum beef, a little too sweet though, next time less or no sugar. At first, his parents were a bit apprehensive of the blue sauce. After one bite though, it was over. His father and mother both went for seconds. While his mom was packing the leftovers up, Kael went ahead and started to make his dough. Pulling out all of the flour and other bits, he kneaded them by hand in a huge bowl. After finishing, he covered it with a towel and told his mom it needed to raise for 2 hours, so no one should disturb it. Heading outside he meant to practice with his fire work but ended up meditating to regain his qi instead. After an hour and a half, he headed back into the dry storehouse. Gathering up garlic, mustard seed, some kind of hot pepper, vinegar, salt, tomatoes, molasses, and honey he prepared for some BBQ sauce. Heading back to the kitchen to crush, powder, chop, boil, and reduce his mass of veggies into a BBQ sauce, he finished just in time for his dough to rise. Splitting the dough up, he realized he really made too much dough. He ended up with 50 steam buns. Knowing he did not have enough BBQ sauce, he had to make an additional run to the dry storehouse. Coming back in with a spinach type vegetable, bamboo shoot slices, and water chestnuts, he prepared them for veggie buns. Finally getting back to the good old meat, he chopped, braised, and BBQ¡¯d up the meat from the short ribs. Giving it a cursory taste, he was ok with his sauce, but he thought it needed work. Finally stuffing all the buns and setting up some pans to steam them he was finished. Shouting, ¡°Mom, your treat will be done in 20 minutes, they are great snacks! Since it is too early for dinner can you grab them in 20 please?¡± Hearing a positive reply he went back outside to practice. Chapter 37 - Sorrowsteels Legacy Time began to pass rapidly while Kael fell into the monotonous rhythm of training. The only thing that broke up his days was breakfast. Finding something odd from his previous memories to surprise his mother. So far her favourites were french toast and eggs benedict. She had also become addicted to dim sum. Kael had even made it part of his routine to make the dough for 24 buns each morning while doing breakfast. The cooking really did not bother him much. He got to taste things from his old life while gaining experience. The chef skill and talents also made it amazingly simple. The only time he had screwed up was his first attempt at eggs benedict, which came out like slop. With the massive dim sum, he was averaging 400 experience a day. He quickly finished off the tail end of rank four and shot through rank 5. The morning he got the notification for rank entering rank 6 he thought, Shit, alchemy is SO MUCH HARDER! 9 days of making two things launched me up two ranks. I have to reevaluate how I spend experience once I hit earth rank. The 10th day had come around. Kael¡¯s skill in fire manipulation had greatly increased. He was now able to make an indistinct looking bird that he could manipulate to flap its wings and walk around in circles on his hand. He could make it fly a short distance if he left a trail of fire qi connected to it. As soon as he cut the connection the flame would combust in a small fireball before going out. Annoyed with his bird exploding, he thought, Shouldn''t that only happen in puberty? Giving up on the bird he began to work on making a little human figurine dance on his palm. After a couple of hours, he was really getting into it, making the little fire guy breakdance. While grinning like a fool immersed in his own world an unexpected slap to the back of his head snapped him out of it. Losing concentration his little figurine went up in a flash of uncontrolled flame. Looking up over his shoulder he saw his father standing there. ¡°Thanks pops, I was starting to get good at that,¡± Kael said with a bit of grumpiness. I have never been smacked in the back of the head so much in my entire life. One day, I will shave his head while he sleeps for revenge. ¡°I¡¯m glad you''re getting good at it, I ran my butt off to get all the stuff your mother wanted for your training. You also have a problem with creating trouble. Do you have any idea how stupid you were to show an interspatial pouch off around town? There have been people looking for you since you left. I¡¯ll have to start going to a different town in the future.¡± ¡°Eh? Sorry dad, but how do you expect me to carry around that many goods? Don¡¯t you always use your pouch?¡± ¡°I do, but I am an adult, not a kid. These pouches may not be considered valuable in a silver ranked city, and they might be commonplace in the gold rank cities, but in the iron ranked cities they are rare. A child should not be showing off such wealth in that kind of place. What did I tell you about people''s greed?¡± ¡°Ok, sorry, I was tired, worn out and did not have the capability to make so many hides appear in a believable manner.¡± ¡°Good, we will talk about the troubles you caused during dinner. Regather your qi, once you are done come inside, don¡¯t practice more.¡± Ignoring his father, he dropped into a meditative state quickly. With his altered technique, he gathered qi quicker as he became more accustomed to it. In about an hour he was finished and heading inside. Walking inside he saw his mother and father sitting at the table. His mother''s eyes were swollen like she had been crying, and she was furiously chewing on a steamed bun. As he entered the two dropped into total silence.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°What¡¯s up with you two? You look like someone died.¡± Iradin, looking over at his son sighed and said, ¡°Son, Iron ranked cities are ruled by the lower nobility, which are core formation experts. Although they are normally not in their city and the city is just managed by a mayor in their stead, they come back to investigate suspicious events. The amount of people looking for a rich little brat with interspatial items is immense. The ruler of that city is coming back to investigate on his own. Although it is said he is coming to be sure it is not the child of a noble who ran away and got lost, the truth is more likely that he is coming to rob you. You may not be wealthy, but a kid with an interspatial item probably had a fortuitous encounter. Which is why he wants to rob you, to steal your luck and karma.¡± Looking at his father like he was an idiot, Kael said, ¡°So, to be clear, some strong and wealthy dude is coming to kill me on the off chance I found something neat in the forest?¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Iradin said. Looking at the seriousness on his father''s face, Kael could tell he was not joking around. Here I thought the super-rich were ruthless on earth. Robbing a child on the off chance he found something interesting in a forest though, can this shit even be made up? ¡°Ok dad, what do you want me to do? I can go back into the forest if you like.¡± Hearing her son wanted to go back into the forest Alavarah immediately objected; ¡°Absolutely not! You are not to wander the wilds like that again, you understand me? Your father has a friend in another city, you will go work at his inn and pretend to be just an orphan looking working. In a few months, we will come get you.¡± ¡°Dad, can¡¯t you have a friend that is an alchemist that needs an apprentice, or a smith, or something more respectable?¡± ¡°No child, the news already leaked that you are tied to selling mass quantities of alchemist powders. Our family background was heavily influenced by smithing so that is out also. You need to be low key, understand? Low key, that means not drawing attention. If you were more capable of that you wouldn¡¯t be in this predicament.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you and mom badasses? If it is lower nobility is it really that bad, dad? ¡°Brat, if our cultivation was not damaged it wouldn¡¯t be a problem. The same would be true if Muta was here. Right now there is no one who can fight a core formation expert. Stop arguing, my friend will watch after you for three months. Due to the speed a higher ranked cultivator can move you will be leaving after dinner. How much space does your ring hold?¡± Kael thinking about his father''s question did some exploration into his ring with his mind. Checking it out, he found it was bigger than what he bought during reincarnation. ¡°It currently holds about 600 square feet. I have piles of hides taking up a small corner. There is plenty of space for just about anything. What do you want me to put in it?¡± Relieved at his son¡¯s response, Iradin said, ¡°I have a ton of herbs, ores, and recipes for you. While your mother makes dinner we will go swap everything from my pouch into your ring. Also, your mother and I were going to pass our techniques onto you once you reached xiantian. With the current circumstances, we will give you books with our techniques before you leave. You are not to start on soul refinement before you master at least one trade though. So you better practice in your downtime!¡± Agreeing with his parents, Kael and Iradin began to swap items out in the living room while a depressed Alavarah was cooking dinner. Iradin had purchased 5 more recipes for his son. Marrow Washing, Meridian Washing, Tiger¡¯s Strength, Turtle¡¯s Defense, and Roc¡¯s movement pill recipes. He also brought Kael 200 sets of all of the herbs needed. Handing over 6 books he ended the shift of property by giving Kael his blade. ¡°Son, this is normally handed down once the eldest son awakens his bloodlines, but you were born with them awakened, so I have been putting this off. This blade is by far one of the cheapest things our family used to own, but it has passed through the hands of many of the families previous patriarchs. The blade was not just my father''s, it was made by one of the original Darksteels. Treasure it well.¡± Examining the blade Kael was found some interesting information. Sorrowsteel¡¯s Legacy Tier: Earth; Rank: 7 (Sealed) Bonus: 14 Strength, 10 Agility Looking up at his father, he decided not to reveal the different name. Knowing his father did not want to tell him something about his family, Kael simply stored the item and thanked his father. Iradin than said, ¡°Good, go look over your stuff one last time and we will head out. Prepare a note for Muta and Raen while you do so or that little girl may end up hating you¡±. Chapter 38 - City of Jost After Kael stored all of his stuff, he wrote long notes to Muta, Raen, his parents, and the sibling that would be born before he returned. Looking around his now empty room, he decided that now would truly start his new life. No one would stand in his way. While feeling high on his new motivation he heard his father shout, ¡°Brat, get your skinny butt down here!¡± Leaving the note for his parents and his yet to be born sibling on the bed, he left his room with the ominous feeling that it would be the last time. Arriving downstairs he saw both his parents. His mother had a worried look on her face and his dad looked impatient. Telling them he was good to go, he hugged his mother saying, ¡°Mom, I will be alright, but you two have to take care of yourselves as well.¡± Crying as she hugged her son, she rubbed his head, messing up his hair. With a sad smile, she asked for the notes for Muta and Raen. Handing them over, his father interrupted there parting as he said it was imperative to get going now. Leaving the house with his father, they began to head out of town and into the forest. Dashing through the dark forest, Kael and his father headed the opposite direction of the city Kael had been to previously. Looking at his dad going all out for speed, Kael started to worry. Asking, ¡°Father, you and mom are going to be ok, right?¡± Iradin responded, ¡°We will be fine Kael, this is not the worst we have dealt with. Just remember if we get separated, head to the city of sorrow. It is in the northern reaches of the icy tundra. Just head north and ask for directions on the way, it is a gold ranked city, so it is easy to find.¡± ¡°Ok, but stop avoiding the issue, why would we get separated?¡± ¡°Your mother''s bloodline is very rare. When our families fell most of the people were taken as slaves to try to integrate their bloodlines into other families.¡± Hearing his father''s words Kael felt an uncontrollable rage come over him. That¡¯s pretty fucked up. If I find out who does that shit, I will exterminate them. ¡°So dad, you are saying that you and mom are going to go somewhere else to hide while you leave me in this other city because you are worried, right?¡± ¡°Basically, we should be fine after a few months though, so don¡¯t dwell on it.¡± Stopping where he was Kael said, ¡°That¡¯s not acceptable dad. Mom is pregnant, you need to be with her and lead her somewhere safe. Not wasting your time leading me to some city. Tell me the name of the city, the direction, and the name of your friend and I will be alright.¡± Iradin took a long and hard look at his son. Seeing the determination in his eyes combined with the worry for his wife made him agree. ¡°Ok son. Head southwest at top speed for 6 to 7 days. The area is fairly safe. In a few days, you will start to see outlying farms, you can rest with most anyone there and get directions at the same time. You are headed to the town of Jost. When you get to town look for the owner of the Foaming Mug tavern. Tell him you are my son and you will be good to go. ¡° ¡°Ok, dad! I left a note for you and mom in my room. Be sure you two are safe. I may be a kid now, but I won¡¯t always be a small fry. Don¡¯t worry about me.¡± Hugging his son, Iradin said bye with misty eyes. Turning around to head back home he was afraid if he looked back he wouldn¡¯t be able to let his son leave. Kael watched his dad dash off into the night. Waving to his disappearing silhouette, Kael put away his childish attitude for the first time. Previously worried that if he let slip, even when by himself, he would lose something precious. He had always stayed in character and enjoyed his life. As his father finally vanished from his sight he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry my second father. I lived through hell¡¯s torture, I will be fine. One day, you and mother won¡¯t have to live in seclusion and fear.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Turning around Kael began running again. Whipping through the forest with his heat raising steps activated, he managed to make it until about midnight. Climbing a tree to rest, he snacked on a steamed bun before going to sleep. The next three days consisted of him running at top speed for 6 hours, stopping to eat for an hour, then continuing. Running almost 18 hours a day, he covered nearly 2,000 miles in just three days. The next morning around 10 am Kael saw a farming village up ahead. Slowing down to talk to the locals, he found out he was still three days out from Jost. Deciding to stick around for the night, Kael found an old woman who lived alone. Trading her a days worth of work for dinner and a room for the night both parties were happy. Working for the next 8 hours, Kael pushed himself to his limit. In just that one days time he ended up mending her fence, patching her roof, and chopping a few months worth of firewood. The old lady was quite pleased with the child. Originally she assumed he would be lazy like all the other kids his age. The amount of work he put in blew her mind. Making a huge dinner for the kid, they both went to bed satisfied. The next morning, Kael said goodbye to the kind old lady and started to head out of town. Seeing a young couple on their porch chatting he made a quick stop before leaving. Walking up the couple Kael dug into his jacket pocket. Taking a gold coin out of his storage ring he pretended to pull it out of his jacket. ¡°Excuse me, I know I am a stranger just passing through, but I was hoping you could keep an eye on the old lady who lives alone down the way. If she needs help, just treat her kindly. You can consider this a gift.¡± With all of that said, Kael tossed the gold coin to the young man before turning around and walking away. Hearing the shout of excitement from the lady followed by the man shouting, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, she¡¯ll be ok!¡± Kael smiled, then sped up and took off. Two days later Kael came upon another farming village. Speaking with the townsfolk he found he was only about 500 miles from the city of Jost. Getting directions, Kael then bought a wooden cart from an old farmer for 50 silver, way over its actual value. Making some rope harnesses, Kael hauled the cart out of town. As soon as he was out of sight from the town he stopped and stored the cart. Picking up speed again he ran towards the city. Finding the city late into the night, Kael ran until he was about 10 miles down the small dirt road from the city. Pondering for a bit he ran off into the woods. Searching around he found a huge boar sleeping in its den. Although it was only rank 3 or 4, it¡¯s body was easily 6 feet long and 4 feet in height. Killing it with a single kick to its throat, he strung it up outside and drained its blood. Eating the last of his steam buns while the pig bled out, he decided the pig''s den stank too much to sleep there. As soon as it was done bleeding, he stored it and took off back to the road. Taking his cart out, he went to sleep a few hundred feet off the road in the back of the cart. The next morning Kael woke up early and started loading up his cart. Pilling 20 of the rank 6 hides in the cart, fur down to hide their quality, he dumped the pig on top of them. Tying it all down with ropes, he began to haul the cart into town. An hour later he made it to the city gate just as dawn broke. Being the first to get there, he paid the 100 copper entrance fee with a silver. Shrugging to the guards with the expression that was all he had, he ended up trading the extra 900 copper for information on where to trade in the city. Asking where the foaming mug was, the guards gave him a weird look. After raising his payment to 10 silver, Kael found that the owner was totally unscrupulous. He would ¡°adopt¡± the street kids, and force them to work 12 to 16 hours a day for just a few pieces of bread and the ability to sleep in the barn. Again shocked at how shitty people were, Kael thanked the guards and pulled his cart into the city. That morning a strange occurrence happened. 4 different shops bought 15 to 20 rank 6 beast hides from a kid who was hauling them around town on a cart with a giant dead pig. Chuckling to himself, Kael found a tailor and bought a set of nice silken clothing. Heading to an inn, he rented a room, went in, changed clothes, then went out the back. Heading to a nicer part of town, he rented another room, one where he would stay. Sitting in the inn¡¯s downstairs restaurant, Kael tried to figure out what he was going to do. He certainly was not going to the tavern his dad told him about. He made 30 gold for the majority of the hides. There were a few rares ones that netted him another 25 gold. Sitting on 55 gold, he decided he would do what his parents wanted him to do, sell food. Just he was going to do it in his own way. Thinking of how easy the children in the city were to exploit, his plan started to come together. Chapter 39 - Brienne? The next morning Kael headed back to the city gates around dawn. For another 10 silver, Kael got information on the towns mercenaries out of the guards. The two most notable groups were the Fusang who always treated the commoners of the city well, and their polar opposite, the Hundun. The Hundun was barely anything more than a large gang and generally just caused chaos in the city. After speaking with the guards, Kael spent most of the day wandering around the city. Getting an understanding of the layout of the city he specifically paid attention to where people lived versus where they worked. The secondary mission was finding out the safer areas to live and figuring out where the more mild-tempered gangs were. Eventually, he narrowed down the area he was going to start his money making operation in. It was a somewhat run down area that formed a weird triangular shaped buffer zone between the middle class, lower class, and slum areas of the cities. Finding a decent inn in the area he then spent two days watching the residents and foot traffic of the area. Seeing that the area was heavily trafficked in the morning, noon, and evening from people going to and coming from work he determined this was the place for him. Watching the thousands of people going past in waves he thought, Should I name this the profit zone or the golden triangle? Such an underdeveloped gold mine. The following day he wandered through his golden triangle until he found an abandoned three-story building with a large yard. Its borders were between the lower class and slum areas at the edge of his profit zone. Sneaking in to take a look he found it was pretty run down but the building had a solid framework. Nodding to himself, he snuck back out of the property. Walking through the lower class part of the city he headed over to the Fusang¡¯s mercenary encampment. When he arrived he found a huge building surrounded by a large wall. The encampment took up at least a few acres. Walking up to the gate where 4 guards were stationed he gave them a once over. The mercs were pretty decently dressed in well maintained uniforms, with chainmail armour and steel breastplates. The guards at the door all had weapons that looked like the bastard child of a scimitar and a polearm. With a 2 foot curved blade and a 3 foot handle, Kael wasn¡¯t sure if they were great swords or strange spears. They looked like they could do some serious chopping though. Walking up to the guards he waved and greeted them. ¡°Hello there, I was hoping to talk to someone about hiring a long-term retainer of at least the spirit warrior rank, preferably a spirit general. I heard you were a trustworthy group and was wondering who I should talk to about something like that?¡± The guards gave the well dressed kid a once-over to be sure he wasn¡¯t playing a prank. Seeing he was dressed in silk and was well mannered the leader of the four decided to get more information. Taking a step forward he greeted Kael and asked, ¡°We generally don¡¯t work as retainers. What kind of work do you need the person to do and are you sure you can afford it?¡± Seeing the guy be respectful, Kael determined the guards did not give him bad information. Looking up to the main guard he said, ¡°I just need a bodyguard who can double as a guardian figure when I go shopping. The work should be easy, it will all be inside the city, and it will last at least three months. I will pay for three months in advance if it makes things easier.¡± Hearing Kael¡¯s basic request, the guard decided it was legitimate business. Asking Kael to follow him, he opened the gate and went into the encampment. Walking behind the mercenary Kael took the time to look around their encampment. Everything looked pretty basic but he was a little surprised at the size of the group. Seeing 6 buildings that appeared to be barracks, he estimated they had at least 300 people in their camp. Behind each of the buildings was a large yard. Three of the yards had 40 to 50 men working out and training against each other. Looking up ahead in the direction they were walking he could see the huge building that was visible over the walls. To Kael, it looked like a 5 story hybrid of a southern plantation and a pagoda. Instead of being tall and skinny like a normal pagoda would be, it was 500 to 600 feet wide. Each level of the building was separated with pagoda style roofs and had guards walking around the top of them. The overall style gave it a squat look even though it was over 50 feet tall. Walking up and into the building with the gate guard, they entered into a large great hall. The guard took him over to a smaller side room that had a table and a few chairs. Asking Kael to wait a few minutes the guard left to find someone to do business with him. After a few minutes of boredom, a well dressed middle aged man entered the room. The man was dressed in a green and brown uniform with a large golden sun on its right breast. Taking a seat across from Kael, the man gave him the same cursory look before starting negotiations.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Probing the child''s intentions he asked, ¡°I¡¯m told you are looking for a long-term bodyguard. One who can double as a guardian figure for you in the city?¡± Looking the man in the eye, Kael began to spew a web of lies he had thought up earlier. ¡°Yes sir, my family is on a long trade route and will be gone for a while. They left me here to see if I have the families business talent. I am not allowed to look for any assistance outside of hiring a bodyguard. For protection against exploitation, I am allowed to have the guard pretend to be my guardian.¡± Sizing the kid up again the man said, ¡°Interesting, so what is your name and what does your family trade in?¡± ¡°My name is Kaeldread; My family primarily trades in pills but my passion is for food. They are giving me a chance to show if I can make enough profit. However, my starting capital is pretty low. It''s enough to buy protection but then I will have to get creative.¡± ¡°Well Kaeldread, it looks like we can work with you. A forewarning though, none of our troop will commit any crimes, so you best stick to the honest route. Our rates are 5 silver per rank per day for spirit warriors and 50 silver per rank for generals.¡± ¡°I would prefer a spirit general, but the man or woman I want to hire must be honest and mild-mannered. They need to pretend to be my guardian in public, but in private remember they are my guard, not my boss.¡± ¡°Ok, well I have two available rank 8 spirit warriors and 1 available rank 2 spirit general that meets those requirements.¡± Reaching into his robe Kael took out 9 gold. Placing it on the table and sliding it over to the mercenary, Kael said, ¡°I will take the spirit general.¡± With a smile, the man took the gold and said, ¡°One moment and I will return with your guard.¡± A short time later the man returned to the room. Following him was a tall, robust, and plain looking woman who appeared to be in her late twenties. Tell me her name is Brienne was Kael¡¯s first thought upon seeing her. Standing up, Kael greeted the newcomer who would be with him for a long time. The man introduced her as Kael bowed to her. ¡°Kaeldread, this is Jessica. She is a dedicated cultivator, mature, and good at taking orders. I hope you do not plan to travel as she has never left a city in her life.¡± Looking over at the woman Kael said, ¡°Good to meet you, Jessica. Your duties will be to follow me around town pretending to by my aunt. The rest of the time you will just be hanging around doing nothing. I¡¯m glad you like cultivating, you will most likely have plenty of time to do so.¡± When Kael was done speaking the woman cupped her hands and gave him a slight bow. Looking at the quiet woman Kael hoped all would go well. Looking back over to the man Kael asked, ¡°Before we leave, I hope you could point me in the right direction to buy land. The place I have my eye on is currently abandoned.¡± ¡°No problem,¡± the man said, ¡°You can go to the mayor''s office, one of the men there can assist you. If no one owns it you can purchase it directly from them. A word of advice, a gold or two tip will help you speed up the process.¡± Thanking the man Kael left with Jessica in tow. Exiting the mercenary compound, Kael had Jessica lead him to the Mayor''s office. In route, he handed her 30 gold and explained the building he wanted and its location. He also told her for every bit she could haggle from the initial price, he would give her half of the difference. At first, she still had a lacklustre look in her eye. That is until Kael told her that her half, of course, should be used on cultivation materials. With a new spark of life in her eye, she grabbed Kael¡¯s hand and almost dragged him to the mayor¡¯s office. Arriving at the mayor¡¯s office, Jessica did not pause at the door. Blowing right past the guards and into the building. She marched up to a little counter in the corner where the employee was dozing off. Rapping her knuckles on the counter to get the workers attention she said, ¡°We are here to buy a property or to find out who owns it.¡± The man behind the counter looked over at the burly woman. A little surprised by her brusque manner of speaking he stuttered out, ¡°Uhm, sure, I can help you with that. Would you like to take me to the location?¡± Jessica replied with a simple, ¡°Good¡± before turning around and starting to leave. Sighing, Kael looked at the guy and said, ¡°Sorry man, my aunty is like that. Just follow me.¡± Waving for the guy to follow him Kael started walking after Jessica. 10 Minutes later they arrived at the building. The first thing that came out of Jessica¡¯s mouth was, ¡°what a shit hole.¡± Blushing a little bit, Kael motioned for the guy to let them in. Wandering through the building Jessica followed the man as he blabbered about random things, trying to make the damaged building sound like a mansion. After a few minutes, Jessica looked over at Kael and asked him if he was sure. Getting a nod from Kael, she interrupted the man. ¡°How much for it and does the price come with a free cleaning crew?¡± Startled again, the man stammered out that it would be 35 gold. After a long and tortuous negotiation that consisted of a set of sharp ¡°No¡¯s¡± and a few threats, Kael got the place for 23 gold. Jessica paid the man and told him to return tomorrow morning with the deed. After the man ran off, Jessica looked over at Kael with a grin. Taking his pouch out, she took 1 gold from it. Putting the pouch in her pocket she handed him the gold coin. Sighing, Kael knew he screwed himself. Who knew the woman could be so terrifying when it came to something to help her cultivate. Now that he had spent 38 of his 55 gold, he had to get things together for as cheap as possible. Out of his 17 gold he set aside 5 for later emergencies. 10 of the remaining gold would go into investing in the building and to make money. Giving the final 2 gold to Jessica, he explicitly told her to purchase at least 2 sets of silk clothing and to meet him here tomorrow morning. She ended up arguing with him about leaving him alone and how it would be a breach of their contract. In the end, she followed him back to his inn. After confirming the room he was in she left to buy clothing. Chapter 40 - Pit roasted pig The next morning Kael left his room just before dawn. Opening the door he found Jessica sitting in the lotus position in front of it. Looking down at the woman who apparently fell asleep while cultivating he shook his head. Nudging her with his foot, she leapt to her feet as she awoke. ¡°Whoa, calm down there, I was just waking you up. Why are you sleeping in front of the door though?¡± Clearing the sleep from her eyes she looked down at the child and said, ¡°I was guarding your room of course.¡± ¡°If I knew you were coming back I would have gotten a bigger room and shared it. No need to sleep in a hallway.¡± Kael said to her. Jessica looking confused asked him, ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I come back?¡± Sighing, Kael told her to never mind. Taking her downstairs for breakfast he outlined his plan to her while they ate. ¡°The building is in too poor of condition at the moment. I will hire people to help fix it up. However, it is also too dirty. There is too much rubbish in the way to get repair work going. The first thing we are doing this morning is heading into the slums. Since you have lived here your entire life you should know where an area with a lot of children is, right?¡± Startled by Kael¡¯s question about children she said, ¡°Of course I know. I know this city like the back of my hand. Don¡¯t think I will let you exploit those poor kids though! You are a kid yourself, didn¡¯t your parents teach you morals?¡± Thinking, This is exactly what I did not want, someone to badger me. Kael said, ¡°Of course I am not going to exploit them. I am going to trade them a great meal for help cleaning.¡° Realizing she misjudged him she said, ¡°Oh, sorry, most people just want to take advantage of them though.¡± Deciding to just ignore her Kael finished eating in silence. When they were both done he paid for the meal and asked Jessica to lead him into the slums. After a half hour walk to the outskirts of the city, the two entered into an area that Kael could only describe as a shanty town. Looking around Kael thought, If people were more honest I wouldn¡¯t even have to look for children. There is a veritable city of people out of work here. Still following Jessica through the slums, she eventually stopped in front of an almost falling down building. Look over to Kael she said, ¡°This is something like a self-governed orphanage. It is run by the older kids and they try to protect the young ones. They are a pretty honest bunch, but take on stupidly dangerous tasks in hopes of feeding everyone just one more time.¡± Looking the crumbling building over he thought, Just what I was looking for. Waving for Jessica to follow him, he walked forward and pushed open the door. As the door swung open a gust of dusty air that reeked of musk and mould swept over him. Looking inside it was just one big room with piles of dirty fabrics that made up beds. Being just before dawn, the place was jammed full of children, almost all of them asleep. When the door opened, some of the older children who were more adept to the streets immediately woke up. Climbing out of their sleeping place, they looked over to see a well-dressed child and a robust young woman. One of the kids, who appeared to be about 15, walked over to them with apprehension in his eyes. ¡°What do you two want? Here to suck the lifeblood out of us like everyone else? Looking at the wary kid who was only a few years older than himself, Kael thought, Wow, if I did not get lucky, my lack of purchasing a family background could have landed me here. I was already going to help them, but I should pay some of that Karma back and do more. Jessica interrupted his thoughts by saying, ¡°Look, kid, we are not here to exploit you. We are here to offer you a fair deal. Help us with some cleaning of an old building and we will feed you.¡± The kid snorted and said, ¡°That¡¯s fair? That¡¯s like 5 coppers of food for a days work.¡± Stopping the kid before his rant could build up, Kael said, ¡°You misunderstand. My aunty here hunted a rank 3 or 4 boar. It has at least 1,500 pounds of meat on it. You guys come help us and you can eat all you want for lunch. Those who stay and help through dusk can eat all you want again. Before you leave we will cut it up and you can take whatever you want from it.¡± Hearing the generous offer a kid who could not be more than 6 years old leapt out of his sleeping pile. ¡°Are you guys serious, we can have whatever we want from it at the end of the day?¡± The older child who was speaking earlier interrupted the young child by saying, ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid, they just mean the meat. How much can we carry anyway?¡± Looking at the malnourished kid Kael was pretty sad. Living conditions like these were almost never heard of in the first world country he came from on earth. Saying, ¡°Kid, you can take anything, the bones and tusks would net your little group a handful of silver. The food is enough to feed anyone here who is too sick to come as well.¡± The little kid hearing this was so excited he was bouncing around, ¡°See Mark, I told you they said we could have anything. You are always so negative! I am going to go help them. If they don¡¯t feed us it is just another day without a meal, but if they do, I am eating until I am sick. I haven¡¯t had meat in my entire life!¡± Stopping the kids who were about to start arguing Kael said, ¡°Tell your friends if they want to come to come. If they don¡¯t then don¡¯t. Tomorrow we will just look elsewhere for help if we need it. We came here because your little group has a good reputation. We have other things to do before you show up, so head over in an hour or so. We can¡¯t use more than 50 kids, so don¡¯t bring the entire slums.¡± With that said, Kael told them the building and location. Confirming the kids knew where he was talking about he and Jessica left. After leaving the building Kael had Jessica take him to a tailor that was well known for helping the needy. Arriving at the tailor''s shop they found the shopkeeper was barely half awake but was in the process of opening shop. Jessica and Kael helped the man un-board his shop and prepare for the start of the day while chatting with him. When he was ready to start business for the day Kael was already impatient to give him his order. Negotiating with the shop owner Kael purchased a bag and 50 sets of cheap but reliable work gloves. He also placed an order for 50 sets of linen clothes, 50 sets of warm cotton clothes, and 50 winter blankets. The linens were only 250 coppers for a complete set. The cotton clothes were only 500 coppers, and the winter blankets were just 1 silver each. With 50 coppers for a set of gloves his large order cost him a total of 90 silver. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The value of money in the world seemed to finally click in his head. He remembered back to all his terrible negotiations and the amount of money he had tipped various people. He just hoped the gold piece he gave the villagers for watching over the old women would actually be effective. Leaving the tailor with a bag of gloves Kael stopped and called out to Jessica. After a little arguing, he gave her 20 silver and orders to buy 50 cheap boots and at least 10 shovels. Letting her know the boots were not needed today but the shovels were, the two parted ways as Kael headed over to his building. Not wanting to waste any more time he rushed through the streets that were just waking up. Arriving at the building he went inside and took out his boar. Looking over the monstrous thing he decided the best way to cook it was in a pit. Still waiting for Jessica and the kids he went outside, dropped his bag of gloves, and started marking places off for the days work. About 10 minutes later Jessica showed up. It was kind of comical seeing her carry 10 shovels at once. Holding back his laugh, he had her give him one and told her to dump the rest to the side. Getting to work he started digging out his pit. Even with his cultivation digging an 8 by 6 pit that was 4 feet deep was taking him some time. About halfway through digging his pit a bunch of kids started trickling in. Looking at Kael standing in a pit with a shovel, digging a hole, while wearing silk clothes blew the kid''s minds. One little girl even shouted, ¡°Stop! You are ruining your pretty clothes!¡± Ashamed that he had not even considered it, Kael climbed out of the pit and looked down at his dirt covered self. Apologizing to the young girl he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was just impatient to start cooking up the pig for you guys and wasn¡¯t thinking.¡± At Kael¡¯s apology, all of the kids were shocked. No rich person had ever shown the slightest bit of empathy to them, let alone apologizing to them. One of the older children, ever wary of people asked, ¡°So where is this giant pig you were talking about?¡± Asking them to wait a moment, Kael told Jessica to retrieve the boar from inside. She gave him a confused look while he just made a shooing gesture to her. While still confused she walked to the building. As she left Kael started to pick out kids. ¡°You 5 older boys, come and dig this pit about 2 more feet in depth. The rest of you boys go gather up some large rocks, we need enough to cover the pit.¡± Pointing out the little girl who yelled at him earlier, he gave her a silver and said, ¡°Grab a few of your friends and go buy a bunch of firewood, as much as they can carry.¡± The little girl staring at the silver piece made a swallowing motion. Her stomach rumbled as she imagined all of the food she could eat with a silver piece. Sighing, Kael changed his orders. Having the 20 or so kids who were gathering rocks and the other 10 or so girls that were there gather up, he asked them all to go with the little girl. Sending them out to buy food for breakfast for the 35 kids. He told the little girls to carry the food and the boys to get firewood. Giving them 1 more silver just in case they ran out of money he sent them on their way. After the little kids left one of the older children asked him, ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried they won¡¯t come back?¡± To which Kael chuckled and replied, ¡°Nope, if they leave you here to dig a hole and run away you will probably beat them later.¡± As the kid was about to say something else the sound of Jessica exiting the building distracted everyone. As the kids looked over they saw the woman exiting the building dragging a boar by its tail. They realized that the two people did not lie, that boar was gigantic to them. Kael watching Jessica dragging the pig frowned. It looked like she was actually struggling some. Walking over to her, Kael grabbed the pig by a front and back leg then whipped it up over his head and onto his shoulders. Giving her a disgruntled look he carried it over to the side of the pit and dropped it. The loud bang of the pig hitting the ground shook everyone out of their stupor. Staring at Kael like he was a monster the older boys started frantically digging the pit. Jessica walked over and asked him, ¡°Just how strong are you and how could you possibly need a bodyguard?¡± Shrugging Kael said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, 3,000 pounds isn¡¯t a big deal to me. The real question is, how strong are you?¡± Jessica, shocked again, answered without thinking, ¡°After training my body like mad I have about 650 pounds of strength.¡± Realizing there was something seriously wrong going on, Kael asked the kids to come get him when the pit was dug. Taking Jessica inside for a private conversation he headed into the back of the building. Making sure to be far enough away from the kids so they would not overhear he asked, ¡°Jessica, you are a spirit general right?¡± ¡°Of course, I am a rank 2 spirit general, why?¡± ¡°How can you be so weak? I don¡¯t mean to be rude, but what kind of cultivation technique have you been using?¡± Staring at the child, his immense strength clicked in her head finally. ¡°I did not train with a cultivation method. I have just been absorbing energy since I was younger to cultivate. The reason you are so much stronger is probably due to you using a cultivation technique.¡± Hearing her words Kael had the same moment of enlightenment she did. No wonder pops did not want me to give out our cultivation method. From what I can tell, I am three times stronger than her. Of course, perfection realm helps, but my cultivation method must be freaking awesome! Nodding to her Kael said, ¡°You are right, it slipped my mind. My Family doesn¡¯t hoard knowledge amongst ourselves. This is the first time I have come across a person who has cultivated without a technique. My apologies for being rude.¡± Jessica, feeling extremely depressed said, ¡°It¡¯s fine, that is why noble families can always suppress us, commoners. I just think you are wasting money on a bodyguard.¡± ¡°No, I need you to act as my guardian. I may not be in danger, but I don¡¯t want to draw attention to myself. Let''s change your job. From now on your job is to pretend to be my kind aunt who is helping the children find work to lift themselves out of the slums.¡± ¡°Ok, but what about the older kids, they know I am your so-called bodyguard now.¡± ¡°No problem, as long as they are getting benefits they will not say anything. At the worst, they will think I am a rich kid who feels sorry for them.¡± After coming to an agreement Kael sent Jessica outside to supervise the kids. After she left he took out a set of cotton clothing and changed. Storing his silk clothing he went down to see how things were going. Seeing the kids still digging, Kael jumped in to help them. They finished the pit just as the other kids showed up with way too much firewood and food. Thinking, I keep forgetting that a silver goes a long way. Kael directed the kids to dump the wood off to the side of the pit and to eat breakfast. While they were eating Kael took off to go buy some supplies he forgot. When he got back the kids had piled up stones to one side of the hole and were staring at Kael, who had a giant bag over his shoulder, with expectation. Dropping the bag next to the pig he reached into it and pulled out about 5 pounds of salt. After retrieving the salt he simply turned the bag upside down and dumped it. Burlap, canvas, and a bunch of corn husks fell out. Filling the burlap up with cornhusks, he told one of the older kids to go to the well behind the building and soak the entire bundle. While they ran off Kael had the kids start putting wood in the pit while he prepped the pig. Making incisions every few inches down the side of the pig, he would then stuff rock salt into it. When finished with that he took the corn husks the kids had came back with and stuffed the stomach and chest cavity of the butchered pig with them. Using a wire, he sewed up the pig when he was done. Quickly starting the fire, he told the kids it would have to die down some before he put the pig in. For now, they should start cleaning. Giving them the gloves and instructions to work on the first floor of the building, he told them to throw everything out. After some discussion, it was decided to make a pile on the left for garbage and a pile on the right of stuff the kids might want. Once negotiations were done the kids scurried off to start working. 20 minutes later Kael filled the top of the pit in with rocks, leaving the hot embers underneath to heat them. Once satisfied he then began wrapping the pig in the huge sheets of wet burlap. In the end, it came down to him lifting the pig and Jessica wrapping it. By the time they were done another 20 minutes had passed and the fire started to die down. Throwing the pig bundle into the pit, Kael then carefully covered it with the wet canvas. Once done he piled dirt on and left nature to do its work. Chapter 41 - Empire of the Bun (Part 1) Kael and Jessica helped the children throughout the morning by moving the big or heavy objects. By the time the sun was directly overhead, the majority of the first floor was empty and some of the girls had started to try to clean it. Kael quickly stopped them from wasting time, telling the girls that the building needed repairs and was just going to get dirty again. Finishing off the first floor of the building seemed to be a good time to stop for lunch. Kael rounded up Jessica and the kids bringing them over to the pit. Having Jessica grab one side of the canvas, Kael grabbed the other. The two of them lifted it, and all of the dirt that was on top of it, up and off the pig. The removal of the dirt and canvas revealed the steaming bundle of burlap wrapped pig. The smell of roasted meat wafted out of the pit and set off a string of bellies rumbling that sounded like a thunderstorm. Smiling at the kids, Kael grabbed the burlap and hauled it out of the hole. Realizing he forgot to get plates, forks, or anything else he tried to send a kid off to buy some just to be denied. The kids did not use them normally and the smell of the food had almost put them into a frenzy. Cutting open the burlap the freshly roasted pig was exposed. The wet burlap and the corn husks inside the pig helped to steam it, keeping it juicy, and stopping it from charring. Squatting down, Kael had just begun to cut it open he got a notification. Congratulation, you have created a new object: Pit Roasted Pig. (Karma) Mortal tier cooking production, initial sustenance of 45,000. Item creation; 25 sustenance per serving. Total servings available for creation, 1,800 Taste increased by 50% due to talents. No sustenance wastage, remaining sustenance of 45,000(+50% bonus =67,500). Chef¡¯s choice, increase sustenance or servings? Hearing the amount of sustenance Kael was so shocked he literally lost his balance and fell over on his ass. Embarrassed he apologized for slipping while the children all laughed at him. Figuring he had enough servings to feed the city, he chose sustenance. Current sustenance of 67,500, 25(+50% =37.5) sustenance per serving. Converting 67,500 sustenance, remaining 1800 servings. Feeding the Masses Karma event triggered... Soul granted experience to the Chef profession as serving is consumed. Karma may not trigger another mass feeding in the mortal tier. Make persistent efforts! Hearing the kids cheering and their yells about bringing food to their friends Kael snapped back to reality. Quickly doing some math, he was sure he had to be wrong. Thinking, Normally for cooking, I get a total experience equal to about the initial sustenance plus the 50% bonus material amount. That is before the second 50% bonus. That means if I can all 1,800 serving stuffed into someone¡¯s mouth I will be a master chef today. Standing up, Kael said, ¡°Change of plans guys. After you eat we are going to call it a day here. I will bring the pig to your place. You guys can eat as much as you want, but you also have to give out portions of meat to anyone who asks. Even if the entire slums shows up. If you have any problem people show up Jessica will be there.¡± Kael thought his change of plans would not go over well, but much to his surprise all of the kids supported him. Eating with the kids he was a little surprised to see 6 to 10-year-old kids stuff down 2 pounds of meat. The teenagers could stuff in about three pounds each as well. When they were all finally done eating Kael took the pig to their building. Laying out the canvas and plopping the pig on it, he started chopping it up into 1 pound chunks. The kids handed it out to others as he cut it. Initially, he had planned on leaving after he was done with the cutting, but with the size of the pig it took him over four hours to cut it all up. By the time he was done chopping the kids had moved on to handing out food to the adults coming home from work. Many of them took the meat with thanks and headed home to share it there. To stop people from being greedy the kids only gave out one slab of meat to each person. Kael and Jessica ended up hanging out until about 7 pm. When all the meat was gone Kael had mixed emotions by the notification he got. Congratulations, mass feeding event has come to an end. Experience per serving 2.5 (+50% for extra sustenance =3.75) 1,485 servings consumed, 5569 experience granted to Chef Profession. 14.8 Karma earned. Make persistent efforts! Happy and somewhat shocked by the experience and karma he got, he also wondered if there were really that many people who were saving some for later. Regardless, it launched him through rank 6 and rank 7, leaving him 69 experience into rank 8. Calling it a day, Kael removed the teeth from the pig and used fire Qi to burn off the excess meat on the bones. Wrapping it all up in burlap he handed it over to Jessica. Telling her to go sell it for the kids so they would not be bullied or robbed. Watching her take off the kids were a little apprehensive again. They had just eaten the best and tastiest meal of their lives but they had grown up getting ripped off. Seeing Jessica leave with the boar parts they hoped she would be back. They knew they would be beaten and robbed if they tried to sell it themselves so they all kept silent with just the tiniest bit of hope in their hearts. Reading the atmosphere Kael decided to wait until Jessica came back to not create more anxiety for his future employees. When Jessica returned she reported that the boar was rank 4. She was a little upset as she explained she could not sell all of the bones. The merchants only wanted the large ones and wouldn''t even take the small ones for free. However, she got 25 silver for each of the two tusks. She was a bit depressed when she told Kael that altogether she got 174 silver for the beast. Hearing her report Kael said, ¡°No problem. It¡¯s a bit under what I expected but I guess different cities have different merchants who specialize in different things. It is still a nice sum of money though.¡± Looking over at the oldest child, Mark, he could see a bit of greed sparking in his eyes. Asking him, ¡°So Mark, do you want to split the silver or do you want us to buy something for you?¡± Mark quickly tried to hide his greedy look and said, ¡°No need for you to buy stuff for us, we would rather just split the money.¡± A little disappointed in the kid, Kael said, ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go inside to hand out the money. If you show that much silver on the street you will get brutally robbed tonight.¡± Heading inside with the kids, Kael added 1 silver from his pocket to the money to make an even 175. Splitting it into 5 silver each he handed it out to the 35 children. Before leaving he Stressed to them to be very careful and to only spend it with a trusted shopkeep. After leaving Kael walked with Jessica for about 5 blocks before stopping her. Telling her that they were going to sneak back to watch after the kids tonight, he turned down a different road before doubling back. Sneaking up to the back of the building, the two sat down to cultivate while listening for any disturbances. About midnight they heard a muffled grunt that was abruptly silenced. Looking into each other''s eyes, they both stood up and broke in through the boarded up windows. The crashing noise of jumping through boarded up windows woke most of the children, while Kael¡¯s shout of ¡°Stop!¡± woke the rest. Looking through the dimly lit room Kael could see Mark holding a knife that was dripping blood. He was standing over the corpse of the young boy who got to eat meat for the first time in his life today. Kael was so enraged by the senseless killing that his vision went red. When he regained his senses a moment later he was holding Mark, who was now dead, by the throat. Seeing that he had inadvertently snapped his neck in a moment of rage Kael was overwhelmed by emotion. Dropping the corpse he bent over and started throwing up. Jessica quickly calmed the remaining children down while Kael was puking. When things were calm the children were surprisingly not mad at Kael for killing their friend. They were all street kids, they knew Mark had planned on killing them all for their money tonight. With the blood and two corpses in the room, Kael suggested they stay at his building for the rest of the night where it was safer. After some convincing, the children agreed. The process of moving them over required Kael, Jessica, and five of the older boys to carry young children who were too sick to move. Finally with all of the kids situated and falling asleep Kael took Jessica off to the side. Explaining to her that he was not going to be able to get any sleep because he was still enraged and that he was going to hunt. Asking her to stay and watch over the kids, she actually agreed pretty quickly. Leaving the building Kael did not bother with the city gate. Finding a darker area around one of the walls he simply scaled it and leapt off the opposite side. The story about being enraged was just that, a story. Kael really just wanted to go hunt for those poor kids. Taking off into the forest in search of food, he was forced to go deeper and deeper. No matter where he could not seem to find anything to hunt. Eventually finding a lake, he made some crude spears and fished up a good 20 fishes. Unfortunately, the fish were not enormous like the ones in the untouched areas he grew up in, but at 10 to 20 pounds each, they were all a good meal. After some consideration, Kael also decided to fill up half his ring with lake water. Heading back to town he got there around 5 am, just in time to start cooking. Lighting up the firepit from before he used his crude spears to roast half of the fish. When dawn broke he went to wake up Jessica and the kids with breakfast. After eating the kids were happy and raring to get to work. Reminding the kids to use the gloves, that they were there to stop them from hurting their hands, not keep warm, he gave them directions on what to do. After he gave the directions came negotiations. Coming to an agreement with them that he would make lunch and dinner but they had to clean out the second and third story of the building for him. Talking to Jessica he asked her to go around to some carpenters and get an idea of what it would take to fix this place up. He also told her he needed her to run around and buy a bunch of stuff for him. His list included a normal carpentry hammer, a bag of nails, 125 boards that were 3 by 2 feet in size, and 25 boards that were 3 by 3 feet in size. He also wrote out a list of herbs and their quantities. Handing her the paper and a gold piece, he told her to buy a powder concocting cauldron as well as a mortar and pestle. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Jessica repeated everything back to Kael to be sure she got it all correct. The only thing he added was for the carpenters. Telling her that he wanted to gut the top floor, rebuild the second floor into dormitories, and revamp the first floor. Reminding her to be sure to mention it to get accurate prices. Accepting the additional information Jessica quickly fled out of fear Kael would think of something else to add on. About 2 minutes after Jessica was gone, Kael cursed as he forgot to ask about food. Finding some of the little girls he gave them a silver and sent them to get bread to go with lunch. Spending the rest of the morning, Kael hauled all of the large or heavy things out of the second and third stories of the building for the kids. Jessica had returned on and off throughout the morning with various things that Kael wanted. She piled them all up in a semi-secure room on the bottom floor. At about 11 am when she thought she was done Kael found her again. ¡°Jessica, we seem to have forgotten something important. I need you to go to the mayor''s office and get the deed for this place. If you have any problems come and let me know. It would be best if you went in uniform to add a bit of weight. I have feeling the clerk planned to rip us off.¡± Jessica agreed with him. Saying she would get some of her friends to go with her to make it look better, she quickly took off. With an hour left before he had to cook, Kael headed into the temporary storeroom. Lighting the powder cauldron to warm it up he started separating the herbs. He made a pile for the 5 sets of recovery powder and a pile of the 5 sets of minor body strengthening powder. Starting to grind them down and bake them, he went into full automation mode. 25 minutes later all 10 sets of herbs were refined. Looking over his piles of powder, he had 150 doses of minor body strengthening powder and 200 doses of perfect recovery powder. Separating out 50 of the recovery powders for the sick kids, he mixed the remaining 300 powders into a huge heap. Storing 90% of the powders, he put the rest in a bag for lunchtime. Going outside to his BBQ pit he kicked a bunch of wood in and lit it up. Knowing he had about 30 minutes for the fire to die down he went to go check on the sick kids. Walking into the back of the first floor where the kids were camped out he found 8 children. 7 of the children were malnourished and collapsed on piles of fabric. One little girl was trying to nurse them back to health by force-feeding them small chunks of fish. Walking over to the little girl, who was probably 6 or 7, Kael patted her on the shoulder to get her attention. When she looked over the concern was written across her face. Seeing how worried she was Kael said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll help you get them better.¡± Seeing a little bit of hope show up in her eyes, Kael said, ¡°I know you think they are dying, but they can be saved. You just have to know how to help them. The first thing we have to do is get more fluids in them. That water is too dirty though. Run out to the well and get fresh water ok?¡± The little girl nodded, picked up her bucket, and ran off. Watching her run off Kael took out a ceramic box and loaded it with the 50 doses of recovery powder from his ring. Taking out one of his potion jugs he dumped 7 doses of powder into it. With nothing else to do, he started checking on the kids. After giving them an inspection he did not find any wounds, infections, or any other signs of sickness. His conclusion was that the kids were basically dying from being too poor. Lack of food, lack of warmth, and extremely dirty living conditions had built up and taken their toll. Not long after he finished his inspection the little girl came back with the bucket of water. Asking her to put it down on the ground, Kael immediately regretted his lack of directions. The bucket the little girl was using was one brought from their shanty home. To say it was dirty would be a gross understatement. Sighing, Kael asked, ¡°Is this the bucket you guys normally use to get drinking water?¡± Looking over at the little girl she seemed a little scared but eventually nodded to him. Knowing he had to rectify the situation he stopped to think of the most convincing way to explain hygiene to the girl. ¡°Well, thank you for the water,¡± he said, ¡°but it is too dirty to drink. I know you guys are used to it, but you have to change the way you think. If you eat or drink something dirty, you are making the insides of your body dirty, understand?¡± Seeing the girl nod again, he could tell she was saying she understood but she didn¡¯t really understand. Trying a new track he said; ¡°Ok, well you know how all the rich people are always clean and wear clean clothes right? They are not like that just because they like being clean. The stay clean because it helps them stay healthy. That¡¯s why they keep their houses clean too. If you keep your body clean you won¡¯t get itchy or get rashes. If your house is clean you will have fewer bugs. If you keep your food and drink clean, then you won¡¯t get sick as often. That make sense?¡± Seeing the little girl nod, he continued. ¡°Well, one way to make sure your water is clean is to boil it, but first we have to clean the sludge out of this bucket.¡± Taking up a nearby rag Kael furiously scrubbed the gross bucket for a few minutes. Dumping out the sludge and going over it again, it was by no means clean, but it wasn¡¯t disgusting anymore. Putting his hand into the bottom of the bucket he started to release water from his ring bit by bit. When it was full he used his fire qi until it was boiling. Looking over at the girl, he said, ¡°Now it¡¯s clean.¡± Taking the jug with recovery powder in it, he carefully filled it with boiling water. Once it was full he closed it and shook it up. Standing up he handed the jug to the girl. ¡°Wait about 20 minutes for that to cool down, then feed each of them a cup of it. There is healing medicine in it that should help them. I¡¯ll chop up some fish extra small for them after lunch. You can feed them a little fish while making them drink the medicine water. You should give them a cup of it every half hour or so until the entire jug is gone.¡± Patting the girl on the head Kael left to go cook some fish. Arriving outside he set up his skewers again. This time he descaled the fish, then rubbed them down with some of his mixed powder. Determined to make his soon to be employees healthy he didn¡¯t mind spending the extra bit of silver. I wonder why companies on earth are such bastards about cheap insurance? He thought while preparing the fish. When they were done cooking the kids demolished all of them except the two Kael set aside for the sick kids. Those two he chopped the meat up until it was almost mush before giving it to the little girl. After lunch, Kael and Jessica discussed the repairs. It was actually much cheaper than he had expected. The most reliable quote was 2 gold for materials and labour. The quote was for 10 days, however, so Kael sent Jessica back with two and a half gold. Asking her to have the guy swarm the place with labourers to get it done as soon as possible. As she was about to leave Kael stopped her again. Retrieving the deed from her before he forgot, he sent her back on her way. Once Jessica took off Kael rounded up 15 of the kids who were busy cleaning. Taking them with him, he grabbed his cart and headed into town. A troop of dirty children following a clean child with a big cart caused quite a bit of stares. Sucking it up and ignoring the people, he went to go get all the clothes he had bought for the children earlier. After he and the kids loaded the cart with clothing he was almost done. Handing one of the older boys 2 silvers, he asked him to take the other kids and go buy tonight''s dinner for the 40+ kids. The child took the silvers with a seriousness like his life depended on it. With one last envious look at the cart of clothes, he marched off somewhere with the other 14 kids in tow. On his way back to his building Kael swung by a large carpenter shop. Forking out 5 silvers he bought 10 wooden tubs. He precariously made two stacks of them on top of the clothes in the cart before tying them down. The only way he managed it all was due to the bottom of the tubs being smaller than the top, causing them to stack nicely. Trudging off with a giant cart of crap behind him Kael thought to himself, I¡¯ve become a nanny. However, it will be worth it. This city is a test run for the empire of the bun. Shit, did mom wear off on me? When did I become obsessed with steamed buns? How can I call my empire, Empire of the Bun? It doesn''t have a cool sounding acronym. Kael continued his internal monologue all the back to the building. Setting up the 10 tubs in two different rooms, he filled them with lake water while no one was around. Heating up 2 of them with fire qi until they were steamy, he went to go get some sick kids. 2 hours later Kael and the little girl had bathed all 7 of the sick children. Kael had wanted to give new clothes to all of them at once, but since they were just washed, he put them in some fresh linens and gave them warm blankets. When he started giving the kids the clothing the little girl started crying out of happiness. Leaving her alone to take a bath and change, he decided to just get it over and done with. Stopping the kids from their work he handed them all 2 sets of clothing, shoes, and a blanket. Telling them they could change now but only after taking a bath. After everyone was clean Kael burned their old clothes along with the heap of garbage out front. Most of the kids wanted to hang onto their old clothes but there was no way Kael would let them. Saying, "Those old rags were full of who knows what, I probably got body lice just carrying them." The children were in high spirits after the bath and change of clothing. Managing to actually clear out the second and third floor before night completely fell. At the end of the night, Kael watched them all as they sat around and ate dinner. Hearing their laughter and seeing their smiles jabbed at his heart. I had it way to easy, he thought. Chapter 42 - Empire of the Bun (Part 2) After all of the children went to sleep, Kael had some hard thinking to do. Calling Jessica over, he started to discuss his plans with her. "Jessica, what do you think we should do with the children when the builders get here? I was thinking of moving them to a different floor while repairs were being done, but I am afraid of them being hurt." Listening to Kael''s concerns she replied, "I did not know you wanted to keep them around. It seemed like this was a temporary thing until the building was fixed up." Realizing he had never really voiced his overall plan to anyone, he said, "No, my plan is actually to get them to work and live in the building. Of course, it is up to them, but I had hoped to raise a group of them out of the gutters while making some money on the side." "You''re not really planning on exploiting them now that they like you, right?" "Nothing of the sort, I plan to teach them how to cook, and then have them sell the food. I was going to split profits with them 50/50." "Oh, well that doesn''t sound that bad. You won''t be making a lot of money that way though." "I''m aware that the income they will bring in is minuscule. It should be enough for each of them to make 1 silver per day. Once they are self-sufficient I will start teaching them more. I am looking at a long-term plan, and if I have to leave, I want them to be able to take care of themselves." "Well good, you''re not a typical silk pants. I''m glad I took this job, but I haven''t had as much downtime as you described." "Sorry, getting the foundation up and running is a lot of work. Once the repairs are done and a few renovations are made, your life should get boring." "Well then, back to your original question. I wouldn''t suggest you let them stay here. Although they could help, in reality, they would just be in the way. You could have them clean out their old place though." "Eh, that''s not good. That place is not conducive to health. Nevermind I will figure something out. When were the repair people coming anyway?" "They said they would come over to do preliminary inspections tomorrow afternoon, and start on the work the following morning." "Ok, thanks for all the help, Jessica. You should go to sleep, I am going to see if I can find anything to hunt tonight." "Alright, take care of yourself. I''ll watch over the kids." Watching as Jessica stood up and went to go cultivate by the children''s room, Kael stood up and heading out of town again. This time he decided to leave in the opposite direction from before. Scaling the wall he had a close encounter with the guards. Having to duck back down and hang off the interior of the wall as they passed. They walked close enough by for him to hear the conversation clearly. "So, you going to work for that ass in the Foaming Mug?" "I haven''t decided yet. The money is pretty good, but he wants us to help him track down his runaways and beat them into submission." "That is totally fucked up man, don''t you have children too? I wouldn''t be able to live with myself. What''s that guy''s name anyway?" "Yeah, he is a pretty evil bastard. It''s strange, he would rather pay bribes to the guards and play himself up as a respectable human rather than treat those kids like they are humans." "Yeah, it really shows his true nature. He may hide it deeply but in reality, he is just an asshole who hates himself. You didn''t tell me his name either, what is it?" "Oh, he just goes by T, I have never heard his real name. He is pretty shady, probably hiding behind anonymity so he can do mean things without repercussions for his family and friends." The voices trailed off after that. Kael, still hanging from the wall, pondered what to do. Go hunting for food for kids, or going hunting people in the city. Remembering how his father told him to go there really pissed him off, but at the same time, showing off is what got his parents into trouble. Deciding to just keep an eye on him until he was secure in the city, Kael flipped up onto the wall, then leapt off the other side into the darkness. After about an hour of heading into the woods, Kael noticed he was being followed by something at high speeds. Dashing behind a tree and immediately stopping, he listened to sound of whatever was following him to get a bead on its location. Sneaking a peek around the edge of the tree, Kael saw the familiar outline of a large black cat on a branch not far away. Examining it to be sure, he received the notification he was waiting for. Soul has examined another living creature. Living creature, Night Devil Panther, has a favourable impression of the Soul. Impression level, Tasty. Disallowing examination due to impression level. Creatures level of threat to soul, minor. Finally, he thought, it''s payback time. Taking out his weapons, he equipped the hammer in his right hand and his father''s dagger in his left. Dashing out from the tree he ran a few hundred meters before pretending to stumble and fall. Just as he fell, he heard the snapping of a branch and growl that was quickly closing on him. Rolling to the side and then to his feet, he got up in time to see a dark blur fly past. Missing its attack the panther started to flee to gain more distance. Not waiting for the cat to fully react Kael flung his hammer at it with full strength. With his single arm strength being close to 4,000 pounds, he knew his hammer was going to do some serious damage. Not needing to pretend at the moment, his body felt like it erupted as he quickly dashed towards the running panther. His hammer ripped through the air, striking the panther on the rear flank. The sounds of bones being crushed were audible through the silent forest as Kael quickly closed in. Leaping directly onto the creatures back, he grabbed the bottom of its chin, pulling up, while slashing its throat with his free hand. Riding the back of the frantic creature, he held on tightly until it finally succumbed to the massive blood loss. Climbing off the creatures back he kicked it once for good measure, just to be sure it wasn''t playing dead. Finding it was truly a goner, he quickly dressed down its carcass and stored it before heading back to the city. While rushing back to his new home he was happy he finally got his revenge. Making a quick stop outside the building he released enough water from his ring to give himself a quick rinse. Going inside, he dried off and decided to just sleep in his storeroom. The next morning, Kael went out to buy some fruits and buns for the children''s breakfast. Returning to the building with two bags of food, he woke up the kids and handed out the food. Once they were done eating, Kael looked at them and said, "So, we are done clearing out the building now. I have labourers coming soon to do repairs and changes the layout. " If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Watching the happiness on the faces of the children slowly disappear as they realized their good days were over, Kael continued; "We have a few options now. First, you can go back to doing whatever it is you do on a daily basis. If you want to leave, I won''t stop you. However, I hope you can leave the sick children with me until they are better. "Second, you can come work for me. I will teach you how to cook, where to sell, and basically how to make money. You will live and work here. Unlike other places though, you will have complete freedom. If you don''t want to work for a day you just won''t make money. You can leave at any time you want and no one will stop you. Whatever profits you make will be split evenly with me though. "Lastly, you can choose to come work for me doing basic cleaning and labour. If you choose this, you will get paid very little, but you will be supplied food and a nice place to live. Discuss it amongst yourselves, and I''ll come back in a little while for your decision." Kael turned and left amidst the mummers of quiet discussion from the kids. Taking Jessica to the side he told her he had another pile of errands for her to do. "I need you to go find a stone mason and ask them the price to build a very large bread oven. The size should be about one third the length of this building. So about 100 feet in length. It should be 2 feet in height and about 3 feet deep. The top of it needs to have a raised edge the encircles the entire thing. The raised edge should be about 6 by 6 inches. We want it to create a trough type shape on top. The interior of the oven should be split in half by a shelf. "When you are done with that, go find a blacksmith and order me 150 cooking racks that are 3 feet in length and 2 feet in width. Also, ask him about making some rectangular pans that are about 3 inches deep. We need them to sit on top of the trough on the oven. We will also need cooking racks to cover those. Finally, ask him about making metal cooking plates that can be swapped in place of the rectangular pans." Looking at Jessica''s deadpan face, he couldn''t tell if she understood or not. Confirming with her that she got all of that, he gave her a gold piece and told her he would need the change. After she left, Kael went into his storeroom and dumped out the panther he had killed the night before. Using the time he gave the kids he skinned and stripped the meat from the beast. Storing the meat, he left the claws, bones, and hide in the storeroom. Looking at the head that still intact he was pondering whether or not he should mount it or extract the teeth when he felt a subtle energy coming from it. Curiosity got the better of him, and he ended up digging into the skull of the creature to find out what was giving off energy. After digging in a bit he found an interesting little black ball. Storing it he decided to ask Jessica about it later. Finally taking out its canines, he destroyed the skull and used fire qi to turn the leftover bits into ash. Done with his bloody task, Kael cleaned up, the left to go talk to the kids again. Entering the large back room that they were living in he saw them all sitting around with some trepidation. Not really sure how this was going to go, Kael took a seat by the kids and asked; "So, it is going to be really hard to talk to everyone at once. Let''s do it this way. If you want to leave, go ahead and take off, I''ll talk to the rest once whoever wants to go is gone." One of the older children stood up, looked at Kael, and said, "We are not sure yet. I have some questions for you. If we stay how much money will we make and how much do we have to work? If we leave are you going to do anything bad to us? And if we want to work as labourers and maids, how much will you pay?" "Those are pretty easy questions," Kael responded, "First, you make as much money as you are willing to work. You will be selling food in the city, three times a day. If you sell all the food you will make about two silvers, of which one is mine. "If you leave, I obviously will not do anything bad to you. However, there may not be work in the future. "As for the general labour, I will pay you two silvers a month. That will include food and a place to stay. Anything else?" The older child asked, "Yeah, if we are making the food and selling it, why do you get half the money?" Kael said, "Of course I get half of it. I will train you, I will give you a safe and healthy place to live and work, I will feed you, and I will be the one buying all of the materials for the food. If you want to leave after I train you guys, feel free. Renting a large scale place to work is more expensive than you think." "Ok, give us two minutes, the people who want to leave will be gone by then." Leaving the room again, Kael headed back into the storeroom. Looking at all the wooden boards he thought, Damn, it is going to require a lot more hide to cover the boxes I want than I thought. Doing some quick calculations, he found his 3x3x2 foot boxes would need 42 square feet of leather. Since he was making 50 of them, it would take 2,100 square feet of leather. Sighing, he started to review what he had in his ring. Realizing he only had rank 7 and rank 8 hides left, he figured he would have to buy more. Making a food carrying pack out of such a high-quality hide would be a total waste. Taking the hides out so he would not forget, he stored them in the corner of the room and hid them under some wood. Figuring his time was up he went back to talk to the kids one last time before he could start to officially begin the Empire of the Bun. Entering the room he did a quick count of the children left. Surprising him, he counted up 32 children. Adding the sick kids, he was up to 39 of 50 for his food sales quota. Looking at the children he said, "Congratulations on making an excellent decision. Those who want to work as general labour and maids, step off to the right so I can get a count of you." Watching the children separate out, he found that 6 of the girls and two of the boys had left the group. Thinking about it, he would need 2 more boys to do general labour, and 16 kids to make and sell food. "Ok then, for the next week or so you won''t have much work. Go get cleaned up and put on your cotton clothes. Meet me down here in 30 minutes." Shooing the children out of the room, he started to consider his next problem. What the hell to do with all the kids while everything gets sorted out here. Deciding to just throw more of his diminishing money at it, he reminded himself, Long term plan Kael, long-term. After a half hour passed, Kael sent 10 boys out to look for a large empty building he could rent for a week or a cheap tavern that had 10 rooms free. While they were away Jessica came back. Reporting to Kael, the carpenter team could get the building done in 3 to 4 days made him happy. The stonemason was going to charge him 500 silver due to the rush job, and the blacksmith was going to charge him 250 silver, for the same reason. She said the baking racks he wanted would be done tomorrow, and she had paid 25 silver for them. She also had paid the stonemason and blacksmith upfront for their work to help clench the rush job. Taking the 225 silver she had left from her, Kael told her had 40 hides in the back for her to sell. Asking her to find a trustworthy leatherworker with tight lips to sell them to. He also told her his needs for the boxes he was building. Asking her to have the shop she bought them from deliver them, and reminding her, rank 1 beast hide was fine. After listening to all the craziness coming out of her child employer''s mouth Jessica once again fled to avoid more nonsense. Leaving with a loaded up cart of hides, she hopped off to finish his errands as soon as possible. When all the kids were rounded back up, Kael ended up taking them to a tavern. Paying 250 copper per room, per day, and another 150 copper for 2 meals each day, he handed over 4 silver. The gaggle of children with him all stared at the money like it was gold. Thinking, If only they knew I blew almost a gold piece on renovations not an hour ago, I wonder what they would say. Getting the kids situated and out of his hair, Kael went back to his soon to be headquarters to wait for the carpenter''s team. Chapter 43 - Empire of the Bun (Part 3) During the wait for the carpenter to show up, Kael ran out to get some paper. He got back just in time to see a grumpy looking Jessica helping 2 men unload tons of leather into the backyard area. Running up to Jessica, he told her thanks for all the hard work, and that she had the next few hours off, at least until the carpenter gets here. Still grumpy, she told Kael she was going to go cultivate and left him to help unload the leather. Finishing off all of his minor chores, Kael took out the thick paper he purchased earlier. Going into design mode he quickly made a sketch for each level of the building. The bottom floor was pretty basic in his opinion. It was split into three main areas. One third of the building was kind of like an entrance hall. It had two large rooms off to the sides and one enormous hall in the middle. In the rear part of the building, another third was taken up by a huge kitchen. About 70% of that space was for cooking, and the last 30% of the area was designed as storerooms. The last third of the bottom floor was Kael''s space. It included two bedrooms, a room for a guard to sleep in, bathrooms for each of the sleeping areas, a large crafting area, and a place he left open to put a forge. The second story was basically long rows of rooms. It would have three hallways and 6 rows of rooms. Four of those row would actually be two sets of room back to back. A middle hallway between the two sets of doubled up rooms, with another hallway on the outside of them, splitting them from the rooms along the walls of the building. The entire second floor was set up like a big dormitory, with bathrooms taking up every 5th room. Kael designed each room to be about 11 feet in length and 10 feet in width. Definitely large enough for adults let alone children. Without the restroom areas, each row would have 24 bedrooms, for a total of 144 small living spaces. The third floor was just set up as a huge open hall. Other than the columns needed to hold up the roof it was almost entirely open. He did design a few rooms along the side walls to be used as storage, restrooms, or whatever else someone with house building experience says he needs. After finishing his design, he gave it to Jessica and went over so that he was sure she understood how it was supposed to be. When she left to go back to cultivating Kael did his damnedest not to bust out the books from his parents and join her. Trying to distract himself and not be bored, he started writing out simple recipes for cooking. His early plan was a French toast bastardization for breakfast time, steamed buns for lunch, and something like a Mongolian meatball ramen with a steamed bun on the side for dinner. His main plan was to make loaves of bread after dinner, to use in the morning for French toast, as it would be quick and easy. Then to start making the steamed buns so they had time to rise before lunch. Then while they were raising they could make noodles en masse and prepare meatballs or thin strips of beef for the ramen. Unlike real ramen, Mongolian ramen had the water strained, then a sauce was applied. This would make it easy for the kids to transport. He still had to go find some super cheap papyrus or thick paper and design a cheap to go container out of it. While pondering how to fix the issue of a to go box, the carpenter and his team showed up. As a bonus, Jessica had him bring the stonemason so everything could get worked out at once. As they walked up, Jessica politely greeted the men. Handing over the rough sketched blueprints and going over the general idea, the carpenter said it shouldn''t be an issue, but he was going to check out the foundation of the structure first. After he left, Jessica tried to explain the bread oven to the mason. Failing at her explanation as the concept of cooking was foreign to her, Kael took over. Describing how he wanted to be able to cook huge quantities of bread during part of the day, then use the top of the stove as a steamer basin for steamed buns during another part of the day, the mason finally got the idea. Telling Kael that the original cost estimate was still valid. He explained he would just need to wait for the bottom floor construction to be done before he could begin. After finalizing some details the stonemason excused himself, saying he needed to review where to put exhaust vents for the huge oven. When Jessica and Kael were alone again, she looked over at him and asked, "Just how much bread are you planning on making?" "A lot, I want 50 kids selling it throughout the city each morning. The backpacks I am making will be 3 feet tall, 3 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. Each will be separated into 4 layers. "The kids should be able to fit close to 600 slices of bread in them. Depending on how well the French toast sells, it could make a lot of money for the little guys. Later for lunch, they will only be able to fit 200 to 300 buns in them. So they will make a lot less, but each one will sell for more. At dinner time they will probably each fit about 120 dishes, but again, the price will be even higher." Jessica just stared at Kael like he was a freak. She couldn''t understand how such a young child could come up with so many things planned so far in advance.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. As she was thinking, Kael continued, "Really if things take off, each kid should bring in 6 silver in the morning, and 10 or so at lunch and dinner. Half of that is mine, so 13 silver per kid, minus a silver for the cost of food, and multiplied by the number of kids, I should get about 650 silver a day. "It will take a week to get them up and running, then it is all just free cash. If sales steadily rise until the kids are selling out, it will take me 3 months and I will get all of my investment back. However, I plan to have one kid run the things I cook to the entrance of the upper-class area to sell. My skill in cooking is where my actual real income will come in." Jessica just shook her head at the kid''s plans. As if shaking her head rattled her brains around, she remembered she had money for him. "Hey Kaeldread, You forgot to get your money from the hides." "Oh, you are right Jessica, how much did they come to and how much did you spend on the other leathers? Also, what rank was that panther?" Handing over a large jingling bag, Jessica said, "27 of the rank 7 hides were common, 3 were rare. 9 of the rank 8 hides were common, 1 was rare. The Night Devil Panther is actually a rare rank 5 creature and it''s hide is highly sought after. Not only does it go for more because it is a rare hide, it is in such high demand you got double for it. You are now rich" Taking the bag from her he said, "So how much is it, just give me the total and how much the panther hide was?" "Total, 45 gold. The panther was 173 silver by itself." "Wait, that is way too much money, give me more details." "Kaeldread, sometimes you seem like a genius, sometimes you lack common sense. The price of hides skyrockets as the beasts strength increases. A common rank 7 beast hide is worth 900 silver. A common rank 8 beast hide is worth 2.250 gold. I actually had paid a few gold to have our merc group escort me to the sale. You are lucky you did not try to sell them yourself, or you would have been found in a ditch tomorrow morning." Hearing that Kael thought to himself, Shit, I am glad I hired an adult to run my errands. She is pretty honest too. I wonder how I can snatch her from her merc group. Bowing to Jessica, Kael said, "Thank you Jessica, and I appreciate your honesty. Hiring you was the best decision I made since coming to this city. I will make it worth your while." "Just let me have more time to cultivate and we will be good." "Well, now there is nothing to do until the building is done. Hang out here to talk to them when they are done looking at the building. Afterwards, I will probably just be sitting around here during the day making things and sleeping at an inn during the night. Your life just got boring." About 30 minutes later the carpenter and stonemason came over to talk to Jessica. The stonemason had some issues. The oven wanted was too big. There was no good way to feed it wood or clean it. Sitting down with the men, Kael took a pen and about 30 minutes later had redesigned the bottom floor. The oven was now by the wall that separated the front area from the kitchen. He pulled it out from the wall to stop the worry of it catching fire. The mason''s other concern was that an oven of that size would generate a huge amount of heat. To tackle this Kael had the carpenter build a sloping enclosure over the oven, to act as a separate heat hood. He also had them put some vents in the ceiling so the hot air would disperse into the second story walls, hopefully heating it up at night and in the winters. After all of the changes, it cost him an extra gold. With his newfound wealth, it did not bother him much. Having Jessica pay the men, they left to go prepare for the next day. Finally alone with Jessica, he asked with a smile, "Are you ready to go run more errands?" Sighing she nodded, as she knew his offer of having nothing do was too good to be true. The rest of the day was spent with the two of them running from shop to shop. Kael finally managed to find suppliers for flour, meat, spices, and other things needed for cooking. He had thought about making the kids do it all themselves, but decided that it would be too complicated and overwhelming for normal children. Scheduling everything to be delivered to his building in 5 days he was almost done. Dropping by a carpenter he bought 120 beds, they would be delivered in sets of 40. the first set hopefully would be done in a just a few days. The carpenter directed him to a tailor where he bought 120 feather mattresses, 240 sets of sheets and pillows, all that would be delivered with the beds. He also designed a set of uniforms made of sturdy cotton. The pants were black and the shirts were grey, with a steamed bun embroidered on its chest. The order would take too long so he was sent to another tailor. Ending his trip, he dropped by another carpenter where he ordered the parts for 100 stools. The stools were designed so the legs would go over his boxes. Letting the kids carry them easier. Discussing the boxes with the carpenter he found out he would need wood on the interior corners or they would not be very stable. Ordering those as well, Kael thanked the man and left with Jessica. Checking the two of them into a nice inn for 4 nights, he and Jessica then ate dinner. Reviewing the cost of everything for the day he 1 gold 70 silver for the furniture, clothing, etc.. His food costs surprised him though. They were way lower than expected. He could make 1,000 stuffed steamed buns for about 3 silver. The french toast was 2 silver per 1,000, 3 silver if he added sugar and cooking cinnamon to them. His ramen would cost about 8 silver due to the teriyaki-ish eel sauce he wanted to make. The only good thing was that the consumption speed of the end product was half that of the bread and buns, so it was theoretically only 4 silver. In the end, he gave out 130 silver with a delivery date of 7 days later. Then a delivery every other day. The food would last them through the end of the month. As the end of the month neared he would have to stop to review the income. If he wasn''t personally making enough money he would have to change business models. With a food cost of basically 5 silver a day, he and the kids would optimally make a little over 25 silver a day before splitting the income. When he was done eating he realized he actually had free time now. Telling Jessica he was going to his room and would knock on her room''s door if he left, he went upstairs to get down to something that had been wanting to do for a long time now, pill making. Chapter 43.5 - Downtime Alchemy Examining his pill cauldron he wanted to get familiar with it before he actually used it. It was pretty basic, just a bronze type cauldron with a tripod base. There was a small hole on the bottom left and right to insert qi into it. The interior of the cauldron had a small rack built into it to rest the finished pills on it. However, in Kael''s opinion that would be a terrible waste. If the pill was still hot and touched ash it would be contaminated and the quality would drop. Taking out the recipes he purchased and the ones his father had purchased for them he started to review what he had to work with. Body Strengthening pill - Helps strengthen the body of someone shedding mortality. Body Cleansing pill - Removes toxins and dredges 20% of the medical residue left by mortal medicines. Qi Boosting Pill - Absorbs 3 days of Qi in two hours. Qi Cleansing pill - Dredges 10% of the impurities in one''s Qi. Marrow Washing Pill - Dredges the impurities in one''s root bone, enhancing innate perception. Meridian Washing Pill - Dredges the impurities in one''s meridians, enhancing innate talent. Tiger¡¯s Strength Pill - Grants a short duration boost to attacking efficiency. Turtle¡¯s Defense Pill - Grants a short duration boost to body resiliency. Roc¡¯s Flight Pill - Gives a short duration but large boost to movement speed. Looking over the recipes he decided since he had not refined a pill before and only had a basic idea of what to do, that he was going to start practicing with the Roc''s Flight pill. Taking out 5 sets of the herbs he examined them one by one to be sure they were the best for the recipe. Flameburst, two portions of Sundew, and two portions of Beast Garlic. Thinking, It''s kind of strange, the garlic is bridging herb to help two opposing herbs bind. That shouldn''t happen with the primary herbs here. Screw it, I''m just practicing, once I can make one, I''ll consider changing it. Separating the herbs out and checking to be sure they were not damaged, he was ready for his first attempt. Putting his left hand on his cauldron he slowly released fire qi. Running the flame through the hole and into the cauldron he made the top flatten out, so it looked like a geyser. Lighting the lid, he placed the Flameburst into the cauldron. Catching the herb with his fire qi as it dropped into the cauldron, he quickly wrapped it up with his Qi. Remembering what his mother said about burning off the skin of the plant before reducing the internals into a liquid, he began to slowly increase the heat. A few seconds later he got a notification in his mind. Error, soul failed in refining Flameburst, material damaged by 80%. Waste reduced by 50% due to talents, 40% material saved. Opening the cauldron a huge cloud of smoke and steam was released. Followed by a notification saying his refinement failed. Not caring for the notification he looked down at the remains of his herb. It looked like as soon as the skin was burnt off the entire thing just went up into ashes. He knew his mom was not an alchemist, so he had to assume she had it explained to her in extreme layman''s terms. Firing the remains of his herb to ash, he dumped the cauldron out, cleaned it, and started again. This time trying at a lower temperature. Error, soul failed in refining Flameburst, material damaged by 75%. Waste reduced by 50% due to talents, 37.5% material saved. He continued to try over and over again reducing the heat as he went. After his 5th attempt, he took out another 10 Flameburst herbs. On his 8th attempt, he had gotten it down to 40% before his talents. He still felt something was very wrong though. Taking out another herb, he held it in his hand as he released his fire Qi. Watching the herb carefully the entire time, he realized that burning the skin was the exact opposite of what he needed. Altering the heat slightly, he tried to figure out how to melt the interior, then fire off the exterior. Although he was successful, his waste was still 40%. Not sure what he was doing wrong he sat down and fell into a meditative state while considering it from multiple angles. After an hour, he came to the conclusion he is a dumbass. The skin was a part of the herb, it had absorbed its energy over the course of its life, there is simply no reason to destroy it. Trying again with the herb sitting on his hand, he seemed like he could feel his alchemy skill begin to work this time. He instinctively knew the exterior skin he needed to remove wasn''t the plant, it was going to be a layer of impurities. Alternating the heat from his Qi, he could feel his alchemy skill urging him to sink his Qi into the plant itself. Doing so, he could see the plant slightly deform, like it was deflating. finally, the skin started to break down. As the skin broke down he could see black flecks of impurities bubble up and cover the now liquid herb. He finally finished the refinement with only 20% waste. Knowing he was onto something now, he tried to fire the impurities off the top by increasing the heat. Unfortunately, he turned the entire thing into slag. Trying again, this time he attempted to use a strand of wooden qi to scrape it off, but once the wood qi touched the fire qi, the fire lit up in a huge burst of flame. Once again turning his herb into slag. On his third attempt, he decided to make a second small geyser under his flame ball, then open a hole in the bottom of his flame ball to let the liquid herb drain. As the majority of it drained through he tightened up the hole until it closed as the liquid drained out. Congratulation, you have successfully refined the herb, Flameburst. First refinement wastage of 18%(8%) (Firing) Second refinement, Purification, in progress. Thinking, Shit, I can''t set aside the liquid and do each one by one. Mom was right in that I will have to hold the extra liquids with wood qi while I work on the others. Beginning to alternate the heat in his flame until he found one that brought the liquid to a slight simmer. holding it there for 15 minutes, the liquid had evaporated and was floating near the top of his ball, while a pile of impurities were roasting on the bottom. Once again draining it out, this time, he had to think of a way to transfer the gas, so as it cooled it was safe. Creating a large bubble around his fire qi with his wooden qi, he stopped the fire qi, then closed off the bottom of the wooden qi''s bubble. When he had it entrapped he heard another notification. Congratulation, you have successfully refined the herb, Flameburst. First refinement wastage of 18%(8%) (Firing) Second refinement wastage of 10% (5) (Purification) Error, no other materials present, medical ingredients wasted. Thinking, Well, I got the hang of it, but without real training, it is going to be rough. Before starting a real practice run, he spent some time testing the refinement of each herb in his hand. After burning through three of each one, he decided to start. Using his Qi to warm the cauldron for a few minutes he started putting herbs in. Holding each one in wooden qi while refining the next was seriously taxing. Also, since he could not see inside the cauldron, he had to use the location of his Qi as a way to guess where things were. After getting everything melted down, he finally got the notification he was waiting for. Congratulation, you have successfully refined the herbs, Flameburst, Sundew, and Beast Garlic First refinement average wastage of 14%(7%) (Firing) Second refinement wastage of 8% (4%) (Purification) Third refinement, combining, in progress. Listening to the prompt he brought all the qi bubbles together into one. His new problem was now that the liquids were there, but not mixed. Deciding a cyclone worked well for purifying his qi, that is what he did with the herbal liquid. Transforming the bubble into a cyclone he ran into another problem, there was no real heat. Turning the cyclone of his now mixed liquid into a bubble, he reversed his transfer technique and put the liquids back into fire qi, then started a very low heat cyclone again. After another 15 minutes, he heard he succeeded in combining and needed to move on to splitting and polishing the pills. Not really sure how to split the liquid either, he made an ice cube tray looking thing out of wood qi, and drained the liquid evenly across it. As he needed more space he would just add more cubes. When he was out of the liquid to drain, he turned all of the cubes into bubbles again and began spinning the qi spheres rapidly. Not sure why, he thought that was the finishing touch, but so far his instinct had not failed him.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Congratulation, you have created a new object: Roc''s Flight Pill. Mortal tier alchemy production, total pills available for creation, 5.¡± First refinement average wastage of 14%(7%) (Firing). Second refinement wastage of 8% (4%) (Purification). Third refinement wastage of 0% (Combining). Item creation, initial potency of 210. Potency wastage of 23, remaining potency of 187 (Perfect refinement failed, no bonus material granted). Remaining potency of 187. Base pills of 5, overall potency 42(-50% due to talents =21) potency per pill. Converting 187 potency, remaining 9 pills. Each pill value of 21 experience, soul granted 189 experience to the alchemy profession. Excited, he opened the lid of the cauldron and took out the pills. With nothing to put them in, he just stored most of them. Examining the last one he got its statistic. Roc¡¯s Flight Pill (Average Quality) Gives a short duration but large boost to movement speed. Movement speed +40%, Weight Reduction 30%, 5 min. Finally, He thought, It took 12 attempts, but I''ve got the hang of it now. Deciding to do 5 more runs before going to sleep, he took out a few more sets of herbs. Separating them out and checking they were still good, he sat down and prepared the cauldron. Heating it up and throwing in the herbs everything went smoother than expected. Congratulation, you have created a new object: Roc''s Flight Pill. Mortal tier alchemy production, total pills available for creation, 5.¡± First refinement average wastage of 0% (Firing). Second refinement wastage of 0% (Purification). Third refinement wastage of 0% (Combining). Item creation, initial potency of 210. Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 210(+50%=315) Remaining potency of 315. Base pills of 5, overall potency 42(-50% due to talents =21) potency per pill. Converting 315 potency, remaining 15 pills. Each pill value of 21 experience, soul granted 315 experience to the alchemy profession. Future creations will provide truncated information. Clapping in excitement at getting the bonus materials, Kael stood up, bent over, and took the pills out. Examining one of them he got its information notification in his head. Roc¡¯s Flight Pill (High Quality) Gives a short duration but large boost to movement speed. Movement speed +50%, Weight Reduction 30%, 5 min. With a "Fuck yeah", Kael continued to refine the other 4 sets. Finishing up he had made 84 pills and received 1,764 experience. As his excitement started to wear off he realized he was pretty drained. His last set of herbs should have taken 10 minutes each to refine. Luckily his doubled up talents cut it down to 2.5 minutes. But that still meant 12 and half minutes were spent manipulating multiple threads of Qi. With the combining and splitting process, it took him about 20 minutes per set of pills. After an hour and a half of wasting Flamebursts, another 2 hours of practice refining on the other herbs for the pill, and an hour and a half refining the last 5 sets, his Qi was tapped. Adding the hour of meditation, it was also extremely late. Putting away the remaining pills, Kael flopped onto the bed and fell asleep. The next morning when he woke up he found Jessica sitting outside his door again. Sighing, they argued about how silly it was to do that for awhile before agreeing to disagree. At breakfast, Kael asked, "Hey, can you check on the kids? For the next three days, all I really want you to do is check up on the kids once in the morning and once in the evening. Tell them that they should try to recruit some people too. They all need to be honest, but I need the total kids that are going to sell food to be 50. " Jessica replied, "That''s fine, but do you really think that those kids can do that much work? Between cooking and selling the food they will be up from before dawn until later in the night." Taking her criticism into account, Kael agreed. He had built their schedule for him, not a normal kid. "Ok, you are right," he said, "Tell the kids to recruit up to a total of 50 children to sell food. Then tell them I want 10 kids who want to cook for the 50. Those 10 kids will take 10% of the profit from the people who are selling their food." Nodding, Jessica agreed that his new plan was better. After they finished eating she took off to go find the children to discuss with them. Kael headed back upstairs to do some refining. Now that he had plenty of time on his hands he decided to refine 10 of each of the pills. It was going to take a lot of effort to get his refining speed to pick up. At least he knew it would speed up as he became more and more familiar with the process. Starting with the recipes he altered before leaving, he picked out the herbs for the body cleansing pill. Warming up the cauldron and separating the herbs simultaneously, he did anything that would save time. The actual refinement went incredibly smooth, which really surprised him. Congratulations you have created a new object: Perfect Body Cleansing Pill. Mortal tier alchemy production, total pills available for creation, 5. Enhanced potency by 40 Item creation, initial potency of 180(220). Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 220(+50% =330). Base pills of 5, overall potency 36(-50% due to talents =18) potency per pill. Converting 330 potency, remaining 18 pills. Each pill value of 22 experience, soul granted 324 experience to the alchemy profession. Congratulations, for perfecting a recipe you were granted 50 experience. Stopping to examine one of the pills he was excited about the information that appeared in his head. Perfect Body Cleansing Pill (Excellent Quality) Removes toxins and dredges 35% of the medical residue left by mortal medicines. Finishing the other 9 sets of herbs, he took out three ceramic boxes and stored them. During the time it took to refining them, he managed to get the total refinement time down to just over 7 minutes. He estimated that 5 minutes total was the fastest he would get. With the number of herbs sitting in his ring, he figured he had plenty of chances to practice. Going back to refining, he decided to do 10 sets of the other 7 recipes before taking a break. About halfway through them, he ran into a snag, he was out of Qi. Thinking for a bit, he decided after he regains some Qi, he would make Qi Boosting pills next, then take those pills in halves, so he could chain refine without stopping. 9 and a half hours after he began his refinement frenzy, he finished refining 10 sets of each of the pills he had not refined before, and another 5 sets of Roc''s Flight pills. He gained a crazy amount of just over 30,000 experience for all the pills. Enough to complete rank 6 and bring him to18,775/20,000 experience into rank 7. Happy with his gains, he ensured his pills were stored properly and the boxes were all sealed, the left to find his eating partner. Extremely hungry he went to get Jessica before eating. Knocking on her door, as soon as she answered he invited her to eat dinner. His stomach was rumbling too bad to be polite. Heading downstairs, Kael put everything else on hold while he filled his stomach. Eating two entire meals before he was finally satiated, he patted his tummy then looked up at Jessica. Seeing her disgusted face at his eating manners he just chuckled. The two discussed the children, which were doing ok, and Kael told her about his plans to make the backpack boxes starting tomorrow. He also handed her a pill list and asked her to get the prices for them. Mentioning he needed the prices for high and excellent quality. Telling himself, This is for research, you are not going to sell pills and get yourself in trouble. Kael convinced himself he was just curious. Promising himself to focus on his Chef profession until his parents showed up, he firmly placed the idea of getting rich off pills to the side. After eating, he went to bed, tapped mentally from all the pill refining he fell asleep quickly. The next morning followed the same basic routine of eating with Jessica. During breakfast, she dropped a bombshell on him though. Giving him a list of pill prices for the city, she mentioned that high quality sold for 20% more and excellent quality sold for 50% more. Mentally crying a few tears of blood, Kael once again promised himself not to sell pills. Leaving the inn, he and Jessica headed over to his building where he sneaked into the storeroom and started to make boxes. It was tedious and boring work. Jessica just sat on the side, alternating between cultivating and watching him. After a few hours, she stopped Kael, asking him "Just what are you humming" "Oh, it''s a song called my favourite things." Having never heard the song before she asked Kael to sing it, which he did. When finished she said, "That doesn''t sound like anything you would sing." Chuckling, Kael responded, "It''s not, I have my own version that I am working on." "Oh and what is that?" she asked. Grinning a bit, Kael remembered all the random things since coming to this world then started to sing his version of the song. Raindrops of potions and delicious roast chickens Bright bronze cauldrons and warm baking ovens Brown ceramic boxes and the gold that they bring These are a few of my favourite things High-quality powders of the whole kit and caboodle Pork buns and prawn buns and meatballs with noodles Shiney gold that rings with a crisp sounding ding These are a few of my favourite things Pills in glass bottles with red waxen seals The aroma of money when I make large deals Giant hog omelettes that are made for a king These are a few of my favourite things When the dog bites When the bee stings When I''m feeling sad I simply remember my favourite things And then I don''t feel so bad Laughing at the child, Jessica decided that version was probably more like his real home life. Deciding to help the child, she tried to help him with the boxes but was rebuffed with a, "Don''t spoil my carpentry experience," by Kael. Sending her off to get the leathers, and cut them in a way they could be nailed to the outside of the boxes. The next two days continued the monotonous rhythm, which seemed to be following the sound of a child''s humming. Chapter 44 - Empire of the Bun (Part 4) The morning of the fourth day came around. Kael''s building was done, everything had been shipped and Kael had finished up his backpacks the night before. As Jessica and Kael arrived, he excitedly ran through his newly renovated place. Starting from the top floor and working his way down he was satisfied with his new headquarters. The oven even worked out the way he wanted. It would be easy to cook breads, then use the top as either a steamer of a hot plate. Taking Jessica into the big open room on the bottom floor that was filled with his backpacks and some random deliveries, he went over to one of the backpacks. Picking it up, he wandered over to the stools. Turning a stool upside down, it fit snugly on the bottom of the pack, with the legs overlapping the outside of it. Putting another on top it fit the same. Looking over at Jessica, Kael said; "The kids even have a way to easily carry their own chairs!" "Yeah, but why do they need two?" She asked. "Silly, of course, they need two, one is for the pack to sit on. You don''t want your food resting on the ground right?" Silently agreeing she said, "That''s why the entire back open and not the top then right? The kids have their own mobile stalls." "Exactly!" Kael shouted out, his plan had a taken a lot of groundwork, but it was finally coming o fruition. "You go get the kids while I pack some of this stuff away." As Jessica took off Kael began to sort through the tons of random delivers. He started by moving the non-perishable foodstuff into the storeroom while pondering how he forgot to get someone to make him an icehouse. As he had just finished packing away all the foods, the kids and Jessica returned. Counting the kids he was happy to see they had increased to 52. All of the sick children were present and looking much better as well. Clapping his hands to get them to quiet down he said, "Ok let''s get into groups. "Those of you who only want to work as a cook, go to the right, those of you who want to do maid and or labour work, go to the left." Watching the kids separate he had his maximum amount of maids and labour workers, consisting of 6 girls and 4 boys. Kind of surprised, he had 8 kids that wanted to only cook, leaving 34 kids to run around and sell things. "Good", Kael said, "Right now we only have 40 beds, but the rest should be delivered in a few days. Take a moment to grab a uniform, blanket, pillow, sheets, and a mattress from the pile over there. Then head to the second floor to choose a room. I suggest taking the mattress first, then making a second trip." Watching the kids scurry about like it was Christmas, he had to stop a few fights over the people who did not get beds. Letting them know they could stay at the inn until the beds got here quieted them down. After about 20 minutes of rushing around the kids were all lined back up in groups on the bottom floor. "Good, now see all of these giant backpacks? Each of you grab 4 cooking racks and a backpack. The racks all fit into the backpack. One rack sits on the bottom piece of wood, the other three fit into the little grooves. Go ahead and put them in. Now, see how this backpack has two stools? Go grab two stool for the pack you have." Watching the kids put together the backpacks gave Kael a strange sense of satisfaction. Like he was watching the first step in getting them out of the gutters of the world. As they finished assembling them Kael began his orders again. "Now that those are done, the people who are going to be selling food, these are your lifeblood. You will carry the things you are going to sell in it, then take it off and use it as a small stall. Take them up to your rooms, someone else help carry the extra to the empty storehouse room over there for now." When the children finished their task and reassembled again, Kael once again began his instructions. "You girls who want to be maids, come get a silver from me, then go buy a bucket, mop, broom, and some rags. The kids who are going to be selling food, come get a silver from me and go buy a shovel. The cooks, come get a silver from me and then go buy two bundles of wood each. "When you are done, give the change to Jessica. The labourers and sales kids will be digging an ice house under her direction. The girls who wanted maid work, you can start cleaning when you get back. The cooks will take your wood into the kitchen and I will start to teach you how to cook." The kids all lined up to get their silver. Although they had become accustomed to their new boss spending a lot of money, and having a few sent on errands, they had never seen someone so trusting. Running off to do their own tasks, left Jessica and Kael alone.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Kael showed her where he wanted them to dig a deep pit for the cold room. Making sure to explain it had to deep or it would not retain cold air. He also gave her the remainder of his silver, a whole 85, and told her to have that carpenter come back to build a room in here when they were done. Going back into the building, Kael stared at the pile of meat. Thinking to himself, Isn''t this 3 days early? he pondered what to do about it. Looking over at Jessica he asked, "Isn''t this early?" Looking at Kael with a mirth-filled glint in her eye, she said. "It''s a day early, you originally scheduled it for 5 days from the purchase, then changed it to 7 days. The vendor was not sure what you wanted and could not find you so he delivered it today. I am not sure why it''s a day early though, maybe to punish you for changing your mind?" Sighing Kael said, "You''ve known where I am all the time, why not come ask me?" "Oh, then where were you two days ago?" "I went to find someone about making me the to go boxes of course. Shit, that''s why you are mad. Sorry, I am not accustomed to telling people my every movement. Ok, I''m sorry, speaking of those boxes though, let''s go get them." Turning and leaving the disgruntled lady behind, Kael headed out into town. Jessica hurried to catch up to her irresponsible employer. About 10 minutes later he arrived at a paper mill. As Kael and Jessica entered the pungent, moist, air accosted them. Ignoring the fact that it felt like he was walking through someone''s sweat, Kael approached the shopkeep at the front. "Excuse me, sir, I was wondering if my paper boxes were done?" He asked. "Oh, you''re the kid with the weird order!" The man exclaimed. "Yes sir, I was hoping your first run would be done already." "It is, wait one moment," he said before turning and heading into the back of his shop. Coming back a minute later, he had two huge stacks of beige paper boxes. Putting them down on the counter he said, "The boxes are a great idea in my opinion. We used a tree resin to seal them up so they won''t leak. However, the time it takes to fold and seal them is too long. If you want us to do it, it will cost triple the price. Otherwise, we can sell you the cut paper and the resin for the same price." "Yeah, my assistant will bring two bags in a moment, are you sure you want so many? We could stop producing everything else just to make these for you." "I am sure, we need 42,000 boxes a week," Kael said. Having had already paid the man earlier in the week, Kael took the large stacks of probably 1,000 boxes each. Telling the man where to deliver the boxes, and heading back to the building, Kael internally noted to increase the cost of the ramen. 5 copper a box did not sound like much until he did the overall calculations. 225 silver a week Getting back to the building, the children were already there and waiting. Jessica took the remaining money from the kids and led them outside to dig. Kael sent the maid girls off to clean, and the labourers off to help Jessica dig. Taking the 8 other kids into the kitchen, he showed them how to load their wood into the oven. Lighting it up, he told them it would need a bit to become coals, otherwise, the fire would change heat as they cooked and nothing would turn out the same. Taking them into the storehouse he had the kids pull out all the spices for the beef sauce, and then once they were leaving, he took out all of his empty jugs from his ring. Pretending they were always there, he grabbed two and followed the kids into the kitchen. Handing them a recipe he had prepared earlier, he started to separate the herbs. A few seconds later he heard a kid say, "Uhm, we don''t know how to read." Swearing to himself, he decided he would have to fix that soon. Pointing out each of the herbs, and showing them how much to separate, they mixed them down in some bowls Kael had delivered on the side. As they finished, Kael had them transfer it into the jugs. Repeating this process while getting more herbs and jugs, they soon had 20, 1 gallon, jugs filled. Now that the stove was good to go, Kael took out his tusk knife and started showing the children how to cut the beef. After chopping up the beef into inch thick, 6 inch long strips, he explained to them the concept of marinating. Explaining to them that tonight they would not be doing so, but would in the future. Teaching the kids how to cook the strips until they were done, but not overdone, he finally convinced them that they should be pink in the middle. Explaining they normally would be red in the middle, but he just wanted to be sure no one got sick, so they were overcooked. Loading the meat strips into the boxes, they poured a little sauce over them. It took a few hours of training and cooking, but they were finally done. Looking at the near 4,000 boxes of food, the kids were kind of shocked they could make so much. Kael had them go get the selling kids, and to have them get their backpacks. Once all of the kids were there with their packs, Kael helped them loaded them up and buckle them all closed. They were ready to go. The weight looked a little unwieldy, but he was sure they would get used to it. Explaining to the kids, "Normally, we would be selling noodles and meatballs, but the meat got delivered early. For now, just run around town and give the guards free meals. Be sure to stay away from the area that the Foaming Mug Tavern is in." Kael sent them on their way. After they were gone, Kael explained the process of dough making, and how rising the dough was important. Showing them the stuff they would need to make it, he demonstrated mixing the dough and kneading it out twice for them. Telling the kids each bowl would make a large loaf, which would make 24 slices of bread once cooked and cut, and that they would need to make over 1,000 loaves a night. The kids looked at him like he was insane. Stopping to explain that a blacksmith would be delivering larger bowls, so they could make 10 loaves of dough at once, calmed them down some. Separating the dough out, Kael showed the kids how to place them in the shelves off to the side, with a damp towel over them to help the dough rise. Telling them that the dough would grow to twice its current size when done. Explaining it would normally take about an hour for the bread dough to rise, but he had found a special yeast, so the dough would take about 8 hours to rise and would be safe if left for up to 12 hours. As the dough was rising, he told the kids to cook the extra beef up for their own people to get a taste. Once done, they were free until 5 am the next day. Chapter 45 - Empire of the Bun (Part 5) The next morning Kael woke up just before 5 am. Heading into the kitchen area he waited for the kids. After a few kids, who were half-awake, finally showed up he sent them back upstairs to get the other cooks to be. When they all finally showed up, he got down to business. "Ok, your mornings will start with cooking the bread we left out to rise. First, we need to get the oven lit and going, so go ahead and light it up. I would suggest in the future, you guys take turns, one of you run down here early in the morning to get it going so everyone else can sleep a bit more. We still have all this meat and milk that we need to use this morning. so while the oven is heating up, let''s chop up the meat. " As he was chopping, he noticed the kids were just watching, asking what was going on, he found out that they did not have any extra knives. Sighing, Kael fetched one of the labour kids and one of the maids. Sending the labourer out to get 10 butcher knives and 10 caving knives. Sending the maid out to go get 10 sets of cooking mitts and a few yards of cheesecloth, he directed them to Jessica for money before getting back to his cooking. "Ok, well we can do the meat when they get back. Go get your big saucepans, I will show you how to make cheese." Fortunately for Kael, he had not ordered very much milk. After running through the process of making cheese, and showing it to the kids, they were busy stirring their curdling milk when the maid girl came back with the cheesecloth. Laying out their cheese into the cloth to separate it from the whey, Kael explained to the kids it needed to drain for a half hour. Showing them how to make little baggies they hung their cheese balls off the side of the cabinet, letting it drip down into the bowls. With that done, and the oven ready, Kael had the kids put the bread in. Telling them it would need 40 minutes before it was done. In the meantime, they needed to beat some eggs. Explaining to the kids that each loaf would be cut into 24 slices of bread, which meant they needed to make enough egg batter for that, per loaf. Excluding the reason, recipe, and mechanics he just told them they would need 6 eggs, a spoonful of vanilla, a half spoon of cinnamon, and a quarter cup of milk. The kids still looked confused. Figuring out an easier way, he got the kids to go get some large mixing buckets. "Ok, you only made 10 loaves of bread each last night for practice. Since this is practice, we will do the batter for 8 loaves at once. It will just be easier for you to remember that way." Having the kids crack 48 eggs each, add 12 cups of milk, 1 cup of vanilla, and a half cup of cinnamon, they started beating the eggs. Although the kids looked a little confused, measuring things by a cup instead of a spoon seemed easier for them to get. Knowing he only put the ingredients for 8 loaves of bread, but was having the kids do 10 loaves, he wondered how it would turn out. Changing his mind, he decided he could skimp on the expensive vanilla and cooking cinnamon, but not the main ingredients. Stopping the kids with their half beaten mess, he had them add in another 12 eggs, and 3 cups of milk. Telling them it was his method to help distribute the vanilla, but it really wasn''t needed. The kids bought his bullshit and kept beating away at their large bucket of slop. When the bread was cooked, he had them stop working the eggs, and get the loaves out. Making sure everyone wore mitts not to get burned. Dumping the 102 loaves of bread on the counter, Kael set his off to the side. Since the kids could count, it made cutting the bread easier. Kael just told them to keep cutting each part in half until they had 24 even slices of bread. When they were done with the cutting, he had them take a break to get their cheese. Dumping all of them all out of the cloth, Kael had them knead some salt into their cheese before it went into two big buckets, which he covered with the used cheesecloth and set aside. Explaining it would need to sit in the cold room overnight before it should be eaten. Taking them back to their bread, he split the group into two. 4 kids to work the oven, and 4 to prepare the bread. The seemed to understand but not really understand, so he just showed them with motion. Having 4 kids dip a piece of bread per hand into a bucket, pull it out, tap it on the side to get excess off, and then slap them on the oven. Telling the kids at the oven to count to 200, when they got to 200, to start flipping the bread. Kael and his 4 bread eggers walked down the long oven, tossing 8 slices on it at once. The oven kids were still looking at them, thinking they had the easy job until they hit 200, and there were suddenly hundreds and hundreds of slices of bread cooking. Starting to furiously flip the bread, they had a quite a few problems. Finally, Kael came over to direct them. Telling them to flip what was in front of them, then skip over to the fourth row. The kids finally fell in line and were working well. When the bread eggers were done, they thought they now had the easy job, but Kael quickly broke them of that. Telling them to go get racks, and as soon as the flippers got to the halfway point of the bread, that they needed to start quickly taking it off the stove. As the flippers finished Kael had them start running full racks of bread while coming back with empty ones, swapping as they went. When they were finally done, Kael gave them a few minutes of downtime. Telling the kids, "Normally, we would make a sweet syrup to go with these, but since they are free, we are going to skip that since it is expensive. We are going to make a little bit for the kids here." Showing them the portions and how to mix molasses, a honey, sugar, and cinnamon, he brought it to a boil. Once it was boiling he took it off the heat and mixed in butter. When it finally cooled he let the kids taste it. They were simply amazed, they had never had something that tasted so sweet before. Having the kids cut 50 of the slices in half, then they lightly sprinkled powdered sugar over it, finishing with a small drizzle of the syrup. Having one of the cooks go get all of the kids, they soon all had a delicious breakfast. Once done eating, Kael loaded up the sales boy with the toast and sent them to give it away to the guards and then their friends. Having the maids take all of the dirty pots away to be cleaned, Kael supervised the kids cutting up the meat. This time having them then dice it up, add a bit of flour, and make them into meatballs. Throwing them into the oven to bake, he then showed them how to make noodles. As they had the experience making the dough the day before, it wasn''t too hard to get them into the groove of making noodle dough. The noodle dough, however, was much more of a workout for them. Especially since it was a drier dough that had to rest for a few minutes before being kneaded again. They had fun making the dough into actual noodles though. The stretching, twirling, and spinning of the dough was like a game to them. Kael explained how once it was too long to stretch more, they had to fold it in half and do it again. Repeating this process over and over again they kids realized they suddenly had noodles. Cutting the ends off the noodle dough, they hung the noodles over a rack. Kael had them take the meatballs out of the oven, and then repeat the noodle process. Once all the dough was done, Kael gave them a 30-minute break. suggesting they eat some of his bread, before cooking the noodles. Using the steamer troughs, Kael had the kids boil the noodles. While they were boiling they made more sauce. Once it was all done, they loaded noodles into the boxes, followed by 3 meatballs, which was then all covered in sauce. Getting the sales kids back together, he had the load up, and go make another run to the guards. The next few days continued as practice. Kael paid the kids a silver each out of pocket as a training fee for their work. The cold room had been completed and Kael had forked out a gold to get two ice arrays like his mother used. By the end of the week, everything was going smoothly. The kids had learned how to make steamed buns, but it took a lot of practice for them to get good at wrapping up their stuffing. Some of the kids wanted to add cheese to make cheese buns, which might work well, but Kael decided to get them used to making normal meat buns first. Making the shredded meat with a bbq sauce went smoothly though, so they kind of balanced each other''s training time out. except Kael had too much food on hand. Since they were just feeding guards with their practice runs, they had a huge amount of food. Discussing it with Jessica, they decided to give it to the poorer families in the slums. Jessica also told Kael he was overworking the kids. The maids had an almost full-time job just cleaning up the kitchen. Adding cleaning clothes and the house they were overworked. All of the kids were working without a single day to themselves as well. The only person with free time was surprisingly Jessica. As she had the free time, he had her organize the kids to take the extra food to the slums. Telling her to recruit 10 more kids to do general cleaning and labour. While they were away, he for once had some free time. He had to admit, they were working at a breakneck pace. Deciding to do some research he went into town. Hopping from restaurant to restaurant, he chatted up all of the serving people. Finding out, that Wednesdays were terribly slow because most of the mercenaries were in the fields, leading to fewer merchants being out and about. He also found that Sunday was almost a universal day of rest, so business was spotty. The nicer places did well at dinner, but everyone else had mediocre days. While wandering through town, he also found an educational institution in the middle-class area. Stopping by it, he hired out a person to come teach the kids how to read. They would stop by for four hours each Wednesday for the following 10 weeks. It cost 10 silver a session per instructor due to the number of kids. Kael managed to haggle it down to 3 teachers for 20 silver. Coughing up the 200 silver, he grumpily left. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. After a Sunday off, the kids were all raring to go Monday morning. Kale had made them make the dough the night before but explained they would be off Saturday night. With new equipment and filled with excitement, the kids made a full 800 loaves of bread into french toast. Cutting all of it took more time than Kael had expected, getting the sales kids to help powder, and put syrup on them while they were being cut, ended up saving them from running out of time. Stacking four slices of bread into little groups, each of the sales kids ended up with 280 sets of toast to sell, and a few extra for the guards. Based on the reaction the kids had to the syrup and powdered sugar, Kael decided to raise the price to 30 coppers per set of 2 slices, 4 triangles, of toast. Hoping the price would go over ok, he told the kids it was ok to give out a few throughout the morning to help build up hype and to make sales. Sending the 34 sales kids on their way he reminded them to recruit more kids. Starting the cooks working, the began to make steamed buns. Time quickly passed by in the frantic cooking atmosphere. The sales kids who came back early ended up helping carry away the freshly cooked buns, before loading them into their own packs. The french toast sold better than he expected. Some of the kids sold out completely. The worst off was a kid who only sold 60% of his toast. Discussing with the kid, it seemed there was foot traffic, but they were people who were better off, so they scoffed at him. Comforting him, he found out the kid did not want to leave because he had spent time buttering up the guards. Telling the kid, later on, he would be the one secretly scoffing at them, just to ignore it and try hard. Sending off the kids again, they got to work on making the Mongolian meatball ramen. Like before, the sales kids helped them out, which got everything done on time. 2 hours later, after the next days, bread was done, Kael rounded up all the kids. Having Jessica take their money, she put 10% of it aside for the cooks, kept 50% for later, and gave the rest back to the sales kids. Before letting the sales kids run off, he handed out some of the leftover food to the kids there, then loaded the packs back up and told them to give it away. As the kids were leaving Kael shouted, "Remember to bring back 10 more kids to do the cleaning, 14 more kids to sell things, and 2 more kids to cook!" Sending the kids on their way, he sat down with Jessica. "So today I needed to make over 20 silver. That would cover the cost of the kids and the food, and leave me with nothing. You were tracking their sales as they came back, how did it go?" Jessica looked at the little business genius and said, "It went pretty well, especially when you started raising prices. Since you are selling 34 sets instead of 50, I was surprised at the income. Something to discuss at the end, one of the kids said he was robbed, so you lost all of your money there. "The French Toast sold for 30 coppers. Overall the kids sold 80% of it. 280 sets of bread at 30 coppers, with the unsold bread, you made 6,720 coppers per kid, for a total of 221,760 copper. That is multiplied by 33 as one kid had nothing. Thankfully, the kids were smart enough to change their coppers out for silver throughout the day. "They were able to fit 240 buns in each kids pack. You sold them at 50 coppers each. The kids ended up selling all of them, minus about 10 each that were given away. So you made 11,500 coppers per kid for 33 kids, making a total of 379,500 coppers. "The meatballs only sold about 60%. The kids said at first people were kind of sceptical of the paper boxes and the price. As people started buying them, sales picked up though. The prime time for foot traffic eventually died so they came back. 120 sets of ramen at 100 coppers, with the unsold food you made, 7,200 coppers a kid for 237,600. "That is a total of 838,860 coppers. You get half of it for 419,430 coppers. Your food cost was wrong though. You said ti would be able 5 silver a day, but it is actually 10 silver a day. I''m not sure where your math was wrong, but it was. I think you did the math of per day for food expenditure in your head, then applied that cost to per delivery. The deliveries are every two days though. Oh, and it cost you 20 silver in boxes for the dinners. "Regardless, you made 389 silver and some change today. When you get 50 kids, and your sales of dinners go up, you will make a lot of money." After listening to Jessica''s report, Kael said, "Good, I knew those boxes were going to be expensive. I''ll try to find a cheaper supplier. Tomorrow follow the kid that was robbed. Don''t let him know you are following him though. None of the kids were hurt, and I find it odd he would just hand over his money. Also, tomorrow start taking their money as they come back. It was an oversight to let them run around with that much money on them." The following day everything went smoothly until about 30 minutes after the kids left. Jessica came back, towing one of the sales children by his ear. Tossing the kid on the ground next to Kael she said, "He wasn''t robbed, he was just giving away the food. Listening to his friends, it sounded like he thought you would reimburse the money that was stolen." Kael looked down at the frightened child. Sighing he said, "Why would I give you money when you lost the money it cost me to buy the food. You lost the money the cook should have been paid for cooking it. You basically robbed me and the cooks." Stuttering the kid said, "I never thought of it that way, I just know you''re rich, so it wouldn''t matter." Sighing again Kael was sad and a little mad, going on a tirade he said, "All of my money is money that I made. I started by picking herbs and hunting magic beasts. I used that money to start this project up. Do you really think I am making money on you guys? If 50 kids sell out all the food we make for 3 months, I will get back the money I started with. "You are so stupid, I am doing this for you. I am doing this to give you guys a chance to have a good life. Do you think I will be here forever? I will be leaving in a few months. Then all of this will be run by you guys. You are ruining your only chance to have a good life. "Jessica put him in his room, have two of the labourers watch him. We will have the kids decide if he stays or goes at the end of the night. Regardless, he owes me 15 silver for my split of what he should have made from the 4 meals." Kael and the kids watched as Jessica hauled the brat away. Getting the kids back to work, the rest of the day went smoothly. When all of the kids gathered up, Jessica brought the thief downstairs and tossed him on the floor. That child looked up, sniffling a little to hold the tears back from being thrown. His gaze was met by the stares of mad children. Throughout the day they had all found out what he did. Cutting to the chase, Kael said, "Does he stay or does he go?" Hearing Kael''s words, the thief said, "No don''t kick me out, I''m sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you were just trying to make money off us." Kael looking around at the uncomfortable kids told them to turn around so they could not see each other, then to raise their hand if they thought he should stay. The thief barely got enough votes to stay. Getting the children''s attention again, Kael threw down some new rules. "I am changing the rules," he said, "First, we are going to change the way the money is distributed. The total money will come in, we will put 10% aside for the cooks, and 10% aside for the general workers. The sales children will then take half of what is left, and I will take the other half. "We are doing this because the kids cleaning and helping out are doing a lot of work and not getting paid enough. The cooks and labour get a smaller split because their work is safe, and there are less of them. Since they are fewer kids, the smaller amount split up will still be a lot. "Finally, each time a sales kid comes back, they will hand in their money. Anything the could not sell or is missing, they will have to buy out of their own money for half cost at the end of the day. They will be allowed to give out 10 things in the morning and lunch, and 5 at dinner without being charged. We are doing this so food is not just given away, and to spur them on to find better places to sell." After laying out the new rules, the kids looked a little upset, but he knew they would understand once they started working with it. The general help was really happy. They had been busting their ass for nothing compared to what others were getting. Before sending the kids away, he told them on Wednesdays they would learn to read, which got him a lot of cheers. Time began to slip by quickly. Kael''s overall sales were generally 90% of what the kids were sent out with. He had expanded to 20 kids that did general help, 10 cooks, and 50 sales kids. He had raised the price of the french toast to 50 coppers, and the Mongolian beef to 120, without hurting his sales. He tried to raise the steamed buns price, but they did not sell when he did. He wrote it off as the bread and ramen being unique. The sweet syrup of the french toast apparently gave him a good profit margin. He had also gotten the cost of his paper boxes down to 3 copper each, which made him extremely happy. His cost of food with the extra kids eating and selling doubled, increasing to 20 silvers a day. The boxes were costing him 18 silvers a day. His income was roughly 800 silver a day though. Much higher than expected. Quick note from the author Hey guys! Sorry for my abrupt vanishing act. I put my home up for sale not long ago, and Friday I got a cash offer. It was contingent on my place being cleared out and cleaned by today. So, I haven''t done much other than some gruelling labour for the last few days. I''m currently staying at my parent''s house. I will try to write as much as I can over the next few days to set up some scheduled releases. Next Monday I will begin a cross-country tour from California while I look for a new city/state to live in. ">This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.