Mage And Wolf
Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Chapter 76

The entirety of my next few days and nights have been spent in meditation, merging energy with my body as quickly as possible to stabilize the imbalance between the great amount of stored potential in my body and the environment around me.

I’m finally making a breakthrough and it’s actually quite excruciating, my cells constantly remaking themselves, not stopping when the breakthrough should be finished.

It’s at the moment I feel a second breakthrough starting that I have what I’m certain is a genius idea. If I merge the Dragon Armor talent I learned with myself during breakthrough, it should be always active, right? No need to spend energy to turn it on, just always there.

Oh Goddess, maybe this was a bad idea. This hurts way worse than just adapting my body. I can’t feel my legs, but I can see them working, that’s a good sign. It’s working though, I can sense the ability within the newly upgraded cells.

Was I meant to be doing this all along? Merging with abilities to gain strength? No that can’t be right, the other disciples here still learn them like physical skills. Elder Song will be over the moon if this works though. He’ll have a whole new study topic.

Focusing on other things isn’t working anymore, this pain is horrendous. But if I pass out, what happens? All that hard work fades away? No, that’s unacceptable.

Finally the breakthrough is finishing and sealing the armor skill into my very cells. The pain has faded and now I can feel the huge amount of power within me. Two breakthroughs at once is amazing.

I seem to have mostly adapted to this world now, my strength is still growing rapidly, but not at such an extreme rate. In another week or two I’ll likely break through again. I wonder how long I’ll be stuck here before they let me out on a mission and I can escape long enough to go home?

I’m glad the time flows so differently here. By the time anyone misses me at home I’ll have been here half a year or more. The Red Priestesses said it’s a hundred days here to one on Earth.

The third breakthrough is closer than I’d initially thought. It won’t be today, but maybe tomorrow. With Qi this dense in the air how does anyone struggle to cultivate?

At first the distinction between mana and natural Qi confused me, but I’ve decided they’re basically different brands of the same thing. They feel different, but at least in my case, they’re both used by the body in the same way.

Elder Po comes in with a breakfast meal of oatmeal, bread and juice. "You understand the disciple usually makes breakfast, right? Wait, did you break through twice last night?"

"Yes Elder. And I mastered a new technique. Dragon Armor."

"Incredible. You’ll be at the level of the other personal disciples in no time at this rate. Eat first, then tour the compound and memorize the layout. Many sect wide training events amount to hide and seek in the outer compound"

"I understand Elder. I’ll have everything down by tonight."

Elder Po laughs an evil sounding chuckle "Now that’s proper enthusiasm. I should kidnap more disciples if this is the quality I get."

I’ve got a map from the trial takers storage rings, so I’ll hit up the important places first. First up is the treasure hall. We’re supposed to come here once a month to get our materials allowance.

Come to think of it, what sort of assassin carries a map of his Sect’s base? I am definitely burning this later.

"Greetings, you must be Elder Po’s new disciple." The burly lady behind the counter greets me.

"I am. It is a pleasure to meet you Elder." Everyone here seems so nice, it’s hard to believe they’re the evil cultivators. At least based on what I’ve read back on Earth.

"Feel free to look around. I’ve also got your outer disciples uniform and your first month’s allowance if you need them. Personal Disciples aren’t required to wear the uniform."

That’s good to know. Those flowing outfits for the women do look pretty good though. But first, let’s see what’s available.

Most of these items I can’t identify or see a use for, but I can feel power from them. Then I come to a cauldron made of blackened bone. This thing just reeks of evil, but it feels like an old friend.

"Are you interested in pill refinement? That cauldron is made from a black Drake’s skull. It attracts Death Energy, perfect for making cursed pills. But hardly anyone can use it."

"Cursed Pills?" I ask confused. "Why would anyone want that?"

The Elder laughs "The name is misleading. Making them curses the creator with Death Energy, so they’re called cursed, but the pills themselves are very effective."

"That sounds like just my sort of profession. I cultivate Death Energy you see."

"That’s the path you chose? I thought a pretty thing like you would have been a dual cultivator or a succubus cultivator."

She just said I look like a whore didn’t she? But she doesn’t seem to have meant it in a negative way, maybe it’s normal in this sect? Note to self, pretty people are dangerous in many ways.

"How much for the cauldron?"

"100 cores, or 4 grade 2 cores."

That seems a bit steep, but I want this thing, so I take out 4 large mana stones as if they were stored in my sleeve.

"There you go. I’ll take the 2 alloted uniforms too. Sometimes it pays to blend in"

She winks and hands my purchase over "I don’t think you can actually blend in though. Female disciples under 100 kilos are rare here."

"It’s a rough crowd. But with the right motivation they’re actually quite pleasant. I haven’t met one rude man all day, and only one yesterday."

Now she’s definitely laughing at me. Oh well, letting things slide seems to be the theme of my life these days.

I tour through the residences next, a mix of studio apartments and small villas. They give the aura of a back alley in a seedy neighborhood, the first area of the sect that had lived up to its supposed status as an evil sect.

Past them is the alchemy district, a collection of small labs at random around a central pagoda. No, they’re not random, each has a uniform clear space to the next building. Explosions must be common here.

Elder Ming comes out of the Pagoda as I’m looking around. "You’ve come to visit me at home? So thoughtful of you."

"I have. If you’re in charge of the alchemy students that is."

"You’re interested?" her puppy dog eyes are almost as powerful as Lala’s.

"I wish to learn to make cursed pills. Their creation will help my cultivation you see."

"You’re missing a few steps in the middle there. Cursed Pills are incredibly powerful, you’ll need to learn medicine and basic pill concoction first. And that takes a lot of practice."

"Then I’ll have to arrange a lot of time here, won’t I Elder Ming?"

"Poor Elder Po. He specializes in martial arts and you’re already better than most of the outer disciples. So everyone else is stealing his disciple the very first week"

"I’ll see you later tonight, or tomorrow Elder. I’m on a mission to memorize the compound layout"

"I’ll hold you to that disciple" She promises as I commit the alchemy area to memory.

The herbalists, inscription halls, medical wing, and training grounds are all uneventful and uninteresting. Last up for today is the Library, sanctum of Elder Song.

I knock at the locked door "Elder Song, are you in?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot I locked that. Please come in. Do you have anything interesting for me today?"

"I have a trade for you. Information on alchemy via learning spell for a way to embed a technique into a cultivators body, permanently enhancing them."

"Truly? What do we need?"

"At least 2 cultivators about to break through to test on and a technique to teach them"

"Wait here, I’ll be right back"

He returns moments later with two disheveled acolytes. They’re no more than the third level of Foundation, but I suppose that will do.

"These two both know a basic Armor ability, they won it in a competition last month. I’ll just feed them a slice of mana core and force a breakthrough" His voice is matter of fact, but the kids look like they won a lottery. They’re about to learn though.

As Alpha Petros teaches every young Lycan warrior when they start training, there’s only two ways to gain great power. Great efforts or great suffering. He preferred that we all experienced both.

I explain what they’ve got to do, and both make the attempt right away to get the feeling. Their cells clearly won’t accept it at this point. Elder Song repeats the process, it’s much more painful, but just as unsuccessful.

Then he feeds them the core slice to trigger the breakthrough. Attempting to do it for them doesn’t work again, but doing it themselves is having progress. The breakthrough is ending without the process completed though, so Elder Song puts pressure on them with his mana, keeping them unstable.

Even the best painkillers have no effect on this pain we find after a few attempts. One passes out and the effect immediately faded when his breakthrough finished. The other succeeded and is currently curled up crying.

"Your alright little buddy. It’s all safe now, the pain won’t come back." It takes me fifteen minutes to calm him down so he can demonstrate the difference in power between himself and the Acolyte that failed to integrate the skill.

"Impressive. It’s active all the time and isn’t depleting his Qi."

"I told you, it’s the good stuff." The look in the teenager’s eyes suggests he does not share my enthusiasm.

"What did you promise them to be our guinea pigs?"

"One mana core each. The rabble outside is on their own for cultivation materials, the sect only covers their living"

I pay them both and send them on their way. Pay plus a breakthrough, that’s not bad for a little pain, right? I shudder at the memory of implanting my Dragon Armor.

"I cleansed their memory of the process. Don’t need that technique spreading to the world." Elder Song mentions after they leave.

One more forbidden secret technique for his library.