Mage And Wolf
Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Chapter 81

Morning comes entirely too early, with the large form of Elder Ming waiting beside my bed when my eyes open, a nearby presence distracting me from my meditation.

"Good morning Elder, what brings you by so early this morning?"

""Early? It’s almost 4am. Time for breakfast, and then we can get started on the Soul Forging Pill. It takes around 8 hours to complete, so we need all the time we can get in case of mishap."

I get up, change into a fresh set of Disciples Taoist robes and head to the kitchen to start making breakfast. Elder Po likes a vegetarian breakfast, oatmeal, toast and fruit with juice, so I make 3 sets and place the first in front of Elder Ming before taking another to Elder Po.

"So you do know how to cook. Oatmeal at least"

Hey, I’m actually a pretty good cook. Before I was accepted as a warrior in the Pack I often worked on the kitchens.

"If you’d like to wait, I can make lunch when the Soul Forging Pills are ready, Elder"

"Look forward to lunch Elder. You’re not vegetarian all the time are you?"

"No, but too much meat is bad for the digestion and blocks your meridians."

Elder Ming is calling me to eat, I think she’s getting excited about trying a new pill. I don’t know how she can hold so much enthusiasm for something likely to explode, but I’m certain the guys back in Arcana would understand. I hope they’re all well.

I dig through my breakfast in minutes and I’m being hauled out the door to the underground alchemy labs.

"Wasn’t it more pleasant to do this upstairs? Windows open, nice breeze, lots of room. You know you’d rather be there"

Elder Ming gives me an evil glare "And get yelled at by the Sect Master and practically robbed by the other Elders again? Not happening"

So I guess that means she didn’t tell anyone about the last batch of Core Formation pills.

All the ingredients are prepared, a huge pile of herbs and a few seeds and metals. This pill is going to be a pain, even if it uses the least precious materials of the pills Elder Song wanted tried out. Fortunately for me, the Elders are supplying the materials for these experiments.

We’re a full hour in when I add a pinch of metal filings and the concoction is destroyed with a large bang, the explosion itself fortunately contained to the cauldron. What did I do wrong?

We pore over the results for a few minutes and find impurities in the metal. That explains it. Now to begin again.

hours more and all the ingredients are in the mix successfully. It’s down to 4 hours of intense concentration and precise temperatures before I try cursing the pills, refining and condensing them with Death Energy.

I’ve made it to the last stage, Energy is flowing in, and the light grey but intoxicating smoke of a mediocre high grade pill in process is turning to the comforting black of a cursed pill recipe. It ends up taking a whole 3 hours to finish, leaving me barely conscious.

But I open the cauldron and pull out the pills, discretely slipping one up my sleeve while Elder Ming is distracted by the intense black smoke. The Soul Forging Pills are a bright violet color with soft grey veins. A success for certain.

We’re no longer alone in the room though, Sect Master Sun has appeared out of nowhere, casually slipping the pills from my hands to inspect them.

"Very good. Veins are faint, so just under 91 percent purity, color is vibrant with no specks or discolouration, aura indicates this is a successfully cursed pill." He looks very happy.

"We will have to alter your schedule, the Sect is in great need of both these formulas you’ve mastered."

"I’ve got 2 arts to study before the competition as well. Half my day is alchemy, half is combat practice. Unless you’ve found a better Outer Disciple for the combat portion?" I ask Hopefully. After all, why stress for a competition when I could enjoy my time here?

"You’re at Fortification 6 now, likely to be 7 or 8 before the competition, right?" I nod my agreement.

"At Fortification 2 you killed 3 trainees, all of them 6 full ranks higher than you, and you did it without taking a major wound. I’m not certain there will be anyone more qualified in the category. And not just from our Sect."

Cursing pills is very good for my cultivation. My energy control is increasing at a frightening pace, no longer must I rely on my sense of smell to keep things in check. I’m not sure if it’s increasing my cultivation faster than other techniques, but it’s definitely not hindering me.

"You can sort what you like between Elder Po and Elder Ming. I will abide by the Sect Master’s decision" I try to reassure him, but he’s looking at me like he did when I tried to pawn the trouble of the pills off on him yesterday.

"Don’t worry Master Sun, we will keep a steady flow of cursed pills coming and still win the Outer Sect competition" Elder Ming promises on my behalf.

"How many is he going to expect?" I ask after the Master leaves.

"One batch of each every week would likely be the most he’d expect. Any more and it would get expensive to pay you and hard to gather the materials."

"You’ve got a point, we never really discussed compensation"

Elder Ming laughs. "You’ve got no idea how valuable these things are do you?"

"I can make an educated guess based on the memories Elder Song gave me, but he’s not concerned with money" I shrug.

"That’s because money can’t buy these. They’re traded for artifacts of interest to the creator or even lives. This set of 4 Soul Forging Pills is enough to help a Core Formation cultivator increase their soul strength enough to gain Immortality. And how do you put a price on that?"

"Can you keep using them, or do they lose efficacy with regular usage?" I ask, wondering how much I can hurry my own cultivation.

"You can keep using them, but once you’ve reached the Immortal stages the required increase per Realm is huge."

"And it’s safe to assume the Immortal Worlds have better options" I state, certain that’s the case.

"Precisely. But if you take a single one of these, you probably wouldn’t need to work on your mental strength again until Core Formation."

"Let’s discuss this over lunch. I promised Elder Po that I would cook"