DC 59

Instead of splitting into two balls and rapidly expanding the second, as the technique had done when Bai Fu selected hers, the mote of light suspended over Feng Jiao’s hand looked much the same while he held it. Feng Jiao absorbed the full cultivation technique through his palm much like drinking water through a straw. The ball maintained its shape while the information was drained just as a cup would keep its shape even after the water was consumed.

Were it not for the fact that a low buzzing sound filled his head alongside several images of meditation poses, exercises, and breathing techniques, Feng Jiao would wonder if he was even doing anything to the ball of light at all. Information downloaded to his brain and after a few minutes it stopped trickling in. Feng Jiao did a few calculations based on the intensity of his headache before shaking his head and releasing the mote under the supervision of Pye Lee.

The download gave him a dull headache but it was no worse than the feeling of grogginess he would get when he overslept. Feng Jiao was slightly surprised to see Pye Lee call the released mote of light over to him and began to worry that he’d been caught already. A thoughtful look appeared on the older boy’s face and Feng Jiao began to sweat, worried about getting in trouble on his first day in the sect.

“I see you managed to find a plant-derived cultivation technique. I won’t question you on your methods, just know that I find that impressive. This is a pretty good one too, are you sure you don’t want it?” Feng Jiao let out a sigh of relief when he realized the boy’s suspicion was over his ability to find so many suitable techniques so quickly, not over a potential theft. Although his last question may be loaded, Feng Jiao decided to play ignorant. 

“No, Senior Brother Pye, I don’t think that is the one for me.” Feng Jiao smiled and said nothing about how he’d managed to find it and Pye Lee did not ask. Knowing that the older boy was most likely going to check all of the cultivation techniques that he released, as well as potentially the one he selected, Feng Jiao’s hand skipped over the technique he’d rated as second best and picked the third. Jiao decided to reassess if he could handle stealing another technique after each one and, when he finally reached his limit, request the second best one for himself as the one he ‘purchased’.

 Like this, Feng Jiao began working his way down the line. To his surprise, there were many overlapping functions with the cultivation techniques, things like drinking excessive water or spending hours of time in direct sunlight. Of course, there were also a few techniques that directly contradicted others, like a lotus based technique that recommended doing cultivation in the dead of night. For a moment, Feng Jiao thought he would be able to loot every single technique, but some things just weren’t meant to be.

On the fifteenth of the twenty-three techniques, Feng Jiao got a nasty surprise. He’d picked up a technique that he thought would be barebones, built based on a weed-like plant called Ramsons Spread. Upon starting his absorption of the technique, Feng Jiao quickly noticed something had gone awry. The download of the information did not slow down after he’d started, but rapidly increased in both speed and intensity. Whoever wrote the technique also filled it with far too much information about the wild garlic sprouts, more than anybody would ever need. Even garlic farmers wouldn’t care about so much miscellaneous information about the plant, let alone a cultivator!   

Thankfully Feng Jiao was seated or he would have staggered and given himself away. Instead, his face paled and his pulse sped up with his breathing. The mote of light managed to download information that was almost eight times more than any other technique he’d stolen so far. Thinking about how close he’d gotten to passing out while stealing a garlic technique, Feng Jiao acknowledged it was time to stop and selected his second ranked technique, Toxic Oak Winds, and told Pye Lee that was his selection.

To his surprise, Pye Lee didn’t ask to see what technique he’d selected and even made no move to grab the mote after it cloned itself. Noticing the confused look on Feng Jiao’s face, he felt the need to explain himself.

“It would be considered bad manners to snoop on what technique you selected. Although the information wouldn’t be too useful, it would still be an abuse of duties. I can only guess based on the ones you choose not to select.” Pye Lee, finally done with his daily knowledge hall duties, was much more talkative. 

Now that Feng Jiao and Bai Fu had finished selecting their techniques, Tan Sai was in a rush to get them out of the door. Pye Lee insured them that he would contact them later for the dinners, to which Bai Fu corrected ‘dinner’, and they were off.

“That went a little longer than I thought it would, but it is always good to get it out of the way as soon as possible. Let’s go get something to eat.” Tan Sai led the way to a building that was relatively close by. “This is the Lower Sect Mess Hall. Like the Knowledge Hall and most other buildings for our use, it is run by several disciples. The LS Mess Hall has a supervising elder, but it is mostly run by a group of outer sect disciples. They cook the food alongside some nominals and serve it for free. Of course, if you want to spend contribution points you can get one of them to cook you a private meal instead of eating one of the mass produced foods.

Inside the building were rows and rows of long wooden tables and benches, some filled but most empty. Because of the amount of time they’d spent selecting their techniques, they’d missed the best meal time, when the food came out fresh, and were now relegated to eating with the other stragglers. 

Although food was cool, Feng Jiao still enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it was mostly rice and vegetables. Even still, the vegetables were of a higher quality that he’d expected for free food, almost on par with the food he ate back home, and the rice left him feeling refreshed with every bite. 

“Tan Sai, I know that these are low quality herbs, but how can the sect afford to cook with so many just to give the food away for free?” Bai Fu managed to realize that the vegetables and rice were also mixed with several herbs that could otherwise be used for alchemy. This was something Feng Jiao had taken for granted and didn’t really notice due to his upbringing as a ‘young master’. Once it was brought up though, Feng Jiao was curious. 

“The herbs are all grown here in the sect. I’m not sure what they will have you do with your Ice affinity, but Feng Jiao will probably end up growing some. It is one of the easier missions, although a long term one, and they provide the seeds or offshoots. Wood affinity disciples grow them and turn them in for contribution points which they can then use to buy pills or hallowed techniques. It's basically an upgraded mission from the ones that nominals are required to do, growing vegetables and grains.”

“What’s stopping disciples from keeping seeds from the grown herbs and growing their own? Can’t disciples just do a round of contracts and then start growing their own cultivation supplies and selling excess for profit? Also where is all the meat?” Feng Jiao cut in at that point. He’d been working in the greenhouse with his mother since he was a child and had a natural green thumb.

“The strain of seed you’re given, mostly. They are modified to not sprout seeds, or something like that. I’m not really clear on all of the details as my affinity is not wood either. I guess you’ll have to ask the Mission Hall when you go and seek a job.” Tan Sai answered around a mouthful of food. “As for meat, it costs more to produce so the sect only serves a limited amount with each meal. If you aren’t one of the first ones here, you’re unlikely to get any. Likewise, even if you were the first, you’d need to be strong enough to defend your spot. Of course, lots of alliances have their own hunters and chefs.”

Feng Jiao nodded his head and looked down at his plate, considering his options. He wanted to be more powerful, and not just so that he didn’t have to live his life like a monk only eating fruits and vegetables. Although less frequent, he still occasionally had nightmares about his time after death and before birth, of the never ending tortures he’d been through. His resolve to become strong and live forever was still as strong as ever and he’d taken another step along this path when he joined the Sect.

Aideen still hadn’t stirred since he broke through to the peak of awakening and he needed to speak with her to learn the next step to condensing his Fire Qi. Every day she didn’t wake up Feng Jiao felt a little more distressed. Luckily there were only a few more weeks until the summer solstice and Feng Jiao would be able to use his previous world’s meditation ritual to speak to her, or at least to get a gaze inwards. At higher levels of cultivation, he’d heard, he’d be able to look introspectively whenever he desired, another reason to get stronger. 

Meanwhile, he finally had a selection of techniques that would allow him to circulate and purify his Wood Qi but had yet to make a selection. Most likely, he planned on creating his own based off his previous life as a tree using the other techniques as guidelines. Although he didn’t know what species of tree he was, he was sure that he was a sovereign amongst plants. Of course, it would take time and there was always a chance he could go astray. Nearest he could tell, most of the cultivation techniques he’d received were designed by dissecting spiritual plants and herbs and experimentation. Meanwhile, the better techniques were all passed down from animals and plants that gained human form, much like the techniques Aideen was imparting to him.

“Alright, it looks like we’re done eating. Lets head back to my, no wait, our mountain now. Please don’t let the mess discourage you, I’ve got a lot to explain to you two tonight about how the different powers work here.” Tan Sai looked like she wanted to say more but closed her mouth instead.