Slowly but surely my breathing calms as the pounding of my heart lessons enough to hear the low ripple of the nearby brook.

  I had a feeling things wouldn’t go quite as intended, but I didn’t think he’d be so easy to rouse.

  Damn… I didn’t even manage to find anything particurly useful before he woke.

  I sigh and look down at the odd pearl and the little bck book.

  The pearl is… shiny? I guess? The smoky red swirl within it is certainly interesting, but I have no idea what it does. I can’t simply experiment with it to find out either. What would I even do as an experiment? Eat it?

  The book on the other hand… Maybe it has something useful.

  Or maybe it’s his love diary. Who knows.

  I carefully flip open the first page. Handwritten in neat eloquent calligraphy are the words, “Finding Immortality” penned on the front.

  My interest peaked, I continued to flip through pages slowly growing more excited as I read.

  It seems my luck has improved. Out of all the things I could have grabbed by sheer chance in those few moments I had, I had somehow managed to steal the man's cultivation manual!

  “Let's see…” My eyes wander over each paragraph slowly taking in information.

  It more or less seems to say that the first step of cultivation is simply being in a calming pce that encourages focus and has ambient Qi that matches your own.

  One small issue. I have no idea what attribute my body has.

  In Xiu’s memories, she had a water attribute. Something she made use of well with her paintings.

  But there’s no guarantee that I would be the same. I am still my own being despite having her appearance.

  I also have no way to check. Either way I suppose I should at least check and see if this painted world even has Qi in it.

  So the first step is to discover the Qi around me.

  … shouldn’t be too hard? Right? Maybe?

  I close my eyes and steady my breathing.

  Deep breaths in and out.

  Slowly my mind shifts from counting my breaths to the sound of the water rippling in the background, until even that sound grows distant and quiet.

  The sounds around me recede like water, until the background noise disappears entirely leaving me in blissful silence.

  Then slowly I begin to feel an inkling of something. As if I were sitting in the brook, and the water was flowing around me.

  The feeling steadily becomes more concrete as I focus on it and shapes begin to form in the darkness behind my closed eyes.

  Thin strands of light in shades of aquamarine and natural hues of amber and gold flow around me like that brook.

  Despite my eyes being closed, I can’t help but track the motion of the threads behind my eyelids.

  I reach out with my hands and-

  The illusion breaks.

  I punch the ground in frustration.

  Why did I move dammit! I was so close, I could feel it!

  I could see them! That had to be the strands of Qi! But the colors…

  There must be water and wood Attributes here. For a painting that would make sense in a way. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by it.

  But now that I’ve confirmed it, should I take in that Qi? The area was certainly abundant in those attributes, and there was no guarantee I would be safe leaving anytime soon.

  Anxiety and annoyance mix in my mind. I can’t simply do nothing for hours on end while I wait for the Daoist outside the painting to leave the room.

  And I can’t risk taking in Qi that could turn out to be the opposite attribute of my own.

  Crunch

  …

  Huh?

  What was that sound?

  Slowly my eyes shift down as I open my hand revealing broken shards of a once pretty red pearl.

  Umm. whoops?

  As I watch in shock, unable to react, the gss like shards of pearl suddenly sink into my palm, drawing blood.

  “Ggggnn-!”

  I suck in a breath through my teeth and grab my wrist as a pulsing pain floods my hand.

  Very carefully, I reach out toward the shards embedded in my hand. Slowly reaching, grasping.

  The shards sink further into my hand before I can grab them flooring me with the pain.

  W-what is this!? A searing burn goes up my arm and I scream at the agonizing pain.

  My eyes stretch wide as my throat grows sore until finally, the burning pain lessens from “raw unfiltered agony” to merely “unbearable”

  My left arm and hand from the tips of my fingers to my elbow are seared pitch bck like charcoal.

  I flex my fingers, and bits of ash crumble away from my skin.

  I still have my hand, and It’s still working in spite of the fact that it looks like it’s been burnt to a crisp.

  The shards meanwhile, are completely gone. Likely fully absorbed into my flesh.

  But there’s another detail that had far from slipped beneath my notice.

  Perhaps it’s because my hand was so sensitive from the damage it had just gone through, but I swore that I could feel something brushing up against my hand.

  Since the pain had faded slightly I decided to meditate again. Both to block out the pain, and to confirm a suspicion.

  And there it was, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

  I wasn’t hallucinating, and It wasn’t merely the breeze.

  The thing I had felt brushing against my hand?

  The flowing threads of ambient Qi. I could feel them so clearly on that hand. As the pain faded completely the sensation became clearer and clearer.

  It was definitely there. In a matter of mere minutes I had gone from barely being able to sense Qi to physical feeling it!

  That little Pearl had been quite the treasure after all, and with this perhaps I could…?

  I meditated again, but this time instead of looking at the qi around me, I turned my attention within.

  Diving within the waters of my own mind to find my attributes.

  Slowly without breaking my focus, I raised my left hand and pced it upon my chest, right above my heart.

  The sensations immediately grew much stronger, and I started to just make out the signifying color of the Qi attribute within my body.

  It was a bright shining, Silver?

  …

  There’s no metal Qi in this painting dammit! Why would there be?!

  SorisBckwinter