I endured the harsh training for four more days, which like a terribly long time. On the grand scale of things, a messily four days was nothing, but the reason it felt like a such long time was all the new experiences I had to deal with.
I had never trained so much or so hard in my life, thankfully I was forced to take a day off to rest, it would simply be counterproductive to overwork myself too much.
I took the day to finish reading as much as I could on the books I borrowed from the library. Unfortunately, I was overestimating the reading time that I had allowed on my schedule.
The training completely exhausted me daily, so I didn’t quite finish all the reading I wanted to do.
I only had about half of the books read, the plants and herbs book were nearly finished, the book on ores was barely started and I completed the book on cultivation need to knows.
The cultivation need to knows was extremely helpful. It was a great find.
I learnt more about the fundamentals and the process of cultivation, along with some basic needs.
Cultivators used Qi, which was literally pure energy. This energy comes in many different forms, mainly the five elements.
Other than the five elements there were obscure or mutated types, the book gave the example of Lightning Qi for this.
It was said that Lightning Qi was a mutated form of Fire Qi, it had more enhanced properties of destruction, but the effects were almost instantaneous compared to Fire Qi.
Each of the five main elements, which were Water, Metal, Earth, Fire and Wood, were said to be almost everywhere in the world.
Some places contained a much more concentrated amount of one the element, for example a forest would have much more Wood Qi compared to any other types.
The book told me some of the views the cultivators had on these types of Qi. The author detailed that many had the opinion that certain elements were superior, while others argued that they were all equal.
The consensus was that Fire Qi held the most destructive power of the five elements, and in a world where fighting to the death was not uncommon, this was considered superior.
Others argued that although people who wielded Fire Qi were powerful, they could not do everything, like heal as well as someone who used Water Qi or Wood Qi. This proved to them that every element had its purpose, none were superior to the other.
I personally had not yet witnessed any of these, so I couldn’t really come to a fair conclusion on that matter for now.
As of now, I could certainly see both sides. It made sense that they were all equal, being in harmony and all, however this world was extremely cruel and maybe having that extra power was needed.
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Crafts were also fundamental for all cultivators.
Alchemists could create pills to do many wonderful things, ranging from increasing cultivation speed to healing.
Blacksmiths give cultivators incredible tools to wield, this could be a weapon or type of treasure. Runesmiths would often work together with Blacksmiths and Formation experts to create extremely powerful things called artifacts.
Talisman artists can inscribe spells onto a piece of special paper, they would be a one time use thing, but they could easily save lives. Or end them.
It was certainly a lot to take in, but I had time to digest it all. At least now I was relatively informed.
I was sort of worried I didn’t have Spiritual Roots though. Li Tian told me my father had good Fire Roots, which aided in blacksmithing, but I learnt that Spiritual Roots were not always inherited.
This was especially true if only parent had any, and I didn’t know about my mother’s.
But nothing I could do. Spiritual Roots were either good or not, nothing could change that, as far as the book knew.
I took my time reading the rest of the plants and herb book, it was very fascinating stuff.
It detailed all sort of different plants that have special properties, and herbs that had miraculous effects. Alchemists could combine these to create pills.
Fortunately, before midday I managed to complete the book and get started on the last book about ores. I found that while the plants and herbs interested me, the ores fascinated me.
All sorts of different minerals could be extracted and used to do things like creating artifacts, weapons and treasures.
I wondered a little if I was influenced by my father’s blacksmithing.
There were also spiritual stones, often just called spirit stones. This was a type of stone extracted from spiritual ore; it was formed in places with a dense concentration of Qi.
I was entranced by the book for a hours before I realised it. I needed to quickly return them before the deadline.
I swiftly got the books together to make a trip to the library.
When I entered the library, I politely greeted the lady at the desk and returned the books. She showed no emotion during the process, but I could swear I saw her eyes twinkle, just a little.
I browsed the book selection once more, taking another three books. I took the history book I left behind last time, and the other two were on the crafts.
I went through the same process as last time to borrow them, and few minutes later I was right back at my courtyard.
I sighed as I sat down, and I started rubbing my eyes in exhaustion. The physical toll on my body was severe, but that could just be fixed with some willpower. But mental fatigue was a whole different story.
I was working on autopilot so far, I mean what else could I do? There were no answers to why I was even here in the first place.
I couldn’t stop moving though. There was no time, I hadn’t come across any danger so far, but that’s only so far.
I had learnt from the cultivation need to knows that the world of cultivation was far more cruel than I knew.
Cultivators killed for resources; this was normal for them. Lives were almost meaningless in that world.
Even knowing this, becoming one was top priority. Mortals, humans that didn’t cultivate, were like ants compared to cultivators, and most cultivators treated them like such.
Regardless, my mental wasn’t keeping up as much as my body could. I needed something calming to do.
I looked outside, the courtyard was nice, but the grass was a little overgrown with almost no decoration. Perhaps I could renovate it in my spare time?
I thought it would be constructive and crucially, give me time to think alone.
Time waits for nobody. I did a walk around of my courtyard, finding a little shed at the back with some gardening tools in them.
I organised everything a little before deciding noting to myself to ask Li Tian for some flower seeds.
I wanted to make the garden more aesthetic and welcoming. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any seeds and the most I could do was cut the grass and pull a few weeds out.
It was already dark by the time I finished that, so I decided an early night would be good for me.
Do you sleep enough?
