Madman’s Retirement

As Dain and Natalie just stared Grant chuckled. “Love those kinds of reactions but I recommend you work on your reactions. This kind of stuff is pretty common in the cultivator world, where everyone keeps the good stuff to themselves. Dain what do you feel?” Grant turned to Dain as he asked. “I feel… a surge of this “qi”, it’s so overwhelming” said Dain as he looked at the fang.

“I would hope so.” Commented Grant “Used to belong to an high level whistlefang dragon and this fang had been festering for a few thousand years before I picked it up.” “Whistlefang Dragon?” Asked Dain. “It was an ancient dragon species. Went extinct a few thousand years, which increased its rarity level. And for you, it’ll make good cultivation fodder.”

“Woah really! Thank you!” Exclaimed Natalie as she ran over and yanked the fang from an amused Grant waiving it around in pure excitement. It was funny, watching such a small girl stumble around with a tooth that large. “Are you sure? It sounds pretty rare.” said Dain, clearly unsure about this idea.

“Don’t worry about it, this is how all cultivators are. If there’s one person we like to spoil, it’s our students. Don’t worry I have plenty more of stuff like that.” Dain relaxed a little, and then stiffened when he heard the second part of the statement. Grant laughed, patting the two on the back. “Come on, the others are probably a bit worried, seeing as they haven’t been able to reach us for the past few minutes. We’ll continue this tomorrow. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a cultivator usually takes a few hundred years, so squeezing it into days will take a while.”

The group returned to the escort, with Grant erasing the magic circle, and came back to the gathering, with no one the wiser.

For the next few days, Grant started educating them on the basics of cultivation, and what made his technique different from others. As Dain and Natalie learned, they came to understand cultivator mentality better, and understood why Grant was setting up magic circle every single time. For every story of brotherhood there was one of betrayal, for every one of eternal love, a spiteful separation to last millennia. Luckily (or unluckily, if you ask some) the divine earth only pushes a person’s lifespan to a few hundred years at the very most, much like mana circles do.

…

Today they would be working on beginning cultivation, and Grant had decided to start with Dain. Dain was sitting in a meditative pose, and an incense made out of the fang presented a few days ago was present at the scene. The honey bear was there too, stirring a pot as he dribbled honey into it. The honey bear was there so that Grant could supervise him while he worked. He probably wouldn’t be going back to full time alchemist, but doing so as a part time gig couldn’t hurt. And the honey bear was invaluable because of its honey’s medicinal properties. It’d be a fun experience for Grant to teach the bear, and he’d managed to convince the bear that honey would become even more attractive if he managed to stir the honey into some brews and potions. If nothing, it was evidently more eye-catching as Natalie ran up to inspect the beast with excitement, and Dain looked surprised.

“What is the bear doing?” inquired Natalie as she stared into the pot the bear was stirring. It eagerly showed her the contents, which didn’t do much for her, and then continued stirring, dropping in the ingredients Grant had instructed it in.

“I’m teaching it alchemy. The honey of the honey bear is qualitively better than normal honey and good for early alchemy. Of course, comparing it to higher level monster honey would be incorrect, but as the monster evolves, that’ll change.”

“You know alchemy!” Exclaimed Natalie while Dain raised another eyebrow. Dain was amusing like that, those subtle but obvious reactions.

“Of course. I’m an alchemist.”

“What! With those kind of sword skills? And that warding spell you’ve been using?”

“Cultivator alchemists are expected to know some level of sword skill. Even as good as I may seem, I’m quite mediocre compared to the truly talented.”

“Cultivators are extreme huh.”

“Yup, so make sure not to expose too much whenever you hang out with cultivators. You too Dain. Your body language is a bit more extreme than it should be. “

“Hmm”

“Alright so let’s get started.” Grant walked behind Dain’s back and laid his hands upon his jugulars. “So I’m going to insert some qi into your body and you’ll have to feel the flow. Before you attempt the cultivation it’s important to make sure you understand the flow. The last thing you want is for it to backflow. Ready?”

“Yes.”

“Good” and with that, Grant began the insertion.

At first Dain felt weird. He’d known that qi existed in his body once Dain had told him qi existed in all bodies, just as he began to see it in Natalie’s but feeling another person’s qi in his body felt weird. What felt weird and a bit uncomfortable at first began to feel better as time went on, with the qi feeling refreshing, and it touched parts of his body he’d never felt before. It didn’t take long before he was controlling the flow, and Dain was starting to feel exhilarated, having never felt like this before. Dain was starting to really gain traction and Grant could feel it, as a grin began to appear on his face.

“He’s getting it alright.” Chuckled Grant. He knew the boy had talent but to see it in action was always gratifying. The difference in heaven and Earth were apparent in times like these. Grant himself originally had poor aptitude for qi and it had taken him only a few months short of a year to circulate, but this boy had surpassed him in such short time. It could also be the incense too though, which was made of a rather powerful creature that his teacher had had no access too, or any interest on using it on a no-talent like him.

“He’s getting it? Dain how does it feel?” She asked and started prodding Dain a little as if to get his attention, or even check on him. Dain got up and stretched as if he had arose from a nap well rested. Dain seemed more energetic than before. “It felt great” said Dain with no hesitation. “Alright, the next thing I want you to do is to do the same thing I did to you, and do it to Natalie” as he indicated towards Dain’s friend. Dain looked unsure about this. “Didn’t I just do this though?” Asked Dain. “You said that messing with qi without truly knowing it is dangerous.”

“It is” agreed Grant. “However, you seem ready to me. Don’t worry. While I will be cultivating over there” he pointed next to the honey bear “If anything goes wrong, I’ll intervene. Got it?” Dain nodded nervously. “Alright Natalie how about you sit down over here” Dain led Natalie to sit in the same position. Natalie followed along, and seemed nervous and excited. Dain also seem worried, but he was flush with embarrassment. Grant grinned a little, as Dain blushed, touching Natalie’s jugulars, and he wasn’t alone. Natalie was blushing ever so slightly too. ‘Prudes’ thought Grant to himself. He sat down next to the bear, and started. If he wanted to produce his next biome, he’d need the energy necessary.

…

Grant finished cultivating for the day and went over to the two teens. He hadn’t noticed any dangerous fluctuations. The two were flushed and panting, breath heavy. “Ah I forgot to mention” exclaimed Grant, drawing the attention of the two adventurers “energy flowing is often done between teacher and student, family, best friends… and lovers.” Grant made sure to emphasize that last part and with the two blushing, he got what he wanted. Grant snickered. “Come on you two, it’s been a few hours, they’ll wonder where you two have been. “What about you” retorted Natalie, and Dain was studying him. He’d emphasized it for some reason after all. “Me? Why I’ve been with them for the past few hours wondering where you’ve been this whole time” Grant disappeared and only then did they realize…

Grant hadn’t been here for a few hours.

They rushed back to the carts, and there they found Grant talking to the other adventurers. “Why those two told me they wanted some alone time, so I just had to oblige them. I hope they don’t do anything bad in the woods.” One of the older ones grunted. “Kids. When I was their age I had the same problem, got caught one time smooching it up with the merchant’s daughter, I got into so much trouble that time. She’s my wife now.” The man grinned as they all shared cups of honey. Another added in, “ooh, I can’t wait to tease those two when they get back!” Another hooted:

“Dain and Natalie,

Sitting on a Tree,

K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

Dain started backing up, realizing he’d been set up. Sadly, he was too late. Grant turned towards them, grinned, and called them out. “There you two are! My, you two look so exhausted! What could you two have been doing in the woods alone. MMM?” The adventurers laughed as they raised their mugs of honey, all the while the two blushed intensely, with Natalie positively steaming, and Dain just walking over and grabbing a mug of honey from the smug Grant, quietly drinking, but anyone could see the tips of those ears heating up. “Have I ever told you about how I met my wife” drawled the older adventurer, pulling Dain close. Today would be a long night.