Chapter 152: Chapter One Hundred And Fifty Two - I am not an invalid!
There were several events that occurred in the Ascending Mountain Institute, which aided to break up the tedium that is a common theme amongst all educational institutes no matter the universe that they are set in. Four were considered fixed events, such as the Standings, but occasionally there were others. Some were set by local sects, for example and others were due to unexpected fluctuations in the space-time continuum such as dimensions opening for brief amounts of time where huge treasures could be obtained and the rarest of beasts could be hunted.
The Five School Market Festival was not particularly fixed, usually occurring once a year, in either Spring, Summer or Autumn and was an opportunity for students to trade amongst themselves for benefits as well as showcase branch subjects.
Branch subjects were something that Leo had mentioned in his diaries, touching briefly on the subject for other institutes, but focusing mostly upon those of the Alchemist school. The main route for an Alchemist Student naturally leaned towards becoming an Alchemist, however not every apprentice alchemist had the talent, skill set or will to become one. Thus the school offered certain students the opportunities to study a branch subject. Learning how to farm herbs was a popular choice, but there also happened to be a little known class for Medicinal Cuisine and there was a class to learn about rare herbs, where they could be found and how to dig them out of their habitat without ruining their quality. And of course, there was the minor route of the Pharmacist.
Generally, a student was selected for two reasons; they had reached third level cultivation and thus had the ability to expand their studies or they were just a couple of years from final graduation (meaning they would be too old to continue their studies in the institute) but were not able students. These latter men and women were encouraged to focus completely on one branch subject, allowing themselves a path of survival in the future.
Neither were hard and fast rules, for instance, Scholarly students were usually pushed into branch studies from once they reached secondary cultivation or from when they cease being first years; which ever was the latter. Being a pure scholar brought very few wealth or success, so it was better to focus on just a few subjects. Healers often came from this school, as did Merchants. But also Scholarly subjects often overlapped with the other schools, so there were many paths for a Scholar Apprentice to take, making it fairly popular in its own right.
Leon was considered an 'average' student, despite the talent some eagle eyes had caught, thus in case his path was hindered in the future by well meaning individuals, Teacher Sagi had taken it upon himself to further Leon's studies in the branch subject of Herb Cultivation. Leon was not aware of this, but if he was, he likely would have chosen to study this as it furthered his and Leo's interest in pill experimentation anyway.
Jin Li was of third stage cultivation, but was not given the opportunity of branch studies as he was still a First Year and ordinarily, a First Year should concentrate on the main subject of the school as well as Cultivation. But even given the choice, a child brought up to solely focus upon Martial Arts until it was the core of his entire being, likely would scoff at such opportunities and continue upon his narrow path as if it were an obsession.
This year's Five School Market Festival was planned for the next full moon as the Scholar Students in charge of the Festival this year had decided that this would be a marvellous setting, with the air of something mysterious and yet romantic all at once! Let's not say what other students thought about this idea; it was recorded in the annuals that other student groups had had worse ideas. A Hundred years ago, the Martial Artist Students in charge had chosen to hold it in a labyrinth of caves that happened to be the habitat of Greater Whiskered Arachnids. Granting, this spider was not poisonous, but the thing still had eight hairy legs and eight beady eyes and was the size of a grown man's hand. It had not made for a popular festival.
The Festival was open to all, but only seniors could manage stalls. Thus should he choose too, Leon was able to set up a stall and trade his pills, herbs or even his woodworks. Even though there was nothing in the curriculum for carving wood products, there were no rules against it. Technically for both body and mind, this would be his first Festival, as Leo had been in 'closed cultivation' (he was holed up making weird pills) last year and the year before and Leon had only arrived in this world a few months ago.
However, he had time to consider whether to set up a stall or window shop for the full moon was a couple of ten-days away. In the meantime, he had to convince Jin Li that he was not an invalid and could go to town. He still hadn't had his experimental pills evaluated yet!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Ebonsolaris
Ebonsolaris Author’s note; So as this chapter is a very ‘informative’ one with very little else, I thought of making this day a double update day and wrote about half of the next chapter with the intent of finishing it today... only I woke up feeling unwell, have cold symptoms, which I find are worse than the cold itself! Anyway, if I feel better, I’ll finish it and post it later, otherwise it’ll have to wait until Tuesday!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone