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50% Learning To Live As A Cultivator / Chapter 161: Chapter One Hundred And Sixty One - My pills are popular...?

Chapter 161: Chapter One Hundred And Sixty One - My pills are popular...?

Night seemed to descend far more quickly within the Silent Mountain's Hidden Vale, but that is not unexpected as the tall mountain walls hid the setting sun and instead extended their shadows until the Vale was encompassed with darkness. And while the glowing mushrooms and dangling jars with entrapped Winter Fireflies were very beautiful to behold in the darkness, it was soon realised that they could not quite provide much light and the Scholars, who had worked so hard upon their theme, had to place more mage-globe lights and lanterns about. Now, at least, the products upon the stalls could actually be seen!

Still, Leon felt they captured the essence of what they wished to portray and more. To him, he was reminded of Christmas markets, just without the loud rides that often were found side by side with numerous stalls, lights and Christmas trees. Students not trading at stalls, which included all of the First years, would pop out from the foliage from time to time (having lost the trails in between areas) and moved around the stalls, chatting to friends and simply enjoying themselves.

Leon's best patrons came from the First years and then, tended to be girls.

"Oh, look at the decorated bottles! So cute!"

"It says they contain Blood Pills... Alright, I want two! Would you accept this mage crystal? It's charmed to absorb daylight then glow in the dark!"

"Fire Tonic Water and Gentle Snowflower Balm... what are they for? Really? I don't suppose this jade is acceptable? I know it's a bit worn..."

"How about this incense purse for three bottles of Clear Spiritual pills and one Still Mind Pills?"

His two older brothers glanced over, the younger retaining his expressionless features and the older with a look of disbelief, as the bottles were happily snatched away. The tiny wooden plaques were really that effective...? Leon ended up accepting a lot of random bits, some of which could be considered junk, but he was enjoying the thrill of the trade too much to care!

After an hour had passed, a familiar silhouette came into vision, that happened to be followed by two others, but Leon's eyes did not notice them. His lips curled into a deeper smile and his heart skipped merrily in his chest. It had been two ten days since he'd last seen Jin Li, as both had been busy preparing for the Festival and he'd missed him a lot. Yet seeing him appear before him, it was as if those days of longing had vanished into a haze of mist and memory.

"Ah, isn't this you Alchemist friend," the loud jovial voice of Teacher Corvus burst out. Leon didn't need to see his face from the shadows to understand that he was grinning. A few Teachers had passed by the three brother's stall, but none had bought his pills, while his Master had simply praised all three of them for their hard work.

Stygar had traded a couple of rare plants, one to a Teacher and one to a trusted Senior Alchemist from the inner school, but otherwise he'd accepted no trade. He valued everything on how well his plants would be taken care of over what could be offered. Hue was less restrained, but only accepted high value products in return for the pills. If ever he wasn't sure of the value of what was offered in comparison to his pills, he would turn to Stygar, allowing him the final say. In this way, just over ten pills had been traded away.

Sun was immediately drawn to Hue's Pills. "No way!" The boy cried out, prodding at a jar with one finger. "Isn't that a Soaring Feather Light Pill?"

Corvus ruffled the youth's bangs. "What does it matter to you?" He laughed. "It's not like you can use it at your level!" He turned to the stoic Hue and complimented him; "You are quite talented, why are you not in the inner school?"

Hue blinked, then turned to Stygar, who replied; "Who wants to transfer into the inner school anyway? We'd only be a foil to whatever is supposed to make them great. Better to quit while we're ahead."

It was Corvus turn to look surprised, but apart from a moment where he froze like Leon had when dealing with the failed Gentle Snowflower Balm potion, he soon regained his smile. He hadn't much contact with the other schools in the institution, with the exception of obtaining a supply of pills for his cute apprentice and coaxing a decent skill scroll for his cute apprentice and helping out the Beast Tamer's with the poachers... with his cute apprentice. And the martial arts inner school was much like the outer school, just with better food, resources and access to more dangerous missions. Thus he'd never considered there might be conflict between other inner and outer schools elsewhere in the institute. He placed the problem to the back of his mind though. Such was the Headmaster's problem, not his.

This was happening outside of Leon and Jin Li's self created bubble, Jin Li was admiring his small alchemists carvings and demanded they be placed upon the bottles containing the pills he gave him in the future and Leon was naturally agreeing.

"H-have you seen m-m-much so far?" Leon asked him. Jin Li understood that he meant had he seen much of Festival so far.

"No," Jin Li replied. He had headed straight here, drawn to his small alchemist in a way he couldn't explain. He would have been here sooner, if he hadn't been stuck with two irritating tag alongs.

Corvus overheard their conversation and grinned as a thought occurred to him. He placed an arm over Sun's shoulders, nonchalantly and said; "Then why don't you two explore together?"

"B-but I've n-not finished tr-trading..." Leon said, looking over the bottles and potions of which he still had half of. Corvus swept half of the remaining bottles into his own interspacial bag.

"I'll give you something good for them later!" He declared and indicated that Leon should keep the rest, afterall, he'd need something to trade with others with!

Leon glanced helplessly at his two older brothers. Stygar gutted and glanced away, while Hue nodded and encouraged him; "Go."

Jin Li's eye's curved and he copied Corvus' gesture before gripping the thin wrist of his small alchemist. "Let's go," he said, leaving no chance for Leon to argue with him.


Chapter 162: Chapter One Hundred And Sixty Two - We wander around together

The two young men walked side by side through the overgrowth, listening to the chirp of the cicadas and the hooting of nocturnal birds. They found the narrow path a minute later, lit up on either side by mushrooms that glowed with a soft, blue light. A small hummingbird like creature flew swiftly past, the tips of it's feathers providing a sparkling, white light. Jin Li had not let go of Leon's wrist, but Leon did not mind this.

The pathway lead to an area with stalls centring a lectern and upon that wooden furnishings was an open scroll, glowing a gentle yellow colour and upon that was a feather quill glowing white. This area was a place for Scholars. Leon was curious about what the Scholars did, for he'd never met one, but as the name implied, their works seemed to centre around paper and ink.

"W-What are those?" He pointed curiously towards strips of paper with calligraphy upon them.

Jin Li glanced over. "Talismans for exorcists," came the reply.

"Exorcists?" The word was familiar, but in his old world, he recalled it being linked to undead and horror movies, thus furrowed his brow. "You m-mean p-people who b-banish g-ghosts?"

"Is there another kind?" Jin Li replied, testily. Leon didn't answer, just attempted to wrap his head around the idea. If the Scholars were creating those, then did that not suggest that exorcism was a valid occupation in this world? And that was so, did that mean that ghosts were real here? He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Other things on trade were inscription scrolls, which were not like magic scrolls; they could not cast spells. However an inscription could be attached to a piece of armour or a weapon and enhance the qualities of such. These were temporary, however, much like magic scrolls, though the average inscription would last two or three times rather than once like a magic scroll. There were also scrolls for common cultivation techniques and skills, many of which could be found in the library. Copies of books were also available and Leon spied one upon herbs. Flicking through it, it was clear that it held some information that wasn't in the almanac he had found in the library. So he traded for it, exchanging three bottles of Clear Spiritual Pills in the end.

The two youths wandered down upon another path and this time did not lose their way for the trees were fewer here and the foliage thinner. Leon glanced upward and could see billions of scattered stars above him, cast across the blue-black sky. It was a bit surreal, as the sky appeared as if it was painted above him on a large circular canvas due to the shadowed walls of the dormant volcano bordering it.

This time, they found themselves in a place dedicated to the mage school. It was extremely colourful compared to the quiet, refined area of the Scholars or the slightly more bustling place of the Alchemists. One stall was selling disks that had been enchanted to shoot fireworks once a key word was said. Another was selling crystal and jade charms. One mage had nothing at his stall but a sign offering to recharge mage crystals.

Leon understood mage-crystals as power sources for certain spell arrays, large ones that needed constant supplies of magic. The temporal formation surrounding the herb fields, making a small space several times larger, was one such array. Mages not only created them from pure magic, but could also resupply them with their magic. It should be mentioned, that magic was simply spiritual energy in a more condensed form. Thus to be a mage, a Cultivator needed to be blessed with copious amounts of spiritual energy even at low stages of cultivation.

Regardless, Leon's lone mage-crystal was in his mage globe at home and those lasted a great deal of time, so he lost interest in this stall immediately. He did briefly look at the jade and crystal charms, but Jin Li pulled him away, claiming that the carvings were amateurish and lame. Better to not waste his pills upon them.

As the moon arrived over the lip of the mountain wall, the youths arrived at an area that appeared to have Alchemists in it. Leon assumed that these were from the upper school, but while a few had pills and potted herbs, there was much more variety of other things. Jin Li was quickly drawn to one stall that had two cauldrons upon portable stoves, but were not producing pills to the gathering crowd, but soups.

"A c-cooking stall?" Leon questioned, causing the buxom woman behind the cauldrons to laugh softly.

"Nope, this is Medicinal Cuisine," she smiled as she stirred the pots. "Choice pieces of meat from spiritual beasts and spirit herbs are cooked in a cauldron. It's a bit like making a pill or a potion in the fact that each ingredient needs to be cooked just so or treated in a specific way and when it is all brought together, it produces something like this." She ladled some of the soup into a bowl and pushed it over. Leon carefully picked up the bowl and breathed in the heavenly scents.

"It h-has sp-spiritual energy inside it?" Leon exclaimed and the woman nodded.

"Medicinal Cuisine can aid in Cultivation, healing, strengthening bodies and meridians," she listed off of the top of her head. "It's just not that popular as it's only good when eaten fresh and not as quick as popping a pill! But there's far less impurities within a bowl of my stew than in one of those pills! Well certain grains, fruits and herbs can be brewed into medicinal wine, which lasts longer, but also takes a long time to make." Leon sipped and the flavours burst upon his tongue. His stomach warmed, the heat then spread through his meridians and he suddenly felt refreshed. He passed the bowl to Jin Li, who savoured the stew with a smile.

The woman couldn't help but think to herself; If only I was ten years younger...

"It's d-delicious," Leon told her and quickly withdrew a pot of Gentle Snowflower balm and handed it to her; he'd noticed a couple of burn marks upon her hand, perhaps received during cooking. Her heart melted as she accepted the pot. These two students were so lovely and handsome as well! "If I h-had t-time, I'd like t-to learn it," Leon thought aloud, knowing how much Jin Li liked delicious food.

However the man actually frowned; "The time you have available (for me) is already limited, especially recently. Don't think foolish thoughts."

"There is a simpler thing to try," the woman said, "the effects are lesser, but still beneficial in the long run. How would do you feel about the idea of Medicinal Teas?"


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