Before Grandfather Jian left, he gave his grandson-in-law a small gift; a thin book written by himself with a few trick pill recipes contained within.
As the rest of his four day break had been used pacifying a beast before that person too went on his way, while glowing with radiant satisfaction, for the six day period of school, Leon could barely be bothered to rise from his bed, thus he took out the thin book to read.
The book contained just six trick pill recipes, but as previously stated, these were simple ones to make and as such, were usually considered by more experienced alchemists as nothing more than 'prank' pills. One even had a fairly familiar concept to a person with memories of a different world and era.
'The Stink Pill; once a spark of spiritual energy is implanted into the pill and thrown, it will emit a foul odour for a radius of half a li upon impact with the ground or other hard surface. Note, if the surface is too soft, such as loose sand, it will not complete its activation.'
Leon flipped the page unsure just how this pill would be effective if used in combat. Many alchemists would likely think the same or just think the pill was too embarrassing to be used in serious battle, however they would all fail to understand the impact such a distraction could cause in the flow of a fight. That and please consider the poor noses of beasts that rely on them!
'The Flash Pill; once a spark of spiritual energy is implanted in the pill, the pill will begin to radiate with a blinding array of light for 1.5 seconds. The after effects can be as long as eight seconds, depending on those caught unawares ability to recover, but usually no shorter than two seconds. Note, has a delay of 3 seconds on activation.'
Causing distractions by effecting smell and sight, naturally the following one caused distraction by emitting a high pitched frequency causing near deafness for a duration. The following two also attacked these particular senses, while the last was a strange combination and was intended not to trick within combat, but to trick in order to protect an alchemist's pills. Jian Juren called it; the mirage pill.
'The mirage pill; placed within the jade bottle amongst other pills, it fools the eye and the nose into believing that all pills within the bottle are lower quality or waste product of a pill of choice. Said pill must be added during creation of the mirage pill, thus it will also take on and emit an aura of chosen pill which it will reflect on all pills in its immediate surroundings. Can only effect around twelve other pills at any one time. Will appear to be of one level of quality lower than its host pill.'
This particular pill couldn't help but appeal to Leon, likely thanks to the time when he had lost nine tenths of his current life at the hands of bullies which caused his physical body to almost break and his cultivation to deviate for a time. If they had believed his pills to be waste products, would they have continued to bother with him? He wasn't sure; Caprian had been a selfish, lazy and arrogant youth who had been raised to treat life as grass after all. It might have instead happened that he (Leon) was still beaten to near death just because Caprian couldn't find what he wanted to steal in Leon's house.
There was also the additional point that his home had been ransacked, some jade bottles broken. This pill could only effect pills close to it. If the bottle was broken, then the pills scattered, his trick would have been discovered and he doubted Caprian's anger could have been reigned in by Tor (Caprian's former subordinate) at that time.
Needless to say, there was no point thinking about it now. Caprian's path led him to return home in disgrace, while his own had led him to a cave some miles west to pick up a stray youth covered in bristles who would at some point claim him as his own and tie their lives together unendingly.
Leon's eyes glanced over the ingredients before ignoring the lingering aches in his lower back and rising from his bed. He hissed slightly as more pressure was felt upon that unspeakable place and he inwardly cursed Jin Li numerous times in his head. What 'payment', what 'punishment'? Leon pouted, pushing aside the vivid memories in which he, himself was a very active participant... at least until the point he begged for Jin Li to stop as he felt he'd surely been drained of all his senses and didn't feel as if he could cope with experiencing that ultimate peak of pleasure for the fourth time!
Jin Li had kissed him thoroughly and muttered that it couldn't be helped, before thrusting hard numerous times to finish deep inside his softened body. Leon had passed out not long after and had remained asleep as Jin Li had left for the inner martial arts school this morning.
Burying his embarrassment, he shuffled over to his kitchen to notice that the stove was lit and a kettle of water had been prepared for him to heat. No food had been prepared, but that was because a certain Jin Li did not abode well within a kitchen; boiling water and steeping tea was about the extent of his cooking abilities. That said, he could dissect a carcass into portions, which made Leon's life that much easier.
The he that was Leo could take a life in order to eat, but the he that was Leon had only ever bought meat from a supermarket, prepackaged and usually from the specials section. Actually killing something and cutting open it's recently deceased body made his stomach turn. It was one of the many contradictions he was still trying to come to terms with in this duality of an existence. Eventually, he felt, he would be able to come to terms with this. At least he could watch a small life be taken in front of him without throwing up anymore.
Leon lazily boiled the water and a couple of eggs to eat with some rice to pad his stomach. He didn't linger after breakfast as was his habit when Jin Li was about, but washed up in his bathroom, cleaning parts his lover had neglected as usual then refreshed the water to wash his sheets and any dirty clothes. Leaving them to soak, he headed to his small store room attached to the greenhouse to see what herbs he had remaining there.
As he thought, there were enough herbs to make at least one attempt at making the mirage pill. He gathered them up as well as a burning energy pill bottle and headed for his old hut.
The old hut was still located outside of the courtyard house. The old gardens surrounding it had not long ago been weeded and given a fresh covering of mulch. Several herbs grown from fallen seed or from hidden root stock were pushing through the covering to reach up and outward towards the dappled sunlight. Shrub-like herbs were budding new leaves and a hardy evergreen type was beginning to flower. Leon even spied shoots that belonged to the five blossom daisies herb, of which he'd been able to witness four different coloured flowers last year before it had died. It seemed that the seedlings would provide him another attempt to nurture it through its long flowering season and perhaps witness those final blooms.
Entering the old hut, Leon felt some nostalgia. The bed in which Jin Li had taken his virginity, was no longer there; the lumpy mattress reeds having been used as mulch and the frame having become kindling. His chest had been moved to the new house with its meagre, but somewhat precious things as had most of his pills. Now all that remained was the old stove as well as a barrel of fuel for it, a few empty jade bottles and a broom that had seen better days.
Leon placed his cauldron onto the stove and turned to reach into the barrel of wood kindling and tossed a few pieces into the metal contraption, before attempting to light it. Fortunately, he'd developed a deft hand at doing this even before regaining his memories, so it wasn't long before the flames took hold and licked over the dry wood hungrily. Heat soon began to emanate from the old stove. With a deep breath, Leon went through the steps of making the trick Pill in his head before turning his hand to make it.
I’ve been uninspired and lax in writing recently! To make up for this, there will be two chapters released today. This is 1 of 2.
Also, I made a small amendment in the previous chapter to cover something I had forgotten about and was probably planning on making a chapter about. It’s nothing big, though so I settled it in a sentence.
The mirage pill itself was not a difficult pill to begin, although three of its five herb ingredients were uncommon or rare, so it could not be considered an inexpensive pill.
Two of the herbs were also weak hallucinogenics, one causing illusionary distortions when smelled, the other sensory distortions when ingested. However, one would have to be very close to the flowers during the first herbs peak season or eat a lot of the second for it to take affect. Plus these two were not common herbs, could even be considered borderline rare as they took many years to reach maturity in their favoured habitats. However, they were quite difficult to get rid of once their roots were established hence they were not fragile enough to be considered rare. These herbs were known as Mountain Charm Brush and Idle Sea Grass. Leon had these herbs in his inventory as they happened to also be used in a couple of combat and transformation pills as well as the more advanced version of a Still Mind Pill; the Tranquil Mind pill.
The common elements of the pills, one happened to be purple spirit grass and the other was known as Triple Fall Ivy, Leon had used the former in many recipes, but the latter not so much. As he learned more about pills from books and experience, as well as slowly reforming memories, he believed that the purple spirit grass may have some activation or enhancement qualities which was why it was found in a multitude of basic pill recipes. The Triple Fall Ivy happened to have been a housewarming gift from his elder brothers; it liked to hang in a shady place as it grew, hence it was growing from a hanging pot in the storage room until Leon found a use for it.
The last herb was, by some coincidence, Celestial Tear herb, or rather it's leaves. Leon had kept one of the grown plants, one that had wilted and looked too unhealthy to sell whole. As most alchemists worked with the long, fresh roots, new shoots and on occasion, it's fluffy seed pods, it had little value being half dead. So Leon had claimed it along with a stem of its counter part, the common Twice Crescent Elderwort. They were growing entwined in his greenhouse in a pot made for two. Apart from shedding a few leaves, the difficult to grow herb seemed to be adapting to its change in circumstance and looked a little more healthy than when he'd first taken it home. Fortunately, the quality of its leaves did not change much as they fell from the main body for they took many years to dry out and break down, so could still be utilised.
Four of these herbs were placed altogether into the cauldron to breakdown gradually over a high heat creating a coarse powder. The powder then needed to be removed and ground down further by hand in order that all the mixed grains from the herbs were fine and even in texture like refined flour. It was hard work, but it was not difficult work. Once Leon had worked up a decent sweat, the powder was good enough to be placed back into the cauldron, ready for its trickier step.
Using his spiritual energy, Leon cooled the pot in order to warm its content without burning it and beside the ashy pile, he placed a single burning energy pill. Pills usually required saliva or spiritual energy to break them down, so heat alone would not be enough, Leon could only split his energies to begin the process of crumbling down the host pill. While he was doing this, he also had the Celestial Tear leaf placed in a third location within his cauldron to begin processing it. The leaf was subjected to a mix of heat and spiritual energy and soon succumbed, turning into a gooey substance rather than a powdery one.
Leon mixed this substance first with the powered pill; the leaf goo would become the bridge between the old and new pill, forming a core that retained certain qualities that only the burning energy pill had. The other four powdered herbs would form the pill's final shell and would reflect those retained sensory qualities of the host pill. However, the host pill would lose it's original function otherwise, thus if anyone ate this pill, they would literally not gain anything from it. This gave the trick pill a secondary usage of sorts, fooling the ignorant into thinking they were gaining something that they would not. However, who would use a decent pill up in order to utilise this usage to its greatest potential? The cost was too much. Yet it did make Leon wonder if there were advanced versions of the pill that would create such dummy pills without needing to use an actual pill in its creation...
With that, the pill was formed. Visually, it had the reddish-brown colour of a lower quality burning energy pill as well as its slightly rusty scent. If Leon had not known better, he really would believe that this pill was exactly as it appeared. He reached for the jade bottle containing the vivid crimson Bursting Energy pills and added this dummy pill inside. Suddenly, it appeared as if all of his original efforts had been in vain and the bottle only contained poor quality burning energy pills, which were frankly valueless. He could not tell the mirage pill apart from these. Only by tipping them out onto a surface and spreading them out could he find the deviant pill and rescue his precious Bursting Energy pills. He quickly collected them back up and placed them inside their bottle less they lose some of their efficacy.
Following that, he picked up the mirage pill and placed it inside its own bottle before looking at it with consideration. In truth, he didn't think he had a use for it at the moment, but he also didn't think it was without use in the future. Jin Li had made it quite clear as well as he knew it himself; they would leave the Institute in the future and travel to the distant higher realm, Jin Li's home.
Just leaving the Institute would mean he would be vulnerable and as much as Jin Li could protect him, he also knew that there were stronger individuals out there than his lover. People killed others for their valuable things and although right now only a couple of his pills could be considered valuable, he quietly believed in his heart that he had the chance to create new and more valuable things in the future. If others discovered this, maybe even if he did not die, he might be used by others, so if he could hide his abilities and his pills until he had the strength to protect himself through whatever means, he definitely would try to do so.
It was not always good to be lowkey, but there were times it was necessary.
Release 2 of 2
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