บท 20: A Little More Freedom
After Louis finished his normal six concoctions, he brought all his Fire Qi Replenishing Pills as he went to look in the next room. Amber was still raring to go and, although tired and unwilling, Tera continued to go. Tera used her overall qi advantage and control to challenge Amber to improvise and find ways to disperse each orb. Their qi consumption should be no less than his, only more since they did not have a qi pocket array that would alleviate some of the qi consumption off of himself. He ate a high grade Fire Qi Replenishing PIll and left the rest in the glass container nearby and returned to concocting. At this rate, they would exhaust the pills he just made in a couple of hours.
Never doubt the fearlessness and energy of a child who had just spent the past month sleeping. It was late into the second night when Amber finally stopped herself in exhaustion. Louis and Tera were both exhausted - Louis having to concoct Fire Qi Replenishing Pills without a break to rest nor cultivate and Tera who bore the brunt of the overall array consumption that no amount of Fire Qi Replenishing Pills could adequately restore. This was perhaps more taxing for Louis than the three day marathon, since his fire elemental qi was so weak and new. On the plus side, his control rapidly improved and he could consisting concoct great grade elemental qi replenishing pills once more.
Finally getting a break, Louis could not even sleep, since he had needed to consume a Fire Qi Replenishing Pill. He completed two revolutions before sleeping.
If one two night marathon was scary, the second two night marathon was even worse. Amber woke up, full of energy within six hours and, Louis who just went to bed two hours earlier, followed a similarly sleep deprived Tera down to the basement for round two. Seeing Amber's bright smile and her run around, however, stopped any attempt of dissuading. Instead, the two of them looked at each other as they faintly smiled, their relationship instantly improving a dramatic amount, as they walked down into basement, their own hell.
This cycle only repeated for a third time afterwards. Louis, learning from his mistake the first time, instantly went to bed, not bothering to cultivate despite having an entire cultivation session available.
Amber woke up late and Tera managed to convince her, with her motherly authority, that meals and breaks were essential for cultivation and sanity. Instead of playing the game, Tera took Amber out into the city, followed by a few maids. Louis, who was still under house arrest, bid them farewell and cultivated before concocting more pills. Today, he could cultivate every six batches and he would stop after twelve, sleeping even before they got back and regain some precious sleeping hours while he could.
When Silva came to collect pills and deliver breakfast, Louis explained the situation and asked for fire, wind and water qi replenishing pill ingredients as well as a three star pill Spiritual Energy Upper - which restored a small amount of spiritual energy and primarily relieved exhaustion, and at great and unique grade, had no side effects when used. Louis felt it would become a long month if he did not have any of them at hand with Amber's personality.
Amber was still sleeping, so Louis took this chance to concoct water and wind qi replenishing pills that he was slowly running out of. When he finished his six concoctions, Brian was standing at the door.
"You seem to forget that we are not here to give you free ingredients, especially the costly Spiritual Energy Upper ingredients, which are three stars unlike the one star elemental qi replenishing pill ingredients." Brian said. "When can I expect pills in exchange for materials."
"In ten months, after Amber fully recovers." Louis said, looking at him.
"Unacceptable. We would not accept making a loss until then."
"All the great grade pills I gave you and made for my sisters should have covered it."
"I only kept first ten great grade pills you gave me. The rest went to your sisters, so they did not pay for the pills. You still need to exchange ten great grade pills for each new batch of materials." Brain said.
Louis thought for a moment. This was exhortation, but he had no alternative. "Fine, but most of the pills I concocted for my sisters better have gone to them." Louis said.
"I assure you, they did." Brain said, sitting down before him. "Now onto the second topic, the council of elders will now meet with you in a month from now, seeing as Amber is awake and the immediate threat has disappeared. After you meet with them, you will have to accept a batch of alchemy apprentices - all of which use the fire element sufficiently, I assure you - and teach Nia how to cultivate as well as your other siblings when they return from their trip."
"No apprentices, but I will teach all my siblings."
"Unacceptable. Your skill is too great to be without apprentices."
"Alright, but they should have a solid grasp on the ingredients themselves and be at least eighteen years old."
"That's acceptable. How about martial art students?" Brian asked.
"No can do." Louis said, shaking his head. "I have my hands full making pills and teaching these new students. Amber will become a giant handful for the next ten months, so I'm unavailable until then. Come back then."
Brian paused for a while, then nodded. "Alright. Nia will be coming over next week with Renee, her mother. You can also see your mother starting today. She has been on the third floor." Brian said, standing up and leaving. "Remember the pills and the apprentices. Take good care of them."
"I will." Louis said. After Brian was out of sight, Louis ran up to the third floor.
Melissa had dark center under her eyes and gave a weak smile when she saw him. Her eyes look much brighter the moment she saw him.
"Mother." Louis said, running into her embrace. "You look tired. Have you been resting?"
"Too much." Melissa said, with tears flowing from her eyes. "Are you alright now?"
"Never been better." Louis said. "Amelia has become really strong now. Want to see her? She made me and her mother work all night keeping up with her antics."
Melissa had kept crying, without speaking. Louis pat her back slowly as she did. "I made a lot of pills for sis. She might reach the second realm or even higher when she comes back in six months. Nia is going to come visit soon. Brian wants me to teach her a technique and wants me to teach a bunch of eighteen year olds alchemy. Amber is going to reach the third realm by the end of the year, isn't that amazing?
"Sister will be fine. She is strong and her martial arts is a close combat type, so she will do amazing in the tournament. There should not be many people, even a few years older than her, that can compete with her. We might still be in the manor when she comes back. Wouldn't that be funny?
"We might have to stay in the manor for the next six months, possibly the next ten though. Amber will reach the third realm then and she will be safe afterwards, as long as she does not go too crazy in trying her cultivation."
Melissa kept crying and Louis stopped talking. He had ran out of things he wanted to say. Now was not the time to vent his frustrations. His mother probably had been worried sick or depressed that she could not do anything about his confinement despite being so close, especially when his sister also has to leave her side at the same time.
After ten minutes of crying, Melissa fell asleep. Louis sighed as he left some great grade Wind Qi Replenishing Pills by her nightstand and went back to concocting more pills. Perhaps he needed the Spiritual Energy Upper Pill more than he thought. While it would not fix the problems, it would alleviate the worse symptoms and give her the energy to do things outside the room. Perhaps he should let her look after and train Nia, who might be good mental support now that Amelia was away.
Louis went to repeat his daily routine of concocting pills and cultivating. The pills were not going to concoct themselves and concocting them distracted it, especially now that he was so close to creating two great grade pills and an unique grade pill. It was like completing a puzzle where he did not know the final picture and the pieces could be put in various positions. While completing the puzzle was difficult with the research, reaching the end goal was one of the most satisfying achievements.
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