Hmmph... this junior is a good seed [Cultivation Management Quest]

Abel and Zeno talking about Yuan and divination (or whatever)

"So are you going to Yuan?"

As Abel lies in his bed, slowly getting accustomed to his new blood coursing through him, Zeno sits by his bedside, a bowl of grapes to snack on in between pauses of chatting.

"Jup. Mind you I still have so much planning to do, but that's the plan. Can I expect to travel with you then little bro?" A smirk frames Zenos healed face. The light shining through the window framing his angular features.

"I guess I can help protect you. Want to make sure you don't get into trouble." Abel's smirk matches Zenos. The family resemblance has never been more clear. Small gusts of wind from the open window make the dream catcher wave in the wind.

Zeno rebukes that particular statement quickly."Ha. Ha. very funny." A grape falling off of Abel's face undercutting the wholesome moment.

"Honestly not sure what to do in Yuan. For Qigang I had a plan even if it didn't work out. Yuan is all about hunting powerful spirit beasts right?"

"I guess, yeah. It's mostly created treasures and quickly ascended beasts, which are supposed to give you unlimited power and all that, but who knows what we'll find. It's a secret realm after all." Zeno shrugs, the wooden chair not even creaking, thanks to powerful array work carved into every part of the manor.

"I guess quickly ascended means that the beasts are easier to take down then their power implies. They aren't used to being powerful and are getting used to their new abilities."

"Not exactly in my experience. Even if they have less experience, they tend to make up for it with natural instinct. That's at least what I learned from beasts ascending outside of the secret realms. Generally the assumption that everything will be harder to kill in there than out here should fare you well." Another grape vanishes between Zenos' teeth.

Natural instinct. I knew that qi responses to intentions, but that implies that it works the other way around even in an intelligent way.

"Is there a spirit beast beasttuary for things appearing in Yuan?"

"Hm....good question." Zenos posture shows his focus at this moment. "If there is one, it's probably incomplete though, considering the sheer danger and vastness of the secret realm." his face lights up with understanding.

"I have an idea how you can at least avoid walking the most dangerous routes!" Zeno calls Appendix, who promptly arrives with see through bones, settling on his left shoulder, intent on listening.

"These ones should do the trick! Come on, feel them!" Zeno offers Abel the bones for his right hand. "Do you feel the qi signature? How they shift between phases?" His eager expression quite apparent.

The bone feels like an extension of my arm. A bit like my hand cannon or an array I have drawn. It is smooth, no rough. Actually it doesn't actually seem to have a fixed set of properties, but paying attention I can feel a cycle.

"That's good! Like most things of the liminal, the properties are defined by the most powerful entity around them, their core identity an exception of course. In this case I anchored their properties in my last big liminal walk before the trials to predict the route where danger comes from. An easy working, considering rabbits mostly survive on avoiding the danger, rather than fighting it head on like many other beasts. What do you think, neat, huh?

"So I should avoid going to low points in the cycle? We could really use better vocabulary. I feel like I am talking nonsense." That statement makes Zeno chuckle.

"Yeah, but still you understand it! That, combined with our agility and the qi sense you showed just now are the combined reasons why we are divinators by trade. Do you understand?" his hands splayed wide, as if to accentuate a grand statement.

"Does it still apply if I am traveling with you? A low point for me seems likely to be full for you. Our family jargon is weird." A bark of laughter by Zeno follows.

"You can say that again! As if any outsider would understand what a Medicum Aes or a Hoplite would even be without the obvious effects it has on their ability to live!

"But seriously, don't worry about it. You trained much like mother and I to sense the slightest of qi differences. If anyone has stolen that object from you and would be in a position to use it against you, you will notice. It is keyed to you after all." Noticing Abel's confusion he elaborates in between bites.

"On the matter of danger, we will only travel together until we reach the Secret Realm, if my current understanding holds true, we will travel through very different entrances anyway. Either way we'll see once we go there." Zenos' last grapeseed falling into the bowl.

Taking the initiative Abel says. "Changing the topic. I have made some progress on my latest invention. Thanks to ball bearings I can at least turn the handlebars without friction. Unfortunately I only have been able to make lead ball bearings. Not sure how well they will handle the stresses long term, but prototype."

With a raised right eyebrow Zeno asks. "Ok, You are talking about that wagon on two wheels, right?" He gestures for Abel to elaborate, clearing some space on the table nearby, by handing the bowl to the attending maid Mia. The ornate door closes behind her, her footsteps barely heard over the conversation.

"Yes that. Should make travel over flat surfaces way faster. Especially for the Golden Devils. It directly translates strength and stamina into more speed. Real problem right now is the back wheel. I need for the bicycle to be able to maintain momentum even when the rider isn't pedaling. The pedals should turn the back wheel. but not the other way around. I can't fix that there is a lot of wasted energy and the bike is no fun to ride."

Zeno thinks out loud. "Hmm…the problem is wasted momentum, which means gaining speed isn't the problem. Could you chain the momentum of the two wheels together somehow? I don't know a simple steel chain and some interlinking stuff like in your clocks?"

Abels explanation pours out of him like a flowing river."The pedals are already chained to the back wheel. The front wheel will move on it's own so long as the bike is moving. It's just for stability and steering anyway. The problem is that I can't figure out how to make it so when the rider stops pedaling and the bike is still moving the pedals don't have to keep moving so the rider can rest every now and then and just move forward on momentum." He makes rolling motions with his hands.

"Ok, that's tricky. Most cultivators would just slap a qi sensor array on it with the condition that it should stop working when the owner isn't nearby, but that won't work for you, huh." A small grin appears on Zenos face.

"At this rate I might now use an array to connect and disconnect the bike chain depending on if the rider is pedaling, but that is just such a sloppy solution when I know there is a qi free engineering fix. I can see the vision of the right design so clearly. I don't don't know how to get to it." Abel holds his hands up as though reaching for something.

"Then how about a second chain system entirely dedicated to letting the wheels rotate freely? I mean you could probably use the wasted energy to make switching between these modes a breeze, somehow. Technical stuff is your zone, not mine." Zeno suggests with a shrug.

Abel spends a moment trying to imagine what Zeno is talking about then gives up. "I think I have a clue. I know the finished model isn't able to pedal backwards and I think that is related to why the pedals move the back wheel, but not the reverse."

Zeno whips out a half finished talisman and the "pen" he got from Abel from his sleeves. He gestures with both hand gestures towards him. "Go on, write it down."

Abel thinks about all the cases he can remember of things that turn one way, but not the other. Spring loaded on way exits on parking lots, ratchets.

"So say this is a full cog. With teeth all the way around." Zeno nods beside him, both brothers now sitting at the table, the sunlight their only illumination. "Does it already have the chain?" Without prompt Zeno hands Abel another piece of paper to continue his meticulous drawing.

"Ah your chain system, I take it?" A nod by Abel confirms it.

"The chain moves the outer circle. When it moves the right way that pushes the inner circle. However if the other circle doesn't move then it moves out of the way of the movement of the inner circle. Sure that there is more to it than that. Maybe right shaped triangles rather than spring on lines, but I think I have the basic idea now."

"It definitely looks like it. I don't think that triangle shape..eh...thingies in there are the best way to go though. This thing needs to be reliable above all else. Few people will have the patience or ressources to properly repair it on a road trip and triangle steel stuff, like a spear, tends to wear down fast."

Abel blinks "Triangles are the strongest shape." He makes one with his hands.

Zeno rebukes with a raised right finger. "Not when the heat of the desert constantly heats up the metal, making it constantly change due to heat differences, I think. Mind you I read about that stuff decades ago out of idle interest. That's not even accounting for qi fluctuations making small changes on the metal. There is a reason we have legions constantly maintaining the arrays and the wall work and most of that isn't regular mortal steel. Maybe incorporate some protection arrays or a special coating?"

"Considering what I hope the final cost of these bikes to be, a protection array is likely to cost more than the rest of a normal bike put together. Once I have the basic idea down I will make an expensive cultivator version. Sand traveling tires, qi fluctuation protection, all the parts made out of spirit beast to be able to handle a 2 ton rider or a thousand foot fall, the works." Plenty of cultivators with the blood of bronze are really heavy.

"Fair enough. Cultivators won't be your biggest market anyway."

"Well they are until I can train up some mortals to be able to make these themselves. I like to think of my time as valuable." Zeno nods in response.

"But if this does work out the scorpion road might be up for a rename." Abel smiles.

"Maybe." Zeno smiles back.
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Bicycle mass production
Abel rode into goat county on a bicycle. The roads were actually surprisingly good which bodes well for his business proposal.

As few onlookers were also paying attention to him on the bike and looking with curiosity which was also a good sign.

There was a man completely covered in patina, leading a small group of teenagers, "yes this is how one build a road child" he seems to be teaching them.

"Who do I ask about doing a mass production deal?"

The older looking man looked at Abel and asked "senior Abel?"

"Yup, that's me Abel Angelus." Sort of weird to be recognized even if the goatmen he met in the fire ant pit did.

The not so little ones' eyes start to shine like they are seeing a hero.

"I read that you need something built?" said the oldest builder.

"Well crafted." Abel gets off his bike. "See I made this, but It took me about a year. Thing is each individual part should not be that hard to make. So I was hoping that many hands would make light work"

The older man thought visible hard, went to the sand after looking careful to the bike then start to raise a pilar in the soil and remove his gloves, some of the most horrible nails that one could possible have, each looking like a tool, the hands become iron with some art and the man start doing a fast crafting, then he stop and nod to himself "Yes, the time has come" all the builders present look very seriously at Abel "I will pass the word of a full mobilization to honor our debt to you" one of the kids start running to a fire pit and throw some kind of dust, the smoke was green, at distance a line of green smoke start to appear, the man return to look at Abel, "in less than a week all the brothers that can possible move here will come" he say with a certainly in his voice.

That is quite a bit of enthusiasm. "Good to hear it?" Abel says with a bit of uncertainty. He had expected to hash out the details first. It seemed these guys were writing him a blank check.

One new (but really old) man appear in the horizon on a horse, already using a flag to use a sigh language the old builder with Abel send a signal back, look at Abel and asked "anything extra they should bring, this is our second system to send a fast message"

Abel felt on a bit firmer ground here "Yes, The design calls of spirit beast guts of almost any type to inflate for the wheels. Strong metal for the frame. Likely steel, but spirit bones work as well. And the hard part is making small metal balls like this" Abel was planning on focusing on the luxury cultivator version of the bike for his first model. If mortals see cultivators using them then they are likely to come and copy in hoards once an affordable version comes out.

The man and send a gesture for the mensager to approach, "hum, we have many sources of metal for our constructions, and if any guts from spirit beast work, then the elder hunter would know, I don't know how much we have already with senior third 'brother' but we probably can start already and continue to feed your project Senior Abel" said the man, a bit out of his normal work. The man stopped for a moment, looked at his own hands and asked "would patina and hair from those with the bronze bloodline help?"

Abel makes a so-so gesture "Only if you can smelt them into large enough pieces."
The two old men and kids smile, all looking like they are about to share a secret, "yes, patina is something we have a large amount of experience with and can do it in enough numbers to make a small fortress with enough time."

Abel holds up a ball bearing "I have been making these by dropping small drops of molten lead from a tall tower, but if you have a better method I am all ears. Really they should be made from something tougher than lead, but I haven't been able to make use of a tall enough tower for other metals. Maybe patina and hair from those with the bronze bloodline would work? I haven't tested it"

The messenger decide to add to the conversation "We succeed in making the 'pillar raise art' in making some relative large towers, the hair of the first and second brothers can serve as substituted for iron 'bones' that one need to use for large construction, so we probably can build everything you need in this local area."


Abel cations "The real trick is that all of these 'ball bearings' need to be exactly the same size and perfectly round. Metal is because they have to be able to stand up to serious stress, but if you know a better material that works too."

The men gather around the kids and start throwing looks and really quick words, then one of them move away and move his hands, then his muscles's bulges large, he move his hands a little better, finally he use some kind of art that turn the hands into iron and made a very tiny moviment with his and repeat the same moviment for twenty times, all the movements look exactly the same, he then look and the younger crew and nod to a kid which passed him a ball of sand (that he has enhanced with QI), only for the old man to drops it, and another and another with no variation with how he drop those balls. They nod to one another and ask "would this work?" and without stopping continue "we have enough brothers that can use these arts and have ways to use mechanical scales if you want to use mortals to drop those."

Abel picks two of the small balls of solid sand and starts grinding them against each other with all of his strength. When that doesn't seem to have an effect he puts them on hard pavement of the road and rolls them around under his feet putting his full weight into it. After doing that for a minute. He lifts the balls up to inspect them.

"Seems to work. I should have come to you guys earlier. Would have saved me a lot of time." Beside this is the luxury cultivator model. Even back before it was possible to find a bicycle that cost a hundred times as much as another one.

They all look happy with that comment, "so the debt of five years will finally be complete, the first builder's soul is probably resting more peacefully now". He then continued "in 7 days we will be in a large enough number to matter, brother 122th, you will send the mensagem with what Senior Abel needs" the other man just sent a serious nod, returned to his horse and went running like hunters were trying to kill him in particular.
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Threadmark @Alectai, @TehChron, @Humbaba, @ReaderOfFate, @Kaboomatic For it is in Omake that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release our fate, and by my writing, protect thee.

Gaius Antonius Omake #57: Doing Hard Time

Liuxian sighed, running his fingers through his now very-short hair, having been shaved down to the scalp a scant few weeks ago. At least it was easier to keep sand out now than if he'd kept it long. This desert would take quite a while longer to get used to. He'd been in low-qi areas before, but this was an entire massive region. It felt... wrong to stay here day and night, like he was starving himself for no good reason.

When Liuxian swept out his spiritual senses and felt next to no 'background noise' in the air... he didn't have words to conceptualize the feeling. He felt unwelcome. And now this damned, accursed place was to be his home for thirty years. He ought to be grateful the number was so low; Gaius really had vouched for him at the trial, even embellished some details to make his crimes seem much less severe.

And so, Cao Liuxian, the Sorrowful Blacksmith disciple who couldn't forge anything, was sentenced to thirty years of hard labor. He'd expected to be sent to rebuild something in the wake of the Devils' periodic culling, but it turned out that they had gotten off remarkably light this century, and the demand for such jobs was not especially high. The penal officer in charge of his group had been preparing to send him off on some constuction project out in the boonies when apparently, he specifically had been requested to act as a servant for some rich family.

This was of course unusual; why the hell would some bigwigs want a foreign servant instead of a native? Especially one who had only just been arrested? Liuxian could think of one answer, but he repressed it with mountain-like force.

Strolling down the streets of the Dawn Fortress, the slave(and that was what he was, no need to get all fucking fancy about it) felt the contemptuous looks of passing Devils on his back as he approached his destination. He could understand the reason: he was a foreigner who had stolen from them in their moment of weakness. A bottom-feeding scumbag without honor. Unfortunately, all of that was accurate.

Thirty years of this... honestly, things could have been so much worse. His cultivation would advance minimally, if at all, and even if it did they certainly wouldn't let him attempt a tribulation, but that was fine. Contemplating on the Dao in his spare time would help to least prepare him for his breakthrough, and he would have nearly seven decades of life in his body once he was set free - he would only need two of them to reach his Tenth Heavenstage goal.

No, this was merely a difficult setback, thouht Cao Liuxian as he knocked on the door of the person who - again, better to just be honest here - purchased him. The chain connecting his qi-suppressing manacles rattled with the movement, serving to remind him of his punishment every time he significantly moved his hands.

Before long, a girl in simple grey robes ran around the side of the house and siezed him by the arm. "What are you doing!? That's the main entrance, we don't use that!" She scolded him sternly, leading him somewhere else before they could be seen. "Our entrance is in the back; you're lucky we were told you'd be coming."

----

Liuxian was quickly brought into a small, drab room in a building a mile away from the manor. Several veteran servants were there, seemingly awaiting his arrival He was then provided with a uniform and briefed in the basics which he needed to know from day one.

The Quintia family very much took a hands-off approach to the running of their household. They were not oppressively strict, and left the servants to handle the tasks without butting in overmuch. Furthermore, they did not allow each other to harass the servants overmuch, save for when punishment was to be administered. Though it was a shameful job for criminal Cultivators like Liuxian who had been temporarily reduced to this level, it was otherwise not unpleasant. For the mortals, it was not even particularly shameful.

However, while the family members allowed their servants a degree of dignity and decency, the servants were in turn expected to meet them more than halfway. If you had a job, you got it done, no ifs ands or buts. If one servant screwed up, the others were expected to fix that mistake as soon as possible. And most importantly, the Quintia Family's servants were expected to stay subtle, to keep everything running smoothly while also making their presence as easy to ignore as possible.

All in all, what these rules meant was that the most experienced servants ended up dominating the youngers, cultivation be damned. All of them were equally lowly, and thus those who had worked the job for longer were expected to ask as taskmasters when they had the time, keeping the greenhorns in line. And so, Liuxian found himself brought before a man so old and yet so sturdy-looking that the prisoner was sure he was a body cultivator. And yet he detected only the faintest trace of qi in the elder - he was a mortal.

"So, you're that foreigner I've been hearing about." The old man said, his voice deep and quiet. "My name is Petros. And you are?" He inquired dispassionately, looking over Liuxian with a cold, clinical eye.

"My name is Cao Liuxian. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The man in question greeted, bowing as low as he could bring himself to, which was moderately low. Even he had his limits.

The old man stoically nodded in agreement. "You've got about an hour before the start of your shift. We'll go easy on you today since it's your first day, but you still need to fulfil your assigned task. That's the rule which takes precedence over all others: get the damned work done."

"I understand, Petros. In that case, what is my task?" Liuxian said in response, in respectfully neutral terms.

At that, Petros smiled. It was a look of sympathy, but Liuxian could sense a bit of smugness creeping into the old man's expression. "You've got one of the less enviable jobs: taking care of the fish. A mortal can't handle it, a Cultivator who is skilled at water arts is needed."

"Taking care of the fish?" Liuxian questioned with a raise of an eyebrow. "Forgive my confusion, I'll do it, but... that doesn't sound like a whole day's worth of work. Unless it's an entire huge pond, I suppose, but even then it would only take a few hours. Are my skills really necessary?"

"Don't ask me, all I know is this is what you've been brought in to do." The old man harrumphed. "Look at it this way: if you can do your job quickly then you'll have plenty of free time to assist other servants with their own tasks. You'll get popular, and that can come in handy."

Liuxian chuckled as he took that advice in. "Thus really is just like a sect. Yeah, I can definitely understand this."

As Above, So Below. A common, if disputed saying used to describe how advancement of one's cultivation did not ovrly change human social behavior, it just increased the scale of the consequences. A large sect ultimately had the same sort of goings-on as a small sect, and a small sect wasn't so different from a workplace full of mortals. Liuxian had never been a celebrity, or even particularly popular, but he knew very well how to play social games and avoid pitfalls of obligation.

Yes, he could do this, no problem. He once again felt a wave of relief that the Devils had been so merciful. Or rather, that Gaius knew how to make them be merciful.

----

After fourty minutes trying to even find where he was supposed to begin his work(apparently the fish got moved every few days), Liuxian found the right place. It was the third floor, out on the balcony, with a gorgeous view into a sprawling garden below, which grew both spirit herbs and mundane plants. A lifetime's worth of cynicism was not enough, as the prisoner was briefly taken aback at the gorgeous sight. Things build by the Golden Devils may have paled in comparison to the Sorrowful Blacksmiths' in effectiveness, but he had to admit they were often quite beautiful.

Of course, Liuxian didn't have time to dally; there was work to be done. He turned to the absolutely massive glass tank, only to realize he had made a misconception. Petros had meant 'fish' in the singular. As in, one big fish.

In fact, that was a fish he knew personally.

That was a Sacred fucking Carp. In theory, he supposed there could be multiple Devils in possession of an incredibly rare variety of Spirit Beast, but with all the other oddities, Liuxian could probably sort that out.

"So, Gaius Antonius isn't done with me yet, is he?" Liuxian muttered nervously to himself as the carp continued to lazily examine him. He didn't get it at all; first Gaius bargained down Liuxian's sentence, which could itself be explained as simply an act of benevolence. But then he bought Liuxian as his slave? What in the world could that man be getting out of all this?

Before too much time could pass, Liuxian remembered the words of that old retainer, warning of the importance of always getting the work done on time. Regardless of whatever else was going on, it would be best to get this work done on time.

"What was your name again?" He idly asked the Sacred Beast, which of course did not reply. "Oh well, it doesn't matter." Liuxian retrieved the sheaf of instructions he'd been given for the carp's care. "So your name is Scylla? Alright, step one... gather one thousand gallons of freshwater?"

Liuxian's face fell, and he began to realize why a Cultivator was required for this task. Nothing to do but get to it, he presumed.

----

Liuxian took to the work fairly easily. Stay out of sight, but stay close in case someone needs you. Otherwise, work on the task you've been most recently given. Don't call attention to yourself, don't look anyone in the eye, simple enough. The life of a servant was of course degrading, especially for a Cultivator, but he could handle it. Liuxian wasn't some pampered heir, demanding respect at every turn.

Scylla was a pain to deal with, though. He hadn't exactly made the best first impression with her, so she took a while to warm up. Still, taking care of a fish was fundamentally a lot easier than, say, a cat. And so, by the transitive property, taking care of a spirit beast fish was a lot easier than taking care of a tiger.

As he suspected, it wasn't that hard. Gaius had some other reason to keep him here, and he would find out what it was.

About a week into his sentence, he had finally finished his day's work: moving Scylla's tank, changing her water, feeding her, entertaining her, feeding her again because she didn't like her dinner. After that, he had sweeped the floors in several rooms, thrown out a dozen chamber pots, watered the herb garden and helped out in the kitchen. As hilariously inefficient as it was, a Ninth Heavenstage servant could certainly get a lot of tasks done.

On his way back to the servants' quarters to eat some food of his own, Liuxian crossed paths with Gaius again. Turning around to follow the Devil, he decided to take a direct approach, as no Quintia were around at the moment.

"Excuse me Gaius. Could you please explain something." Liuxian said, stopping the other man for a moment. "Why in the world are you having me take care of your fish? It's not particularly esoteric work, and you couldn't possibly have no water specialists to hire."

"Let's just say that I want to keep helping you." Gaius said, face impassive. "Anyone else in the clan would treat you poorly. You are a 'barbarian' after all, though I think the term is used too freely by some."

Liuxian sarcastically feigned surprise. "Is that so? You're not a very good liar. The way you talk completely changes when it's time to schmooze. Gets more formal."

Gaius cursed at himself internally, and changed his approach. "Alright, here's something honest then: taking care of Scylla is hard work. The Quintia manor servants already have a lot to do, and I wanted to take this off their shoulders without paying too much."

"Hmm..." Liuxian stroked his chin, leaning a little closer to observe Gaius' face. "I don't think that's the truth either, but it's a little bit closer. You definitely didn't bring me here out of altruism."

"Believe what you want, I don't have much time today." Gaius stated firmly, turning and continuing down the hall. "And I'm sure you have a lot to do as well."

That fucking guy. Gaius was an agreeable sort, but he clearly knew how to be irritating when he wanted. If he was getting anything out of that strange Devil, it would happen slowly. It wasn't like there was much else to do around here for a servant whose shift was over.

----

Gaius, for his part, really was busy. Incredibly busy, in fact, with his self-imposed workload growing larger and larger in preparation for the activation of the Yuan Man-As-Mountain Array. No amount of training or cultivation could be enough to be ready for such an amazing event, so all he could do was his best.

Still, even a man like him needed some small amount of free time, to recover his physical and mental fatigue and to see his friends and loved ones. And, obviously, to oversee Scylla's development. If the Sacred Carp went on all of his missions she would probably go insane, and not just from the relatively small size of her travel tank; after all these decades of taking dangerous missions, they had begun to bleed together in Gaius' head, until most of them didn't excite him much anymore. Sure Gaius liked consistency in his schedule, but even he had his limits.

Still, at least one interesting change had occurred lately. "Could you please get me Cao Liuxian? I'd like to speak with him?" He asked one of the servants, settling into a small sitting room.

After about ten minutes, Liuxian arrived. His hair had begun to grow out again, but was still fairly short. He wore the same eye-pleasing but relatively simple robes as all the other servants in the household. "I heard you wanted to speak with me, Gaius?" The prisoner asked, eyeing him with a healthy amount of wariness.

"That I do, come on and have a seat." Gaius firmly instructed, gesturing to a small, fine table which sat between two comfortable chairs.

Liuxian certainly would like to sit down, but he made sure to let Gaius sit first; even if they were supposedly being casual, he still needed to maintain a thousand microscopic deferrences like that. "Well, you really do want to talk with me, don't you? These are the kinds of chairs you imagine great philosophers using."

"Of course I do. I really do want to know more about you, you know." Gaius drawled, lighting a cigarette and leaning back in his chair. "You're an interesting man."

"Me? Nah, I wouldn't say so." Liuxian said noncomittally. "I'm just a Blacksmith Sect disciple who can't forge anything."

Gaius' eyebrows shot up as he offered Liuxian a smoke. "Oh? I'd say that's interesting already?"

The servant took the offered cigaratte, but did not light it - he held it out to Gaius between his index finger and middle finger. "Well, to start with, I can't even light this damn thing. Not a single spark."

Gaius whistled in surprise and lit the smoke for Liuxian. "Seriously? Affinity that low isn't exactly common."

The other man nodded solemnly. "I mean it. Water Qi comes to me as easy as breathing, and I'm pretty good at Earth and Wood too, but I can't produce any fire at all. I'm not that good with Metal Qi either. Hence, no forging."

"So why are you a Blacksmith at all then?"

"My mother's also in the sect. Never knew my dad. After my affinity turned out to be so fucked up, I figured I ought to serve my homeland in my own way." Liuxian explained.

"And that is?"

"The same kind of thing you kicked my ass for, obviously." Liuxian replied, taking a drag. He seemed relieved that he could at least be casual; insult had not in fact been added to injury. "Raiding, spying, scouting. In addition, defending against other spies and scouts. In short, an outrider."

Gaius took a drag of his own. "How interesting; I've done a fair bit of that in my way as well, as you could probably tell. I still don't think you're telling me everything, though."

"That really is all there is, I swear." Liuxian said in a deadpan voice, face unreadable. How interesting. Well, if he wanted to play it that way...

"Alright, have it your way." Gaius chuckled. "In that case, let's talk about what everyone has in common: cutivation?"

"What's there to talk about?" Liuxian scoffed. "I won't have any resources for cultivation for the duration of my sentence. The qi in the air here is so thin, I'll only be maintaining my current place."

"I don't know about that, my little thief." Gaius teased, crossing his legs. "My spiritual sense is extremely sharp; I can tell you're not just at Ninth, you're halfway to Tenth. Not bad."

"And it turns out I was a fool to do that. If I'd been in Foundation, I would have got the last laugh, now wouldn't I?"

"Sure, but the fact that you tried is interesting. Anything in particuar?"

Liuxian's smile faltered as he began to grow impatient with the questioning. "For those with enough talent to manage it, the downside to unorthodox stages is being surpassed by their rivals. In my own sect, I had no rivals, because there's no glory in my work." He adopted an increasingly clipped tone, attempting to end the conversation.

For him to be this defensive, there had to be more to his story. But Gaius knew his type. He wouldn't be getting more out of Liuxian for a while.

Alright, sure. He could play some give and take.

Gaius took another long drag, burning his cigarette close to his fingers. "I really do appreciate the casual way we can talk to each other, Liu'er." He exhaled a large cloud, then stubbed out the butt in a small ceramic tray. "Let me give you another gift." Axia had tried to get him to switch to pipes, but he hadn't found the right one for him yet. Cigarettes were easy and comfortable; if he was to feed his habit in an unfamiliar manner it would need to be through a pipe that perfectly fit his jaw.

Liuxian snorted in equal parts amusement and derision. "A gift? What, are you trying to play the part of me father now? Alright, I'll hear you out - I didn't last this long by turning down offers before I hear them."

"Why don't I give you an allowance for your service? A small stipend with which you can approach the Tenth Heavenstage. Not as much as a Legionnaire of your level could pull in, of course - I can't afford that much." Gaius explained, fishing a low-grade spirit stone out of his pocket. While spirit stones were split into broad classifications, they were not equal within one class, the same as cultivators in the same great realm are not equal. This one was nothing special, smaller and less dense than any the fifteen he had paid for the soul artist. "About this much, every week. Do a very good job and I'll throw in a smaller one that week."

Liuxian seemed to mull the offer over for a moment. It was true that this was a modest income, more like the amount a particularly hard working Aspirant might bring in. To a Ninth Heavenstage Cultivator, and a very skilled and daring one at that, it might be seen as an insult. Then again, Liuxian was a prisoner, and for a prisoner this was exceptionally kind treatment.

In the end, Liuxian's pride, which seemed to be of a moderate size and not too easily wounded, ceased its silent protests. "I'll take it. Any progress is better than none Cultivation is a race against time." He declared, plucking the stone from Gaius' palm and tucking it away to cultivate with later. He did not thank Gaius, and Gaius in turn did not point out the lack of thanks.

This would work out quite well indeed, Gaius thought to himself. This was exactly the sort of man he needed.

----

This one was fun to write. I'm not going to say too much in this author's note because I don't want to give too much away. But rest assured, both Gaius and Liuxian are keeping some things under wraps.