Stormy Mountain Sect Chapter 13

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

So, it's been a while since we've visited the Stormy Mountain Sect. I sent Homecoming off to the editor and took some time to write another chapter in SMS. Elder Grainne is maintaining her name, and the roommate is now Graille instead. Thanks for catching that!

While Homecoming is at the editor, I'll probably write another chapter or two of SMS and spend some time plotting the next EG book. 

Also a note, I have 5 copies of Elemental Gatherers Volume One and Volume Two in hardback available for signing and purchase. They're $30 each, or $55 if you want both. First come first serve!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Elder Grainne turned away and I saw that the twins were right behind her. Elder Grainne gestured at the planter, and a dozen weeds were pulled out and floated behind her. There were still a few left, showing the limits of even someone at her level. Probably couldn’t pull them all without damaging the herbs, I thought as we followed.

She led us deeper into the garden, winding through a dozen rows of herbs, food crops, and even a row that looked like it was growing grass. The grass gave off such a feeling of Growth, though, that Fionn had to pull me away. “Why the grass?” He asked as we hurried to catch up to the Elder.

“It felt like it was perfect for me,” I said.

“Because it is,” Elder Grainne said. “That is Ever Growing Grass. Do you have anything scheduled for the bell after this?”

“No, Elder,” I said.

“Good. I will require you to cultivate either upon or beside their bed. I am curious about the effect of your Affinity.”

“Uh, thank you, Elder,” I bowed.

“If you allow me to observe you, I will give you a planting of the Grass that you can take back to your domicile, or you may take ten credits,” she said.

“Can I decide later? After we see how cultivating here works?” I asked.

“Yes, but now we are here,” she said, stopping in front of a large stone planter. “This is one of the key parts of the garden. These are Eight Direction Qi Attracting Herbs. Whenever you advance enough to have space for your own garden, you will want some of these or a similar herb. You have all been taught how to sense Qi. Do so now.”

I nodded, then took a deep breath before dropping into my breathing pattern. Immediately, I felt the plants in front of me. They were radiating a feeling of absorption, of a river flowing into them from all directions. The amount of Qi around took my breath away.

“Yes, these are immensely powerful plants,” Elder Grainne said, “and they are useful in a number of powders and pills. Their most useful benefit, though, is in regulating the Qi flow of the entire garden. We have twenty seven of these beds, and nineteen of a different plant. I show you this so you understand that balancing the Qi of your garden is of vital importance. Now, follow.”

I hurried after her. “The majority of our garden is Water, Air, or Storm aligned. We have a number of other ingredients, though, especially nearer the entrance,” she said, moving towards the curtain of water ahead of us. “This is because the Storm Qi comes from outside the barrier, so the closer to it you are, the greater the proportion of Storm, Water, and Air. There and there,” she pointed to metal posts embedded into two beds of plants with shockingly bright yellow flowers in them, “are Lightning rods. The plants there are Lightning Jewel Orchids, which absorb all of the Lightning Qi that tries to move through the Water Qi.”

She looked over to the twins. “Do not attempt to block a Lightning attack with a Water shield.” She then glanced at me, “Just like you should not attempt to block a Fire attack with a Wood shield. You will need to learn how to manipulate pure Qi, along with another element or two to ensure that an opponent cannot simply destroy you with an opposing element.”

“Ma’am, what opposes Lightning,” Fionn asked.

“Lightning is one of the most powerful elements for attack,” she said. “But it has extreme limitations on what it can defend against. Earth is probably the worst, but in general, using Lightning to form a shield is asking for you to be injured. Lightning is strongest against Water and Metal, though the Water weakness becomes much weaker as you advance through the levels of cultivation. Now, this is not a combat class, so we will be moving on.”

“Elder,” I asked. “Does the interaction of elements impact how we should set up a garden?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, then rolled her eyes. “Fine. You do not wish to put elementally incompatible plants near each other, as they will end up in conflict, unless they are symbiotic plants that pull the incompatible Qi from their surroundings only.”

“Uh, how do you know which are symbiotic?” I asked.

“Experience and the experience of others,” she said. “For five hundred credits, I will spend a bell with you setting up a garden once you have advanced to a sufficient level. You must have the space already.”

I nodded, as did the others. “Good, now follow,” she said again. I hurried after her.

We approached the storm boundary, the rain pounding down in a visceral sheet. Right beside the edge, we stopped at a planter box. The air was extremely humid, spray from the wall of water only a meter away soaking everything. Four bright blue orchids grew two meters tall from the middle of the planter. I moved to sense the Qi around, and felt like I was drowning for a second. There was so much Water Qi meaning from the flowers, and into them in a wild whirlpool. The sensation passed, but I was amazed at the amount entering into the sect from outside.

“These are Glorious Waterfall Orchids,” Elder Grainne said. “If you are talented in Herbology and dedicate yourself to the Sect, you may be chosen to care for one of them. The Orchids in front of you are nearly three hundred years old, and have been given extreme care for the entirety of their lives. In two years, they will be harvested to create a pill used to assist a Runic Core cultivator to ascend to Nascent Soul. When harvested, each flower makes two seeds, and only our most talented juniors care for them.”

“Three hundred years!” One of the twins exclaimed.

“When you reach Runic Core, your lifespan reaches a millennium,” she answered. “Ascending to Nascent Soul gives you another four thousand years to live, though if you lose your cultivation you will die nearly instantly if you are older than a thousand years.”

“Wow,” Fionn said.

“Yes, that seems to be a nearly infinite amount of time for someone of your age,” Elder Grainne said with a smile, “but it runs out sooner than you think.”

“Elder Grainne, uh,” I started to ask.

“You want to know what level of cultivation I have reached, or how old I am?” She asked, giving me her attention.

“The first one, Elder,” I said with a bow, “I know better than to ask the second.”

She laughed, then answered, “I am a Runic Core cultivator, and will be one of the recipients of the Soul Opening Pill as a reward for nearly five hundred years of service to the Sect. Now, our time is nearly up. Marc, what is your decision?”

I took a deep breath, then said, “I will cultivate with the Ever Growing Grass and allow you to examine my cultivation.”

“Good. The rest of you are dismissed. I will see you in four days if you wish to continue learning Herbology,” Elder Grainne said. “Marc, follow.”

I hurried after her as she walked quickly towards the Ever Growing Grass’s planter.

“Hop on in,” she said, gesturing at the planter.

“Yes Elder,” I said, then carefully stepped onto the edge of the planter. Once up, I eased my way into the center and sat down. I took a deep breath, then controlled my breathing to sink into my cultivation. The area around me glowed brighter, green balls of Qi floating about as the grass below me grew and grew. Qi flowed into me, each mote drifting into and through my tendons, refining and strengthening them. Bits of Qi dropped to the ground around me, and the Ever Growing Grass surged towards them.

I kept pulling the Qi towards me, every second here worth four in my courtyard, trusting that Elder Grainne would stop me when the next bell started. Each breath brought more Qi, burning into and growing through me as I grabbed the Growth Qi surrounding me.

It took me a minute to realize that the burning from my legs wasn’t Qi, but the Ever Growing Grass pushing itself into my skin. The Grass was trying to suck the Qi out of my body to further its own growth.

I stopped cultivating immediately, trying to stand, only to have the Grass latch onto me. “Ahh!” I shouted, flailing at the ground.

“Shush,” Elder Grainne said, “Now continue cultivating.”

“But it hurts!” I said. “Is it supposed to?”

“Of course, pain is just weakness leaving the body,” she said. “Now, continue.”

I struggled to sit up, only to find that the Grass had latched onto every part of me. Oh, this is going to rot, I thought, but Elder Grainne won’t let me leave without doing this. Argh!

I focused on my breathing again, dropping into the trance of cultivating. With each breath, Qi flowed into me and into the Grass around me. Of course, this made the Grass grow, as its name suggests. The Grass burrowed into me, my skin parting under its razor sharp edges.

My view moved into my body, the third-person experience that cultivation created letting my mind see everything I needed it to. I found where the grass was growing, and saw that each pulse brought the edges closer to a tendon. The first one found the tendons connecting my thigh muscle to the hip bone, and the pain they caused spiked.

The tip of the grass dissolved into Qi and infused the tendon. Impurities were pushed out, each motion like a burr ripping out of my body. The Grass ate them up, keeping me from smelling disgusting at least.

My Qi pushed at one side of the tendon, and the Grass at the other. Each Qi ball refined the tiniest fraction of an inch, my tendons taking significantly longer than my muscles did. I cycled my cultivation method, following the directions for how to move my Qi throughout my body before dropping it into the tendon I was working on.

Another blade of Grass reached a tendon, and I found myself struggling to match each pulse as the two Grasses grew. If I didn’t put another Qi ball at the other end of the tendon, this one in my knee, the Grass didn’t push forward its own growth. I had to match them exactly or I didn’t get any benefit, only pain. It took me a few minutes to get a rhythm going, matching each of the two Grass blades when they wanted to grow.

Of course, once I was ready for two, two more reached a tendon. One was on my shoulder, and another on the opposite elbow. Over and over again, I had to learn to spread my Qi out, to push it into all sorts of different positions on my body one after another. If I failed, I hurt, and pain was an excellent teacher. Finally, most of the way through the next hour after my Herbology time, I was throwing Qi at every single tendon in my body.

Even with the doubling effect the Grass gave, I could tell it would take a week or two to actually advance, but every little bit was helpful, letting me push myself a bit harder, using more of the extra strength the Muscle Refinement had given me.  I knew that my body was automatically limiting itself, preventing me from tearing a tendon or breaking a bone with the enhancement. As my tendons were the weakest point right now, by enhancing them I grew stronger, though someone who had fully refined their tendons would be significantly stronger than I was currently. Next time I duel, I’m sure the Sharks are going to push someone at the edge of Bone Refinement at me, I thought to distract myself from the pain. I don’t know if the bow will help me through this next one. Maybe I should bring Dad’s glaive? I don’t really know how to use it, though. Hopefully tomorrow’s class on Physical Cultivation includes training on weapons. If not, I’ll need to find a tutor or a class I can take.

I cultivated for the rest of the hour, pushing through the pain as best I could, before a glowing green blade appeared in Elder Grainne’s hand and she sliced the Grass apart. “Your time is nearly over, and you must recover before moving on.”

“Thank you, Elder,” I said, and I flopped off the planter onto the ground, my legs refusing to respond to my commands. My body spasmed on me, every tendon tightening and loosening over and over for a minute as my nerves tried to get a handle on the new capabilities I’d gained. After another minute, they calmed down, but I still couldn’t get up. Why are my muscles not listening to me?

Elder Grainne gestured, and I flipped over and was pinned to the ground. Pieces of Ever Growing Grass were still trying to grow into me, following their name beyond what I wanted. A ripping sensation came from my left hamstring. I turned my head to see Elder Grainne holding a pair of tweezers made of Qi, and she plucked another strand of Grass out of my leg. “Hold still, and I will get the last of these out,” she said, yanking another out.

“Yes Elder,” I said, forcibly relaxing my body. Oh, that’s why. It took nearly ten minutes for her to finish helping me. The bell rang after only a few, leaving me glad I didn’t have anything immediately after this class. I hope I can walk after this, I thought, I need to meet Nuan, Aisling, and (Name) to start our cultivating session in the cultivation chamber.