We spent the rest of the way back to the sect in silence. I was going through the fight over and over to see what I could have done better. And I came to the simple conclusion, that I had performed abysmally. I had not used a single technique that I had learned. I might have even been able to save the girl, or at the very least been able to kill the bandit leader without putting myself in such a compromised position. I could have also blocked the spear strike completely, if I had practiced stone skin at all. Outside of this obvious flaw, this fight had been against half-starved humans, while I was basically superhuman.

  I wanted to see what Master would have to say about it, she did promise me to go through the missions afterwards after all. I spent most of the travel time back to practice the earths binding technique while moving and at night, did I practice stone skin. By the time we reached the sect, I was still not really proficient with them, but I was sure that I could have at least used them somewhat in battle. We were about to split up to our respective masters, when Estella said, “Miranda, do call me again when you do your next mission. Please. I too want to get stronger.” I nodded and the boys also echoed the same sentiment. As we split up completely, did Estella turn around one final time and yelled with a sly voice, “Also, I am going to keep the sword, since you forgot to pick it up.”

  I didn’t respond to her, since I would not be able to use it anyway, nor was I too interested on relying on treasures. I walked into the trainings ground and found Master practicing some movements in the middle of the field. Since I could follow the movements with my eyes, did I not bother waiting and assumed that she was not practicing with her entire attention. I said, “I complete the assignment, but I don’t think I did well.” She continued her movements, but I still began to recount the entire fight to the best of my abilities, including all the information we got beforehand. After that, did I begin to point out all the mistakes I had made.

  I started with the fact that we had overestimated how strong the enemy would be, which led to a worse strategy than necessary. If we had rushed in as a group, we could have prevented any deaths and forced them to fight in smaller groups. I also mentioned the complete lack of training of my techniques and that I had not used them. After I stopped, did Master ask, “Are these all your mistakes, or do you think that there were more?”

  I sat down on the ground and began to think through the entire journey again. I thought about the preparations we had made, I thought about the journey itself and the fight and couldn’t point to anything which I could reasonably have prepared before. I then slowly nodded and said, “Yes, I believe that was everything.”

  Master finally stopped practicing and sat opposite to me. She then began, “The first mistake was in preparations. You should have read through the relevant manual pages, even if just to skim through them. You could have started taking the poison already. You didn’t make any big mistakes during the journey, although it could have been smoother. You could have talked more and formed a deeper bond with them. You will presumably go on a few more missions with them and it is an important skill to get along with your team. Of course, they were rather easy to get along with, but it could have been better. You correctly pointed out the biggest issues in the fight. The rest of the problems come simply from your lack of knowledge on how to properly fight.”

  I took a moment to go through her critiques. The suggestions had been rather simple, but they did point to a general lack of attentiveness from my side. I was curious about the exact mistakes I had made during the fight and asked Master about it. She first began by pointing out better plans to me, after that, did she go through the fight, move by move. She showcased what I should have done, forcing me to copy her movements. It took a few hours until we went through the entire fight in detail and Master was satisfied.

  She smiled and said, “While I don’t expect you to remember all of this, it should help you get a baseline to work from. And lastly a question for you. How do you feel after killing three people? Be as honest as possible, as I will use that to determine what missions to give you in the future.” I was surprised by the sudden question and allowed myself to catch my breath again. I replayed the three deaths again in my head and allowed the feelings I had been supressing to rear their head.

  After a few more moments of consideration, did I answer Master, “I feel a sense of disgust towards myself for being responsible for their deaths. There also is a vague sense of despair and a bit of fear towards myself, at how easily I had been able to let a child die. But overshadowing all of this is a sense of apathy and an anticipation for my next battle. Other than that, I don’t think that I feel much.”

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  I was surprised at my own answer. I had expected that I had bottled up more. I felt a sense of concern at my lack of sadness or even basic empathy. The reaction had felt way more intense in the moment of battle, which made me curious if I was already supressing my emotions, or if it had just been a natural reaction of my body. Master stared a moment at my face and then said, “Sleep tonight. While your body doesn’t need to rest, your mind still needs the break. If your answer hasn’t changed in the morning, I will arrange you a fitting mission. Other than that, make sure to visit the alchemists to get you the poison you need.”

  While I didn’t feel tired, it still sounded reasonable. I had been awake for over a week at this point. It was still daytime, but there was no real reason I could not sleep already. I began to make my way towards the dorms, when Master caught up with me and said, “Almost forgot. I changed your room to fit Earth’s bounty better. You now own the room at the end of the left corridor. She handed me a key and went back to practicing her movements. I looked at the key for a moment and realized that I had completely forgotten her promise already.

  Her advice for proper sleep suddenly sounded extremely sound, since I should never forget any promises or ways to become stronger faster. I quickly found my new room and opened the door. It still had a desk and the wardrobe, but everything had been removed, including the floor. There was now a short step of stairs leading into the dirt below. I took off my robes and just let myself fall into the dirt with my back first. I then wriggled around a bit until the earth covered most of my body and relaxed.

  The room felt peaceful and the earth was cool. It was also surprisingly soft. I closed my eyes and began to sense the earth Qi flowing into my body at a steady rhythm. I used a bit of earth Qi to manipulate the earth to smother the candles that were still lit. The room fell into total darkness and I felt my muscles relax. Still, my mind felt restless. There was so much I wanted to do and I could not afford even a single minute of pause. I rationally understood that it was more efficient in the long run to rest my mind from time to time, until I could function without rest.

  But that point was still a lot of body modifications away if I guessed correctly. I began imagining all the body modifications I wanted to do in the future. I knew that there was a lot of value on staying in a human form for a long time, until I no longer needed to interact society on any level. So, the modifications could start internal and then slowly become more obvious. The first that came to mind, was the need to get night vision and enhance my other sense in some way. I would lack an omnidirectional sense after all and needed to compensate somehow.

  While my mind mulled over modifications and all the possibilities of the future, did I drift into a sleep. I didn’t know when I woke up again and felt disoriented. Due to the lack of light in the room, did it take me a few minutes of stumbling around to open the doors slightly to allow light in. With the help of the torchlight in the corridor, since it was apparently nighttime again, did I get dressed.

  I went outside and saw Master still practicing and wondered how long she could do this before she needed a break of any sort. I greeted her with a quick bow and said, “My feelings have not really changed, outside of the fear and disgust disappearing almost completely. Does this kind of poison already have a name among body cultivators, or do I need to explain to them the premise?” Without stopping did Master answer, “Just ask for their options of body purification and your plaque should allow you to get better alchemist and materials.”

  I nodded in acknowledgment and made my way out of the training grounds while looking at my map. The nightlife of the sect was no different from the daily life. The light of the sun had been replaced by countless lanterns and treasures, but otherwise was the sect as busy as during the day. It felt a bit surreal seeing such a nightlife, but I didn’t let it disrupt my journey to the alchemists. It was more an entire district of the sect than just a single pagoda. They had set up stalls along the road leading to two pagodas in the center.

  I went over to the nearest stall that currently wasn’t actively serving customers and asked the owner where I would need to go to buy things for body purification. I was pointed towards the left pagoda when I showcased my plague. I took glances at the items that were being sold in the stalls on my way. I was unsure if I would ever want to use them, since it would be bad to get reliant on them. But it would still be helpful, if I knew what to expect them to do for my enemies. I saw things ranging from pills that would heal mid combat to small drinks that would recover Qi or help with cultivation to escape tools, like smoke bombs.

  When I arrived in the tower, I was greeted by a receptionist. I showed him my plague and asked, “I want to get medicines for a body purification. What can you offer me?” The receptionist looked at the plague for a moment and waited for a moment. When he realized that I wasn’t going to say anything more, did he ask, “How exactly would your body purification work? I cannot really recommend you any alchemists without any details.” I hesitated, since it would potentially expose details about my cultivation and thus potentially weaknesses. Still, what he had said made sense to me, so I explained, “I would need something to damage specific parts of my body and also medicine to flush out any remaining toxins.”

  I had tried to remain vague enough for him to not just be able to guess how it worked. The receptionist opened a book and began skimming through it, writing things down on a paper, until he handed me the paper. It had three names on it with a number next to them. He explained, “These are the three alchemists currently available for such a project. The number next to the name is the room number. You can discuss details with them, and it would do you good if you showed them your cultivation manual, since they will need to be precise.”

  I thanked him and made my way deeper into the pagoda towards the staircase and the rooms. I glanced at the doors in the wall to understand how they were sorted. I sighed, since the closest alchemist on the list was on the third floor and I didn’t want to waste time each time that I would visit them. I began making my way up the stairs and felt a slight sense of excitement grow inside of me again. I was getting closer to the first body modifications, and they seemed to have a strange lure to me.