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I was better at forcibly moving qi around than when I first started cultivating, but even having practiced qi control skills for centuries, I still wasn’t able to exert the fine control needed for weaving a perfect meridian.

A low eight-star affinity was simply not high enough for the delicate work I was trying to do. A higher affinity would allow me to control qi with far more precision.

I had the credits I needed to boost it slightly, but I didn’t know if it would be enough. A peak nine-star affinity had been invaluable when attempting to reach Peak Disciple with pure qi while using a Peak-Yellow technique. To cultivate to the limit as a Martial Master I might need a peak eight-star affinity.

Paying for a peak eight-star affinity was going to be a problem, though.

I could rush up to Peak Master with a weak foundation, grab the credits, and then use them to boost my affinity. But… that felt like admitting defeat. There had to be another path forward. Other people in the world managed to reach Grandmaster in a single life. Shouldn’t it be possible for me to do the same?

Of course, they all had their own affinities and blessings to help them. Compared to them, I had started from a uniquely poor position. But at this point, my situation wasn’t so terrible. There had to be a path forward for me.

So, I needed to increase my affinity, but I didn’t have the credits to do so. What should I do?

A new idea struck me, and I cocked my head to the side in contemplation. I didn’t have anywhere near the credits needed to permanently boost my affinity high enough, but I could reach that level with a temporary boost.

A temporary boost would raise my affinity for a single life, and then when I died, the affinity, and the credits I had spent on it, would simply disappear. Before, this had felt wasteful, so I had ignored temporary boosts and nearly forgotten they were an option. Now, I was starting to realize that they could be a useful tool for pushing further and earning more credits than would otherwise have been possible.

That was a real possibility, but I wasn’t ready to rush into anything. There might be an even better way forward, and I didn’t feel any urgency to rush.

Cao had told me that a Martial Disciple’s cultivation calcifies at age 30. While practicing as a Martial Master in Rudy’s workshop, I noticed a sharp decline in my cultivation speed at age 60. Improving to Martial Master had doubled my life expectancy, and it also seemed to have doubled the age of calcification.

That meant that I had 40 years to reach Peak Master. This wasn’t an eternity. Last time, I had only reached Martial Master when I was nearly 90. But it was long enough that I could take time to see if there was any other way to cultivate successfully.

Aside from practicing forming meridians, I spent a significant amount of time creating pills for Deacon Ma.

As stipulated in my agreement with Elder Mu, he didn’t give me any reward for this work. Every week, he would just hand me a bundle of ingredients, and I would hand him the pills I had made using the previous week’s bundle.

For anyone else, so much work with so little reward might have been demoralizing. Personally, I didn’t mind. It wasn’t any different than what I had done in Rudy’s workshop. Elder Mu was simply providing me endless resources to practice with. The pills my efforts produced were meaningless since they would disappear the moment I died.

I did, however, hold back a few Qi Recovery Pills from each of my shipments. These pills were useful for keeping my energy topped up and allowed me to spend far more time practicing alchemy and cultivation.

As I was using them to help me make pills for Deacon Ma, I didn’t consider these Qi Recovery Pills as any form of payment, but maybe Deacon Ma did? Was that why I didn’t get any other reward? Because I held back a few pills? If so, Elder Mu was far more miserly than I had expected.

While the situation didn’t bother me overmuch, I also wasn’t thrilled by it. If things didn’t change, I wouldn’t consider working with the elder again in the future.

I spent all my time forming practice meridians and concocting pills. Improving my cultivation and alchemy as I was proper. I didn’t improve much, but I did take a few small steps forward.

After three years of this routine, Deacon Ma finally stopped me. “You’ve just turned twenty, right?”

I wasn’t entirely sure. “I think so, Deacon Ma. That sounds right.”

“The outer sect competition is in five months. You need to advance to Martial Master before then and move up to the outer sect this year.” His voice was firm and unwavering.

“What? Why?”

“You’re 20. After 20, if a Martial Disciple hasn’t advanced to Martial Master, the energy in their body begins to stagnate, wasting their potential.”

My eyes widened in shock. “I thought I had another ten years. I was told calcification happens at 30.”

He shook his head sharply. “While calcification happens at 30, stagnation happens at 20. At 20, it will become more difficult to advance. At 30, it will become nearly impossible to do so. So, while it is possible to wait another ten years, if you want to be successful, you must advance before you stagnate.”

My mind began to race. “What about as a Master? What is the time limit after I advance?”

“Every realm adds 100 years to your lifespan, so as a Disciple, Master, and Grandmaster, you will live 100, 200, and 300 years respectively. Stagnation sets in at 20% of this lifespan, so 20, 40, and 60 years old. Calcification sets in at 30% of this lifespan, so 30, 60, and 90 years old. However, once stagnation or calcification sets in, advancing will not reverse it. If you advance to Martial Master after 20, the effects of stagnation will continue to affect you no matter how quickly you advance to Grandmaster.”

"So, I need to advance to Master by 20 and Grandmaster by 40… I can manage that.”

Deacon Ma shook his head. “That will avoid stagnation, yes, but it isn’t ideal. To be treated as a true prodigy by the sect, you will need to advance to Grandmaster before 30. This isn’t crucial, and it won’t affect your further cultivation, but it will affect the value the sect places on you.”

“I… I understand. I can advance now, but my foundation will be weak. I’m still not able to form perfect meridians.”

“Yes, this is a problem the elder has considered. Your affinity is too low. Even if you become a Peak Master, it will be difficult for you to advance to Grandmaster, and even if you did, you would be at a significant disadvantage.”

He paused to give me a moment to consider my situation. It wasn’t good. I was starting to feel I had made a mistake when I raised all my affinities to low eight-star instead of focusing on fire. The other affinities had helped my alchemy, but it was at the cost of my ability to advance my cultivation.

Deacon Ma finally threw me a lifeline. “The elder has decided to give you an opportunity. The sect’s baptism pool will soon be opened. It is capable of greatly enhancing the fire affinity of anyone who enters. If someone with a low eight-star affinity were to enter the center of the main pool, they might be boosted to mid or even high seven-star.”

Before I could reply, he continued, cutting off any premature dreams. “Of course, you will not even be allowed near the edge of the main pool. Inner and outer sect disciples have been competing for places in the pool for months. You don’t qualify. However, the elder has been allocated a spot in a secondary pool, and he has decided to give it to you. The benefits are not nearly so great, but you should still be able to advance your affinity one or two steps.”

He gave me a meaningful look.

“I hope you understand. The value of this opportunity far exceeds what you have given us so far. You have provided us with a large quantity of Rank 1 pills, but the value of even Perfect Rank 1 pills is limited. This reward is a sign that the elder has recognized your diligence. Be sure to repay him.”

I didn’t know the value of an opportunity to raise an affinity, but I was certain the deacon was right about its value relative to the pills I had given him.

I looked the deacon in the eye, and was filled with conviction.

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“I will repay my debt.”

After meeting with Deacon Ma, I had to make a decision about how to handle my affinities.

I had wanted to find a path forward without needing to rely on the System, and I had done so. Even if its effects would be limited in this life, this ‘baptism pool’ that could raise my affinities opened up a world of new possibilities for the future.

So, my goal had to shift. I didn’t need to find another new path forward, I needed to take best advantage of the opportunity and resources available to me.

I had no reason to distrust anything Deacon Ma had told me. I couldn’t confirm all of it, but everything matched up with my own experiences. While the information on stagnation was a surprise, it helped explain why my cultivation speed would slow down even before I reached calcification.

So, since I was already 20, I needed to advance as soon as possible. However, while waiting around for my cultivation to stagnate would be bad, advancing with a foundation made out of mud wouldn’t be any good either.

There was only one way to solve this dilemma, I needed to improve my affinity.

Elder Mu was going to let me enter the pool to do so, but Deacon Ma had said I should only expect it to boost my affinity by at most two steps. That would give me a high eight-star affinity. Was that enough? It felt… lacking.

My conjecture was that I would need a peak eight-star affinity to perfect my cultivation in the Martial Master realm. That had to be my minimum goal. To achieve that, I would need more than the sect’s baptism pool. I would need help from the System.

I pulled out my journal and did a bit of math. I needed to figure out how to best utilize my remaining credits.

Once I was satisfied with my plan, I set it into action.

“System, permanently raise my fire affinity to mid eight-star.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 2,500 credits. 4,540 credits remaining.

The cost of making that bump permanent was high, but buying it was a way to mitigate the risk of what came next.

I didn’t like the idea of spending credits on temporary boosts, but I could use them to raise my affinity far higher than would otherwise be possible. If I wanted a peak eight-star affinity, temporary boosts were the way to do it.

“System, raise my fire affinity to peak eight-star for the remainder of this life.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 1,250 credits. 3,290 credits remaining.

Now, could I go further? I thought I knew what the costs would be, but I needed to make sure.

“How much to raise it to low or mid seven stars?”

Temporary Low 7* Fire Affinity. Cost 1,000 credits.

Temporary Mid 7* Fire Affinity. Cost 2,500 credits.

I nodded. It was as I expected.

At this point, it was hard to know the best way to proceed. What would be best? The problem was that I didn’t know how much the baptism pool would help me.

I could only buy a single boost, from peak eight to low seven or low seven to mid seven. I wouldn’t be able to buy one from mid seven to high seven. The exact boost I got from the pool would affect which one of these options was the most cost effective.

If it raised me a single step regardless of my starting affinity, buying the low seven affinity first would be for the best since it was cheapest.

If the secondary pool I was being sent to was powerful enough to raise me from peak eight to low seven but not from low seven to mid seven, buying the more expensive one later would be better since it was the only way to reach a mid seven affinity.

It was even possible that I would be boosted to mid seven no matter what. In that case, no purchase at all would be the best choice.

There was just too much I didn’t know about how this pool was supposed to raise my affinity to make any firm decision.

After carefully considering my options, I chose to hold off on any more purchases until after the baptism. It might not be the most cost effective option, but it was the one that gave me the highest chance to reach a mid seven-star affinity.

With that decision made, I returned to my practice with meridians.

This practice went significantly smoother than ever before. With my new peak eight-star fire affinity, I no longer felt like I was having to force qi to listen to me. Forming meridians started to almost feel natural.

It would only be a short period of time before I was ready to advance.

A month later, Deacon Ma came to take me to be baptized.

When he arrived, he was carrying a full-face mask which he immediately handed to me. “Put this on. After you advance to the outer sect, you can be more open about your connection to the elder, but fighting over nominal disciples is fair game, and we would rather avoid that. It would be best if no one knows who Elder Mu gave this opportunity to.”

Once I had donned the mask, he led me out of the city and onto a narrow path through the surrounding forest. It was exactly the same as when I went to gather the Cold Mountain Fire. The path was perfectly straight, and I saw nothing but trees that twisted strangely in the corner of my eye.

Unlike the path to the fire seed, this one ended at a large forest clearing where a number of people had already gathered. I noticed several sky-blue robes of inner sect disciples, but most were wearing robes of a paler shade. Possibly outer sect disciples? I didn’t have the opportunity to ask. Deacon Ma took me to the side and didn’t allow me to approach or be approached by anyone else.

The scene was eerily quiet. There were no sounds of anyone talking, only the sounds of the forest. With so many people, that seemed impossible, but clearly, there was nothing to hear but the forest. I saw people’s mouths move, but… no, just forest sounds. No one was talking.

When the group started moving, Deacon Ma pulled me along. It was hard to tell with the thick cover of trees, but it felt like we were walking away from the mountain. I wasn’t sure how long the trek lasted, maybe a few hours, and that entire time, the path ahead was perfectly straight.

Finally, we arrived at a cave opening. It looked just like the one that had led to the seed of the Cold Mountain Fire, but it couldn’t be the same one. The distances didn’t match.

Several deacons and a few elders stood around the cave. Someone from our group went up to them, but they didn’t say anything. After a moment, he gestured for us to enter, and Deacon Ma guided me inside.

While most of the group proceeded down the widest tunnel, he took me to a small branch path. At its opening, he gave me a sharp look and pointed down the small tunnel.

“This is a straight path to the pool. When you get there, stay on the outside edge. You are not allowed to go any further, and you will only cause trouble if you try.”

I nodded. I tried to respond, but I couldn’t force the words to come out of my mouth, so I gave up, turned around, and walked down the tunnel as ordered.

The cave looked natural and had a generally musty smell to it. However, the further I walked, the more I began to notice an additional faint sulfurous stench. After I noticed that additional smell, it wasn’t long before I found the pond I was looking for.

The tunnel opened into a cavern with a pond close to twenty meters in diameter. A group of young men and women were already sitting in the water, fully clothed. No one even opened their eyes as I moved to join them.

I approached the pool and sat down in the water, staying right at the edge as I had been told.

As I sat there in the water, I realized that I had never been told what to do to raise my affinity. Deacon Ma’s behavior had indicated that I would know what to do, but sitting there, nothing seemed to be happening.

With no better idea on how to proceed, I looked at the water using qi sight.

What I saw was shocking. I had never seen anything like it before.

Large flecks of red energy floated everywhere in the water. They seemed to bubble up from the very center of the pool, and the disciples sitting there were pulling them into their bodies as fast as possible. Only a scarce handful of flecks escaped all the way out to the edge where I was.

I cycled my cultivation technique to try to draw this energy nearer, but it didn’t have much of an effect. So, I reached out with my fire affinity and simply pulled on them with all the mental energy I could muster.

This worked, and the flecks of energy started migrating toward me. The moment they touched my body, they disappeared. I kept pulling, trying to grab as many flecks as possible, but even after several flecks of energy had entered my body, I didn’t feel much different. Still, I had to assume that this was what I was supposed to do.

The process went on for hours. As I watched the cultivators at the center of the pool gobble up the majority of the energy, I felt like I was only eating breadcrumbs dropped from the mouths of hungry vultures. I could only hope that the meager amount I obtained would be enough to improve my affinity.

During this time, I didn’t have much to do other than think, and that made my mind drift to questions of exactly what this energy was and how it could improve my affinity.

It wasn’t qi, I was sure of that, but that didn’t tell me much. In a way, it was like the medicinal energy in herbs. The red energy in some herbs was some type of fire energy, and my fire affinity could affect it, but it was distinct from fire qi and fire-based medicinal energy. This was a third form of fire energy.

I wanted to know what it was. I needed to ask the System, but I didn’t want anyone to hear me, so I tried to ‘speak’ to the System by subvocalizing, making no sounds and barely moving my jaw.

“System, how much to learn about the energy in this pool that’s capable of raising my affinity?”

The cost of this information is not possible to calculate at this time.

I ground my teeth slightly. I should have expected that answer.

While I didn’t know where this energy was coming from or why it could increase affinity, I did have a new potential goal for the future. Once my storage space was large enough, could I store a pool like this inside? If I did, would I be able to quickly raise my affinities at the beginning of every life without spending any more credits on them? I wasn’t sure about the feasibility of the idea, but it was worth keeping in mind.

All too soon, the fire energy in the pool dried up and no more entered. At that point, I stood and left to rejoin Deacon Ma.

We took our leave from the group, and he led me back to the city. On the trip, I subvocalized a few more questions.

“System, how much to upgrade my fire affinity to low seven-star?”

Processing… Information on affinity pricing. Cost 500 credits.

My steps paused at that response. Deacon Ma looked at me, and I hurried to fall back in step.

“System, how much to upgrade it to mid seven-star?”

Information on affinity pricing. Cost 500 credits.

“System, why are you charging me to learn a price? I’ve never had to pay before.”

The price of information depends on the degree to which it will affect the flow of karma and how much it will change destiny. If information from the System will affect the flow of karma, it must be purchased, even if that information is the price of a potential purchase.

I think I understood. When we got back, Deacon Ma would likely test my affinity to see how it changed. The results of that test would affect how he and Elder Mu treated me going forward. If I saw that a low seven-star affinity costs zero credits, that would inform my actions between now and being tested.

So, the knowledge of the cost of raising my affinity would have a direct impact on the actions of both me and Grandmaster Mu. That meant I had two options. Either I purchase the information, or I spend my credits blindly and hope for the best.

I needed to shine as much as I could to set up my future as a Grandmaster. The more I was valued, the more resources would be poured into me, pushing me even further.

A smile appeared on my face as I made my decision. I had already invested heavily into this life, and as they say, if the best choice is to not do something, but you do it anyway, then the second-best choice is to not stop doing it.

“System, boost my fire affinity to mid seven-star as a temporary upgrade.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 2,500 credits. 790 credits remaining.

I was now all-in on this life. How far could I go? Martial Grandmaster Peak? Martial Lord? Either would be a huge step forward.

Was jumping from low eight-star to mid seven-star in one go a bit too much? In retrospect, the elder might not be completely sanguine about such a large change. It was possible, but this boost should at least justify the importance WuJing put on me.