A shit-eating grin covered my face as I stood in my messy room that had more area covered by random junk and notes lying around than the floor itself. I stared at the porcelain bowl filled with spirit grass, that sat in boiling water. The goal was to boil the essence from the spirit grass and examine its properties. I’d have preferred a test tube, but something like that would have to be specifically made by a glassworker and I had nowhere near enough money for that. Glass was quite rare, and a sign of wealth as well.

It was something I’d think about once I’d managed enough to set up my own lab and alchemy shop.

I left the boiling porcelain bowl, moving aside to inspect the various spirit herbs I’d gotten. So far, I’d managed to make two broad distinctions in the types of herbs that Su Lin had provided me. The first one was the “standard” Qi type of herb. A general plant that had Qi inside of it. The second and more interesting one were the plants with special attunements and properties. Like the prismatic lotus, or the seven poison spirit leaves, and lightning ginseng that sparked every time I put Qi through it.

These plants shared specific attunements of Qi and I wanted to test what was different in normal Qi compared to attuned Qi.

Different though they may be, both these spirit herb types shared a common factor that they contained some form of Qi in them. The difference between these, and the regular plants that I fed Qi to was that these plants could absorb the Qi from their surroundings.

Almost as a normal plant would absorb water and carbon dioxide, these absorbed Qi. I was hoping to keep some and create a chamber completely devoid of Qi and see if the herbs would survive in there, or lose their magical properties.

The thought that the plants were cultivating came to my mind, yet I shot down the idea quite quickly. From what I could tell from Lu Jie’s memory, cultivation required the conscious channeling of Qi. What the plants were doing was akin to something more along the lines of simply breathing in the Qi, and soaking it in, instead of any guided cultivation.

I do wonder if some plants could cultivate though. Did they even have a dantian? Animals could cultivate, Labby was a perfectly good example. The little rat didn’t exactly know the concept of cultivating, but I’d found him channeling his Qi on his own sometimes. So perhaps it was instinctual to animals, how they were supposed to cultivate.

I hummed to myself, turning to stare at the little pots with mostly regular and a couple of spirit plants sitting around. Another interesting thing I’d noticed was how difficult spirit plants were to grow. It made sense that the sect had to create an area dedicated to them. Spirit grass, I could grow anywhere, but something like the prism lotus, or lightning ginseng was far too difficult.

That’s why I was testing with the spirit grass, to see if I could find something that could help me grow spirit herbs of my own. It’d solve most of my problems if I could source my own spirit herbs, and not only that, but set up a method of hastening their growth.

I’d had a few opportunities to try, and I was starting to have a gnawing suspicion that my Qi could increase the speed at which these herbs grew. The difference was minuscule, as after two weeks of supplying Qi to one plant, and not to the other, I’d found the one fed with Qi to be a bit more healthier and taller.

This was no real indication that it had happened due to my Qi and not just genetics, so a group based test with random assortments of plants will need to be done to verify it. If only I had a garden or something, and a lot more Qi. This was the most tempted I’d ever been to try out cultivation.

I’d even tried to sit down one day, just to see how it worked and I’d found my whole body itching as I shook my knees and wrists, unable to sit in place. I wasn’t even surprised, I’d never been able to just sit down and do nothing in my life. I had to do something, tap my fingers, or hum a tune. Just something.

Squeak!

The sound came as Labby ran into the room and rushed up my leg. “Whoa whoa whoa, calm down little buddy,” I said, as Labby clung fiercely to my body.

I turned to look at the direction he’d come from, to see what exactly had scared him so much. A ginger cat walked closer, staring with wide eyes at me, not expecting to see something five times its size around.

“Ah a cat, that makes sense I suppose. I’d expect a spirit animal to be fine though,” I said, scratching Labby’s head as he squeaked, his voice still nervous.

I waved the cat away from my chamber, receiving a hateful glare from the animal. “I can’t let you eat my assistant and spirit herb detector just like that,” I said to the cat as it turned its butt towards me, walking away.

“You really need to stop getting into so much trouble, Labby,” I said, as Labby calmed down a bit.

I extended my palm and Labby climbed on my arm and sat there. I smiled. The week after the encounter with the strange cultivator girl, I’d decided to train Labby a bit. He was smarter, smarter than even dogs and cats I suspected, so there was no reason not to train him.

“Sit,” I said, as Labby sat on his back legs, raising his front ones up.

“Roll,” I continued, as Labby lay down on my arm, and rolled once. I pet his head, as the little rat squeaked once, adorably. I dug into my sleeves and pulled out a pill to give it to him.

“Good boy!” I praised Labby as the rat dug into his treat. “Maybe also bring me that spirit grass from there?”

His ear swiveled once, as he squeaked, jumping off in a single leap. Labby ran through the room, going up to my counter as he grabbed a few grass leaves and ran up to me. I smiled, shaking my head. What he’d brought me was normal grass leaves, I’d kept it in the place I usually kept my spirit grass.

“I guess you’re not that smart yet. Still pretty damn smart though,” Labby stared at me for a moment, before his attention was brought back to the pill in his hand, and the gluttonous rat began to chow down.

I shook my head, amused by Labby’s actions. Aside from being extremely smart, the other little give-aways I’d noticed about Labby were how his fur was extremely fluffy. Like, you’d imagine a rat to be filthy and what not, but Labby looked like he went to a spa on a daily basis. I did still clean him once a week with some water and a brush, but there was definitely something unnatural about his fur.

The second thing was how he didn’t need to eat any food. Which was somewhat similar to me. Just a few days ago, I’d realised that, stuck in my notes, I'd forgotten to eat, or drink anything for two days straight. It was only when someone had come to check in, thinking I’d died that I’d realised how much time had passed by. Perks of having a cultivator’s body I suppose, but I enjoyed eating things too much to give it up.

The rattling of the porcelain cup told me my spirit herb solution was prepared and ready to be messed around with.

I walked closer, removing the single spirit stone that was fueling the Qi based burner stove I’d created as I waited for the heat to cool off slightly. A moment later I realised I could grab the plate straight away, as I was fairly resistant to heat as a cultivator.

I took out the fibrous strands of lifeless grass that remained, as I stared at the sloshing greenish water that sat in the plate. Putting most of it in a porcelain bowl I closed the lid, before I took another dish and poured some of the Essence-water in.

“Time to see just what makes you work,” I said out loud, as I sat down on the floor, and began to channel my Qi into the spirit water. The first and most obvious difference was the Qi present in the water pushing against my own. I couldn’t forcefully saturate it like normal water, as the Essence of the spirit herb pushed back any attempts I made.

Instead I began to circulate my Qi. For once, I found it easier to do so, as I didn’t have to forcefully calm my excitement down. Something shifted in the essence of the Qi present in the Essence-water.

I tried to pay close attention as the still plate of water slowly but surely began to swirl. I felt my excitement shooting up, as I began to circulate my Qi even faster. Something stirred in my mind and I followed my gut, closing my eyes to focus as I changed my Qi circulation, splitting it in two parts. Two circles swirled in two loops, one into the other, like a never ending cycle.

I felt a strong shift in the Qi around me, as if a vortex had been opened, the Qi in the air began to be sucked into my body. I opened my eyes to see the water swirling in a smooth manner, untouched by any force outside the circulation of my Qi, as the Essence of the water began to flow into me, helping me absorb even more Qi than before.

The results shocked me, breaking me out of my circulation method. I let the Qi settle for a moment as I inspect the water. I’d just made the water in this plate swirl without touching it, purely using my Qi.

There were far far too many possible answers for this, but I put them away, rushing to my notes as I began to jot down what I’d observed. Not only had the water begun to swirl when I used the different method, but the Essence in the water had seamlessly merged into my own Qi, the moment I’d begun to cultivate.

Something about the essence, had helped me speed up my Qi circulation. I scribbled down in my notes, grinning as I went back to the Qi try and induce another reaction.

I swirled the Qi near my hand, keeping my finger close to the dish as I tried to project it outwards, to rotate the Essence-water. A few seconds passed by as I frowned, focusing harder and harder but the water showed no reaction.

I was missing something. Something about the method of cultivation itself? I frowned as I tried to think over what the reason could be. I might need to get a look at the library, to find more information about the cultivation techniques we were taught. I knew them by instinct from Lu Jie’s memory but lacked the needed understanding to break down how it worked.

My eyes turned towards the plate one more, as gentle swirls swayed the Essence-water. I looked to the side, to see Labby circulating his Qi, in a manner extremely similar to my own.

“You sneaky little rat you,” I said, in a quiet whisper to not disturb Labby. I’d leave him for his cultivation trip. Perhaps he can surpass me and become some kind of cultivation god-beast, and I could work freely living off of his wealth.

I snickered, laughing at the prospect as I poured some essence water on another plate. There was another experiment I had in mind.

If my hypothesis was true, then there should be a fire starting within that Qi infused water, and I didn’t know if that was any worse than normal fire or not, so I was going to stay further away.

Taking a moment, I set the essence water on the ground and took a step away. I channeled my Qi, and then, similar to the way I started a fire, I set the water on fire.

A blazing white inferno erupted from the plate as porcelain shards shot off. I leapt back as a tongue of fire threatened to lick at me, but it faded out right after as the water evaporated instantly in the explosion.

I stared at the charred remains of my plate and the dark black marks on the ground, as my heart pounded. The panic faded soon as laughter began to bubble inside me, pouring forth in a mixture of relief and amusement.

“Exploding water, that’s the shit. Hah!” I laughed, a few moments longer, my smile maintaining on my face as I heard Labby squeaking in anger, having woken up from his trance.

“Broke your cultivation eh buddy?” I said, petting Labby as an apology, but my mirth was not lost.

I shook my head in silent admonishment, and reminded myself to be careful, as I enjoyed the best part any chemistry lab experiment in any world had to offer. The explosions.

I love my life here.