Time flew by, it had been 6 months. Kael still had not made any improvement at all into Qi refinement. After three months of no progress, Muta got annoyed and just forged his entire hammer for him. According to him, due to Kael’s physique, he couldn’t do much other than manual labor until he could hold enough qi for his hammering technique.

One night a severely depressed Kael convinced his parents to give him their techniques. Getting his mother's body refinement technique he found it was all about agility, stamina, and bursts of sudden strength. Reviewing his father's qi refining technique again, the concept was pretty simple. The basic concept was to push metal element qi to the outside area of the dantian. Once a ring was formed, absorb more qi, convert some of it to the metal element, then use the rest of the qi in the dantian to create pressure on the ring. In this way you could smash the elemental qi, purifying it like you would in a forge.

His mother’s qi refinement was completely different. The person utilizing the technique would absorb wood element qi into the center of their dantian like a ball. They would then convert the rest of their qi into fire qi. Using the fire qi to burn off the impurities around the edges of the wooden qi. When the user needed a burst of strength they would inject the incredibly pure wood qi into the fire qi, causing it to flare up, creating a huge burst of energy.

Unfortunately for him, they would not give him their soul refining methods, regardless of how he begged..

Another 6 months flew by. Kael was attempting to use both his father’s and his mother’s method of refining qi but completely failed. When he had broken through perfection realm his dantian started to form, but it was still little more than the size of a swollen meridian.

Raen had smoothly broken through twice to Rank 8. Using the Mountain Forging technique, she gained 1 strength, 2 body, and 1 stamina. The large jump in the fitness of her body made her extremely happy.

Late the night of new years, Kael walked Muta and Raen home. During their walk, he mentioned to Muta that he had broken through the perfection realm of body refinement long ago. Muta, who was a little shocked at hearing this, was even more shocked at Kael’s next offer. “If you want, I can teach Raen how to break through into it. It is extremely, extremely, extremely, painful though. My pops said it was dangerous as well.”

Looking at the brat he had grown so fond of, Muta said, “Thanks brat, I will keep it in mind. Don’t think you can delay Raen from getting to Xantian before you with this though. You better figure out your issues soon. After she steps into qi refinement I will teach her my refinement method. She will break through to soul refinement in less than two years, and step into xiantian by 13. If you can’t keep up you won’t have a future together, the lifespan difference between houtian and xiantian are too big.”

“Thanks, old man, I won’t fall behind. According to our ancestors, people in my situation either stay a mortal for life or shake the world. Saint is not my end goal, just the start.”

Clapping Kael on the shoulder Muta said, “Good, don’t let the little girl down.”

Annoyed with their banter, Raen said, “Can you people stop talking about me like I’m not here? Kael, don’t hurt yourself trying to advance, if you can’t become a saint you will always be my best friend!”

Although he knew Raen meant it in a, we will always be friends way, Kael thought, Shit, reach xiantian or get friend zoned?! Harsh! Wait, I’m 9, she is 11, what am I even thinking. Did I become a creepy uncle? Shaking off his goosebumps, he thanked Raen and finished escorting them home.

3 months later with no progress, Muta’s words began to haunt him. Talking to his mom he found out that each rank in cultivation drastically increased the lifespan of a cultivator. A basic entry-level saint had the lifespan of 300 years. Although he already knew his parent's age, it was still shocking hearing it again.

When his mother broke down and told him that she was almost 300 years old and would live to at least 1,200, it nailed in Muta’s words. He was being completely serious. It would be unhealthy to let someone who is going to live 300 years hang around with someone who is going to kick it in less than a third of that.

Talking to his father, his father's opinion on cultivating was entirely different than his mothers. “Son, your life is too easy, which is why you can’t break through. Remember when I said cultivators had to go against heavens will? Did you think I was joking? Because I wasn’t. You don’t have a dantian, you simply will never break through. Is this what you want to hear, or do you want to hear the truth? To break through you will have to go against the laws of nature. How do you think that is going to happen when you are living a comfortable life. Go take some risks!”

The next day he told his parents he was going to go take some risks out in the forest. His mother was concerned but she knew this was coming. “Kael, before you go I still have a lot of herbs you brought back from the city then promptly forgot. You have done almost no alchemy other than what your dad brings you. You also have done nothing but purchase body cleansing pills with the money you made. I assure you, by now your body has no leftover medicinal residue. Before you go you need to refine the herbs you bought. You also need to go get the core of your hammer from Muta. If he still won’t have you forge, get him to make it for you.”

Shit, I have totally been in a slump, how could I forget the herbs. “Ok, mom! I’ll do the herbs tonight. Let me go talk to Muta and Raen.” Leaving his house he headed back over to the smithy which had practically become his second home.

Entering the shop Raen was talking to another villager about what they wanted them to make. Slipping past her with a smile, he went into the forging area. Finding Muta he laid out his plans to go take risks in hope of inspiration. “Good brat, you are finally acting like a man and not a little white face. To be honest, I thought you would give up, so I forged an entire hammer for you. I hope you don’t mind.”

A little annoyed at the lack of faith, Kael said, “No it’s fine, I know most of the village thinks I am a cripple. Thank you for forging the hammer though, can I see it?”

Muta took a hard look at the little boy he had watched grow up for the last few years. “Alright brat, I’ll give it to you, but you had better not disappoint Raen.” After saying that, Muta left to go upstairs, coming back a few minutes later, he had a square a leather-wrapped bundle in one hand, and an almost black 3-foot long pole in the other.

Taking the bundle from Muta, if he had to guess, he would think it was about 1,600 pounds. Unwrapping it, it was an enormous hammerhead. The front of it was square, and about 18 inches in width and height. The hammerhead tapered back into a flattish, instead of round, bladed spike.

Running his finger along the blade that ran down the length of the top and bottom of the spike, he cut his finger open on accident. Hearing Muta’s grunt of “Dumbass”, he stuck his finger in his mouth so he wouldn’t bleed everywhere.

The side of the hammer was etched with the design of a mountain wrapped in vines. Kael could tell a lot of effort and love went into it. He examined it to find that it was a tier 2, earth ranked hammer. Along the bottom of one side of the hammer was the tiny words, The Meteor Hammer. On the other side along the bottom was an artistic signature that read, Muta Ruǎnjīn.

“Thanks, Muta, this means a lot to me, I will treasure it.”

“Brat, I don’t care if you treasure it, just come back alive so I don’t have to explain things to my treasured child. Speaking of her, she made the handle.”

Taking the handle from Muta, he ran his finger up the length of the cold metal. Examining it, he found it was a tier 1, earth ranked component. The handle was carved with slight depressions of flames running up its entire length. Gripping it, he felt the flames functionality as it would help the handle not slip. Smiling he said, “This is amazing work.”

Shooing Kael away, Muta said, “I’m glad you like it, now run along, I am really busy.”

Taking off with his hammer parts in his hands, he waved to Raen before leaving. He did not notice the disappointment in her eyes when she saw the handle. Her pops had agreed with her not to give it to him unless he gave up on cultivating.

Late into the night of refining herbs, Kael got the notification he was waiting for.

Congratulations you have created a new object: Perfect Minor Phoenix Flight Potion Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 10.

Enhanced potency by 40

Item creation, initial potency of 180(220). Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 220(+50% =330).

Base doses of 10, no waste of overall potency, 18(-50% due to talents =9) potency per dose.

Converting 330 potency, remaining 36.67(37) doses. Each dose value of 2.5 experience, soul granted 92.5 experience to the alchemist profession.

Congratulations, for perfecting a recipe you were granted 50 experience.

After refining the 90 sets of herbs he gained enough experience to move into Rank 6 Alchemy. The next day he carried all of the powders over to Muta shop. He already had a stash of jugs there so it had been much simpler the last 2 years of refining. Showing up he said hi to Raen, but she just nodded and said, “I have to go into the village today, you are on your own.” Waving to her as she left, he went in to find Muta. The two of them finished refining everything before he made trip after trip back home. Oddly, he felt like the villagers were giving him dirty looks the entire way.

That night, he told his dad he should try to sell the phoenix flight potion, there was way too many to do anything constructive with. The next morning he grabbed his pack, stuffed it with a few sets of clothes, and tons of powders. Taking his pack and hammer, he left a note for his parents that said he would be back when he broke through. Standing up, he headed to the smithy. Showing up he did not see Raen, which he thought sucked because he had things for her. Deciding to head upstairs to give her the gift he had, he skipped saying bye to Muta first.

Entering the home he heard Raen’s door slam shut. Finding it odd he called out to her. “Raen, you there? I have a gift for you.” He barely heard her reply of, “Just leave it at the door.” Unpacking his stuff he left her 10 body cleansing pills, 2 jugs of Qi Gathering potions, and a book that described how to break into the perfection realm. He had also added his own cultivation method to it and his notes on what he experienced breaking through. “Raen, can’t you come out for a moment, I’m leaving and wanted to say bye.” Hearing this Raen shouted, “I heard you, bye Kael.”

Kind of pissed off at her attitude he went down to find Muta. Muta seeing him with the hammer and the pack knew he was leaving.

“You’re taking off eh brat?”

“Yeah, I don’t know how long I will be gone though. Sorry for letting you down on the work around the forge.”

“Don’t worry about it, your cultivation is more important, that little girl has been worried.”

“I doubt that she has been avoiding me and would not even let me say bye.”

“She is probably just upset she won’t see you for a while.”

“Yeah, ok, well tell her I decided to extend my trip. Originally I was only going out for a month, but I decided I won’t be back until I break through.”

“Will do brat, good luck.”

“See you later Old Man, thanks for all the help!”

Giving the grandfatherly Muta a hug, Kael turned around and headed out of the village. Entering the forest he burst out into full speed. As the trees whipped past him he was pretty excited to be taking real control over his life for the first time since his rebirth.

A few hours after he left, Raen was grumpily standing at the front counter of the smithy. Staring off into space her thoughts were interrupted when the door burst open and Kael’s mom came in. With a panicked look on her face, she half shouted, “Raen, have you seen Kael today, tell me, where is my baby?” Raen was thoroughly shocked by Alavarah appearance and emotional state. “He was here this morning to say bye before he left for the forest, what’s wrong?” Grabbing Raen by the shoulders Alavarah looked her straight in the eyes and said, “What else did he say or do, tell me!”

“He didn’t say anything, he just left some stuff before leaving, what’s wrong?” Raen asked as she was starting to worry herself. “Nothing,” Alavarah said before she slapped a note down on the counter and barged into the forge.

Muta, who was in mid-swing of the hammer, struck the edge of the blade, snapping it, due to the sudden person bursting in. Seeing it was Alavarah he said,

“Damn girl, I broke the blade, what’s got you so up in arms to bust in here?”

“Have you seen my son today?”

“Of course I have, he came here to say sorry about not being able to work for a while.”

“So you knew?!”

At this point, a crying Raen came into the forge holding a note in her trembling hands.

“Knew what, that he was leaving? So what, it’s not like you guys didn't know. Calm down girl, he will be fine.”

“What am I supposed to know! He was leaving for a month but this morning he left a note saying he would come back after he broke through!”

Crying Raen sobbed out, “He’s gone Pa, why is he gone! Why didn’t he tell me?”

With a massive headache coming on, Muta said, “Listen to you two. So what if he went out. It’s not like he won’t be back. He is mature for his age and knows what he is doing.”

“Why didn’t he tell me!” Raen screamed out.

Getting grumpier by the moment, Muta said, “Who was the one who wouldn’t talk to him this morning? Did you ever stop to think he was trying to?”

“I wouldn’t talk to him though! He should have told me he did not give up cultivating, I wouldn’t have ignored him.”

Alavarah and Muta simultaneously asked, “Who told you that he quit cultivating?”

“You did Pa! You gave him his hammer!”

“Of course I gave him his hammer, he is going out into the forest to look for a turning point. You expect him to go out there unarmed? Oh you silly girl, you were mad because you thought he gave up, not because he was leaving.”

Crying Raen ran upstairs, grabbed the little book Kael wrote for her and collapsed on her bed. Hugging the little book she continued to cry until she eventually passed out.

“I don’t believe you don’t think this is a big deal Muta, he is only a child.”

Snorting, Muta replied, “He is probably the most talented and mature child I have ever seen. He is almost 10, he needs to fend for himself at some point, Varah.”

“He is too young, I have to go find him.”

“Varah, don’t be a fool, if you could find him, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. At his speed, he is easily over 100 miles away by now.”

“He’s my baby, I can’t just let him live his life in the forest. If I knew what was running through his head I would never have let him leave!”

Sighing, Muta said, “Calm down child, I’ll search for him, but he is probably too far gone by now.”

After those words, Muta closed his eyes. Alavarah felt an enormous divine sense sweep past her and out into the forest. Dumbfounded she stared at Muta like he was some kind of monster. Noticing her change of expression with his divine sense Muta said, “Child, did you really think your damaged spiritual sense has gone unnoticed in the village? Even if your cultivation wasn’t damaged, your spiritual sense has no way to compare to my divine sense.”

After a few more moments Muta opened his eyes again. Alavarah felt she was looking into the eyes of one of the old monsters in her clan before it fell. “My divine sense can cover a bit over 100 miles. He is not within that radius of the village.”

With tears in her eyes, she thanked Muta before heading home to cry more about her stupid son. She felt like she should have known from all the questions about cultivation, techniques, and lifespans. Although Muta said he would be fine, she had never even taught her son a fighting technique, always putting it off in hopes of keeping him from growing up too fast.