Body refiner’s oil

Mortal tier recipe. No cultivation requirements

Cultivation is a long, long road. Everyone knows this, and everyone preaches this. However, how many people actually start early enough?

‘A stable foundation’ is an often spouted phrase, but most just take this to mean solidifying your cultivation at every step. It really means to use every trick possible to be better. Body refiner’s oil is exactly as stated, and designed for a mortal child’s starting point. Created by the joint effort of several cultivator clans, it allows children to take a taste of the hardship imposed by cultivation and sets up a better foundation. Easy to concoct, easy to use, but most importantly, the ingredients are easy to acquire.

Ingredients and recipe Copperpetal, 2 flowers – non magical flower Bladed thistle, 2 stems – non magical plant Any magical seed oil, 50 ml – natural gathering stage fluid

Briefly explaining the ingredients. Copperpetals contain a sticky oil-like substance that provides minor reinforcements to internal body structures. Bladed thistle is a weed in most cases, but its sharp prongs can easily create opening in the skin. Although literally any magical seed oil can be used, a natural gathering stage seed is recommended to avoid… unfavourable outcomes.

At most, spirit forming stage seeds can be used as the oil source, but any higher will either cripple or kill the mortal child.

Starting with the Copperpetal, remove the stamens and pistil entirely, leaving only the petals and receptacle. Ground the flowerheads’ remains down to a pulp and drop it right into the magical oil.

For the thistle, only the barbs themselves are important. To maximise the effectiveness, you take a knife and run it along the stem to remove only the top layer. Repeat this all the way round until you’re left with two bare stems and the part containing the barbs themselves. Use the stems as firewood, or whatever you prefer. Some people talk about eating them for example.

The plant fibres of this thistle are still rather tough, so cut the part into sections width-wise. Each section should be no more than a centimetre long before once again grinding up the product. The barb and plant fibre pulp is added directly to the oil as well, finishing the main preparation.

Leave the product to rest in a warm, humid room for a week at minimum. Ideally leaving it for a month.

This process is important, and will determine the difference between some magic oil with plant parts and actual body refiner’s oil. Copperpetals are naturally too weak to reinforce the body, but using any Qi dense seed oil can enhance the reinforcing oils.

Usage

The effects gravely depend on the oil’s maturity. Resting for more than a month has no effect, but considering it’s almost pure oil the product can last years. Most clans are recommended to store gallons of it at all times, providing they can afford so many magical seeds.

1 week matured oil will hurt the least, as neither the barbs or reinforcing oils have been adequately enhanced. It’s effect is also the worst, but it can guarantee that regular thistle and thorns will not scratch easily. Scraping the plants against your body will still leave cuts.

2 week matured oil is significantly better, and the process will incur two feelings. At the start a horrid itching will appear on the applied site, which shouldn’t be touched under any circumstance. Scratching will ruin the process on that location. From there an intense pain will spread over your body, which some compare to being burnt alive. Actual burn victims disagree, saying that it felt more like lots of bee stings instead.

Admittedly, pain tolerance varies from person to person while all humans, especially children, often exaggerate things.

The final effect of the 2 week old oil will provide a minor enhancement in gathering Qi, reducing the time to complete natural gathering by 10% on average. The physical body is on par with the 1 week old oil, but heals roughly 50% than the first type.

At 4 weeks, or 1 month, the itching process remains the same. However the pain massively increases. The barbs are now strong enough to dig into your surface level blood vessels, causing slight bleeding on your entire body. There is no danger of death by blood loss, but the recipient will feel a deep pain from their entire body. The oil seeps through the miniature holes and reinforces your muscles slightly.

The painful process, lasting twice as long as the other two, will result in heightened strength and even better Qi gathering capabilities. Most beneficial is the enhanced skin, which resists against blades minimally. On average you’ll complete natural gathering 25% faster, and receive a 15% boost in strength. You also gain the effects of the previous weaker iterations of the oil.

Technically speaking, you can double all the state values by using a spirit forming stage oil, but chances are that any weaker child will experience multiple organ failure in the process. Or they die from blood loss before that, so it’s often not worth the risk.