I removed all of the occupational cultivation techniques from my valuables bag and lined them up on the floor in front of me. All of them were wrapped in cheap paper with the name of the technique and ‘High’ written on it. Among them I had many mundane occupations, from Smith to Tailor to Farmer to Carpenter to Mason, as well as a dozen other occupations. None of those really appealed to me, though. I also had ones that I had specifically gotten for my friends. First were a Formation Master book and an Artifact Crafter book. I wasn’t sure which one Liza would want and which one Dave would want, but I would let them decide. Or, of course, they could just share and try to learn both. There was also a book on Alchemy which I would give to Maria. Other people I knew, like Gabriel and Deb, could look through them and find one if they wanted as well. All of them included the steps to reach level four, and at high quality they might be able to reach that level if they comprehended enough of the manual’s teaching. There wasn’t one for technique creation, but I assumed that was because low level cultivators rarely created their own techniques, instead just using techniques that stronger cultivators had created until they got strong enough.
There was, however, another production job book which I had gotten just because it seemed interesting. It was called ‘The Talismonger’s Path’. I didn’t know anyone that made talismans, and barely knew anything about the subject, so after a few seconds my curiosity got the better of me and I touched the unwrapped jade slip to my forehead. The first chapter was an introduction to what talismans were, essentially being stored spells which another person could use. The next two chapters covered both the history of talismans and the different types, with the chapter after them listing the different techniques that were needed to make talismans.
Only after that did it get into the actual cultivation technique, with an unusual method that allowed one to store spells within their own body, precharging them for rapid use. It did, however, warn that a stored technique could injure you, and suggested only doing it with spells of a lower level than yourself so that the durability of your physical body wasn’t tested by the spell. Talismans tended to become damaged or destroy themselves after use, so the author was concerned that you might do the same with your body. The safer way to do it was to use tattoos, storing the spell in the ink instead of the body directly, and the book included a way to make ink which broke apart and disappeared when exposed to a surge of qi, as would happen when you used the spell. This method was used by people thousands of years ago, but only a few small tribes still practice it in modern times.
As for the variety of talismans mentioned, the material it was made of varied wildly. The material was traditionally called ‘talisman paper’, but only the earliest versions were actually paper, a type of papyrus made from woven stalks of spirit grass. After that most people started using woven cloths of various spirit materials like cotton, linen, wool, or silk. There were still groups which made the paper out of spirit tree wood from the insides of peeled bark or used the bark, but those materials proved to have inferior performance to cloth and therefore lost out in the end. Around three thousand years ago, however, a hunter grew tired of having to buy paper in cities in order to make the talismans his clan hunted with, so he sought out a new way to make them. He gathered a common spirit material for his tribe, the hides of spirit beasts, and used the technique to infuse power into it. He only had a slight success, and later found that it was only succeeding on the fresh ones that still had some beast blood on them.
When making the paper or cloth ones one needed to soak the material in a magical liquid or paint it onto the paper, then the technique would infuse the magical properties of the liquid into the paper. The beast blood performed the same role as this liquid. This method was eventually formalized into ‘beast blood’ and ‘demon blood’ leather talismans. The difference between the two was the inclusion of a core to enhance the amount of qi within the material. With a spirit beast, the blood and skin of any two beasts can be combined to combine the properties of the two spirit beasts, thus enhancing the spell effect. If a core is included, however, the skin, blood, and core must all be from the same beast. If it isn’t, the energy in the core will react with the other two materials to damage them, making them unusable.
Talismans are rated by the level of the spell on them, which matches the level of the material in ones which are sold in shops, but a level match isn’t required. If the material is rated lower than the spell, the spell will be underpowered. If, however, the material is rated higher than the spell, it will be overcharged. The material the talisman is made of also alters the amount of qi it will provide towards that spell. Paper talismans are generally the worst, at ten percent or less energy savings over using the spell normally, with the various cloths providing fifteen to sixty percent of the energy. Leather generally contributes far more, from fifty percent to ninety percent on spirit beast leather and seventy to one hundred percent on demon beast leather. If one uses a Master ranked technique to infuse the qi into the leather, it is possible to get an extra 10% energy into the energy provided and with a Heavenly ranked technique it is possible to get an extra 25%.
To place an effect on it, one needs to place symbols onto the material which represent the effect while using an Imbue Effect technique to embed a known spell. The most common symbols are just words, but sometimes pictures or things from specific religious or philosophical traditions are also used. One could do this by simply focusing qi on the end of their finger so that it was more dense than in the material, burning the effect into the material, but there were also specialized paints that could be used to add a few more percent to the amount of qi it would provide.
If the talisman lacked the qi and the user was at least the level of the spell, the user could provide the missing energy, thus allowing the spell to operate at full power, however if they weren’t of a high enough level or choose to not provide the qi, the spell could just use the energy in the talisman, going off with a diminished capacity.
All of that meant that, with enough materials, I could produce something that I could sell for more money, thus earning a bit of extra money, or that I could store abilities which I lacked or which were too slow to use, doing the hard work now instead of when we were in combat. Assuming that I was able to get good enough with the technique I decided that I had found a method of earning money.
I read the entire cultivation manual again, digging as deeply into the techniques as I could to make sure that I understood it as well as possible. By the time I was finished and had practiced the Infusion technique enough to have a high chance of successfully making the paper, there was a knock on my door.
“Master Li?” Five asked.
I walked over and opened the door. “Yes, how can I help you?”
“They are about to serve last meal, so I was coming to inform you.”
“Ok, thank you.” I said, and followed her to the dining room. This time I took a seat beside Xo and greeted him. The main table was already being served, but they didn’t seem to mind the fact that I was a bit late. The Ambassador seemed to be having an animated discussion about the value of tempering pills, as apparently he had spent the day surveying the different pills that they could produce enough of for export. He was certainly keeping up appearances.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
While I was talking to Xo about all of the interesting books I had found I noticed someone else I recognized. “Oh, hello, Mister Cha.” I said, noticing the man walking through the room. It seemed he had been contacted about the possibly of importing metals into the city in exchange for pills and as someone who understood the subject and the only pure metal cultivator in the family, even if he cultivated gold instead of iron, he had been asked to teach the people at the main table about the possible uses and profits. It seems that the main table was treating this as more of a business luncheon than a friendly get together. Now that they had moved onto other topics, however, Ji Cha was no longer needed. “Would you care to sit with us?” I asked.
“Oh, I don’t want to spoil your conversation.” he said with a wave of the hand, a bit weary to sit with us. I knew that cultivator families like the Jis placed great importance on a person’s cultivation level, making someone like him who was in his seventies but still level one a bit of an outcast.
“Nonsense, Uncle. You weren’t spoiling anything. In fact, I was wondering about some of the things from your presentation myself. For example, I know that various metals can be made into artifacts and weapons, or I suppose armor if you had enough, but I’m not clear on the different types. I know that the one in Kev’s sword is iron, and that bronze, copper, silver, and gold are other types, but I’m not sure what really separates them. Do some just look nicer or is there other properties that are important?”
“Looking to get into luxury goods, then?” asked Cha, sitting down.
“Well, mostly I was curious about why father wants to import it so badly. Is it just a luxury good or is there an actual benefit?”
Cha nodded. “Well, the profit is the main benefit, but it would allow us to make some useful items. Of course, the Teng family are the main ones to craft artifacts, but if we can make metal attribute items, it can allow us to expand our interests in the city. It would also let us better train our metal root cultivators. Most of them don’t have any real experience in moving metal, the way those with the other roots do, so their development always lags behind. That’s why I’m the only pure metal cultivator in this branch of the family, as all of the others had another root they could use to supplement their training.”
“There is also the fact that metal excels at defense over the other elements, as it is more durable.” I added and Cha nodded in agreement. “You need far less metal than stone, for example, to block an attack, which could be used to improve the armor of some of your family members, especially the ones with metal roots.”
“So, do different types of metals work differently, like different types of wood do?” Xo picked up a wooden chopstick and made it float and spin to demonstrate his point. The half carved wooden sculpture in the other hand turned more slowly, but it seemed he was putting the same amount of effort into both.
“Well, it’s actually far more complex, with some scholars arguing that it is actually an Iron root instead, that the other types of metal are just similar, the way chalk looks like a stone but isn’t one. They also argue that a Gold root is a sixth type of root which isn’t actually a complex form of metal the way Ice is for water or Life is for Wood.” I seemed that at least some of the people on this world were starting to see the true nature of spirit roots.
Xo nodded and I spoke up. “If you want, I can explain what I know about metal. Of course, this is all from scholarly texts on the subject, and I don’t know much about them, but I can explain the different types if you want me to.” Of course, those ‘scholarly texts’ were textbooks in chemistry classes, and my actual experience included making Aqua Regia to dissolve gold, as well as electrolyzing Sodium from table salt, but those would be too difficult to include in this casual conversation.
They both nodded, and Cha motioned for me to continue. I cleared my throat as the soup arrived, some sort of spiced broth, then took a sip of tea before beginning. I explained the different types or metals, and how they had different strengths and malleability, then I started talking about what alloys were, bringing out my sword to show them steel. That’s when I noticed something. “Wait, why is that blade nicked?” On Earth it had been tempered with qi to make it durable enough to stay sharp even after hitting a boulder.
“Can I see it?” asked Xo, and I handed it to him. He had looked at it the first day we were here, so he knew how to handle it. He stared at in for a few seconds, the handed it back to me. “The issue is that it’s only and early level one blade, and you are late level two. You are overpowering your weapon. This definitely backs up your claim that metal is more durable than other elements, as any wood, stone, or bone weapon that was being that overpowered would have been destroyed the first time it hit something, but you really need to have it upgraded to at least a middle level two sword and repaired if you are panning on using it in serious fights. My guess is that these nicks are from when one of my cousin’s spear or saber hit it during last night’s sparring session.” He scratched his head. “Didn’t you tell us that this sword was bought from your dao companion’s master? Why would a master only make an early level one sword?”
I scratched my head, trying to think of an excuse. The Ambassador seemed to be using the previously agreed upon ‘iron mine owned by a rich family’ lie that we had added to our backstory for that purpose, and I had mentioned that my dao companion had studied under the man I bought the sword from, not explaining that it was an online course and I bought the sword off of his website. This meant I only had one option. “Well, I bought it from his workshop.” I said, acting a bit embarrassed. “But even the cheapest one from him was two thousand stones, and I had only saved three hundred and fifty, so I had to settle for one made by an apprentice.”
Xo nodded. “Makes sense. Here a sword of that quality would probably cost over six hundred. If you can get it for half of that, metal must be pretty cheap.”
I nodded and stored my sword. “So, where was I in my lesson?”
“Alloys.” said Cha, sipping his tea. He hadn’t touched his soup yet, while Xo was finished with it and I had eaten about half of it. Apparently, he found the subject engaging.
“Oh, yes. Alloys. They are specific mixtures of metals which are used to alter the properties of the metal. Well, Steel is actually an alloy of iron and coal.” They didn’t actually have a word for Carbon as far as I knew, so this was as accurate as I could get. “Bronze is actually an alloy of copper and a metal called tin. It is far more qi conductive than iron or steel, though less durable, so it is better for applications where you need to move large amounts of qi, like a gathering array or other magical devices which won’t be directly attacked.” They nodded and I continued telling them about a few other common alloys. I avoided things like chromium and aluminum which they lacked a word for, but I did include brass, which existed, but which was rare.
Eventually I had finished the topic, and we moved onto the topic of alchemy. Xo talked about the difficulty of farming metal attribute spirit plants, as they required high metal levels in the soil. Near the end of the meal I brought up something I wanted to ask Cha. “Before we leave, I do have one question about a technique. Is it possible that there might be a link between the Jade Memory Transfer technique and the Layered writing technique? It seems like the layered writing technique might have been developed as a way to mimic the complex concepts in more complex techniques.”
Cha stroked his chin, slightly straightening his long beard, “You know, I’ve never actually thought about it, but that would make sense. Without the ability to create knew, meaningful words, they would be forced to either layer the text or print very similar sentences multiple times. And the Jade technique came out around three hundred years before the layered writing technique. I’ll have to look into it tonight.” He stood up and said goodbye, then turned around to leave. I assumed he was going back to his store to do some research.
“You know, you can go have a drink with us if you want.” I said, before he left. “Xo was going to show me his favorite place to get a drink.”
“Really?” Cha asked. “I’m a good bit older than you and married. Sure I won’t get in the way of anything?”
“We’re just going for a few drinks.” I said. “Nothing that your wife can complain about.”
“Also music.” Xo said. “I picked tonight because they are bringing in a courtesan that’s an amazing single to provide the entertainment.”
Cha nodded. “You know what, I would like some good music. I haven’t heard any in a while.”
“Doesn’t your wife play the flute?” asked Xo, and Cha nodded.
“That’s why I said good music. She may be beautiful and I love her, but she needs a lot more practice. Maybe if I’m not there she’ll decide to do so.”
