Reaching for the Stars

Chapter Thirty-Six

Things were progressing rather quickly, I had seemed to get a rather good hang on pulse reading after two weeks of private lessons, at least enough of one that Professor Rayax thought I'd be fine to move on from it for now. We finally began the potions again, this was my strength though and Professor Rayax soon realized that the other professors hadn't been exaggerating when they commented on my ability to complete potions in a quick manner.

Because we had gone back to potion making, I could resume my nightly visits to the spatial world, resulting in a vast improvement in my skills for potion brewing, though I made sure to keep my pill refining skill up to the task as well, I knew if I excelled more in one than the other, that it might be hard for my skills to catch up. So, I resolved to keep them more or less even, making sure my skills remained well balanced and not uneven. And after the two weeks of pulse reading lessons, my skills were better balanced instead of potions and pills being all I knew about herbalism, I now had a rather vast understanding of the human body, and the symptoms that could result from all manner of illnesses or poisons.

But even with my quick learning in potions, there was still so much I had to catch up on, these other students that would be attending this competition all had years to learn this, while I had to cram it all into a few months. Any sane person would at least defer it for a year to give themselves more time to prepare, but I was always rather impatient, the idea of waiting another year annoyed me, I don't think I could find enough things to do to keep me busy.

Though while I was still spending my nightly visits in the spatial world, didn't mean I neglected my free time outside of the lessons with Professor Rayax either, some of it was spent with my friends, but they were understanding that I had to cram a lot of information into a few months, in fact they usually urged me to study more rather than hang out with them. But when I wasn't hanging out with my friends, I went to the cultivation tower, after my inner foundation had healed on its own, I chose to return to the cultivation tower, opening the window on the second floor to three quarters, it only takes me two hours to have a breakthrough to Peak Spirit Warrior.

After opening the window fully again, I get hit with a wave of spiritual energy again and it takes me a moment to steady the flow of energy coming towards me, so it doesn't overwhelm me. I knew my rate of cultivation was abnormal, it was supposed to be harder than this. But Orpheus had said that the poison had forced my qi block to be at a weaker stage then it normally would have been, making it so once I passed it, the cultivation was much easier than normal. Not to mention my skills in refining pills aided quite a bit, unlike with potions, there were an abundant of pills related to spiritual qi, cultivation, and one's inner foundation.

All of them engineered to make cultivating easier, to increase one's innate talent, unlike with potions that had almost no such potions, unless they were extremely advanced, thus very hard to brew and buy, the ingredients alone cost a small fortune let alone the completed product, and the two potions that I was aware of that had those same benefits as the pills only worked half as well.

Truly in most cases pills were by far superior, but there were potions to enhances one's senses, like speed, hearing, strength, stealth, all of them not an option to refine as a pill, though the idea intrigued me and maybe after the competition I would actually feel confident enough to fool around and try to create my own pills. After five hours, long after most have left the cultivation tower to go to bed, I finally breakthrough to the rank of Low Spirit General.

My cultivation speed was unprecedented, even the most talented took years to get to the rank of Spirit General, and that was starting their cultivation at the proper age of ten, unlike me who took eight years to advanced past an easy Common Qi level, now in mere months I had risen myself up to the rather powerful rank of Spirit General. I still wasn't at the same rank as my parents, but if they could see me now, I bet they would regret banishing me from the family, a talent like me both skilled in herbalism and cultivation was almost never seen, and always treasured.