Death Cultivator by eden Hudson (best books to read .TXT) 📕

Muta’i said, pulling out a thin flat tray to show me an even finer mesh to sift out the rock chips. Then he shoved that back in and pulled out the bottom drawer, which was just a frame with cloth stretched over it. “The powder’s the only thing that makes it into the bottom. When you’re done, pick out the jade chips from the sieve and collect them, too. I’ll use divining on the last tray to separate out the jade powder for the real elixirs.”

“And put the leftovers in the counterfeit elixirs,” I said, because I still had some attitude floating around from mouthing off to Warcry.

Muta’i’s big nostrils flared. “Something about that conflicting with your moral compass, indenture?”

“If it did, I don’t think you’re the mountain I’d complain to about it.”

He snorted. “Bailiff’s right. You’re smart for a human. Get to work.”

For the rest of the day, while Muta’i ground down white jade on his workbench, I sat on the edge of the sandbox with my rock hammer, chisels, and picks—not picks like pickaxes, but these things that looked like one step above dentist tools—and broke rocks.

In about ten minutes, I and everything in the back room was covered in a fine coat of red dirt in spite of the dust collector. Probably not great for the lungs, but since I had to breathe anyway, I practiced Swallowing the Universe. If I could get decent at cultivating while I was doing other stuff, like everybody else was apparently a master at, that might help me get to the Sho level faster.

Later on, when my HUD went off with a message, I checked it just to see if I’d get yelled at. Muta’i didn’t get upset, which confirmed my theory that this was the kind of job I was expected to do until I died or it was finished, whichever came first, and if I wanted to draw it out by taking the time to read my messages, that was my problem.

The message was from Kest.

Were you able to keep your reinforcement going during training?

Yes. I’m pretty sure it saved my life a couple times, I sent back.

She didn’t get back to me right away, but when she did, she’d completely changed subjects.

We found some stuff in the storage ring you should see. Can you come over tonight?

Sure.

We messaged back and forth for a while, talking about random junk like kishotenketsu and Coffee Dranks and the cinnabar she’d mined. I made fun of her when she got too technical for a human to understand. Having something to break up the rock breaking made the day feel like it was going faster, although it did kind of cut into my cultivating. I couldn’t concentrate on Swallowing the Universe, breaking rock, and texting at the same time.

I worked straight up until Muta’i said it was time for me to get back to the fight cage. Instead of heading straight over, though, I made a quick run to the boneyard. I’d managed to cultivate a few hundred Spirit while I was working, but that wouldn’t be anywhere near enough for another training session. I got another five thousand from Hungry Ghost—filling my Spirit sea right up to the point where I felt like it might burst—then I re-hid the grinning skull and headed for the saloon.

Warcry was already out back when I got there. In spite of his attitude earlier, he didn’t start anything with the Bailiff this time. Maybe as a joke, or maybe to take Warcry down a peg, the Bailiff had us fight every other bout without Spirit. The redhead was still better than me, but the gap was a lot closer when we couldn’t use our kishotenketsu. You could tell that most of what separated us was experience, and that was encouraging. I could always get more experience.

Obviously, Warcry was not as cool with that revelation as I was, because he stepped up his game a serious amount on all the Spirit-enhanced rounds to make sure I knew I wasn’t on his level. My Ki-sight could track him, and with the speed enhancement, I could move almost as fast as he could, but I couldn’t get them both to work at the same time. My hand-eye-Spirit coordination wasn’t fast enough. By the time I saw him move and thought about what I wanted to do about it, it was too late, I was already on the receiving end of the beatdown. I needed to speed up my reaction time, not just my muscles, but I wasn’t sure how to do that with Ki enhancements.

The Transferogate beeped just as the Bailiff was giving Warcry a rundown of all the stuff he needed to improve. I tried to brace myself so I wouldn’t end up in the dirt like a wuss, but there’s no bracing for that kind of drain. When the shoulder rig finished its job, I was on my hands and knees in the dirt, and they were staring down at me.

My face got hot. I stood up and dusted the knees of my jeans off. Not that any part of me was less dirty, but I wanted something to do so it wouldn’t look like the transfer had been a huge deal.

Luckily the Bailiff’s HUD beeped with a notification before either of them could say anything.

“Well, I’ll be a bait fish’s uncle,” he said, reading his screen. “You got me my commission and paid back all them Spirit stones I lent you. You’re going places, Smart Boy. He’s gonna run right up your tailpipe, Mr. Champion, if you don’t get yourself into fighting shape.”

Warcry stuck his nose in his HUD, too. “Cultivating a little Spirit would look impressive in a backwater like this, wouldn’t it.”

“Oh, that’s right, I forgot,” the Bailiff said cheerfully. “The champ’s Big Five material. The biggest fish in the little Ghost Town puddle. Well, I can tell you, Mr. Champion, there ain’t a Big Five gang out there that would spit on