“Is there something wrong, master?” Emerald asked, assisting him into bed.
“I’m just annoyed that I’m so useless,” Ken said, sighing.
“Master is strong!” Emerald exclaimed, climbing on top of him and then staring down at him. Her knees were planted on either side of him, and he slowly sank into the bed.
“…” Ken stared up at her. She was sweet and adorable, so he couldn’t be angry at her.
“Emerald will take good care of master until he’s recovered.” She brushed her hand along his cheek, leaning in to nuzzle against his neck.
He reached up and pet her head, which made her squirm on top of him. She gave him the look, and he sighed, sinking further into the bed as she dual cultivated with him through the night to try and make him feel better.
Emerald would do her best for him every morning and night. Sometimes they would cuddled and bask in the afterglow, sometimes they’d fall right asleep.
Nana managed to achieve Low Martial Apprentice within the week using the pills she was given, and was fairly close to Middle Martial Apprentice.
Chandi didn’t have much to do, so Yue and her often spent time with one another. She would still cultivate whenever Ken gave her pills, but he had stuck to giving her middle grade earth pills.
Yue would sell off all the high grade earth pills at the end of every week, earning quite some change, taking along with Chandi. They no longer really had much of a need for gold.
Ken spent the entire week learning how to create arrays, the goddess teaching him how to apply arrays inside of talismans and scrolls.
[[You need to curve it further, a hair’s breadth.]]
[[Straighter, straighter!]]
[[How unfortunate, you weren’t able to complete the line with a single stroke.]]
Ken had been growing restless with the array making, but then he finally managed to finish one of perfect quality. He looked at it, feeling the great strength within it when he was finally done. It had taken almost one hundred tries, each one taking around half an hour, but he managed to do it.
[[Well done, mortal.]]
“I wonder how much this would sell for…” Ken smiled, staring at the talisman, which had over a hundred strokes in order to create a defensive array.
[[Sell it? You’re not going to sell this. The others are fine to sell, but this one is for emergencies.]]
“Oh. I thought you said the others were no good?”
[[They’re no good for defending yourself because they have a chink in the armour, but this one is perfect.]]
“Oh.”
Weirdly enough, the goddess seemed quite interested in keeping him alive. Then he realised it wasn’t weird, but that if he died, so would she. That’s what he assumed.
He only had 22 months left until he could return home before his family wealth would be plundered, so learning how to use arrays had been top priority.
They had made a large amount of gold from the commerce pavilion, and soon rumours had begun to spread about an Alchemist and Arrayist.
He sold half the pills which Emerald had made, and half the arrays he made. With how much gold he had, he could have also bought a few more slaves, but he decided to keep the gold for now. Gold was always useful, and he already had two slaves who were settling in.
He rarely spent time outside, instead allowing Emerald, Yue, and Chandi to complete whatever tasks he had set for them.
Time continued to pass as he continued to learn how to apply the various arrays, increased his perfect application of arrays from 1% to 10%.
One day he received a message from the commerce head, Rojja. He read it carefully.
"Invited to a gathering hosted by the Town Lord tonight?” He thought for a long moment. “I suppose I should. I'll make a high grade earth array for him."
[[You should make him a high grade earth pill too.]]
"Me? I should buy a furnace then." Ken hadn’t been learning how to make pills as of yet, the goddess seemingly allowing him to play as an Arrayist. Now that he had some time to cool off, he was no longer quite so cold about alchemy.
[[You should have bought one before instead of letting Emerald make the high grade water clot pill.]]
"Won't it be more impressive if I buy the furnace now and come to the party with a high grade pill only hours later?"
[[Mortal, you're impressing me.]]
He wheeled himself to the next room and knocked on the door. Yue opened it, wiping her mouth. Her lips were swollen and Chandi's were too, though the saliva was still glistening.
"Come along, Chandi. We're heading to the commerce pavillion." Ken decided to ignore what was happening, as he couldn’t blame them. His morning and nightly routine with Emerald had quite the effect on the patrons, and of course his slaves would fall under her spell.
Chandi stood up. She hadn't been given a proper task beyond cultivating, so now that she had one, she quickly rushed behind him. She was eager to show her worth to him, as she was quite impressed with his capabilities so far, and his treatment of the slaves.
"Emerald, ah, no..." He couldn't take along both Martial Experts. "Yue, you come along too. You'll push me along. Chandi, your role is to defend us."
"Yes, master." They both replied in sync with one another, and he noticed the looks between them, but ignored them. As long as they did good work, he didn’t care about what they did with one another.
[This will be a good chance to make a wave at the party. What should I do?]
The commerce pavilion seemed to be quite busy with all manner of people. Since the Town Lord had invited people, and it seemed he had made the party quite last minute, it meant that many families needed to prepare proper gifts.
"Get out of the way, cripple! We're busy!" Someone tried to push Ken out of the way, when Chandi kicked them away. She did so lightly, not to hurt them, but to displace them.
"Argh!" The man fell aside, causing on lookers to look their way to see who would cause trouble near the commerce pavilion.
"What happened?"
"Oh my! It's a wolf girl!"
"Get away from me, you beast!"
"What is a beast doing here?" The man who had fallen got up and pointed at her. "You foul cripple! First you get in my way and then you assault me with a beast? What happens if I'm poisoned by her touch?”
"You are already poisoned,” Ken said. “You should probably be put out of your misery." He narrowed his eyes towards the rude man.
"What? You dare to threaten me?" He seemed surprised that anyone would have the gall to threaten him.
"Who dares to make trouble in my pavilion?" Rojja appeared, stepping out with a warrior behind him, one who seemed to hold quite some power.
"Commerce Head! This cripple is acting all high and mighty and starting issues inside your pavilion! He didn't have you in his sights at all!" The man smiled, thinking that he had the upper hand. After all, he was the servant of a major family within the town, and he had been the envoy between the family and the Commerce Head for a long while.
Rojja looked between the envoy and Ken, settling his eyes on the cripple. "What happened?"
"He tried to push this little cripple and my guard politely punted him away. I taught her not to injure people unless my life is in danger, so he should have thanked his lucky stars but it seems he wanted the issue to escalate." Ken spoke coldly.
"You! Are you threatening me?" He was surprised to see that the Commerce Head was asking the cripple about what had happened.
"No. I’m merely giving you a word of advice."
"You sure have some guts bothering the guests of my pavilion,” Rojja said, his forehead pulsing.
The man smiled. "That's right! This waste has no business here."
"..."
“Is there something wrong, master?” Emerald asked, assisting him into bed.
“I’m just annoyed that I’m so useless,” Ken said, sighing.
“Master is strong!” Emerald exclaimed, climbing on top of him and then staring down at him. Her knees were planted on either side of him, and he slowly sank into the bed.
“…” Ken stared up at her. She was sweet and adorable, so he couldn’t be angry at her.
“Emerald will take good care of master until he’s recovered.” She brushed her hand along his cheek, leaning in to nuzzle against his neck.
He reached up and pet her head, which made her squirm on top of him. She gave him the look, and he sighed, sinking further into the bed as she dual cultivated with him through the night to try and make him feel better.
Emerald would do her best for him every morning and night. Sometimes they would cuddled and bask in the afterglow, sometimes they’d fall right asleep.
Nana managed to achieve Low Martial Apprentice within the week using the pills she was given, and was fairly close to Middle Martial Apprentice.
Chandi didn’t have much to do, so Yue and her often spent time with one another. She would still cultivate whenever Ken gave her pills, but he had stuck to giving her middle grade earth pills.
Yue would sell off all the high grade earth pills at the end of every week, earning quite some change, taking along with Chandi. They no longer really had much of a need for gold.
Ken spent the entire week learning how to create arrays, the goddess teaching him how to apply arrays inside of talismans and scrolls.
[[You need to curve it further, a hair’s breadth.]]
[[Straighter, straighter!]]
[[How unfortunate, you weren’t able to complete the line with a single stroke.]]
Ken had been growing restless with the array making, but then he finally managed to finish one of perfect quality. He looked at it, feeling the great strength within it when he was finally done. It had taken almost one hundred tries, each one taking around half an hour, but he managed to do it.
[[Well done, mortal.]]
“I wonder how much this would sell for…” Ken smiled, staring at the talisman, which had over a hundred strokes in order to create a defensive array.
[[Sell it? You’re not going to sell this. The others are fine to sell, but this one is for emergencies.]]
“Oh. I thought you said the others were no good?”
[[They’re no good for defending yourself because they have a chink in the armour, but this one is perfect.]]
“Oh.”
Weirdly enough, the goddess seemed quite interested in keeping him alive. Then he realised it wasn’t weird, but that if he died, so would she. That’s what he assumed.
He only had 22 months left until he could return home before his family wealth would be plundered, so learning how to use arrays had been top priority.
They had made a large amount of gold from the commerce pavilion, and soon rumours had begun to spread about an Alchemist and Arrayist.
He sold half the pills which Emerald had made, and half the arrays he made. With how much gold he had, he could have also bought a few more slaves, but he decided to keep the gold for now. Gold was always useful, and he already had two slaves who were settling in.
He rarely spent time outside, instead allowing Emerald, Yue, and Chandi to complete whatever tasks he had set for them.
Time continued to pass as he continued to learn how to apply the various arrays, increased his perfect application of arrays from 1% to 10%.
One day he received a message from the commerce head, Rojja. He read it carefully.
"Invited to a gathering hosted by the Town Lord tonight?” He thought for a long moment. “I suppose I should. I'll make a high grade earth array for him."
[[You should make him a high grade earth pill too.]]
"Me? I should buy a furnace then." Ken hadn’t been learning how to make pills as of yet, the goddess seemingly allowing him to play as an Arrayist. Now that he had some time to cool off, he was no longer quite so cold about alchemy.
[[You should have bought one before instead of letting Emerald make the high grade water clot pill.]]
"Won't it be more impressive if I buy the furnace now and come to the party with a high grade pill only hours later?"
[[Mortal, you're impressing me.]]
He wheeled himself to the next room and knocked on the door. Yue opened it, wiping her mouth. Her lips were swollen and Chandi's were too, though the saliva was still glistening.
"Come along, Chandi. We're heading to the commerce pavillion." Ken decided to ignore what was happening, as he couldn’t blame them. His morning and nightly routine with Emerald had quite the effect on the patrons, and of course his slaves would fall under her spell.
Chandi stood up. She hadn't been given a proper task beyond cultivating, so now that she had one, she quickly rushed behind him. She was eager to show her worth to him, as she was quite impressed with his capabilities so far, and his treatment of the slaves.
"Emerald, ah, no..." He couldn't take along both Martial Experts. "Yue, you come along too. You'll push me along. Chandi, your role is to defend us."
"Yes, master." They both replied in sync with one another, and he noticed the looks between them, but ignored them. As long as they did good work, he didn’t care about what they did with one another.
[This will be a good chance to make a wave at the party. What should I do?]
The commerce pavilion seemed to be quite busy with all manner of people. Since the Town Lord had invited people, and it seemed he had made the party quite last minute, it meant that many families needed to prepare proper gifts.
"Get out of the way, cripple! We're busy!" Someone tried to push Ken out of the way, when Chandi kicked them away. She did so lightly, not to hurt them, but to displace them.
"Argh!" The man fell aside, causing on lookers to look their way to see who would cause trouble near the commerce pavilion.
"What happened?"
"Oh my! It's a wolf girl!"
"Get away from me, you beast!"
"What is a beast doing here?" The man who had fallen got up and pointed at her. "You foul cripple! First you get in my way and then you assault me with a beast? What happens if I'm poisoned by her touch?”
"You are already poisoned,” Ken said. “You should probably be put out of your misery." He narrowed his eyes towards the rude man.
"What? You dare to threaten me?" He seemed surprised that anyone would have the gall to threaten him.
"Who dares to make trouble in my pavilion?" Rojja appeared, stepping out with a warrior behind him, one who seemed to hold quite some power.
"Commerce Head! This cripple is acting all high and mighty and starting issues inside your pavilion! He didn't have you in his sights at all!" The man smiled, thinking that he had the upper hand. After all, he was the servant of a major family within the town, and he had been the envoy between the family and the Commerce Head for a long while.
Rojja looked between the envoy and Ken, settling his eyes on the cripple. "What happened?"
"He tried to push this little cripple and my guard politely punted him away. I taught her not to injure people unless my life is in danger, so he should have thanked his lucky stars but it seems he wanted the issue to escalate." Ken spoke coldly.
"You! Are you threatening me?" He was surprised to see that the Commerce Head was asking the cripple about what had happened.
"No. I’m merely giving you a word of advice."
"You sure have some guts bothering the guests of my pavilion,” Rojja said, his forehead pulsing.
The man smiled. "That's right! This waste has no business here."
"..."
