The next two days passed in a flash, when an unexpected, but welcome surprise entered my shop. The fireball duo. They would be useful, though really only to see how my stuff reacted to fire. Fire was the most common intent I had seen after all, which was strange. What use did it have outside of fighting? You could ignite a fire, but I had a flint and steel for that.

Warm yourself?

Not needed really, we didn't live in a climate cold enough to warrant that, even the ‘winters’ never got all that cold. Anyways. Fire. It didn't have any mass behind it, so explosions and anything else wouldn't really pack the punch required. A lot of cultivators used some kind of napalm like fire, that stuck to the surfaces they hit. Nasty, but even that didn't seem all that powerful back then.

Qi created fire simply lacked a material component. Just using air to fuel it in addition to qi would probably increase its power severalfold.

“Hello there. Did you think about my offer?” I asked.

“Hello. And we did. We saw the power of your robes, and would like to purchase some. In return for two robes we will help you to the best of our ability.” He answered.

“Good. So, what are your names?” I asked. "As you probably know I am Triss."

"We are named Neho and Naho." Naho answered.

Wierd names. But they sure had a plan, seeing how similar those names were.

"Nice to meet you. I already prepared several pieces of fabric, just wait a moment and I'll get them." I answered.

Apart from a large, wooden tub full of salt, really just my way to get myself some real salt, my cellar was filled with all kinds of materials. Dye, prepared fabric, and lots of string-like materials.

Most related to my business. Not all though, mortals were the only people not wearing robes, and they were too afraid to buy stuff from me. Which meant the experiments I did for real clothing would only benefit me. At least until someone else joined the trend.

Not that I could wear most modern clothes, people here were prude, and I'd lose all social capital if I wore them.

Depressing really.

Anyways.

I went to the back of my cellar, where a bunch of cabinets stood. They held all my recent experiments, some robes ready for being tested, and lots of experimental fabrics made to work against one qi intent or the other.

I took those that should resist fire, and a few that didn't, and moved back up.

"Follow me, I don't want you to ignite my house." I said.

Leaving through the back door we arrived at the beach, with a bunch of wooden stumps set up a good distance from my house. About ten metres.

I deposited the fabrics, and went to join the brothers again.

"So, all you have to do is fire a few different fire techniques at the fabrics there. As diverse as you possibly can really." I explained. "It really doesn't matter if they survive that, so do your best."

"That's all? Nothing more?" One asked. I had already forgotten who was who.

"Well, you can tell me how you actually fight, and where you need the most protection. And against what you need said protection the most." I said.

"We can do that, now let's get this party started." The the speaker said.

Both went to one of the tree stumps, and started off with one of their fire balls. The fire washed over the fabric, and I took a small step forwards, extending my aura to cover my work. Unsurprisingly neither fabric was even singed.

Simple qi fire like that lacked the power to overwhelm the qi inside the fabric. Good. I continued watching as more techniques impacted the fabrics, slowly turning the qic inside inert. The fabric I made to resist frost, giving the qi inside a general feeling of heat, actually was far better against fire. The faux intent actually clashed, and actively worked against the fire, while the superior, and cultivated fire intent easily defeated the faux fire intent.

Interesting. So I'd have to use opposing qi, instead of the same. At least as long as the faux intent added would not be superior to the intent of the attacker.

Which would honestly be very much possible to do, at least for some of the intents I had seen, but why should I?

I'd look at the qi in my clothes for sure, which meant other cultivators would do the same. Probably. And I didn't feel like expanding their knowledge. At all.

Anyhow, nearly all qi in both fabrics was inert by now, and the fabric started to get singed. To a different degree all over, because I had segmented the fabric in its creation, using different materials several times.

I waited for another few techniques, before speaking up.

"Very good. That's enough for today. I'll need a day or two to pour over the results, so how about you return in three days, and think about what you want in a robe. Any extra special wishes will be calculated on top of the standard price." I said, walking forwards.

Now I just had to see how fire affected the different fabrics, and I'd have a way to make a very efficient robe against fire attacks.

And repeat this with all the qi intents I could find, and get to work with me.

-

"The most important thing about fighting is control. You have to control the flow of the fight, you want to control your enemy during a fight, and you need to control yourself." Lady Chela explained.

I nodded along, not understanding everything.

“Mastery over your body, your qi, and your emotions is the first step for an effective fighter. Your emotions influence you all the time, and will run high during stressful situations, like a fight to the death.

But decisions in a fight are crucial, more so than any other. After all a bad one can very well be fatal. So controlling your emotions is only the first step to being an effective fighter.”

Well, that sounded true enough. But humans were inherently emotional, and while controlling them was possible, this seemed to go in a different direction. Getting rid of emotion, becoming something less than human. Not a good idea, I very much liked who I was, and saw no need to change that!

Well, perhaps a little less impulsiveness could be good. I really didn't think some of the things I did through to the end. Which was a bad idea, seeing as there seemed to be no shortage of enemies to be made. And the first response to any offence was either beating someone up or straight up killing them.

Stupid world!

“So, how does one control their emotions?” I asked.

“Training. Time and training.” My opposite answered. “But that’s more of a long term goal, that leads into an even bigger one. For now we should go through the basics of fighting cultivators. What part of the body do you mainly cultivate?” She asked.

“All of them.” I answered.

“All of them? How long did it take you to work out a cultivation path for that?” She asked, her eyes bugging out.

“About a minute or so? I really only need to move all new qi into my heart, and my blood does the rest.” I explained.

“WHAT? You don't move your qi yourself?”

“Of course I do. Into my heart chambers. My body knows where it needs resources best, who am I to interfere?” I asked.

"But that's not how you cultivate!" She stated. "So, where is most of your qi?" She asked.

"In my brain and kidneys." I answered honestly. "What difference does that make though? If you fight based on your cultivation then someone will learn how to exploit that. I'd rather have a solid, and more generalized foundation rather than a hyper specialized one that can be exploited by someone with the right knowledge and experience."

"To be honest your way probably is best for you. You won't excel in any one field, but be good enough in all of them. I can only teach you the basics of fighting with your whole body though, that's not something many people use. Most of us cultivate our legs, because they can develop the most power naturally. Which makes us really bad at fighting other cultivators, but very effective against beasts." She explained.

"But like I said, I know the basics of most fighting styles, as I took time to try all of them out before I started cultivating for real.

So, do you stretch? Train your body? If not you will have to start now. It'll also be good for your cultivation, cultivating after physical exertion is far more effective than doing so normally."

"Nothing of the sort. I am a seamstress, why would I do stuff like that?" I said.

"Because it's good for your health?" Chela said with a hidden smile. "We are going to meet for some training every morning from now on, no excuses!"

I thought about resisting, but really. Why should I? My body was healthy thanks to my qi, but it could use some more exercise to be honest.

Perhaps the exercise would even help me balance my emotions? Nothing to lose but time after all.

"Fine. When do we start?" I asked.

"Now."