Due to my previous suggestion, the queen had been in seclusion for several days, only handling matters by assigning delegates to take care of them. Because of that, I was unable to contact her about speaking with Bloodhaven. In the meantime, I could only continue to work on my experiments, building new formulas while preparing myself to meet the Goddess of Ki.

It was two full weeks before she emerged from her seclusion, looking even more exhausted than when she had entered it. From my guess, she had been working with little sleep, but I still had to praise her progress. I had done a bit of research while I was waiting, and even a normal ‘genius’ would need a month in order to fully condense their first avatar without step by step instructions. Unless, of course, they had already cultivated their own energy body.

Given her state, I decided to allow her to rest first, only approaching her the next day. By that point, she appeared to be feeling a bit better. Though, to be fair, I could not tell if I was speaking to her or the avatar that she had created.

“You wanted to see me, Sir Lorient?” The queen asked with a small smile as she sat across from me at the conference room where we had built a habit of meeting at this point.

I gave a small nod, crossing my arms on the table. “That’s right. I’m sure you’re aware of the materials I asked for while you were training?”

The queen blinked, nodding her head. “That’s right. It was a curious list, but I believe you had your reasons.”

“I did. The pills that I’m developing now are for the next stage of my plan. However, this stage will require your cooperation as the Queen of Hanbei.” When she heard that, she raised a gentle brow, looking at me to continue.

“I believe I have devised a way to safely conduct a trade with Bloodhaven. As you know, the martial spirits living there have begun to fall out of favor with monks all around the world, due to the appearance of energy bodies. People will not barter their own soul so easily now that they have a way to obtain eternal life. Thus, the contract method of those spirits has become obsolete.”

“And you have a way to fix that?” She asked curiously, to which I nodded.

“Not only that, but I am working on a pill that could potentially cure the ‘dying blood’, which plagues their kind. With a new avenue to increase their population, as well as a way to save their existing members, I believe that they will happily accept this deal.”

Yuki thought about it for a moment. “Perhaps… but as this is a national decision, I have to ask what Hanbei gets in return. Do not get me wrong, Sir Lorient. I have the utmost faith in you. However, I cannot propose a deal such as this where we spend resources without receiving anything in return.”

“Completely understandable, your Highness.” I smiled. “For one, a country ruled by a goddess… a goddess governing one of the four principle energies of the world. That is what you should be truly looking at Bloodhaven as. If she chose to do so, it would be within her power to deprive the ki of anyone she wished, so long as they were not a deity themselves.”

“Building a positive relationship with such a nation and pulling them to your side would deter other countries from causing problems for Hanbei. All she needs is a way for her people to prosper. Bloodhaven has access to advanced forging techniques, which create powerful weapons able to utilize ki. In exchange for these two pills, you could ask for some of these items.”

Yuki tapped her chin a few times in thought. “Bloodforged weapons would increase our military power, and allow us to better handle monster incursions. While we cannot rely on having the First Blood act on our behalf, the relationship itself could be beneficial… Very well, I will speak with her.”

“There is something else.” I lifted my hand to stop her from leaving. “I would like to request an audience with the Empress of Bloodhaven.”

Yuki raised an eyebrow again when I said that. “Oh? Is this also a part of your plan?”

“Quite. But, this is a more selfish part.” I admitted with a faint chuckle. “As I have told you before, I am here with a mission. My mission is to once again gather enough karma to enter the Realm of Eternity before I die. That is why I chose this place, where I felt that I could do the most good.”

“However, I have no method of checking my karma myself. And my situation has become a bit more… dire since I first arrived. I was not privy to all of the information I needed at the time. Now, I cannot allow the possibility of failure. Both for my own sake, and for the sake of every soul that exists or ever will.”

“In order to have that assurance, I need to make a deal with the Empress of Bloodhaven. Out of everyone, alive or dead, only she has the ability to read a person’s karma. She will be able to tell me when my karma has reached the point where my mission can be considered complete.”

Yuki blinked several times, surprised by my admission. “Couldn’t you simply continue to do good deeds and trust in yourself, rather than rely on a third party? You managed this feat once before, didn’t you?”

I gave a self-deprecating chuckle at that, shaking my head. “You can never understand karma until you have witnessed it yourself. In the eyes of karma, there is no ‘good’ or ‘evil’ intention. All that matters is the result. It operates by one simple rule, and that is the amount of aid or pain you have caused.”

“If you aid those that cause pain, you are causing pain yourself. Many saints in the history of the world have failed to reach the Realm of Eternity because they offered their aid to murderers and thieves as well as the innocent. By hurting the innocent, you build bad karma. By helping them, you build good karma.”

“From that point, the karma you receive depends on how your actions affect those around you. Hurt someone with a negative balance, and your balance increases. Help them, and it goes down. Order someone to act on your behalf, and you gain a portion of whatever karma they gain performing those actions.”

“Because of these laws, you can never be sure that what you are doing is perceived by the world as a good deed. The village you saved previously may have housed people with terrible karma, thus staining your own. Or they could have been blessed with virtue, and that virtue now shines on you as well.”

“Part of my mission here involves a deal I made with the Goddess of Death. After my mission is complete, she is considering developing a way for her followers to read karma. Not only that, but they will be able to reward those who have reached the threshold for the Realm of Eternity, or punish those who have permanently blackened their souls.”

“So, if my mission succeeds… it will be possible for those who have attained their own perfection to be rewarded with eternity in the heavenly palace.” I let out a deep breath after I finished explaining, waiting for all of that to settle in.

Yuki’s brows furrowed softly as she considered what I had told her. “But, if they have already obtained their own form of eternity, why would they want to enter that palace in the first place?”

I simply gave a small chuckle at that. “There are many that won’t… but the choice will be theirs’. If they grow weary of the world and wish for a peaceful existence, they will be able to ascend. Depending on how the goddess sets the ability, they may even be able to freely descend again as I have, allowing them to enter and leave at will.”

“I see… very well, I’ll mention this to her in my message. I cannot guarantee that she will accept, but I will do my best.”

“That’s all I ask.” I nodded my head, slowly rising. “You can tell her that the two pills I am working on are to cure the ‘dying blood’ disease, and to store a large amount of spiritual energy to facilitate the creation of a martial spirit.”

After I said that, I left the conference room, returning to my quarters. In truth, containing spiritual energy within a physical form like a pill. The real difficulty was making sure that the spirit within the pill did not gain awareness. If it did, and obtained a life of its own, then it would typically fly away rather than be refined further.

At that point, a pill would become a type of monster. This stopped most people from continuing to pursue the goal, and the rest did not know the proper method of using medicinal materials to contain and stimulate energy. Without that, the end result would always be a pill monster.

After all, the trick was not to infuse the spiritual energy into the mixture as many believed, but rather to have the pill itself be nothing more than a shell to contain it. That was the method I was aiming for, and I had already shown results in my experiments.

Through the use of a few resources that were stored within the castle, I had even created a prototype of the pill, which was safely housed within my storage ring. This pill would be presented to the Empress of Bloodhaven as a token of good faith in our meeting, so that she could see for herself the results of my work.

While I waited, I continued working on my various recipes, wanting to get as many options as possible ready for when we eventually met. This would be my first time having to conduct physical trial and error in… quite a long time, so I wanted to have fallback plans ready in case the initial formula failed.

Thankfully, it didn’t take too long before I heard a knock on my door, causing me to open my eyes. “Come in.” I called out, expecting to see a maid informing me that the queen wanted to meet me, or delivering a message on her behalf.

Instead, I was greeted with the sight of a young girl in a long, red dress, her crimson eyes striking. Even her hair matched the color of blood, going down to the small of her back. This was not a resident of the palace that I had ever seen before, so I was instantly on my guard.

“I was told that you wanted to speak with me?” The girl asked, looking up to me as she stepped inside and closed the door.

“I’m sorry… but, who are you?” There was indeed only one person that I had asked to speak with… and I suppose that it was reasonable for this to be an avatar. But I had always read that the Empress of Bloodhaven was a mature, voluptuous woman. Not a slim child as what I was seeing before me. It was unusual for an avatar to differ so greatly from the original body.

The girl let out a faint sigh, shaking her head. “I am the First Blood, Scarlet. Queen Saruko informed me that you wanted to meet me in person to discuss a favor, along with the transaction between our countries.”

I gulped at that, nodding my head. Although I had been preparing myself to meet her, her sudden appearance along with the form she took threw off my focus entirely. “That’s… that’s correct, Empress Scarlet. I was hoping that we may speak about an important matter.”