I woke up a couple hours later, lying on a couch in the living/alchemy room. Hui Ming and Jing sat on a different couch. Jing poured through alchemy books while Hui Ming looked through piles of medicine.

My head cleared after my nap. Never am I identifying so many plants at a time again. Maybe a hundred at a time is my limit.

“Hello?” I said. “I’m fine now.”

They lifted their heads. Hui Ming exhaled and Jing put the books away. “Sorry about that. I used Identify too many times in a row, I didn’t know it would have such an effect on me.”

Jing took the rod, “Look at what Hui Ming brought back. It looks so cool! What does it do?”

Shoot. I made Hui Ming bring that back? That wasn’t part of the plan. “It’s a gun. I’m not sure how it works though. I think it’s operated by inserting spirit shards. It can unleash the power of a full power strike from a fifth stage cultivator.”

“But it’s very expensive to operate?” Jing asked.

“It looks like it,” I turned to Hui Ming, “How much does the gun cost?”

“It’s called a power rod. There are larger and smaller versions, but that one should cost around two hundred thousand.”

“Two hundred thousand!” I tightened my grip. Maybe two hundred thousand shouldn’t be very much money to me, but it was still a huge sum of money. After seeing the prices of enough objects, I’d found one shard was worth roughly one United States dollar. A single object being worth two hundred thousand was mind blowing to me. I could only imagine how much pie Hui Ming could buy with that money.

Jing tossed it to Hui Ming. “Show me!”

Hui Ming looked to me. “Go ahead,” I said.

She took out one shard and it evaporated, turning to a particle of mist that traveled to the other end of the rod. The particle solidified into a piece of sand and shot out at Jing. She let it hit her forehead. Her neck jerked back as if she were hit by a hammer. “Do it again!” Hui Ming did it again. “Do it again!”

“Ok ok. No more,” I said.

“We should buy a bigger one. One worth ten million soul shards,” said Jing.

“And why would we do that?” I said.

“It’d be really cool,” she said as if it were obvious.

To be fair, the idea of a giant laser cannon was tempting. “But we already have the Cannon Segments, right?”

“What canon segments?”

“You have the same blue screen as I do?” I asked.

“Yeah,” her eyes focused on something in front of her. It was her own status screen, although I couldn’t see it.

“Don’t you have Cannon Segments?” I asked.

“No,” she said, “What’s that?”

“So the new plants I invented didn't get transferred to you,” a seed turned into a Cannon Segment in my hands. “Here, Identify this.”

She touched it. “Ok… still not as cool as the power rod though.”

“Jing, let me teach you some money sense. We are not spending a quarter of my savings on something just because you think it’s cool.”

She gave me puppy dog eyes. “But-”

“It’s not happening,” I said.

“But then what can I do if I want to buy anything?” she asked.

I rubbed my forehead. I’ve been putting this off for too long. “I don’t want to force you to stay in my house all day. You’ll have your freedoms.”

“Xiao Li, you sit down too. We need to establish some house rules.” She sat next to Jing. “Our goal is to have our little household grow till we are one of the powerhouses of this city. We already have the defensive power of a major sect, but we’re expanding that to offensive power and fame as well.”

“What will we do after we become a powerhouse?” Hui Ming asked.

“Sip tea. Sell pills. Support the younger generation. Shield those we care about.”

“What?!” Jing yelled, “but that’s no fun!” Hui Ming glared at her.

“You won’t think so once we get there,” I said.

“What do you mean? It sounds boring to me,” she said.

I took a deep breath. “This city rests on metaphorical ‘pillars’. The toppling of any one of these pillars will throw everything into disarray. I know you've been wondering why I haven’t been expanding my influence. It’s because I’m afraid of touching those pillars.”

I continued, “But I’m afraid I’m not always going to be the only one who can topple those pillars. This city is being infected by something. Even the alchemy headquarters have been infected. Many high status figures are being recruited. There will be larger disturbances in the future.”

“Even after that, I have a feeling we’ll have to deal with even greater threats. This world may soon face an existential threat, which is why we need to become more influential. You’ll have your fun when we deal with that.”

I was referring to my fellow classmates. It was possible that they were all dead, but it was also possible some had gotten a power like me. “The Cultivator” implied there was only one cultivator. It was likely everybody got a unique power.

Power corrupts. A teenager given power for a couple weeks may not compromise on their morals too much. But what about a couple years? My general attitude ranged from “sip tea” to “steal weed”, so I wasn’t as affected as I could have been.

But others were more prone to misusing power. The bullies, for example. Or the arrogant. Or the people who wished they had the power to be arrogant. Or everybody in general.

I can't even be sure I don't end up twisted. I don't know what kind of person I'll be in five years. I don’t know what happens to people when they obtain the power to bend the world.

I would be finished if one of the people who became monsters had an ability like time manipulation. But there was no point in planning against something undefeatable.

I could still plan against less powerful abilities. The likelihood of fighting against one of these types of people was very high. Of course, this was all speculation, but I had a strong feeling I was right.

Jing would have her fun. I could only hope we don’t lose.

“Ok, but what do we do right now?” Jing asked.

“I was getting to that. I’m already working on the fame part. Jing, I have a couple rules for you. You may not let your mana reach less than five hundred. Don’t let your mana fill up either. If you ever have leftover mana, use it by adding to our defences.”

“I was already doing that, father.” she said.

“If you want to buy anything, you must earn the money yourself. You may do anything you want to earn the money, but don’t meddle in my businesses. Unless necessary, you can’t reveal your plant ability to others. Also… for every soul shard you spend for yourself, give me nineteen soul shards.” For every twenty shards she tried to spend, nineteen would go to me.

“Ninety five percent tax?” she cried, “That’s extortion!”

“That’s the point,” I snickered internally. “ As for you, Xiao Li. You don’t need to stick by my side all day. You may take ten million out of my stash for yourself.”

“Wha?” said Jing, “What about me?”

“I’ll loan you one million to kickstart your business. You’ll have to pay it back, plus interest.”

“Favoritism. I call favoritism!” she said.

I pat her on the shoulder. “You’ll be fine, I know it.”