While Jack had decided to help the man he had hurt due to his mistake, he first had to make sure that the situation didn’t get any worse than it already was. Quickly he left his room and walked into the garden. In front of a small stone he crouched down. Reaching out he pulled out the small stone that held the controlling rune to the defensive formation. He let out a relieved sigh. Without the controlling rune the formation was disabled. So no one else would get hurt if they stepped into it. Jack stood up again and walked back towards his room.

As much as Jack wanted to rush immediately over to the hospital to help the man he knew that he couldn’t help him right now. Not only was he probably still being treated by doctors, no, his wounds were quite severe given the blood he had lost. Jack’s healing flames wouldn’t be able to heal something like that. If his cultivation was higher he would be able to increase the power of the flames, but he hadn’t time to cultivate right now. No, if he wanted to help the man he would have to create something more powerful.

Jack’s view focused on the plants that covered the board in front of his window. Ever since his failed attempt at alchemy he had gathered and cared for them, it was time that he got something from it.

With a slight movement of energy he activated a technique to analyse plants as he laid his hand on the plant next to him. Slowly the energy moved from his hand into the plant, a small bush with red coloured flower petals. It entered through its bark and reached deep into the core of the plant before it started to return to Jack.

Jack closed his eyes as he tried to understand what the technique told him. Minutes passed before he finally began to understand. It was a great amount of information, but most of it had been useless. Information about the texture of the plants bark, the flow of liquid through its stem and other topics Jack didn’t really care for.

But in the end he managed to find what he was looking for, the medical properties of the plant. It was hidden in the roots and could relieve exhaustion and refill stamina. Not really what he was looking for, but it was a start. He wanted to stop the analysis, but before he was able to do that he found another medical property. This one was in the leaves and would, if used correctly temporarily increase strength by a small amount. A small smile appeared on Jack’s face. Plants with twin medical properties were rare, so what were the chances that the first one he tested was one. It must be his lucky day, or so he thought.

That is until he found a third one, hidden deep within the plant. A surprised look appeared on Jack’s face. What the- ? A fourth one quickly pulled his attention away, though this one was weak and almost unnoticeable.

A frown on his face Jack leaned back as he tried to figure out what he had just found. Plants with four medical properties were almost unheard of. And to actually work with them was even harder as you had to extract the properties first instead of simply using the whole plant like you could with normal herbs.

Quickly Jack began to check the other plants. To his surprise most of them had at least two medical properties. One he found had even a total of six, something he had never thought possible before. Jack didn’t know why the plants had so many properties, but honestly he didn’t care either. It would make things a lot more complicated, but at least he knew now why his first attempt at alchemy had failed so miserably.

Thinking over the problem for a moment Jack decided that he would try to extract the medical properties. He stood up and walked over to one of the closets on the wall. He had to search in the depths of it for some time until he finally found what he was looking for. An old, dusty chemistry set his parents had once gifted to him. He had never really used it, but now it would be useful. Jack opened it and took out a few vials.

Carefully Jack selected the plants that had the properties he needed, recovery and healing, while having the least amount of other properties. As soon as he had made his selection he began with the extraction.

Medical properties were in fact nothing more than a special form of Qi. Plants would absorb the Qi around them and infuse it into their bodies where it would become refined. Just like monsters, plants didn’t need any cultivation manuals to do this, instead their body was actively refining the Qi on its own.

Carefully he guided his energy into the first plant, a small blue flower which could be used to help a wound to recover. The energy slithered inside towards the small blue flower petals where the medical property was the most concentrated. Once it was there Jack used the energy to grab the Qi inside of it and started to pull.

Quickly the Qi filled liquid started to leave the flower and floated in a pale glowing ball the size of an orange over Jack’s hand. Narrowing his eyes Jack looked for any impurities inside the Qi. And only a few moments later he had found them. Small dots of Qi where it wasn’t part of the medical property he wanted, but either part of the flowers normal Qi or even those of other, unwanted medical property. With a thought Jack separated the impurities from the rest.

The result was a marble sized ball of milky white liquid floating over his palm. Carefully Jack guided it in a small bottle before he turned to the next plant.

Three plants later Jack had finally all he needed. All the liquid he had extracted was gathered in small bottles in front of him.

For the next part Jack borrowed a pot from the kitchen, chuckling as he remembered with nostalgia at his first try with alchemy. Carefully Jack filled the liquid from the first bottle inside of the pot, then half of that from the second. He didn’t need any further process than that, as the Qi had already been extracted from the plants. The only part where he had to be careful was the combination of the different parts. After all not every liquid had to be included to the same amount.

Jack summoned a small flame and positioned it under the pot. Quickly the liquid started to boil. As it boiled the colour started to change bit by bit until the milky liquid had become completely transparent.

With a mental command Jack extinguished the flame and waited until the liquid had stopped boiling. Afterwards he filled a quarter of the next bottle inside before he grabbed the last bottle and emptied it inside the pot. Immediately the liquid changed to a bright red colour. Seeing this Jack grinned. Almost ready.

Reigniting the flame Jack heated the pot again. Quickly the liquid began boiling, but Jack continued to wait. Slowly the liquid began to become darker and darker. But then, suddenly the colour began changing to a dark green one. Immediately Jack cut off the flame.

Jack looked at the green coloured liquid inside the pot. Truth be told he if he had any other way to help the man he would rather use it. Giving an alchemical potion to a mortal was risky at best. The reason was the same as why no one produced weapons that gave Qi to their owners like Rin’s did. Qi was dangerous for anybody that absorbed it, especially for mortals. And an alchemical potion had some Qi inside of it, though it wasn’t much. As such it was recommended that no one should drink more than a potion a day, anymore and the consequences would be dire. That was the reason why healing techniques were more popular as they didn’t have the same restrictions. But on the other hand, even the weakest alchemical potion would be enough to heal severe wounds whereas healers had to become more powerful to do the same.

Carefully Jack filled the vials. He barely managed to fill three of them before liquid was exhausted, but it was definitely enough to help the man. He placed the vials back on the table before he stretched. The whole process had taken nearly an hour to complete and he felt stiff from sitting still for so long. Standing up he walked to the window and looked outside. The crowd outside had dispersed. Jack could still see a few stragglers, one of them looking like a journalist, but most had gone away.

Deciding that he should look if his mother was better now, Jack left his room. But all he found was a small message lying on the kitchen table. His mother had accompanied the police back to give a testimony as a witness. Jack’s father would drive her back later, so he was alone for a few more hours.

Jack returned to his room. Now that he had the means to actually help the man he wanted to walk of immediately, but he held back. There was still one last thing he had to do.

Jack pulled the knife from his pocket. Thoughtfully he looked down at it. Rin already knew that he was responsible for what had happened to the man, so it wasn’t farfetched to think that he was now even closer observed than before. And as soon as he made his way to the hospital Rin would know. Maybe she would even think that he wanted to take care of the man for good or something silly like that. Either way she would probably try to stop or even kill him. So he would need a weapon to defend himself.

Jack opened his desk. After a few minutes of searching he finally found what he was looking for. An old nail. He placed the knife on the desk and grabbed it tighter to make sure it wouldn’t be able to move, then he started.

Carefully Jack scratched a small rune into the hilt of the knife. The hard wood resisted, but in the end Jack had carved a small rune of durability into it. Next came a small prick with the nail into his finger to get some blood. Cautiously Jack distributed the blood into the rune.

When he was ready Jack moved his consciousness into his Dantian. There his black rune remained floating. He hesitated for a moment, then he split of a very small part of it. Immediately a searing pain coursed through his body. It was, however only for a moment and the rune quickly shifted to correct the missing parts.

Quickly Jack guided the black Qi towards the rune on the knife. Greedily it absorbed the Qi and slowly the rune began changing. Different from before when he had infused unrefined Qi into a formation, this one didn’t start to glow with light. Instead shadows began to gather around the rune, becoming darker and darker the more the rune was filled.

Finally, when the rune was completely filled Jack stopped to infuse Qi into it. The pitiful rest of the Qi that was left got returned to his Dantian where it became once again part of the rune. The rune however started to activate now that it was full. The shadows that had gathered around it got sucked inside as the rune changed the Qi inside of it to increase the durability of the knife it was placed on. In the end all shadows vanished and only the knife remained with the dark rune on its hilt.

A moment the rune remained like this, then dark tendrils started to spread forth from the rune. They first spread through the entire hilt before they jumped over to the blade, forming a fine web of black tendrils inside the metal. Jack could sense the blade strengthening around them, becoming infused with Qi.

Now even Rin’s sword wouldn’t be able to cut through it like it did before. And even if it did, he would be able to send his energy into the rune to temporarily increase its effect. After a last admiring look at his new knife Jack hid it inside his pocket. Finally he was ready to go. Quickly Jack left the house and started to walk towards the hospital.