We rode down the path for a couple of weeks before we saw any signs of civilization, Which turned out to be a long-abandoned village of decrepit houses. I wanted to camp and explore, but Meera was convinced the dilapidated former village was haunted. I did go back on my own later after setting up camp but didn't find anything. Either the residents took everything with them, or the place was already ransacked long ago. The sound of thunder cut my investigation short. I turned to head back, knowing that Meera would already be worried and wouldn't sleep until I returned.

By the time I made it back to camp, the storm had broken. I barely made it inside the coach when the clouds let loose a torrential downpour. May asked me for my cloak, and a moment later, steam rose from the top. After it was dry, she made it vanish into that fancy ring that hung around her neck. (Yes, I gave in to my curiosity and asked her about it.) I turned to a sleepy-eyed Meera, smiling at her, but she was watching me suspiciously. Then she poked my arm a few times before sighing in relief. I think she thought I became a ghost because I went into the spooky abandoned village alone.

As soon as I made myself comfortable, Meera lay down on my lap, and we both stared expectantly at May, who rolled her eyes. Today I will explain the different stages in cultivation or at least the ones known to me. She rifled through a stack of papers she had been writing on the last few days before handing one to me. Meera also looked at it even though she couldn't read. I, of course, pointed at each word in turn while reading them aloud to Meera.

Stage Title Expected Lifetime 1 Lianqi (Forging Energy) Normal 2 Zhuji (Establishing Foundation) Normal 3 Ningmai (Congealing Channels) Normal 4 Jindan (Gold Core) Three hundred years 5 Yuanying (Nascent Soul) Five hundred years 6 Fanxu (Return to Nothingness) Seven hundred years 7 Sage One thousand years

May continued after I had read the page to Meera while repeated a couple of lines here and there. "I can only explain the first three as they were the only ones I could find in the inner sect library. For the rest, we will have to discover them as we go, or failing all else, I can probably contact my parents for more information. For simplicity and because using the ancient terms will mark us as either from a sect or an old clan, I will only use the common term's for the different stages. Ah, I must also point out that these are all part of the mortal cultivation stages. Everything beyond these is outside the reach of the people of our continent.

"I will start with Forging Energy since we all begin, and Meera will start very soon if my guess isn't wrong. This stage begins when you have opened your Dantian and can absorb and direct qi inside your body. Before this stage, the body will still absorb qi if it is in abundance, like, for instance, what you did to that clearing last week. However, the amount that your body can absorb before opening your dantian depends on many factors but mostly size. A child obviously can not absorb a large amount as there is no room. But if said child had inhuman endurance like many of the beastmen tribes, for instance, the bear tribe. Then they could contain far more qi before it began tearing the body apart. Or if the child is born in a qi rich environment like the immortal continent to the far east. I hear that on that continent, a child of ten if nurtured properly, can easily attain the third stage of mortal cultivation."

We both grinned at the wide-eyed look in Meera's eyes. Then the questions poured from her tiny mouth in a torrent that put the downpour outside to shame. Which also brought to my attention how muffled the sound was inside this coach. Probably more of those fancy formation things May has been telling me about. I'm just glad she had the forethought to bring the coach with us. This trip would be truly miserable if we had to sleep outside on a night like this. Oh, I could probably grow something that would work as a temporary shelter, but May asked me to stop leaving spots of high-density qi all over the countryside. Not only does it leave a trail a blind mortal could follow, but apparently, it will also raise the danger level of the entire area as beasts and monsters claimed the spots for themselves, eventually growing their power beyond what the locals can handle. (Why are normal people considered mortal? but cultivators arent even though they are mortal until they break past sage to whatever waits beyond, Probably more of the same boring meditation.)

When May finished answering Meera's stream of questions or at least some of them, she began explaining what Meera will need to do when she is ready. Since I already knew this part, I tuned them out while using my earth qi to check our surroundings. I only found a couple of animals watching the coach curiously, so I turned my attention back just as May began talking about meridians. Apparently, that is the next part in my cultivation, opening meridians in my hands, arms, legs, feet, stomach, heart, and brain. That last one sounds dangerous. Opening each takes hundreds of times more qi than the last, and the first take many times what I used to break into the congealing channels faze of my 'training.' I, of course, summarized this from a couple of hour-long lectures that put Meera to sleep long before May finished it.

None of what May talked about helped me understand why my qi pool, as I prefer to call it, looks like an algae-covered pond with constant ripples. Personally, I think it has something to do with my earth and air qi taking up residence in my dantian instead of flowing around my entire body. When I explained my elemental qi to Meera, she only scoffed before explaining that a cultivator can not change their qi to an element until they have opened all their meridians and broke through to the gold core stage. Letting me know that she knows more than she lets on. I wonder if she even noticed her slip up there? Of course, I obviously knew it was entirely possible, except I don't change my qi the earth and sky do it for me.

This particular argument went on for a couple of weeks until I explained how I bonded with the elements in a fit of annoyance. (-Caugh- no, I didn't know then that that is what I did) So she began experimenting. She utterly failed to connect with either earth or air. But when she tried feeding her qi to fire, even though I gave her the same warning Gramps gave me. A small fire ignited in the center of her chest. I could sense it pulsing in tune with her heartbeat. At every beat, it would release small waves of fire qi that swept throughout her body, strengthening her foundation much as the earth did for me. (I did not act smug at all, if anyone says. Otherwise, they are lying.)

Nearly a month into our trek south, we ran across several more abandoned villages and many small bandit groups. However, the bandit groups were strange instead of groups of disgruntled locals trying to feed themselves without doing something as crass as getting a real job. We found that only one person in each group was a bandit while the rest were always collared slaves. If I were a betting man, I would put all the gold May owns that the slaves are all from the abandoned villages. Instead of getting involved, we took detours around their camps when we ran across them.

We did our part by contacting the government. Time for them to do something for the people instead of to. Besides, why would everyone pay all those taxes if not for protection? Meera wanted us to help them all, but I let May explain that we couldn't take care of them, and they might all starve or get eaten if we freed them and left them alone. Yes, I let May teach the hard lessons while I conveniently went out to hunt some meat for dinner. Eating only rice and vegetables got old fast, so this became one of my daily chores since May took over cooking after making porridge every day for a week.

On the first week of our second month of traveling together, we found our first inhabited town. The sign a couple of miles from town read Apple Town, pop 2600. The sign was quite literal. The forest had been cut back in a wide area around the town and filled with apple orchards. I plucked one to give Meera as we walked past the bored-looking guards. One pointed at a small wooden box on the side that read 1 copper an apple. May smiled at the guard and tossed in two before grabbing one for herself. The other guard raised a questioning eyebrow at me, so I took another for myself as May tossed another copper into the box. Strangely the two guards seemed to relax the moment I did. I carefully inspected the apple, but I could not find anything amiss, so I shrugged before taking a big bite. It tasted like an apple, a bit juicier than a normal apple, but still, an apple is an apple after all.

A man who sat at a small table just inside the gate laughed at my expression. "Don't think too much about it. This is a small town, and we have been having a hard time lately with bandits. The mayor had to cut the guard's pay, so this is how they make a little extra on the side to help out their families." I nodded to let them know I understood then started to head inside. "Hold on there, mister, I need your names and reason for coming to Apple Town." May stepped forward, giving him our names and telling him we are passing through but wish to spend the night in a comfortable bed for a change. "Very good. The Apple Cart is a couple of blocks down the main street right off the central square; I highly recommend it if you can spare a bit more coin. All our businesses are on the main street here. seeing as you are passing through, I would recommend not straying far from it. The locals don't like strangers wandering the residential districts. These are bad times people disappear all the time."

Before we could head off, Meera tugged my cloak and pointed at a crate of apples that had a sign for 1 silver. I looked to May, who smiled before handing a silver to Meera. Meera dashed to the wood box, hopping up to place it inside before pointing at the crate. The guard grinned, then pulled it down from its shelf. He started to hand it to me when he realized I was missing an arm. The guard hesitated for a moment until I grabbed it from him. "It's fine; I have gotten used to it."

As we turned to leave, the old man at the table called out to us. "If you stay in town an extra day, you can watch the tournament in the central square tomorrow. The Mayor's daughter reached marriageable age. Instead of marrying whoever her Father wanted, she decided to hold a tournament to see who the strongest in Apple Town and the surrounding area is and marry that man... I am not certain how that's any better than an arranged marriage, but I am not a teenage girl. Anyway, have a nice stay in Apple Town."