This morning when Shiga went to the lab, it wasn’t to study the herbs. Today he would be making various things to sell at the bazaar. The first thing that Shiga made were Qi Grass papers. While he waited for the paper to dry, Shiga also ground up some Qi grass and put it in a small bottle. Shiga then made several Qi Recovery pills, both normal and baked.

After he finished everything he could with Qi Grass, Shiga moved on to the Sun Lilies. After making several firecrackers, Shiga started working with the Ice Hibiscuses. The first thing he did was carefully remove all of the leaves. He still got cuts, but it was worth it. Shiga put the now loose leaves into some small boxes made for pills. Taking the now leafless plants, he pressed them and put the sap into bottles labeled as blood clotting cream.

Shiga grabbed all of his products and ran over the bazaar. It was a large clearing in the forest that had become dirt after all of the people constantly walking through. There were many stalls, all of them filled with various items. Shiga wandered throughout the bazaar. He saw many different weapons, techniques, pills, and other items. He talked to people at various stands and managed to sell all of his Qi Recovery pills for 415 peros. At a different stand, Shiga managed to sell his Qi grass paper as low quality inscription paper for an entire 500 peros. The blood clotting cream earned him the most though. He only had a couple bottles but he managed to sell them for a full 750 peros! Now with 1665 spare peros, Shiga started to prepare for his trip. He bought food, camping supplies, some antidotes, and a map of the surrounding wilderness for 1205 peros.

Shiga quickly made his way back to the dorm. When he arrived he saw Jido there, a rare occurrence.

“Hey Shiga! You going somewhere?” (Jido).

“Yeah. I am going to the wilderness around the sect. I’ll probably be gone a while.” (Shiga)

“Why are you going out there? I can help you get materials if you need them.” (Jido)

“Thanks for the offer, but no. I picked up a technique from the scroll library and I need to find an appropriate magic beast.” (Shiga)

“Ah. Ok. See you later then. How long will you be gone?” (Jido)

“I said it might be a while. I don’t really know. Could be more than a month.” (Shiga)

“Oh right! Good luck on finding materials then!” (Jido)

Shiga could only sigh at Jido’s forgetfulness while he finished packing everything up. Once everything was all together, Shiga went back to the lab to make a few more bottles of blood clotting cream. He got back around noon, so he splurged and bought some good food at the relaxation area. After lunch, Shiga cultivated for the rest of the day. His planet had finally reached the size of a very small moon when he stopped to go to sleep for the night.

The next morning, Shiga ate a large breakfast before heading to the sect gates. When he got there he saw a small old man quietly reading a book at the gates.

“Excuse me; I would like to go explore the wilderness.” (Shiga)

“Please let me see your student badge. Shiga Wateya? About how long do you expect to be out?” (Old Man)

“I’m not too sure. It will depend on my luck, but I don’t think that it will take longer than a month.” (Shiga)

“Very well. Let me get this gate then.” (Old Man).

The Old Man walked over to one of the gates that was at least 5 meters tall and with one hand pushed it open. Shiga quickly walked through the gates before politely bowing to the Old Man. The Old Man only smiled and pulled the gate shut once more. Looking around, Shiga saw nothing else but the forest and the sect’s walls. Shiga pulled out his map and checked it before heading off into the woods. Shiga ran through the woods, darting between trees to work on his agility. There were barely any magic beasts very close to the sect, because all of the instructors had driven them away, but after a certain point there were many, many more magic beasts than normal. This was normal for schools and sects, because schools and sects were normally built in places where Qi has congregated, which is very attractive to magic beasts. This leads to a congregation of magic beasts near schools but not overly close to them, almost like a ring.

Shiga ran for as long as he could, pushing himself beyond his normal limits with Qi. He used Wind Qi to push himself even faster than normal and by lunchtime Shiga was in the middle of the ring. Shiga stopped to have lunch and recover his Qi. To help recovery, Shiga sprinkled some ground Qi Grass onto his food before he ate. He had just finished eating when suddenly he heard a growl. Quickly jumping up and grabbing his weapon he looked around to find the source of the growl. He found himself faced with a coyote magic beast. It was the size of a normal wolf and its fur was tinted an ominous yellow. The coyote suddenly swiped at shiga, but Shiga managed to roll out of the way. Taking advantage of this, Shiga swiped at the Coyote’s face. He managed to get a glancing blow near its eye, but had to back off because the Coyote immediately turned and bit at him. They slowly circled each other, looking for an opening. The Coyote lunged at Shiga, but Shiga barely dodged to the side, sending attack after attack at the Coyote’s flank. It managed to leap away though, its right flank covered in light wounds. Shiga used [Wind Grinds Down the Mountain] to its fullest to avoid getting hit by the beast. Eventually the Coyote suffered too many injuries and it started to wobble.

Taking advantage of the sudden pause in the Coyote, Shiga executed [Wind Splits the Boulder] on the Coyote’s neck, cutting all the way to bone. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and the Coyote collapsed onto the ground dead. Shiga took the body to a nearby stream and began to process the body as best as he could. He collected several of the beast’s bones, including its fangs, as well as its pelt and some of the meat. The rest, Shiga was forced to leave behind. Not wasting any time now, Shiga ran off before too many magic beasts came, attracted by the smell of blood.

~~~~

Author Notes:

There should be some more world building here in this chapter and in the next one there will be a bit more world building. The reason there hasn't been to much is because Shiga really hasn't gone anywhere or done that much if you look back on it.

I hope you enjoyed and Comment your thoughts!