Yin steps were rushed, clicking against the wooden floor as she led the way to the lab. Her eyes darted back towards me, before rushing ahead, trying to sneak glances. I considered trying to smile to reassure her, but something told me that’d only make her more nervous. So I followed with a blank expression, maintaining a figure of seriousness.

Opening the gate to the lab, I already felt the swirl of Qi filling the inside of the chamber. The counter had batches and bowls filled to the brim with shimmering crystals, labelled from one to eleven respectively. All of them were failed results, not able to bind Qi for whatever reason or mistake made in the creation process.

“I-it took me a while. I kept the failed ones because I thought I could see where I went wrong with them,” Yin said, leading up to the cauldron. I noted the little imprints of the Qi from my spirits, present within the chambers as well.

“Don’t give them too many crystals. Labby once stole some and she continued to spark like an overcharged battery for an hour,” I replied nonchalantly.

“I-I didn’t… that is…” the girl’s cheeks took a rose tinge upon being caught so easily. Failing to find words, Yin merely returned a nod, and I smiled.

My eyes scanned the counters, before noting the little torn clothes with dashes of blood on them that’d been thrown in a corner. I looked at Yin hands, and noticed little bandages that the girl hid underneath her sleeves. Burn marks, and little cuts likely from the sharp crystals themselves.

I didn’t comment on it. I suspect pointing it out would only make her feel more embarrassed. But I took note of it nonetheless. This wasn’t a whim or a random flight of fancy, and it pleased me to have judged her correctly.

Yin picked up a bowl, the label on it reading twelve, as she brought it to me. Pieces of Qi crystals clinked within the bowl, reflecting the light coming from the windows. I took a sniff, and felt my mind clearing as the Qi coming from the bowl flowed into my dantian, before being turned to Chi.

“I think… this is it. I can’t find any mistakes in it. O-of course someone like me could never judge something like this, and I didn’t mean to say that I could but—”

I patted Yin on the head, pausing her nervous breakdown. The action was surprising enough to break her train of thought, as she simply stared at me.

“Umm… What… what are you doing?” she asked.

“Calming you down,” I said, as I took the bowl of Qi crystals from her hand. Picking a crystal, I ate it, letting the Qi dissolve in my mouth. A wave of energy surged within me, and I nodded.

I could sense Yin staring at me in anticipation, but I did not respond. Walking to the section where I’d run the purity experiment, I took water from a jug filled with water spirit stones, filling it in two different bowls.

Picking my own bowl of Qi crystals, that’d been kept carefully for Yin to reference, I set it on the weighing scale, followed by Yin’s bowl. I raised an eyebrow, noticing Yin’s bowl to be heavier. The crystals in my bowl were also smoother than I remembered.

I turned towards Yin, raising an eyebrow. “What happened to these?”

“Oh, umm. The crystals evaporated over time. It happens even faster if you leave them in the sun,” Yin replied.

I took note, fascinated. But it made sense as well. There was Qi coming out of these crystals at all points, so slowly but surely, they would lose form and mass, as more and more Qi left them.

“So we can’t store them for too long or they’ll just vanish huh?” I said, before taking out a few crystals form both bowls. “Make four containers and separate them equally. Leave one from each bowl outside, and one more in a shelf, or somewhere inside. We’ll take notes on how long each one lasts.”

Yin nodded, taking the crystals and putting them aside to be separated.

I moved on from the task, returning to my bowls of water. Taking the two batches of Qi crystals, I let them mix into the bowl. Sending a pulse of Qi dissolved the crystals, as a green tinge spread through the water. I guided the Qi, letting it mix thoroughly.

Once satisfied, I took the bowls, putting them into my cauldron. With a flick of my wrist, flames erupted underneath as the water began to boil. I poured my Qi directly into the cauldron as well, as thick streams of steam flew out the from underneath the cauldron lid.

Yin stood behind me, watching nervously, as I waited for the water to boil. Once done, I opened the lid, taking the powdery green residue left at the bottom of the cauldron and carefully crapped it onto a porcelain plate.

Once done, I repeated the process with the other bowl. After having both samples, I went back to my counter, and carefully put one bowl on the weighing scale, balancing it with an empty porcelain plate. As the scale stabilised, I made use of my super-human sight and senses, to sense the difference between the weight.

I repeated the process a few times, measuring the two Qi residue plates against each other, and then with empty plates. There was no good way to measure any of this accurately so far with me, but this was just another one of the things I intended to ask the Lord to create.

After I had the numbers down, I did some maths, taking the results before I began to do the calculation.

I could see Yin fidgeting, as she watched me work. Little murmured, and whispers echoing on the wind, and the quiet, but ever-present thud of her racing heart.

Results:

Qi Crystals (Lu Jie):

Qi value: 180-200 cycles.

Qi purity: 60-80%* (Approx)

Qi Crystal (Yin):

Qi value: 160-180 cycles.

Qi purity: 50-60%* (Approx)”

“Yup, definitely Qi crystals. Pretty good ones too. Not quite what I can make, but better than most Qi gathering pills,” I replied, turning back towards Yin.

“Please forgive me! I’ll do better. I’m sorry for wasting your time,” Yin replied bowing her head deeply.

I scratched my head, not sure of how to respond. “I think you didn’t hear me, Yin. These are Qi crystals. You did it,” I said once more.

Slowly, the girl raised her head, looking at me as if I was insane. “I… did it?” she asked.

“You did it,” I replied, nodding.

“I… but I thought…” the girl trailed off, just staring at my face, and then back at the Qi crystals. “I… thought that- it just, even when you taught me, this didn’t feel real. But to have created… I should be happy but I can barely feel anything,” Yin said.

For a moment, I could almost imagine steam coming out of her ears as her mind short circuited.

“But… I did it didn’t I? Presumptuous though it may be, yet I cannot help but wonder just what else I could create. What else I could learn? Different sorts of pills, different kinds of Alchemy,” the girl said, her voice shaking from anticipation.

The words pierced me far more deeply than I suspected Yin had realised. That feeling, the wonder, that sensation of endless possibilities, and the ability to create something new. That is what had set me down this path of uncovering the truth of this world. And today, I felt like I had finally, truly shared that with someone else.

I walked up to Yin, patting her shoulder, as I smiled. “Welcome to the Path of Science, Yin.”

Yin looked up at me, her eyes still blank, as if the words could not reach her. A moment later, she nodded, bowing her head. “I-I’m grateful to have a teacher like you. I’ll do my best, from now on and more so, and learn even faster. So please, keep teaching me.”

I noticed her hands clutching her cloth, and I had to wonder just what led her to have such a timid personality. “Oh if you think this was the end then you’re sorely mistaken. I’m doing to make you work your ass off,” I replied with an evil chuckle, and saw the tension in Yin’s shoulder’s dissolve.

“I’ll not disappoint!” she exclaimed, in perhaps the loudest I had ever heard her.

“Good, now go rest. And get some balm from the granny for your hands. They are an alchemist’s tool, so you best take good care of them. And go get some sleep, when was the last time you slept?” I asked, Yin.

The girl dazed out, raising a finger and then another. “Umm… I think…”

I shook my head at her response. “That’s answer enough. Go and rest, you’ll have time to learn later,” I said, pushing Yin out of the lab’s doors, and not closing them until I knew she was on her way back home.

After Yin had left, I returned to the bowl of Qi crystals she had made, and looked at them. Alchemy done by mortal, made real by the work of her grandfather and the knowledge of another world.

I stood upon the precipice of change, of something new starting in this world. The dream I had seen that day, when the Old Man had cured me from my spar, and shown me the possibilities, now felt real, as they rested in the form of a crystal in my palm.

I cleared my head, resolving myself for the talk with the Lord.

Picking up the crystals Yin had made, I frowned briefly as I felt the weight of the crystals to be less than what I’d left. Did I drop a few? I glanced around briefly, but didn’t find anything, and shrugged.

Taking the crystals in a pouch that I carefully tied at my waist, I turned around and made my way out.

It was time to visit the Lord.

***

The shadows grew longer as the setting sun peeked in through the cracks within the stone walls. Zu Ri kneeled in front of the elder, the darkness hiding the man’s expression from her sight.

“What have you brought to us, Shadow?”

Zu Ri raised her hand, presenting a shard of crystal to the man. Elder Yan observed, before picking up the crystal. Zu Ri waited silently, as the elder inspected the crystal.

“A rock of nearly pure Qi. Why have you brought this to us?”

“It is a kind of pill, Master. One the demon has created, and is now teaching mortals how to. The rock can be eaten and would provide Qi to those that do,” Zu Ri said, her eyes set upon the ground beneath her.

Elder Yan snorted. “Nonsense. No mortal could ever even fathom to create alchemy. The boy is foolish beyond belief, if he thinks he could teach one.”

“That crystal was made by a mortal from his village,” Zu Ri said.

The silence grew deeper alongside the shadows, as the sun began to set upon the horizon. A crack came from above, as Elder Yan shattered the crystal, its Qi flowing outwards into the world.

“Send a scroll to the Alchemy Halls,” Elder Yan said, as he turned around. “Invite an Elder. Let them know, we have something of dire importance to discuss.”

Zu Ri nodded, bowing her head. Her heart beat with trepidation and fear of what was to come, but she would not falter. The longer her mistress stayed besides the boy’s side, the more danger she would be in. And she couldn’t let that happen. Zu Ri stepped back, melding into the shadows as she continued on her to complete her task.

No matter what, she would protect Yan Yun. Even from herself.