“Ouch!” I exclaimed, mostly from the surprise rather than any real pain. I looked down at the little plant spirit suckling on my palm, with two thorn-like fangs peeking through as it drank my blood. Streaks of red began to develop on the white flower on its head. I felt a sense of satisfaction coming from Twilight as it… (she?) had its fill.

“You’re a thorny little plant spirit, huh?” I said, receiving a ‘Chii~’ from the little plant as it looked up at me, eyes shimmering. I felt a strange understanding with the plant spirit from our bond, yet the words that came from the plant weren’t words, but more sensations than anything. I could feel Twilight soaking in information as she glanced around curiously. I wondered if her being able to understand me was due to the fact that I’d shared my vitality with her.

“Can you talk?” I asked Twilight as she shook her head. I frowned when I received a jumble of thoughts. She couldn’t talk because… she was different? Different understanding? I stared at Twilight, unable to parse what she meant.

I turned to look at Labby.

“Squeak!” Labby replied.

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, different somehow.”

My thoughts were diverted back as Twilight stood up on my palm and then began to climb up my hand. It tickled, but the sight was so adorable that I couldn’t help but let her. The flower on her head bobbed up and down as she made her way, and Labby crackled slightly, thumping her feet.

“Labby’s place!” she exclaimed, as Twilight finally climbed up. The little plant looked on with beady eyes, before glancing at me. I regarded Labby silently.

“...but Labby can share,” Labby replied, as Twilight chittered and settled onto my shoulder. Labby hopped on to the other side, still feeling sad about having her side of the shoulder taken.

I pet her on the head. “It was good of you to share,” I said, as Labby rubbed her head against my finger, squeaking happily.

I grabbed Twilight in my hand, and she sat on my palm, staring at me. “Alright. Now… I need to… take a miasma petal from you?” I asked, unsure as I stared at the petals attached to her head. I didn’t want to hurt her.

“Chii~” Twilight replied, standing up and tapping her head.

“You don’t have any miasma?” I asked and received a nod from her. “How will you get some?”

Twilight simply looked at me, tilting her head in confusion. I guess it was stupid to expect a newborn spirit to know that. I turned to look at my little patch of spirit herbs. Walking over I set Twilight onto the floor and sat on the floor. Tapping the ground, I pointed at the earth, pulling some Gu out of it.

“Can you use this?” I showed her the Gu rising from my fingertip. Twilight looked at it curiously, walking closer as she sniffed the smoky black wisps. She paled visibly and jumped back with a nervous chitter, shaking her head.

“Don’t like Gu huh. I guess you’re still a spirit, even if a blood one,” I said, looking around for more options. Hmm, how did the bloodroot gather miasma originally? It drank in Qi, and controlled the dead, storing the miasma in its flower. That sounded an awful lot like filtering out a toxin and then storing it in a certain part as a form of defense. Did that mean that I needed to give her blood infused with Gu?

I grabbed my small blade and made a light cut on my palm. Lightly, I channeled my Gu into the blood while keeping the Qi present in it, but the droplet began to hiss and boil as it broke apart.

Another idea came to me as I focused. I began to draw out some essence from my core, and poured it in a drop of blood. I then began to mix it with my Gu. The color of the blood droplet turned a dark red mixed with hints of gold. I extended the finger towards Twilight. Before I could even say something, the little plant spirit jumped to my finger and bit me, drinking in the blood droplet happily.

“Chii~!!” she exclaimed happily, and I saw a strand of Gu starting to travel to her flower.

“Alright, I guess I know what to do now,” I said, looking down at the little plant spirit. With a little sigh, I slowly but surely fed her miasma infused blood droplets.

***

I lay on the floor, my hand stinging as exhaustion covered me. A little black petal sat in my hand, filled with Miasma, as Twilight slept in her box which I’d cleared the dirt from. It’d taken a few hours for Gu to gather and a few more to communicate to Twilight how I wanted her to safely grab the petal of Gu and if it would hurt her. Thankfully, there was no pain from what I could feel as she’d grabbed the petal and picked it out, handing it to me happily.

I picked myself up from the ground, as I headed over to the cauldron I’d painstakingly carved without using any Qi and set aside. Cracking my knuckles, I began to gather the needed items.

It was time for the biggest part of my plan for making a Gu-nade. A pill made from Gu.

I picked the miasma-filled spirit crystals, setting them in the cauldron. I’d already prepared the Gu infused water that I poured in, and then sent a pulse of Gu to the crystals, lighting them up. Black and purple fire rose from under the cauldron as Labby jumped off my shoulder to take a few steps away from the dark flames.

I stared in wonder at the area around the fire as I saw a blue-ish white glow to them, as the flames slowly morphed from a dark color to a ghastly white. Putting the strangeness of the flames aside, I curbed my excitement at being able to finally work with Gu, and quickly set to work. One of the Qi ingredients for the drug was the fire essence within it, and there was a surprisingly simple way of managing that.

I’d taken some fire grass–dry and dead ones–and I’d infused them with Gu. Without any Qi left in them, the grass had soaked in the Gu, drying and cracking further as the fire essence mingled with the Gu.

Taking the grass, I poured it in. The fire beneath blazed hot as I channeled my Gu, and continued to work my way through the process.

There was a different flow to the Gu alchemy, yet the refining method was strikingly similar to the original drug-nade. I let the Gu flow, feeling Lu Jie’s spirit rising in my mind. Miasma flowed in, wispy smoke rising and bubbling in the water as the fire essence began to mix out. Red-hot sparks crackled within my cauldron as Gu flowed through it, glowing a deep blue and purple as it added a ghastly glow.

Taking out my petal, I dropped it in and began to refine.

Miasma churned and miasma flowed, in a cycle polar opposite to the Qi. The Gu stirred and rumbled and hissed and boiled, rushing out and swirling inwards as the fire essence began to spread out.

If Qi produced burning hot flames, then the fire of Gu was corruptive, like the burning of lava or acid, it hissed and frothed and it’d stick and cling, searing through flesh as it ate its way through.

Sweat began to bead on my forehead as I focused on channeling the Gu. My pathways began to strain under so much miasma flowing through them, and I started to feel the damage building up.

I focused, channeling thin strands of Gu into the cauldron as I swirled it around, trying to gather the flame within. The old man’s words echoed in my mind, as I let the fire fade into the flow of the Miasma, gathering at the center where it could clump together.

Lu Jie’s spirit began to settle in with my own the more I channeled the Miasma, and I felt my control starting to improve. Purple flames rose high, wispy white smoke spreading everywhere as I felt blood starting to build up in my throat. The Gu was starting to hurt me from the inside.

I focused and trudged on, going for the final push. Fiery miasma roared, trying to lash out, but I simply guided it back inwards. The flow of miasma continued, as a clump began to form, I felt Twilight’s petal stir, its miasma gathering the fire towards itself as an explosion shook the cauldron.

I jumped back, coughing from the fumes as I watched the smoking cauldron. I coughed out blood, wiping it away from my mouth as I began to cycle my Qi, my pathways starting to heal. A while later, as the pungent fumes began to fade, I walked closer, my heart thundering as I took a peek inside.

Little purple and black pills sat within the cauldron with plumes of smoke still rising around them. Carefully, I put my hand inside, checking the temperature to be cool enough to touch before I picked one up.

It worked. I’d formed a pill from Gu. A grin spread across my face, morphing into hysterical laughter as I stared at the pill. Whether the pill worked or not, at the time, I couldn't care less.

After weeks of work, I’d finally managed to make a pill from Gu. And now? It was time to test my Gu-nade.