Lightning crackled and flashed and I felt my breath get stuck in my chest. I stared blankly as the electric current rushed towards the Elder… before it quickly vanished with a single Qi pulse.

“Unruly spirit. You should teach it some manners,” the elder said, and I broke out of my trance, pulled Labby back as I bowed my head in apology.

“No, it is alright. Your spirit seems to be a bit special,” the man spoke, and I heard a chime-like giggle sound once again.

I felt Qi pulsing through the air around me, but if the Elder was talking to his spirit, or just staring at me blankly, then I couldn’t tell.

I raised my head, as I nervously clutched Labby, who continued to sparkle and crackle with lightning. I needed to revisit some more discipline, but talking to Labby was extremely difficult, and I could only vaguely understand what he usually wanted to say.

My eyes shifted to a book flying across the room as it flew to the Elder’s hands, flipping itself open.

“A spirit rat. Common pest in the central plains, known to smell out and eat spirit herbs and is notoriously difficult to distinguish from regular rats due to its meagre Qi. Next to useless as a spirit and a major annoyance for spirit herb farmers,” the Elder said, before shutting the book with a clapping sound.

“Why would you pick a spirit rat?” the Elder asked.

I rubbed Labby’s head, preparing my excuse. “Labby is useful in finding spirit herbs, and can sneak around without being detected.”

“Very well, it is not my position to pry. La Bi you say? The spirit will be registered with you,” the Elder said, I was about to bow my head and run the fuck away from here when I heard another chime ring.

“Hold on,” the Elder said, and I froze once more. My eyes shifted to behind the cultivator in front of me, as an ethereal woman appeared, floating with mist covering her features, her face a mask of pure white with a single red lotus at its centre.

A beautiful robe flew around her, moving to an unseen wind, and I felt my nervousness rising at the bullshit cultivator magic things happening all around me.

I inadvertently took a step back, when the spirit walked closer to Labby, a hand gently touching him on his head. I saw a single silver pill drop onto his tiny pink paws before the spirit laughed in its melodious voice once more and vanished.

“Strange to see Xin Yue take a liking to such a spirit,” the elder said out loud, before a jade slip appeared in his hand. “The jade slip will have the sect’s art for spirit binding. You can use it to bind your spirit and form a link.”

I dipped my head once more, taking the jade slip. “Thank you for your generosity, Elder.” I replied.

“Xin Yue would be the one you would want to thank, not me, disciple. You may leave now.” I nodded, and walked out of the chamber. My heart beat faster, and I felt cold sweat on my back. Cultivators were ridiculous.

I turned to look at Labby, shaking my head. I’d need to be more stern with him from now on. Perhaps the sect art would help me with that. I tried to take a look at the pill the spirit had given to Labby, but he kept a firm grip on it, not letting go.

“Like it that much huh?,” I muttered. I doubted that the spirit of an Elder would give something harmful to Labby but I still felt slightly concerned.

“Well, I guess it’s fine. At least we’re done. Let’s go then Labby?” I said and smiled as I began to walk out of the sect. Silver Mist city awaited my arrival.

***

Silver Qi thrummed in her hands, like a beacon of power, glowing with an inner light.

Labby could feel her master’s displeasure with her, and she wished to tell him she hadn’t been able to stop her Qi from flaring up. The other spirit had poked around her Dantian with its spirit limbs and Labby had lost control of her lightning Qi for a moment.

She felt frustrated at her inability to talk to her great Master, at her inability to make the great elixirs and pills he made, at her inability to learn the knowledge he wrote down in those books.

She wasn’t good enough, she couldn’t even learn from her Great Master, couldn’t even make her thoughts known.

Labby felt the familiar sense of frustration fill her. She’d been trying to understand him better, to tell him of her desires, yet she’d had no luck so far. Her thoughts soon shifted back to the pill in her hand.

The spirit had gifted her this pill, in return for the prank it had pulled. And she’d asked for her choice.

Qi thrummed in her Dantian, waiting to be released. The pill had a strange draw to it, and she smelled the scent of the moon lingering on it.

Labby jumped back into her pouch, making herself comfortable. The pill shivered, and Labby circled her Qi, as sparks flared around her body. She remembered the spirit's words, that it had whispered to her as the gift had been given.

Humanity, for one such as you, comes at a cost. Would you abandon your form, to be as your great master is? Think carefully my young kin.

You do not have enough Qi right now, your nature does not allow you such. It would take effort to reach the realms required for the pill to work. My boon is not eternal either, only with tribulation could one achieve a form of their desire.

But for a while, you could be a human.

Labby felt her Qi thrumming. The words of the spirit had been like a sweet melodious whisper, drawing her in. The spirit had known of her wishes, what she desired even more than an abundance of spirit herbs to feast on, was to learn from her Great Master. To create what he did, and gain insights on the world around her.

And with this pill, she could be like her great master. She could take his form, and talk with him and follow in his footsteps. She could learn by his side.

Labby felt her Qi flare once more and she stared at the pill, before she swallowed it in one bite.

***

I soaked in the Qi of the pleasant hills surrounding me, as I felt animals, both regular and spirits walk past. I’d come to learn from the Old Man that the sect had been formed near a particularly potent Qi vein. With the entirety of the Seven Celestial peaks being tied together in them, making them ideal for cultivation.

I’d one day like to try and see where and how exactly this Qi was generated, and was it like a natural gas rising from under the soil? Did spirit stones let out Qi and it was a finite resource that would eventually run out? Even crude oil had been thought to be infinite, or any other resource of nature back home, but the reality was anything but. With the analogies of Qi serving as a fuel in so many things, the idea of Qi being a finite resource to be consumed started to seem more and more probable.

I felt a crackle of lightning as Labby shifted in my pouch. I gently rubbed his head that poked through the top. The childish excitement I felt from him at being outside made me laugh out loud.

“Maybe I’ll let you find some spirit herbs on the way back,” I muttered to Labby, and was given a squeak of delight as a reply.

I continued to make my way down through the slight incline of the hill the sect was formed on. The forest path started to part soon as the dirt path began to widen, clearly seeing more use. I stopped when the slight haze in the distance began to thin.

Towering walls awaited me in the distance, rising far higher than I’d expected them to. An imposing marvel of a structure formed by super humans. I hadn’t expected the city to be similar to what it’d be back home, but the structure I saw in front of me, still made me hold my breath just for a moment. I could sense the Qi rising from them, ready to take on hordes of spirits beasts and cultivators alike.

The desire to ask questions upon question on how such tall walls had been made, or whether Qi was used to reinforce them, or what threat they expected to take on with the walls, alongside many many others filled my heart.

Labby crackled with sparks, echoing my excitement and I let out a breath. A smile covered my face, as excitement filled me on being able to explore a city in a mythical fantasy world.

With renewed purpose, I continued on my way towards Seventh Peak City.