The Blue Cockle Hotel was an elite establishment. Not large, it was only five stories tall. It catered to the wealthy and had limited guest rooms, there were four suites on each floor which allowed for a more personalized service between staff and guests. The suites were enormous, each containing a master and three guest bedrooms. A personal maid and valet service were supplied to each, and a chef could be supplied upon request.

The first floor housed a restaurant that was considered by most a gourmand dining experience. Unique and concentrated beast meat and spirit vegetables high in Qi were served daily. Only the finest quality that even non-cultivators could digest was provided. A separate menu did exist for those Cultivators that might visit, but the Hotel catered to the families of cultivators.

Their business model made sense, providing decadent and luxurious accommodations earned them appreciative and often rare gifts, herbs, and beast meat from those cultivators that had been out hunting in thanks for how well their family members were treated.

I doubted they made much of a profit from their guests, but those guests weren't who management was targeting. The owner was a failed cultivator, someone who's Qi had deviated and destroyed all but a few meridians. His abilities were crippled. This should have been impossible, but he had formed a flawed crystal matrix, the gem he had selected containing micro-fractures that hadn't been discovered too late.

He could still channel Qi, his Dantian and soul-ocean survived. But the process to cycle and gather Qi was painful for him, and the amounts of energies he could harness was less than even the newest awakened cultivator.

I had tucked my Sect token inside my shirt, so there was no way to identify me as a cultivator. With my middle-class sturdy and functional clothing, it was obvious I was not part of the clientele the Hotel catered too.

"Welcome to The Blue Cockle," she said I was pleasantly surprised when the receptionist that greeted me did so with a welcoming smile and no hint of social superiority. "May I assist you today, young miss?"

What surprised me was that she wasn't being facetious or condescending. She really seemed to be interested in helping me or directing me to someone that could. It spoke well of the management and the training they must have demanded of each employee. Looks could be deceiving, and The Blue Cockle was too careful to offend a potential future cultivator.

"I am supposed to meet Niake Celial this morning, she is one of your guests?" I said answering her question.

Browsing what could only be a computer, I made a note to browse the Internet later and do some research, my education had been more general, some of the information I had I would like to expand. The government make-up for the world, one.

The receptionist was quick to find the room number and a note that had been left, "Are you Jai Myche?" She asked me.

"Yes," I answered realizing that Niake must have given them my name.

"The Celial family are at present in the dining room. They would like you to dine with them if you have the time?" The receptionist asked.

Nodding my head in agreement, the receptionist beckoned one of the valets and asked him to escort me. The young man offered to store my new Hunter's pack, exchanging a token that I could use to reclaim the pack when I left. The Hotels dining facilities were intimate, designed for luxury and comfort.

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Capable of seating fifty at most, Niake and her family were ensconced in an alcove. If I had had to carry the pack, it's entirely possible something would have been damaged as I slipped between tables and behind customers.

The sight and smells were amazing, breakfast an Epicurious experience. Golden waffles swimming in fresh fruit compote and whipped cream. Poached eggs drizzled with thick hollandaise sauce that allowed the slightest hint of lemon to waft enticingly throughout the room. And bacon, slabs of bacon.

As I began making my way to them, Niake noticed my approach, standing she moved to greet me, reaching out to clasp our hands, she began chattering even before we returned to the table and introductions were made.

The food I ate that day was not only the best I'd ever had, something I was loath to admit, even feeling a sense of betrayal towards my mother and her cooking when comparing the dishes, that the food served here was a cut above. Not only did it delight the taste buds, but it was energizing. It contained just enough Earth Qi that made absorbing that element effortless. I wasn't sure what they did to allow someone like me, with no real affinity for Earth Qi to still process the energy effortlessly.

I worried when my Dantian began storing the energies I had ingested; we had been warned at the Sect not to Cultivate until we returned and bonded with our Dantian symbiote. There was nothing I could do though; the process was part of the sympathetic network of my body. Just as my blood flowed and digestion took place without conscious control, so too was the process of converting the energy locked within the food automatic, the energy removed as part of digestion and channeled by my meridians.

"Is there a problem, Jay," Pyria, Niake's mother asked me, noticing my worry. This had been the first words she'd spoken at least words directed towards me. It was obvious that there was a bit of snobbery included in the family's interaction with me. I don't think I measured up to expectations.

"It's just. They told us not to cultivate before we returned to the Sect. But the energy in this meal… My body seems to be converting the energy and adding it to my meridian pools," I said leaving the question unasked.

"You don't need to worry," Pyria said, her voice filled with derision and condescension. "Flowing Waters is aware that new initiates stay here before they join. They inform the families that the energies that are absorbed through digestion, or those that are siphoned off periodically when interacting with the standard arrays encountered as part of daily living do not transmit enough Qi to worry about.

"Yeah! Just imagine otherwise. I eat here three times daily. Am I supposed to starve until we report to the Sect?" Niake added to the conversation giggling at the absurdity of the idea or in the face of my confusion. I didn't take insult at her or her mother's words, only returning a smile of understanding as I acknowledged the impracticality of trying to portion food so that no Qi byproducts were accidentally absorbed.

"Have you decided on your secondary profession?" Pyria asked me, trying to diffuse my embarrassment by changing the subject. I had to admit, she might not like me, but her manners were impeccable.

"I am leaning towards Beast Taming. It took a bit to convince my parents though. They thought alchemy, runes, or arrays made more sense," I answered. "What about you Niake?"

"Array formation," she answered confidently.

"Why beast taming, if you don't mind my asking," Pyria wondered.

"I think hunting will be much easier with a tamed companion," I explained. "I thought my contribution to the family would be more profitable if I chose a profession that didn't have the inherit costs associated with it. Plus, I've always wanted to have a flying mount."

"You know you can have a companion mount without taking beast taming, don't you?" Niake asked.

"Yes. But only one. If I take Beast taming as my primary profession, I can have more than one companion. I hope to save expenses on beasts by finding those that are most suitable for hunting and Mission encounters."

"Why not bond with a Griffon?" Pyria asked. "They are capable of flight and ground battle. They are adaptable, powerful, and if you nurture them correctly, they can become as powerful as dragons or pterodactyls."

Once she mentioned the animal, I was able to recall what information there was that I had access too. It wasn't much. I assumed Pyria and her family had more knowledge because of their wealth, or perhaps because of the source of the family's revenue. They were Protoceratops breeders, so they should have knowledge about bonded companions and mounts.

"I hadn't realized that was a possibility. I wonder how difficult it would be to find a Griffon and to bond with it if I don't specialize in Beast taming," I asked.

"Normally, it may take a bit of work or funding to procure a Griffon kit. But the Sect has a breeding pair that recently birthed a new litter. It will take about six months for them to be weaned and large enough to leave the nest, but that should give you enough time to earn the contribution points needed to purchase one.

"If the price for those is beyond your range, you might try hunting a Griff Hawk. They don't get quite as large as Griffons, but they are still large enough to fly, and if you spend the time and resources training them, they can become very powerful. We are saving an egg for Niake that was recently found near our home," Pyria informed me.

The idea of bonding with a Griffon or Griff Hawk satisfied the fangirl in me.

And it would allow me to concentrate on alchemy as a primary profession. My parents had relented and agreed to my choice, but I could tell they'd remained disappointed. This seemed like a way to have the best of both worlds. A way that would enhance my survivability as well as allow me to increase my damage as well as learn a profession that would be profitable.

Plus. A good alchemist was always in demand. If I struck out on my own and left the Sect in the future, I would have no problems establishing myself as an alchemist.