Mara stole two of Ciel's pills before breakfast.
Ciel watched in disbelief as her master opened one of the porcelain bottles, tipped two pale-blue pills into her palm, and calmly transferred them into another container.
"Master."
"Hm?"
"Those are mine."
"Twelve are yours."
"There were fourteen."
"Excellent arithmetic."
Ciel stared.
Mara resealed both bottles.
"Where are the other two?"
"In my hand."
"I can see that."
"Then why ask?"
Ciel leaned across the table.
"Why are they in your hand?"
"Refining fee."
Silence.
Ciel looked at the two pills.
Then at Mara.
Then back at the pills.
"You mocked the shell."
"I did."
"You called it expensive noise."
"It was."
"You said the materials were cheap."
"They were."
"And now you want two pills?"
Mara slipped them into her own bottle.
"My workshop."
Ciel opened her mouth.
"My materials."
Ciel closed it.
"My formation work."
It opened again.
"My testing."
Closed.
"My professional supervision."
Mara placed the bottle inside her sleeve.
"And most importantly, my extraordinarily valuable time."
Ciel pointed accusingly.
"You weren't saying your time was valuable when you made me hold the shell for three hours."
"I was teaching."
"That makes your time more expensive?"
"Naturally."
Ciel looked betrayed.
Nora entered the room carrying a ledger.
She looked from Ciel to Mara.
"What happened?"
"Master robbed me."
"Refining fee," Mara corrected.
Nora nodded.
"Reasonable."
Ciel turned on her.
"Traitor."
"I work for the person who pays me."
That was difficult to argue with.
Ciel sat down.
"Fine."
She pulled the remaining bottles toward herself.
"Twelve."
Mara immediately took them back.
Ciel's hands remained frozen where the bottles had been.
"...Master."
"You may own them."
Mara said.
"You may not possess them unsupervised."
"That's not ownership."
"It's responsible ownership."
"I'm sixteen."
"Precisely."
"I wouldn't take one without asking."
Mara looked at her.
Ciel looked back.
Mara continued looking.
Ciel's confidence slowly weakened.
"...Probably."
"Exactly."
Mara put the bottles away.
Ciel glared at her tea.
The world of cultivation, she was discovering, involved a surprising amount of having valuable things taken away from her for her own good.
Later that morning, Ciel sat behind the counter practicing Qi Probing.
The shop was quiet.
Nora was helping an elderly customer compare two sets of silverware.
Mara had disappeared into the back room with a hunter who wanted something appraised.
Ciel had been given a wooden tray filled with objects.
Most were worthless.
That was intentional.
Mara had told her that if she wanted to recognize unusual things, she first needed to learn how boring normal things felt.
Piece of copper.
Nothing.
Old button.
Nothing.
Wooden bead.
Nothing.
Bone comb.
A faint response.
Ciel frowned.
She sent another tiny strand of Qi.
The comb accepted it slightly better than the copper had.
Not enough to preserve the Qi.
Enough to notice.
She placed it on the left side of the tray.
Ask Mara.
Next.
Broken brass buckle.
Nothing.
A small ceramic bird.
Nothing.
Then Ciel reached for another object—
and stopped.
Her eyes fell to her own hand.
Bronze-green metal encircled her finger.
A grass-green pearl sat quietly in its setting.
The ring.
Ciel stared.
For several breaths, she simply stared.
It had been there so long that she sometimes forgot it wasn't supposed to be.
She washed with it.
Slept with it.
Worked with it.
Cultivated with it.
She had tried pulling it off after reaching Blue Port.
Soap had not helped.
Oil had not helped.
Cold water had not helped.
At one point Nora had suggested winding thread beneath the band.
The thread had gone under easily.
The ring still refused to pass over Ciel's knuckle.
Eventually, everyone had simply stopped mentioning it.
Including Ciel.
But now—
Ciel looked at the tray.
Then back at the ring.
She felt somewhat stupid.
Mara had just taught her to put Qi into strange objects.
And the strangest object she owned had been attached to her hand since the bandit camp.
Ciel glanced toward the consultation-room door.
Still closed.
Nora was arguing politely with the elderly woman about whether one spoon had actually been made in Blue Port.
No one was watching.
Ciel rested her hand on the counter.
She gathered a strand of Qi.
A very small one.
Her control had improved.
Not enough that Mara stopped criticizing it.
Enough that Ciel could guide it from her tiny reservoir, along her arm, into her palm without moving.
She directed it toward the ring.
The strand touched the bronze-green metal.
And vanished.
Ciel blinked.
There had been no resistance.
No scattering.
No sensation of Qi spreading through spiritually receptive material.
Nothing.
It was simply—
gone.
Ciel stared at the ring.
"Where did you go?"
The ring did not answer.
She looked around again.
Then gathered another strand.
Slightly larger.
This time she pushed it directly toward the grass-green pearl.
The moment her Qi touched it—
hum.
Ciel jerked.
The pearl glowed.
Not brightly.
A single pulse of deep green light moved through it.
Then the Qi disappeared.
But for the briefest instant—
Ciel felt something.
Depth.
Not physical distance.
Not exactly.
She had no proper word for it.
It was like dropping a pebble into a well.
Except she never heard it land.
Her stomach tightened.
She pulled her hand away from the counter as though the ring had become hot.
It had not.
The green light vanished.
Ciel's heart began beating faster.
She should stop.
That was obvious.
Mara would tell her to stop.
Which meant—
Ciel gathered more Qi.
"Ciel."
Her entire body froze.
Mara stood in the doorway.
Ciel slowly looked up.
Her master's eyes went from Ciel's face—
to the ring—
to the faint strand of Qi collecting in Ciel's palm.
"Stop feeding that thing."
Ciel immediately released the Qi back into her body.
"You knew?"
Mara walked toward the counter.
"I knew you were doing something foolish."
"No."
Ciel held up her hand.
"This."
Mara's gaze settled on the ring.
The humor left her expression.
"I noticed it."
Ciel stared.
"When?"
"The first night."
"What?"
"When you entered my shop."
"You knew it was strange?"
"I knew it wasn't ordinary jewelry."
Ciel lowered her voice.
"Why didn't you ask?"
Mara leaned against the counter.
"The first night I met you, you were starving, exhausted, covered in dirt and blood, and prepared to attack anyone who came too close."
Ciel opened her mouth.
Mara continued.
"You checked your food for poison."
"I was being careful."
"You slept with a stone beside your hand."
Ciel said nothing.
Mara's expression softened slightly.
"Interrogating you about the mysterious object fused to your finger did not seem urgent."
"Fused?"
"You never remove it."
"I can't."
Mara's eyes sharpened.
"You tried?"
"Many times."
That got her attention.
Mara pulled over a stool.
"Sit."
Ciel sat.
Nora had begun listening from the other side of the shop.
Mara noticed.
"Front."
Nora understood.
She turned the sign on the door to CLOSED FOR CONSULTATION and drew the curtain.
Then she approached.
Mara held out her hand.
"Tell me everything."
Ciel looked at the ring.
She had told Mara about the bandit attack.
Not every detail.
Enough.
But she had never told her this part.
"There was a hand."
Nora stopped.
Mara did not.
"A hand?"
"Buried."
Ciel swallowed.
"We were chained."
"They made us dig."
"My fingers were bleeding."
"I found..."
She rubbed her thumb over the bronze-green band.
"I thought it belonged to one of the people they'd killed."
"Maybe someone from an older caravan."
"The hand was already..."
She stopped.
Mara did not force the word.
Ciel continued.
"The ring was on one finger."
"I touched it."
"My blood got on it."
"And then?"
"It glowed."
Ciel remembered pain.
Not ordinary pain.
Something crawling beneath skin.
Bone.
Blood.
She had collapsed in the dirt.
"It hurt."
"How much?"
"A lot."
"Then I woke up with it on my hand."
Mara's eyes narrowed.
"You didn't put it on?"
"No."
Nora quietly said:
"That's unpleasant."
Ciel nodded.
"I tried taking it off later."
"It won't move past my knuckle."
Mara reached toward it.
Ciel's hand tightened instinctively.
Mara stopped.
"I won't remove it."
Ciel relaxed.
Mara touched the ring lightly with two fingers.
Nothing happened.
She turned Ciel's hand.
Inspected beneath the band.
No irritation.
No discoloration.
No scar.
"It's not physically fused."
"I know."
Mara pressed gently against the ring.
It moved.
Barely.
Enough to prove skin existed beneath it.
Yet when she tried sliding it toward the knuckle, the ring stopped.
Not caught.
Stopped.
Mara tried once more.
Then released it.
"Hm."
Ciel hated that sound.
"What?"
"Nothing useful."
"That's worse."
"It usually is."
Mara sat opposite her.
Silver slowly entered her eyes.
Ciel had seen Aura Sight many times.
Usually it was subtle.
A metallic sheen.
A brief focus.
This time Mara stared at the ring for several breaths.
The silver deepened.
Ciel felt her master's Qi begin to move.
Not outward exactly.
But enough that the six layers around Mara became more distinct.
One breath.
Two.
Five.
Ten.
Mara's brow tightened.
Ciel stopped breathing.
The room seemed quieter.
Then Mara abruptly closed her eyes.
The silver vanished.
She exhaled.
"Well?"
Ciel asked.
Mara did not answer immediately.
That frightened Ciel more than a joke would have.
"Master?"
"I don't like it."
Ciel looked down at the ring.
"Why?"
"Because I can't see it."
Ciel frowned.
"It's right there."
"Not with my eyes."
Mara tapped beneath one eye.
"With these."
Nora leaned closer.
"Nothing?"
"Not nothing."
Mara corrected.
"Closed."
She looked at Ciel.
"Ordinary objects have ordinary auras."
"Spiritually saturated objects have spiritual traces."
"Artifacts have structures."
"Intent."
"Residue."
"Connections."
"Sometimes damage."
She pointed at the ring.
"This gives me almost none of that."
Ciel touched the pearl.
"But it absorbed my Qi."
"Which is why I said almost."
"What do you see?"
Mara considered.
"A boundary."
"Like a wall?"
"No."
"A box?"
"No."
Mara frowned, searching for a comparison.
Then:
"A door with no seams."
Ciel looked at the ring again.
That sounded much worse than old ring.
Mara continued.
"I can tell something is there."
"I can tell the thing you see is not all of it."
"But whatever is inside—or whatever the ring actually is—is sealed well enough that my Aura Sight cannot penetrate it."
"Could someone stronger?"
"Of course."
Ciel's stomach tightened.
"Then I should find someone stronger."
"No."
Mara's answer came immediately.
Ciel blinked.
"But—"
"No."
"If they can identify it—"
"Listen carefully."
Mara leaned forward.
"If a Sixth Layer diviner tells a stronger cultivator that a First Layer girl owns an artifact she cannot see through, what do you think happens?"
Ciel said nothing.
Mara waited.
The answer came by itself.
"They want it."
"Correct."
"They might not even know what it is."
"They don't need to."
Mara nodded toward the ring.
"The fact that I cannot identify it is information."
"Potentially valuable information."
Ciel remembered the bandits.
The caravan.
Camila.
She curled her fingers.
Mara noticed.
Her voice softened.
"Do not show this to appraisers."
Ciel looked at her.
"But you're an appraiser."
"Exactly."
That silenced her.
Mara pointed at the pearl.
"And stop pouring Qi into it."
"It only took a little."
"How much?"
"Two strands."
"Could you tell where they went?"
"No."
"Could you tell how much it can absorb?"
"No."
"Could you tell what happens if it decides your reservoir is an appetizer?"
Ciel stared.
"No."
"Then perhaps we don't feed mysterious ancient objects attached to our bodies."
Ciel lowered her hand.
"Can you tell if it's dangerous?"
"No."
"Can you tell if it's protecting me?"
"No."
"Can you tell if it's valuable?"
Mara gave her a flat look.
"It is an object my technique cannot understand."
"That is enough value to get you killed."
Ciel's thumb stopped moving over the band.
Mara added:
"So we will treat it as worthless."
Ciel frowned.
"You just said—"
"Publicly."
"Oh."
"Privately, we remain curious."
Ciel looked up.
"Very curious?"
Mara's mouth twitched.
"Painfully."
Ciel spent the next hour thinking about the ring.
Which meant she accomplished almost no work.
Eventually Mara took the ledger away from her.
"You're counting the same line repeatedly."
"I am not."
"You've written forty-seven twice."
Ciel looked down.
She had.
Nora quietly removed the ink brush before more damage occurred.
Ciel leaned back.
"Master."
"No."
"I haven't asked anything."
"You're looking at me with questions."
"That's what faces are for."
Mara sighed.
Ciel held up her hand.
"If Aura Sight can't see through it..."
"No."
"...do you have another technique?"
Mara stopped.
Ciel immediately noticed.
"You do."
"I have several techniques."
"Divination techniques."
Mara regarded her for a moment.
Then turned.
"Come."
Ciel followed.
"Where?"
"Upstairs."
"Why?"
"So you stop asking questions in front of customers."
There were no customers.
Ciel wisely did not mention that.
Mara's private study was different from the workshop.
The workshop was organized chaos.
The study was organized paranoia.
Shelves covered the walls.
Most had locks.
Boxes had labels.
The labels sometimes had other labels beneath them.
One cabinet had three separate locking mechanisms.
Ciel pointed at it.
"What's in there?"
"Things you don't touch."
"That isn't a label."
"It is the only label you need."
Mara opened a lower drawer.
Inside rested a bundle wrapped in dark cloth.
She placed it on the table.
Ciel leaned forward.
Mara unwrapped it.
A turtle shell lay inside.
Not large.
Roughly the size of Mara's palm.
Dark jade-green.
Its surface had been polished but not flattened.
Eight intricate trigram patterns had been carved around the outer edges.
Fine lines connected them through the natural divisions of the shell.
Two small metal coins rested beside it.
They were not gold.
Not silver.
The metal had a pale gray sheen that seemed almost liquid beneath the light.
Ciel reached toward one.
Mara slapped her finger.
"Ow."
"Expensive."
"You could have said that."
"I did."
"You hit me."
"More memorable."
Ciel withdrew her hand.
"What is it?"
"My first proper divination implement."
"For Aura Sight?"
"No."
Mara sat.
"You've misunderstood something about the Heavenly Dao Observation Art."
Ciel immediately sat opposite her.
"The manual contains more than the cultivation method."
"How much more?"
"Three secret techniques."
Ciel stared.
"You never told me."
"You were First Layer for fourteen days."
"Fifteen."
"An eternity."
Ciel ignored that.
Mara placed her hand on the turtle shell.
"The Heavenly Dao Observation Art is the cultivation law."
"It changes the body."
"Allows you to absorb and refine Qi."
"Builds affinity with stellar influence, observation and Divination."
"But a cultivation law and a secret technique are not the same thing."
Ciel nodded slowly.
Mara continued.
"A swordsman can cultivate one law and still learn compatible sword techniques created by someone else."
"A Fire cultivator may practice Fire secret arts that did not originate from their exact cultivation manual."
"The same principle applies to Divination."
"So anyone can learn these?"
"Anyone?"
Mara shook her head.
"Anyone sufficiently compatible with Divination-type cultivation."
"Technique requirements still matter."
"Realm matters."
"Control matters."
"And equipment matters."
Ciel looked at the shell.
"Equipment."
Mara nodded.
"A swordsman needs a sword."
"An archer needs a bow."
"Diviners..."
She gestured toward the turtle shell.
"...need expensive nonsense."
Ciel smiled.
"That sounds bitter."
"It is experience."
Mara picked up one of the coins.
"First secret technique."
"Third Layer minimum."
Ciel immediately looked annoyed.
Mara noticed.
"Would you prefer the manual change because you're impatient?"
"No."
"Good."
She placed the coin beside the shell.
"Spiritual turtle shell."
"Properly treated."
"Trigrams carved according to the manual."
"Two conductive spirit-metal coins."
"The coins are the expensive part."
Ciel leaned closer.
One coin had writing on each face.
DANGER
She carefully looked around its edge.
The reverse read:
SAFETY
The second coin read:
YES
and NO.
"What does it do?"
"Very limited prediction."
Mara touched the carved lines.
"Finger movements follow the lunar phases."
"Qi enters through specific trigram sequences."
"The shell creates the structure."
"The coins give the result."
"Yes or no."
"Danger or safety."
Ciel's eyes widened.
"Can you ask anything?"
"No."
"Can I ask whether Rowan will become City Lord?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Too distant."
"Too many variables."
"Too much fate involved."
"Can I ask if Gavin Mercer will fall into the harbor?"
"You may ask."
"Will it tell me?"
"Probably not."
Ciel looked disappointed.
Mara continued.
"It works best on immediate, narrow questions."
"Should I enter this cave now?"
"Is danger waiting on this road?"
"Is the person I seek inside this building?"
"Will touching this object immediately harm me?"
Ciel looked at her ring.
Mara immediately covered the turtle shell with one hand.
"No."
"I didn't say anything."
"You looked at the ring."
"Would it work?"
"Perhaps."
"Then—"
"And perhaps whatever sealed your ring notices someone knocking."
Ciel slowly lowered her hand.
"Right."
Mara looked satisfied.
"Progress."
Ciel studied the shell.
"How many times can I use it at Third Layer?"
"Once."
"Per day?"
Mara laughed.
Ciel's face fell.
"One proper cast emptied me when I first learned it."
"All your Qi?"
"Almost."
"That's terrible."
"It's Divination."
"What did you expect?"
"Answers."
"You get those."
Mara said.
"Then you lie down."
Ciel pointed at the Danger coin.
"Can I see it work?"
Mara considered.
Then shrugged.
"Fine."
She placed both coins in the center of the shell.
Her fingers moved.
Slowly at first.
Thumb across middle finger.
Index curling inward.
Ring finger extending.
The gestures were strange.
They did not resemble martial hand signs Ciel had imagined cultivators using.
They looked almost like counting something invisible.
"Waxing crescent."
Mara murmured.
Her fingers changed position.
"Half moon."
Again.
"Waxing gibbous."
Qi entered the shell.
The trigram at one edge illuminated.
Then the next.
Then another.
Pale silver light traced the carved patterns.
Ciel leaned forward.
The coins trembled.
Rose.
Ciel's mouth opened.
Both coins began spinning in the air above the shell.
Faster.
Faster.
Then—
clink.
They fell.
One showed:
DANGER
The other:
NO
Ciel looked at the coins.
Then at Mara.
"What did you ask?"
Mara stood.
She walked toward a cabinet.
"Whether it was safe to open this."
Ciel immediately stood.
"Don't!"
Mara opened the cabinet.
Inside were tea leaves.
Ciel stared.
Mara took the tea.
Closed the door.
Returned.
Ciel looked at the coin again.
"Danger."
"Correct."
"You opened it."
"Correct."
"You said this works."
"It does."
Ciel looked genuinely concerned.
"Master."
"Hm?"
"Are you bad at Divination?"
Nora, passing outside the room, made a strangled sound.
Mara's eye twitched.
"No."
"Then why—"
"I engraved the faces backwards."
Silence.
Ciel looked at the coin.
Then Mara.
Then the coin.
"How?"
"I was young."
"You carved the words."
"Yes."
"You knew which side was which."
"I believed I knew."
"Master."
"It was my first artifact."
"Why didn't you fix it?"
"The metal is expensive."
Ciel stared.
Mara folded her arms.
"The technique works."
"It says danger when it's safe."
"Which means I know it's safe."
"It said no."
"Which means yes."
Ciel slowly put both hands on the table.
"So every answer..."
"I reverse."
"...is wrong."
"Correctly wrong."
"That's just wrong."
"It has worked for decades."
Ciel imagined Mara standing before some terrified group.
The coin landing on DANGER.
Mara telling everyone:
Perfectly safe.
She understood immediately why Divination had a reputation problem.
"What happens if someone else uses it?"
"They should ask me first."
Ciel stared.
Mara stared back.
Then Ciel started laughing.
She tried not to.
She failed.
Mara wrapped the shell again.
"Enjoy Third Layer without instruction."
Ciel stopped laughing instantly.
"Master, your artifact is a masterpiece."
"Too late."
Mara opened another cabinet.
This time she withdrew two slender wooden rods.
They were bent at right angles.
Each had a short handle and a longer forward arm.
The wood was dark green-brown, polished smooth from years of use.
Ciel stared.
"Those are your second secret technique?"
"Practice tools."
Mara corrected.
Ciel picked one up after receiving permission.
It was surprisingly light.
The wood tingled faintly against her palm.
"Spirit Wood?"
Mara nodded.
"Cheap compared with what the manual actually requires."
"What does it require?"
"Magnetic Spirit Copper."
Ciel waited.
Mara's expression alone answered the next question.
"Expensive?"
"Offensively."
"How offensively?"
"Puppet makers want it."
"Array masters want it."
"Artifact refiners want it."
"Directional formations want it."
"Anyone building something that must respond delicately to spiritual movement wants it."
Mara took the rod back.
"And apparently dead divination masters believed they deserved it too."
Ciel looked at the wooden rods.
"Then why use these?"
"Because wanting expensive metal does not cause expensive metal to appear."
Reasonable.
Mara stepped into the center of the room.
She held one rod loosely in each hand, the long arms pointing forward.
"Second secret technique."
"Layer Six."
"Radiesthesia."
Ciel brightened.
"What can you find?"
"With the correct tools?"
Mara's expression became noticeably more enthusiastic.
"People."
"Lost objects."
"Specific materials."
"Certain treasures."
"Potentially anything with a sufficiently distinct spiritual or karmic resonance."
Ciel's eyes widened.
"That sounds much better than yes or no."
"It is also much more expensive than yes or no."
Ciel looked at the rods.
"And with those?"
"Water."
Ciel blinked.
"Water?"
"Mostly."
Mara injected Qi.
The wooden rods trembled.
Then both rotated sharply toward the window.
Ciel followed them.
Beyond the glass, several streets away—
the ocean occupied the horizon.
Ciel looked back at Mara.
"You found the sea."
Mara's face remained completely serious.
"Remarkable."
Ciel started laughing.
Mara lowered the rods.
"This is why I need Magnetic Spirit Copper."
"What are these actually good for?"
"Underground water."
"Hidden springs."
"Damp caverns."
"Subterranean channels."
"Strong Water-aspected traces."
Ciel looked toward the ocean again.
"In Blue Port."
"Yes."
"Where we're surrounded by water."
"Yes."
"The entire city is beside the sea."
"I am aware."
"Then these are nearly useless."
Mara glared.
"They are excellent training tools."
Ciel tried to stop smiling.
Mara continued.
"Spirit Wood naturally responds to moisture and Water Qi."
"That lets me practice keeping both hands still, balancing Qi between the rods, separating involuntary movement from actual response, and following directional change."
"Without spending a fortune?"
"Exactly."
Ciel lifted one rod again.
"So the real pair..."
"Would be Magnetic Spirit Copper."
"One matched pair."
"Not a large machine."
"Not a formation."
"Two rods."
"Properly refined."
Mara's tone became almost wistful.
"Sensitive enough to react to much weaker and more specific resonance."
"If I had a piece of someone's clothing, I might search for that person."
"A fragment from a broken artifact could help locate the rest."
"A sample of ore could help seek a vein of the same material."
"A strong spiritual signature could lead toward treasure."
Ciel stared at the rods.
"How far?"
"That depends on me."
"The target."
"Interference."
"Distance."
"Concealment."
"Formations."
"Karmic weight."
"The weather, sometimes."
"Nearby spiritual materials."
"Whether Heaven feels cooperative."
"So they're not perfect."
"Nothing involving Fate is."
Mara handed Ciel one wooden rod.
"Try."
"Me?"
"You can't use the secret technique."
"Then why?"
"Hold it."
Ciel did.
"Loose."
She loosened her grip.
"Looser."
"If I loosen more, I'll drop it."
"Good."
Ciel frowned.
Mara adjusted her wrist.
"The rod must be free to move without you moving it."
Ciel understood the parallel immediately.
Like learning to separate muscle movement from Qi.
"Now think about water."
Ciel looked toward the window.
"There's an ocean."
"Try not to cheat."
Ciel closed her eyes.
She thought of water.
The harbor.
Waves.
The Sea Whisper Shell.
Mara sent the smallest thread of Qi through Ciel's hand into the Spirit Wood rod.
The rod twitched.
Then swung violently left.
Ciel's eyes opened.
"There!"
She pointed.
Mara looked left.
A washbasin stood against the wall.
Silence.
Ciel stared at it.
Mara took the rod away.
"Promising."
"That's not impressive."
"It found water."
"Six steps away."
"Accuracy."
Ciel laughed again.
Mara returned the rods to the cabinet.
"One day, when I have the proper copper, you may mock me less."
"How much do you need?"
"Very little."
Ciel brightened.
"That's good."
"No."
Mara closed the cabinet.
"The amount is small."
"The price is not."
"How many spirit stones?"
Mara looked at her.
"No."
"That many?"
"Yes."
Ciel grinned.
"Maybe I'll make another shell."
"Please do not attempt to finance my entire cultivation path through decorative marine products."
"No promises."
"And the third?"
Ciel asked.
Mara became quiet.
She returned to the desk.
Opened the Heavenly Dao Observation Art.
Turned several pages.
Then stopped at a diagram Ciel had never seen.
A black trigram occupied most of the page.
Lines extended outward like threads.
At its center was a small human silhouette.
Ciel leaned closer.
"Layer Nine?"
"Yes."
"What tool?"
"Talisman."
Ciel looked unimpressed.
"Paper?"
"Foundation-grade talisman paper."
Ciel became more respectful.
"Ink?"
"Also expensive."
"Of course."
Mara nodded.
"At Qi Condensation Ninth Layer, creating even one properly would probably empty nearly everything you have."
"What does it do?"
Mara's finger rested beside the black trigram.
"It interferes with Fate."
Ciel stopped.
"Interferes?"
"Temporarily."
"Locally."
"According to intention."
Ciel stared at the page.
"What does that mean?"
Mara considered how to explain.
"Suppose I want a man's trousers to fall."
Ciel blinked.
"That's your example?"
"It's clear."
"Fine."
"The outcome is minor."
"Belts loosen."
"Knots fail."
"Cloth tears."
"Someone bumps him."
"There are many ordinary ways for Heaven to satisfy the intention."
Ciel began smiling.
"So I can make Gavin's trousers fall."
"At Layer Nine, after spending a fortune on paper and ink, yes."
"Worth it."
"No."
Ciel disagreed privately.
"What about combat?"
Mara became more serious.
"Much more useful."
"An enemy's foot lands poorly."
"A sword shifts half an inch."
"Their timing slips."
"A technique that was already unstable suffers backlash."
"The next attack misses."
Ciel's smile disappeared.
"That's strong."
"Very."
"Can you make someone die?"
Mara looked at her.
Ciel immediately understood she had asked the dangerous question.
"You can intend anything."
Mara said.
"That does not mean Heaven will pay the cost for you."
She tapped the figure on the page.
"Fate has weight."
"A mortal tripping is light."
"A powerful cultivator dying without cause is heavy."
"A person with great cultivation, karma, destiny, protection or importance to future events may be extremely heavy."
"And if the talisman can't move it?"
"The force goes somewhere."
Ciel's stomach tightened.
"Backlash."
"Exactly."
"How bad?"
"Perhaps nothing."
"Perhaps the talisman burns."
"Perhaps you lose Qi."
"Perhaps your own luck turns."
"Perhaps the fate you tried to impose finds you instead."
Ciel looked at the black trigram.
"So if I tell a Foundation Establishment cultivator to suddenly die..."
"You may discover whether your own heart is more cooperative."
Ciel moved slightly away from the page.
Mara closed the manual.
"The intelligent use is small."
"Do not ask Fate to move mountains when shifting a pebble makes your enemy fall off the mountain by himself."
Ciel repeated that silently.
It sounded important.
Mara saw her expression.
"Layer Nine."
"I know."
"Years away."
"I know."
"Do not start planning trousers."
Ciel looked innocent.
"I wasn't."
Mara did not believe her.
That night, Mara finally gave Ciel one of the twelve pills.
Ciel had expected ceremony.
There was none.
They sat atop the cultivation tower beneath the open sky.
The eighty-eight spirit stones were already arranged.
The array had not yet been activated.
Mara opened the bottle.
Removed one pale-blue pill.
Held it between two fingers.
Ciel stared at it.
It looked disappointingly ordinary.
Smaller than the tip of her little finger.
Smooth.
No glow.
No mysterious mist.
"This is it?"
Mara looked at her.
"Would you prefer fireworks?"
"For fourteen pills, maybe."
"You have twelve."
Ciel frowned.
Mara smiled.
Then became serious.
"Listen."
Ciel straightened.
"The Clear Current Qi Nourishing Pill doesn't simply contain Qi."
"It stimulates your body."
"Your pores become more receptive."
"Your internal pathways accept energy more easily."
"Ambient Qi that normally takes effort to attract will become considerably easier to absorb."
Ciel looked toward the array.
"So with the eighty-eight stars..."
"Exactly."
Her excitement grew.
Mara raised one finger.
"Which is why you will not panic."
Ciel blinked.
"Why would I panic?"
Mara handed her the pill.
"We'll find out."
That was not reassuring.
Ciel examined it.
"Do I chew?"
Mara stared.
"I was asking."
"Swallow."
Ciel did.
For several breaths—
nothing.
She looked at Mara.
"Is it working?"
"Wait."
Ciel waited.
Five breaths.
Ten.
A faint warmth appeared in her stomach.
"Warm."
"Good."
The warmth spread.
Chest.
Back.
Arms.
Legs.
Not unpleasant.
Ciel smiled.
"This isn't bad."
Mara activated the array.
The eighty-eight spirit stones awakened.
Starlight descended.
Ciel's smile disappeared.
The first sensation was pressure.
Familiar.
The array always made Heaven feel closer.
Stellar influence gathered around her body.
Normally, most of it pressed uselessly against skin that only reluctantly allowed a tiny portion inside.
Tonight—
her skin tingled.
Ciel frowned.
The tingling sharpened.
Every hair on her arms lifted.
Then something inside her body changed.
Her pores opened.
All of them.
At once.
Ciel inhaled sharply.
Qi entered.
Not the thin reluctant trickles she knew.
It poured through her skin.
Cold.
Hot.
Neither.
Everywhere.
Her body pulled again.
Harder.
Ciel's eyes snapped open.
"Master."
Mara remained seated.
"Circulate."
"Something's wrong."
"No."
Qi pressed inward.
Her arms shook.
Every pore felt alive.
Hungry.
Not merely open.
Hungry.
Like thousands of tiny mouths had discovered food after years of starvation.
Ciel tried to pull away from the array.
There was nowhere to pull away to.
The Qi was in the air.
Around her.
Against her.
And her own body wanted it.
"Master."
Fear entered her voice.
"It's too much."
"It isn't."
"It feels like too much!"
"Because you've never felt your body truly hungry for Qi."
Another wave entered.
Ciel's tiny reservoir swelled.
She panicked.
Instinctively, she tried to close herself.
To push the Qi away.
Her circulation stuttered.
Pain stabbed beneath her ribs.
"Don't!"
Mara's voice cracked through the fear.
Ciel froze.
"Do not fight the medicine."
"I can't stop absorbing!"
"You are not supposed to."
"What if I fill up?"
"Then circulate."
"What if—"
"Ciel."
Mara's voice softened without losing firmness.
"Look at me."
Ciel did.
Silver eyes watched her.
Calm.
Completely calm.
"Your body isn't breaking."
"Your pathways are not overflowing."
"The amount feels enormous because yesterday you were surviving on drops."
"Tonight someone opened a cup."
Ciel breathed.
Qi entered.
Her body pulled.
She wanted to recoil.
Mara spoke.
"Guide what enters."
"Don't chase it."
"Don't force it."
"Let your body absorb."
"Then circulate."
Ciel closed her eyes.
Fear remained.
She accepted that.
Another wave.
This time, instead of resisting, she guided.
Skin.
Inside.
Toward the routes Mara had taught her.
The energy was wild compared with her normal cultivation.
Not actually wild.
Simply abundant.
Her consciousness struggled to keep up.
Again.
Breath.
Absorb.
Guide.
Refine.
Her reservoir filled.
Qi circulated.
Some settled.
Some was consumed adapting tissue that had only recently begun accepting Heaven-and-Earth Qi.
Some leaked away because her control was poor.
Mara did not correct every mistake.
Only dangerous ones.
Time passed.
Ciel lost track.
Her fear slowly changed.
Not into comfort.
Into awe.
This was what cultivators with resources experienced.
Not necessarily this exact violence.
But abundance.
She suddenly understood why pills mattered.
Why people hunted magical beasts.
Why sect disciples fought for merit.
Why cultivators spent spirit stones.
Why Mara attended every auction.
The difference between having resources and not having them was not convenience.
It was time.
Years.
Perhaps decades.
Eventually Mara deactivated part of the array.
The pressure weakened.
Ciel opened her eyes.
Sweat covered her face.
Her hands trembled.
"Done?"
"No."
Ciel nearly cried.
Mara smiled.
"The session is done."
"The pill isn't."
Ciel stared.
"What?"
"Feel your skin."
Ciel concentrated.
The array was weaker.
Yet she could still sense ambient Qi.
Not strongly.
But her body continued drawing it in.
Tiny currents.
Constant.
Her eyes widened.
"It's still working."
"Of course."
"For how long?"
"Several days, probably."
Ciel stared.
"One pill?"
"You're First Layer."
Mara said.
"Your body processes medicinal energy slowly."
Ciel's exhaustion briefly disappeared beneath excitement.
"So mine lasts longer."
"Because you're weak."
Her smile died.
"You always ruin it."
"Accuracy is rarely flattering."
Ciel touched her arm.
The sensation was bizarre.
The air itself felt more present.
"What about you?"
"One of those?"
Mara shrugged.
"Roughly a day."
"And a Ninth Layer cultivator?"
"Hours."
Ciel blinked.
"Only hours?"
"The stronger the body, the faster it consumes low-grade medicinal energy."
"Which is why late-stage cultivators don't hoard Grade One pills like these."
"They need stronger medicine."
"Higher concentration."
"Better resources."
Ciel looked thoughtful.
"So Rowan giving me fourteen—"
"Twelve."
Mara corrected.
Ciel glared.
"—twelve is worth more to me than it would be to him."
"Much more."
Mara nodded.
"Again: value depends on need."
Ciel looked toward the dark city below.
The lesson kept returning.
The shell.
The pills.
The ring.
Perhaps even people.
Value changed depending on who was looking.
The pill stayed active the next morning.
And the morning after that.
Ciel discovered this was both wonderful and irritating.
Wonderful because cultivation had become dramatically easier.
Irritating because she could now feel how much Qi existed everywhere and how little of it she had previously been able to touch.
Walking down the street became distracting.
Near certain shops, the air seemed richer.
Near spiritual materials, her skin tingled.
Inside Voss Appraisals, old objects produced faint differences she had never noticed.
Not Aura Sight.
Nothing visible.
Just the sensation of living in air that was no longer entirely empty.
At night, the eighty-eight-star array became almost frighteningly effective.
During the day, Mara made her work.
"You can't cultivate every hour."
"Why not?"
"Because you'll become stupid."
"How?"
"By doing one thing and assuming it makes you complete."
Ciel suspected Mara had invented that explanation because the shop was busy.
Still, she worked.
She also touched the ring more often.
Not with Qi.
Mara would know.
Probably.
Instead, Ciel rubbed the bronze-green band with her thumb whenever she was thinking.
A door with no seams.
Sometimes she imagined what could be behind it.
A manual.
Money.
A weapon.
Nothing.
A curse.
A corpse.
That last possibility made her stop imagining.
The ring never reacted again.
On the third day of the pill's effect, Ciel was helping Nora close the shop when she asked:
"How much do I get paid?"
Nora stopped counting copper.
"For what?"
Ciel looked offended.
"Working."
"You eat."
"So do you."
"I receive wages."
Ciel pointed triumphantly.
"Exactly."
Nora looked toward the back room.
Mara called from inside:
"I can hear you."
Ciel raised her voice.
"Good."
Mara appeared.
"What do you want?"
"A salary."
"You're my disciple."
"I'm also working."
Mara considered.
Ciel continued before she could escape.
"I clean."
"Poorly."
"I keep records."
"Sometimes correctly."
"I help customers."
"Under supervision."
"I sort objects."
"Now that is useful."
Ciel folded her arms.
"And I designed an artifact."
Mara raised one finger.
"One artifact."
"That traded for fourteen pills."
"Twelve."
"FOURTEEN."
Nora coughed to hide laughter.
Mara looked at Ciel for several seconds.
Then:
"Fine."
Ciel blinked.
She had expected more resistance.
"Fine?"
"Five silver per month."
Ciel stopped.
Five silver.
Her parents had never been rich.
Thirty silver could represent a full year's ordinary earnings for many people in Orione.
Five silver every month—
"Meals included."
Mara said.
"Lodging when needed."
"Training."
"Array access."
"Those aren't deducted."
Ciel looked at her.
"Really?"
"I'm greedy, not stupid."
Mara continued.
"For objects you independently identify and that the shop resells at a profit, you receive a small commission."
"How small?"
"Small."
"Percentage."
Mara frowned.
Nora looked interested too.
"Five percent."
Ciel immediately said:
"Ten."
Mara stared.
Ciel stared back.
"Seven."
"Nine."
"Seven."
"Eight."
Mara sighed.
"Eight."
Ciel smiled.
Nora nodded approvingly.
"And designs?"
Ciel asked.
Mara narrowed her eyes.
"You learned bargaining very quickly."
"Eight percent?"
"No."
"I mean for things I design."
Mara considered longer.
"Depends on who pays for materials."
"Who refines."
"Who sells."
"Who assumes risk."
"We decide individually."
That seemed fair.
Ciel nodded.
Then she asked the question she had actually been working toward.
"How do I send money to Orione?"
Mara's expression changed.
Nora's did too.
Ciel looked down at the counter.
"I don't have much yet."
"But when I do..."
She rubbed her thumb over the ring.
"I want to send some home."
Mara leaned against the counter.
"Not all."
Ciel looked up defensively.
"I didn't say all."
"You were thinking all."
Ciel said nothing.
Mara had become annoyingly good at that.
"They're my parents."
"Which is why you should still be capable of helping them next month."
Mara said.
"Food."
"Resources."
"Cultivation."
"Emergency money."
"If you empty yourself every time you earn something, you'll remain dependent forever."
Ciel frowned.
It sounded selfish.
Mara seemed to know.
"Investing in yourself is not abandoning them."
"If reaching Second Layer lets you earn ten times more later, sending every coin home today may be the worse way to help."
Ciel slowly nodded.
She did not like it.
That did not make it wrong.
Nora closed the ledger.
"Caravans still run west."
"To Orione?"
"Some."
"Not every week."
"Mining traffic keeps the route alive."
Ciel immediately leaned closer.
"Where?"
"Western Gate freight offices."
Nora named one.
"Ask for sealed private cargo."
"Letter plus coin pouch."
"Small packages too, if you pay."
Ciel imagined it.
Money.
Patterns.
Blue Port fabrics.
Fashion sketches.
Maybe tools.
Things that could help the shop itself rather than simply keeping her parents alive.
"When's the next one?"
Nora shrugged.
"Go ask."
Ciel looked toward Mara.
Mara waved a hand.
"Go tomorrow."
Ciel smiled.
Then Mara added:
"After work."
The smile weakened.
Naturally.
The next afternoon, the medicine was finally beginning to fade.
Ciel could tell because the world felt quieter.
Her pores no longer pulled at every trace of ambient Qi.
Part of her missed it already.
Mara refused to give her another pill.
"You haven't finished processing the first."
"It barely does anything now."
"Which means it still does something."
"How long do I have to wait?"
"Until I say."
Ciel had learned that arguing with Mara over medicinal dosage was even less successful than arguing over fees.
So after finishing her work, she headed toward the Western Gate.
Elena came with her.
Mostly because Ciel mentioned there would be food stalls along the road.
"You're using me."
Elena said while eating fried dough.
"You're eating."
"Both can be true."
The commercial road was busy.
Caravans entered and left through the western side of the city.
Wagons loaded with grain.
Mineral shipments.
Cloth.
Tools.
Crates marked with faction seals.
Several cultivators escorted a wagon surrounded by a minor protective formation.
Ciel watched it pass.
"Do you think they go near Orione?"
"No idea."
Elena said.
"You lived there."
"I didn't run freight routes."
"Fair."
The freight offices clustered near the gate.
Large signs advertised destinations.
Some were written for merchants.
Others for ordinary travelers.
SOUTHBANK — TWICE MONTHLY
WESTERN MINING ROUTES
PRIVATE CARGO — INSURED
BEAST ESCORT AVAILABLE
Ciel slowed.
The Western Gate looked different now.
The first time she had entered through it, she had been filthy, hungry and alone.
Blue Port had seemed like something enormous trying to swallow her.
Now—
she had money coming.
Eleven pills remaining after the first.
A master.
A job.
A friend beside her eating half of Ciel's snack.
"That was mine."
Ciel said.
Elena swallowed.
"You were distracted."
"That doesn't make it yours."
"It does at Green Trail."
Ciel reached for the remaining piece.
Elena moved it away.
Then someone shouted nearby.
"Move the cart!"
A City Guard patrol was clearing congestion near the gate.
Ciel barely looked.
Five guards.
Blue-gray uniforms.
Two mortals.
Three cultivators.
A wagon driver was arguing about unloading space.
One young guard stepped forward.
"You're blocking the inspection lane."
The voice—
Ciel stopped walking.
Elena took another step.
Then noticed.
"Ciel?"
Ciel did not hear her.
That voice.
Impossible.
The young guard turned slightly.
Shorter hair than she remembered.
A sword at his waist.
Uniform fitted tightly over a body that had become leaner.
Harder.
A faint scar ran from beneath one ear toward his jaw.
One translucent layer of Qi rested close to his skin.
Qi Condensation.
First Layer.
Ciel stared.
Then her eyes dropped.
His left hand rested near his sword.
The little finger ended too early.
The final joint was gone.
Her breath caught.
As though he had heard it across the noise of carts, merchants and guards—
the young man turned.
Their eyes met.
For one heartbeat neither moved.
His face lost all color.
Ciel forgot Blue Port.
Forgot the pills.
Forgot the ring.
Forgot cultivation.
She saw a road.
A fallen tree.
Chains.
Blood.
A promise made while running through a forest.
Blue Port.
We'll meet in Blue Port.
His lips moved.
No sound came at first.
Then—
"...Ciel?"