Getting Called The “S” Word

"Can I help you?" Mateus almost failed to stop from rolling his eyes. He and the teleporting personification of red flags had just been staring at each other on the side of the road. However, he still valued his life and knew better than to do anything too overtly disrespectful in front of a obviously stronger person.

"Auntie Eva told me you made those pills," the girl enigmatically said. At this point, Matues noticed she didn't just have the bunny-ears, she also had a rabbit's nose that somehow eluded detection the first time he had seen her.

"Eva? You mean the Cardinal Alchemist?" When she nodded at his question, Mateus continued, "Wait, if you're important enough to get an audience with her in a matter of minutes, what could you want with me?"

"Guidance from Senior Apprentice Brother."

Time might as well have stopped for Mateus. It had been less than three full days since his death, transmigration, and introduction into the world of Cultivation. Yet somehow, someway…

Here, where personal power and ability meant everything, he was already getting called, "senpai."

"Didn't you just become an Expert Alchemist?" Mateus narrowed his eyes as he said, "You already outrank me as an alchemist by two whole steps."

"Yet, I would be lucky to refine a single Excellent Quality Mortal Grade Pill with a Refined State higher than 95% on a good day," the girl countered.

"And you care to listen to what a Beginner Mortal has to say? I haven't even cultivated enough to unlock Martial Qi..."

"Your accomplishment becomes all the more impressive by your lack of a deep Cultivation Base if you managed to do what I could not when I don't even use Martial Qi, but Spirit Qi."

"Hmm..." Mateus groaned as he thought, 'Can't she take the fucking hint? I don't want to waste my time playing teacher.'

He said, "I'd help you, but, you see," he lifted up his bag full of Spirit Stones, "I don't even have a Storage Artifact; nevermind alchemical ingredients or a pill furnace. Maybe after a couple weeks, after I make a bit more money and have more supplies, we could arrange—"

"You can have all my old gear," the bunny-girl held out a Spatial Ring for Mateus to take. After he took it, she added, "After entering the Spirit Realm, everything left in there is kind of useless to me anyways. Unless of course, you put it to use and let me watch to learn from your methods."

Mateus didn't even probe for the contents of the ring with his energy. He asked, "How do you want to do this?"

Spatial Rings, even of the worst quality imaginable, were Spirit Grade Artifacts. Capable of holding entire pocket dimensions, sometimes hundreds and thousands of cubic meters in size, even if the girl had given him one full of manure and trash, Mateus would gladly accept it with a smile and help her back earnestly.

"Follow me," the girl said as turned around and started walking away.

…

"Welcome back, Young Miss Lunabelle," a man in a sharp suit said. Standing before the entrance of one of the largest household compounds in the Central District, the man had no less than a dozen attendants standing in attention on either side of his person.

"Kingston, I'll be attending a guest in my room," the now-named Lunabelle said.

"Guest?" The Head Butler looked behind Lunabelle to find Mateus struggling to hide how uncomfortable he felt. The moment he saw Mateus, he seemed to recognize something worth nearly suffering a nervous breakdown over.

Unable to do anything until the two left his sight, Head Butler Kingston flickered through space to stand before a door within the compound when he found his mind clear. Taking a second to brace himself for the worst, he then knocked on the door.

In a different room within the compound, Lunabelle was closing the door to her room as Mateus finished withdrawing the last of the items within his new Spatial Ring.

As Lunabelle walked from the door over to the only other cushioned seat in the room, Mateus said, "Seeing all this stuff you gave me… I feel kind of bad, knowing all you want in return is to watch me while I work."

Not that he wouldn't take advantage of a deal that should be too good to be true; after all, he did go through with it in the end. However, Mateus just didn't have the apathy in him to come out of the exchange without feeling like he had just conned the poor bunny-girl.

"Don't," Lunabelle had yet to change her tone or expression. "No price is too great to pay for the chance to improve my Alchemy."

"If you say so..." Mateus shrugged as he began sorting out all the materials he had to work with.

Nearly three minutes later, after having accounted for everything, Mateus was feeling rather overwhelmed, so he asked Lunabelle, "Say, uh… Since these were your materials to begin with, what type of pill would you like me to concoct first?"

"Any pill works for me."

"Could you, um… Be a good sport and just name one off, anyways?" Mateus felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face.

"Energy Tempering Pill," Lunabelle succinctly said.

With a task now presented before him, the very air about Mateus shifted once more. Everything from his stoic facial expression to his sharp body posture suddenly changing, captivated Lunabelle into quirking an eyebrow. When Mateus then went on to nonchalantly galvanize his new pill furnace with rudimentary Water Energy, she nearly found her mouth opening in shock.

Mateus took an herb, seemingly at random if his careless attitude was to be trusted, yet a mere moment after dropping it into the pill furnace the herb was processed.

'Extraction without fire?' Lunabelle was floored, not by the idea, but by the fact that it was accomplished so effortlessly by a Beginner Mortal who cultivated Water of all the elements. It was like watching an infant accurately score a bullseye with a throwing knife from dozens of kilometers away.

Herb after herb, along with a couple auxiliary alchemical materials, were flashed processed. The Extraction Phase completed about as quickly as she could have expected to do so herself.

'Horrifying. Absurd. Impossible,' Lunabelle thought as she watched Mateus continue through the Fusion and Pill Formation Phases of the alchemical process without a hitch.

Less than five minutes had eclipsed, yet…

[!Status!

Name: Mortal Energy Tempering Pills (x10)

Grade: Mortal

Quality: Good/Excellent (87-91% Refined State)

Description: An impressive batch of basic energy cultivation pills. Though far from perfect, all ten possible pills formed with a Refined State of High Good Quality to Low Excellent Quality.

Effect 1: Upon consumption, the cultivation of Energy Quality is temporarily increased by the pills' Refined State (87-91% depending on the pill consumed) for one minute.

Effect 2: For upto a quarter after consumption, the cultivation rate of Energy Quality and Energy Control is increased by 20/25% (Good/Excellent).]

"Aw shit," Mateus cursed as just then he panicked, recalling he hadn't ever managed to actually refine Consummate Pills. He had only managed to get his Good Quality Mortal Restoration Pills to the Consummate level after using his special ability.

Yeah, the one he couldn't just brazenly use before someone in the Spirit Realm...