This sect has forgotten its crafts

'It's already so late?' Theo thought to himself as he looked out of the window of his room.

It's been three days since the festivities ended. Since his outing with Paichi to the city, Theo did his absolute best to cash in all of the money he received from Veila and add all the cultivation resources that it needed him to the stockpile.

The stockpile that started with Paichi's generous gift.

Still, rather than letting those resources go to waste by just hiding them in the corner, Theo spent entire three days researching the best way to make the most out of them.

The topic of rejuvenating grass was as simple as it could get. While most of the cultivators would munch on its raw forms, those who knew any better would use clean spring water, a name of yet another surprisingly expensive commodity, to turn it into a simple yet disgusting brew.

But even this method came with a lot of flaws as it only ever brought up about half of the potential hidden in each of the stalks.

In the last three days, Theo managed to learn a lot. And now, he would first boil out everything that he could from the grass' stalks. On its own, it was a common step that everyone with even a bit of herbalist knowledge would do. It was what came next that made Theo's recipe stand out.

Once boiled, he would take the now softened stalks out of the water before letting them dry out in the sun for an hour or two. Then, he would rub them down on a flat surface, turning the stalks into a sort of grainy paste. This paste would then return to the same water that the stalks originally boiled in only for Theo to repeat the process.

This kind of intense brew had to cool down for a few more hours, a few hours Theo would use to scoop out all the super soft paste… and put it into a mortar where he would turn its rough grains into a smooth creme.

The brew itself was useless for cultivators who would wish to drink it. The intense, sour taste of the grass was simply too strong, too concentrated, for any of its spiritual effects to take place.

No, the brew would become the perfect replacement for the purified spiritual water, an ingredient that even the top brass of the sect would find it difficult to get their hands on. Or rather… only those at the top of the sect could realistically afford it.

But they wouldn't waste their resources to ever purchase something that could only ever be used to brew potions beneficial only to those who have yet to break free from the body cultivation and ascend to the next step on their path.

For Theo, however, who now had an abundance of low-grade materials and lacked a medium in which he could mix them, it was the perfect half-product recipe. Especially with how the leftover paste itself could be rubbed into one's specific body parts to provide concentrated relief to those who strained their muscles too much.

'There is so much to learn, so much to profit from, so much to abuse…' Theo thought, pulling his eyes away from yet another scroll he was using. 'And all this knowledge… is within the reach of everyone's hand!'

This was the one thing that Theo failed to understand.

Everyone could make an insane profit by buying cheap cultivation resources, mixing them within the herbal brew from the rejuvenating grass, and then selling the resulting pills and potions with some insane margins. Yet, no matter how many times did he visit the auction houses or the town's market, he had yet to find a single product made from the recipes that were out in the open for everyone to learn!

'Could it be this world forgot how useful crafting skills can be for cultivators?' Theo thought, looking down at the scrolls on his table.

He didn't bother to read their content. He was too damn tired for that.

The young man simply traced his fingers over the texture of the scrolls.

'This knowledge is out there, so they used to know about it all. So… why they do appear to be so damn ignorant right now?'

Theo heaved a deep sigh and shook his head. He then stood up from behind his desk and walked towards the doors leading back to the Inn's main room.

It's been quite a bit over a week since he bought the place. And between all the cleaning he and his disciples did, all the restoration that he paid for, and all sorts of new furniture, the insides of the former Inn now looked nothing like what one could expect by taking a look at its exterior. The fact that even the guests' rooms located on the inn's second floor were now perfectly usable only served to drive this point even further.

It was already late. The sun has long since stopped providing light, opting to hide below the line of the horizon for the time being. The only reason why Theo got to keep on reading this far into the night was the small fortune he invested in the stock of wax candles, a commodity that proved to be surprisingly expensive.

Yet, as Theo took a look at the main room below he couldn't help but sigh again.

At this hour, all of his disciples would normally sleep. After just a few days of his harsh training, they learned very well the importance of a good night of rest.

And yet, regardless of the time, Tiana still sat down in her usual spot, silently humming her chant while swinging her weights.

'So she is still going,' Theo thought, eager to release yet another sight.

This wasn't the first time for him to catch the girl staying to train later than all the other disciples.

The look of anxiety was the greatest explanation for what could be troubling her so much she opted to train so hard, even though she was the first one to advance to the flesh conditioning stage.

Or rather, most likely because she was the first one to advance.

'This is not the first time I see her like that,' Theo thought, swallowing his sigh and closing his eyes before taking a deep breath. 'But last night was the last one when I did nothing about it!'