Exit: Cecil The Rogue

(This chapter contains a single sentence depicting self harm. Two if you count the biting of the tongue. You hath been warned)

Cecil smiles. Looking up to the sky. I place a finger against the side of her head. She actually has a spirit root. It's very basic. But it should work. 

"I can help you start over. You need to anyways." I walk off, heading to the pit of fire. That'll be the best spot for someone to learn. 

[Notice: The Garden will soon level up! Keep up the good work!]

Home can level up? What does that mean? "How?"

[The Dungeon will level up as foreign existences are interacted with & hidden quest are complete]

"Ah, we'll level up super fast. Dào Tú Zhī Zāi. Many people did not like Mother & Father." But they are not here. Maybe we can make friends this time.

I ignite the pit of wood. Sitting next to it. Inky slides over onto my head, staring into the flame.

"You've inspired me to do some testing. Perhaps I can learn why we do not know of this 'Ki' here." Inky would of liked Dào Shī. But I don't think she can be the new one... Inky is not here out of devotion.

"Why are you here Inky?" Inky does not have the voice and words of someone who cares about things.

"I told you before no? Or.. No matter. I answered the call to become the Administrator. The implications of the System are vast. Quite interesting." Yes. Inky is here for Inky. Not to care for the flowers.

"Hey." Cecil plops down next to me. "I am over it... How do we go about starting over, Miss Alien." I didn't hear her walking, and there's no prints in the snow.

"Well. You have suffered a lot, and you can cultivate. So you can get body reconstruction. But all that stuff in you will go away. You'll have to start over." Cecil looks herself over.

"Stuff?"

"Stuff. There's something in your body, it's not Ki." Cecil looks to Inky, who does a wobble. That's her shrug.

"Magic?" 

"I don't know what 'Magic' is. I just know it is not Ki." Magic is a silly name.

"Well." Cecil holds out her hand. A show of lights, spiraling shimmers fuse. Conjuring a doll, it looks just like me. "Can you do that?"

I hold my hand out. Fire! Er... It shapes into the shape of a doll. But it is still simply fire. "No..?"

"This is a baby level trick for magic. Since you can't do it, then we know Ki can't conjure things." Inky looks down to the two of us.

"I've never seen someone make stuff before. They usually just bring artifacts with them." Cecil looks a bit baffled.

"People just bring artifacts with them? Those legendary things that do insane things?" I draw a stick shape into the ground with my finger.

"Most people don't have divine artifacts, they have normal artifacts. Like a sword. The things alchemist make are called artifacts." I look up to Cecil, she looks unamused.

"Why use such a fancy word for a iron sword? Isn't that just a smith's creation?" Huh?

"Smithing is the same thing as alchemy, just a different path of it." I shake my head. "We need to decide if you wanna start over! If we wait too long body reconstruction won't make a new arm for you. You have like a few hours before the memory of your arm is erased from the spirit root."

"Alright so... you say you can help me get my arm back, but I'll lose all the magic I've gathered?" Nod nod.

"Yes. It will also make your worries go away. Your magic is tainted with the demon of grief. If that happens to your Ki, you might of just died. Or maybe exploded." I look to Inky, Inky is smart, she can confirm my words. But Inky does not speak.

"How does that work? Why would the troubles of my mind effect the magic stored in my body?" I don't know, I'm just a baby. I only tell what I was told, I'unno how it works...

"I think you may be expecting too much from a child. She's nigh certainly a unreliable narrator." Inky interjects, to give sass instead of help.

"So. I lose all my magic, have to store it again. But I'd get my arm back, and be able to get this 'Ki?'" Yes! Very simple. 

"Yep! You have a spirit root, so you can get Ki. It's not a very good one though so... you maybe shouldn't dream of leaving the first stage in this lifetime. The path isn't fair." Cecil sighs.

"What is..." Up she goes. Standing, stretching. "And uh, how do you get Ki? Magic is pretty simple, and you can't really do it wrong." Inky chuckles at this but keeps silent still.

"The path can go very wrong. If you gather Ki wrong, your blood will explode. After that stage, if you build your foundation wrong, you will explode. And even after that, if you build your core wrong, it will rupture and your foundation will blow up." I stand, turning towards the pit. A wave of the hand, the flame starts condensing into the shape of a marble. 

"If that happens, you'll be stuck on the first stage unless one of the three divine doctors treats you. Or you come across enlightenment." I bite my tongue. Blood flows into the flame, creating a mixture. "Cecil next."

Cecil steps forward. Looking a bit uneasy, attempting to get assurance from Inky. But Inky is not paying mind to Cecil, only my alchemy. "Alright.." Cecil takes her dagger and cuts into her hand, flicking the blood from the dagger into the mixture. 

"If you get past that stage, you then have to specialize your core. If you mess that up, you'll explode." I close my hand, forming a fist. All the fire from the pit rushes into the mixture. Condensing into a single point.

"If you manage to get past that point. You'll hit the first great wall of the path. Nascent Soul, can you guess what happens if you mess that up?" I reach out and grab the point. Turning to face Cecil.

"Your... soul will explode?" She's learning.

"Yep! Trying to break through the wall is a most vulnerable point. If the soul explodes, your body will be a supreme material for demonic arts. A Jiāngshī made from such a body is highly desired." I open my hand. A pill rest of my palm. Crimson in color with black streaks, wrapped in thorns.

"And uh... was that alchemy?" I shake my head.

"I am a Sorcerer. Dào Shī said that while all refinement is technically alchemy. I am no alchemist." Cecil takes the pill. "This pain will be excruciating. And if you fail, you'll become a demon. And then we'll have to kill you." 

"Such a process resulting in death if failed is expected. The restoration of a limb from nothing is a level only the most powerful of healers in history could perform." Inky chimes in once again. "And even if you don't die from the process directly, you may become a demon. Something I'd classify as surface level only gain. But in essence being a unnatural demon is mostly negative."

"Only the divine doctors or body reformation can restore erased limbs. And body reformation can only be done one time." Inky's form turns into a question mark.

"Dào Shī said that if you were to perform it a second time. Your soul would no longer be compatible with your body, and you would die. Something like that is only a thing Jiāngshī or Demonic Beast can do." Inky looks down to Cecil, who seems lost in thought.

"And what is a Demonic Beast?" Inky ask.

I point at Z, and then the rest of the animals. "These are demonic beast. Animals that have begun down the path of the Dao." Inky enters her thinking mode after hearing this.

"Fuck it." Cecil pops the pill into her mouth. The agony begins. Nothing I care to watch. I sit back down and turn towards the pit. I used all the fire. Ignition. Time to wait for the sounds to of flame to be the only song I hear. 

It took two moons but it is done. The first thing I see. Cecil's eyes no longer have the white, it's pitch black. But her gaze is clearer than ever before.

"You failed."