Still Learning To Live As A Cultivator

Chapter Nineteen - Our best laid plans...

The meal consisted of six meat dishes, three vegetarian and one soup as well as a bowl of rice each, which seemed a bit extravagant to Leon considering that it was just Sun and two guests, but neither Sun nor Jin Li said a word about it, as if this was a normal fair to be had. Leon did not know that usually the servants were given the left overs to eat, hence the quantity, but he also did not know that this was not Sun's usual practice either. In the second family's part of the Ramas Palace, such was just not done, servants should not be given scraps but served their own meals, however the kitchens dished out food to their Masters equally on the instructions of the Matriarch and this was the result.

Again, this was a pointless detail, whether there would be leftovers or not, only Jin Li's stomach was aware.

Small talk revolved mostly around what Jin Li and Leon had been up to today and though the more personal details were left out, Sun came to understand that the pair had explored the extravagant north town and its many expensive shops and venues. As expected, they came away as empty handed as they arrived.

"I'm not surprised," Sun admitted as his chopsticks grabbed quickly a few pieces of red braised boar into his bowl before Jin Li could sweep clean the juicy chunks of glistening meat and leave him without. When it came to dining, Sun could admit that he preferred Leon's company, at least the alchemist's tastes were light and would not fight him for the richer flavours available. They only shared a liking of sweet dishes, but again Leon was too polite and would always concede to others. Not that it was a problem at the Institute, there was always plenty of food to go around, it was buffet style and one filled their plate as they liked, but when it came to dining such as this...

Jin Li did glare at him for half a heartbeat, but his chopsticks redirected their path towards the sliced horned oxen in chilli sauce and attacked this delicious dish instead. 

"I know!  I'll take you both to the west town and market!" Sun continued between savoured bites.  "It's nearest the river to the port town, there are always interesting things to look at there!  Plus the shops prices are more reasonable, even though they aren't cheap, the things aren't bad either."

This agreement, the weather did not agree with and the heavens that had not managed more than a smattering of snow released a cold fury onto the land below it, suddenly covering everything in white.  It was not much more than ankle deep, but its slippery legacy would make carriage travel more difficult and as the trip was not urgent, they did not feel brazen enough to request horses nor wish to unkindly drag servants from the palace in order to care for them.  The labour servants had it difficult enough clearing the paths of the palace in order that their Masters did not trip and damage their tender skin.

Knowing their trip was cancelled, Jin Li and Leon lingered over tea following breakfast, but unused to feeling so lazy, Leon headed to a side room prepared as his alchemy space and began to prepare herbs.  Jin Li had followed him like a second shadow, glancing about the space for one second and losing interest within the next.  While the Ramas palace did have a few alchemists living in an area to the rear and technically just outside the palace walls, which was where all of the Ramas army and personnel to support them lived, these had a high sense of their own existence and looked down on others.  So all the things in the side room had been brought along by Leon and he had arranged them much as he would at home, so there was nothing really new to look at.

The currently empty kegs had been placed against one wall.  Herbs had been organised into baskets or bottles, depending on their state.  The single, portable stove had been placed upon an old table (which was one of the very few things that didn't belong to Leon) and empty jade bottles lined the shelf, ready to be filled.  Leon's cauldron and the old kettle he'd kept for boiling water to use for potions were also on the table in wait. 

The stove's mage stones were activated and Leon placed the cauldron on top.  His able fingers had already reached for familiar herbs used in making his improved one heart pills, which he made at least once every ten days to keep in practice.  Improved One Heart Pills were a little trickier than normal ones after all, as were Improved Blood Pills, so he liked to remind himself of their recipes.  These sold well and steadily in Pharmacist Clawse' shop back in Julip Town anyway, so it was of no loss to Leon to continue making them.

However Jin Li was not resigned to watching Leon making pills for very long, as although he often enjoyed watching the serious concentrating expression on his small alchemist's face, he also enjoyed the expressions he made when frustrated, tearful, lost in pleasure...

Sun arrived as the sun was nearing its lazy zenith, to hear a small explosion and witness a cauldron shattering the wooden window of the guest courtyard side room followed by a cross little alchemist pushing a not remorseful Martial Artist out of its door.  With a puffed up pout, the alchemist stormed across the courtyard to pick up his cauldron, before continuing the show back into the side room and shutting Jin Li out.  Sun hesitated, feeling really awkward for a moment and not thick enough of face to ask what happened.

"Well?" Jin Li demanded of him, inadvertently rescuing him from becoming a permanently silent accessory in the guest courtyard's outside space.

"Er... I just wanted to know... do you want to see where we can spar?"  Sun blurted out.

Jin Li glanced over his shoulder, slightly sullen, before looking back at his roommate and giving the other boy a curt nod.  Sun exhaled, feeling relieved.

The training grounds that Sun took Jin Li to happened to be in the army base, however it was also considered off bounds to the majority of the soldiers and others who lived there. This was part of a compromise between the patriarch, General Ramas and his wife.

General Ramas, as one who had practically been raised within an army, wished for all of his descendants to learn martial arts and experience life as a common soldier in order to understand the men better if leading them. Lady Ramas, as one noble born, wished for her sons and grandsons to also have the option of following a scholar's path, becoming officials in the future perhaps and wished for her female descendants to hone their talents and marry into good families. She also felt that her sons might be bullied by commoners due to jealousy of status and did not want them mingling overly with the soldiers, less they develop bad habits.

Have to say, that in hindsight, bad habits can develop no matter the status of a man and his peers. Two of her sons caused her endless shame, but she couldn't abide others pointing fingers and speaking unkindly of them nonetheless.

And so a private grounds for the Ramas descendants was developed and only a chosen few outsiders with potential could also spar here. It was much unlike the soldiers own basic grounds, which in turn were not unlike what could be found at the institute either. The latter did not need fancy equipment nor artificially created rugged terrain, they were surrounded by trees and mountains! And if there was a want to experience a more life-like scenario, there were the mage induced illusions in which one could fight beasts and spirits and other Cultivators in numerous terrains along with the injuries and mental statuses, pain and agony they might have to deal with in reality. In fact the only thing that would not happen is true death.

In this private area instead, of which trust servants had already cleared of some of the snow, General Ramas may have taken inspiration from immortal fiction, with a series of thick bamboos staked into the ground to create a tall forest of beams for one to spar within or on top, as obstacles or points of balance. There were also pits and traps, though nothing that would cause fatal injury, plus tall but fake rockeries and small plain of uneven mounds. There was also a riding grounds and an area to practice long range attacks such as archery and magic.

Jin Li felt the cells of his body lose the sullenness of early and become tense with anticipation. He glanced towards Sun with raised brows and his lips quirked into a satisfied smile. Sun grinned, cheerfully and both boys vanished into the bamboo stake forest, oblivious to the added difficulty of the patches of icy ground beneath their feet. A clash of swords rang out.