Revenge Requires Restraint

"It's all here," I sighed as I finished using [Plant Identification] to confirm that the amount of provisions Alex and I had cultivated, created, or otherwise bought, were fully accounted for. It was the day before our monthly quotas were due and I'd been busy with my alchemical affairs as well as Ily's issues for most of the entire month.

Now, with all the provisions accounted for, I could take a break and not work for the day…

[New Skill Alert!

Name: Wood Cultivation Art: Azure Regeneration Method

(Actual) Grade: F | (Potential) Grade: A

Description: A Cultivation Method that utilizes Wood's inherent properties of rejuvenation to reform the body into an undying immortal vessel. Each Phase of progression breaks downs different layers of the body's cells and reconstructs them such that they become supercharged with Wood-type regenerative magical energy. This is a technique that prioritizes Vitality and Constitution over all other aspects of one's core state.

Progress: First Phase | ~0%]

…Or I could finally hop aboard the cultivation train and start building up my Stats.

Literally everyone else had already started cultivating either with the methods they had learned prior to meeting with me or with the ones I handed out. I was the only one, willing, able, and responsible for ensuring that come the end of the month, the Emperor didn't execute us all for being more incompetent than he imagined. So, I couldn't…

Until now, that is!

And, since I've been grinding my Alchemy Skills to death this month, now that I start cultivating, I can do so in the most prodigal way possible. I could make my own Cultivation Supplementing Pills added on top of Spirit Cooking, and have Alex boost everything to be more useful than was strictly required to make the most amount of progress.

Hahaha… If only the process wasn't so stomach-churningly unpleasant.

I swear, it felt like I had thousands of ants crawling all over me seconds after I started applying the method's breathing techniques and began the process of breaking down and reconstructing my skin cells. It felt like I was both too hot and too cold at the same time. Like, I was being skinned with a knife on one part of my body, while a soothing spring water was poured elsewhere.

It was a miserable time…

[Stat Update!

Vitality: F- → F

Constitution: F- → F

Magic Reserves: F- → F

Magic Potency: F- → F

Spirit: F- → F]

[Skill Update!

Name: Wood Cultivation Art: Azure Regeneration Method

(Actual) Grade: F | (Potential) Grade: A

…

Progress: First Phase → Second Phase | ~1%]

…And then I made my first breakthrough and all the pain and ache that came from actively cultivating for the past several hours felt like it was worth the effort. The feeling of improving my Stats, so many of them too, was overwhelming, to say the least. It was like suddenly growing the strength to lift a ton, when a moment prior I wouldn't have been able to lift even a tenth of that.

Of course, since I didn't improve my Strength Stat, I probably couldn't manage that. But, maybe now I wouldn't get winded just by visiting Demoire. This poor Alchemist could only hope for at least that much.

…

"Master Quarth," Aila's voice suddenly brought me out of my meditative trance. She was nowhere near my workstation, but I could hear her as if she were right next to me thanks to the basic Communication Formation she had set up to cover the area up to one square kilometer away from the farmhouse.

"I have already informed everyone else to stop what they are doing outside of the house and return promptly. I've detected an imperial-marked carriage making its way toward us. It would appear that the time has come for our group's monthly provisions to be collected," she said.

I couldn't respond back since she had yet to figure out how to key others into her formations. So instead, I got up, stretched for a bit, and then left my workstation to help sell the image that "we were doing our best to meet the Emperor's expectations."

I might have rolled my eyes out of my head if I ever even had to think that sentence ever again.

Meeting with the others in the kitchen, I went up to each of them and messed with their clothes a bit to make them all seem worn and weathered. Aila then stepped up once again, to perfect the haggard appearance I was going for by smearing us in some dust from her Earthen Magic. By the time the carriage had stopped and the driver had knocked on our door, we were looking truly desperate.

It was damn near perfect.

"Here you are, my good sir," I said, unfortunately, unable to do much about my terrible acting skills. "This section makes up Alex's share of responsibility and these are mine. These are for crops, herbs, spices, and various cooked products. While these are for pills, potions, incense, and the other miscellaneous alchemical products."

"Wow," the carriage driver nodded his head, clearly impressed, as he started storing everything away in the Spatial Ring the empire had issued him. "To think that you had enough time to clearly label, store, and pack everything nicely like this… I hope you're not trying to bullshit the empire," he sighed. "I would hate for this to be the last time I received such a well-prepared package…"

Yeah, fuck you too, buddy.

It took most of my Willpower to not change my expression until he was out of the door. The hateful bastard… He was clearly looking down on us despite the fact that we rose above and beyond his expectations. It was really tempting to just blow up in his face and show him how much better literally everyone in our group was in comparison to him and the shitty Emperor's "misguided" impressions.

Of course, I rather wanted to keep the "limited" freedom we barely had. So, instead, I just settled for cursing the ignorant and supercilious from the safety of my head, behind closed doors. All these assholes would eventually find out they fucked around with someone above their station.

It may take a few months, perhaps years, or even decades… But I would see to it that anyone and everyone who insulted me was repaid for their insolence in kind.