It felt exhilarating.
Like I was becoming a new man. The energy from the spirit grass coursed through every spirit conduit in my body. I could feel it.
The energy was harsh and forced itself everywhere it went, but the pleasure of feeling my body change far outweighed that.
*Tik*. *Pop*
I looked down to see my legs and torso elongating; I was growing taller! It felt like little ropes were pulling on all parts of my body, even from the inside.
Next to me, Big Randy and Igor were still hulking figures, but no longer towering.
*Pop* My leg cracked again, but this time, the bleeding had completely stopped. I put my weight on it, and it was like nothing had ever happened except for the wound where I'd hit it against the rock. I flexed my muscles, feeling out my power.
This…this tasted like progress. 'Maybe enough to stand up to Wan Cheng.' Memories of the assassins jabbed at my mind, maybe even enough to stand up to the overseer. But one thought rang through my mind, 'Would I be able to standup to an actual cultivator?'
"Khan!" Big Randy interrupted my thoughts, they were foolish anyway, "How are you going to walk around?"
"What?" I looked at him like he'd asked me how I would cut my fingernails. "I can walk around the same way I normally do."
Igor shook his head, "You've just grown two inches taller," he gestured towards my skin, "Look, your skin has even gotten darker. How are you going to explain that off?"
'Well…I…I'm still a peasant. No one pays enough attention to me to notice.'
"No one will notice a little change."
Igor grumbled, "What about the noble lady? You spend a lot of time there."
Big Randy nodded along, "If she notices and starts asking questions, Khan…a cultivator is going to come looking for you."
The blood drained from my lips as I realized the implications, the panic and alarm held me right there, and I stopped focusing on my bodily changes. I'd only thought of the power I'd gain, not the effects. Now, I'd have to hide it?
I sighed, all that effort to get this power, and now I couldn't show it. I couldn't help but think, Would it be the same with the Celestial Leopard and the white lunar lotus?
Truly, it was as my father used to say, a poor man's only sin is to find jade. 1
"From now on, I'll only go at night, and I'll wear a long cloak. I don't meet with the noble lady every time I visit her library."
"That's a start. But you'll have to leave the city."
"No." I directly refused Igor, "I still have to hunt the Celestial Mirror Leopard. Running away will only get me chased by the Lady's people. And then it won't matter how much strength I have if they report me to some cultivator."
"Tsk." I noticed the subtle twitch and look away from Big Randy as I said that, he still disagreed with me hunting the Celestial Mirror Leopard.
"Hide your strength." Igor rambled, this time with a pipe in his mouth, "But you're going to have to leave anyway."
"Igor's right. Khan. A change like this…someone's bound to notice eventually."
I wasn't leaving. Not until I'd made enough money to start my trade caravan. Otherwise, I'd just repeat the past few months in a new city. And next time, I might not find people willing to take me on as I'd already found here.
"I'll leave when I have the money to start a trade caravan."
Big Randy looked at me like I'd brought him a grandson, "You want to start a caravan? So what about the Spirit beast?"
I tried to ignore the hope in his voice, something I found harder to do the more he looked out for me. "No. I still need coin. I can get that from Lady Vespara after I bring her the spirit beast."
He deflated at that, but then the light came back to his eyes, "Wait!" He rushed to another room to get something.
When he came back, he was holding a piece of brown parchment paper. "You remember I said I had something to tell you?" he looked eager now, like he had some big secret to tell me,
"Yes, I remember." The energy and bounce in his step spread over to me like an infection, and I couldn't help but feel the same.
"The sect has started buying the metals."
Igor gave a rare smile, and I looked at him confused, before it clicked!
'The steel.'
I had forgotten about all of it under the weight of hunting spirit beasts and running errands for the commander, Wan Cheng.
Months ago, I had made investments. Over 150 silver into the enterprise that Big Randy introduced me to. Selling raw iron ore, steel, and some other metals to the Awoken Moon Sect. That meant I had at least a third of the stake in the whole thing.
I didn't think about the full implications of what that meant. My only thought was on my purse and ambitions.
A grin broke out, and without even noticing, I joined in their joy. Before I realised what I was doing, I had jumped up into the air, the mirth rapidly fled from my face as I realised I was going higher than usual.
I'd jumped too far.
The moment I realsied, I gripped around like a cat dunked in water, trying to find something I could hold on to, but we were in the middle of the smithy, everything I could hold on to was on the ground, and the ceiling was still a ways off.
Air started to woosh past me as I fell and slammed onto the floor. Experience and instincts kicked in and I hit the ground with an impromptu roll, denting the wooden boards.
They rushed to help me, but I shrugged them off. Squeezing my fist in pleasure, feeling the blood rushing through my veins. It was like knowing I had a bull in my hands that listened to my every command. This power was intoxicating.
It was mine.
It was proof.
Proof that every scar. Every little hunting trip. Even near death had been worth it. Proof that I was on the right path.
If cultivators were more powerful than this, I could understand why they guarded their treasure so jealously. I carefully pushed of the floor, "How much are they buying?"
"The first order came in for 100 kilos of iron and 20 kilos of steel."
I gasped at the number. I didn't even know how much they sold for, but the cost would be astounding.
Big Randy answered, anticipating my next question. "They are buying at five silver per kilo of iron and twelve per kilo of steel."
Whoosh.
I sat on a chair, counting out how much I could make with my hands. If they were buying in such large qualities then they must be planning for something. But I quickly switched thoughts. 'With my stake…' Numbers started running through my head like race horses. If I weren't so sure this was all real, I would have thought I was drunk.
Even if they only bought fifty kilos of iron and 10 kilos of steel, that would be 370 silver. Almost 4 gold! The last time I'd earned even one gold, it had been taken away to pay for a healing elixir.
'Caravans, guards, merchandise…and, trade routes,' they would all have to be planned out, maybe I'd also buy some gifts for Huo Qianlei and his daughters, they were growing, they would need new clothes…and maybe an allowance for Huo Qianlei. The reason he was not able to work was because of me after all, but, I caught the way Igor an Big Randy were staring at me.
I was getting ahead of myself. I needed to know how long before I'd get the money first. "So, how are you doing the pay?"
Igor answered, "Monthly."
The fact that it wasn't immediate, dampened my mood slightly.
"Yes, they'll be sending a sect disciple once a month to come and take the deliveries. I'll warn you ahead of time so you aren't here."
I nodded in appreciation. "So, then how much ore have you stockpiled? At 2/3rd investment—"
"We remember your investment," Igor said, but Big Randy didn't let him finish, "Khan, don't forget, you weren't the only one we asked to invest. Your stake is twenty percent. Not thirty." He handed me another piece of parchment so that I could go over the details.
Apart from the three of us, ten other people had also given their money. Big Randy promised they were all trustworthy and that he forced them to swear the same oath I did.
Even then, with all that the sect was buying, I would still be making money. Far more than I could have originally thought. But my mind wandered then to something else. If the sect was really buying up raw materials like this, then what Big Randy had said was true.
They were really going to fight a war.
Now, each silver coin and gold flash that had crossed my mind wasn't money. It was a spear. Or an arrowhead. Or food for sect disciples.
Or cannon fodder.
I thought back to the men I'd seen at Camp Yi and Wan Cheng's camp.
It was my decision to start selling to them originally, when war was more of a vaguely recollected dream than an impending reality, but now…
Suddenly, my thoughts turned to me.
I'd have to get out of this city quickly. I remembered what Big Randy had said about war between cultivators, the stories I'd heard.
If only half of them were true, then it would be a terrible thing.
I had to find a way to not only leave before it started but also not lose everything I'd built. Heavily bolted metal chests, hidden storage places, there wasn't anything I wasn't thinking of.
My plan of building the trade caravan came to me again. I'd still be making coin, and if I was good at it, I'd also be able to build up connections.
I looked at big Randy. I was quickly starting to learn that they were far better
He had been far more helpful to me than any actual coins in my purse.
And what better way to do what I wanted to do than with a trade caravan? If I could establish a reputation in another city before the first arrow was even shot, maybe I'd be able to escape the problems that would be coming with the war.