112 First Mission

In the morning, Jack asked Yin Ping to find him a dozen scrolls on the sigils for light, water, and rotate. The traditional spell that the Tribes use forms two convex lens-like structures out of the sigils for water and then rotates the image that the lenses pick up to make a clear picture of the thing they focused on in the distance.

The spell has a lot of connecting sigils that help the shape, focus, and range sigils do their jobs on the edges of the water sigil lenses.

When he first saw the Tribe's descriptions, he had to commend the ingenuity of the creator of the spell and wonder about how the Tribes came to know it.

He wanted to find out a bit more about what he could make the three new sigils do and how much he could push them to do the things he wanted to do before he started experimenting.

When Yin Ping found everything he needed, Jack told the company not to disturb him and went to his lab.

On the way there, he picked up rocks of various sizes and shapes to use in his new spirit energy practice.

Once he entered the small house, he lay down on his leathers and started reading. While he read, he used his spirit energy to lift the heaviest stone he could to the farthest distance away from himself.

At first, he would either lose focus on his reading, or would stop cycling spirit energy through the meridian convergence point in his head, but after a couple hours of failure, he got the hang of it and immersed himself in reading and training.

For the next ten days, he held to the schedule of learning in the morning, teaching ancient combat tactics in the afternoon, and lecturing on the fundamentals of chemistry and physics at night.

The first rookies started understanding that the world consisted out of much more than they knew, but they couldn't figure out how they should draw in something that they couldn't see or feel.

Jack also found himself at an impasse in that aspect. Everyone he taught in the past already knew the feeling of spirit energy and how their meridians cycled it.

Out of the entire first rookie class, only old Long's former assistants knew and they started showing some signs of progress, but the normal people just couldn't.

One night, while he lay in bed, he thought 'No wonder that the Sect's cultivation technique had the self-hypnotic chant. Should I invent some gibberish too? No, I want them to figure it out by themselves without having to trick their brains. They already know that spirit energy exists, but I have to find a way to exhibit it to them so they could at least…' His eyes went wide and he jumped out of his covers.

Both Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun woke up at the same time and asked "What happened?"

Jack waved them off while he dressed and ran out of the house.

A few seconds later, he slid to a stop in front of Tan Boli's house and slapped the rocks next to the door while whispering "It's me."

After a few tries, a droopy-eyed Tan Boli raised the leather cover from the doorway and asked "What can I do for you, Jack?"

He had a hint of annoyance in his voice that the former Tan Boli would never allow himself to show, but his long exposure to how the company did things changed him.

Jack gave him an apologetic smile and said "I'm sorry for coming so late, but I need to borrow Zhu Lielei for a short time."

Tan Boli narrowed his eyes for an instant, but in the end, he nodded his head and went to get the small girl.

A few minutes later, he escorted a yawning Zhu Lielei out of the house, while an anxious Xu Weifa hovered behind his shoulder.

Jack gave her a reassuring look and declared "Don't worry; nothing will happen to her."

With that, he guided Zhu Lielei towards his lab. On the way, she asked him what he wanted to do, but he just said that she would see when they got there.

In the lab, they sat down on the leathers and faced each other.

Zhu Lielei rubbed her eyes while Jack smiled and ordered "Close your eyes and focus your attention on your skin. Try to remember the locations of the meridians in it and wait."

She gave him a confused look, but did as told and closed her eyes.

Jack didn't just pick Zhu Lielei because he knew her the most out of the recruits; he picked her because she asked the most questions during their nighttime lessons and understood more than most did.

He pushed his spirit energy through the fusing meridian spot in his head and sent a few strands of it running up Zhu Lielei's hand.

She shivered at the cold touch but didn't open her eyes.

Jack's head bobbed in an approving nod before he said "The spots where you feel your hairs moving are the places where your meridians touch the skin. Right now I'm using my spirit energy to move them. Try focusing on sensing the spirit energy in the air through those meridians."

He kept focusing on several specific arm meridians and moved hairs in their areas.

At first, he wanted to use the same technique that the servant who grabbed him out of his burning village did and move his spirit energy through her meridians. Only after he thought it over while he waited for her to get ready, did he decide against it and opted for this approach.

He didn't know if Young Master Mai Younu's servant used a specific technique, or he just forced his spirit energy into Jack's meridians so he didn't want to risk it.

After half an hour of silence, Zhu Lielei's arm twitched and her eyes snapped open.

"I felt something!" she exclaimed, and then covered her crooked smile in shame.

Jack looked at her with expectant eyes and pulled her hand away to say "I don't care about that, tell me what you felt."

She frowned down at her hand and explained "It felt like I breathed something cold in through my skin. When I did, it shocked me and I lost the sensation. Now I can't feel it again."

"F*ck yes!" Jack barked out in English and jumped up with his hands raised into the air.

When he looked back down at the blushing Zhu Lielei his brows rose in surprise before switched to the local language and asked "You know the meaning of that word?"

She kept her eyes on her hand and whispered "We promised not to tell…"

Jack sighed and sat back down while he thought 'That's what I get for screwing around and teaching curses as common phrases in the beginning.'

He focused back on Zhu Lielei and asked "Want to try again?"

She gave him an enthusiastic nod and closed her eyes.

Strands of Jack's spirit energy started stimulating the areas around her meridians once more while he said "Remember to keep hold of the spirit energy this time and try to move it through your other meridians to the dantian. It will be hard at first, but use the meridian diagrams that you studied to help you on directing it."

It took less than ten minutes for Zhu Lielei's arm to twitch once more.

This time, she kept her concentration and Jack started feeling tiny swirls of spirit energy moving around her arm.

He kept quiet and allowed her all the time she needed.

More than an hour later, Jack felt a stirring of spirit energy from Zhu Lielei's dantian and a wide grin split his face in half.

Zhu Lielei kept her eyes closed for a few minutes while delight spread across her face.

When she opened her eyes, Jack grabbed her shoulders and exclaimed "Congratulations!" He let go of her and added in a solemn voice "You are now a cultivator."

She looked up at him with eyes filled with excitement and threw her hands around his neck before she whispered "Thank you, thank you…" over and over again.

The hug lasted for a dozen seconds. When she realized what she did, she broke the contact while her face turned red.

Jack took it all in stride and proceeded to explain the method of testing out her meridians and using more meridians to absorb spirit energy.

When he thought he gave her enough to work with for the day, he sent her back home while he stayed in his lab.

He had a couple more hours until dawn and decided to have an early start. The excitement of helping one of his recruits start on the road of cultivation provided him with more than enough energy for the day.

When morning came, a few of the rookies came to ask what he did to make Zhu Lielei start cultivating, but he just sent them away and told them that he would show them all during the evening's lesson.

In the next few days, he managed to help a few of the others achieve the first grade of cultivation. He concluded that the ones that didn't manage to grasp the technique yet just needed to study more.

When the next game of Poker came, Jack forced himself to lose all of his spirit stones in the beginning and just let the rest of the table have their fun.

In the end, Wu Dianrong managed to beat Bei Kangping and take the winnings.

Wu Dianrong tried to brag about his prowess to Wu Angrui, but she cared more about discussing new armor designs with Jack.

She decided to let him hold all of the new hides until Elder Ran processed them.

When everyone gave her questioning looks, she blushed and explained that she needed time to finish using all the leather she already had. If she took any more, she couldn't keep herself from working on it and would never get anything done.

Tong Huakun proceeded to comfort the losing Bei Kangping once more when they left the house. Jack even caught her hand touching his a few times during the game.

So far, she didn't report anything that he didn't already get from Ma Ruiman, but he had high hopes that she would get some useable information soon.

Days passed, and the Haechi Tribe started making noises about the mercenaries not doing the job they were paid for.

After Jack heard grumblings from his new recruits, he went to visit Pan Xinfa and arranged to have their first mission after the second shooting competition.

The delay made the Chief angry, but he agreed in the end when the teen promised to carry any extra food they could get in his Star Bag.

When Wu Angrui bought the second batch of Haechi hides, she wanted to know when to expect the next one, and Jack had to inform her that he could only go hunting once more before the White River family group had to leave back home.

At first, she didn't look happy, but she had to accept his decision and made him promise to get an extra big haul when he went.

The Immortals' Lament team won the second shooting contest with some difficulty, but they didn't seem concerned with their performance so Jack didn't mention anything and celebrated with them.

That night, he instructed the few people that hadn't yet started cultivating to spend his absence in serious study. He also made sure that the others who reached grade one kept up with their efforts.

On the next day, he left the camp to old Long and Tong Huakun and took all of the former Gravediggers towards the Tribal Assembly.

Tong Huakun wanted to come with them, but he needed her with Bei Kangping. Both to keep getting closer to him and as a safety measure against the White River family.

When he went to ask the Chief for more time, he made an arrangement that the Tribe would protect his men if the White River family tried something. Otherwise, he would have never offered the use of his Star Bag in the first place.

It took the mercenaries four days to reach Tribal Assembly.

When they stood on a hill that gave them a full view of it and the rushing White River, Jack's face spread into a smile before he said "Men, let's see what they have in store for us." and led the fourteen former Gravediggers towards the town.