Training as a Slime (29-3)

Sometimes, luck worked in mysterious ways.

Alice slid opened the compartment, "Master, we are now at the pill room." Cori, in a trance like state, rolled effortlessly onto a box of iron tinctures marked "Mucin". The "Qi" in Cori's belly begun circulating, aligning the soul, mind, and body. He levitated out of the box and towards the pill furnace; his body expanding and contacting in random timing. Alice begun recording, intrigued by the whole process. Cori's spirit started to disassociate with the body and entered a realm of heavenly stars. He noticed a golden star shining through stormy dusts and recognised that as his constellation. As his spirit descended back into his body, the "Qi" renewed his system throughout his body increasing his defence stat by another 100 points and a spiritual "Qi" core was also consolidated in his body. He noted that the "Qi" energy was different from both the Mana and Spirit energy. Due to his luck, all 3 energies did not clash but were residing in his body harmoniously. Feeling refreshed, Cori opened his eyes and noticed he was floating in mid-air. He squeaked to Alice to put him down. Alice replied in defence, "Master, you are floating on your own. Would you like to cushion your fall?" 

Cori panicked in mid-air upon hearing its reply. He lost his momentum upon realising his new found capabilities and plopped onto the cushion, freshly prepared by the thoughtful OS. He was lucky Alice was with him through out the journey.

Curious, he checked his status. He discovered he had cultivated a new stat - "Qi". Curiouser, he wondered if he could merge the 3 stats together (unfortunately, [Merge Skills] could not merge stats), and if there was anything in the lab that could further his understanding of Mana, Spirit and Ki. From what he had observed, mana was used in activating magic formations, spells, and usually involved invoking elements, spirit energy was mainly for activation of holy energy, cleansing and purification, usually linked to a God or deity. And "Qi"... so far "Qi" seemed to be there since the beginning and its presence grew through enlightenment. "How can these 3 different aspects become 1?" pondered Cori.

Alice broke the silence and commented, "Master, your current stats for agility and stamina are rather low. Maybe you should increase your attack stats too." (Both of them were on totally different frequency.) Alice who broke-through from a game continued, "Master, I would like to recommend you to try cultivating the Ali Pill. It strengthens 'Qi' and also increases stamina and agility!" Cori squeaked in surprise, "Strengthens Qi? Do you know anything about 'Qi'?"

Alice dutifully answered (having mastered Cori's baby slime language through an intense analytical process), "Master, our records showed that 'Qi' is also known as the driving-force of life. This mysterious force can be felt everywhere when one meditates and resonate with its vibration. The stronger the resonance, the more powerful the driving-force becomes." Cori felt a new found type of confusion, he understood and yet he did not comprehend. He knew he felt a link with the universe through 'Qi' and had now just became aware that of its nature as the 'driving-force of life'. For now, he could only accept the explanation as an afterthought. At the very least, he felt what 'Qi' was and it was definitely distinct from mana and spiritual energy. 

Alice continued selling her idea, "Master, these are the herbs to make the Ali Pill. All you need to do is to control the timing and the fire of the furnace. Very easy! Oh, and this is the formula." Cori looked at the formula and memorised the timing; 7,3,1.

The recipe read: "Throw the first batch in 7 breaths, followed by second batch in 3 breaths and the last one in 1 breath. Similarly the first batch had to cultivate over small rainbow fire (low heat), second batch over 3 true flames (medium heat) and the last batch with big flames (high heat). 1st batch of herbs were bird's foot, golden root, mandrake root, pontoon, wine apple, red sage, maidenhair fruit . 2nd batch of herbs are fruit of god, winter cherry and mermaid's tear. Lastly, a handful of autumn vegetable gold."

"Hmmm... it looked easy but how do I change the fire?" Cori's eyes squinted, investigating the furnace. Alice heard Cori squeaks and replied, "Master, it does not have any manual. But it comes with a remote control." "Of course..." Cori answered. How could he forgot that the house was owned by a deity and everything was already automated. The laboratory and pill room was probably only for guests and recreation purpose. And the museum was just a huge storage designed to impress his guests.

Cori took the remote control and turned on the rainbow fire to low heat and threw in the 7 herbs as fast as he could according to the sequence in the recipe. 7 breaths later, he changed the fire to 3 true flames medium heat and threw in the second batch of herbs in sequential order. 3 breaths later, he changed it to big flames and threw in the last batch of herbs. A breath later, he turned off the flames and opened the lid of the furnace. A beautiful white pill with 3 red swirls laid in the middle of the furnace.

Alice took the super rare grade pill out of the furnace and laid it on a small rectangular porcelain plate accompanied with a small cup of golden silver flower tea, "Master, your pill and tea is ready." Cori felt as if he was born as the son of a boss with Alice's high class treatment. He took the pill and drank it down with the tea. A gush of heat flowed into his 'Qi' centre, Cori swiftly entered his meditative state and used his 'Qi' to circulate the energy. After 3 hours, he finally absorbed the pill in its entirety and increased his agility, stamina and with a stroke of luck, also his attack by a 100 points.