"I am glad to hear it. In that case, if there is no urgency to travel, what were your next plans? On my part, I am interested in learning the cultivation practices of the locals, but I have no timeline or priority in mind. Eventually I want to study the orthodoxy of the Three Jades Sect, but I'm not in a hurry."

"I believe it's time to leave this place. I... Got what I came for, which was some of the blood-essence herbs. I think I could make it to the nearest city, Amber Hill City, in just two days' travel if I went as fast as I could. However, it sounds like you have a lot to learn. I can always stand to learn things, too so we can travel at a slower pace and talk. I don't know a lot of formalized cultivation knowledge, sects keep that pretty secret..."

"What does it take and how large of a commitment is it to join... I'm getting ahead of myself. That sounds like a fine plan. Do you have anything to do before leaving?"

The martial-path guy with the strong chin and the V scar on his eyebrow.

"No. I travel light." She points at a little backpack a ways away.

"I have all the belongings I need with me." She's not wearing a pack, but her Earth clothing is complex enough it could be concealing the reward pouch somewhere (it's not). "Shall we bid our hosts farewell?"

"Very well. Hopefully I can afford a storage bag soon..."

She has a bag—does she mean some sort of enchanted bag—

She's not going to get into it right now.

"I'm confident we'll be able to obtain the funds."

Where can Gao Gao be found to give him the news?

She shoulders her small pack. A servant guides them to Gao Gao. The rubble is mostly clear, but some stains and damage remain.

Everyone is quite effusive about seeing the pair off (and it turns out the old woman who flagged Rebecca down and supported Wen is Gao Gao's wife). Several people still seem to think she and Wen are related. One of the stronger soldiers makes as if to step forward and say something, but Gao Gao's hand on his shoulder prevents this.

Wen's tail twitches irritably.

And then they can leave.

Wen runs like a speedster out the town gates, in fox form, almost seeming to become an orange and white missile than something that touches the ground. Highway speed, at least, leaving the town far behind. She relaxes more the further they go.

Wen is surprisingly fast. Rebecca assumes Wen knows where they're going. They have the right heading, at least, according to the map from the admin building. She matches Wen's speed in flight, skimming close to the ground.

One they have a few minutes behind them, she'll get slightly ahead of Wen and say, "Do you have an idea when and where we'll make camp? We need to brief each other on capabilities."

Wen lets out a yip, then slows to a light 20 mile-an-hour jog and turns to humanoid form.

"I'm just glad I can be less prim and proper! To an extent, anyway. Yes, we should talk. You've never done any qi cultivation at all, have you?"

"I haven't." Observant, though perhaps it's a bit obvious. "I'm not sure we even had qi where I came from. When I arrived in this world is the first time I sensed what I suspect is qi."

"It probably is qi. Okay, so add 'what even is cultivation' to the list of topics. And yet you clearly have strong power of some kind. This is pretty concerning, you know? I'm concerned. It's not like teaching you the basics is exactly strenuous, but weird things make one nervous."

It's a fair concern. She's not afraid of sharing some ostensibly personal but fundamentally non-actionable information.

"In my world, powers like mine are granted by... entities we know very little of. We call them agents. They exist in other dimensions—other layers of reality, if that doesn't translate correctly—and are invisible to conventional means. They do not announce themselves when they empower their chosen. We do not understand how the bestowed powers work. Most people only speculate in abstract that there are patrons to our powers—but I have seen the agents with my own eyes, in places where dimensions bleed into others and in other ways. The agents are not benevolent. They intend to destroy my world. But I hesitate to say they are evil, for I expect we are as ants to them."

She allows a pause for that to sink in.

"Recently, I was contacted by a different being, one much farther away and stranger than those intervening on my world. I believe it to be benevolent: it understood mortal values, professed that it shared at least some of them, and had me entirely within its power and only offered assitance. That being sent me to this world and bestowed additional blessings on me."

The context is difficult to condense. What she needs is a slide deck she can email to Wen after this.

"That being, whom I will call the Spirit, severed me from my original agent at my request, and recreated my original blessing by its own power. The agents will not be able to follow me here, and the Spirit's intervention is... precise. It has done all it wishes to do, and very likely will never directly contact me again. There are no terms to its boons and they will never be—can never be, even by the Spirit's own will—revoked."

"So the answer, in short, is that I was twice-blessed by forces beyond mortal comprehension. I did not earn my powers myself, which may disappoint you. But I have bled my due for them, and with the specter of my agent gone, they are now as much mine to own as my own body."

And Wen only has her word for any of that. Best to keep that in mind, when dealing with this sort of thing. 

"Dimensional shenanigans are the worst. And I say that as a fox with a bloodline that lets me see some of them, and skim along the edges a bit."

So she has a special bloodline?

"They are. Some of them, at least. Orderly dimensional gates I can abide. The type where space breaks like glass and foul things grow in the cracks I'm much less tolerant of.

"But let's not dwell on my fantastical claims which are in any case irrelevant to our immediate plans. Can you summarize what cultivation and qi is, to someone who has heard of neither? I've picked up the general picture, but it's best to start from the foundation. In return, I'll tell you more about my abilities."

"Qi is the energy of the heavens and earth. It is as real as the sun and soil. Perhaps more real, even, as it suffuses everything, even if in minute amounts, and can fundamentally change all it touches. Qi has many aspects and distinctions... It's a category of energy, not a specific kind. It's like saying 'plants'. Do you mean trees? Shrubs? <Algae?>? Crops? <???>?"

So, we have qi, the spiritual energy that underpins the world and the basis of all cultivation. Spiritual qi is the loose and free energy floating in the world, air and water and stone. Spirit stones are dense concentrations of spiritual qi. Bodily qi, sometimes called essence, is the energy that strengthens flesh and bone. Dragon qi is the energy tied to the fate of a nation, and 'true' qi is the spiritual mass of a person, the thing that your cultivation itself is made of. There are surely more types I don't know.

Qi perfects things. It makes them more. Depending on your perspective... Death qi could 'perfect' a person by killing them. That is more of the nature of death qi after all. All qi can be neutral or aspected, showing properties aligned with its aspect. The most common aspects are yin, yang, fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. But there are many, almost anything you can imagine. Blood qi is a derivation of water, perhaps with some influence of fire...

Cultivation, at your and my level, is the process of taking in spiritual qi, growing your true qi, and becoming more 'perfect'. It's a long, long road, and there are many mysteries I don't yet know. But the first step is to meditate and focus, learning to detect and then influence free spiritual qi. Then, using specific methods and patterns, to bring spiritual qi into yourself, and move it in cycles. These cycles change your body and spirit, making you stronger and faster and better at qi control, and over time will improve your true qi.

That is the first stage in a few words: Qi Gathering. The further stages are Foundation Building, Core Formation, Domain Establishing, Nascent Soul, and then... Several more, no doubt. I don't know the details. The truly immense can eventually become Tribulation Immortals. With varied and exotic methods to actually cultivate... And there are alternate paths to growing stronger. This is the 'standard' path that most humans use..."

"Let me rephrase and repeat back to you to make sure I understand.

"Qi is a type of energy which suffuses the world. Some qi is bound to matter, but other can be bound to more abstract things, like fate. Qi can be aspected or neutral, and aspected qi changes what it's attached to to become more aligned with its aspect. Imbuing fire qi into a rock would make it more fire-like, say maybe heating it up? At the Qi Gathering stage—is that the same as Foundation Establishment?—we circulate spiritual qi from the environment though ourselves, strengthening ourselves and growing our spiritual mass, which is made of true qi.

"My questions are: If neutral qi is imbued into an object, what happens, both to the qi and to the object? Where does qi come from; is it created or destroyed? The qi types you mentioned, spiritual and bodily and dragon and true; and the qi aspects, yin, yang, fire, earth and so on: are they orthogonal typologies? By which I mean: there can be yin or yang or fire spiritual qi, and yin or yang or fire bodily qi, and yin or yang or fire dragon qi, and yin or yang or fire true qi? What determines and what is impacted by the aspect of your true qi?"

She's suspecting that the last question relates to what exactly demonic cultivation is.

"High concentration of fire qi in a rock might make it heat up, or turn it to coal, or similar. Most of the world is not so dense and it would do nothing. Maybe retain warmth a bit. Foundation Establishment is... Technically the same but different in character? But your understanding of Qi Gathering seems correct. Neutral spiritual qi leaks out of most objects immediately; Pills, spirit stones, and special qi storage devices can prevent it. Qi can be destroyed by expending itself, and it comes... From everywhere I suppose? And you're right that type and aspect are two separate properties. It does get complicated and there's no universal answer. Lots of things I don't know. Your true qi aspect depends largely on your cultivation method, and what methods work well for you depends on your natural alignment, bloodline and physique, sometimes personality and other factors. My method is largely instinctual and probably only suited to me and not exceptionally good. Your aspect can determine what kinds of techniques you're capable of, strength and weakness against other aspects, and so on. And people can detect it, though doing active sensing on people to get more detail without permission is rude."

"I see. If I try doing things by myself, without orthodox tutoring, is it likely that I'll do damage difficult to reverse? What's something I can usefully work on myself without potentially compromising my foundation? Oh, also: what are pills and spirit stones for? Do you draw the spiritual qi from spirit stones to fuel Qi Gathering?"

"I think... So long as you remain in the qi gathering realm and don't try to integrate anything obviously noxious and don't try absorbing too much qi at once or anything... You may as well try to cultivate without a well suited method, to practice the skill of cultivation. You may have to dissipate your cultivation later, so if you're vulnerable to putting good money after bad be wary of it, but it will be faster for the practice. Spirit stones are used in formations like the one on the keep that kept the blood tree sect out, and in alchemy to refine pills, and to create qi gathering formations, and many other uses besides. They're universally valuable because they're very flexible and useful. But don't just... Eat one or anything. That's what blood-and-qi pills are for. Actually, don't eat any of those until you manage to cultivate naturally. Bad habit to rely on it."

"If dissipating my cultivation will work reliably, then I may as well practice and learn. One of my powers is that I learn much faster from someone I have a personal connection with. I'm not sure we count as having a personal connection yet, but I expect if we travel together long enough, we will."

Not telling Wen about Dressing Room duplication impairs their productivity too much to consider; she already decided before, but she checks her logic again now to make sure.

She's sure.

"So the reason I asked about spirit stones is it's important whether they, and pills and other high-value consumable goods as well, have a productive use not requiring outside assistance that's bottlenecked by the availability of spirit stones. I promised to explain more about my abilities, so I may as well start now, since it's relevant."

"I'm physically strong and fast, and can fly. You already saw that, and those are my original powers, from the agent which is now severed from me. Based on the map I saw and estimated distance conversions, I can fly to the capital of the Three Jades Empire in a few hours. Carrying a human passenger will slow me down, but I think if you tranform into a fox I can carry you while maintaining that speed, so—just for you to keep in mind in case we ever have a problem which you think is solved by being halfway across the nation as soon as possible.

"My second set of powers, the ones granted to me by the Spirit... are very specific. When I said the Spirit is aligned with mortal values, I mean it in a very particular way. One of the powers makes my hair always look beautiful and exactly how I want it to, as the specific intended effect, not a side effect or clever application. Which—sounds stupid, but it's the vein of what the Spirit cares about. It cares about mortal things, personal things. The same with my power which makes me learn faster from friends; it's very much the type of ability you imagine a normal person comes up with.

"One of the powers the Spirit granted me is the ability to, when no one is looking at me—that condition wasn't very precisely defined to me, and I'd like your help testing its limits some time—but when nobody is looking at me, I can instantly change into any outfit I wish. Outfits I create this way are not temporary conjurations; if I take them off they continue to exist forever, like any normal object. I can create jewelry or gold this way to sell. And... if you turn around for a moment, it'll save time if I just demonstrate."

"I should hope we become something that can be called friends. The extradimensional traveller and the canny ascended fox... Someone should write a novel about it!

...You can make spirit stones, can't you. Spirit stones are very useful. Both directly and as money. If we don't drop thousands in the same place having a lot isn't even necessarily suspicious."

Nonetheless, she turns around, shrugging.