The human clerk and Rosha spent a few more hours hammering out the exact details. Which felt like a lot, but after the deal was settled, the clerk sighed in relief, “I’m so glad you have authority to make decisions. This usually takes SO much longer.”
Rosha tilts her head to the side, “Really?”
The clerk shrugs, “Oh yeah, sixth break types rarely give so much leeway. You must be from some kind of important family, groomed for leadership.”
Rosha, “Well, you aren’t wrong.”
The clerk nods, “Exactly. Whoever trusted you with those accessory components doesn’t care about the crafting. It was to give you a chance to experience this. Because otherwise? You are too weak for them to give you so much authority otherwise.”
Rosha shrugs, “Well, I can handle it.”
The clerk looks over her shoulder at Courtney, “Sure.” And Courtney grinned at him.
-----
The pair make it back to their rented house and are sitting at the dining table. Rosha leans the chair back on two legs, “So, how did I do? Pretty sure I missed a few tricks. Almost feels like I should just try to pick up accessory crafting myself.”
Courtney waves that off, “None of us are really up for crafting. Honestly, we should probably look for another player. Someone we can get fully under our thumb and then slowly introduce them to irl cultivation.
“I think Jason is almost ready to step into the next realm.”
Rosha sighed, “Finally.”
Courtney raises an eyebrow, “Finally? Haven’t you read a cultivation novel before? This is practically flying! Especially since I doubt he is rushing. I don’t know if you really understand the immensity of what we have before us.”
Rosha shrugs, “Immortality? But, like, that was always the case. We have the head start and what not. And it isn’t like I’ve been slacking either. Both of you have pushed to make sure I excavate every iota of blockage from my meridians.”
Courtney shakes her head, “We have the raw resources. I haven’t had much time to talk the details over with Jason, but to my understanding, many of the truly heavenly herbs are best used that way and I don’t think he is lying. I think despite his relatively high-level view of his world? He missed quite a lot of the actual high-end hidden knowledge.”
Rosha’s chair clatters forward, “And? Not like we can gain access to the info now.”
Courtney rolls her eyes, “I don’t want that knowledge. But I’m not discounting what he doesn’t know. Oh, I’m sure some heavenly herbs are best taken raw. Some effects are simply beyond mortal intervention.
“I doubt we’ll find many of that type of herb anytime soon. Well, let me rephrase that. We will inevitably find something of the sort. There is a certain power to being the first. I am sure that deep in one of the resown areas of wilderness, there is a normal plant that isn’t so normal anymore.
“But finding such things is the job of our mercenaries and contractors. Nevermind the fact that some of the most likely locations are barred from human exploration. We don’t even send drones into some of the places! Depending purely on satellites to keep track of things.”
Rosha, “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We are going to get mystical herbs. With Jason’s help, we’ll decode what they do. Then we’ll ‘pay to win’ cultivation.”
Courtney, “Despite what the horrors of unfettered capitalism might have scarred into our souls, life isn’t actually pay to win. There was the illusion of it, but the reality was that you got born into power and the exceptions to prove the rule also tended to have been born to powerful families and hid the fact.”
Rosha, “But this is about literally buying power?”
Courtney sighs and shakes her head, “These might be literal miracle medicines. That doesn’t mean they produce these miracles out of nothing. Every story Jason has about someone finding a miracle medicine and rising to the heavens? It built on what was there.
“A person who spent a decade practicing the most basic body-refining technique and getting a fruit that elevates their body. Someone born with an active divine sense gaining some lemongrass of all things, that improved their sense by a magnitude. And so on.
“Plus the stories of those who don’t have that. Of someone who eats a fruit and it simply makes them a target for beasts because they can’t absorb it. How a fool without a high enough cultivation dies. Mostly children tales, but those are the warnings that get passed down in the rawest form. Because to warn a child, you can’t talk in riddles.
“Oh, sure, there might not be an actual monster in the snowstorm, waiting to devour them. However, while a child might not understand the danger of wandering into a storm, that monster? It would warn them. And I’m taking these stories for what they are. A warning that trying to just eat magical fruit to perfect yourself is a fool’s errand. That you need a foundation for those herbs to build on.”
Rosha leans forward, “Okay, that is interesting. But we aren’t doing anything special.”
Courtney sighs, “That is the problem most people have. You don’t want anything special. The special qualities should come from you.
“That person with the diligence to practice a basic body refining technique even after reaching diminishing returns, or the one born with divine sense? They didn’t practice advanced techniques. What they had was their innate qualities and they put in the work.
“Over and over again, a simple technique perfected provided the best foundation. My guess is that it has to do with there being nothing to interfere with the herb. A basic technique makes a flat foundation to build upon. Advanced techniques start building on that foundation before you can start.
“Then the herb comes in to try to build a large hall, but there is already a wall splitting the area. Either the herb produces an imperfect result, that stray wall standing there, blocking the way. Or the herb instead spends effort to knock down the wall, damaging your foundation, and not having enough power to finish the work.”