We came up to Cal's shop but the lights were off, and a 'closed' sign hung over the door. 

Rapping on the door, we received no answer. Confirming that nobody was inside. 

"Doesn't seem he's here. Let's check the mansion." I spoke to the girls besides me. 

Tammy and Belle looked hopeful when they saw the empty show, but were soon disappointed. 

"What's so important with Cal?" Tammy asked, curious as to why I was in such a hurry to find him.

"I have something I want to ask him about. I want to do it while it's fresh in my mind."

Everything related to my powers were important to me, not to mention my own personal curiosity.

When we got to the mansion, the guards all looked surprised to see us, given it had only been about an hour since we split up.

"Is Cal home?" I asked of them, to which they pointed us along. 

I'd never seen where Cal's room was, so I had one of the servant girls that we came across in the halls guide us, where she brought us through the east wing of the mansion. Coming to the end of a hallway in a secluded area, leading us to the door to a large bedroom. The servant girl was about to knock for us but a series of embarrassing sounds flustered her.

"Cal! Oh Cal! Give it to me!" We heard a girl's voice from behind the door, the sound muffled by the barrier between us. 

The sounds of sex going on behind closed doors had stopped the servant girl in her tracks. Not having the courage to interrupt her employer. 

"Oh for goodness' sake." I muttered. Knowing Cal I should have known it would be like this. 

Walking up to the door and knocking loudly. Waiting a few seconds before entering. 

Cal was covered only by sheets, with two women warming him. Ashley, and another servant girl I couldn't recognize. The two girls crying out in surprise. 

"Pardon my interruption." 

I walked into the room, acting oblivious to the state of things. 

Belle and Tammy covered their eyes, embarrassed by what they were seeing. 

"You really do like to pick bad times, Keaton" Cal said annoyed at the intrusion. 

"Knowing you, it would always be a bad time... I have some burning questions for you. And I need answers."

"Fine. But wait until I'm dressed, at least spare me that dignity."

"I'll wait outside." I said closing the door. 

Before long I heard his voice chime out, bidding us in. 

Ashley and the other servant girl weren't dressed, but rather hiding under the covers. While Cal had put on some clothes in a hurry, and was greeting us by the door. 

"Now what business did you have?" Cal sounded a little annoyed at the interruption. Understandably.

I met his eyes seriously, asking with sincerity. 

"What does the word cultivation mean to an alchemist?" I asked him seriously. 

....

"--What?" Cal looked at me like I was joking.

"I've been pondering the meaning, recently. And you're the only alchemist I know. " I added. 

Maybe he just chalked it up to another one of my eccentricities, shaking his head in resignation before beginning to contemplate the question seriously.

"Well, the word doesn't really mean anything in particular to me... what leads you to think it has something to do with alchemy?"

Because the class name is [alchemist] I thought to myself snarkily.

"You're sure there's no connection? Nobody's tried to cultivate those herbs I always see on your desk for example?"

Cal just scoffed at that.  

"Sure, they've tried. But it's just not worth it. Takes an extremely long time, and you just can't beat nature. Pay a few adventurers to go into the forest, and they'll have a bag of herbs that would take a hundred years to grow. Things just grow faster in the wilderness, and nobody is crazy enough to try growing things there... now what's your point?"

I frowned. Not getting any good leads. 

"So there's nothing there? No connection you can think of?"  My concern showing in my voice. 

"What's the big deal? Doesn't seem like that important of a question to me. Did you really interrupt me just for that?" Cal was both confused and annoyed. 

"Think more broadly, more about alchemy in general. Do you have any overarching themes that fit the word?" 

"Not really... seems like something that's too normal sounding to catch an alchemist's attention. Go to the capital and you'll see, they're all crazy. Most of them are trying to focus on ridiculous things like transmuting gold, pursuing immortality, or eternal power."

"Immortality?" I asked him curiously.

"You know how old some of the royalty are? Some of the elder alchemists in those bigger guilds are even older."

"How old?"

"Over two-hundred. At least."

I let out a whistle, impressed. They more than doubled the human limit. I had seen there were ways to enhance constitution naturally, perhaps they were using that, but to think they had raised constitution up into the twenties was truly amazing. Nothing compared to what I had of course, my natural lifespan was probably in the thousands by now...

Well, time to go with plan B. I'm going to look for some reagents of his, and see if any of them do anything. If that doesn't do anything then I'll try talking with the system. I was a bit curious as to how that would work after all. 

I walked over to the far end of the room, looking through his things. Books laid out with dried herbs on top of them, some in jars. Inspecting each of them. 

Grass of sages: enhances intelligence over time

Arrowroot: enhances strength over time

...

Agonizing mushroom: contact with spores causes extreme pain

"You researching this stuff?" I asked while picking up some of the less deadly specimens he had. Trying to activate [cultivation] with no results.

Cal was getting extremely irritated by my poking around.

"Stop that! Some of those are dangerous." He sounded a tad worried. 

"I know what I'm doing" I added, which did nothing to calm his nerves. 

I saw a pile of slime cores in a jar, naturally one of the core ingredients for any fledgling alchemist. Taking one out and putting it onto my hand, I tried activating [cultivation] again. Feeling a warm sensation flowing up my arm and down into my navel. 

It was doing something... but I wasn't really sure what. Deactivating the skill stopped the flow. Turning it on and off again. 

I seem to have found out something it works on, but I had no clue why. Identifying it didn't offer any further clues.

Slime core: the central body of a slime. Made up of crystalized mana.

Seems I might need contact System after all. He said I could use my own mana right?

Picturing a mental connection between System and myself. Visualizing the idea and wishing for it strongly. Willing myself to use mana. I felt the familiar System's friendly voice chime out. 

"Keaton?"

It worked... but somehow I didn't feel very good. The world swam around me, while my head lightened. Finding myself crashing to the ground. 

Tammy and Belle cried out, rushing to my side, while Cal looked frantic. I just closed my eyes, unable to stay awake any further.