Moooaaan~ “Right there, that really hits the spot.” Suggestive sounds leaked into the night from the cottage.

“Is there anywhere else you’d like me to do?” Marina’s whisper tickled his ear.

“mmn, yeah. Could you touch up my right shoulder a bit more?” Marina’s hands moved up and continued to take Raul to heaven. He was lying on the bed in his underwear while Marina gave him a full body massage.

He was a bit disappointed at first, but that soon turned to bliss as her magic hands did their work. Every now and then she’d stop to jot down something on a notepad or to ask him a question.

“Ok, I have everything I need. You can get up now.” She moved off his back.

Raul got up and did a relaxing stretch before finding a more comfortable shirt to put on. “What exactly were you doing anyway?” He was curious what the note taking was about.

“I was checking your physical data. Though I got some of your data from Ephemeral Mask, it wasn’t as detailed as I’d like.”  

“Ephemeral Mask? Who the hell is that and why do they have my information?”

“You don’t know?” Marina tilted her head.

“Never heard of em.” Raul answered seriously.

“Your best man, the Vault heir. About six years ago he crashed an underground fight club while wearing a mask and declaring his ephemeral flames would punish the wicked and free the slaves. His mask got broken in the fight though, and everyone found out who he was. The moniker Ephemeral Mask has been going around since.”

Raul had already fallen to the floor when she said punish the wicked, but once he heard about the mask breaking, he completely lost it. “pwahahahaha! Oh man, so lame, this is priceless!” he continued to laugh on the floor for half a minute before sitting up. “No, this is too good to enjoy alone, I gotta go tell everybody.”

Marina quickly grabbed his shirt before he could make it out of the room. “Focus on your own issues.”

“What? Issues? Is there something wrong with my body?” He became worried at the words no one wanted to hear from their physician.

“Lots of things. Overworked and torn muscles, sequala from multiple pills and techniques, primordial qi deterioration… honestly if you lived a mortal life you’d probably die at forty.”

Hearing this scared Raul to death. Just a few days ago he was joking around with Tai about being old and grey when he got back, now it looks like he would’ve been old and bones instead.

“Well, the Vault Family has really taken good care of you though. Thanks to their treatment all the problems are minor enough that we can clear them during the Smelting Period.” She comforted.

Raul sighed in relief upon hearing it was fixable. Well, assuming the technique worked.

Marina suddenly started petting him on the head. “A lot of this damage didn’t come from pills or other methods of fixing your cultivation, a lot of this was worn down by an incredible amount of work. I’m relieved to see that you’re someone who truly works hard.”

Raul blushed in embarrassment. “U-um, you mentioned a smelting period, right? Is that part of the process to use the technique.” He changed the topic while stepping out of her reach. Out of everything they’d done together, somehow this was the one that felt too intimate to have with someone he’d just met.

“You don’t know?” She tilted her head in that way he was beginning to find cute. “Didn’t the Vaults teach you the basics of cultivation? No, according to your files, you read a well acclaimed book on the qi refining realm just eight years ago. Even if they didn’t verbally teach you, you should know this.”

Cold sweat flowed down Raul’s back. Please don’t talk about eight years ago as if it were yesterday! “Cough, I may have forgotten a few details, but I DO know the basics. You take in the primordial qi and push it into the essence heart, which then processes it into essence qi to strengthen the body. In the process of doing this, the essence heart goes from a slumbering state to an awakened one, and once it’s fully awake you’re a cultivator.”

“Ok, at least you know the basics any child on the street could tell me, but what about the things that are actually worth the paper the book was written on?” She stared at him sharply.

“… I got nothing.” He admitted bashfully, deciding to cut his losses rather than embarrass himself with his ignorance further.

Marina nodded and made a note in her book. “From now on I will assume you don’t know anything about cultivation, is that alright?”

“… Yes.” He hated that he felt he was being called stupid, but he really couldn’t respond any other way.

“Good. The smelting period is technically not a cultivation step, but it’s just as important, if not more so. The body goes into a sort of transformative state after the first moment primordial qi interacts with the essence heart, it basically starts preparing itself for the transition from mortal to immortal. This period last for a year, but it’s the strongest during the first three months. During this period the body will be super moldable, so it’s the best time to build a good foundation and to remove the toxins and impurities formed from living a mortal life. Because of this, most cultivators with a bit of background do intensive training during it before fully awakening their essence heart and entering the qi refining realm. This is especially important for you since your body has a lot more impurities than usual due to the treatments you’ve taken and the years you’ve spent as a mortal.

“I see… So I’ll need to train for a year to fix everything up then.” He frowned. He wasn’t satisfied about having to wait that long to become a real cultivator. He was already behind by a crazy amount, and he didn’t want to lose more time. Raul had no idea of the mystery person Marina aimed for, but he had his own goals that made him feel impatient.

“Of course not.” She spoke as if it was obvious. “We’re already behind and don’t have the luxury to waste a year. We’ll complete it in three months, prepare yourself for hell.” She warned.

Raul was surprised, but then a grin spread across his face. “That’s just what I want. I assume you have a plan to build me the best base possible in that time, I’ll follow your lead.” Raul didn’t even know about the smelting period before two minutes ago, he’d put his trust in the support expert.

“Naturally. Of course, this is all pointless if you can’t actually cultivate. Sit on the floor.” She ordered.