Life Giver

Sitting on the bed in their small apartment, Casmir slowly explained everything that had happened to him over the past day. From his separation with Bluefire, his encounter with Guardian Ellaris, the Council Hearing and most importantly his suspicions towards the Life Giver Orb.

Casmir had nothing to hide from Elena so he didn't hold anything back from her, only warning her not to speak of certain things such as the Dragonfly Shuttle, or as he referred to it, the Dragonfly War Machine.

As Casmir explained everything to Elena, she grew increasingly concerned, especially when it came to the Life Giver Orb and Casmir's speculation as to its purpose.

However when Elena tried to talk to Casmir about it further, Casmir only said a few words.

"There's nothing we can do about it right now, we need to learn more about Soul Energy before we try to do anything."

Elena tried to talk about it further but Casmir remained silent about it, fully aware that there was nothing they could do.

She understood why Casmir was silent on the matter, after all, if he was right then the Life Giver Orb already held Casmir's future in its grasp. All he could do was cease cultivating when he reached Qi Grade 5 or when he broke through to Qi Grade 6 he would become a puppet.

With nothing to do but wait on the matter, Elena shifted her focus away from the Life Giver Orb and towards Casmir's injuries. She reached out and brought Casmir's 'broken arm' in front of her, examining it for any remaining injury.

Thanks to her few months of training as Qi Healer, Elena had already picked up a few techniques that she could use to examine a persons body. Combined with her cultivation at Qi Grade 2.1 which allowed her to control her Qi energy outside of her body, Elena was already able to diagnose different injuries and although she was very inexperienced, she could perhaps even assist the healing process.

Elena carefully held Casmir's arm in front of her, running her hand across his skin releasing a faint green light that penetrated into Casmir's body. This light was Qi Energy of the Healing affinity, it felt warm and comfortable to Casmir but the energy was very faint so it didn't effect Casmir's body much.

After running her hand up and down Casmir's arm a few times, Elena she let out a sigh of relief.

There were still cracks in Casmir's bones, inflamed tendons and signs of residual muscle damage. However from how the bone and tissue had been reconnected, forming web like structures across any cracks or tares, Casmir's injuries had clearly been treated by another Qi Healer meaning his body would naturally heal in less than a week or so.

"What was that Elena?" Casmir asked, having never seen her use this skill before.

Elena surprised herself a little, realising that she didn't even explain to Casmir what she was doing.

"Oh, sorry. I just used a simple technique to scan your arm for any injuries, I've only really ever used it on practice dummies but it's not dangerous. It just lets see inside your body using my Qi energy but from what I can see you've already been treated, definitely by an experienced Qi Healer from how cleanly the injuries are healing." She explained.

"But that doesn't matter right now, what are these two boxes you've brought back?" Elena said pointing at the two unfamiliar boxes on the table nearby.

Casmir smiled as he looked at Elena, he then reached over and lifted the two boxes onto his l.a.p.

"This first box is my Merit badge.." Casmir said as he opened the first box, revealing a small metal coin-shaped object that was pinned on a brightly coloured ribbon.

"There's a Qi Chip in the box that explains a little bit more about it, but that's not very important right now."

Casmir then placed his Merit Badge to the side, focusing on the second box he held, one made from an unusual type of wood that was extremely smooth to the touch.

"I received this box from Master Bluefire after we returned to the Academy. It was something she had been trying to get for me for a while, even using my rewards for the entrance tests a few months back to bargain for it." Casmir said with a hint of excitement.

Seeing Casmir's excitement Elena was intrigued, she moved closer to Casmir as he opened the box carefully, revealing a glowing green gem that was carefully placed in a white crystal casing. As Casmir fully opened the box Elena quickly noticed that the entire wooden box was lined with this almost translucent white crystal.

"Elena, we're going to be spending some more time together thanks to this little gem... You see this gem is a very rare type of Qi Catalyst, called a Thousand Year Tree Heart.."

Thanks to Elena's studies into Qi energy with the Healing affinity she recognised the objects name, causing her mouth to drop open in shock and her eyes to widen with excitement.

This object was truly a treasure.

=========

Just a short time ago, no more than as few hours ago, Bluefire and Casmir had just returned to the Heldan Academy.

Bluefire brought Casmir back to her small cottage where she told Casmir to wait for a moment as she retrieved something from her cluttered room. Bluefire's cottage was still in the same messy state as usual but Casmir had no intention of mentioning this as he simply cleared the cluttered objects out of one of the chairs and sat down..

From across the room Bluefire finally found what she was looking for as she walked over and handed Casmir a small wooden box. "Right. Casmir, this box is very important so be very careful with it when you take it back."

Taking the box into his hands, Casmir quizzically looked at Bluefire as he asked "What's in the box?"

However Bluefire didn't immediately answer him, she only smiled quite proudly as she sat down in an empty chair nearby.

"Remember how I took away your rewards for placing first in the entrance tests? Well, thanks to your efforts, your status as my disciple and of course my constant badgering over the past few months... I finally managed to pry this treasure out of those old kooks hands, otherwise it would have just sat in the academy warehouse for another decade..."

Bluefire then gestured to Casmir, saying "Open it!"

Following her instructions, Casmir opened the box to reveal the gently glowing green gem. Following the gems revelation Bluefire smiled at Casmir, waiting for him to express his thanks to her, however...

Casmir only looked at the gem with even greater confusion as he asked "What is this? A special type of Qi crystal..? Oh.. It's giving off Healing Qi energy.."

Only now did Bluefire realise something "Oh right! We haven't covered Qi catalysts much yet, so you don't recognise its Qi energy signature.. whoops."

In an unusual change of attitude, Bluefire didn't grow annoyed because of Casmir's lacking knowledge, instead she carefully explained this object to Casmir with a happy smile on her face. Casmir didn't know this, but Bluefire was quite proud of herself for being able to secure this treasure for her student.

"It's a Qi Catalyst, a very rare one. It's called a Thousand Year Tree Heart and it only grows in special tree's that are nurtured for at least a Thousands years, often more."

"Normal Qi catalysts are fairly common, but this Qi catalyst contains Healing affinity Qi energy which only one in every ten thousand Qi catalysts might contain. But that's not all, this Healing affinity Qi energy is very pure giving it a special property."

Bluefire leaned back in her chair as she spoke.

"Normally the Qi energy affinity of a Qi Catalyst simply doesn't matter much, after all the main purpose of Qi catalysts is just to allow Cultivators to Breakthrough into the next Qi Grade. However occasionally Qi catalysts will have special effects for example a pure Fire energy affinity Qi Catalyst might slightly alter the users physique as they breakthrough, strengthening it or giving the cultivator a resistance to heat and fire."

Casmir nodded along as Bluefire spoke, he was well aware of Qi catalysts and their uses.

"Well, this Thousand Year Tree Heart is a Qi Catalyst with one such special effect. It can bestow a cultivator with who uses this object to breakthrough to the next Qi Grade a low grade affinity to Healing Qi energy or boost a existing Healing affinity!"

Hearing this, Casmir's eyes quickly focused on the green gem in his hands.

From what Casmir knew about Qi Catalyst, out of every thousand or so Qi catalysts only one would have the ability to give a cultivator an additional affinity. After all affinities where intrinsic to cultivators and as they progressed in their cultivation of Qi energy, they would become more and more important, especially when it came to rarer affinities that could directly affect a cultivators techniques.

The Qi Catalyst in Casmir's hands was not only of the Qi Healing affinity but one that could affect a cultivators affinities! Such a treasure was surely a one in a million, however what confused Casmir was why it hadn't already been used.

"I don't understand, if this catalyst is so rare, why hasn't it been used already by a higher level cultivator already. Surely their are talented Qi Healers with lower Grade Healing affinities that could be supplemented by this?"

In response to his question Bluefire smiled, saying "You're forgetting Casmir, Qi catalysts can only be used by whichever Grade of Qi energy they are formed by. This catalyst was formed from Qi Grade 2 Qi energy, meaning only Qi Grade 1 cultivators breaking through to Qi Grade 2 can use it."

"Because it was formed by lower Grade Qi energy, this Qi catalyst can only be used by younger cultivators who have yet to show their talents, so it's very hard to find someone talented who hasn't already become a Grade 2 cultivator. After all, you can only really start training as a Qi Healer after you reach Qi Grade 2 because it requires you to be able to control Qi energy outside of your body."

"Many people in the academy just wanted to wait for someone that truly stood out in the younger generations and wanted to become a Qi Healer but had a naturally low affinity. However that was a decade ago, most of the higher ups have given up on finding someone like and thanks to my convincing arguments the rest were satisfied with you."

As Bluefire finished speaking, she stood up and looked at Casmir seriously for a moment.

"Casmir, I know that so far you've been studying as a Biologist, but I very much doubt you'll get far even if you become a expert with just that expertise. You need cultivation based skills, like Qi Healing..."

"So, I want you to use this Qi Catalyst so that you can become a Qi Healer, then change your studies away from Biology and towards becoming a Qi Healer. I guarantee you will move faster and further in your goals this way.." She said seriously.

Casmir took a moment to think about her offer.

As soon as he understood what this Qi catalyst was, Casmir realised what Bluefire might have in mind. A Qi Healer was without a doubt a more d.e.s.i.r.ed skill than being a biologist because of the shortage of cultivators with the necessary Healing affinity. Added onto that, being a Qi Healer required studying similar yet slightly shallower knowledge about biology than a biologist, just focused on a more a practical application.

The more Casmir thought about Bluefire's suggestion and the more he reflected on his time studying as a Biologist at the academy during the past few month. Casmir realised that he had gained very little knowledge compared to what he would gain from training as a Qi Healer, only an idiot wouldn't choose to change paths seeing this.

Letting out a deep breath Casmir agreed with her, saying "Ok. You're right, it's definitely a better path for me."

Bluefire smiled seeing Casmir's agreement, she was almost certain he would agree because she knew Casmir wasn't making much progress with his Biology studies and she had repeatedly told him that cultivation techniques were more important than other skills that normal people could pursue.

Having convinced Casmir, Bluefire explained how she would transfer Casmir over to the Qi Healers class, which Elena was a part of, after he had broken through using the Qi catalyst. They both discussed a few minor details about his transfer from Biology studies to Qi Healing Studies before Master Bluefire pulled out a piece of paper from nearby and gave it to Casmir.

"What is this?" He asked.

"I know that you want to enter the United Nations Council, they're the largest organisation trying to cure the Lifeless Plague and your best bet at accessing all the information and resources you might need. So I asked around a bit and found this, it's one of the reasons why you need to become a Qi Healer."

Looking at the piece of paper, Casmir found a list of details regarding age, education and cultivation. While Casmir read the list, Bluefire explained what it was.

"As it turns out, in roughly 2 and half years, just before your graduation from the academy, the UNC is scheduled to do a round of recruiting in the Heldan Republic. Ellaris, as one of the Republics core research and academic centres, will take part in this recruitment."

"On this piece of paper are the UNC's requirements for the post of Junior Researcher. This is basically a list of everything you need to achieve in the next two and a half years..."

=========

Back in the present, Casmir had almost finished explaining everything to Elena when he suddenly paused for a moment.

Sitting beside him, Elena quickly poked his arm asking "Well? What are the requirement for the post?"

Casmir took in a deep breath and sighed before he spoke.

"Apart from some miscellaneous requirements such as my age being under 22. I need a cultivation of at least Qi Grade 3, a degree from a respected Academic Institution and at least two Grade 2.3 Class certificates." Casmir said feeling rather pressured.

Elena too felt surprised by the strict requirement they held for a mere Junior Researcher position but seeing as it was the United Nations Council, who's influence could recruit cultivators from across the world she stayed silent.

The difficulty of these requirements didn't revolve around the degree or even the cultivation requirement, Casmir was confident that he could resolve those requirement in two and half years. The real problem was the need for two Grade 2.3 Class certificates.

These certificates required a cultivator to specialise in two different Qi Classes such as Qi Healers, Qi Array Masters, Qi Builders etc. Each Class required going through multiple tests from the starting Grade of 1.0 in whatever Qi Class was chosen before you would be rewarded with the Class certificate.

Essentially, these Class certificates acted as proof of a cultivators abilities and Casmir needed to specialise in two of them.

At first, Casmir thought that he might be alright because he had already shown promise in Combat and could definitely train in the Qi Warrior Class, that combined with his new Qi Healing Studies should allow him pass the needed exams to become both a Qi Grade 2.3 Qi Warrior and a Qi Grade 2.3 Qi Healer.

However, as it turns out the Qi Warrior Class doesn't count towards these requirements as combat ability has little to do with the job of Researcher.

This meant that Casmir needed to specialise in another field of study, fortunately Bluefire had already suggested one to him, Qi Refining that she was already teaching him.

The problem was, Qi Refining is notoriously difficult and takes times to master. There were no shortcut with Qi Refining because it required an in depth knowledge of various Qi energy resources, materials and the refining of said objects.

A normal cultivator would take at least a decade to train to a Grade 2.3 Qi Refiner alone, perhaps talented refiners like Master Bluefire might only need a couple of years. But Casmir also had to train to become a Qi Healer during this time as well.

Such a task was difficult to say the least and Casmir didn't know if he could achieve it...

After explaining everything to Elena and that his time limit was two and half years, she began to understands how difficult it would be for Casmir.

Yet when Elena looked at Casmir expecting to find a dispirited look upon his face, all she saw was a smile across his. Casmir knew that it would be difficult, but having thought everything through Casmir simply wouldn't let himself fail.

Elena leaned onto Casmir as she said "I know you can do this Casmir, I know it might look difficult but I can at least help you with training as a Qi Healer. We'll do this one step at a time, ok?"

Hearing Elena, Casmir turned to look into her eyes.

"Thank you Elena but don't worry, worst case scenario I.. well lets just say I have a couple of ideas.."

Casmir knew that if he waited long enough he would be able to have another chance at joining the UNC, but he couldn't wait longer than a couple of years. He already felt he was being selfish by not simply turning himself over to the Heldan Republic and dealing with whatever experiments that might do to him.

After all, the Lifeless Plague effected billions of people across the world in various countries, if the Life Giver Orb truly held a cure for it then wasn't he being extremely selfish not to just hand himself over to be experimented on?

Casmir had truly thought long and hard about this question, but now that he had a goal, a path that he could take to cure the Lifeless Plague, Casmir made a decision. If all of his efforts came to naught after the next two and a half years, he would give himself up.

With such a heavy price to be paid if he failed, Casmir wouldn't waste a moment and hopefully this pressure would push him to succeed.