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“What’s the problem then?”

“The last two factors are my professional skills and my ability to nurture talents. Most water cultivators will have learned some level of beast taming, but I don’t know anything about that.”

I thought about it, tapping the table. “Are they looking for something that specific? Just be honest with them. Being a beast tamer might be great, but how will that help your city? Your experience is as a Pavilion attendant, managing and helping others. Just try to leverage that.”

“It’s not great,” she said, biting her lip. “It might be the best I can do, but it will hurt my chances.”

I didn’t necessarily agree, but she could be right about how the judges would view it.

“Worse is that I have no idea how to nurture talents. What could I possibly do to help train beast tamers or formation masters?”

I cocked my head to the side in thought. “How do others learn this kind of thing?”

“The Seeds learn from their Flower,” explained Mei, “but everyone else has to study. There are schools in the Mountain District that are set up to teach aspiring Flowers everything they need to know, but it takes too long. I have less than two weeks until the selection. That isn’t enough time. Others have been studying for years.”

When she finished speaking, my eyes widened in shock and certain thoughts I had about the exaggerated length of time it took us to reach the city clicked into place. We could have been here in only a few months, but it took us years. Why? Had such a long trip truly been necessary to avoid dangers or were we just procrastinating?

I gave Mei a brief look of disgust and my lip began to curl in a snarl. I immediately understood what was happening. I could accept that it wasn’t Mei\'s choice, that she didn’t personally orchestrate this, but her blessing was pushing my limits.

“I need to go,” I said abruptly. “We’ll talk later.”

I didn’t look at her again as I stood and left the restaurant.

Mei didn’t have enough time to learn. She only had two weeks. Why? Why did she only have two weeks? Why didn’t she begin studying for this test earlier?

“System, how many credits do I have and how much would it cost to grant Mei enough knowledge about nurturing professional talents for her to pass the Flower selection?”

You have 1,025,806 credits.

Sufficient knowledge will cost 24,806 credits.

My anger flared.

Mei’s blessing was ordering me to buy her knowledge about how to nurture talents. It had encouraged her to prepare exactly the right amount to match the number of credits I had available.

The only thing that kept my anger in check was that the situation was too blatant. It wasn’t a hidden plot. It was an open demand.

Did I want to follow its orders?

Instinctively, my answer was a hard no. I didn’t like having my strings pulled by her blessing, but more than that, it didn’t match my plans. There was no reason to jump to lock in my affinities now when they couldn’t be upgraded until my next life, but I would need to use my discount before I could buy any knowledge for Mei.

I tried to calm down and think through the situation logically.

Why would Mei’s blessing ever think that pushing me like this was a good idea?

Mei’s blessing only cared about helping her. It didn’t want to help me. It would only help me in so far as helping me helped Mei. My working assumption was that it kept my interests in mind since I was in a uniquely powerful position to help Mei, but I had to be careful not to become complacent.

This kind of demand… If I refused it, it would drive a wedge between us. I would become even more reticent to trust her. I couldn’t see how this would benefit Mei.

If I accepted and things turned sour, that would be even worse. It would prove I couldn’t trust her blessing at all. Again, I couldn’t see the benefit to Mei here.

The answer seemed to be that her blessing was telling me that it was important for me to spend my credits now instead of holding off. It thought it would benefit me the most to buy something right now, and if I did, it might prove pivotal for my success in this life.

Could her blessing even make such complex calculations? Was there such an all-powerful puppeteer controlling her through her blessing? I didn’t know. Instead of thinking about questions I couldn’t answer, I focused on the one I needed to answer.

Was I willing to take a leap of faith here?

I sighed with resignation. What would it hurt? Even if I died immediately after this purchase, I would still gain enough credits from my death to smoothly reach this point again. I could take the risk and see where it would take me.

So, what did I want to buy? With my discount, I effectively had two million credits to play with.

If my train of logic was correct, Mei’s blessing was signaling that there was something important I needed to buy, and I should already have enough information to determine what that was. Purchasing permanent affinities was completely out. There was no way that would provide any significant benefit in this life. Purchasing temporary affinities was possible, though. Jumping up to temporary five-star fire affinity, maybe?

Also, I had just met with a skilled alchemist who showed me many places where I lacked knowledge. Was that a clue?

“System, how much to raise my fire affinity to temporary low five-star.”

Temporary Low, 5-star Fire Affinity. Cost 11.5 million credits.

That couldn’t be it then. I could raise it to peak six-star, but that didn’t feel like enough of a game-changer to warrant this situation.

I could buy knowledge, but buying knowledge directly was always exorbitantly priced. Buying even a modicum of Lord-level alchemy knowledge would break the bank with very little to show for it.

My only idea was to enhance my comprehensions. I wasn’t sure how great of an effect the previous boosts had on me, but after paying 20k on cultivation comprehension, I made huge leaps forward in my low-level cultivation techniques. This had to be the play, but how to divide up my credits? I considered one possibility.

“System, how much to raise my fire affinity to temporary peak six-star?”

Temporary Peak, 6-star Fire Affinity. Cost 1.5 million credits. Discount applied. Discounted cost 750,000 credits.

“System, I want to raise my fire affinity to temporary peak six-star and increase my alchemy comprehension with 500,000 credits?”

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Temporary Peak, 6-star Fire Affinity. Cost 1.5 million credits. Discount applied. Discounted cost 750,000 credits.

Increased alchemy comprehension. Cost 500,000 credits. Discount applied. Discounted cost 250,000 credits.

“No, I want those to be a single purchase.”

There was no response. Okay…

“How much to raise my alchemy comprehension with a million credits and increase the speed of my soul growth with a million credits?”

Increased alchemy comprehension. Cost 1 million—

“Stop. How much to raise my alchemy and cultivation comprehension by a million credits each?”

Increased alchemy and cultivation comprehension. Cost 2 million—

“Stop.”

So, the discount on the ‘next purchase’ had strict limitations. Should I spend all 2 million on alchemy comprehension? It seemed wasteful. Dividing the credits into four areas might allow for synergies far more effective than focusing solely on one area.

What did I need? Alchemy and cultivation seemed obvious. Herbalism wasn’t working out for me without teachers and a large place to grow plants, and even if that were available here, I still didn’t see many ways to immediately benefit from it, so I set it aside for the time being.

I had wanted to begin understanding the basics of formations, and I might have an opportunity here. The entire kingdom was built around a complex formation, so there had to be powerful formation specialists in the area. I didn’t have earth qi, which was supposedly required to be a formation specialist, but I had come to learn that fire qi wasn’t strictly required if one were a skilled enough alchemist, so the same might be true about formations.

I considered Mei’s situation and the requirements she needed to meet to become a Flower. She needed to learn to manage talents. If I were to become a true city lord, that would be an invaluable skill for me as well. Improving the prosperity of one’s city was essential for swift cultivation as a Lord. If I could only be a city lord for nine years, I would need to make significant contributions to my city to reach Peak Lord in that timeframe, so I needed to know how to nurture talented people.

Even without being a Lord, such a skill could see immense returns on investment by sending out disciples like SuYin to gather new knowledge for me.

“System, I want to spend 500,000 credits boosting my comprehension in each of the following areas: alchemy, cultivation, formations, and nurturing talents.”

Increased alchemy, cultivation, formations, and nurturing comprehension. Cost 2,000,000 credits. Discount applied. Discounted cost 1,000,000 credits.

I still wasn’t sure if it was the best option, but I would roll the dice. “Purchase.”

Purchase Confirmed. 25,806 credits remaining.

Mentally, I set aside the money needed for Mei’s knowledge and thought. I still had a thousand credits left. What, oh sagacious blessing of Mei, was I supposed to spend them on? I realized there was one huge possibility, but there was no way it would only cost a thousand credits.

“System, how much to make it so that Mei’s blessing doesn’t work on me?”

Removing host as a valid target of Mei’s blessing. The cost of this is not possible to calculate… External assistance provided. Recalibrating… Calculating… The cost is 900 credits.

Note: This change will only remove host as a valid direct target of Mei’s blessing. Her blessing will still consider host’s reactions when determining her best course of action when dealing with others.

Note: A change has been made to make this effect permanent.

There it was. I was absolutely certain that the ‘external assistance’ was provided by her gods-be-damned blessing. It was willingly ceasing its actions regarding me. If it could do this… Mei’s blessing had me constantly reevaluating its power. Her blessing had to be nearly as powerful as my own, possibly more.

Either extremely strong blessings were more common than I had believed, or we had been intentionally placed next to each other. I wasn’t sure which was more likely, but my gut said it was the latter.

Did I want to buy it? I didn’t feel coerced here. It felt more like her blessing was simply giving me the option.

Buying it would allow me to know that her reactions were her own when we were alone. They still might not be genuine, everyone wore masks, but they would at least be hers, not her blessing’s. Even if that made her more likely to betray me since her blessing would have less control over her, I would still prefer that situation over the current one.

The risk was that it would give me a false sense of security. Sure, the blessing wouldn’t guide her when we were alone in a private dining room, but the moment a waiter walked in she would get exactly the information she needed to manipulate me.

Was this even a choice I should make? It was her blessing. I wanted to do this as a defensive measure, but it would still be altering a friend’s blessing without her consent.

Her blessing was leaving me with 100 extra credits. I already knew what those 100 credits were for.

Once again, Mei and I sat across from each other in a private dining room.

She was cool and composed. She showed no signs of being nervous about the Flower Blossoming or the conversation we were about to have. At that moment, I felt pity for her. Her world was able to be shaken, and the rock that steadied her would disappear.

“Mei,” I began with a delicate tone. “I want to discuss something with you, but it might be difficult. I want to do something that will have a significant impact on you, but it will only be temporary. I want your consent first, though.”

Mei smiled and nodded. “Of course, Fang.” Her voice was steady and confident.

Not telling her what I intended was a questionable decision on my part, but I felt it was the right one to make if I wanted our conversation as real as possible.

“System,” I subvocalized, “I want to make it so that I’m not a valid target of Mei’s blessing for the duration of this conversation.”

External assistance provided. Cost 100 credits. Purchase Confirmed. 25,706 credits remaining.

Mei\'s eyes instantly shot open in panic.

“What, what did you do!?” she yelled. She jumped up and her chair crashed to the floor. She backed away from the table, putting as much distance between us as possible.

The screaming and loud noises alerted the waitress who was standing outside. She threw open the door of the room in alarm.

When Mei looked at the woman who just entered, she visibly calmed down. The panic was still there, but a soothing influence was pushing down on her.

“Miss, what’s wrong?” asked the waitress.

“Nothing… Nothing… sorry for worrying you. I apologize,” Mei stammered.

“Miss…”

“It’s alright,” said Mei, regaining her composure. “Everything is fine.”

The waitress had a worried look on her face, but she slowly exited and closed the door of the room.

After she left, Mei looked back at me, and the panic came back in full force, but she didn’t yell out.

I sat there calmly, allowing her as much time as she needed to adjust.

“What did you do?” she said in a pleading tone.

“It’s only for this conversation. Your blessing will give you no information about how to respond to me.”

“How?”

“It’s something my blessing can do. I haven’t been able to use it before, but there was a… change. The details aren’t important. But don’t worry. Right now, it will only last for this one conversation.”

Mei was still breathing heavily, but her panic was slowly starting to ebb.

“What do you mean by right now?”

“That’s what I wanted to discuss with you.” I looked her in the eyes. “I can make this change permanent. Your blessing will still work normally with everyone else, but it won’t work on me ever again. This is your blessing, though. I don’t want to choose for you. I want you to decide.”

Her breathing started to speed up again, and her hands began to shake. She had been living under the constant pressure of her blessing for years, and she had forgotten how to live without it.

“I… I need to think…” she stammered. “Tomorrow, can I tell you tomorrow?”

I shook my head sadly. “I’m sorry. It’s… I don’t trust your blessing. When you leave this room, you will be back under its guidance. I want to hear what you think, not what it tells you to think.”

“Why?” she asked shakily.

I breathed out. “My blessing is far more powerful than I’ve told anyone. I can disable your blessing, so… Anyway, I can’t share the details, I’m sorry. It’s too dangerous for both you and me. In my situation, I can’t trust your blessing, and if you’re always under its guidance around me, that might cause problems. I don’t know if this is a real solution, but it was what was provided, so I want to give you the choice.”

Mei collapsed to the floor with her head hanging down. I didn’t push her to make a decision. We had as much time as we needed.

Tears began falling down her cheeks.

“Do it,” she finally said. “If it’s the only way… maybe it’s for the best.” She looked up at me and her face was a mask of grim resolve. “Just… do it.”

She looked heartbroken at my admission that I had never truly trusted her. I felt a pang of sorrow when I saw this, but it also firmed my resolve. I didn’t want to hurt her, but at the same time, knowing these emotions were genuine allowed me to drop the stone I had been holding in my heart.

“System,” I said aloud while looking at Mei, “permanently remove me as a valid target for Mei’s blessing.”

External assistance provided. Cost 900 credits. Purchase Confirmed. 24,806 credits remaining.

I spoke openly, not lowering my voice to hide it from her. She had given me her trust. I wasn’t willing to tell her everything, but this was a measure of trust I could extend.

“System, give Mei the knowledge she needs about nurturing talents for the Flower Blossoming.”

Cost 24,806 credits. Purchase Confirmed. 0 credits remaining.

After that meal, I didn’t see Mei much over the next couple of weeks. She was busy preparing for the competition, but she was also avoiding me. I didn’t push. We both needed time to understand what would happen next.

I didn’t attend the Flower Blossoming. The result had been decided the moment Mei and I finished our last meal together. There was no need to witness it. I wanted to go to support her, but she didn’t need my support, and I couldn’t help but feel my presence would do more harm than good.

Mei was selected as the Water Flower. She would spend time adapting to her new role, and I didn’t know if I would ever see her again in this life. I could compete to be her Groom in a decade, but I wasn’t sure if that was what I wanted.

We would go our separate ways and see where life took us.