"I think it'll be ok for me to take this pill now, I've completed all the required prerequisites to step into the initial stage of body tempering." Zhishi Wu mentally prepared to take the pill while sitting in the room provided by chamber of commerce.
Zhishi Wu overcame his hesitance and chucked the pill into his mouth, he knew that he couldn't have such a weak body in this unfamiliar world, the way it was now he may have died to even a common cold.
"AHHHHH!" He was lucky that the room was soundproofed to ensure silence, because the scream he had let out was a sound he had not expected that he could make.
The pill immediately had effects putting him in intense pain, despite his years of researching the human bodies and how chemicals interact with it, he had never expected this type of reaction.
The pill itself wasn't dissolving like how a normal drug coating medicine would rather it acted as a fuel source of some sort it rested in his stomach and lit ablaze somehow, the scene was akin to how a sun provides light to its solar system but except the sun was the pill and the solar system was Zhishi Wu.
He felt his muscles violently spasm, the feeling was similar to getting cramps but it was everywhere all at once and ten times worse.
The process lasted for hours, when he finally came to he realized it was well past midnight. He lifted and looked at his limbs, the previously scrawny limbs now looked completely normal as if nothing was wrong with him to begin with.
"I…." he was speechless such a potent drug had never even come close to existing on the original earth, he was excited but also somewhat terrified, it turned out that the more he thought he understood the more he was shown that he did not understand.
"Time to sleep." he thought to himself as he walked to the bed, when he suddenly had an intrusive thought and started to walk towards the wall.
Flick!
he flicked his index finger into the wall and an indent appeared on it, if it was compared to a normal standard of strength it would probably take an adult man to punch at full power to put that dent in the wall.
"It may be possible in this world."
….
Boss Zhang brought his fist down on the table in his office while Bilal sat across from him.
"YOU DARE? DON'T GET ARROGANT BECAUSE YOU HAVE SWAY IN THIS BACKWATER COUNTY!" Zhang lashed out at Bilal as he took a seat in his chair.
"This is not something I have decided arbitrarily rather it is the will of the Sultan and as such it must be followed." Bilal said calmly while taking a sip of tea.
The two looked at each other with intense gazes both were merchants who had reached the pinnacle of their craft and they were both also at the peak of body refining.
"This situation is not going to please the main branch the loss we'll take from abandoning all assets here is not much but the face we will lose is going to be a lot worse." Zhang said as he put his hand on his chin and fell into deep thought.
"Although the situation isn't ideal you have the Sultan to thank for this information." Bilal put down his cup of tea and got up to leave before stopping for a second.
"The Blazing Bones sect is getting greedy, although it's only third rate it can still raze this kingdom to the ground if it wishes. I pray that you will stay safe sir Zhang." the door closed behind him leaving only the old man behind with his thoughts.
"Bastard cultivators, they treat the common folk worse than pieces of trash. What's worse is that the main branch can't even interfere." the main issue Zhang had with the situation wasn't the loss of assets or even the loss of face rather the loss of livelihoods of the millions of people employed by the chamber of commerce.
Zhang remembered his humble origins as the son of a small merchant within a nearby village, he remembered how difficult life had been when his father had lost his livelihood and went bankrupt and now he felt terrified of the prospect that he would subject so many others to the same fate.
"They don't consider themselves human anymore." he stood up and left the room.
…
The sun gleamed as it reached its apex and the clock struck 12 in the afternoon, Zhishi Wu had overslept and was running through the streets trying to get to his Café there were few priorities to him at the moment other than attaining knowledge about body tempering, ultimately he was aware that his current position was unstable considering the political atmosphere and he wanted to defend himself in the best way he could.
He burst into the shop and saw the expected scenery, Zu rushing to prepare tea and an atmosphere of chatter that filled the building. He nodded at Zu to just continue his work and looked around for that noble girl.
He scanned the shop three or four times but he didn't see her, just when he was about to give up a voice called to him.
"You dare make this one wait?"
He turned to look around and see a hooded figure sitting at the furthermost table, what's even stranger is for some reason he didn't even remember that table being there. He quickly grabbed two cups of tea from the counter and ran over to the table.
"Apologies miss, I was caught up in important merchant negotiations." He wasn't lying he truly was negotiating with his bed to let him go.
"Hmph, take this drink away I have no need." she crossed her arms and looked away dismissively.
Zhishi Wu smiled and tried to keep his face from distorting "just try it miss I guarantee it's something you've never had before."
She looked over at the cup of tea and hesitatingly gave it a sip, although it was only for a split second he was able to see the young lady's eyes light up before she returned to her aloof demeanor.
"It's passable I suppose, now tell me a story."
She sat there and demanded what she was promised.
Zhishi Wu was prepared for this he had read so many stories in his previous world that he had a nigh endless amount of them.
"Well there is this one story about three bears and a girl with golden hair."
Zhishi Wu recited the story of Goldilocks and the three bears he also sprinkled in some extra details, a part of the story where she was adopted by the bears in the end.
The girl looked at him with a straight face and frowned "Beasts and human's living together is highly unorthodox, and wasn't she just seeking death by entering another family's abode. "
She sat up a bit closer to the table.
"Where were her dao protector's they actually allowed her to do something like that, must be a third rate family."
"Is she really not a mental patient?" Zhishi Wu thought to himself and was confused, he realized this girl was not going to be easy to deal with she actually started to dissect a children's fairy tale.
"I suppose this story can be interpreted many ways, regardless you owe me some information."
The girl didn't skip a beat and responded after putting down the milk tea she had happily been drinking.
"The formula for mid-grade body invigoration pill is 7 dusk flame lilies and the kidneys of a brown spotted gorilla, effectiveness varies with the quality of the beast."
"Actually?" Zhishi Wu was surprised he had expected some form of resistance but she actually held up to her end of the deal perfectly.
"Thank you miss, it seems you are blessed with great knowledge." Zhishi Wu was not boot licking rather he had true admiration for people who were genuinely knowledgeable and smart. She may be quirky at times but she never messed up when it came to actual information and despite her seemingly high status she didn't cheat him out of the deal in a display of honesty and integrity.
"To someone who is starved even a glass of water may seem abundant." the girl said as she took the last sip of her tea.
This resonated with Zhishi Wu for a second but he quickly shook it off.
"Even a wealthy merchant would be happy if he found a piece of gold on the ground."
The girl put down her cup of tea.
"You are an interesting person for a mortal." she said in a fading voice.
Zhishi Wu turned around and called Zu to bring more tea and he came running over.
"Boss you said two cups of tea but you're the only one here."
Zhishi Wu turned around to find that the girl had vanished from her seat.
"How tragic the young boss had been stood up by his lady friend."
Zu struck a pose that screamed tragedy and started to narrate the situation. Zhishi Wu thought that maybe the girl was a late stage body refiner was why she was able to seemingly disappear.
"Boss Zhang has requested your presence." secretary Lan chimed in as she left the café.
Zhishi Wu stood up and started to walk towards the chamber of commerce while one of the two cups of tea at his table seemingly vanished, a tea stealing ghost.
Zu saw what happened but pretended he didn't ghosts freaked him out so he pretended that they didn't exist.