I remember reading somewhere that the pain I am feeling now differs from person to person. I believed this was linked to the efficiency of the person's body, but I think that I might have tricked myself.
With the pain I am feeling now, it should be quite strong, or my new body is so unused to any pain that what I am feeling now is much worse than it usually should be.
Regardless, I get up and move to the chemical workstation, setting it to make a specific painkiller before going over to the mortar and pestle to have it grind down some pain-killing herbs.
Thinking that acupuncture might help here if done right as well, I walked up to the anvil and set it to make some acupuncture needles.
When all these are finished, I make some Eastern-style medicine and take it with the Western style I made earlier.
Afterward, I begin the acupuncture process; doing it on oneself is probably more difficult than on someone else, but nevertheless, I still complete it.
With all that done, I am soon rewarded for my efforts, with the feeling of the pain dying down and a window appearing in my vision.
[The effect [Menstrual Pain Increase X5] has been cured and replaced with the effect [Menstrual Pain decrease by 75%] because of your body's near-perfect natural processes]
[For being the first person to deal with the Kitsune's heat cycle in this fashion, you have been given the reward of: the effect of the next alchemical pill that you consume becoming permanent.]
[The Kitsune's of Astérion have always been able to cultivate since young, and by the time they reach the age for their menstrual cycle to start, they were able to suppress it and make it so that it would only start when they wanted, meaning they have never felt the woes of the female body in this sense.]
After all of this, I did not want to do much more for the rest of today, so I went to the area of the meadow where I had previously done all my butchering and brought out the twin-tail cougar to process into fur, bones, meat, and ingredients. This had to be done soon, or I would have forgotten it and never completed it.
After this, I went to the stream to wash myself down and clean out the fur of my tail before returning to the house and starting to prepare some ingredients for dinner. It was still a long way off from nighttime, so I was just going to place the ingredients back into my inventory when they were prepared.
With all this done, I walked to the dining room table and sat down to rest.
However, I could not rest for long as I became far too restless when I had nothing to keep my attention.
This brought to mind the thought that since I got here, I had been constantly doing something other than sleeping, eating, and drinking.
Not for one moment did I sit down and rest.
Now that I did, I was having difficulty sitting still, so I pulled out some of the books and scrolls I had not read yet.
Most of these were either books on cultivation or martial arts diagrams; however, a few of them were different, and I was going to read these ones.
The first piece of reading material I started with was an almost new-looking scroll with the seal already broken.
Opening it, I found it to be a ship charter from an organization called the Silver Moon Immortal Sect. It also had a fancy seal stamped on the bottom that looked to have Latin writing on it.
Curious, I looked for the captain's journal to see if he had any information on it. Soon, I found the book in question before flipping through it to find the passage.
3rd day of the Month Of Plagues: City of Mors
O gosh, why do we still call it that? It has been over a millennium since the incident that gave this month its name. It sounds like some bad omen when you say or read it. Anyways, I have managed to get the charter from the Silver Moon Sect with an order of goods to go pick up from another port about a month's journey from here.
Luckily, I did not tell them that my ship is faster than others of her class, so I should be able to get over there quicker and get a bit more than what I was asked to.
However, they did ask me to take a sealed version of the charter with me for some reason I could not tell, and my instincts were going haywire at it. But if I wanted the charter, I had to take it. No use crying about it now. We set sail in a few hours and my men need me on deck.
17th day of the Month Of Plagues: City of Ramage
Upon arrival, I checked in with the dock master, and low and behold, to my surprise, he pulled out a communication crystal and called the Silver Moon Sect to inform them that I had arrived. This, of course, threw a wrench in my plans as now they knew how fast my ship was and that I was here far earlier than I should have been.
The dock master then proceeded to inform me that I now had to report to the dock in Mors by the 3rd of the Month of Victory at the latest.
When I asked the dockmaster why that was the case, he gave me a look that said I was stupid for asking before asking me if I knew anything other than them being one of the more powerful sects in the area.
Told him that I didn't know anything else. He explained to me that contrary to the usual naming conventions for sects, the Silver Moon Sect was not an all-female sect, instead, it was like a normal sect. It was just set up by a female cultivator. With a sense of humor.
However, there were still more female elders and students with greater power in this sect than others, which is why more female cultivators flock to this sect than others in the area. He also explained that some smugglers had attempted to use their carter to do some less-than-legal things, including the slave trade, which the Silver Moon Sect is highly against.
Thus the need for the dock master and ship captains to report into them at stated times. While I personally was not going to do any slave trading, other stuff was not entirely off the table until now.
With that, the ship is almost fully loaded and ready to set sail, so I will head on deck to command my men and set off.
1st day of the Month of Victory: One day from Port Mors
Before leaving Port Ramage, the dock master informed me that the charter I was given was embedded with a tracking talisman that could be activated by me or remotely simply by breaking the seal.
The only deciding factor on how fast they will respond is how close we are to the sect. With where we are right now, I would say it could take about a day for them to reach us if something were to happen. The reason why I am writing this is that, for some reason, I started getting an ominous feeling today as the moon crested its zenith, making the world cross into the next day.
I do hope that nothing unexpected happens and that we make it to Port tomorrow.
The read was interesting and calmed me down as long as I kept my foot tapping the floor, at least until the last entry.
Now, I was panicking at the prospect of what might happen if I was found, as the charter already had a broken seal when I pulled it out of my inventory.
Not even knowing how strong the people coming were, I pulled out all the cultivation cores I had except for the captains, as I still had some reservations about that one, and turned them into Experience.
[You have leveled up] X4
[You have received the level-up rewards of +1 skill points and +3 tech points.]
[You have received the level-up rewards of +2 skill points and +1 tech points.]
[You have received the level-up rewards of +1 skill point and +1 tech point.]
[You have received the level-up rewards of +3 skill points and +3 tech points.]
After getting the levels or, more specifically, the tech points, I opened the tech tree to see what I could do.
Once in there, I looked at the next tech to continue up the tree, the steam engine. I went to buy it only to find that I needed to buy all the other things in this level of the tech tree.
Looking at the rest of this level, I find and buy five different techs: basic armor, advanced archery, long-term food preparation, basic ship construction, and medieval machinery.
Quickly buying those, I moved on and bought the steam engine without stopping.
Continuing in my panic, I purchased the next two techs: steam materials preparation and steam milling. I then bought the tech to move on from this level, the steam electric generator.
Then, while feeling the beginnings of a headache, I forged on and bought the next two techs I wanted while exploring up the tree to find what I was looking for: advanced materials preparation and basic milling. These opened up the tech I was looking for, the firearms workstation.
Unlocking that, I unlock one more tech before looking around the tech tree again and then purchasing advanced armor.
Stepping back and looking at the tree, I see a tech I might need and buy mid-range firearms.
Closing the tech tree, I was about to turn around and rush out the door when my head was engulfed in so much pain I collapsed to the floor and passed out.