The next present I received came from my father. As was typical of him, he handed me a flask filled with some sort of solution.
"It took me many years to brew this concoction. I'm glad I figured it out before you joined the sect. This solution has many mind-enhancing herbs. Alone they may only give a brief stimulation with a small permanent enhancement. Together, however, they do something much greater. They force open your sea of soul. As a result, you will unlock your divine sense much sooner than other cultivators, some of whom don't acquire it until nascent soul. Many families and organizations have methods of opening the sea of soul at an earlier stage. This is the first, to my knowledge, that can be used by a qi-gathering cultivator." Phineas said proudly.
My dad never did small things it seemed. Divine sense as a qi gatherer? That was insanely useful. Especially since no one would suspect a qi-gathering brat to possess divine sense. I felt like this birthday was giving me nothing but trump cards. This was the advantage of having a backing. But I couldn't relax too much. No matter how amazing my family was, they were only mortal merchants. A junior cultivator with the backing of an ancient cultivator family or organization would have equal or greater trump cards.
I could even see Li Kai with his mouth hanging open. He didn't unlock his divine sense until he was a golden core cultivator. He was feeling jealous of his pupil.
I pocketed the solution and hugged my father as well. It may take hours or even days to fully consume the portion. It wouldn't do to interrupt the rest of the celebration.
"Oh, you thought that's all I got, did you?" Phineas teased. He then pulled out a tattered manual from within his robes. The cover, written in Centaurian, indicated it was a technique named Concealed Spirit. My system identified it as a common grade technique. This seemed to be the kind of concealment technique Li Kai had wanted me to obtain, but common grade wouldn't get me very far. It was a start at least, maybe I could improve it.
I was more shocked that my dad had managed to obtain it. It wasn't easy for a mortal to obtain cultivation techniques. They were mostly traded in sects and cultivator-only auction houses.
I remembered a commotion that occurred a month ago. Several of our guards were injured. My dad was also sporting a black eye and a few injuries he hid under his robes. Several bodies were carried out of the villa, but none of them were our people. I had been wondering about what had happened, but Li Kai's training left little room for pondering. I wondered if that had to do with the acquisition of this technique. Even if it was common grade, a concealment technique would still be highly prized, especially among the less savory sorts.
I gave my dad another squeeze, " You don't have any more wonderful presents hiding away do you?" I asked greedily.
Everyone laughed at the insatiability they thought was an act, but I was serious. How could they not give more presents to the great and adorable me? Okay, maybe I was joking.
I hopped off my father's lap. Seriously my entire family was tall, why was I so short?! If it weren't for my bloodline, I would suspect that I wasn't my parents' child. Something had to be wrong here! Little did I know my parents both had recessive genes that coded for a short height. I just got extremely unlucky.
I thought the gift-giving was over after my father's gifts, but surprisingly Li Kai stepped forward to give me a present. He had a few swords strapped to his waist. He always did. He pulled one of these swords out and presented it to me. It was then that I noticed it wasn't one of his usual swords. This sword was brand new. The scabbard was immaculate. It contained a mosaic of foxes fighting humans, oddly the foxes appeared to be winning. The hilt possessed no signs of wear. I took the sword from Li Kai and pulled the blade out. There was not a single nick on the blade and it was polished to a mirror-like quality. The blade appeared to be cyan, but I couldn't tell if it was truly cyan or just the result of the reflections. Engraved in Centaurian near the hilt were the characters Wrath of the Vixen.
"It is tradition for a master to give a disciple their sword before entering the sect. This sword represents the dedication you put into your training. Like the armor your mother gave you, it was crafted with eternium. I placed the eternium ore near each of your battles and it absorbed your essence. The ore was then mixed with the beast core procured from your first-ever kill. Finally, the ore went through a number of refinements equal to the battles you've fought, the challenges you persevered through, and the obstacles you've overcome. This blade is your accomplishment. It's strength is your strength. Treat it well, and it will never fail you," Li Kai gave a solemn speech.
I accepted the sword, and then a smirk appeared on my face, "If this sword is truly the result of my effort, I'm surprised you didn't say it would break the first time I used it."
Li Kai gave a helpless grin himself, "You have no idea how badly I wanted to say something along those lines. Truth is, you really did put in a lot of effort and this is one of the finest initiate swords I have ever seen. I couldn't undermine that no matter how badly I wanted to."
"I give you a rare opportunity by fishing for insults and you give me more praise. Your loss I suppose." I said smugly.
Everyone laughed. When everyone regained their composure, Li Kai's face turned solemn again, "That was my gift to you as a mentor. I now have a gift as a friend." Li Kai took out a sack filled with spherical objects and placed them in front of Rosie. Rosie tilted just head in confusion. I was confused too.
"This gift is more to Rosie than to you. Before you start getting the idea that the animosity between her and me is over, this is still to benefit you. As a beast companion, it's Rosie's job to protect you, but she hasn't grown as fast as you have especially after last night. These beast cores will be enough to raise Rosie to the peak of qi-beast, which should've been enough to protect you for a time until you shattered my expectations. Now this will just put Rosie on par with you," Li Kai monologued. He would make a good supervillain.
Fred overheard this and was surprised. Equal to a peak qi-beast. I couldn't be that strong could I? Fred checked my cultivation base for the first time tonight. Where he came from it was rude to pry into another's cultivation, but he was too curious to help himself now. Soon he saw my peak-level qi- gathering base and regretted it. I could cultivate a major realm in a single night, so how useless was he who had been stuck at foundation-establishment for years? And he dared to call himself a genius. Comparisons truly were onerous.
"I have one more gift. This one is for your family." Li Kai progressed without giving us anytime to digest his previous gift. He pulled out three small glass vials containing one pill each. He handed them out to my sister, father, and mother. "Just like my previous gift, this one benefits you more than them. Everyone knows that a cultivator's greatest sorrow is outliving everyone around them. Especially loved ones. This doesn't prevent that, it only delays it a little. These are longevity pills. Similar to when a cultivator advances a major realm it will double the remaining life a person has. These will have the best effect on Vivian."
"Where the heck did you get longevity pills? Didn't you tell me they were highly sought after even by cultivators?!" I wasn't using my inside voice anymore.
"They would be highly sought after if their grade was better. These pills can only be used by mortals. I have a friend that makes these pills so it was easy for me to procure." Li Kai said proudly.
What?! It turned out my master had been bargain bin shopping all along. Li Kai's gifts felt dirty now. Just how many gifts were substandard?
Both Phineas and Nikol took the pills without hesitation. Vivian thought about it for a moment before taking hers. In a way, she was being inflicted with the same curse as immortals. She wouldn't have to endure as long since she would only live twice as long as mortals, rather than several times as long, like me. She considered all of this before taking the pill. A hidden benefit was that they would also no longer get sick from common ailments.
With that Li Kai was done giving gifts. I bowed to him as he left. As Li Kai departed, Fred stepped forward. I was surprised to see Fred was giving a gift.
"As your future senior brother, I would like to welcome junior sister into the sect preemptively," Fred said as he pulled a red flower out of his storage ring and gave it to me.
I recognized it immediately. It was a fire lotus. It was one of the very few items that could improve a root from its birth state. In this case, it would enhance my fire root. I turned to Fred, "Are you sure you want to give this to me? It would be highly beneficial to you."
"I'm sure, I've been holding on to to this many years for you. I've been waiting to welcome my junior sister." Fred said as he smiled.
With that, the gift exchange was over and it was time to sleep. For me, it was time to organize today's haul.