As it turned out, only two days were necessary for Slughorn to finish the pills. Harry, Slughorn and the Exalted Cat were sitting around a table, where six vials, containing 62 middle-quality Body Nourishing Pills, were placed. It was a testament to Slughorn's ability that they were already finished.
"Horace, it seems like your concocting speed has improved since I last saw you."
"Haha, you flatter me too much, old cat. I just stayed up late to finish these."
It had been just two days, but for Harry, they seemed an eternity. He had gotten used to spending hours walking or fighting in the outdoors, so being cooped in a room was boring. He passed the time by skimming through the books on Slughorn's shelves, and awaited the day Slughorn finished the pills.
Harry thanked Slughorn, and then opened the first vial. The fragrance of the pills inside filled the room.
Steeling his determination, Harry popped one of the pills into his mouth, and began refining. He guided his Qi through his four open meridians, and pushed it against the entrance of the 5th, the Small Intestine Meridian. He embraced himself for the pain that was sure to come.
'Surely it can't be worse than the Orange Tailed Fox – oh fuck.'
He immediately took that thought back.
The pain of being slammed into the ground by the Violet Metallic Snake, or the pain of being bitten by the Orange Tailed Fox, or any of his other injuries, those were nothing in comparison. This was like a fire in his abdomen, threatening to rage and burst out of his body. He could feel his innards twisting, cramping, as if there was something living in his intestine and tearing it apart.
Harry groaned and swayed. Slughorn reached over and held him steady.
"Focus, Harry. Push through in one go. The faster you open the meridian, the sooner this will be over. Remember, pain is but a temporary thought."
"Another," Harry managed to croak out. The Qi in the first pill wasn't going to be enough.
Slughorn shoved another pill into his mouth.
Minutes of agonizing pain passed, which Harry had no choice but to suffer through. More than once he thought his body was going to burst apart, but he sent his Qi through his meridian nonetheless.
He forced himself to swallow the third pill, adding a fresh wave of pain on top.
'It doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt,' he chanted to himself, as if repeating it enough times would make it come true. Summoning all his willpower, he cultivated through the pain.
Five minutes later, just when the third pill was nearly refined, he felt his Small Intestine Meridian start to open. The pain disappeared as quickly as it came.
Harry gasped and collapsed against the table, panting in relief. Though the pain was gone, the lingering effects were still there, causing his body to twitch. More importantly, the shadow of it was in his mind, creating a sense of fear for the future. If opening the 5th meridian was this painful, how bad would the 6th be? The 9th? It was no wonder that no one had survived the poison before.
"I'm alright," he said after taking a few minutes to calm his mind. The next part would be easier. He tossed the fourth pill in his mouth, then fifth pill, the tenth, the twentieth, the thirtieth…
Seeing Harry refine pill after pill without stopping, the Exalted Cat and Slughorn just stared at Harry, unable to form words. Finally, after four hours of uninterrupted refining, the last bit of the Small Intestine Meridian was unblocked, and he felt Qi surge through his abdomen, linking it with the rest of his body.
5th level of the Body Tempering Realm!
Before he left Crystal Mine City, that had been Dudley's cultivation level!
Experimentally punching out, he could tell his fist had far more force behind it. Perhaps the next time he was in the Wyvern Woods, he could chase after some of the faster beasts, and kill some of the stronger ones.
Thinking on his past, he realized just how weak he was. A month ago, Dudley was already this strong. Him trying to fight Dudley was like a puppy facing a wolf, it was no wonder he had been beaten so easily.
"Do feel the presence of the seed now?"
Right, there was still the Nameless Technique to practice! Harry quickly revolved his Qi around his newly opened Small Intestine Meridian.
"I can," Harry said. "I can sense it, I definitely didn't feel it before. But it seems like it's dormant."
"Hmm… try using it to refine the Mulberry Tree then."
Harry walked over to where the Mulberry Tree was. Slughorn had somehow brought it down the narrow staircase.
"How do I refine this tree? I'm not supposed to eat it like those pills, am I?"
Slughorn and the Exalted Cat looked at each other, and then shrugged.
"Boy, why are you asking us? You're the one with the cultivation technique."
"Try touching the tree," Slughorn suggested. "Maybe the seed will wake up?"
Harry did so. He placed his hand on the bark of the tree, and waited for around a minute.
Nothing happened.
'Why didn't this rock give me better instructions? What's the point of this technique if I have no idea how to use it?'
Besides the Nameless Technique, he had only practiced the Nine Meridians Circulation Technique, which was extremely simple to understand. It spelled out what the user should do at each step, along with the intended results. Unless the cultivator was an idiot, it was difficult to mess it up.
But in contrast, the Nameless Technique had vague instructions, only outlining some guidelines and stating the results. Most of it was centered around theoretical concepts related to the Five Elements and the human body, which went over Harry's head. Even worse, the technique wasn't even written in an orderly or logical manner. Rather, it was like someone had jotted random thoughts into a notebook, then scrambled all the pages up for good measure. Each little bit provided some instruction and help, but he was left to connect them together himself.
Frustrated, he sent some Qi towards the seed.
The seed shuddered, as if it woke up, and then seemed to start pulsing. He felt as if there was another heartbeat in his body, like another existence had started growing inside of him. Then his left arm, still on the Mulberry Tree, began to emit a suction force. He could feel a stream of energy enter his hand, travel through his arm, then through his chest, and finally get absorbed right into the seed.
"It's working!" Harry said excitedly.
It was Wood Qi, he realized as he examined the energy flowing through his body. He could sense the vitality present in the dense Qi. It flowed through his flesh, and then entered his abdomen and nourished the seed.
With Slughorn and the cat's experience and cultivation, they too could sense that Harry was absorbing Qi from the tree. Normally, it was impossible to do such a thing. The body couldn't naturally convert Wood Qi into consumable Qi – that was why humans took pills, and the field of Alchemy existed.
"Amazing," Slughorn couldn't help but remark. Even with all his experience, he had never seen such a thing.
As the seed greedily absorbed, Harry could vaguely feel his body changing, though it happened slowly, over the course of many minutes. It took over an hour before the Qi in the tree was absorbed.
Taking his hand off the tree, he examined his body. He pinched his arm, to see if his flesh had changed, and was shocked by what he felt.
Strengthening Flesh – perhaps a better term would be Hardening Flesh. His squishy flesh had become more rigid and tough. He could still pinch his body, but it was definitely harder than before.
Moreover, he could feel the seed was generating energy for his body.
"Try hitting me," Harry excitedly told the Exalted Cat.
The cat lightly pawed at Harry's leg. Its eyes widened, and then it swatted his leg a bit harder. Harry barely even felt it.
"Hah, pretty good, right?"
"Not bad," the Exalted Cat admitted.
"Do I refine the Fire Attribute now?"
"You can, but I wouldn't recommend doing so," Slughorn replied.
"Why not? Refining Fire Qi comes after Wood Qi."
"Yes, but the Five Elements must be refined in a specific order – Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. If you refine Fire now, you cannot refine Wood again until you complete the entire cycle."
"Oh." He hadn't known that was a requirement.
"Besides, the amount of Fire Qi you can refine is limited to the amount of Wood Qi you refined. Remember, Wood feeds Fire. You cannot feed fire with more wood than you have – therefore, the more Wood Qi you refine, the better. The best choice is for you to refine as much Wood Qi as the seed can hold, before starting on Fire Qi."
"Alright," Harry nodded. Slughorn's reasoning made sense. The Nameless Technique said that after the First Minor Accomplishment, Strengthening Flesh, was finished, the seed would undergo a change. Harry hadn't felt that yet.
"I would like to return to the other Mulberry Trees," Harry said. "If I collect more Beast Cores, will you still help me concoct pills, Dr. Slughorn?"
"Of course, my boy," Slughorn said. "However, I would like you to wear this."
Slughorn handed Harry a thin piece of fabric, with a few holes cut through it. On closer inspection, Harry realized it resembled a face.
"This is an artifact that can disguise your appearance. Put simply, it is a very special mask which will make you unrecognizable. For your safety, I suggest you wear this."
"Are you sure I need this?" Harry asked skeptically.
"Yes," Slughorn said firmly. "Given the existence of the Fetal Crippling Poison, we know there is a group of people targeting you. Until you are stronger, much stronger, you should wear this for your own safety. I also recommend you use a fake name, just in case."
"Alright," Harry agreed, and pressed the mask towards his face. The moment it touched his face, it wrapped around his face and sank in. Then his face began bulging outwards, which was a rather unpleasant sensation.
"How do I look?" Harry asked when the transformation was done.
"Very chubby," the Exalted Cat snorted. "You look like a fatty. No one will recognize you."
Harry patted his face. His cheeks had indeed become puffier, and his head had inflated.
"For the 6th level, I'd recommend at least 80 middle-level Magic Beasts, or 25 high-level ones. Or some mixture of the two." Slughorn added in.
Harry sighed. It had taken him weeks to collect 60 Beast Cores, and they were consumed in hours. Even with his new strength, it would take him just as long to collect another 80. But nonetheless, he felt excitement. He was eager to continue cultivating the Nameless Technique, and to test his new strength.
It hadn't taken long for Harry and the cat to get back to the Mulberry Trees.
The result of awakening the Nameless Seed, as Harry decided to call it, and having it absorb Wood Qi, was that his body was brimming with vitality. And with his advancement to the 5th level of the Body Tempering Realm, his strength had also increased.
He could now maintain a constant jogging pace, without feeling tired no matter how long he ran. The Nameless Seed was generating a constant supply of energy. If he used more energy, then he would lose it faster than he gained. But just jogging was not a problem.
Now standing in front of the Mulberry Trees, Harry looked at them with greedy eyes. Walking over to the first tree, he stirred the Nameless Seed into action. Once again, Wood Qi started to be absorbed into Harry's body.
An hour later, the Wood Qi in the Mulberry Tree was refined by the Nameless Seed. His body had gotten stronger, and his flesh felt even more powerful than before.
But what annoyed Harry was, the absorption speed was too slow!
There were still six more trees in front of him. At this rate, wouldn't he spend the rest of the day here?
Sighing, his hand contacted the second tree, and starting refining. He could again feel the Qi entering his body through his palm. Wondering if he could also use his other hand at the same time, Harry placed his other hand onto the bark. And to his elation, it worked! He could feel two streams of Wood Qi entering his body, which were both greedily absorbed by the Nameless Seed.
Harry immediately took off his robes and directly pressed his chest onto the tree, then wrapped his arms around. Instantly, he felt as if hundreds of pores on his body had opened, with Wood Qi flowing through every bit of his skin. Even with the incoming rush of Qi, the Nameless Seed showed no signs of being overwhelmed.
"Shameless!" the Exalted Cat harrumphed, turning around so as to not see the half-naked Harry. Luckily, there was no one around to witness this bizarre display.
It only took a matter of minutes for the Wood Qi to be absorbed in this fashion, so Harry made quick work of the other trees. After finishing, Harry examined his new body. His flesh was much harder and stronger than earlier.
"Amazing!" Harry exclaimed.
The Strengthening Flesh accomplishment had made his defense stronger, so that it actually took effort for him to pinch his arm. It was like trying to pinch a wall. If he was bitten by another Orange Tailed Fox, perhaps the fox's teeth wouldn't be able to penetrate too deep into his skin. If he were smashed into the ground, he could get back up without any injuries.
However, the Nameless Seed had not undergone any change. In other words, he still had to refine more Wood Qi.
"Exalted Cat, can I also refine the Qi in the trees around us?"
"Boy, those are just regular trees, the amount of Wood Qi they contain isn't even worth mentioning. You could refine hundreds of them and still not reach a single Mulberry Tree's level."
"Then where are the other Ordinary Grade trees in this forest?"
"Boy, are you planning to collect Beast Cores, or are you planning to hug trees? The most important thing for you right now is to strengthen your 5th level foundation. You should be thinking about fighting Magic Beasts, and practicing the Nine Meridians Qi Circulation Technique, not finding another tree to molest!"
"Ok, ok," Harry said helplessly.
They only walked for a few minutes before they encountered an Iron Tusk Warthog. Upon seeing Harry, it immediately charged and attacked.
Harry had encountered one of these Magic Beasts the last time he was in the Wyvern Woods, and had only defeated it after a long, drawn-out battle. The warthog had a pair of long tusks, each ending in a sharp point. For the past Harry, getting stabbed by one would have been a painful affair – the cat would have to rescue him. For that reason, the last battle had taken him a long time to win. He mainly dodged the warthog's attacks, slowly wearing its endurance down until he had positioned himself to kill it.
But now, he had no fear. As the warthog charged towards him, Harry also ran forwards, not even bothering to draw his sword. He revolved the Qi in his body, and sent out a kick with all his strength.
His foot connected, and the warthog was smashed far away, hitting a tree with a loud THUMP. It slowly got up, and realizing it attacked an enemy it couldn't defeat, turned to run away. But how could Harry let it go? Using his full speed, he caught up to the warthog and beheaded it with a smooth stroke.
A single level of cultivation, and a richer amount of fighting experience, made a huge difference. Just like that, he got another Beast Core.
Even more startling was that he felt nothing from the impact. If one kicked an object, obviously, their foot would also suffer a bit of pain. But due to Strengthening Flesh, that didn't apply to him.
"Not bad. Even though you're at the 5th level, I'd say you could find against those at the 6th level."
"Really?" Harry asked, astonished that the Exalted Cat had given him some actual praise.
"Boy, what are you feeling so happy for? Whether it's the 5th and 6th level of Body Tempering Realm, you're still weak."
Harry just smiled, and took what praise he could get. He had long grown used to the cat's attitude.
"Let's go get some more cores."