Heavenly Shae

Chapter 23: "Putting in the Work."

As Shae walked back to her travel pack, she sighed heavily. So serious! Wasn't expecting that from them.

She grabbed a water skin and more breakfast in expectation of her body needing more food with all the work she expected to do today. Hmm, how much did that deal just cost me?

She knew the basic exchange rates, but doing the math on the fly was tricky. A small silver was the smallest denomination acknowledged by the empire, three of which made a large silver, also called a silver tael. Four of those taels made a silver crown, meaning twelve small silver to a crown. Most of the empire's commerce is done in silver so these were used often, but still, crowns were rare to see. Gold crowns were even rarer, and were worth twelve silver crowns.

Small villages like the one Shae was from didn't see much commerce, and peasants really didn't have valuable goods to make silver useful. Some just traded favors, but more commonly they had their own local currency made from copper or bronze, she'd even seen some that were iron. This was just so the locals could do business with each other, not strangers passing through. Which is why a small silver was the minimum day-rate for hiring anyone, you really couldn't pay them less.

On the other end, cultivators supposedly used qi crystals as currency. She'd never seen any, so wasn't sure what to expect. The stories in the village said they were solidified qi mined up from the earth. Rumor also held that gold crowns had small qi crystals in them to prevent counterfeit, or ground up into an alloy with the gold.

Shae found both unlikely since gold was valuable as gold. That and crowns were quite small already, so to accommodate the value of a crystal they would need to trade some of that gold, making them even smaller. She had heard that the Empire would certify larger amounts by embedding qi crystals in gold bars, though she suspected it was mainly the crystal that set the value, and the gold was only to stamp an official value onto. A qi crystal alloy, it does seem plausible. Though, why not use some other metal or alloy that is more valuable?

She took a big swig of water and looked back to the carpenter. He had fetched a few tools and had started looking over logs. He was already focused on the task, and she didn't feel bad about what she was paying him. Two or even three taels was well worth the money. Paying Aidel extra to manage the workers was unexpected, but still worthwhile. She wouldn't even end up with more than them if they got the bonus.

It was the bonus pay she was really worried about. Without it, the workers would only cost a silver crown, and most of another for the couple's service. Sooo, a half-stud: a fourth of a gold crown, which would be three silver crowns. I'm losing just over half my pay, at least. But I can see why Fedir was surprised, a half-stud could easily pay and feed a laborer for a month.

She scanned the pile of trees in the road. But I'll probably get the bonus for quantity at least. So the question is, what will it cost me with the bonus? For the dozen workers she agreed to pay, a full tael at the end of the day would cost her three silver crowns. Hah, there goes the half-stud. And then, with the Dong couple's pay, I could lose more than I'm getting paid. Great.

She shook her head and sighed. Time to get to work.

Shae picked out a larger log that Chiden had marked and started slowly, she knew she couldn't match the speed she had before. Can't hyperfocus that much of I'll pass out. Need to sort out why- oh wait, was it focus?

She nodded to herself and set a new rhythm. These larger trees will take at least twice as many cuts. If I force my focus on every cut I'll burn out far too fast.

The first couple strikes into the log didn't need to be super accurate. Around the third or fourth, a missed strike became a wasted strike. She focused heavily on that third downswing like she had before, landing it perfectly. Then she paused.

Hmm, can't tell. Three more focused swings finished the cut. She paused after each to evaluate herself.

Still nothing noticeable. After another, then.

She cut through another part of the tree, focusing only on the last three of the six strikes, pausing less between them.

Hmm, I maybe feel something, but probably just imagination and bias. How else could I tell? Ah! She summoned a tiny wisp of cloudy divine qi. While talking to the Dong couple it had helped her recover quickly at the expense of being used up. So she guided the small wisp through her mind, letting it heal as it liked.

Hah, yep, gone. I don't feel much different, but it's definitely wearing away at my mental stamina. She looked inside to her reserves of divine qi, she had been hoarding it, and now also had a reserve of enlightenment qi from yesterday at Jani's. Wonder if one of the two will let me recover faster?

She looked up at the pile of trees blocking the road and frowned. Kind of expensive to use it just for this without getting anything out of it. She tilted her head at the thought. Am I getting nothing? Surely this is training, I should be improving, like working a muscle. So the question is: does the divine qi heal like normal recovery, or reset the body to before the exercise, nullifying the training?

She grimaced and moved to the next tree. What did Yun say about mental focus training?

'You need a goal, ... , preferably with qi.' Check, land the perfect ax chop.

'Something that takes all your attention and focus,' Hmm, might be under-doing it, reinforcing with qi takes more effort though.

'Then you need to relax, reset and take a break in between attempts.' That will be the tricky part, there's so much to do!

As she worked through the next half dozen trees she worked out a plan. Narrow the window to use more mental focus in a shorter time-frame. That seems like it should be better training for silent messaging. Just using it a lot and constantly should be more for battle trance; if I'm understanding it correctly.

She decided to wait until she had begun the downswing, focusing only then. She increased the difficulty by trying to be very efficient with her qi reinforcement. Strengthening only the muscles she was using and only as much as required.

She rested briefly after fully cutting through a tree trunk, then for longer after every third. During that time she would quickly meditate and use some divine qi, as well as using Cresting the Hill for recovering her muscles.

As the day progressed she increased the work between breaks by an additional log until she could really feel the physical and mental fatigue at around a dozen cuts. Her change in methodology let her do more without becoming completely exhausted. She also alternated which type of divine qi she used. She guessed that enlightenment qi could have other benefits. It feels more refreshing too, unless that's my imagination.

The only interruption came when she asked Chiden if he thought she was cutting logs fast enough.

"Miss Shae, I'll be honest, our whole crew couldn't cut these logs as fast as you. Maybe if they were dry, then the saws wouldn't bind on the sap." He stared off in bewilderment.

"Heh, thanks. But I mean, do you think we will finish before noon? I can push a little harder if needed."

"You can go faster!?" He scratched his head and looked at the work before them. "I'll talk to my wife, she's probably keeping a better eye on the schedule."

Indeed she was, she thought they were tight for time. If the caravan arrived an hour past noon, they would probably be fine, but noon or sooner and they might not be done.

Shae decided she could push herself harder, she hadn't had another close-to-fainting incident yet. She did find another side effect, though. Aidel's expression when they had talked made Shae pause and eventually smell herself. She wasn't just ripe from sweat but she also reeked of impurities. It hadn't reached the potency of a full cleansing session, but the thin gloss of toxic fluid had a very distinct odor.

As the sun approached its zenith, Shae found herself spending more time finding new trees to chop into logs, than doing actual chopping. It was made slightly less difficult by people giving her a wide margin of space, especially downwind. She had drank all her water so had no way of cleaning herself. I'm going to need more than a little splash anyway.

Aidel eventually sent her to the west side of the road to widen the path. The ends of less than a dozen trees were all that stood in the way of letting a full wagon pass with enough breathing room. Most only needed single short sections cut off; a few paces here, just one or two paces there.

Previously the lengths she had been cutting were six to eight paces long. At first she thought the wider logs were also the short ones. Meaning Chiden was picking the lengths based on weight, but she soon found that wasn't a strict rule. I'm sure there's a method to the mania. I'll have to ask him later, if I remember.

She had tried using Marta to scrape the mud and flatten the road as Fedir instructed. However, the tool was much more frustrating to use than a simple rake or flat shovel. She left that work to Aidel's workers.

Finally someone called out and she saw the scouts that were leading the caravan. Looking up at the sun, she guessed they were a little late, but should arrive within the extra hour she had allowed for. Exact times were difficult to gauge without a proper sundial.

"Wise Shae. Excellent work! Mistress Ping was very concerned."

"Thanks... Lan? Was it?"

"Yes, Miss. We'll be glad to report the good news immediately. With your leave." He smirked and inclined his head respectfully.

"Yes, but I'll need you to run a message as well."

"Me?"

"Whoever is going. We've made a second path, but it's all mud, and is a bit soft. Talk to Master Long and the sect cultivators about it."

"Um. Wise Shae, I can tell Mistress Ping, but making requests of the sect is a bit above our station. By a lot." He frowned.

She sighed. "Sorry, Lan. I'm a bit exhausted and not thinking this through. Tell Mistress Ping. I'll see if I'm needed here and go myself, if I can."

"If you can? Are you that tired?"

She smirked. "No, I mean there might be more urgent work here. Do any of you have a slate I can write on? A written message should be more agreeable, yes?"

"Ahm, it would be, I'll ask around."

"Thank you, Lan." She was quite sure they all had writing slates, but her wording gave them an excuse to say no if they thought the delivery was risky. "How far behind are they?"

He smirked, "You should know that, Miss Scout in training."

"Heh, the usual hour then?"

He nodded. "Little less, she's been running the oxen hard."

"Got a later start then?"

"Yes, and as I said, she's been quite worried, hope your second path works."

"Me too, Lan. Me too." She clapped him on the back and he stumbled forward.

"Ah! What was that for!?"

"Sorry, sorry. Forgot I was channeling. Good thing that was the weak arm."

He forced a laugh, "hah. Scary." He walked away shaking his head.

While Lan checked over their work, Shae tracked down one of the Dong couple.

Aidel was hesitant to let her run off, but knowing that she would be back with more cultivators eased her worry. As did having a firm time on the caravan's arrival.

Shae picked up all her things, including the odd shovel-hammer-ax, Marta. Not going to risk losing something, especially not Marta!

On her way out she informed Lan she'd deliver the message instead, he was grateful to pass off the responsibility of updating Mistress Ping.

"Ack, did the mudslide wash out a rot-swamp? What did you step in, girl?"

"Sorry, Mistress Ping. It's impurities from working hard and channeling qi."

"I thought this only came out when cleansing?"

She shrugged. "Seems prolonged heavy qi use also does it, dunno, I'm no expert yet."

She covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve. "Is the road clear at least?"

"Mostly, it was worse than expected. We have one full wagon path on the west side, and a second over the east ditch that just needs a cultivator's touch to dry out the mud. Can we send one of the sect to manage it?"

Ping grimaced. "They are not under my command. Hardly even my place to ask. I'd have to offer a job, probably pay more than what I will for you."

"Ugh. I'll go talk to them, maybe I can squeeze it down to just a favor."

"Thank you, and do me a favor and clean yourself up."

"Hah, as soon as I can." She nodded and ran off.