"So, you wanted to talk about how we can improve the FDF and make it stronger?" Song Chen asked.

"Actually, before that…" George cleared his throat. "There's something in the FDF accounts that I wanted to ask you about."

"There it is." Song Chen sighed. "All right. Ask."

"Is your pay insufficient?" George asked directly.

"For my physical, every day needs, it is enough." Song Chen said, heavily.

"Then why did you use FDF funds for yourself? Apparently you bought some strange herbs…" George frowned. "Now, I've bought quite a few herb seeds for the herb farm, and I don't recognize this herb. Song Chen, are you… using recreative herbs…?"

"I'm not a drug addict, if that's what you're asking." Song Chen shook his head. "No, George, spending that money to buy the Red Yang Lotus was actually a way to improve our overall strength. I needed that herb for my cultivation. If I could break through to the Body Qi Completion stage…"

"Wait. What?" George blinked. This hadn't been something he expected. An old friend needing some miracle herb, maybe; George even hoped for something like that, thinking he'd discover another way to help Remian's health, but this…? "What's this stage completion you're talking about?"

Song Chen cleared his throat. "Are you aware of the stages of martial cultivation?"

"Uh… I only know about Slayers and not-Slayers." George admitted.

"In the Dragon Empire, we have our own system." Song Chen explained. "We strive to cultivate our bodies and our martial energy, what we call Qi."

"Key?"

"Qi." Song Chen shook his head. "There are three levels to every major stage, basic, advanced and completion. Body Qi is the third major stage. I am currently at the Advanced stage of Body Qi cultivation. With the help of that herb, I might be able to advance my Qi cultivation to the Completion stage."

"So, basically, you want to get stronger." George understood that much.

"Yes. That's it, exactly." Song Chen nodded. "Not to boast, but I am the strongest warrior in the FDF. Against most Tier 4 Wilds, we can challenge them with airs.h.i.+ps and good weapons, but for a Tier 5… even a strong weapon is not much good if you can't wield it with sufficient strength."

"So you're thinking that that herb could be the only way we take on Tier 5's?" George asked. "Why not leave it to Spike, or DD, or something?"

"Against lesser creatures, we could. But a great many of the Tier 5's that came with the Beast Tide are carnivores. Our friends are practically their prey."

George nodded slowly. "I understand. So this miracle herb… it can make anyone stronger?"

"Not everyone. In fact, it's dangerous unless you're at a level where it's useful rather than harmful." Song Chen drew a deep breath. "I know it's selfish, but this was the only way I could think of."

"Tell me about these cultivation stages."

Song Chen paused. "In this system, the stage everyone starts at is the Breathing Stage. Without training, most people are at the Uncontrolled Stage, where breathing is instinctive, and untrained. Some warriors and combat schools teach one to control your breathing, usually in tandem with some physical movements. Generally, the idea is for you to use your breath to strengthen your moves. We take it a step or two further. That'll be the Advanced level of Breathing Stage. Then there's the Completion level of Breathing Stage which is also known as the fish stage because of how practicioners are able to stay underwater for prolonged periods of time. These three initial levels are all considered the first stage of martial cultivation."

"So that's the Breathing Stage. And then?"

"Then there's the Body Tempering Stage. Muscle tempering, bone tempering, skin tempering. Only then do you reach Body Qi."

"That's the stage you're at?"

"Yes. I believe that just about anyone in the Body Qi stage could be considered a 'Slayer' by your standards. In fact, I think a lot of people in the Completion level of Body Tempering would qualify."

"All they need to do is kill a Tier 4 Wild una.s.sisted." George shrugged. "It was harder when all we had were steel weapons, but now our weapons are much more powerful, so we might want to use your levels system to gauge strength instead. Is there something similar for magic, by any chance?"

"You mean the circles of magic?" Song Chen asked. "As far as I understand, there are nine circles in total, and those at the top are called Grand Masters. Phoebe is of the Third Circle, and Lydia is of the Fourth. That is all I know."

George paused. "Hmm. We should try to get a formal magic teacher here. Simply teaching the usage of magic tools in cla.s.s is all very well, but if our students could graduate with formal qualifications, they might even be able to try for magic colleges overseas…"

"We should."

"We should also get a formal martial instructor."

"We should." Song Chen agreed heartily.

"I'm glad you agree. Why don't you get started right away?"

"Wha…?" Song Chen gaped. "Me?!"

"Of course, you. Who else do we have?"

"But… but all I have are my clan's…"

"You're the commander of the FDF, aren't you? They're basically your men, right?"

"But… if… I mean…" Song Chen spluttered. "That's different!"

"Well, what CAN you teach them without posing a problem for your clan?"

Song Chen considered. "I can teach them what the Dragon Empire teaches in their school martial arts clubs. It should be enough for them to cultivate up to Completion level in the Body Tempering stage."

"Great. Also, is the Red Yang Lotus the only herb that can help you improve your cultivation? Are there others?"

"Why, yes. Many others, and some of them are even used by apothecaries for herbal decoctions."

"Which means… we could buy them at herbalists?"

"Yes, but generally speaking, they are rare and suitable only for the lower levels of cultivation."

"Keep in mind that we're talking about having hundreds of people in the FDF learn martial cultivation here. Would those herbs be able to speed up their cultivation?"

"Most certainly!" Song Chen brightened.

"Now…" George let out a small smile. "If we could get herbs… might we be able to get seeds?"

***

After lunch was a visit to the hospital. Lydia and Rhema were running things there. Rhema had also set up a hospital chapel where the priests were hanging out most days when they weren't out teaming up with other adventurers. George honestly suspected that more people (adventurers really) went in there to recruit a priest into their adventuring team than to pray. Either that, or they were looking to learn light or life magic.

The hospital itself was in a bit of a mess. While Sabriane was a good interior decorator, and Lydia and Phoebe had good measures of common sense, absolutely none of them had experience in architecture, water supply systems, or hospital administration. As a result, they kept s.h.i.+fting rooms and equipment about to meet needs as they saw fit, and sometimes their views contradicted…

"I'm about ready to call this building a failure." Lydia admitted straight out when George asked her about it. "We really should have put the water tank on the roof and the garden on the ground instead of the other way around. Also, we're going to need thicker walls, hopefully with soundproofing and manwave proofing."

"I get the part about sound-proofing, but what's manwave proofing?" George asked.

"Oh! Stone will do. We could try tin foil, that shouldn't be too expensive either." Lydia guessed. "It's not like we can afford Nether Crystals."

"But why would we need that?"

"It's because some of our scanning equipment… well…" Lydia shook her head. "Let's just say long-term exposure to certain kinds of manwaves could be bad for your health."

"But ordinary stone could block it out?"

"It would at least absorb most of it so that the affected range would be reduced. Give me a stone wall about as thick as one of regular brick-and-cement, and that would be enough for most of our gear. Put the exceptions in rooms with walls twice as thick and we're good to go."

"That's all going to take a good bit of planning." George observed.

"It will, indeed."

"You're going to have to plan the whole thing out carefully this time, with Arnold, because the next hospital is going to dug out more than built." George warned her.

"KarGoth. I know."

"What about medical staff? Any luck there?"

"Almost. But they quit when the Beast Tide overran our defenses. I don't think they're coming back." Lydia sighed.

"Well, this time you're all going to be snug underground."

"Most of us won't like being stuck in a dark, gloomy…"

"My plans for KarGoth look something like this." George showed her Mindy's picture. "Your hospital could face the central open area on one side, with reinforced windows on the other. There should be plenty of sunlight."

"Windows facing the outside of KarGoth? Is that really defensible?"

"Fifty feet above the ground? I think so. The only Wilds that reach that high are Flyers, and last I checked, the flyers are our friends."

"If we keep making friends with the Wilds at this rate, we might not need to worry about defenses so much in the future. We might not actually have to all go live in KarGoth."

"Maybe, but I'd rather not take chances. We've lost the town too many times already. This time, I'm putting it inside our stronghold." George stretched. "Talk to Arnold soon, okay? He's supposed to show me the general designs today."

"When?"

"In about ten minutes."

"How about I come with you?"

"That sounds good."