[NR] Like A Stone Just Under The Water - Chapter 517

Jason smiles, “Now I admit, that is being a little harsh. The matching items do have a variety of methods you can use to improve their efficiency. However, most of those involve having the second type of item, the opposites.

“You might think that shouldn’t be too hard for the extraordinary meridians which come in pairs. That is sadly not the case because those matches while half made of opposing elements are also half matching elements. So, they’re basically a wash.”

Courtney nods, “I can see that. While the pairs are broken into yin and yang. They’re paired in the first place. Sort of like how cold isn’t technically the true opposite of hot since they’re both just points along a line which starts at zero atomic movement. There is no negative movement.”

Jason nods, “That is part of why I’ve never been too fond of referring to them with yin and yang. Those are supposed to be opposites. However, trying to argue the point is a losing battle. Since the meridians are so central to the starting point, people love slapping profound sounding names on them.

“Even in this world, there are people who would be against me using simple names like ‘governing’ and ‘piercing’ for the extraordinary meridians. They’d want me to refer to them by names from a different language for cultural or historical reasons. Not that I’m against using the correct name for things. It is just that I am and these are just the translation of said name.”

Rosha, “So what are the opposites? You’re getting a bit off track.”

Jason looks to the side and fake coughs. “Well, uh, they’re opposites?”

Rosha squints at him, “Do you not have a way to figure that out?”

Jason shrugs, “They’re actually rare and not just artificial scarcity rare. If the other kind of items are Earthly treasures, these are Heavenly treasures. And to make it worse, you can not grow them or force them to develop, at least not for any level of skill or power that I know of.

“In my last life, they’re the kind of items you could not buy despite their being entire industries based around them. Not that they’re unheard of as they’re for juniors and not the ancestors to use. If you were willing to part with something that got the attention of those old guys, you might get lucky.”

Rosha rolls her eyes, “So how do we get them?”

Jason, “Well, they have no inherent value here as no one knows yet. In fact, I doubt they’ll be all that hard to get our hands on enough to find exactly what we want. Though even after that, our planet has set itself up to be more likely to generate them.”

Rosha, “That doesn’t sound rare.”

Jason, “Within the last few hundred years there was a massive regrowth of nature. Humanity has also pulled back to our arcologies and left nature to itself. That isn’t how civilization normally works.

“It spreads like a mold, starting from the places that are wet and branching out over every livable space. This is doubly true in a society where once you have power, you can literally just vanish into the wilderness and thrive.

“Majestic mountain? More hermits than you can shake a stick at. Poisonous swamp? Witches, alchemists, and maybe even entire settlements of assassins everywhere. And that is ignoring the beasts that managed to cultivate to sapience.

“You aren’t going to find any sort of heavenly treasure in such a place. If only because everyone and their grandmother’s grandmother has already been through there. Let alone the fact that this kind of thing wouldn’t be able to develop in such a place, anyway.

“They need to be away from sapients to form because our presence is like adding a seed crystal to a solution. The presence of someone with meridians will cause things that could have developed this property to instead crystallize into more normal meridian based forms. We probably would have a better time checking space if it wasn’t for the pull back humanity did to save our ecosystem.”

Rosha nods, “Fair enough. Now how do we make it so our people can harvest them and what do they do?”

Jason, “The second part is easy enough to answer. You absorb the opposite and for a while it will fill your body with that opposing power. That is, it will be filled everywhere except where the hidden meridian is.

“Of course, it isn’t quite that easy. Rarely do one such item have enough power to actually fill your body and so you’ll have to observe how it moves and find places it always avoids. This is where one of the better uses for the matching items and the whole industry focuses.”

Rosha, “Let me guess, the power of the matching items will be attracted to the meridian?”

Jason shakes his head, “Nope. If it did that, you wouldn’t need the opposite. Rather, adding in a small amount of the power will make the opposite more active. It is a lot easier to spot a calm spot when everything else is in chaos. Like how it is easier to spot a rock just below the surface of the water if the water is moving.

“Though, of course, it goes beyond just that. The industry in my last life that was built up around these items was based on finding the right match. Sure, you might have one of the rare opposite items, but do you have the best matching item for it?

“People who have spent their considerable lives figuring out how to parse an item and pair it with others. Oh, and you can’t forget the need to actually open the extraordinary meridians. Might as well add some herbs in for that as well. So yeah, if you aren’t using one of the opposites to make a highly refined pill, you’re wasting it.”

Rosha, “Now back to the other part. How do you find them? Or, more importantly, how do we make it so Courtney’s network can find these things without realizing how important they are?”