Aimless Ascension

"Give me back my drink," Wang Li growled at Xiaolin, "nobody will drink such a lowly drink."

Gale clicked his tongue. "Never sell yourself too short," he advised. "This isn't half bad, though too bitter and high on alcohol. You have to get the flavour right to make big bucks out of it. Anyway, do you have anything richer?"

Wang Li and Xiaolin both raised an eyebrow, looking at all the bottles decorated on the walls. Xiaolin wasn't sure if her Elder sister was in any state to serve anyone else, as she would simply drink it herself if Xiaolin let her.

"On second thought rest it," Gale said and brought out a bottle of his own from his void lock. It was another high-ranked bottled Spirit wine, the Ambrosia of this world.

Arguably, the most addicting wine in this realm.

Sadly, drinking even a sip of it would be a bad idea for Gale even if there weren't any restrictions placed on him. Still, he had drunk a few more mouthfuls of Ambrosia when he was in extreme distress or pain. These days, he simply drank it to relieve the pain or to have a good night's sleep.

He had stolen half a dozen of that ambrosia, but now only left with half of them.

Gale was now in distress, alright, although of a completely different kind. So, he only poured an inconsiderable amount of the Ambrosia into the glass, diluting it with the drink Wang Li brew.

Evidently, he forgot that he was with other people in the hall.

The sweet fragrance of the ambrosia enamoured the entire hall before Gale could close the cork back. Both women were taken aback, sniffing the addicting nectar in the air. His disciple more than the innkeeper with her intuitive senses.

Their hearts were simply too weak for the most intoxicating spirit wine of the world.

"Master, what is this?" Xiaolin asked, leaning her head closer to the counter to sniff more of the fragrance.

"Ambrosia," Gale said. "Another kind of spirit wine, brewed by a sage."

Wang Li whistled. "So, where's my portion of it?"

Xiaolin looked like she would want to have some of it as well, smitten by the smell.

"I would have let you have some portion of it," Gale said, frowning, "but this is seriously not good for your health. Well, it might help your spirit arts somewhat, but I'm pretty sure even a few drops of it will leave you two low-rankers tipsy for days."

Wang Li narrowed her eyes and turned to Xiaolin. "Am I hearing this right, Linlin?" she joked. "Did your master just look down on us for our low rank in spirit arts?"

Xiaolin nodded her head heavily. "Maybe he didn't want to waste the expensive wine with us."

"Definitely," Wang Li said. "Or why wouldn't the great and kindly master Gale leave his dear disciple and his favourite innkeeper from drinking the Ambrows. . . Ambrow something?"

"Okay," Gale said, taking in a sip under their gazes, "this really doesn't feel like you guys are joking. Really, my dear disciple and my favourite innkeeper, I would have given you the drink if your body could handle it. But sadly, you guys are too limited to even comprehend its taste."

Wang Li snorted. "That seemed like an excuse," she told him, smitten with the smell of ambrosia, even though she couldn't pronounce it well. "How dare you give excuses after you took away my drink? I want refunds."

"Master, I want it too," Xiaolin joined, even though she never had an alcoholic drink in her life. "My constitution is different. I can recover by tomorrow."

"I highly doubt that," Gale said, "but you're right about recovering quicker than normal practitioners."

"Who are you calling normal practitioners?" Wang Li barked. Perhaps she already had a drink too many times. "Are you looking down on this poor woman again?"

"No, absolutely not," Gale said, showing his hands in surrender, "this lowly practitioner wouldn't dare."

Wang Li snorted. "I'm not seeing even an ounce of honesty from you."

"I guess you'll only see it when I gave you the wine?"

"Exactly," Wang Li said, slapping the counter with her palm. "Give this poor woman her drink. She deserves it."

"I guess you're not wrong about that," Gale agreed. "Still . . ."

He contemplated it for some time. A part of him really didn't want to waste the wine, as their bodies wouldn't be able to taste or get most of the benefit of Ambrosia. Then again, they were low rangers. Even a little of its benefit might be a world for them.

Gale wasn't sure about what his Disciple would get out of this, but he was pretty sure it was enough to let Wang Li get the extra push she needed to reach the peak of copper.

She had been doing her best to get back to spirit arts after how her life went down. He guessed this could be the push she needed to be a little more optimistic about the future.

"Hmm, that would only benefit me in the future," Gale thought out loud, calculating in his head.

Wang Li was indentured to work for his farm for the years to come, to help him grow rare plants with the fate lock he sold her with. Sadly, she wasn't nearly high rank enough.

The spirit wine would help, progressing her spirit arts for a couple of months easily.

"Fine, fine," Gale said, "I'll let you have a little of it. Give me two glasses full of drinks."

Both the women cheered out loud.

"Calm down, you'll wake up the guests," Gale reminded them. "Also, ease your breathing. This might be one heaven of an experience of you."

"Hehe, you got the phrasing wrong," Wang Li laughed, pointing her fingers at him.

Gale shook his head and prepared the drinks.

As he prepared two glasses of normal wine, Gale concentrated to dilute them with only three drops of Ambrosia.

"Cheapskate!"

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Also, I have a couple of chapters left to publish.