While Tim let his body fall into a trance in the teacher's lounge doing breathing exercises, he concentrated on Lia. He had been ignoring her and her duties. It was hard to use both bodies at once, and he still thought of Tim as his main body. Tim sighed in both bodies at the same time. "I really can't pretend Lia doesn't exist anymore. This isn't a video game," Tim thought. He used to love playing as female characters in RPGs he used to play. Looking at a sexy female character was fun. This was way different. He stood up in Lia's body and strode around the room thinking. The walk was different; how she breathed was different. Everything felt wrong. Tim knew enough about psychology to know that if he tried to be one person with two completely different bodies, he would drift into madness. He had to treat life now like he was a hive mind. "I need to have two different personalities or masks. I need to be Lia and what she entails when using her body, and Tim when I am him." Another deep sigh escaped from Lia's mouth. "Okay, so what am I?" she said, looking in the mirror. From my social media profile, I am an ice queen—a person who is cold and driven. He still didn't have much access to Lia's memories. Things like riding a bike would come naturally. This included qi techniques and cultivation, but long-term memories were locked away.
Lia sat down and thought in a serious manner. "The way I feel in this body is different. How its hormones and, on a deep level, its desire to grow and feel safe are affecting its mental state. If I am truly Lia, what would I do now?" Well, I still can't help but have some of my personality affect how I am as Lia. Lia died due to her arrogance. Life here is not as safe as on Earth. I need to get the items I found in the ruins appraised. Lia's combat capabilities are what I need to understand and expand on the most. First, the staff, sword, and the manuals I found need to be appraised. Lia decided to walk around the sect to see if she could find the shop/pavilion that could help appraise items. Walking up to the mirror, Lia fixed her long black hair into a ponytail and appraised herself. "Lia, you are a confident foundation establishment cultivator. You are a sexy bitch," he said at the end, trying to drum up confidence while staring into those otherworldly purple eyes. Tim's lower member began to stiffen when he stared at Lia in the mirror too long. "Fuck, this is weird," he thought. Exiting the small room he had, he let himself follow his gut feeling as he walked further up the mountain. Walking past many rooms, some disciples waved to him. A cute girl came running up. "Lia, where have you been? I've been worried to death." Lia tried to think of her name but couldn't. She had a feeling of strong friendship for this girl. Lia pulled on Tim's bag of tricks and took her into a hug. "I am so sorry. I almost died on my last mission and have been in my room healing but also reflecting on my mistakes."
Lia stood back and saw tears in this girl's eyes. "Why didn't you come and see me? I messaged you so many times." "I am so sorry," Lia replied. "I tell you what—everything wasn't for nothing. I managed to find something good," Lia proclaimed. "Let's go see what the appraisers say," Lia said. The small, cute teenage girl grabbed Lia's arm and looked at her to lead the way. Lia/Tim struggled with the way women interacted but did as he saw his college girls do. Lia started to recount the story, watching the horror and excitement appear on the girl's face. He was lucky enough to hear a guy walking past say, "Hi Lia, hi Ami." As they got to the top, Ami was cross with Lia.
"You can't ever be so ready and take so much risk again," Ami said with an angry face. "I don't know what I would do without you." Lia felt guilty and anger at the old Lia who had taken the risks. "I promise I won't, Ami. Let's go see the goods."
Halfway up the mountain, a large area was flattened out with countless small stores run by disciple cultivators trying to sell their wares. Behind them were larger stores run by the sect itself. This allowed disciples to sell wares to each other depending on their specialty. Some disciples were warriors, while others were rune crafters who inscribed patterns for qi to flow to give weapons and other items long-term effects and uses. There were also other trades like alchemists, smiths, and many more. Tim looked around confused, not sure where to go. "Lia, you silly head," Ami said, dragging her to a store. Once inside, an old man sat at the counter. It was one of the elders who was semi-retired. He had reached the pinnacle of his ability; now he ran a store to serve the younger and embrace one of his hobbies. "Welcome, welcome, girls," Elder Yacob said. "Now what treasure do you have for me to evaluate? I will tell you the price of evaluation when I see them." Lia took a big breath and hesitantly took her sword, staff, and manuals out and dropped them in front of the man. "Ahhh," he exclaimed. "Quite the treasures you have come across," eyeing the staff. He silently looked them over and flicked through the manuals. "Ten spirit stones, and I can tell you their function, quality, and if they are safe to use." Ami took a breath in at the price for just an assessment, but Lia handed ten over, leaving her with thirty-three left. Yacob took the sword. "This is a flying sword of low foundation establishment realm. It can be used by injecting qi into it and should give you the ability to fly at a decent speed. I would say its value is at two hundred spirit stones." Ami squealed. "Lia, Lia, you have to take me for a ride." Most lower-level foundation establishment experts didn't have the funds to buy such an item. "But better yet is this," Yacob said, picking the staff up with envy. "This is a channeling staff. It is excellent quality, and I would rate it at entry core foundation level. Luckily, it can still be used by foundation establishment. Whatever qi you feed into it, it condenses and draws additional qi in from the surroundings, compounding its effects. Any qi spell or attack from this will increase by at least eighty percent," he said in excitement. "Better yet, you can use it to assist cultivation. Truly a rare treasure that I value at one thousand spirit stones. I warn you, though—keep this hidden. Use it to cultivate, but do not bring it out unless a life-or-death emergency; otherwise, it may cost you your life. Many have been killed for less. Finally, the manuals I cannot decipher. You may have to find a greater expert than I to read writing this old."
Lia took a big breath. No wonder Lia had risked her life in the rift. Truly, treasures were to be found. Lia looked at Ami. Ami immediately read her mind. "I will keep your secrets to my grave, sister," she said, holding out her pinky. Lia was surprised; the pinky promise was really infinite. Across the universe, it was still a symbol of promise. For the first time, Tim pinky promised like he had seen his college students do before. Ami gave Lia a big hug. "I have to go forge some more pills. I will visit later." Lia strolled back down the mountain with a smile on her face. "A sword that I can ride is way too cool. Wait till I brag to Varek about this. But first, I am going to start cultivating using my new staff. I need to make sure I catch up to Varek/Riku."