The mockery that followed Meng Ru out of the Gu selection room became a persistent shadow. In the days that followed, he was the academy's resident fool. The story of the A-grade genius who chose a farmer's worm was a source of endless amusement for the other students.
"There goes the Vigor Master," they would whisper as he passed. "Be careful not to tire yourself walking, Meng Ru. You might need your Gu to recover!"
Gu Moon Bo was the most vocal, his taunts loud and public. "Still have calluses on your hands, river rat? Don't worry, your Vigor Gu will help you chop wood faster! A fitting tool for a laborer!"
Meng Ru ignored them all. Their opinions were irrelevant variables, noise in the equation. He retreated to the quiet solitude of his courtyard and began the crucial process of refining his new Gu.
Refining a Gu was a battle of wills. The Gu worm possessed its own innate consciousness, and the Gu Master had to imprint their own will upon it, overwriting its own until it submitted completely.
He started with the Grasshopper Leg Gu. He poured his silver primeval essence into his aperture, then directed a sliver of it into the cage. The essence, carrying his will, enveloped the small green grasshopper. The Gu struggled, its will a tiny, frantic spark against his own vast, cold consciousness. It was a brief, pitiful resistance. Within an hour, the spark was extinguished, and the Grasshopper Leg Gu became his. It dissolved into a pattern of light that flowed into his body, settling on the soles of his feet.
Next was the Stealth Rock Gu. Its will was slightly stronger, more stubborn, and more resilient, like the earth it represented. It took Meng Ru three hours of steady, relentless pressure from his will, fueled by his A-grade primeval sea, before the brown beetle finally submitted. It, too, dissolved into a tattoo-like mark on his chest.
Finally, he turned to the Lesser Vigor Gu. Its will was the weakest of all, a dim, flickering ember. It offered almost no resistance, submitting to his will in mere minutes.
By the end of the first day, Meng Ru had refined all three of his chosen Gu.
When the Academy Elder made his rounds to check on the students' progress, he found most of them still struggling with their first Gu. Gu Moon Bo, with his C-grade aptitude and stubborn will, was locked in a battle with his Moonlight Gu, his face pale with strain. He would likely succeed by the next day, but the cost to his mental energy was high.
When the Elder arrived at Meng Ru's courtyard, he found him sitting calmly, his breathing even.
"Have you begun the refining process?" the Elder asked, his tone still laced with disapproval over Meng Ru's choice.
"I have finished," Meng Ru replied simply.
The Elder's eyes widened slightly. "Finished? All three?"
"Yes."
To prove it, Meng Ru activated the Grasshopper Leg Gu. A faint green light enveloped his legs, and with a slight push, he hopped three meters into the air, landing silently on the other side of the courtyard. He then pressed himself against the stone wall, and the Stealth Rock Gu activated. His form shimmered, his colors shifting to perfectly match the grey stone, his presence almost vanishing.
The Elder was stunned into silence. To refine three Gu, even weak ones, in a single day was an astonishing feat. It was a testament to the overwhelming advantage of an A-grade aperture. The sheer volume and recovery rate of Meng Ru's primeval essence meant he could accomplish in hours what took others days.
Yet, the choice of Gu still bothered him. Such speed, such potential… wasted on a Vigor Gu. It was like using a treasured, razor-sharp axe to chop soft tofu.
"See that you do not fall behind in combat prowess," the Elder said gruffly, turning to leave. "The clan has no use for a genius who can only hide and jump."
Meng Ru gave a simple nod. He knew the Elder, like the others, could not see the true path he was walking.
That night, under the light of the moon, Meng Ru did not cultivate. He slipped out of his courtyard, using his new stealth and movement abilities to navigate the sleeping village like a ghost. He made his way to the dark side of the mountain, to a place where the air was damp and the ground was perpetually in shadow.
There, just as the old text had described, he found a patch of small, bitter-tasting grass.
He carefully harvested the leaves, his movements precise and efficient. He then located a cluster of rocks and, after a short search, found a common rock beetle, its carapace hard and dull.
Back in his courtyard, he began the first step of his true plan. He crushed the bitter leaves into a paste and began to feed it to the Lesser Vigor Gu. It was a slow, methodical process, the first move in a long and patient gambit. The other students were focused on the upcoming combat examinations. Meng Ru was focused on laying a foundation so deep and unshakable that no one would see it until it was far too late.