Excuse me, could I have a moment?

She doesn't see it for a couple of hours, but then replies,

Sorry, was training. Of course, what's on your mind?

I was talking to Senior Starlight about you and your lack of amniotic true qi came up. I mentioned to Starlight that I was a medium and she suggested that I help you form a ghost spirit contract!

A ghost spirit contract would almost entirely negate your disadvantage in cultivation speed and time, though it would naturally come with some responsibilities. Normally it's somewhat difficult to find ghosts powerful enough to contract with, but I just so happen to have heard of one haunting the London tube system. We have a real opportunity here if you're up for it.

Interested?

Sounds interesting but I think I might need to know more about ghost spirits and contracts first? I don't know nearly as much background stuff as you all do either!

Alright, let me back up. 

Ghost spirits are the remnants of the fate/luck/karma of dead people. They are most likely to form in cases of violent, unjust death - murder and war, with a side of execution. They're what happens when unresolved karma is strong enough to generate qi, and that qi in turn produces a "spiritual body" for the ghost. It's most common for ghost spirits to appear as balls of floating light, will-o-wisps basically. Unusually strong ones can manifest ghost bodies - this is particularly common when the ghost is out for vengeance for being wronged. 

Ghost Spirits are unnatural - against the Mandate of Heaven - and so they need a constant source of additional qi in order to keep manifesting. Sometimes this can be gathered from a haunted or cursed location, but more commonly the ghost spirit will attack people for qi, particularly cultivators. Many of them are nothing more than hungry predators, basically. But the ones that can manifest bodies are - basically just really hurt, wronged people with a hunger for qi. You can tame the dumb ones and negotiate with the smart ones. Once you form a contract with a spirit ghost, it will aid your cultivation by supplying Spirit Ghost True Qi, much like amniotic True Qi. Even low-ranked spirit ghosts are capable of this, and remain useful up to the rank of Battle Queen. Smart ones can keep helping with your cultivation up to the True Monarch realm! But of course they'll have more demands than a dumb animal.

It is standard practice in China to use the Five Elements Contracting Spirit Altar to make contracts with ghosts. This technique consists of torturing a captured spirit ghost to the brink of second death and then enforcing a predatory contract on it when it has no other options. We don't do that here. Even the animalistic ghosts can be tamed by feeding them on Soul Pearls, and the others are people. 

I was lucky enough to find my own past life lingering as a spirit ghost and make a contract with her. I don't know what kind of ghost we'll meet in London, so I can't guess what the contract will look like. But regardless of the type it would help a lot with your cultivation.

That's horrible. Especially on ghosts smart enough to be people.

So you suspect that this ghost will be convincible to form a contract once we talk to it some? And if it becomes partners with me then it's no longer haunting mortals? It definitely sounds like something that should be dealt with and the rewards sound great as well. Ghosts partnered with cultivators still need qi I presume? Does Spirit Ghost True Qi benefit one more than the drain of feeding them?

It's most likely that it will be an animalistic ghost, and they generally love Soul Pearls and will feed on them preferentially to humans. You can offer safety and food, and that's enough to be worth it. If it's "awake" both the risk and the benefit are a lot higher - an awake hostile ghost could be a problem for me. But they generally are very lost - they're usually quite old - and still need to get qi somewhere. Most reasonable ones will be happy for a guide, at least I think so. Of course people are people, and a lot of ghosts are burdened with memories of their deaths which make them unstable/fragile, so you are always risking being eaten even with smart ones. This is why the Chinese take such a hard line, they basically treat ghost spirits as fundamentally untrustworthy. 

A contracted ghost spirit will continuously feed on your qi and chi. You'll feel sluggish, fatigued and sickly for a while before your system gets used to it. It'll also knock a few years off your projected lifespan - but you're a Cultivator, you're already getting a lot more years than most people. 

In return, the ghost spirit will process True Qi for you, essentially acting as an additional active dantian. In other words, having a ghost spirit contracted means you can refine True Qi - which is the defining ability of a True Master, the second realm. It's an artificial and limited capability which isn't nearly as good as the real thing, but it gives you access to True Qi far earlier than you ought to be able to have it and that means you can push your way through the First Realm very easily, comparable to having amniotic True Qi or better. Then in the Second Realm it still acts as an additional dantian - which will be a large fraction of your True Qi generation in the early realms - and that means you can break through to more dantians faster, so the overall effect is still major. In the Third Realm it levels out and becomes simply a permanently on weak qi pill (because your qi generation is higher than it should be), but it's still useful. After you unlock the Four Extraordinary Meridians your liquid qi generation swamps the relatively weak effect and it stops being useful. 

All of this is with an animalistic, dumb ghost spirit. A thinking one can do pairwise cultivation techniques with you as a Dao Companion and even possess your body to use techniques they knew in life. That kind of help is good all the way to True Monarch, after which it starts getting personal and artistic and inspirational enough that you basically have to do it yourself. 

Thank you for explaining. I'll be happy to help you investigate this spirit ghost and probably to form a contract as well. Is there anything you need from me in return for the opportunity?

A bit later,

Also, are Dao Companions always a romantic relationship?

I'll charge you for any Soul Pearls I use, but it's good training for me so I won't ask for more than that. It'll probably run you 10-20 qi pills?

Being someone's dao companion is always an intimate endeavour requiring much commitment, but it doesn't necessarily have a romantic component. Some of the pairwise cultivation techniques are sexual but not all of them, and for that matter you don't necessarily have to romance somebody for that either. Why do you ask?

At this rate I will need to earn more pills soon, but that's fine.

Because 'as a Dao Companion' was slightly ambiguous phrasing. I take it now that a spirit ghost contract, even with a person-ghost, is not actually like a Dao Companion?

Depends on the relationship. The spirit ghost contract is not enough to make one your dao companion, but if you're stuck together anyway you might as well do pairwise cultivation together. The "commitment" and "intimacy" barriers have already been largely dealt with since you'll be literally sharing the same body. 

I personally am my spirit ghost's Dao Companion, we are a... thing. It's complicated.

Lots of permanent decisions and commitments being made here. It would probably be better if it's a simple ghost. Like a pet, almost. Considering something so effectively permanent- Hmm. But the amount of leg-up it implies is very appealing.

I shan't ask overly intrusive questions then. Where and when should I meet you to investigate? You'll need to teach me any relevant techniques or procedures if I have to do them.

I'll come by the house in Cardiff day after tomorrow and walk you through the necessary techniques; then we can travel to London together and go ghost hunting.

I'll look forward to it!

She goes and finds Cocoa. He's not far. (Two weeks of vacation is kind of long but maybe he's just that kind of person, and he IS already fairly accomplished anyway, so.)

"Butterfly Dancer has invited me to go ghost-hunting, day after tomorrow. Apparently it will be good training for her and I might get to contract with a spirit ghost. Just thought I'd check with you that this is actually a good thing? Not without downsides or obligations, but like- Not crippling ones or anything."

"Ghost contracting is a well-regarded 'early cheat technique' and basically the only reason everyone doesn't do it is the fact that amniotic true qi gives most of the same benefits. Between that and the rarity of ghosts strong enough to contract with, the practice is mostly confined to dedicated mediums who contract with the spirits of their ancestors and dedicated ghost hunters willing to use the Five Elements Contracting Spirit Altar to enslave the rare random ghost. People spend years searching for these things - if Butterfly Dancer says there's an opportunity, you should jump on it."

"Right. Well, day after tomorrow. And I feel like- I should be sharp for it, right, so I think I'm going to take an off day tomorrow. Just a morning workout and that's it. Even if it slows me down, getting this right is faster in the long run."

"Sounds smart to me."

Cocoa curls back up around the Nintendo Switch.

"I might want to go sailing, if you still wanted to try that. It'd be fun to teach someone instead of be taught."

"Not in the mood today, but try again tomorrow I might change my mind. Good luck either way."

"Right."

Well, what else could she plan to do? Lounge around and play video games and browse the internet? That's what she used to do, mostly. She could head home and hang out for the day. She could go on another shopping spree, but that makes her feel vaguely guilty in a way that renting a sailboat wouldn't. She doesn't have many friends who she could talk to about all this new stuff, is the thing. Honestly, if she went to see Sammy and the rest of the fast food social circle they'd probably just gripe and complain about her new looks and what work is like and that just sounds wearing. What about- Anna? ...Maybe. A day off can just be a change of pace instead of a day dedicated to fun.

She puts into the 3-person chatroom

Anna, I'm taking tomorrow off from training for a change of pace. So if you're available it would be a good time for me to answer questions and teach you about the mundane world.

Can you help me get a driver's liscense?

Yes. I assume your civilian ID is all set up? Have you been taught how to drive yet? There's a practical test.

No, I need to set up lessons but I'd need to get there and to be photographed for the liscense and so on. And I don't know what to do about the ears.