"I can identify them if we meet them again. They were within the gates, so they might be back again. If I show you the exact place we met, would you be able to get a better sense?"

"...Probably? Maybe. Well, it's changing the way you cycle somehow, I just can't quite tell. I feel like I should know this."

"...Well, it's only a minute's walk."

Shall they go?

She sniffs around and eventually declares: "Water."

"It's possibly you gained a water affinity. Maybe even without losing potency on your metal affinity."

"...That sounds very useful. I didn't get a fire affinity copying you—but maybe it's by chance, and I should be copying every cultivator I see on the street until I have all five affinities at full potency? Do the weaknesses cancel or do they stack... they shouldn't stack, because my power doesn't copy drawbacks. Is there an easy way to test if I gained the... that would be a weakness to the earth element, no?"

"Obviously not, actually, because you don't copy drawbacks."

"A strength against fire, my own affinity. So - If you deliberately expel qi along a meridian, while - trying to make it watery, meditating on the idea of water, not actual water but the element- I should be able to tell if it's affinity-qi. Or maybe I can try direct injection again and it won't reject this time, since water does not suppress fire."

"—Let's go back in first."

Then once they're situated, she focus and tries to expel watery qi, focusing on fluidity, adaptability, flow—

"-Right, sorry, shouldn't have outburst."

Mumble grumble mumble.

"Yep. There is a faint hint of water alignment there. Cheating. Oh, I'm not that mad, but... I guess this is what it's really like to have Heaven's favor, huh?"

"It is very convenient."

Rebecca is inordinately pleased.

"Should I try copying every cultivator I've ever seen in order, and maybe you can track if I acquire more affinities that way?"

"Most cultivators are human? Those two were definitely not just human. I guess plenty of folk have beast heritage somewhere, probably. We uh, integrate, sometimes."

"Hm. Do you know what they were? I suppose there's no harm in trying; the worst case is that nothing happens."

"Snake. Probably not diremonsters themselves, maybe the children or grandchildren of one. It dilutes over time. What kind- Impossible to tell specifically. There are so many. I don't even have a clear name for myself except 'Ember Wind Fox'. And I suppose that's true, as far as worst cases go."

Then Rebecca can sit down and attempt to Dragon Fairy Elf Witch everyone she's thus far identified as a cultivator.

—except the blood cultivators from the village, because those might have advantages she'll eventually prefer to have but which would be a visible red flag right now.

...Wen eventually reports that Rebecca seems to have also gained a bit of Earth affinity, after all this, but it might be just practice effects thanks to the guided meditations on the elements. She hasn't gotten any fire from Wen herself; Probably what she got then was an affinity for portals and what Wen calls 'the beneath', which is where the portals went through and where she goes when she turns intangible for a moment at a time. (Sort of. It's complicated.)

Rebeca nods.

"Perhaps it will become clearer with another batch later in the future. For now, does it make sense to try direct injection again?"

"I think so. Even if I do that half the night, with so many spirit stones and medicines I'll go faster than before. No medicines for you today. I'm hoping we can go to the Three Jades tomorrow and purchase a decent metal-aligned method... And they'll help a lot more once you're working on your cultivation properly. I still think you might want to pursue metal, despite being able to slurp up more affinities. You have a very metal personality. Planning and precision and sudden action at the right moment."

"I do think so! I'm interpreting that specialization is more efficient, even if I don't have to, right."

Well, with this new boon, how far can she progress in one night?

Wen can directly inject qi into her system now, which positively blasts the meridians open in comparison to Rebecca's own efforts.

She has about half of them open, and has decent control. Purging impurities is going a bit slower, she has cleared maybe 3-4%? It left a thin layer of a very unpleasant oily sticky residue on her skin, which Wen says isn't harmful, just disgusting.

Personal Hygiene is doing something here, but she's not sure. She's not not secreting the residue, but it doesn't bother her beyond the abstract level, and is only noticeable when she wants? And once they're done, it's gone once she's not paying attention.

And this is much easier than doing it herself. The slightly dubious decision to copy those two is paying dividends. She lets it show as they're packing it up.

"Let's stock up on stones before leaving here. We don't want to do anything suspicious to pay if we reach a deal for manuals with Three Jades."

Giant pile of stones!

"I was meaning to ask—is it dangerous to duplicate spiritual weapons, as in do they carry enough of a signature that someone might notice one going around when it shouldn't be?"

She tries to duplicate an inert spirit stone—no, it's not the wearable in itself, plausibly doesn't work like that—can she manifest an inert storage ring made of wood, if she holds the designs in her head? Yes.

"I can make inert models of the ones I'm thinking of if that helps; I'd guess it varies?"

Stones go in bags!

"...Experts looking at it will be able to tell, if they bother to examine closely. And most people would recognize a duplicate if they see it close to a real one just by the physical construction, I feel? That might assume it's a deliberate imitation or convergent design. Models? If you change part of the underlying construction I'm genuinely unsure."

"I suspect I might not be able to copy the spiritual effect or enchantment if I modify the underlying construction. There's no reason to try my luck now, especially when we can simply buy most things we need anyway. I don't think it's a huge risk, but it would generate a lot of unanswerable questions if found out."

And she still half suspects she can break the spiritual weapons she's seen over her knee—

Maybe it is worth a try to test just that. With a duplicate of one she's purchased, in privacy.