“Thank you for the offer, but we’ve already made our oaths,” Qin said and Julilah nodded.
“Very well. Make sure you return any borrowed items and I hope that you will think of the Formation Guild if you don’t wish to work for Vuzgal anymore.”
Qin and Julilah finished up their good-byes and left the box, heading to the library to deposit the books that they had been reading.
“With the books we bought, the other formation masters should be able to gain a greater understanding of formations. Should see an increase in the formation department’s strength!” Qin said.
“You just want us to beat out the other departments in raising an Expert-level formation master,” Julilah said.
“And you don’t?” Qin asked.
“Don’t worry, Department Head. I’ll soon be able to become the Expert formation master our department needs!”
“You! Are you trying to take my position as department head!” Qin bugged her friend.
“You’ll need to fight harder if you want to keep your position. Re-election is up in six months!”
“You’re really going for my position!” Qin said.
“May the best formation master win!” Julilah said, putting down her playful challenge.
Chapter: Student Surprises the Teacher
Erik checked his new gains from the last couple of days.
With the issues in Chonglu, their original departure for the Third Realm had been pushed back.
Delilah let go of her mother and looked at the rest of her family and the council members who had gathered to see her off.
“Time to go,” Erik said to Delilah, seeing how hard it was for her to say good-bye, even for a short while.
Alva had grown rapidly over the last year. But now all of the different departments worked like a well-oiled machine, building places for people to live, creating apartment buildings as Matt called them, setting up people to get an education and then on to jobs.
Delilah was proud of what they had been able to establish here.
“Be safe and remember to write home every so often,” her mother said.
“I will.” Delilah looked from her to the rest of her family before she turned toward Erik and the groups of people saying their last good-byes and stepped into the area around the totem.
“Keep the lights on,” Erik said to the council leaders Jia Feng, Glosil, and Egbert.
He used the totem. Alva disappeared and the noises of the Third Realm Division Headquarters filled Delilah’s ears.
Erik smiled as he pulled out a badge and put it on his chest, marking him as a mid-Journeyman alchemist.
Erik led Delilah toward the Division Headquarters that towered over the city.
Erik presented his medallion at the entrance and his identity was verified. A guide came up to them and took them through the Division Headquarters and into the inner areas.
Delilah followed Erik, reaching the heart of the Division Headquarters.
Medicinal ingredients infuse the air from their repeated use. The mana is much higher here as well, not quite on the standard as the density in the Expert-level crafting rooms, but it covers a much larger area and is closer to the mana density one would find in an Apprentice-level crafting room. These are just the general areas. I wonder what their training facilities are like.
Delilah’s interest increased as she noticed the differences in the headquarters compared to the city that had grown around it.
They took an elevator driven by formations that took them near the top of the Division Headquarters. They came out and were greeted by guards standing in front of a large door.
By their strength, the weakest among them is in their mid-fifties level and the strongest is just over level sixty. Delilah studied them some more, trying to guess the level of their Mana or Body Cultivation.
Just these guards have the same strength as Alva’s soldiers. I thought that they would be unstoppable in the Ten Realms. Delilah let out a self-deprecating breath. There is always someone higher and the power of the associations isn’t something that can be ignored.
“Captain Khasar, I hope you’ve been doing well,” Erik said, greeting one of the guards at a pair of large doors.
“It is good to see you again, Journeyman West. He’s waiting for you,” Khasar said as the doors opened for them.
Delilah looked at Erik. He seemed to have changed. He had been dealing with the administration of Alva and Vuzgal these last few months, only taking a break to go into the Metal floor.
Now she saw a different side of him: not the warrior, or the leader, but the student. He was more relaxed and excited, but no less determined or driven.
Maybe that is his strength—everything he does, he puts all of his effort and energy into it.
She followed Erik into the large room beyond. There was a small garden in one corner, a workspace in another, then a full wall of windows looking over the Division Headquarters and the lush forests below the mountaintop city.
Delilah smiled to herself as she felt the mana density of the room.
Nicer, but still it is about a third of the mana density in Alva Dungeon. Being outside of the dungeon, she started to remember the benefits and the aids that one could find in Alva.
I’ve become so used to it, numb to these advantages I hold. I’m always a little stunned by the people who come from the other realms. To them, Alva is a paradise. She paused as they crossed the massive room. Alva is our home. She felt shaken to her core as she really, truly believed that. A smile spread across her face. It is only when you’re away that you learn how valuable the thing you left is.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to show up, Mister City Lord.” An older-looking man laughed as he looked from his desk with a wide smile.
“Old Hei, this is my student Delilah,” Erik said.
“Student! Looks like you are growing up some.” Old Hei laughed as he turned his gaze to Delilah.
“Student of healing or Alchemy?” he asked Delilah.
“Delilah greets Grand Teacher, and of Alchemy.” Delilah cupped her fists and bowed deeply.
“What is your skill level?” Old Hei asked in interest. “Don’t worry, Erik. I won’t ask you to bow. We both know you mess it up every time.”
“I should be around level sixty-eight.” Delilah tried to hide the smile forming on her face as Erik coughed awkwardly and looked out the windows.
“Level sixty-eight! So close to becoming an Expert! Those last levels are the hardest.” Old Hei then looked over to Erik, who had an awkward expression on his face.
“Erik, what is your current Alchemy level?”
“Seventy.” Erik coughed slightly.
“You haven’t been able to improve your Alchemy? Or you have been doing other things?” Old Hei asked.
“Other things,” Erik said.
“I heard about some of it,” Old Hei said dryly. “Guess I should call you City Lord West now?” Old Hei grumbled. “Please rise, grand student.”
Delilah rose to see Old Hei had walked around his desk, with his arms crossed and a mocking smile.
“It was an accident?”
“Yes, you accidentally took an ancient undead-infested city, then gained the support of all the associations. I hear that you banished a bunch of Expert crafters, are building an academy, and have plans to build a Battle Arena, auction house, and are quickly becoming a capital of crafting and mercantile trade in the Fourth Realm.” Old Hei let out a laugh and shook his head, uncrossing his arms. “May your life always be filled with interesting times. You know that the Alchemist Association wants me to barter with you to get better terms, right?”
Erik scratched his head.
“You think I would do that...just, if you could get me some more of those little shrimp tempura from the Sky Reaching Restaurant, mmm!” Old Hei closed his eyes as if tasting them all over again.
“You’re looking well for someone who eats over at the Sky Reaching Restaurant so much. I hav
e heard the management say that they should give you a free meal every ten as you’re there every time you can get free, or have it delivered,” Erik said.
“I appreciate food.” Old Hei shrugged and then winked at Delilah.
She smiled at the back and forth.
“Come on, we have a lot to catch up on. I got a few things.” Old Hei guided them toward a balcony that looked over the city.
“You must try these eggs Benedict, just marvelous.” Old Hei served food before they settled down.
He was not what she was thinking one of the Pill Heads of the Alchemist Association would act like.
“Your healing?” Old Hei asked.
“I got to level seventy-three just a few days ago. It was a complicated surgery, bringing a man back from the brink.”
Delilah had heard about the incident with Lord Chonglu. Others didn’t think that he would have survived but Erik and Yang Zan had pulled off a small miracle, keeping him alive and repairing his body.
“I have been hearing what happened in the Fourth Realm. Between fighting the Blood Demon sect and establishing Vuzgal, were you able to practice and read?” Old Hei asked.
“I was able to do some Alchemy,” Erik said weakly.
“Anything that pushed your boundaries or concoctions that you knew already?”
“Concoctions that I already knew.” Erik didn’t hide anything.
Old Hei nodded knowingly. “Okay, well, before I can teach you both, I need to know what your ability is. I want you two to create a concoction. Delilah, make this for me.” Old Hei passed her a few sets of ingredients and a formula.
She took it and studied the contents. It was a water-breathing concoction.
She studied it and then used her Journeyman book, looking up information on the concoction, adding in a new entry on the concoction and notes on it that would be useful to her.
Erik and Old Hei left her to it, talking among themselves. Erik talked about the issues that he was having while Old Hei offered pointers.
She tuned them both out as she studied. I don’t want to let Erik down.
After a full half hour of study, she nodded to herself.
“May I use your workspace?” she asked.
“Please, go ahead,” Old Hei said.
She went to the workspace, checking it was clean and in order. She put down her cauldron over the flames, adjusting the flames to start warming the cauldron. She moved to the bench and started to prepare the different ingredients.
She prepared them all and then sat in front of the cauldron. She injected her mana into the flame formation, adjusting the flame and getting used to the flame formation.
Take your time and get to know your workspace. Erik’s words sounded out in her head. She understood the formation, saw that her cauldron was fully warmed, and took time to calm her mind. Circulating her mana, she reviewed the steps of the formula and her own notes.
With a flick of her wrist, the first ingredients, a red-blue-green mixture, was poured into the cauldron.
She didn’t notice Erik or Old Hei, who had moved closer and were inspecting every action she took.
Her mana covered the cauldron as her tools talked to her, letting her know what was happening on an almost instinctual level.
The water-breathing pill had long roasting phases where one just needed to monitor what was happening in the cauldron, making sure to not heat it too long or too short, and to maintain a good temperature.
Her teacher and grand teacher watched on, not saying anything as they made their own observations.
It took her nearly two hours before she allowed the flame underneath the cauldron to dim and she pulled out the pills inside.
She stored them in pill bottles and presented them to Erik and Old Hei with a frown.
“What? Do you think you could have done better?” Erik asked, reading her frown perfectly.
“When I was adding the pulp extract from the Liole shoots, they were not processed enough and thus when combined with the other ingredients, they didn’t combine properly,” she said.
“Anything else?”
“I should have used the centrifuge longer when working with the Sera roots. They didn’t separate out fully, so there were impurities added into the concoction.” She saw Erik waiting for her to say anything else.
“Otherwise, there were a few times where my technique was lacking. I should have used four flames as one to heat everything evenly instead of the two-flame method. I didn’t take into account the long brewing time fully.”
“Good. You have been able to accurately pick out your major flaws without us saying anything. If you were to do as you said, then you would have produced peak Journeyman pills, instead of just half-step peak pills,” Old Hei said.
“Though you took your time in understanding the ingredients, your concoction, workspace, and the formula. Taking your time greatly improved the success rate and strength of your concoction,” Erik said in approval.
“As for issues, you were using the dragon chasing flame control method. Using a two-flame method is good when you need to heat a small mixture. The water-breathing pill I gave you creates a lot of volume, so with a two-flame method it will be hard to control everything that is going on—heating the new ingredients and also maintaining the temperature of the main combined group of ingredients.
“You also positioned your hands on your knees. It keeps a lower profile, yes, but when you need to move your hands in order to coordinate the movement of the flames, having space is essential. Keep your hands raised in front of you and not resting them on your knees. You’ll have a wider range to move through so your mobility is not limited.
“You have been working with someone to prepare your ingredients. This is fine, but even if someone prepares your ingredients, you must know everything about them. You made a few lazy mistakes that come from not preparing ingredients in a long time. That said, I think your biggest issue is not your skills—I think it is the limited formulas you have. For you to produce mid Journeyman-level pills on your first try with this formula, it is rather impressive. I think that unless Erik improves quickly, it won’t be long until you beat him to the Expert level.” Old Hei smiled and pulled out another formula.
“And this one is for you. Get yourself ready and pass me your notes,” Old Hei said.
Erik sighed. He passed his notes to Old Hei and changed positions with Delilah.
Delilah sat with Old Hei, who reviewed the entire process she had gone through, going through every detail he had noticed.
He invited her to discuss it as Erik reviewed the formula and started his preparations.
Erik was halfway through his concoction when he stopped and poured out the contents and started all again. He did that two more times before he seemed satisfied.
Delilah’s emotions were jumbled up, seeing him pour out his ingredients so many times. She felt that she had surpassed him, but felt it strange to surpass her own teacher, who had been like a Alchemy saint when she had first met him.
“A teacher’s greatest achievement is to have their students surpass them. I am an Expert-level alchemist but I have faith that both you and Erik will surpass me in the future. At the rate you two are increasing your level and your information, it shouldn’t be too long.” He laughed. “The one piece of advice I have is to make sure you not only do Alchemy, but learn it. Read books, talk to other alchemists, see how they work. If you merely replicate what others have done or continue down your path and don’t take inspiration from others or listen to others, then your path will end in the Expert realm. People say that an Expert alchemist can make a concoction from simple household ingredients. Now, that concoction will not be very strong and it will take a lot of effort to complete but it is possible. An Expert-level alchemist must have a great amount of knowledge.
“In the Journeyman stage, one gets their crafting book and can have the capability to store a great amount of information and never lose it. An Expert turns that information into
action. They draw out power from ingredients and concoctions that lower level crafters can’t. To get to the later levels of Alchemy, one isn’t just copying others’ formulas; they are forging their own path of Alchemy. When someone becomes a Master, the information is their base but they don’t need formulas as they are able to analyze ingredients with a glance or a sniff and create concoctions freely.”
“What about those who can call down the stars of the realm?”
“Those who can call down the stars when creating a concoction can create concoctions that contain a spirit. These concoctions, with time, will only grow stronger and can gain their own consciousness. Those concoctions can change a person’s fate, their very stats and their cultivation.” Old Hei chuckled. “Even I only know information about the peak Expert-level crafters. Instead of just making recovery pills, Experts make enhancing pills that allow one to increase their fighting capabilities, increase their cultivation and so on.”
“Could you increase someone’s Body Cultivation with just a pill?”
“In the clans of the Fifth Realm, there is the Gray Stone pill which will allow whoever takes it to increase their Body Cultivation directly to Body Like Stone,” Old Hei said. “Oh, it looks like Erik is nearly done.”
Erik tapped the side of the cauldron. Three pills shot out and into a bottle he had prepared.
Chapter: State of the Realms
“All right, I hope you’ve all been paying attention to training, because we have a mission,” Second Lieutenant Yui Silaz said as he looked at the orders he had just received.
Tiger Company had been reorganized. They were still called Tiger Company, but now they were Tiger Company’s First Rifle Platoon. It acted as a promise that with time they would grow to create a full combat company.
“Sergeant Acosta!”
“Sir!” Sergeant Acosta, who stood at the side of the briefing room, stood at attention.
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