River of Fate: Emerald Alchemist, page 20
“Something like that,” Verse agreed. “25 works if anyone asks. That seems like a reasonable age for an Imperial Knight.”
At any rate, it was close enough.
“I wonder what a spiritual scan would reveal from your bones,” the shrine said with a thoughtful hum. “Some sects like to use that to test age.”
“Who knows,” Verse said with a laugh. “Maybe it’ll tell them I’m two and they’ll be shocked. The sects in Whitestone tried it once, but their methods weren’t very advanced. Whatever it said, they weren’t surprised.”
“Probably not 2,000 then,” the shrine agreed, “but either way, no more entering sects for you. You’re my student! But more importantly, you should be just about the right age to ask that alchemist girl out for dinner. She’s probably in her early 20s too.”
“Are you playing matchmaker now?” Verse asked with a laugh. “I can handle that myself. You focus on formations and alchemy.”
He wasn’t sure about Vesana as a romantic interest yet, but he did want to study alchemy with her. As for the rest, it would sort itself out.
“I knew it! So you are going to ask her out!” the shrine exclaimed. “Dragons have great vitality. Find yourself a mate!”
“Mind your own snout,” Verse chuckled as he waved a hand in the air. “But it’s good to know you have no bias against her.”
“Dragons have always been open-minded about these things,” the shrine teased. “Who am I to disregard tradition? Just don’t neglect your practice.”
“Alright, enough of that.” Verse rolled his eyes as he dismissed the mirror, which dissipated into a quickly-fading mist. Then he turned his attention to the Wind and Wood treasures that were in front of him. “Which of these do you think I should use first?”
“Wood,” the shrine replied immediately. “Use the courtyard here to help. Then you can focus on Wind after. Those items have a significant amount of energy in them as well, so use it for your bloodline. You don’t want your cultivation to break through yet.”
Verse nodded as he put all of the items away except the low-grade Wood stones. He wasn’t sure how much he would have to absorb until he could sense Wood clearly, so he wanted to work his way up from the weakest to the strongest. That way, he should be able to get the best feel for the element.
Once he did, then it was a matter of comprehension, but he wasn’t sure how long it would take.
Vesana should be fine in the guild for now. It was unlikely another heritage alchemist would appear immediately, but if they did, it was up to her to mark them with a tracking item. Once that happened, he would help.
There were a dozen of the low-grade Wood stones. He picked up the first and held it in his palm as he began to draw spiritual energy from it.
With the Wood-alignment that it had, most people would not try something like this. It was similar to a regular spirit stone, but if the energy from the stone clashed with their personal energy, it could damage their meridians.
The only people who would do something like this were those who had a pure Wood affinity or another way to divert the elemental energy.
The same went for Fire and other types of aligned spirit stones. They were more commonly used in crafting or for specific talismans than for cultivation.
The Wood energy was an emerald mist flowing through his meridians with a taste of cedar and moss. It filled his senses with the taste of oak and ash, vine and heartwood, root and branch. Through it all, green vitality roared like an ocean, struggling to escape and grow.
If he hadn’t been aligned to Wood, it would have tried to plant roots in his meridians and expand outward through his skin, but when it met his bloodline, it disappeared like mist in front of the sun.
It was gone in an instant.
The spirit stone in his hand turned to dust and disintegrated on the grass of the courtyard, but for just a moment there, he had felt the truth of Wood. His eyes glowed with emerald flames as he looked at the rest of the spirit stones in front of him.
Then he reached out and picked up the next one.
This time, he kept control of his bloodline energy as he began to absorb it. The same verdant life of Wood spread through his veins, merging into his muscles, bones, and every cell of his body. When he breathed, it flowed through his lungs and an emerald mist poured out of his nose.
A hunger in his blood wanted to seize the energy, but he held it back as he let the strength of Wood permeate his existence. It flowed through his body as it dispersed, and some of it settled like a swirling mist in his cells.
Then that spirit stone crumbled to dust too and scattered across the courtyard. But this time, some of the energy was left behind, existing side-by-side with his bloodline energy and jade essence.
Across from him, Leaf had a wide dragon-like grin on his narrow face as he kept his attention fixed on Verse. His ears were perked and his head was lying on top of his claws, his posture expectant.
Around the elemental, there was a slowly-expanding cyclone of Wood energy that was nearly invisible. The energy cycled through the courtyard as it grew more intense, but it was moving through each of the herbs, highlighting the layout of the natural formation Leaf had arranged.
The elemental was trying to help him out. There was a simplicity in the formation that echoed with the Wood energy he had just absorbed.
The path was right in front of him. He just had to comprehend it.
He breathed deeply, holding onto the Wood energy, and then he reached out and picked up a third spirit stone. A few more would saturate his body with Wood energy, and he would reach the peak state for comprehension.
The rest would depend on him.
As that stone crumbled to dust, a layer of green flames began to radiate from his skin, dancing in the air like rustling leaves. All around him, the plants in the courtyard slowly bent in his direction, their blossoms and fronds trembling in the air.
Chapter fourteen
Crimson Shadows
“Come in.” Renzer frowned as he heard the knock on his door, but he called out anyway. When Heten sidled through the door, his frown turned to a scowl.
The half-sylph was one of the main appraisers for this guild branch, but that didn’t mean he liked him. He was little more than a servant, and if he hadn’t been in a good position to intercept newcomers to the guild, Renzer wouldn’t have roped him into his plan.
“What happened?” he asked as his eyes narrowed. Heten would not have come here unless something occurred. The man did his best to avoid anything resembling real work. From the look on his face, it wasn’t good.
When Heten hesitated, Renzer’s primal aura crashed down on him with the force of a hurricane, making him stagger as he supported himself against the door.
“A new heritage alchemist,” the appraiser gasped out, his face pale, “but the deputy branch manager intercepted me before I could tell you and took him away!” His words were half strangled.
“Is that all?” Renzer frowned at him as he tried to figure out why the appraiser was so nervous. “She’s a spoiled guild brat who sticks her nose into everything. So what? Why are you panicking?”
His aura pressed down on Heten again, making him shrink backward as he struggled to breathe.
A Primal Spirit cultivator’s aura was one of their strongest weapons. Their dao combined with it, creating pressure of a primal law of nature and turning it into a weapon. It was possible to have an aura like a raging river that could drown your enemies or a divine inferno that would turn them to ashes.
In Renzer’s case, he followed the Dao of a Thousand Burning Oaks. It was a heritage of Wood and Flame from his family, and it made him an exceptional alchemist. His aura was as crushing and hot as a firestorm in a forest.
He could use his aura to incinerate Heten on the spot or to crush his bones and turn him into paste, but he didn’t go that far. This was only teaching him a lesson about respect.
Using it like this to punish an underling was a common thing for him, especially one like Heten who was constantly reaching above his station.
The pressure made the half-Sylph groan as he tried to stand upright, only to sink back in a half-crouch against the door.
“Your cultivation is weaker every time I see you,” Renzer muttered as he shook his head. “How can you call yourself an alchemist when you don’t have any spirit at all?”
Alchemy was a noble profession, one that covered the world in its breadth. Every type of research could fall under it. It was also the true key to cultivation and power. No other craft enabled you to turn common herbs into wondrous materials.
It was also an enormous source of wealth.
To see someone like Heten giving the profession a bad name, even if he was only an appraiser, made Renzer angry every time he saw him. He shook his head, but finally decided it was enough.
A weasel would always be a weasel.
“He’s an Imperial Knight!” Heten gasped as the pressure stopped and he raised his arms to protect himself. “He’s going to ruin everything!”
The words hung in the air, making Renzer’s frown deepen.
“Wait,” he said. With a flick of his hand, a sealing talisman appeared. It was a single-use item. As soon as he activated it, an intricate symbol formed in the air, floating above his desk.
It was expensive, but for a conversation like this, it was essential to prevent anyone from spying, even inside the guild. The wards here weren’t infallible.
“Tell me what you know,” he said as he got control of his temper. “Speak freely.”
It didn’t take long for Heten to spit out what he knew, which wasn’t much. By the time he was done, Renzer’s mood turned darker as he considered the ramifications.
“You can go,” he said as he threw a small bag of spirit stones at Heten. “That’s for the information. Do your job and don’t come here again until I tell you to. If any other heritage alchemists show up, send them to register like normal, not to me directly.”
“But the sect...” Heten interrupted questioningly. “Don’t they need them?”
He’d gathered his pride and was standing straighter now as he clutched the bag of spirit stones. At least he had that much spirit in him.
“That is not your concern,” Renzer finished as he gave Heten a warning look, but he didn’t crush him with his aura again. “You can worry when I tell you to. Now leave.”
Heten disappeared out the door, and once he was gone, Renzer sat and thought for a moment. Then he glanced up to check on the duration of the sealing talisman, which was still strong.
He composed his thoughts as he pulled a communication plate from a drawer in his desk. A specific pattern of spiritual energy caused it to glow with a dark orange light as he spoke into it.
“An Imperial Knight has appeared in the guild and registered as a heritage alchemist. His presence here is bound to cause us trouble one way or another. I’ll leave it to you to deal with him.”
With that, he withdrew his energy from the plate and put it back in the drawer. There was no response, but he knew that his message was received. The sect wouldn’t have any difficulty finding the knight.
If there was one thing the Crimson Shade Sect was good at, it was assassinations.
Sometime soon now, the knight would find himself in a trap he couldn’t escape from.
He wasn’t sure what the result of killing an Imperial Knight would be. Their order was strange and despite the vast population of the empire, there were only a few of them scattered across it. It seemed like their numbers never grew too much.
Either way, it was something the sect could deal with. His hands were clean.
Nonetheless, he couldn’t stop his fingers from shaking as he folded his hands on the desk. The knight’s presence wasn’t a good sign. Chaotic thoughts spun through his mind.
His arrival was probably a coincidence, but what if it wasn’t?
What if he was sent to investigate and was only keeping his head down until he found something?
Renzer tightened his grip until his knuckles went white as he forced himself to maintain a composed posture, waiting until the moment passed. He was alone in his office, but the pride of a Primal Spirit cultivator didn’t allow him to show weakness.
He wouldn’t allow a knight to interfere with his plans.
Whoever opposed him, he would crush them.
He needed the sect’s backing to make his next step toward the capital. That was the only way to build up enough of a reputation that the guild would promote him. If they wanted a few heritage alchemists in return, it didn’t matter.
Every masterful recipe needed the right ingredients.
***
The sun rose and set as Verse continued to meditate on Wood. The remains of the low-quality spirit stones were scattered around him in translucent piles of nearly invisible dust. Now, he held a medium-grade Wood stone in each hand.
Leaves and blossoms from the courtyard were swirling in the air around him, but they weren’t ones dropped by the plants. Instead, they were fully spiritual, symbols made of vibrant green Wood energy.
The tempest of Wood increased in speed until a green tornado surrounded Verse. Flows of energy from the natural world poured toward him from the sky and earth, creating a bright emerald aura like a sun around his body.
It was an intense amount of energy, far more than what was in a hundred high-quality spirit stones, and even more than what was in the Guardian Bark and the Forest Emerald that were still in his soul space.
Lines like silver scales appeared all across his body, like an inscription that commanded the forces of nature. The gathered energy flared like a green sun as it dove into his meridians. A pulse rolled out from him like thunder, crashing through the courtyard, but it was felt more than heard.
Emerald mist rolled off his body, flooding through the area in a wave.
In response, the herbs and plants around him suddenly shot upward, growing taller and denser as if three years of growth happened in an instant. The Rank 1 herbs reached the peak of their quality and flourished, spreading their roots into new sprouts.
The new Rank 2 and 3 herbs that had just been planted a few days before sank roots deeply into the earth, taking firm hold of the dirt, and then shot upwards as well. Droplets of spiritual energy gathered around them from the emerald mist, hanging brightly on their leaves. The rich color of their stalks and buds deepened as their quality improved.
The peaceful silence of growing things settled on the courtyard.
“Success.” Verse let out a breath as he sensed the difference in the world around him.
Everything felt alive.
He could sense the movement of the grasses, the vitality flowing through the tree trunks, and the meaning in the rustle of the leaves. The spiritual herbs glowed in his mind’s eye like miniature flames, radiant and bright.
Everywhere he looked, lines of vitality were apparent. They ran through the plants and the healthy earth. They only stopped at the stone walls of the courtyard, where there were no more living things to support them.
Leaf’s natural formation glowed like a beautiful tapestry in his eyes, its lines arcing from herb to herb as energy flowed along the connections. He could sense how it was built and how the herbs supported it.
His senses were open to Wood.
The Touch of the Dao in any element was like gaining a new spiritual sense. He could feel the movement of Wood energy keenly, where it was strong and where it was weak.
It felt right, as if something that always should have been a part of him had finally awoken. The emerald mist all throughout the courtyard was spiraling in response to his breath, in a slow cycle.
Wood was part of his bloodline. Now, the element was finally within reach. It might have been difficult for some to reach this point, but for him it was just a matter of waking up a sense that had always been sleeping.
Soon, he would be able to apply this new sense to his alchemy. It would give him finer control and the ability to make careful improvements to the mixture as he worked. The quality of his healing paste should shoot up.
As he looked around, he knew that all of the plants in the courtyard were healthy. Nothing was touched by even the slightest mark of sickness.
That was thanks to Leaf’s presence. The little elemental was still seated directly across from him, watching his breakthrough. His angular features gave him a fierce look, making him seem almost draconic and the ridged edges of his mouth were like fangs as he grinned.
He raised his head off his paws as he stared at Verse, his eyes glowing.
The elemental was a dense emerald blur in his mind’s eye now, one that felt like ancient wood and vitality, but he had the feeling that he could only see that because Leaf wanted him to.
“Good,” the elemental said simply. His voice a rustle of leaves and grass in the wind, barely noticeable. There was a distinctly amused tone to it.
It was hard to place the age of his voice. It was both sweet like a youth and raspy like an old man. It seemed to move between the two like the wind blowing through the forest.
“You spoke!’ Verse laughed as he watched the elemental. “I knew you could do it!”
“Until now...didn’t listen,” the elemental grumbled in response. His phrasing was haphazard and came in pulses rather than complete thoughts, but it was easy enough to understand.
“You mean I can hear you now because of the Dao of Wood?” Verse asked with his attention fixed on the elemental.
“Yes?” Wood tilted his head to the side as if asking a question, and then he continued rotating until his head was completely sideways. It was comical and made him seem like a cat who was rolling over and got stuck halfway.
Then he lost interest in the subject. He twisted straight again and laid his snout down on his claws as he watched Verse with his eyes half open.
