River of Fate: Emerald Alchemist, page 26
These were his first pills ever.
“Success,” he said with a smile. He turned to look at Leaf, who was sleeping off to the side in the courtyard. “What do you think?”
“Noisy,” Leaf complained as he opened one eye to look at Verse. His tail was over his nose. But there was a glint of amusement in the elemental’s eye that said he was just teasing. A moment later, he closed his eye again. “Good.”
“I’m glad you approve,” Verse said with a laugh.
“Good work, dragonling,” the shrine said with a yawn as he woke up. His attention was fixed on Verse’s work as he studied the result. He’d been silent for a while as Verse practiced, working on rebuilding his energy.
“That’s a pretty good result for your first attempt. It’s still a waste of seven potential pills, but 40% isn’t a bad result for your first cauldron. Keep going and you’ll get more. The good news is that those pills are easily medium-quality. You can tell from the patterns on them. That’s thanks to your Dao of Water. It gives you a big advantage on this recipe.
“Remember to store them in a jade bottle to preserve the energy. Pills can break down quickly. If you have a really unique pill, you’ll need a special formation to preserve it. Some pills even require a long tempering process with a formation in order to reach their highest state, but you probably won’t see one of those for a while.”
Verse nodded as he pulled out a white jade bottle and transferred the five pills to it. The shrine had seen too much to be as enthusiastic as he was about the success, but he knew just how rare it was to succeed on the first try.
That was why he was still smiling.
“This is due to your guidance,” he said, giving credit where it was due. “Thank you.”
“It’s the least I can do to help you live up to your potential,” the shrine replied with another yawn. “How else are you going to be a proper dragon and help me find my old master? Wake me up when you need some help. It looks like you have things well in hand for the moment, so keep at it.”
Verse nodded in agreement as he looked down at the pill bottle in his hand. It was a sign of changing times, but it was only the first of many.
Soon, it wouldn’t be just one pill that he made.
He stored the bottle away and then he looked over at the materials he’d prepared. There were eleven more sets of ingredients to work through here, and he would probably keep working on this single recipe until he was comfortable with it.
They might not all be as easy as this one, but failures were also part of learning.
There were other pills to make as well, but when he was facing a sect that was famous for its poisons, it didn’t hurt to have a lot of antidotes on hand. He might not be the only one who needed them soon.
Nonetheless, as he began preparing the next batch, he was already considering what to make next.
Chapter eighteen
Cleansing Rain Pills
Time passed swiftly as Verse continued working on pills. He made dozens of batches of Cleansing Rain Pills to improve his technique, which filled his bracelet with hundreds of jade vials full of antidote pills.
Each of them was like a miniature silver moon, and the marks of the Dao of Water on the surface were like ocean waves, each line holding a familiar and potent presence of natural energy.
As the quality of the pills increased, the dao markings began to shine with a gentle blue light, giving the pills a mystical quality. If he held them up to his ear, he could hear the sound of crashing waves.
As best as he could tell without poisoning himself and testing them out for real, the strength of these pills was very high. Draconic alchemy was an incredible art, one that brought together the strength of the world and the medicinal nature of the herbs to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
The Dao of Water infused them with a strong cleansing property and there was no harm in taking more than one. If one didn’t work, then just like many streams gathering to form a river, the strength of the antidote would increase if you took more.
It wouldn’t work against every poison out there, but it should be enough to deal with a lot of what the Crimson Shade Sect was able to bring out.
At the very least, he was sure that it would work on the poisons he’d seen from them so far: the bone-melting one on the dart, the contact poison they’d placed on his door, and the clouds of poison they had used in his courtyard.
Those poisons were like a sandcastle on the shore. They might resist a single wave, but if they were constantly struck, they would fall. The stronger poisons would just take more than one antidote pill to overcome.
Day by day passed as he continued to work on the pills in his courtyard, making one batch after another while he tried to bring out the best from each batch.
After a week or so, however, he noticed something strange happening to the emerald soul cauldron he was using. The emerald exterior was slowly being infused with blue lines similar to the ones on the pills.
“What is that?” he asked with a puzzled expression as he studied the change. “It feels like the Dao of Water?”
“That’s exactly what it is,” the shrine agreed with a yawn as it woke up and studied the cauldron with him. “That cauldron is made from your soul, and you’ve been studying the Dao of Water while making those pills. The change to the cauldron is harmless, but it’s a good marker of what affinity you’ve been using the most.”
“It doesn’t feel like it’s harmful,” Verse said with a frown. “But does it affect the quality of the pills at all?”
“Some pills require a single-minded focus on a specific dao,” the shrine said, “and the changes to the cauldron are one way to track whether or not you’ve reached the right state. For this one, you should notice that it’s slightly easier to get a high-quality pill as the color becomes more blue, but it’s not going to help that much.
“If you were focused on Stone and kept making pills for long enough, your cauldron would eventually leave a stone replica behind. Since this one is infused with Water, if you keep practicing, you might leave behind a pool of pure water or even create a natural spring from the earth at this spot. You’re not there yet, but it’s possible.
“This is where many strange natural features of the world have come from,” the shrine added with a laugh. “Great pools of natural lunar water, unique mountain ranges with a strange elemental affinity, hidden valleys of Wood to grow herbs, caves filled with purified metal essence, you can make them all if you try hard enough. Draconic alchemy changes the world around it.”
“It would be interesting if a pool of water sprang up here,” Verse said. “Although, I don’t know if the city would appreciate me undermining their foundation.”
There was already a stream in his courtyard, though, so perhaps it wouldn’t cause too much trouble. At any rate, the presence of Water in his cauldron wasn’t that intense. It was just beginning to appear.
He was thoughtful as he studied the markings, but since they weren’t causing any trouble, he turned his attention back to his work.
One day passed into another, marked only by the swirling force of Water and the shining pills that streamed from his cauldron.
He had enough herbs to make over a thousand batches, so he didn’t worry about ingredients. He focused his attention on the nature of the pill and its relationship with the dao, doing his best to increase the potency and improve the quality.
It was a worthwhile study, since it gave him a chance to see how the dao merged with the pill and changed the nature of the ingredients, enhancing them past what they could otherwise be.
As he worked, the dao markings on his cauldron continued to increase, and they never felt out of place. It was like the subtle presence of the ocean flowed through the cauldron, surrounding the pills and naturally supporting them.
He kept working on new batches until he felt like he had a basic handle on the process of making pills. By the time he felt satisfied with them, most of his batches were turning out as high quality.
He’d also managed to increase the number of pills per batch to 9. It wasn’t the maximum, but it was still noteworthy. It took a very careful balance to reach that point. 12 would be perfection.
“That will work for now,” he said as he held up one of the pills from the batch he’d just finished and examined it.
The subtle roar of ocean waves came from the dao markings on the surface. It changed now and then to the fast patter of rain striking the earth and then to the rumble of a thunderstorm.
The amount of spiritual energy in a single one of these pills was similar to a mid-grade spirit stone. He wasn’t sure what they would sell for, but it would definitely be over that.
He could continue on to master the recipe, and there was a great temptation to it, but it would take a while. Since the sect was causing trouble, he had other things he needed to work on.
High quality was good enough for now.
He placed the latest batch of pills into a white jade bottle and stored it away in his bracelet with the rest. There were over two hundred bottles of Cleansing Rain Pills inside, one for each batch. They all had somewhere between 4 and 9 pills inside.
He could have combined them by quality and saved some bottles, but he liked keeping them separate as a way of studying the difference between each batch. It helped him to see where he’d gone wrong.
He wasn’t concerned about using so many bottles. He had thousands of them in a spare storage ring. If there was one thing that Boreas didn’t lack, it was pill bottles. They were dirt cheap and cost less than a silver each. A single low-grade spirit stone could buy a dozen of them.
At this rate, he was going to have an entire horde made out of pill bottles. The thought made him chuckle.
When everything was cleared away, he glanced at the communication plate from Vesana as he considered contacting her. It had been a few weeks since they’d last spoken.
A quick message, however, confirmed that no new alchemists had gone missing. Another heritage alchemist had appeared, but they’d been registered in a perfectly normal manner. Whatever Renzer and the sect were up to, they were keeping a low profile.
It made Verse frown as he considered what the sect was up to. He still wanted to know what they were doing with the heritage alchemists. If he figured that out, he had the feeling that many things would be clear.
“There is one strange thing though,” Vesana told him with a teasing laugh. “I’ve heard that you are to be treated as an honored guest of the guild. Isn’t that interesting?”
“It sounds like Renzer is trying to behave while I’m around,” Verse said as he narrowed his eyes. “If we’re going to catch him colluding with the sect, we’ll have to be focused about it. Your uncle will need some proof as well.”
“I have an idea for that,” Vesana said cheerfully. “I bought several useful items from the auction house that should let me keep a close eye on him. I’ll know when he does anything strange. I’d thought about doing this before, but he is the branch manager and I didn’t want to offend him if he found out. Now that I’ve called the guild to come investigate, it doesn’t matter anymore. He’ll be offended either way.”
“Let me know if you find anything,” Verse said with a nod. “I’ll be heading out of the city for a short while soon, and I expect the sect will try to cause trouble while I’m gone. That might be a good opportunity. I’ll let you know when I leave.”
“Don’t leave too quickly,” Vesana said quickly. The sense of a smile came through in her words. “It’s a small town, but there are still lots of things to do. I know a great little tea house near the river. They have a Green Mist Tea that is hard to find.”
“Then we should try it,” Verse agreed with a laugh. “Perhaps in a few days?”
“How about tonight instead?” Vesana replied with delight. “I’m going to be busy at the guild soon with some tasks that need to be arranged, but I’m free today.”
“Alright,” Verse said easily as he looked up at the sun. It was only mid-afternoon at the moment. “I’ll see you in a few hours at your office.”
After a few more words, Verse put the communication plate away. He was smiling as he looked up. It had been a while since he’d seen Vesana in person.
She was more than pleasant company.
Going out in public meant that they would have to keep their conversation to lighter topics, so they couldn’t plan how to deal with the sect. That would have to wait for the secured room at the auction house or through their communication plates.
In other words, this was a date.
A spark of amusement ran through him as he considered what would happen if the sect tried to attack while they were together. Beyond the fact that he would kill them as soon as they appeared, there was good reason for them to stay far away from her.
Her background made her a dangerous target. If the sect threatened her, it would be more than enough reason for the guild to destroy them as soon as her uncle arrived. They would be signing their own death warrant.
It should be fine to go out.
He was looking forward to seeing the town with her. There were a lot of places he hadn’t explored. It also made him laugh that she thought Boreas was a small town. It was one of the largest cities in the middle provinces, and enormous by the standard of anything except the capital.
It would probably make Renzer uneasy to hear about the two of them spending time together, since he would wonder what she was up to. That was a secondary but important reason to go out today, even if it pulled him away from his work.
If they could scare the branch manager into acting irrationally, it would be easier to gather evidence on him.
Plans flickered through Verse’s mind as he considered the issue from different angles, as well as how to use the rest of the afternoon. He’d been planning on starting the next pill, but that could wait until tomorrow.
There was something else he could do with the next few hours.
He meditated for a moment to clear his thoughts. Then he pulled out the Guardian Bark and Forest Emerald from his soul space. They shone in his hands, one of them like a rough golden bar that gleamed with dense energy, and the other like a glowing green forest heart.
He took a deep breath as he focused on his bloodline, pulling the thread of emerald energy from his veins to the surface. Swirling emerald mist poured out around him and created a bank of shimmering fog in the courtyard.
The bloodline energy flowed down his hands and wrapped around the two natural treasures, surrounding them in emerald flames. Gradually, their shapes began to melt away as Wood energy poured into his veins.
The two treasures were full of Wood energy, enough to create a tidal wave of it, but the instant it met his bloodline, it was cleanly absorbed with barely a ripple. The force of vitality fused into his body as he directed it to the first layer of the Nine Dragon Meridian Art.
His lungs filled with power as he drew in energy from the world, following the technique of First Dragon Breathing. Lightning bolts of green Wood energy crackled along his ribcage and poured into the first meridian.
Meridians were mystical pathways for channeling power and the draconic ones were more complex than any others he’d heard about. This one circled his head like a crown and then ran down to his heart, where it split into two parts and then headed out along his arms to his hands. From there, it looped back to his heart before it descended to his vital region and then split into two pathways to reach his feet.
It was a complete pathway that touched every core region of his body, like a tree trunk creating a solid foundation for the future.
A wave of vitality roared through his body, making his bones crackle as the outline of silver scales appeared on his skin. The Guardian Bark and the Forest Emerald had a significant amount of energy in them.
If they’d been used in pills, some of it would have been wasted. As he absorbed it, however, no trace escaped. The progress of his first meridian doubled, moving from 10% to 22% before the items crumbled to dust.
The emerald thread of his bloodline surged in a fury as it drank in the energy. When it settled, it was wider than before and the density had increased significantly. It felt like there was more depth to it, like the top of an emerald sea.
He let out a breath that was filled with emerald flames. It crackled in the air of the courtyard before fading away.
Leaf looked up from where he was curled around the base of a bamboo stalk, his attention fixed on the flames, but then he just bobbed his head in a short nod and closed his eyes again. In his opinion, dragons were expected to breathe fire, so there was nothing too surprising about it.
Verse stretched his arms as he studied the changes. His physique had grown more powerful, both in terms of crushing strength and durability, and his physical regeneration had improved.
He brushed the dust of the two treasures off his hands before he stood up and stretched. It would take more than a couple of treasures to fully empower his bloodline, but this was good progress.
One day, that thread of emerald energy would be his blood and completely fill his veins. That would be the beginning of a new era. Even now, he could feel that his aura was denser than before, and his physical strength was pushing past the peak of the Aligned realm.
The barrier between realms wasn’t so easy to break through, but his bloodline was making it look simple.
If he could find more Wood-aligned treasures, it might be possible for his body to reach the Aligned realm or even the Primal realm long before his spiritual cultivation. He would have to prioritize that, since it would give him a strong advantage when fighting the sect.
It sounded like a trip to the auction house was in order.
He glanced up at the sun, which told him there were still a couple of hours left in the afternoon. There should be just enough time to see what they had available before he met up with Vesana.
He didn’t have an enormous amount of spirit stones left, only about 800 mid-grade ones altogether, but he did have a lot of Woodbalm Pastes and antidote pills to sell. It would be a good way to get rid of some of his earlier batches.
