Sect Leader’s Rise to the top! - Chapter 70

The scroll had listed basic potion and pill recipes. The list only showed the ingredients needed for each recipe, but other than that, there was nothing too spectacular about it.

“I guess I should have expected this since it’s called beginner information…”. Kai thought this as he thanked Lei Hai and left the building. He still had around three gold, so he wanted to try out one of the recipes.

“First, let’s start with an easy one. This [Beginner Healing Pill] helps the body recover from physical damage slightly. It only needs three types of ingredients and an alchemy furnace. By the looks of it, all of these recipes need me to use an alchemy furnace, so I should probably prioritize getting one of these first…”

Kai headed to an Alchemist store located down the street. He had passed by the place numerous times on his way to the Hunter’s Lodge but never actually went in. He decided to head there first to see if they had Alchemy furnaces for sale.

Kai reached the well-decorated store and could smell the strong medicinal fragrance from outside.

He opened the door and was surprised to see the lack of goods on display. Most cases were empty, with only a few pills and tonics on display.

“Greetings patron, how may I serve you today?”, said a friendly-looking clerk when Kai walked in.

“I’m looking for an Alchemy furnace, do you have any for sale?”.

“I see…”, said the clerk. “Unfortunately, we do not sell alchemy furnaces here. Most furnaces are custom-made to order by the craftsmen guild. Is sir perhaps an Alchemist by chance?”, asked the Clerk with some excitement in his eyes.

Kai thought about it for a second, then shook his head. “I’m not, I’m just helping a friend…”

“I see…well, if sir’s friend is interested, the Pill Association is eager to recruit more members. Please feel free to come by here anytime and I will help introduce your friend to the association’s representative!”.

Kai was taken aback by the man’s direct invitation, but he figured that it probably had something to do with the lack of stock in the store.

“I will be sure to let him know…” Kai said in a friendly manner. “Would you know where can I get in contact with someone from Craftsmen Guild?”.

“No problem sir, I can send a messenger and ask for a Craftsmen Guild representative to get in contact with you. Please leave your name and address and I will arrange this.

Kai left his name and address with the clerk then went off to look for the other ingredients. However, to his surprise, Kai could not find a single one of the ingredients that he needed on the open market. From what he heard, It seemed that the Hunter Teams were indeed collecting the ingredients that he was looking for, but they were all being sold to private buyers for higher prices, so none of the ingredients ever made it to the open market.

“This might be harder than I thought. I can’t get a furnace or any of the necessary ingredients….did I maybe choose the wrong profession?”. Kai was thinking about this on his way back home when he noticed someone standing outside of his building.

The man turned around when he noticed Kai and then quickly bowed. “Sir, I am a messenger from the Craftsman Guild. We have received the recommendation letter from the Pill Association.

Kai praised the fast working alchemist clerk seeing as he only put in the request a few hours ago.

“I need an alchemy furnace, do you know where I can buy one”.

The messenger’s eye twitched slightly at the man’s ignorance but he hid this well, so it went unnoticed. “Indeed, my master can make one for you. Please follow me this way…” said the messenger as he bowed again and beckoned Kai to follow him.

Kai obliged as they walked into a magnificent-looking carriage that took off towards the inner part of the city. They soon arrived at a large building with a lot of people going in and out. Kai had noticed this place before, but it always seemed too crowded, so he had decided to avoid it.

The messenger disembarked the carriage and lead Kai into the building. When Kai entered the first floor, he saw that it was filled with all kinds of interesting trinkets and oddities. There were all kinds of colorful and exotic-looking materials in display cases. Most people were moving around, looking through the cases while others were trying to make deals with the various clerks for items they were interested in.

Kai was about to ask what this place was but he was quickly ushered away from this place and towards a set of stairs leading to the second floor. This area had strong-looking guards posted at the entrance, meaning not just anybody could enter. The second floor had significantly fewer people when compared to the first floor and those on this floor seemed more refined.

This was obviously where the rich did their shopping. Here, each customer had a dedicated clerk following them around while carrying their purchases. The messenger lead Kai even further up as they went up to the third floor. This floor was behind heavy-looking doors with guards dressed in full-scale armor posted at the door.

When the guards noticed the messenger, they stopped him and asked for his purpose which hadn’t happened on the lower floors. When the messenger mentioned a guest of “Craftsmaster Lee”, the guards quickly stepped away and opened the door for them.

The messenger lead an intrigued Kai up to the third floor which was not as gaudy as the other two floors. The decorations on the third floor were minimalistic which somehow made it seem more refined and elegant.

“Craftsmaster, I have brought the Pill Association’s guest…”

“Enter…”, came a gentle voice from behind two large wooden doors. The messenger bowed his head towards the doors and signaled for Kai to enter.

Kai was wondering why they had such fanfare when was just there to buy a furnace, but he kept these thoughts to himself as he slowly walked into the room. He doubted that there would be any danger seeing as they were still referring to him as a guest, but he decided to be ready for a fight in any case.

“Greetings guest of the Pill Association, how may I help you?”. The voice was from a middle-aged man with grey sideburns. He wore simple robes and was busy chiseling a small glowing stone in his hands.

Kai could feel Qi coming off the man and instinctively knew that he was an internal cultivator, however, he decided not to use Qi-detection on him. Kai had learned his lesson and wouldn’t use Qi detection on internal cultivators who were not hostile towards him as this could be taken as a sign of disrespect.

“I’m looking for an alchemy furnace…I was told that I could get one here?”. Kai said respectfully.

“Ah, yes you indeed can”. Said the middle-aged man while putting the glowing stone and strange chisel down.

“I hear there is a new alchemist with you, is this true?. Very few have the aptitude to practice alchemy so my Lee family would be quite interested in working with this new alchemist if he is willing…”

Kai pieced together a general idea of what was going on from the man’s words. It seemed that the pill shortage was caused by a lack of alchemists in the city. The existing alchemists likely signed exclusive contracts with powerful families to make pills for them, similar to what this man was proposing to Kai now.

However, Kai didn’t understand was why they were going through all this trouble for an alchemist that they knew nothing about. Kai himself hadn’t even tried to do alchemy. For all he knew, he could have absolutely no talent in it, so why exactly were they going so far to recruit someone they knew nothing about?.

“Well, I will speak to him…but right now, I only need an alchemy furnace…”

“Of course, we can create one for you to any specifications. What type of furnace would you be looking for?”, the middle-aged man asked inquisitively.

Kai was taken aback. He had no idea there were different types. “A standard one please…preferably a cheap model…”

“…Well in that case, how about one that I created in my younger years. it does not excel in the creation of any specific type of medicine, however, the elements are quite balanced”.

Kai nodded his head. He had no idea what the man was talking about but as long as he got a furnace, that’s all that mattered to him, he would figure out the rest later.

“Thank you, now as for the price?…”, Kai asked cautiously. He only had 3 gold to his name so he had to be careful.

“Haha, don’t worry about it. This one is on me”, the middle-aged man said as he signaled for one of the surrounding servants to approach.

Kai knew that the man was trying to ingratiate him to the Lee family so that he could easily ask for favors later down the line, but Kai didn’t mind, all free things were always welcome.

“Then I will accept it graciously”, Kai said while bowing his head slightly.

The middle-aged man chuckled again and then waved his hands. “Please don’t worry about it, this much is nothing. Furnaces of that quality could only be sold for about 10,000 gold at most anyway…”

“I see…”, Kai felt beads of sweat running down his back but he kept a calm exterior. One furnace was already 5 times more expensive than his house!. What’s worse is that this is considered low-quality furnace!?…

“I think I chose the wrong profession…..”, Kai thought as he felt the three gold coins in his pocket slowly become worthless.