The Sigil Of Chaos - Chapter 9

Nadran looked at the ingredients he had collected, satisfied. A day had passed, and he had kept the leftover herbs he was unable to sell, planning to use them to practice alchemy. His father was still quite weak and unable to work, so they had more herbs left over than usual.

Using his family’s cooking pot, Nadran filled it halfway with water, then lit a small fire underneath it with a fire sigil. He increased the temperature of the water until it was close to boiling, then began picking up the herbs. [3 grams of Silver-root Ivy roots, 5 grams of crushed Fire Grass, 2 petals of a Rock Daisy. I don’t have any measuring tools, so I guess I’ll just need to eyeball it. Well, here goes nothing.]

Nadran took a piece of Silver-root Ivy, using a knife to cut off the silvery roots that contained the magical properties he needed. He placed a couple of the thin, web-like roots into the pot then frowned. [I feel like that wasn’t enough. Maybe a bit more,] he thought, and carefully cut off another small piece of root before adding it to the pot as well. He then began crushing the Fire Grass, turning the reddish grass into a paste. He scooped up some of this paste with a spoon, glancing at the amount he had collected before, satisfied, he flicked the spoon, causing the Fire Grass paste to fall into the pot.

Nadran’s mother, Melia, walked into the room, smelling the pungent aroma of crushed herbs. “Are you sure about this?” she asked uncertainly as she watched him plucking the petals off of a rock daisy. He had explained his situation to his mother, at least to an extent. He didn’t describe the situation with Tyval further than saying he had angered someone strong in the process of getting the Lesser Blood Lily, since he wanted to keep the dangers he had gone through a secret. [My family has enough worries. I don’t need to add to them by telling them about the dangers that have already passed.]

Nadran nodded his head, a determined expression on his face. “It’s the best option I can think of. Unless a better opportunity presents itself, I will just have to do this and hope I can make it work.”

Melia frowned, but nodded her head. Despite Nadran’s attempts to downplay or gloss over the past events, she was still worried about him. At the same time, though, she wanted to believe that he would be alright and that his plan would pan out.

As Nadran added the flower petals to the pot, a large wave of steam flew out of the pot, causing Nadran to take a step back in order to avoid being scalded by the hot water. When he stepped back forward to look into the pot, he noticed three light brown pills sitting in the center of the pot, which was now devoid of water. Extinguishing the flame, Nadran carefully removed the rapidly cooling pills from the pot, looking closely at them.

“It looks like these body strengthening pills were made successfully. Seems I got one middle grade pill and two low grade pills. Usually, this amount of materials should make more than three pills. Seems like alchemy isn’t that simple,” Nadran said, sighing, but he still had a small smile on his face.

Thankfully, no alchemy masters were watching Nadran at this time, or they might just have strangled him to death in exasperation. [You, a total amateur, just tried to make a pill for the first time, and not only succeeded, but did so without even having proper measuring equipment. And yet, you still aren’t satisfied with this?!] would likely be their train of thought. Alas, this was all purely hypothetical.

Of course, Nadran had no sense of how fast progression in alchemy was supposed to be, and had nobody to compare to. Instead, he just looked at the pills in his hand, thinking about what he could improve.

His thoughts were interrupted by his mother. “How do you know what grade these pills are?” she asked in surprise. “I thought you needed a bunch of experience and a high cultivation in order to see a pill’s grade like that.”

Nadran raised his eyebrows in confusion. “I don’t know, I just looked at them. It seems self-explanatory if you look closely. See, this one has a couple hairline cracks running across it and had a dull, dark color to it. It’s pretty clear that this is a low grade pill. This one is a shade brighter and is more uniform in composition, so it’s definitely a middle grade pill.”

Melia looked blankly at her son, feeling as though she didn’t know him. Was he really just starting out alchemy? He seemed so sure of himself and was speaking as though this was all easy. Was he just pretending to know what he was doing? She quickly dismissed the thought. She trusted her son, and knew he wouldn’t be giving her false hope. She was just so surprised that she automatically began questioning whether this was an elaborate trick or prank, despite knowing it wasn’t.

Melia smiled and complimented “Good job! If you can keep this up, maybe you really can make it into Mirror Dragon Academy. If there’s anything I can help with, just let me know.”

“Thank you,” Nadran responded, appreciating the gesture. He then looked at the pills he was still holding, and said “Well, I guess I might as well eat one.” With that, he popped the middle grade Body Strengthening pill into his mouth.

It tasted slightly bitter, but he quickly swallowed it, trusting that it would not hurt him. Within a minute, he could feel the pill’s effects. His muscles were strengthened slightly, and his bone density was also increased, making them harder and more durable. [Wow, these seem really good, and this is one of the most basic pills out there. No wonder alchemy is such a lucrative profession.] Of course, Body Strengthening pills were more effective the better your physique was. For someone who sat around all day and didn’t train their body, there would be almost no effect. For this reason, pills like this were more a supplement than a replacement for real training, but Nadran was certainly in good shape, and thus got some decent results from the pill.

Nadran nodded in satisfaction and handed the other two pills over to his mother. “Here, you guys can use the other two. Sorry, I didn’t end up making enough for everyone, but I’ll fix that soon.” With that, Nadran began creating another batch of pills, not giving himself more than a moment to rest.

His mother looked on at Nadran in admiration as he continued making more pills, not spending more than a minute between each batch. Alchemy required great concentration and precision, and would quickly wear on the mind of those attempting it. Yet Nadran persevered on, fully focused on his task.

“Maybe he really will succeed” Melia whispered with a smile as she left the room to let Nadran concentrate on his task.

—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–

5 Days Later

“Please write your name here,” an old man said, bored, as yet another young noble walked up to the desk. [They think that just because they have a bit of money and status, that automatically makes them talented at alchemy. Give me a break. This discipline isn’t for weaklings like you,] the elder thought in disdain as he watched the smug young master sign on the sheet of paper. [Let’s see if you can still look so smug after dropping out in the first round.]

Another person walked forward, and the elder blinked, looking up at this person. He was certainly not a noble, judging by his clothes and temperament. He was clearly trying to hide his nervousness behind a calm faade, but the elder could see the nervousness and determination warring within his eyes. What really attracted the man’s attention, though, was something else.

He couldn’t put his finger on it, but, whether it was this young man’s bearing, the way he moved, or something else, he felt different. It was almost as though there were an intangible aura surrounding him, attracting the elder’s attention. Being quite advanced in both sigil realms and alchemy, he was able to detect this sensation while others couldn’t. [There’s something different about this boy.]

The elder’s expression did not change, though, and he blandly said, “Please write your name here,” gesturing to the paper that was half filled with names. Nadran nodded and wrote his name on the piece of paper before moving into the next room. There were about 300 people sitting in this large room, waiting for the test to start. The room was filled with chairs, with a desk in front of each one.

Before sitting down, Nadran walked over to one of the teachers, who was standing at the edge of the room. “Excuse me?” he asked quietly.

“What is it?” the teacher responded with a disinterested expression.

“Do you have any alchemy books I could look at before the test? It looks like it’ll be a while before the test starts.” Nadran asked casually, looking around.

Internally, the teacher sneered, but kept it from showing on her face. [You realized you aren’t prepared and are trying to study at the last moment? That won’t save you from this test.]

Outwardly, though, she said, “There’s a couple you can read, but most of the books are unavailable until you become an alchemy apprentice.”

Nadran nodded in acknowledgement and responded, “Alright, could you show me to the ones I can read? I would appreciate it.”

A few minutes later, Nadran walked back into the test room, carrying a thick book. He sat down in a random seat, and opened the book to the first page. He began silently reading through it, the flipping of the pages the only sound coming from his desk. He wore a thoughtful expression as he read, his eyes occasionally widening as though he had realized something important, leading to him quickly jotting something down in his notebook before he turned back to the book.

Nadran continued on, oblivious to the attention he was receiving. While he was older than most of the other participants, that wasn’t the main reason for the attention. After all, there were many people here who had studied alchemy for decades and still had yet to meet the qualifications of alchemy apprentice. This was not an easy profession by any means, and nearly everyone who attempted to become an alchemist failed with no real accomplishments.

His worn clothes stood out when compared to the rest of the people in the room. After all, alchemy was a very expensive profession due to all of the herbs and materials that were required. Most people assumed he was just overconfidently attempting the test without the ability to back it up.

As he was reading, Nadran heard footsteps walking toward him, and his eyes quickly flicked up to see who was approaching before he returned his gaze to the book. [No way! Someone’s seriously coming to pick a fight with me? I’m literally just sitting here reading, I’ve never even met this guy before!]

While he protested in his mind, he was actually not that surprised. In this world, many peoples’ favorite hobby was, simply put, bullying. These people enjoyed searching out for people who seemed weaker than themselves, then putting them down, whether verbally or physically, in order to make themselves feel more powerful and talented. This would very occasionally backfire due to them misjudging others’ strength and getting beat up themselves, but this was rare. Even if it did happen more, Nadran was pretty sure their arrogance and (at least in his opinion) stupidity would ensure they would keep doing it until the ends of time if they didn’t run their face into a wall first.

On this topic, there were some sigil masters who would deliberately pretend to be weak specifically to attract these bullies. They apparently enjoyed suddenly turning the tables on these bullies and enjoying their expressions of horror when they realized their target was far stronger than them. Nadran felt that, even if he did have the strength to do such a thing, it would probably just be a waste of time. After all, what is the point in messing around like that when you could be getting stronger instead? But this didn’t mean that people wouldn’t target him anyways, since his talents (and status) truly seemed too poor.

“Haha, did you only just realize you’re in over your head and decide to try to learn everything last minute?” the young man spoke arrogantly, smiling as though he was watching a circus act.

Trying to suppress a sigh that Nadran knew would only encourage the bully, Nadran continued reading for a few seconds before blinking and looking up innocently. “Oh wait, were you talking to me just now?” Nadran asked as though he had just realized that.

The man didn’t know whether he should be amused or angry at this blas response. “Of course I’m talking about you! Who else is reading here right before the test?”

Nadran tilted his head to the side and looked around before responding in feigned surprise, “Oh, you’re right. Huh, that’s strange.”

“What’s strange?” the man asked with a confused expression on his face.

[Your face is what’s strange.] “I was just a little surprised that everyone else was so confident in their ability to pass that they would go around and socialize rather than studying more,” Nadran said calmly, a blank expression on his face. “Personally, I know that I still have lots to learn about alchemy, so I figured that if I have to wait around doing nothing for a while anyways, I might as well study so that I’ll be more knowledgeable about alchemy in the future.”

[Is he making fun of me?] the man, Zosal, thought uncertainly as he looked at Nadran’s deadpan expression. He looked at the title of the book Nadran was reading and smirked. [Never mind, he’s just an idiot.] “So, you’re studying hard to learn the contents of Basic Alchemy Herbs, Volume 1? What herb are you reading about right now?” The man smiled as he spoke, happily noticing the attention their conversation was getting. Humiliating others was always more satisfying with witnesses. A couple snickers could be heard as people noticed that Nadran was reading one of the simplest and most basic books in all of alchemy. Nearly everyone in the room had read it years ago.

Nadran nodded seriously and replied. “I was just reading about the properties of the hundred-petal tulip. I saw that it was earth attributed, and I was trying to figure out why that was.”

Zosal looked at him incredulously. “All tulips are earth-attributed, what are you talking about?” [Is he actually THIS dumb?!]

“Not necessarily,” Nadran replied, staring off into space as he thought. “Tulips do tend to favor environments rich in earth energy, but the hundred-petal tulip is formed by the aggregation of 100 tulip seeds floating through the air. While it does eventually land, it has already begun to grow by then, and should have absorbed air energy as its main attribute before it even landed. So why is it earth attributed and not air attributed?”

Zosal narrowed his eyes, feeling even more sure that Nadran was making fun of him. Fury burned in his eyes as he prepared to speak.

Nadran wasn’t actually trying to mock Zosal with his previous statement. In truth, he wanted to ignore this posturing idiot and get back to reading. So, he just started speaking his thoughts aloud so that he could keep reading without seeming like he was ignoring the person who was talking down to him. Of course, seeing Zosal’s dumbfounded expression was just an added bonus.

“Oh wait,” Nadran suddenly said, cutting off Zosal before he had a chance to speak. “The catalyst for the tulip seeds combining is the presence of an Obsidian Eagle. The earth-attributed energy that swirls around the eagle must be infused into the seeds as they are pulled together, causing the seeds to gain an earth attribute.” He quickly pulled out his notebook and began writing in it.

Zosal glared at Nadran, clearly furious. “Stop making up whatever you want just to make yourself sound smart! Regardless, it’s still earth attributed in the end, so your silly story wouldn’t matter, even if it was true.”

Nadran looked at Zosal in surprise. [Wait, is he being serious?] “Um yeah, actually, the way an herb gains an attribute is very important. For example, the purity of the energy. Since the flower’s formation energy comes from the powerful Obsidian Eagles, it is naturally very pure. This affects, among other things, the amount of the herb that is required to forge a pill, or its compatibility with other herbs.”

In truth, Nadran didn’t think he was being condescending when he said this. To him, the idea was so self-explanatory that he understood it almost intuitively. The idea of not understanding it hadn’t even crossed his mind until Zosal had spoken out against it.

“You” Zosal growled, looking like he was about to attack Nadran in the middle of the exam room. At this point, however, a voice cut in, ending their conversation.

“The exam will begin in 5 minutes, please return to your seats.” The voice was not loud, and yet it seemed to ring in everyone’s ears as though the speaker was right next to them. Zosal was clearly unhappy, but had no choice to return to his seat, glaring at Nadran the whole way.

The instructor who had spoken was also looking at Nadran, but with a different expression. [Who is he? Why have I never heard about him before? How could someone with his level of comprehension have gone unnoticed until now? Does he have a powerful teacher who has kept him hidden until now?] He shook his head, dismissing his thoughts. He would see soon enough what this young man was capable of.

Meanwhile, Nadran was internally laughing at himself in ridicule. [I was just thinking earlier about how silly it is for those powerful masters to spend their time messing with bullies for fun, then I go and do something similar right afterwards. I’m such a hypocrite. Well, at least I didn’t go intentionally looking for a fight, and I didn’t intentionally mock him at least at the end. Honestly though that was kind of amusing. I should be careful, or I might get addicted to trolling young masters and waste time I could be spending to improve myself.]

At this point, a thin stack of papers was placed on his desk. Nadran looked over to see that it was the first part of the test, the written portion. [Well,] Nadran thought, [I guess I better get started.]