Sunrise Alchemist, Ch 7: Silver Rank (Patreon)

For the rest of the afternoon, Verse explored the city and picked up items for the new formation. While they were expensive, they weren’t difficult to find, so at least it was efficient. After that, he wandered through the open market and bought various herbs, roasted meats, and jars of wine, along with whatever struck his fancy or got an excited hiss from Leaf.

“You’re going to get fat,” he said, which was followed by a hiss of disagreement from the elemental. It made him laugh. “What, you’re saying elementals can’t get fat?”

Leaf’s head bobbed up and down like he was nodding, accompanied by a longer hiss of amusement.

“Fine, I’ll take your word for it,” Verse said. “Alright, a couple more more stops and then let’s head back.”

He’d explored a good chunk of the city today. If he hadn’t been a cultivator, he would have been completely exhausted. Now, he just needed to find some furnishings for the house and one other thing before he headed back.

It didn’t take long for him to find a store that sold furniture. There was a row of shops near the entrance to the Residential Quarter that had all kinds of carpentry and decorations available. Before long, he’d ordered enough to fill the house and scheduled it all to be delivered later that evening. Storage rings made for efficient movement of goods.

After that, he headed toward the herbalist section of the Alchemist Quarter, where he browsed through one shop after another. By the time he was done, there was a large leather sack slung over his back that was filled with small jade boxes, each of them carefully designed to protect a living herb.

By the time he made it home, evening was stretching its arms across the streets of the Residential Quarter and he was feeling satisfied with his first day in the city. Most of the requirements for staying here were taken care of.

He settled onto a meditation mat in his courtyard, sensing the house and the sky. It felt like he was in his own world here between the walls. The bamboo leaves rustled in the evening wind as the stars began to appear in the night.

The feeling of a peaceful retreat surrounded him, calming his spirit and focusing his mind. Natural energy from the world flowed into his lungs as he breathed, transforming as it cycled through his meridians and entered his dantian.

The spiritual energy was strong, more than twice as dense as it was in Whitestone. The small gathering formation in the courtyard was concentrating it beyond what the city could provide by another 10%. Living here meant that progress in his cultivation would be quicker.

This type of speed was one of the main reasons people wanted to move closer to the center of the empire. The middle provinces weren’t the best, but they were still better than the outer ones. There was no such thing as equality in the empire, only opportunity. Those on the outskirts were doomed to be less fortunate than those closer in. The greater energy density was also why herbs grew here in great abundance.

After a little while, he turned his attention to the sack of herbs that he’d bought on the way home. One by one, jade boxes floated out of the pack and stacked themselves around him. Leaf let out a burble of approval as he opened one, showing off the small herb inside.

It was a complete and living Verdant Leaf, one of the main ingredients for the Woodbalm Paste he planned to make. The other herbs in the boxes were similar. There were dozens of them altogether, with at least four copies for each type of ingredient he had purchased from the alchemy shop.

One by one, he placed two copies of each Rank 1 herb into his soul space. It meant he had to take out some of the higher-ranked herbs in there to make room, but those weren’t alive anyway, so the benefit they could get was limited.

When everything was settled, two dozen living herbs floated in his soul space. Their roots glowed with emerald droplets of spiritual energy as they soaked in the dao of the space. He’d needed to remove a couple of Aligned herbs to make room for them, but that had helped him to figure out that the amount of energy needed to support an herb quadrupled with each rank.

It took the same amount of energy to support 24 Qi Gathering herbs at Rank 1 as it did six Essence Condensation herbs at Rank 2, or one and a half Aligned herbs.

“Not too bad,” he said quietly as he studied the result. He’d been able to hold 24 Aligned herbs before, but when that was broken down into Rank 1s it was a lot more.

384 Qi Gathering herbs, to be precise.

The soul space was designed to hasten the growth of herbs and infuse them with energy, so he should be able to grow quite a few things at that rate. The leaves from the ones he’d planted in there were already beginning to glow with Wood energy.

He could feel a drain on his bloodline to support them, but at the same time, the energy was being drawn from the world around him in a completely unconscious way. He didn’t even have to pay attention to it, and it didn’t take anything from his regular cultivation ability.

It was the first time he’d really seen a clear advantage from being a dragon. Apparently, Wood and Stone energy flowed through his soul on their own. It also meant he needed to get a handle on those two daos as soon as possible.

Wood, Stone, and Wind were the last three he needed to comprehend to bring out the foundational aspects of jade essence. Once that was complete, he could prepare to advance to the Aligned realm.

“Now for the comparison,” he said as he turned his attention to the courtyard. He waved his hand and the lids of another four dozen jade boxes flew open, revealing more of the same herbs.

The first one floated out of its box and he looked around the courtyard, searching for a good place to plant it. Before he could move, however, Leaf let out a cheerful chirp on his shoulder and reappeared on the other side of the courtyard.

The wood elemental had half a dozen different sounds that it had used so far, from hisses, to chirps, to burbles, grating chitters, a quick snap of its jaws, and a chortle that was its version of a laugh. At the moment, he was tapping a front claw on the ground near the base of a willow tree, his mouth open as he let out a creaky roar that drew Verse’s attention.

His claw smacked at the ground again, emphasizing that spot. The long fronds of the willow tree made for an artful display behind him as they draped over the stream, and bamboo saplings nearby rustled in the breeze like wooden flutes.

Leaf stared at the herb in Verse’s hand as he tapped the ground again.

“Alright, I get it,” Verse said with a chuckle. “You decided to help then?”

He carried the herb over to where Leaf was pointing and the elemental began to quickly dig a hole. His scaly claws barely had to scratch at the dirt before it moved out of the way for him. Within seconds, there was a perfectly sized hole for the herb’s roots. As soon as it was placed inside, Leaf let out a sharp whistle that sounded like wind through leaves, and the roots sank into the earth. A few swipes of his claws covered the root ball with dirt and then the grass wove around it, making it seem like the herb had always been planted there.

When he pulled out the next herb, a Crimson Heartblood, which looked like a tiny green plant with five heart-shaped red leaves, the same thing happened, except this time Leaf wanted him to plant it on top of a rocky ledge that was on the opposite side of the courtyard.

One by one, the herbs fused into the area. Each time, they barely made a ripple in the spiritual energy of the place, but the sense of healthy life and Wood was increasing steadily. By the time the twelfth herb was planted, the sense of vitality was fifty percent stronger than it had been before.

With one exception, the herbs were only Rank 1, so that was already very good.

The Marrow Sprouts were growing beside the stream, Bluebell Grass was scattered in a semi-circle around the northern section, Spiritual Dew glowed with luminescent flowers in the starlight as it tilted toward the moon, Pine Essence was sprouting amidst a protective circle of bamboo, and more. Even the Lunar Water, which wasn’t really an herb, was resting in a shallow depression on a rock above the stream, where it glowed in the night.

The living Rank 3 herb, Dawn Flower, was placed beneath some decorative Golden Cloud Bamboo near the western side, where it would catch the light of dawn coming over the opposite wall. That was the main requirement for it to stay healthy.

Once the flower was planted, the area around it began to shine with a shimmering blue-white aura that came from its petals, giving the bamboo forest a magical appearance.

Leaf let out a self-satisfied chortle when it was all done, looking very pleased with himself, and then he curled up around the dawn flower and closed his eyes. His body faded away, merging into the background. He was taking a nap now that he’d finished decorating.

“Maybe he’s useful after all,” the shrine said as the elemental disappeared. “Pay careful attention to what he just did. He balanced all of the natural energies in this courtyard and intensified the Wood element here by using the different affinities in the herbs. That might be a natural thing to him, like feeling the pressure of the wind on your wings, but it’s important. If you study how he did it, it should help you with the Dao of Wood. Wood is all about balancing vital energies and growth.”

“He clearly knows what’s going on,” Verse agreed as he looked around at the balance of herbs in the courtyard. “I think he did this to show me that he could, and maybe to help. You said he should be able to speak, so I wonder why he doesn’t.”

“He probably hasn’t had anyone to talk to for a long time,” the shrine replied. “If ever. The ability to do something isn’t the same as the habit.”

“I’ll keep talking to him,” Verse decided, “and see what happens.”

The more he looked around, the more he could sense the aura of the area tugging at his attention. The pattern of life here rumbled in his veins and heart, resonating with his bloodline.

Whatever Leaf was trying to show him, all he had to do was let it happen.

Perhaps the little elemental thought it was embarrassing for an Emerald Dragon to not have a good grasp of Wood, so he had taken matters into his own hands. The idea made him chuckle.

While he could manage some Wood manipulation while relying on his inherent affinity, it was true that he didn’t have a conscious understanding of it yet. The study of Wood was a necessary aspect for alchemy, required to strengthen the herbs’ essence and balance their innate properties, so after a moment, he sat down at the center of the courtyard and began trying to figure out what Leaf was showing him.

The pattern of the herbs floated in his mind as he sensed the different energies in them, all balanced in a careful pattern. Their vitality tickled the edge of his mind. It felt like if he reached out, he could draw the trees nearer or shift the land beneath his feet.

Time passed.

It felt like insight was at the edge of sight, but it wasn’t coming any faster for chasing it, so eventually he gave up on trying to force the understanding and just soaked in the presence of the courtyard. The lines of verdant spiritual energy crossed through his awareness as they tugged at him.

A couple of hours later, he felt a knock on the entrance gate that pulled him out of his meditation. It felt like he was on the verge of understanding something, but the courtyard wasn’t going anywhere, so he stretched and went to answer it.

The deliveries he’d ordered to furnish the house didn’t take long to sort into their rooms. When it was done, he had a bed to sleep in, some simple but elegant decorations, and basic supplies.

When he returned to the courtyard, it was tempting to return to meditation, but after a moment, he pulled out his new silver-ranked badge instead, turning it over in his hand as he activated it with his spiritual sense.

It was time to see what it could do.

Immediately, an array of options sprang into his mind, with everything from buying and selling materials, to hiring individual crafters, to missions that were available. The Seal of the Imperial Knights on his shoulder came with more authority, but it didn’t have anything like this.

“Interesting,” the shrine announced as it studied the badge. “It has to be linked into a very powerful formation to have all of those options. The Azurewind Guard must have quite the background.”

“It’s the premiere guard and adventuring force in the empire,” Verse agreed. “I don’t know the upper limit of their strength, but this badge is like holding a slice of the capital in my hand. It will be useful if I need to gather materials that aren’t available here.”

A map to the local guild building was included in the badge’s information, and right next to it there was a small blue symbol that marked out the guild’s teleportation formation. A note indicated that it would take three transfers to reach the capital.

Interest sparkled in his eyes. The capital was very far away. It had taken him three months to reach Boreas, and he was still only on the western edge of the middle provinces. It would take twice that long to reach the inner provinces and then even longer to reach the central region of the empire.

He wasn’t planning on going to the capital, but if he could use the teleportation network to go south, it would speed up his travels in the future. Then he saw the price associated with it.

Each teleportation cost a thousand middle-grade spirit stones.

“No wonder no one teleports anywhere,” he grumbled. “That’s ridiculous. It costs more than this house for a single trip.”

“It’s expensive to teleport unless you’re a master of the Dao of Space,” the shrine agreed. “That price is to be expected, especially if they’re using a mediocre formation. Part of the problem is that those formations generally require high-grade spirit stones to stabilize them. Even at that price, they won’t be making a profit. Better ones cost less and can take you farther, but they’re also more expensive to build.

“You don’t need to leave here yet,” the shrine added, “so it doesn’t matter. Eventually you’ll want to seek out areas that have a higher energy density, but it’s not going to be the limiting factor until you’re a couple of realms higher. There are plenty of materials to gather here for now.”

“True enough,” Verse said as he turned his attention to other parts of the badge. “Let’s see what the missions look like.”

It didn’t take long to find the right section. As soon as he accessed it, a list appeared that was longer than he could scan at once. There were thousands of missions available, but they were divided into two basic types.

First, there were standing missions, ones like gathering herbs, beast cores, or other materials and turning them in for contribution points or spirit stones. Those made up the majority of the list, over 80%. The demand for items was staggering, with practically everything he could think of being listed. It looked like the Azurewind Guard had a major trading focus and was able to sell almost anything. As a result, they listed these missions as one of their main supply routes.

Second, and the much smaller section of the list, there were temporary missions. Those ranged from everything from eliminating bandits, to scouting out a problem area, to escort missions, to eliminating a rare beast that had appeared, to crafting missions, like building a rare formation on demand or taking a job for someone who wanted to hire an alchemist to concoct a specific medicine.

Basically, if it existed and could turn a profit, the Azurewind Guard offered it. He hadn’t expected that the organization would be so all-encompassing. This wasn’t just a guard force...they had to be one of the largest trading houses in the empire.

“Even a guard force has to support itself,” the shrine said meaningfully. “I’m not surprised. Wherever profit exists, someone will spring up to seize it. The Azurewind Guard probably has one of the largest mercenary forces in the empire too, with many powerful individuals traveling across it all the time. It’s no surprise that they’ve found this way to take advantage of it.”

“It looks like there’s more than one option when it comes to selling pills then,” Verse said as he rubbed his fingertips over the badge. “The Alchemist Guild must be one of their main competitors, and the White Cloud Auction House too. It’s just that the guard has a much more focused harvesting power.”

There probably weren’t many other organizations that could encourage thousands of Aligned Adepts to gather resources for them. Those cultivators also had to support themselves, which made them a willing pool of labor. It was no wonder the guard had turned into a trading house.

He continued to search through the badge’s options and before long he found a section that was directly for buying and selling items. The mission area had rewards of various sorts, with everything from cultivation resources to contribution points from the guard as rewards, but this section was purely about money.

Ressa hadn’t been joking when she said that some families made their living as traders with the help of a silver-ranked badge. There was an entire marketplace inside, as well as an area to calculate transport costs, which would be deducted from the final sale.

With this badge, he could basically buy and sell anything across the empire. The economic power of the Azurewind Guard was no joke.

There were merchants buying and selling beast cores, pills, spirit stones, talismans, artifacts, rare metals, live beasts, weapons, armor, hides, high quality food, bulk grains, common and uncommon ores, gems, wine, spirits, and far rarer things like living elementals, natural treasures, beasts with specific bloodlines, medicines, poisons, and more.

There was even a section just to hire laborers in the local area, and options in case you wanted them to build a house or to do other tasks.

He scanned over the list of available artifacts and saw that there were items for every realm from Qi Gathering to Inspired Aura. Then there was even a restricted section for things higher than that, which he would have to reach the gold rank to be able to see. From the names of the items, they were fairly standard for their tier, but it was still a surprise to see so many available.

It was the single largest list of wealth that he’d ever encountered.

A temptation to gather it all nudged at his heart, and he rubbed at his chest as he laughed. He had many memories of dragons desiring gold and treasure, since legends were full of those stories, but that was the first time he thought it might apply to him.

Still, it was tempting.

Dreams of producing legendary pills and seizing control of the Azurewind Guards markets and making them offer up all that they had to him for a single pill danced through his mind. Eventually, he laughed and pushed the thought away.

He spent a few moments browsing through Aligned artifacts to see if there was anything he could use, but eventually he shook his head. He had enough to buy one perhaps, but the cost was steep. Right now, it wasn’t worth it. Maybe once he built up his wealth some more he could look into it, but for now it was best to spend his money on alchemy materials.

With that in mind, he set the badge to the side, but his mind stirred by the possibilities it held. He’d been planning to sell any finished items to the Alchemist Guild, but the badge had opened new avenues. Now, he could turn them in for mission completion that would give him contribution points or various resources, sell them directly to the guard, or sell them to the guild. It just depended on what was a better deal in the moment.

It also meant he wouldn’t be trapped by a bad trading arrangement, if the guild for some reason tried to pressure him. He wasn’t expecting that from them, but it was always good to be prepared. Rekan’s inheritance really had given him new options.

He considered the possibilities as he planned out his next steps, until eventually the shrine’s voice interrupted his reverie.

“When you’re finished playing with that badge, let’s go fix the formation.” The shrine’s impatience was mixed with enthusiasm, making it clear how much he was looking forward to messing around with the house’s wards.

He hadn’t had a chance to do much while he was trapped underground. Now that he was out in the world again, he wanted to take full advantage of it.

“Alright, we may as well.” Verse stretched, breathing deeply of the natural energy, but then he stood up and dusted off his robes. The badge went into his soul space, where he planned to keep his most important items.

As he headed toward the formation room at the back of the house, Leaf let out a grumbling hiss from where he was lying. Only one of his eyes was open as he tracked Verse’s movement. Other than that, his scaly hide was invisible as he blended into the bamboo and the leaves of the courtyard. He was clearly annoyed that Verse was leaving, but he didn’t feel like moving himself. It was obvious where the elemental would be spending his time.

“It’s just the back of the house,” Verse said with a laugh. If the elemental had his way, they’d both end up living in the courtyard. “I might like nature, but I don’t plan to sleep out here. Why do you think I ordered all that furniture? I’ll be back soon.”

With that, he headed through the private cultivation room to the formation area. He’d come to Boreas to practice, so he might as well get started.