Sunrise Alchemist 12: Vesana (Patreon)

“Friends?” Vesana gave him a radiant smile as she raised her glass to answer the toast. Her attitude changed as confidence appeared. It made her more graceful. “That works for me.”

All of her emotions were on the surface. Asking a friend for help was a lot better than asking a stranger. For someone who wanted to make alchemy the greatest under the heavens, it was obvious she didn’t lack ambition.

She wanted his help and to know more about his alchemy, but that was fine. She would be a good ally. The most important thing was that he didn’t think she would reveal any information about him.

He was a golden goose for her. It was in her interest to keep his information about alchemy to herself and use it to strengthen her position in the guild. In a certain way, knowing about it put her in almost the same position as him.

Knowledge of higher realms and alchemy at this level was dangerous. It risked overturning the foundation of the empire. Keeping it secret was the safest.

As for saving the alchemists and the guild’s reputation, he was willing to work on that. If she didn’t want to be it secret, it would be a lot easier. How to do that would take some thought.

“Friends,” he agreed as he tilted his glass toward her and then tipped it back. The vortex in the glass spun like a raging ocean below the surface as it went down his throat. It was a frozen hailstorm wrapped around a tornado as it hit his stomach. The spiritual energy exploded outward, roaring through his meridians in a sapphire tide.

At that instant, he felt the barrier between him and the Aligned realm shiver. It was like a stone wall that suddenly turned fragile, shaking like a leaf as the storm rattled it. A massive crack splintered through the center.

It didn’t break, but it wasn’t far off.

It was a very good wine. It made him close his eyes for a moment and appreciate the intensity, not just of the flavor, which was like crackling ice raspberries and ocean frost on stone, but of the power that was contained in such a delicate form. Whoever had made this wine was a master, probably at the Inspired realm.

When the storm of energy settled, he set the glass back on the table with a soft clink of crystal on wood. Then he looked up at Vesana. Across from him, she was flushed, her skin radiating with rosy heat as she set her own glass down.

His mood was cheerful, and he had to stop himself from laughing. Some of that was the effect of the wine, but the rest was from the feeling of living.

He hadn’t expected things here would be this interesting. He knew the attraction was related to his draconic nature, which was fascinated by new things, but he didn’t try to stop it.

A lot of it had to do with Vesana herself. She was beautiful and passionate. She was honest and didn’t want to steal his secrets. It was hard not to like her.

After his friends left Whitestone, he’d missed their company and wondered what he was going to do with himself for a decade or more. Now, he was hoping that Vesana would turn out to be a good replacement. Meeting her added color to the world, and now Boreas was drenched in it.

So he decided to take a gamble on her. At the back of his mind, there was an escape plan or two if things here utterly failed, but that was just common sense.

“Let’s talk about cooperation,” he said with an easy grin. “You need my help with the branch manager and rescuing those alchemists, and I need your insights into the guild if I want to get things done without causing a huge mess. So, we trade.”

“What do you want?” Vesana asked immediately, seemingly unaware that her hand was still on his wrist, but she was smiling now. “And you’ll tell me more about the Outer Heavens, as you call them, and the higher realms of cultivation?”

It was obvious how interested she was in that.

“Yes, if you like,” he agreed. “And I’ll help you with your problem, as long as it’s something a knight should handle, but we’ll do it my way. I’m not out to make enemies in Boreas. I came here to have a peaceful time practicing alchemy, not to deal with ghost cultivator sects. Let's not mess it up.

“Also, the moment you think I’m going to fight a clan with Primal Spirit and Inspired cultivators in it,” he warned, “I’m going to disappear the same day and you’ll never see me again. Whatever trouble you start with them is on you. That will be the end of our deal.”

He probably would help her, if he were being honest, but he didn’t want her to think that he could solve all of her problems. Rushing in with sword swinging wasn’t going to be the tactic here. It would take a more careful arrangement.

“I understand,” Vesana said seriously, but her eyes were bright with hope. “We can do it your way. Just let me plan it with you.” Then her tone turned hesitant as she studied him cautiously. “What do you want in return?”

“Your support with the guild and to share what you know about alchemy with me,” Verse replied. “I want to know how the empire does things, and discussing theories with you will be a big help.”

“That’s too easy,” Vesana agreed instantly. “But I can’t share my own family’s heritage recipes without getting permission.”

“That’s fine,” he said. “I just need more general information, as well as theories. I’d like to see the differences between my heritage and the empire’s.”

“Will you share those recipes for higher realms one day?” Vesana’s expression was intent as she looked at him. “It would change everything.”

“If one day, you can use those recipes, or if you need me to make a pill for you from them, we can discuss it,” he agreed. “Until then, let’s pretend they don’t exist. Even talking about them in public seems likely to cause trouble.”

“That’s true,” she agreed as she glanced around the room. “This meeting room is silenced from the outside, and the White Cloud Auction House is trustworthy, so it’s safe to talk here, but anywhere else would be a risk. We should only talk about Rank 5 pills at most, or maybe 6 or 7 in passing. Those are always a popular topic in the guild, even if they’re secrets that belong to various sects.” She paused as she looked at him.

“Are your recipes really locked to just your heritage,” she asked hesitantly, “or is there something you could teach me from it? If it truly transcends the alchemy of the empire, its value is priceless.”

“We can figure that out in our alchemy discussions,” Verse said. “I’m not sure yet. But whatever you learn, you’ll have to keep it to yourself. It will be dangerous to you if people find out what you know.”

“I know,” she said quickly. “I’d love to compare techniques with you. When can we start?”

“I’m just starting on the heritage myself,” Verse said with a laugh. He didn’t want to give her the wrong idea. “For all of its promise, I’m not that advanced as an alchemist yet. I need to practice.”

“Right, that’s why you came to Boreas,” Vesana agreed as she glanced away and frowned. She seemed disappointed that the secrets of the higher realms wouldn’t appear in front of her immediately, but then she shook herself and focused on him again.

“Time...” she said. “Well, I’ll be here for years unless something goes wrong. It’s supposed to be where I grow into my potential. So, we have time. You can always tell me in the future. I want to know everything!”

“What about those alchemists who’ve been kidnapped?” he asked as he redirected her attention. “Do they have time?”

“Maybe.” She hesitated. “Well, they’re probably safe enough for a little while, although I don’t know what sort of conditions they’re living in. If the Crimson Shade Sect wants them for their work, they should still be alive and treated somewhat reasonably.”

“Then we need to look at what Renzer is doing,” Verse said. “He’s the one hiding this information from the guild and kidnapping the new alchemists for the sect. So, that’s something you’ll need to keep an eye on. We need to find an opening to act. It would be best if we could intercept another new alchemist that he kidnaps and catch him and the sect in the act.”

Ideas flickered through his mind, but there was one big problem too.

“The trick is having enough force to do anything about it,” he added. “I’ll have to see what resources I can gather to help. This isn’t going to be solved tomorrow, unless you want to announce what’s happening to the entire city. Then, I might be able to pull in some support from the empire here. A little, anyway.”

Unfortunately, he doubted the empire would care much about this problem. From their perspective, the sect hadn’t done anything that serious. Kidnapping some brand new alchemists wasn’t good, but they hadn’t killed them and if the rumor of an antidote was true, they could still free them.

At most, the sect would get a slap on the wrist.

In reality, the empire probably wouldn’t even have time to deal with them, given the size of other issues.

As for Renzer, the empire would say it was the guild’s job to punish him. He was actively kidnapping members of his own organization and selling them to a sect, but again, they weren’t dead.

It would be easier if Vesana wanted to make the issue public, since then some attention would fall on Renzer and the guild, which would force him to stop, but she wanted to keep the guild’s name clean. That was the real sticking point. He tapped his fingers on the table as he considered what to do.

“Renzer is the main problem,” he said eventually. “Without him, the sect wouldn’t dare to steal the guild’s alchemists. He’s hiding it from them.”

“That’s true,” Vesana agreed. “The guild has enough influence to keep them in line normally. He really is a plague on our name, the bastard.” She muttered to herself for a moment.

“Alright, try to look for another alchemist coming in,” Verse said. “We need to intercept him or her the same way you found me, even if it causes some trouble. Then we track them, record what they’re doing, get some evidence, and get away safely. We can use that information to tie up Renzer, one way or another. You can acquire some tracking talismans or other methods to use that won't be noticed?”

“Yes, of course. I have some funds. And I know a guild enforcer or two who would be interested, for sure,” Vesana agreed. “That...would actually be a good way to solve it too. If I report a corrupt branch manager, the guild will give me a good report, as long as I don’t offend too many people or make it obvious to the public. Renzer has some backing or he’d never have been appointed as a branch head, but not enough to get out of that. I just need some decent evidence, or a recording on a formation disk of him doing it.”

Verse relaxed a bit, since it seemed like she didn’t want him to rush straight into the Crimson Shade Sect and start slaughtering everyone. This was a more reasonable path.

“How did you know what he was doing with the other alchemists?” he asked with a frown. “Did you investigate before?”

“A few months ago, I heard about heritage alchemists coming to register with the guild, but then never appearing, so I started paying attention,” she said. “I asked Renzer about them, but he told me they’d changed their minds and gone back to their original sects.

“That was suspicious, since there were four of them, so I looked into their sects and found out they’d never returned. After that, I heard some rumors about the Crimson Shade Sect being in discussion with the guild for heritage recipes. That sect has a huge reputation for kidnapping people.

“I also knew about Renzer’s background with them, since I looked into him when I was appointed here. They’re the main reason he got this position, or someone with his qualifications would never have made enough contributions to the guild. I suspect they’ve been giving him recipes and pills for a long time.

“The rest of it was just putting together some pieces. Once I knew he was lying to me, it wasn’t a stretch to see what was going on.”

“So no hard evidence yet,” Verse concluded. “Alright, that’s what we’ll focus on. Carefully, though.”

The plan was straightforward, but there were pros and cons to waiting for another heritage alchemist to appear, so they could catch Renzer in the act. It relied on the right opportunity. The main advantage was that it gave him some time to grow.

He had no confidence in facing a Primal Spirit cultivator right now.

For that, he needed to have some allies or talismans to help, at least enough to escape. The Azurewind Guard’s market came to mind. There were a lot of single-use talismans for sale through their channels, and some of them were more than capable of letting him escape from a Primal Spirit cultivator.

Unfortunately, they were expensive.

That brought him back to the other reason he’d come to the guild. They continued discussing the plan for a few minutes, but eventually he turned the conversation to where he wanted.

Funds for alchemy practice.

“I’d like to sell the guild copies of a few recipes from my heritage,” he said at last, “but I want some resources in exchange for them, whatever you can get. No one else can make them without my cultivation method and a jade affinity, but you can still research them.”

“Done!” Vesana said quickly, nodding her head in an instant. A flash of her strict guild personality surfaced as she studied him. “What sort of resources? And what recipes can I have? Those pill descriptions are amazing!” Then she stopped herself, shaking her head suddenly.

“No, wait...we still need to talk about your heritage, and I need to fix it for you. Then we can decide on that.” Her words trailed off into a mutter as she began to think out loud. “Rank 7 is too much. Maybe 6? No, 5 is safer. 5 is good. Yes, 5. That’s where it has to end. Absolutely no higher than that or it will get too much attention.”

A few minutes passed as she planned out something, and then she picked up the jade slip he’d given her, which was still lying on the table.

“Rank 8 and 9 herbs are legendary treasures,” she said as she studied the slip and shook her head. “I can’t believe you have recipes for them. They’re mythical wonders of the world. For alchemy, apparently they correspond to immortal pills.”

There were a few details in the slip, and here and there a main ingredient was mentioned in the description. Without the full recipe, it wasn’t very useful, but it was enough to give her an idea of what she was dealing with.

She studied the slip for a moment, as if memorizing it, and then with a graceful motion, she pulled out a similar jade slip from her robes. She held the two slips side by side as she transferred information between them. Then she clenched her hand around the slip he’d given her, crushing it into white powder.

“There!” She grimaced as she bit off the word. She was staring down at the dust in her hand, but action had been decisive. “That will have to do.”

She shoved the new slip across the table at him, and then she got up and began pacing around the room, muttering to herself again. It seemed to be a habit, or just her way of thinking out loud.

This time, she was going through the names of the pills as if she were trying to memorize them. As an Aligned realm cultivator, her memory was perfect, so it must have been a habit left over from when she was younger.

Eventually, she came back to the table and grabbed her glass. She hadn’t finished all of it, and now she downed it like liquid courage. Her hair had fallen loose from the pacing and combined with her temper, it gave her a sense of unbridled beauty. Before he could ask her what she was doing, she turned away again and started pacing around the room, refusing to look at him.

She was still struggling with the change to her world view.

Verse reached out and touched the new jade slip on the table. It was a copy of what he’d given her, but all mention of pills at Rank 6 and above had been removed. Only the Rank 5 and below were left.

She’d also scrambled a lot of the information, leaving holes in it like things had been lost over time. Now, if you didn’t know what it was supposed to say, it was very confusing.

“Alright, let’s talk about the heritage and resources,” Verse said with a nod. He would let Vesana deal with the guild. She knew it better than he did, and what she’d said was reasonable enough.

“Tell me more about the issues with it. It’s only 22 recipes. I thought it would be a small one compared to some of what the guild has.”

“You really don’t know the value of this heritage,” Vesana said as she stared at him. “Even beyond the matter of those insane ranks. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be talking about it so calmly.”

“What do you mean?” he asked. “Is there something else that makes it stand out?”

“You think it’s a small heritage?” Vesana laughed bitterly as she looked down at her empty glass. It was like his words were a heavy blow to her, and she suddenly poured herself another drink and swallowed the contents in one go.

She shuddered as the energy of the wine roared through her. It highlighted her skin with more rosy color as beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. Almost instantly, they turned to frost and dissipated into the air.

When she set the glass down, she was calmer.

“22 unique pills would be a strong heritage for a large alchemy clan,” she explained. “There are clans founded on just three or four unique pills. The rank is the main issue, yes, but that quantity is not small, especially once you take into account their variable ranks.

“There are only a handful of recipes for pills at Rank 6 in the empire, much less Rank 7. Those correspond to the Dao Echo and Divine Essence realms, what I thought was the absolute peak of cultivation. At least until you arrived.

“Not only did you bring descriptions of pills for Rank 8 and 9, two realms that don’t exist, but you have complete recipes for everything under that. Twenty-two Rank 6 pills alone would double the number of recipes at that rank in the empire, at least for those in the guild’s common knowledge. At Rank 7, it would be more like quadrupling it.

“Even at the lower ranks, adding that many unique pills will stun the market. I don’t see a lot of pills in your heritage that are designed to help cultivation, which is the main thing people want, but the utility pills and battle pills you’ve brought still make it extremely powerful, even if their effects are only middling for their rank.

“The majority of alchemists don’t have access to that many pill recipes. Most specialize in a handful of pills, and certainly less than ten. They tend to change them as they go up in rank, focusing on whatever makes them profit and the materials they can get easily. The rest, they trade for.” Vesana shook her head as she looked at him, waiting for her words to sink in.

“So, that’s what you don’t understand, obviously. It’s not a small heritage, it’s a huge one! You’re in the top echelon of heritage alchemists with just the Rank 5 recipes and below, and obviously at the absolute top if you include all the ranks. That’s why when you register it with the guild, you have to stop at Rank 5 pill descriptions. It pains me to say it, because there’s so much knowledge there for the guild to study, but it’s just not safe...even my own parents would be willing to kidnap you for one of those recipes, and they’re among the top hundred alchemists in the entire empire!”

She reached out and poured both him and herself another glass of spirit wine, although the rose tint to her skin had yet to fade. Instead of drinking this one, she held it in white-knuckled grip. It was obvious that she was fighting with herself over what to do.

She wanted his recipes, but at the same time she knew how much trouble they would cause.

All of her choices boiled down to protecting the guild and ensuring its stability, even if it clashed with her own desire to advance the craft. At the same time, she was willing to set that aside if she could study the recipes and expand her own knowledge, which was why she wanted to follow him, so her choices were both protective and a little selfish.

It wasn’t a bad combination.

At any rate, it aligned with his own desires.

He kept his composure as he picked up his glass. He had been so wrapped up in creating the heritage that he felt it was natural to include the full descriptions of all the ranks. He hadn’t considered that 22 pills was a lot for them, nor the limits of the empire’s cultivation system.

He’d been keeping it simple, but he ended up still making something that didn’t belong in the empire. It made him laugh for a moment, but the tone was bitter.

“The world really has fallen a long way,” the shrine agreed. His words came at the speed of thought, making it easier to hold a conversation with him at the same time as the one with Vesana. “But you aren’t bound by these limits. Don’t worry about it so much.”

“It's like standing on a beach and staring up at a tall cliff,” Verse replied. “It would be easier if I were in a boat and the tide could carry me to the top. The empire is the boat, and the world’s knowledge is the tide. Right now, I’m stuck fishing in the tide pools. Without you, I’d be there for a very long time.”

“But you found me, and I’m going to turn you into a proper dragon,” the shrine said cheerfully. “If you can gather information from her, I’ll spend some time thinking about human alchemy. Maybe there’s a way to make a few recipes work for them. It could be useful in the future for gaining allies. I just don’t know how they do things.”

“Let me know what you come up with,” Verse agreed. The shrine sent back a pulse of agreement, but then it fell silent. Meanwhile, Vesana had returned to pacing.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Vesana was muttering, and her hair was messy from where she kept running her hands through it. It wasn’t clear if the word was targeted at him or herself, or perhaps the empire for its lacking cultivation.

It sounded like she was angry at the world for not following her wishes. It would only have been more perfect if she was stamping her feet at the same time.

The wine was probably getting to her.

“I think she likes you,” the shrine said with a laugh. “That's my fault. I didn’t think the empire was so weak as to not have any recipes past Rank 7 or I would have warned you. The cultivation realms that match Rank 8 and 9 must have been lost over time, or perhaps the humans never developed them in the first place.

“They were sometimes called the Divine Soul and True Dao realms. Admittedly, even the Elder Races never had that many people at the True Dao realm. It’s difficult to reach.”

Despite the seriousness with which Vesana was reacting, the shrine wasn’t bothered. He only cared about Verse and finding his old master, not the difficulties of the empire.

After a few more minutes, Vesana pulled herself together and came back to the table. She collapsed onto the couch again and looked at him.

“Now, I have to decide what to do with you,” she complained. “I still need to register you. But I can’t give you a rank as a heritage alchemist that matches your real legacy. I wish I could.”

“What’s the rank for ditch digging?” Verse asked with a laugh. “If I can’t even tell what the cultivation realms are in the empire, clearly I’m not cut out to be an alchemist.”

He was enjoying teasing her, and the words made her scowl at him.

“Don’t be an even bigger idiot!” Vesana growled as she smacked her palm onto the table. “With that heritage you have the potential to be a legendary alchemist. Don’t you dare waste it!”

“So, how does the registration work?” he asked. “What’s the normal procedure for a heritage?”

“A heritage alchemist usually gets a certain amount of investment each year,” she replied as she calmed down, “but there’s a contract with the guild as well. You need to work for us for a while to pay it back. Normally, that comes from making the unique pills and giving them to us to sell. We take the profits from that, and when it’s earned enough, your debt is cleared.

“The rank of a heritage alchemist corresponds both to the level of their heritage, since some require more expensive materials to practice, and on how much they produce. Every heritage has to be evaluated for its cost and benefit. High-ranking recipes don’t always mean a lot of support. Sometimes, a heritage is too expensive to train, and those alchemists are out of luck. All they can do is sign up as a regular alchemist and work on their heritage recipes on the side.”

“I won’t sign any contract with the guild that’s too involved, nor too long of a duration,” Verse said, shaking his head. “I’m willing to give the guild pills to sell, but on a one for one basis. I only want to use it as a market, not as an obligation. But I am willing to put up a few recipes to start, as a way to get initial resources.”

“It’s not in my interest to have the guild look at you too closely either,” Vesana muttered as she considered the problem. “There’s too much risk of the branch manager finding out the full details of your heritage if it’s a high rank. He’s a Rank 5 alchemist, the only one in this entire region, and he has the authority to check on almost everything. I’m only a Rank 4 alchemist. He might be able to see more from your recipes than I can, even if you limit what you show.”

Despite being a rank lower than the branch manager, her pride at her rank was clear, and it revealed a lot about her skill. She was only at the Aligned realm, but a Rank 4 alchemist was able to make pills for the Primal Spirit realm.

That was impressive.

Since the branch manager was only at the Primal Spirit realm, it seemed he was just as outstanding and able to work up a realm, the same as her. He should be able to make pills for the Inspired realm.

“The other issue,” Vesana said as she continued to think, “is that you can make your heritage pills at every rank. That’s just ridiculous and it will get too much attention. I should have taken those out of the new slip. If you sell pills to the guild, you need to do it for only a couple of ranks per pill, so it’s more similar to other heritages.”

Ideas seemed to be flashing through her mind as she went back to staring at her glass, occasionally glancing over at him and the slip on the table. Verse just waited as she thought, letting her figure out how to best place him in the guild.

“Alright,” she said at last. She reached down and picked up the slip she’d just made. She studied it before she grabbed another blank one and began to create a new copy. “No more than two ranks for each pill, but let’s make them profitable. Rank 2 and 4 should be good for some...Rank 1 and 3 for others, and then some Rank 4 and 5 specifically for the better ones. And let’s scatter them around, so it doesn’t look so comprehensive.”

When she was done, she crushed the old slip and tossed the new one across the table at him.

“Take a look at that,” she said. “That’s all we tell the guild.”

When he checked the contents of the slip, what had once been clearly arranged now looked like a jigsaw puzzle. The information had already been full of holes after her second arrangement, but now it was even messier.

Pieces of information had been mismatched and rearranged in seemingly random order, as if she’d cut up the descriptions into pieces, mixed them up, and then tried to paste them back together in something resembling real order.

“That’s what a lot of heritages look like,” she said as she waved a hand at the slip. “Half the time, they never even succeed in making the pills mentioned because the recipes are so full of errors and wishful thinking. Sometimes they only master a couple pills and spend the rest of their lives trying to decipher the rest. If you want your heritage to look normal, follow that.”

Verse memorized the information at a glance and then set the jade slip down on the table. He was willing to follow her advice there. He would still make whatever he wanted for himself, but the list had a good set of pills at each rank. It wouldn’t be much trouble to pick ones to sell to the guild.

“I’ll register you with the guild as a Rank 1 Heritage Alchemist,” she said decisively. “It’s the lowest rank, but it’s probably for the best that way since you want to limit contracts. It’s where a lot of people start. Once you prove you can make pills at Rank 2, you can move up.

“It will look like your heritage is average, and as a Rank 1 alchemist you’re not required to register your known pill recipes with the guild. You won’t get as many resources up front, but there’s still the standard annual support. That’s easy to authorize.”

She reached into her sleeve where she had some type of spatial item, and came back with a white jade plate with a single golden star on the front. She focused on it for a moment and then she tossed it to him.

“There,” she said. “I’ve registered you. The star corresponds to your rank. At Rank 2, you’ll have two of them, and so on. The plate will update on its own. That plate is a guild badge that will record your activities in every branch, as well as your sales, contracts, and more. Put a drop of blood and spiritual energy into it to bind it to yourself.

“The standard support at Rank 1 is 100 medium-grade spirit stones a year, as well as two thousand Rank 1 herbs and two hundred Rank 2 herbs. In total, it’s worth around 200 medium-grade spirit stones, or about 10,000 low-grade ones.

“In return, you have to provide pills of equivalent value each year or the support will stop. You can pick up the resources at the guild trade counter. There’s a map in the badge, but I’ll show you where it is later.” She pursed her lips as she looked at him.

“Average Rank 1 pills sell for 10-30 spirit stones and Rank 2 for 100 or more. That means you need to return around 1,000 Rank 1 pills of the lowest quality, or something better. Yours should be worth a good amount once you make them.”

“I can work with that,” he said with a nod as he tucked the badge away. The resources sounded like a lot, but he already knew exactly how many herbs he could go through and he was just getting started. His speed would only increase with time.

Alchemy was a black hole for materials.

As for providing pills to the guild, that was something he would work on as soon as he mastered his current techniques to an acceptable level. Woodbalm Paste was only a training product.

“Now about trading recipes directly for resources,” he asked. “What can you do? You’ve seen the list on that slip. I can offer most, but not all of them. Let’s start with three perhaps, and only a single rank for each one.”

“I can negotiate for some of that, but I’ll have to clear it with Renzer for final approval.” Vesana’s gaze sharpened again as she looked at him. “So, let’s be careful. Since your heritage is cultivation locked, the recipes won’t get you as much, but the guild will still buy them for research.”

She frowned as she paused to think. Then she rattled off a list, her words coming quickly one after the other.

“For recipes, I’m interested in Woodbalm Paste at Rank 1, the Emerald Crane Pill at Rank 2, the Jade Body Pill at Rank 3, the Clear Heart Pill at Rank 3, the Cleansing Rain Pill at Rank 4, and the Serene Complexion Pill at Rank 2.

“That’s six pills, not three,” Verse said with a laugh, but he wasn’t bothered. She probably had her reasons. “Why so many?”

He doubted the guild would be able to make them, but it should keep them busy for a number of years as they tried.

“I’ll buy three directly from you,” Vesana explained, “on my own authority, but the others I’m not sure about. I’ll have to negotiate with the guild about them to see if they want to research them or not. You don’t have to give me the recipes until it’s successful.”

She frowned at him, as if daring him to argue. With the exception of the Woodbalm Paste and the Jade Body Pill, the ones she mentioned were the pills that were least reliant on jade and bloodline energy, at least on the surface.

She’d paid careful attention to the descriptions. She was trying to choose ones that the guild had a better chance of researching.

The Emerald Crane Pill was designed to restore vitality from overdrawing your life force, while the Jade Body Pill was a body refinement medicine based on a jade affinity. It sounded like it matched the Jade Scripture technique, but even he wasn’t sure if it would work for him, much less anyone else.

As for the other ones, the Clear Heart Pill was a mind-calming medicine to help with cultivation breakthroughs, while the Cleansing Rain Pill was a general antidote pill, and the Serene Complexion Pill was a cosmetic pill that improved the quality of your appearance. It could make you look younger and give a glowing aura to your skin.

It would be popular with anyone who treasured their appearance, but Vesana didn’t need the help.

“If those negotiations go well,” he decided on the spur of the moment, “I’ll give you half of the resources from the pills. Consider it thanks for the help.”

Vesana’s eyes widened at that, but he didn’t know what the result of her deal would be anyway. It was a way of thanking her for fixing the heritage and saving him from the branch manager’s plan.

It also started their partnership off on the right foot. She’d probably get a decent price for the pills anyway, but now she had incentive and it showed that their fortunes were tied together.

“That is very generous,” she said slowly. “For the first three, I’ll buy the recipe for Woodbalm Paste for 200 mid-grade spirit stones, the recipe for the Emerald Crane Pill at 500, and the Serene Complexion Pill at 400. Those are the Rank 1 and 2 ones. I’ll see what the guild can offer for the Rank 3 and 4 recipes on the others. It should be better, especially if there’s a bidding war between research groups.”

That was 1100 mid-grade spirit stones. For a moment, he was surprised, since it was almost the same as his entire wealth before he came to Boreas, but then he adjusted his point of view.

It actually wasn’t that much.

That kid at the Azurewind Guard outpost had offered him twenty times that for his silver-ranked inheritance.

1100 mid-grade spirit stones was the same as five and half years of support for a Rank 1 Heritage Alchemist. Boreas was an expensive city, but the guild’s funds made it pale in comparison.

“That will work.” He got control of himself before he could show his shock, and gave her a nod.

Those spirit stones would go a long way to supporting his practice. It was enough to make this delay worthwhile. Plus, he’d met her.

“To our future cooperation,” he said with a smile as he raised his crystal glass from the table. Another vortex of stormy ocean energy was spinning inside like the heart of a blue gem. “And to not getting turned into soul slaves.”

Then he tossed back the glass. The storm of the spirit wine crashed into his stomach and left another crack in the wall separating him from the Aligned realm. The lingering spiritual power of it raged through his meridians and filled him with energy, but as soon as it appeared, it began to dissipate into his blood.

His bloodline was an emerald void soaking up endless amounts of energy. As soon as the wine touched it, it was gone. At the same time, he felt his inner vitality increase by a tiny fraction.

“We should head back,” Vesana offered. “It’s been a little while and I need to make sure Renzer doesn’t get too suspicious. This room is well warded against spying, so we should use it in the future if we need to discuss anything. I’ll make sure to get you an access badge from the auction house on the way out.”

“He’s going to be looking for me, I imagine,” he agreed as he stood up and stretched. Their discussion had taken a little while, but the wine that left him flush with energy. “What’s your plan for that?”

“I’ll distract him,” Vesana said with a wave of her hand. “He’s greedy, but now that you’re registered with the guild, he can’t do anything too obvious to you. He’s only able to kidnap alchemists before that, or the guild enforcers would come to investigate. That was why Heten was running over to find him.

“He really was in a meeting, by the way, so I hope he hasn’t even noticed us leave, but I wouldn’t put it past that rat of an appraiser to be sitting outside his door waiting for scraps and to tell him everything, so he’ll know before too long.”

“We’ll have to pretend not to know what he’s up to,” Verse said with a nod. “We don’t want to make him suspicious about why you interfered.”

“I’ll tell him I was eager to carry out my duties while he was busy,” Vesana said. “It’s what I’ve been doing ever since I got here, so it won’t be the first thing I’ve done before he could get around to it. This time, it just happens to be something that he wanted to do himself.

“He’ll be irritated, but all he can do is tell me to not work so hard. If he complains, I’ll talk about you being an Imperial Knight, which should make him cautious. It’ll be fine.” She looked down at the table between them, and then picked up the bottle of wine. She put the stopper back in it and held it out to him. There was still more than half the bottle left.

“Since you seem to like it, please take the rest of the Bright Storm Wine with you as a gift from me,” she said with a little grin. “It’s the least I can do. Think of it as an apology for causing you trouble.”

“This girl’s alright,” the shrine laughed. “That's how you do business!"

“I’ll drink it as I think about our success together,” Verse said with a matching grin as he tucked the wine away in his spatial bracelet. “Now, how do I sell this healing salve of mine? That’s what I originally came here for.”

“I’ll show you where the trading office is on the way back,” Vesana offered as she turned toward the door. “It’s the same place we need to go to pay you for the first three recipes anyway, and where you’ll get your annual resources. You can choose whatever herbs you need, buy other ones, and sell off pills you make there in the future.”

“I’d appreciate that,” he said easily, but he couldn’t hold back a smile as he reached out to stop her from opening the door. “But you should probably fix your hair before we leave. It would give the wrong impression.”

A small squeak of surprise left Vesana’s lips as she reached up and checked her hair. It was followed by her surprisingly hard smack as she hit him on the chest. Then she turned away and began to fix the loose strands, occasionally looking back to glower at him from the corner of her eye.

“Here,” he said as he laughed and created a thin sheet of reflective water in the air for her, “a mirror might help.”