Emperor's Reckoning

The group immediately saw the fine craftsmanship of the building that they entered. Large adjacent pillars made of marble supported the roof. Hanging chandeliers with bright mana orbs calmly moved up and down. A calm breeze was hitting their skins.

"Where are we going, Renduval?" asked Lyon with his hands behind his head.

"The First Hall," answered Renduval with his eyes rolled.

"The first?" Lyon sighed. "How many are there?"

"There are five."

"Five? Do we need to go to each of them?" asked Lyon.

"No, you are not allowed to get in the Fifth Hall, only elders and the headmaster can go in there."

"Headmaster?" Lyon crossed his arms, "Well this is just an academy but for alchemist then."

"It is," said Renduval. "How come you have never been here before? If you ended the two kingdoms, surely you must have visited this place at least once? Especially that you know Elder Elise."

"Because I don't have the need to?" Lyon shrugged.

(This guy!) thought Renduval as he frowned.

"Can you explain the layout to me?" asked Lyon.

"What? Why would I do that?" asked Renduval as he turned around.

"Well, aren't we basically on a tour, might as well," Lyon shrugged as he kept on walking forward and past him.

"Tch!" Renduval rushed forward and led the group once more with balled fists and rushed swing of his arms.

"The First Hall is the hall for the public. We sell our crafts there."

"You mean drugs?"

"Pills! We sell our pills there, and they are not ordinary drugs."

"Ah, you say drug."

"Fine!"

"Haha!" Lyon laughed.

"The First Hall is open for public and it—"

"It's just Alchemy Union's general store, right?" answered Lyon.

Renduval sighed, "To simplify, yes that is correct, however, it's not just ordinary general store. There is a requirement in which one must qualify to go to the second floor and beyond."

"Requirement? Why is that?"

"Because we can filter out the ones that are capable of buying our pills or ingredients and the ones that can't."

"And what is the requirement?"

"You must have the Alchemy Union's badge."

Lyon frowned. "I have to become a student to reach higher floors?"

"No, I told you that it's open for the public didn't I," Renduval sighed. "Not even the alchemists from the Alchemy Union might have access to higher floors."

"Then how can I get this badge?" asked Lyon.

"A couple of ways, there are bronze, silver, gold, and—"

"Platinum?" Lyon uttered.

"Yes, and Mythril," said Renduval before he added. "The bronze will gain you access to the second floor, silver for third, gold for fourth, platinum for fifth, and then the mythril for the sixth floor."

"Damn, that's a lot of floors,"

Renduval nodded, "En, I only got the bronze badge and that's where we are going."

"Can I take a look?" asked Lyon.

"Huh?" Renduval turned before he squinted his eyes. "Sure."

He flicked his finger and the badge was summoned from his spatial ring, "This is the Alchemy Union badge."

"Hm?" Lyon immediately took it off his hand.

"Oi.."

Lyon was unperturbed. He was examining the badge. The symbol of a cauldron with a person standing behind it was there. It was the official symbol of the Alchemy Union. "How did you get this badge?"

"By fulfilling some quest," answered Renduval. "The quest will give you points, then you can exchange those points for this bronze badge."

"Wait I thought you said that the First Hall is for the public?"

"The alchemists here have a different method available for them, although," he sighed. "Getting the silver badge is really taxing."

*THok!

Renduval's eyes opened as much as his mouth did. He looked at his precious badge bouncing on the floor before flipping a few times.

Lyon squatted down before picking it up and looking at both the back and the front side. "Hmm, the engraving actually did not chip off, this is a really good material, probes to the smith."

"What are you doing?!" shouted Renduval.

"Right, right, here you go, jeez," said Lyon as he rolled his eyes. "It's just a badge anyway."

Renduval immediately confiscated it away from Lyon's hands before rubbing it with his cloak. He put it away to his spatial ring before he glared at Lyon. "Do you know how hard it is to earn that badge?"

"I don't, let's keep going," said Lyon as he walked past him again. "So you're saying that the silver badge is taxing to get, but for the public, how can you get one?"

"Tch!" Renduval rushed forward before leading the group once more. "You would need to buy the membership."

"What? That's really simple haha!" Lyon laughed.

"I'm afraid not, young master Lyon," Cherie sighed. "The currency that they used is Imperial Bead, that's the top-of-the-line currency, not even my kingdom has three of it."

"Really?" Lyon furrowed his brows before he averted his glance forward. "How much does a silver badge cost?"

"It's ten Imperial Beads," said Renduval with a sigh. "And that's just the entry fee, the items there are around one to ten imperial beads."

"Damn, is that a lot?" Lyon asked.

"What? What are you talking about?! Of course, it's a lot! Even Paradise uses this currency," said Renduval as he rolled his eyes.

"Cecile, is that a lot?" asked Lyon.

"Not really," Cecile shrugged. "That's actually pretty cheap."

"Wah?" Everyone was surprised by her statement.

"Are you sure Cecile? You're from the Mortal World, it's almost impossible for you to get a hand of Imperial Bead," said Hilde.

"If she said it then it must be cheap," said Lyon as he nodded.

Everyone completely disregard his words and looked at Cecile who chuckled.

"There is no need for you to worry about this," said Cecile with a smile, "Let's just continue and go there."

Renduval nervously nodded before he turned around. There was something about her smile that made him frightened. However, he was wondering what was he frightened for, the fact that she said it was cheap, or something else entirely.

"Then let us proceed," said Renduval before he led them again.

"Cecile, you are still as enigmatic as ever," said Hilde with a smile. "Knowing you, you're not boasting some empty words just now right?"

"Do I look like someone who likes to lie to you?" Cecile smiled. "Hilde, do I need to pin you down like all those years ago?"

"I-I rather not, thank you," said Hilde as she frowned. (It's amazing though, her cultivation is lower than mine but even my guts tell me not to fight her, not because of her backing but because she could very well defeat me. If that happens, it would be pretty nightmarish to recover mentally).

Cecile merely smiled.

Lumina, however, furrowed her brows as she looked at Cecile.

Soon the group arrived at the store aforementioned by Renduval. The place was vast and much larger than that in Luderia which Lyon first had contact with alchemy.

Large numbers of people were present but most of them didn't wear the alchemist cloak. Some wore uniformed clothes, some look like a band of adventurers while the others were soloist vagrants.

Renduval said, "Welcome to Alchemy Union."

"Really, isn't that kind of too late?" Lyon rolled his eyes.

"T-That's because we didn't enter this place from the right way! We landed right in the middle of the yard remember?!" said Renduval as his eyes bulged.

"Right, jeez, no need to be so uptight Renduval," Lyon shrugged.

"Y-You!?" Renduval was bloodshot before letting out a huge sigh. He knew he couldn't touch him even if he wanted to. Not to mention the network he had was substantially ridiculous compared to his strength that could annihilate two kingdoms at once.

"If you see the goods here, you can buy them if you want to, this floor used Top Bead currency," said Renduval.

"These are mostly level one to four though, in rare cases a level five pill might show up here, but when it does it's usually sold out before you can get the news," said Renduval.

Lyon raised his eyebrows as he looked at how the pills were displayed. They were laid inside a birdnest without any protection at all.

"I see that you noticed they are placed in a nest," Renduval nodded. "This is because the name Alchemy Union is that great, no one dares to blatantly put one pill and sneaked it inside his pocket... oh no."

"What? Why are you looking at me?" said Lyon.

"Don't do anything funny, I warn you, it's for the good of all of us," said Renduval with his eyes sharpened.

"You think I would steal? Renduval, c'mon, do I look like a thief?" asked Lyon as he showed both hands. "See how clean this is?"

Renduval squinted his eyes at him and didn't bother to see Lyon's palm. The kunpeng accident won't happen if the young man in front of him kept his hands inside his pockets. He turned around.

"That's how good I am," Lyon muttered as he smirked.