Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex and Harry soon arrived at the Alchemy Association. Alex was immediately surprised to see that similar to a sect, this place had a gate before having to go inside.

He walked in with the other young man and looked around. There was a massive open space with people in there that were being lectured by someone.

On the other side were people that were playing around with each other. There were multiple buildings inside, each of which seemed to be for different departments of Alchemy.

"What... exactly is this place?" Alex couldn't help but ask. The information he had gotten told him that it was the best place for Alchemists. Aside from that, there was nothing written on the talisman he got.

Alex hadn't specifically asked for anything on Alchemy either, so the fact that he had learned of this place from the other information was already something. Now that he was here, he wished he had asked a little first.

'This is nothing like any guilds back in the western continent,' he thought.

"This is the Alchemy Association of course," Harry said from the side. "Why are you surprised? Did you not know about it?"

"No," Alex said as he looked around. "I just came here because it had alchemy in the title really."

"Haha!" Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry, it's not that hard. Just... imagine a school where the students can get employed to work there. That's what this is. Kinda like those medical colleges back at home."

'School... how the hell is that supposed to explain anything to me?' Alex thought and shook his head. "So what exactly is done here? They teach only Alchemy or medicinal pastes too?"

"No one needs to learn about medicinal pastes to know how to make it. You can do that normally with just a recipe and the ingredients. Here, you are taught about the various aspects of making pills. Even those that are not exactly apparent to aspiring Alchemists," Harry said.

"Things that are not apparent? Can you give me some examples?" Alex asked.

"You're a Saint Alchemist, so you should know that making pills drains your spiritual energy. Most of these newcomers don't know that, and they end up pushing themselves too far," Harry said. "Or, the fact that there is such a thing as a specialty when it comes to making pills. Pills whose energy aligns with your spiritual roots are easier to make, that sort of thing."

"I see..." Alex said. He did not know the last bit of information at all. How could he though? He never got an opportunity to experience that.

"I will need to go to the pill-making hall soon, so let me go take you to the registration room," Harry said and took Alex to one of the buildings.

"Senior, I have someone that wants to join the association," Harry said as he pushed Alex up to the front.

"Hmm? A new student?" the man at the registration looked up at Alex. He was an older gentleman with a higher Saint Condensation cultivation base.

"No, not a student," Alex said. "I'm looking to work and make pills."

"He's a Saint Alchemist, senior," Harry said. "He doesn't need to go through learning."

The man looked at Alex from head to toe. and asked, "You're a Saint Alchemist?"

"Yes," Alex said.

"How good?" the man asked.

"Very," Alex replied.

"What would you say is your average Harmony when making a pill?" the man asked.

"Average... let's see," Alex thought for a bit. "If I'm not given time to prepare, I would say somewhere between 60% to 70%. If I was given a bit of time, 80% and over, and if given a very long time to prepare and some extra ingredients, then over 90% each time."

Hearing Alex's answer both the man at the registration and Harry were slack-jawed. "Ha... Ha, brother, nice joke," Harry said meekly. "However, you should be truthful when answering while registering."

"I am not lying," Alex said and looked at the man that was responsible for registering him.

The man shook his head. "You should answer for Saint rank pills," the man said. "I will ask you again, what Harmony do your pills, Saint Rank pills, reach on average?"

"My answer is still the same, senior," Alex said to the old man.

The old man frowned a bit. He wasn't sure what he could do at the moment. What did one do when someone exclaimed that they could do the impossible?

"Either you are the worst liar I have ever seen who will very quickly humiliate himself, or I am going to see a miracle that I have never seen before in my thousand-year life. Either way, today is not going to be boring it seems," the old man said as he put aside the register in front of him and stood up.

"Come with me," the man said and walked away.

Alex walked along with the old man.

"See you later, brother. I'll be in the Pill-making building," Harry said and turned around to leave.

"No, you come with us too," the man called Harry.

"Huh? But I need to go do my job, senior," Harry said.

"You were the one that brought him here. It's your responsibility to see it through to the end," the man said. "Besides, on the off chance that whatever he said is true, I need someone else to witness it alongside me so I don't have to test him once again with some other people."

Harry sighed when he heard that. "Sure, why not?" he said and walked over.

The three of them went over to an Alchemy room with quite a few formations laid around.

"Make a pill in front of us," the older man said.

"Sure, where are the ingredients?" Alex asked.

"You are to use your own ingredients," the old man said. "If you don't, then you can buy some from us."

Alex frowned. "I have neither the ingredients nor the money for it. What do I do now?" he asked.

"You don't have any ingredients or money? That's quite problematic," the old man said. "We can lend you the ingredients, but you will have to pay us back somehow if you fail. Do you have anything that I can use as collateral for the time being?"

Alex thought for a bit and nodded. He brought out midnight and held it next to the old man.

When the old man moved his hands to grab it, Alex pulled it back a little. "Let us talk about what I need to do first before I give away my sword," he said.

"Sure,' the old man said. "You are going to have to make the best pill you can. Depending on how good the pill turns out to be, you will get employed by the association."

"What's the minimum I must get?" Alex asked.

"25%, but it is encouraged that you make a really high-grade pill because we advertise your name by writing the names of the various pills you have worked on along with the highest harmony you've reached in each," the old man said.

Alex thought for a bit and asked, "Do I have a choice in what pill I get to make right now?" he asked.

"Depending on whether we have the ingredients or not, yes," the old man said.

"Good," Alex said as he handed Midnight to the old man. "I want the ingredients for the Fairy's Touch pill."

"Going with a healing pill, huh? Not bad," the old man said as he took Midnight. The moment he grabbed the hilt, the sword dropped to the floor, and the old man along with it.

"Aaagh! What the hell?" the old man cried out as he tried to pull the sword up, but he couldn't. "Why the hell is this thing so heavy?"

Alex quickly pulled Midnight up and freed the old man. "Are you okay?" he asked with a confused look. How was a saint realm expert finding a mere 16 tons of metal heavy? Sure if he was unprepared it would make sense, but not after still falling.

"Do you have some cultivation problems?" Alex asked.

"Of course not. Why is your sword so heavy?" he asked.

"It's only 16 tons," Alex said as he moved it around.

"The hell it is," the old man exclaimed. "That's close to 100 tons."

"Uh... no?" Alex said.

Suddenly, a thought came to him. A memory of a sword that was too heavy to pick up. He remembered the truth behind its heaviness. It wasn't heavy because it had a lot of weight to it, but rather because the nascent sword spirit inside of it did not recognize the person holding it as its master.

'Is midnight acting up because it doesn't accept the old man as worthy of holding him?' he thought. That was a fascinating thought to Alex. He couldn't help but smile when he realized that Midnight was growing so well.

If only Memory was here, it could have grown just as well. Alas...

"I'll just keep the sword here for collateral if you don't want to hold it," Alex said. "Now please bring me the ingredients of the Fairy's Touch pill."

"Okay," the old man said and sent a message. Within 2 minutes, a young man came running with the ingredients.

The old man took the ingredients and handed it over. "You can start anytime you want. Any pill you make will be sold, and 50% of the profit will be given to you for this pill if you succeed. Afterward, you can negotiate for what you want."