Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"Oh… they can travel like that? Do you happen to know how much they cost?" Alex asked.

"You shouldn't bother thinking about it. They need Saint-ranked spirit stones even to run it. Unless you belong to a massive sect, those are impossible to come by," the leader said.

"I would still like to buy one if I can," Alex said. "As long as I can sell pills to afford it, I would like to buy them."

"I don't know if anyone is selling any, so the cost will fall on the person selling, but it will easily be in the millions I'm sure," the leader said.

"I see, I will have to wait around for one of them popping up then," Alex said.

"Anyway, since you are not from this continent, what are your plans here?" the leader asked. "Do you plan on staying here, or will you try and find a way back?"

"I would love to go back, but I have something to do in this place. As long as I am done with that, I can leave," Alex told them.

"Do you need some help?" the old man asked.

"I would love some," Alex said. "I'm trying to find a man that most likely came here from the Wastelands through some boat. Would you mind sending the message out that I'm looking for him?"

"Hmm… finding a person huh?" the leader thought. He was starting to feel bad for just giving out some help since there was a very high chance that Alex would just leave once he was done.

However, since he had already asked him, he couldn't go back to his work. "Fine, I will get some people to put out the message that you are looking for this person. Do you have any information we can go by?" the old man asked.

"Yes, here," Alex quickly pulled out a talisman. "I was intending to get an investigator of my own, but you probably have better connections than me, senior."

"Alright, I will send it out later," the leader said. "For now, tell us a little more about yourself. Whatever you feel comfortable with sharing."

"How old are you exactly? You look very young," another one of the elders asked.

"Age… huh? I believe I am 45 years old currently," Alex said after a short mental calculation.

"No way! Only 45?" the old man exclaimed.

"Holy! You can most likely enter in the Sundering Sanctum if you wanted to. That's how young you are," the older woman spoke.

"The Sundering Sanctum?" Alex was a little curious. He remembered hearing about that before, as one of the two secret realms in this world along with the Forbidden Orchard.

"Let's not talk about something that won't happen for another 4 years," the old man said. "So, you say you are 45 years old. Does that mean you were 15 years old when you came to this world?"

"15?" Alex asked with a surprised look on his face. Had it really been 30 years since he started his cultivation journey? It had.

"No, I was 18. I spent some time in a place with some time manipulation and ended up missing a few years," Alex said truthfully.

"Oh… there's something like that? Which continent is that in?" one of the men asked.

"Its not a place I can just talk about, forgive me," Alex said.

"Okay, let's talk about your alchemy. Can you tell us how you are able to make a 94% pill? How can someone make such a good pill in such little time?" the old man asked.

"I'm sure you know how, senior," Alex said. "No matter how talented an alchemist is, they are never going to be able to make a good pill unless they have a good recipe. On the contrary, even a bad Alchemist can do quite well if the recipe is good."

"Oh, are you saying you have a good recipe?" the old man asked. "How did you come by them?"

"That's not something I feel comfortable talking about," Alex said. "Forgive me."

"Okay, okay," the leader said. "We can talk about other things."

The group continued talking for half an hour or so. In that time, they asked many questions, but they barely got any substantial answers regarding what they actually wanted to know.

Since they couldn't force Alex to answer, they had to leave regretfully.

Alex learned a few things of his own. He understood the structure of the organization he was involved in a little more.

As it turned out, there was a committee of 10 people, mimicking the Council of 10 that governed the Southern Continent from the Sunborn Sanctuary.

These 10 people were elders of the association that had either risen up in rank or bought their way in and were now allowed to have a say in the decision that was made going forward.

The leader was more of a figurehead than anything, and while he did have more rights than others in normal situations, when it came to the really important matter, he would have to come to a conclusion with the other 9 committee members.

The association mostly included people from the Flowerhall sect as they were the ones that came here looking for a job after they reached the age of 60 or entered the True Lord realm.

The association was divided into a few different parts, each of which worked in its own way.

There was a group that was there for mostly teaching. They were the group where the students went to learn about Alchemy.

The other group was the Alchemists that made the actual pills that the customers wanted.

There was a group that was mostly focused on taking care of the Alchemy garden in the association.

The Swine group was involved in taking care of Pill Swines that new pills were tested on, which was made by another group of alchemists whose job was to come up with new pills, regardless of their usefulness.

There were also a few buildings for research, management, registrations, and sales, but they weren't as clearly divided as these other 5 were.

Alex cultivated for the entire night and left his room early the next morning. His work hours were 8 to 4, so he had to be there sooner than that.

Alex arrived at the pill-making building where he found a staff member to help him on his first day.

The staff member showed a rather shocked expression when they learned who he was and were more than happy to help him.

Alex was taken to his room where he would be making pills for the entire day.

The staff member walked out and came back not long after. Then, he handed over a talisman with a very long list.

"What is this?" Alex asked as he read the talisman. There were many pill names there, all of which were what he listed as being capable of making.

"These are all the requests that came for you, senior," the True realm staff member spoke.

"So many," Alex thought. "They are all willing to pay over 50 thousand spirit stones., so it's good, but aren't there like 100 pills listed here? And they all demand over 90% in harmony. I cannot make all of these today."

"You don't have to make the all in a day, senior. The people who listed these did so knowing that it could take up to a month before the pill was made," the staff member said.

"Ah, that makes it so much easier. If I have 30 days then… I will have to make 3 a day, don't I? That's quite easy." Alex said. "So, what do I do? Choose one?"

"Yes, senior," the young man said.

"Okay, start from whoever came first. Let's go in chronological order," Alex said and picked another Fairy's touch pill which was what he was known for.

"I will bring the ingredients right away, senior," the young man said and left.

Alex waited around for a few minutes before the young man came back with a bag full of ingredients.

"Thank you."

The young man left the room and Alex started preparing the pill. Since the customer wanted a pill with over 90%, he was going to have to give him one, so he needed to prepare quite well.

It took him a little less time than yesterday after cultivating overnight and could thus finish preparing it all just a few minutes earlier.

Then, he made the pill again.

It took him barely 12 minutes to complete making the pill. Once done, he placed it in a pill bottle and called the previous staff.

"Here, I'm done with the pill, bring another set of ingredients," Alex said and started cultivating a little while he waited.

The young man left the room and quickly made his way to the staff room. He was more than interested in learning the result of the pill after knowing who he was working for today.

He had the pill officially tested by someone who worked in sales and verified the product as being what the customer wanted.

Both of them were shocked at the result, but they managed to keep their composure and continue their job.

The sale order was completed and now they had to wait for the customer to come to pick it up.

At the same time, a small change appeared in the information board where one could learn about the various pills and Alchemists that worked on them.

Alex's name was there alongside other newer names and under his name was a single pill he had made it until now.

However, that one pill had 94% written next to it, which many people there were focusing on.

However, just this moment, the 94% changed into 95%, sending the entire crowd in a craze again.

One time might have been a fluke, but twice? That was no fluke at all. Even the people that were skeptical about Alex were starting to have doubts in their own skepticism. If this continued, they would have no choice but to trust in Alex.

People came and went, but everyone's eyes were on the information board outside the sales department. Half a day later, it changed again.

This time, it wasn't the 95% that changed, no. Another pill name appeared next to Alex's name, and this one got 95% as well.

Now, there was no doubt that Alex was most likely the best alchemist on this entire continent.

Alex was done about 5 different pills by the end of the day before he left his room. When he did, he saw Harry standing outside.

"Oh, hey there," Alex greeted him, but Harry seemed to be in no mood for casual talk.

"Alex, I need to ask you something," he said.

"Uhh… sure," Alex said.

Harry took a deep breath. "Can you teach me about Combinations and Structure?"