“Sister Nona,” Mika called. “Doesn’t it say it needs a thirty year old ginseng?” Mika pointed to the sheet of paper stuck to the crate.

“That’s right,” Nona said, carefully. “Thirty year old ginsengs are needed for great medicines.”

“Isn’t that ginseng only twenty nine years old?” Mika asked. “The root is too small.”

“Young sir, you might not know this, but we’re all great, uh, wonderful alchemists here,” the young alchemist said. He had almost called them Great Alchemists, which was very different to what they were, for even the Elder Alchemist couldn’t be called a Great Alchemist.

Mika pouted. “I’ve seen lots of pictures, and I’ve seen the thirty year old ginseng in the treasury before.”

Nona brushed his hair. “Don’t worry, young sir, the alchemist knows what he’s doing.”

The alchemist sighed. ‘This kid is so annoying.’

Mika understood that he was annoying the alchemist, but he needed to crack a few eggs to make an omelette. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve been in this kind of world so I’ve forgotten all the idioms…’ He sighed. “I’m not a liar.”

“That’s right, but maybe you’re wrong?”

“Wrong? Sister Nona, do you think I’m wrong?” Mika pouted, his heart cringing at his behaviour.

“Young sir, if you don’t-,”

“Enough,” Elder Yan called, annoyed that this had distracted him. “I will check to see if the ginseng is appropriate. Will that do, young sir?”

“I call for justice, Elder Yan,” Mika said, holding his hands together towards the Elder Alchemist.

Yan checked the ginseng, scanning his eyes over across the roots. “Young sir, the alchemist…” Yan paused, noting the size of the smallest roots, brushing his finger across them. In order to confirm whether the ginseng was only twenty nine years old, it was difficult to do with one’s eyes, but with the feeling of touch, any Expert or greater could sense it at once. “It is indeed a twenty nine year old ginseng.”

The young alchemist raised his brows in surprise. “Elder Alchemist, I’m sorry,” he said, quickly, bowing deeply.

Elder Yan waved his hand, his eyes falling to the young boy. Even an Elder Alchemist like him wouldn’t be able to tell it was a twenty nine year old ginseng, but the boy had figured it out so quickly? “Bring us some more tea, and bring my snack jar.”

‘The Elder’s snack jar?’ The thoughts of the alchemists were all the same, for the Elder’s snack jar was something he protected even more than some of the pills he made.

The young alchemist retreated, wondering if the Elder was going to delay the punishment for when Mika had left. ‘Young sir, please don’t leave too soon.’

‘Did I do too much?’ Mika thought, smiling slightly from his vindication.

The Elder took Mika to his office, allowing him to take a seat in the plush sofa. Once the tea and snacks were brought, the Elder ate silently, waiting until Mika had picked his first snack. Mika ate it slowly, catching the Elder’s gaze.

“Young sir, how are you liking the snacks,” Yan asked, biting some of the sugary snacks himself. He had imported them from hundreds of miles away since the region was best for making such chewy delights. They cost him a pretty penny, but for an alchemist of his rank, crates of these were truly just pretty pennies.

“They are delicious, Elder Yan,” Mika replied, eating them with noisy joy. ‘Go on, Elder. Ask me. Ask me how I knew without touching it.’

Elder Yan could see that Mika was crippled, which was not the end of an alchemist’s career, though it would be a difficult journey. ‘Right, it was a few years ago when the boy was crippled. Didn’t I hear something about a wolf recently?’

Mika continued to wait, glancing around the office, smelling the earthy scents of greater ingredients. He could see a few slips on the Elder’s wall too, where he had questions for himself, typically related to creating certain types of pills. One of them intrigued Mika, who glanced back at the Elder, noting the issue the Elder had.

‘What a shame you’ll have to suffer for a few more years, Elder,’ Mika thought. ‘You should have been a little nicer to me at first. Did you think I wouldn’t notice you tried to ignore me too?’

Elder Yan cleared his throat. “Young sir, it seems you have such good eyes.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I like to read a lot, but my sister always takes me to play outside, so my eyes are really good,” Mika replied.

“Your older sister? Isn’t her name Ami?”

‘Ho, not bad Elder, mentioning my sister’s name to get me to like you.’ Mika smiled. “That’s right. My sister is the best. A while ago we went into the forest and she protected me.”

Elder Yan smiled. “What a wonderful sister she is.” ‘It’s a shame about what happened to her. Weakened meridians at her age?’

‘Well, I suppose you aren’t so bad, since you gave me these snacks,’ Mika thought. ‘I might even fix your problem for you.’ “That’s right, she is so wonderful, Elder Yan. She also shares her cheese with me.”

“My first daughter always used to share her cheese with my bas-, bashful son,” Elder Yan said, quickly fixing the word.

‘Eh?’ Mika smiled wider. “Your daughter is also a good sister.” ‘I didn’t know you had daughters, Elder. Though, were you about to call your son a bastard?’

“That’s right. She is still kind, though she does live quite far away. I should go visit her sometimes, but I’m so busy with work that I’m unable to spend more than a week or two away from the guild.”

“Mother always tells me to read less,” Mika stated, as though they were comparable. “Sometimes I take books with me to bed and I read them with a glow gem.”

“Young sir, how could you be such a naughty boy?” Elder Yan asked. “What kinds of books do you read?”

“I like to read all kinds of books, but books on alchemy are my favourite,” Mika admitted.

“Do you want to be an alchemist when you grow up?” Elder Yan asked, leaning forward slightly, trying to open Mika up.

“I don’t know. I’m just a cripple, so I might have to become a scholar. I can’t really use my ki so I won’t be a very good alchemist.”

“A lot of people make that mistake, but it’s not neccessary to have much ki as an alchemist. What’s most important is the alchemist fire, some of which use ki, some of which can be used through items, though they are quite expensive.”

“Really? My family is pretty rich. Earlier, we went to the main estate, and the main estate was as big as the entire town.” Mika opened his arms wide, trying not to cringe as he acted like a little boy.

“An entire town, really?” Yan thought, recalling that the Black Hand family came from the Black Fist family. ‘A regional capital, was it?’

“Yes. It was so big. There were so many servants and strong warriors.” Mika leaned in. “There were even lots of Bronze.” Mika nodded his head slowly.

“How amazing! There is no one who is Bronze within the entire town, but you’re teling me there are a lot of Bronze at your main estate?”

“That’s right!”

“How amazing!” Elder Yan smiled wider. “I think you may grow up to become a wonderful alchemist. Even if you grow up to take the Alchemist rank, even large families will treat you decently, since alchemists are always respected.”

“Really?”

“That’s right. You were able to figure out it was a twenty nine year old ginseng with just a look. How did you manage to do something so amazing, young sir?”

“Is it that amazing?” Mika asked, smiling wider.

“That’s right, it is,” Elder Yan said. “How did you manage to do it?” The Elder had a theory, one which was out of this world. If a cripple young man could see a twenty nine year old ginseng with just a glance, then it could only be because of that.

‘It’s because I was taught by the God of Alchemy,’ Mika thought, smiling wider, growing bashful as he rubbed the back of his head. “Isn’t it because it looked like a twenty nine year old ginseng?”

“It looked like a twenty nine year old ginseng?” the Elder asked, leaning forward. Each word was causing his heart to pound quickly. ‘You must have them! If you can spot it so easily!’

“Yes, because, the roots were so thin, so they were twenty nine year old ginseng, weren’t they?” Mika asked. ‘You must think I have that, don’t you? You old geezer, if I had those, do you know how easy my life would have been? I spent lifetimes practising alchemy, and if I had those, then why did I have to spend thousands of hours to get better at alchemy?’

‘Was it really that, or was it just blind luck?’ the Elder thought. “Do you see anything special about the ginseng?”

“Special?”

“As though your eyes were drawn to them? Did they look pretty, or did they glow?” Elder Yan asked.

Mika tilted his head, raising his brow. “Ginseng don’t glow, Elder Yan, not unless they are exposed to certain energies, like that of the cold mountains, or the hot volcanoes, or the-,” Mika continued to speak about all the different energies that could affect ginseng.

‘Was he really just lucky?’ Elder Yan thought, listening to the child politely. Once the child was done, he cleared his throat. “It’s getting late, young sir, shouldn’t you return home before your mother worries.”

“Oop,” the boy said, hopping onto his feet. He bowed once more. “Thank you so much for the sweets and tea, Elder Yan.”

Elder Yan quickly dismissed the boy, sighing. ‘It wasn’t a waste of time, since he doesn’t seem too bad with theory. I’ll have to keep an eye on him. What a shame he doesn’t have alchemist eyes.’

Mika smiled as he made his way back home, his guard standing beside him. This guard was ranked at the Peak Copper Ten. He, like the other guards, had been gifted several pills to increase their cultivation. The Small Elders had also personally drilled the guards over the past few months too, with Rogue having done so first so the Small Elders didn’t feel like they were being punshed for something.

Mika was going to stop before the girl walked into him, but his guard had pulled him away. The guard beside the girl stepped forward. He was Base Steel, meaning that even Amon wouldn’t have been able to deal with him. ‘A guard who is as strong as the Head?’

“Watch where you are walking, young man,” the girl said, pointing at Mika and wagging her finger at him.

‘She must be the young miss of a city clan,’ Mika thought. “Sorry, young lady,” Mika said, his palm over his fist. “This crippled boy did not mean to walk into you.”

“You are crippled?” the girl asked, frowning. “I will not tell you off since you are crippled, I do not bully crippled boys.”

“I, Mika Black Hand, thank you again,” Mika said.

“Okay,” the girl said, dismissing him with a hand.

‘Young lady, you shouldn’t be so rude,’ her guard thought, but he didn’t dare to say it. He exchanged a look with Mika’s guard, who was an entire three major subranks below.

Mika’s guard nodded, understanding that they should leave. “Let us go, young sir.”

Mika wondered if he should trouble his guard. ‘No, only trash bothers those who are just doing their job, especially those of the working class.’