“In this section, you’ll find Body Enhancement Elixirs and Pills. Like before, pills on the right side and elixirs on the left, are all divided into different sections depending on their purpose. Battle, Body Alterations, Charms, Curses, Luck… and many others. Unsurprisingly, this is Master Thai’s most popular section though not because of the Battle section… Women are much more self-conscious than you’d think,” the boy sighed before moving on.
“Here we have the Elemental Section…”
Alaric listened passively as the boy explained the different pills and elixirs they had to offer. He wasn’t interested in knowing what kind of things women would want in such a place… Well, at least, not now.
Alaric had once again segmented his mind to pay attention to different things and handle them separately.
Part of him took note of everything the boy said and asked the necessary questions about the different elixirs and pills he wanted to know about, while another part noted the depth of Troy’s knowledge while trying to figure out what was wrong with the boy.
“What’s the difference between a pill and an elixir? From what we’ve so far seen, they all tend to do similar things. At first, I thought some enchantments can’t reproduced as elixirs but that’s clearly not the case now,” Alaric asked the boy.
Troy paused in his explanation of some elixir that was meant to harden the wood of all trees in a forest with just a single drop, used mainly by lumberjacks looking to score highly on good quality timber. Unfortunately, once the elixir runs out, the durability of the wood tends to suffer… which could be solved by choosing from three other elixirs designed to preserve the wood’s durability.
“Pills offer either permanent or semi-permanent enchantments and are a lot harder to ingest. It’s not enough to just swallow it. That could kill you in some cases, in fact. Elixirs, however, act quickly. Once used, their effects will be seen in the shortest time and will be potent for the period of time that they are meant to be effective.
While this sometimes happens to pills, the time it takes for an Elixir to wear off is drastically shorter than that of a pill,” the boy responded.
“Oh wow… That’s fascinating. Now I’m more interested in the process of making them. Did Thai make all these?” Alaric was comfortable enough to ask questions.
“Yes, he made… most of them,” the boy replied with a dejected expression, “Some of them he won at auctions. Those he sells very expensively because they usually cost him a fortune to procure.”
“Oh?” Alaric replied. Seeing as he’d never really been to an Auction House, he skipped over this detail and asked his next question, “What about you? Have you made a few pills before?”
“I used to… Not anymore,” the boy responded.
“Why’s that?” Alaric asked.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” the boy replied.
Alaric went a bit silent. The woman he’d gotten information from had not been far off the mark. Troy definitely had some knowledge of Alchemy, and seeing as Alaric was more interested in a trustworthy Alchemist than a good Alchemist, he checked all his boxes… if it hadn’t been for his demoralizing attitude.
“I’m looking for an Alchemist, Troy. The kind that’s willing to see how far they can go. Thai is not the kind of Alchemist I seek. He’s an accomplished man focused on making as much money as he can… and that’s not the kind of person I’m looking for. You, on the other hand, might fit the bill perfectly,” Alaric spoke formally.
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Troy gave the boy a complicated expression, “You’re not here to buy pills, are you?”
Alaric shook his head.
The boy sighed. Turning to Alaric, he bowed his head deeply, “I’m sorry I wasted your time then. I’m of no use to anyone as an Alchemist. You’ll be better off hiring a racoon. There is nothing anyone can do to fix it.”
“That’s not what an Alchemist would say. Impossible isn’t a part of their vocabulary… unless whatever happened you had something to do with dark magic…” This was more of a question than a statement to which Troy just shook his head.
“You’re right. Impossible is not a term Alchemists like to use… but the solution here is one I cannot achieve,” the boy responded.
“Does it involve skills above your station?” Alaric wondered.
“If you have no more questions about the master’s wares, I suggest you buy what you want and leave,” the boy responded coldly.
Alaric wasn’t done though. “So that’s it. You’ve given up?” When no answer came, he sighed, “Someone shows up on your doorstep offering to help you out and you turn him down just like that?”
“What would you know?” the boy yelled back, “You have no idea what it’s like to have your meridians damaged beyond repair. So, what the hell would you know?”
Alaric smirked, “Ah, so that’s what happened. You’re not so hopeless after all. So, what’s the plan to get your meridians fixed?”
The room was silent for a bit before a familiar gruff voice interrupted them, “So that’s what you came here for. You came to steal a broken apprentice?! Ha! Typical move for a peasant!”
Alaric turned slightly and stared at the man straight through his monocle, “Steal?”
The room seemed to vibrate with the tone of Alaric’s voice. Thai blinked and looked around, trying to make sure he wasn’t imagining things.
“You were planning to run away with him once his meridians were fixed. Well, the joke’s on you. He can’t fix those meridians without an alchemist to help him make the pill,” the man yelled out.
Alaric didn’t show as much of a reaction though, “Isn’t that where you come in?”
“Huh…”
“I mean, you’re not fully wrong. I did come here for an alchemist. I needed one that’s… well, younger than you. But I didn’t come looking for an enemy either,” Alaric spoke up, making sure to keep emotion out of his voice.
The man chuckled darkly, “You have a snake’s tongue for someone so young. But words won’t persuade me into giving up a talented apprentice, broken as he may be.”
Alaric switched gears, keeping his expression neutral while he did so, “You misunderstand, Master Thai. Your assumption of me seems quite low, so I’ll ask you not to judge the book's cover just yet.
I might interest you more than you’d realise. I plan to travel a lot and venture into territories rich in ingredients any alchemist could kill for.
Since I’m not an alchemist though, those ingredients would be wasted on me. So, to make the most of it, I’m looking for an alchemist who can travel with me and make use of all that we find.
At the same time, this alchemist will be responsible for making the elixirs and pills I’ll be using to increase my Temper Rank. You’re a businessman, Thai. There is a deal to be struck here.”
“I see no deal… only the loss of a good apprentice. Troy is a good boy,” Thai replied sincerely.
Alaric sighed. This was turning out to be harder than he imagined, “What if I told you that you’d get ten per cent off every pill and elixir Troy and I were able to sell.”
At this, the man’s eyes brightened, “You can’t be serious?”
“This would be your investment and you’d continue to earn from it for as long as you wanted,” Alaric explained.
All this while, Troy listened to the conversation as they went back and forth. Alaric’s intentions were unlike any he’d ever heard before. They’d gotten offers before and while the strange boy’s approach wasn’t unheard of, it was definitely rare.
“You do realise you could have offered me a thousand gold for the apprentice and beat all the past offers I’ve been given for the boy,” Master Thai facepalmed, seemingly defeated, “Unless you don’t have that kind of money.”
Alaric smiled, liking the fact that the old man had changed his tune finally. He no longer looked at Alaric as a lowly peasant, “That’s too cheap though.”
“What…?” the air went cold.
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? I am willing to buy value… and the value I see in your apprentice is far more than a thousand gold marks. With this deal, you’ll make far more money…” Alaric responded.
For the first time since coming here, Alaric saw a tired look in Master Thai’s eyes. “You make a good argument… but there is just one problem. Powerful as you might be, you can’t fix Troy’s meridians.”
“Why is that?”
“We have everything we need to fix Troy’s meridians right here except for two things. An insane amount of aether and one extra ingredient.
The Storm Orb of the Heaven-Crested Eagle is the final ingredient needed to make the pill that can heal Troy’s meridians,” the man said.
Alaric didn’t know what a Storm Orb was or even why an eagle would be called Heaven-Crested but he knew one thing for sure. Those two words weren’t supposed to be in the same sentence.