I looked around my new alchemy shop, although it wasn’t much of a shop. It hadn’t a sold a single piece of medicine yet. Maybe I should set up some shelves.

Chen Wei stumbled in before I had the chance to do anything. “Sir, what kind of pill did you give everybody yesterday?”

“It makes your limbs stronger, your skin tougher, and your senses better. It also heals in a pinch. I call it a Totality Pill.”

“That’s… amazing. But will it harm my foundation?”

“Nope. Its effects are permanent as well, please explain that to the rest.” Chen Wei had wrecked her potential, or ‘foundation’, by taking too many pills made by amateurs. Taking a few pills made by amateurs could make her more powerful. But if she took to many and her body and Qi would start breaking down. My pills were properly made, so they wouldn’t harm her. I took out a bottle of Totality Pills. “Pass these out. My servant’s with my daughter right now, so I need some extra hands.” She nodded and accepted the vial. “And.”

“Yes?”

“If you’re fine with it, reveal some personal information about yourself later.”

“Um…”

“To the other students, not me. And you don’t need to.” Today’s meeting was for bringing them closer to each other.

A group of students gathered in front of me afterward. Everybody from yesterday also came today. “Many of you cut class to come, so thank you.”

One of them stepped forward and looked at me. “Yes?” I cocked my head.

“We aren’t doing anything in our classes today, but we would’ve come either way,” she said. The snickering from yesterday was gone, replaced by formal masks.

“That’s good. We’re creating a movement to make this school one of the best in the world, and you’re the first few chosen to start it. These are the badges that will mark you as the first members.” They peaked at other people’s badges and found they were identical. Chen Wei’s badge was the same as a triangle class student. The only difference was the name carved on them. They were so detailed nobody would be able to copy them without my ability.

“I’ll go refine tomorrow’s batch of pills and let you people get to know each other. Unless there’s an emergency, please don’t leave this room. I took the lights as I walked out of the lobby, leaving them in the pitch black lobby. Supposedly, taking the lights would make them more willing to open up.

I strolled into the garden behind the shop and put my hand to the ground. Ten thousand mana went into creating into vines. The roots of the vines melded to an even larger base underground. The new vines displaced enough dirt to form a small hill.

I did this every time I got the chance. Defenses for my shop and mansion slowly grew underground. They would soon surpass the defenses of my old house.

You have leveled up. You may choose one of these two options:

+9 mana regeneration per minute

+9000 max mana

You have also gained half your mana back! Good luck in your future endeavors!

“About time,” I whispered. I chose the mana regeneration option. It increased my regeneration by more than a third, which was good, but it wasn’t what I looked forward to. I was waiting for level ten. My skills ‘evolved’ when they reached level ten, so what would happen when I reached level ten? I couldn’t wait to find out.

I reopened the room just before lunch. The students sat up and stopped talking after I lit up the room again. The talk seemed to have worked. Pairs that were strangers before now acted like friends. Chen Wei was teary eyed but smiling.

“Come back tomorrow. It’s lunchtime now, so you’re all free to go. Please don’t go to any tower, by the way.” They stopped smiling when they heard the words ‘lunchtime’ and ‘tower’. They left as I asked. Only Chen Wei stayed behind.

“Is there anything else I should do?” she asked.

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“Nah,” I responded, “Not right now. Just keep doing what you’re doing. But there’s something I want you to do in the future. You’re also the head of a sect, so you I assume you have some experience with leadership.”

“I understand.”

“You should know you’re more powerful than they are, with or without a good foundation. They look up to you. And they’ll follow your lead.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You see, no matter how much I’d love to continue cultivating this school, I might not always have the time to organize meetings like this. It’s peaceful now, but I’m predicting more chaotic times.”

She chewed her inner lip. “So even now counts as peaceful?”

More than twenty people have come to this world, each of them with a powerful ability. Jing said Allison found three people, but there were definitely more nearby. This school was facing a disaster, but it was nothing compared to what could be coming. “I don’t know. I really don’t, but I suspect what’s happening now will only count as a prelude. Cultivating this school will be my main project for at least a long while, that’s why I’m here. But, if I need to leave someday, will you take over for me?”

“Yes, sir. And,” she smoothed her robes and entered a full bow, “I must say this again. Thank you for all the kindness you’ve shown me.”

It felt fine to be called sir now that she was, in a way, working under me. “Sure.”

The ground shook, almost knocking me to my feet. I grit my teeth. “What now,” I seethed. Sounds of explosive sounds came from outside. And eighth stage aura burst into the lobby, but it wasn’t targeted at us. Chen Wei and I dashed outside.

Two enormous men, each at least seven feet(2.1m) tall, cantered towards us on shining silver steeds. Their masters wore equally silver armor. One swept his lance in a wide arc, compressing the air and sending out a shockwave so powerful I could see it. It tore through the surrounding buildings. Pieces of rubble hit my shop and bounced off.

The other knight speared an alchemist through her stomach and held her up. Chen Wei trembled but knew she couldn’t do anything. The knight displayed the alchemist’s body for all to see. A red liquid squirted onto the lance, before slowing to a trickle. He threw the spear at the pyramid. It flew in a perfectly straight line, taking the tip off the pyramid. The woman’s body literally popped on impact.

They galloped at the pyramid. Twenty of their comrades were already there.

My aura came out, and the two horsemen halted. They acknowledged their new role, which was to stall me until the pyramid was destroyed. This strategy worked on me before, but now we were on my territory. Eight stage experts were mice. Mice in my mousetrap.

I charged into their midst. A lance shot at me. I dodged it and kicked back. He flew back and the lance was ripped from his hand. His armor must’ve been just for show. It shattered, revealing sharp abdominal muscles.

He stood, appearing unharmed. A horn grew out on his horse’s head and stabbed at me. I blocked it with my palm and jumped away.

They followed me to the front of my shop. The front of my shop was a tiny forest, where tall trees cast massive shadows. A root came up from underground and bound them in place. Then a twentytacle trap with two meter wide tentacles grabbed them and pulled them underground, where they met my poison spikes.

I turned my attention to the pyramid. The vines on the pyramid grabbed an attacker from the sky and squashed him, but it too late. The pyramid wasn’t the Black Library. The pyramid many times more fragile, crumbling seconds later.

“What was that!?” Chen Wei yelled, pointing at the spot the twentytacle trap disappeared. But it didn’t hold her attention for long. She turned to watch the Alchemy Pyramid come down. The more powerful ones escape the tower. But most alchemists weren’t powerful cultivators. The pyramid, which had been standing for who knew how many years, had fallen.

I glared, but couldn’t find anything to glare at. “Why didn’t they evacuate the towers?” I smoldered.

Chen Wei stared at the collapsed pyramid. “This is just the prelude…?”

A vine threw me my medicine boxes. I handed a case to her, “These are the totality pills I gave you guys, but modified so they only heal.”

“Yes, sir.” She understood me. She took the box and ran toward the fallen tower. Tossing aside room-sized chunks of rubble, she sifted through the tower for the injured. Seeing her example, other cultivators rushed in to help.

I grabbed a bottle of pills and dashed at the pyramid. Jumping up what was the left of the pyramid, all my senses went to look for the injured.

I shoved a pill down some kid’s throat and tossed him to the base of the pyramid. Somebody at the base of the pyramid caught him. They brought him to a nearby building for treatment. This was an alchemy district, there was no shortage of medicine.

We worked like a machine. Everybody did their part, inserting themselves where the machine needed parts. Feeling a Dao Journey aura, I raised my head and watched the sky. The cultivator touched down not far from me. She looked at the pyramid with a bitter look on her face. She raised a foot and stomped. Countless cracks spread across the surrounding debris. The rubble dissolved into tiny, pebble sized chunks, like broken car window glass. She reached through the tiny stones and grabbed something. She pulled out two bodies and slung them over her shoulders.

I handed her two pills, “Give them these two first.” She nodded and followed my directions.

I dressed and looked like a servant, but there was no ‘how dare you? Don’t you know who I am?’ She didn’t care about that type of thing, not in this crisis. She only cared about one thing: not respect, not rank, nor hierarchy. Every part of the machine was the same: we only cared about the school. Even an outsider like me was dragged into this mindset.

Chen Wei walked to me, holding a student in her arms. My eyes went straight to the student’s chest. A bolt of Qi wider than my fist had pierced her heart, leaving it a gaping hole. My eyes went to the student’s face next. She was one of the people I’d chosen. I had opened a door to let her out of my shop just minutes ago.

“Can you save her?” Chen Wei pleaded.

“No. I can’t heal the dead.” I felt a pit in my stomach. I could try to construct a heart to try ad revive her, but I didn’t know how to design a heart.

“Is there anything you can do about this?” She pleaded again, repeating the question Hui Ming had asked me yesterday.

Was there really nothing I could do?

The school and I couldn’t stop them because we couldn’t find them, but is there a way around this? Yes, there was, although I’d hate to have to use it. I still had a way out. “Yes. I need to do this quickly. Chen Wei, I’m going to your sect.”

“Right now?” she asked.

“Right now,” I confirmed.

Jing’s snake felt my anger and licked my face. He dropped from my neck to the ground, and the next moment I was staring at a gigantic dragon, scales as white as freshly cut marble. Claws at the ends of his two massive legs clung to the rubble. Chen Wei and the Dao Journey Stage cultivator stumbled back and gasped.

He looked at me, his eyes asking, Need a ride?

I tilted my head back to look the dragon in the eyes, “You can understand us, can’t you.” The dragon dipped his head in a nod, then used his snout to point at his back. I jumped on, “Take me to the Blue Fire Sect.” It was time to pay Mark, ‘The Watchman’, a visit.