Shiga slowly made his way over to the alchemy pavilion. The inside of the main building still had a crowd inside of it, but most people seemed to be leaving. The main building was where people could get pills, information, and other alchemy items. It was also directly connected to the alchemy treasury behind it. The main building was also connected to several alchemy labs and pavilions. People who wanted to experiment with alchemy could simply request one of the labs.

Shiga was exploring some of the courtyards when he came across one where a lecture was being given. It talked about the basic requirements of alchemy and was being taught by a kind looking old woman. Shiga had a slight interest in alchemy, so he took a seat off to the side and began to pay close attention.

“After you use proper tools to prepare ingredients for alchemy, you will need to combine them. The most common method of doing so is in a cauldron. By placing ingredients in and carefully heating them up, you will be able to mix them, while removing many of the impurities because of the heat. Other methods do exist, but they are all something that you should take time to look into on your own. So all an alchemist really needs is a mortar and pestle as well as a cauldron. Many alchemists will use other tools, but most of them should not be used until one possesses a strong understanding of the fundamentals.” (Old Woman)

“You said most, so does that mean that there are other tools that we can use early on?” (Student)

“*Sigh* Yes, there are other tools that can be used early on, but you should stick with the basics for now. If you really want to do something more, you can get an alchemy flame. Alchemy flames are special flames that are primarily used by alchemists, but do not think that is all they are good for. There are thousands of different types of flames, some of which are only good for fighting. If you have any interest in alchemy though, I would not recommend them. The sect has a large collection of alchemy flames, and students can get one for free if they ask. In order to get an alchemy flame, all you need to do is to take part of the flame and open your dantian. Then you must take the flame and put it into your dantian. Be careful though! If your cultivation goes against the flame there will be a backlash, so make sure to pick a flame that suits you.” (Old Woman)

The old woman kept talking more about alchemy, but it was beyond Shiga who had never done anything involving alchemy. Instead, Shiga left the pavilion and went to explore more of the sect. Shiga was walking down the path outside the pavilion when he noticed the scroll library. It was getting late, but Shiga decided that there was enough time to browse the scroll library. He walked over to the large building. It was made mostly of stone, but it was still several stories tall. The large wooden doors to the library were closed, but when Shiga pushed on one it smoothly opened to reveal the library. There was a kind looking young man reading a book near the entrance. He was only slightly tall, but he had a well defined build that made him seem even larger. He had a face that would put people naturally at ease with his hair neatly tied back and a slight smile on his face, but when he looked up Shiga immediately felt pressured by him. Suddenly the pressure stopped when the young man began to talk.

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“Ah. Hello. I am librarian Xie. You must be a new student correct? Take as much time as you need to pick out a scroll or book. You will only be able to take one though, and only from the first level. Don’t do anything to disturb the library or try to take more and everything will be fine.” (Librarian Xie)

“Thank you senior.” (Shiga)

Shiga walked further into the library. The floor contained packed shelves with only enough room for two people between them. There wasn’t any detailed ordering system to the scrolls on the first floor, but everything was grouped based on what was for. Shiga wandered the shelves, picking up random books and scrolls before putting them back. Shiga viewed various scrolls, but nothing was standing out to him. He already had a decent fighting art and he didn’t need anything to help his cultivation at the moment. Shiga took a look at body refining skills, but nothing seemed too great. As he was looking around, Shiga found a shelf full of scrolls based around companions. For some of the skills the companion needed to be a person, but for most of them a magic beast would work just fine. Shiga looked at several but ended up deciding on [Companion of Life] which included all parts of taming. The skill also allowed the tamer and their companion to create a special bond that allowed for easy communication, and potentially even fusion techniques.

Shiga grabbed the manual and brought it to Librarian Xie who looked up for a few seconds before nodding his head and going back to his book. Shiga walked out of the building, quietly closing the door behind him, and made his way back to the dorms.

While he walked, Shiga pondered on what magic beast he should tame for the [Companion of Life] Technique. His ideal creature was one that would work well with his cultivation while still having a sense of majesty and power. No matter how well a mouse or something similar might work for him, there was no way he would settle for something that tiny and pathetic. Something like a majestic tiger or awe inspiring dragon would be great, but tigers tend to be flame attributed and dragons only lay eggs at most every century for some of the weaker types. Besides, both of them were just too rare to hope for. Shiga pondered what magic beast to tame some more...