Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex entered the large building that sold the beast’s ingredients and materials. He looked around at the place, fascinated by what he saw. Such a place wasn’t really available in any of the other worlds aside from this one.

‘It’s just as amazing as the last time,’ he thought. He had been here nearly 60 years ago now. The place hadn’t changed all that much.

“Is that you, Alchemist Dawnblade?” a voice called out from the side.

Alex was surprised to hear his name being called out in such a place and quickly turned around. He noticed a young man looking at him with an excited look.

“You are Alchemist Dawnblade, are you not?” the young man asked.

“I am,” Alex said. “I’m sorry, have I met you before?”

“Oh, no no. We haven’t met,” the young man said. “I just know you since you are the second place holder at the tournament’s competition. I remembered what you and the others looked like. I have your attempts recorded and I watch it every time. It gives me quite the motivation to become a proper alchemist someday. I am one, but in a sect that focuses not on alchemy, it becomes a little hard to improve, you know. But you and senior Leafheart and the rest have motivated me a lot.”

The young man paused for a moment and looked at Alex’s emotionless face. “Oh, I’m sorry. I blabber a lot. I must’ve bored you. I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, it’s alright,” Alex quickly said. “I was just not expecting someone to think of me as an inspiration. At least not from the tournament at least. I’m flattered, honestly.”

The young man’s face lit up like a sunrise. His cultivation base was higher than Alex’s, and he was no doubt a rather talented fellow. “Thank you,” the young man quickly said. “I’m sorry, I must be wasting your time. I work here. How can I help you?” “I’m looking to buy two ingredients if you do have them. One is the Jade Immortal Locust Shell and 9 tail feathers of the Emerald Raven.”

The young man paused for a moment, seemingly thinking about a few things. “I think we have the locust shells. Let me go make sure,” the young man said turning around to leave before stopping and turning back around. “How much do you need?”

“5 grams,” Alex said.

“Okay. I will be right back,” he said and turned back around to go to the back of the store.

Alex stood in place, looking around at the place. He felt quite a few eyes stare at him, with people seemingly murmuring a few things to themselves. He heard both his name as well as his master’s name being thrown around.

He was surprised. Was he really that well-known now after one competition?

He had spent the majority past months in the mountain, so he wasn’t aware of exactly what was going on with the people aside from occasionally keeping up with the points tally. No one other than Leafheart had managed to beat him so he hadn’t paid attention to the rest of the names. Should he have?

No one approached him, however, so he could stand there without being bothered. The young man from before quickly came out. “We have the shells,” she said. “Do you want them?”

“Of course,” Alex said. “And what about the tails?”

The young man paused for a moment. “You really want them?” he asked. “Emerald Raven’s tail feathers aren’t something we sell at all. Those aren’t considered ingredients as far as I know.”

“I’m afraid I need them,” Alex said. “If for the competition.”

The young man’s eyes lit up. “I see,” he said. He scratched his head for a bit and quickly brought out a talisman, seemingly communicating with something. Alex waited for a while.

“Immortal rank or Saint?” the young man suddenly asked.

“Uh… Immortal,” Alex said.

The young man seemed to transfer the message to someone else. After a while, the young man put down the talisman. “There is a possibility,” he said. “But it’s not guaranteed.”

“Then I have more of a chance now than I had just moments before,” Alex said. “What’s the issue?”

“Uhh… the person,” the young man said.

“The person? You mean the raven?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, I don’t know if he will give you the tail feathers or not,” the young man said.

“Is there a reason why he won’t give it to me?” Alex asked.

“He’s not exactly the… friendly type,” the young man said. “I can take you to him if you want. It will have to be after my shift is over around evening.”

“So a few hours from now,” Alex said. “I will roam the city and come back here when the sun goes down. Will you take me to this person then?”

“Yes, of course,” the young man said excitedly. “See you later.”

“Actually, I need those locust shells right now.”

“Huh? Oh, right. I nearly forgot. Sorry.”

The young man hurriedly completed the transaction with Alex, selling him the locust shells. With the shells in hand, Alex had 12 of the 14 total ingredients with him.

The only thing he was still missing were the Emerald Raven’s Tail feathers and the White Ascension flower petals. And if luck was on his side, he was going to get the tail feathers tonight.

‘That will leave only 1 last ingredient, and Aethersage was more than confident about the White Ascension lotus being in the secret realm,’ Alex thought. That meant he was just about done with the first competition.

He roamed the streets of the Beast Cloud city, watching the many beast-turned-humans walk around him. There was a significantly higher number of those in the city due to the nature of the sect.

He hadn’t noticed it last time around, but he was now since he was better used to recognizing the small things that separated a beast-turned-human and a regular human. There were subtle, unmistakable signs that he was now much better at noticing. It was a strange skill he had managed to learn now.