Chapter 49 49 – Going To The Alchemy Division



'Okay, that should be enough.'

Ken was sitting on top of a Wind Wolf while counting his spoils. He killed a few dozen inner disciples and around the same number of outer disciples. Overall, he made around 800,000 Qi Stones from killing those disciples.

He also bumped into three groups of disciples from elite families and killed most of them, letting only a guard escape. 

In one of those three groups, a powerful cultivator jumped out of the shadows to his young master's rescue, but luckily, Ken was only watching without getting involved, so he just had to find new beasts. 

However, from the other two groups, he managed to gain 500,000 Qi Stones, more than half what he gained from killing over a hundred commoners.

He decided to call it a day and return to the sect. Overall, he collected 1,300,000 medium Qi Stones and a lot of materials like herbs and carcasses.

Unfortunately, nobody used a flexible sword, so he didn't get to upgrade his weapon. As a relatively weak fourth-grade sword, it wouldn't be able to hold on if he had a fight against an equal cultivator.

He didn't know much about blacksmithing so he couldn't make a new one for himself. Learning it would be a bad choice since cores were limited. 

Normal cultivators with a mediocre foundation would only have a single attribute, while those from powerful backgrounds who had better foundation, would get two attributes.

If someone's core had too many attributes, they could fail during their core formation process, or come out of it with a core that had a weak affinity to many attributes, turning them into a jack of all trades but master of none.

Ken could get four attributes and still have a powerful core because of his monstrous foundation, but even he had limits that he didn't want to stretch himself beyond.

Since he didn't have the blacksmithing attribute at his core, his future in blacksmithing would be limited, thus he didn't want to waste time on it instead of improving himself in other fields.

Unlike pills, he only needed one weapon, which would be enough for him until he reaches the same stage as the weapon's grade. For example, with a fifth-grade flexible sword, he wouldn't need to get a new sword until he gets to the fifth grade.

Pills, however, he consumed in large quantities, which was the reason he preferred to learn Alchemy and not Blacksmithing; he needs a constant supply of pills.

It's not like he couldn't learn techniques of other elements and schools, but his speed in comprehending them would be much slower than his four affinities.

Since he finished collecting enough money for the next few months even considering his great spending speed, he headed back to the sect. During his hunts, he already killed the beast he needed for his mission, so nothing held him back.

'I need to learn the manuals and techniques I got from Nick. It's better not to bring them into the sect.'

He spent a couple of hours reading those manuals and techniques before burning the books and returning to the sect. When he finished, he finally had a breakthrough with his luck cultivation.

'I can't avoid heavens' wrath if I take people's luck by force, but I can avoid it if I take it with permission.'

·ƈθm As for who was going to willingly share their luck with him, he still had to find that out. He could only do it with one person, so it'd be better if he could find someone with abundant luck.

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'It's time to make a move on the dark princess of my family.'

Ken thought it was time to mingle with his family. Blood was thicker than water, and one shouldn't cut ties with their family.

It's been a few days since Ken returned to the sect, and he had many plans to set in motion. First, he needed to learn more about fifth-stage pills; he had a lot of funds ready to be spent.

Second, he had certain plans for Annie Sue, also known as the dark princess of the Sue clan. She gained her title because of her talent and her aloof temperament.

Luckily, by going to lunch with Rose and Aya occasionally, he had easy access to gossip, mainly from Rose. One of the things he learned from those lunches was that Annie sparred with Louis, Norman's son, every other week to test her improvement.

Although she was stronger than him, he was good enough to be a sparring partner since he was over a year older than her. He could survive a few rounds before getting defeated, which was enough for Annie to test her techniques.

Ken still remembered the first time he met with Louis; he demanded Ken concocts pills for his little brother, saying he needed them to support his cultivation.

'Their sparring session is in a few days. Let's first head to the Alchemy Division and see if I can learn anything.'

The problem was that he didn't have much knowledge about fifth-grade pills and above; there wasn't much information about them in the branch sect. Even the list of materials didn't have many of them.

When he reached the building of the Alchemy Division, a female clerk approached him and bowed.

"Young Master Sue, I'm Emily, at your service. How may I help you?"

As a professional, she knew the embroideries of all the elite clans in the sect so she could tell Ken's origins in a quick glance. 

"I want to learn alchemy. Is there a way for me to gain access to your library?"

"Young Master Sue, I'm afraid only members of the Alchemy Division have access there. If you want to apply to join the Alchemy Division, you can get books for the first rank of alchemy and apply when you are a first-rank alchemist. I'm sure the Sue Clan can easily arrange the best teachers for you."

"What are the benefits of becoming part of the Alchemy Division?"

Since Ken was already a fourth-rank alchemist and didn't plan to keep it secret for long, he wanted to know what he could get from revealing his talent.

"First, alchemists require a lot of resources for their training, so you can have a discount of 20% on everything you purchase here. Furthermore, you get 1,000 medium Qi Stones every month as your salary until you're thirty-five."

Although Emily didn't know why this young master was bothering her, she still answered his questions politely because of his status.

"And after that?"

"Our alchemists must become fourth-rank alchemists by the time they turn thirty-five, or we must remove them from our division so we can invest those funds in new talents. Of course, your funds will grow as your rank increases"

"I see. And about the library?"

"Members can apply for a teacher once a year and have free access to the library if they sold in the Alchemy Division at least 200 pills since their last visit."

That was all he cared about. Although the extra resources were nice, they wouldn't be enough for his needs anyway. At the speed he concocted pills, changed the formulas, and developed concocting methods, he consumed much more resources than other alchemists. Especially since most of his pills were for self-consumption.

"I see. I'd like to take the test now, I'm already a third-rank alchemist."

Ken asked the clerk who looked at him in surprise. Normally when someone was from an elite clan, they finished learning the theoretical basics of Alchemy by the age of 10 when they started cultivating, but they could only start practicing when they reached the second stage.

"Young Master, how old are you?"

She asked him when she suddenly noticed the top-100 decoration on his robes. The decoration belonged to the age group of 13-16, but he seemed too young to be there. 

Although Ken was famous among his age group for his deeds, most of the people in the sect don't keep tabs on what happened among the young disciples.

"I'm 6 years old. My name is Ken Sue."

"I will see if we have any tester present today."

Generally, there was one exam every month, but not only Ken came from a top elite clan but was also the youngest third-rank alchemist in the sect ever if he was speaking the truth.

She didn't worry about the possibility of Ken lying to her; the truth would come out in the examination process later when they check his bones' age. If he was lying, the Sue clan would lose some face, and those clans cared too much about face.

She quickly went to find a tester. Generally, any elder was authorized to give the test to new recruits. 

"Elder Michael, can you test a new alchemist today?"

Emily found one elder picking herbs and hurriedly asked him to do it.

"Test an alchemist? Don't suck up to the elite clans so much; even they have to wait for the monthly exam if they want to join our division."

The elder instantly inferred that the recruit was from an elite family, thus Emily gave him special treatment.

"Elder Michael, he is indeed from the Sue Clan, but he is only 6 years old according to his words. I think such a talent deserves to be treated differently."

Michael looked at her in surprise when he heard the new disciple was so talented. He had doubts about it, but he had to check since Ken wasn't from a commoner family.

"All right, let me have a look at him. If he passes, you must inform Grand Elder Giles, he might want to take him as a disciple."