"What do you want me to do, Master Ghost?"
"I want you to make tea and appetizers. Send them to the customers of Majestic while they were waiting for their turn, Jack and his group will take care of supplying them. By doing this, we'll get them addicted to your cooking, then we'll have them flood towards our restaurant when we open"
"Biscuits!"
Michael felt Cindy body stiffening after Gaya screamed joyously from the kitchen, The little girl let go of Nightmare,
"Sister Aelia, those are my biscuits!"
"Not anymore"
"Cindy!"
Cindy completely ignored Raylene's cry, rushing towards the kitchen to save her biscuits from Gaya.
"Don't forget to focus more on your cultivation Raylene. We have a lot to do in this world" After giving a gentle pat on her shoulder, Michael left her house leaving Gaya to finish her fight with Cindy. At this time, Raylene didn't know the full meaning of his words.
Leaving Raylene's house, he calmly strolled around the sect enjoying the peace and beauty of the winter. Nightmare flapped his wings, taking off to the sky from his shoulder. After Nightmare's departure, only the snowflakes and the howling sound of the wind accompanied him.
There were no disciples present. He knew they were either cultivating or studying under the elders. Considering they now had a stable income as well as resources to cultivate, the disciples did not slack off but focused on cultivating.
Except for the main headquarters, a huge library and a dome around the herbal garden Gaya was planning to build, the rest of the construction works had been completed. Now each elder had their own mansion and cultivation halls that would rival the big sects themselves.
"She really has good taste" Even with a limited budget, she turned this place around. One could not laugh at the sect for being too shabby anymore because this place looked anything but.
Eventually, Michael came to his herbal garden to see Olivia dusting off snow from the leaves of the herbs. The green hair beauty was too focused on her job as she completely failed to notice Michael. She was gawking between the notebook on her lap and the violet flower in her hand.
The notebook was written by Michael himself. It was like a beginner's guide to Michael's alchemy knowledge.
"Violet Sunflower… it's so beautiful" Olivia mumbled before gently plucking the flower.
"And poisonous"
"Ah!!" she fell face-first into the pile of snow in shock when she suddenly heard Michael's words from behind. Not a single soul was here to see Olivia's downfall that made Michael chuckle.
She quickly wiped off the snow from her face to see Michael laughing at her. Her face turned red in embarrassment.
"Holy gods teacher! You scared the life out of me"
"I did, didn't I?" he helped her up from the pile of snow before taking the notebook from her hand.
"Teacher, I thought you were in seclusion" Her embarrassment quickly vanished away when her thirst for knowledge overwhelmed her senses. She had too many questions to ask him after studying the notebook.
Initially, when he was ordering her to work the herbal garden with Elder Reiner, she had her doubts about his teaching methods but when she began to read the notebook, she realized how important it was to work in the herbal garden.
"I assume you have questions for me" just by looking at her eyes, he could tell she has so many questions for him. Her curiosity and the thirst for knowledge were so obvious on her face.
"Teacher in the notebook, you mentioned that we should use Galvin stone instead of Cockatrice tear in Heat-resisting potion. Can you explain why?"
"You know Heat-resisting potion requires Galvin salt which is found in Galvin stone right?"
"Hmm," She nodded,
"But Galvin stone is extremely rare hence the potion is so expensive. Galvin stone is not the only source for Galvin salt, it can be found in Cockatrice tear too, just in a different state" He grabbed a handful of snow from the ground,
"This is water in its solid form, we call this ice. Heat it up, it will become water" the greed alchemy flames emerged from his palm, turning the ice into water
"Heat it more, the water will lose its liquid state and take the state of vapor. Three states but the same element. The same goes for Galvin salt, in Galvin stone, the salt is in its solid state. In Cockatrice tears, the salt is in its liquid state. It's indeed a bad practice to taste the ingredients but sometimes, it'll help you identify the items or herbs with the same qualities"
"So lick the ingredients, noted" she quickly took a mental note before getting her a gentle knock on her head,
"Just get someone who could speak and has a high tolerance for toxicity. A goblin would do the trick" Considering goblins could eat almost anything, they had a high tolerance for toxicity. Plus, they could be taught to speak the common tongue instead of a goblin.
"I hate slavery, so just pay the goblin a monthly salary or something he or she desires" he basically worked as a slave for drug dealers for a part of his childhood. they would always say they own him and the rest of the orphans. This made him hate the idea of owning another human being. Back on earth, slavery was almost abolished except for a few dark shitty parts of the earth but in this world, although slavery was a crime punishable by harsh sentences, one could not say it's completely abolished. There was always someone secretly trading slaves for nobles for their sick pleasures.
The law against slavery was only for people of the Northern continents which were Elon and Ozer. Slavery was completely legal in the Northern continents if the slaves are from the Southern continent also known as Midras.
Michael only saw the glimpse of the slave trading between the Northern and Southern continents through what happened to Aria's brothers. What they did to those brothers was beyond cruel. It gave Michael the idea of what they would do to the Southern girls.
Sooner or later Michael knew he would need an army to face the Great Clans and a promise to abolish slavery would get him the support of thousands of slaves across this world. If they could help him take over this world, he would end slavery once and for all. He was not naive to think that he could end slavery single-handedly without having real control over this world.
For now, all he could do was not be the master of any slaves. Although he would have to sacrifice or bend some of his moral codes in the path to conquer this world, he would always try his best not to become the things he hates.
"Let's talk and walk" he continued to stroll around the herbal garden, answering her questions one by one. After answering every question she had, he understood which parts she must focus more on. He gave her a short lecture as well as another notebook containing more questions and assignments for her to do while he was away.
"Teacher, are you going into seclusion again? With this speed of cultivation, you're going to become the youngest Core Strengthening stage cultivator in Elon" She said, grinning ear to ear. Even with the little time she spent with him, she got years' worth of knowledge from him.
"Oh teacher forgot to ask, are you competing in the Alchemy tournament?"
"How many fucking tournaments are there?" he thought.
"When is that?"
"A few months after the championship tournament. It will be like the championship tournament for Alchemists. Unlike the championship tournament, there are no age or cultivation restrictions"
"Who is going to judge the tournament?" Michael wasn't planning to be one of the competitors but to be one of the judges. It would be more badass to judge the Alchemists all over the world rather than competing in the tournament. What's the use of being a 5-star Alchemist if he has to compete with low-star Alchemists?
Her face brightened seeing that her teacher is considering joining the tournament. She wants to see him compete and win the trophy, with her being his helper of course.
"Will Gabriel be there to judge?" Michael asked,
"Yes, of course, teacher. It will be a great honor for you to show your skills in front of him andother legends in Alchemy"
"Show my skills?" Michael chuckled as Olivia gawked at him having zero clues about why he was laughing.
"If Gabriel will be there as a judge, so should I. It will be a good place to show who the real number one Alchemist of Elon continent is"