"Why did they do that?" Olivia mumbled under her breath. Just like Elder Reiner said, it was an insult to ask the second-best Alchemist in the continent to compete in the tournament instead of asking to judge it.
Compared to Ghost, she knew most of the alchemists are amateurs including herself. She was nowhere near his level yet she was considered one of the talented alchemists.
"I'd say we call all our allies to dinner and reveal your talents there before revealing to the Alchemist Guild. That way you have backing if things went wrong" Claire suggested. It was surprising that Michael was thinking exactly the same thing.
When he first showed his talents to Claire and the elders, they were declining and Michael was just an unknown kid. However, everything had changed. The Sun Rise sect wasn't declining anymore, they were becoming stronger and stronger each day with new disciples joining and more disciples reaching higher cultivation stages. Besides, no one in their right mind would mess with Ghost or the sect because of Claire's grandfather, a Soul Refining stage cultivator.
"I'll ask Raylene to prepare the food," Claire said,
"I make sure our guests have plenty to drink" Elder Reiner went outside to order wine leaving the rest of them behind.
"Since everyone's taking the initiative, I'll go hunt. You can't have dinner without meat right? Now go play with your brother" Gaya put Cindy on the ground.
"What are you gonna do brother? Can I stay with you" Cindy came to Michael,
"I have a few things to take care of. We'll play later" Michael ruffled Cindy's head with a smile. After everyone left the hallway, only Michael, Olivia, and Claire remained,
"Teacher, what did you mean by the real number one?" Olivia didn't know Michael could reach 90% purity every time without slipping a single percentage.
"Everyone including Gabriel claims he's the number one Alchemist in the Elon Continent. What's his purity level?" Michael asked Olvia, leaning back on the sofa.
"84% is the highest he could reach" Olivia adjusted her glasses,
"84% not bad, but it's not this" he willed the system to give him the 90% healing potion he brewed for his personal use. Olivia was confused for a moment trying to make sense out of his words. In a blink of an eye, she saw a vial with sparkling blue potion appear in Michael's hand. Her eyes immediately went wide as they seemed like they were about to pop out.
The sweet fragrance being radiated by the potion filled the hall.
"This….this….is" words barely escaped Olivia's mouth.
Eighty-four percent pure potion was the highest she had ever seen. It was the better potion in her mind, even compared to her teacher's. However, the potion in Michael's hand was far more superior to everything she had seen. She could feel the pure arch energy pulsating from the vial.
"90% pure healing potion" Michael finished her sentence. She looked at Claire subconsciously to see her not as surprised as she was. Claire received a batch of these potions from Michael in case of emergencies and for her own personal use.
"Teacher...did you..."
"What do you think?" Michael kept giving answers before she could finish off her questions. She was stuttering in shock.
Michael placed the potion beside Olivia to take a few moments with the potion. To expand his Alchemy empire, he needed Olivia's father's expertise. Her father was Reginald Palmer, the vice president of one of the most influential merchant guilds, the Rainshade. With Nathen's Bradley family providing security services, if he could get Olivia's father on board, he would be able to start distributing his potions all over the continent.
"I'll leave you two to your Alchemy business" Claire giggled looking at Olivia's dumbstruck face.
"Ugh Sect Leader, do you know where Ricky and Daniel are?"
"They'd be at the herbal garden"
"Thanks" She gave a slight nod at Michael before leaving the hall.
"I didn't want to reveal my true abilities for obvious reasons but it's time to show what I can really do to this continent"
After taking in the shock for a couple of minutes, Olivia finally talked without stuttering,
"Teacher, this means you're on the verge of becoming a legend and a 6-star Alchemist. No one has seen a 6-star Alchemist since the Fifth Supreme Guardian, Andreas McLeod" The mere mention of the name kindled a bad feeling in Michael's gut. The man eradicated the Order of Death and anyone who worshipped the Dark Lord. The last time Michael met a sliver of soul left behind by Andreas was when he ventured into the Treacherous Ocean. Michael never knew the Supreme Guardian was a 6-star Alchemist until now.
"I thought 6-star Alchemists were myths" When he first asked Gaya about 6-star Alchemists, she said they were myths.
"Many people do say that. They are not to be blamed because it has been roughly three thousand years since the world has seen the Supreme Guardian. I read some notes about the Supreme Guardian, according to those notes, he was able to achieve 98% purity"
"Hmm" Michael entered the system interface,
"System, remind me what are the requirements to become a 6-star Alchemist?"
[70,000 badass points to buy and learn the superior book of Alchemy. Primordial fire and Ancient Elven rune of fire mastery]
The system listed the requirements. He never even heard of them before.
"How much would it cost me if I bought everything from you?"
[That would be a great choice. I can give you all of them for only 800,000 badass points] the system sounded extremely excited. It really thought Michael would choose to buy them from the store instead of wasting his time and effort scouring this planet for the required items.
"It seems I have to wait a little longer," Michael sighed. Reaching 800,000 points would take him at least two-three years considering he avoids making unnecessary enemies. Moreover, he couldn't help thinking about searching for the items rather than buying them from the store. Of course, it would take time or even become an impossible task yet he wanted to see whether he could find the items first before buying from the system.
[Good luck finding the Primordial fires]
The system threw him out of the interface. He saw Olvia staring at him with wide eyes. She was still in shock thinking that she's studying under the number one Alchemist in the entire continent who might become the first 6-star Alchemist in three thousand years.
"Meet me at Raylene's home in two hours and keep this a secret between us" Michael stood up.
"Of course. Teacher, can I ask you something?" looking at the way she was holding the potion, he knew what she's gonna ask.
"Yeah, you can keep it. Compare the potions to this and try to find the biggest differences between them. That's your next assignment"
"Thank you teacher!" she almost shouted in excitement. She ran like a bunny from the hall to study the potion.
**************************************
Leaving Claire's manor, he reached the herbal garden in a minute using the Lightning Dash spell. The use of the spell earned him almost three thousand badass points from the disciples.
When he reached the herbal garden, he saw dozens of disciples working the field, studying and tending to the herbs. The herbal garden was surrounded by a fence and a three-meter-wide foundation dig for the glass dome. He looked down into the dig to see a green net above the ground. The net was there as a safety precaution in case someone fell into the hole, especially Cindy or her friends.
Looking at the green fields blanketed the ground like a jade blanket, the colorful exotic flowers dancing in the wind, the glistening fruits hanging from six feet tall trees, the sprouts craning their heads from the ground as well as the saplings made him feel proud.
The air he inhaled was mixed with sweet and medicinal fragrance permeated from the herbs. He even saw several colorful flocks of birds that he had never seen in his life. Some of the birds were standing on the tree branches while some scoured through the ground for insects to eat. They were nature's pest killers so the disciples let them do whatever they want without chasing them away. Besides, the sounds of the birds made the garden feel lively.
"Brother Ghost!"
"He's here"
"Don't mind me, continue your work," Michael said before the disciples start gathering around him like ants around sugar. He then searched for the garden to locate his two henchmen.
His eyes automatically stopped at the place where he saw neatly stacked crates. Ricky was counting the crates while Daniel was writing something onto his notebook. Even after Gaya almost killed them along with the disciples when she destroyed Michael's home, the two henchmen didn't use it as an excuse to avoid working. They came straight to the garden to check the herb stocks. The two of them were the busiest people in the sect. In the morning, they would be at River town, supervising the cleaning and miscellaneous works to be done in the restaurant. In the afternoon, they had to make sure the disciples harvest the right amount of herbs from the garden as some herbs needed to be harvested and kept away from the sunshine as long as possible to increase the medicinal quality.
After finishing their work at the herbal garden, they would spend the rest of their day cultivating. Gaya made it mandatory for them to cultivate, she even allocated potions and pills for them to speed up their cultivation.
From the system storage, Michael took a white paper and quill to write down everything he needed before inviting his allies to the dinner. Lucifer had his fun. Now was time for Ghost to strengthen his alliances, start his Alchemy empire and finally, make steps towards destroying the Guardian Guild once and for all.