All of their minds went blank for a moment in shock. Except for Elder Walter Kane who saw a 92% pure potion in a ruin a few decades ago during his time on the Ozer Continent, no one had seen a potion with more than 85% purity.
Elder Edison gently picked up the glistening blue potion and the blood-red pill gently from the box. His hands slightly shivered holding the two.
"Where did you get these?" Elder Edison asked. Everyone's gaze now fell on Michael expecting his answer.
"Made by yours truly" Michael let out a slight grin. He looked extremely proud, to some of their eyes, he even seemed arrogant.
"Do you like demonstration Elders?" Although he asked, he didn't give time to answer as he already conjured the Alchemy flames.
Under their widened gazes, Michael threw the herbs into the fire. No one moved their eyes from Michael or even blinked an eye. Nathen had seen him concoct pills or brew potions without using a cauldron as all the other alchemists. No matter how many times he had seen it, his way of making pills and potions still made him speechless.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 2000 badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 1600 badass points]
…
The notification sounds rang continuously in his mind. He received more points than he initially expected. In a couple of minutes, a blue glistening potion resembling the one in the box floated above his hand. Every single one of them could tell that the two potions are the same, 90% pure.
The sudden rude awakening made them lose their appetite. Nathen wanted to reach Ghost's level in the future. He knew reaching 80% purity would take him years of hard work. Yet after seeing Ghost was able to reach 90% purity, reaching his level seemed impossible.
"Since when can you make pills and potions with 90% purity?" Elder Walter asked. A shaky smile started to emerge on his face as the surprise sank in his mind.
"Since I turned 19" Michael paused for a moment before continuing,
"My mentor used to make me go into the god forsaken dungeons finding ancient techniques and books. He never wanted me to hide my talents but when I left my mentor's care, I learned that showing heaven-defying talent without the power to protect oneself is a recipe for disaster. So I pretended to be number two"
Except for Gaya, no one knew he was lying through his teeth. By lying he had a mentor, he established a powerful figure behind him in their mind. This would make getting the Family Kane's protection easier as they would try to get his mentor's connection to strengthen their family. Besides, saying he had a mentor would be more logical than saying I have a system.
"Now I think it's time to reveal my talents to the world. Since I consider all of you as my friends, I wanted to show you this first" Everyone knew he has something of them to ask. Nonetheless, it felt good to be considered important, especially to the Elders of Kane family.
" Let's be practical, great talent comes with great danger. Revealing myself as the number one will put me in various dangers, no one likes to be bested by a youngster like me, especially those in the Alchemy Guild"
"And you want our protection" Elder Edison didn't beat around the bush. He just directly asked Michael.
"More like getting into a mutually beneficial relationship"
"Mutually what?" Elder Edison didn't clearly get the meaning of Michael's words.
"You help me and I help you" Elder Martin broke it down into simple words for Elder Edison.
"I have to be honest kid. Your talent is really astounding but as you said, revealing your talents to the outside world makes you a target of many powerful entities. Helping you might get us into more trouble than it's worth" Elder Edison's words surprised most of them. However, Michael remained calm with his usual smile on his face,
"Since you're being direct with me, I'd be too Elder Edison. You may be right, helping me might actually put those who protect me in danger. But"
Michael took the blue potion from the table, holding it in his hand to let everyone see the vial.
"Dangers often come with opportunities and there are many families out there that would kill to capitalize on those opportunities. I bet I can become a court Alchemist of any of the four kingdoms, even better, all of them"
The way Michael calmly talked as well as his words reminded them that he's not desperate for their help. Rather, he was the one allowing them to help him.
"And when's the last time you met a 5-star alchemist who takes nothing but ancient artifacts and treasures to even consider making something for you?" Gaya asked, looking at the elders. They had to agree with her. There were only a handful of 5-star Alchemists in the continent, they would all take either an ancient artifact or extremely valuable treasures as the payment for making pills or potions for them, not gold coins.
"So you're not planning to give your services for treasures or artifacts like the rest of the 5-star Alchemists?" the man next to Olivia asked. A well-hidden interest could be seen in his eyes.
"That brings me to why I invited Lord Malan of House Bradley and you, Lord Reginald, the vice president of Rainshade Merchant guild" Michael introduced Olivia's father in case someone didn't know his identity.
By noticing the way Nathen's looking at Reginald, it was obvious this was the first time he met Olivia's father.
Like Lucifer had Maxine, Gibson, Tiberius, Heinberg as the core group, the people sitting at the dinner table were the core group of Ghost except for Nathen. In the future, they would need to work together so they needed to get acquainted.
"I'm planning to expand the Majestic and I'd like your help to do that. Lord Malan is already on board to take care of the security"
"Of course, my dad will help you, teacher. You have my word. Dad, say something" Olivia elbowed Reginald as the man revealed an embarrassed smile.
"I have to discuss with the president but I can assure you that he will get on board. We just need to iron out some financial matters-"
"Since you're my teacher who charges not a single coin for teaching me, my dad will get you the best deal possible. Won't you dad?" Olivia glared at her father, giving him a death stare. Unlike the others, Elder Walter didn't control his laughter,
"It seems you don't call the shots Reginald, hehehe "
Reginald sighed.
"We can talk about this in detail later, Lord Reginald. And Elders" Michael turned his gaze towards the three elders,
"The card I gave you is a sign of our friendship. It will give you direct access to me and my services are free of charge, no questions asked. Take this as gratitude for offering your protection for the sect. I have one last announcement to make. As you probably know, Raylene, my friend, is a 5-star chef. We are opening a restaurant in River town next week. I'd be honored if you all came to the opening with your families. Now, please enjoy the dinner. My men outside will take you to me if you want to meet me later"
Michael raised the wine glass one more time before leaving the dinner table. He wanted them to enjoy the dinner while making up their minds about helping him, especially the elders of House Kane. They were the biggest pieces of pawns in his game. Earlier when they agreed to offer their protection, they didn't stand to make enemies out of the alchemists of Guild. This time, it was different, people like Gabriel might be pissed when Michael reveals himself as the number one. As far as he knew, the Alchemist Guild was unlikely to go to war with a powerful existence like House Kane.
An official alliance would have to come from people above the elders in the family hierarchy. This dinner was just a way to get the elders to make those people agree to the alliance.
********************************************
Michael and Gaya stood before a window in an empty room. They were enjoying the view of the starry sky in peace when they heard someone knocking on the door.
"Come in," Michael said.
Soon the door creaked open to reveal Ricky who was leading Reginald to him.
"Master Ghost, Elder Walter asked me to give you this" Ricky handed over a sealed letter with the House Kane crest on before leaving the room.
"Lord Reginald" Michael Shook Reginald's hand,
"Miss Aelia" After Ghost, Reginald shook Gaya's hand.
"I assume you're here to talk about the financial matters"
Reginald nodded.
"How many potions and pills can you give us a month Master Ghost?"
"You're more suited to answer that question than me, Lord Reginald"
"Assuming you want to target the entire continent, I'd say 600 potions a month would be best" Both Michael and Gaya were surprised to hear him. They expected the number to be much higher than 600.
Looking at their surprised faces, Regional smiled.
"Since you're giving your knowledge to my daughter without charging, I'll return the favor by letting you in on a trade secret. Always keep the demand higher than the product availability. People need to search everywhere to get their hands on your pills and potions MAster Ghost. If they could get them easily, demand would eventually dry out and price would go down"
Michael couldn't help wondering how his products could lose demand yet he avoided arguing with Reginald because he was the merchant who knew about business more than him. Therefore, he decided to let Reginald do what he does best.
"Alright, we take your advice. Now, shall we discuss the price and your cut?" with a wave of her hand, she placed two sofas on the room for them to sit.
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I need to take this moment and thank every single one of you who reads my story and supports me. Reaching 300 chapters wouldn't have been possible without you guys and gals. Im truly out of words to show my gratitude. The only way to show my gratitude is by giving you more quality chapters. I've been constantly working on improving the quality of the already published chapters and doing my best to pump out chapters with minimum errors.
Thank you again.
Yours Truly.