Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"Hello, I am Fang Shurin," a young girl barely 15 years old introduced herself to Alex as he walked out of the room.

Alex looked around. "Hello. Have you been waiting for me?" he asked.

"Yes, dear guest. Her Highness, the princess has given me the order to assist you in anything you need," the girl said.

"My name is Yu Ming, you can call me Brother Yu," Alex said. "How old are you, Shurin?"

"I am 18 years old," Shurin said.

"Woah, really?" Alex was surprised. "But you look so young."

"I have lived in the palace for a long time, so I started cultivating from a young age. As such, I ended up looking younger than I really am," she said.

"Hmm," Alex nodded as he heard her. He quickly sensed her cultivation base and was surprised to see that she was on the very of breaking through to the True realms.

"Is there anything you would like me to do?" the girl asked.

Alex thought for a second and quickly pulled out a talisman to write down something.

"These are a list of ingredients. Can you get me as many as you can? You can find me in the guild after you've collected them," Alex said.

"Right away, brother Yu," the girl said and left.

Alex left the palace too. He made his way towards the center of the city where the guilds were.

'Still as packed as ever,' he thought as he looked at the guild. Since it hadn't even been a week since the Formation competition, the city was still packed full of people waiting for the Teleportation platforms to be open before they could leave back.

So, at that time, they were busy roaming the streets and visiting different locations, including the guild.

Fortunately, the guild was massive, so it could easily house the many people that were there.

Alex looked around for a bit, taking in the guild's image as he would be working here for the next 2 years or so.

After checking the guild, Alex made his way to the mission board and looked around for something to make.

As he did, a new mission popped up for an interesting pill. "A pill to increase someone's libido?" he chuckled a little, but he was interested in the recipe himself. He was interested in every new recipe he came across.

Alex took the mission despite it only requiring a 30% Harmony pill and looked for other missions to take. As he searched, he found another mission regarding an antidote and decided to take it.

However, he couldn't. "Huh? I can't take two missions at once?" he was a little surprised. That hadn't been the case back in DawnSpring city.

'Is it because this is a capital? I will have to ask the staff later,' Alex thought and pulled out his badge from the mission board. As he was about to leave, a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Wait!" a voice spoke to him. Alex turned around and saw a man in his 30s with a thick beard as well as a True Earth badge.

"How may I help you, brother?" he asked.

"Did you just take a mission regarding a libido pill?" the man asked.

"Yes," Alex said, a little surprised the man noticed. 'Can other people check what mission I took?' he wondered.

"That was meant for me. Why did you take it?" the man said in an angry voice.

"It didn't have your name on it," Alex said. Usually, if someone wanted a specific alchemist to make them something, they would make sure to name the alchemist in the mission so that only he could take it.

"Well, that's… goddammit! He was supposed to put my name on it," the man said. "Can you return the mission?"

"Uhh… no, I will have to pay a fine," Alex said.

"It's just a little fine. What does it matter?" the man asked.

"Are you going to pay the fine in my stead then?" Alex asked.

"Sure, yeah, whatever," the man said.

Alex shrugged and went on to return to the mission. However, when he did, the mission board gave him a rather weird prompt.

-Forfeiting this Mission will cost you a fine of 460 True Spirit stones-

"What the hell?" Alex said as he looked at the pill. It only asked for a single pill, then why was it asking for 460 spirit stones? It wasn't like he already got the ingredients and wasted it either.

"It's asking for 460 True Spirit stones. Give it to me before I cancel it," Alex said.

"What?" the man said in an exaggerated tone. "How could it— shit! It must be… arghh!"

"So? What do you want me to do?" Alex asked.

The man deliberated for a moment but couldn't say anything. 460 was a lot of Spirit stones that he couldn't force someone to pay and couldn't bring it out himself.

"Alchemist Tang!" A relatively angry voice spoke from behind them.

Alex turned around to see a man in a purple robe look at the middle-aged man.

'That robe… is that the same one as the little girl from earlier?' Alex wondered when he saw the man.

"Why are you still out here? You should be making my pill," the man said.

"Um, brother Lu, there's been a little problem," the man said.

"What problem?" the purple-robed man asked and the man named Tang explained.

"So? Just pay the fee and make my pill," the man said. "You, forfeit the pill right now. I'm in a hurry."

"Alright, give me the spirit stones then. Besides, What are you in a hurry for with such a pill in the middle of the day?" Alex asked.

"You! Do you know who I am?" the man shouted.

"Brother, you shouldn't talk back with him," the man whispered to Alex.

Alex sighed and shook his head. "I'll just go make your pill then. It will be faster that way," he said.

"No, I don't like you. You will not be making my pill," the Lu man said.

"Dammit! Pay me the spirit stones then," Alex said angrily. He was starting to get frustrated too.

"You! You dare talk back to me, I will—"

"Brother Yu," A voice came from far away as Shurin came running towards them.

"Oh hey, what's up?" Alex asked her as she gave a weird eye towards the Lu man before running up to her.

"Here's the ingredients you requested for," Shurin Gave it to him.

"Oh? So quickly?" Alex asked as he looked through the ingredients. There were indeed a lot of the ingredients he asked for.

"It was a request by you, brother Yu. I will have to do it fast no matter how," she said.

"You don't need to be so serious about it. Think of me as a friend," Alex said and looked at their robes.

"Are you guys from the same sect or something? I thought you worked in the royal family," he asked.

"We are disciples of the Royal family," Shurin said. "That makes me wonder, Uncle Lu, what are you doing here?"

"I… I'm just…" he couldn't answer since the answer was so embarrassing.

"Oh, did the princess give you an order too?" Shurin asked with bright eyes.

"The princess… what?" the man named Lu asked.

"The princess. She didn't tell you to meet with brother Yu?" Shurin gave a confused look.

"Um… which princess are we talking about? Your mother?" the man asked.

"Princess Xuemi," Shurin said. "Did she not send you for Brother Yu? He's her guest. Or rather, he's the Emperor's guest and is working under her."

"What?" the man was shocked like he heard the name of god. "Is this… true?"

"Of course," Shurin gave a weird expression. "Did you not know? Why else would you be bothering brother Yu at this time then?"

"I… I'm sorry, brother Yu," the man suddenly fell to the ground in a bow.

"What's happening?" Shurin asked Alex. Alex explained the best he could without saying anything… unnecessary.

"What? A high fee for forfeit?" the girl's face suddenly got angry. "Uncle Lu, are you abusing the royal family's privilege in the guild?" she asked.

"I... I..." the man couldn't say anything.

"I will tell my mother about this today," Shurin said.

"Wait, no, please," the man started pleading but Alex only shook his head.

"Alright, I'm off to make pills. You guys do whatever you think is right," he said and left.