Chapter 29 | Alche-Me

They had dinner with old man Willson for the evening; the man’s wife was nowhere to be seen. Although it hadn’t been talked about, Theo could somehow formulate that the woman wasn’t quite in the state to accept visitors.

The night was spent at Satou’s dilapidated shack, tossing and turning with discomfort as always. The floor of that inn in the tower was much better, if he had to be honest.

Once the morning sun shone and the village started waking up, Satou left without explaining what he was going to do. Long Tian was busy meditating. Theo had gotten curious about what he was actually trying to achieve and asked.

Apparently, qi was different from aura and mana. It wasn’t something that was transformed from flux personally, but an energy that would already be present in the air. Long Tian had read about lower realms having less spiritual qi, but it seemed that the problem was much more than that.

There wasn’t even a single strand of qi to pull on. He had been waiting all this time to come across one, but his luck had failed him. Even then, the only choice he had was to sit around and wait for some qi to come up.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to figure out a way to use the strange crystal’s ability to generate qi for Long Tian.

Having learned that, Theo decided it was the time to head out for some sightseeing and left the shack.

He strolled through the village. Although the locals occasionally gave him the side-eye, they didn’t treat him badly when he approached them to talk. In fact, they welcomed him quite warmly. They also seemed to know he was associated with Satou, which made Theo wonder what The Assassin had done to captivate these people.

The village was exactly what he had expected. A blacksmith hammering some farming tools with a tired look, a baker with a huge oven in his garden, preparing bread for the whole town. Children playing with animals, the whole nine yards.

When he came across a house slightly bigger than the others, with a garden surrounded by a stone wall instead of a wooden fence, however, he stopped. He looked it up and down. He frowned and turned to spot a little child, maybe 10 years old.

“Hey, you,” Theo said. The child stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to look at him, pointing at himself.

“Me?”

“Yes. You. Can you tell me who lives here?” he said while pointing at the stone-walled house.

“Umm… I don’t know! My father said there is—” The kid snorted the snot trailing off his nose. “That there is an old man living there and not to annoy him. He has weird flowers in his garden.”

“I see.” Theo nodded. “Thanks.”

“G’day, mister!” The child chuckled and left, chasing after his friends. Theo found himself even more interested and circled the stone walls. He didn’t want to straight-up climb it, so he found the entrance and peeked his head through.

Huh. These are not normal herbs. This person might be an alchemist.

For a moment, Theo thought of turning back and not bothering. His skill in alchemy was already 100 levels, ready to evolve. As far as his guess went, an alchemist in the middle of nowhere like this wouldn’t be able to provide him any benefits.

On the other hand, he was derisive about becoming a solitary practitioner and trying to handle every single thing by himself. He could ask for help, some equipment, maybe even alchemy materials.

And at worst, the man would cuss him out.

Yes. No harm.

With a gulp, he looked around and managed to spot a bell with a piece of string hanging off of it. He gauged how the mechanism worked for a second before pulling on the string.

Ding

After waiting for a couple minutes, Theo realized that the person inside wasn’t going to answer. He pulled on the bell a couple more times, then turned with a sigh. Right as he was about to leave, however, the door opened and out came a disheveled old man, not as old as Mr. Willson, maybe in his sixties.

“What?” he asked with gritted teeth. His hair was a mess, his face stained by smog and a range of other substances.

“Um… I’m new to the village and—”

“Tch. It’s one of you people again,” the man grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. He fully pushed open the door, walked the gravel pathway with his bare feet and opened the gate. “Come in. Quick.”

“Y- Yeah. Okay.” Theo nodded and followed the man inside. While heading inside, he gauged the man with his senses. Unexpectedly, the old man radiated a small amount of mana. Theo could see it around the man as a green haze. It was very hard to notice, and very gaseous.

He seems really low-level. Not to mention, he isn’t wearing robes.

Theo gulped and readied himself for spellcasting in case something went wrong.

“Look.” The man pointed at a table. The place was a complete mess; several tables were merged in the middle. The rest of the furniture was propped against the walls with white sheets draped over them. The heavy stench of herbs mixed with alchemical substances assaulted Theo’s nose. “That one with the herbs. Every alchemist needs to be a good herbalist.”

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“Umm, sir? How did you kno—”

“It’s always the same questions with you bunch.” The man gritted his teeth, pinching his nose bridge once again. The table he approached had several pieces of alchemical equipment. An aludel for condensing vapors. An alembic for distilling. And a bunch of clay vessels. They were all crude. No trace of glassware, as expected from a medieval alchemist.

The man fiddled with the stuff for a second before answering.

“Young alchemists who see my garden always come for employment,” the man said. He checked one of the clay vessels with a stick and frowned. “I know us alchemists, a bunch of opportunists we are. I’m telling you, it won’t be easy. Now, start separating the herbs according to their types and qualities. The criteria are written in that book on the table.”

“Uhh…” Theo wanted to retort. He didn’t really know what was happening, but it seemed he was getting employed somehow.

Well, it’s not that bad actually, he thought. Having access to these tools could help him prepare some stuff he had no way of doing beforehand. It would also provide him a purpose during his two-week stay and act as a way to get a certain ‘reputation’. For now, he was just a nobody. A stranger. People would suspect him, and he would have no one to vouch for him in case something happened.

“Sure. I will do just that,” Theo said.

“You are quick on the uptake. I will give you that,” the old man said. He reverted his attention to the alchemy tools on the table and got back to whatever he was doing before. “I will keep time. You have two hours to finish.”