Three days after the competition ended, Emperor Chan called me to his workshop.

As I entered, I was hit by a wave of nervous oppression. Upon seeing me, the Emperor’s shoulders rose as his body tensed. It was clear that he had something he wanted to ask me, but he seemed afraid to do so.

Had I caused this reaction, or had it been caused by someone else? Had the Palace’s elders threatened him in some way? I would have liked to ask, but knowing that any number of people could be listening in on our conversation, I decided not to pursue the matter and acted as if I hadn’t even noticed Chan’s strange behavior.

“Congratulations. After carefully reviewing everyone’s performance, the elders have decided to award you fourth place. You will be given full access to the Palace’s herbs, as well as a small discount on any future purchases.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Only fourth?”

Being placed below Mandakh had been inevitable, and I had to admit that placing me behind that girl who made the eight-patterned Rank 3 pill also made sense. But the guy who had concocted that four-patterned Rank 4 pill? His pill might have had a high Rank, but it was far from impressive.

Emperor Chan coughed nervously. “Yes… The elders gave you full marks on the uniqueness of your pill, and the commentary you provided the other competitors also received a high score. However, the problem was your pill’s value—no one could agree on what it was worth. Some of the elders felt that your pill was worth several mid-grade spirit stones, while certain individuals felt that it was barely worth anything at all.”

I nodded in understanding. “Since it was an entirely new pill, the elders didn’t have anything to compare it against, so they were free to make up whatever price best suited their own interests. Is that about right?”

Chan gave me a wry grin but didn’t respond directly.

I waved a dismissive hand. “Fine. It’s not important. All I care about is having greater access to the Palace’s herbs. The others can have the recognition that comes from placing in the top three.”

Emperor Chan bobbed his head as he began kneading his hands together. “Fang, why didn’t you make the Saber Aura Pill? If you had made a high-quality, six-patterned Saber Aura Pill, your ranking wouldn’t have even been in question. You could have easily placed third.”

Chan was definitely worried about something. He had placed a large bet on me being able to make those Ascension Pills. Was he starting to wonder if I would actually be able to concoct them? Or, was it the people behind Chan who were becoming worried?

I set my jaw and looked Chan in the eye. Something about the room’s oppressive atmosphere made me feel that I needed to provide a direct and truthful answer, so that was what I did.

“To make a high-quality pill using the recipe you gave me, I would have needed to use specially grown herbs—herbs that, if I’m not wrong, would have needed to come from your clan. While I am interested in working with you, and while I am willing to assist your clan, I have no desire to be beholden to it. I will make the pills I promised, and I hope that we can have a profitable partnership, but I do not wish my continued existence in the Palace to be dependent upon the good graces of a clan I know little about.”

Tension melted from Chan’s muscles as he breathed out a sigh of relief. “I… see. That is… understandable.”

After such an overt display of emotion, I was absolutely sure that someone was listening in on this conversation, and that someone had to be a high-ranking member of the Palace who was worried about me working with a ‘traitor.’

Unsure of how to continue this conversation, I looked to Emperor Chan for guidance.

He gave me a much more relaxed smile and gestured for me to sit at the room’s small table. Then, after I poured us both a cup of tea, he explained what would be happening over the next few years.

“The competition between the three Palaces will be held 15 years from now. Ideally, by that time, you will be a Peak Emperor capable of making high-quality Rank 6 pills. The more patterns you can manage, the better, but the more you increase your Rank, the harder this becomes. Even the young alchemists of the Nine Rivers Domain will struggle to make a Rank 6 pill with more than two. Doing so requires both an extremely high affinity—three-stars or better—and an exceedingly powerful soul.”

Emperor Chan gave me a knowing look. “With a sufficient talent, getting a high enough affinity is manageable, but all of the competitors will be less than a hundred years old. Cultivating one’s soul until it is powerful enough to concoct a highly-patterned Rank 6 pill takes time—time that you youngsters won’t have.”

I nodded my head and calmly sipped my tea, understanding what Chan was getting at.

“This is where the teams come in,” he continued. “With five talented young alchemists working together, concocting a highly-patterned Rank 6 pill is not impossible. In the Myriad Herb Domain, there will be teams capable of making seven-, eight-, or possibly even nine-patterned Rank 6 pills. Such teams typically do not exist on the Western Island, but it is impossible to say what might happen in any given year.”

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Yes, it was. Especially with a certain slovenly world-hopper added to the mix.

“The Palace will select its final team in 10 years. They may do this via another competition, or the Sovereign may choose the participants personally. Either way, you will want to bolster your reputation as much as possible before this occurs. Make sure everyone in the Palace knows why you should be chosen to represent them over anyone else.”

So, within the next 10 years, I needed to establish myself and put Mandakh in his place. I also needed to use this time to reach Martial Emperor. I might be able to concoct Rank 6 pills with only a King-level will-lock, but enhancing my cultivation base was important if I wanted to imbue a pill with as many patterns as possible.

“The next date of importance, however, is only 5 years away. In five years, the Western Island will hold an exhibition match between teams from each of the Island’s three Palaces. All five members of each team will concoct a single pill on their own. Then, each group will concoct a pill as a team. This match won’t have an ‘official’ winner, but, unofficially, the winner will be the team that produces pills with the high total value, and everyone will know who won.”

For a moment, my mind went blank. “We’ll be competing against alchemists from the Nine Rivers Domain? In only 5 years?”

Emperor Chan narrowed his eyes at my reaction as he nodded in confirmation.

That was… soon. Too soon.

Jon had been a rather skilled alchemist after only a year of study. What would he be able to achieve after 10? What kind of perks will he have gotten from his blessing? Was I ready to face him?

My heartbeat quickened.

I took a deep breath.

Jon was dangerous, but I had already beaten him once. I could do it again.

Whether soldiers attacked or the rivers flooded, I had ways to handle it. I could certainly handle one young traveler.

After leaving Emperor Chan’s workshop, I went directly back to my room, sat down in my cultivation chamber, and connected to an avatar in my inner world.

Yes, I could handle Jon, but I needed to know more about what I was up against. When I tried to do this in the past, the System had been less than helpful, saying that costs couldn’t be calculated ‘at this time.’ Well, times were different now, and I wanted answers.

“System, for the remainder of this conversation, answer my questions as best you can for up to 10 credits each.”

Confirmed.

“Has Jon been given a mission to win either the upcoming exhibition match or the final competition between the Palaces?”

Yong JinZhan currently has a mission to rank first in the upcoming exhibition match.

I couldn’t stop the involuntary shudder that ran down my spine. “Does his mission target me, specifically? If I choose not to compete, will his mission be deemed a success, automatically?”

Yong JinZhan’s mission is not directly connected to Host. However, if Host does not compete, Yong JinZhan’s success is exceedingly likely.

“If I don’t compete, and Jon wins, what will his reward be?”

Current Expected Reward: An ability to reshape the medicinal energy of herbs in order to create synthetic sympathetic bonds.

That… was interesting. Was that Mandakh’s blessing? It wasn’t exactly overpowered, since it only replicated the effects of a competent herbalist, but in a competition setting, it could be a game-changer. It could also be rather useful when experimenting or performing beast alchemy.

“What if I compete? Not as a leader, but as a regular member of Mandakh’s team? How would this affect his reward?”

Expected Reward: A permanent ability to reshape the medicinal energy of herbs in order to create synthetic sympathetic bonds.

So, if I compete and Jon wins, he’ll just get to keep that skill through future time loops. That wouldn’t be ideal, but it also wouldn’t be much of a problem.

“What if I lead our team?”

Expected Reward: Yong JinZhan will be granted 5 opportunities to make any of the blessings that he has obtained permanent. If Host dies before all opportunities are used, Yong JinZhan will retain unused opportunities for future use.

That… wouldn’t be catastrophic, not exactly, but it wasn’t something I had any desire to see happen. Who knows what kinds of rare and powerful blessings Jon might have been able to snatch? Letting him keep five of them permanently? That was something I would rather avoid.

Thankfully, this wasn’t something I needed to concern myself with. Mandakh was going to lead our team, so even if we lost, Jon would only receive a semi-useful herbalism blessing.

In fact…

“System, how much would it cost for me to purchase that skill you mentioned—the ability to create synthetic sympathetic bonds?”

The cost of such an ability is not possible to calculate at this time.

“What about if it were only effective on Rank 1 herbs?”

Cost 1 credit.

“Rank 2?”

Cost 1 credit.

“Rank 3?”

Cost 1 credit.

“Rank 4?” ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novèlfire.net

Cost 10 credits.

“Rank 5?”

Cost 1,000 credits.

So, I would need to spend a Peak Sovereign number of credits just to purchase a Rank 5 version of Mandakh’s blessing. The Rank 3 or 4 version might be interesting to play around with, but purchasing anything better than that was out of the question.

What if I didn’t have to buy it, though? What if I could steal it?

Mandakh was going to lose—I didn’t doubt this for a second—so what if I positioned myself to take advantage of the fallout? If this meant permanently handing Mandakh’s blessing over to Jon, then so be it, but maybe…

“System, how much to make Jon’s blessing ignore me—to make it so that he never gets missions targeting me and to make it so that my participation in his missions doesn’t affect the rewards he receives?”

Cost is not possible to calculate at this time.

Sighing, I shifted my focus back to immediate priorities.

I needed to see if I could avoid this upcoming exhibition match. Doing so might hurt my standing in the Palace, but as long as the repercussions weren’t too severe, I should be able to regain any lost ground before the final team was selected.

“Conversation Over.”

Cost 43 credits. 1,242 credits remaining.