I found myself in an interesting position. I was alone in an unfamiliar city with no one to lean on for support. The Blue Wind Pavilion was there, of course, and I could lean on the institution, but I didn’t know anyone in the local branch. I was alone, left to my own devices.

Where should I go? What should I do?

At some point, I needed to return to the Pavilion and complete the registration procedures. An attendant had told me that I needed to hand over samples so that they could properly advertise my work. I needed to take care of this, but it wasn’t a priority for me. Instead, I wanted to learn more about this new city and discover what opportunities it might be hiding.

So, I decided to explore the Metal District.

The Metal District was located in the northeast section of the city, and the buildings were all decorated with shades of light blue. Where the Water District focused on catering to craftsmen, the Metal District focused on education.

As I walked through the district, I saw countless schools and training centers. However, there were no schools for children. Their schools were in the Dark District. The training centers in the Metal District were focused on adults.

Along the main boulevard, several different institutions had large signs out front to advertise their training courses that would help one become a Flower, Groom, or Seed. Behind these places, tucked into smaller side streets, specialized libraries offered an array of different fields of knowledge available, including mortal disciplines such as horticulture, animal husbandry, and smithing.

Most of the buildings in the district, however, were focused on teaching cultivators a profession.

Each of these schools had a plaque out front that marked the type of qi associated with the professions they specialized in. Buildings marked with flames were places where one could go to learn alchemy. Buildings marked with wavy lines indicated places where one could learn beast taming. A sun and moon motif marked the buildings for illusionists, and a lightning bolt marked places where talisman artists were trained.

After searching the entire district, I found that there were two notable absences: metal and wind. I didn’t know what trade was usually connected to the wind affinity–I’d never even heard mention of one–but there had to be one. The scarcity of information on the subject, however, was telling.

But why didn’t the city have any schools that taught refining? Metal qi was one of the five basic elements, so it should have been rather common. Therefore, as the profession connected to metal qi, artifact refining should have also been rather common as well. Why were there no places that taught it? Even if it wasn’t popular, there should still be at least one, right?

I remembered a comment that SuYin had made when I first joined the Blue Wind Pavilion. She was proud that the Pavilion possessed a workshop for artifact refining, but she said it had never been used. Before, I could have attributed this to the Wastes simply not having a sect focused on refining, but maybe there was something deeper at play.

After making a note of this in my journal, I continued exploring.

As I saw it, I had just upgraded four aspects of myself, and I wanted training in each of them. First, I wanted to find as many Rank 3 cultivation techniques as I could to both fill out my library and lay the groundwork for creating another novel technique. For alchemy, my position in the Pavilion would hopefully encourage the locals to make unique requests that would expand my knowledge naturally, so I didn’t need to worry too much about it for the moment.

With formations and nurturing talents, however, I lacked even the most basic of knowledge. So, the best option available to me was to take classes in the Metal District. Signing up for the relevant classes should be rather easy, but I was concerned that signing up for formation classes without having access to earth qi might raise a few eyebrows. And, considering the ever-present, pointless mockery in this world, the chances that registering for such classes would go smoothly were slim to none.

Still, this was what I needed to do, so I set my jaw and headed to a building marked with a large rock that offered classes for formation specialists. I might be laughed out of the building, but I would do my best to learn. I wouldn’t let the mockery of self-important hypocrites stop me from moving forward on my path.

The receptionists at the training institutes I chose cared nothing about my qi or affinities. They simply thanked me for my interest in their classes, wrote down my name, and took a deposit for the courses. If I couldn’t learn the skills they taught, it would be on me. They would keep my deposit either way, so they weren’t willing to let any potential customers escape.

It would be another month before my classes began, so I put them aside and turned my attention back to alchemy.

When I returned to the Blue Wind Workshops in the Water District, the same attendant as last time greeted me. “Hello, Grandmaster Su, how may I help you today?”

“I need to complete my registration. Something about providing samples?”

“Of course, sir. You can visit the Alchemy Office on the fourth floor. The manager there will take care of you,” she said, gesturing to the stairs.

I had visited the fourth floor before, when I had concocted the pills for my Rank assessment, but I hadn’t had a chance to look around the place, so I wasn’t too familiar with the layout. Thankfully, the landing of the stairwell emptied into an open lobby area where a receptionist was waiting behind a counter.

I approached and bowed my head. “Excuse me, where is the Alchemy Office?”

She gave me a wide smile and bowed at the waist. “Welcome, Grandmaster Su. Please, follow me.”

She walked out from behind the counter and guided me to one of the rooms lining the left side of the lobby. Looking more closely, I saw that each of these rooms was marked with the symbol of a single profession.

The receptionist directly opened the Alchemy Office’s door and gestured for me to enter. Then, after I passed the threshold, she quietly closed the door behind me. As she did, I caught a look of pity in her eyes.

Inside, three attendants sat behind a long counter, shuffling through stacks of paperwork. Behind them, a middle-aged woman sat at a large desk, managing her own reams of paperwork.

I wasn’t sure which attendant to approach, so I hoped one of them would call me over.

I stood there for over a minute and began fidgeting to try to attract their attention, but they simply continued reviewing their paperwork.

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I cleared my throat. None of them looked up.

Giving up, I decided to just walk forward to the girl seated in the middle. As I did, I noticed the other two girls turn their heads slightly and give the one I had chosen looks of sympathy.

“Hello, I need to register?”

The speed at which she was marking up her paperwork visibly increased. “Y… Yes, sir. Please, wait one moment. I… I just need to finish this.”

She raced to finish the paperwork so that she could help me, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take, so I stepped back from the counter. After several moments, she was still working, and neither of the other two attendants volunteered their assistance.

“Excuse me.” I spoke in a loud voice, drawing the direct attention of everyone in the room. “I need to register. Can someone please help me?”

For a long moment, there was absolute silence in the room. Then, the middle-aged woman at the back of the room shot to her feet, and her eyes locked onto me. “You! This is your fault!” She gestured at the stacks of paper around the room. “Who the hell causes a huge commotion then fucks off for a week? Get me your samples, now!”

“W… What?”

“Samples. Now.” She slammed her index finger on the desk, pointing right where she expected my samples to appear.

“Yes, of course.” My response was reflexive and instinctive, but I still didn’t know what I was supposed to do. “What… do you need? That’s why I came. I wasn’t sure what you needed me to provide you with.”

The woman took a deep breath to regain control. “Give us whatever you think will best display your skills. If a customer requests you by name, we can use the samples to show the work you are capable of. If a customer isn’t sure who they want to hire, we can use the samples to help them decide.”

“So… anything will be okay?”

“Yes,” she said through gritted teeth.

I stood there, hesitant to ask another question.

“What?”

“Where do I get ingredients?”

“You…” Before saying any more, she took another deep breath. “LiPin, give him the list.”

The attendant I approached earlier scrambled to grab a sheet of paper and then shoved it at me. The paper listed several pills, and below each pill was a list of ingredients.

“That is the list of the basic herbs that you can requisition,” the older woman explained. “If you need something else, that is your responsibility. Go to the Wind District and buy it, or go downstairs and hire someone to grow it for you. Hell, go to an auction house if you have to. I don’t care. We only deal in the herbs on the list.”

I hesitated for another moment. Then, I chose to ask another question. “Where can I get new recipes?”

“This kid…” The woman raised both hands to massage her temples. “How are you a Grandmaster if you don’t know how to find recipes? Wind District, buy them. Metal District, go to a library. Fire District, compete for them. Find a teacher, find a master, find a bloody hole where one was buried. If you’re smart enough, go and throw some herbs together to create your own damn recipes. The only thing you shouldn’t do is come to me!”

I gave her a deep bow. “I'm sorry.”

She hung her head and shook it in defeat. “It’s… fine. Just, the next time you cause a commotion, be here for the aftermath. Having dozens of wealthy clients asking for the new three-star Grandmaster and not being able to tell them anything is a bit much.”

“Sorry…” I looked at the attendant who had passed me the ingredient list. “Can I please get five sets of herbs for Rank 3 Qi Gathering Pills?”

“Yes, sir.” Her voice was soft so as not to agitate the older woman. “They will be delivered to room eight. You may wait for them there.”

“Thank you.”

Then, I exited quickly to avoid the women’s gazes.

I settled into alchemy room eight, and after my ingredients were delivered, I looked at them, thinking about how I would proceed.

I couldn’t be average here. Alchemist Li had already scuttled any plans I might have had to remain under the radar, so I would need to rise to his challenge.

Additionally, I didn’t want to be average. Standing out too much had caused me problems in the Wastes, and I needed to be able to manage them better, but I didn’t want to be someone who did the minimum amount of work to get by. I wanted the things I made to be exceptional.

So, that is what I would do. If it caused problems, it would cause problems. No matter whether an army came or the waters rose, I would block it. Or I would die. Either way, I would continue to advance.

I began concocting a complete sequence of Qi Gathering Pills for the basic elements.

I started with the pills for wood and fire qi. Using an assortment of well-honed qi techniques, I quickly made two Perfect pills with 120% efficacy each. While making them, I found areas where I felt that I could enhance the structure of the medicinal energy by manipulating it with my affinities. However, as these pills were intended as sample products, and as I hadn’t yet mastered that skill, I held off on trying to do anything too fancy.

Then, I concocted the earth and water pills. When I started, I had planned to use the same rough technique that I had always used before. This would have allowed me to make an earth pill with around 115% efficacy and a water pill with around 105% efficacy. However, I suddenly realized a flaw in my thinking. There was no reason that the same technique I was using with qi couldn’t work with the energy of a spirit fire. I just needed to make a few small adjustments.

It was a risk to do this on my sample pills, but if everything blew up in my face, I would just need to hang my head, drop my pride, and ask for replacement ingredients.

Working with the Cold Mountain Fire’s earth energy, I started with the pattern from the qi technique and made a few subtle changes that allowed it to better incorporate the spirit fire’s energy. Surprisingly, this not only boosted the power of the herb, but the earth energy also seemed to begin repairing the structure of its medicinal energy.

The result was another Perfect pill with 120% efficacy, but my mind had already thought up several ideas for how I could push this further.

This wasn’t the time, though. Right now, I just needed to complete my samples. So, I just noted this down in my journal for further experimentation.

Following the earth pill, I made a water pill. This was more difficult, since my fire seed only contained a marginal amount of water energy. If I had access to metal qi, it might have been possible to stimulate the water energy from the fire seed further, but I didn’t, so the result was a pill with only 110% efficacy.

This left only the metal qi pill, which I had no means to enhance. I quickly threw everything together and produced a simple pill with 100% efficacy.

The list that the attendant had given didn’t contain any herbs for the secondary elements, and I didn’t even have any recipes for them. So, for the moment, I ignored them, picked up my five pill bottles, and headed to the Alchemy Office.

I placed the bottles on the counter and addressed the attendant. “I’m sorry for the trouble. Here are my samples. Do I need to do anything else while I’m here?”

“Yes,” she said, placing the pill bottles off to the side. “We need a list of the pills that you are willing to take orders for at a standard rate–without negotiation. We also need to know what orders should be automatically rejected.”

I thought through the list that she handed me earlier. “For now, anything from your list can be handled without negotiation, unless the buyer is placing a large order.”

“What is a large order?” she asked, writing down my words.

“Let’s say more than ten, though that may need to change in the future, based on circumstances.”

She nodded as she wrote. “Pills to reject?”

“If the buyer provides both the ingredients and a recipe, none. However, I cannot guarantee the quality of any pill involving the secondary elements. But I will provide samples of such pills in the coming days that you can use as a reference.”

“Very well. How can we get ahold of you if an order comes in?”

“I’m staying in the Blue Wind Residence. You should be able to contact me through the staff there.”

She wrote, but then paused, waiting for me to continue. I didn’t. “And?”

“And… what?”

She shook her head. At this point, she must have remembered that I was from some backwater. She reached down, grabbed a small stone disc, and placed it on the counter. “This is a formation plate. If we need to contact you directly, it will vibrate. If it does, please come here as soon as you are able.”

I took the disc and stored it away. I was familiar enough with the idea, so I wasn’t too shocked that the Pavilion would have such a thing, but this was still the first form of long-distance communication that I had seen in this world.

“Anything else?”

“No, you are free to go. If you wish to produce any of our standard pills, we can handle purchasing your ingredients and selling your pills. If you make something that is not on the list, you may bring it here to be appraised, but the Pavilion makes no guarantees about purchasing it directly.”

“Understood.”

“Good day, sir.” She gave me a short bow, then returned to her paperwork.