Alchemies

Chapter 16: Mission Completed

Alex walked slowly on the street of the brightly lit valley of the sect. Hundreds of other disciples walked around doing their own business.

They had also taken missions from the contribution room and were on their way to perform different tasks. However, he realized that the number of inner sect disciples and core disciples in the night was much less.

“What because they only work during the day and need to sleep at night?” he wonders. He felt sorry for the outer sect disciples who were not free enough to do what they wanted, whenever they wanted to.

After recalling he was also an outer sect disciple, he simply laughed and shook his head.

After a while, he arrived at the entrance of the inner sect mountain.

"Did I just go in?" he wonders. The rule book clearly mentioned that going to the inner sect mountain for outer sect disciples was forbidden.

"In that case, how will I complete my mission?" he's getting confused. He saw the information on the nameplate, and clearly mentioned going to the inner sect disciple mountain and looking for Kong Yuhan.

"Suppit. If I get into trouble, I'll tell them that I've done what the mission told me." He started walking in.

"Hey you, stop." A voice came from the side. Hidden in the darkness near the entrance was a small open building like a hut. A man came out of the building and stood in front of him.

The man looked at his clothes and asked, "Aren't you an outer sect disciple? What are you doing here?"

Alex looked at the man carefully and realized that he was wearing a green robe with a silver lining along his side. 'An Elder!' he's surprised.

“Goodnight, Elder. I came here to complete my mission.” He told the old man honestly.

“Hmm... Mission? Let me check your sign.” He asked for a nameplate. Alex quickly handed the nameplate to the older one.

The elder brought the signboard closer to his forehead and closed his eyes for a few seconds. After he verified that Alex had indeed come here on a mission, he took out a medal from his inner robe.

Alex looked at the medal curiously. It looked similar to the one the disciples had in the disciple hall, but it was somehow different. This medal seemed to be made of expensive materials.

The elder brought the medal to his forehead and closed his eyes once more.

After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and spoke, "Wait here, I've already called Kong Yuhan. He'll be here soon."

This surprised Alex. 'He called his disciple from here? Does the medal work like a phone?' he wonders. A few minutes later Alex saw someone come down.

The disciple who had just descended was a man in his early 20s and wore the robe of an inner sect disciple. He's at least one head taller than Alex and has better muscle too.

Her hair somehow looked blue, even in the dark. 'This must be Kong Yuhan' Alex thought.

"Murid Yuhan saluted Elder Zhang. Why did Elder Zhang call me?" he speaks in a very formal way. Alex focused more on the newcomer to see if his hair was really blue or not.

'Woah' he was surprised. Something unexpected appeared. Above Kong Yuhan's head, a series of words appeared.

[The 9th Nature Tempering Organization]

'Wow, there are 2 realms in front of me.' Alex surprised. He then tried to see if it worked on the older person as well. Something appeared, but it only said [Mortal]

'Living creatures?' that's not possible. He did not believe anyone who was still a human could be part of the sect, let alone be an elder. 'Does that mean he's so strong that I don't even know what nature he is in?' that's the only logical answer for Alex.

"This outer sect disciple is here to complete the mission you have given to the contribution room." The elder pointed towards Alex as he spoke to Kong Yuhan.

Kong Yuhan's eyes glared slightly upon hearing that. He looked at Alex with a sudden look. Within his eyes, Alex could see a mixture of shock, excitement, and hope.

He practically ran as he came to stand in front of Alex, and asked in a trembling voice, " Junior Sister, Did you really find any dwarf berries?" She asked.

Alex did not expect the inner sect disciples to be so excited about something growing in the nearby forest. He took out the berries from his inventory and handed them to Kong Yuhan.

“Kak Kong, I hope this is what you're looking for.”

Kong Yuhan looked at the berries in his hand in a daze. It was only after a while that he realized what he was holding.

"Oh, OH!, yes. This is what I've been looking for." He said happily. "Berry Dwarf is 10 years old." Kong Yuhan did not seem to have expected such an old berry.

He slowly started walking back to his house.

“Murid Kong.” A loud voice came from the side which made Kong Yuhan flinch from her trance.

"Yes, Elder?" he asked the older one.

"Did you not forget something?" said the old man while pointing towards Alex who was standing.

Kong Yuhan looked back and immediately started apologizing. I'm so sorry, junior disciple. I was so happy to get those berries, that I forgot my manners. Here, give me your sign, let me pay you for the berries.

Alex handed me his signboard. Kong Yuhan took out his own signboard and put it together, then stuck it onto his head. After a while, he returned Alex's nameplate to her.

Alex checked the signboard.

[Secte Hong Wu, Outer Sect Disciple, Yu-Ming. Contribution Points: 10]

“Hmm... Brother Kong, it looks like there are 2 more points than rewards in mission.” She said.

"It's intentional. I was on that mission almost a month ago. I'm stuck in a traffic jam forever and need 2-year-old berries. Fruit is hard to come by. However, you brought me one, it was also a 10-year-old Berry. Of course, I'll give you a little extra. "

Alex stood glued to see 10 points on his signboard. An outer sect disciple was required to earn at least 20 points each week. He got 10 in less than an hour.

Will I get another point? Or do I have to learn the fire control techniques I got from the library?

He's in a dilemma. "Hm... I already have some contribution points, it might be more useful to have at least one technique before I help any alchemist."

"alright. Then it's done. I'll learn fire control techniques." He said and started walking back to his hut on the mountain of outer sect disciples.

He soon reached his cabin and opened the door. To his surprise, there was a light inside his hut. "Did someone come in?" he wonders.

There was a lantern hanging in the middle of the empty room, illuminating his room with a twinkling light. There's no one inside.

'Who lit the lantern?' he thinks.

He sat on his small bed and took out the technique from his inventory. He saw it again.

[The Fire Mastery Bible]

As he focused more on his book, a panel emerged.

[Do you want to learn ]

He instinctively raised his hand to click the 'Learn' button, but stopped. 'Wait. What happens if I learn it? did I lose the book?'

Every cultivation method and technique he had learned to date came from the inventory. And after learning about it, the source always disappears.

He's starting to worry. If he really lost his book, he would have to pay a large fine to the sect in the form of contribution points. He doesn't want that.

'Then, why don't I learn it like everyone else?' he opened the book and started reading it.

The book seemed to be written in unqualified letters, but somehow, when he saw it, he understood the meaning. In fact, he thought, reading these unqualified words was much faster.

Within 15 minutes, he finished reading the entire book.

Alex looked at the whole book in his hand and heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God it worked."

“Technical,” said as the studied engineering panel opened in front of him with 2 items in it. The first one was obviously the [Knowledge of the Alchemy God]. The second was the newly added [Flame Mastery Scripture].

He clicked on it and opened the description.

[Fire Mastery Scripture: Level 1

Value: Mortal (Growth)

Level 1:

Unlocked: Can freely control existing fire and affect its temperature

Level 2 locked.]

He had yet to learn how he could improve a skill. He looked at his description and realized that he needed fire to control it. Fortunately, fire is everywhere at night.

All the lanterns around the sect were lit with fire. Same with the lanterns in his room. He stood up and slowly lowered the lantern from the very low ceiling.

He put it on the ground and removed the lantern cover. Inside was a metal plate with a fireball hovering above it.

Wow.How does it work? he wonders. There were many magical things in the sect, and he was happy to see them.

Okay.So how do I use this technique? he wonders. He somehow did not think about this.

"Flame Mastery Scripture" he shouted hoping to get a reaction. Nothing happened. He looked at the list of techniques to see if there was a 'use' button'. There aren't.

He's confused now. How does he use a technique?

"Hmm. if the developer really wants realism in the game, then it is impossible to use such a simple technique."

Even fighting is not simple in this game. Even to fight an ordinary snake he had to…

What happens if I get into that weird slowing time state.

He looked at the flames and began to focus. Suddenly, time began to slow down. The small fireball that floated in the middle looked so lively. The light is shining brighter than ever.

He could feel the increase in temperature around him, and how the hot air rose. He could smell the tiny particles in the burning air and leave an almost imperceptible smell.

He ignored all those senses and only focused on fire. He looked at the fire and saw it in the same way as before.

But, for some reason now, he could feel the flames as well. It seemed like he could touch the fire, without actually touching it. He slowly stretched out his hand and stopped a few centimeters from the fire.

As if he was born with knowledge, he began to move some sort of energy in his body. "Is that my Qi?" he wonders. His Qi was all over the body in small amounts in every vein.

He instinctively began to move his Qi down a certain path. In a few seconds, Qi gathered in one place, his hand. He could see the space in front of his hand fluctuate, as an invisible little Qi shot out from his hand.

As Qi touched the flames, he thought of turning the fireball into an oval shape like a candle flame. As if understanding his commands, the flames slowly began to change shape. It begins to spin and spin until it finally stops in the form of an oval candle flame.