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“Steward Mao,” I nodded, “I hear you have a deal ready for me.”

“Yes,” he winced slightly. “The Mao Clan elders have decided to accept your proposal for Rank 0 pills. We are ready to hand over any mortal information you request in return for the equivalent value in pills.”

“Only Rank 0?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes.” A worried expression crossed his face. “For now, that is all the elders have authorized.”

I wasn’t sure what the elders were playing at. They knew the relative value of the information they were offering, and by specifying that only mortal information would be traded, it could be seen as slapping my face.

They might be testing me to see what my reaction was. They might just want to know if I will hold to my word. What I believed, though, was that they were doing their best to take advantage of me. I made a note to check if the information they paid me with was available in the public libraries.

I wondered if they realized that while they were testing me, I was also testing them. It seemed to be a common belief that only old foxes could play such games, and younger people were just there to be taken advantage of. I may frequently allow myself to be taken advantage of, but I always remembered who was earnest and who wasn’t.

Looking at Steward Mao, I believed he understood everything, and he appeared genuinely contrite. He played the game from the front lines enough to suspect my motives, but the elders behind him were maybe too arrogant. Of course, I could be completely wrong in my suppositions.

“Wonderful,” I smiled. I turned to LiPin. “Can I entrust the Pavilion to handle these matters? Just let me know what pills they need and in what quantities. If possible, you can have the books delivered to my apartment, if not, I can pick them up from the office. Take any necessary fees from my account.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, writing down my instructions.

“Alchemist Su,” said Steward Mao, “what information would you like? We have a wide range of books available for you to choose from.”

“I will trust the judgment of the Mao Clan,” I said, opening my arms wide. “Any information you provide is appreciated, and you will know better than me what information you possess that will make this an equal exchange.”

“Of course, it would be my privilege to do so,” Steward Mao said, giving me a bow and a martial salute. As he lowered his head, I saw a pained expression flash across his face.

---------------------------------------------------

The main reason I didn’t care about getting a poor deal from the Mao Clan was that I planned to make a large number of the ‘Rank 0’ pills anyway. The ingredients to make them were far cheaper than regular pills, and I wouldn’t be stepping on anyone’s toes by purchasing them in bulk. If the Mao clan wanted to compensate me for something I was going to do anyway, I would accept it.

I decided to first work on understanding the Nutrition Pill. I had been told that with only a few coppers worth of ingredients, an alchemist could make a pill that would solve any lingering problems in someone’s body caused by malnourishment.

I didn’t have a great understanding of malnourishment, but I knew it was far more complicated than just being hungry. If someone was malnourished as a child, their bones will tell the story long after they grow old and die. A pill that could repair this kind of structural damage, even if it only worked on mortals, felt far more magical to me than simple cultivation pills.

The Nutrition Pill only had a single ingredient. It was a large herb that looked similar to an ear of wheat. Looking at it in qi vision, I found that its structure was very different than I was used to.

Using the ear of wheat analogy, the seeds were toxins, and the husk was the medicinal energy. The toxic energies were segmented into these small pods, and every one of them was completely surrounded by medicinal energy. To cleanse the herb, an alchemist needed to pierce the medicinal energy husk in multiple places to reach all the toxins.

Taking the first herb, I didn’t use my affinities to move the medicinal energy out of the way. I used the thinnest needle of qi I could form and pierced into a toxic pod.

I had gotten used to working with Rank 3 herbs where the medicinal energy was incredibly fragile, and the toxic energy was nearly impossible to destroy. This herb was the exact opposite. It took far more pressure to pierce the medicinal energy than I expected, and when I did, it caused very little damage. Then, the moment my qi met the toxic energy, it instantly destroyed it.

It took me only seconds to quickly produce several qi needles and completely cleanse the herb. After that, I compressed the energy and formed the pill.

I experimented with a few more pills until I understood the problem. The alchemist needed to damage the herb in many places to reach all the toxins, and if too much damage was caused, the herb would collapse. This was why a Master Alchemist was needed. Most Disciples wouldn’t have enough control. Very old Disciples Alchemists may have developed their soul sufficiently to succeed, but it wouldn’t be easy, and they would still lose a lot of efficacy if they weren’t careful.

Wondering about my limits, I placed ten of the herbs on the workbench and began manipulating them simultaneously. I found I had sufficient focus to correctly direct needles at seven herbs simultaneously. After less than a minute, the first seven transformed into pills, and the other three quickly followed.

I tapped on the workbench in thought.

I could probably make enough Nutrition pills for the entire kingdom in only a few days if I tried, but that seemed suboptimal. If I were a Lord, I could probably spend one day a year stocking a warehouse with sufficient pills for my entire domain, but what if I ascended to King or Emperor? As Emperor, I would need to constantly make these low-value pills to supply my entire domain. I could hire other alchemists to do it, but I would run into the same problem there that existed here. No one would want to make them for me without excessive costs. There had to be a better way.

In the old world, how would people handle this situation? I had a job that needed doing, but no one wanted to do it. There were a few options. Immigrant or slave labor could both be discarded. The first because skilled immigrant alchemists wouldn’t be any easier to find than local ones. The second because it was morally reprehensible.

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There was another way that came to mind, though. When there was a job that people didn’t or couldn’t do, you could always try to automate it.

Could I find a way to automate pill production? Creating mechanical alchemy robots seemed like a nonstarter, but what about formations? Was it possible to create a formation that could make a pill?

The Nutrition Pill was incredibly simple to make. Melt the herb, target the toxin, touch the toxin with qi, compress, and you’re done. It felt like it should be feasible, but I wasn’t sure. If it was so simple, people would have already solved the problem, but even if it was difficult, that didn’t mean there wasn’t a solution.

I made a note to begin focusing on formations that could help me automate concocting pills.

I worked through the other pills Steward Mao had requested. The Energizing Pill, which would give mortals boundless energy for several hours was simple enough to make, and the Strengthening Pill, which provided mortals with about a quarter of the strength of a Peak Disciple in every muscle group, also didn’t pose any problems. If I could automate Nutrition Pills, I could easily automate these two.

The Beauty Pills he wanted were much more difficult, though. From what I knew, Beauty Pills were available at every Rank, and you had to take the Rank of pill that matched your cultivation level. So, Rank 0 Beauty Pills would only work on mortals. Their effect was to return you to your ‘flawless state.’ This meant healing any damage or scarring, fixing any dental problems, and removing any unsightly blemishes. For older people who took the pill, it also restored a youthful appearance of someone in their mid-twenties.

The combined effects of Beauty Pills were incredibly complex, and to make them properly, an alchemist needed an equally complex list of ingredients. Beyond the number, though, Beauty Pills were unique among the pills I had so far concocted in that one did not use the entirety of each herb. Instead, the herbs had to be balanced against each other for the best effect, and that balance would be different for different people. Elderly people would need stronger youth-enhancing effects, while a burn victim might need better healing properties.

Truthfully, I saw no benefit to making such a pill. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand the societal pressure to be attractive, nor did I look down on people who needed such a pill in any way. No, my problem was that it seemed crazy to put all these effects into a single pill when making five different ones would significantly simplify the process.

Still, I set my doubts aside and made several of them to understand the process. Automating such a complex array of ingredients would be difficult, but if it could be done, it would be incredibly beneficial. Only a Peak Grandmaster Alchemist would be able to make this pill, and no mortal I’d ever heard of could purchase one’s services.

After I finished making a batch of each type of pill, I returned to the Nutrition Pill. This was the simplest and cheapest to make, so it was where I wanted to start my experiments.

I quickly used my affinities to open holes in the medicinal energy and eradicate any traces of toxic energy. That done, I began studying the remains.

It was in far worse condition than most Rank 1 herbs I’d seen before. The extremely low cost meant that farmers had very little incentive to care for it properly, so the energy’s structure was damaged nearly everywhere.

I tried to massage the energy into a uniform pattern, but it didn’t seem to do much. The medicinal energy of this herb was far more robust than I was used to, and it resisted changing its shape. That being the case, I became significantly more forceful and began trying to drag various pieces back into their proper position. Sometimes it worked, but most of the time it failed.

I didn’t give up, though. This first experiment proved to me that this was the perfect herb to practice on. Its robust nature made it far easier to try different methods and understand where they were lacking without the herb instantly collapsing.

---------------------------------------------------

I didn’t leave my workshop for even a moment until two weeks had passed. This caused me to miss my formation classes, but that didn’t worry me. Instructor Hu seemed interested in teaching me privately anyway.

The progress I made on mending herbs was small, but it was very real. I had tried dozens of different ways to maneuver energy back into proper alignment, and several of them showed promise. I was beginning to realize that there wouldn’t be a single method here. Instead, I would need to develop a complex toolkit with specialized methods to deal with different structural abnormalities.

While I was focused on learning, that didn’t stop me from making a mountain of pills. To prepare for this stint in seclusion, I had placed a couple dozen large jade boxes into my storage bag. They were large enough to hold a hundred pills each, and I thought that would be sufficient to last me a long time. I didn’t expect making most of the Rank 0 pills to be so quick, though.

Even with my concentration on improving the herbs, I still made over two thousand pills. If I were focused only on making pills as fast as I could, I would have been able to make tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of Rank 0 pills in the same time, but that wasn’t what I cared about. Making a hundred thousand pills for the Mao Clan would bring me very little benefit, so I focused on improving myself.

When I entered the Alchemy Office, LiPin was about to speak when I started placing box after box on the counter. Her eyes widened at the sight.

“Please have these sent to Steward Mao,” I said with a smile.

“Right… Of course…”

I turned away, but before I could leave, she spoke up. “No one new has contacted us, but several of the other groups you met with previously have stated their intention to purchase Rank 0 pills.”

“Only Rank 0?”

“Yes,” she said with a concerned face.

“I understand,” I nodded. It seemed like someone might be orchestrating tricks behind the scenes, but I would let it play out. I thought about how to respond. “Tell them to go through the Mao Clan. I’ll provide all Rank 0 pills to them, then they can distribute them.”

At this, Manager Bai who had been busy with her paperwork spoke up. “That isn’t a good idea.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“I’m not certain who the troublemaker is, but he is definitely a Grandmaster Alchemist, and they are possibly a member of the Mao Clan. If they are, this strategy will play right into their hands. If they aren’t, this could cause things to escalate unnecessarily.”

I thought about what she was saying. Allowing things to escalate would give me potentially useful information for the future, but learning to play kingdom politics correctly would also be good.

“Any idea why they are doing it?”

Manager Bai chuckled. “They are fighting for the position of King. Contribution to the kingdom is a major factor in that decision, and they don’t want you to accrue any merit.”

“Wait… what? Why does being the King have anything to do with this?”

“The King selection happens in three years. All contenders must cultivate fire qi, and they need to have made substantial contributions to the kingdom. Blocking you from making these deals is blocking you from the position of King.”

Grabbing such a position would be great for my cultivation, but I wasn’t ready for it. Not yet. I needed to expand my abilities and gain a firm understanding of the kingdom before I played at that level.

“I have no interest in being King right now. How do you suggest I handle it?”

“Back out of the deals.” She stated flatly. “At this point, you will gain nothing from them. None of the clans will provide any useful information. Those behind the scenes will mock you for breaking your word, and things will return to normal.”

“Won’t this hurt future opportunities?”

“Only temporarily. In a few years, after the new King takes over, they will come back. There should also be clans that approve of handling things this way.”

“Is the Mao Clan involved, or is someone just using my agreement with them as leverage?”

“I don’t know,” Bai shook her head. “Both options are possible.”

“Alright, then. Sell these to the Mao Clan at the agreed price, but regretfully inform them that this will be the only batch. Tell any parties interested in purchasing my pills that I have decided to enter seclusion to improve my abilities."

"Even if they ask for Rank 3 pills?” asked Bai.

“Yes,” I nodded. “I actually will be studying, and these orders are a nuisance. If those clans are making offers in bad faith, I won’t play with them any longer. You can explain my reasoning to them as you see fit, but go ahead and turn everything down. Unless they directly offer something substantial in return, of course.”

Bai gestured to LiPin who made a note of the conversation.

I left to return to my workshop. Making Rank 0 pills was a good way to improve my mending abilities, but there were other skills I wanted to practice as well. No reason I couldn’t mix mending practice with learning more about secondary element herbs.