The sun was shining brightly through a large open window in the Alabaster Group's residential quarters. This was also where the Grandmaster Alchemist Mo Tianshen spent most of his time, as the sunlit area was the only convenient place for him to grow most medicinal herbs. A good twenty-five percent of the courtyard was off-limits for just this reason. It wasn't a physical demarcation, but rather an understanding that cultivation could cause the medicinal herbs to wither. Angering a core-formation alchemist was considered a career-limiting move.

Cha Ming was seated outside the alchemist's office, waiting for him to finish whatever work he was doing. There was a convenient button just outside the door that allowed Cha Ming to leave a message without causing any noise or disruption. The alchemist would let him in once he read it.

He waited for an hour before an explosion echoed across the courtyard. Black smoke puffed out from the office, which doubled up as a workshop. After a few breaths' time, an alchemist walked out, coughing and wheezing. He was a graying man with long hair tied in a topknot. His green alchemist robes were covered in thick soot.

Cha Ming looked down awkwardly, avoiding any eye contact with the obviously embarrassed alchemist. Patting sounds ensued, and so did the sound of a bucket of water being poured. A roaring flame indicated that it was safe. Cha Ming finally looked up to see the grandmaster alchemist in tip-top shape.

"I presume you are Cha Ming?" Mo Tianshen asked. Cha Ming nodded. "Come on in then."

They walked into a workshop, which was filled with various beakers, vials, powders, and tiny balls Cha Ming could only assume were medicinal pills. Some medicinal herbs were growing on a shelf, while others were either drying or soaking. The place smelled like a cross between a botanical garden and a funeral home.

"What can I do for you today?" the alchemist said, picking up a tiny brown sphere from the table. He also picked up a green vial and a dropper, which he used to douse the small sphere with varying amounts of the green liquid. With every drop, the brown sphere glowed brighter. A glistening secondary coating appeared, but it ultimately crumbled. The alchemist shook his head in dismay and moved on to the next sphere. "Well? I don't have all day."

"Grandmaster, I'm looking for someone to make me medicinal pills to advance my cultivation," Cha Ming said. "I've been embargoed by the Alchemists Guild due to my participation in the internal politics of the Jade Bamboo Conglomerate. In addition, my element configuration is special, making it difficult to find a sufficiently skilled freelance alchemist."

"I see," the alchemist said, proceeding to the next batch of spheres. "Why don't you go to the Obsidian Syndicate?"

Cha Ming frowned. "Not only is it against the rules, but I don't think it's worth it to do business with them."

"Excellent," the alchemist said. "So, you agree that some things are more important than advancing your cultivation." Various drops of a red viscous liquid fell on some metallic spheres. "Do you know what I'm doing with these experiments?" he asked.

Cha Ming shook his head.

"I'm creating hope," the alchemist continued. "These pills are all extremely low-leveled pills. Quite frankly, I could be making a fortune making core pills. However, I've determined that the worth of what I'm doing here is far greater than anything I could accomplish in the upper echelons of society.

"My current talent-infusion pill is at its eighth iteration. It costs me ninety silvers to produce it, yet it only gives a ten-percent chance to infuse one with first-grade cultivation talent. Many people think this is already pretty good, but I know for a fact that this price point is too high for ninety-eight percent of the population. If that's the case, no amount of time will make it so that cultivation talent is widespread enough for the mass-scale projects envisioned by the king.

"For that, I need at least twenty-percent success and a material cost of only ten silvers. To do this, I need to be very selective about using low-grade medicinal herbs. I need to involve mortal chemists in the eventual mass production, and it needs to have very minimal involvement with traditional professions. No one with a qualification of third-grade alchemist or higher will ever want to produce this pill, because it simply doesn't pay enough."

The alchemist then looked Cha Ming in the eyes. "Which leads me to my next question. Is your cultivation speed more important, or is the improved livelihood and prosperity of fifty million citizens in this empire more important?"

Cha Ming wasn't sure how to answer this question. He knew that his struggle was important, but it implicated five million people at most. "There are people dying," Cha Ming said. "I need to get stronger to help them."

"That is admirable," the alchemist said gently. "Therefore, you can understand why I don't want to divert time away from my experiments. No one else wants to do what must be done, and only my apprentice and I bother with it. Without widescale prosperity, the citizens are helpless against the upcoming turbulent times. Even if they survive, the empire will take centuries to recover." Mo Tianshen continued to perform his experiments as Cha Ming sat down, brooding. It was quite difficult to make a selfish case in the face of that reasoning.

After thinking hard and not finding a solution, Cha Ming decided to observe Mo Tianshen's experiments. He had always been a problem solver, and this puzzle could potentially change the fate of an entire nation. He felt an itch that he needed to scratch.

"Are you trying to solidify a coating atop an existing pill?" Cha Ming asked casually.

"Something like that," the alchemist said while dripping another solution. "These aren't exactly pills; they're compressed powder pellets that are easily generated by apprentice alchemists or apothecaries. It contains all the active ingredients required in an effective medicine, but these ingredients are not available enough for human absorption. In addition, there are various pill toxins that make it so that one cannot take it more than three times. With this coating, I am hoping to provide a compound that can dissolve the active ingredient while also destroying the pill toxins."

As he said this, the last batch of pills was coated. The alchemist took out a press and began manually pressing batches of various powders.

"Why does it need to be a coating?" Cha Ming asked.

The alchemist continued to work while patiently answering his question. "It needs to be a coating because both the activating ingredient and the counter ingredient to the toxins will ruin the pill if exposed for too long. In fact, the ingredients were originally part of version three, which had four-percent efficiency and could be used four times. I speculate that if the pellet, the activating ingredient, and the counter ingredient are introduced at exactly the same time, the efficacy will be much higher."

"Why can't the liquid be taken separately?" Cha Ming asked.

"You really like to ask questions, don't you.." the alchemist said, not slowing his pace in the slightest. "Well, I could perform these experiments with my eyes closed, so no harm in explaining. You see, if the liquid is taken at the same time, it will react quickly, but the solid pill will dissolve slowly in the stomach. Thus, only three percent or so of the pill is enhanced by drinking the liquid, and the rest is not. I need a coating that dissolves at the same rate as the pill."

Tricky problem, Cha Ming thought. Would a textured coating work? No, it seems that it's a stability problem. The coating reacts with the pill. It needs to be applied in a dissolvable, stable way. However, this would also affect the chemical makeup. Is there a way to affect the physical properties without affecting the chemical makeup?

A half hour passed as Cha Ming thought through various scenarios. During this time, Mo Tianshen was able to complete his next batch of pellets. He also continued the process of applying different drops from different vials.

"May I try something?" Cha Ming said after a sudden epiphany.

"What do you wish to try?" the alchemist asked.

"I wish to try applying the coating in the shape of a rune," Cha Ming said.

The alchemist's hands paused. "I tried one hundred first-grade runes in the past," the alchemist said, sighing. "It didn't work."

"Then it's convenient that there are another nine hundred runes of the same level remaining," Cha Ming stated.

Frowning, the alchemist placed a vial in front of Cha Ming. "How many runes could you form that are compatible with this liquid?"

Cha Ming sifted through the thousand runes in his mind. "Without experiments, I can think of sixty-four that could be compatible. Seventeen would have characteristics of stability. In fact, it could also be possible to paint several different runes simultaneously to obtain a combined effect."

"Hm.." the alchemist said, stroking his beard. "Let's try it, then. Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes," Cha Ming said, taking out the Clear Sky Brush. At the alchemist's direction, he tried all seventeen runes with varying dosages and concentrations of medicinal "ink." He performed two hundred and forty-six trials, of which forty-two formed a stable runic coating, conveniently leaving most of the surface area of the pill exposed for simultaneous dissolution.

"How many elements can you paint?" Mo Tianshen asked, looking at the forty-two potential successes.

"Wood, fire, earth, metal, water, wind, lightning, creation, destruction," Cha Ming said. Mo Tianshen raised an eyebrow. "Strictly speaking, I can't paint in pure creation or destruction," Cha Ming added.

"Well, regardless of your skill, that's the perfect mix for experimentation," Mo Tianshen said. He returned his gaze to the forty-two stabilized pills. "I don't dare divert too much time away from my experiments, but I'll tell you what. How about you help me make nine more duplicates of these forty-two. Then I'll perform trials in the upcoming week. If the results look promising, I'll make pills for you. At cost. However, you must continue to help me with my experiments in the future."

Cha Ming stayed for another two hours before finally returning to practice formations. His future cultivation speed would depend on the success of the upcoming experiments.

***

Cha Ming walked down a deserted street in the wee hours of the night. He wore white robes and sported long black hair. His face was pale and skinny but had an overall cheerful disposition. He was also six inches taller than normal due to the size-manipulating abilities of the Seventy-Two Transformations Technique.

As he walked, various beggars, thieves, and prostitutes made way for him. The city guards watched him with suspicion but didn't dare say anything. Cha Ming constantly emanated the pressure of his half-step resplendent soul. Such a pressure was suffocating to anyone under middle-foundation establishment.

The reason he walked in the middle of the night was to procure sigil focuses. Sigil focuses were made of soul steel and other expensive ingredients. They were always made to order, as the cost of each set was astronomical. Unfortunately, the only spiritual blacksmith in the Alabaster Group didn't have enough skill to craft them. This left only one blacksmith in the city capable of crafting them, and he belonged to a shop that was under the influence of the Wang family.

Cha Ming walked slowly for a full hour before arriving at the blacksmith in question. The main storefront's lights were off, but Cha Ming could hear a beating hammer and a roaring furnace in the back of the shop.

Cha Ming didn't knock. Instead he gently reached out with his incandescent force, making the blacksmith instantly aware of his presence. The spiritual blacksmith didn't acknowledge him but continued hammering away at a searing-hot, sword-shaped chunk of metal. The strange material glowed white as he beat it hundreds of times. Sparks showered onto the heat-resistant surroundings. The smith wore no shirt, but his skin was hard like steel and yet also supple like copper. The white-hot sparks didn't leave a single mark.

You can let yourself in, the man sent as he worked. Cha Ming did as he was told and walked through the unlocked front door. He headed to the back of the store where the forge was located and sat on a small wooden bench. He watched in rapt attention as the smith worked. The man's skin glistened in the firelight.

The smith's pounding hammer was music to Cha Ming's ears. Every strike seemed in tune with heaven and earth. The symphony of metal and flame eventually ended with a sharp quenching sound, accompanied by a sharp rise in heaven and earth qi. He had no idea what the quenching medium was, but it wasn't water.

"How can I help you this fine evening?" the smith said as he walked over. His eyes flickered briefly to the white medallion pinned on Cha Ming's white robes.

"I require a full set of sigil focuses," Cha Ming said. "One hundred and eight in total."

"What kind?" the smith asked, grabbing a towel to wipe off the sweat and grime.

"Unaligned," Cha Ming specified.

The smith nodded. "And you're aware that unaligned sigil focuses are twice as expensive as normal ones?"

"Of course," Cha Ming replied. Unaligned focuses were versatile and could be changed from one alignment to another on demand. It was an uncommon choice, but not unheard of. He was wary of revealing his five-element alignment in a place owned by the Wang family.

"I have work lined up for the week," the spiritual blacksmith said. "Please come back then."

"I need these within forty-eight hours," Cha Ming said. "Will this be possible?"

The blacksmith shrugged. "The base price is four thousand high-grade spirit stones. If you can give me five thousand, I can push off my other projects for a couple of days."

"Then it's settled," Cha Ming said, placing a crystal card on the table. "Do you mind if I wait here until it's complete?"

"Not at all," the blacksmith said. "What can I call you?"

"Lin Mu," Cha Ming said.

The blacksmith nodded before sitting down to recuperate his energy.