The Elven Cultivator

The door hinges let out a soft creak, and a wave of heat—a mixture of ale, tobacco, and boisterous voices—washed over him.

In the dim light, dozens of crude wooden tables and chairs were scattered about, where all manner of patrons sat or stood, laughing and talking at the top of their lungs.

Anton walked straight through the crowded hall, found an empty seat at the counter, and sat down.

The bartender was a sturdily built, middle-aged human. A faded anchor was tattooed on his forearm, and an old, centipede-like scar ran across the bridge of his nose, lending his weather-beaten face a fierce air.

He mechanically wiped the oak countertop in circles with a cloth, seemingly deaf to the surrounding din.

"What'll you have?" the bartender asked without looking up.

"An ale." Anton tossed a few Copper Coins onto the counter. "And I'd like to buy some information."

Only then did the bartender raise his eyes and look him up and down.

The man before him was unremarkable in both appearance and dress, looking like any other Adventurer you might see in the city.

Except for his eyes, which were so deep one almost dared not meet his gaze.

"What information?" The bartender slid a foaming mug of ale over.

"The wanted man on the notice board outside—Canglan. I want the full story of why he's wanted."

Anton raised the mug, took a sip, and impassively set it back on the counter.

'The ale was coarse and had a smoky flavor, a far cry from the sweet, crisp fruit wines of the Clan.'

"One Gold Coin," the bartender said.

Anton took out a Gold Coin and placed it on the counter. The bartender pocketed it, turned, and went into a back room. He returned a moment later and handed Anton a folded piece of sheepskin paper.

Anton unfolded the sheepskin paper and glanced down.

Canglan. Identity: unknown. Strength: unknown. Suspected to be a non-native of the Eldron Plain.

Chenxi Calendar, Year 9244: The Flame Trade Association reported to the Bishui Port Guard that an Adventurer named Canglan had killed one of the association's guards. They requested an immediate arrest warrant and offered a 100 Gold Coin bounty. To date, the suspect has not been apprehended.

'Chenxi Calendar, Year 9244?'

Anton's gaze hardened.

'That was the second year after he met the Harvey Squad, and the year after Casius died in the Thousand Rock Hills.'

He calmly folded the sheepskin paper and quietly gave the bartender the four names from the Harvey Squad. "I want information on these four, especially their whereabouts after the year 9243 of the Chenxi Calendar."

After Anton paid the fee, the bartender once again went into the back room. When he returned, he whispered, "Of the four you mentioned, only Harvey has any sort of reputation in Bishui Port's Adventurer circles. I've never heard of the other three. Besides, Harvey went missing over thirty years ago. It's been too long; we can't find any more information."

Anton nodded slightly. 'He already had an inkling of what had happened.'

'The Harvey Squad probably didn't escape the Ring of Annihilation's retaliation. The odds are they didn't make it.'

'Once in the hands of the Ring of Annihilation, those madmen would have plenty of ways to get the story out of them, whether they were willing or not.'

'After that, the Ring of Annihilation must have searched for Canglan in secret, but they obviously came up empty. In the end, they had to go public, using the Flame Trade Association's channels to post a bounty all over Bishui Port.'

'They even kept it up for over thirty years. They haven't given up to this day; the wanted poster is still up.'

'Too bad their efforts were destined to be in vain.'

'After all, Anton had never used the Canglan identity since, nor had he ever returned to Bishui Port. No matter how wide the Ring of Annihilation cast its net, it could never catch a shadow that had long since sunk beneath the waves.'

'Looks like the Flame Trade Association most likely has secret dealings with the Ring of Annihilation.'

Anton clicked his tongue.

'They're close with Dragon City and have secret dealings with the Ring of Annihilation. The Flame Trade Association's allegiances are quite complex.'

With the information in hand, Anton didn't linger and left the tavern immediately.

Although most information brokers have their own code of ethics, just in case, Anton found a deserted alley after leaving. He changed his face and clothes before finding another tavern to stay in.

「Three days later」 He changed back to his original appearance and went to the Dwarves' smithy to pick up the forged Alchemy Cauldron.

It was a three-legged, round-bellied bronze vessel, about six inches high. Its surface was covered in simple, ancient patterns, and the body of the cauldron gleamed with a faint, cold metallic luster. Its three legs were cast in the shape of beast claws, gripping the ground firmly.

There was a single hole in the center of the lid for adding ingredients, and nine small vents were set around the edge, arranged in a three-by-three grid.

However, despite its exquisite appearance, it was just an ordinary Alchemy Cauldron.

The Alchemy Cauldron is also a key factor in Alchemy.

A Magical Treasure-level Alchemy Cauldron could even significantly increase the success rate of Alchemy.

'Unfortunately, Anton didn't have the ability for Artifact Refining yet, so he could only make do with a normal Alchemy Cauldron for now.'

By the time he returned to the Silver Moon Forest, twilight was painting the treetops gold and red.

Without delay, Anton set up the Alchemy Cauldron in the backyard and began the process of Alchemy.

Alchemy is the process of using Spiritual Fire as a furnace and medicinal herbs as ingredients to refine, fuse, and sublimate the essences of heaven and earth, finally solidifying them into a Pill.

The quality of a batch of Pills is thirty percent dependent on the ingredients and seventy percent on the control of the heat and mastery of the medicinal properties.

Simply put, Alchemy can be divided into four steps.

First is purification: using Spiritual Fire to calcine the ingredients one by one, extracting their essence and removing the impurities.

This step requires extreme stability of the Spiritual Fire. If the heat is slightly too strong, the ingredients turn to ash; if it's slightly too weak, the impurities cannot be completely removed.

Second is combining: placing the purified medicinal liquids into the Pill Furnace in a specific order for preliminary fusion.

The timing, quantity, and sequence of adding the ingredients are all strictly prescribed. One wrong move and the medicinal properties will conflict, wasting all previous effort.

After that is fusion: simmering over a gentle flame to allow the medicinal liquids to fully integrate.

This process can take anywhere from a few hours to several days. During this time, the Alchemy Master must continuously channel Spiritual Qi to maintain the Spiritual Fire. If interrupted, the liquid in the furnace will immediately solidify and be ruined.

This is also why only a Cultivator at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining is qualified to even attempt the Alchemy Dao.

An Alchemy Master with insufficient Spiritual Qi simply cannot last until the pill is formed.

The final step is Solidifying Pill: catalyzing the Spiritual Fire to condense the medicinal liquid into a pill.

If this step succeeds, a fragrant aroma will naturally emanate from the pill. If it fails, all that's left is a furnace full of slag.

For Anton, these four steps were not difficult in themselves.

The Nourishing Yuan Pill was, after all, only a Low Tier Pill. It wasn't something that required exceptional talent as an Alchemy Master.

As long as one had enough time and materials to practice repeatedly, they could eventually master the key aspects through sheer experience.

The real difficulty lay in researching which materials from the Dawn Continent could replace the spirit herbs and immortal medicines in the original Dragon Yuan Pill recipe.

This was destined to be a long process of trial and error.

The medicinal properties of each substitute material had to be repeatedly verified to ensure there wasn't the slightest error.

Fortunately, Anton had plenty of patience.

'I'll start with the most basic ratios.'

Taking a deep breath, Anton dove headfirst into his Alchemy.

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