"You don't have a formula of the elixir that you were so confident about?" Seeing her slam the table as she leaned forward, Ace leaned back against the sofa and tried to pull some distance away from her.
"What are you trying to do?"
"Mhm?"
She looked down before turning back to Ace who was trying to avert his gaze from the two peaks on her chest.
"You pervert!" Before Ace could even react, he was slapped in the face as she bolted out of the room.
As Ace was wincing in pain from the sudden slap, he rubbed his face and was left completely speechless. Was he supposed to blame himself for being attracted because she leaned forward and saw some things he shouldn't have seen, or was he supposed to blame her for being that careless considering the robe she was wearing.
But in the end, he was just a child while she was still a young adult…
If only his father had taught him that a man would always be on the losing end against a woman, he might have taken the rap immediately.
Clarissa was panting with a beet red face while wandering in circles along the pathway. What do I do from now on? Why was I this careless? Should I hold him accountable for this?
The alchemist elder who happened to see this scene froze for a moment before retreating immediately. Within his heart, he was screaming. Did our innocent yet alluring guild leader lose her chastity to someone she just met? I have to contact her father immediately!
Even though this elder wasn't close to Clarrisa who was the current guild leader, her father as the only 4th grade alchemist in the Glutton city was a close friend of his.
"Elder Mark, where are you going?"
Ray who happened to be compiling a list of orders together saw Mark leaving the alchemist guild in a hurry.
"I need to...I have something else to settle." Mark replied briefly before leaving, heaving a sigh of relief after he left the alchemist guild safely.
"Huh?" Ray felt that something was going on, but still pretends nothing happened and continued with his work.
After about ten minutes, Clarissa finally returned to the room with a paper and brush. Even though she managed to sort out her thoughts, she was still blushing, but she still believed that the negotiation must go on.
"About that incident just now, sorry about that." Ace decided to apologise in the end, after all, he could have averted his gaze if he just had more willpower. Though it was indeed a grand sight to see. He laughed to himself.
"It's fine, by the way, how do I address you?" Clarissa replied bashfully as she sat upright, careful about her sitting posture in case things go wrong again.
"You can just call me Ace,"
"The name's Clarissa."
After they made a simple introduction with each other, Ace took the brush over and finished the formula swiftly.
It took him some time to decide on a suitable formula, but he still found an elixir that would definitely cause all cultivators to fight for it even if it's being sold for a sky high price.
2nd grade elixir: Spirit explosion pill, temporarily increases strength by 40% for Martial Masters. After consumption, effects would last for five minutes, 72 hours of fatigue after the effects of the pill dissipates.
Compared to the benefits, the side effects weren't worth mentioning. In the cultivation world, the scariest thing for adventurers that hunt demon beasts is the last stand a falling demon beast makes. That usually resulted in death if the cultivator wasn't well-prepared, but if they consumed this pull, then this was a life-saving pill.
"Are you sure about this?" Looking at the effects of the elixir and the common herbs that it uses besides the rare sun dew, it was definitely profitable and an elixir that others wouldn't be able to mimic.
"How much do you think we can earn through the sales of this particular elixir individually?"
"300 spirit stones."
"Alright, I'll trust your judgment on the price."
If the profits are distributed evenly, then the Nirvana pavilion will earn 150 spirit stones with each elixir sold which in turn earns him 15 spirit stones.
"Three days." Ace said with three fingers raised up.
"For?"
"Within three days time, at best two days time, I expect as many spirit explosion pills to be delivered to the Nirvana pavilion."
"Is that a place in the Glutton city?"
"Don't worry, you'll be able to locate it when the time comes."
Ace explained before leaving, not forgetting to remind her that he still had other formulas she would be interested in.
Returning to the inn which was still under renovation, he briefly explained everything to Shawn before returning to the third floor.
"It seems like Ultric's disciple is bound to walk out of the Zyroth continent. Thinking about it, the seven stars continental battle will be held five years down the road. Will he be able to win those close to twenty five years of age geniuses at only the tender age of eighteen?" Shawn asked the shadow.
"There are four geniuses worth noticing thus far. To make things worse, two of them are from the same continent."
In the room, Ace had prepared everything needed and soon enough, he completed the forging process. Unlike an alchemist, not having spirit energy doesn't affect a blacksmith in the slightest and with just his physical strength alone, he managed to craft a superb quality black longsword, one that would suit him for now.
"Superb quality common sword have been crafted! +40 EXP!"
1st grade blacksmith (40/1000)
The longsword was simple and unless one examined it closely, one would not realise the exquisite craftsmanship of this sword. It was 99% purified at the very least and among all weapons of the common grade, it definitely deserves to stand at the very top.
After that, he repeated the whole process he did at the alchemist guild and was soon in the meeting room alone with the guild master, he was actually a young man probably in his mid twenties.
He had spiky black hair and beneath his ragged clothing, was a body always enduring constant labour doing what it enjoyed.
"The name's Ace."
"Arith."
"I have a blueprint which you might be interested in." Ace stated casually as he crossed his legs and leaned back. Against someone who was only interested in forging, minding his own etiquette was pure disrespect.
"Oh, can I take a look at it?"
Unlike the previous time where he had to request for the materials at the last moment, Ace had completed the blueprint back in the inn. Taking it out, he passed it over to the guild leader.
"This is an energy grenade that explodes three seconds after it's thrown. As for the explosive it contains, anything within thirty metres will be destroyed while it has the potential to harm even Martial Masters."
"A weapon that explodes after it's thrown without any restriction while being able to harm Martial Masters with an area effect?" Arith explained its effects briefly just by hearing the rough description from Ace.
"Haha, as expected of blacksmith Arith, you figured this pretty quickly."
"Of course, forging is in my blood after all. While those old geezers forge for the sake of money, I became a blacksmith and picked up the hammer because it's what I have passion for."
"Arith, if you are given a chance to do forging with a purpose because your talent and passion is appreciated, would you consider it?"
"So how about it? We split the profits evenly, but how much do you think one can be sold for?" Having settled the shares, the next problem to settle was the profit of an individual energy grenade.
Since he was receiving ten percent of the shares after the 50% distribution between the Nirvana pavilion, he would get one spirit stone for every ten spirit stones earned.
"For something of this scale, even 500 spirit stones wouldn't be too much."
"Very well, I hope that you can deliver a large amount of energy grenades to the Nirvana pavilion after two days."
"Where is that?"
"You'll know when the time comes."
On the way back to the inn, Ace was relieved that the discussion with the blacksmith Arith was brief. Raising his head, he realised that the sun was already setting.
It's already evening and yet the bustling crowd has yet to disperse. Countless road stalls were selling delicacies of a wide variety, ranging from steamed fish to grilled meat, fruit juice to fizzy drinks, light snacks to amazing sets.
There were cultivators roaming the streets to take a break, family members having fun together,couples walking alongside each other. Looking at the couples, Ace actually felt envious of them.
Averting his attention, he realised that there was a building named "Golden Flourish pavilion" and decided to take a look.
Walking into the pavilion, he realised that almost everyone present was a cultivator.
Maybe I should just look around before leaving, Ace decided as he walked deeper into the pavilion, attracting mixed gazes from the cultivators.
Some ignored him, some laughed at him, some joked around with his presence. But he turned a blind eye to them. To him, how others look at him amounted for nothing but pride which he had long forgotten since young.
"Yo, what's a mortal child doing here?"