Early the next morning, Aiden carefully gathered water at the riverbank hoping to give himself another quick wash. Despite his best efforts, his appearance was slowly approaching that of a small wild child. It didn't matter that no one else was around, he still felt that he should keep himself clean and tidy. Just like how he kept the cave swept and organized, Aiden just felt more refreshed when he was clean.
After giving himself as good a scrub as he could and washing his clothes, Aiden sat beside the fire frowning at his hair. He obviously had no mirror, but a quick run through with his hands was enough to see that there were knots and matts in it.
Aiden had vivid maroon hair that grew to just past his shoulder blades, and it was typically neatly combed into a ponytail. But after his near death escape, he had almost no worldly possessions. Certainly not a comb or hairbrush.
Aiden definitely did not want to cut his hair. Long hair was a bit of a status symbol, typically those of nobility wore their hair long while those of the lower class kept it shorter so as to not impede work. This had spawned a number of myths and traditions around the custom.
One such myth was that the longer you grew your hair out the better you could absorb aura. Now Aiden felt that this one was a little suspect but he certainly wasn't going to experiment to find out!
Many noble families also considered that the long hair of their children was a direct representation of the status of their family and how well they could provide for their members. Thus over time, it became considered disrespectful to cut your hair because it seemed to disregard the care and effort your parents had spent raising you.
Aiden couldn't care less about what the Moore family thought, after all they weren't his family. But he couldn't help thinking that if his mother's spirit was looking down at him or if he met his mysterious father whose fate was unknown, he would want them to think he was doing well. So he strived to keep himself well groomed and healthy looking, so that on the odd chance they ever saw him they wouldn't feel sad.
He wasn't resentful towards his family at all, why would he be? His mother had dragged on until the very last moment to give him the best chance she could fight for. And his father, from what his mother mentioned of him they seemed to be deeply in love. If it were not for extraordinary circumstances he would not have left her side at such a time.
Although his mother had only briefly touched on the situation at that time, he could sense that those who had targeted her were from some powerful force. Perhaps his father was looking for them right now, but couldn't find him because he was so far away! One day I will be strong enough to reach the Soulfyre clan and find him myself. Aiden refused to think about the other reasons why his father might have been unable to find him.
While he was musing to himself and idly tugging his fingers through his hair, a thought struck him. What if he used his mental strength to carefully separate the strands of hair? That would hit two birds with one stone, save his poor hair and exercise his control over his mental power! Aiden felt that this idea was feasible and moved immediately.
He closed his eyes and stretched out his perception to his hair, seeking to see every strand. It was less of being able to see but more knowing where every hair was and where it went. Once he was sure he had an accurate grasp of where his hair was, Aiden began to try and carefully disassemble a smaller knot.
Owww! His face wrinkled in pain, physiological tears appeared at the corners of his amber eyes. He had underestimated his strength and pulled a bunch of hairs right out of his scalp.
The next strand of mental power reached out seemingly light as a feather, to pull apart another knot. This time it did succeed, albeit still painfully. As he worked his way through the different knots and snarls, his mental dexterity increased. He was able to manipulate his mental power like a fish, agilely swimming among the strands of his hair and quickly leaving it combed and clean.
It took about an hour to successfully comb his hair this way and he felt slightly out of breath. Such intense focus was exhausting but ultimately rewarding. He felt that he wouldn't have any issue crafting the repellent powder.
Aiden grinned widely at his progress, he often felt like there weren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything he wanted. So when he was able to grow so much in one sitting, it made him very happy.
He cooked up the last of his mud snapper for breakfast, as his cultivation grew so did his appetite. There was no more meat which was not a great sign. He needed enough energy to be able to support his cultivation and his Alchemy, and meat was the best way to get it. Aiden put hunting on his agenda and headed out to search for more herbs.
Maybe another turtle would be nice enough to swim to the bank and become dinner. He giggled at the thought but didn't take it seriously. What if an adult one showed up? Then it would be him that ended up as dinner.
As he walked through the vegetation, he kept his eyes peeled for anything he could use. He picked a good size Eidle Root, you couldn't go wrong with that one. Every part of it was useful.
When he bent over to try to get a better look at a weed he thought might be an herb he suddenly froze. Aiden stared straight at a group of rocks in front of him. At first glance they looked like common black stones, but when sunlight hit them they gave off an iridescent blue sheen.
This matched the description of the Black Spark Rock. Although it was typically used in the craft of weapons, there was one recipe in his possession in which it was a central ingredient, the Snapfire pills. These were actually a rare offensive pill, that was why they had caught his attention.
Before getting his inheritance he never knew that Alchemists could be so versatile. According to his impression, Alchemists were doctors who could craft amazing tonics and magical elixirs. But in his inheritance they were so much more. An integral part of the cultivation community and powerful in their own right.
They didn't absolutely need to attach themselves to a powerful noble family if they didn't want to, though it would be much more beneficial. Snapfire pills were a great example, upon impact they would explode violently with enough energy to injure someone in the Washed Marrow realm. That was the fifth stage of the Body Tempering realm! For Alchemists who were usually much weaker than their warrior counterparts this was a lifesaving weapon.
Although it didn't seem like much, the fifth stage was actually extremely difficult to achieve. Between the fourth stage, Hardened Bones, and the fifth stage, Washed Marrow, was a tough barrier. Many cultivators in the Golden Lion Kingdom were never able to reach it in their lives. So being able to have something that could stand up to most of the common cultivators was great.
Naturally, the noble families and clans were a different story. They had a deep heritage with many techniques and weapons that would probably neutralize these to some extent. Also, their level of cultivation was typically higher, they had more resources and over the generations they had absorbed more talented individuals making their bloodlines typically more talented.
Aiden carefully gathered all of the Black Spark Rocks in the vicinity, these were an extremely valuable commodity and he needed to take advantage of them. After making sure he had gotten all of them he set off to grab the next ingredient in the Snapfire pills, the Coal Pepper.
They were located in the small pocket of fire aura that he had discovered, several thriving green bushes with thin black and red peppers hanging down. As he approached, his body felt the fire energy in the air, it was extremely comfortable. All of his pores seemed to open up, desperate to absorb the aura in the air.
He held himself back though, Aiden didn't know how long he was going to be stuck here and he didn't want to rashly deplete his only source of fire energy. Not to mention that it could cause damage to these Coal Pepper plants. Although his journey as an Alchemist had just begun, he already felt the love and attachment to Alchemical ingredients. Who wouldn't love a little plant that grew gold? A smile hung on his lips as he gathered the Coal Peppers, he was excited to try out this recipe.
Next, he headed over to gather some Swaddlegrass both the bulb and the roots were used in this recipe. He knew where a large group of them grew and was able to harvest enough to start a batch of pills. The long green stems swayed in the breeze, he was always amazed when looking at them that the bulbs didn't snap off of the corkscrew part.
Now he needed to find the last ingredient, Jade Moss. Aiden searched very carefully along the larger rocks by the cliff face, Jade Moss liked shady and cool places, typically under rocks or large trees. There were very few large trees in this area, so the rocks were where he looked first.
Soon his eye was caught by a vivid green beneath a large jagged stone. He hurriedly bent over, meticulously observing the moss. The Heavens are bright! Aiden sighed in relief, it was Jade Moss. He had begun to worry that there wouldn't be any in this area. Although it was marked as common in Low level Herbs and Alchemical Materials, that didn't mean that it would necessarily be here. He gently peeled up the moss from the ground trying to keep it as intact as possible. With all of the ingredients gathered, he strode back to the cave. He was ready to start!