The warmth of summer was giving way to autumn at the Lotus Academy. The entrance ceremony had been run once more and a new batch of students had been admitted. Some were fierce warriors, others scholars, but the vast majority were scions of powers throughout the Darkmoor Kingdom.
The cooling air was the only sign of autumn as the Lotus Empire rarely had snow. The rain, however, could be torrential in the coming season, thus preparations had been assigned in the mission hall. It was one of many easy contribution points to be earned.
Normally, the desks would be all swamped as the fresh recruitment led to a tidal wave of bodies rushing to begin their academy journey. For 9 of the 10 desks, that was the reality, but the last desk was left empty.
A youth of dark blonde hair sat with several jade slips and a scroll that his dark green eyes focused on. His studious nature was worthy of emulation, but none of the new students or old ones went near him. He had only been at the Academy a few months and become infamous.
Lind Frey was a pariah. He had not done anything offensive, nor had he strutted around arrogantly. He had bullied no one and if asked, he was very quiet and humble if one was to describe him. The reason all avoided him was the scandalous death of the former 3rd Princess, Jia Teng.
While not all the details were known, it was known that Darkmoor sent an envoy to intervene in the matter and issued an edict regarding Lind Frey. The Emperor had followed suit with a result that very few people could interact with him. Those few powers outside the Darkmoor Kingdom did not see any worth in antagonizing so many, thus Lind had truly been alone.
The Elders and teachers could speak to him in class or if he took a specific mission, but that was all. Nothing else was allowed, not even the profession halls could interact with him outside of those parameters. The manning of a desk was required and Lind had chosen the mission hall to be the least disruptive.
He only earned the base contribution points for it, but it was better than nothing. It also gave him a free study hall essentially, so he abused it as much as possible. He was trying to understand why 6 elementals were so different in using techniques compared to any other combination even further.
The library and Elders had far more knowledge but none had truly touched on how inefficient techniques were. Part of the Qi a cultivator used was always to repel conflicting elements if a technique only needed a few to work but not all a dantian might have.
The techniques were better if a cultivator only had those few elements like fire and light to make lightning. Lind began to suspect, however, that no one in this world understood the forces behind nature. He had been no natural science expert, but even a kid learned how to make static electricity with a carpet and some quick footwork in socks. A balloon in hair worked the same way.
Lind had begun to take notes on all he could remember from his education on the actual causes of natural events. He was stunned at how clearly he could recall things compared to a few years ago. Normally, he had trouble remembering what he had for breakfast at his old office job but now, if he concentrated, Lind was certain he could recall even that if he wanted.
It was annoying that his old name and some other personal information was missing. He suspected it was a price to make his rebirth here easier on himself. If he clung too much to his old life, he could not really live in this one.
On that front of his cultivation, he was making progress thanks to the Immortal sages that rewarded him with the 6 element staff and the tempering technique. He had successfully pushed his elements into the 6th tier only a few days ago after months of his staff routine. His cultivation base was a mid-tier 5 for now as he had learned another issue.
He was not the only cultivator to try and keep tempering ahead of their cultivation foundation. There was an unknown danger that only 6 elementals knew of trying to break through to the World Realm. None of the elements tempered at the same rate but generally in the Soul Realm, it was easy to keep things balanced but some had been born with an inclination to be a single element expert even with 2 to 3 elements in their dantian.
Thus, a fire core could be 1 to 2 tiers above the others and everything seems fine, until trying to go up a major realm. The World Realm's major characteristic was the transformation of elemental cores into fonts. These fonts would then change the Qi in the dantian to resemble the tiers of the World Realm as quality was increased.
A mono-elemental had the easiest time for obvious reasons, and even dual elementals unless the elements conflicted, was about the same. Above that, however, all cultivators had to use techniques that would temper their elements appropriately to break through at roughly the same time. If they did not, their foundation would crack or become damaged.
Despite the individual comprehension over billions of years, Lind noticed that 5 and 6 elementals rarely could break through to the World Realm due to the different tempering speeds of each element. Now that he knew of it, he could see he had been lucky to be so careful of advancing his foundation until all his elements reached the peak of their tier.
He also suspected a hidden danger of being more than a tier apart of his elements and foundation as the foundation could not withstand the higher quality elemental energy but he had no desire to test it.
Even with just this, Lind was pleased with his progress. His stagnated guesswork now had a path to follow in regards to only his cultivation. His strange ability to make elixirs, however, had remained stuck at his rudimentary level. There were scrolls and slips on the subject but they were contradictory.
Unlike pill making, elixirs seemed to vary widely in their creation. He had seen 4 different herb variations alone for a healing elixir that did not seem to have consistent results. The method of extraction, heat, and so forth were all different as well. What Lind had learned from his mother was the foundation of his herbal knowledge, but the texts in the Academy seemed to say that none of that mattered.
He had been unable to replicate a single recipe that was written down or recorded either. It made no sense. Lind had also tried a few basics of formations and refining to see if he had any luck but his brain seemed to straight up reject those as well. He could not channel one iota of Qi to create the simplest array nor manipulate metal.
On the other hand, he had found artificers very interesting. A slight variant from refining in that the materials were essentially already forged and engraved so then Lind only had to assemble his ideas. Treasures were more like legos to his mind but he still ran into a problem, the core.
Each treasure had an elemental core that dictated what elements it could use. Lind, of course, needed a 6 elemental core but none currently existed in the Lotus Academy nor in the Empire as a whole. He had tried limiting his elements, but just as with techniques, it merely ruined any core he tried. There were also no 5 elemental cores for their difficulty was too high to be acceptable at the Academy, but they at least existed in the Empire.
Overall, Lind was frustrated but kept plucking away at what he could progress in. He had begun to see possibilities that had been overlooked by cultivators because they got their techniques to work. He had also found more evidence of reincarnations like him that had passed through the Academy. There were clear references to popular media from Earth that were used as examples to explain new techniques submitted.
One of them straight up ripped off Star Trek trying to improve the teleportation arrays. Lind was curious if that helped at all, but he doubted it.
Finally, his shift ended. He nodded to the young girl taking over who avoided looking at him. No words were spoken as Lind made his way to the main gates. He had studied enough, but now he needed to head to the guild halls to see if there were any postings of new jobs.
His restrictions per Darkmoor and the Empire left Lind with few options. The Alchemy Guild was an international power, thus Lind had no limits there, but most formation and weapon refining or treasure making were local guilds. There was no hope of making progress there so Lind had posted any information on elixirs in the Alchemy Guild.
Lind had seen local alchemy guilds but all were subordinate to the simply named Alchemy Guild. The limits to the local guilds were still in effect, but Lind was glad the global guild was open to him. There were still some issues.
Lind could post requests as no one was restricted from doing so, but trying to look over any records the guild held on elixir masters was not allowed unless he was a member. His mother normally could help even though she was only Grade 2, but again, the edict closed off his own mother from him. Letters had been returned from what Lind understood, no doubt the Frey Clan had been told but Lind was heartened that letters still arrived.
He only knew about them as the Elder in charge of communications to students wanted to confirm Lind was part of the Frey Clan from the Southern District. Lind had slightly enjoyed the annoyed look on the Elder's face when Lind did confirm it.
Thus, Lind could not make any headway into trying to join the guild as he could not get consistent results to prove he was possibly an elixir master. He had tried to replicate what he made for Cyntilla but only useless sludge had been made. His only theory was he made the attempt in a much higher quality Qi environment of the Ruin.
His other broths were just soup that doubled as medicine if they worked. Lind saw the massive building that was over 7 storeys tall and the sharp smell of herb processing filled his nose. The guild hall served not only as a place to join the guild but also training apprentice alchemists and a sort of supply if one was a member as well.
Cores could be sold here if they were in demand the same with beast parts but only at request. Lind could submit things as an outsider, but he would only receive gold or a comparable quality of soul stones. He had been able to get some peak quality Soul stones of each element due to what was harvested from the first Ruin and his trip to the capitol.
Leaving the midday sunlight to the cool shade of the entrance on the first floor felt excellent as Lind allowed his eyes to adjust. The open service windows were not of interest to Lind at this moment as he looked at the massive board of posted jobs. It was separated into production, gathering, trade, and miscellaneous.
Lind's was under the miscellaneous area and finally saw it was not there. A smile bloomed on his face as he hopped into the nearest line and awaited his turn. Unlike many other guilds, alchemy lines tended to move very quickly. Pills were picked up and the power of the guild kept things peaceful for all trades.
Lind finally made his way up and saw a frown on the young man behind the desk. Lind kept his own frustration from showing as he was here on business. The fact that his special status was known to all of the capitol powers made locals treat him like a plague.
"My posted job is no longer there. May I know the results?" Lind had been forced to leave his name off the post and just to turn in the information to the Alchemy Guild itself. It made things a hassle but at least he could get his answer that way. Lind put his tag on the desk and the worker cleared his frown instantly.
Whether it was the cheapest request to the most powerful, the guild honored its contracts. Its reputation was paramount like so much in the cultivation world. Lind waited as a slip was put onto the desk and a receipt.
Lind looked at it and frowned. He quickly cleared his face and pulled out the necessary stones to pay the fee. He knew it was real and if the fee was for 7 peak soul stones then there was nothing he could do. It greatly depleted his personal fortune but Lind needed this.
"Thank you for your business. Please move aside for the next guest." The jade slip was put into Lind's hand and he was nearly shoved out of the way. It was not polite but Lind hardly cared at that point.
Concentrating, he put his senses into the slip and nearly fell over. All he paid for and this was the result?!
'Elixir master once lived in the Stone Ward of the Inner District 2 centuries ago. Look for the Black Cauldron tavern and see if the shop near the Severed Fate brothel still stands."