In next to no time Michael had managed to secure the 2nd herb on his list. Fortunately, he was not met with any riddles this time as the Bloodwort had a distinct identifier of its age. According to Archie the Bloodwort would sprout a pristine golden leaf for every 10 years it aged.
Michael had no idea how Archie had this knowledge, what scared him more was that neither did Archie.
'Am I really going to trust the ramblings of this suspicious character' he debated internally.
'Despite his annoying voice and the fact that he likes to parade around as a 10-year-old version of me, he has been rather helpful.'
'Screw it, in for a penny in for a pound' Michael made up his mind, trusting his relic's words were a lot better than just guessing. At least he would have an excuse if he failed the "exam".
"Alright, time for the last one"
Looking at the last ingredient sloppily written on the note Michael began to think consider of the safest way of harvesting the Spirit Elderflower that would sap his life-force.
Thoughts whirled in his mind as he began to think about the properties of all the herbs he had harvested over the years. Combing through his memories he really knew quite a lot of herbs, up to the age of 10 he was passionate about them, often spending time with his father as they packaged each one accordingly.
Unfortunately, once he hit puberty, he began to lose interest in herbs. Well, that wasn't entirely the case, his crush Alice looked down on people in his profession. In his youthful vigour, he completely ditched his herb processing and began to do physical labour with the construction workers in the village.
Much to his dismay, he was never good enough for Miss Alice who was the daughter of the biggest merchant in town. No matter how he flexed his muscles or bought her gifts with his paltry income, she would always have an excuse not to date him.
His biggest insecurity was picked up from Miss Alice who had stated that she only liked mature men, pointing out that despite Michael's build and features he was lacking facial hair. That was the final nail in the coffin for Michael who spiralled into a depression bordering apathy.
From the age of 12 until 15 Michael became lazy, never caring enough to put in all his effort, often taking midday naps instead of harvesting herbs like he should have been. This change provoked his father who tried to "reason" with him through his fists of love, to no avail.
"Archie, do you have any ideas on how to harvest the Spirit Elderflower?"
"I'm sorry Master, I'm not sure. Details about herbs only appear in my mind once I see them, it's like I'm trying to read in the dark" shaking his head, Archie professed his dilemma.
"Shit… what does your information say about the Spirit Elderflower then?"
"Umm. The Spirit Elderflower is a powerful herb that is a critical ingredient in Human tier Body Cultivation pills. It draws the spiritual Qi from the ingredients before assimilating it into its stigma. It is recommended you use proper tools for its extraction to avoid losing life-force…"
"Tools??" Michael interjected.
"That Rudolph motherf***er was probably meant to give us harvesting equipment as well" he grinded his teeth in frustration.
"Does it say what type of tools?"
"No Master… sorry"
"F***" he cursed emphatically and began to rub his bare chin in thought.
'Without the proper tools, this thing will start to draw my life force. I'm only 15, I can't afford to turn grey I'm still a virgin!' despairing at the thought of becoming a wrinkled loner he quickly shook his head trying to come up with a solution.
"Master, there's not much daytime left" Archie reminded him with a sense of urgency in his voice.
"Damnit, let's go see the stupid flower first"
Michael rushed toward the back field, it was the only place he had not explored as of yet. The field seemed empty at first glance however there were 4 plants spread out evenly so as not to disturb each other.
He looked at the plant, despite its grandiose name and scary description it was a simple but beautiful flower. Standing at knee height, its sparkling silver petals lay open toward the sky, exposing its centre toward the setting sun much like a sunflower.
Michael approached the flower warily, not getting within 30 feet, he was in no mood to be sucked dry of his remaining lifespan. Noticing the barren soil and the distance between the Spirit Elderflowers, he theorised that they probably had a similar trait to weeds, that would steal all the nutrients from nearby plant-life.
"Archie, does it say anything about feeding off other plants?" he asked.
"Spirit Elderflowers must be grown without being tainted by other herbs. Once they reach their capacity for Qi they will no longer grow and begin to wither within 3 days. Elderflowers that absorb Qi before being processed for Alchemy will lose their efficacy, causing the pill refinement to fail".
Michael paused for a moment, the cogs in his brain seemed to fall into place and begin to turn with increasing speed.
"Heh ehehe hehe" he began rubbing his hands together, an evil smile making its way onto his face.
Archie looked at his master in puzzlement, maybe as a result of taking up Michael's 10-year-old visage or perhaps not having much exposure to the real world he was actually quite naïve.
Michael quickly looked around the other fields and saw some 30-year-old Spirit Grass growing on the outskirts. Spirit grass was a common ingredient in Qi pills, despite their small frame they held a considerable amount of spiritual Qi, growing with their age.
He hastily harvested a few blades of Spirit Grass before walking over to the nearest Elderflower, his eyes shining with malice. He began to feel a sort of pressure the closer he got to the Elderflower; with every step he was slowly losing energy.
Noticing the abnormality, he quickly broke the Spirit Grass in half causing the spiritual Qi contained in the herb to leak out into the air visibly. Almost instantly the pressure Michael was feeling disappeared altogether.
Archie finally caught on to what his master was doing, he saw the spiritual Qi that was released from the spirit grass be absorbed by the Spirit Elderflower and marvelled at the strategy.
'Ingenious… Master doesn't care about the efficacy of the Elderflower because its for that stupid Randolph. It wasn't even part of the test to begin with, that guy clearly wanted to take advantage of us and spend our life-force for no reason.
If we cause the Elderflower to reach its Qi capacity it'll stop growing and therefore when we harvest it, Master won't lose any life-force.'
It wasn't until Michael had broken 4 blades of Spirit Grass that the Spirit Elderflower had stopped absorbing the Qi. There were no changes to the flower itself, even looking closely no one would be able to tell the difference.
Michael grinned before successfully harvesting the flower. He held it in his hand for a few moments to ensure that nothing would happen and much to his delight the Spirit Elderflower was dormant.
"Archie, put this in the pause dimension" he said triumphantly. Pause dimension was the term they had settled on for the 2nd dimensional storage area.
Archie did as he was told, with a snap of his fingers the flower disappeared from Michaels hands and appeared next to the other 2 herbs in the pause dimension.
Michael looked up at the sky, he could barely see the last vestiges of sun on the horizon which gave the sky a deep orange hue.
"It's time to deliver our package" he said with a devilish grin.