As they made their way back to their quarters, Michael couldn't help but feel disappointed. Although they had enough of the meridian-healing pills, he was beginning to enjoy the feeling of refining pills, and now they were going to be stuck in their rooms for a whole week. But Elena placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, reminding him that they had gotten off easy.
Once they were inside their room, the reality of their punishment set in. They were confined to this small space for an entire week, with nothing to do but reflect on their actions.
Michael looked at Elena briefly before saying, "I don't think we should risk sneaking into the pill refining room anymore. Unlike this time, we may get expelled from the sect if we were caught again" he said gravely.
He had thought that Elena would be downtrodden after his suggestion, considering it directly affected the chance for her to become a cultivator. However, Elena smiled and nodded "You're right, we can't take that risk" she said calmly.
Taken aback, Michael asked "But if we can't use the pill furnaces, how can we refine the pill you need to activate your Tyrannical Dragon meridians?"
"The sect provides basic pill furnaces and materials to 1-star Alchemists, which is the ones we've been using for the past week. However very rarely do they use them" Elena said matter-of-factly. "This is probably the reason why we haven't been caught until now."
She continued "Most 1-star alchemists have their own pill furnace, allowing them better control of their Qi and therefore a higher success rate and larger quantity of pills produced per batch."
Michael nodded in understanding "so what you're saying is that we need to buy our own pill cauldron?" he asked.
"Exactly. However we'll also need an Earth-fire stone to act as the flame for the furnace." Elena replied.
"But I didn't see one of them in the pill refining rooms" Michael retorted.
"Well the furnaces at the sect are a little different. Most stationary pill furnaces are connected to Earth Flames deep within the earths crust. The lever's I was operating to change the heat of the flames were controlling this." She explained.
"Anyway, the crux of the matter is that we'll need to purchase both of these items in order to refine pills."
"And how much will these cost?" Michael asked with a blank face.
Elena cleared her throat slightly "3000 low-tier spirit stones for a decent pill furnace and 1000 for the Earth-fire stone."
Michael's soul almost left his body. His current stipend as an alchemy servant was 2 low-tier spirit stones a month which was considered a high pay rate in the servant profession. Servants who did not specialise in alchemy would only receive 1 per month.
"How the f*** are we going to come up with that money?" managing to pull his soul back into his body, he yelled in a whispered tone.
Elena looked at Michael who was now flushed red and gave a simple shrug of her shoulders. "You're the guy with the plans, you'll figure something out" she said.
Michael almost spat out a mouthful of blood at the shamelessness of this woman. Had his personality been rubbing off on her lately?
'F***, I've been running around trying to help her, almost being expelled for it and this is how she responds?' he complained bitterly.
Archie giggled at the two who seemed to be a married couple 'Master, have you forgotten that our herb garden has grown considerably since we became alchemist servants?' he asked playfully.
'Ah.' Michael suddenly had a realisation. Without another word he sent his consciousness to the Flow Realm where Archie was waiting.
Archie still had the appearance of his 10-year-old self, however he was currently wearing a summer dress and carrying a watering can, tending to the herbs in his garden.
Michael stared blankly at the sight before him, feeling his blood pressure rise gradually. He quickly calmed himself down, choosing to ignore the nauseating scene he was witnessing and direct his attention to the herb field.
After almost 2 weeks of stashing herbs, the garden was beginning to flourish. Based on the flow of time in the Flow realm, there were already a few stalks of the Purple Spirit Roots which had evolved from the White Spirit Roots he took.
Bringing his consciousness out of the Flow Realm, he produced a Purple Spirit Root and handed it to Elena. "How much is one of these worth?" he asked casually.
Elena stared at the herb with rapt attention, her jaw wide open in shock. Looking up at Michael who wore a look of impatience she asked "W-Where did you- ".
Michael cut her off "Don't ask questions, just answer mine."
Hearing the rude request, she puffed her cheeks in annoyance, looking like a hamster with her mouth full. Michael had to resist the urge to laugh.
"One of these are worth at least 50 spirit stones." She concluded.
"Perfect!" Michael exclaimed. He began doing the maths in his head jubilantly.
"Wait, Michael. How many of these do you have?" she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
He pondered for a moment before responding "I don't have many at the moment, but I should have around 50 in about a month?"
Elena felt all kinds of emotions; shock, jubilation, worry, but she was primarily confused. What Michael was saying made absolutely no sense to her at all. She thought she knew Michael well after these past few weeks however he seemed to become more and more mysterious with time.
She gradually snapped herself out of her reverie, crashing back to reality. "We don't have the means to sell all of these herbs." With a sour face she admitted.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Michael was startled, how frustrating would it be if he had the product but no way to sell it.
"Michael, think for a moment. If a couple of alchemist servants were to suddenly sell a bunch of rare herbs to the sect, they would instantly think we stole them." Elena said with downcast eyes.
"That's bullshit!" Michael rebutted. Well, the fact was that these were indeed property of the sect. However, he had saved them from being fed to the spirit animals, hence he now believed they were his.
"You and I may know that, but without proof how would you verify your innocence?" she asked. "By the sounds of it, you have your secrets. Is it worth giving them up just for these spirit stones?"
Michael pondered, there was no way he would expose the existence of the Eternal Pendant to anyone. He would be dead before the day ended without a doubt.
Suddenly, as if he were struck by lightning his body stiffened up. A grin quickly formed on his face, "What if we weren't the ones to sell it? What if it were an outer sect disciple?" he asked.
"There shouldn't be any issues with that, plenty of outer sect disciples have contacts from outside the sect and use them to provide resources to the sect in exchange for spirit stones." Elena said after thinking for a moment.
"Very good." Michael said with a nod.
---
"Achoo!" Jason who was currently meditating on his bed suddenly let out a sneeze.