After Kara left the room, Ang checked on the Apothecary couple. They were currently residing in a laboratory Rue set for them. Looking at the Lab from outside, Ang said, "Did you convert this old building to a lab for them?"
"No, young Master. It was a lab to begin with. Due to a lack of funds, we had to close this place. Now, with the excess funds you provided, we could reopen this facility," Rue explained, the strain of their financial situation evident in his voice.
"How long will the funds last for?" Ang asked with concern.
"With the funds in our treasury and the income from other sources, we could sustain our territory for another eight to ten years. " Rue said with a weak voice. He was ashamed of saying it, as it meant he could not find ways to improve the family situation.
[System Notification]
[As generations passed, the elder's council, which was supposed to maintain balance in the martial world, slowly established its dominance on the continent. Eventually, the elders divided the continent into eleven equal parts. The capital would be a neutral zone where the authority of every Nobel House would be equal.]
[After the division, Each used their authority and prowess to develop their regions. Eventually, it became a competition and later a power struggle among the Nobles. Since the First Noble House had no absolute authority, They slowly lost most of their territory to the neighbouring regions. What little remains now was thanks to Ang's grandfather. He was the strongest grandmaster then and was respected by the other Nobles. But after he transcended, Rue could barely maintain the situation. As the situation stands, the income is reducing, and expenses are increasing. If this continues, the territory will be lost completely, and you will lose your title as a Nobel.]
"What are our sources of income, Old man Rue?" Ang asked Rue, who was feeling down.
"Master, our main source of income is taxes. But most of our residents are farmers. Their yield varies from season to season. From taxes they pay to the gold we spend on supporting them, it mostly equals out." Rue replied.
Ang was expecting such a reply from Rue and continued asking, "What about the Tax on merchants?"
"Yong masters, our territory is tiny compared to others; as such, Many civilians who seek a better life move to other regions. Merchants don't see this region as trade-worthy and avoid it. To avoid a complete stop of trading, we had to implement a Tax-free Trade system to encourage them." Rue replied, even more depressed.
"Hmm... Do not worry, Rue. Things will change slowly," said Ang as he moved inside the Lab.
Inside the Lab, Nita held a book and counted the pill containers before her.The people Rue had hired from the Mercenary guild were also present near the box's.
"Hello, Nita, you seem busy," Ang said, smiling.
Nita was overjoyed to see Ang. She immediately knelt in front of Ang and greeted him. Taking the queue, the Mercenaries also knelt. Even though they were not loyal to the Ang they do reside in the First Noble House territory, they had a good impression of the First Noble House from Rue's donations to the guild and Nita's constant praise for the First Noble House.
After exchanging greetings, the new hires from the Mercenary guild left.
He then asked Nita, "So, how are things going on? Is the Lab to your liking?"
"Of course, young Master! Mr Rue was generous enough to provide us with this Lab. It is a lot better than the place we used to work previously. With the help of these new hires, our productivity has increased a lot." Nita replied with a smile while looking at the containers.
"Great. So, are these the results of your work from the past few days?" Ang asked, suppressing his excitement. Given their economic state, he wants to cash the pills immediately.
"Yes, but there is also a small problem; they are not good enough," Nita said, looking at the containers seriously.
"What?!" he was surprised. He knew that creating pills of high purity was hard, but after seeing their pills in the shop, he was sure they would be able to make pills of at least 70% purity without any issues. When someone states that a pill is not good enough, it usually means that it is below 50% purity. In such cases, people refrain from buying them, and the result will be minimal. For expert pill makers like them to produce something less than 50% purity is a shock for him. "Was my judgement wrong?" he thought.
Looking at the disappointed Ang, Rue went near the container and checked a pill for himself using observation Art. With a slight chuckle, he said, "You don't have to worry, Young Master. The pills are more than good enough. It's just that Lady Nita's standards are a bit high."
"What do you mean my standards are high? Anything? Anything below 70% purity is not worth calling good. In a life-and-death situation, even a 1% difference in purity can make a lot of difference." Nita said, glaring at Rue.
Ang ran to the container, picked up a pill, and observed it. It looked good enough for him.
[System Notification]
[Would you like to learn observation Art of the Water Path? This can help you decode things better.]
Ang: Isn't observation Art a normal vision? What is this observation, Art of the Water Path?
[It is, but the results will vary depending on your strength. However, for the Water observation Art, one can identify everything involved if it has moisture. It is one of the named skills of observation Art.]
Ang: So, is it only for water path cultivators?
[Yes, others would be unable to use it as precisely as you can.]
Ang: Then let's do it.
[system fetching the required Art...]
[Found the required Art...]
[Installing on to user memory..]
Ang suddenly had a headache as the Art was being imprinted in his memory, but he kept his posture so others would not notice.
[Installation complete]
Ang then called upon the Art and analyzed the Pill. Rue was taken aback to see small droplets of water form in the air around the Pill. "So he chose the water path, right? A bold choice if I say so myself."
After rotating around the Pill several times, the tiny droplets disappeared into the atmosphere. Ang then used the Art to scan all the containers. The sudden appearance of water droplets around the pill containers took Nita aback. After noticing that it was Ang's doing, she calmed down.
"The pills in here range from 60% at the lowest to 69% at the highest. I think these are a pretty good batch to get us started." Ang said while looking a bit surprised at Nita. "How can she say they were not good enough?" he thought.
"There were like five hundred pills in there, and he scanned them all so accurately? Judging from the water particles early, it should be a named observation Art related to his water core. Interesting..." Nita thought.
"So these are the only pills?"Ang asked Nita.
"No, young Master. These are just the low-quality pills. All the better-quality pills are in the process of being labeled and packed to sell at the shop." Nita stated.
"So what are you going to do with these pills?" asked Ang in confusion.
"Usually, we just sell them wholesale to the merchants who visit us," Nita replied casually.
"And what price would that be?" Ang asked.
"It depends on the Pill's effects and the ingredients used. I can sell them for around 1000 gold if we are talking about this batch. That's a pretty good deal, wouldn't you say?" Nita replied proudly, rubbing her nose.
"WTF?! Only a thousand gold for 500 pills with an average of 65% purity?" Ang and Rue felt as if they had been struck by lightning.
"Lady Nita, I have two things to tell you: one thousand gold for all of this is way less than what they are worth. Two, They are not as bad as you think and can be sold for a good price in any shop." Rue said, recovering from his shock.
Before Nita could reply to him, a voice sounded from behind her. "I know they can be sold for way more, but as we stated before, we do not do it just for money. We want to bring a qualitative change to the Pill industry. As such, it will go against our policy to sell them. The only reason we are even selling these pills to the merchants is that Nita insists that we should not scrap our efforts. If it were me, I would have destroyed those pills." said Randi, walking from the pill-making room.
"You idiot, your resolve is good. But to destroy such fine Pills, you are mad. I should thank Nita for stopping him from taking action. They would have gone bankrupt long ago if it were completely up to him." Ang, though.
"Well, if that is the case, I have a proposal for you", Ang stated with a smile.