“Aren’t we going back?”
Anna lifted the carriage curtain and glanced outside, realizing they were no longer on the road they had taken earlier.
Shuyue nodded and casually explained.
“I plan to visit the Alchemist Guild.”
“What are we going there for?”
Anna’s pupils contracted. The last time, they had impersonated a deceased alchemist, earning a substantial sum of money through their disguise.
They could have made even more, but someone had reported them to the Alchemist Guild. Since they lacked an item to verify their identities, their deception was exposed.
In the end, they had been hunted for a long time. They fled far away and wandered the Outer Domain for a year, only daring to show themselves and gauge the situation after the heat had died down. Even then, they hadn’t dared to return.
Because of that experience, they had no favorable impression of the Guild.
The Alchemist Guild itself had a terrible reputation. It represented a monopoly over alchemical potions.
It was an enormous organization established by several major alchemy schools, bringing together alchemy factions both large and small. It established uniform standards for alchemy, regulated the production of alchemical potions, and cooperated with every race, nation, and major power.
The Alchemist Guild had branches throughout the world. It either absorbed independent alchemists or destroyed them, eventually securing a monopoly over alchemy and earning enormous profits from selling potions.
For adventurers in the Outer Domain, healing potions were among the most common alchemical products. As their name suggested, they could heal most injuries, and their medicinal effects were gentle.
Their effectiveness was only slightly inferior to receiving treatment from a cleric of the Holy Radiance Sect. Since ordinary adventurers rarely had clerics accompanying them, healing potions had become an almost indispensable consumable.
The Alchemist Guild priced a single Mercury-grade healing potion at ten gold coins.
This was an exorbitant price, and the Guild aggressively suppressed the sale of healing potions outside its own channels.
Adventurers were forced to spend ten gold coins at the Guild for a single dose, even though producing the potion didn’t cost anywhere near that much. Its actual value was less than one gold coin.
Gold coins had considerable purchasing power. Shuyue had also learned to refine healing potions from that scabby-headed master of hers. She had sold them before, only to be summoned and warned by people from the Alchemist Guild.
Naturally, Shuyue hadn’t confronted them directly. Instead, she turned to the black market, selling potions in small batches to earn money.
Her main reason for obtaining a letter of introduction was to become a registered member of the Alchemist Guild.
Although she was an alchemist herself, she belonged to no clearly identifiable faction. If she wanted to register with the Guild and gain permission to sell alchemical potions, she needed a letter of introduction.
Selling potions through the black market was still possible, although it occasionally brought trouble. What she really wanted was the qualification to purchase materials.
The Alchemist Guild was a major client for adventurers. It needed enormous quantities of monster materials, so it regularly issued numerous monster-hunting commissions.
Selling materials to the Guild was easy and required no special qualifications. Purchasing them, however, came with certain restrictions.
One way was to become a registered member. The other was to obtain an internal recommendation or a noble’s letter of introduction.
“Lady Liya, we’ve arrived at the Alchemist Guild.”
The coachman’s voice came from outside the carriage. Shuyue acknowledged him, then turned to Anna.
“Let’s go.”
Anna remained silent for a moment before nodding.
The two stepped out of the carriage. The coachman then drove it away to a designated carriage parking area.
Anna stared at the imposing building before them, feeling almost unable to breathe. The Alchemist Guild’s power was immense, far beyond anything she could have imagined.
Their escape back then had been a close call, and she had nearly died. Even now, remembering that experience filled her with fear.
Shuyue was different. Ever since she had followed that scabby-headed master to learn alchemy, she had witnessed far too much life and death. She had even been used as a test subject for potions and endured considerable suffering.
Those experiences had indirectly tempered her disposition, hardening the shell around her heart.
The two entered the carpeted hall one after the other. As soon as they stepped inside, an elegantly dressed woman with a dignified bearing approached and asked Shuyue what business had brought her there.
Shuyue took out the letter of introduction and handed it to the woman.
“This is a letter of introduction from Baron Lester. I believe you know who should receive it.”
The woman froze briefly before accepting the letter and bowing. She then hurried away to deliver it.
Shuyue led Anna to a seating area in the hall and told her to wait there.
The woman soon returned, her expression having changed from a professional smile to one of genuine respect.
“Mr. Liya, please follow me upstairs.”
“Mm.”
Shuyue nodded and followed her at an unhurried pace.
They entered a reception room of modest size, decorated primarily in shades of gray and white.
After ushering them inside, the receptionist quietly withdrew.
An elegant, graceful beauty seated in a chair studied Shuyue as she slowly rose and approached.
“Mr. Liya, greetings.”
“Hello…”
The woman wore a fitted purple dress that accentuated her figure, and a rich fragrance surrounded her.
Her appearance was striking, with a seductive face and a graceful figure. As she approached, her waist swayed with each step, and the movement of her dress drew attention to her curves.
Yet Shuyue remained calm, her eyes as still as an ancient well.
Of course, she had noticed the woman’s ample bosom.
But the only thought that crossed Shuyue’s mind was, ‘That’s enormous.’
There wasn’t the slightest trace of desire.
This only made the beautiful woman more interested. She moved a little closer and spoke softly.
“Mr. Liya, what brings you to the headquarters of my Alchemist Guild?”
“I want to register as an alchemist,” Shuyue replied succinctly. “I’d also like to purchase a few things while I’m here. That shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”
“Heh, of course not~”
The elegant beauty raised an eyebrow and lightly covered her red lips with a slender, pale hand. Then she began circling Shuyue.
“Mr. Liya, you’re quite a curious person. Very interesting.”
Shuyue had no idea what the woman had noticed.
Her bloodline hadn’t been obtained through alchemical potions. Instead, she had used the Star Tempering Technique to refine Dragon Blood essence before directly absorbing it.
There shouldn’t have been any traces of alchemy involved. As for her disguise, she had used special items to achieve it.
After circling Shuyue once, the elegant beauty returned to stand in front of her.
“May I ask whether you’re an alchemist?”
“Yes.”
“Oh? And which alchemy faction do you belong to?”
“My master forbids me from mentioning him in public.”
Shuyue couldn’t very well invent a faction out of nowhere, so she simply implied that her master was a reclusive expert.
“Oh, what a pity. I’m quite curious about you, Mr. Liya.”
The elegant beauty didn’t press the matter. She didn’t even ask Shuyue to demonstrate her skills and simply agreed to register her.
“Mr. Liya, in that case, I can only grant you the status of a Mercury-grade alchemist.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
Shuyue wasn’t concerned about the rank.
The ranks assigned by the Alchemist Guild corresponded to the grades of potions an alchemist could refine. From lowest to highest, they were Mercury, Gold, Ether, Star Antimony, and Philosopher’s Stone.
It was said that the Guild also assessed Grandmasters, but their alchemy had to reach the Philosopher’s Stone level. Each Grandmaster essentially represented a major alchemy faction.
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