53 Apprentice Alchemist? (2/2)
Arnin decided that even though he couldn't go to his family, that didn't mean he couldn't support them. Although he was the great Demon Lord who killed people like mosquitoes, and tortured people without even batting an eye, he did enjoy having a new family.
His family was killed right in front of him in the past in the most brutal way possible. He grew up in a terrible environment where he was betrayed and almost killed by people he truly trusted and cared about. Zhaik was all he had left, but even he began to become more formal and treated him more like a master than a friend.
Ashia and Florian were his new parents that had cared for him since his new birth, this allowed him to finally feel the warmth of a family after hundreds of millions of years. Nekaia was even more important because her memories seemed to be very similar to the massacre of the demons his family was victim to back then. Nekaia was the closest person to him in all of Afloria. If he could make their lives better with money, then he would make sure that he earned lots.
After deciding this, Arnin knew that he wanted to quickly begin earning lots of academic points. Missions, jobs, and competitions, all of these would get him the points he wanted.
Arnin took the things and nodded towards the tanned girl and the stunning teacher. Arnin wanted to begin creating marks as soon as possible. Since he didn't have a cultivation manual yet, he had to go back and make one.
He was decently knowledgeable on cultivation, plus he had received a dozen of mysterious books from Fae. He just needed to read them and create a manual. Once he did that, he could begin creating marks using the standard procedure.
As Arnin left the shop, the gorgeous teacher fell into deep thought. She quickly chased after Arnin.
”Hey, little kid.” Arnin was lost in his own thoughts when he suddenly heard the soothing voice call out from behind. He looked at the person chasing him and couldn't help but scoff. Although he was somewhat thankful for her explanation, that didn't mean she could get over his head whenever she wanted.
”What do you want?” Arnin was in a rush to get started, so he looked at the teacher annoyingly.
The teacher was clearly very surprised by Arnin's quick change in temper. Just a while ago, he had a faint smile and was showing her some gratitude, and now he seemed to want her to get lost.
”Well, I have a proposition for you. I can feel some fiery essence around you, which probably means that your affinity is related to fire.” The teacher was shocked when she first felt the essence. She knew that only Essence Manifest cultivators would be able to work with components, so how could an Orb Birth student give off such a feeling? She didn't understand, but she knew that Arnin was probably very talented, or was very skilled with fire at the very least, which was why she went to talk with him.
Arnin knew that the real reason people could detect the fire essence around him was because of the Neutrality seed inside of him. He wasn't able to prevent the seed from releasing tiny amounts of essence for others to detect since he wasn't in Essence Manifest yet.
”Since you have this affinity, you could probably become a great alchemist. What do you say? Want to try it out?” The Teacher looked at Arnin with some glittering eyes.
”Aren't you a Butterfly Teacher? What is your relation to the alchemy department? Plus, I am already a Mark master, I don't want to waste my time doing alchemy.” Arnin was, of course, lying to her. He was going to begin practicing alchemy soon, since it would be able to provide him with pills which would benefit his cultivation. However, if he worked for the Alchemy department, would he receive anything, except for a few extra pills?
”Don't call me 'you', that is disrespectful. My name is Fasona, and yes, I am a Butterfly Teacher, but that doesn't mean I can't work in different departments. I am one of the alchemists in the Alchemy department.” She acted calm on the outside, but was indeed incredibly shocked.
'Only Essence Manifest cultivators could become Mark Masters. How did he become one?' She didn't say this out loud and kept a calm face. Both alchemy and mark making were extremely high ranking jobs, but it was much harder to become a Mark Master, since one would have to use essence components to create stones and other cultivation materials. An Orb Birth cultivator could still do minor alchemy, however it could only be extremely easy items, like pastes and creams.
”Well, becoming one wouldn't be a problem. What can I gain from it?” Although he initially decided not to do it, but he suddenly had a thought. Alchemy could be a great way to temper his control over the Flames of Neutrality, and he might even be able to earn some extra academic points. Plus, he wanted to test out his Flames of Neutrality, so it really wouldn't be a loss for him to join.
”There are many benefits to becoming an alchemist here. You can earn academic points from what you make, and you gain extra if it sells. You will get incredible discounts on items. For example, if you were an alchemist, you would only have to pay a couple silver for those vials.” Arnin listened with happiness. He wanted to make lots of academic points, both for him and for his family.
”I just told you that I am a Mark Master. I will be busy with cultivation and am forced to go to the Mark Master department to create marks. How will I get the time to work here?” Arnin knew that he was going to be forced to do many things in the Mark Master department, so he wanted to know whether he had to come into the alchemy department on certain days and work. He didn't mind doing that, but he would need to create a schedule for himself.
”Well, we can figure something out with the Mark Master department once you become an alchemist. Before anything can really happen, you are going to need to pass the alchemy exam.” Fasona spoke quickly. It would usually take a person dozens of years to become an alchemist, which was why she wanted Arnin to join the Alchemy department early, so that he could be trained until he could become an alchemist.
”Sure, when is the alchemy exam? What do I have to do and know?” Arnin remembered from his past life that an alchemist would have to know the names and properties of billions of different herbs. He assumed that it would similar here.
”Well, you will be taking an apprentice exam. Unlike the Mark Master exam, we have to have knowledge about various herbs. You probably don't even know ten, so you will have to take an exam to become an apprentice, and then learn from real alchemists for a while until you can take the official exam.” Fasona was somewhat excited that Arnin showed great interest in the job. If she could get Arnin as her apprentice, then she would be able to make him a great alchemist in the future.
However, this was all based on whether Arnin was suitable to become an alchemist. She was hooked because of the fiery essence that she could feel from Arnin. Since she could feel it at such an young age, that meant Arnin would have a high attainment in controlling and absorbing fire and the fire component. Now it all just depended on him being able to understand the different herbs.
Arnin thought about it and nodded his head. It made sense that he couldn't do the alchemy exam yet. If he was not in Afloria, he could guarantee passing the alchemy test right away since he already knew about almost all the herbs in his universe, however Afloria might be different. That being said, the chance of them being different was very small, because throughout the universe, almost every planet had the same herbs. Sometimes the powers on the planet might be different, but the herbs tended to stay the same. He had a feeling that Alforia would be similar. There might be some new herbs, but most would be the similar to those he was familiar with in his past life.
”Alright, I will take the apprentice test then. What are the benefits for that?” Arnin would drop the idea and figure things out for himself if there were no benefits for being an apprentice. He could slowly figure out the different herbs through books and his own experiments.
”The benefits are mostly the same. You still get discounts, create some small items, and get academic points from those.” Fasona smiled and explained. Arnin nodded his head.
”When is the test, and what should I know?” Arnin just wanted to pass the test and begin earning and practicing.
”Well, we could do the test any time you want. All we really need to do is an affinity test to see if you can use fire in the future, and you would also have to name around a hundred herbs and their properties. Here is a book that will tell you what herbs you need to know.” Fasona handed Arnin a book. They didn't have to do the affinity test because Arnin exuded a fiery essence, so all they really needed to do was test Arnin's knowledge on the hundred herbs.
Arnin nodded his head and grabbed the book. This book was helpful to him whether he took the test or not. He would need to know the types of herbs sooner or later. Arnin opened up the first page and his eyes glittered.
Moon Flower - A flower that blooms only during a full moon. The flower is cold to the touch and has white petals. The pistil of the flower is a piece of soft ice that resembles the moon. Has high amounts of Yin energy and is used to create pills related to coldness and removal of Yang. Uncommon herb.
The first herb that Arnin saw was something he knew. This was a common herb that would be used to make simple heat removing pills, or cultivation pills for people who used the ice or water element.
He flipped to the next page and saw another herb. Solar Grass.
Solar Grass - This is a type of grass that grows in areas closest to the sun. It is a yellowish color, and feels extremely hot when touched. It has high Yang energy and is used to remove coldness from a person body, or to make fire cultivation pills. Uncommon herb.
Arnin continued to flip through the pages and gasped. The same! All of them were the same! Arnin was extremely happy that his luck was so high. If all of the other herbs were the same, then he could go straight to becoming an alchemist.
Arnin put the book down after looking at all of the herbs. He had a huge smile on his face, which Fasona found to be very weird.
”Is something wrong?” She couldn't help but ask. She was worried that Arnin would give up right after looking at the many herbs. Although it may sound easy, it would usually take a person a month or so to memorize the contents of the book, and that was only if they fully focused on the material.
”Nothing is wrong.” Arnin continued to smile. He then walked back towards the alchemy department.
”Huh? Why are you going back?” Fasona asked. She thought Arnin had everything, so she was confused.
”I want to do the Alchemy apprentice test right now.” Arnin turned his head and said with some confidence.
”What?” Fasona was at a lost for words. She rubbed her ears and made confused face which was so cute that it could cause any man watching to get aroused.
”I said, I am going to do the Apprentice Alchemy test.” Arnin repeated, before turning around.