The First Alchemist - Chap 10

Chapter 10 - Journey through the Forest III

Everyone froze like rabbits suppressed by a tiger. The Wyrm before them had an aura that sent chills running down their backs. It was a creature they had never seen before.

To many, it looked like a huge, wide snake, but Chem Al knew that it was a baby dragon that had yet to grow its legs or wings. Thanks to eating almost all the desolate beasts in the surrounding forest, it had become massive, almost to the point where it looked like it was ready to evolve into its next form: the Dragon Newt.

“That’s a baby dragon?” Chem Au shouted, surprise lacing his voice.

His words seemed to have woken up everyone. Screams erupted from all the villagers as they abandoned their carts, pushing each other out of the way as they tried to get as far away from the beast as possible.

When some of the guards started running, Sorka Bo yelled, “What are you doing? Kill it! Kill it!”

That command got through to them. Together, they struck the Wyrm with their stone-tipped spears, but there wasn’t even a single scratch.

Watching all of this from behind a cart, Chem Al couldn’t help but think of how foolish they were. This beast may be the weakest form of a dragon, but its scales were still tough enough that weak profound cultivators such as them couldn’t even hope to hurt it. Still, he couldn’t offer any better suggestions.

A thousand poisonous pills ran through his head, each of them toxic enough to take down a Wyrm, but he couldn’t make any of it without the ingredients or a cauldron. There was nothing he could do. It looked like the best course of action was to run away with his family. If they were faster than the other villagers, they would be able to live a few seconds, or even a few minutes, longer.

Who was he kidding? With his big brother fighting amongst the other guards, he couldn’t just abandon him.

The Wyrm twisted its head, annoyed by the tiny little ants poking at it.

“Look out!” Chem Al shouted. He had seen enough Wyrms in his past life to know when they were about to swing their tail.

In the heat of battle, the guards didn’t know who shouted those two words, but it got them to back off. White light flashed around their legs as they tried to dodge. One of them didn’t make it. The Wyrm’s tail smashed against one of the guards, sending him flying. He was already dead before he hit the ground.

When the other guards saw his caved in chest, they gulped. If they had been just half a second slower, they would have joined him.

The Wyrm swung its tail again. The guards managed to avoid this blow, but only by inches. How much longer could they last?

“Soaring Crane - Second Layer!” A crescent white light flew through the air and struck the Wyrm’s body, leaving behind a small scratch.

Sorka Jiu ran towards the battle, white light flowing from his legs as he moved as fast as he could. With a swing of his sword, another white crescent light shot out, hitting the Wyrm.

“It’s the village chief!” one of the guards shouted. They all cheered.

The moment Sorka Jiu arrived, he began cutting at the Wyrm’s body while dodging its attacks. But it was a losing battle. Just one hit from Wyrm would have left him heavily injured, or even dead, while all he could do was leave little scratches on its body. If this fight continued any longer, he wouldn’t survive. The only thing he could do was wait for an opportunity.

As the battle raged on, all the wooden carts around them were smashed, splintering into pieces. The same would have happened to the guards, but they backed far enough away to avoid getting massacred. They knew that they couldn’t help their village chief. They would just be in the way.

However, Chem Al wasn’t one to sit by. Even with the odds against him, his mind still kept looking for a way to win. That was when he saw the splintered pieces of woods on the ground. An idea formed in his head. He looked around until he could find the thinnest sliver of wood there was.

It wasn’t a silver needle, but it would have to do. He didn’t have profound energy, but he could still throw accurately. With all that in mind, he focused on the Wyrm. The way it swayed, the moment before it strikes, anything to help him predict its movements.

The Wyrm leaned forward. There!

Chem Al aimed for the Wyrm’s jaw, then threw the sliver of wood. It flew … then wobbled to the ground.

He missed.

He couldn’t believe it! He hasn’t missed in centuries! Chem Al felt frustration rising up his throat. It was because he couldn’t infuse the wood with any profound energy. His throws were usually faster, sharper, and they flew further. They used to be like a rising phoenix, but now they were more like a broken-winged chicken. He had to get closer.

Chem Al circled around what was left of the carts, making sure to pick up another slim piece of wood along the way. He stopped behind his big brother who was watching the fight.

“Au,” he said.

Chem Au jumped. He was about to stab his spear at whatever had startled him, until Chem Al shouted, “Stop! It’s me! Me!”

“What are you doing here? It’s dangerous.”

“I need your help. Can you get me closer to the Wyrm?”

“What?” Chem Au rubbed his ears, wondering if he was hearing things. “You want to get closer to that thing?”

“Don’t worry, I have a plan.” Chem Al held up the splinter of wood. “I’m going to stick this into the Wyrm.”

Now he knew he was hearing things. “Are you crazy? What’s that going to do?”

“Trust me, okay? Just take me to the Wyrm.”

Chem Au was about to tell him no, but then he saw the determination in his little brother’s eyes. “Look. Even if I wanted to get you closer, how do you expect me to do that? Carry you? I can barely dodge its wild attacks without the extra weight slowing me down.”

Chem Al rolled his eyes, then he stepped forward. “Body slam. Right tail swing. Left tail swing. Bite attack from the top….”

At first, he didn’t understand what his little brother was saying, but as time went on, Chem Au’s eyes got wider and wider. Somehow his brother was accurately predicting what move the Wyrm was going to make one second before it made it.

“H-how?”

“It doesn’t matter. Are you going to carry me or not?”

Chem Au faintly nodded his head. With a jump, Chem Al climbed on to his big brother’s back. Once he was secure enough, he said, “Okay. Do whatever I say the moment I say it. Wait for it....wait for it. Now! Jump forward!”

“Soaring Crane!” Chem Au’s legs started to glow with white light, activating the first layer of the Soaring Crane Cultivation Skill.

To the surprise of all the other guards, Chem Au jumped into the range of battle while carrying the cripple on his back.

“Left! Jump left now!”

“Take one step back!”

“Duck!”

“Five steps to the right!”

“Now move forward!” Chem Al kept yelling out instructions. Like some kind of magic trick, they didn’t get turned into meat paste.

“Okay, this is it! The moment it leans forward again, I want you to jump diagonally to the right. Get ready. Wait for it… Now!”

The Wyrm tried to bite down on Sorka Jiu, but he managed to dodge, barely this time. Sweat poured down his forehead, his legs felt weak. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold on. But before he could worry about his next move, one of his guards ran forward. Why was he carrying the cripple on his back?

Chem Al threw the sliver of wood. Due to the short distance, it was able to fly majestically. It hit the Wyrm right on its jaw, between its scales.

“Now run away,” Chem Al shouted at his brother.

Chem Au’s legs pumped as fast as it could as he ran to the circle of guards, away from the battle. They fell to the ground, rolling as they landed. Catching his breath, Chem Au said, “Now can you tell me what that was all about?”

Chem Al smiled. “I hit one of its nerves. Now it can’t close its mouth.”

“That’s it? You made me run around a life and death battle just to do that?”

“Just watch the fight, and remember what I said about its weakness.”

The guards didn’t know what the hell was going on, but Sorka Jiu did the moment he saw it. Somehow the cripple had managed to force the Wyrm to keep its mouth open. That was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

Profound energy surged throughout his whole body, his sword glowing with the most brilliant white light since the start of the battle. It was obvious that he was putting all of his effort into one final strike.

He jumped. With his fast speed, he made it into the Wyrm’s mouth. It tried to bite down on him, but all it managed to do was drive one of its fangs into his arm. Sorka Jiu forced back his painful scream, trying to focus on his task.

With his other hand, he stabbed up with his sword, trying to force his way through the Wyrm’s upper jaw. It may have been its weakness, but the top of the jaw still had some resistance. With one huge burst of profound energy surging into the his sword, he pierced through.

The sword stabbed past the upper jaw and into the Wyrm’s brain.

A loud roar pierced the heavens. All around the forest, birds took to the sky. With blood trickling down his sword, Sorka Jiu pulled it out and jumped back, avoiding the Wyrm’s violent death throes.

Finally, it slammed into the ground and died.

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The First Alchemist - Chap 9

Chapter 9 - Journey through the Forest Part II

Chem Al’s bout of homesickness eventually faded away. At the end of the day, he still had to accomplish his goal: introducing alchemy to the world. Breaking down was not an option. He had to keep moving forward.

After Chem Au confirmed that his little brother was okay, they set off to catch up with their family’s cart. They passed by dozens of rare medicinal ingredients, ones that were a lot more powerful than the Golden Earth Dan Root he was holding, but Chem Al had to stop himself from picking them up even though his hands were itching.

They’re so common they grow on the side of a road, they’re so common they grow on the side of a road, they’re so common…. He repeated to himself.

Until he saw something horrifying: Firedrake Berries.

Chem Al ran up to it just to make sure. They were indeed Firedrake Berries, less than a year old. They were a medicinal ingredient that could only grow under one condition. But he wasn’t thinking about alchemy right now, he was thinking about saving the lives of all the villagers, especially his family.

“Au, I need you to go warn the village chief. Tell him to get the villagers to move faster.”

“What’s wrong? Did you see something?”

Chem Al shoved the red berries into his brother’s hands, then he explained everything he knew about them. “Now go! The village chief won’t listen to a cripple like me. You’ll have to tell him all of this.”

With a push, Chem Au was sent running to the front of the group. To be honest, a part of him didn’t completely believe his little brother’s words, but his eyes were so serious and there was so much urgency in his voice, it almost scared him. If what his little brother said was true, then they were all in danger.

“Village chief! Village chief!” Chem Au shouted.

The village chief, and his son, was riding in the only cart that was pulled by a horse. Seeing one of his guards running up to him, he asked, “What is it? Is it a desolate beast?”

“Maybe. At least, my brother thinks we’re in the territory of one.”

“Your brother? You mean the cripple?” Sorka Bo sneered.

Chem Au tried to hide the annoyance on his face. He may have great respect for those who were stronger than him, but the village chief’s son’s face looked a lot like a target right now. “Yes, my brother. He says that there could be something dangerous nearby. He called it a Wyrm.”

“A worm? Oh, that’s definitely something your little brother would be scared of.” Sorka Bo found it hard not to laugh.

“No, a Wyrm. He says it’s a baby dragon.”

Before Sorka Bo could say anything else, his father cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Speak,” he said to Chem Au. He had never told anyone this, but when he was a boy, he had a huge fascination with dragons. He had learned that baby dragons were called Wyrms, which not a lot of villagers would know. He was surprised that the cripple knew this name too.

Chem Au held up the Firedrake Berries. “My brother found these berries on the side of the road. He says that they only grow in one place, the territory of a Wyrm. The low heat from their scat is what helps them grow. At least, that’s what my brother says.”

Sorka Bo was now openly laughing. “Let me get this straight. Your brother, the cripple, says that there is a baby dragon out there somewhere, and that he got this from berries that are grown by hot shit?”

The village chief frowned, agreeing with his son. He also found it hard to believe. Besides, how would a cripple who spent his life in the village know anything about dragons? 

Seeing the incredulous faces between the two, Chem Au made one final plea. “Can you at least tell the villagers to quicken their pace? Even if you don’t believe my brother about the Wyrm, there are always dangers in this forest. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

The village chief thought about it, then he shook his head. “That would only lead to accidents. I too want to leave this forest as soon as possible, but I also know that if we go any faster than this, it would drain our strength. The villagers, as well as the guards, would only get more tired, making it even harder to defend ourselves if we really were attacked by a desolate beast. Not only that, but some of the carts might break down if we rush. And there would definitely be stragglers. I know that I said we would leave any straggler behind if they can’t catch up, but I would like to get as much people and their carts to the city as possible.”

“But…,” Chem Au said.

“Enough. If you are really worried, then go warn the other guards to keep up their vigilance. Tell them something, like you sensed a desolate beast nearby. That would really get them focused.”

Chem Au nodded. It was better than nothing. But before he left, he said, “There’s one more thing. My brother said that the average strength of the guards is too weak. There would be no way for us to pierce through the Wyrm’s scales. The only way to kill it would be to jump into the Wyrm’s mouth, then stab through its upper jaw and into its brain.” After saying everything his little brother told him to say, Chem Au left.

Sorka Bo felt insulted by this. He was only a little stronger than the average guards, so wouldn’t saying that the guards were weak also saying that he was weak? He turned back and spotted the cripple, who was standing on top of the Chem clan’s cart, looking around while nervous and scared. Sorka Bo scoffed at him. What would a cripple know?

But after turning back to face the front, he happened to see the look on his father’s face. “Father, you don’t actually believe him, do you?”

Sorka Jiu seemed to be contemplating something. “I am worried, son. Why haven’t we seen any desolate beasts yet? We should have at least spotted one by now.”

“Maybe they are afraid” Sorka Bo said, though he didn’t really believe it.

“Or maybe a new, more powerful beast had moved into this territory, treating the other desolate beasts like prey.” Sorka Jiu seemed to have understood something. He turned to his son. “Do you remember what you told me after you went out hunting? You said that there seemed to be less desolate beasts around. You complained about it because, although it made the forest safer, it also meant less meat for the village.”

“Yes, but this and that are different things. It doesn’t mean there’s a worm crawling around like the cripple said.”

“Wyrm,” Sorka Jiu said before going back to his thoughts.

That one word seemed like an admonishment at Sorka Bo, telling him to be more respectful of this mysterious beast, and by association, maybe even a little more respectful to the cripple.

Sorka Bo grew annoyed, then he left the cart.

Meanwhile, Chem Al could only be described as fidgety as he kept staring into the forest, like he was expecting it to throw something at him. This was one of the moments that The First Alchemist’s journal didn’t mention. It went from him ranting about how much he hated farming, then skipped to describing what Vera City was like.

Maybe it was because nothing happens. After all, right now all they were doing was delivering their crops and meat to the city. Something like that was boring, not worthy of being written down.

Boring was good.

It meant that they wouldn’t be attacked by a creature from the dragon race. Chem Al sighed with relief after thinking that.

“What are you thinking about?”

Chem Al nearly jumped in shock. At some point, Sorka Bo had walked up to his family’s cart. Off to the side, Chem Feng and Chem Mai were greeting him with respect, but Chem Al just looked at him suspiciously. What did he want?

“I was just hoping that nobody dies on this trip.”

Sorka Bo snorted. “Then you’re naive.”

Chem Al stared at him, not believing what he was hearing. “I do not understand. It’s like you’re expecting someone to die.”

“Look around you. With so many people traveling through the forest, we’re bound to attract a few desolate beasts. This large group will stop most from attacking, but occasionally someone almost always dies on this trip. It’s the way it’s always been.”

“Well, it shouldn’t be. Shouldn’t the village chief be keeping everyone safe?”

Sorka Bo grew angry. “What do you know? My father is doing the best he can. More than you, at least, making up stuff about worms.”

“Wyrm,” Chem Al simply said.

Sorka Bo held back his spear. Something was different about this cripple. In the past, he usually cowered before him, but now he was looking at him straight in the eye. There was even a slight tinge of disrespect in his tone.

“Listen here, cripple. Do you know what banishment means? When I become village chief, it will be you dying in this forest,” Sorka Bo whispered, hiding his words from the cripple’s parents.

Chem Al smiled. Something about that smile disturbed Sorka Bo. It was like the cripple believed, no, he knew that Sorka Bo would never become the village chief. Frozen fingers of dread crawled around his stomach. Just before Sorka Bo was about to say something, a crashing sound came from up ahead.

One of the villagers yelled, “What the heck?”

Guards all around were running towards the source of the commotion, and so did Sorka Bo and Chem Al. When they got there, they could see that one of the meat carts had turned over. What had crashed into it was a goat.

“Hmph, is that your Wyrm? It looks more like a weak Hilltop Goat to me.” Sorka Bo sneered.

Chem Al ignored him, focusing more on the goat. It was trying to get off the ground, but one of its legs had broken, probably from the crash. The thing that struck him the most were its eyes. It was frightened.

“Look at it, everyone. A pile of money just jumped into our laps. Come on, help me put it out of its misery.” Sorka Bo held up his spear as he walked towards the fallen desolate beast. The other guards did the same.

“Stop!” Chem Al shouted. “Everyone get away from it now!”

All the guards stopped, more out of confusion than obeying what Chem Al said. Sorka Bo turned around, a smile on his face like he was about to humiliate the cripple in front of everyone. He pointed at the cripple and...heard something behind him.

Sorka Bo looked over his shoulder, only to see a huge, snake-like beast rushing out of the forest. It was fast. Before he knew it, its mouth had already bit down on the Hilltop Goat’s body. The goat screamed.

With a twist, the goat spluttered and died as its body was ripped in half. The snake-like beast rose up, its mouth pointing at the sky as it swallowed half the goat.

Once it was finished, the beast looked down at the other half of the goat, then it looked at all the villagers.

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The First Alchemist - Chap 8

Chapter 8 - Journey through the Forest Part I

After two months had passed, the village was busy harvesting what crops they had, while the guards were trying to hunt for as much meat as possible while staying safe. All of this would be sold at the market in Vera City.

Chem Al moved as fast as he could, plucking the potatoes and radishes out of the ground and loading them on to their cart. Without any help from his big brother, who was away hunting for meat with the other guards, he and his parents had to rush their harvest or else they would get left behind.

By the time the cart was loaded up, the sun hadn’t risen yet. Whew, they actually made it.

Since their family didn’t have a horse, his father had to pull the cart. It wasn’t a problem even though his profound strength was low. They made their way to the wooden gate that was the only entrance to the village. Most of the other villagers had already gathered there.

In the distance, Chem Al could see his brother loading a dead desolate beast on to a cart. It was a Horned Rabbit, a low level desolate beast with not a lot of meat on the bone. It didn’t seem like his luck was good.

“Attention! Everybody, can I have your attention!” A man stood up on a cart that was harnessed to the only horse in the village. Chem Al, and the rest of the villagers, turned to look at the man. It was Sorka Jiu, the village chief.

“Before we leave, I want to remind everyone about the rules. I know you all already know this but it bears repeating, or else you might die.” Sorka Jiu coughed into his fist. “Once the sun comes up, we will leave immediately. It takes half a day to get to Vera City, so if there aren’t any problems, we will make it there before nightfall. I hope that I don’t need to remind you why no one should try crossing the forest when it’s dark.”

Sorka Jiu looked at the crowd, but no one responded. “Good. Now, once we get going, everyone must stick close together. No stragglers. If any of you fall behind, you better move quickly or else we’re going to leave you. And remember, everyone, always be on your guard.” His last words were solemn, hoping that no one would die on this trip.

Soon the sun broke through the horizon. It was time to set off into the forest.

Passing through the gate, they made their way down the trail. Nothing happened for the first hour. It was peaceful, almost to the point where those warnings didn’t seem to matter. Everyone stuck together, but some people would break off from their family’s cart to go chat with one of their friends. If it weren’t for the guards, with spears and leather armor, surrounding the villagers, this journey would look like a group vacation.

Chem Al certainly enjoyed himself, except for all the walking. He wouldn’t ride on his family’s cart because he didn’t want to become an extra burden for his father who was doing all the pulling. To him, the only good thing about this trip so far was that they were going downhill. Everything else was just foot sores.

He was chatting with his big brother at the time when he suddenly shouted, “Holy shit!”

“What?” Chem Au asked while starting to circulate profound energy within his body, thinking that his little brother had spotted a desolate beast. But no, Chem Al was just running towards a weird plant on the side of the road.

“Uhh...what are you doing?”

“Au, do you know what this is?”

“A pretty flower?”

“This is a six hundred year old Nine Colored Rainbow Blossom!”

There was no amazed reaction from Chem Au. He only said, “Is it rare?”

“It’s definitely not something you would find on the side of a road!”

Chem Au tilted his head. “Congratulations for finding it, I guess?”

Chem Al groaned. It wasn’t strange that his big brother didn’t know how amazing this was. Then he brightened up as he realized that Sheng Yi was someone that would understand. Chem Al carefully plucked the flower, then made his way towards his Master who was near the back of the group. She was giving a young girl some water after treating her bruise.

“Master!”

Without turning around, Sheng Yi knew who was calling her. “Please lower your voice.”

“Master! Look at this!” Chem Al practically shouted.

Feeling a little exasperated, she looked back at the huge flower that her disciple was holding. “Oh, a Nine Colored Rainbow Blossom?”

Chem Al’s smile widened. “Yes! Isn’t it amazing?”

“It’s very pretty. You know, a lot of nobles would use them as decoration for their homes. Once we get to the city, maybe you can find a noble who is willing to buy it.”

“Decoration?” Chem Al was stunned. “What do you mean by using it as decoration? It’s not like this blossom is just a common flower.”

“Isn’t it? I know that last year I saw twenty or thirty of those while I was walking around the forest looking for medicinal ingredients.”

“Twenty or thirty? Finding them by just walking around?” Chem Al couldn’t believe it. In his past life, he had to trudge through a vast, maze-like forest for over five weeks just to find one of these. Yet, his Master talked about them like you could just trip over any root and fall on one. That was impossible!

But wait. Was it really impossible?

Chem Al said goodbye to his Master, then walked back to his family’s cart while mumbling under his breath. He stared at the Nine Colored Rainbow Blossom in his hands.

This was one of the medicinal ingredients that no one, including The First Alchemist, had ever figured out how to cultivate, so it was impossible to grow them on a farm. Because of this, by the time he was born in his past life, this flower had become rare. But in this era, before alchemy was created, they must be as common as bouquets.

He thought back to The First Alchemist’s journals. There were times where The First Alchemist mentioned finding a rare medicinal ingredient, and he always felt envious of how lucky The First Alchemist was. But it turned out that The First Alchemist wasn’t lucky. Can you call someone lucky when they find a leaf in a forest?

Chem Al’s eyes started to shine. What other medicinal ingredients would he be able to find?

By the time Chem Al returned to his family’s cart, he was paying more attention to the sides of the road. If it wasn’t for how dangerous the forest was, he would have looked deeper. But just focusing on the grassy areas near the road provided a lot of fruitful gifts.

“Two hundred year old Scarlet Vein Heart Leaves!”

“One thousand year old Udumbara Flowers! Nobody touch them! They’re mine!”

“Venture Mushroom Caps! Yes, they’re just the right age!”

“Nine hundred year old Golden Earth Dan Root! Can someone help me pull this up?”

Gathering all of these things didn’t go unnoticed by the villagers, but they mostly ignored him, thinking that the crippled boy had something wrong with his head. There was even a mother who warned her son to never act like this.

Chem Al didn’t care. He was happily grabbing medicinal ingredient after medicinal ingredient. It was such a blissful moment.

When his hands were full, he went to his family’s cart to pile them on, but his father stopped him. “Sorry, Little Al. I can’t take any of that. It’s taking all of my strength just to pull these crops. How about this? Once the cart is empty after selling all of our crops in the city, you can put some of your plants in.”

Chem Al paused. He had been so excited about finding these rare medicinal ingredients that he didn’t think about what to do next. There was no way for him to carry all that he wanted by himself. “Please, father. Just take them to the city. Once we get there, maybe I can get a spatial ring to hold them.”

“Spatial ring? What’s that?” Chem Feng’s eyebrows furrowed.

Now Chem Al froze on the spot. A realization struck him. Stupid, that was what he was. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He was one hundred thousand years in the past. Since medicinal cauldrons weren’t invented yet, he should have realized that other things from his past life wouldn’t be here too. What else hasn’t been invented yet?

He thought back to the The First Alchemist’s journals, as well as other historical records describing this point in time. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t remember them ever mentioning spatial rings, or jade transmission slips, or bank cards. Shit. How was he supposed to store things? How was he supposed to send people messages? How was he supposed to carry around his millions and millions of gold taels?

Lost in thought, he couldn’t react in time when someone shoved him to the side, knocking the medicinal ingredients out of his hands. “Move it, cripple! Don’t just stand there in the middle of the road!”

Usually he would rise up in anger after getting treated like that, but all he could do was lay there in the dirt, watching the villagers stepping on the rare medicinal ingredients that he had dropped as they went by.

This is a completely different era, Chem Al thought.

For the past two months, he had been so overwhelmed by the fact that he was now in The First Alchemist’s body that he never truly understood how different this time was...until now. Modern conveniences that he took for granted didn’t exist. Those who practiced medicine were treated like dirt. All of his family, friends, and disciples weren’t even born yet. And he wasn’t the leader of the Alchemist Association anymore. He was no longer someone that even kings would bow to. He was just a cripple.

“Hey, are you okay? Let me help you…. Are you crying?” Chem Au asked, after he ran over to his little brother.

“No. Shut up. I’m not crying.” Chem Al rubbed his eyes.

“Okay, okay. Do you want me to hit the guy that did this to you?”

Chem Al just shook his head, then he sat there while watching the progression of carts go by. His brother stood there for a second, not knowing what to do, then he sat down next to him. It was quiet.

“I’m really far away from home, aren’t I?” Chem Al almost whispered.

“What? We’re less than half a day’s journey from the village. I know that might seem far to you, but after you grow up, it would seem like nothing.”

“No, I mean…. Nevermind.” Chem Al paused. It was quiet again. After awhile, he got up and walked to the middle of the road, making sure to avoid the villagers and their carts. He picked up the six hundred year old Nine Colored Rainbow Blossom.

Bruised and covered in dirt, it was in such a poor state that Chem Al didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. In his past life, people would risk their lives to own one of these flowers, but in this era it was treated like mud on the bottom of boots. The same could be said for all of these other medicinal ingredients that had been flattened on the ground.

He looked around. The only thing that survived was the Golden Earth Dan Root. Before a cart came by, Chem Al hurried over and picked it up. Since it was so hard, it managed to not get crushed.

“I don’t know why these plants are important to you, but you can always get more,” Chem Au said, standing next to him.

Chem Al shook his head. “No. It was wrong for me to pick these up in the first place. Without a proper place to store them, they’ll just lose their medicinal efficacy.” He realized that he had never truly appreciated how useful a spatial ring was.

He held the nine hundred year old Golden Earth Dan Root in his hands. If he couldn’t carry all of these medicinal ingredients, he could at least keep this one. After all, it was the one that his big brother needed the most.

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