WIEDERGEBURT Act V: Chapter 31

While Cathrine Hildre was the sect master of the Alchemist Association, she did not often allow herself to be trapped with the many duties of a sect master. All of the tasks that could be relegated to others were. The paperwork, creating the Alchemist Assessment Test, and the running of the day to day affairs were all done by other people. The only times Cathrine ever appeared to do something was when she received the monthly report on what her guild was doing, meetings between the Council of Six, and public functions that she absolutely could not escape from—the parade being an example of that last problem.

The rest of her time was spent refining alchemy pills.

As the Alchemist Association’s only Grandmaster, Cathrine was one of the few people who create her own high-tier pills. They generally took months to refine. Some of the ingredients required calcinating for days on end. Other ingredients required slow roasting over an open fire for a month to bring out their natural medicinal strength. High-tier pills like the ones she made were priceless treasures and one of the reasons the Alchemist Association had taken a position among the Council of Six.

This was also why she could relegate tasks. Her job was to refine pills that sold for hundreds of millions of valis.

Of course, the only time she ever needed to refine those high-tier pills was when someone came to her with the ingredients necessary and an exorbitant amount of money. But even when she wasn’t being asked to refine pills for others, Cathrine preferred exploring the limits of her own alchemy over being bothered by the mundane affairs of the outside world.

At that moment, Cathrine was slowly roasting a multi-hued flower that was reminiscent of a rainbow. Each petal sparkled as it was hit by the flames, revealing a dazzling light, which shone through her refining room and illuminated the walls, floor, and ceiling. A strong but pleasant scent wafted through the room.

This ingredient was called Rainbow Life Chrysanthemum. It was a heaven sent treasure, something that could only grow under certain conditions. Among all of her ingredients, this one was among the rarest and most powerful, though she had yet to find a use for it.

She had discovered this treasure by chance many years ago during a rare trip out of the Alchemist Association. After discovering it, she learned everything she could about its characteristics and what kind of environment it needed to grow, then set about moving it from its previous location to this tower. Its blossoms only bloomed once every year, and every year, she would snip a small bit off and experiment to see what kind of effects it had in conjunction with other ingredients.

So far she had discovered that it had incredible healing effects, but its ability to heal was so powerful that it acted like a poison. It cleansed the body too well. She had tried diluting its power once. That hadn’t worked either. The dissolvant she had used to dilute the flower’s effects had not been enough, and when she used stronger ingredients, they created disastrous results. She had nearly lost her life one time when using fire salamander blood and spirit essence with it.

Cathrine was currently not mixing any ingredients with the Rainbow Life Chrysanthemum. She was instead simply trying to see what effects different types of refining had on it. Roasting brought out the amazing fragrance, which could heal the mind and body but also acted as a powerful drug. Calcinating created a golden liquid that could instantly regenerate even lost limbs, but it would also cleanse their entire body. It even purified their blood, turning it into water.

So lost in thoughts of this ingredient was Cathrine that she almost missed the sound of someone knocking on her door.

She furrowed her brow.

“I believe I told you not to disturb me unless there was an emergency,” she said in a harsh but calm voice.

“We understand that, Sect Leader… but something has come up that we thought you should know about,” someone said from the other side of the door. They did not open the door, however. Everyone knew that it was not wise to open a door when an alchemist of her caliber was working.

Cathrine’s brow furrowed further. “Has something happened?”

“Well… there’s a girl who just showed up today,” the voice said again. “She’s currently taking the assessment to become a Master Alchemist.”

“And?” Cathrine asked with some impatience. “We have dozens of people who take that assessment every year. What makes this one so special?”

“That’s just it, Sect Leader. This girl, just three hours ago, she had arrived to take the first assessment test for people wishing to join our academy.” The voice on the other end sounded somehow both frightened and joyful at the same time. “She completed the first assessment with flying colors, then went on to complete the assessments to become an Apprentice, Adept, and Expert in quick succession. She aced every assessment and is now taking the master assessment test.”

Cathrine froze when she heard this, the Rainbow Life Chrysanthemum now sitting in the fire without moving, its scent becoming even stronger.

As the sect leader of the Alchemist Association, she understood perfectly well how difficult each assessment was. From the first test to the final test, the requirements needed to pass them became increasingly more difficult. It wasn’t the same as climbing up a staircase. It was more like the number of stairs you had to leap across increased. If the assessment to enter the Alchemist Association was climbing up a single step, then the test to become a Master Alchemist was jumping over an entire floor’s worth of stairs.

“Does this woman have red hair and green eyes?” asked Cathrine.

“… Yes, she does,” the person said, sounding shocked.

Cathrine had heard everything she needed to. Turning off the fire, Cathrine moved the now roasted flower petal into a small container, which she sealed shut. It would let this flower retain its freshness and use for two hours. That should be enough time for her to do what she needed. After straightening her robes, Cathrine opened the door to see a young man and a young woman standing together.

Both the young man and woman were rather unassuming people. They were neither handsome nor ugly. The man had brown hair, brown eyes, and a face that was forgettable, while the woman had blonde hair and green eyes. Her face was better than the man’s but was equally easy to forget. Only the white and gold robes they wore signified how important these two were.

“Take me to the room where that woman’s test is happening,” Cathrine commanded them both, earning a pair of perplexed and astonished gazes.

***

The Master Alchemist Assessment involved refining the Jade Earth Pill. Similar to how the Elemental Enlightenment Pill could help someone reach the Third State of Spiritualism, the Jade Earth Pill allowed someone to gain a deeper and more intimate connection with the earth element.

Of course, because it only helped earth element Spiritualists, it was not useful to anyone else. Among the pills that could be created by the Alchemist Association, the Jade Earth Pill, Inferno Pill, Blue Lightning Pill, Aquatic Pill, and Storm Gale Pill were the ones Spiritualists who were at the Second State of Spiritualism took to increase their elemental affinity. This was done in the hopes of allowing them to break through to the Third State of Spiritualism.

Fay wanted to sigh. How could pills like this truly let them break through?

The Jade Earth Pill relied on using two hundred separate ingredients, which had to be refined at more or less the same time. Fay currently had sixty flames lit underneath a variety of flasks, tubes, and vials. Some of the crystal containers were filled with liquid, others were filled with smoke, and still others were filled with bubbling paste that she had ground up from previous ingredients.

Each flame was one that she controlled separately. While this might sound like something that was impossible for normal Spiritualists, Fay had already reached a near perfect state of affinity with her element. The Fourth State of Spiritualism was the one where Spiritualists were able to control and absorb their element in its natural state. Controlling sixty or even six hundred small flames at the same time was as easy as drawing breath.

Her actions had drawn a large crowd; not only was Lilac, Sana, and the Expert Alchemist who had administered her first test watching, but hundreds of others were watching as well. Word had spread far and wide of the girl who aced every Alchemist Assessment Test in the span of several hours. As the word about the beautiful redhead with an insane talent for alchemy spread, more people had arrived to witness this person’s talents.

“Big Sister… Big Sister Fay is so cool!” Lilac had her balled up hands near her mouth and was staring at Fay like she was the sole center of the universe. There were stars in her eyes as she watched the woman work.

“She is amazing,” Sana agreed. It was probably the first time they had ever agreed on something.

Fay, right now, was the only person currently taking the assessment test. The testing for normal students had already ended several hours ago. In most normal circumstances, Fay would not have been allowed to take the test, but she had a letter of recommendation that had been written by Cathrine Hildre herself. This was the reason the alchemists had been bending themselves backwards to accommodate her.

Among the many alchemists who gathered, there were several that were noteworthy. The first was a man who looked a lot like Ruben. His hair was a bit shorter, and he looked a little older, but he also possessed a more refined air about him. Had the situation not been so shocking, many of the women surrounding this man would have already swooned. Not only was he handsome, but he wore the white and gold robes of a Master Alchemist.

Standing by the man’s side was another, equally attractive man. His appearance was more feminine and thin, making him look like a scholar. He had long black hair, pale blue eyes, and skin so white and soft it could put many women to shame. Simple but refined wire-frame glasses sat on his nose. Adorning his body was also a white and gold robe, signifying that he too was a Master Alchemist.

“I see you were also brought here by the rumors of a magnificent and beautiful alchemist suddenly appearing,” the black-haired man said.

“I was merely curious.” The man who looked like Ruben crossed his arms as if this situation did not matter to him, but then he glanced at Fay as she worked, heedless of the many people watching her, and licked his lips. “Though I am certainly glad I came. This small detour was not at all wasted. A rare beauty with such a brilliant talent for alchemy is indeed worthy of my attention. I will definitely get her to join me and my family.”

“Oh?” The silver-haired man retained a calm expression as he glanced at the other man. “Don’t you already have a wife, Gin?”

“Your point? A man need not only have one wife. You of all people should know that, Rohan.”

While the tension between these two men was not as overt as the antagonism between Sana and Lilac, the many people standing near them backed away as the two stared at each other. No one wanted to get between these prominent alchemists. Many of the people around them could have sworn they saw sparks flying from the pair’s eyes.

Of course, Fay was oblivious to all of this. Whenever she focused on alchemy, the world around her completely disappeared, until nothing was left except the vials, flasks, tubes, and ingredients in front of her.

Fay had discovered during this time that of the two hundred ingredients needed to refine the Jade Earth Pill, about fifty of them were useless. Earth mandrake shavings, firestalk grass, buddhist flower stamen, and many other ingredients were merely auxiliary ingredients that were supposed to boost the effects of the pill. However, these fifty ingredients didn’t boost the pill’s effects by more than 10%.

That was why she got rid of all fifty auxiliary ingredients and replaced them with only five: blood essence demon fruit, thousand spiritual ginseng, jade bone ganoderma, mysterious sky green vine, and a ten thousand year qi seedling.

Each of these ingredients was a rare and valuable ingredient that she had painstakingly discovered with Eryk in the Demon Beast Mountain Range. Like the fifty ingredients she had just removed, they were auxiliary ingredients that boosted and supplemented the effects of the core ingredients used in alchemy. However, where the fifty ingredients also counteracted some of the other ingredients used in the refining of this pill, the ones she had selected complimented them. They should boost this pill’s effects by 20% instead of just 10%.

Because of the nature of these ingredients, she had never found a use for them before now. Their natures were such that they only worked well with specific ingredients. The ingredients used in the Jade Earth Pill just so happened to all be ones that complemented these particular rare and valuable items.

While replacing the fifty useless ingredients with her five ingredients would decrease the time it took her to refine the pill, she still had 155 ingredients that needed to be refined.

The number of flames she created and controlled soon increased from sixty to 114. Some of the ingredients were mixed together, but there were many that had to be refined on their own. This was because they were too volatile to mix with other ingredients until they were refined.

The bubbling red liquid leaking from a fruit situated over a beaker she was currently staring at was one such example. It looked like a large grapefruit, but it was blood red and had thorns covering its surface. Known as the blood dragonfruit, it was rumored to have been created when a dragon was injured and some of its blood fell onto a regular grapefruit. This grapefruit then gained the overbearing strength of a dragon.

Fay did not know if any of that was true, but she did know that refining it required an alchemist to roast it over an open fire using a perfect temperature. The roasting could not happen too fast or too slow. One would lead to the blood dragonfruit exploding as the heat from the flames enhanced its volatile nature. The other would lead to the fruit becoming useless as all the medicinal strength evaporated.

In order to refine this blood dragonfruit, Fay needed to carefully measure the hardness of its outer shell and adjust her fire accordingly. She had fortunately already discovered the perfect temperature. Right now her flames were a brilliant blue and orange color. The blood dragonfruit was already cracking underneath the pressure of her fire, crackling sounds mixing in with the bubbling, frothing, and breaking of other ingredients that she was refining at the exact same time.

It was during this time, as Fay was refining numerous ingredients, that a sudden commotion caused everyone to actually shift their attention away from the redhead.

A woman had appeared within the room and made her way to the front. Two other people were with her, one man and one woman. The people who saw this woman marching forward all scrambled to get out of her way. She was the only person in the entire Alchemist Association who wore platinum robes, the one and only Alchemist Grandmaster. Cathrine Hildre.

“As I suspected,” Cathrine said as she finally stopped walking. “It’s Fay Valstine.”

“Mistress,” the woman at her side said. “Do you know this woman?”

“Of course.” Cathrine nodded. “I met Fay not long ago during the Council of Six Selection Tournament and discovered her incredible talent at alchemy. Her husband asked me to let her join the Alchemist Association as a partial member.”

“A… partial member?” the man asked.

“Fay is already a member of her husband’s guild,” Cathrine admitted. “It generally isn’t possible for a person to join more than one sect, but it is different with our Alchemist Association. There are many alchemists from our association who are brought into other sects to work as a personal alchemist. This situation is like that, except instead of being brought into the other sect, we are bringing her into our sect as a partial member. Her loyalty will remain with her husband’s sect.”

The young man and woman looked at each other, their expressions furrowed in deep confusion. It was obvious that neither of them would know who this woman was. After a moment, the man looked back at Cathrine.

“Sect leader, who is this woman’s husband?”

“Eryk Veiger.”

A jolt ran through the pair. As Master Alchemists, they spent most of their time holed up inside their refining rooms, creating pills and trying to push their limits so they can take the Grandmaster Assessment Test. The outside world did not interest them. But with the recent circumstances, with the invasion of that strange and violent race known as the Sekbeists, how could they not know about the man who had closed the portal and slaughtered over a thousand enemies with a simple wave of his hand?

“I thought he was married to a woman named Kari Astralia,” the man said.

“He is.” Cathrine nodded. “Kari Astralia is his Primary Wife. Fay Valstine is his Second Wife.” She paused. “He has two other wives as well. One is a lamia and the other appears to have dragon blood flowing through her.”

“F-four wives…?!” The man seemed shocked.

“A dragon?!” the woman shouted.

Polygamy was a legal practice in the Northern Plains, but that did not mean it was a widely accepted practice. There were many people who disliked those who practiced polygamy. Men and women with more than one spouse were often called pigs, degenerates, and other foul names by the people who knew them. Of course, this was only ever said behind their backs. The men and women who could have more than one spouse were all powerful and wealthy. Offending them was inviting death.

“Do not act so shocked,” Cathrine muttered. “And be quiet. I want to watch Fay’s alchemy.”

The man and woman went silent and turned to look at Fay.

Fay had just finished refining all the ingredients used in the Jade Earth Pill and was now slowly pouring each flask, vial, and tube into the cauldron at her side. This cauldron was much larger than the standard cauldron found in basic alchemy sets. It was even larger than her own personal cauldron. Yet even though it was big, the ingredients she had refined were so many that she still filled up nearly half the cauldron by the time she was done.

Once all the ingredients were poured into the cauldron, Fay stirred the concoction and channeled her Spiritual Power. Flames lit up the surface of the ingredients. Blues, reds, and greens mixed together. The ingredients inside of the cauldron changed from a swirling mass of varying colors to a single earth-tone color.

She stopped stirring and placed her hands on either side of the cauldron. Her Spiritual Power once again surged, but this time she was applying pressure to the liquid, compressing and shaping it. The medicinal liquid bubbled and tried to explode as it was fighting against her. However, Fay’s will was far stronger than a mass of non-sentient ingredients, and it did not take more than ten seconds before the nearly ten litres of liquid was condensed into the shape of a pill.

Fay smiled when she saw this and reached into the cauldron to grab the pill, bringing it up to her face to inspect. This pill was small enough to rest on her palm. Its coloration was a light brown that resembled the earth. The surface was perfectly smooth without a single bump or deformation.

Although this was her first time refining this particular pill, she was glad to see that she had been successful.

“An excellent job, Fay,” a voice suddenly said.

Fay glanced up upon hearing the voice and found a woman she recognized from the tournament walking toward her with a smile. Walking on either side of her was a young man and a young woman. She did not recognize either of them, but both were fairly ordinary in appearance. Only the gold robes they wore told her these two had a high position of power within the Alchemist Association.

“Cathrine,” Fay greeted. “I didn’t realize you had arrived. Did you come to watch me take the assessment?”

“Of course,” Cathrine said as if it should have been obvious. “When I heard you were already taking the Master Alchemist Assessment, I decided to come down and see how well you did. I was very impressed with how focused you are.”

“Thank you,” Fay responded modestly.

Cathrine’s smile widened. “Since I am already here, why don’t you let me assess the pill you refined?”

“Please do.”

While Fay only responded with a simple affirmative, the people surrounding them responded with shock. No one who entered the Alchemist Association didn’t know who Cathrine Hildre was. She might not be the most hands on sect leader, but she was still the famous Grandmaster Alchemist who could refine original high-tier pills. And it was this very same woman who had just agreed to assess the pill of a woman who hadn’t even entered the sect for more than six hours.

The two girls who had come with Fay, Sana and Lilac, gazed at each other with wide eyes.

“D-did you know Big Sister Fay was acquainted with Sect Leader Hildre?” asked Lilac.

Sana shook her head. “How could I? We only just met.”

Lilac, of course, knew that. But she was so shocked that she couldn’t help but ask the question. As she came down from her surprise, she gazed back at Fay, who calmly faced the Alchemist Association’s sect leader and the only Grandmaster Alchemist in the entire world. Her heartbeat became erratic.

“That does it. I really need to make Fay my big sister now. I will worship the ground she walks on.”

Sana did not say anything, but the fact that she didn’t berate Lilac or call her an idiot showed that she did not disagree with her rival’s idea. If she could get Fay to acknowledge her, then she would have someone who had the backing of the Alchemist Association’s sect leader behind her. Making Fay her “big sister” definitely didn’t seem like a bad idea.

Fay placed the pill in Cathrine’s outstretched hand. It rested easily on her palm, a small brown orb that looked like it had been formed from the earth.

Cathrine studied the pill with a scrutinizing gaze, her eyes narrowed and mouth drawn into a tight line.

“This pill has been perfectly formed and is of the highest quality I have ever seen.” Her brow furrowed. “The quality of your pill is even better than my own.” The words sent shockwaves rippling through the crowd, but the two who were causing those shockwaves ignored it. “You… switched out ingredients, didn’t you? I can sense that this pill is far more powerful than it should be.”

Fay nodded. “While I was refining according to the recipe I was given, I discovered that fifty of the ingredients were auxiliary ingredients, but they were relatively useless and didn’t mesh well with the primary ingredients. I assume the reason they were used was as substitutes. You couldn’t find the ingredients needed, so you added more ingredients to make up for the ones you were missing, but this lowered the quality of the pill.”

“You really are talented,” Cathrine said with an admiring sigh. “Very few people actually notice what you have. You are correct. We’re missing five ingredients that are needed to refine the Jade Earth Pill. When I realized that, I was forced to modify the original recipe using inferior ingredients. Of course, because they are inferior and some of the clash, I was unable to create the pill with its original strength.” Her eyes narrowed. “Can I assume you have the five ingredients needed to refine the original?”

Fay nodded and listed off the ingredients. “Blood essence demon fruit, thousand spiritual ginseng, jade bone ganoderma, mysterious sky green vine, and a ten thousand year qi seedling. I have all of them.”

“Marvelous.” Cathrine could not help but clasp her hands tightly together. “I assume these are ingredients you discovered inside of the Demon Beast Mountain Range that you and Eryk spoke of?”

“That’s right,” Fay said. “We discovered them after nearly a year of searching, then brought them to the Alchemist Association in Nevaria. Each ingredient requires a vastly different environment to grow, so we had Kari work with some of the dweorg to create artificial environments using Runes to help stimulate their growth.”

“I’m even more determined to form an alliance with your Alchemist Association now,” Cathrine said. She paused, then turned to look at the crowd. “Which one among you was in charge of this test?”

No one said anything for the longest time, but that was mostly because everyone was staring stupidly at the scene before them. However, after several seconds of silence, an older woman in her forties stepped forward. She wore the white and gold robes of a Master Alchemist. She bowed to Cathrine.

“I am the one in charge of Fay Valstine’s assessment,” she said.

Cathrine nodded. “Hurry up and confer the title of Master Alchemist onto her.”

The woman jolted as if she had been shocked, but she did not hesitate to do as her sect leader commanded. She produced a set of robes that were white and gold like hers. Walking up to Fay and Cathrine with trembling arms and legs, she bowed low and held the robes out for Fay to take.

“These robes are meant to signify your position within the Alchemist Association. You are now a Master Alchemist.”

Fay took the robes with a smile, though she did not put them on right away. She would wear these when she was at the Alchemist Association. However, she did not much care for them and preferred her own outfit.

“Thank you,” she said to the woman.

Cathrine nodded several times before once more turning her smile onto Fay. “If you ever need something, feel free to bother me. I can usually be found in my refining room. It is the only room on the top floor of this tower.”

“I will do that,” Fay said.

With a nod, Cathrine turned around and began walking off. The man and woman who had been following her looked back and forth between the leaving Cathrine and Fay like they couldn’t understand what was happening, but they eventually followed Cathrine as she left the room.

While the assessment was over and many people began to disperse, not everyone left. The two young men who had been talking about making Fay marry into their family remained behind. Ruben did as well, hoping for a chance to speak with Fay. However, neither of those three would get the chance to speak with her because Sana and Lilac both ran up to Fay before they could even consider doing so themselves. Of the two, the ever outgoing Lilac made the most noise.

“I can’t believe you’re so talented, Big Sister Fay! Congratulations on becoming a Master Alchemist!”

“Thank you.”

Fay was a lot calmer than either of them, but that was only because being a Master Alchemist did not mean much to her. She only did this because she wanted to rely on the Alchemist Association’s medical gardens for ingredients.

“Big Sister! Will you please accept me as your disciple?” asked Lilac, cutting straight to the chase.

Sana stared at Lilac in shock, and even Fay was a little surprised, but she was able to recover easily. This girl had a very straightforward personality. After dealing with Kari and her manipulative ways, Fay could appreciate someone who didn’t hide their intentions behind a seductive smile.

That stupid seductive smile…

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be able to take on any apprentices,” Fay admitted. “Between my own alchemy and helping my husband raise our son, I am rather busy. However, if you ever need pointers, I would be happy to lend you a hand.”

While Lilac was somewhat disappointed by Fay’s refusal, she was more overwhelmed by the knowledge she had just gleaned, knowledge that Fay had so casually tossed out.

“B-Big Sister, you’re married! Wait! You’re married and you have a kid?!”

“Uh… yes. Is that so strange?”

“But… but… but…” Lilac seemed like she wanted to say something, but she was stuck on that single word. Her face was pale. All the blood had been drained from it.

Sana was a lot calmer, though even she could not hide her shock. “Do you mind if I ask… how old you are?”

“I turned twenty-two not long ago,” Fay admitted.

“Ah?! I thought you were only a few years older than me!” Lilac scratched the back of her head.

“So it’s like that.” Sana nodded several times. “You must have reached the Third State of Spiritualism when you were very young.”

“I was seventeen when I reached it,” Fay admitted.

“No wonder you look so young,” Lilac said with a sigh. “I thought you were only two or three years older than I was.” She paused. “Do you mind if I still call you Big Sister?”

“If you want.” Fay shrugged. She had grown so used to young women calling her “Big Sister” that it no longer bothered her. Even back in Nevaria, some of the young women who joined the Nevarian Braves would call her that.

She never understood why.

While Fay spoke with Sana and Lilac, the three men who had been hoping to find an opportunity to get close left upon hearing that she was married. While Ruben simply slunk off in disappointment, Gin and Rohan each began making their own plans. Neither of them cared if Fay was already married. After all, there were plenty of ways to force someone into compliance.