All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 45

After sending off the three people, Zhanyue inquired about the largest herb shop in Thousand Feather City and hurried over eagerly. The herb shop was called ‘Thousand Luo’, and while it was called an herb shop, it was actually an entire building, five or six stories high. In the Myriad Spirits Realm, there were three major commercial associations spanning various countries – Fu Yuan, Wu Wei, and Thousand Steeds Association . This Thousand Luo Herb Shop in Thousand Feather City was a property of the Thousand Steeds Association. They weren’t short of money, so the building was quite grand.

On the first floor of Thousand Luo Herb Shop, a manager warmly received Zhanyue. However, when he picked up the list Zhanyue handed him, he immediately became respectful and explained, “Young master, the first floor sells common medicines. The things you want, you’ll need to ask about on the third floor.”

“Alright,” Zhanyue took back the list and went upstairs.

“Probably another alchemist. Wonder what grade of pills he’s planning to refine,” the manager speculated, his face full of envy. Alchemists held a very noble status, and it took an unknown amount of money to cultivate a qualified alchemist.

On the third floor, a tall woman in a cheongsam was idly playing with her nails. Unlike the bustling first floor, the third floor was very quiet, as these alchemy materials weren’t needed by everyone.

This woman was quite attractive after dressing up, but having seen the illumination Goddess, the Holy Light Maiden, and the Imperial Female War God, Zhanyue’s aesthetic standards had been raised to a very high level. This level of beauty couldn’t cause even the slightest ripple in him.

“Customer, are you here to buy herbs?” the woman named Qing Luo asked.

Zhanyue nodded and handed over the list. To hide the pill formula, he had added many red herring herbs, which was also customary.

The woman looked at Zhanyue meaningfully, “The customer is quite lucky. We have all these herbs. It’s good that it’s only for third-grade alchemys. Materials for fourth-grade pills aren’t so easy to obtain.”

“Uh…” Zhanyue wanted to ask how she knew these were materials for third-grade alchemys, but he held back, suspecting she was trying to trick him. “As expected of the Thousand Steeds Association. A single shop can prepare all the herbs,” Zhanyue replied, completely ignoring the mention of third and fourth grades.

The woman fiddled with her abacus, “The herbs you want total 90,000 purple crystal coins.”

“Ni… ninety thousand?” Zhanyue’s legs trembled a bit when he heard this. Mi Hongchen had once given him 300,000, which was undoubtedly a huge sum, enough for a person to live a life of luxury. However, just buying some materials needed for breaking through to third-grade alchemist actually required a full 90,000. And this was just for third-grade alchemy materials. How much would fourth and fifth-grade materials cost?

The woman looked at Zhanyue with a smile, seeming to say, welcome to the world of alchemists, a world where money flows like water, both in spending and earning.

The Mountain Goblin Clan had covered all the materials for first and second-grade pills, so Zhanyue had no idea about prices, but he had to walk his own path from now on. There was still quite a bit of money on that card, but Zhanyue didn’t dare to use it, as using it would reveal his location. He frowned, then had an idea.

“Do you buy pills here?” Zhanyue asked. He really couldn’t produce 90,000 purple crystal coins.

The woman smiled slightly and nodded, “Yes, we buy all kinds.”

Zhanyue took out a pill, “This kind of pill, what price would you give for one? It can restore contractor power.”

The woman took the round, full, milky-white pill, her eyes brightening, “This is a first-grade pill, right? May I try it?”

After Zhanyue nodded in agreement, the woman stretched out her hand. A wild wind blew in the room, scattering dust. It wasn’t clear what her contract object was, but she had mastered a bit of wind power. After consuming some contractor power, the woman took the pill. Soon after, the consumed power was instantly restored. Her pupils dilated, and she said to Zhanyue, “So strong, so fast.”

Zhanyue was covered in black lines. He really couldn’t stand hearing this.

“This pill of yours is of special grade quality among first-grade pills. It takes effect very quickly, and the recovery amount is also substantial. Ordinary first-grade pills generally go for about 100 purple crystal coins each. For this kind of pill of yours, I can offer 300 purple crystal coins each,” the woman said. She wasn’t lying; 300 purple crystal coins to buy a first-grade pill was already quite sincere.

Zhanyue nodded. He actually didn’t know the market price and could only trust the credit of the Thousand Steeds Association. “Here are 300 Earth Vein Pills. Please check them,” Zhanyue took out 15 bottles from his backpack, each ceramic bottle containing 20 Earth Vein Pills. The so-called Earth Vein Pills were pills condensed out of thin air by the Earth Mother Golden Cauldron, requiring no materials, purely a creation of spiritual energy, profit without cost. However, with Zhanyue’s current strength, condensing these pills was still quite laborious. 300 Earth Vein Pills weren’t so easy to produce, and after handing them over, he didn’t have many left.

“So many?” The woman was clearly surprised that Zhanyue could produce so many of these pills. “No problem. We’ll exchange goods for goods. Customer, I’ll have someone fetch the herbs you want. Please wait here for a moment.”

The process of waiting for the herbs to be prepared was boring. The woman sidled up flatteringly.

“Customer, you’re an alchemist yourself, right? Are you a third-grade alchemist or preparing to break through to third grade?” the woman asked.

“Uh, well, I’m preparing to break through to third grade,” Zhanyue answered. With the Earth Vein Pills exposed, there was no need to hide this kind of question, and there was nothing to hide anyway. The other party was the Thousand Steeds Association, one of the world’s three major commercial associations. There would be many more days of dealing with them in the future.

“Oh, no wonder you’re buying so many materials for third-grade alchemys. Do you have an affiliated organization?” the woman asked.

“Affiliated organization?” Zhanyue frowned. Seeing his expression, the woman smiled slightly, having her answer.

“It seems the customer doesn’t have an affiliation yet. Alchemists need to consume enormous resources to grow, and not everyone has such a strong financial backing. So generally, low-level alchemists choose to affiliate with some powerful organizations, seeking resources and protection. This is the norm in the alchemist world. Although alchemy isn’t developed in the Eastern Kingdom, it’s not completely absent,” the woman explained.

“Ah, I see. I was wondering how other alchemists progress when just buying some materials is so expensive. So how does one affiliate, and what price do I need to pay?” Zhanyue asked.

Hearing this, the woman’s face brightened, and she happily answered, “For our Thousand Steeds Association, there are two ways: honorary affiliation and formal employment. If you become an honorary alchemist of our Thousand Steeds Association, you’ll enjoy two privileges. First, all herbs will be at a 10% discount. Second, you can pre-order some herbs, and we’ll try our best to help find and prepare them. What we need in return is just priority purchasing rights. When you sell some pill formulas or pills, if our offer is similar to others, we have the priority to buy.”

Zhanyue nodded. The benefits of honorary affiliation were quite good. Don’t underestimate the 10% discount; for alchemists, it could probably save a lot of money.

“As for the second form – formal employment – you become an official professional alchemist of our Thousand Steeds Association, with the following guidelines:

All materials needed for alchemy are provided by us for free, but half of the refined pills need to be returned to us. For first to third-grade alchemists, the association will assign fifth-grade or above alchemists for guidance. Alchemists who advance to fifth grade will become association stewards, wielding some real power in the association and having a say in some major decision-making (shareholders). The association will arrange two normal-range alchemy tasks each year. These two tasks cannot be refused. If it exceeds two times, the association will compensate with extra remuneration. (overtime pay) After advancing to seventh-grade alchemist, there will no longer be any mandatory alchemy tasks. If the association has needs, special people will come to negotiate. Moreover, for seventh-grade alchemists who are formally employed, the Thousand Steeds Association will provide a spatial treasure for free.”

Zhanyue was shocked after hearing this. He had underestimated the status of alchemists in people’s eyes. Such benefits and treatment were hard not to be tempted by. But after thinking about it, Zhanyue still gave up on the idea of formal employment. After all, rashly joining a large organization to restrict his freedom wasn’t what he wanted.

“I want to apply for honorary alchemist status. How do I do that?” Zhanyue asked.

Hearing that he only wanted honorary status, the woman was a bit disappointed, but the expression flashed by quickly. “We can process that here too, but doesn’t the customer want to consider formal employment?”

“No, thanks. My name is Zhan Ding. Please register me,” Zhanyue was cautious and gave a false name. However, the Thousand Steeds Association didn’t care about these things, after all, they weren’t just doing a one-time deal.

“Alright.” The woman was also happy. Helping the association recruit an alchemist came with a commission, even if it was just honorary status. After all, formal employment involved significant relationships and deep karmic connections, and couldn’t be easily recruited. Actually, to formally employ someone, they would need to go through an assessment. It wasn’t something you could just come and mix into. As for people like Zhanyue who had talent but didn’t want to be bound, honorary status was quite good. As for feelings, naturally, they should deepen gradually. The Thousand Steeds Association had a grand vision.

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