Alex sat in his room, with Whisker and Pearl by his side.
Pearl had black fur on him at the moment, and his body was leaner, looking more like a black cat than anything.
If anyone did see him, Alex made sure that they mistake him for something else than a White Cat or a White Tiger.
"What can you give him if you really have to?" Pearl asked. He looked at Alex curiously now that he had explained the situation to the two beasts.
"Let's see," Alex thought for a bit. "There are 5 things important when it comes to improving your pills. Can you tell me what those are, Whisker?"
Whisker nodded. "Ingredients, recipe, temperature and control, cauldron, and finally the pill-forming technique itself," he said out loud.
Now that Whisker was a Saint beast himself, he could easily speak out loud as any other Saint beast would once they reached the same realm.
"Correct," Alex said. "Those are the 5 things we need. Of that, I cannot help the Emperor with controlling the ingredients or the flames, not that he would need any with all the formations and scripts helping him. He might himself even have a Dao of Heat."
"Given the level of pill he normally makes, I don't think controlling energy is much of a problem either. Not to mention that there's no way his cauldron is any worse than mine. Which means I should be able to aid him on the other 3 parts," Alex said.
"First is ingredients. I cannot give him good ingredients, but I can tell him about the World Defying Mushrooms," Alex said. "That should immediately help improve the energy level of the average pills he makes."
"Do we really have to give him information about the World Defying mushrooms?" Pearl asked. "Given how good his pills already are, shouldn't he have other methods of acquiring perfect ingredients?"
"You're not wrong, but this is important," Alex said. "The more levels we add to why my alchemy is so good, the longer we can delay giving him everything. Even if I agree to give him that information, I don't have to give it to him immediately and can delay for as long as I like."
Pearl nodded when he heard the answer. This method was the one that would help them the most, even if this wasn't what they wanted to do.
"For the second part, the recipe, we might be able to give him some," Alex said. "But I'm not sure how much we can give him. Actually, I'm not sure how much he even needs."
"Even if he needs nothing, we can still try to sell some to him. He would definitely like a thing or two for sure. Worst comes to worst, I'll tell him about Composition and Structure."
"Brother, you can't do that. That will mean you'll give away one of the most important knowledge you have of Alchemy," Whisker said.
"I have a suspicion that he already knows that," Alex said. "Even if he doesn't, it won't matter much if he already has the recipes."
"Then… there is the final pill-making task itself," Alex said. "I can give him the Profound Revolution of Myriad Combination technique first, before giving him the single pill version of the Pill-splitting technique. If I can delay it long enough, I can even split the technique into two and give him two versions."
"That's…" Pearl sighed. He couldn't come up with a better idea himself, so he didn't say anything about what Alex had come up with.
If that was what was needed for them to survive in this foreign continent, then so be it.
"When do we find out about Mother then?" Pearl asked.
"It will take some time," Alex said. "I can't just pull out the sword and ask, you know."
Pearl nodded.
Alex smiled and rubbed his back. "Don't worry, we'll find your mother's killer for sure," he said. "They shouldn't be far away."
Pearl nodded.
Someone knocked on the door, and immediately both Pearl and Whisker disappeared into Alex's body. Alex looked outside, peering through the wall to see Yao Ning bowing outside.
"What is it, elder Yao?" he asked.
"His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince is here to see you. Will you be accepting him?" the old woman asked.
"Oh, Prince Fangyu?" Alex asked. "Yeah, I'll meet him."
The door opened and the old woman walked in while waiting for the prince to come as well. The prince came in a minute later with a wide smile on his face.
"Your majesty," the prince said as he walked in. "I hope you're finding the Swan Courtyard to your liking."
"It's quite good, I must say," Alex said with a smile. "And your family's hospitality had been unmatched."
"Haha, I love to hear that," the prince said. "I came to notify to you that your alchemists have settled in quite nicely into the school."
"Ah, I see. Thank you," Alex said.
"It's a pleasure to be of assistance, your Majesty," the prince said. "I had asked Elder Shufen to come with me as well, but she said that she had to stay there for today."
Alex nodded. "I gave her that order, so she had chosen to fulfill it," he said.
"Then she should be coming tomorrow," the prince said. "Speaking of tomorrow, your Alchemists should be getting their nameplates tomorrow, but they won't be enrolled into the school right away."
"Oh?" Alex was a little surprised. "Why is that, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Welling, enrolling into the school mostly needs one to pass through the level 1 test, which I'm sure your alchemists would have passed without question. However, they would then have to walk around with Level 1 badges, unless they decided to take a test of the higher levels."
Alex was confused. "What's wrong with that?" he asked.
"Nothing," the Crown Prince said quickly. "Only we wanted to keep their talent a secret until the day of the show match where they will reveal their knowledge and talent."
"I see," Alex said. "That makes sense. The match is the day after tomorrow, isn't it?"
"Yes," the Prince said.
'The last day until when I'm supposed to give my answer,' he thought, remembering the Dragon Emperor's words.
"Thank you for notifying me of these things," Alex said.
"It was no problem, your Majesty," the prince said. "By the way, have the people provided you with refreshments or some snacks?"
"Snacks? No, it's not needed," Alex said.
"What?" the crown prince seemed surprised. "You must try the delicacies our chefs make, your majesty. They make some of the best food in the entire world."
"Oh…" Alex got a little curious now.
"If that is the case then… sure. Why not?" Alex said. "Have your head chef make the best snack for me. Let's try what it's all about."
"Oh, we don't have a head chef, but I'll ask the others to make the food for you. They are equally as talented," the prince said.
"Did your head chef quit?" Alex asked.
"Haha, no," the prince said. "He's just away, roaming around the continent right now."
"Oh, he must be trying to come up with new recipes then," Alex said.
"No," the prince said. "He is actually out there looking after my brother, the second prince."`
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