Grand Elder Redclaw frowned as he gazed out his study's window at the distant Red Vine Peak. A perpetual mist swirled around the mountain, obscuring everything but the tips of the demonic trees from his curious gaze.
I wonder what goes on over there...
His wandering thoughts were interrupted by frantic footsteps that echoed beyond the thick wooden doors of his study. He turned to face them just in time to watch a worried-looking middle-aged man push them open.
"Elder Brent, welcome."
"Grand Elder... what has the Ashfallen Sect decreed of us?"
"Calm down and wait for the others." The Grand Elder smiled reassuringly, "It's not that serious, so calm yourself."
"Oh, thank the heavens," Elder Brent let out a breath and respectfully stood beside his desk. But his crossed arms and drumming fingers showed his impatience.
Moments later, Elder Mo strode through the ajar doors with his spirit flame hammer still in hand. The Grand Elder looked at it with slight envy for a moment, but alas, he could only blame himself for not being deemed worthy of the immortal's inheritance.
So long as we keep on the good side of the Ashfallen Sect and the immortal continues to grant us access to that Mystic Realm, there will be a next time for me... I'm sure of it.
"Grand Elder, you called?" Elder Mo asked and also gave a friendly nod to Elder Brent.
"Once Elder Margret arrives, I will explain everything, but until then... how goes the forge Elder Mo? Enjoying life as a smith?"
Elder Mo grinned, "Of course I am. If anything, I lament the fact I didn't pick up the hammer sooner."
"Any progress with making weapons containing your will?" Elder Brent asked from the side.
"Aye, I have." Elder Mo approached the desk, cleared aside some papers, and with a flash of power from his spatial ring, a sword manifested on the desk.
"Still a work in progress, but I forged this thing myself from scratch," Elder Mo awkwardly scratched the top of his balding head, "I'm having to learn smithing on the job, so it's rather amateurish in quality."
The Grand Elder had been holding back his opinion out of respect for his lifelong friend but had to agree with Elder Mo. It was the work of a beginner smith at best. The blade wasn't straight, the edges were dull, and it looked like a basic steel sword that even a mortal might sneer at.
"Elder Brent, try picking it up." Elder Mo had a mischievous grin that made Elder Brent raise a brow, "Is it cursed or something Elder Mo? Why are you grinning at me like that."
"Just pick up the darn sword. Do you really believe I would try to harm you, my good friend?" Elder Mo chuckled, "If you don't dare, perhaps the Grand Elder will?"
The Grand Elder studied Elder Mo's suspicious demeanor—he had to admit he was curious now. What could make his old friend act like this? Eyeing the ordinary-looking steel sword with a dubious gaze, the Grand Elder finally gave in to his curiosity and reached over to grip the sword's hilt.
The moment his fingers curled around the bare metal hilt, a dormant feeling he was all too familiar washed over him. War. The unending brutality of war consumed him.
His heart pounded in his chest as memories of horrific century-old battles flashed through his mind. The sky was dyed crimson from blood—the wails of the anguished screamed in his ears. A chaotic storm of Qi swirled around him as the clangs of swords reverberated across the hellscape as two sides fought under the laws of heaven.
He reeled his hand back from the cold steel—the sword clanged on the desk like a gong freeing him from the mental torment of a distant past.
Elder Mo stood there, his grin holding an eerie meaning.
"Do you remember now, old friend?" Elder Mo said, "The darkness of war laid dormant in your bones."
Elder Brent looked curiously between the two and then back at the sword. He made no move to follow in the Grand Elder's footsteps in grasping the sword hilt.
"I see..." The Grand Elder murmured as he calmed his pounding heart, "So this is what it means to imbue your will into a sword with spirit fire."
Elder Mo nodded thoughtfully, "With every impact of my hammer on molten metal, another memory was imbued. I might have gone a little overboard, but the idea was to have a sword that, when held by someone, would give them the overpowering feeling of being on the battlefield. I thought it would make a good training weapon."
"I can see the direction you were going for, but perhaps lock that one away." The Grand Elder's gaze lingered on the sword hilt. He felt his fingers itch as if wanting to grasp it again—to relive those glorious death-filled days—after all, he was a retired man of war who still craved his enemies' blood.
Elder Mo's ring flashed, and the sword vanished.
The brief moment of thoughtful silence was broken with Elder Margret entering the study. The Grand Elder gave her a nod to welcome her and then clapped his hands.
"Alright, with everyone here, we can begin," he pointed toward the parchment on his desk with the ancient runic language scribbled in half-dried ink, "Who here can read this?"
All three Elders crowded around the desk and scrutinized it.
"I know this is the ancient language. Sadly I haven't gotten around to learning it yet." Elder Margret said, "What does it say, Grand Elder."
It was such a perfect reaction that he couldn't help but chuckle, "It's a decree straight from the immortal. He wrote it himself with that fountain pen."
All of their gazes landed on the fountain pen as if it were some divine artifact.
The Grand Elder cleared his throat and then translated to the best of his ability, "The immortal wants us all to learn the ancient runic language within the next month."
Then after a pause to let everyone digest the words, he continued, "With the help of those language comprehension fruits, I bet you can all learn it within days."
"Was that it?" Elder Brent furrowed his brows, "I can see how learning the language could be useful, but did you really call the meeting just for that?"
The Grand Elder chuckled, "Of course not. We are all so busy that we haven't had a spare moment to catch up, and I thought this was a fitting occasion."
He smiled at Elder Margret, "You took two promising alchemists from our family over to the Ashfallen Sect today. How did that go?"
A sigh escaped her lips.
Did something go wrong? The Grand Elder studied her disappointed expression and felt a hint of worry fester in his stomach.
"Mixed results, to say the least... ugh, I'm just so... embarrassed."
"Why? What happened?"
"I don't know if they got nervous or I had high expectations, but both failed to create a pill." Elder Margret frowned.
"Well, that's only to be expected," The Grand Elder said calmly as he drew back his chair and sat down, "They have only been practicing for what... a year now? Most alchemists take a decade before they can produce pills on demand like that."
"That's true, but look at this." Elder Margret summoned a beautiful pill and handed it to the Grand Elder. All the other elders also curiously leaned in to inspect it.
"Is this a Profound tier pill?" Elder Brent frowned, "Wait, a Profound tier body strengthening pill? Did you make this? Why would anyone waste such high-grade resources on such a basic pill? You know we are short on resources for the alchemy tournament already, so to go around wasting—"
"Elder Brent, be quiet." Elder Margret snapped. The man grumbled and stepped back, "It wasn't a waste. The resources to make this pill weren't even ours. I know you will find it hard to believe, but I saw the immortal grow thousands of Qi Flowing Grass and Starlight Lotus within seconds. It was the most magical experience of my life... even better than the mystic realm."
The Grand Elder's eyes widened, and he looked back at the Profound tier pill in his palm, "So you're telling me the ingredients for this pill were grown in seconds by the immortal? If you aren't lying, then that Silverspire brat has signed the deal of a lifetime."
"Indeed, they have," Elder Margret replied seriously.
"So why were you upset with the twins again?" The Grand Elder asked, steering the conversation back to the original topic.
Elder Margret's ring flashed with power, and a less impressive but still very well-crafted pill appeared, "This was made by Stella." She placed the pill onto the desk, "She has never done alchemy before."
"Impossible." Elder Brent blurted out as he scooped up the pill and inspected it, "That's simply impossible. Even if the ingredients are devoid of impurities, it would still take godlike intuition to merge them into a Spirit tier pill on their first try."
The Grand Elder seized the pill and ignored Elder Brent's protests as a wide grin formed on his aged face.
Knowing someone like the immortal was one thing, but having a connection to a master alchemist was another.
It would appear his fortune kept rising the longer he was associated with the Ashfallen Sect. He couldn't help but reminisce about the day he encountered Stella and the spirit beast and surrendered his family to them via an oath.
A decision that in previous months had brought him great misery. Nothing in his long life brought him more despair than seeing his family trapped in a palace of white stone on a mountaintop as glorified slaves to an unknown force and unable to cultivate due to the lack of fire Qi.
Yet, recently, his family's perseverance has begun to be rewarded.
Ever since that worm attack led me to Red Vine Peak with Stella, my family has been blessed with reward after reward by the immortal. At this rate, under the enriching shadow of the Ashfallen Sect, my family will rise to heights unheard of in the history of my bloodline.
The Grand Elder slammed his hand on the desk as he stood up—causing everyone to shut their yappers and stare at him.
"Enough nonsense. Listen here, if you were respectful to Stella before, now imagine she is a master alchemist in the making. If I hear anyone has caused her problems, I will deal with them personally. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Grand Elder." All three of his cherished Elders responded in unison.
"Good. Now tell me, how goes the tournament preparations?"
Elder Brent coughed, "Ahem, well... the noble families will be arriving within the next few days, so we have put the airship station on a temporary lockdown to avoid another incident like the one with the arrival of the Voidmind scion."
"I see, and who do we believe is arriving next."
"The Skyrend family should arrive tomorrow morning." Elder Margret said.
Everyone groaned, and the Grand Elder gripped the bridge of his nose, "Those overzealous heaven-worshiping bastards are always a handful to deal with. Alright, make sure nobody, and I mean nobody, is present in the airship station to mess with them on arrival."
Everyone nodded, and the Grand Elder sighed, "Alright, that is all I wished to discuss. You can all return to your duties now. However, Elder Margret, please stay behind. I have something else to discuss with you regarding the tournament..."
***
Ashlock found it rather amusing listening in on the Redclaw's conversation—it was interesting to see the reactions of ordinary people to his and Stella's shenanigans as he lacked a frame of reference—but got bored as the Grand Elder and Elder Margret spent a while discussing logistics for the tournament. He had left the running of the tournament to them for a good reason—logistics and pandering to noble families weren't his forte.
Anyway, he was in a good mood as the whole day had been rather full of surprises.
Despite their young age, he hadn't expected the Redclaw twins to be so... meh at alchemy. However, that disappointment had been washed away by Stella's capabilities. He had given Stella and Oliver nearly the same level of help during the competition to keep things fair, but Stella had approached everything with a calmness and skill that seemed alien to him.
In his mind, Stella was a hotheaded think later type of person who acted on her instincts far too often. But put her in front of a pill cauldron, and she completely changed into someone with a calm and calculative demeanor.
"Perhaps this mindset is what allows her to excel in cultivation compared to others as well." Ashlock mused. He had no way to crack open her skull and see how she meditated compared to others, but after observing her approach to alchemy, he was convinced she could concentrate and hyper-focus on tasks.
Regarding focusing, Ashlock was finding it harder to keep up with things. There was just so much going on recently that he felt scattered-brained.
Instead of being a fleshy human with two legs and a limited perspective that would have the intelligent idea to delegate things to others as there was no chance in hell, they could monitor so much at once, he had decided to abuse his new biology to its limit and do most of the things himself.
"This is why I want everyone to learn the ancient language... that way, I can order people around more efficiently," Ashlock grumbled. "I need to learn to focus my efforts on the things I am best at and let the others do the rest. I don't have to do everything myself anymore. I got a lot of people around me to help."
Ashlock felt the way the sun hit his leaves and determined it was mid-afternoon—meaning he still had half a day left before he fell asleep and then had to oversee the welcoming of the Skyrend family. So what should he focus his time on?
His thoughts were interrupted when there was a sudden pop of spatial Qi, and a girl he was all too familiar with stepped through and collapsed straight onto the bench with a sigh.
"I'm exhausted, Tree..." Stella sulked, "And it's all your fault."
"My fault?" Ashlock was taken aback, "How could it be my fault?"
Stella naturally couldn't hear him but continued talking to the air as she always did, "Why did you give the Grand Elder a decree and cause Elder Margret to leave the twins in my care? I have no idea what to do with them!"
"Ah... that was kind of my fault." Ashlock chuckled to himself. He hadn't foreseen the Grand Elder calling an entire meeting over it, but he could see why Stella was mad.
"Hey, Tree," Stella patted his black bark, "What was the decree anyway?"
'I told them to learn the ancient language so I can speak with them and not bother you so much,' Ashlock wrote in lilac flames on his trunk, and she quickly translated it.
"That's not a good reason to leave me with two darn teenagers!" Stella grumbled, "Why must I take care of them anyway? Can't you do it?"
'Why not practice alchemy with them?' Ashlock asked through writing, and she rolled her eyes, "Tree, we only have two ingredients to make pills from. How can we make Body Strengthing Pills without the Dragon Marrow?"
That was a good point.
"I still need to find a solution to that ingredient shortage. Hmm, it comes from monsters, right?" Ashlock's vision blurred as he crossed many miles through his roots and appeared far out in the wilderness near the demonic tree wall where he first spotted the worm.
It had been a while since the worm disrupted the place, so it made sense that there was a large gathering of monsters in the vicinity. None were super strong, which was ideal because Ashlock just needed their bone marrow.
Ashlock's vision blurred back to the mountain peak where Stella was still ranting about being a glorified babysitter, so he gave her an outlet.
'There is a group of monsters out in the wild. Why not go and kill them?' Ashlock wrote, and then after a moment of contemplation, he added, 'You could also collect new plants while you are out there.'
Even if he didn't know the pill recipes, it would be great to amass a database of as many plants as possible.
"I don't know anything about plants, though," Stella said while standing back up. She then stretched her back with an audible crack and rolled her shoulders, "But I could go for some good old punching monsters in the face after concentrating so hard on that pill. Douglas can look after those terrors for me."
Alas, Ashlock needed Douglas to work on extending the staircase and pillar. He also required him to add rooms throughout the mountain, so sadly, the man couldn't be left looking after the twins.
'Douglas needs to work and rest. Why not take the twins with you?' Ashlock wrote, and the face of pure betrayal Stella pulled after reading it was priceless.
"You want me to look after two weaklings out in the wild? All while I hunt monsters and pick up plants for you?" She crossed her arms and huffed, "I don't want that type of responsibility!"
'Titus can look after them,' Ashlock wrote as he mentally commanded the twenty-meter-tall Ent to stand up. The towering creature of black wood loomed over the annoyed Stella with two eyes of lilac soul fire glaring down at her.
"Fine! If the big guy is responsible, then I don't care anymore," Stella grumbled as she clicked her fingers, and a portal manifested before her. "I will tell the twins what's happening. So please open a portal down there once you got Titus near the monsters... and be quick about it!"
And with that, she was gone. Some peace and quiet returned to the courtyard, but Ashlock always enjoyed having a little fight with her. Anyway, now wasn't the time to sit around and think. He had to get this lumbering giant out into the wilderness to avoid Stella getting really cross with him.
His Star Core pulsed with power, and a portal over ten meters high wobbled into existence. Diana cracked open an eye at the scene but soon returned to meditating.
Titus bent down and took a lumbering step through the portal. A moment later, he passed through with a massive pop as air rushed to fill the void left behind. The portal then collapsed, sending another blast of air that briefly disrupted the mist wall and rustled the scarlet leaves of every tree in the courtyard, including Ashlocks.
"Right, now to open a portal onto his shoulder." Ashlock easily set the anchor point as Titus was a blinding beacon of spatial Qi. With that done, he could open a rift in the cavern, connecting two locations many miles apart.
Ashlock then watched as Stella led the two bewildered twins through the portal onto Titus's shoulders.
"S-Stella..." Olivia stuttered as she looked off the side and saw the ground far below, "What are we doing here?"
"Well, Elder Margret said I needed to keep watch over you," Stella grinned, "And we had no more Dragon Marrow, so why shouldn't I bring you hunting for some monsters?"
At this point, the two twins huddled with one another and gripped the twisted black roots that made up Titus's body for dear life as the behemoth strode forward.
"How does that make any sense!" Oliver shouted over the roaring wind as Titus moved toward the sea of monsters surrounding the wall of demonic trees.
Stella shrugged as her blonde hair blew in the wind. "Titus, protect these two at all costs, but listen to their orders." She then addressed the confused twins, "I will be busy down there fighting monsters but feel free to order this big guy around if you want to join in the fun."
"Anyway, see you two later!" Stella spread her arms and fell backward into a freefall down the side of the Ent. Causing the two twins to scream and lean over the side. However, before she had even fallen halfway toward the lush grass of the wilderness, a portal manifested below her and teleported her off somewhere else with a resounding pop.
The two twins exchanged a glance, and Olivia muttered, "She's insane... right?"
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