Alex took the recipe that the girl handed over to him. He read the talisman and was a little surprised that nothing aside from the recipe itself was written on it.
His eyes narrowed as he started thoroughly reading it all.
The ingredients that were being used were some of the rarest ingredients one could find. If he were to search through the entire continent right now, he would not be able to gather more than 100 sets of ingredients.
Also, the collection of ingredients was quite unique too. He had never seen such conflicting ingredients being used in a single pill before.
The people waited quietly for Alex to speak, but Alex was lost in thought while he read the talisman.
The woman started getting a bit anxious. Had she shown her hand a bit more than it was necessary? Maybe she should have asked for some other recipes as the two men had. She worried that she had lost a chance to gain something from the greatest Alchemist in the world by giving him something that he had never even heard of before.
Alex’s eyes suddenly opened with a shine to them. A strange smile hung on his lips as he turned toward the woman in front of him. “May I ask how you came in possession of this recipe?” he asked.
“That… that was one of the examples for pills that were listed in a book I got,” she said.
“I see,” Alex said as he looked at the recipe with obvious awe. “I never expected there to exist a pill that could make you immune to all forms of mental attack, even if it is for just a few hours at a time.”
The woman quickly looked up at Alex with wide eyes. “You… can tell what the recipe is about, your Majesty?” she asked.
“Yes,” Alex said. “Thank you for bringing such an amazing recipe to me. Would you mind telling me what its name is?”
The woman shook her head. “The book did not list its name, only what it could do,” she said.
“I see.” He handed her back the recipe. “Your reward, I will have to work on it for a few days. Please expect to obtain it in a week’s worth of time,” he said.
“Please take as much time as you need, your Majesty. I am in no hurry,” she said.
Alex nodded. “Also, would you mind if I make some pills of my own from this recipe? I promise I won’t sell them. That right will only remain with you,” he said.
“Your Majesty, it will be my honor to have you make pills using a recipe I provided,” the woman quickly said.
“Thank you,” Alex said. “You may leave now.”
The woman nodded and walked away from the stage.
Alex stood there for a few seconds before turning around to go back on stage. The elder moved forward and announced the tests over. The crowd started to scatter away and everyone went their own way.
“Your Majesty, shall we leave?” the elders asked.
“Yes,” Alex said and got onto the royal ship that took him back to the palace.
“Good work today,” Graham said as he patted him on his shoulders. Alex smiled and nodded to his father.
“It’s late. I will go and rest. You should do the same, father,” Alex said.
“Yes,” Graham said.
“Come on, Whisker. Let father be by himself for now,” Alex said and called back Whisker.
Whisker jumped onto his shoulders and sat there. “Now that father can read and write, you must feel like you don’t have anything else to do, don’t you?” Alex asked.
Whisker quickly shook his head. Alex chuckled. “I’m giving you a job anyway,” he said. “The backyard of the palace is bare and empty. You will have to grow some flowers there now.”
“Flowers?” Whisker asked him.
“Yes, I want you to learn about gardening and raising plants,” Alex said. “Or, you can learn how to fight too.”
“I want to grow flowers,” Whisker quickly said.
Alex chuckled a bit. “Alright, flowers it is.”
He returned back to his room but was surprised to find that someone was already in there.
“You finally decided to leave the dome?” he asked as he looked at the fiery bird in front of him.
“I’m just taking a little break,” Scarlet said. “You woke me up front my deep cultivation anyway.”
“I did?” Alex asked.
“The pill cloud. I couldn’t focus after that,” she said.
“Ah, I see,” he said. “So, what brings you here? You want to know what’s happening with your people and domain?”
“No,” Scarlet said. “I want to know what’s happening with you.”
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“No, not about being a King, but rather about being an Alchemist,” Scarlet said. “You revealed pill cloud. Are you… okay with that?”
“Uhh… yeah, I’m okay,” Alex said.
Scarlet looked at him closely. “Are you sure?” She asked. “If I recall correctly, you went all the way out into the ocean just so you could hide the pill clouds. And yet, now you showed it off in front of everyone. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
Alex thought for a bit. “I’m sure,” he said. He looked at Scarlet and shrugged. He walked up to the bed and sat on it next to her.
“It wasn’t an impulsive action by any means,” he said. “I have given it some thought before.”
“What sorts of thoughts?” Scarlet asked.
Alex thought for a bit.
“I have felt like I was alone for a very long time. I had people around me, but it felt like it was me against the world. I have been hunted multiple times for my capabilities, so I am quick to hide it from others.”
“I had someone trying to take over my body. I had people attacking me so they could steal my techniques or use my blood. I even had a False Immortal that captured me and kept me captive for 10 years just because I was very good at making pills.”
“Due to all of these events, I became very wary of revealing the full scope of my abilities if it wasn’t needed. People might say that I was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but the truth was I was just hiding from others because I couldn’t trust them.”
“Even when I trusted people, it was never a complete trust. Add onto that the problem with finding father and the assassins, I could only hide my abilities here as well,” Alex said.
Scarlet nodded as she listened to him. “So, what changed?” she asked.
“I can’t tell what exactly changed as there were too many of them recently. Only thing I can say if that for some reason, it feels like that feeling I had of being alone is gone. I have my father, I have Whisker, and I have you. To add onto it, you made me a King, and now I have the elders, and the entire continent full of people.”
“For the first time in my life, since my master died, I feel like I am surrounded by people I can trust. For the first time, I feel like I belong somewhere.”
“Not only do I feel like I belong somewhere after a very long time, but now I also feel obliged to help everyone to the best of my abilities.”
“After careful consideration, I decided to help everyone by using the Alchemy knowledge I have.”
“I wish to not only reveal what I can do but also spread it around,” Alex said. “Today was just the beginning. Slowly, I will give away my knowledge to everyone so they can improve themselves.”
“I mean, what’s the point of keeping all this knowledge to myself anyway? The best it can do is make me better than others or make me some money, and the worst it can do is put a target on my back for others to come after me.”
“What’s the point of being better or rich when I am now a King?” Alex asked. “Certainly there’s no reason to continue to keep a target on my back.”
“Instead, if it can help elevate the level of alchemy in this continent, It would help everyone in the long run by improving the standards of pills while lowering their price. If I can make something like that happen, I would gladly give away all the knowledge I have.”
Scarlet looked at him weirdly. “I thought you were simply showing off as a King, but I did not expect you to be so thoughtful instead,” she said.
“Me neither, honestly,” Alex said. “But somehow being responsible for billions of lives makes you look at things in a different way, doesn’t it?”
Scarlet chuckled a bit. “It sure does,” she said, reminiscing the days when she had just come to this world and was starting to become a ruler. She hadn’t expected to do anything big for this world but somehow had ended up helping them a lot.
“I’m happy that the burden I put on you has strengthened you instead of crushing you,” Scarlet said. She quickly shook her head. “Anyway, since I’m going to be active for a few days, is there anything you want my help with?”
Alex thought for a bit. “Actually, there is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now,” he said. “Would you be willing to go up north with me tomorrow?”
