Chapter 4: Senior Adept
Elliott clicked his tongue and smiled coldly.
"You finally noticed?"
"I-I have eyes on my backside! I failed to recognize an honored person! Please forgive me!"
Shrank bent his waist at a perfect right angle.
The status of an Alchemist belonging to the Consortium was absolute.
If such a person wished, destroying a small affiliated shop like this would require no effort.
He could cut off its supply of goods or accuse it of dishonoring the Consortium's name.
Either way 'I'm finished.'
With their positions completely reversed, Elliott leisurely tapped the counter.
Tap.
Tap.
The steady rhythm tightened around Shrank's heart.
"I intended to speak directly with the owner about the condition of this shop, but it seems he is absent."
"H-he only stepped outside for a moment…"
"Enough. Looking at these inferior products is enough to cause Arcane Deviation."
Elliott turned away as if he had lost all interest.
"I will return another time."
The moment he tried to leave, Shrank's face became white.
If this unknown Alchemist returned to the Consortium and reported the incident, the owner would beat Shrank to death.
"P-please wait! Senior!"
Shrank hurried in front of Elliott and blocked his path.
Elliott raised one eyebrow and looked at him coldly.
"I care nothing for fame. But since you insist, you may address me as Senior Adept."
"Y-yes, Senior Adept!"
"What is your name?"
"M-my name is Shrank."
"Shrank. Why are you blocking my path?"
"Please forgive my disrespect! I was blind and failed to recognize someone greater than myself!"
Shrank's lips trembled.
He lifted the bundle of Bloodwort from the counter with both hands.
"I would like to offer this to you, even if I must pay for it from my own wages. Please accept it and calm your anger."
A bundle of Bloodwort worth five mana stones.
It was nowhere near enough to appease a distinguished Alchemist, but it was the best Shrank could offer.
Elliott looked down at the bundle.
Then he clicked his tongue as if disappointed.
"Shrank, you have no talent for business."
"Pardon?"
"Idiot. If you give me only Bloodwort, am I supposed to chew it raw like a horse?"
"Or should I crush it against the street and rub it on a wound?"
Shrank's shoulders jumped beneath Elliott's reprimand.
"Medicinal herbs require a solvent. If you serve food, you should also serve water. Are you trying to choke me?"
"Ah!"
As if he had received a revelation, Shrank hurried toward the shelves.
A moment later, he returned carefully holding a glass bottle filled with clear Mana.
"H-here. Mid-grade Clear Water!"
"At least your hands move quickly, even if your mind does not."
"Th-thank you!"
Keeping a dissatisfied expression, Elliott snatched the bundle of Bloodwort and the bottle of Clear Water and placed them inside his clothes.
Inside, he was celebrating.
Outside, he maintained the mask of an arrogant high-ranking Alchemist.
"I will return in a few days with something worthy of being called a proper product."
"Yes! Please travel safely!"
Elliott left the Hundred Herbs Apothecary without looking back.
Shrank remained bent toward the closed door for a long time.
The bribe had erased half a month of his wages, but he first felt relief at surviving and preventing future trouble.
'That nearly killed me.'
Then a cold realization passed through his mind.
He suddenly raised his head.
"…Wait."
The name.
He had never asked for Elliott's name.
To report the visitor to the owner, he needed at least a professional title or an Adept Epithet.
And had Elliott not said he would return in a few days?
"Damn it!"
Shrank screamed and rushed through the shop door.
"Senior Adept! Your name!"
But only dust drifted through the street.
The strange Alchemist who had been standing there moments ago had vanished without a trace.
It was almost as if he had used a Spatial Step and disappeared like smoke.
Shrank stared at the empty street.
"This is bad… What if he truly holds a high position?"
After turning the corner and entering deep into the slums, Elliott finally released the breath he had been holding.
"Haa…"
His legs nearly gave out.
His heart pounded hard enough to hurt his ribs.
But the mid-grade ingredients he had taken through deception weighed heavily inside his clothing.
'A full bundle of Bloodwort and a bottle of Clear Water for free.'
Shrank had clearly misunderstood his identity.
'Good thing he was an idiot.'
This amount would allow at least twenty Alchemy attempts.
Then Elliott suddenly stopped.
He looked down at the ingredients inside his clothing and narrowed his eyes.
'Wait. Think calmly. Why should I waste mana-rich, mid-grade materials when producing failures?'
He reconsidered the System's mechanism.
[When an action fails, you gain five times the proficiency that success would have granted.]
The only condition was failure.
Whether he used an herb filled with Mana or a root pulled from the roadside, the System would probably grant the same understanding as long as the refining process ended in failure.
'Right. Why would I burn materials this good for practice? I should save them until my proficiency is high enough to make real products.'
He needed to revise his strategy.
If he wanted to repeat the process and accumulate proficiency, he needed lowest-grade ingredients that offered quantity rather than quality.
Before purchasing them, however, he first had another problem to solve.
Elliott touched the two packets of Blood-Staunching Powder hidden deep inside his clothing.
Lowest grade and low grade.
Judging from the Hundred Herbs Apothecary, shops with proper signs only handled medicines of at least mid-grade to protect their reputation.
If he presented crude products like these, they would probably throw him out.
That left only one choice.
Elliott looked toward the noisy street near the entrance of the slums, where clouds of dust rose above the crowd.
A street market filled with Independent Adepts who had failed to enter proper Academies or Adept Orders, along with Mercenaries who lived from one day to the next.
It was a place for people in the same position as him.
"First, I turn these into mana stones."
"Then I use the money to buy the cheapest herbs I can find."