The Alchemy Union was an organisation with thousands of years of history. The Alchemy Union was formed after a group of 'mages' discovered the possibility of non-mages being able to create potions and participate in the art of Alchemy, which was previously restricted to only 'mages'.

These 'mages' were then ostracised for creating something that reduced the power of that 'mages' as a community had over the rest of the world.

Being rejected like this for something that was literally a discovery that would be recorded in the annals of history, these mages left the 'mage' world and brought their knowledge on alchemy to the known world.

They also formed the Alchemy Union and quickly spread throughout the 3 major kingdoms, and within just 100 years of its formation, it had spread all throughout the 3 major kingdoms and the various independent and vassal dutchies.

Now, nearly 1000 years after its forming, although the founders themselves had passed on, their successors have built up on the organisation, making it one that can compete directly with the power and influence of organisations like the Union Bank and Blacksmith Association. Some organisation like Merchant Association and the Mercenary Guild, who are only localised in the Kingdom of Pierre, however, due to the support from the kingdom itself, their influence within the kingdom is on par with the above-mentioned organisations.

The Alchemy Union did not have a large influence in this town since it was extremely isolated from the rest of the world. And therefore, they only created a single branch within the city which was not anything too grand, since the only people who came here were the knights form the castle, mercenaries, and some people who were gravely injured and could not go to the church for treatment either because it was closed or because it was too expensive, and thus needed to buy healing potions. However, there weren't too many mercenaries within Bard City and so the branch here was only a simple two storied wooden building.

Entering the building, Daron was assaulted by a strong stench of chemicals and herbal ingredients. However, it only took him a few second to get used to breathing here, since according to Sirious, nothing in the air was harmful be it in the long term or short term, and in fact was beneficial to increasing lifespan if used continuously in the long run.

How that worked in increasing lifespan was unknown to Daron, but he just went with the flow and arrived at the desk.

"Can I speak with someone called Karlos?" He asked politely in a manner that all the other knights in training behaved.

"Oh, Karlos!! Get you a*s out here. You have another customer."

A few seconds later, a man wearing clothing that reminded Daron of a classic 'mad-scientist' character. He was wearing white clothes that had been stained a disgusting shade of grey after years of experiments, and his initially maroon hair had been singed black at the ends and were a complete mess. His skin was actually so pale that Daron had a feeling he would collapse from loss of blood at any moment.

'Hey, Sirious, give me the analysis on this guy.'

[Target is more than 5 meters away from you. Unable to scan.]

'5m? What happened to 20m?'

[The Main system has gone into 'Sleep Mode' in order to conserve the little amount of energy it has left. You will have to go through another Reactivation period where you will lose consciousness once more and your body will need to go through more changes to be able to handle the new energy being introduced, since all the previous energy has been absorbed by your soul.]

'I see. So that time, the energy was from the Main system…'

[Targe acquired.]

As soon as Karlos entered the 5 m mark, Sirious quickly scanned him and told Daron that he was not sick, but was simply pale because he had not left this building for years.

"Hello there. I am Karlos, the one and only. How may I help you?"

"I'm Daron. I would like to buy some herbs for Novice knight's training. Sir Fals sent me here to find you."

"Tch. So, it was Fals and not a real customer. Alright, follow me."

Soon, Daron and Karlos arrived inside a room filled with countless herbs and potions, with filled and empty bottles everywhere.

"What rank are you? I assume you are Rank 1 since I have not seen you around here in the Union before."

"Yes. I just broke through."

"Aright then. Let me inform you certain things. Here you can buy all sorts of herbs required for Novice Knight and even Official Knight's training. For Novice Knights, we have herbs of 4 different qualities; Black, Red, Orange, and Yellow, with Yellow being the highest we have available and Black being the worst."

"Are the effects different for each quality?"

"Of course! A normal Rank 1 Novice Knight would only be able to absorb a maximum of 10 Black Rank Herbs before he must stop and regain control of their Internal Energy. After eating 1, and fully gaining it under control, the Internal Energy of a newly advanced Rank 1 like yourself should double. It would be around 10% of your way to Rank 2."

[Based on his explanation, I can assume you to have 1 point of Internal Energy with you right now. Upon having 1 Black level herbs, it will increase your internal energy by 10 more, and the total you would need to reach Rank 2 is 100 points, which is about 10 Black level herbs.]

"Since this is the lowest level of Black Rank herbs, it is priced at the low cost of 20 copper each. However, if you buy them in bulk, I will offer a discount of 15 copper."

"What about the Read and Orange Ranks?"

"The red Rank does the same thing, but at double the effectiveness. Naturally, the cost also increases to 50 copper per each."

"Why is the cost more than double?"

"Good question, and not many knights in training bother to ask the question. You should know that 'herbs' is actually not just random herbs you can gather from the forest. It is actually a precise mixture of multiple ingredients that we alchemists make and then condense into a solid. The higher the rank of the 'herb', the closer the process is to perfection, which means there are fewer impurities within."

"These impurities are harmless at first, but when you continue to ingest them, they slowly accumulate within your body, and worsen your odds of breaking through to the next ranks. Naturally, there is an elixir available to solve this problem, however it is so costly that we do not even keep it in this branch since no one except the Lord of the city might be able to afford it, since all Lords of cities have to do is collect taxes from those living within. Lord Zack we have is rather kind in the fact that he does not tax anything except land, and entering and leaving the city. Whatever you do within the city is not taxed by him."

"I digress. The Orange Rank doubles the effectiveness of the Red Rank, and the price is 150 copper per herb. The Yellow Rank is the highest rank we offer in this branch and it costs 1000 copper. However, its effectiveness is five times the amount of the Orange Rank. In case you leave the city, you should know that what we call yellow rank is actually called Light-yellow rank in the outside world."

[Master Daron. It can be seen that the light-yellow rank can increase your Internal Energy needed to reach Rank 2 by 20.]

'However, can I gain control over my internal energy after doing that?'

"Also, for those rich enough to buy higher rank herbs, you should still go with Black Rank herbs in the beginning since your body will not be able to regain control over your Internal energy should you ingest something like an orange rank herb."

[You do not have to worry. Based on analysis, the Internal Energy without your body is completely subservient to you no matter what since it has given a part of its soul to you, Master Daron. No matter how many of these Herbs you ingest, it will not affect this relation of master and sub-soul.]

'Alright. Also, do not forget to create an Internal Energy category in my status.'

"Is there a rule preventing us from buying anything of a higher rank?"

"No, but I would suggest not to do so."

"I will have a Light-yellow Rank herb." Daron said as he put the bag of 1000 copper on the table.

Seeing the amount of money, the hesitant Karlos simply nodded hastily as he stood up and rushed to get the goods. A few seconds later, he returned and handed a box as well as a card to Daron.

"The Herb is within the box, you should open it and check its contents before leaving, and this card is an Alchemy Union Client card of the Light-Yellow Rank. It signifies that you are someone who has purchased things of the Light-Yellow Rank, and it brings certain benefits along with it, including the fact that you will now be considered as a VIP of the Union, and one of the highest VIPs of this branch."

Daron simply nodded and put the card in the pocket on his breastplate that was made of leather. HE opened the box and an incredibly strong scent of medicines shoved its way into Daron's nose.

"Phew" He shook his head a little from the intensity of that smell.

"It is best if you keep it closed and hidden until you reach a safe place like the castle. Although this is a relatively safe city, there might still be some outsiders with unknown intentions. I would suggest suing a carriage to head directly to the castle along the main road."

"Sure. But give me some money. I don't have any on me. All my money is in the Union Bank."

"Of course."

Since Karlos knew that Daron was a knight in training, he would need to keep coming here for more herbs as long as he did not die. So, a few coppers were not much.

With that, Daron called for a carriage, entered and returned to the Castle safely.