Salazar and Salaman could’ve been said to be talking partners made in heaven. What eat, what rest? The two conversed until the sun came down and came back right up again! Abbas was chattering nonsense, having nightmares in his sleep. Farhan kept one eye barely opened. Ava was watching them.

A gruff male voice sounded from outside. It was Jasur. “Well met Brothers! Come, come out and eat!”

“Wuh-wah?” Abbas jolted to his feet, only to collide with one of wooden pillars propping Salazar’s tent. “Ouch!” The collision sent his mind spinning and his footing unsteady.

“Heavens, Brother Abbas, are you, all right?” Farhan snapped into action, stopping the fat merchant from bumping into many more things. At this point, Ava left the middle-aged man and slithered aside.

Salazar on other hand withdrew some of his showcased items in time to see Abbas fell flat on his face. “Merchant, what are you doing?” His face darkened a little and then lightened when he talked to Salaman again. “Brother Salaman, by the looks of it, we should end our discussion here.” The alchemist called for his apprentice next. “Dawub! Escort Merchant Abbas out!”

“Brother Salazar! No need to trouble your student!” Salaman gave a boisterous laugh and then helped the fat merchant with Farhan. “Brother Abbas, sorry for that. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Hmm…how?” Abbas gestured with his hands that he was wide awake now and didn’t need further help from his friends. Skepticism was all but thinly veiled in his words. “Brother Salaman, it’s not that I don’t trust you but…”

“It will be worth your time, Brother.” The scholar whispered to his ears. “Master Salazar taught me a few things-” He made an O with his thumb and index fingers in secret. “that will help our enterprise. Big mullahs, Brother.”

“Really?” Abbas’s nose twitched at prospect of profits. Even though he fell asleep halfway through their extensive dissertation, the fat merchant felt his scholarly brother had struck gold! Abbas quickly gave Salazar a curt nod. “Thank you for enlightening us, Master Salazar!”

“Oh, it’s nothing, merchant.” Salazar knew Abbas was just flattering him but as he got a good conversational partner, namely Salaman, his mood wasn’t that bad. “Brother Salaman, when you’re free, come and visit this alchemist often! I’d love to continue our discussion!”

With invitation from Salazar’s apprentice, Dawub, Jasur made his appearance at entrance area of the tent. The burly man spoke in a low voice to the black-haired young man. “Boy, let’s go eat. Oh, go persuade your master too.”

“Umm…Dawub will try, Uncle Jasur.” The young boy timidly answered the guard captain. He had a wry smile as Salazar was obstinate as an ox at times.

“Hmph, it’s you again.” Salazar showed his face after trudging between his papyrus scrolls. The alchemist maintained an indifferent expression as Abbas and his friends went to the front. “What now, Jasur? I told you countless times that I can’t and won’t make those Agrippan tools!” Salazar’s irritation was clear in his voice. “What explosives, what bombs? Agrippan tools are savage as their men! I make medicines, not tools to kill people!”

“Uhh…Master Salazar?” Jasur spoke after seeing indecisiveness from Salazar’s disciple. “I’m here to invite you for lunch?” The burly guard shrugged his shoulders at the alchemist. “Didn’t we get over that already?”

“….” Salazar gave Jasur a glare; he wasn’t willing to admit that he had misspoken. The old man flung his voluminous sleeves and went back to his study. “Dawub, you go first. I have something to do at the moment.”

“Yes…master.” His apprentice nodded. The boy frowned a little at Jasur as if telling the guard that his master was hard to please and predict.

“Master Salazar, we’ll be going first.” Salaman said to represent his group. As they left Salazar’s tent, the scholarly man turned around for a moment. “Well Brother, I’ll inform your little student about our next session. We’re still green around these parts so, I hope you understand.”

“A trifling matter. Don’t make this alchemist wait too long, haha!” The alchemist was cheerful when he was replying to Salaman. It was as if anyone other than the scholar was beneath his notice. He focused his gaze to his side and saw his disciple haven’t left yet. “Dawub? What are you dawdling here for? Go with them!”

“Umm…master?” The young boy lowered his head. He carefully chose his words. “It would be…bad if master didn’t eat.”

“Sigh-” Salazar calmed down as his young disciple didn’t do anything wrong and it would be unfair to be angry at him. The alchemist tapped on Dawub’s shoulders while coming up with an excuse. “Then, go get me some bread and soup, Dawub. I need to properly store the vials given by them first.”

“Will you be fine, Master?” The apprentice asked. “Since they’re higher purity?”

“What do you take me for, my disciple?” Salazar arched his back and laughed. He continued, “It’s just a couple of vials, it’s not like I want to uh…use them now or anything, haha.”

“Okay. Pinky promise, Master.”

“Fine. Now go, go quick, Dawub! I want you to keep watch on them, especially on that Farhan guy.”

“I’ll try my best, Master!”

Salazar watched his disciple depart and joined the rest of the leaving men. The air outside was merry as Jasur had called for a celebratory lunch to welcome Abbas’s group despite their meager resources. Salazar sighed again as he stored his stuffs to their boxes. It seemed he will be in Najaj for a while.

As the alchemist was closing one of his open scrolls, his gut told him that something was off. He put the scroll aside and glanced around. “May…may I know which master had come to visit this humble one?”

“That’s…strange.” Salazar muttered under his breath as there was no response after the time it took to brew a pot of coffee. He tried again while clasping his hands together. “Please, excuse my ignorance for not welcoming you in person.”

Yet another silence as Salazar didn’t hear anything in return. The alchemist however, stayed rooted in his spot with his head in deference. What some time worth? Despite his brash nature to others, patience was well inculcated in his person due to his line of work. Certain things took time to finish!

Salazar began to be cautious. Of all these years being an alchemist, he didn’t lack experience in danger! He backed off, reaching for his personal weapon. As he extended his hand to his staff, there was a plain snake wrapped around it. At first, he thought it was a common one but he rapidly kowtowed.

“Please excuse this old one! I have eyes but didn’t see Mount Tai!” Salazar kept his head glued to the ground. Whatever that thing was, he can only hope for the best and beg for mercy.

The snake of course, was Ava’s avatar. She took action after those noisy mortals had left. The Post-Human spoke directly into Salazar’s mind. “Tell me, how did you discover me?”

“…..” For once Salazar didn’t know to whether laugh or cry. What’s this…hidden master talking about? He gulped and replied. “Umm…I’m not sure if the answer….is to your liking, Great One?”

“Speak.” Ava commanded without much thought. She wasn’t bothered about his concern anyway as she had other things in mind.

To Salazar however, he felt as if a heavy burden was lifted over his shoulders. He continued. “After a while talking with Brother Salaman, I finally noticed Great One was looking at me all this while. Forgive this old man for being blind and unthoughtful, O’ Great One.”

“Rise. Your knees are bad.” Ava said, seeing the alchemist seldom trembled in place. She slid off her snake avatar to a crate next to the staff. “Sit.”

Salazar complied with her order as a wise man submits to the circumstances. He was bewildered but kept mum. “As you command, Great One.”

“For your exchange with Salaman-” Ava moved her snake avatar forward and whipped its tail to both of the alchemist’s knees. “reciprocates another. Stand up, Alchemist.”

At first Salazar felt sharp jabs at his knees but then miraculous things happened; his knees no longer ached, his crouched spine was re-straightened and hidden poisons in his body had vanished! Such changes were so abrupt that he stood with a dumbfounded face. “….”

“Alchemist?” Ava propelled her snake avatar left and right, circling the robed man for several times. He was still as a statue. The Post Human suspected she had failed for some reason. Thus, she sent a tiny neural blast to him. “Alchemist. Wake up.”

Putong!

“Thank you-” Salazar sobered and dropped on all fours. “for your benevolence, Great One.” He refused to meet her snake avatar’s eyes. “This old man cannot repay you except with his life!”

Ava was bewildered about his behaviour. She had disguised her regeneration ability that was temporarily conferred to him to be similar to those pills ate by Akeila. What was strange about it? The Post Human discarded her line of thought and focused on the alchemist again. “Your fervor is appreciated but no. I have plans for you, Alchemist. You do not need to stake your life. You are more useful alive.” As the alchemist’s stomach grumbled, she spoke more. “And go eat. Your injuries may be gone but there is a price to be paid. There is no free lunch in this world or anywhere else.”

Salazar found her words to be logical. He didn’t stand in ceremony and rose. “…. sorry about that, Great One.” Being an alchemist, Salazar tried to guess what she did. He cannot help than to speak flurry of words to her. “This is…. not immortal technique? O’ Great One, I’m sorry if I speak too much but did you use Dias technique to heal this alchemist? Or, or! Hadian force acupuncture?!” His growling stomach broke the tension. “Ahaha-ha. Uhh…okay, I’ll go eat first.”

Before Ava could answer, Dawub came to the front of Salazar’s tent. “Master, here’s the bread and soup.” The young boy put down the plates he carried on top of a wooden table. “Master? Are you there?”

The Post Human shifted her glance. Salazar got the hint and promptly replied. “Good, good, disciple! Yes, leave it there!”

“Master…?” There was trace of doubt in Dawub’s voice. Isn’t Master usually angry every time? The brown-eyed boy was halfway to the back partition of said tent. “Master, is there anything wrong? You didn’t get poisoned again, right?”

“No, nothing!” Salazar arched his back again and met with his little student. “Master just found new material to speak with Brother Salaman!”

“…. really?” Dawub was unconvinced. He stared at his master. “Master, you’re not lying, are you?”

“No, I’m not!” The old alchemist scrambled for answers. He coincidentally saw Ava pointing with her snake avatar’s tail on an open scroll depicting a giant red arachnid and then purplish vials given by Farhan. “Master found out what the poisons are. They’re from Red Scorpions and had none of their intrinsic dissolving properties!”

“Oh-” Dawub immediately lost interest. He had heard his master spoke of poisons for umpteenth time that his ears became sore. Seeing nothing was out of place, the young boy gave Salazar a measured bow. “then, please eat Master. Dawub will be joining Uncles outside.”

“Okay, you can go now, Dawub. I’ll eat after I finish writing.” Salazar gave his disciple a noncommittal response while holding up a writing brush. His eyes were shifting from side to side.

Dawub was surprised that his master didn’t reprimand him for associating with people this time. He found it odd but decided to ignore it anyway as his master was unpredictable. He gave Salazar another bow and then left. “Don’t forget to eat, Master. Dawub will be back soon.”

As soon as his disciple disappeared, a soft thud sounded next to the alchemist. Ava talked to his mind yet again. “Consider this as a gift, Alchemist, as you had taught me many things.”

“Hmm?” This time it was Salazar’s turn to be surprised. That fist-sized purple crystal came out from thin air! Then Ava’s latter statement hit him. “Oh, no Great One! I wouldn’t dare to be your teacher! It’s not enough to teach anyone!” The robed old man felt he was a bit uncouth and thus quickly supplicated his words. “If Great One is willing, I can tell everything I know! Even secrets I didn’t teach to my dear disciple!”

“Do not panic-” Ava sent another neural blast to calm the nerves of the old man and continued. “as it was an exchange of services.” She moved her snake avatar to a table adjacent to the crate she was sitting on. “Besides, I wanted to request something from you.”

“Request?” Salazar looked at the shimmering purple crystal that had landed on one of his scrolls. He picked it up. “Does Great One wanted me to identify this? But…” The alchemist flipped it many times yet he didn’t know what it was. “I’m ashamed that I don’t know what this crystal is.”

“My request is something else, Alchemist.” The Post Human briefly read some of the opened scrolls in front of her. “You need to abandon your prior convictions for my request.”

The alchemist carefully stored the crystal away in a leather pouch. He then lowered his head in deference. “Considering Great One had solved my decade-old illness, I would do anything you instructed-” Salazar recalled about his disciple and quickly kowtowed to her. “and if possible, can Great One take my disciple under your wings? This alchemist is already old and only a small fish in a pond! Great One must be a dragon among dragons!”

“I cannot take your disciple.” Ava’s answer dampened his mood, indicating fate didn’t allow it be. However, her next words gave Salazar some glimmer of hope that he could be connected to this mysterious master. “But what I request will require your disciple. And the rest of Najaj riders.”

“Yes, yes, anything you command, Great One!” The alchemist wanted to kowtow harder but his body didn’t move as he wished. Instead, a gentle force caused him to stand up. This must be a consummate expert! The robed old man thus bowed repeatedly at Ava’s snake avatar. “I will go all out to support you, Great One! Come shaitan, slay shaitan! Come buddha, kill buddha!”

Ava retracted her [Gravity Control] ability. That’s one experiment done! Thus, she spoke to his mind. “No, you do not need to fight. You need to craft things for me.” She pointed her snake avatar’s tail to the side. Several sand-coloured round objects appeared and fell on the papyrus mat below. “You need to make tools to kill people and things. Agrippan tools.”

“This….” Salazar had an internal turmoil. His conscience said no but his instinct told him to obey her lest she became furious. The alchemist picked some of said objects and appraised it. “Is this what you said that I need to abandon my convictions, Great One?” Salazar was hesitant. “Do you plan…uh…” He kowtowed again after putting the object in his hands to his right side. “If I did anything wrong, please, take my life and spare my disciple! He’s innocent!”

Ava was amused at his reaction. Why should she kill him? She reminded him again. “Alchemist, you are more useful to me alive.” She pointed at such spherical objects. “Najaj is surrounded by vicious beasts. From what I saw, there are a lot of brave men here but wouldn’t Agrippan tools massively help and allow them to live another day?” Ava felt talkative at this moment and henceforth voiced her thoughts. “Yes, such tools are barbaric but what is more important here, your lives or some paltry ‘honour’? This is the cruel reality, Alchemist.”

“Err….” Salazar was speechless. What she said was right! This was not Kazar with their mighty guards but instead Najaj! They could fight the monsters off but for pyrrhic victory! The old man therefore, rose to his feet. “I need…to just make them, right? But uh…I don’t know if I can replicate it, Great One.” He reasoned, “Don’t be offended Great One; I have some guesses about how they work but Agrippa Imperium kept certain things such as their explosive jars a tightly guarded secret.”

A pause arrived as Ava was mulling over the issue. From her experience staying with Husan, giving advanced tools was ill-advised, or even dangerous. In face of a grand treasure, what were ties, what were propriety? Friends became enemies, families torn apart! However, a grumble broke the silence.

Obviously, it was from Salazar. His stomach to be exact. “Uh…sorry for that, Great One. This…alchemist will go eat first, yeah.”

Ava simply nodded and paid no further attention to the alchemist. She faced a peculiar dilemma; those Agrippan tools were clearly grenades despite being primitive. Her challenge was to replicate them that they wouldn’t out of place in this world. Her own advanced technologies were double-edged swords.

If she cannot solve it, there goes her plan to use Abbas as her proxy. Najaj’s vicinity was inundated by beasts, making trades all but impossible! Thus, by hook or crook, she needed to help Najaj mortals one way or another. She then moved her snake avatar around and slightly opened Salazar’s scrolls one by one.

The Post Human spoke to Salazar after seeing he had finished his meal. “Alchemist, do you bring any metals with you?”

“Metals?” The alchemist had retrieved the purple crystal given by her and was examining it again. “I do, Great One. But…I’m not sure if they are enough for your purposes, Great One?”

“No matter. Tell me.” Ava sent another mental transmission to the robed old man. She continued. “I have an idea. But you need to dirty your hands.”

“Dirty my hands?” Salazar stowed the crystal back to its pouch and then put a small papyrus slip in front of Ava's snake avatar. “Here, Great One. What I have is listed on the paper. I hope Great One understand that me and my disciple can only bring so much to Najaj.”

Ava perused the slip and went through it. The Post Human was a little surprised that this alchemist had a couple of good stuff! What she recognized were alum, fool’s gold and quicksilver. As for the rest, they were either irrelevant or unknown to her. She had some questions about them but postponed it.

Salazar monitored her every move. He steeled himself and asked her. “Great One, are Abbas and others are your servants?” The alchemist lowered his head and spoke more. “Can…can I be your servant too?” He proceeded to clasp his hands together as if he was praying to her. “Please, even if Great One didn’t take me or my disciple into your sight, let me be your servant at least! I can-”

Ava stopped him from kowtowing again. “Alchemist, I do not need servants.” Her announcement was another pour of cold water on him. As he was distraught, she determined to compromise a little bit. “This is an exchange, Alchemist. As what I planned for Abbas isn’t feasible, therefore…”

Salazar was wise enough to pick up her hints. “Sure! No problem! I’ll do anything you commanded, Great One!”

“Stop kowtowing to me, Alchemist.” Ava began to be annoyed as she stopped him for the third time from being on all-fours. “I do not look for a yesman. I look for a work man.”

“….” Salazar awkwardly scratched his nose. He was a little too excessive. The robed old man then nodded in shame. “You’re…right, Great One. How should I address you, Great One?”

The Post Human paused a little and then answered. “Call me Master Nour. Apart from Abbas and his two friends, do not speak of me to others.” Although her tone was flat as always, there was an implied threat in her mental transmission. “Even your own disciple. Certain things are better left unsaid and unknown.”

“Okay. Then, what should I do, Great On-, I mean, Master Nour?” Salazar had a slip of tongue and quickly corrected it.

Ava moved her snake avatar to another pile of crates owned by Salazar. Some of them contained iron tools. “Back-breaking work, Alchemist. I will teach you how to make stuffs like those Agrippan tools.”

“Back…back-breaking? What?” Salazar was confused. Is…is that why this master healed my aching back? But…for what? The alchemist followed her gaze and saw one of his shovels in said crates. “Uh…how can we dig trenches in sea of sand, Master Nour?”

“We won’t be making those. We will collect human waste.” Ava said. Seeing he was still perplexed, she clarified. “Human excrement or what you call around here as, ‘shit’. We must also collect animal’s manure.”

The alchemist was befuddled even further. What would human poo do with Agrippan tools? Will they pelt those vicious monsters with foul-smelling ‘matter’? Ava sent another mental transmission, saying it was a necessary step to her plans. Salazar can only wryly smile and guess her intentions of doing so.

As the robed alchemist was about to take one of his shovels, he heard a commotion. “Dear guest! Don’t just rush in! Master Alchemist Salazar don’t take kindly to intruders!”

There were voices of various people outside. Salazar didn’t know this one. “What, are you going to block me, Captain Jasur? I have urgent matters to speak with him! Let me through!”