"How are you going to open it?" Red answered with another question.

"I've picked up a bit of locksmithing over the years too." Goulth explained. "I'm not as good as Rimold, but it should be enough to open a simple box."

"Is he a locksmith?"

"No, he's just a thief." The man smiled. "Go fetch my tools."

Goulth instructed Red about which one of his specific instruments he was referring to. After a few attempts, the boy finally brought the right set of tools back, and the giant began his work.

"Locksmithing is just as much about opening locks as it is about making them." Goulth picked out a small set of pins, each one with a hook at the end. "It's a more specific field than blacksmithing and not as useful to Spiritual Cultivators as a whole, though."

"Why is that?" Red asked.

"Well, locks rely on mechanisms." The man explained. "You need the right key to open it, but that in itself is just too easy of an obstacle for cultivators. They can use their Spiritual Energy to unlock the mechanisms without even needing a key. What genuine cultivators use to keep precious items locked away are magical restrictions."

"You never mentioned restrictions to me before."

"Restrictions is the name we use for formations used to keep things locked away."

"You didn't tell me what formations are either."

"Listen, kid, I'm trying to focus here!" Goulth grumbled.

"But you're the one who..." Red trailed off as he saw the man give him an angry look.

The giant turned back towards the task at hand. Using the pins that barely fit his large hands, Goulth started to mess around with the lock. Over the next minute, clicking noises came out from the box at different intervals. The youth didn't know what was happening, but after one last click, the man leaned back and looked at Red with a smile.

"It's done." The giant was proud of himself.

"Already?" The boy was skeptical.

"What can I say? I'm pretty skilled."

"Didn't you say you weren't-"

"Now to the next part!" Goulth interrupted Red. "Checking for traps. Apart from the lock, there might be some hidden mechanisms that can destroy the contents of the box if they are not dealt with properly. This box looks too small to have anything of the sort, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

The man started to examine the box, lightly pressing and weighing different parts of the ornate casing. Upon discovering nothing out of the ordinary, though, he began to lift the lid ever so slightly using one of his pins. Jamming the tiny tool beneath the cover, Goulth examined the box again.

"Some traps only trigger once you open the lid." The man explained once he saw Red studying his actions. "So you need to carefully examine the gap for any mechanisms before flipping it open."

The giant proceeded to move the pin beneath the lid, looking for any resistance. After a full lap around the box, he removed the pin and looked up at Red with a smile.

"Seems safe, but you should take a step back just in case."

The youth readily took his advice and went to the other side of the room. Goulth then put both of his hands on the lid and took a deep breath. Then in one swift motion, he flipped the lid open and flinched back.

No explosions happened.

"Can I approach again?" Red asked, eager to know the contents of the box.

"Sure." Goulth nodded. "Seems like we were worried for nothing."

The youth actually appreciated his teacher's caution, but he was too concerned with other things to praise the man. Red approached and looked over the opened box. What he saw inside made his heart skip a beat.

"Is that...?"

"Yes!" Goulth laughed. "Spiritual Medicine!"

Inside the box, there were three glass vials containing pills, resting on top of a soft cloth. The one on the left had three small black-bluish pellets, the one in the middle had a dark green pill, and the one on the right had four bright yellow pellets.

"You struck a gold mine this time around, kid!" The giant looked happy. "These are pills that not even I can make with confidence, and it would take me months to get this many of them!"

"How do you know what they are?" Red asked.

"It's the coloration and the markings." Goulth explained. "Look closely."

The youth did as he was told. These pills were about the size of his fingernails, and he had to get extremely close to examine them. Sure enough, though, Red saw patterns on their surface that formed symbols he didn't recognize.

"What do they do?" The youth asked.

"These can help you open your Spiritual Veins." Goulth pointed at the dark blue pills. "They're appropriately called Vein Opening pills."

The youth recognized the name from a conversation with Viran that might as well have happened a lifetime ago.

"These ones," The man pointed at the yellow pills. "Are Blood Revival pills. They can stop bleeding and heal superficial wounds. Good for when you're in the middle of combat, and you can ingest many of them in a row. As for the last one..."

Goulth picked up the vial containing the single dark green pill.

"It's a fake Parting Sea Pill." The giant explained.

"Fake?" Red frowned. "What does it do?"

"It's meant to help you open your Spiritual Sea. However, this is merely an imitation of the real thing. Its effects are nowhere near as good as the legitimate product."

Red had a sudden realization.

"Is that the pill Narcha was looking for?"

"Very likely." Goulth sighed in resignation. "That girl is very foolish to be spending her money on this..."

"Why do you say that?" The youth asked, noticing the change in the man's tone.

"This is not the first time she's bought something like this." The man explained. "Unfortunately, it's just an imitation at the end of the day. It provides minimal help in opening the Spiritual Sea and has some dangerous side effects. On top of that, it's also very expensive..."

"...Can't she gather more money to buy the real thing?" Red questioned.

"I wish it were that simple boy." Goulth shook his head. "Production of these pills is controlled by the Sects and other large factions. They put up a limited amount of them for sale every year, and each pill is more expensive than what our sect makes in an entire year."

The boy had no idea what the number represented, but he could feel the weight behind the man's words.

"Are they that rare?" Red asked.

"Not rare. Sects can produce plenty of those." The giant continued. "But for a cultivator, they are priceless. They might allow someone who has no chance of opening their Spiritual Sea to finally have a glimpse of hope. Unfortunately, they're beyond the buying scope even of most cultivators who have already opened their Spiritual Sea, not to mention people like us."

Goulth had a troubled expression.

"This is the sad truth of this world, kid. The Sects and other great powers don't want everyone to be running around with the secret to opening their Spiritual Sea. For that, they maintain a monopoly on the production of these pills and limit their availability to the outside world. That way, not only can they prevent the rise of rival powers, but they may also compel cultivators to join their organization.

"People like Narcha who are stuck at this bottleneck look desperately for any aid they can find, no matter how small or dangerous it may prove to be. This obsession hardly ever pays off, though, and at the end of the day, it is more likely to just get her killed......" Goulth trailed off with a distant look in his eyes. "I worry about her."

Red didn't respond.

"Sorry, kid, I shouldn't be putting so many bad thoughts in your head." The man shook his head. "Although obtaining a genuine Parting Sea pill is difficult, it's not impossible. For now, though..."

Goulth handed the vial with the green pill to the boy.

"You can give Narcha this yourself." The giant smiled. "I'll take the other items to Hector and explain the situation to him. Unless you want to do it yourself?"

Red promptly shook his head.

"Haha! It's fine, kid." Goulth laughed. "As your master, I would never allow you to get the short end of the stick."

He closed the ornate box and picked up both the talisman and the bag of coins.

"You can wait here while I talk to Hector and Domeron. Make yourself comfortable... But don't steal anything!" The man warned with a grin, leaving the youth behind at the forge.

Red looked down at the glass vial and frowned.

He had a lot to think about.

...

Goulth didn't return for the next hour. The youth couldn't hear any sounds of screaming coming from the hall, but the wait made him feel anxious about what might have happened. Could it be the blacksmith was wrong about how Hector would react? Was the elder thinking about expelling the boy from the sect?

Such thoughts kept crossing Red's mind as he silently waited in the forge by himself. Eventually, though, he heard the front door open and looked up to find that Goulth had returned.

"It went well." The man smiled. "A bit too well, if you ask me."

"What does that mean?" The boy asked.

"Hector was mad as expected, but that's just about normal for him." Goulth shrugged. "The Town's Guard actually appeared at our front gate while we were in the middle of our discussion, and Domeron went with them to pick up the brats."

"Did Hector say anything about what I did?"

"No, actually." The giant looked confused. "I expected to have to argue with him, but he was pretty accepting of the terms I put forward. He did have one condition, though... He wants to meet with you alone after dinner."

Red frowned.

"Look, I know what you're thinking, kid." Goulth smiled. "Hector is not that kind of person, though. If he wanted to kill you, he would never go through so many hoops."

"This doesn't make me feel any better." The boy remarked.

"I know. If you want to, I can go with you." The giant suggested. "I won't be able to stop Hector if he wants to do anything, but I can probably hold him back long enough to give you a headstart in your escape."

The youth couldn't tell whether he was being serious or not.

"Look, I know it's difficult to put your trust in people you've barely known for a few days." Goulth continued. "But I'd like to think we have been pretty genuine with you, right? In the end, I feel like our actions speak louder than any words I could use to convince you."

The man was able to guess what concerned Red. The boy felt as if things were moving too fast for him to keep up, and he didn't know when or if he would ever get used to living around these people. But in the end, he had already taken plenty of risks in his interactions with them. Meeting Hector alone was hardly more dangerous than insulting the violent elder to his face in front of other people.

"I'll go." Red nodded.

"Good." Goulth nodded back. "Those folks should be back in a bit, too..."

The giant had barely finished speaking when a wave of loud sounds spilled over from the outside. Their source was the voice of a loud and rude warrior.

"I'm gonna murder that fat pig even if it's the last thing I- Ugh!"

Narcha's tirade was suddenly interrupted as she yelled in pain.

"STOP SCREAMING AND GET INSIDE THE HALL RIGHT NOW!"

Hector's even louder voice drowned everything out, and Red could almost feel the elder's rage from his words.

He frowned and looked at Goulth.

"You said he wasn't mad."

The giant smiled and shrugged.