Kestra went back and read out the reports for Graemire. They were most of the way through the stack when Assistant Manager Lee Song cleared his throat.

"My apologies for the interruption. Manager Holla is returned with a guest of the Zonzhi Association," he announced.

Kestra returned the pages to the folio and, with Graemire's nod, slid the reports toward Lee Song.

"Your generosity in aiding us in looking for my companion will be remembered fondly," Graemire said, producing a sealed jade and gold box, which he laid upon the folio.

Lee Song bowed. "We are always honored to aid the Honorable Divines."

The door opened while Lee Song was straightening up. Manager Holla held the door for a woman that reeked of poor mana control. She looked like a noble [Alchemist] come directly from her workshop, her garb obviously of superb quality, but meant to protect one from acids and flash fires. A faint, sharply medicinal scent clung to her, and despite the high quality of her garb, there were spots where it had been burnt or etched.

She at least looked past Kestra to Graemire, and the irritation in her gaze turned to curiosity.

"Honored Divine Graemire, this is Zonzhi Association's Master of Alchemy, Sung Eliza, Master of Alchemy."

Graemire flexed his mana, a crude kind of dominance posturing. It flattened Kestra, literally knocking her unconscious.

Smelling salts, or this realm's equivalent, jolted Kestra back to wakefulness.

"My apologies, my little potential. I forget how very fragile you yet are," Graemire said, his worry apparent as he cradled her in his vines.

She blinked away the blue screens. "Alive. Breathing. No risk, no reward."

That got a chuckle from Graemire, but it sounded more relieved than amused. "You humble me, little one." Then the Wood Elemental drew his dignity to him with a chilling focus. In a tone that bordered on disapproving, he said, "My appreciation, Miss Eliza, for your aid in recovering my little potential."

Kestra watched Sung Eliza bow her head, much more subdued than upon her entry.

"How may the Zonzhi Association aid your Divine self?" she asked.

"I wish for you to ascertain the import of a technique of Alchemy brought to us by my little potential, Miss Kestra, under the honor of the Zonzhi Association," Graemire stated.

The doubtful look on the Master Alchemist's face spoke volumes, through she quickly suppressed it. "I will be happy to provide my assessment, bound by the honor of the Zonzhi Association." Golden light of the Ten Horizons shimmered over her features.

"Miss Kestra, please explain Water Extraction," Graemire stated. He picked up his cup and took a sip.

Kestra repeated the explanation she had given before, adding in some mechanical methods to obtain the oil, but at the loss of the fern water. She noted that at some point while she was passed out Lee Song had departed.

Eliza's expression had been carefully neutral during the mana based portion of the explanation, but when Kestra brought up the mechanical methods, her eyes sharpened. She stood up at the end and went to a clear part of the office. With a wave of her hand, she produced a work bench with alchemical tools. "Show me," she challenged.

Kestra ignored the work bench. The tools were interesting and she wanted to explore them, but not at the moment. She paused long enough to refresh her memory of the feel of the mana flows, then rose. She handed the fern to Eliza and asked, "Please pardon me if I am being pedantic in assuring you see the whole of the steps. Are you familiar with this reagent?"

A sardonic look crossed the Master Alchemist's face. "Quite. I had to grind out Health Powders during my Novitiate."

"And you are satisfied that this a typical specimen of the Dragon's Breath Fern?" Kestra pressed. "It isn't abnormal in affinities, strengths, or growths?"

"Yes, it's about as typical as they get. Looks like a wild harvest, so quite unexceptional."

Kestra nodded. Then she pulled out a small carving knife and cut the roots from the fronds. She set the fronds aside and drew her knife down the sides of the roots large enough for her to cut. Then she put her knife away, absently noting to Inspri, «Needs to be kept in a to-clean space.»

She barely noted the blip of affirmation from her Inventory Sprite, and focused on the mana feel of pulling around water.

Congratulations!

You have successfully taught yourself the [Apprentice] Grade [Control Water] spell!

+1,000 EXP

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Control Water

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GRADE: Apprentice

With this spell, you take control of water in a designated area through the manipulation of ambient mana.

This spell can be countered by a more proficient caster.

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Components: none

Cost: 10 mana per second per cubic meter

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The blue screen notices disturbed her, but she dealt with them quickly enough and focused on pulling out all of the liquid still in the roots. It came out as a milky globule, floating in the air. Kestra pulled out two ceramic dishes fired with non-reactive glaze.

She focused on the Lesser Cleanse spell she used to know, the feeling of separating substances out, and got another flash of blue screens that made her bobble the bubble. Fortunately, it was only a bobble and not a complete break in focus.

Congratulations!

You have successfully taught yourself the [Apprentice] Grade [Disassemble] spell!

+1,000 EXP

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Disassemble

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GRADE: Apprentice

Reduce complex systems to simple parts.

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Components: None

Cost: Depends on system being disassembled.

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She separated out the oil from the water, using her Control Water spell to put both fluids into separate dishes.

Congratulations!

You have added a new mana-based Alchemy technique to the Realm of the Ten Horizons. Please title your new technique.

"That's the Water Extraction technique. The roots probably won't taste that great, but they'll be safe to add to animal feed."

Water Extraction Journeyman Alchemy Technique Created!

You have added a new mana-based Alchemy technique to the Realm of the Ten Horizons.

+10,000 EXP

Level Up!

You have reached the next level. You gain 5 boosts to distribute across your statistics.

Kestra grimaced, sending her notices to the side and ignoring the feeling of something thunking into her inventory.

Eliza wasn't looking at Kestra, instead poking at the separated materials. She conjured a flame on top of the oil, then lifted the flame with the oils in the middle up in front of her. Her fingers went through complex movements, hypnotic in their artistry. Each flick of her fingers adjusted her flame.

In a few minutes, she returned a highly refined material to the dish, and her expression turned openly gleeful. "That! That was amazing! It made the refining process leaps easier! What rank is the technique? At least Journeyman, I'd bet, but it could easily be Expert."

"Journeyman," Kestra said.

Eliza nodded. "Exclusive licensing for fifty percent royalties," she offered.

Graemire growled. "No," he flatly denied, and Eliza started, as if just remembering the Wood Elemental Divine Creature in the room.

She bowed to Graemire. "What is Honored Divine's counteroffer?"

"Licensing to Zonzhi Association and the Alchemist's Guild, with the Association and Guild able to teach the technique under honor to their members for half the cost of a market license for the technique. Miss Kestra shall receive the full payment of the members cost and nine tenths of each market sale, to be paid to an account of credit linked to a soul-bound token."

"Nine-tenths is--" Eliza began.

"Less than most licensers take, and a courtesy for the trouble you underwent to come down to the First Horizon for this assessment," Graemire stated. "Miss Eliza, I do no not negotiate."

The Master Alchemist closed her mouth, considered the offer, then nodded. "We shall draw up the contracts immediately, and then I will forge the first technique scroll."

While they went back and forth through the contract terms, Kestra reviewed the screens that hadn't tried to interrupt her concentration.

She blinked in shock.

Congratulations!

You have successfully advanced your [Alchemy] skill to the [Apprentice] Ranks! You will receive one skill related item to mark this occasion!

+ Scroll: Control Flames Spell

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Alchemy

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Alchemy begins with sourcing appropriate ingredients. From there, one must extract the properties of one's ingredients. Then one must carefully combine the properties and finally condense the resultant combination into a useful form.

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Extracting alchemical properties from ingredients you have grown or harvested has a 10% greater chance of success.

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Those had been suppressed during the meeting with Manager Mardu. She remembered that thunking feeling that happened then. She didn't have a screen explaining the thunking feeling that had just happened, so she checked with Inspri.

«Scroll: Water Extraction Technique,» her Inventory Sprite advised.

Then, from her recent black out, thanks to Graemire's mana posturing:

Congratulations!

You have opened one of your mana apertures!

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Base Mana Recovery factor increases by 1

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Quest: Open Your Mana Apertures

Requirements: Open all 12 of your Mana Apertures.

Progress: 4/12 Apertures Open

Rewards:

‎ Sovereign of Mana Title

‎ +25 Mana

+25 Mana Recovery

EXP: 120,000

Congratulations!

You have opened one of your mana apertures!

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Base Mana Recovery factor increases by 1

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Quest: Open Your Mana Apertures

Requirements: Open all 12 of your Mana Apertures.

Progress: 5/12 Apertures Open

Rewards:

‎ Sovereign of Mana Title

‎ +25 Mana

+25 Mana Recovery

EXP: 120,000

Kestra decided to try the scroll copying thing she had done with the map data again, only this time she handled it in what she was coming to think of as Inspri's realm. Her sprite watched with eager interest, and sent along a burble of joy at watching the Water Extraction Technique scroll double.

Pulling out the second scroll, she read through it, ignoring the screen that warned her she couldn't activate it. As the originator of the technique, she knew all there was to know about it already.

Branch Manager Holla was drawing up the contract, writing with a brush, his strokes careful and deliberate.

Kestra felt a bit stupid as she suddenly realized she didn't know quite a lot. She cleared her throat, drawing Graemire's and Eliza's gazes. Blushing, she asked, "What should I expect the market price to be?"

Master Alchemist Eliza said, "A Journeyman technique that improves the refining outcomes should have a starting price at auction of two or three hundred gold. I expect the bidding will at first exceed five hundred gold per scroll. It will mostly be sold in the Third Horizon, I expect."

"Is that … a lot? I just, well, I don't have any sense of money, I'm sorry to say," Kestra admitted.

Eliza blinked, then looked at Kestra more closely. Her features softened. "Tribeswoman? It's valuable up through the Sixth Horizon. In the Seventh, that's more or less small coin. The Immortal realms mostly abandon metal currency for mana stones.

"You know it's a hundred copper coins to a silver, and a hundred silver to a gold, yes? Base grade mana stones are generally considered the equivalent of 100 gold, and Foundation grade mana stones are worth 1,000 gold. Earth grade are assessed at 10,000 gold, Sky grade 100,000 gold. I haven't personally seen a Celestial grade mana stone, but they are assessed at a value of 1,000,000 gold. From Earth grade up you can't buy the stones for their assessed value. They're too useful as cultivation aids, but they do get traded around at assessed value."

Kestra nodded to herself as she absorbed that. "How often does the exchange rate change?"

That got an interested glance up from Manager Holla.

Eliza laughed. "It doesn't. At least, it hasn't for the last, oh, seven, eight hundred years. I'd have to look at my journals to see just how long I've lived now."

That made Kestra double blink. Then she set aside all the questions that raised. "Honored Divine Graemire, would you be offended if we set a fixed price of 120 gold for the technique for the members of the Zonzhi Association and Alchemist's Guild? It would be my hope to both honor the value the Association finds in this technique while keeping it accessible for those outside of their organizations."

She held up the technique scroll in her hand and added, "Speaking of which, the Ten Horizons awarded me a technique scroll for the forming, and said it has been added to the Ten Horizons. Will that change anything about the contract? And I still have the right to teach the technique to those I want to, right? My apologies for how late my questions are coming."

Graemire shrugged. "I see no problem with your fixed price, nor any reason that the curent contract cannot go through with that amendment. Do you, Miss Eliza?"

If anything, Eliza's gleeful grin got brighter. "Oh! Even better! This isn't a rediscovery! I would be happy to set a standard payout for members. Manager Holla, have you reached that part of the contract yet?"

"No, Master Sung," he said. "I can easily adapt that in. And nothing in the contract would prohibit you, Miss Kestra, from teaching others or selling scrolls of the technique that you make. It would cut into the profit you will see from our contract, though."

Kestra set the scroll on the table. "I don't see myself setting up a scroll shop, but I don't want to forego the option to teach my friends and family, should I live to have descendants."

Soon enough, the contract was finished. Kestra read it out for Graemire, who gave his nod of approval. Signing the contract took a drop of blood from Kestra, Manager Holla, and Master Alchemist Sung Eliza. She received a copy and a token of white jade. She pushed her mana into the token, binding it, and received an imitation of the blue screens, black glyphs on holographic brass.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Balance of Accounts

Zonzhi Association

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Monies Owed: 120g

Monies Outstanding: 0

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Report of Sales: Licensed Technique - Water Extraction (Alchemy, Journeyman)

In House (1 x 120g): 120g

Auction: 0

0: 0 (2H)

0: 0 (3H)

0: 0 (4H)

0: 0 (5H)

0: 0 (6H)

Retail: 0

0 x 0 (7H): 0

0 x 0 (8H): 0

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Manager Holla explained, proving he could see the yellow screen, too. "We've started your balance with your having taught the technique to Master Alchemist Sung. We will likely start by selling the techniques at auction in the Third and Sixth Horizons to confirm how much demand they will generate. With those auctions as gauges, we will determine a retail price for the sales in the Seventh and Eighth Horizons."

He added as an aside, "Auction Houses do poorly in the Immortal Horizons for anything but unique items. In fact, we begin to introduce buy-out prices in the Fifth Horizon for anything sold under license. That will still be lumped with the other auction prices."

"Why are the realms only listed from the second, and nothing in the Ninth or Tenth?" Kestra asked

Graemire said, "Little potential, the Ninth Horizon is viciously guarded by the Sects, so the Associations refuse to provide services there. Those who ascend to the Divine Horizon are few and far between, thus most of us do our shopping in the Eighth Horizon."

Manager Holla added, "And there isn't enough wealth in the First Horizon to support sales of any but the lowest Novice grade scrolls here. There likely won't be many sales of an Alchemy technique before the Third Horizon, no matter the circumstances."

"Ah," she said. "And I can just show up to any of the Jade Pearl Auction Houses to receive at least some of the monies owed?"

"Yes, after tonight's update dispatches." Manager Holla said with a genial smile. "If you have a preferred city to receive your funds, we can ensure that they have sufficient funds to cover your payout."

Kestra nodded to herself, dismissed the balance sheet and tucked the token into her storage. "Well, I guess that's everything I can think to ask now. Oh, do you need this technique scroll?"

"Keep it," the Master Alchemist said. "I learned the technique while watching you, and I have the Scroll Scribe spell. Once I've made a few, our in House scribes will be able to take over the copying."

Graemire sighed. "Then we must continue our search for my companion."

They exchange pleasant farewells and departed, Graemire once more pretending to be Kestra's cloak.

Master Alchemist Sung Eliza grimaced after the Elemental took his protege and departed, the mana in the room decreasing with him.

She waved her hand, collecting her work station and the two ceramic dishes the protege had forgotten. She couldn't wait to return to her workshop and see just how significant a disruption to her routine this Journeyman level technique would make. But, first, "Manager Holla, the Divine provided you the pass phrase, you said?"

"Yes, Master Sung."

"Tell me everything odd that has been happening of late," she ordered. "And especially everything concerning those two."

Manager Holla spotted the red folio and opened it, verifying it held the reports he had expected.

He handed the folio to Eliza. "He's looking for an Earth Elemental named Ambrose. The matter we just cleared up came up because Miss Kestra was recommending an acid tempered extraction from that Dragon's Breath Fern as an additive to the tea I enjoy."

The more he explained, the more Eliza felt like kicking herself. At the end of it, she lamented, "And he invoked the honor of our Association, so I can't even experiment with the this acid tempering!"

Sighing, she added an addendum to the account balance that she wanted to be notified as soon as Kestra showed her token at the next Jade Pearl Auction House, or any other of the smaller branches of the Zonzhi Association.