Harry leisurely walked to the Alchemy Garden. The Alchemists occupied nearly an entire quarter of the land of the Swan Sea Sect, and their headquarters were a short walk away from the center of the sect. It didn't take long for him to get there, and well before he arrived, he could tell he was getting close.
Even from a distance, he could feel the difference in the air. Magic Plants were always grown in areas of rich Qi to best help their development. Sometimes that area was one that naturally gathered Qi, other times Alchemists or Herbologists would artificially introduce Qi there. Either way, the environment around Alchemy Gardens was always rich.
This would be a perfect place to cultivate in the Qi Absorption Realm, but that was strictly forbidden. The Qi here was for the plants, not for humans to use.
Out of all the halls of the Swan Sea Sect, the Alchemy Hall was the grandest, and also most unique. It was a circular tower that rose straight into the sky – from a distance, it looked like a massive finger pointing at the clouds. Windows and balconies decorated the exterior at periodic intervals. The base of the tower was large enough to fit his dorm ten times over, and it was eight stories tall.
That tower was the first in a long line of buildings. Directly to the right of the tower was a large dormitory, where the Alchemists lived. Harry knew the Swan Sea Sect didn't have more than a few dozen Alchemists, maybe 50 to 60 at the most, but their residence was large enough to hold ten times that many people. He thought his dorm was large and luxurious, but now he realized the Alchemists had it way better.
'Pampered pricks,' he mentally snorted.
Then to the right of the dormitory were a dozen other buildings, which people were entering and exiting, carrying boxes of items and a variety of gardening equipment. These must have been storage rooms and warehouses, holding all the equipment they needed to grow Magic Plants.
Speaking of Magic Plants, the Alchemy Garden was located right in front of the line of buildings. It was in the shape a large square, where hundreds of species of plants were growing in neat and orderly rows, like lines of soldiers standing at attention. Harry had to admire the organization behind it.
Teams of people walked in-between the rows, taking care of all the plants. Harry saw some people watering plants, others pulling out weeds, and others harvesting plants and planting new ones into the soil. Alchemists, workers, and disciples alike all worked together, supervised by a couple of Elders.
There was a thin layer of a mud-like substance all over the garden, covering the entire field. People worked in teams of two or three to cart wheelbarrows of the stuff around, then shoveled it out and spread it around the plants. Harry guessed it was some kind of fertilizer.
As soon as he got close enough to the Alchemy Garden, his ability activated.
He looked towards a row of low plants with thin branches and square leaves. Purple flowers sprouted in all directions. He saw, and in his mind –
Violet Leaf Dittany – an Ordinary Grade healing herb that can be used to cure shallow wounds.
He looked at the next row of plants, which was separated from the dittany by quite a lot of space. They resembled the stumps of a tree, except long, thorny vines grew out of them and waved in all directions.
Thorny Venomous Tentacula – an Ordinary Grade plant that secretes venom from its thorns. The stump is full of poison and the branches will move and attack anything nearby.
The next row – and Harry did a double-take – what looked like massive black slugs were growing on piles of leaves. Nasty, yellow puss oozed out of the body. Harry was convinced they were animals, until –
Bubo Tuber – an Ordinary Grade plant that yields thick puss when squeezed.
His eyes swept across the garden, row by row, and information simply materialized into his brain.
Shriveled Fig – an Ordinary Grade herb whose leaves have medicinal properties. The flower grows inside the fruit, which must be peeled before use.
Leaping Toad Stool – an Ordinary Grade mushroom-type plant. These mushrooms are mobile and will jump after being watered.
Wolf's Bane – an Ordinary Grade plant with toxic leaves, but the root and flowers are used in Alchemy. Also known as Monk's Hood.
The plants went on and on. There were just over 300 species of Ordinary Grade plants in this garden, and Harry could identify each and every single one.
And finally, at the end of the garden was a large tank of glass filled with water. Inside the tank grew clumps of plants that looked like long, slimy rat tails, except with a greenish tint.
Gilly Weed – an Ordinary Grade plant that grows underwater. Consuming it will allow the user to breathe underwater and swim effortlessly.
'What the hell is this ability?' Harry wondered for the hundredth time. Though since he was even able to identify a rare Spirit Grade plant, he supposed there shouldn't be any difficulty with these Ordinary Grade ones. Still, it was uncomfortable to have this knowledge and not understand where it came from.
After processing that flood of information, he continued walking forwards. He entered the fence surrounding the large Alchemy Garden, and was immediately recognized.
A pair of Alchemists were the first to notice him. In complete sync, their mouths opened and they rubbed their eyes, as if to check if they were dreaming. Then they leapt in fright, and started yelling for help.
In the entire Swan Sea Sect, Harry was the only person who wore burnt dark robes, and had one of the loudest and worst reputations. It would be strange if they didn't recognize him.
"James is here! He's here!"
"Help! It's James!"
Their yelling got everybody's attention, and as other workers and Alchemists turned to see what the commotion was about, they too froze in disbelief. Why did James come to the Alchemy Hall?
Everyone knew about his altercations with the Alchemists. The story of him attacking Nelson, then stealing his pills, and finally scolding him and his friends in front of half the sect spread like wildfire. It had been centuries since an Alchemist was mistreated in such a manner. Naturally, the Alchemists were furious, and plotting something in their circular tower.
Yet, before they could go seek out James for revenge, James actually came seeking them!
'This is true courage!' people thought in admiration.
Was James here to pick another fight? Did he decide he didn't beat Nelson enough, and wanted to go another round? Or was he here to rob pills, like he had threatened? When it came to James, anything was within the realm of possibility.
All work immediately ceased as soon as Harry walked through the gate. Everyone knew that a confrontation was going to break out, and no one wanted to miss it.
And sure enough, a group of disciples from the Alchemy Hall gathered and stood in front of James, blocking his way into the Alchemy Garden. A figure everyone recognized as Nelson walked out.
"Haha, James, I'm glad that you're here!" Nelson laughed loudly as he walked forward.
Harry looked at Nelson curiously. Nelson was actually happy to see him?
Everyone else also stared at Nelson strangely. Perhaps James hit his head too hard, which caused him to lose his memory? But soon after, the reason for his mirth became clear.
"It's good you realized your wrongs, and came here to apologize. If you return my items and kowtow sincerely, we can consider –"
"Nelson, is there a problem with your brain? Just shut up," Harry interrupted. Did Nelson actually expect him to hand anything over?
"James! We're in the territory of the Alchemy Hall! How dare you come here!" one of Nelson's friends exclaimed.
"How dare I? Why don't I dare?" Harry almost snorted. There was no rule saying he couldn't come to the Alchemy Hall, was there?
The crowd of Alchemists nervously stood there, trying to block James from approaching further. Then the crowd parted to reveal two Elders of the Alchemy Hall. Their robes were yellow and decorated with patterns of red flames, and their faces matched the color of those flames.
"You're James?" one of them snapped.
"Right. I'm here to –"
"I've heard all about your actions," he interrupted. "How dare you attack and rob an Alchemist? If it weren't for the sect's rules, I'd teach you a very painful lesson that Alchemists aren't to be offended."
'So, this is where Nelson got his attitude from,' Harry mused.
"Indeed. James, you will immediately return Nelson's pills. From this moment, you are blacklisted from buying any of the Alchemy Hall's products, and anyone caught selling or giving them to you will be blacklisted too. You'll learn the consequences the hard way. Hand them over now, or else," the other Elder threatened.
"Or else what?" Harry asked, playing along.
"Or else you will be p – ," the Elder caught himself, then frowned. "James, just hand them over."
'Ah, so it's just more lashes,' Harry snorted. In that case, he'd take full advantage of the sect's rules. There was no need to hand anything back, as long as Nelson was doing the punishing.
"Well, there's a bit of a problem. I already ate all of Nelson's healing pills. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't give them back. I suppose Nelson will just have to punish me further," Harry lied while pretending to helplessly shrug.
"You – that's a load of nonsense. Nelson concocted well over a dozen healing pills. You're telling me you ate all of them? It would take weeks for you to refine them all!"
"Well, I didn't refine them. I was very hungry, and didn't feel like going to the cafeteria. Then I saw the snacks Nelson gave me, so I decided to help myself."
The Elder almost coughed out a mouthful of blood due to anger. He knew James was lying, but just the idea of treating healing pills as snacks infuriated him. Each of those pills could be sold for hundreds of Qi Crystals, or potentially save somebody's life. Who was stupid enough to eat them like snacks?
And Nelson's face twisted into rage. The pills he worked so hard to create… were actually treated as snacks?
"Do you think I'll believe that?" he snapped.
"So what if you don't believe it? Can you prove I didn't eat them?" Harry glanced at Nelson, then dismissed him.
"Can you prove you ate them?" one of the Elders shot back.
"Sure. Many people can testify that I got injured while collecting Beast Cores, and when I arrived in the Missions Hall, I still had those injuries. I'm sure Nelson noticed them, so he can testify. But now, I'm healed. Obviously, I used one of Nelson's healing pills for that. Then I had the rest as snacks because I was hungry. If you want, you can smell my breath. I guarantee it has the smell of healing pills on it."
All the Alchemists looked furious now.
'Fine, perhaps you had one Healing Pill to treat your injuries.'
'But do you think we're fools? No one is stupid enough eat pills just to fill their stomach!'
'And asking us to smell your breath, James, are you trying to humiliate us? Fuck you, who wants to smell your nasty breath?'
Swallowing his anger, the Elder continued.
"Then what about the Gilly Weed Essence Pills? I know you didn't eat those. If you know what's good for you, then hand them back now."
"How do you know I didn't eat those?" Harry asked curiously. They must have been referring to those slimy green ones. Then he thought to the Gilly Weed plants he just saw – did these pills help the user breathe underwater?
"Those pills, when consumed, cause the user to grow gills like a fish. If you ate them, you'd have suffocated," the Elder sneered.
'Those pills actually had that magical effect?' Harry was surprised. Good thing he didn't eat one of those pills, or he would have died the stupidest death in the history of the whole sect.
"Ah, right. The Gilly Weed Essence Pills. True, I didn't eat those. But I'm still unable to hand them back."
"Why not?" the Elder demanded angrily.
"Well, when I was in my dorm, I tripped and dropped the pills on the ground. Then when I tried to pick them up, I stepped on one of them, crushing it into powder. That caused me to slip, and I accidentally landed on the rest of them, and they turned into powder too," Harry spouted the first excuse that came to mind.
"You – you – " the Elder turned wild with anger. What sort of bullshit excuse was that?
That was the sort of stupid lie a child would come up with!
"Do you expect us to believe that?" the other Elder angrily yelled.
"I'm very sorry. Next time, I will definitely be more careful," Harry pledged with fake sincerity.
'Next time?' both Elders wanted to strangle James. 'You think there's going to be a next time?'
"Since I can't hand them back, I guess Nelson will just need to punish me further. We can go to the whipping post and get this over with right now. I will definitely accept my punishment."
The first Elder looked like his head was about to explode.
'Shameless, absolutely shameless!' he raged. This was the first time he ever met a mere Outer Disciple this shameless and despicable.
'This brat, he knows that we can't punish him! And he knows the only person who is allowed to punish him is Nelson, who is too weak to actually do it! Damn it, this bastard is flaunting the Swan Sea Sect's Rules!'
Harry just smirked as the Elders grew angrier and angrier.
'Hehe, if you Alchemists left me alone, I would leave you alone too. We would be like well water and river water, never interfering. But since you Alchemists turned out to be this despicable, haha, I'm going to play you all to death!'
"Elder Nathaniel, let's calm down. Those pills were just Ordinary Grade pills, and we can concoct more whenever we want. It's not worth getting angry over this," the second Elder consoled.
"Right, that's true," the first Elder took a deep breath to calm down. The pills themselves weren't too big of a deal. They were just Ordinary Grade, and weren't considered too precious. Rather, they were angry that they were being toyed with by an Outer Disciple.
They couldn't even bear to look at James. Just seeing his chubby and sinister face made their insides twist with anger. If they saw it any longer, they might just lose control.
"James, if you're not here to return the pills, or to apologize to Nelson, then get the hell out. The Alchemy Hall does not tolerate troublemakers."
"Actually, I am not here to cause trouble. I am here for the task in the Missions Hall. The one to take care of Magic Plants."
'I am here to take care of Magic Plants…'
The Elder looked at Harry as if he misheard. James wanted to take care of Magic Plants?
"You're here to take care of our plants?" the Elder repeated.
"Right."
"Too bad," the Elder immediately responded. "The Alchemy Hall does not welcome people like you. Get out and find a job somewhere else."
"Are you sure about that?" Harry calmly asked. He was expecting a response along these lines, so he wasn't too surprised.
"I'm sure," Elder Nathaniel sneered. "Everyone knows you're the sect's biggest troublemaker. Who would trust you to work here? You better roll to another hall before I make you roll out of here."
Hearing the Elders stand up against James, all the Alchemists' faces lit up. Since the Elder had spoken, James wouldn't dare to cause more trouble.
"Get out of here!" all of Nelson's friends yelled.
"Right, roll out of our Alchemy Hall right now!"
But Harry didn't grow angry at those remarks, and just tauntingly looked at the Elder.
"Elder, haven't you read the rulebook? Don't you know that Elders can't use their position to prevent disciples from attempting tasks? But since you don't welcome me, I guess I have no choice. I'll just have to return to the sect and report it, I guess."
And with that, Harry turned around and walked out the Alchemy Garden.
Three… two… one…
"Wait! Wait!" Elder Nathaniel suddenly called out.
In his anger over how Harry treated his disciples, he grew hot-headed and immediately ordered him out. The Elder didn't even consider the rules when doing so. But now that Harry brought it up, he recalled this particular rule and paled.
Many years ago, there were incidents where Elders abused their position to create unfairness in the task system. They would reserve certain tasks for certain disciples, not letting other disciples even attempt them. Some Elders even set up secret racketeering schemes. Disciples would have to pay the Elders to reserve a task for them, and then the Elders would prevent anyone else from completing it. Ironically, this practice started in the Alchemy Hall, where the tasks had the highest rewards and largest demand.
Eventually, the Law Enforcement Hall and the Sect Master of the time created new rules to maintain a sense of fairness. With few exceptions, all tasks were on a first-come first-serve basis, and any disciple should be allowed to complete any task. Instances of Elders abusing their positions to target disciples were now considered core rule violations.
If James actually reported this, and the Law Enforcement Hall carried out an investigation, he would be found guilty. When he realized that, he quickly backtracked.
"What is it?" Harry asked, turning around and trying to not smirk. Over the past week, he spent some time every night going through the huge rulebook. He obviously couldn't memorize it all, but luckily for him, this one had stuck in his mind.
"I – I spoke too hastily earlier," Elder Nathaniel forced himself to say, looking like he swallowed a cockroach. Next to him, the other Elder also looked like bitten into a particularly nasty insect.
"Really?" Harry pretended to light up. "So, I can work here?"
"You can," Elder Nathaniel admitted, though it was clear he thought the exact opposite.
And by his side, the Alchemists clamoring for James to leave found themselves frozen. They never thought that at a time like this, James would pull out this rule to deal with the Elders.
"But if you cause even the slightest bit of trouble, I'm kicking you out," the Elder warned. Then the two of them turned to leave.
"Wait, come back!" one of the Alchemists shouted.
But the Elders just kept on walking, and pretended to not hear them.
"Elder Nathaniel, you can't just leave us!"
Sighing, the Elders stopped and turned around.
"James is here to help take care of Magic Plants. As he long as he doesn't cause any trouble, I can't stop him from working. But if he does cause trouble, I will expel him immediately – and painfully."
The Elders gave Harry one last glare. The second Elder disappeared into the circular tower, while Elder Nathaniel stayed to supervise the Alchemists and workers. He was staring at Harry like a hawk.
With their backing gone, the Alchemists sullenly left too. They were helpless to remove James, and never expected him to twist the rules to his favor in this way.
"Alright, what sort of tasks are there?" Harry walked up to one of the workers, ready to finally get to work.
"Well, you can just help out wherever help is needed," the worker explained nervously. "Right now, we could use an extra pair of hands for removing weeds, or watering the plants. And harvesting… actually never mind, you have to be trained to do that task."
"What about those people? What are they doing?" Harry pointed over to a worker who was pushing a wheelbarrow of mud. Another worker shoveled some of it out and spread it over the plants.
"The ones with the wheelbarrow? The wheelbarrow is full of Heavy Earth Essence, which is a type of fertilizer. We spread it around the garden to help the plants grow, and it improves their yield. The fertilizer's got a lot of rich Earth Qi in it."