Sect Leader's Rise to the top!

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Kai brought his mind back to the old man's question then answered quickly.

"I want to hear all the benefits of joining the Pill Association. I will make a decision after hearing these". Kai had thrown away all pretense since he had a feeling that the old man had already figured out that Kai was the alchemist in question.

"Ho?, straight to the point then...well I'll keep it simple. The benefits are that you will not have to pay taxes on any pills you sell within the city. You also get access to the association's ingredient stockpile and for the right price, you can even exchange for knowledge and pill formulas with the other members..."

Kai nodded his head, these were attractive, but there had to be a cost to all of this so he stayed quiet and let the old man continue speaking.

"...The only condition is that you have to sign a one-year contract with us and cannot become an exclusive alchemist for any one individual or family. Your goods can only be sold to the public by yourself or to any one of the Pill Association's stores. You will also have a quota of pills that you will need to make for the Association yearly. Depending on the rarity and value of the pills that you decide to submit, the requirement could be anything from 1000 pills of low quality to 1 or 2 pills of high quality. Of course, the ingredients to create these pills will be provided by the association whenever you are ready.

Kai fell into deep thought as he weighed the pros and cons. He didn't find it too restrictive and couldn't find a reason to reject the offer. He could still sell out of his own store which was his plan from the beginning. The only real drawbacks were that he couldn't sign an exclusive contract with one major family and the yearly pill quota. Kai had no intention of being a lackey to a family so he wasn't going to sign any exclusive contracts anyway. As for the pill quota, as long as they provided the materials, this wasn't a big deal either. At least the Pill Association allowed him to sell his goods on his own terms and to whomever, just as long as it was not exclusive to any person or group.

"This much is acceptable. So for the ingredients, what exactly do I need to do to get access to them?". Kai wanted to start making pills immediately, so he hoped to leave here with the ingredients that he was looking for.

"You can make a list of ingredients you want, then pay either with gold or pills of equal value. We will ship the ingredients that we have in stock immediately. However, for those rare or hard to come by ingredients, a mission notice will have to be created in the Hunter's Lodge. The harder an ingredient is to find, the longer you may have to wait and the more expensive it will be, however, costs to us alchemists are just a part of the pill-making process right? haha."

Kai simply nodded his head. He figured that he could just ask his disciples to be on the lookout for rare herbs while they were hunting instead of waiting around for another hunter group to pick up his request. This would also be another way for them to make money while training which Kai was happy with.

"OK, this all sounds good. I would like to stay anonymous during my dealings with the association. Will this be a problem?...", Kai asked while pulling down his hat to further hide his already hidden features. He made it a habit to hide as much information about himself as possible just in case he had to run away to start a new life somewhere else.

"Of course, your identity will be kept confidential. In fact, many members prefer to remain hidden so this much is not a problem".

"...OK, then I under these conditions, I am willing to join your Pill Association. Please can I have the list of ingredients? I would like to order some for delivery today"

The old man was rather surprised by how quickly Kai had agreed after only hearing the terms once. Most alchemists preferred to work with large families exclusively because they would essentially have full access to that family's resources. The more powerful the family was, the more resources the alchemists would have access to.

The only real upside of working for the Pill Association was their nonrestrictive nature, as well as the close relationships that they have with the Hunter's Lodge and Twin Lion's sect. This allowed them to get rare ingredients relatively quickly and at cheap prices when compared to large families.

However, this alone wasn't usually enough to persuade most alchemists. Even the worst alchemist can get a place with a decent family and get ingredients for free. They would also receive monthly salaries just for being there, and all they had to do was produce some pills for that family.

Of course, these exclusive contracts were for much longer terms and would be extremely restrictive on the alchemists, but for most, this was not an issue since it came with a sense of security.

The old man handed Kai a thick booklet as well as some messenger scrolls. These were connected to the Pill Association's HQ that would receive his orders immediately. As for payment, it would be taken upon delivery.

Kai paged through the ingredients tab and saw that most of what he was looking for was there. He ordered 300 pieces of [Green Herb] at 10 copper each, 100 pieces of [Cactus Leaf] for 20 copper each, and lastly, he got 50 pieces of [Heart Flower] at 50 copper each, totaling 75 silver coins spent for everything. Kai thought this was really affordable seeing as he now had enough ingredients to make 100 [Beginner Healing Pill].

Kai could sell each pill at a market rate of 5 silver which would net him 5 gold!. The profit margin would be 4.25 gold which was ridiculous.

"Thank you sir", Kai said respectfully to the old man.

"Hoho, you can call just call me Song"

"Well then, Mr. Song, until we meet again...by the way, I don't need to sign or register somewhere do I?"

"No worries, I will handle all of that for you. Your Pill Association badge will be sent along with this first shipment, you don't have to display it, but it can give you some level of authority within the city and allow you to participate in some...special events".

Kai was curious but decided not to ask since he was more interested in making pills at the moment. He bid farewell to the old man and hurried back home. When he arrived, he saw that the ingredients he ordered were already being delivered. "Now that's service", Kai thought while watching the Pill Association workers offload his goods. Kai signed for the goods then made the payments.

His companions had also just returned from their hunt and were helping to carry large sacks full of [Grade-1] [Slime-Vine] gallbladders into the house. Amount the gallbladders, there were also five [Fungus-Ape] hearts that Qiulong had managed to kill. Kai took the [Grade-2] hearts for himself since he still needed them to reach body cultivation of [Mortal Grade-5].

Later that evening Kai went down to the basement and set up his pill crafting station. It was a crude setup, but it would have to do for now. Currently, all he had was the small pill furnace as well as the few tools needed for pill making.

Kai then pulled out a talisman which he placed under the furnace. After a few seconds, a small artificial fire started crackling and heated up the furnace. This was a smaller version of the flame that old man Song had been using in his workshop.

The flames created by these talismans couldn't actually burn anything and were only good for generating large amounts of heat for a few hours. This was a favorite for Hunter's who needed fast campfires while out in the wilds as well as alchemists who worked in enclosed spaces most of the time.. Each one cost a whopping 1 gold, however Kai felt that it was worth the price.

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