The Arlangier's Invitation

Chrysos went to Nalkar's Market of Desires and bought alchemy ingredients. He didn't stay for long and went home immediately.

He arrived at his house and used his key to open the door.

"Meiros, I'm back." Entering the house, Chrysos saw Meiros was feeding Vaf and was even massaging the pig's back. "Uh, why are you babying Vaf so much?"

"Master Gerald, you're back! And uhm, Vaf looked tired so I decided to take care of him." Meiros held Vaf towards Chrysos and Vaf stuck out his tongue.

"Oh, understandable." Chrysos patted Vaf on the head. "But make sure that he doesn't make a mess here. We don't want pig feces in our house." Chrysos brought his ingredients to the shed so that he could start brewing.

Meiros put Vaf back on the stables and opened a drawer so that he could grab the letter. "Master, someone was looking for you earlier."

"Who is it?" Chrysos was currently brewing swiftness potions so his head wasn't turned around. He just responded as he focused on his task.

"That person gave you an invitation from Arlangier Orius." Meiros scratched his head. His master really views alchemy as a more important matter than anything else.

"Oh, really? Read the letter to me." Chrysos was interested. What could've made the Arlangier invite him?

Meiros knit his eyebrows. "Should I really read it? I mean... Master Gerald, it's a letter for you. I really don't think it's appropriate for me to do so.."

"Go ahead." Chrysos waved his hand to show that he didn't care that much.

Seeing that his master really didn't care, Meiros opened the letter and began reading it out loud.

"Aurum Laniar, As the Arlangier of Ironmountain it is my pleasure to extend my invitation to you in the Arlangier's Manor before sunset. You have left a special impression from a Viscount who is currently on his way from Iqualius City."

"Do not worry since you aren't in any legal trouble. All of your legal documents were fine and uhmm.." Meiros stopped reading the letter and said, "Master, should I continue reading? All of what he's saying next is about the different values of what makes a great citizen and how an awakened one should use their abilities. He also praised you for abiding the law and your contribution because you are responsible for imprisoning corrupted ones before they could have a chance to harm others."

"Yeah, skip anything that speaks about formalities and whatever. However, if there are any business proposals, read them to me. If not, you can stop reading it." Chrysos said as he stirred a gooey blue mixture in a glass flask.

Meiros looked at the letter for one second before he put the letter back into the envelope and placed it on top of a nearby table.

"That's it?" Chrysos was still brewing potions, but he heard Meiros put the letter down.

"Mhm, that's it." Meiros nodded. "90% of the letter was classy talk, I couldn't find anything that can provide any business opportunities or anything else that was important."

Chrysos nodded. "Alright, you can go now." After Meiros left the shed, Chrysos thought about the letter.

"What does the Arlangier of Ironmountain want from me? Does he know about my past self's identity?" Chrysos tried searching in his memories but he couldn't find anything that possibly gave him a connection with Arlangier Orius.

Chrysos sighed as finished brewing the large batch of swiftness potions. He didn't mind what the Arlangier told him in the letter since he still has all night to finish the potion batches.

After all, since when did Chrysos willingly stop brewing? It's literally his meaning of life at this point.

Chrysos brewed the remaining potions and he finished Rare Tier, high grade 100 Swiftness Potions, 100 Strength Potions, 100 Eagle Eyes potions, 100 Scent Masking potions, 200 Divinious Recovery Potions, 300 Healing Potions, 150 Poison Antidotes, and 20 Strange Tier, High grade Healing potions.

A whopping total of 1070 potions brewed! If sold for 20-35 gold coins, they will all sell for 21,400 to 37,450 gold coins! And since each needs a sturdy bottle to be stored in, he also spent some money for the glass bottles.

A high quality glass bottle costs 10 silver coins, so a gold coin would be ten glass bottles. So, Chrysos spent 107 gold coins for all the potions he brewed.

And then there's the ingredients as well.

Chrysos spent 80 gold coins on the ingredients to fill 1050 bottles of rare tier, high grade potions. So, the 1070 bottles cost around 187 gold coins. Plus, 99 gold coins minimum to buy Divinious crystals for brewing.

A total of exactly 286 gold coins for a profit of 22,800 gold coins minimum.

Of course, Chrysos doesn't spend so much money everytime he brews potions because the potions that he sells to the market are below rare tier.

If he spent so much money to make rare tier potions for every time he sells them to the market, the quality of the potions alone wouldn't be enough for the adventurers to buy it anyway.

And if they can't buy the potions, he wouldn't earn money. If he lowers the price, he'll make a loss instead.

The reason why he's willing to spend this much money is because he wanted to sell them to the Arlangier for 10 gold coins.

After all, he only spent 286 gold coins. A profit of 10,700 gold coins is enough for him.

Normal alchemists wouldn't be able to sell this much high quality potions in one go because for them, the process of brewing potions should be carefully done.

But Chrysos knew modern medicine and chemistry, he didn't have to spend so much time being so careful towards brewing.

Every time he saw alchemists brew in alchemy houses that he frequently visited, he couldn't help but want to scream at them. "What are you doing? Your ingredients aren't well prepared! It still has traces of sulfur, you have to get rid of that first! And you, you keep mixing the ingredients to keep it fresh but in reality, the freshness is just going away because you're letting more air inside the mixture! Are you stupid?! You dare call yourself an alchemist? And you there in the back! Why do you keep using extremely saturated solutions? Aren't you worried that the potion will lose the Divinious charges? All of you are all stupid!"

Of course, those were merely his intrusive thoughts. He wouldn't actually do that unless he had a reason to.

Chrysos' heart ached everytime he thought of the horrendous brewing methods that the alchemists in the Divine Lands use. Gerald on the other hand, thought that they just needed guidance.

But he knew that he couldn't blame them. The knowledge that he has is too advanced for people living in this era. That was an undeniable advantage that he possessed.

With this many potions and such a cheap price, the Arlangier would definitely be interested.

He stored all the potions into a large sack. Chrysos organized the potions by tying them together in a batch for every 20 bottles. They were all 7 inches in height, 3 inches in width and length each.

Chrysos brought all of the necessary items and he was prepared to head out.

"Meiros, I'll be leaving now. Make sure to keep yourself safe while I'm gone, alright?" Chrysos reminded him.

"Alright master, don't worry about me." Meiros was reading the fire trail spell that Crhysos bought from the marketplace.

Chrysos paused before saying, "Are you sure that you'll be fine here alone? I've been leaving the house more often, so are you sure that you'll do just fine?" Chrysos asked because he was worried that Meiros would feel lonely while he's gone.

Meiros turned his head at Chrysos. He wasn't expecting this question. "I'll be fine. But master, why did you ask?"

"I was just wondering if you feel lonely every time I leave you here alone." Chrysos responded with a casual hand gesture.

"I have Ralfor and Vaf to keep me company, but I do appreciate the concern. Besides, you've done so much for me already. Staying alone in the house doing chores is the least I can do." Meiros revealed a wide smile after speaking.

Chrysos sighed. "Remember, it's fine to complain if you feel like something's bothering you, alright?"

Meiros hurriedly shook his hands. "No no no, Master, I'm serious that it's just fine."

Chrysos laughed. "Alright then, I'll be going now." Chrysos closed the door and locked it. "Your alchemy training is postponed because of zero supervision today. However, your physical training has to be done." Chrysos added as his voice trailed off.

Meiros sighed. "Yes, I'll do that as well." He then looked at Vaf who seemed to be doubting that he'd actually do it.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'll actually do it." Meiros defended his case in front of Vaf.

Vaf, as a pig, obviously didn't understand anything.

"..."

The sun was still setting. But the streets of Ironmountain was still quite busy.

As Chrysos walked on the stone paved streets, the glass bottles on his back clanked against each other. The potions in his back were rich in Divinious, so he used a special type of cloth that cloaks Divinious fluctuations to cover them. Obviously, he didn't want anyone stealing them.

It was a twenty minute walk when he finally saw the grand manor in front of him.

When he walked in front of the manor, the guards immediately pointed their weapons at him. "Sir, what business do you have here?"

Chrysos took the invitation and gave it to one of the guards.

The guards wore steel armor and a blue and brown uniform. Their weapons differed from swords, halberds and spears. Some of them even held maces.

The nearby guard took the invitation and after verifying it, he nodded. "Please stay here, I'll call the Arlangier for you."

"Sure." Chrysos spoke naturally without any extra movements.

One of the guards left to call Hulor, leaving Chrysos standing outside the manor. The guards felt a little alert seeing Chrysos' mask. It made them feel that what they're looking at isn't human. Of course, Chrysos was just casually standing there and he didn't think that anything was strange.

It took a while until the guard returned with Hulor.

Chrysos saw a refined old man with a hidden but powerful aura. He knew that to be someone trusted from the Arlangier's Manor, he had to be stronger than him. Because of that, Chrysos decided to be a little bit more careful when conversing with him.

"You must be Gerald Greenwood? Or should I say, Aurum Laniar? After all, we weren't expecting for you to be using two aliases." Hulor appeared kindly in front of Chrysos. There wasn't any kind of belittling or contempt in his tone which Chrysos appreciated.

Chrysos nodded. "You can address me as Gerald, and you must be?"

"Hulor Antino, Arlangier Orius' butler." Hulor's disposition was quite unique. "Please, come in." Hulor walked inside the manor while one of the guards opened the door for him.

Chrysos followed behind and adjusted his grip on his backpack's strap.

Chrysos saw that the Arlangier's manor didn't disappoint him. The lights were made of Divinious crystals with light magic circles, the walls had unique murals of religious references from the Tinnaherlan Bible in them, the faith for the God of Heroes, Kharuen.

Kharuen is described as a man with long, light, unbreakable strands of gold as hair. His eyes were as white as the clouds that shone brightly, condemning all sinners and eradicating all that is evil.

His face is ethereal and so beautiful that no human could compare to it. His skin was impenetrable, full of vitality, strength and vigor. He was always shown to wear an azure crown made of sharp crystals that was embedded through his head. His wounds, leaking golden blood, flowing down his hair like a waterfall, dyeing his armor with trails of heroic blood. The flood of molten gold never leaked on his face.

Kharuen's sword was peculiar as it had two blades that spiraled each other, meeting at the tip, creating the sharpest blade that could cut the universe if he so desired. His shoulders had white fur that he wore after slaying Fate's Embodiment, Legarthasul, The Eternal Dragon of Fate and Light. Golden droplets of his blood that acted as wings, represented by the hardships heroes have to go through, he takes flight using the rain of blood shed through pain.

His armor is made of godlike silver metal, stronger than steel, stronger than the universe itself. And with the bright blue eyes of Legathasul that he wore on his collars, shone with his armor.

A splendorous glory of bright light and gold. Covering his bare body that manifested from heroic will. He always looked at the world of gods and mortals with an unperturbed expression, as tranquil as a lake, as peaceful as the Divine Realms were.

Just from staring at the depiction of Kharuen, Chrysos could faintly feel a sense of familiarity. It was as if he felt a cool sensation that faded as if it was never there.

He looked around even more, and he could see that the material is also quite durable for a mere wall.

He also saw a lot of guards patrolling the manor. It seems that the death of Lirgius really shook many people, including the Arlangier himself.

The carpets in the floor reminded him of the mansions he visited during banquets back on earth, so seeing these luxurious decorations everywhere didn't really surprise him.

Hulor saw Chrysos looking around the manor and he couldn't help but smile. "Beautiful isn't it? The Arlangier spent thousands of gold coins on those lights alone."

"Can't luminous mushrooms do the same job but better? Not only that, it'll be even cheaper." Chrysos' character was more focused on practicality than appearance.

"Luminous mushrooms? Mister Chrysos, you must be joking. Luminous mushrooms are too weak to even light up an entire room." Hulor didn't see how it was possible to use the luminous mushrooms as a light source.

"I use luminous mushrooms in my house. When chemically modified, the mushrooms can be commanded to light up and even turn off with a tap." Chrysos had a serious tone. It was clear that he wasn't joking.

"You've made something like that? Impressive as expected." Hulor's tone was quite flattering. "I'm quite curious how you did it."

Since Hulor wanted to know how he did it, Chrysos explained. "Avoltude Proteins modify the mushroom's response to physical stimuli and at the same time, it increases the light DVC in the fungi which makes it work as a good light source. And the best part is, the mushroom's life expectancy is 100 years minimum, so the light source would be enough to last an entire lifetime as long as the mushrooms are fed." Chrysos touched his chin and tried to remember if he forgot a single detail.

"Eh?" Hulor didn't understand anything from what Chrysos said. Especially the term "DVC,'' which was just the shortened version of Divinious charge.

Chrysos waved his hand. "Forget about what I said. So, why does the Arlangier want to meet an alchemist like me? I'm sure that there's even more talented alchemists out there in Ironmountain." Chrysos intentionally spouted complicated jargon to throw the old butler off.

"I'm afraid I can't say anything about that. However, I'm sure that you'll find out tomorrow." Hulor didn't speak any further.

Seeing that Hulor wasn't willing to tell him anything else, Chrysos didn't ask about it any more.

Chrysos was led by Hulor into a room with a brown door and of course, a golden doorknob. How luxurious.

Entering the room, Chrysos was shocked by how well furnished the inside was.

"You can rest here. If you need anything, you can ask the maids." Hulor closed the door behind Chrysos.

"..." Chrysos was confused. Wasn't he here because the Arlangier wanted to talk to him? Why is he in this room then?

"Why would someone want to talk to me tomorrow? Couldn't they talk to me now?" Chrysos was really confused. He put his bag down and laid down on a bed.

As he laid down the cotton bed, his body slightly submerged. Giving him a relaxing sensation that helped him feel as if his sore muscles would heal. "Wow, it's so soft." Chrysos moved into a more comfortable position.

"So I'll be staying here for a night then." Chrysos didn't get why he was here, so he was really confused. He looked at his stuff and knew that he couldn't trust anyone here. It was an inner gut feeling that he couldn't shake off.

He took a Brain Restoration Potion and a Brain Energizer Potion. He brewed these to help Meiros recover for every time he overexerted his mental energy. But it could also be used to skip sleeping.

He drank both two potions and any sleepiness disappeared without a trace. He had to stay alert for the night.

Putting back the vials in his waist, Chrysos muttered quietly. "If it weren't for those potions, this bed would've already made me sleep."

"Wait, did I buy enough food for Meiros?" Chrysos quickly stood up from the bed.

"Oh wait, I did." Chrysos remembered that he indeed left enough food in the house for Meiros. Because of this, his worries vanished.

Meiros on the other hand, wasn't expecting that his master wasn't going to come home this evening.