Alex could see the man's eyes looking suspiciously at the pill he had taken from his hand. He was looking inside the pill bottle, wondering if he was being duped somehow.
Alex sighed. "I have no reason to lie, brother," he said as he pulled out the badge he had been hiding in his robes.
Pearl shuffled a little in his robes to let the badge pass through, and it came out easily, which Alex hid in his palm, only visible to the man and woman.
A bronze badge with leaves carved around the edges, and the words 'True' written on it in the center.
A True Earth Alchemist badge.
The man's eyes instantly went wide, and he dropped all sense of hostility from his body and eyes.
Instead, he immediately cupped his hands in greeting, wincing a little when the pain in his left shoulder plate flared a bit, but he didn't let it sound through him.
"Forgive me for my rudeness, sir alchemist. I will answer every question you have," the man said, while at the time, putting the pill into his storage bag, fearing Alex would ask it back.
Alex ignored that. A 22% pill was just above trash in his eyes. Still, if it could help him gain some information that could help him, it would be more worth it than if he had just sold it instead.
The man went on to explain.
The Shen family was one of the 7 great families of the empire, whose members usually had roots that mostly aligned with the water element. One of the skills they had was a water skill that could heal someone's wound with just a gesture of their hands.
"Do you know if they can heal a cut-off limb like mine?" he asked.
The man looked towards the woman for a bit who shook her head. "I don't believe that is possible anymore, sir alchemist," he said.
"Anymore?" Alex looked at him with a curious look. "What happened that caused the healing to not be possible now?"
"You must not have heard, sir Alchemist. About 2 months or so ago, the 7 families gathered their best, along with some other talented individuals from the empire, and had them enter a True realm."
"However, tragedy struck, and not a single one of them returned," the man said.
'Ah! Those men that entered the beast realm while I was in there. Right, Fu Tao did say that.' Alex remembered.
"So, the person who could heal was sent there too?" Alex asked.
"Unfortunately, yes," the man said. "I've heard the news the sister of the Shen young lady also has learned the same skill, but her proficiency certainly wouldn't have reached the same level, so I do not know if healing a stump like yours is possible or not."
"I see," Alex said. That was a bit of bad luck.
"What about this healing orb? You said the Wei family has it?" Alex asked.
"Ah, yes," the man nodded. "Everyone knows about it, so it's no secret. The royal family has a healing orb that is handed down to the princess every generation, I hear."
"Oh, and can it heal my stump?" Alex asked.
"Uh… that I'm not knowledgeable on, sir alchemist," the man said. "After all, the only ones that are allowed to get a use of that orb is someone who is a Lightsworn."
Lightsworn. Alex had read about them not long ago. They were a group of individuals, directly under the royal emperor who performed missions and kept peace in the land.
They were more than just a police force, however. Being under the emperor himself, they were the Judge, jury, and executioner in most cases.
Fortunately, they had to say an oath to the heavens, promising to never go against what was kind and just, to always protect the people of the empire.
After swearing an oath to the Luminance empire, the person would become a Lightsworn.
"So, I will have to ask a Lightsworn himself, huh?" he asked.
"I'm afraid you will have to do at least that," the man said.
Alex thought for a bit. It seemed he would have to get rid of his plans to travel to a city close by and instead directly go to the capital itself.
With both the Shen girl there and this healing orb there, he wanted to weigh upon his luck to get his arm back.
Not only that, he was certain that the capital would have a lot of ingredients for him to buy, and a lot more information for him to learn from.
The auction lasted for a while longer as better and better items started getting auctioned.
One of the items being auctioned was even a True Heaven grade cauldron that made him want to buy it, but he stopped himself.
For now, the one his master gave him would suffice.
In the end, he didn't buy anything. The auction ended, and Alex walked out with a newfound plan.
Go to Radiant City, the capital of the Luminance empire.
Instead of going anywhere else, Alex directly went to the southwestern section of the town where the caravans lined up in front of the river that gave the town its name, Riverweed.
He confirmed that there was a caravan that would leave around 3 pm in the afternoon. The caravan would only go about 2 cities over, but Alex was prepared for that.
The road to the capital was long and would take him multiple days. He would take it slow for now.
He returned back to his home for a bit before going back to the place where he rented the place almost 2 weeks ago.
He returned back the key and then made his way to the Alchemist Guild.
He walked past the Formation guild that was close to the Alchemist Guild. He had seen it before, along with the other 2 major guilds.
He wanted to get in here but had later decided not to split his attention across multiple things when all he needed to focus on right now was getting strong and getting his arm back.
The search for getting his arm wasn't just for himself. It was for his master, and his martial uncle, as well as the many that would walk around limbless just because there wasn't a cure for it at the moment.
He shook his head and went to the alchemist guild. He took the 2500 coins he got from the auction and asked to make sure he could leave anywhere else he wanted to.
The receptionist had only smiled and said yes.
Alex nodded and left the guild. There was only two places he needed to go to before going back to the caravan.
First, he entered the restaurant and had the most extravagant meal they had prepared.
Having focused on making pills for the last week or so, he had forgotten about coming here to eat.
His physique had improved a lot, but he still looked quite weak when judged simply visually.
After he finished eating it, he left the restaurant and walked to the place where the players were staying.
He wanted to make sure they were all fine, so he went to check on them. The man from before had been there and was surprised when he saw Alex walk there.
Alex sent out his spiritual sense to the house and saw that there were nearly half of the players missing.
He smiled. He took out 50 True spirit stones and handed them to the man. "For them," he said, and then brought out 10 more spirit stones which he handed to the man and woman, as thanks for looking after the players.
The two of them rejected the spirit stones, but Alex simply waved his hands and left.
Now that there was nothing else to do in this city, Alex went to the caravan.
With 15 minutes to spare, he got onto one of the carriages where only a few people could stay.
Alex saw a man and a woman with their less than 5-year-old daughter sit on one end of the carriage, while Alex sat alone on the other end, looking at the empty seat in front of him.
After nearly 10 minutes, the door of the carriage opened, sending light into the rather dark inside.
A young man jumped in and settled onto the seat in front of Alex, swiping his hair around.
He looked around and gave an embarrassed smile as he said, "I hope I wasn't the one that made the caravan wait."
