"Ocean God's Teardrop? Senior, you know what this is?" the Emperor asked with a face full of surprise. Ever since his grandfather found the crystal, they had been wondering as to what exactly it was.
It was by accident that they realized it could heal wounds, but aside from that, they knew nothing.
Just like every other item that dropped during the meteor shower, this one was an enigma too.
They had all wondered at times as to what the meteor shower was exactly. However, after getting no answer for millennia, they had given up.
Now that the Emperor found an answer, albeit being the name of a single thing, he wanted to know more about it.
"It would be a lie to say I know it exactly," Shen Jing said. "I have heard and have seen images of it."
"How did something like this come here?" Shen Jing softly spoke to himself.
"Who's the Ocean God?" Alex asked from behind.
"A dead guy," Shen Jing said without thinking. "He doesn't matter right now. What matters is that his Legacy Artifact is here and the people that are under him will soon come looking for it."
"And trust me when I say this, you don't want to mess with these people," Shen Jing said.
Shen Jing then turned around and tossed the crystal to Alex. "Try and heal yourself. See if you can do it," he said.
Alex nodded and poured Qi into the crystal. It was a struggle as the artifact belonged to someone else, but he succeeded.
Suddenly, cool energy released from the crystal that once again tried to heal him. However, this time the energy was weaker than when the princess did it so nothing happened.
"It's not happening, brother Shen," Alex said.
"Well, I didn't think you could," Shen Jing said.
Alex got dejected. "So, this won't help me?" he asked.
Shen Jing shook his head. "It could if we had time, or the little princess here had refined it better, but as it stands, I don't see how you will."
"This artifact demands a superior Water spirit root. The better the root, the better the results will be," Shen Jing said. "However, aside from that, they also have to refine it."
"From what I can tell, these princesses have been refining the same small part of the artifact since the very beginning and haven't made any advancement in it since then."
"This thing can heal the worst of wounds. You could lose your whole body, and if your soul survives, it can heal you."
"It could heal you from the worst of poisons out there too."
"It could even heal wounds to the spirit itself. However, since the princesses stopped refining it, they have only touched on the first part," Shen Jing said.
The rest of the 3 people stood stunned when they heard that information. The Princess knew the most about the crystal out of all the three, and yet even she was surprised.
"So… if we were to refine this, we can use it?" Alex asked. He had refined things before. The ring he was wearing once belonged to someone else. Since he had managed to refine that too, he should be able to refine the teardrop as well.
Shen Jing shook his head. "You can't," he said.
"But, I've refined such things before too," Alex said softly to him. "Remember the ring?"
"This is different," Shen Jing said. "A Legacy Artifact is not so simple to refine. That is the artifact someone spends their whole life with. It's the artifact they used every day for a long time."
"It is the artifact that they are remembered by. Do you think you can compare such an artifact to something so common as a storage ring?" Shen Jing asked and shook his head.
"The princesses must have taken decades to even reach the level they have and the reason they stopped was that refining any more became excruciatingly hard."
"If they wanted to advance, they needed a better cultivation base," Shen Jing said. "If you can wait until the princess or you have a better cultivation base, you will have already gotten your arm back by simply being in the saint realm."
"I see," Alex said as disappointment filled him again. 'I guess I really am meant to wait until I reach Saint realm then,' he thought.
"Anyway, I'm taking this now, goodbye," Shen Jing said and turned to leave.
"Senior wait," The Emperor spoke even before the Princess could voice out anything.
"What is it now?" Shen Jing gave an annoyed look that stopped the words that were going to come out of the Emperor's mouth.
"Senior, we are too reliant on that crystal. Our people expect me to heal them whenever they are wounded. If you take that away, we will…" The Princess didn't know what to say next.
Shen Jing thought for a second and sighed. "You're right," he said. "I shouldn't just take things away from others."
"You only use it for healing, right?" he asked.
The princess nodded.
"Alright, then take him in exchange," Shen Jing said as he pushed Alex forward.
"Huh? Eh? What?" Alex was surprised and panicked.
"I'm trading you for this crystal," Shen Jing said as the crystal disappeared somewhere.
"Who… is this young man?" the Emperor asked awkwardly, trying not to push any boundaries with his questions.
"He's a little guy I found in your empire. Since you need to heal your people, he will be doing what the crystal has been doing until now," Shen Jing said.
"This young man can heal people?" the princess asked suspiciously.
"Well, he's an alchemist so I hope so," Shen Jing said. "You can make healing pills right?"
Alex nodded.
"See? He will be a fine replacement," Shen Jing said.
"That's…" the princess didn't know what to say. Even the Emperor was speechless.
"Tell them how good you are. They will trust you then," Shen Jing said.
'Am I being sold off? Is this human trafficking?' Alex thought for a second. Still, in the end, he sighed and brought out his badge to show the Emperor.
"I'm a True Heaven rank Alchemist, your majesty. I can promise you that I can make the pills as required," he said.
"Oh," the Emperor gave a surprised look. He hadn't expected someone so young looking to have such a high rank as an Alchemist.
"What's your name, young man?" the Emperor asked.
"I am Yu Ming, your majesty," Alex said.
"Very well. Since Senior has given you to us, we will gracefully take you. Xumei, he will be under you from now on. Treat him like he's my guest," the Emperor said.
"Yes, father," the Princess nodded.
"Are you really selling me off, brother Shen?" Alex whispered next to him.
"Selling you? Why would I sell you?" Shen Jing asked.
"But… but you just gave me away to the Emperor," he said.
"Oh, right," Shen Jing said and turned to the emperor. "I hope you know this is just a limited-time thing. You can give him ingredients and he will make you a pill."
"However, that will go on for just 2 years. After 2 years, he will leave. Meaning, you have 2 years to switch from being reliant on this artifact to being reliant on pills and such to heal you," Shen Jing said.
"Yes, senior," the Emperor said. He wouldn't have kept Alex longer even if he wasn't told. After all, Alex really wasn't a replacement for the crystal, but rather something to aid in their transition to stop being reliant on the crystal.
"Alright, now that things are done, we're leaving," Shen Jing said. "Let's go, little Yu."
"I'm not staying here?" Alex asked.
"You'll come here tomorrow. For today, I have many questions to ask you," Shen Jing said and took Alex away.
The doors closed behind them and only the Emperor and the princess remained.
"Are we really going to let him take the crystal just like that?" the princess asked.
"Yes," the Emperor nodded.
"Why? That's ours. How can he just take it away like that?" the princess asked.
"Xumei, there are times when you have to know to back off. This is one of those times," the Emperor said.
"Is he stronger than you?" she asked.
"Many times," The Emperor said.
"Who is he?" the Princess asked.
"I can't say," the Emperor said. "You shouldn't go around trying to find his information either. That is a royal decree."
"That's… I've never seen you so serious before, father," she said.
"I know," he said. "I just… I didn't expect to meet him today."
"Who is he?" The Princess' curiosity was truly piqued.
"I told you, I can't say," the Emperor said.
"You can't say? Or you won't say?" the princess asked.
"I can't say," the Emperor repeated himself.
"Oh… wait, did you?" the princess' eyes went wide. "Did you make an oath?"
The Emperor nodded. Finally, the princess understood the severity of the situation.
'Just who the hell can force an emperor to make an Oath?' she wondered.
* * * * * *
"Are sure it was a good idea to talk to the Emperor so directly? You might be strong, but he's still the Emperor, you know?" Alex asked.
They had already left the palace and were out in the streets now.
"Of course," Shen Jing said. "Why would it matter to me? He's not my Emperor."
"Eh? Are you not from the Luminance Empire?" Alex asked.
"Is Luminance Empire the only location on this continent?" Shen Jing asked with a smile.
'Right,' Alex thought. There was the Crimson Empire and the beast realm. Aside from those two, there were also multiple islands to the west and south that were their own hegemony.
"Are you from one of the Hegemonies in the ocean?" Alex asked.
Shen Jing simply smiled, not saying anything. They soon reached a restaurant where they sat down to order some food.
"Here, I got you something," Shen Jing said as he chewed on the biggest piece of meat on the table. He reached into… somewhere and brought out something before placing it next to Alex.
Alex looked at the new item, a fruit, and gave a weird look. He had never seen it before. Even so, very quickly a name floated up to his head.
As soon as it did, his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped to the point that one could see the food inside his mouth.
Alex quickly swallowed and picked up the fruit to watch it with reverence.
"This…" he still couldn't believe what he was seeing. One of the rarest things in the world was sitting on the table in front of him.
"This is a Divine Devil's fruit."
