691 Earrings, Armor, and Shield

It took them all a minute or so to get their composure back from the sudden departure.

Alex sat on the floor of the ship, copying both Han Daiyu and Liang Qiu.

Shangguan Quan was begrudgingly taken away by the ever boisterous Han Hongqi and spoke about something to the side that Alex wasn't curious enough to dare eavesdrop on.

"How have you been, Alchemist Yu?" Liang Qiu asked from the side.

"I've been fine, sister Liang," Alex said, a little surprised that she asked that, but he guessed it was just common courtesy.

He wanted to ask them about the pill but decided not to be the one that brought it forward himself.

"I didn't expect either of those two seniors to come along with us," Alex said, showing clear surprise in his voice. "I would've expected an elder or such of little responsibility to the sect and family to accompany us."

"That just goes to show to you just how important not just we are to them, but also how important this current mission is," Liang Qiu said with a smug smile.

"Right, Alchemist Yu, how did you make that pill?" Han Daiyu suddenly asked. "That pill was amazing, I nearly at it too, and only stopped because I didn't know what that pill was about."

Alex smiled. "It's amazing, isn't it? It's one of the better products," he said. "Only downside is that it takes me at least 3 weeks to be able to make those pills."

It would've taken him shorter if he had more of those mangoes from the mountains, but he had already eaten all of them. Still, he was starting to notice that he was getting better at the whole thing and as such the overall time was getting lower.

"3 weeks per pill? That's ridiculous, isn't it?" Liang Qiu asked.

"Yes, it's ridiculous," Han Daiyu said from the side as she constantly nodded at Liang Qiu's words.

Alex was confused for a second. Why would that be ridiculous? But then he realized what he had said.

"Ah, my apologies. I meant something else and said something else," he said.

"Oh, what did you mean then?" the girls asked curiously.

"When I said it takes me 3 weeks to make one pill, I wasn't talking about the number of pills I could make, but rather the time it takes me to come up with a way to make one of those pills."

"Once I make a single of those pills, I can make nearly 50 a day since I would have some recipe to follow," Alex said.

The girl's eyes went wide when they heard that.

"Are you serious? You can make so many of those pills in a single day? Will they retain the same level of quality?" they asked.

Alex thought for a bit and answered, "Saying that I can guarantee all of those pills to have such quality would be a lie as there is a chance of randomness to the process."

"However, what I can guarantee is that if I were to make 100 of a single pill that I have taken 3 or more weeks to study, I can make more than 90 of those have the same level of quality as the ones that I handed to you."

"I can also guarantee that even the rest of the pills that don't reach the same quality as the pills I gave you will still be heaven grade," Alex said.

Han Daiyu kept on her surprised look with a hand to her mouth to hide her shock, while Liang Qiu fell into a thoughtful expression.

"If it isn't so rude, may I ask alchemist Yu if you have more of such pills to prove your words?" she asked.

Alex thought for a moment. While what she was asking could certainly be taken as rude, Alex didn't think so.

Instead, he wondered why she even asked that in the first place. 'This is the part where I shock them with my talent so they give me what I want, isn't it?' he thought.

He was extremely cautious about showing off his talents to random individuals, but his curiosity got the better of him.

So, with a simple gesture, he brought out 20 different pill bottles each with a different pill and laid them in front of them.

The girls immediately showed a doubtful expression and without even missing a beat, Liang Qiu brought out a tester before realizing what she had done.

"Um… may I?" she asked half-scared that he might be offended.

"Please, how else are you going to find the legitimacy of my statement?" Alex asked.

The girls nodded and Han Daiyu picked up a pill bottle at random before handing it to Liang Qiu.

Liang Qiu slowly opened the bottle and put the pill directly into the tester.

As the fog on the tester started growing, Alex could feel 2 different sets of spiritual senses settle around them.

'The saints are watching too, huh?' he thought.

The pill easily crossed 50% and slowly went up to stop at around 67%.

Liang Qiu nodded in amazement as such a high level was not something people could possibly make without having a lot of talent.

"Another one!" Han Daiyu said and picked another pill in front of them.

72%.

This was much better than the previous pill.

"Another one!"

69%.

"And another one!"

71%.

They checked about 7 or 8 pills in total before deciding to stop.

Alex smiled and took back all the pills. He looked forward and saw a thoughtful expression on Liang Qiu's face. Even Han Daiyu wasn't her usual self.

Then, something appeared in front of Liang Qiu who looked toward Alex as she said, "Here."

Alex took whatever it was without thinking and saw that it was a pair of earrings.

There was a twisted hook on one side, followed by an amber-like gem hanging on each of the earrings.

Alex looked at the most golden ring and asked, "is this…?"

"Your payment you requested," she said.

Alex finally gave a proper look at the earrings and asked, "Defensive mental artifact?"

Liang Qiu nodded.

"But, I haven't done anything for you yet," Alex said as he handed it back to her. "I can't accept my payment without having done my part."

"No, please take it. I insist," Liang Qiu said.

Alex was about to refuse when he saw something else appear in front of him. This time, there were 2 items.

One was a regular-looking brown-colored armor that was thin enough to wear under his robes, and another one was surprisingly a circular concave shield with nowhere to hold it.

Han Daiyu was the one that brought those two items out, so she started explaining.

"This armor is capable of stopping any attacks under the True Emperor realm. For True Emperor realm, it can stop about 3 attacks before it becomes unusable," she said.

"This shield on the other hand can stop all attacks under the True Emperor realm, but will not stop any attacks over that. What it can do, however, is the ability to create a barrier around you that can stop Omni-directional attacks."

"You may choose whichever one you like," Han Daiyu said.

"Sister Daiyu, as I was explaining to sister Liang, I cannot take it since I haven't provided my services yet. Please let me take—"

"You are being annoying, young man. If they give you something, take it," Han Hongqi arrived next to him and said.

Then he slumped onto the deck and put his arm around Alex. However, to Alex, it felt like a mountain had come down upon him.

He slouched a little before managing to hold on. Han Daiyu gave a cold glare to her uncle who let go of Alex's shoulders and just laughed.

"Anyway, choose one," Han Hongqi said. "If you don't, I will take offense."

Alex sighed. "Very well," he said. "The armor then."

"Oh," Quan gave a surprised exclamation as he sat down on the other side of Alex. "Why not the shield? It can block more than just your chest, you know?"

Alex chuckled a little and lifted his left arm to make them notice it.

"So?" Hongqi asked. "You don't need to have a hand to use that shield."

"Eh? I don't?" Alex looked surprised.

"No," Hongqi pulled the shield to his hand and poured some Qi into it. Then, the shield started hovering in front of him.

"With a single thought, you can move it around you," he said.

Just then, Alex saw something white strike the shield and a brown barrier about double the size of the shield appeared in front of it.

"Or, you can fully activate it… and," as Hongqi poured in more Qi, something flashed in front of them and Hongqi was entirely covered in the shield's barrier, while the shield itself freely moved inside of it.

"If you do take a very strong attack, it's the barrier that will break, not the shield itself, which is different from the other armor which takes the damage physically," Hongqi explained.

"I suggest you take the shield, young man. Something like protecting against True Emperor or higher attacks can be done with talismans too," Shangguan Quan said from the side.

Alex nodded. "Thank you for the information, seniors. Then, if you don't mind, I will take the shield," he said.

"Haha! Good," Hongqi said and passed along the shield.

"Keep the earrings too," Shangguan Quan said and Alex nodded.

Suddenly, Alex was 2 artifacts richer than he had been moments ago.