“Stir it slowly, at this pace the substances will separate too quickly,” her master Hua Tang advised her as they prepared one of the potions. Nadine worked alongside her in a similar manner.

  Despite May's achievements, she still had to master the basics of alchemy. There were many techniques and recipes she did not know. The discovery of penicillin was amazing, but it did not exempt her from the obligation to learn about alchemy in general.

  In the meantime, they worked intensively on the production of penicillin. May had to repeatedly ask the system for help in many situations. The demand was too great. Their revenues were growing at an alarming rate.

  “Huh...?” Suddenly, May felt a strange warmth in her body that spread throughout her entire body.

  “May? Are you okay?” Nadine asked, grabbing her arm, afraid that she was feeling unwell. Stuffiness was quite common in alchemy labs, and many people fainted there.

  May, however, did not feel nauseous, quite the contrary. She felt enlightened.

  She looked at her alchemy station. Suddenly, everything became clear to her. They were preparing a healing potion, quite advanced for their level. May had a slight problem with it, but suddenly all the pieces fell into place.

  Wanting to take advantage of her sudden enlightenment, she grabbed a mortar and began grinding the herbs one by one... Red Rosemary, Jianjian Weed, Common Sage, and then she poured in a mixture of water and bloodroot extract. Then she began sifting, then rolling, weighing, and brewing.

  She worked like a maniac and completely lost herself in her work. Her hands worked on their own. She grabbed a ceramic vessel and poured the liquid into it... Afterwards, the subsequent stages of creating the mixture took hours. But May worked tirelessly.

  Finally, the first red drops fell into the vessel. The color was perfect; she had managed to create the perfect potion.

  “I did it...” she said quietly, but realised that her throat was completely dry.

  Suddenly, she was struck by fatigue, dryness, hunger, and shock.

  “Congratulations,” Hua Tang said with a smile, sitting on a chair a few meters away. Until that moment, she hadn't even known he was there, even though he was in plain sight.

  She looked around. It was dark outside the window, and the workshop seemed to be in chaos.

  “What... Impossible...” She didn't know what had happened.

  After all, it was still light out, and there should have been many hours left before nightfall. Although she remembered what she had been doing in the workshop, May thought that maybe an hour had passed, not a whole day.

  “It seems that you fell into a trance after reaching the first stage of the Path of Alchemy... Congratulations once again, reaching the ‘Ordinary’ level in any Path at such a young age is shocking.”

  “I've achieved... the first Path...?” she said, looking around.

  She did indeed notice that something had changed. When she looked at the alchemical materials, she felt that she knew practically everything about them, how much they weighed and what could be done with them. She could feel them throughout her body. She was shocked.

  “Yes. After acquiring Paths, it sometimes happens that you fall into a ‘trance’, although this is not a rule, so you were quite lucky,” he explained. “Of course, in your case, as a penicillin discoverer and a person with 100% affinity for the Path of Alchemy, it's not all that surprising."

  May was shocked by this fact. She expected it to happen fairly quickly, but not that quickly! Was the creation of penicillin in this world really that valuable?

  “You must be tired, go back to your room and rest,” he said.

  May looked around. Because of her state of trance, she had made quite a mess here. After all, it would be inappropriate to leave without cleaning up this chaos. Seeing her gaze, her master waved his hand.

  “Don't worry about it,” he said.

  “Master, it's not right for you to clean up after me...” she replied awkwardly. She knew etiquette quite well, thanks to her stay at the Yun estate, and she knew it would be a great discourtesy.

  Hearing her words, Hua Tang just laughed.

  “Haha! Good one! Don't worry, I'll have Nadine clean it up.”

  May didn't know what to say, so she just said her goodbyes and left.

  Forgive me, Sister Albrecht...

  ───── ??☆?? ─────

  Winter brought May's eleventh birthday. Time really flies. Cloud Academy was about to go on winter break. Unfortunately, she couldn't go home. It was too far away, and there wasn't enough time. There were no planes, and the journey by land would take weeks, even without taking the winter weather into account.

  She was walking through the corridors of Cloud Academy after leaving one of her classes.

  I really need to test my newly acquired combat skills...

  To be honest, she had been missing a good fight lately. All she felt was back pain from spending too much time in the alchemy lab.

  “May Shang!” Suddenly, she heard someone's voice. She turned around and saw Yifan Wu.

  “What do you want?” she asked with slight irritation.

  “It's time for us to face each other again! This time, you won't be able to defeat me with trickery!” he said boldly, surrounded by a crowd of people. He certainly wanted witnesses so that May would have a hard time refusing him.

  Coincidentally, just when she was thinking about testing herself, she encountered a rather interesting opponent. However...

  “I refuse,” she said, turning on her heel and walking away. “As you know, I'm mainly focused on alchemy right now. I'll leave the fighting to you.”

  There was no point in revealing her new abilities to the entire academy. As long as she didn't argue with him too much, she wouldn't be forced to fight him.

  “Are you a coward, Shang?!” he shouted, openly provoking her. He insulted her, and she should have accepted his challenge so as not to appear weak.

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  She turned back to him for a moment. “We'll fight in the tournament, won't we? So wait until then. For now, you're not worth my time.”

  He blushed, and May walked away, ignoring his comments, which he shouted after her.

  She couldn't ignore his taunts, so she decided to postpone it until later... The tournament was always held at the end of each year. Then she would have no choice anyway. So for now, she could only limit her fights.

  I want to test my new abilities, but not with him... Such sudden progress, especially when everyone knows that I focus almost exclusively on alchemy, would be suspicious. Until the tournament, I shouldn't fight anyone, at least not on Cloud Academy grounds.

  So she left, leaving them alone. Running away from a fight was something that was looked down upon, but her current situation was very different from Zu Chen's situation on her birthday. She confronted them verbally and set another date. It was acceptable. Not perfect, but sufficient.

  She decided to avoid trouble for now, which was not something she was usually very good at. This time, however, she really intended to keep a low profile. There were already too many rumors surrounding her, and her name had become quite well known. There was no point in adding fuel to the fire.

  If she wanted to experience real combat away from Cloud Academy, she only had a few options.

  “A sect mission...” she whispered quietly.

  Unfortunately, taking on missions was not really intended for first-year academy students. There were exceptions, of course, like Zu Chen, who took on a mission right after starting her studies, but it wasn’t an easy thing to do.

  “You would need the help of a master for that, but that's exactly what you want to avoid,” Minnie concluded.

  May understood this well, of course. With the help of someone as influential as Hua Tang, it would be no problem for her to go on a simple sect mission. Without his help, however, it was not possible for a first-year student.

  Therefore, she rejected this option.

  He would never let me go alone, not even on the simplest mission. I am too valuable for anything to happen to me.

  He had too high expectations of her. Besides even then she had no logical explanation for how she had suddenly acquired such advanced skills out of nowhere, especially considering how much time she spent on alchemy alone.

  However, there was something unrelated to the sect that worked on a similar principle to the sect's missions and was suitable for those who could not afford the sect's expensive help...

  Ordinary people also had troubles that they did not always go to the sect for help with. There were certain mercenary organizations. Cultivators generally never bothered with them. The pay was poor, no contribution points were awarded by the sect, and in the case of an accident, the sect was not liable.

  Such tasks were taken on by cultivators belonging to no sect, mortals dreaming of greatness who hoped to seize an opportunity, and other individuals who were no strangers to risk.

  May had to wait until the winter break, which was coming up soon.

  So in the meantime, she did what she always did. She worked with penicillin at Fleming company, studied alchemy under the watchful eye of Master Tang, and attended regular classes at Cloud Academy.

  The time had finally come. Almost two weeks off from the academy. Most of the students were, of course, still busy with their cultivation, and only a few returned to their family homes.

  May often went out of the academy, so no one was particularly surprised. She only informed her master that he needed to temporarily take control of the business, then headed into town.

  The city was covered in thick snow. She had to wear a thick ermine fur coat to keep from freezing to death.

  She entered one of the organizations that dealt with such matters. It was more of a tavern than a serious institution. The announcements were posted on boards. There were so many of them that they took up five separate boards, each five meters long.

  “Let's see...” she said quietly, standing alone in front of the notice boards. There were many job offers, but few people willing to take them.

  This was mainly due to the requirements. Not everyone could take every job offer. Otherwise, begging children would rush to work in the hope of earning even a minimal wage. The people posting the notices wanted the work to be done properly, not just by the first person who came along. Notices with lower requirements were usually taken long ago, or offered absurdly low wages.

  However, May had specific preferences, and she was not concerned about the requirements.

  Search for a lost cat, find the thief from the drawing, someone to guard a convoy, assistance in surveying a jewelry store, discover if a spouse is being unfaithful...

  Most of the ads were posted by ordinary people and were often less serious than the missions posted by the sect. There were also a few more interesting ones.

  Revenge on the mobster who killed my wife, recovering the necklace stolen by bandits, discovering the murderer...

  Each of these jobs could have been a full-fledged mission issued by the sect. However, for some reason, these people decided against it, whether due to the high cost or the questionable nature of the job, which the sect would have rejected.

  It took May quite a long time to read them all. There were too many notices. Some people in the tavern looked curiously at the little girl. Normally, they would have taken her for a beggar, but her clothes told a different story. No one dared to approach her.

  “Oh...” She let out a quiet sound, suddenly noticing something. One of the jobs caught her eye.

  Request.

  Requirements: A person experienced in combat, preferably a cultivator, able to maintain discretion.

  Payment: 6,300 mu

  Issued by: Sweet Li's Brothel

  Description: Numerous cases of missing persons from The Nova district and the Red Lantern district. At least five men, six women, and three children of various ages. Most of the missing are from lower social classes: homeless, prostitutes, and the impoverished. The Island Mountain Sect refused to accept the commission. Rumors speak of illegal experiments on humans conducted by an alchemist unaffiliated with the sect who lives on the outskirts. One witness claimed to have seen one of the kidnapped women.

  That's... impossible?

  It seemed so strange. If it were any other matter, the sect might have refused, but with so many people missing, they would surely accept it as a mission, even if the client was unable to pay.

  May took the note from the board and approached the counter. An elderly man, who looked quite strong, was standing there. He was a cultivator, most likely not affiliated with the sect. There were quite a few such people in the capital, but they were usually not very strong. The gray-haired man, however, was different; he was strong. She felt that he was comparable in strength to her.

  She put the paper on the table, and he turned toward her, wiping a glass with a cloth.

  “I've never in my life allowed a child to take on a commission," He said, without even blinking, putting the glass back in its place.

  “There always has to be a first time,” she said, sitting down on a chair. “I'm not just a child, I'm a cultivator, but you already know that.”

  He must have sensed that she wasn't weak. He definitely knew she was from the sect.

  His eyes softened and he looked at her calmly.

  “Oh, my dear child...” His sad brown eyes gazed down at her. “Why would you want to risk your life? You have a bright future ahead of you, and you want to ruin it? Go back to the sect.

  May was surprised by his attitude. She hadn't expected that.

  “Cultivators always risk their lives,” she replied. “Can I find out more about this assignment?”

  Their eyes met, and May took a deep breath. The man forced a smile.

  “Unfortunately, I am obligated to tell you more, as you have the appropriate qualifications.”

  A smile slowly appeared on her lips. “Well, then, why didn't the sect accept this assignment? They wouldn't ignore something so serious.”

  The man sighed heavily. “They took it seriously, and their investigation yielded no results. They searched the alchemist's residence and found nothing. After three months, they gave up and concluded that it was not a kidnapping.”

  Since the sect found nothing, I don't think I have anything to hope for either.

  Given that the whole sect hadn't figured anything out, how could she possibly figure anything out?

  But wait... In that case, why did he react so nervously to the idea that I might take it on?

  “But I guess there's more...?” she asked. Logically speaking, if it really was a false alarm or impossible to solve case, he wouldn't be so worried about it.

  “Yes. A new lead came up. This time, however, the sect wasn't so eager. They said they had too many other things to do and that they would only look into it in a month or two,” he replied. “They're not taking it seriously because of the financial losses they suffered during their first failed attempt.”

  “So...?”